Towards the end of every year I take a step back from the day to day grind. A moment to reflect on my actions and take a look at where we have come, how we have come here and what we could have done differently (if at all).
It’s been four years since I’ve been writing these blogs and boy has it been fun. I read through them each every year and think “hmm did I really say that?”. Every year of leading Wednesday has been transformational not just for me but the entire team and I’ve loved each and every part of it.
2024 has been an interesting market. We din’t seeing the euphoric conditions we witnessed during COVID where everything and everyone was bullish about digital products. Funding slowed down drastically and there was decision paralysis about what to do given we now have AI in our lives.
The Craft: Rediscovering What Matters
"Build fast, launch faster." It's the mantra of our age, echoed on LinkedIn, shouted on YouTube, and preached in the hallowed halls of venture capital and business schools. Data-driven decisions! Iterate relentlessly! Fail fast! But let’s pause for a moment and consider what might be getting lost in this perpetual sprint.
What happened to discovery? To intuition? The old adage about trusting your gut has been replaced by A/B tests and dashboards. But did Steve Jobs wait for focus groups to tell him how people would feel holding an iPhone for the first time? No, he famously dismissed the notion that customers know what they want before they see it.
Now enter AI, stage left. Each time an engineer writes code or a designer tweaks an interface, they’re inadvertently training their future replacement. AI doesn’t just learn; it gets better. Better at the mechanical bits, the predictable parts, the inputs and outputs that once defined much of our craft.
This has created an assembly line for software development, a process ready-made for AI to conquer. But crafting a product was never just about the mechanics.
An engineer’s role isn’t merely to build; it’s to see the big picture. To juggle constraints and context that an AI model can’t fathom. It’s not just about churning out code but weaving together the threads of mission, market, and team. The architecture they design isn’t just technical; it’s strategic. It’s about finding the right tools and services, considering budgets and timelines, and aligning them with the larger goals of the business.
Designers, too, do far more than assemble sleek UI elements. They craft solutions that resonate with the soul of a mission. A great design isn’t just pretty; it’s purposeful, solving problems in ways that data alone could never predict.
AI will make the true craft of product engineering and design even more valuable. The mundane will be automated, but the meaningful will shine. Practitioners who thrive will embrace AI as a tool—not a threat. They’ll use it to build better, faster, and smarter, while focusing their expertise on what AI can’t do: interpret nuance, balance trade-offs, and inject humanity into technology.
The craft isn’t dead. Far from it. It’s evolving. And those who rise to meet this evolution won’t just survive—they’ll define what it means to be a craftsman in the age of AI.
We want to cross the chasm
Before I began writing this, I stood up, walked around the office, made myself a coffee, and took a few deep breaths. Sometimes, you need a moment to reflect.
This year, we celebrated five years of Wednesday. What started in a tiny room in my house has grown into a bustling office filled with teams and clients who rely on us to build and innovate their core products. From startups raising their first round of funding to listed enterprises, we’ve served customers across the globe.
It’s been a journey. And not just for the company—each person here has grown alongside it. Looking around, I see a team that’s hungry for more. Some of the people who joined at the very beginning are now part of the core team. They’re not just keeping up; they’re accelerating. That hunger for more isn’t fading—it’s intensifying.
But growth isn’t linear. It’s punctuated by leaps and plateaus. As I think about what it will take to move us to the next level, I realize we’re in a chasm.
Every business starts by creating something—in our case, our service offering. You work with early adopters, the visionaries, and this phase feels fantastic. It’s exciting, validating, and often highly profitable. You learn everything by doing: customer service, project management, team management, engineering, account management, and more. Many business are happy being in this phase. In fact you can be here years as long as you can maintain margins.
But if you want to build something bigger—something you can leave behind—you have to cater to a different audience. The mature IT buyer isn’t looking for someone to “get the work done.” They’re looking for a whole ecosystem: structured customer service, proactive account management, industry experience, certifications, partnerships, innovation, and seamless execution.
Reaching this audience requires more than just tweaking what you already do. It demands an overhaul: new roles, more specialized departments, defined processes for customer service, hiring & training, scalable service offerings, and a robust account management practice. You also need to showcase industry expertise and build meaningful partnerships.
This kind of shift is never easy. When you cater to early-stage visionaries, everything is custom. You build what they want, exactly the way they want it. Internally, this often consolidates power into the hands of “superstars”—be it in engineering, design, project management, or sales.
To cater to a more mature market, we must change. We’ll need defined service offerings with clear outcomes, new roles, and a framework for scalability. This will naturally lead to a redistribution of authority, and yes, some superstars may resist—or even leave.
Change is hard. It’s disruptive. But it’s also necessary. Staying where we are feels safe, but it won’t get us to the next level. And truthfully, the risk of standing still is far greater than the risk of leaping forward.
Yes, there’s risk. But what’s the alternative? To play it safe? To leave growth in the hands of randomness? That’s not what we signed up for.
Tuesday & the GTM Market
Every year, I write about our journey with Wednesday, but I’ve never really talked about Tuesday (yes, the irony isn’t lost on me). Tuesday is our other brand, specializing in web design and development.
The story of Tuesday began a few years ago when we decided to redesign Wednesday’s website. We chose Webflow as the tool but quickly realized we lacked the expertise. Reaching out to agencies, I found most were selling staff augmentation disguised as solutions. I didn’t need an engineer; I needed a website. So, we learned Webflow ourselves and built Tuesday—a brand dedicated to website redesign and Webflow development services.
This year, we doubled down on Tuesday, expanding the team and creating a content-led marketing strategy to roll out in 2025. I’m incredibly optimistic about this business. It’s focused, scalable, and finally getting the team it deserves.
We’ve also realized something critical: the go-to-market (GTM) process is becoming tougher for any digital product or service. As of today there are nine GTM strategies and every few months we see something new crop up.
- Inbound: Attracting customers with content and thought leadership.
- Outbound: Reaching out directly through calls or emails.
- Product-Led: Letting the product itself drive acquisition.
- Channel-Led: Leveraging third-party distributors or partners.
- Ecosystem-Led: Building value through complementary products and integrations.
- Community-Led: Engaging user communities for advocacy.
- Sales-Led: Driving growth through dedicated sales teams.
- Demand Generation: Creating awareness and interest via marketing.
- Account-Based: Targeting specific high-value accounts.
No matter the strategy, one asset is central—the website. Tuesday will focus on mastering this. We’ll work as partners to founders & marketing leaders to help them bring these GTM strategies to life via their website. From MarTech tools to compelling copy, visual design, motion graphics, and videos, we’ll ensure every website delivers influence and impact.
Artificial Intelligence
Before Wednesday, I co-founded a startup focused on offering credit to gig economy workers. We were ahead of our time, entering a market that still hasn’t seen enough players addressing its unique needs. Some products, as they say, thrive only when the market matures to meet them.
AI feels like it’s in a similar position today. While it’s made waves, the market doesn’t seem fully ready for it to go mainstream. Data from Reuters shows that most mainstream users engage with GPT only once or twice, and consistent daily usage remains rare.
People spend an average of 4.5 hours on their smartphones daily. Compared to this, large language models (LLMs) haven’t yet achieved anywhere near that level of stickiness. The data simply doesn’t reflect it. But let’s not forget that smartphones also took time to reach this level of integration into daily life. Perhaps with LLMs, it’s a matter of patience and evolution.
What we do know is remarkable: OpenAI reached 100 million users in just two months, and almost everyone we know has tried a chat-based LLM at least once. Yet, this raises an intriguing question: are chat-based LLMs standalone products, or are they merely a feature?
Apple’s recent iPhone 15 Pro launch provides an interesting perspective. It treats LLMs as a commodity—building its own foundation model that, while similar to others, takes a distinct approach. Instead of the chat-based interface popular elsewhere, Apple opted for clear action buttons as inputs to its on-device LLM.
These design choices suggest Apple envisions LLMs as tools seamlessly integrated into existing workflows, rather than standalone products commanding daily engagement.
These features are designed to abstract the LLM, delivering “intelligence” through familiar, time-tested buttons rather than an entirely new interaction paradigm. It’s a subtle yet powerful shift in how users experience AI—seamlessly integrated into their workflows without the need to think about prompts or conversational interfaces.
On the other hand, AI proponents believe in a more radical future. They argue that traditional software is dead, envisioning a world where everything is achievable through prompts. AI agents will seamlessly interact across databases and systems to accomplish tasks. Significant investment is pouring into this vision, with startups embracing the belief that AI agents will fundamentally change how we work.
But the data tells a different story—for now. Mainstream adoption of AI agents hasn’t materialized yet. Whether this represents an evolution or just a passing trend remains to be seen. Only time will tell.
What the data does highlight is a clear and immediate opportunity for consultants. Consider Accenture: they announced $300 million in generative AI work across 300 projects. It’s safe to assume these were largely pilot projects (do the math). Businesses aren’t just seeking help in implementing AI—they’re looking for guidance in understanding and navigating the complexities it brings. Consultants play a critical role here, not only executing projects but also helping leaders make informed, data-backed decisions that align entire organizations around new directions.
As an engineering-first consulting company, I’m thrilled by the opportunities AI offers. It has levelled the playing field, allowing smaller services firms to compete with industry giants. In this space, everyone starts from the same point. The real question is: who will execute better and adapt faster? For us, the answer lies in embracing the challenge and delivering measurable, transformative value.
Parting Notes
I’m genuinely excited about 2025—it’s the year Wednesday makes the leap. Crossing the chasm isn’t just a buzzword; it’s our focus. This year, we’re setting out to build a scalable, rock-solid service offering, reimagine our roles, and transform our organizational structure. Oh, and we’re making delivery AI-powered—because it’s the smart, efficient choice.
On the marketing front, we’re doubling down on content. YouTube, long-form articles, partnerships, and social media. This isn’t just about visibility—it’s about carving out our space as thought leaders and making noise that matters. Each of our four services deserves tailwinds, and we’re determined to generate them.
Here’s to a year of bold bets and big moves. Wishing you a spectacular start to 2025—because let’s face it, life’s too short to play small.
~A
