PMF as a Treadmill
In the AI space, product-market fit is an elusive concept because the category is evolving so quickly.
Your place is not guaranteed, even if you are leading.Customer expectations are shifting rapidly, representing the fastest habitual change seen, happening over weeks or months instead of years.As a result, your PMF keeps changing.
Retention makes or breaks companies
Growth teams must stress and obsess about retention daily.
In the hyped AI era, only companies seeing above-benchmark retention rates (both user engagement and paid retention) will succeed.
Activation is product-led
The entire activation experience happens through conversation with an agent.
There is not much room for traditional growth tactics in activation.
Brand and word of mouth
Brand experienced through the product is a superpower and a moat.
Crucial for standing out and activating the word-of-mouth loop.Word of mouth is vital for cutting through the noise when the product experience truly wows users.
Channels and playbook changes
Only about 30% of the traditional marketing playbook (SEO, paid, content) still applies, compared to ~80% previously.Founder social is a strong organic channel.The creator economy, especially YouTube, has been huge even for B2B.
First-mover advantage
The biggest opportunity lies in capitalizing quickly on new releases and platforms introduced by major players.
Example: moving early on launches like OpenAI's app store release.
Generalists over specialists
The velocity and rapid iteration in AI growth favor generalists.
There is little time for highly specialized roles or deep optimizations.