The backlog is a lie.
One of the most common things I hear from leaders lately is some version of: "We want to use AI. We just don’t know where to start."
This week I had two conversations that crystalized how dramatically our product philosophy has shifted in the last year. Not in theory. In practice.
The conversations were with a product executive working with a non-technical founder on an ambitious community app, and an educator designing a curriculum for future founders.
Different contexts. Same theme. The rules of product have changed.
Why our playbook has changed
A year ago, shipping a working MVP could take 6 to 12 months and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Today, with the right tools and approach, we can prototype, build, and launch in weeks. Not months.
I was recently sitting at a local restaurant with a friend who runs a solo landscaping business. He was frustrated with the tool he was using to manage customers and payments. We sketched out a better version on a napkin. I pulled out my phone, opened GPT, and started describing the app. Within 15 minutes, we had a basic prototype built in Lovable. A few weekends later, we launched a functioning app with payments, customer records, and job tracking. That’s not theoretical. That’s what building looks like now.
We used to talk about Agile as the answer to moving fast. But Agile itself has been co-opted into enterprise processes that slow things down. Burndown charts and story points don't matter if you can spin up a working app in a couple weekends.
With AI, especially tools like Lovable, Replit, Cursor, and GPT-4, we’re collapsing the time between idea and testable prototype. That speed is forcing us to rethink everything: what it means to prototype, to validate, to launch.
We're also seeing a shift in what "MVP" means. It’s no longer the scrappiest version of your idea. It’s the clearest, fastest path to testing your assumptions. Sometimes that looks like a web app. Sometimes it's a video, a pitch deck, or an AI Agent.
Putting this into action:
Stop waiting for perfectly defined requirements. Don’t build a giant backlog. Start with a voice note into GPT describing your idea. Turn that into a product brief.
Use AI to generate functional prototypes in hours. Not just mockups.
Don’t get trapped in traditional Agile sprints early. Validate fast. Scale later.
Challenge yourself to build something real with no engineers. Just as a thought exercise. You might be surprised.
The real constraint isn't code
Both folks I was talking to voiced a similar concern: isn't all this still not super accessible to non-technical folks?
The answer is increasingly becoming no over the last 6 months. The constraint isn't technical as much as it's mindset.
Most people still think you need a team of developers before you can start. You don't. You need a clear point of view and a willingness to test and be wrong.
The educator talked about his grad students struggling to use tools like Figma or Balsamiq. I told him about Product Jam, our quarterly event in Charlotte where we work with early-stage, mostly non-technical founders. One founder came in with just a rough idea and left with a working prototype and a pitch deck. She didn’t write a single line of code. What she did do was get clear on her customer, her differentiator, and her value.
Another founder told us afterward, “I spent six months reading about product. This one day gave me more clarity than all of that combined.”
Putting this into action:
Use AI as a thought partner. For example, use GPT to write the prompts to feed to other tools.
Shift the energy from "can I build it?" to "should I build it?" Fast, low-cost testing enables better decisions.
Teach strategic clarity before technical execution. Spend more time thinking about where to place bets and what your unfair advantages are (aka “Where to play and how to win?”).
Replace long business plans, roadmaps and backlogs with battle-tested prototypes and honest user feedback.
Distribution is the new moat
With the barriers to building falling, the real moat is distribution. It’s not just about building the right thing. It’s about building the audience first.
Imagine launching a restaurant in a hidden alley with no signage. Even if the food is world-class, no one finds you. That’s what building a product without an audience feels like today.
One of the recommendations I made to the product leader and his team was to treat the product not just as an app, but as the center of a community. If you're targeting a specific type/niche of customers, don’t wait to launch. Start building content, community, and credibility now. Because when your product is ready, your users will already be listening.
This mindset flip (from product-first to audience-first) is one of the most powerful shifts we’ve seen in the last 12 months. It changes how you validate ideas. How you sell. How you build.
And it’s not about gaming the algorithm. It’s about building real trust. When people believe you understand their problem, they’re more likely to believe in your solution.
Putting this into action:
Launch a community or content stream before your product is live.
Build trust and engagement first. Then monetize.
Use AI to accelerate research, positioning, and community development.
Anchor your brand in a real problem that people talk about. Let them help shape the solution.
Wrapping up
We’re no longer in the era where ideas need long runways. The new product playbook is about clarity, speed, and real-world testing. Build less. Learn faster. One founder described our process as "like a product pressure cooker." It forces clarity. Fast.
The teams that succeed won't be the ones with the biggest budgets. They'll be the ones who move the fastest with the best clarity. Build clarity. Build fast. Build smart. That’s the future.
Onward & upward,
Drew
P.s. If we haven’t met yet, hello! I’m Drew Burdick, Founder and Managing Partner at StealthX. We work with brands to design & build great customer experiences that win. I share ideas weekly through this newsletter & over on the Building Great Experiences podcast. Have a question? Feel free to contact us, I’d love to hear from you.