Full-time equivalents spent on work that is the same every week, by function.
TodayHeadless
Customer service
14 → 5
Catalogue and ops
12 → 5
Finance
8 → 4
Marketing operations
6 → 4
Total22 FTE of time back. 39,600 hours a year.40 → 18
02 · The stack
Your stack. Built by us. Owned by you.
PADISO is not in your stack. We choose the agents, wire them into the systems you already run, and set the rules inside your own tools. Every account, contract and log is in your name.
You
Founder and leads
7am daily summaryApprovals in SlackWeekly operating review
Agents
Bought, not built
Gorgias AI AgentXero JAXDextApprovalMaxChaserShopify Sidekick and FlowKlaviyo AI agentsCustom Claude agents on n8n
The rules
Set in your own tools
Approval thresholds in SlackSpend caps in each vendorAudit logs you keepWeekly accuracy checks
Systems of record
Stay as they are
ShopifyXeroKlaviyoCin7SlackBank feeds
Models: Claude, GPT, Gemini or Grok, chosen per task on accuracy and cost. Swappable without a rebuild.Custom agents: only where no product exists. Here, two: wholesale quotes and close prep.
03 · The playbook
Function by function, step by step.
The tools, the order of work, the guardrail and what it is worth. Detailed enough to implement.
Customer service
Weeks 5 to 8
First response
6 hours → 2 min
Hours back a year
16,200
Net EBITDA a year
$641K
Tools
Gorgias AI AgentShopifySlack
Steps
1Export 12 months of tickets. Tag the top 20 intents: where is my order, returns, sizing, address changes.
2Connect Gorgias AI Agent to Shopify orders and tracking. Write refund and returns policy as agent guidance.
3Shadow for 2 weeks: the agent drafts, people send. Go live intent by intent once accuracy passes 90%.
4Switch on actions: cancel, change address, refund under $150. Escalations land in Slack.
People keep
Escalations, VIP customers, brand voice
Guardrail
Refunds over $150, angry or VIP customers go to a person.
Catalogue and ops
Weeks 8 to 11
Listing update, 4 channels
2 days → 10 min
Hours back a year
12,600
Net EBITDA a year
$499K
Tools
Shopify Sidekick and FlowCin7Claude agent on n8n
Steps
1Make Shopify the product master. Cin7 syncs stock and orders to all four channels.
2Build Flow rules for low stock, reorder points and price parity across channels.
3Use Sidekick to draft listings and bulk edits straight from supplier sheets.
4Deploy a Claude agent on n8n that answers wholesale enquiries and quotes from the price book.
People keep
Range, pricing strategy, supplier relationships
Guardrail
Price changes over 10% and quotes over $25K need a yes.
Finance
Weeks 11 to 14
Month-end close
12 days → 3 days
Hours back a year
7,200
Net EBITDA a year
$285K
Tools
Xero JAXDextApprovalMaxChaser
Steps
1Dext captures every bill and receipt into Xero. No more inbox hunting.
2JAX reconciles bank lines in Xero every night. Exceptions only reach the team.
3ApprovalMax routes bills by amount and supplier. Chaser follows up overdue invoices.
4A Claude close agent preps accruals and variance notes. Finance reviews and signs.
People keep
Cash decisions, supplier terms, board pack
Guardrail
Supplier payments run only after a human approves the batch.
Marketing operations
Weeks 13 to 16
Campaign build
5 days → 1 day
Hours back a year
3,600
Net EBITDA a year
$143K
Tools
Klaviyo AI agentsShopifySlack
Steps
1Clean up segments and flows. Write the brand voice and banned claims as rules.
2Klaviyo AI agents build campaigns and flows from a one line brief.
3A reporting agent posts the weekly performance read to Slack every Monday.
4Creative lead approves the first send of each campaign. Repeats run on their own.
People keep
Creative direction, offers, approvals
Guardrail
First send of each campaign and any discount over 20%.
Tools named are what we would shortlist for this business today. No paid placements and no vendor affiliation. Best of breed moves fast, so the stack is reviewed every quarter.
04 · How it runs
Faster on every measure that matters.
Shorter bar is better. Same business, same team leads, same systems.
First response180× faster
Today
6 hours
Headless
2 minutes
Month-end close75% faster
Today
12 days
Headless
3 days
Wholesale quote18× faster
Today
3 days
Headless
Same day
Listing update, 4 channels288× faster
Today
2 days
Headless
10 minutes
Approvals reaching the founder93% fewer
Today
40 a week
Headless
3 a week
Support offlineOpen 24/7
Today
118 hours a week
Headless
0 hours
05 · The money
$4.0M EBITDA becomes $5.57M.
Each function adds to the bottom line. Figures are net of software, models and running the agents.
$4.0M
Today
+$0.64M
Customer service
+$0.50M
Catalogue and ops
+$0.29M
Finance
+$0.14M
Marketing ops
$5.57M
Headless
EBITDA margin
10%→13.9%
How the $1.57M is built
22 FTE × $95K$2.09MSoftware, models, running, 25%−$0.52MNet a year$1.57M
06 · The 16 weeks
One function at a time. Value from week 8.
Each function runs in shadow mode for two weeks: agents draft, people send. Nothing goes live until accuracy holds above 90%.
12345678910111213141516
Diagnostic
Diagnostic
Customer service
Live wk 8
Catalogue and ops
Live wk 11
Finance
Live wk 14
Marketing ops
Live wk 16
DiagnosticShadow modeLive
Annual EBITDA run rate, by week
$1.57M by week 16
12345678910111213141516
Milestones
Week 4Board signs off the case, the stack and the guardrails
Week 8Gorgias AI Agent live. $0.64M run rate
Week 11Catalogue, stock and wholesale quotes live. $1.14M
Week 14First 3-day month-end close. $1.43M
Week 16Klaviyo agents live. Handover to Operate. $1.57M
07 · After
The founder's Monday, headless.
One summary at 7am. Two decisions. The rest of the day goes on the next range.
Daily summaryMon 7:00am
412
tickets resolved over the weekend
96%
without a person
$84K
in 3 wholesale quotes sent
Waiting for you · 2
Refund $420 · order 18842 · damaged in transitApprove
New supplier · packaging · 8% under currentReview
Books reconciled to Friday · All channels in stock sync
Always waits for a human yes
Refundsover $150
Price changesover 10%
Wholesale quotesover $25K
Supplier paymentsevery batch
Campaign sendsfirst of each
Illustrative model: 22 FTE of repeatable work at $95K fully loaded, less 25% for software, models and running the agents. 1,800 hours per FTE a year. Not a client result. A Diagnostic replaces these with your numbers. Product names are trademarks of their owners.
What would your business look like headless?
30 minutes with our founder. We sketch your before and after, and your stack, on the call.