PodcastApril 17, 2026
40% Better: AI doesn't replace your thinking — it amplifies it.
On the three categories of AI value every tech leader needs to understand — productivity, embedded ROI, and strategic — and why productivity is the most talked-about and the most dangerous if you don't have the system to capture the gains.
By Jimi Li
A long conversation about what's actually moved the P&L over three years of running AI inside ALM through to a successful PE exit, and why the loudest category of AI value is also the one most likely to evaporate.
What we cover
- Three categories of AI value. Why most companies stop at the first (productivity) and miss the two that actually move the P&L: ROI embedded into products and processes, and net-new strategic capabilities.
- The productivity trap. Productivity gains disappear without a structural way to capture them. What "structural" looks like in practice: pricing changes, role redesign, scope expansion.
- Cross-functional fusion teams. The PM-to-engineer ratio shift, what changes when developers see how their work connects to revenue, and the operating-model moves that follow.
- AI fluency as a leadership differentiator. Why the senior leaders who treat AI as a teammate pull ahead, and what that looks like in a board conversation.
- PE-exit specifics. What buyers actually probe when AI is part of the thesis — and what derails diligence even when the demos are good.