♖ The Future of AI Software

Hi Friends,

This AI thing is for real.

Six months ago, I was manually drafting Word doc proposals after prospect calls. I spent a couple of hours reviewing, researching, copy/pasting, and customizing for each potential client.

Well, times have changed. I can now have a tailored proposal in their inbox with their pain points, pricing, and next steps in less than 5 minutes.

For those curious, I use Make.com to take the call transcript, Claude to summarize & research, create a Google Doc, and then draft the email in my Gmail for review.

Other areas I've been using AI:

• Automating hyper-tailored email campaigns that generate dozens of new leads.

• Creating AI videos so real, you can’t tell the difference. 😉

• Replacing an entire team's website photo portfolio in 30 minutes.

But here's when I took AI seriously: I asked ChatGPT to find untapped $1B+ business opportunities based on specific criteria. It generated ideas I never would have considered. I posted a few of the ideas on Linkedin that I am confident any one of these ideas can be a successful business (go run with one).

That's when I realized I've been thinking about AI all wrong.

Most people picture AI as a very capable intern in a room doing busy work. "Draft me an email," "recommend me a restaurant," "summarize this article," "write me a job description."

The reality? It's more like having 1000 geniuses—Einstein, Newton, Tesla—sitting in an arena at your disposal.

And I'm barely scratching the surface.

As a strategist, I've been noodling on where the AI hockey puck is going for software. l’ll share 3 of my 10 predictions here.

1. Departments Become Software

I believe entire business functions will be sold as software instead of requiring human teams. Think "RevOps-as-a-Service" replacing your RevOps department.

In short, Jobs-to-be-Done will turn to “Function-to-be-Done.”

The Shift: Example, instead of hiring a Revenue Operations (RevOps) team, you'll subscribe to "RevOps-as-a-Service." Instead of building a customer success department, you'll buy an AI that handles renewals better than any human team ever could.

Why This Matters: We're moving from hiring people to solve business functions to subscribing to AI that performs those functions. The transformation isn't gradual; entire job categories will simply vanish as AI products replace human departments.

The Private Equity Tech Example: Take private equity firms. Most software focuses on specific tasks like "collect quarterly data from portfolio companies." But, all private equity firms serve three core functions: raise capital, manage capital, and deploy capital.

A PE tech product manager should consider building an AI solution that optimizes the entire "manage" function—automatically analyzing portfolio performance, filling in data gaps, identifying growth opportunities, and maximizing carry (profit) potential. Not just task automation, but function-level intelligence. That’s what I would be focused on.

The Sales/Marketing Example: I predict sales and marketing will consolidate into a single AI-powered team. With 99.9% confidence data on who all your buyers are, AI can auto-run activities across the entire cycle: create lead magnets, launch hyper-specific campaigns, deliver tailored demos, and generate custom proposals.

This is already in the works with many (e.g. Salesforce.com). The only question is timing.

2. Agents Automate Everything

AI agents are moving beyond chatbots to become autonomous systems that handle complex workflows without human intervention. I was just playing with a new tool released three days ago called string.com. It is wild.

The Shift: AI agents will handle increasingly complex workflows without human intervention.

Why This Matters: We're officially past the "chatbot" phase. These are autonomous systems that think, decide, and execute at scale.

What I'm Building: I created an agent that organizes my research automatically. Another one generates calendar invites from casual conversation. I am only scratching the surface here.

Example: Your key software vendor's account manager will soon be an AI agent that knows your business better than you do. It'll suggest optimizations, negotiate terms, and handle renewals automatically. It'll solve problems before you even know they exist.

This isn't speculation. The building blocks exist today.

3. Ambition Becomes Your Moat

When everyone has access to the same AI tools, the only differentiator will be how boldly you use them to reimagine your business. I call this Ambitionism.

The Shift: Two companies will have access to identical AI capabilities. One will use AI to optimize existing processes by 10%. The other will use AI to reimagine their entire business model.

Why This Matters: AI democratizes execution—any company can now be able to build or rent sophisticated software, automate complex workflows, or analyze massive datasets. But AI can't generate audacious vision or appetite for risk.

The Winners: Companies that dare to think bigger will leave conservative competitors behind. The same tools, different ambitions, orders of magnitude different outcomes.

The constraint isn't the technology. It's your imagination.

My Full 10 Predictions

If you are curious to read all 10 predictions, I created an infographic below for a recent LinkedIn post.

A Challenge For You

Pick one department in your company or team. Now imagine it as a software subscription instead of a team of people.

What would that product do? How would it work? What specific areas make sense that is worth the effort to explore?

Hit reply and tell me. Better yet, if you have any idea where AI could help—any task, any workflow, let me know. I'm happy to hop on a call with any reader to explore what's possible.

'Til next time,
—Ali

P.S. Mom, if you made it this far, I'm super impressed. Love you.

P.P.S. This 20-minute Eric Schmidt video got me started down the AI rabbit hole. He explains where AI is heading in simple terms (spoiler: it's not all good news). Worth watching the first 5 minutes if you're short on time.

About Me: I’m Ali, a former tech exec who now advises growth-stage B2B companies on strategy & GTM execution.

Learn more about my story on LinkedIn.

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