The Tech Is Not The Moat: What 39 Harvard MBAs Taught Me About AI, Startup Building, and 10x Founders
I keep being impressed by the new ways I see people using AI and how these ideas have yet to go mainstream.
Prototyping with AI at HBS
November 2024, Professor Jeff Bussgang, Professor Christina Wallace, and I taught a hands-on workshop in the Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) class at Harvard Business.
The goal was to have students, especially those non-technical, go from -1 to 0 taking a startup idea, building a lean canvas, and launching a first prototype all with AI.
Impact
What I didn’t expect was how much the students would teach us about the changing nature of technical advantage in startups. As one student put it:
"The tech is not the moat!"
A few of my favorite quotes about the impact of the workshop:
"I really wish I had known about these tools when I started working on my startup a few months ago."
"This exercise convinced me that if you're performing ideation and not using AI tools in the process, you're handicapping yourself unnecessarily. AI dramatically improves the process every single step of the way and is an invaluable tool."
"More than ever I'm convinced that even as someone with technical training I either have to learn these tools or perish."
One student was even rickrolled by ChatGPT!
"In the first iteration of my landing page, ChatGPT added the music video for ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley under the heading "See Soar in Action"...something you'd definitely want to watch out for."
(I had to double-check her conversation on that one to verify that for myself!)
Takeaways
You can read the detailed takeaways in Professor Bussgang's article here:
You can see the student results here:
And if you want to try it out for yourself, here's the open-source version of the exercise:
Prototyping with AI Workshop - Harvard Business School - Launching Technology Ventures - Fall 2024
Next Steps
Professor Bussgang also goes into more detail about how some of the latest AI implications from our class apply to timeless strategies and tactics to finding product market fit in his new book The Experimentation Machine Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI:
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We're doing a second iteration of the class workshop in March 2025. AI is moving so quickly. I'm excited to see how tools evolve and how we change the workshop along with them.
If you have questions, comments, or feedback, drop me a line!