Your AI Strategy Is Moving Too Slow
Are you treating AI like a traditional IT project that needs perfect planning?
TL;DR
• AI adoption is happening 3x faster than cloud computing ever did (37% to 85% in just 6 years)
• API-first companies like Salesforce are winning because they can add AI without rebuilding everything
• Pricing models are shifting from flat monthly fees to usage-based because AI costs fluctuate
• Small businesses now have enterprise-level capabilities for pocket change
• Jobs are evolving to human-AI collaboration, not replacement
• Huge money is moving into legal, healthcare, and finance AI because traditional software never worked there
• By 2030, most companies will have more AI agents than human employees
• Stop planning, start shipping. Your competitors already are.
Hey Adopter,
Box CEO Aaron Levie dropped a truth bomb that should make every business leader uncomfortable. AI adoption is happening faster than cloud computing ever did.
Cloud took a decade to reach widespread enterprise adoption. AI is hitting similar penetration in 2-3 years. The difference? CIOs aren't fighting AI anymore. They're racing to deploy it before their competitors do.
The planning trap that's killing companies
Remember when every CIO said "we'll never go fully to the cloud"? Those same executives now assume AI will take over their enterprise. Enterprise AI adoption jumped from 37% in 2019 to 85% projected by 2025.
But here's where most companies stumble. They're treating AI like a traditional IT project. Committees. Governance councils. Compliance reviews that stretch for months.
Your competitors aren't waiting for perfect processes. They're shipping AI features while you're still debating vendor selection.
Why API-first companies are eating everyone's lunch
SaaS companies built their platforms API-first. Turns out that was accidentally brilliant preparation for the AI revolution. AI agents are perfect consumers of APIs, becoming super users within existing systems.
ServiceNow doesn't need to rebuild their entire ITSM platform. They deploy AI agents through their existing APIs. Workday does HR automation the same way. Salesforce calls their AI agents "Agentforce" and charges per conversation.
This is why incumbent SaaS companies are positioned to win through API consumption models. They're expanding their total addressable market without rewriting their entire codebase.
The business model flip nobody saw coming
Here's what's breaking traditional SaaS economics. Usage-based pricing adoption increased from 34% in 2020 to 68% projected by 2025. The variable cost structure of AI inference makes fixed-seat pricing impossible to sustain.
Smart companies are moving to hybrid models. Base seat price plus consumption charges. Cursor does this. Replit does this. Even enterprise players are following suit because AI costs fluctuate with actual usage.
If you're still charging flat monthly fees for AI features, you're either losing money on heavy users or pricing out light users. Neither works long-term.
"AI is going to take over the enterprise. We know this is going to happen and it needs to happen to us faster than it happens to our competitors, which is a totally different dynamic than we saw with cloud."
- Aaron Levie, CEO of Box
Small business gets enterprise superpowers
The democratization story is wild. Small businesses now have access to enterprise-grade resources through AI. A solo consultant can run marketing campaigns that used to require six-figure budgets.
Small businesses with 10-49 employees show 65% AI usage rates. They're spending $15K on average and competing directly with firms that have million-dollar marketing departments.
Your neighborhood coffee shop can now create video content that looks like it came from a major agency. For hundreds of dollars in token costs instead of hundreds of thousands in production budgets.
The job evolution everyone's missing
Stop worrying about AI taking jobs. Jobs are changing from task execution to orchestration. Humans become error-correctors and workflow managers. The productivity gains are real: 3x output isn't uncommon.
Entry-level engineers entering the workforce can't code without AI assistants. That's not a bug, it's a feature. These AI-native developers can implement features faster and adapt to new tools without the baggage of "how we've always done things."
Companies should prioritize hiring these engineers for competitive speed advantages. They think in prompts and API calls, not legacy frameworks.
Where the real money is hiding
Forget competing in crowded SaaS categories. New AI categories are emerging in unstructured data domains where traditional software never gained traction.
Legal technology: $12.3 billion market growing at 42% annually. Healthcare AI: $45.2 billion with 38% growth. Financial services: $28.6 billion growing at 35%. These markets deal primarily with unstructured data that AI excels at processing.
No entrenched software incumbents exist in these spaces. The work was too dynamic, too complex for traditional databases. Now AI handles the complexity that defeated previous software attempts.
The 5-year prediction that changes everything
Here's the uncomfortable truth about where this leads. Within 5-10 years, AI agents are projected to outnumber human employees in many organizations. Humans will manage workflows while AI agents execute tasks.
The AI agents market will grow from $7.8 billion in 2025 to $50.31 billion by 2030. That's a 45.8% compound annual growth rate.
This isn't science fiction. It's budget planning for 2030.
"What took 10 years with cloud may take just 1-2 years with AI"
- Aaron Levie, CEO of Box
What you should do Monday morning
Pick one workflow in your organization. Build an AI agent to handle it. Don't wait for perfect infrastructure or complete buy-in. Start small, measure results, scale what works.
If you're a consultant, stop selling "AI strategy." Clients are tired of theoretical approaches. Build specific AI agents that solve real problems. Charge for results, not PowerPoint decks.
The companies moving fastest right now will set the pace for their entire industry. Speed beats perfection when the technology is advancing this quickly.
Your competitors aren't planning anymore. They're shipping.
Ready to stop planning and start shipping?
If you're a business owner who's tired of AI theater and wants to identify the one workflow that could transform your operations this quarter, let's talk.
* Limited spots available. For business owners serious about action, not more planning.
Adapt & Create,
Kamil