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Forbes
2 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
33 Artsy Business Ideas For Creative Entrepreneurs In 2025
From passive income printables to high-ticket consulting, these 33 art business ideas offer a range ... More of options for every creative entrepreneur. Creative entrepreneurship is having a moment. With the rise of social media, e-commerce and remote work, artists and designers have more ways than ever to turn their creativity into a thriving business. Whether you're a painter, photographer, digital creator or craftsperson, there's a small art business idea for you. This guide covers 33 real, profitable art business ideas from passive income streams to client-based services that can help you thrive as a creative entrepreneur in 2025 and beyond. Building A Small Business As An Artist Or Creative Starting an art business means turning your creative output into a viable income stream. Whether you sell paintings, run workshops or build digital products, your artistic skills become the foundation of your entrepreneurial venture. An art or creative business can be anything from a freelance illustration service to an online print shop. The benefits include creative freedom, flexible hours and scalable income but challenges like self-promotion and income instability are common. Still, with tools like Shopify, Etsy and social media, there has never been a better time to start an art-based small business. Profitable Business Ideas For Creatives The best idea for you depends on your skills, interests and audience. Think about your medium (digital vs. physical), work style (client work vs. passive income), and your long-term goals. This list of 33 ideas offers a wide range of options, from low-cost startups to high-income opportunities. Digital art prints are downloadable wall art files sold online, often via Etsy or Shopify. They're easy to replicate, require no inventory and offer high margins. This is a popular passive income stream for artists. You create once and sell infinitely. According to Etsy's trend guide, digital downloads are one of the platform's fastest-growing categories in 2024. This Etsy planner shop earned $93,534 in revenue within one year selling digital downloads. Teaching your art process on YouTube can attract ad revenue, sponsorships and product sales. It also positions you as an expert. You'll need basic filming and editing gear and consistency. A great example is Art YouTuber Proko who built a 4 million+ subscriber business teaching drawing fundamentals. Freelance illustration is one of the most direct ways to monetize your art. You can work with brands, book publishers or agencies. Sites like Behance and Dribbble are popular for showcasing portfolios. Before you start you'll need contract templates and clarity on your pricing. Print-on-demand lets you put your art on mugs, t-shirts, notebooks and more without holding inventory. You simply upload designs and the platform prints and ships them. Artists use sites like Printful and Gelato to connect with Shopify stores. According to Printful, the average store owner earns $500–$2,000 per month with 5–10 well-selling designs. Many aspiring artists are looking for guidance. Coaching sessions, portfolio reviews or career strategy sessions can all be monetized. Many art coaches charge $100–$300 per session or $1,000–$5,000+ per program, depending on experience and niche. Turn your expertise into a digital course. Whether it's 'How to Paint Watercolors' or 'Mastering Adobe Illustrator,' courses are among the most scalable art business ideas. You can host on platforms like Kajabi and Thinkific. According to e‑learning platforms, online course creators can earn between $1,000 to over $100,000 per year. Subscription boxes are a growing niche. You can offer monthly art prints, supplies or tutorials. They work best when targeted toward a niche (e.g., beginner watercolor kits). You'll need packaging, supplier partnerships and marketing. Digital art subscription box owners report $30,000–$100,000 per year revenue, typically with 10–20% profit margins depending on pricing and retention. If you're a graphic designer, templates for resumes, logos, social posts and planners are in high demand. Sites like Creative Market and Gumroad make distribution easy. This requires upfront design time but can generate passive sales long-term. A typical Canva or template seller earns $1,000+ per month, with top shops reaching $20,000–30,0009 per month. Curate a paid or free newsletter on a specific art niche (e.g., 'Art for Minimalist Homes' or 'AI Tools for Illustrators'). Monetize through subscriptions, sponsorships or linking to your own products. Platforms like Substack or Beehiiv make it easy to grow and monetize. Build a curated platform showcasing your own art or work by other artists. Charge commission or membership. Platforms like Shopify and Squarespace allow for gallery-style websites with e-commerce built in. While the NFT hype cooled in 2022, niche digital collectibles continue to thrive, especially in communities like gaming, digital fashion and fandom art. Creators can still sell limited-edition works via OpenSea or Rarible. Leading creators sell commissions or limited NFT collections for $1,000–$10,000 per piece, with some generating $50,000+ per drop. If you enjoy teaching in real life, organize art workshops or retreats. Think painting and wine nights, plein-air sketching retreats or ceramics bootcamps. You'll need a local venue or travel plan, but the per-student margins can be high. Visual workshops typically charge $100–$300 per attendee per day, with multi-day retreats earning $10,000–$50,000 per event depending on group size. Murals are in high demand for commercial spaces, homes and local government projects. Public art projects often offer grants or funding. You'll need scaffolding, paint materials and strong marketing. Artists charge $5,000–$20,000+ per wall project, depending on size, complexity and client (commercial or municipal). Many illustrators write and publish their own children's books or partner with authors. You can self-publish via Amazon KDP or pitch to traditional publishers. Success stories often blend storytelling, character development and visual style. Self-published illustrators can earn $5,000–$25,000 per year per successful book, depending on sales channels and marketing. Create vector graphics, icons, or illustrations and upload them to platforms like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock or Creative Market. Once accepted, they can generate passive income for years. This Creative Market creator reported earning $23,600 in six months (~$3,900 per month) from stock assets. Combine your design skills into packages for startups, small businesses or content creators. This could include logos, color palettes, font pairing and brand guides. With high demand and few startup costs, this is a high-margin service. While exact figures vary, successful branding service providers frequently charge $100–$200 per hour, leading to $60,000–$150,000 per year depending on client base and repeat work. Provide live sketching services at weddings, conferences, product launches and pop-ups. It's highly shareable on social media and often booked by luxury event planners. Many artists charge $1,000–$5,000 per event depending on size and time commitment. This Entrepreneur story explores real-life examples. Offer exclusive content such as monthly illustrations, behind-the-scenes videos, art critiques or Q&As via Patreon or Memberful. Fans subscribe monthly, giving you recurring revenue. Top creators earn tens of thousands monthly from niche communities. Patreon founder Jack Conte explains the huge opportunities for creatives. Turn your hand-drawn letters into custom fonts for digital download. Designers and marketers purchase fonts for branding, packaging and websites. You can sell on sites such as MyFonts or your own site. Some independent font designers earn six figures. Design themed coloring books (for adults or kids) and sell them digitally or in print. It's low-cost and can generate strong demand through Amazon KDP or Etsy. Popular themes include mindfulness, animals and fantasy. Read this guide to building a coloring book business. Host a podcast interviewing artists, designers or creative founders. Monetize through sponsorships, listener support or promoting your own art business. With low startup costs and growing niche audiences, it's an ideal marketing tool too. This guide details podcast monetization strategies. If you're business-savvy and connected to a network of creatives, you can represent artists and license their work to brands, publishers or manufacturers and earn a cut of every deal. Industry data shows that creative licensing can generate 5%–15% royalties per deal, with agencies representing multiple clients often earning $30,000–$100,000 per year depending on volume. Grow an audience on TikTok, Instagram or YouTube by sharing your creative process, tools and behind-the-scenes. You can monetize with brand deals, affiliate links and product launches. Visual artists with a strong voice such as @loish or @auditydraws have turned influencer status into full-time income. If you're fluent in programs like Blender, Procreate or Photoshop, create tools other creatives can buy like 3-D models, texture packs or digital brushes. This is a popular niche on Gumroad and ArtStation. Some digital creators have earned six figures selling downloadable tools. Go live while you draw, paint, sculpt or design. Platforms like Twitch and TikTok now cater to visual artists with tools for tips, subs and merch sales. Creators like Drawfee and Audra Auclair have built loyal fanbases by sharing their creative process live. If you're digitally inclined, use tools like Meta Spark Studio or Snap Lens Studio to build AR experiences such as face filters, interactive art or location-based digital overlays. Artists are now working directly with brands on these experiences. This article explains how AR is reshaping creativity. Creators producing AR filters for brands typically earn $1,000–$10,000 per commissioned filter, with potential $40,000–$80,000 per year for repeat clients in retail or media. If you have experience leading creative projects, offer freelance or fractional creative direction for brands, campaigns or startups. This high-level service can be lucrative and flexible, especially if you build a strong reputation online. Explore how creatives are offering this as a service. Package curated AI prompts for Midjourney or ChatGPT to help other creatives generate art or ideas. Many artists now sell these packs as digital products. It's low-cost and scalable. Forbes recently explored the rise of AI prompt engineering as a business. Game studios, from mobile to indie to AAA, need character design, world-building sketches and UI icons. Freelance marketplaces and art forums make this accessible. Some artists specialize exclusively in this industry. ArtStation is the go-to for this niche. Curate and publish a recurring art zine showcasing yourself or others. Sell physical or digital editions and monetize with merch or sponsorships. Zines are part of a growing underground art movement. Learn how indie zines are seeing a creative resurgence. If you can animate or storyboard, offer explainer videos to startups, YouTubers or course creators. These can command $1,000–$10,000 per project depending on complexity. Use tools like After Effects, Vyond or Canva. Target musicians, DJs, venues or festivals with poster and album artwork. With the rise of indie music and streaming, demand for standout cover art is high. You can even sell limited edition prints. Check out Behance for inspiration. Write deep dives on color theory, style development or creative tech. Monetize with affiliate links, display ads or product sales. Blogs compound value over time via SEO and email capture. This article explains how niche blogging is still profitable in 2025. Bottom Line From passive income printables to high-ticket consulting, these 33 art business ideas offer a range of options for every creative entrepreneur. Whether you're launching your first Etsy store or scaling a digital art empire, now is the time to build your creative business. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) What Does It Take To Be A Creative Entrepreneur? A creative entrepreneur is someone who applies artistic skills in a business context, turning ideas, designs or content into revenue-generating products or services. You don't need an MBA to be one. You need creativity, consistency and a willingness to learn marketing, sales and digital tools. Starting with a niche, building an online presence and testing small offers are the first steps. Creative entrepreneurs also tend to diversify, offering a mix of products, commissions or community-driven models to reduce risk and increase income over time. How Do You Start a Business As an Artist? Start by defining your niche (what art, for whom, in what format). Build a simple online portfolio or store using Shopify, Etsy or even Instagram. Set up payment and delivery systems and begin promoting your work via social media or email. You'll need basic branding, a pricing strategy and an understanding of your market. Many successful artists began with one product, one offer or one service and iterated from there. Focus on consistency and customer experience, not perfection. What Are the Most Profitable Art Businesses? The most profitable art businesses often include: * Digital art prints (low cost, scalable) * Art education (courses, workshops, coaching) * Licensing (recurring revenue) * Creative services (branding, illustration, animation) * Productized merch or templates (passive income) Profitability depends on your audience size, pricing and efficiency. Many creatives combine multiple streams to build a resilient business over time.
Business Upturn
15 hours ago
- Business
- Business Upturn
Ninepoint to Launch HighShares: First-of-its Kind Single-Stock Income ETFs Focused on Canadian Companies
By GlobeNewswire Published on July 30, 2025, 02:16 IST TORONTO, July 29, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ninepoint Partners LP ('Ninepoint'), one of Canada's leading alternative investment management firms, today announced the upcoming launch of its HighShares ETF suite, the first ETFs in Canada to offer enhanced monthly income from single stock exposure to some of the country's most iconic companies. A receipt for the initial HighShares ETFs' preliminary prospectus has been issued by the securities regulators in each of the provinces and territories of Canada. 'Our goal is simple: we want to help Canadians earn more from companies they already believe in,' said John Wilson, co-CEO and Managing Partner at Ninepoint Partners. 'With our HighShares ETF suite, we are enabling investors to access ETFs that provide the familiarity of household-name stocks with the added benefit of professional income strategies.' Each ETF in the suite is built around a single, well-known Canadian company or a diversified mix of market leaders across key sectors such as banking, energy, infrastructure, telecom and global growth. Alongside seeking to provide holders with long-term capital appreciation through exposure to Canadian blue-chip stocks investors already know and trust, the ETFs' objectives also aim to provide high monthly cash distributions. Each ETF seeks to achieve this by selling call options on the single stock it owns, utilizing a covered call approach with modest leverage and then distributing the collected option premiums to investors. 'HighShares ETFs offer everyday investors exposure to Canada's most trusted blue-chip companies, such as Shopify, RBC, and Cameco, while targeting attractive monthly income,' added Karl Cheong, CFA, Executive Vice President and Head of ETFs at Ninepoint Partners. 'Each ETF is professionally managed with a disciplined options strategy, making institutional-caliber income solutions accessible without the complexity of managing them yourself' The initial HighShares ETF suite includes: ETFs Ticker (TSX) Risk Rating Barrick High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF ABHI Medium to High BCE High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF BCHI Medium Cameco High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF CCHI Medium to High Canadian Natural Resources High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF CQHI Medium to High CNR High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF CRHI Medium to High Enbridge High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF ENHI Medium RBC High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF RYHI Medium Shopify High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF SHHI Medium to High Suncor High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF SUHI Medium to High TD High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF TDHI Medium Enhanced Canadian High Income Shares Ninepoint ETF ECHI Medium All HighShares ETFs will pay monthly income distributions which may be classified as eligible Canadian dividends, capital gains or return of capital for enhanced tax efficiency compared to interest. They are also DRIP eligible so investors can automatically reinvest payouts to grow their holdings over time. For more information on the full range of Ninepoint investment solutions, please visit . About Ninepoint Partners LP Based in Toronto, Ninepoint Partners LP is one of Canada's leading alternative investment management firms overseeing approximately $7 billion in assets under management and institutional contracts. Committed to helping investors explore innovative investment solutions that have the potential to enhance returns and manage portfolio risk, Ninepoint offers a diverse set of alternative strategies spanning Equities, Fixed Income, Alternative Income, Real Assets, F/X and Digital Assets. For more information on Ninepoint Partners LP, please visit or for inquiries regarding the offering, please contact us at (416) 943-6707 or (866) 299-9906 or [email protected]. Media Inquiries: Longacre Square PartnersAndy Radia/Liz Shoemaker [email protected] 646-386-0091 Ninepoint Partners LP is the investment manager to the Ninepoint HighShares ETFs (collectively, the 'Funds'). A preliminary prospectus containing important information relating to securities of the Funds has been filed with the securities commissions or similar authorities in all provinces and territories of Canada. The preliminary prospectus is still subject to completion or amendment. A copy of the preliminary prospectus is available on SEDAR+ ( There will not be any sale or acceptance of an offer to buy the securities until a receipt for the final prospectus has been issued. Certain statements included in this news release constitute forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, those identified by the expressions 'expects', 'intends', 'anticipates', 'will' and similar expressions to the extent that they relate to the Funds. The forward-looking statements are not historical facts but reflect Ninepoint's current expectations regarding future results or events. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Although Ninepoint believes the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. Neither the Funds nor Ninepoint undertake any obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statement or information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law. Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees, performance fees (if any), and other expenses all may be associated with investing in the Funds. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change frequently and past performance may not be repeated. The information contained herein does not constitute an offer or solicitation by anyone in the United States or in any other jurisdiction in which such an offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation. Prospective investors who are not resident in Canada should contact their financial advisor to determine whether securities of the Funds may be lawfully sold in their jurisdiction. Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash GlobeNewswire provides press release distribution services globally, with substantial operations in North America and Europe.
Harvard Business Review
a day ago
- Business
- Harvard Business Review
A Guide to Building Change Resilience in the Age of AI
There's near universal consensus that AI will fundamentally change how business is done, yet most organizations have not yet seen a substantive impact from their AI efforts. A BCG Global Survey of 1,000 CXOs in more than 20 sectors reports that just 26% of organizations have achieved value from AI, realizing an average cost savings of 45% and 60% higher revenue growth compared to peer firms. Why such disappointing results? The survey found that among the many challenges organizations face in implementing AI initiatives, 70% are related to people and processes. While it's true that organizations face additional technical barriers such as poor data quality, integration complexity, or infrastructure costs, our collective experience working across hundreds of companies comports with the study's finding: The primary obstacle is the ability of companies to adapt, reinvent, and scale new ways of working. We call this change resilience. Why Change Resilience Is Scarce In the past, organizational transformation was episodic. You modernized your systems, trained your people, and operated in a stable environment until the next wave of disruption hit. But now AI is advancing at a pace that far exceeds most organizations' ability to adapt, and the change is unrelenting. Business leaders find it harder to anchor AI transformation in a traditional roadmap or use conventional means to drive change-management initiatives. Five-year strategies no longer hold. Annual planning cycles can't keep up. Traditional financial, risk, and legal controls lag further and further behind the onset of new risk types. Static operating models become liabilities. Even the newer ways of working, like agile methodologies, broadly adopted during the rise of the software era, aren't sufficient. To compete in this volatile environment, leaders need to embrace continual change, otherwise they face irrelevance from inaction or burnout from chasing shiny objects. Change resilience is the capability that will equip organizations to seize the opportunities and preempt the threats presented by fast-evolving technology. It's an enterprise‑wide reflex that converts continual disruption into repeatable learning loops that create value. It uses three muscles: Sensing, or the ability to pick up weak technological, competitive, or societal signals early Rewiring, or the capacity to redeploy talent, data, capital, and decision rights in days or weeks, not fiscal quarters Lock‑in, or the discipline to codify what a team learns (in process, code, or policy) so the next initiative starts from a higher baseline instead of reinventing the wheel Together, these muscles can keep an organization's metabolism in step with AI's rapid advances. Shopify offers a compelling example of change resilience in action. Rather than layering AI on top of existing operations, the company continuously rewires itself to stay ahead of what's next. In 2023, Shopify made the bold decision to spin off its entire logistics arm, one it had spent years building, to refocus on product innovation. This reset enabled Shopify to rapidly launch AI-native features like Sidekick, an embedded assistant for entrepreneurs that helps with everything from marketing copy to sales insights. By shedding complexity and codifying learnings from past pivots, Shopify unlocked speed and focus, allowing it to serve more than a million businesses with tools that reflect the evolving expectations of digital commerce. Its ability to sense, rewire, and lock in new ways of working positions it not just as an adopter of AI, but as a company continuously reshaping itself to thrive in the AI era. To understand how change resilient your organization is, ask yourself: Can employees be redeployed to fast-moving, high-priority initiatives to respond to changes in technological capabilities without the need to overhaul budgets or org charts? If a team member had an idea today, do they have the motivation, access, tools, and support to start experimenting? When an experiment shows potential is there a clear path for scaling and embedding it across the business? Is failure treated as a learning opportunity and openly shared to improve the next attempt? If you can't answer 'yes' to most of these questions, then your organization does not yet have the change resilience required to turn your AI strategy into durable performance gains. A Five-Step Playbook for Strengthening Change Resilience Here are the steps you need to take as a leader and organization to improve your change resilience: 1. Learn: Understand the toolsets, mindsets, and skill sets. To surface weak spots in toolsets, mindsets, and skill sets, it's important to get your employees to engage with AI and launch experiments. Use these experiments to develop an intuition for how your company might reimagine its processes while also identifying and eliminating cultural barriers that penalizes failed pilots or technical bottlenecks that makes data access a month-long ticket. Accenture began by encouraging every function (from sales to HR) to build micro-apps that solved a single pain point. Within 10 months this 'sandbox' approach produced 300 generative-AI apps, most of them lightweight utilities such as a proposal draft buddy or meeting-note summarizer. Because each app is owned by the team that built it, employees see immediately how AI reshapes their day-to-day work, shifting the culture from passive adoption to active experimentation. To fuel participation, Accenture is training 250,000 employees in gen AI skills and giving every learner a safe data playground. Early analysis shows these micro-bets matter: Gen AI is already saving 12% of working hours and boosting output quality by 8.5%, creating momentum for larger transformations. 2. Do: Launch targeted interventions. Address each gap in change resilience with the lightest-weight move that can generate momentum in weeks, not quarters. If the culture shies away from risk, introduce 'micro-bets': 10-day experiments with a public celebration ritual for learnings, not outcomes. Where skills lag, run cohort-based sprints that pair domain experts with data scientists to ship a working AI concept by sprint's end. The product becomes both a capability and a proof of possibility. If tool sets are the drag, deploy a self-serve data playground or low-code workflow builder so teams can test ideas. When a tactic moves the needle, codify it into playbooks, reusable code, amended policies, and broadcast the template company-wide. Singapore-based DBS Bank created a monthly 'north star & feedback' ritual that flags cultural, skill, and tooling frictions and then assigns cross-functional 'mini-squads' to attack the biggest challenge. One early scan revealed manual hand-offs that were slowing loan approvals. Within weeks a new AI credit-assessment workflow was live, which now processes around 380,000 lending applications a year and cuts manual work by 85%. Similar micro-interventions have seeded more than 800 production AI models across 350 use cases, generating an estimated US $563 million in economic value in 2024 alone. Each successful fix is codified into a bank-wide playbook through DBS's digital academy, ensuring that every cycle of experimentation leaves the organization measurably more change-resilient than the last. 3. Imagine: Challenge your team to start fresh. Don't modernize the old operating model; invent a new one. The functions of the future will not look like the work functions of today. AI-enabled organizations have entirely new roles, workflows, and value propositions. Moderna embodied this creativity when it merged its technology and human resources departments into a single function, aiming to redefine work responsibilities by distinguishing between tasks best suited to humans and those that can be automated. This strategic move, influenced by Moderna's partnership with OpenAI, led to the creation of more than 3,000 customized AI agents for various business functions, including clinical trials and HR operations, fundamentally modernizing the workplace dynamics and roles of HR and technology. 4. Act: Embrace ongoing cycles of measurement, learning, and re-investing Don't get stuck in the trough of disillusionment. Every wave of technology comes with both inflated expectations and real strategic potential, so it's important to move early, learn fast, and keep going. P&G has approached change resilience as an ongoing capability, building momentum across toolsets, skillsets, and mindsets with measurable outcomes. Its custom Generative AI platform, ChatPG, now has more than 30,000 employees onboard and supports more than 35 production use cases. In marketing, it has cut concept-testing cycles from months to days, dramatically reducing costs. In supply-chain operations, pilots combining AI with plant-floor sensors have already enabled fully autonomous shifts at Gillette facilities, part of a broader plan that the CFO estimates could unlock $2 billion in productivity gains. On the skills front, the company rolled out AI reskilling, where an initial cohort of 200 employees earned more than 4,400 badges and nearly 90 certifications, applying their learning to dozens of digital initiatives. These metrics allow P&G to tie upskilling directly to business impact and optimize its learning investments accordingly. Culturally, P&G reinforces a growth mindset through its ' School of P&G,' which blends formal training (10%), mentorship (20%), and on-the-job experience (70%). It further personalizes learning using AI that recommends content and pathways based on individual goals and behavior, an approach that has lifted engagement scores in internal surveys. By integrating bold bets, fast learning loops, and targeted reinvestment, P&G is converting AI experimentation into enterprise-wide performance gains. 5. Care: Put human wellbeing at the center of change Rapid change can exhaust even the most capable workforce. Without deliberate attention to wellbeing, enthusiasm for new technology quickly turns into fatigue and resistance. The care muscle therefore focuses on creating psychological safety, monitoring sentiment in real time, and giving people the resources (time, coaching, and flexibility) they need to stay healthy and engaged while they learn new ways of working. When leaders treat wellbeing data with the same rigor as financial metrics, they not only protect their people but also accelerate adoption of the very innovations that drive competitive advantage. Cisco shows how meeting employees' physical, mental, and social needs can accelerate rather than distract from digital reinvention. In 2024, 84% of its workforce logged a combined 2.3 million team check-ins, giving leaders a real-time read on sentiment and workload. At the same time, Cisco embedded an AI-powered 'WellNest' bot to serve up personalized resources for physical, mental, financial, and social wellbeing. These holistic supports have kept engagement high while the company scales AI pilots across the business, proof that caring for people is a prerequisite to sustained, resilient transformation. . . . When leaders embrace change resilience, they unlock a flywheel of continuous adaptation that makes each AI experiment faster, each reinvention easier, and each success more scalable. Organizations like Shopify, DBS, Moderna, and P&G show what's possible when change becomes a muscle, not a reaction. In contrast, those who treat AI as a one-time upgrade risk falling into the trap: using new tools to preserve old models. In today's AI era, the divide between early movers and fast followers is widening into a chasm. The difference is not access to technology. It's the courage and discipline to keep changing.
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
Vargab Bakshi joins GoKwik as chief growth officer
GoKwik , India's e-commerce enabler , has onboarded Vargab Bakshi as chief growth officer . With a strong pedigree in building and scaling internet-first businesses, Bakshi is set to drive GoKwik's next phase of growth through brand, partnerships, international expansion, and ecosystem building. He will lead GoKwik's entire growth charter, including marketing, GTM, global partner ecosystem, and product-led growth (PLG) across the company's suite of software products, including those on the Shopify App Store and beyond. Before joining GoKwik, Bakshi held key leadership roles at Shopify and Wix. At Shopify, he was a founding member of the India team and played a pivotal role in establishing Shopify's presence in the country. He built and led the go-to-market strategy for India and emerging markets, launched and scaled the entire APAC partner ecosystem, and positioned Shopify as a go-to brand for Indian D2C entrepreneurs and developers. At Bakshi served as VP and country head for India, where he was responsible for the brand's regional presence across marketing, enterprise sales, partnerships, and product localisation. He also led the developer ecosystem and significantly grew brand adoption, particularly among non-tech users and digital agencies. Bakshi is also the creator of GrowKwik, a D2C-first, content-first, influencer-led education channel by GoKwik, aimed at empowering ecommerce entrepreneurs. The platform has garnered over 500,000 cumulative followers across Instagram and YouTube and continues to serve as a high-impact marketing and learning channel. Commenting on the new addition to his leadership, Chirag Taneja, co-founder and chief executive officerof GoKwik, stated, "Vargab brings a rare blend of ecosystem thinking, product-led growth and global GTM expertise with a strong empathy for merchants from his Shopify days. As we scale our presence across borders, his leadership will be key in building a growth engine that is brand-led, product-first, and global by design. We're excited to have him onboard." Bakshi expressed his enthusiasm, saying, "After years of helping ecommerce businesses scale at Shopify and Wix, joining GoKwik felt like a natural next step. GoKwik sits at the intersection of data, AI, consumer behavior, and commerce enablement — building truly India-first, yet globally scalable solutions for online merchants. With deep insights from 130 million shoppers in our network, we're uniquely positioned to create powerful software that drives growth for merchants. I'm excited to bring my experience in go-to-market, ecosystem building, and commercial strategy to help GoKwik become the most loved growth-tech company in ecommerce."
Fast Company
a day ago
- Business
- Fast Company
AI embarrassed them at work. Don't let this happen to you
Dearest reader, I hope this article finds you in good health. I deeply desire also that if you use generative AI to boost your productivity at work, that you, for all that is good and holy, review everything it produces, lest it hallucinate data or quotes or address your boss by the wrong name—and you fall on your face and embarrass yourself. Sincerely, Your unchecked AI results AI is taking the workforce by storm and stealth, as the rules for how to use it are still being written and employees are left to experiment. Many employees are under pressure to adopt AI: Some companies such as Shopify and Duolingo are requiring employees to use AI while others are ratcheting up productivity expectations so high that some workers may be using it just to meet demands. This creates an environment ripe for making mistakes: we've seen Grok spew hate speech on X, and more recently an AI agent deleted an entire database of executive contacts belonging to investor Jason Lemkin. Funnily enough, no one wants to share their own AI-induced flub but they have a story to tell from someone else. These AI nightmares range from embarrassing to potentially fireable offenses, but together they reveal why there always needs to be a human in the loop. The Email You Obviously Didn't Write Failing to review AI-generated content seems to be the most common mistake workers are making, and it's producing errors big and small. On the small side, one worker in tech sales who asked to remain anonymous tells Fast Company her colleague used to ask ChatGPT to write 'natural-sounding sales emails,' then contacted clients with Dickensian messages that began, 'I hope this email finds you in good health.' The Slackbot Gone Awry Similarly, Clemens Rychlik, COO at marketing firm Hello Operator, says a colleague let ChatGPT draft Slack replies largely unchecked, and addressed him as Clarence instead of Clemens. When Clemens replied in good fun, calling his colleague the wrong name too, 'their reaction was, of course, guilt and shame—and the responses after that were definitely 'human.'' The Inappropriate Business Recommendation On the larger side, some people are using AI to generate information for clients without checking the results, which compromises the quality of their work. Alex Smereczniak is the CEO of the startup Franzy, a marketplace for buying and selling franchise opportunities. His company uses a specially trained LLM on the back end to help customers find franchises, but Smereczniak says their clients often don't know this. So when one client asked to see opportunities for wellness-focused franchises, and the account manager recommended she open a Dave's Hot Chicken, she was less than pleased. Smereczniak says the employee came clean and told the customer he had used AI to generate her matches. 'We took a closer look and realized the model had been weighting certain factors like profitability and brand growth too heavily, without enough context on the prospect's personal values,' says Smereczniak. 'We quickly updated the model's training data and reweighted a few inputs to better reflect those lifestyle preferences.' When the Franzy team fired up the AI again, the model made better recommendations, and the customer was happy with the new recommendations. 'At a startup, things are moving a million miles a minute,' Smereczniak says. 'I think, in general, it's good for us all to remind ourselves when we are doing something client-facing or externally. It's okay to slow down and double check—and triple check—the AI.' The Hallucinated Source Some companies have used AI mistakes to improve their work processes, which was the case at Michelle's employer, a PR firm. (Michelle is a pseudonym as she's not technically allowed to embarrass her employer in writing.) Michelle tells Fast Company that a colleague used Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant, to generate a ghostwritten report on behalf of a client. Unfortunately, Claude hallucinated and cited imaginary sources and quoted imaginary experts. 'The quote in this piece was attributed to a made-up employee from one of the top three largest asset management firms in the world,' she says. But the report was published anyway. Michelle's company found out by way of an angry email from the asset management firm. 'We were obviously all mortified,' Michelle says. 'This had never happened before. We thought it was a process that would take place super easily and streamline the content creation process. But unfortunately, this snafu took place instead.' Ultimately, the company saved face all around by simply owning up to the error and successfully retained the account. The PR firm told the client and the asset management firm exactly how the error occurred and assured them it wouldn't happen again thanks to new protocols. Despite the flub, the firm didn't ban the use of AI for content creation—they want to be on the leading edge of tech—nor did it solely blame the employee (who kept their job), but it did install a series of serious checks in its workflow, and now all AI-generated content must be reviewed by at least four employees. It's a mistake that could have happened to anyone, Michelle says. 'AI is a powerful accelerator, but without human oversight, it can push you right off a cliff.' The AI-Powered Job Application AI use isn't just happening on the job, sometimes it's happening during the job interview itself. Reality Defender, a company that makes deepfake detection software, asks its job candidates to complete take-home projects as part of the interview process. Ironically it's not uncommon for those take-home tests to be completed with AI assistance. As far as Reality Defender is concerned, 'everyone assumes, and rightfully so, that AI is being used in either the conception or full on completion for a lot of tasks these days,' a rep for the company tells Fast Company. But it's one thing to use AI to augment your work by polishing a résumé or punching up a cover letter, and another to have it simply do the work for you. Reality Defender wants candidates to be transparent. 'Be very upfront about your usage of AI,' they said. 'In fact, we encourage that discretion and disclosure and see that as a positive, not a negative. If you are out there saying, 'Hey, I did this with artificial intelligence, and it's gotten me to here, but I am perfectly capable of doing this without artificial intelligence, albeit in a different way,' you are not only an honest person, but it shows your level of proficiency with artificial intelligence.' 'Personally, I don't think it's necessarily bad to use [AI] to some extent, but at the very, very least, you want to check what's being written and reviewed before we share it,' says Rychlik at Hello Operator. 'More broadly, I ask everyone to pause regularly on this because if your first instinct is always 'ask GPT,' you risk worsening your critical thinking capabilities.' Rychlik is tapping into a common sentiment we noticed. On the whole, companies are trying to use mistakes as a learning opportunity to ask for transparency and improve processes. We're in an age of AI experimentation, and smart companies understand mistakes are the cost of experimentation. In this experimental stage, organizations and employees using AI at work look tech-savvy rather than careless, and we're just finding out where the boundaries are. For now, many workers seem to have adopted a policy of asking for forgiveness rather than permission.
