Stop Building AI Wrappers
Why wrappers die and capabilities win
When I left Google, my first instinct was to build an AI co-pilot for PMs.
It checked all the boxes: clear problem, strong market, obvious utility.
But I didn't build it. And I'm glad I didn't.
Because a few months later, that idea would've been dead.
The AI Wrapper Problem.
Back in early 2023, as ChatGPT took off, a wave of startups launched what seemed like a brilliant feature: "Chat with your documents."
Upload a PDF. Ask a question. Get an answer. At the time, it felt magical.
Then OpenAI and Claude added native file uploads. And just like that, the entire market disappeared overnight.
This pattern keeps repeating. Voice dictation tools? OpenAI launched real-time voice. AI email writers? Gmail integrated Smart Compose. Image generators? Gemini can now do that natively.
Why the Platform Analogy Fails
The AI wrapper graveyard is growing because most founders are treating AI like the internet.
They assume you can build a SaaS app on top of LLMs, carve out a wedge, and scale from there. After all, that's how we got Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix, by building on top of internet infrastructure.
But AI isn't the internet. It's more like Outlook or Word.
You wouldn't build a company as a wrapper around Microsoft Word. You use Word to make your team more productive.
The value isn't in repackaging Word's features, it's in what you create with those features.
A Better Approach.
If your product is just a clever interface on top of someone else's model, you're betting that OpenAI's next update won't wipe you out.
That's not strategy. That's hope.
Here's what sustainable AI adoption looks like:
Salesforce doesn't build AI email writers. They use AI to analyze deal patterns across millions of sales cycles, predicting which leads will convert.
Stripe doesn't build AI chatbots. They use AI to detect fraud patterns in real-time leveraging transaction data that only they possess.
Netflix doesn't build AI video generators. They use AI to optimize streaming quality for each user's device and connection, drawing on viewing data and infrastructure that took decades to build.
The Real Question
The pattern is clear: The sustainable play isn’t building wrappers. It’s enhancing what you already do best.
If you are a good product manager, use AI to become a great PM.
If you build CRMs, use AI to reinvent customer relationships.
If you are a bank, use AI to run circles around your competitors.
Your wrapper might survive a few product cycles. Your enhanced capabilities will outlast them all.
AI is Reshaping Product Management. What’s Your Strategy?
CPOs who act now are already seeing:
20%+ productivity gains
Improved time to market
Competitive differentiation
Curious what this might look like for your org.? Let’s chat.