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As the founder and board chair of the tech nonprofit Products That Count, Ive had a front-row seat to AIs domination of the tech world over the past couple of years. A few years ago, just a sliver of the thousands of submissions our organization evaluates for our awards program were AI-based; this year, more than 90% of our nearly 10,000 submissions were for AI products. This exponential growth has made one thing painfully clear: AI has already become table stakes. In 2023, generative AI was the hot new buzzword; last year, agentic AI was the new kid on the blockand this trend is only going to continue. Just look at the product development cycles today for clues: AI skips pilots and goes straight to deployment. First movers are outpaced; OpenAI, Mistral, and Perplexity can no longer keep up with the pace of innovation organically, so theyve started to buy speed by making acquisitions. With AI no longer a differentiator, what matters is not just that you have AI but how youre using it. What separates the winners from the losers here isnt speed to launchits become clear that this is a futile race. Instead, what really determines whether a product will have sticking power today is how the AI is used in its context. As one committee member commented in reviewing this years awards program nominees: Its not about the data. Its about what you can do with it. The right weapon Just like picking your weapon for battle, the winning AI product is whatever is the most strategically advantaged in that fight. Here are the three major strategic traits that have emerged from evaluating thousands of AI products over the last few years. These traits show what winning AI products today are doing differently from their competitors, giving them the edge in an increasingly crowded field: 1. They have strategically superior moatsbuilt on data, personalization and customer intuition The right data, not MORE data, is the real moat. – Google Cloud Product Lead Varun Krovvidi (2025 awards committee) In the era of open APIs and fast followers, only the most thoughtfully designed products will be able to claim any lasting territory. Todays winners in AI wont just move fast; theyll think strategically and build moats that are based on true value. The name of the game here is personalization, but not the personalization we think we know. Next-gen personalization will go far beyond extracting ad recommendations from search history, or suggesting your next binge watch. The next winning formula in personalization knows users deeply, and knows not just their tastes, but also how they prefer to consume information, how they prioritize, what data theyre comfortable sharing. As Krovvidi said, Were seeing AI products use AI-driven feedback loops across diverse functions. This also means that AI will be used to understand the customer in a way that has never been done before. Just as Apple in the 2010s wrote the rulebook for what a personalized product should look like, we are now facing the next Apple-style revolution in good user design. True personalization is now a verticalized play, not a horizontal one. And successful personalization in this verticalized fashion is based on two core pillars: unique, high-quality data (not quantity, but connected insights on user preferences) and context-aware preferences (not just what users want, but how and where they want it). Combine these, and you get the next-gen disruptors. 2. They leverage ecosystems and interoperability as their competitive advantage Interconnectedness is what sets apart the winners from the rest in todays AI era. Whether its interoperable AI agents that hook into each other and collaborate to add greater value, or a niche tool thats highly specialized to plug into a technical and entrenched ecosystem and complete microlevel changes, the best AI products today are not just keenly aware of their contexttheyre explicitly designed to operate within them.This means designing products with not just an awareness of but an active optimization towards the existing infrastructure around them, acting as connective tissue rather than mass. The mantra here is 1+1=3. Superior AI tools today dont just offer value in a vacuum, they find ways to collaborate with other toolseven other AI agentswhere the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. 3. Theyre serious about privacynot UX ethics lip service & compliance theater Trust, privacy, and human-centric design are now essential building blocks of any great product.– Nicolas Rousseau, Chief Digital Engineering & Manufacturing Officer, Capgemini (2025 awards committee)If we thought privacy and ethics mattered previously, that goes double (or triple) in the era of AI. In the best of the best AI products, privacy is now the default mode. Opt-out is now opt-in. Superior AI products today assume users want control over their data, encryption, and anonymizing. We see an increasing number of product strategies centered on privacy-preserving architectures and decentralized intelligence, added Rousseau. From platforms that drive healthcare equity through remote monitoring to fintech solutions that democratize access to Capital, tech for good is no longer an afterthought but a competitive advantage. The great AI products are the most strategically and thoughtfully built If AI has started to feel like a fast-fashion race, the products that will win the day are those that keep focused on building quality over quantity and filling a genuine vertical end-to-end. The speed of evolution today means that the winning teams are not just cranking out the newest model and shipping it. Theyre taking stock of the ecosystem, building highly personalized and valuable tools that play nice with each other, and putting a premium on ethical design.
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E-Commerce
If you think drones are noisy in flight, try building and testing them. During a visit last month to the drone startup Zipline’s factory in South San Francisco, California, industrial noise welled up in corners of the facilitythe roar of a wind tunnel, the rhythmic clack of a test rig simulating motor casing wear, and other mechanical sounds in a symphony of engineering. Zipline has to subject its delivery drones to that kind of abuse because its been building them in-house since 2016a strategy management sees as wiser than relying on outsourced manufacturing. Zipline has intentionally designed ourselves as a very vertically integrated company, says Eric Watson, head of systems engineering. The companys facility, located just below the flight path of jets departing San Francisco International Airport, combines warehouse, assembly, and testing space. [Photo: Rob Pegoraro] That, Watson says, lets the company iterate rapidly and frequently. We can quickly get the design engineer who built the thing to look at it, he tells Fast Company. And then we can update the test, update the drawing, whatever needs to happen. Founded in 2014, Zipline (one of Fast Companys picks for 2024s Most Innovative Companies) began delivering medical supplies in Rwanda in 2016. Today, it bills itself as the largest commercial drone delivery service. The live display on its site counts more than 1.5 million deliveries to date; over a two-hour period on Saturday, that counter showed another 48 had been completed. (For comparison, Wing, the drone-delivery service owned by Googles parent company Alphabet, says its made more than 450,000 residential deliveries.) In the U.S., Zipline offers Walmart customers the option of drone deliveries in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Pea Ridge, Arkansas. (404 Media found that Zipline had recently supplied the Pea Ridge mayor with talking points that then ran almost verbatim in a blog post on the companys own site) [Photo: Rob Pegoraro] Zipline makes two battery-electric drone designs. It describes its older Platform 1 aircraft (or P1) as optimized for deliveries of up to 4 pounds to enterprise, business, and government customers over distances up to about 60 miles from a Zipline-operated delivery hub. The newer Platform 2 (P2) is built for home delivery from third-party sites, able to carry twice as much payload but with a service radius of only 10 miles. And where P1 drops its payload via parachute, P2 spools it down under a 300-foot winch in a cargo compartment that has its own fans to guide its descent to a precise spot on the ground. Watson described the adoption of that winch architecture as a lesson learned about the difficulty of trying to keep a drone hovering directly over a delivery point in the wind: We now move the aircraft upwind. That setup also keeps the whir of a Platform 2s five combined rotors 300 feet away from people on the ground, where the company says that noise is nearly inaudible. P2 drones depart from and return to the underside of a landing dock, nestling a connector at the top of their fuselage into the well of that contraption. During my visit, the factorys operations looked focused on P2. Racks of that aircrafts laughably light carbon fiber assemblies of wings and rotor nacelles sat in one corner of the building (I easily picked one up), test stations for components scattered around, and at a series of assembly stands in the middle, workers performed such tasks as attaching a P2 drones two redundant system boards. [Photo: Rob Pegoraro] Amid signs warning of the dangers of testing hardware with spinning propeller bladesone outside a closed door warned of a high-risk test area with extremely loud noise levels and moving equipmentthere were moments of whimsy and warmth. The first Platform 2 models required two to three days of work, but the company can now crank out three a day. We have made a ton of progress with our Platform 2 manufacturing, Watson says. Later this year we should be producing an aircraft every hour. Zipline, however, doesnt fabricate every single component itself. Beyond standardized parts such as fasteners, it has its own network of suppliers building subsystemsfor instance, the carbon fiber airframesto its specifications. The way that we have trended over time is bringing more things in house, Watson sys. [Photo: Rob Pegoraro] Labels on some incoming boxes noting their origins in China or Vietnam provided a reminder that this company remains exposed to President Donald Trumps tariffsif much less than drone services relying on consumer drones built in China. We do have a global supply chain, Watson says, adding that Ziplines vertical integration does allow us quite a bit of flexibility in suppliers. The entire field of drone delivery has exhibited some of the same problems of too-soon hype as other tech frontiers. Amazons highly publicized venture into drone delivery has made legitimate advances but remains vaporware for almost all of the retail giants customers. The business model also remains unclear. Privately-held Zipline doesnt disclose revenue, per-delivery costs, or headcount, although funding that Crunchbase puts at $821 million does give it a long runway to work with. Zipline also has the advantage of having secured Federal Aviation Administration authorization in September of 2023 to operate drones beyond an operators visual line of sight (BVLOS), with automatic broadcasting of their location to other aircraft and altitude limits in place. In a January 2023 report, the consulting firm McKinsey emphasized the importance of BVLOS operation in letting drone-delivery services cut per-trip costs from what it estimated at $13.50 with one operator assigned to a drone to $1.50 to $2 with one operator supervising 20 at a time. In October, a subsequent McKinsey post highlighted a vast potential market$5 billion by 2035, with approximately 1.5 billion annual deliveries expectedbut warned that a customer survey it ordered up had revealed relatively low interest in drone delivery among U.S. customers. That survey found that 53% of U.S. respondents said they were willing to switch to drone delivery, but only 37% were willing to pay a premium. Both shares were the lowest observed in the six countries surveyed: Brazil, China, Germany, India, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. That suggests that while the hardware and software of drone-delivery operations will need further iteration, the sales pitch itself remains in flight and may not land for a while.
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E-Commerce
The workplace is changing faster than most leaders can keep up with. Were seeing changing expectations around work-life balance, the rise of burnout, and the prevalence of economic pressures leading to the rise of generative AI. This leaves little time to adapt, let alone rethink how we engage and inspire our teams. This shift has impacted the workforce. According to the latest Glassdoor Worklife Trends 2025 Report, 65% of employees feel stuck in their current jobs. But when it comes to managing and motivating people, some things never change. Employees want to feel valued, supported, and integral to something bigger. Trust, human connection, and purpose remain key to any companys success, no matter how fast technology evolves or how much the workplace shifts. Fostering these values requires more from management than just hiring the best people. Its about creating an environment where workers thrive. This means they take ownership, contribute ideas, and collaborate. While strong leadership is vital for setting the companys vision and strategy, real energy and innovation emerge when those ideas come from the workforce. Employees who align with the companys broader goals drive innovation in ways that no algorithm or technology can replicate. Fostering a culture that explicitly values and empowers staff leads to creativity and allows companies to tap into the true potential of their workforce. This approach invites employees on every level to emerge as leaders and innovators. The great detachment from momentum Were witnessing a massive evolution in the workplace. When Amazon announced its return-to-office policy for 2025, the backlash was swift and unsurprising. Weve all seen this coming. Employees have found new ways to create an impact that doesnt fit the traditional office-bound, 9-to-5 mold. Gen Z is poised to outnumber baby boomers. And the impact will go beyond their numbersmany of them have a different way of working and what they expect from the workplace compared to previous generations. They grew up during the pandemic when remote learning and hybrid environments became the norm. Gen Z employees are comfortable contributing in flexible, nontraditional waysworking in bursts of focus or sending deliverables at midnight. For them, the emphasis isnt on showing up to the office but on the impact of their efforts. However, a recent Gallup poll indicates an alarming trend of employee detachment, particularly among those under 35. This raises a critical question: Is your company still focused on activity? Are you measuring for actual impact? RTO mandates alone wont change the culture or drive performance. Real progress happens when we trust our employees to experiment, share, and make meaningful contributions. Empowering staff from the bottom up means prioritizing outcomes that create value and drive our businesses forward. Businesses can no longer rely on traditional productivity. Continuing to think in outdated ways will not position companies to keep pace with competitors with a workforce that is more flexible, innovative, and thriving. As leaders, we must create space for impact and let go of outdated performance metrics that hold us back. Listen to your experts Leaders have the power to set the tone. Consider asking yourself,what do you need to learn or unlearn, and who can teach you this? Remember that its not your job to know everything. Thats what experts are for. Lean on them, trust them, and empower them. Elevate viewpoints from employees at all levels and champion their wisdom. Nurture a learning environment where you welcome candid conversations, and employees can exchange ideas without fear of judgment, blame, or backlash. Promote teamwork and collaboration. This requires removing obstacles and providing opportunities for talent that break down organizational silos and give life to new ideas. Create a collective spark Collaboration fuels creativity and impact. Leaders can foster this by creating space for employees to share ideas through brainstorms or reverse mentoring programs. They also need to find ways to empower employees to tackle challenges to encourage trust, innovation, and fresh thinking. These moments of connection and cocreation spark momentum that drives meaningful engagement and impact. The questions you ask shape the culture you create. Ask yourself, What steps can you take to empower leaders and employees to foster a sense of community? Who speaks freely, and who remains silent? Who receives credit, and who gets overlooked? Which employees get to create culture, rather than just to follow it? Create an environment where employees can influence processes. Encourage open conversations and employee input to simplify processes and make improvements that truly work for the team. This allows employees to sharpen their critical thinking, problem-solving, and leadership skills while contributing to meaningful outcomes. Create an empathetic culture Today’s employees are overloaded with information, juggling constant communication, evolving expectations, and endless demands. Leading with empathy is essential to fostering an environment that truly supports employees. A high say/do ratiowhere you consistently align your actions with promisesis critical to building trust and modeling the behavior you want to see. Your organizations culture is its most significant competitive edge. It can drive or hinder exceptional results, inspire a willingness to learn or a fear of failure, promote teams poised for problem-solving or riddled with distrust and toxicity, and encourage inclusivity or exclusion. Effective leadership isn’t about perfection; its about being present, intentional, and empathetic. When leaders intentionally tend to culture, they demonstrate to their employees what matters and is possible.
Category:
E-Commerce
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