Stealth vs. Overhyped Marketing: Which is Better for Your Startup?

We’re not saying we fired our Head of Finance, HR, or Admin. But we did give them AI-powered assistants that take care of repetitive work, catch mistakes before they happen, and keep everything moving behind the scenes.

This is how we actually use AI agents at Cleevio. No buzzwords, just real stuff that saves time and makes us better at what we do.

AI Head of Finance

Goal: Automate financial workflows, improve accuracy, and give us better control over company spending.

1. Payrolls Agent

We built a Payrolls Agent that makes sure everyone gets paid correctly and on time. It checks if contracts are valid, compares worklogs to recorded hours, keeps track of vacation balances, and categorizes expenses per project.

It doesn’t work in isolation, it talks to:

• Contracts Agent (HR) to confirm someone is eligible for payroll.
• Worklogs Agent (Admin) to validate hours worked.

The benefit: Accurate, on-time payroll with fewer errors and less back-and-forth between teams.

2. Invoices Agent

Our Invoices Agent handles both incoming and outgoing invoices. It issues them, tracks due dates, and sends alerts when something needs our attention. It also matches invoices to bank transactions and preps everything for our accountant.

It syncs with:

• Projects Agent (Admin) to assign costs to the right project.
• Reporting Agent to keep the books clean.

The benefit: Fewer missed invoices or mismatched payments as everything is organized and ready for accounting.

3. Reporting Agent

This one’s all about insights. The Reporting Agent generates dashboards, tracks recurring expenses like SaaS tools, and flags overspending.

It pulls data from:

• Payrolls and Invoices Agents
• And gives Admin a clear view of where budgets stand

The benefit: Fast, accurate financial overviews and proactive alerts when things start going off track.

‍

AI Head of HR

Goal: Automate people-related processes and make sure no one gets forgotten in a spreadsheet.

1. Contracts Agent

The Contracts Agent helps us stay on top of employee agreements. It alerts us when contracts are about to expire, recommends renewals, and checks if all the conditions are still valid.

It collaborates with:

• Payrolls Agent (Finance) to verify salary eligibility.

The benefit: No missed contract renewals or expired agreements slipping through unnoticed.

2. People Agent

This one supports the full employee journey from onboarding to offboarding. It walks new hires through checklists, runs performance review cycles, and handles exits smoothly.

It also uses data from:

• Worklogs Agent (Admin) to assess workload and contributions.

The benefit: A smoother employee experience with all key processes automated and on time.

AI Head of Admin

Goal: Keep approvals, budgets, and worklogs flowing smoothly without micromanagement.

1. Budgeting Agent

This agent approves expenses, keeps an eye on team budgets, and makes sure we don’t overspend.

It partners with:

• Invoices Agent (Finance) to assign expenses to the correct projects.

The benefit: More control over budgets and less delay in expense approvals.

2. Worklogs Agent

This one checks whether submitted worklogs are complete and correct. It tracks team statistics (like time in meetings), and ensures our tracking rules are followed.

It syncs with:

• Payrolls Agent (Finance) to confirm logged hours
• People Agent (HR) to help with performance reviews

The benefit: Reliable time tracking without micromanagement and better data for performance reviews.

‍

Why This Matters

This isn’t just about automation. It’s about giving our team more time to focus on high-impact work, strategy, people and relationships. The AI agents don’t replace decision-making; they make it easier and more informed.

We didn’t build a fleet of AI agents overnight. We started small, tested use cases, and connected tools step by step. The result? A system that supports our team without overwhelming it.

If you're curious about how we built them—or want to try something similar in your own company—let’s talk.

‍

AI isn’t the future, it’s the infrastructure of modern companies. Cleevio embraced that early, embedding AI agents into how it works at every level. That transformation led to the creation of Cleevio AI Automations, a new company built to help others unlock the same potential.

Cleevio AI Agents
To take things even further, Cleevio has spun off a new company: Cleevio AI Agents, led by David Zadražil, former CTO of Cleevio. His mission? Help other companies make the same leap. From isolated AI experiments to real-world, practical usage that actually makes teams faster and smarter.

Using what we build. Selling what we actually use.
The AI agents in Cleevio aren’t an experiment in a sandbox. They’re fully embedded in daily work: financial reports, project risk identification and daily stakeholders reports, projects estimations and boring administrative tasks. Every product team now works alongside AI counterparts. No deception, just integrated tech that augments human decision-making.

“Our belief is simple: AI should empower people, not replace them,” says Zadražil. “We’re not preaching some abstract future, we’ve implemented it ourselves. We don’t sell something we wouldn’t use. It’s about freeing people from routine so they can focus on high-impact work.”

Proof before pitch
In the era of overhyped AI promises, Cleevio’s approach is grounded in transparency and practice. The new company, Cleevio AI Agents, is a reflection of that philosophy-focused on building custom, human-centered AI systems that improve real workflows.

Clients will benefit from faster delivery, better decision-making, and more flexible roadmaps, all thanks to AI agents that handle the heavy lifting in routine tasks. Cleevio’s internal success is proof that the model works.

“It’s not about hype. It’s about mindset.”
At Cleevio, AI isn’t a flashy add-on. It’s a core capability built into the culture, not bolted on top. Teams don’t work around AI; they work with it. And with the launch of Cleevio AI Agents, the company is ready to help others do the same.

Your app is growing. That’s the good news.
The bad news? So are the reviews, tickets, and unexpected bugs no one saw coming.

We needed a fast, affordable way to handle it all, so our team could focus on what truly matters: high-impact work.

29.4 hours later, we had a solution.

We call it UpRate — and now, anyone can use it.

What is UpRate?

UpRate is your AI support teammate.

It handles repetitive tasks that kill your team’s flow — like replying to store reviews and searching for the right info in your knowledge base.

No fluff. Just actual time saved.

How we built it (and what it actually does)

Two people on our team were constantly switching context to reply to app store reviews, dig through sheets for answers, and forward support requests to the right teammate. It wasn’t a full-time job — but it was eating up way too much of their time.

So we gave ourselves a challenge:
Can we automate this in a way that actually helps our team — and ship it fast?

Here’s how we approached it:

• Code: Jumped between Cursor and Claude’s code interpreter
• UI: Used v0.dev to generate more complex components
• Landing page: Sketched in Lovable, polished in Cursor
• Testing: Wrote proper tests — over 80% coverage
• LLM credits used: $32
• Dev time: 29.4 hours total

And yes — it works.
‍

The tool now:

• Replies to all app store reviews instantly, using your tone and policies
• Pulls from a shared, limitless knowledge base — even across multiple apps
• Understands and translates reviews in foreign languages
• Routes support issues to the right person when needed

We didn't over-engineer it. We built what we needed — fast.
Now that it’s saving us hours each week, we’re opening it up to everyone else too.

Why we’re sharing it now

• Less time on support = more time building.
• Happier users = better ratings.
• No more burnout over repetitive tasks.

Real talk:

We didn’t build UpRate because AI is cool.
We built it because support was dragging down our team’s productivity — and our ability to build.

Now, it’s doing the heavy lifting.
Our users get faster replies.
Our PMs get useful insights.
And our team gets to focus on what actually matters: building great products.

‍

If your team is still manually handling app support — stop.
Let UpRate take care of it. You’ve got better things to do.

Want to see it in action? Get in touch or book a demo.