#AIorDie

I've been saying this at every keynote I've given for the past eighteen months, and the room always goes quiet when I say it, because everyone in that room knows I'm right. Every company is an AI company now whether they know it or not. The ones who "know it" have a deck. The ones who don't have a strategy session scheduled for Q3 where they'll decide they know it too. Last week a founder told me his company was "not really an AI company." I let him finish. Then I asked him one question. I won't share it here, because the question is proprietary, and frankly, not everyone would survive the answer. The future belongs to leaders who understand that transformation isn't something you do. It's something you already are, or something you're about to become irrelevant trying to catch up to. I covered this at length in a panel you weren't invited to.

If your startup isn’t AI-native, you’re not early—you’re already the cautionary tale in someone else’s keynote. I’ve been saying this since 2021 in rooms most of you couldn’t get into. Adapt or become a case study. #AIorDie