Productivity

Laptop showing email inbox with drafted AI reply, with Chrome sidebar extension overlay for cross-border sourcing research

Inbox-Native Agent vs Chrome Extension: When to Build Which

TL;DR I built a Chrome extension for cross-border sourcing, then built an inbox-native AI agent next to it. After 6 months running both in production, the Chrome extension wins for real-time page-anchored research (the 45-second sidebar loop), and the inbox agent wins for relationship-driven work (the 5-year email memory data flywheel). The pattern: the extension is the daytime tool, the inbox agent is the always-on tool. If you build only one, build the inbox agent first — its value compounds with every email it reads. ...

The 30% Club: Why These Chinese Founders Are Running Half the Staff at Double the Revenue

The first time I heard Huang Xufeng say “170 to 50,” I thought I’d misheard. “You went from 170 employees to 50,” I repeated. “And revenue went from 100 million to 300 million.” He nodded. “That’s right.” I checked my notes. Then I checked my notes again. Six months later, I heard Zhang Feng say something similar. From 5 square meters to 40 million RMB in annual revenue. From his wife spending two hours per day on data entry to twenty minutes. From a team that couldn’t scale to a business that could. ...