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Software sprawl? That’s SaaD.
Software was supposed to make work easier. Instead, most teams are buried under it.
That’s SaaD – Software as a Disservice. Dozens of disconnected tools waste time, duplicate work, and inflate costs.
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Companies like Cursor, Clay, and Sierra have already left outdated ways of working behind – gaining clarity, speed, and control.
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I'm often asked what tools power our work. Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the ones that keep PCDN moving every day. While we're always testing new options, these tools bring a lot of joy to our workflow, helping us streamline tasks and freeing up time to focus on creating real change.
Using the affiliate links (marked with *) supports PCDN's work while leveling up your own.
AI & Automation Tools
🤖 Perplexity: Our go-to AI tool for research, analysis, and synthesis. Whether I'm diving deep into impact trends, analyzing policy documents, or synthesizing complex information, Perplexity consistently delivers. We also use ChatGPT for various tasks and are intrigued by emerging capabilities in the AI space.
🧠 Gemini: Google's AI assistant with growing potential. While earlier versions had limitations, Gemini 3.0 is showing promise for creative and analytical tasks.
Content & Creativity
🎨 Gamma*: Helps you save tons of time while creating stunning presentations, documents, and websites.
📬 beehiiv*: The world's best platform for newsletters, designed for both creators and subscribers. Makes it easy to build and engage your audience, with robust analytics and powerful growth tools—and they're building at an amazing speed.
✍️ Lex*: The word processor we all want for the 21st century. Lex helps you write with flow and consistency, making your content sharper and more impactful. It is mind-blowing!
CastMagic*: Turn 1 Media File Into 100 Content Assets. Automate all the tedious work that comes with editing & copywriting. We use it for our podcast, videos, and so much more. It is amazing!
Video & Visual Content
🎥 Minvo*: The AI-powered video marketing platform for producing high-quality video & text content for social media and SEO. We use this for our podcasts and other video content.
📹 Wave.video*: A comprehensive platform for creating, editing, and live-streaming video content. It's a must-have for producing professional video work. We use it for our podcast livestreams and much more.
Research & Productivity
🔍 Afforai*: For researchers, analysts, and policymakers, Afforai makes managing research, citations, and document analysis simple and efficient.
Finding & Discovering Tools
💻 AppSumo*: A great place to find software deals for impact-focused work. Many of the tools we use were discovered here, and they offer great prices and lifetime deals.
🔎 Product Hunt: Stay on top of the latest product launches and emerging tools. Product Hunt is where we discover tomorrow's game-changers before they hit mainstream adoption.
🚀 Future Tools: A curated directory of AI and productivity tools. Future Tools is an incredible resource for staying ahead of the curve and finding niche solutions tailored to specific workflows.
AI for Impact Opportunities
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RESOURCES & NEWS
😄 Joke of the Day
Why don't AI models ever get lost? They always follow their training path! 🗺️
📰 News
Wired: Amazon Deploys Specialized AI Agents for Autonomous Security Threat Hunting
Born from an August 2024 internal hackathon, Amazon's Autonomous Threat Analysis system uses competing teams of specialized AI agents operating at machine speed to proactively identify vulnerabilities, conduct variant analyses, and craft remediation strategies before exploits occur—freeing human security engineers from analyzing false positives to focus on genuine threats as generative AI accelerates both software development and cybercrime.
ProPublica: Lawmakers Demand Investigation Into DHS Secretary's Tied Firm Getting $220M Ad Contract
Five senators and two representatives called for a federal investigation after ProPublica revealed that a Republican consulting firm with long-standing ties to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem secretly received taxpayer money from a $220 million ad campaign starring Noem, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling for her resignation and Rep. Jasmine Crockett stating "They're stealing money from the American people's pockets."
Nature: 'Godfather of AI' Yoshua Bengio Becomes First Person to Hit One Million Citations
Machine-learning pioneer Yoshua Bengio reached the unprecedented milestone of one million citations, making him the first person in history to achieve this feat as tracked by Google Scholar, reflecting the explosive growth of AI research and his foundational contributions to deep learning that enabled modern breakthroughs from ChatGPT to AlphaFold.
Tech Policy Press: White House Circulates Draft Order to Preempt State AI Laws
Following Trump's Truth Social post claiming state overregulation threatens AI growth, the administration circulated a draft executive order titled "Eliminating State Law Obstruction of National AI Policy" targeting California and Colorado laws, directing the DOJ to create an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state regulations and tying federal broadband grants to states' AI regulatory posture.
MIT Technology Review: What's Next for AlphaFold After Nobel Prize Win
Google DeepMind's John Jumper, fresh off winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold, predicts large language models will have increasing impact on science, telling MIT Technology Review "I'll be shocked if we don't see more and more LLM impact," as the team explores applications beyond protein structure prediction to accelerate scientific discovery across disciplines.
💼 Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Y Combinator Jobs - Opportunities at Y Combinator-backed startups across AI, climate tech, healthcare, fintech, and emerging technologies—from early-stage companies building breakthrough solutions to growth-stage firms scaling global impact.
👤 LinkedIn Profile to Follow
Lisbeth Kaufman - Head of Climate Tech Startups & Spokesperson at Amazon Web Services
Leading Amazon's climate tech startup initiatives, Kaufman shares insights on how cloud infrastructure enables climate solutions, connects founders with resources to scale environmental impact, and advocates for leveraging technology to accelerate the clean energy transition.
🎧 Today's Podcast Pick
PCDN Social Change Career Podcast - 200+ episodes featuring impact professionals sharing their career journeys from traditional sectors into social entrepreneurship, nonprofit leadership, and global development, offering practical advice on transitioning skills toward purpose-driven work while maintaining financial sustainability.