The sound of construction filled the background when Chandler Malone joined our call from his Brickell apartment – a fitting soundtrack for a founder building something new amid the noise of change.
Malone, the CEO and cofounder of Bootup Studios, has long had one foot in the future of work. But this time, he’s betting on something different: using AI to turn laid-off workers into entrepreneurs.
“We’re seeing all these crazy layoffs this year, a lot of them connected to AI,” Malone told Refresh Miami. “Some are indirect, like big players making room for more AI customers on AWS or Azure. Others are more direct: AI tools taking on basic, entry-level tasks.”
Malone is actively building for this shift. After years of working across companies in workforce development and tech, he realized that while AI is displacing jobs, it’s also making it easier than ever to create new businesses. “We see AI causing this huge contraction in the labor market,” he said. “But it’s also giving individual entrepreneurs leverage they’ve never had before.”
That idea became the seed for Bootup Studios, which launched in August. The startup is designed as a “business studio” powered by AI, guiding users through core areas like finance, go-to-market, product, and operations. It offers entrepreneurs an AI “chief of staff” for day-to-day decision-making – and even a team of AI agents capable of carrying out real business tasks.
Malone described one demo that impressed university partners. “We’ll say, ‘Spin up some customer success questions for this customer profile,’ and the agent just does it,” he said. “That’s the kind of thing that used to take a team.”
Bootup Studios has already drawn early traction. The team – Malone, cofounder Sam Aguilar, and three engineers – has landed pilots with Morehouse College and the University of Tulsa. They also participated in Antler VC’s residency program in Texas, which provided initial funding and mentoring.
For Malone, this isn’t his first rodeo. Every company he’s built or invested in has revolved around AI or the workforce, from education tech to career mobility platforms. Bootup Studios feels like the natural next step, a synthesis of those experiences, now supercharged by AI’s reach.
But while the technology is powerful, Malone believes the location matters just as much. And for him, that’s Miami.
“This is definitely my home,” he said. “Even when I was in Austin for Antler, people asked if I’d set up shop there. But Miami’s where I belong.”
He sees the city’s entrepreneurial DNA as the perfect match for Bootup’s mission. “Miami is more of a city of entrepreneurs than a lot of other places,” Malone explained. “We don’t have the big Fortune 500s hiring thousands of engineers. People here make their own opportunities.”
That independence, he thinks, could shield Miami from the worst of the tech layoffs rippling through other regions. “It’s not like there are eight Fortune 500s downtown cutting jobs,” he said. “Our economy is built on small businesses and self-starters. So we might not get hit as hard.”
Malone hopes Bootup Studios can help more people tap into that mindset, turning a moment of uncertainty into a chance to build something of their own. “A lot of folks are losing jobs but still need income,” he said. “If we can give them the tools to start a business, that’s real impact.”
“That’s the future I want to build. Where AI doesn’t just replace jobs, but helps create thousands of new ones.”
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