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Welcome back to Tiny Thoughts — short insights that punctuate my longer-form newsletter. Below you'll get my recent experiences, discoveries from books and podcasts, and observations on emerging AI trends.
This week brings notes on disruption patterns throughout history, the growing AI services economy, and how AI tools can reveal surprising truths about ourselves.
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Remember the horse-drawn carriage?
In the early 20th century, more than 4,000 carriage and wagon manufacturers dominated American mobility. Within two decades of the automobile’s rise, only 1 company successfully pivoted to car manufacturing. This story feels unnervingly familiar today. Just as carriage makers watched automobiles evolve from novelty to threat, modern companies across SaaS, media, and logistics (among others) are witnessing AI’s transformation from interesting experiment to business-critical necessity.
For today’s companies, the lesson is both timeless and urgent. The cost of dismissing emerging technology as “just a fad” can be the entire business.
Source: Steve Blank
The rise of AI service teams
Companies adopting AI today remind me of my grandma getting her first iPhone (IYKYK). They desperately want to use it, but they absolutely need someone to set it up properly.
As AI agents become more capable and as business tasks grow more complex, implementation becomes more challenging. We’re already seeing early adoption of implementation service models similar to those pioneered by Salesforce and ServiceNow. Professional services teams are becoming the bridge between AI’s magical potential and real-world business value.
Source: a16z
AI as a communication coach
By now, it's clear that AI enables marketing at scale: helping businesses identify and replicate their personality in written content (IMO, average at best). But something unexpected emerged as I started analyzing my own writing and speaking patterns using CassidyAI.
The AI didn’t just help me understand my brand voice. It revealed distinctive quirks I’d never noticed and mapped my emotional range across different communication contexts. This is no longer just a content creation tool. It’s a personalized communication coach that offers insights into how I express ideas, connect with people, and adapt my style. It has the potential to help us become more intentional and effective communicators ourselves.
Course: Scale with AI workflows