Shipped Isn't Won: Making the right AI Bets and Making them Pay

About

ProductTank Cologne AI has made building software cheaper and faster than ever. But it hasn’t made it any easier to decide what’s worth building, or how to make it pay. Faster delivery can just as easily mean faster mistakes. Two speakers tackle two sides of that problem. Andrew Skotzko, author of *The Strategy Cycle*, shows how to choose better bets when you can build almost anything. Hayder Schneider, who leads product at Aleph Alpha, shares what he learned about the economics of AI products, and why so many teams leave the commercials until it’s too late. Join us for two talks, an open discussion, and drinks afterwards. **Agenda:** 7pm: Arrive and networking 7:30pm: Talk of Andrew Skotzko & Hayder Schneider (in person) 8:15pm: Fireside Chat & Q&A with your questions 8:45pm to end: open networking **What you can expect our two speakers to address:** ***Talk #1: Andrew Skotzko: Faster Cars Don’t Make Better Drivers: How AI Changes Product Strategy - and How It Doesn’t*** AI is dramatically reducing the cost and time required to build software. That doesn’t make product strategy less important. It makes bad judgment easier to execute at scale. This talk examines what changes when teams can build almost anything: how to choose better bets, make real tradeoffs, distinguish faster execution from faster learning, and keep speed from turning into more chaos. Drawing from The Strategy Cycle, Andrew will share a practical way to decide what to build, what not to build, and what has to be true for a bet to work. ***Talk #2: Hayder Schneider: How to Turn Your
AI Product Innovation into Profitable Growth*** Does your AI product move the needle? And does it do so profitably? For most products, at least one answer is no. The reason, this talk argues, is a solution-first habit that the AI hype amplified. Teams ship AI capabilities first and hope to figure out the commercials later: what customers are willing to pay, and what it costs to serve them. The talk gives founders and product leaders practical insights into how to prevent this mistake and turn their AI product innovation into profitable growth. We're proud to present **REWE digital** (yet another time!) as our location host! We're looking forward to a lively conversation with our usually super engaged ProductTank Cologne audience in REWE Digital's beautiful office in Cologne-Mülheim. Dominik, Esjona, Shehrina, Simonetta & Tim Your ProductTank Cologne Team