Part 1/2: In Search of My 2nd Brain. Still Lost on AI Agents. Share Your Scars.

🎤 SPEAKER: San Eng — Founder, WorkOptional.ai & SabaiHealth
This is Part 1 of 2. Part 1 tonight = all the problems, none of the solutions. Part 2 in 2 weeks = the room finds the answers together.
The original plan was for me to present my "10-agent ikiSquad" like I had it figured out.
I don't.
Here is what actually happened in the last six months:
- Built OpenClaw on a VPS. Did not trust it.
- Tested Manus, Genspark, GPT. Kicked the tires.
- Went all in on Claude Cowork like the rest of the world. Burned ~$6K before hitting the limits everyone eventually hits.
- Built on iki and ikiSquad. Blew up on Claude. Literal JSON errors mid-run. Rebuilt to v4. Hit memory issues. Hit costs stacking faster than value out.
- Hooked everything to OpenRouter. Routed through "CheapAI" for arbitrage. Now testing Google Gemini Spark. Kimi and the Chinese stack (DeepSeek, Qwen, GLM, MiniMax) are next, not yet.
I have the luxury of 3-4 hours a day, 7 days a week to chase this. Most of you have ten minutes. The 99.99% of the world has zero. That gap is the real problem, and not one I will solve by faking expertise.
PART 1 OF 2 — JUNE 10 — what to expect:
- 20-30 min: I share the full journey, scars and dollar amounts included
- I do NOT have the solution yet. Tonight is the problem statement.
- Open mic: builders, bring one failure, one win, one thing you are testing this week
- Q&A throughout
- Come to listen, share, network. Leave with a clearer map of where AI agents actually break.
PART 2 OF 2 — in 2 weeks — the search continues:
We come back as a room and find the answers together. Especially from the audience. Interactive. The hive mind beats one founder, every time.
Non-tech operator feeling lost — this room is for you.
Builder with real production scars — this room needs you.
When: Wed June 10 · 8:30–9:30 PM Bangkok
SG/KL 9:30 PM · NYC 9:30 AM EDT · LA 6:30 AM PDT · London 2:30 PM · Dubai 5:30 PM
Where: Please meet San at his Zoom room:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8588585588
Passcode: none
(If no wifi, choose the cellular option in the Zoom app)
RSVP. Bring a friend who is stuck too.
— San
WorkOptional.ai · Research, Educate, Invest · East/West AI · the Educate side, in the rawest form.