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Key Takeaways

Incumbents don’t lose simply because startups use newer AI technology. They lose when they fail to adapt to customers’ evolving needs and leave opportunities for competitors to solve emerging problems.

Regularly review customer feedback, renewal and churn calls, and unmet needs to uncover changing pain points. A strong product strategy focuses on solving the customer’s problems, not simply adding features.

Companies need to build technology for adaptability and remain students of the customer’s evolving problem.

I’ve sat through many conversations lately about which incumbent software categories AI-native startups are about to wipe out. The narrative typically goes like this: Incumbents are bolting a chatbot onto a 10-year-old product while new startups have built AI-native solutions from day one; therefore, incumbents are losing their edge.

And yet, many incumbents are thriving in the AI era. What gives?…