I agree that founders should talk to their audience before building. There's this line everybody quotes in direct response marketing, that if you want to sell hamburgers, find a starving crowd. From my perspective it seems silly to start a business by doing anything other than talking to potential customers and asking them what they need.
One thought I've had about AI content. Right now everyone is just sort of assuming that AI can write really good content. Most people will probably do the conventional wisdom thing and generate articles with AI. I think you can gain a lot of territory by zagging and writing really good human content that people actually want to read.
Good writing comes from having original ideas. Whereas AI just spits out a summary of what everybody else is saying. (For example, AI could not have possibly written this newsletter.)
Maybe AI content will help you get to the top of Google, and maybe it can help you build credibility with beginners. But I think that if you want to attract sophisticated audiences, you have to keep writing by hand. Sophisticated audiences already know everything that an AI can spit out.
(Maybe I am just trying to convince myself of that because I write for a living? Maybe the writing is already on the wall? I have no idea.)
#1 - The vast majority of founders, even today, talk to their audience before building. Their relationship with their audience is often informal and transactional though, and involves doing customer interviews to ask questions and probe pain points.
When I'm thinking 'audience-first', I imagine a future where founders start out as community leaders or thought leaders, understanding all the ins and outs of an audience. By the time they're ready to build, they don't need to do so many customer interviews, because they have a deep understanding of their audience's needs and wants. They are also trusted in those communities, so whatever they build will be taken seriously and find pre-built demand.
#2 - For the content side, I don't think it's so black and white. Couple points here:
-If we're talking about AI writing highly original fiction or cinematic masterpieces, I would agree that humans are still better at this.
-If we're talking about AI's ability to write compelling ads or landing page copy that sells, I think it's more of a toss-up. I'd like to think human writing still has some edge, but I'd A / B test to be sure instead of jumping to conclusions. Even if human copy is somewhat better, there are still other considerations, like time and cost, and determining whether the superior human copy is worth tradeoffs on those fronts. It all comes down to the numbers.
-Even for human-written content, AI has its place. Sometimes, I've got a paragraph that's half-baked and I'll ask Chat-GPT to help me re-structure it. I'll keep asking for ideas and drafts, then usually combine a few elements of each.
-I would be very cautious about assuming that AI just spits out generic summaries and human content will always win. While not a direct parallel, this feels like the baseball coaches in Moneyball saying, "spreadsheets can never match human intuition; I've been doing this 25 years and know better than any number cruncher!"
Many non-software startups (e.g. luxury e-Comm, hardware, biotech) have high startup costs, so VCs will still play a pivotal role there.
Even if we see a trend with more founders going the bootstrapping route, there will always be founders who seek VC funding. A similar parallel would be how an increasing number of artists and writers are going independent, but you still have a sizable % signed to major labels or publishers.
Exciting topic! AI is reshaping the B2B landscape, and I’d love to see your insights on growth and strategy predictions. Looking forward to reading and learning! 😊
Interesting thoughts.
I agree that founders should talk to their audience before building. There's this line everybody quotes in direct response marketing, that if you want to sell hamburgers, find a starving crowd. From my perspective it seems silly to start a business by doing anything other than talking to potential customers and asking them what they need.
One thought I've had about AI content. Right now everyone is just sort of assuming that AI can write really good content. Most people will probably do the conventional wisdom thing and generate articles with AI. I think you can gain a lot of territory by zagging and writing really good human content that people actually want to read.
Good writing comes from having original ideas. Whereas AI just spits out a summary of what everybody else is saying. (For example, AI could not have possibly written this newsletter.)
Maybe AI content will help you get to the top of Google, and maybe it can help you build credibility with beginners. But I think that if you want to attract sophisticated audiences, you have to keep writing by hand. Sophisticated audiences already know everything that an AI can spit out.
(Maybe I am just trying to convince myself of that because I write for a living? Maybe the writing is already on the wall? I have no idea.)
Theo - good thoughts here. My answers below:
#1 - The vast majority of founders, even today, talk to their audience before building. Their relationship with their audience is often informal and transactional though, and involves doing customer interviews to ask questions and probe pain points.
When I'm thinking 'audience-first', I imagine a future where founders start out as community leaders or thought leaders, understanding all the ins and outs of an audience. By the time they're ready to build, they don't need to do so many customer interviews, because they have a deep understanding of their audience's needs and wants. They are also trusted in those communities, so whatever they build will be taken seriously and find pre-built demand.
#2 - For the content side, I don't think it's so black and white. Couple points here:
-If we're talking about AI writing highly original fiction or cinematic masterpieces, I would agree that humans are still better at this.
-If we're talking about AI's ability to write compelling ads or landing page copy that sells, I think it's more of a toss-up. I'd like to think human writing still has some edge, but I'd A / B test to be sure instead of jumping to conclusions. Even if human copy is somewhat better, there are still other considerations, like time and cost, and determining whether the superior human copy is worth tradeoffs on those fronts. It all comes down to the numbers.
-Even for human-written content, AI has its place. Sometimes, I've got a paragraph that's half-baked and I'll ask Chat-GPT to help me re-structure it. I'll keep asking for ideas and drafts, then usually combine a few elements of each.
-I would be very cautious about assuming that AI just spits out generic summaries and human content will always win. While not a direct parallel, this feels like the baseball coaches in Moneyball saying, "spreadsheets can never match human intuition; I've been doing this 25 years and know better than any number cruncher!"
Curious to see what VCs will do with their money if many founders try to go the bootstrapping route
Many non-software startups (e.g. luxury e-Comm, hardware, biotech) have high startup costs, so VCs will still play a pivotal role there.
Even if we see a trend with more founders going the bootstrapping route, there will always be founders who seek VC funding. A similar parallel would be how an increasing number of artists and writers are going independent, but you still have a sizable % signed to major labels or publishers.
Exciting topic! AI is reshaping the B2B landscape, and I’d love to see your insights on growth and strategy predictions. Looking forward to reading and learning! 😊
For sure Devubha - will definitely be writing a lot more on how growth and strategy shift as AI continues to evolve.