Building solutions with AI is challenging for three key reasons:
Most potential users don't really know what AI can do for them
Most developers don't really know what problems they can solve with AI
Most people are sceptical of incorporating new things into their lives
Phase 1: Determining the state of the possible
Early on in solution building, we often have ideas worth considering. Rarely do we have concrete understanding of what we should build and for who.
At this stage it is best to build multiple prototypes of potential solutions to multiple problems. Ones that your end users can use to gain a deeper understanding of the capability.
Prototypes help uncover two things about any serious idea: what is the complexity in doing it and what is it's value to me. The are invaluable to de-risk projects early on.
If you are an entrepreneur, you will use your wining prototypes to land commercial pilot agreements. If you work within a larger organization, you will use them to identify your first users.
Phase 2: Iterating to product market fit
Once you are able to confidently move forward with a winning product. The middle phase is really about delivering and iterating. At this point you have (ideally) paying users. If you do this part right you also have ROI milestones that you are trying to hit for your customers.
Your speed to iterate is important in the middle phase. Your team needs to build a deep understanding of the problem - solution space before they will really deliver any value.
The only way to do this effectively is to lower the cycle time for new ideas to be generated, considered, tested and then deployed.
If you succeed at this, you have discovered, through experimentation, a solution that unlocks incredible value for your customers.
Phase 3: Owning the space
In the third phase, the goal is to get as many people using your tool as you can. At this point you have a solution to someone's problems., and you just need to get more of those someones who have that same problem.
In this phase your system's reliability, scalability, and security become most important.
Success here will ensure your product becomes saturated in the marketplace.