AI Just Broke the Growth Playbook (And Here's the New One)
Key Insights
- •AI isn't just a feature—it's an infrastructure shift that requires rethinking every stage of the customer lifecycle, from acquisition to retention, with traditional funnel-based tactics becoming obsolete without an AI-first redesign.
- •The real competitive moat comes from pairing proprietary data with AI to create self-reinforcing growth loops—generic AI wrappers will be commoditized, but companies with unique data and AI-native product experiences will build defensible advantages.
- •Growth teams need to level up: success requires strong data foundations, cross-functional collaboration between product/data/GTM, and the ability to rapidly experiment with AI-driven personalization instead of bolting on superficial AI features.
Elena Verna is sounding the alarm: the traditional growth playbook—funnels, A/B tests, incremental wins—is dying, and AI is the reason. But this isn't about slapping ChatGPT into your product; it is an infrastructure-level shift that requires rethinking every stage of the customer lifecycle.
Elena Verna is sounding the alarm: the traditional growth playbook—funnels, A/B tests, incremental wins—is dying, and AI is the reason. But this isn't about slapping ChatGPT into your product. Verna argues that AI is an infrastructure-level shift that's compressing time-to-value, enabling hyper-personalization at scale, and fundamentally changing how users discover, adopt, and stick with products. Companies that treat it as just another feature will get commoditized.
The new playbook revolves around building AI-native growth loops powered by proprietary data. Think AI copilots that onboard users in seconds instead of days, outcome-based pricing that tracks real value delivered, and predictive scoring that automates product-led sales motions. The winners will be companies that move from generic, one-size-fits-all user journeys to contextual, real-time experiences that actually work. Verna gets practical here—she outlines exactly where to start, what pitfalls to avoid (like shipping 'thin AI wrappers' with zero defensibility), and how to reorganize growth teams to operate in this new reality.
This isn't theoretical—it's tactical advice from someone who's been in the trenches at companies like Miro and Amplitude. If you're running growth, product, or GTM in 2025 and beyond, this is required reading. The gap between companies that get this right and those that don't is about to become a chasm.