From an “I” to a “T,” Then to a “π”
Business doesn’t need constant innovation. Often, it just needs us to repeat the actions that have worked.
“From an ‘I’ to a ‘T,’ then to a ‘π.’”
It was what I was discussing with a partner last night. This morning, I got up and read a very well-written article, and suddenly thought: how is this any different from what entrepreneurs did in the previous internet era?
It reminded me of several years ago, when 老X (Lao X, a familiar form of address for X) asked me to do “strategy decoding.” (Originally, I was only there to sit in.)
After watching their heated exchange for a while, I said very bluntly: going horizontally is a dead end now. You can only go vertically.
Lao X still wouldn’t give up. He said, “Then I’ll go diagonally.”
Anyway, as for how that story ended...
Maybe money was too easy to come by back then. There were a lot of illusions.
Actually, this is a pitfall that a whole generation of internet people has fallen into. Any entrepreneur who has been taught a lesson by the market behaves a bit better now.
The article I read this morning was quite good. The author had an impressively broad perspective and depth of thought, analyzing everything from society to organizations to individuals. From the content of his WeChat public account, you can tell that he’s widely read and has a strong framework for thinking at the macro level.
His point about AI replacing “glue white-collar workers” is obvious. It’s already happening, and the trend will become increasingly clear.
What I like and agree with even more is that the communication channel between people is very “noisy,” while an AI Agent is a perfect source of information with “zero noise.”
This is also why I like AI. It can substantially reduce the noise, friction, and internal drain between people, allowing us to focus on getting things right.
I have to say that, when it comes to hallucinations, human “hallucinations” are harder to control than AI hallucinations. I’d rather choose the latter.
Then I looked back at his background: a science-and-engineering guy working on industry solutions at a big tech company. Ao~ so that’s why. Makes sense.
The traits of people who work on industry solutions—no wonder his way of thinking clicks with me so much. A kindred spirit.
Reading this suddenly gave me an idea. I’ve kept agonizing and drifting over what sort of AI tool or AI product to make. Why had it never occurred to me to approach it as an “industry solution”?
Often, it really isn’t that complicated, and doesn’t require that much innovation. Following an underlying logic is enough.
Business doesn’t need constant innovation. Often, it just needs us to repeat the actions that have worked.
Actually, going from an “I” to a “T,” then to a “π,” already answers the question.