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Most individuals constructing with AI are chasing the identical factor: viral chatbots, cool demos or the subsequent trending wrapper. However I believe the actual cash — the intense, unicorn-level cash — is elsewhere solely.
It is within the stuff no one desires to the touch. Tedious, time-wasting, must-do duties. The stuff you hate doing, however need to. That is the place the subsequent wave of AI corporations will emerge.
Painful > fairly
AI that makes you giggle is enjoyable. AI that will get your taxes filed, your Visa sorted or your paperwork organized? That is life-changing.
Once I moved to the UK on a International Expertise visa, I could not discover a single instrument to trace my absence days — one thing essential for sustaining authorized standing. So I constructed it myself. To not exhibit. Simply to resolve an issue I used to be quietly freaking out about.
That is the sort of “boring” downside most individuals overlook. But when it causes stress, repetition or concern — it is invaluable.
There’s extra money in fixing one painful workflow than chasing 100 likes on a flowery AI-generated avatar.
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The extra annoying it’s, the larger the chance
Scheduling medical appointments. Submitting invoices. Choosing wines from a 40-page restaurant listing. These aren’t horny issues. However they’re all over the place, and nobody enjoys coping with them.
I’ve constructed apps that deal with these precise eventualities. Some had been easy aspect initiatives, however they solved issues that folks repeatedly run into. That is the magic method.
In a chunk I wrote earlier — 7 AI-Primarily based Enterprise Concepts That May Make You Wealthy — I identified that probably the most worthwhile concepts are sometimes hiding in plain sight. That is one other instance of that.
No crew? No downside.
The instruments out there now are ridiculous. With GPT-4o, Supabase, Vercel and Claude, I’ve launched complete merchandise in per week — solo.
No designers. No backend engineers. Only a painful concept, an AI stack and some cups of espresso.
I am not the one one. I’ve seen one-person outlets construct apps that handle condo leases, prep authorized docs and even coach you thru IVF. They’re quiet instruments with unflashy interfaces, however they’re deeply helpful.
Should you’re a founder as we speak, your MVP would not have to be spectacular — it simply must make somebody’s headache disappear.
Construct for Tuesday, not for tech Twitter
A number of the smartest founders I do know aren’t even attempting to go viral. They’re constructing for Tuesdays — for that one downside that hits at 4:00 p.m. whenever you’re caught in a bureaucratic loop and wish somebody (or one thing) to deal with it for you.
And here is the kicker: The extra boring the issue, the much less competitors you may have. AI founders are nonetheless chasing novelty. That is your benefit.
This text on missed metaverse jobs made the same level: There is a fortune in locations individuals ignore.
Boring doesn’t suggest small
Should you advised somebody a decade in the past that accounting automation or AI-powered scheduling instruments could be billion-dollar corporations, they’d most likely giggle.
Now these instruments run quietly within the background of just about each enterprise.
The lesson: Do not construct for applause. Construct for reduction. In case your product makes somebody breathe simpler, saves them time or reduces stress — they will pay for it.
Even when they by no means tweet about it.
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Boring instruments can nonetheless construct billion-dollar corporations
Should you want proof, have a look at Expensify. It began by fixing one factor: making expense experiences much less painful. It isn’t thrilling, not revolutionary — simply helpful. No one goals about scanning receipts, however tens of millions of individuals need to do it.
Now Expensify processes billions in transactions. All as a result of it made one annoying job simpler.
Identical story with Calendly, which killed the back-and-forth of scheduling. DocuSign, which eliminated the ache of printing and scanning contracts. UiPath, which constructed an enormous enterprise by automating workplace duties.
None of those had been flashy, however they fastened one thing individuals take care of each day. That is what makes them work.
Should you’re constructing with AI, overlook the hype. Search for the issues individuals quietly undergo by way of. Those they by no means discuss publicly, however take care of always. That is the place the very best concepts dwell.
Boring is not a weak point. Boring is a enterprise mannequin.
You do not want a revolutionary concept. You simply must make one annoying factor go away.
If you are able to do that, it will not matter the way it appears to be like. It’s going to promote.
Most individuals constructing with AI are chasing the identical factor: viral chatbots, cool demos or the subsequent trending wrapper. However I believe the actual cash — the intense, unicorn-level cash — is elsewhere solely.
It is within the stuff no one desires to the touch. Tedious, time-wasting, must-do duties. The stuff you hate doing, however need to. That is the place the subsequent wave of AI corporations will emerge.
Painful > fairly
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