Leon van Zyl On How CEOs Are Building Their Own Software
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In this episode, Olivia sits down with Leon van Zyl to talk about what it actually takes to bring AI agents into a real organization — replacing the software companies pay for with software they build and own, and why clear instructions matter just as much for agents as they do for people.
In this conversation, he walks through real examples from his eighteen years in enterprise software, including how a non-technical project manager learned to build dashboards with coding agents in three sessions, how his team replaced paid SaaS subscriptions with software they built and owned, and why he created his own autonomous coding platform, Auto Forge, to ship full applications on autopilot.
Leon also breaks down the two ends of the AI adoption spectrum that every company is navigating right now, makes the case that the biggest wins come from automating the unglamorous internal processes nobody wants to do, and shows how experienced developers and non-technical builders are meeting in the middle.
Whether you're a CEO, a solo founder, an employee, or a builder, this is what the top operators are actually doing with AI agents in 2026.
What we cover:
What it actually takes to get a large organization AI-ready
Why the biggest AI wins come from automating unglamorous internal processes
How a non-technical project manager learned to build dashboards in three sessions
Why experienced developers and non-technical builders are meeting in the middle
How to replace expensive SaaS subscriptions with software your team builds and owns
Why specialized subagents beat one overloaded agent every time
What Leon's daily workflow looks like running his entire business on AI agents
Connect with Leon van Zyl
Leon's YouTube channel is one of the best places to learn how to actually build with AI agents — from hands-on tutorials with Claude Code and the latest AI tools to real workflows you can follow step by step. He also runs the Agentic Labs community, where 700+ builders learn together every week.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtevzRsHEKhs-RK8pAqwSyQ Agentic Labs Community: https://www.skool.com/agentic-labs
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