"Small markets and poorly defined customer needs" It's a feature, not a bug.

Lessons from The Innovator's Dilemma: Why AI startups are today's fruit flies

“Disruptive technologies bring to a market a very different value proposition than had been available previously.

Generally, disruptive technologies underperform established products in mainstream markets. But they have other features that a few fringe (and generally new) customers value.

Products based on disruptive technologies are typically cheaper, simpler, smaller, and, frequently, more convenient to use.”

— The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen

The excerpt above drives the founding principles of Trial and Error, Inc
Our disruptive technologies: Generative AI, accessible GPUs, and remote team management.

This year, we bootstrapped Renovate AI to $3M+ ARR. We deliver cheaper, faster, and more convenient visualization solutions for the real estate and construction industries, building custom AI models tailored to B2B customers.

We also launched and tested Vox AI—accessible music and song generation tools. These tools have been downloaded and used in over 100 countries across various languages.

Additionally, we kickstarted the core platform for an AI agent swarm that simulates real-time scenarios. We’re calling it “Wisdom of the Crowd.”

For the keen observers, here’s sage advice from The Innovator’s Dilemma:

“Those who study genetics avoid studying humans,” Christensen noted. “Because new generations come along only every thirty years or so, it takes a long time to understand the cause and effect of any changes.

Instead, they study fruit flies, because they are conceived, born, mature, and die all within a single day.

If you want to understand why something happens in business, study the disk drive industry. Those companies are the closest things to fruit flies that the business world will ever see.”

AI startups are the fruit flies of the business world today. If you want to understand why something happens in business, study the Generative AI industry—especially its failures.

Originally shared on LinkedIn, resharing here an important perspective on disruptive innovation and our journey at Trial and Error, Inc.