I've spent the last 24 hours with ChatGPT 4o images, and it's clear we've entered a new reality: "Execution is cheap, ideas are everything."
For decades, we were told the opposite. Everyone had ideas. Few could execute them well. The ability to turn a concept into reality separated the winners from the dreamers.
But in an AI world, it's completely flipped.
When anyone can execute at 90% perfection with the right prompts, the limiting factor becomes the quality of your ideas. The creative direction. The strategic insight. The unique perspective.
The most successful companies I'm seeing are shifting resources from production to ideation. Less time pushing pixels, more time exploring concepts.
They're running 20-30 creative directions where they used to do 2-3, because the cost of trying ideas has collapsed.
In a world where anyone can create a beautiful website, logo, or packaging, the winners are focusing on the things AI can't (yet) simulate:
I think it's authentic relationships, innovative products, and unique perspectives.
The real advantage is in knowing when to break the rules of good design in ways that resonate emotionally.
The human touch is becoming less about execution and more about strategic deviation from the optimized norm.
This is creating strange new dynamics in hiring too. When I started our design agency @meetLCA, we hired for world class technical skills - mastery of tools, execution ability.
But now we care more about hiring for conceptual ability and creative direction. People who consistently generate novel ideas rather than perfect executions. Obviously, top tech skills still matter, but way less.
As AI makes "good enough" design accessible to everyone, the market is splitting. At the low end, good enough is actually good enough.
But at the high end, there's a premium on the truly unexpected - the ideas an AI wouldn't generate because they break conventional patterns.
I think we're heading toward a bifurcated creative world: automated beauty for most purposes, with human creativity focused on creating the unexpected, the ideas and approaches an AI wouldn't think to try because they don't follow established patterns of "good design."
The challenge for most of us now isn't "how do we execute this idea?" but "which ideas are actually worth executing?"
- call 5 potential customers
- partner with industry players
- paid ads to get sense of CAC and get feedback
- confirm pricing makes sense
- ensure technical feasibility
- create content/audience/community
5. bonus points if:
- regulatory/compliance need
- affects big money companies
- simple to build MVP
- customers desperate
yesterday, i stumbled onto the most underrated market research tool.
tiktok creator insights.
it's a goldmine of consumer behavior data, hiding in plain sight. and it's free to use.
here's why it's powerful:
1. shows you what people are desperately searching for 2. highlights topics with high demand but low supply 3. reveals trending questions in every industry 4. tracks search growth over 14-day periods
the "content gap" tab shows you problems people are actively trying to solve, but can't find good solutions for.
so that's cool for a couple reasons
1. help you create content that has low supply/high demand (better chances of going viral) 2. you can build startups to some of these trends
Example:
i searched "email management" and found:
• "how to clear 10k emails"
• "best way to organize work inbox"
• "email templates for busy people"
thousands searching.
hardly any solutions.
the beauty of this
• it's real-time market research
• it's actual user intent
• it's completely free
• and most founders aren't using it
a bunch of smart founders are mining tiktok insights right now
it isn't perfect, but you never know what you might find
your next startup idea might be hiding in those search trends.
So, ill share how to access it because it’s kinda hidden:
1. Go to TT search
2.Type in “creator search insight” 3. Tap view
im one of those people that think using data like this is your unfair advantage.
if tiktok is the new search engine, then tiktok creator insights is the new google trends.
might as well use it.
this is how i use it
i scroll through suggested/trending tap
i see if anything catches my eye
i look to see search data
sometimes ill look for demographic data
i write notes on what i learn
and i see what are related videos
that sparks ideas for me
free ideas galore.
why do i share this stuff even when i probably shouldn't
because i want you to win
i want you to come up with an ad idea that gets you a 5x roas
i want you to turn those shower thoughts into revenue streams
1. Create plugin for Gmail, Outlook 2. Use GPT to generate variant signatures, track performance 3. Charge $29/month for "Signature Optimizer Pro" 4. Scale to full email copywriting assistant
#2 Micro-SaaS for Airbnb hosts
1. Create AI tool to optimize listing titles and descriptions 2. Add feature to auto-respond to common guest inquiries 3. Charge $99/month for "SuperHost Autopilot" 4. Expand to pricing optimization, review management
#3 Micro-influencer content arbitrage
1. Build tool to identify trending TikToks in foreign languages 2. Use AI to translate and localize for English-speaking market 3. Charge creators $199/month for "Global Trend Surfing" 4. Expand to cross-platform content arbitrage
business school should be a year of v0, cursor, replit, claude prompting, design 101, finance 101, how to find startup ideas and 3 years of how to hack distribution.
you can't graduate unless one of your products gets 100 customers and you go viral.
i'm sorry.
pretty crazy to think that business grads come into this world not knowing how to ship something and get it seen by millions
thats business 101 in 2024.
what have you been learning and getting into debt for?