AI-Founder Mindset
Thank you for being a part of the Generative AI for Absolute Beginners and Vibe Code for Absolute Beginners community.
I just finished the final proofs for my upcoming book (“Artificial Intelligence: Shaping the Future of Innovation”), which will be released at the end of October. The book is written for leaders, innovators, and decision makers.
But this post is not about me. It’s about you. As you navigate the world of AI, I encourage you to keep front and center the following question:
How can I prepare myself to be a Leader in the Age of AI?
That’s what my book is about and that’s what this community is about.
Mens et Manus
I worked for several years at MIT as CIO at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. If you have spent any time at MIT, you know that its ideal is enshrined in the Latin motto: Mens et Manus or “mind and hand.” The motto signifies the fusion of theoretical knowledge and practical application. MIT’s motto is very much how I think about the mission of our community.
AI-Founder Mindset
As we move forward developing our knowledge of AI, and translating that to practical applications, I would like you to begin thinking of yourself as an AI-Founder. What does that mean exactly? Take on the mindset of being a founder of an AI company. That’s the over-arching skillset I encourage you to develop.
So, how are we going to do that? Most of the workshops this year will be based around a hypothetical startup, tentatively named as “Healthy Meals AI”. Imagine you are building a company that uses AI to develop healthy meal plans as a base product. Across the series of workshop, we will start with a simple prototype, then progressively refine, improve, and evolve it toward a minimum viable product (MVP).
Think of yourself as the CEO of the startup. You will have access to all the materials as we go through the workshops. How would you refine it, change it, improve it if you were the CEO. And go ahead put those ideas into practice.
In parallel, I want you to start thinking about your own idea for a startup. What do you care most about? Is there a problem that you keeps you up at night? Is there something requires urgent solution? Don’t think about making money. There is nothing wrong with that. But start with a problem that matters to you.
Then start translating that to an AI startup idea. That’s what I mean by an AI-Founder mindset.
Getting Started
How will we get started? The first steps are to translate an idea into a prototype, or a series of prototypes. Our prototypes will go from lower fidelity to higher fidelity, a process I describe in my book.
But we won’t stop at just prototypes. We will keep going to build out a full MVP (Minimal Viable Product). So, putting on your seat belts. It will be a fun ride. And starting thinking as an AI-Founder.