The startup anti-pattern Back when I was young and naive, like in 2024, I assumed that everything I’d learned a founder would apply to the current moment. After all, we did so much good early AI at Textio. While most software was stuck on workflows, Textio promised outcomes! Our customer success engineers were essentially FDEs! We built generative writing features in 2019! But while we broke ground in many respects, in most ways, we were SaaS 101. I literally ran a bootcamp for Textios that...

People and money Many long-standing business systems are shifting out from under us right now. Content marketing started changing as soon as ChatGPT launched, not entirely for the better. Software development is changing for sure, at least if you're technical-ish; coding isn't even the right verb anymore. Companies are optimizing supply chains, using AI to interact with customers, and, at least in theory, changing how decisions get made. It's a lot of change. But whatever industry you're in,...

"But I'm not technical!" A few months back, I met with a mid-career person who pitched me on a new role: they wanted to spend time with AI product builders to figure out how the industry is changing. My immediate response was: Ok, but what is your experience building AI products? "But I'm not technical!" they protested. Well, I told them, that won't cut it for building an informed perspective on AI transformation. The state of play is changing too quickly. The best way to build an informed...