Too many operators in large companies believe that their latest app idea or AI project will transform their company.

This isn't how it works.

AI transformation requires a clear mission, a well-defined minimum viable problem, a target market, a brand, a go-to-market strategy, a business and pricing model, an end-to-end customer journey, an incredible and disciplined roadmap, and much more.

These elements must align and work together as a system over a sustained period, through multiple iterations, to produce a successful result.

This requires that your entire team is explicitly aware of these key factors and works in alignment to execute them well.

If you're in a large company trying to do something new and disruptive, chances are good that you have the wrong business model, culture, and skills within your existing business. Chances are also good that you have a lot of domain dogma, institutional knowledge, and sacred cows that will hold you back.

If this is true (I'd be surprised if it isn't), it will likely require creating a new business unit (or even an entirely separate spin-off company) with a different set of cultural values, goals, and skills.

If you just ship a new App (AI or otherwise) without aligning the business properly, it will fail.

The clearest example I can think of in recent memory is the Taxi industry. In response to the threat of Uber, many of the Taxi companies released or started more heavily promoting an App. What they failed to understand, however, is that Uber's entire business model was totally different and more efficient than theirs.

Uber featured everyday people acting as drivers rather than employees on fixed shifts (meaning a more elastic fleet that could respond to spikes in demand with more agility), lightweight enablement of drivers via mobile phones (vs. 100k fit-outs of the Taxis with cages, livery, proprietary meters, and other in-car tech, etc), mutual accountability with ratings (vs. unaccountable drivers and riders doing unaccountable things), and yes, massive subsidies powered by a global high-growth, venture capital-based business plan (vs. localized, revenue-based model).

These were the things they were really fighting - not just an app.

These days, legacy companies are fighting against top-down reinvention of entire categories by AI-native businesses.

A much more dramatic and fundamental approach is mandatory if they want to compete.