I review hundreds of pitch decks every year. The ones that get i almost destroyed my company with bad ai right stand out immediately.
I confess: my initial approach to AI was a disaster. I'm sharing the painful story of my biggest leadership failure and the redemption that followed, hoping you can avoid my near-fatal mistakes.
Why Most Approaches Fail
Let me be direct: about 70% of the approaches I see to i almost destroyed my company with bad ai are fundamentally flawed. Not slightly off. Fundamentally flawed.
The root cause is usually one of three things:
- Copying what big companies do without understanding why they do it. What works for Google doesn't work for a 10-person startup.
- Over-engineering the solution when a simple approach would work better. I've seen teams spend six months building something that could have been done in two weeks.
- Ignoring the human element. Technology is the easy part. Getting people to actually use it is where the real challenge lives.
The Framework That Actually Works
I'm going to share the exact framework I use when evaluating i almost destroyed my company with bad ai. It's not complicated, but it requires discipline.
Step 1: you should focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well This is where most people go wrong. They skip this step entirely and jump straight to execution. Don't do that.
Step 2: customer feedback is the only metric that matters Once you have the foundation right, this becomes much easier. I've watched founders struggle with this for months when the answer was staring them in the face.
Step 3: Iterate relentlessly Nothing works perfectly the first time. The companies in my portfolio that nail i almost destroyed my company with bad ai are the ones that treat it as an ongoing process, not a one-time project.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
Most people approach i almost destroyed my company with bad ai with assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on. When I look at my portfolio companies, the ones that succeed are doing something fundamentally different.
The first thing to understand is that customer feedback is the only metric that matters. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.
At RemoteTeam, we learned this the hard way. We spent months going down the wrong path before realizing that your team matters more than your technology. Once we made the switch, everything changed.
Real Talk: What Actually Matters
I'm going to cut through the noise and tell you what actually matters when it comes to i almost destroyed my company with bad ai.
First, execution speed beats perfection. Every time. I've never seen a company fail because they moved too fast on i almost destroyed my company with bad ai. I've seen plenty fail because they moved too slow.
Second, measure everything. If you can't measure it, you can't improve it. Set up tracking from day one, even if it's basic.
Third, talk to your users. This sounds obvious but you'd be amazed how many founders build their i almost destroyed my company with bad ai strategy in a vacuum. Get out of the building. Talk to real people.
This connects to broader themes around managing AI teams, AI change management, AI transformation leadership that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
The Bottom Line
Look, i almost destroyed my company with bad ai isn't rocket science. But it does require intentionality, consistency, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.
If you take one thing from this article, let it be this: start now, start small, and iterate. The founders who win at i almost destroyed my company with bad ai aren't the ones with the best strategy on paper. They're the ones who execute, learn, and adapt faster than everyone else.
I've been doing this for over a decade. The patterns are clear. The companies that take i almost destroyed my company with bad ai seriously outperform the ones that don't. Every single time.
If you're working on something interesting in this space, I'd love to hear about it. Drop me a line.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.
What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
Do all experts agree with this view?
No, and that's fine. The best ideas in business are often contrarian. I share my perspective based on my experience and data, but I encourage you to seek out opposing viewpoints and form your own conclusions.