5 Brutal Truths About AI Timelines (Founder vs Investor)

Read time: 2.5 minutes

When will AI break down and how can we avoid that??

1. Don't make a long-term bet without proof to back it up.

• You don't find investors through belief, but rather, you show proof of your longevity with someone else who has been successful.

Solution:

• Provide proof within 30 days to prior investors:
  — Usage
  — Influencing their decision to use AI over others.
  — Any early KPI changes.

2. Perfection is killing you.

• Many companies delay sending products out because they want to make sure they are perfect.

• When the value is delayed, it is too late.

Solution:

• Send out sequences of work (manual first, re-worked using AI, then send out a product that is currently automated).

3. There's no visible moat.

• Most of the time, people say they have something unique, but they do not measure their uniqueness.

• Rarely will your competitor catch up to you over time.

Solution:

• Measure on a weekly basis:
  — Weekly amount of data generated per action
  — Improvement cycle length for the model
  — Weekly impact of retaining customers using AI.

4. You're procrastinating with regard to scaling up.

• As you wait to scale, your weaknesses will become apparent.

• When you begin to grow quickly, you will find all the issues you have that you were "not aware of".

Solution:

• Gradually grow from 10 → 100 → 1,000

• Measure: Latency, Cost, Failure rates.

5. "Early vs Late" is an inappropriate debate.

• There is a divergence in the timelines for measuring success, leading to misalignment.

• You will find others may be using narrative and measurable milestones to define success.

Solution:

• Clearly define your timeline so:
  — 30 days = Evidence of Success
  — 90 days = Evidence of Measurable Impact
  — 180 days = Evidence of Repeat Success

💡Key Takeaway: 

AI will not fail due to time constraints, but because of a lack of trust in its ongoing development.