How the CEO of Storytell.ai Masters AI, How Luxury Software Will Increase Customer Willingness to Pay - Tactician: #00102

A CEO mastering AI is like someone who’s figured out a complex puzzle.

'It turns out all these pieces fit together perfectly; you just need a supercomputer to see it.'

 How the CEO of Storytell.ai Masters AI

Why Read:

• Invaluable, actionable advice on achieving product-market fit by focusing on desperate customers, testing hypotheses, and continuous innovation to build a unique, compelling product that drives growth.

Featuring:

• Daniel R. Odio, Chief Executive Officer Storytell.ai

• Link: 

  • “Part 1: How I use AI day-to-day as the CEO of an AI startup (and you can, too)”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

1. Understanding the Impact of AI on Jobs:

   • Point: Recognize that AI will change how work gets done, with both job losses and new opportunities being created.

     • "Just like the printing press absolutely took away the jobs of the monks that were manually scribing books while simultaneously ushering in a fundamental step-change for humanity that ultimately resulted in an expansion of the entire global economy, AI will change how work gets done and that impact will be felt by some as jobs going way, and by others as entirely new types of opportunity being created."

2. Becoming an "AI-Curious" Executive:

   • Point: Embrace applying AI in your role and seek ways to improve your team's effectiveness and job satisfaction.

     • "An AI-curious executive is someone who is leaning into applying AI in their role personally and is likely looking for ways to improve the effectiveness and job satisfaction of their team, department or company."

3. Investing Time to Understand AI:

   • Point: Dedicate time daily to gain a deeper understanding of the AI landscape, technologies, trends, and opportunities.

     • "My recommendation for AI-curious executives is to dedicate one hour per day to consume a mix of written and audio content. I've got a number of recommendations below, which I've chunked into 'start here' to 'go deep.'"

4. Changing Habits to Try New Ways of Working:

   • Point: Experiment with AI to learn and avoid getting left behind, even if it doesn't immediately save time.

     • "My recommendation for AI-curious executives is to use AI to get at least one thing done every day – even if the experience doesn't save you time."

5. Treat AI usage like “First Pancake” Experiments:

   • Point: Treat initial AI usage as "first pancake" experiments, as output quality will improve with learning and iteration.

     • "My recommendation for AI-curious executives is to treat your AI usage as "first pancake" experiments (as my co-founder Erika describes it). We all know what it's like to make that first test pancake that you use to tweak the ones you make afterwards."

6. Exploring AI Learning Resources:

   • Point: Dip into various AI learning resources, like podcasts and written content, without stressing about keeping up with everything.

     • "The AI/ML landscape is moving so fast that it's impossible to keep up – so don't stress about trying to. Just dip your toe into things without feeling like you need to stay on top of it all, and lean into the trends that give you the most energy."

How Luxury Software Will Increase Customer Willingness to Pay

• Why Read:

  • Gain insight into the future of interfaces, AI agents, and luxury software that could shape your future product strategy.

• Featuring:

  • Scott Belsky, Chief Strategy Officer, Executive Vice President of Design & Emerging Products at Adobe

  • Link: 

    • “Disruptive Interfaces & The Rise of Luxury Software”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

1. Understanding the Battle for Default Interfaces:

   • Point: The ultimate interface that becomes the default will be the fastest, simplest, and most native to our biology.

     • "The digital world is like a global game of "slap a hand" where a hand over a hand over a hand happens (in the form of interfaces) in rapid succession until the hand on top wins, only to be beaten by the new hand slapped upon it. The ultimate interface that "wins" will be the fastest, simplest, and most native to our biology. It will know us and always meet us where we are."

2. Recognizing the Power of Disruptive Interfaces:

   • Point: Disruptive interfaces are drastically simpler and more accessible, commoditizing everything underneath.

     • "Disruptive interfaces, as I have come to call them, are a generation of drastically simpler and more accessible interfaces that ultimately commoditize everything underneath. Even powerful companies that have invested millions or billions in their brands, achieved dominance through network effects, or compete with sophisticated supply chains are vulnerable to losing their pricing power, differentiation, and being all-together excluded from the default interfaces of the future where customers make decisions."

3. Anticipating the Rise of Brand Agents and Platform-Level Agents:

   • Point: Brand agents will emerge first, followed by platform-level agents that negotiate on our behalf.

     • "Brand agents come first. The first phase of these disruptive interfaces will emerge at the brand level, where you will be welcomed (perhaps by name!) by digital agents on every brand website you visit. Whether it is Nike or Delta or Whole Foods, you'll have a dedicated and increasingly personalized agent experience. It will answer questions, perform actions on your behalf, and make recommendations based on what it knows about you."

     • "Platform level agents will emerge that surf the web and negotiate with brand agents on our behalf, and seek to disrupt the cacophony of agents that don't know us with one that does. The only thing better than many agents is one agent we know and trust."

4. Considering the Implications of OS-Level AI:

   • Point: OS-level AI that transcends individual apps is poised to outperform AI constrained within a single application.

     • "The major implication here is that, if the "winning" AI is the AI that has the most context and user history, then OS-level app-transcendent AI is poised to outperform AI constrained within any single application."

5. Exploring the Emergence of Luxury Software:

   • Point: In a world where software is increasingly commoditized, luxury software will emerge to upgrade our work and life.

     • "Software has long been considered either a complement to hardware, or something that solved a problem. Software developers generally seek to achieve the "minimum viable product" requirements before entering a market. But, in a world where software seems increasingly commoditized with a plethora of options across verticals (not to mention the ability to use AI to simply replicate software instantly), I see signs of "luxury software" emerging for the more discerning customer."

6. Recognizing the Potential for Software Artists:

   • Point: In the world of luxury software, designers will shift from being "interface builders" to "software artists."

     • "In the world of luxury software, designers will shift from being "interface builders" to "software artists." I like this framing shared by another reader of Implications, Valerie Tetu, when I was teasing this upcoming edition on the platform formally known as Twitter. Indeed, the luxury goods makers of software are user experience and interface designers. The degree of polish, innovation, constraints, and social flex that they apply to both the pixels as well as the interactions will differentiate luxury software from its commoditized competition and build a form of brand premium that customers will be increasingly willing to pay for."

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