​​I’m seeing so many AI startup founders struggle. I got to thinking about why.

What I am going to say will be a gut-punch 🥊

They are so giddy about the potential of AI. They think they have figured out something so unique: "AI can automate xyz, and I can build it so fast." Sadly, it isn’t translating into real world traction i.e. Happy Paying Customers. Why?

🥊 1: If you can suddenly build with AI, so can 1000s of others. AI is not sufficient as a competitive advantage, just like ‘we’re digital’ or ‘mobile-first’ was not.

Most AI startups are solutions looking for problems.

(Let's take an example:

I have received at least 10 pitches to use AI to automate and scale my business. They all go something like this, "Did you know you can use AI to scale yourself?

Imagine <insert some feature they think is cool like (a) Sweta bot, or (b) 100 call bookings a week with automated sales engine>."

Newsflash: both are horrendous fits for my business because:

(a) what founders tell me they value the most is the high-touch advisory support I personally provide,

(b) I have optimized my business to do as few sales calls as humanly possible so 100 call bookings would be my worst nightmare.)

This is not an anomaly. I am seeing these types of product-focused pitches across legal, operations, finance, education, sales, customer success, marketing...you name it.

Founders are even telling me, "This can be used across any industry by anyone!"

🤦‍♀️

They've got "products", but 0 idea which market to even play in.

They can’t pick a customer segment.

0 idea about the problem they are solving.

No way to figure out pricing.

🥊 2: Lots of ideas, no business fundamentals = founders getting irritated that no one sees their vision and value.

🥊 3: No one sees the value because you are not seeing their problem.

🧩 If you're in this situation, or you’re simply wanting to pursue a new idea, here's what to do: focus on discovering a problem you can solve. You have potential routes:

1️⃣ problem first: Is there a workflow that people are spending time, and ideally money, on that you can improve with AI?

2️⃣ customer first: If there is a customer segment you'd really like to work with, what is their hair-on-fire problem that you could solve and how might AI help with that?

Whichever route you pick, you need to end up with the answer to: whom do you solve what problem for? i.e. you will need to figure out the customer x problem combination, not one or the other. Use my free Idea Sanity Checker to get candid feedback on your customer x problem, how to iterate, and what to do next.

AI can, has, and will continue to, disrupt workflows, markets, and people's lives.

🧩 Trust your ability to figure out the technical solution. Underestimate your ability to discover a monetizable problem.

If you want to build a winning business - with or without AI, first figure out the problem, ideally one that people are already spending money to solve.

If you're reading this thinking, "hmm but my product is so good, it is going to sell itself." Good luck to ya.

If you're reading this thinking, "hmm but how do I do this?"

First, as mentioned above, start with my free Idea Sanity Checker to get candid feedback on your customer x problem, how to iterate, and what to do next. This is not your usual agreeable ChatGPT because I’ve trained it on my System. You’ll get a structured assessment snapshot.

Then, when you’re ready to validate your idea and de-risk your business, snag your seat to use the proven Happy Paying Customers™ System.