Alexander Theuma

Founder and Editor-in-chief

Helping SaaS Founders grow their businesses to $10M+ ARR

I started SaaStock in 2015 with a simple idea: give SaaS founders a real space to connect, learn, and scale faster–together.

Fast forward to today: SaaStock has become the global home for SaaS founders who are serious about growth.

We've hosted thousands of founders, VCs, and execs from Dublin to Austin, from seed stage to unicorn. We’ve built a community that doesn’t just celebrate scale, it shares the hard truths, the breakthroughs, and the lessons you only get by being in the room where it happens.

Before SaaStock, I spent 11 years in sales, getting my hands dirty, chasing targets, closing deals, and learning what real GTM pressure feels like. That experience taught me: there’s no shortcut to growth. You need the right people around you, the right mindset, and a willingness to evolve — especially now, in an AI First world.

Today, I'm focused on three things:

Growing SaaStock across Europe and the US as the leading platform for SaaS founders.

Building a new generation of founder-driven, AI-enabled companies.

Using the SaaS Revolution Show Podcast to tell the real stories — the wins and the war stories — from the frontlines of SaaS.

SaaS is changing fast.

I'm here for the builders who want to change with it and win.

If you're scaling a SaaS company, or investing in one, let's chat.

Founder

Our purpose is to make a real difference to the lives and companies of the SaaS community

Most SaaS companies fail within the first three years due to lack of runway, lack of product market fit and lack of founder experience in managing a business.
SaaStock helps B2B SaaS Founders on the journey to $10mill ARR supercharge their growth by connecting founders with VCs to help extend runway, learn from industry experts and build pipeline.
We do this through or Physical and virtual conferences, our founder membership program, SaaStock local community gatherings and media.
We are the only media and events business that focuses on SaaS founders scaling to $10mill ARR. This focus enables us to provide the highest quality events, content and connections
For founders in this stage of their journey.


It’s a scary, uncertain — and incredibly exciting — moment in SaaS.
Earlier this week, a founder said to me:

“We may be living through the most pivotal 12 months in SaaS history.”

He might be right.

AI isn’t just another feature wave. It’s a platform shift. Business models are changing. GTM motions are evolving. Defensibility is being redefined in real time.

That’s exactly why we’re bringing 50 B2B SaaS leaders together in Austin next week Thursday 25th Feb for SaaStock Local: Austin.

No panels.
No fluff.
No vendor pitches.

Just a curated room of founders and operators having honest, peer-to-peer conversations about:

• How they’re adapting their product strategy
• Where AI is creating real leverage (vs noise)
• What’s changing in GTM and revenue models
• How to stay relevant — and win — through this shift

📍 Austin
📅 Thursday, Feb 25
👥 50 B2B Software leaders
🌮 Tacos, drinks, and high-signal conversation

If you want to be in the room comparing strategies with peers who are building through the AI platform shift — join us.

This will be the AI intelligence room for B2B software leaders in Austin next week.

Link to reg in the comments. See you in Austin

Running the largest 1:1 Meetings event in B2B Software

The B2B software model is being rewritten. Not gradually. Right now.

I've been speaking to SaaS founders across the spectrum lately, and the honest truth? The smartest people in the room are wrestling with the same fears.

Am I still building a product — or just a feature someone else's AI will absorb? Should every workflow become an agent? 
Will my pricing model survive when buyers only want to pay for outcomes? 
Is PLG quietly breaking?

These aren't hypothetical questions. They're keeping founders up at night, and they deserve real answers — not thought leadership, not hot takes, not another webinar.

That's exactly why April 15-16 in Austin matters more than any other two days on your calendar this year.

SaaStock USA is bringing together the B2B software leaders who are already running the experiments — testing AI packaging, rethinking seat vs. usage models, rebuilding GTM around agents, and winning. 

The people who've already paid the tuition of trial and error, so you don't have to.

Two days. Your peers. Structured 1:1 conversations with the founders actually navigating this shift in real time.

Not panels. Not theory. Intelligence you can act on straight away.

The AI platform shift doesn't reward the smartest founders. It rewards the best-informed ones moving fastest. Every month you spend figuring this out alone is a month a competitor spends learning from someone who already solved it.

SaaStock USA 15th and 16th April will be the room where that changes. Austin will become the AI intelligence hub for 2 days.

If you're building B2B software in 2025 and you're not in this room, you're navigating one of the biggest platform shifts in a generation without a map.

See you in Austin. 👇 Drop a comment if you're coming — I want to connect.

B2B marketing is being rewritten in real time. Are you keeping up?

Next week in London, 4th March, SaaStock is bringing together our community for an intimate afternoon with one of the sharpest minds in B2B SaaS marketing — Kady Srinivasan, CMO at Freshworks.

Kady has built and scaled marketing at Dropbox, Klaviyo, and you.com. She's flying in from San Francisco and is giving us her afternoon to dig into something every B2B marketer is grappling with right now:

→ How AI is fundamentally changing B2B buying behaviour
→ What GTM motions actually work in 2026
→ Where most SaaS companies are getting it wrong — and what to do instead

This is an intimate SaaStock community session. Only 25 spots remain.

If you're a founder, CMO, or marketing leader trying to figure out what 'good' looks like in the AI era — this is the room to be in.

Link to grab your spot in the comments

Reluctant Futurist. Provocative Optimist. Keynote speaker. ✨ VisuAIse Futures: turning passive audiences into engaged participants 🎤 200+ keynotes in 30+ countries 📖 The Future Normal & Trend-Driven Innovation

Corporate clients &amp; conferences call me when they need:↳ A keynote that doesn't feel like a keynote – that’s interactive, radically inclusive, and which captures strategic insights from their audience, live (see VisuAIse Futures below)↳ A practical approach and mindset for generating non-obvious insights into what's next ↳ A proven global speaker, who delivers&nbsp;99% positive audience ratings. // MY METHODOLOGY: THE EXPECTATION ECONOMYI tell stories grounded in today's innovations which give leaders fresh perspectives on the biggest question in business: what will their customers and employees want next?&nbsp;My cross-industry, human-centered approach works by revealing non-obvious insights into where people's expectations are headed. // WRITING &amp; THINKING:↳ Substack newsletter - The Future Normal, 15,000+ subscribers↳ The Future Normal (book) – co-authored with Rohit Bhargava (3x WSJ bestseller)↳ Trend-Driven Innovation – drove TrendWatching's research used by 100,000+ professionals worldwide// VISUALISE FUTURES: THE WORLD’S FIRST “MULTIPLAYER KEYNOTE”This interactive session engages your entire audience – turning their sketches into strategic insights, live on stage.Passive Listening → Active Co-CreationKeynote Slides → Consulting-Grade DeliverablesEphemeral Moments → Ongoing ConversationsMore at www.interactive-keynote.ai/// WHO I’VE WORKED WITH  Over 15 years, I’ve spoken in 30+ countries: from the SXSW main stage (3x), to leaders at global brands such as Amazon, Calvin Klein, J&amp;J, Metlife, Mastercard, and the Tata Group; and at HEC, NYU, and Hult Ashridge.&nbsp;View 1000+ audience ratings: www.talkadot.com/s/henrycm“Inspiring, energetic, and entertaining. Henry's session for 2,000 senior executives from a Fortune 100 healthcare company received the highest rating from the attendees.”— SVP Head of Strategy, Cramer Events“Thank you for bringing fresh and out-of-the-ordinary ideas to this team of smart, motivated people.”— VP Executive Leadership Development, HP&amp; yes, *all* my talks are bespoke (my agent says ‘ridiculously so’) to the industry, function or region. // ABOUT MEAs co-founder of 3Space, I am also an award-winning social entrepreneur. 3Space was commended in Fast Company's World Changing Ideas, won the European section of the FT/Citi Urban Ingenuity Awards, and was selected as one of NESTA's New Radicals. I was also once included in GQ's Most Connected Men in Britain list.// CONTACThenry@coutinho-mason.com renee@ideapress-speakers.com

Henry Coutinho-Mason

A Black Mirror episode, in 45 seconds. 

I love how this clip captures more of the emerging tensions and fears people have around the lfuture of work & tech than any 100-page, data-backed report.

"The less people actually did physical work, the more they wanted to appear as if they did" 🎯

"What if we could use the energy of humans, to power the machines that took away their jobs?" 🔥

Brilliant concept, perfect execution. And people say AI will kill creativity...

Source: https://lnkd.in/eRnDKuF6

*********  

🔮 I’m a reluctant futurist who shares daily insights into how you can use today’s innovations to uncover tomorrow’s opportunities.  

📣 Want a provocatively optimistic yet actionable speaker for your next event? Slide into my DMs. 

 📩 Or sign up to my newsletter for a weekly roundup – link in my profile.

Here we go… the obligatory LinkedIn ‘heading to SXSW’ post...although I’m less ‘honoured’ or ‘humbled’ and more SO FREAKING EXCITED :)

My new keynote, 𝐌𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬: 𝐂𝐨-𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐗𝐒𝐖 𝟐𝟎𝟑𝟎 (𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞!), 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝟔𝟑 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝟏,𝟒𝟎𝟑 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐞!) 🤯

https://lnkd.in/eSt7KTaW 

Note: I’m using this title because, like always, I worked with the team at SXSW to create a talk that directly addresses their audience’s biggest goals…and we’re going to do something pretty special together. 

I'm especially excited about two new 'world first' elements we'll launch on stage (if the Gemini API obliges... Bradley Stacey has pushed it to the max! 🙏)

But, as I posted before, the bigger msg underpinning my talk is 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 & 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐈.

Then I’ve also got a bunch of other fun sessions, including: 

Fri./
↳ Book signing https://lnkd.in/eqgxWckZ 

Sat/ 
↳ Non-obvious VIP author lunch with Rohit Bhargava
↳ 7-minute book giveaway! https://lnkd.in/e3XBDvd7

Sun/
↳ Foresight Improv – round 1, at Casa Minas https://lnkd.in/eC8xmvjk
↳ TrenDs delegation SXSW debrief with Renato Grau

Mon/
↳ Foresight Improv (round 2!) with Matt Carmichael Annie Hardy Alexandra Whittington and friends https://lnkd.in/ecd5-Hsh 
↳ Club Ichi Happy Hour at the Non-Obvious House with Liz Lathan, CMP & Nicole Osibodu, XOXO

& the talks I’m especially looking forward to catching include:

Rohit Bhargava on human connection https://lnkd.in/e4fFhugM
Chad Reynolds & Sarah Nagle on brand worlds https://lnkd.in/eESG8uyF
Vanessa Mathias on cognitive sovereignty https://lnkd.in/epdmR2DH
Joe Pine on transformation economyhttps://lnkd.in/eeg6Uwpw
Liz Bacelar on AI & creativity https://lnkd.in/eCFabPUx
Neil Redding on human x AI symbiosis https://lnkd.in/emgfA4J4
Ian Beacraft on AI-native orgs https://lnkd.in/efcU8uJk
Katherine Templar Lewis on art & neuroscience https://lnkd.in/enGqDwNv
Joana Lenkova on LEGO futures https://lnkd.in/ebwjMWDH
Julius Solaris on live experiences https://lnkd.in/e3ymnCeh 
Mike Bechtel on ikigai https://lnkd.in/eRJDsFfF

And getting to hang out with many other brilliant humans, both friends from all over the world, and all those who I’ll be meeting in person for the first time after countless WA / LI posts! :) 

If you're heading to Austin, I'd love to see you at one or more of the events above. & which other people / sessions / events should I check out? 

Let's go 💪

Who's going to SXSW next month? 🙋

I'm super excited to be taking my interactive, 'multiplayer' keynote to Austin, where I'll invite the SXSW audience to imagine & design the agenda for SXSW 2030...all live, all together. 

But while this will be a fun shared experience, it's really a trojan horse – because the transformational insight I want to people to leave with is much more provocative: 

To paraphrase William Gibson: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐭.  

AI will profoundly change who, how and where innovation happens in every organisation. But 'bottom-up strategy' is a hugely challenging concept for most organisations, which have been built for top-down thinking & direction.  

Most leaders aren't just not ready for a world where everyone can contribute, I'll bet many are actively skeptical, or even terrified by it. 

𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞.

That’s the strategic reality that VisuAIse Futures viscerally demonstrates. 

I want people to leave my session having 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐀𝐈-𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 – 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝐱 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 & 𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 than they operate today. 

If you'll be at SXSW, here's my session: https://lnkd.in/eSt7KTaW

(& doing a live tech demo with 500 people on Fri 13th...what could possibly go wrong? ;)

& even if you're not going to be in Austin, but this sounds interesting, then I'd love to talk about bringing it to your next meeting or event... 

********* 

✏️ Do you want to transform your next AI keynote into a shared, creative moment your team won’t forget? 

🔮 Ready to transform 100s of sketches into a coherent strategy, in less than 20 minutes? All live. All together. 

📩 Slide into my DMs.

Want a bellwether as to where pop culture is at right now? The trailer for Toy Story 5 is all about fears over smart tech, screen time and lost childhood. 

One reading is that this is so on the money. 11 million views in 4 days don't lie. 

And yes on some level – it absolutely is (as a parent, I'll 100% 'encourage' – i.e. drag – my kids to watch this). 

But I can't help also wonder whether it's also 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐫. 

Because, by the time Pixar processes a cultural anxiety into mainstream family entertainment, then those of us who think about the future should be focusing elsewhere...

The real question is 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐱𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐮𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐲 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝟕/𝟖/𝟗? 

The collapse of the 'effort economy'? The end of any kind of shared culture? Family dynamics in a world of longevity?  

And then there's an even more meta-question (I'm probably pushing way too much complexity & nuance into a quick LinkedIn post now), which is... 

If AI radically collapses the production cycle of Hollywood, then perhaps Toy Story 7/8/9 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 be more of a signal of where things are headed, rather than the crest of the wave?
 
(Note: that's why I've always loved South Park as such a great source of trend insights – because their production cycles are so ridiculously compressed) 

So many questions... so few concrete answers....I guess we better just grab a bag of popcorn ;) 

*********  

🔮 I’m a reluctant futurist who shares daily insights into how you can use today’s innovations to uncover tomorrow’s opportunities.  

📣 Want a provocatively optimistic yet actionable speaker for your next event? Slide into my DMs. 

 📩 Or sign up to my newsletter for a weekly roundup – link in my profile.

I'm in a number of WhatsApp groups where people have been accused of using AI to write their posts recently

These aren't public LI humblebrag posts, but private, high trust & (semi!) professional networks. 

Something interesting is happening. 

I don't know if there's a Debrett's looking at etiquette for the AI age – but if not, there should / will be soon (I might have just stumbled into my next vibe coding project... ;)

(and yes, that's a en dash not an em dash... no AI was used in the typing of this message)

I used to spend months building trend reports. Now I can co-create them in <1h, simply by asking industry leaders to share their ideas. 

Here are 8 key themes that will shape the future of fitness & longevity, as shared by 50+ gym operators & executives at EGYM's London Innovation Congress last week: 

1/ Smart Equipment & Robotics
2/ Specialized Environments
3/ Recovery & Bio-Optimization
4/ AI & Data-Driven Intelligence
5/ Social & Community Networks
6/ Work & Lifestyle Integration
7/ Mental & Emotional Wellbeing
8/ Immersive & Visual Tech

I doubt that any of these themes will surprise you. 

But it's always fascinating to me to see how this framework emerges from asking industry insiders to imagine potential future concepts. 

Micro + macro = actionable innovation insights. 

Next up? I'm taking this to SXSW, where we'll ask the audience to imagine the startups & topics that will be on stage at SXSW 2030. I can't wait to see what people dream up...and the macro insights that emerge :)  

********* 

✏️ Do you want to transform your next AI keynote into a shared, creative experience your audience won’t forget? 

🔮 Ready to transform 100s of sketches into a coherent strategy, in less than 20 minutes? All live. All together. 

📩 Slide into my DMs.

VisuAIse Futures @ EGYM Innovation Congress

This is a genuinely fascinating experiment in corporate innovation culture. 

No specific role. No CV or particular experience required. 

Just a working demo of what the future of financial work & operations could look like, if it was built today.  

As Rob Noble remarked to me today, "if answers are everywhere, what is the question?"   

Two provocations I've been thinking of that this firmly validates:

- Prototypes > CVs. Why create a PDF when you can build something in the nearly same time? 

- Moving at the speed of AI. I love the commitment to interviews & offers within a week...this might just be the most radical detail of the whole initiative ;)

It'll be fascinating to see if this works. 

I hope so...& I hope it sparks a wave of copycats by doing so 

Link here: https://lnkd.in/erJ_dmtk

(FYI - Tom Goodwin Iain Montgomery Debora Koyama Jen Rice Adrian B. Andrea Kates Julia Hobsbawm OBE I know you'll all take something juicy from this :)

Yesterday I was standing on stage asking 50+ of the UK's leading gym operators what the future of fitness & longevity could look like.

I got home to find that NotebookLM (one of the most under-rated AI tools, btw!), had rolled out a new 'Cinematic Video' overview feature...

Here's what happened when I gave it all their ideas that we co-created during my keynote. 

On some levels it's pretty mind-blowing, with a few caveats:

- It now tells a more-or-less coherent narrative, with only a few tiny glitches. 
- It's not perfect – I had to generate 3 versions (the first off went on a tangent about how AI worked!). 

But while technically & visually impressive, I still feel exactly the same as when NotebookLM's infographics went viral late last year:

𝐀𝐬 𝐀𝐈 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭.

You can type "generate an video about the future of fitness" and get something pretty in seconds. 

But you can't replicate 50+ gym operators sketching their visions of the future. 

𝐀𝐈 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐫; 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐥. 

𝐄𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭.

Your feed is an avalanche of AI-generated slop. Before giving anything your time and attention, you should ask:

↳ Where did this really come from?
↳ Who created the input?
↳ Why should I trust it?

𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐬, 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐢𝐭? 

PS/ the other thing I've noticed with AI is that your own AI creations are magical, but everyone else's are kind of 'meh'.

That's why co-creation is so important. Even with the information above, you probably don't find this video 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 exciting. 

But if you were part of the audience that contributed to it, I'd bet you'd find it 100x more interesting. 

𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 = 𝐛𝐮𝐲 𝐢𝐧 = 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 

AI is a cultural lever, not just a technological one. 

********* 

✏️ Do you want to transform your next AI keynote into a shared, experience your team won’t forget? 

🔮 Ready to transform 100s of sketches into a coherent strategy, in less than 20 minutes? All live. All together. 

📩 Slide into my DMs.

This is both a) a fascinating & timely product and b) a classic case study in how early, niche innovations show you the future normal.

I remember writing about anti-surveillance fashion back in 2017/18. The early innovations were very conceptual – many were created by artists. Fun to present on stage, but tbh lay way outside most execs' frame of reality. 

Then the Hong Kong democracy protests showed that there were real-world use cases... even if they still felt pretty distant to 'Western' business audiences. 

Obviously a lot has changed in five or six years. AI fear is now mainstream.  

Deveillance (great name btw!) launched Spectre I this week – which it claims is the first smart device to block unwanted audio recordings. 

(Note: they've faced a LOT of skepticism on X. I'm not qualified to comment – I'm looking here at 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒'𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑠 & 𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠)

Whether it works or not, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 >𝟐 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟒 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬. Clearly they've touched on something. 

& there will inevitably be a similar opportunity in video jamming – tools / wearables / [something] that anonymises & protects you from the cameras that increasingly sit on people's faces – EssilorLuxottica is targeting 10m units of its Meta Ray-Bans in 2026, on top of the 9 million already sold...

And yes, like all trends, this won't negate the opposite trend for ambient data capture & intelligence. It sits alongside it. Different customers, different contexts. The world is complex. Opportunities will exist on both sides. 

So yes, counter-surveillance will be 'a thing' in 2026. 

But even if that's not relevant to you & your biz – it's worth using this as a case study in how to develop your ability to anticipate the future by looking at the weak signals that exist today. 

Even if you don't fully understand them yet, like the art projects of 2017/18...

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