Crafts have an evolution. Product is no different. With that said, not all the phases of evolution are beneficial. Sometimes, we realize we need something different while still desire a way to wrap our minds and work around an approach. First, product was primarily developer-driven. What the engineers said was…

In my last post about AI, I wrote about how many implementations will be organizationally proprietary. Much of the value captured for organizations will be in their ability to leverage AI specifically for themselves and with their data. In addition to AI being proprietary, it will also be process specific. …

I’ve started to think more about this in recent weeks. At AWH, I am a partner in digital innovation, and through my startup investing and advising, I see disruption by both types of people. Both have pros and cons, but ultimately, one is better positioned to succeed. Pros and cons…

As venture capital gets harder to raise, especially for early-stage companies, product financing becomes an even more important option for founders and their startups. Product financing is a form of venture debt that is specifically focused on facilitating a startup getting a product created when they don’t have the capital…

Here are some observations from conversations over the past few weeks: Too many new products are built from the creator’s vision and solution desire, not problem or user-centric. Solving a problem for yourself can be a great starting place, but it may also give you a lot of biases and…

Most product demos suck because most people haven’t taken the time to understand and become skillful and demo’ing. Demonstrating a product requires different skills and finesse than presenting or speaking. …

Early-stage company founders should avoid including competitor charts and matrices in pitch decks. Here’s why: Competitor analysis will consistently demonstrate that a startup’s product is better and more feature-rich than competitors, or they wouldn’t be creating the product and bringing it to market. The fact that competitor analysis shows every…

AI will always have a level of general use and applicability, such as tools like ChatGPT and Bard, but what most organizations will end up with, as they should, is process-specific, proprietary AI. So what does process-specific, proprietary AI mean? It means AI on top of models leveraging an organization’s…

Just different. I get to meet and chat with many founders and leaders through our work at AWH (a digital innovation firm) and Simply Strategic (a strategic guidance firm). …