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AI and the business model

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Prepared by Venture Executive Network with editorial reading paths and planning prompts. Updated .

Use this guide when an AI proposal changes how your team works, what customers buy or the costs of delivering it. Name the workflow or customer decision before choosing a tool.

VEN wrote the reading order and decision prompts. The linked Playbooks identify their session and supplemental-writing sources. Their examples do not establish savings, productivity or defensibility for your company.

Define the workflow and the review

Section titled “Define the workflow and the review”

Start with The AI-era marketing stack. The discussion covers connected workflows, data access, review and costs. The account preparation checklist provides a narrower example for customer conversations.

Record the task, inputs, systems involved and person who approves an output or action. Choose a test you can compare with the current process. Include review effort, errors and ongoing costs in the comparison.

Check the customer value and pricing consequences

Section titled “Check the customer value and pricing consequences”

Read Pricing in the AI era, including its economics comparison. Then use Pricing and packaging for the underlying discussion of the buyer’s problem and value.

Separate the unit you could charge for from the costs you incur to deliver it. Write down the assumptions about usage, support and human review. Ask what evidence would support a pricing change with your own customers.

Examine delivery and the claimed advantage

Section titled “Examine delivery and the claimed advantage”

Use Why AI isn’t making engineering 10x faster to examine the wider delivery workflow. Use the evidence worksheet in Data moats and flywheels to assess a claimed data advantage and why a customer would gain value by staying.

Read Patents and IP for AI companies when the decision raises intellectual-property questions. Obtain current advice for your own rights and obligations.

AI decision worksheet

Section titled “AI decision worksheet”

VEN editorial worksheet. The fields below help define a test and the decision it should support.

AI WORKFLOW OR BUSINESS-MODEL DECISION


Task or customer problem:
Current process, cost and observed result:
Proposed change and intended benefit:
Inputs, access and data restrictions:
Human review and action approval:
Usage, support and operating costs:
Pricing or customer commitment affected:
Claimed advantage and evidence still needed:
Test scope, baseline and result to compare:
Failure conditions and response:
Decision owner and review date:

For a change that requires several teams, carry the resource and ownership decisions into Running against the plan. Keep test findings separate from projections about wider adoption.

Section titled “Related VEN sessions”

Check each listing for the current date, status and access details.