You Have to be More than 'Good Enough' to Beat Big-Tech

This week has left me challenged as to what to write about. The amount of AI related news that came out of Google, OpenAI and Microsoft over the last few days has been like a tsunami. Google held their annual I/O developer event. Similarly, Microsoft hosted Build 2025, and OpenAI announced they were acquiring Jony Ive's (former Apple design chief) AI hardware company, io.

It's hard to pick only a few notable highlights from all of this, but one overriding thought has occurred to me. And that is, Big Tech dominates the AI space right now. Of course, that might not be groundbreaking news, but when we consider the number of smaller start-ups that are building and deploying new software each week, it creates a huge challenge for them. Out of the many announcements (here's a list of 100 of them) that Google has made, some of the solutions have already been created by other companies, which presents them with a real problem.  

For example, UK start-up Fyxer.ai has been in the news quite a lot, given its huge growth rates. From January 2025 to May 2025, they've grown their annual recurring revenue from $1M to $8M and are forecasting to hit $10m by the end of June. Very impressive. However, Google has just promised to help "Reclaim your time with Gemini in Gmail", which isn't an exact like-for-like product, but it makes you question what value Fixer provides over and above.

It's the same with the real-time translation company Talo. Google has usurped their entire business with a new speech translation for Google Meet that allows those on the team all to hear speakers in their own language in near real-time.

And this isn't entirely good news. We don't want to be dependent on just one or two mega companies for our technical solutions. Competition, after all, reduces costs, invites innovation, and spreads risk and control, but the rate at which Google (and others) are shipping out new products and solutions makes it very hard for the smaller companies.

However, I've worked at a company that was in a similar position in the past, and I have noticed that Google offers their products at very competitive price points, if not entirely free in some cases. The result is often products that are not the very best but are 'good enough' at the price point. And this is the narrow space that other companies have to compete in. Make your product the very best in class, so that people are willing to pay extra for it. Being average or pretty good will not be a profitable business.

With it being relatively easy for many people to create products now using AI, there will be many that come to the market and quickly disappear because they were not excellent or different enough to what is already out there.

We are sadly due to see quite a few failures in the upcoming months and years.

Using generative AI at work still has the ability to cause embarrassment, or worse a large mistake, when we don't check the output.

To prevent that, I've created a Notion document complete:

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At the 2025 Google I/O developer conference, Google introduced over two dozen new AI products, including tools like AI Mode and Gemini in Chrome for conversational web browsing. These advancements aim to enable AI assistants to perform complex tasks, such as ticket booking and real estate searches, marking a significant step towards more autonomous AI interactions.

Microsoft is accelerating its transformation into an "AI agent factory," enabling businesses to build their own AI agents using tools like GitHub, Copilot, and Azure. This initiative, led by former Meta engineering chief Jay Parikh, signifies a shift towards AI-first applications beyond traditional software models.

SaaS company Freshworks is integrating agentic AI to enhance productivity and customer engagement. By the end of 2025, they plan to expand their AI service offerings, viewing AI as a complementary force to traditional software models rather than a disruptor.

Data+AI SummitSan Francisco, June 9–12

The AI Summit LondonTobacco Dock, London, June 11-12

World AI SummitTaets Art & Event Park, Amsterdam, October 8-9

Big Data Conference EuropeVilnius, Lithuania, November 19-21

Thanks for reading, and see you next Friday.

Simon,

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