It's easier than ever to build software, making it harder to succeed. With everyone able to build, the critical skill is no longer technical execution but the strategic judgment to decide *what* to build. This applies across all company sizes, from startups to enterprises like Target.
LLMs dramatically accelerate market research but are non-deterministic and lack real-world grounding. Their true value is preparing for customer conversations—crafting questions, understanding market history, and practicing listening. They augment human judgment, they don't replace it.
LLMs are technically non-deterministic systems designed to guess the next most probable word, not verify facts like a calculator. This inherent design means they will confidently produce incorrect information, making human verification indispensable for high-stakes business decisions.
Unlike past tech evolutions (e.g., desktop to cloud), AI is a fundamental paradigm shift. It requires changes in mindset, culture, and processes, particularly around data collection. Companies must treat it as a deep behavioral transformation, not merely adopting a new tool like Google Sheets.
AI's rapid evolution breaks traditional change management. Instead of top-down projects, identify employees naturally excited by this dynamism. Elevate these "culture carriers" to experiment, share successes, and help peers adapt, making transformation a continuous, peer-led process.
With AI, innovation, iteration, and transformation are no longer separate projects but a simultaneous, continuous cycle. The key is to create a virtuous loop: use AI to generate growth and cost savings, then reinvest those gains directly into better talent and technology to accelerate the cycle further.