“the future will be built by those who combine AI's power with enduring human insights and design creating products that people not only use but refuse to live without and choose to evangelize to their friends.”

The future belongs to founders who combine AI power with enduring human insight and design

Crowley's summary of the AI era for consumer subscription founders: AI is not a moat, but using AI to build better products faster while layering in human design intuition and community is. The apps that win combine AI-assisted development speed with the irreplicable craft of deep consumer insight — products that inspire evangelism, not just usage. That combination is what strategic acquirers pay premium multiples for.