Change Agents Recap: What We Learned About Scaling with AI Agents

Last month at Relevance AI HQ, our CPO (Chief Product Officer!), Beth Lovell, joined a panel of powerhouse founders and leaders for Change Agents: Female Founders Scaling with AI Agents.

The event brought together innovators who are reshaping industries with AI-first thinking:

• Beth Lovell (FOBOH) – shaping a simpler, smarter, and more sustainable food and beverage wholesale ecosystem through an AI workforce

• Angela Shi (Empathetic AI) — building Australia’s first AI tax copilot

• Sam Garven (Hello Canopy) — creating safer workplaces with reporting tools that empower employees

• Sally Yu (King River Capital) — backing the next generation of AI companies

• Georgie Healy — facilitating the conversation as AI Accelerator Lead and host of In The Blink of AI

It was an evening of honest lessons, practical hacks, and big-picture vision on what it really takes to scale with AI.

Key Takeaways from the Panel

1. Treat AI Agents Like Teammates

Beth shared one of the most practical (and funniest) lessons from FOBOH’s own journey:

“When onboarding AI Agents, treating them like a new member in your team and actually prompting them in that way has been incredibly helpful for us.”

Just like a new hire, AI agents need structure, clear expectations, and some trial-and-error before they hit their stride.

That means setting expectations, documenting processes, and giving them clear instructions. If you don’t onboard them properly, they’ll behave like a confused new hire who skipped orientation.

For foodservice distributors and manufacturers, this approach ensures AI agents handle orders, invoices, and customer data consistently, freeing your human team to focus on client relationships.

2. Keep It Simple 

Panelist Sally Yu offered one of the most practical insights of the night: don’t expect one AI agent to take on the role of an entire person.

The temptation is to build an “all-in-one” agent. But in reality, specificity wins. The best-performing agents do one thing really well — whether that’s triaging inbound customer requests, scraping policy documents, or managing outreach automation.

Once those smaller, specialized agents are running smoothly, you can chain them together into a workflow. Think of it like building an orchestra: each instrument adds value on its own, but the magic happens when they’re coordinated.

At FOBOH, this thinking underpins how we help foodservice businesses scale. Instead of one “mega-agent,” we design task-focused AI that handles repetitive work like order ingestion or data cleaning — and then link them into seamless processes.

3. Domain Expertise Matters

Angela Shi reminded us that the strongest AI solutions come from deep knowledge of the problem space. Whether it’s tax compliance or foodservice order management, AI is only as valuable as the domain it’s applied to.

For FOBOH, this is exactly why we’re so passionate about foodservice wholesale. Our team lives and breathes the unique challenges of this space: unpredictable supply chains, high-touch customer relationships, and razor-thin margins. By applying AI-native thinking to these specific problems, we’re creating tools that are not just innovative, but genuinely useful.

4. Data Hygiene is Non-Negotiable

The panel agreed: AI is only as good as the data you feed it. Investing in clean, structured data upfront saves a world of headaches down the track.

At FOBOH, we see this every day in the foodservice industry. Distributors often juggle orders across phone, email, and text — all in different formats. Without cleaning and structuring that data, AI agents can’t provide accurate insights or automation.

The lesson? Don’t skip the groundwork. The flashiest AI is only as strong as the foundation you build beneath it.

5. Closing the Gender Gap in AI Adoption

One statistic that sparked serious conversation: women are using AI tools 25% less than men.

That’s more than a usage gap — it’s a missed opportunity. Women bring strengths in empathy, communication, and collaboration that are critical for designing AI that truly works for humans. As Sam Garven noted during the panel, “Women can make better decisions with AI and smart decisions… to decrease the harm and decrease the bias.”

Events like Change Agents aren’t just networking nights. They’re building the future by ensuring women are leading the AI conversation, not playing catch-up.

At FOBOH, this resonates deeply. As a female-founded and female-led company, we believe diversity in leadership isn’t just good optics — it drives better products, fairer outcomes, and more human-centred innovation.

Why This Matters for Foodservice

At FOBOH, we know the food and beverage industry doesn’t just need more tech — it needs the right tech. AI agents can take on repetitive, time-heavy admin tasks so sales and operations teams can focus on relationships, growth, and strategy.

Beth’s message from the panel is the same one we live by at FOBOH:

AI agents aren’t here to replace people — they’re here to make teams stronger.

Final Thoughts

The night ended with buzzing energy, swapped stories, and a few laughs about AI agents’ quirks. Huge thanks to Relevance AI for hosting, Georgie Healy for facilitating, and to our fellow panelists for the insights (and laughs).

If you missed it, you can catch highlights on the In The Blink of AI podcast.

FOBOH will keep showing up in these conversations because building the future of foodservice means learning from every industry, every perspective, and every story.

Take the first step towards smarter operations. Get in touch today and learn how FOBOH’s AI-powered assistants can help you thrive.