Even More Important in the Age of AI
Even More Important in the Age of AI
Necessity is the mother of invention. Everything from plastics to sliced bread started with identifying a need and filling it with a product or service. But successful companies didn’t stop there. They followed customers’ wishes when they asked for gluten-free loaves or eco-friendly packaging. That’s the value of continuous customer discovery. It’s an area where many companies might find the use of AI and machine learning to be helpful by making the process faster and less costly, for example. However, I feel less emphasis has been given to the disruptive effects that AI can have on the value companies offer to the end user. The key question that founders should now ask themselves is not only how AI can maximize efficiency, but also (and even more importantly), how AI might make their entire value proposition obsolete.
Imagine a startup providing translation services. Translation services have been some of the greatest beneficiaries of advances in machine learning and natural language processing. Those companies working with humans who have provided translation services are faced with the option of adapting their services to incorporate these advances or becoming obsolete. Just a few years down the line and it’s not too far-fetched to imagine a world where our brains have chip implants that automatically translate any foreign language for us.
For translation businesses this equals serious negative disruption. It’s the kind that will affect numerous companies if they don’t pay attention to the customer and fail to see how to adapt the value they deliver when AI is eventually commoditized.
Alice Repetti, Senior Ecosystem Developer Baloise
To avoid being left behind or lost in the world of opportunities that AI presents, startups must remain close to their customers and adapt their value proposition accordingly. It’s clear that we are in a period of transition and the full range of possibilities of AI are still hazy while the risks can loom precariously at the edges of our imagination. So, while AI can provide startups with a competitive advantage, it is essential for founders and management teams to continuously assess how AI might replace their core business by delivering new value to customers. As Twilio’s cofounder and CEO Jeff Lawson and Scott Farquhar the co-founder and CEO of Atlassian said at Fortune’s recent Brainstorm Tech Event when discussing how they made it through previous downturns and transitions: ‘Follow your customer … it is still so hard to remember that serving a customer is at the center of everything you do.”
«... not only how AI can maximize efficiency, but also (and even more importantly), how AI might make their entire value proposition obsolete.»
- Don’t think of your customer’s need as a static wish. Actively exercise your visionary thinking to imagine the future and how your propositions will fit into the ‘new’ normal, especially when the new normal is dominated by technologies like AI, whose full potential is still unknown. Methodologies like Future Foresight could be useful for this;
- Identify and focus on your ‘killer feature’, the one that sets you apart and makes you irreplaceable for your user. However, be prepared to adapt quickly, when the adoption of a new technology threatens to make this feature useless or even obsolete. Do so by either integrating the technology or pivoting your value proposition to maintain your uniqueness and value to customers;
- To gauge if a new technology poses a threat to your business, you need to understand it. As a founder, you might feel overwhelmed by tasks, leaving little time to follow developments and trends in AI. If that’s the case, consider hiring someone who can help you grasping the essentials of how AI works, its shortcomings, integrations possibilities, potential concerns and more. Armed with a solid understanding, you can proactively prepare your startup to face any challenges AI might bring, while leveraging its benefits.
«The real value of generative AI will be about unlocking human potential to do task differently and do higher value tasks.
If founders approach their business with this in mind, they can mitigate the potential for negative disruption while still harnessing the benefits of the new technology.»
Founders must consider the evolving needs of their customers and their own business in a world where AI is gaining significant traction. As a recent report from The Harvard Business Review suggests, ‘the real value of generative AI will be about unlocking human potential to do task differently and do higher value tasks.’ If founders approach their business with this in mind, they can mitigate the potential for negative disruption while still harnessing the benefits of the new technology.
So, don’t overlook your customer. Ever. Stay close to them and continue to ask yourself ‘how can I stay relevant to the user who pays for my solution? How do their needs evolve in a world where AI is gaining a considerable foot in the door? How can I make sure that the value I deliver to my user is still there, regardless of which technology delivers it?