The Experimentation Mindset: Human Ingenuity in the Age AI Post

It's Launch Day!

The Experimentation Machine is my third book, but possibly the most important. Not only does it share tools and strategies to succeed in the AI age, but timeless frameworks to help you navigate any technology wave.

Today I'm sharing an excerpt from the book on the timeless concept of "The Experimentation Mindset." I hope it inspires you to learn more.

Here's what you can do to support the launch:

1. Get the book -- Order on Amazon or Direct

2. Leave an Amazon Review -- Do this even if you didn't buy your book from them

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4. Join me later today for our Launch Day Q&A — 5pm EST on LinkedIn Live

Thank you! Now on to the Experimentation Mindset

The Experimentation Mindset: Human Ingenuity in the Age AI

In The Experimentation Machine, I stress the need for speed in startup experimentation and the role of AI as an experiment catalyst—a turbo boost for finding product-market fit. We are in a unique moment in history where the tools for founders have never been more powerful. This is truly the best time in history to be an entrepreneur. 

This book has given you a framework for building startups in the age of AI, but it is not an exact blueprint. To execute successfully—and yes, swiftly—you need to have an experimentation mindset. It’s a mindset that optimizes for incisive, nuanced insights and strategic thinking—not just the execution of a good process or tactics. 

The best scientists and mathematicians possess an experimentation mindset. They challenge, observe, question, test, and iterate; and then they do it again and again. Why? Because they are obsessive, habitual learners. They are themselves experimentation machines. They understand that learning compounds and each new insight builds on the last. Good judgment leads to good experiments, which leads to good outcomes . . . which in turn leads to better judgement, experiments, and outcomes.

When early-stage founders focus on learning over vanity metrics and even profit, they set themselves up for finding genuine (not premature) product-market fit in the near term while establishing a culture of experimentation and learning for the long term. 

Here are a few thoughts on developing an experimentation mindset as you begin your journey: 

Strategy Is Old-Fashioned Human

Brian Elliott and Sid Pardeshi, the co-founders of Blitzy.AI, are building a software development platform that can shrink a project from six months to six days. A question they get often is, “If AI can do so much, why do we need humans in the mix at all?” 

Their answer: Strategy will always be old-fashioned human. 

As artificial intelligence takes over more of the what and even the how, humans must become experts in the why. Strategy is deciding on:

• Your company’s aspirations

• The problem you’ll solve

• The customer you’ll serve

• The product you’ll create first

• The go-to-market plan

• The business model and profit formula

Most of all, strategy is deciding which tests to run, and when, to develop the best course of action for each of these steps. The most valuable skill for founders today is not a technical capacity; it’s sound judgement, clear communication, strategic thinking, and an experimentation mindset. 

Taste or discernment is another innately human trait that AI will struggle to replicate. Christopher O'Donnell, former head of product at HubSpot and founder of AI CRM startup, Day.AI, colorfully put it like this to me: “AI is very helpful in that it can design a thousand pairs of sneakers, but it can’t wear the sneakers for you, and it can’t tell you which sneakers are cool.”

In other words, AI can help us expand and scale good ideas, but it’s up to us, the humans in the room, to determine which ideas are worth pursuing. 

Embrace Your Inner Edison

Developing an experimentation mindset requires approaching your venture like a scientist. Every new idea or strategy starts as a testable hypothesis. Whether it’s a product feature, a marketing campaign, or a revenue stream, it begins with an educated guess: “If we do X, we expect Y to happen.” This clarity helps set the stage for experimentation. 

Unfortunately, I see many founders make vague and untestable guesses—no wonder they end up with inaccurate insights that put them on the path to startup failure. Starting with a testable hypothesis, informed by insights, encourages critical thinking and ensures that actions are data-driven, not wild guesses.

Once the hypothesis is in place, running small, manageable experiments is next. The bulk of this book is dedicated to the essential experiments all founders need to run to find product-market fit. The key is to perform experiments quickly and efficiently, which is where AI becomes a big advantage. Build an MVP and use it to collect data until you see a pattern emerge. 

Startups can be like roller coaster rides, full of highs and lows. Be careful to stay laser focused on the end goal. Whatever the result of an experiment, treat it as an insight that prompts an iteration. Either repeat the experiment or formulate a new hypothesis and run a new experiment. 

Don’t Wait for AI to Mature

Despite the flood of generative AI updates since ChatGPT debuted in 2022, the truth is that the technology is still evolving.  As Ethan Mollick notes, “Whatever AI you’re using right now is the worst AI you’re ever going to use.” This fact makes some founders reluctant to experiment with current, sometimes buggy AI solutions.

Waiting for AI to mature is a mistake; instead, founders should jump in and get their hands dirty. Founders who start experimenting with AI now will gain valuable experience and proficiency that late adopters will find difficult to match. Start by exploring new AI tools, applying them to different use cases, and seeing what works. Over time, this AI-forward experimentation will become a deeply ingrained organizational habit, which in turn will allow the organization to adapt the next wave of AI tools faster than the competition. While getting started is hard due to inertia, overcoming this challenge is crucial to becoming adept with AI.

As I said at the beginning of the book, AI may not replace founders. But founders who learn how to use AI effectively will outperform founders who don’t.

Founders who fear they’ve already missed the AI train should recruit a few “reverse mentors” to teach them—perhaps someone less experienced than you, but already facile with AI. Ask them to teach you the ins and outs of prompting, building custom chatbots, deploying AI agents, and more. 

Or if you’d rather learn on your own, ask AI to teach you how to do tasks with AI. Try this prompt: 

“I am doing [insert task or project] and want to use AI to automate some of the work, but I don’t know where to start. Please give me some ideas on how to use AI in this capacity.”

You’ll receive a list of ideas; most good, some not. Pick an idea that seems promising and then ask, “Give me a step-by-step breakdown of how to build this.”

This simple prompt will open up a whole new world of possibilities for you. It will show you—as my HBS students have learned—that you can build virtually anything regardless of your level of technical knowledge. The greatest limitation is your own imagination. 

Get One Percent Better Every Day

The goal isn’t to become an AI expert overnight. Start small, test new tools, and build from there. Each experiment with AI is an opportunity to learn, refine your approach, and discover new use cases. 

In his instant classic, Atomic Habits, author James Clear observes how small improvements compound over time. In the book, Clear introduces the “1 percent rule,” which states that if you improve by just 1 percent daily, you’ll be 37 times better by the end of the year.

If you choose to work with AI every day, those small gains will add up. Maybe the outcome will be 37x. Perhaps a little less—or a lot more.  

Leverage AI to Become a 10x Founder

In the book, you will meet incredible founders who have experimented their way to startup success. Some of these founders, who are building their startups in the dawn of the AI age, are experiencing dramatic gains in their productivity and speed. They are experimenting with AI in every aspect of their business, from ideation to customer discovery, MVPs to GTM plans, product features to people management. They refuse to let the limitations of the past determine their future. They recognize the paradigm shift they are living through and are fully embracing what’s on the other side. 

Are you ready to join their ranks? Are you ready to become a 10x Founder who’s not just riding the wave, but shaping it? 

The future belongs to the experimenters. What are you waiting for?

Thank you to my publishing team, colleagues, friends, and family for the support during this project. I believe this may be my most important book yet. I hope it guides you through this wild and wonderful time we live in.

Thank you again. Happy building!

-Jeff