The AI Budget Review workbook is now in the classroom as a free download, for anyone putting next year's budget together. AI spend is spread over desktop seats, AI add-ons in software you already pay for, pilots and API automations, and the API part is easy to lose in a single line nobody can break down. The workbook lists every one of those lines, puts each through five questions and suggests whether to cut, consolidate, govern, review, keep or double it, so the budget meeting starts from a verdict and its reason for every line. The five questions and the CUT / KEEP / DOUBLE groups are M. Nadia Vincent's, from her article "Your 2027 AI Budget Is on Trial" (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-2027-ai-budget-trial-m-nadia-vincent-mba-pmp-tecnc/), which is worth reading first; the CONSOLIDATE, GOVERN and REVIEW verdicts and the API sheet were added for this workbook. That sheet prices each automation per run from its model, its runs per month and its tokens per run (roughly, how much text the model reads and writes each time), with model prices checked against the Anthropic, OpenAI and Google pricing pages on 25 October. The download has a blank workbook and a worked example with invented data, so you can see the verdicts before entering your own lines: https://www.skool.com/thirdbrain-tech-3102/classroom/f06a07f3?md=bc25d7838e1040c4bfc092c40e86e2b2 Does your budget already split API usage per automation, or is it still one line for the whole company?

v2.8.0 shipped on 11 October. It is a depth release: the library got a full review, and the way you get skills into your vault is now more flexible. The Starter Vault stores only the 14 skills that operate the vault. Every other skill, about 400 in all, plus the playbooks and value chains, is available through the skills MCP server: your agent searches the library, loads the one skill it needs, and nothing has to be unzipped. If you prefer offline files, the Core Pack (over 200 skills) and the department packs install by unzipping. You can mix both. context-pack is what keeps this portable. A skill asks for a key such as company.clients instead of naming a folder, and context-pack answers with the real folder in your workspace. A workspace can override its layout in one context.yaml, or write extends: default and declare only what differs. Data models. One new schema and several extended ones. Playbook diagrams. 51 new sequence diagrams, so every active playbook now has one. Look and feel. A new Obsidian theme, and refreshed visuals in the video skills. Manuals. The User Manual and the Getting Started Guide are regenerated at v2.8.0 from the corrected chapters. Examples updated. The packs. Over 200 general skills in the Core Pack, plus nine department packs: Business, Engineering, Enterprise, Marketing, Media, Operations, PMBOK, Process and Sales. Every skill is now free, with no Pro gating: each department is one ZIP with all of its skills. Each ZIP bundles the helper skills it depends on, so it works on its own in a Starter vault. One thing to know: skills that apply local legal or financial rules now say plainly when those rules have not been professionally reviewed, so treat their results as estimates. Where to get it. Starter Vault: Classroom, Starter Vault, Install & Setup, lesson "ThirdBrain BOB v2.8.0 dd 11-Oct 2026". The User Manual and Getting Started PDFs are attached to the same lesson. Core Pack and how to connect the skills server: Classroom, Starter Vault, Getting every other skill.

With the claude mods, you can now customize the claude desktop in a way that is very similar to how obsidian plugins work. The file explorer shows all folders including hidden ones in obsidian. No wysiwig edits, so only raw code edits possible, but do autosave like in obsidian. I created a few claude mods to see how far it stretches and where the differences are. The drawio works well, but the canvas rendering is missing the obsidian built-in support for bases and note previews. Excalidraw looks good too , since the example is rather wide, ask for a transposition so added button in the panel and it works immediately ... Still obsidian is my preference, but those Claude Mods open up a ton of possibilities if you decided to stick to the claude ecosystem.

Something I’ve been curious about lately. From my experience working with different software projects, development can become one of the biggest costs for a growing company. But not every business has raised money. Some companies are bootstrapped. Some are already making revenue. Others are still trying to get the product into the market. So I wonder how this works in the US. Do most companies wait until they raise investment before building a proper development team? Or are profitable small businesses comfortable investing in developers from their own revenue? Curious to hear from people actually running companies there. How do you usually think about this?

First of all, I would like to thank the admin for establishing this community. I plan to make frequent use of it. I am not here to sell or promote anything. I am here to connect with meaningful people and contribute to this community. I would be truly disappointed if I were misunderstood. To briefly introduce myself, I’m an entrepreneur currently based in Tokyo, Japan. I am running my business here while working closely with Japanese clients and leading my devs. And also an experienced engineer myself We are currently working on a wide range of developments, including: • AI and machine learning systems • LLM applications, RAG systems, AI agents, and intelligent search • AI-powered customer support and business automation • SaaS platforms and subscription-based products • Custom CRM, ERP, and internal business systems • Web applications and company platforms • Mobile applications for iOS and Android • Backend systems, APIs, databases, and cloud infrastructure • Real-time platforms, dashboards, admin panels, and analytics systems • Workflow automation and integrations between existing business tools • Booking, reservation, payment, messaging, and notification systems • Marketplace and matching platforms • Logistics, dispatch, location tracking, and map-based applications • E-commerce and customer management solutions • Healthcare, education, hospitality, finance, logistics, and other industry-specific systems • Modernization of older systems and migration to new web/cloud architectures • Product MVP development through to production-ready systems and continued scaling At the moment, I also have a clear idea and vision for building something much bigger. If anyone here is currently running a company or actively doing business in the US or Europe, I’d be glad to connect and have a conversation. I would like to discuss my vision and ideas with a long-term partner. Thanks for reading this.