When You’re Not Sure What Will Be Useful, Make Something That Many People Can Use For Anything

Be like Excel, ChatGPT & Picasso's Bull

Inspired by this a16z podcast:

Steph asks Anish about building software for these emerging use cases with AI - like using voice to do things we were previously unable to do.

Anish says:

I think it's impossible to infer what the end product is going to look like, and you've just got to start building.

I would try to build something useful and interesting and just iterate from there.

But if you're too pointed at the beginning in terms of product design, then it can constrain you.

I think some of the best product builders I've seen have been willing to try to offer the capability in a way that is relatively neutral and allows the customer set to pull them.

It reminded me of Picasso’s Bull.

In B2B, we learn to study the workflows of users to such a degree that the software fits into those workflows like a glove.

The approach is simple (though not easy):

• the steps to get something done already exist;

• you’re just making the steps easier (or removing them).

But with something like ChatGPT, there are no steps.

There is no workflow.

We know that since its release, people have used ChatGPT to:

• Write poems

• Code

• Rewrite copy

• Reason through a situation

• Come up with Product Requirements

• Brainstorm…

…and many more esoteric use cases.

At the core it’s all an operation on text.

The OpenAI team probably did not start with these use cases and worked their way down to the basic ChatGPT product.

And yet, ChatGPT is the Word Processor & the Spreadsheet of this era.

By the way, I found this interview with the creators of VisiCalc, the predecessor of Excel:

The co-creator, Dan Bricklin, talks about how while at business school, he envisioned a 'magic blackboard' during his homework, which led to the idea of a dynamic, interactive calculating tool.

It’s also no wonder that some of the most successful products in the last decade have also been tools like Figma & Miro.

Both give the user a canvas with infinite possibilities for expression.

If you’re not sure what to build (I’m actually not sure right now, I’m looking), the best thing would be to build something that has broad utility that transcends one workflow or industry.

A whiteboard, a piece of paper and pen, a board with 4 wheels.

You get the gist.