Okay Business Strategy Experts: What Now for AI Innovation?
October 29, 2025
As AI forces its way into our lives, it requires us to shift our thinking in several areas. On his Substack, Charlie Graham examines how AI may render a key software strategy obsolete. He declares, “’Be Different’ Doesn’t Work for Building Products Anymore.” Personally, we believe coming up with something lots of people want or something rich people must absolutely have is the key to success. But it is also a wise develop something to distinguish oneself from the competition. Or, at least, it was. Now that approach may be wasted effort. Graham writes:
“In the past, the best practice to win in a competitive market was to differentiate yourself – ‘be different,’ as Steve Jobs would say. But product differentiation is no longer effective in this new world.
- Differentiate on an amazing UX? You used to rely on your awesome UX team for a sustainable advantage. Now, dozens of competitors can screenshot (or soon video) your flow and give it to an AI to reproduce quickly.
- Differentiate by excelling at one feature? You might get a temporary lead, but it’s now pretty trivial for competitors to get close to your functionality.
- Differentiate on business model? If it starts working, dozens of your recently started competitors will vibe-code a switch over.
- Differentiate on ‘proprietary data’? This isn’t the key differentiator it was expected to be, as we are finding data can be simulated or companies can find similar-enough data to get 80% of the way there.
Instead we live in a red ocean where features are copied in days or weeks and everyone is fighting with similar products for the same scraps. So what does work?”
The post proposes several answers to that question. For example, those with large, proprietary distribution networks still have an advantage. Also, obscure, complex niches come with fewer competitors. So does taking on difficult or expensive product integrations. On the darker side, one could guard against customer loss by compounding data lock-in, making migration away as painful as possible. Then there is networking– a consistent necessity; social media and online marketplaces now fill that need. See the post for details on each of these points. What other truisms will AI force us to reconsider?
Cynthia Murrell, October 29, 2025
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