Building the Right 'It' Before Building It Right: Empowering Marketers with Human-Centered AI and the Art of Pretotyping

A Personal Journey Through Innovation Hubs

During my tenure at Google Cloud, I had the unique privilege of hosting numerous CXOs from Finnish and Nordic companies at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, and the Quad Campus in Sunnyvale. These visits were immersive experiences into the epicenter of technological innovation, offering invaluable insights into how technology can transform businesses.

Meeting Alberto Savoia: A Turning Point

It was during one of these enlightening visits that we had the opportunity to engage with Alberto Savoia, a seasoned innovator, entrepreneur, and former Google Engineering Director and Innovation Agitator. Alberto is renowned for developing the concept of pretotyping, a methodology that emphasizes validating ideas before fully developing them. His mantra, "Make sure you are building the right it before you build it right," resonated deeply with all of us.

Alberto shared compelling stories and case studies illustrating how companies often invest vast resources into building products or services that ultimately fail because they didn't address a real market need. His insights prompted us to rethink our approach to innovation and product development.

The Essence of Pretotyping

Pretotyping is about testing the core functionality of a product or service idea quickly and inexpensively to validate its market potential. It's a step beyond prototyping—it's about gauging interest before investing in detailed development.

Key Learnings from Alberto Savoia's Study

• The Law of Failure: Most new ideas fail in the market, not because they can't be built, but because they aren't the right "it" that customers want.
• Time and Resource Efficiency: By pretotyping, companies can save significant time and resources by identifying unviable ideas early.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Pretotyping relies on real-world data and customer interactions rather than assumptions.

Applying Pretotyping to SME Software Marketing

For Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) in SME software companies, the pressure to innovate and stand out is immense. Resources are often limited, and the margin for error is slim. Pretotyping offers a practical solution to these challenges.

Early Validation and Visualization

• Rapid Testing: Before rolling out a full-fledged marketing campaign, create simple versions—like landing pages, mock ads, or social media posts—to test the waters.
• Customer Feedback: Use these pretotypes to gather immediate feedback, allowing you to adjust your strategy in real-time.
• Iterative Improvement: Continuously refine your marketing approach based on actual data rather than gut feelings.

Human-Centered AI: Amplifying Human Creativity

In our quest to empower marketers, we're building a service based on Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI). This approach places humans at the core of AI development, ensuring that technology acts as an enabler rather than a replacer.

Giving Marketers Superpowers

Our HCAI-based platform is designed to augment human capabilities, not replace them. By automating repetitive tasks and providing intelligent insights, we free up marketers to focus on what they do best—creative thinking, strategic planning, and building relationships.

As Sherry Turkle, a professor at MIT, has emphasized, "Technology doesn't just do things for us; it does things to us, changing not just what we do but who we are." Our goal is to ensure that AI technology enhances human roles, giving marketers "superpowers" to achieve more than ever before.

Embracing Human Creativity and Errors

True creativity and innovation are inherently human traits, often arising from serendipity and even mistakes. Albert Einstein once said, "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." Our platform acknowledges the importance of human intuition and the valuable insights that can come from errors.

By integrating AI as a collaborative partner, marketers can explore new ideas without fear, knowing that the technology supports their creative process. The AI provides suggestions and insights, but the human touch remains essential in decision-making and creative direction.

Generative AI as a Catalyst for Innovation

Integrating generative AI into the pretotyping process significantly enhances its effectiveness, especially when it's human-centered.

• Swift Content Creation: AI can generate multiple variations of marketing materials quickly, enabling rapid testing while marketers focus on strategy.
• Insight Generation: AI analyzes industry trends, competitor strategies, and customer preferences to inform your pretotypes, but human interpretation adds context and relevance.
• Idea Expansion: AI can suggest innovative concepts that may not have been initially apparent, inspiring marketers to think beyond the obvious.

Bringing People Together for Innovation

One of the most profound realizations from Alberto's teachings is the importance of collaboration in the innovation process.

• Cross-Functional Teams: Encourage collaboration between marketing, product development, sales, and customer support to gather diverse perspectives enriched by AI insights.
• Open Innovation Culture: Foster an environment where ideas can be freely shared and tested without fear of failure, supported by AI tools that enhance communication.
• Leveraging AI for Collaboration: Use AI-powered platforms to facilitate seamless teamwork, but always with the human element at the forefront.

The Impact on Marketing Processes

By embracing pretotyping and human-centered AI, SME software companies can revolutionize their marketing processes.

• Efficiency Gains: Reduce time-to-market for campaigns and promotions without sacrificing human creativity.
• Cost Savings: Minimize wasted resources on ineffective strategies while maximizing human talent.
• Enhanced Creativity: Free up human talent to focus on strategic thinking and creative endeavors, with AI as a supportive tool.
• Competitive Advantage: Stay ahead of industry trends and outpace competitors by rapidly adapting to market feedback, guided by human insight.

A Personal Reflection

Looking back on those enlightening days at Google's campuses, I realize how pivotal they were in shaping my approach to innovation. The interactions with visionary leaders like Alberto Savoia provided not just knowledge but inspiration. They emphasized that innovation isn't just about technology; it's about mindset, methodology, and the willingness to question assumptions.

Now, as we develop our HCAI-based solution to empower SME marketers, I carry these lessons with me. Our mission is clear: to amplify human creativity, enable marketers to validate ideas swiftly, and connect more deeply with their audiences.

Empowering Humans with AI, Not Replacing Them

In the rapidly evolving landscape of marketing and technology, the human element remains irreplaceable. By adopting pretotyping and leveraging human-centered AI, SME software CMOs can navigate uncertainties with confidence, ensuring they are not just building things right but building the right things.

As Steve Jobs famously said, "Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them." Our aim is to provide those tools—empowering marketers with AI that enhances their innate abilities.

Let's embrace change, foster innovation, and collaborate to create marketing strategies that are not only effective but transformative. By recognizing that true creativity comes from human minds—and sometimes from human errors—we can build a future where technology and humanity thrive together.

Join us in pioneering a new era of marketing innovation. Embrace pretotyping and human-centered AI to unlock your team's full potential, giving them superpowers to drive meaningful growth.