The AI feature trap

Everyone's scrambling to bolt AI onto existing products. They're missing the point.

Remember when Apple turned messaging upside down? iMessage wasn't just "SMS with blue bubbles." It changed how we communicate - group chats, reactions, threads, sharing locations. Things that would've sounded bizarre to explain in the SMS era.

That's the difference between AI-native and AI-enhanced. One adds features. The other changes how you work.

Take Cursor. It's not just another code editor with some AI sprinkled on top. It fundamentally changes how people create software. Users rave about it. They can't imagine going back to their old workflow. That's the signal you're looking for.

Many builders get seduced by the "AI everything" dream. They sprinkle AI features everywhere, hoping something sticks. Their apps end up feeling like every other product with a chatbot bolted on.

Smart builders find real pain points that make users say "shut up and take my money." They go deep where others go wide. They build something so valuable that using anything else feels like going backwards.

Don't try to be everything to everyone. Build something people can't live without. Something they'll happily pay for because it transforms how they work. The kind of product that makes them wonder how they ever managed before.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​