The Art of Translation
Building an AI product can feel like rally car racing. As the AI product manager, you’re navigating unpredictable terrain at high speed, trying to stay ahead while the scenery changes around you.

Until last week, Ben Truitt and I hadn’t sat down in person for years, but over an impromptu coffee, we plunged straight into AI, product management, and what it means to lead product for an AI-driven solution in the startup world.

Our conversation spanned technical iterations, timing the market (too early, too late), verticals, runway, diverse expertise, and team dynamics.

What fascinated me most, however, was not the solutions of each of the two AI startups we discussed . . . it was The Art of Translation.

Even the most elegant AI model cannot stand on its own. Passing the test cases and outperforming the alternatives do matter – they check the functional boxes. They do not, however, spark the urgent, emotional “you get me” connection that B2C and B2B buyers need. The Art of Translation is the unequivocal grasp that links customer pain to solution and technological feasibility and ultimately, to business value. Without this, your AI startup is a thought experiment until the money runs out or the founders get bored.


Play to Win. Customer Focus is Your Engine to Delivering Value
Yes, “we use AI” opens doors. But once you’re in the room, you realize every competitor and startup touts AI. It’s noise. How do you break through? And then you see it. Your competition has been lulled by the shiny object of AI; they have forgotten that technology is only one part of the Who-Why-What-How equation.

In this context, your competitive edge is knowing your customer – your clearly articulated, first target cohort.

Picking your first cohort includes customer discovery and insights, calibrated alongside business capabilities, technical feasibility, and testing the hypotheses. This can feel like a waste of time. But even the best (read fastest) rally car drivers know the importance of a pit stop to refuel, recalibrate, and understand the map. That map for you exists, revealed one stage at a time. To unlock the first stage, you need to do the scary work of selecting your first customer segment, tackle their key pain points, and commit . . . courageously, with intention.

Through the AI clamor, this is the signal to which investors and customers respond.


It’s Not a New Principle
Long before AI arrived on the scene, the same playbook powered the most successful companies: solve a specific problem for a narrow audience, earn the first dollars, and only then expand.

Securing your first customers is more than marketing and sales. When you focus and get the offering right, marketing, sales, and engineering, become dramatically easier.

The fundamentals still apply. Being ‘AI’ does not exempt you from those fundamentals, which include desirability, business viability, value, usability, and technical feasibility.

If you have co-founded a business, you have heard it before: "But we can do so many things, for so many different customers across different industries!" Do not get greedy. The reward comes from saying no. No to the adjacent use cases, other verticals, the second and third markets. Have the discipline to focus.


Embrace the Constraints
Constraints are a catalyst. Constraints are where meaningful innovation happens. They also beautifully shift how you operate internally, and unlock possibilities externally.

Internally
A sharply defined customer archetype anchors every decision – partnerships, operations, financing, hiring. Clarity equals speed.

Externally
When markets shift or stakeholders push pet ideas, you know what matters and what does not. Focused teams align business, tech, and design to deliver cohesive value to customers. Customer value boomerangs back to the business as acquisitions, engagement, retention, and referrals.


Why Startups Spin Out
Energized and still processing the breadth of our conversation, I left the café realizing why this customer-centric theme stood out. I have watched startups spin out – not always on the first corner or even the second. Early traction can mask weak foundations. They never choose a lane, so they never reach the finish.

In the race to revenue, nothing replaces the essential work of understanding, defining, and committing to an articulated customer problem.

Once that customer lens is crystal clear, the team locks in, and sculpting the AI business into one that delivers a high-impact, holistic solution becomes exhilarating. The whole organization, rather than guessing and hoping, sees the connection points and finds purpose.


Still Not Convinced?
For my fellow rally enthusiasts, we’re adrenaline junkies, driven to get to the finish line.

But before you jump into fifth gear, you must step through first, second, third. Sure, if you’re Sébastien Loeb, world champion driver from France, go ahead, skip a gear. The rest of us can’t skip the customer‑definition gear.

Pick your lane, solve that need, and cross the finish line with your team and runway intact so you can all celebrate. Then, use that momentum and clarity to propel yourselves to the next milestone, where the rewards are even greater.


The Take-Aways
1/ Being ‘AI’ does not exempt you from business fundamentals.
2/ Master The Art of Translation.
3/ Clearly articulate your customer's pain.
4/ Focus is your competitive edge.
5/ Skipping gears stalls your momentum. Nail the early stages to finish strong.


In the world of AI Product Management, what do you consider foundational to building a winning AI product? How do you stay disciplined?

Check out what Ben Truitt and his teammates are doing. They deserve all the cowbells as they make their way through the turns.

I love these energizing conversations. Join me in the next one.

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