April Dunford · 5 min read · Product Strategy
In the Age of AI, You Need a Point of View
Read the original on aprildunford.substack.com →
AI-era buying cycles are driven by a clear Point of View about the future, not just product specs. Vendors must articulate a POV grounded in their unique strengths to reassure buyers and guide their roadmaps, while distinguishing it from a pure product vision. A strong POV helps customers decide today and reduces the risk of regret in years to come.
Key Takeaways
- Buyers educate themselves from multiple information sources and typically rely on sales reps to validate AI insights.
- Prospects want a vendor's Point of View on the future to reduce risk and prevent future regret, not just today’s features.
- The Point of View should be rooted in the vendor's distinct strengths and what they can do better than competitors.
- Your POV should inform the product roadmap and reflect a credible future of what good solutions look like in your market.
- Examples across OpenAI, Anthropic, and traditional software players show how POVs vary by market focus and strength.
Excerpt
Whenever there are big changes in the market, there is a lot of uncertainty about what the future might look like. For technology buyers, this uncertainty makes it really hard to make purchase decisions, particularly those with longer-term implications. As vendors, it’s important for us to remember that prospects are very different from us when it comes to the learning curve for breakthrough new technology. The buyer of your product at a manufacturer, a hospital, a retail chain, or an insurance company isn’t spending their day reading Reddit and Hacker News. They typically aren’t reading hot takes on LinkedIn about…