Ah, the sweet scent of déjà vu—like burnt coffee and investor desperation. Companies are slapping “AI” onto their pitch decks faster than a toddler with a sticker book, and shockingly, it’s working. Domain registrations for “.ai” surged 77% last year, proving that humanity’s collective memory spans roughly as long as a goldfish’s attention span.
Dot-Com 2.0: Same Script, Dumber Actors 🤖
Remember Webvan? Of course you don’t. It’s the cautionary tale that burned $800 million trying to “disrupt” groceries overnight while eBay quietly dominated by selling Pez dispensers first. The lesson? Start small or fail spectacularly. Yet here we are, watching AI startups promise “everything for everyone” like over-caffeinated carnival barkers. The winners won’t be the ones shouting “AI!” loudest—they’ll be the ones solving one problem so well it hurts. Example: A gen AI tool for data analysis shouldn’t cater to “everyone who breathes near a spreadsheet.” Target technical PMs who suck at SQL and watch magic happen.
Data Moats: The Only Hype Worth Swimming In
Amazon didn’t survive because it sold books—it won by hoarding data like a dragon with a spreadsheet addiction. Every click, purchase, and abandoned cart became fuel for its empire. Today’s AI builders? Most are renting OpenAI’s brainpower and calling it innovation. Real advantage? Proprietary feedback loops. Duolingo’s AI doesn’t just teach—it learns how you fail, then weaponizes it. If your “AI” strategy is just API calls and prayers, enjoy your future as a trivia answer in the next bubble’s autopsy.
Marathon, Not Sprint (Unless You Like Roadkill)
The dot-com crash wasn’t a tragedy—it was a Darwinian filter. The survivors earned it. AI’s real winners will ignore the hype, obsess over one user pain, and build moats deeper than a VC’s ego. The rest? They’ll be compost for the next cycle. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to register Hype.ai. Early-bird valuations await.