Ban people from working: Mews CTO Josef Starýchfojtů on how AI agents are transforming business

Josef Starýchfojtů, CTO of Czech unicorn Mews, which builds hotel management software, believes most people use artificial intelligence the wrong way. Instead of patiently training AI to do their job, people keep trying to prove they're smarter than the technology — and miss out on its biggest advantage.

Last year Starýchfojtů made it onto the Forbes "30 Under 30" list, and today he's responsible for development, product, and technology at a company valued at over 50 billion crowns. On the Forbes podcast "Faktor AI," he explained that Mews has taken the opposite approach: "AI will now do your job instead of you" — one of the principles that helps the company maintain high productivity.

Starýchfojtů applies this approach to himself as well. He gave his own AI agent access to company data and let it prepare the quarterly business review (QBR) — but instead of just producing a report, the agent develops a strategy, builds a business case from it, and then even a product. "You no longer need to look at results comprehensively once a quarter — you can do it several times a day. You just keep an eye on what the agent proposes and make adjustments," he explains.

According to him, an agent needs context and boundaries set from the very start, and it needs to be trained. "Your new job is to build agents that will do your old job, and then develop them further," says the Mews CTO, calling this principle "human on the loop."

The rollout of AI at Mews has even led to a new job title — "Product Builder" — combining the skills of a product manager, designer, and programmer all in one.

"The results are incredible, our people have become noticeably more productive. But it's not just about AI itself — it's about what it makes possible as a tool," notes Starýchfojtů. In his view, artificial intelligence has removed the biggest bottleneck in development — the long coordination process between specialists.

Now a single project doesn't need three people working on it — one employee with their AI agents can do it, which directly impacts a key metric: revenue per employee. "There's a completely new ceiling now on how much revenue a single person in a business can generate," he says.

At the same time, Starýchfojtů admits that explaining and coordinating these kinds of changes within a company isn't easy. "Change management is the hardest thing in business, and nothing ever happens as fast as you'd like," the Mews CTO concludes.