AI Agents and Assistants
What is an AI agent? A plain-English guide for business owners
What an AI agent is, how it works, where it helps a small business, the risks, and a 7-point check to see if you are ready for one.
Business Agents
AI Delegation Agent
A goal comes in, gets broken into tasks, assigned to the right person or agent, and followed up until it is done.
If you are the person who has to remember everything, delegation becomes a second job. This agent takes a goal you give it, breaks it into concrete tasks, assigns each one to the right person or agent using your rules, and follows up on anything that stalls. It works inside the tools your team already uses and keeps a record of who owns what.
- Goals broken into clear tasks with the right owners
- Stalled tasks followed up and escalated automatically
- A full record of what was assigned and finished
$4,400
20–30 working days
Optional maintenance $249/mo
What it is
AI Delegation Agent takes a goal that has no plan yet and breaks it into concrete tasks. It assigns each task to a person or another agent. It then chases the tasks that stall, following your rules about who owns which work. To track a plan that already exists, AI Project Manager Agent is the better fit.
Why businesses buy it
Leaders and managers lose hours every week turning goals into tasks and chasing people for updates. When that chasing slips, deadlines slip with it, and work lands back on the person who delegated it. This agent does the breakdown and the follow-up consistently, using your rules about who owns which kind of work. You get time back and a clear record of progress without micromanaging. The workflows, connected tools and assignment rules are written on the Scope Card before you order, so you know exactly how it behaves.
Problems this solves
Big goals stay vague because nobody breaks them into tasks
You give the agent a goal, and it breaks it into concrete tasks. Each task is set up in the tools your team already uses, through up to six approved workflows.
Tasks land with the wrong person or with nobody
It assigns each task to a person or another agent, following your rules about who owns which kind of work. Assignments outside those rules wait for approval.
Stalled tasks are discovered at the deadline, not before
The agent chases tasks that stall, inside the approval rules you set. Owners hear about it early, while there is still time to move the work along.
A good fit if
You or your leads spend real time each week breaking down projects and chasing people for updates.
Your team's work already lives in tools like a project tracker, a shared inbox or a chat channel, so there is somewhere for tasks to land.
You have clear rules for who normally owns which kind of work, even if they are not written down yet.
You want a record of what was assigned, to whom, and whether it was finished on time.
Not the right fit if
You already have a project plan and need it tracked, with blockers flagged and status updates posted. See AI Project Manager Agent.
You need something that finds new prospects rather than manages existing work. See AI Lead Generation Engine.
Your main pain point is drafting replies to inbound messages, not assigning tasks. See AI Email Drafting Agent.
You need it to qualify inbound leads through conversation rather than delegate internal work. See AI Lead Qualification Agent.
You need more than six workflows or more than two connected systems. Add a note at checkout and we quote the extra scope, or start from a custom build.
How it works
- You give it a goal in plain language, such as a project, a deadline, or a recurring outcome you need delivered.
- It breaks the goal into individual tasks, sized so each one has a clear owner and a clear definition of done.
- It assigns each task to a person or another agent, based on the rules and roles you set during setup.
- It posts the assignment where that person already works, with the context needed to start without asking around.
- It checks in on tasks that are due or overdue, and nudges the owner before escalating to you.
- It logs every assignment, nudge and completion, so you can see where a goal actually stood at any point.
What you provide within 72 hours
Your portal lists these the moment you order. Delivery starts the working day after everything is in and your access is checked.
- Admin or API access to the systems it should read from and write to, sandbox or test records are fine to start.
- Your rules for who owns which kind of work, and any limits on what it can assign without asking first.
- Ten real examples of goals, projects or requests it should be able to handle.
- The person who approves assignments that need a human decision.
- Admin access and API keys for every connected system, shared by adding our team as a user or creating a key you control, never by email.
- Your business information (company basics, hours and brand voice), shared during intake.
- One decision-maker who can sign off on the final setup.
- An API key for your own AI model account (for example OpenAI or Google Gemini), created for this build with a spending limit.
The 72-hour rule. Send everything on your checklist, including access, within 72 hours of ordering so your build starts on time.
Timeline
Start
Intake verified, ownership rules and escalation paths agreed.
Weeks 1–2
Task-breakdown logic and assignment workflows built.
Week 3
Connected systems linked with read and write access.
Weeks 3–4
Fifty documented test scenarios run, results sent to you.
Week 4
Your review and two rounds of changes.
Go-live
Live, recorded 60-minute handoff session, support starts.
| Option | Delivery time | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | 20–30 working days | $4,400 |
| Express | 15–25 working days | $5,150 |
| Rush | 10–20 working days | $5,950 |
What you receive at handover
- The AI Delegation Agent, configured with your ownership rules
- Up to six workflows with your approval rules, plus prompt and guardrail settings
- Connections to up to two agreed systems with read and write access
- A test report covering the documented test scenarios
- An admin guide and recorded handoff session
- 30 days of post-launch support
Expected benefits and how to measure them
- Can turn goals into assigned work faster
- Helps tasks reach the person who owns that kind of work
- Makes stalled work visible before deadlines pass
- Time from goal to assigned tasks
- Note when a goal is set and when its tasks are assigned, for recent goals and for those handled by the agent.
- Tasks reassigned after first assignment
- Count reassignments in your task tool's history for a month before launch and a month after.
- Tasks completed by their due date
- Export task history and compare on-time completion before and after launch.
Before you start: Pick a few recent goals and note how long they took to break down and assign. Record your current on-time completion from task history.
These are things to track, not promised results. Outcomes depend on your data, your team and your market.
Running costs
The build price is one-time. Running it costs roughly $50 to $250 a month in AI model usage and hosting, billed to your own accounts, on top of whatever project or chat tools you already pay for.
AI usage during the build and testing is billed the same way, in your own accounts, so every provider relationship stays yours.
Ask about running costsCustom requirements
Add a note at checkout if you need something specific. If it fits within the Scope Card it is simply included. If it goes beyond it, you get a written Change Quote within two working days, and that work starts only once you accept it, with its time added to your delivery date.
Request a custom versionKeep it running
Monthly maintenance covers monitoring, fixes, updates, a health report and ongoing changes to assignment rules as your team grows. The change hours scale with your build. Maintenance starts after the thirty days of post-launch support and can be cancelled any month.
$249/mo (the minimum fee, includes 2 change hours)
Optional. Starts after the post-launch support period. Cancel any month.
How maintenance worksHow this compares
| Do it yourself with a SaaS tool | Hire a custom agency | Upmark Labs | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | A task or project tool with AI features is a per-seat monthly fee | A custom agency quotes after discovery calls | Ours is one fixed price, shown before you buy |
| Scope | A generic tool assigns tasks you type in yourself | An agency agrees scope during the project | Ours breaks a goal into tasks and assigns them for you |
| Delivery | A project tool works the day you sign up, with no tuning to your rules | An agency usually takes several weeks, set per project | Ours has a fixed delivery time shown before you buy, with faster options |
| Follow-up | Most tools rely on reminders you set up yourself | An agency build depends on what was agreed | Ours checks in on stalled tasks and escalates automatically |
Questions about this product
Can it assign work to another AI agent, not just a person?
Yes. If you run other agents in the same tools, this one can hand a task to them the same way it would hand it to a person, as long as that rule is set during setup. You choose exactly which task types are eligible for that.
What happens when nobody picks up an assigned task?
It nudges the assigned owner first, on the schedule you set during intake. If the task is still open past your chosen threshold, it escalates to whoever you named for that workflow, so nothing quietly stalls without anyone in your team noticing.
What does running the delegation agent cost each month?
Roughly $50 to $250 a month in AI model usage and hosting, paid in your own accounts, on top of any project or chat tools you already use. We charge nothing extra per task assigned or per goal broken down.
Can it change who owns what as our team grows or reorganizes?
Small changes to ownership rules fit inside the monthly change hours once you have maintenance in place. A larger restructuring, such as brand new departments or a different approval chain entirely, is scoped as a written Change Quote before that work starts.
Does it need admin access to every tool our team currently uses?
No. This build connects to up to two systems with read and write access, which covers most teams' core project and chat tools. Extra connected systems beyond those two are available as an add-on, priced and quoted separately from the base build.
How much of our team's time does the setup itself take?
Expect to spend one to two hours on intake, mostly gathering ownership rules and ten sample goals, inside the seventy-two-hour window after ordering the build. After that, expect roughly an hour to review the fifty test scenarios before launch, plus the recorded handoff session at the end.
What if the first version doesn't match how our team actually works?
You get two rounds of changes built into the price, after reviewing the fifty documented test scenarios, so most mismatches get caught before launch. Anything that still doesn't match the Scope Card in the first five working days is fixed at no extra cost.
How is this different from AI Project Manager Agent?
They start at different points. AI Delegation Agent starts from a goal with no plan, turns it into tasks and decides who does each one. AI Project Manager Agent starts from a plan that already exists in your project tool. It tracks deadlines and blockers and posts status updates. Many teams use Delegation to create the work and the Project Manager Agent to track it.
Guides on this topic
All guides Stop being the one who has to remember everything.
Order the AI Delegation Agent and your goals are broken down, assigned and followed up, with every task logged. The workflows and assignment rules are agreed in writing before you pay.
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