Victor Riparbelli

If you're good at being a fast follower, that's also very powerful. It's a different way of running the company when you have a lot of feedback signals in the market around you. But it's much more fun. And I think it helps you get to the right answer for your customers much faster, which ultimately is the most important thing.

If you're good at being a fast follower, that's also very powerful. It's a different way of running the company when you have a lot of feedback signals in the market around you. But it's much more fun. And I think it helps you get to the right answer for your customers much faster, which ultimately is the most important thing.

I think that's pretty spot on. What I see a lot in the enterprise is buyers don't really know what they want. A lot of people have been told that they need to have an AI strategy, they need to execute on AI strategy, which means they're very willing to have conversations. They're also very willing to spend their innovation budgets on doing things.

I think that's pretty spot on. What I see a lot in the enterprise is buyers don't really know what they want. A lot of people have been told that they need to have an AI strategy, they need to execute on AI strategy, which means they're very willing to have conversations. They're also very willing to spend their innovation budgets on doing things.

I think that's pretty spot on. What I see a lot in the enterprise is buyers don't really know what they want. A lot of people have been told that they need to have an AI strategy, they need to execute on AI strategy, which means they're very willing to have conversations. They're also very willing to spend their innovation budgets on doing things.

but they don't really know what they actually need and want. They don't understand the technologies well enough to kind of themselves figure out what do they need for their business. And that is both an opportunity, but I think it's also a problem for a lot of AI startups that doesn't have that customer obsession.

but they don't really know what they actually need and want. They don't understand the technologies well enough to kind of themselves figure out what do they need for their business. And that is both an opportunity, but I think it's also a problem for a lot of AI startups that doesn't have that customer obsession.

but they don't really know what they actually need and want. They don't understand the technologies well enough to kind of themselves figure out what do they need for their business. And that is both an opportunity, but I think it's also a problem for a lot of AI startups that doesn't have that customer obsession.

It's great because you have a lot of budget available and people are extremely willing to do things and sign up for pilots and POCs because they want to deliver to their boss that AI strategy. But when they don't know what they actually want, it's very difficult to prove the RIs for them, right? So what is the problem?

It's great because you have a lot of budget available and people are extremely willing to do things and sign up for pilots and POCs because they want to deliver to their boss that AI strategy. But when they don't know what they actually want, it's very difficult to prove the RIs for them, right? So what is the problem?

It's great because you have a lot of budget available and people are extremely willing to do things and sign up for pilots and POCs because they want to deliver to their boss that AI strategy. But when they don't know what they actually want, it's very difficult to prove the RIs for them, right? So what is the problem?

I think the problem is that to be successful today as an AI company, I think you need to be extremely customer centric. You need to deeply understand your customers. What are their problems? How can your product help solve whatever specific problem that they have? Now that sounds like pretty obvious, right? That's not like AI specific.

I think the problem is that to be successful today as an AI company, I think you need to be extremely customer centric. You need to deeply understand your customers. What are their problems? How can your product help solve whatever specific problem that they have? Now that sounds like pretty obvious, right? That's not like AI specific.

I think the problem is that to be successful today as an AI company, I think you need to be extremely customer centric. You need to deeply understand your customers. What are their problems? How can your product help solve whatever specific problem that they have? Now that sounds like pretty obvious, right? That's not like AI specific.

But the issue is that today there's a lot of companies who do a lot of like cool technologies and they go out and they kind of convince the customers that whatever they're building is the right thing. It'll help solve some like big problem for them, but maybe it doesn't really work or they haven't understood the customer's problem deep enough.

But the issue is that today there's a lot of companies who do a lot of like cool technologies and they go out and they kind of convince the customers that whatever they're building is the right thing. It'll help solve some like big problem for them, but maybe it doesn't really work or they haven't understood the customer's problem deep enough.

But the issue is that today there's a lot of companies who do a lot of like cool technologies and they go out and they kind of convince the customers that whatever they're building is the right thing. It'll help solve some like big problem for them, but maybe it doesn't really work or they haven't understood the customer's problem deep enough.

And so now you have this thing where the AI startup kind of thinks that they're delivering real value, but actually it's not a good signal because on the other side, you have a buyer who's like, just spent a lot of money on doing something. And they'll like say, yeah, it works really well because they just spent $100,000 on doing it. But eventually they will churn, right?

And so now you have this thing where the AI startup kind of thinks that they're delivering real value, but actually it's not a good signal because on the other side, you have a buyer who's like, just spent a lot of money on doing something. And they'll like say, yeah, it works really well because they just spent $100,000 on doing it. But eventually they will churn, right?

And so now you have this thing where the AI startup kind of thinks that they're delivering real value, but actually it's not a good signal because on the other side, you have a buyer who's like, just spent a lot of money on doing something. And they'll like say, yeah, it works really well because they just spent $100,000 on doing it. But eventually they will churn, right?