Groundwork Ops

The senior EA you wish you had.

AI-fluent admin, ops, and HR support for founders and small teams. A real person doing the work. Backed by Claude. Not a chatbot. Not a tool you have to learn.

Inbox200+ msgs/wk Backlog3 mos behind Finished byThursday
FIG. 01 · THE PILE BEFORE
INBOX · UNREAD 412 DOCS · DRAFT CRM · STALE INVOICES · 90 DAYS
MON 09:00FRI 17:00
FIG. 02 · THE STACK WHAT HOLDS IT UP
VISIBLE WORK ↑ TOP OF THE STACK FOUNDATION · ADMIN

The work that keeps a business from falling over — and never gets celebrated when it's done well.

Groundwork Ops · Operating Principle
01  ·  The problem

You didn't start a company to live in your inbox.

But here you are. 200+ messages a week. A doc that's been "almost ready" for three weeks. A CRM nobody has touched since Q2. Vendor invoices stacking up. A new hire who still hasn't gotten their handbook.

You've thought about hiring a real EA. You've priced out a virtual assistant. You've tried two of those AI-powered chatbots that promised to "10x your productivity." None of it stuck. The EA is too expensive for the volume. The VA needs you to write the SOP first. The chatbot can write an email but can't tell which email actually matters.

The work that's bogging you down isn't hard. It's just relentless. And it has to be done by someone who knows your business well enough to make calls without checking in.

02  ·  What you get

A real person. Doing the work. Backed by Claude.

One Groundwork Ops operator, assigned to you. They live in your tools — inbox, calendar, docs, CRM — and they use Claude the same way a senior EA uses a sharp deputy. The output is human. The leverage is AI.

i.
Inbox triage
Daily sweeps, drafted replies, threads escalated only when they need you.
ii.
Calendar coordination
Meetings booked, prep notes ready, follow-ups out the door before you remember to ask.
iii.
Document drafting
The doc that's been "almost ready" for three weeks — finished by Thursday.
iv.
CRM & data hygiene
Records kept current, pipelines tidied, lists built from real research, not scraped junk.
v.
Vendor & invoice ops
Quotes chased, invoices reconciled, handoffs to your bookkeeper kept clean.
vi.
HR & onboarding
New-hire paperwork, handbook updates, PTO and benefits coordination.
vii.
Research & briefs
Whatever you need to read before Tuesday, condensed to the parts that matter.
viii.
"Can someone just…"
If a sharp EA, ops associate, or HR generalist would handle it — we handle it.
03  ·  Why AI-fluent

EA judgment, multiplied. Not replaced.

FIG. 03 · THE FORMULA HOW IT WORKS
SENIOR EA JUDGMENT · CONTEXT + CLAUDE SPEED · BREADTH = GROUNDWORK OPS ONE OPERATOR · YOUR STACK INPUT OUTPUT

The AI handles volume. Reads the whole inbox. Drafts every reply. Pulls the right notes from the last six calls. Surfaces the three things that need a real decision.

The operator handles judgment. Decides what's worth your attention, what gets handled silently, what gets killed. They know your tone in writing, who matters in your network, and which clients are the kind you say yes to. That part doesn't come out of a model.

04  ·  Who we work with

Founders running between $250K and $5M.

Service businesses, agencies, single-shop consultancies, small teams under twenty. The kind of operation where the founder is still the highest-paid admin in the building and knows it.

We work especially well with people who've tried to hire an EA twice and given up, who've already spent more on productivity tools than a salary, and who are tired of explaining the same context to a new contractor every quarter.

We're not a fit for venture-backed teams with a head of operations already in seat, or for solo founders who want a chatbot they can manage themselves. We do best when you can hand off a category and trust us to come back when there's something real to decide.

Hand off the pile. Get the week back.

One email. One operator assigned in a week. We start with whatever is the loudest fire and work back from there.

ops@groundwork.co