If you lead an AI automation business, there's
a question that might be kind of nagging at you,
maybe quietly. Is the technology you're selling
actually about to make your own expertise? Well,
redundant. Yeah, it's a fear you hear a lot,
and it's totally understandable, right? AI is
moving so incredibly fast. It really does feel
like those core technical skills, the building
skills, are becoming a commodity. Welcome to
the Deep Dive. Today, we're digging into this
whole evolving world of AI automation agencies.
And there's this real tension, isn't there? On
one hand, you've got these super powerful, easy
to use AI tools just exploding everywhere. But
on the other hand, there seems to be this persistent,
maybe even growing need for... real human expertise.
Absolutely. So today we're going to face that
anxiety head on. We'll look at, you know, a surprising
truth about why so many AI projects are actually
failing, even with these cool new tools. We'll
check out what history can teach us, reveal a
strategy that could really transform how agencies
operate, explore a huge kind of hidden market
opportunity, and then wrap up with a practical
roadmap, you know, how to actually navigate this.
And for this journey, we're trying on insights
from Max Anson analysis. Is AI replacing AI automation
agencies? how to thrive so yeah let's get into
it first off let's just state it plainly that
fear it's valid we are definitely in the age
of the diy ai revolution the actual um technical
heavy lifting building the automations it is
getting easier and cheaper for clients to potentially
do themselves oh absolutely i mean you can literally
describe a business process now to an ai model
and boom it spits out code or like a workflow
schema for nan or make .com you know those visual
bills right the lego blocks for data exactly
stuff that used to take a junior dev hours now
maybe minutes for first draft and think about
microsoft copilot it has these recorders it just
watches what you do like copying data from excel
to your crm and it builds the automation. Yeah,
it builds it automatically. It's pretty wild,
almost kind of spooky sometimes. And that barrier
of needing to know code. or complex tools it
feels like it's just dissolving natural language
is becoming the way you build totally you see
platforms like zapier now where a business owner
can just type hey when i get an email with an
invoice save the pdf to google drive and ping
me on slack it works and it just builds the workflow
we're also seeing these browser -based ai agents
taking off little digital helpers that can actually
control a virtual computer clicking around websites
filling forms doing tasks just like a person
would. There's that quote from an expert in the
source material, something like, we always thought
our edge was building things they couldn't. But
the reality is that edge is getting thinner every
single day. Yeah, and this whole self -serve
trend, it's pushing this message out there loud
and clear. Hey, you don't need that expensive
agency anymore. You can just do it yourself.
You can do it yourself, or so it seems. So, okay,
burling it down. What's the biggest immediate
threat? these diy tools really pose to agencies
right now they commoditize core technical building
skills plain and simple okay but here's where
it gets really interesting this is what max ad
calls the great diy illusion because even though
these tools are amazing the data it tells a different
story it shows they aren't solving the core business
problems right and sometimes they actually make
things worse it sounds crazy but look at the
number something like 80 80 of corporate AI projects
fail to deliver what they promised initially.
Wow, 80 %? Yeah, that failure rate is double,
double traditional IP projects. And get this,
in 2024, 42 % of businesses said they scrapped
AI initiatives after starting them. That was
way up from just 17 % the year before. So they're
starting, but then hitting a wall. And when you
ask them why, why are these failing? over half
point to the same thing they just don't have
the internal skills and expertise they lack the
know -how mckinsey research backs this up they
found only like one percent of companies are
actually mature in deploying ai effectively just
one percent it's like that analyst said without
expert guidance AI becomes a costly science experiment.
Rather than a business transformation. Yeah,
I remember that quote. It's like giving someone
the keys to a Formula One car. Exactly. Handing
them the keys, but nobody teaches them how to
drive it. So they crash and burn, not because
the car isn't powerful, but because they don't
have the strategy, the skill, the pit crew, you
know. So digging into that then. If the tools
are so easy to use, why are so many projects
crashing and burning? Because businesses lack
the internal strategy and skills to use them
right. Okay, let's step back and look at history
for a second. Because this pattern isn't entirely
new. History shows that these kinds of DIY revolutions
often don't kill the expert market. Sometimes
they actually expand it. Oh, totally. Remember
when Wix and Squarespace came out, everyone was
shouting, Death of the web developer! Why pay
thousands when you can DIY for like 20 bucks
a month? Right. But what actually happened? the
web dev industry exploded those tools didn't
kill the market they educated it they created
awareness suddenly everyone saw the value of
having a website And then they hit the limits
of the DIY tool. Exactly. They'd say, OK, this
is cool, but I need this custom feature or my
site's too slow or how do I connect this to my
inventory? The DIY tool showed them the potential.
Which then made them ready to invest in something
more robust built by an expert. Precisely. They
went from being maybe unaware or unsure to being
qualified buyers. They saw the basic ROI and
wanted more. And you see this everywhere. QuickBooks
didn't kill accountants, right? No, it became
a tool for them. Yeah. It lets them offer better,
faster advisory services. Or Home Depot, did
it put contractors out of business? Nope. Half
their revenue is from pros buying supplies. Right.
The DIRs create the demand, but the pros handle
the bigger, more complex jobs. And LegalZoom
is another example, handles the simple stuff.
Which just highlights why you need a real lawyer
for the tricky, complex situations. The pattern
is pretty clear. DIY tools tend to expand the
market and create more demand for real expertise.
So, thinking about AI now, what's the core lesson
from these historical shifts? DIY tools expand
markets, creating demand for advanced expertise.
Okay, this leads us right into the core transformation
that Max Anne talks about. Agencies need to shift
focus. Move from just being the builder to becoming
a strategic AI partner. And that means flipping
the whole value stack upside down. Exactly. In
the old way, the technical build was kind of
the main event, the most valuable part. But in
this new model, development is actually the foundation,
maybe the least valuable piece from a strategic
view. The real value moves way upstream. So what
does this new value stack look like? What's at
the top? Top of the stack, most valuable. Strategy
and use case identification. This is where you
stop talking about tools first. and start diving
deep into the client's actual business problems.
You're doing like AI audits, strategic planning.
So we're really understanding their operations,
their data, their goals, their tech. Yeah, a
proper deep dive, especially critical in finance,
you know, crypto, stocks, forex, where tiny inefficiencies
mean big money. Then from that audit, you pinpoint
maybe just two or three specific places where
AI will make the biggest, fastest impact. Like
finding that one bottleneck. Right. For a trading
firm, maybe it's just standardizing how they
pull pre... market data. Simple, but saves every
analyst an hour a day. Huge ROI. Then you build
an AI roadmap, a clear step -by -step plan showing
the expected return. The deliverable isn't code,
it's clarity. It's telling the execs, okay, do
these two things first. Here's exactly why. That
clarity alone sounds incredibly valuable. What's
next down the stack? Next is education and change
management, because you can build the most amazing
AI system, but if the team doesn't use it or
they're scared of it, it's worthless. Good point.
So you run workshops tailored to their teams,
marketers, financial analysts, whoever, teach
them how to use the new tools safely, effectively.
But it's also about helping leadership build
an AI -ready culture, managing that human element,
the fear, the resistance to change. Makes sense.
And after strategy and education. Third is placements
and team building. This is more of a long term
play, but high value. Lots of companies eventually
want to build their own internal AI muscle. You,
as the trusted partner, help them figure out
what roles they need. Maybe an AI automation
specialist or for finance, a quantitative analyst,
you know, someone who applies AI to the markets.
You help them define the roles and even find
the talent. Yeah, help define roles, find talent,
vet candidates, maybe even help set up their
internal innovation processes. You're helping
them become self -sufficient smartly. And then
finally, at the bottom of this new stack, there's
the part that used to be at the top. Exactly.
Development, the actual building. Still crucial,
obviously. But now it flows naturally from all
the strategic work you did up front. And the
beauty is you don't really have to sell the development
project anymore. Because they're already bought
in from the strategy phase. Right. You've shown
them the clear business case, the ROI on that
roadmap. They're not asking if they should build
it. They're asking you to build the solution
you already proved they need. It just flows.
You know, even doing this kind of strategic work,
I still sometimes wrestle with prompt drift myself.
you know, where the AI's answers kind of get
less accurate because my instructions weren't
quite tight enough. It really makes you appreciate
how vital good strategy and clear use cases are.
Yeah, absolutely. So for an agency wanting to
start this shift, where do they practically begin
moving towards offering more strategy? By identifying
core business problems, not just building tools.
Okay, let's talk about the market opportunity
here because the numbers are kind of staggering.
There's this... Well, $73 billion gold rush happening
that maybe isn't getting enough attention. The
AI consulting market's just exploding. It really
is. It's forecast to go from around, what, $8
.8 billion up to over $73 billion by 2033. That's
nearly a 30 % compound annual growth rate. The
demand is absolutely massive. But here's the
kicker, right? The supply side. Yeah, that's
the astonishing part. There's almost no supply
of the specific kind of help businesses desperately
need right now. The market's kind of dominated
by two groups, and frankly, both are often missing
the mark. Okay, who are they? Well, on one side,
you've got your big traditional consulting firms.
You know the ones. They're brilliant at PowerPoints,
great with executives. But maybe lack the deep
hands -on tech experience. Exactly. Their advice
can be a bit generic. The price tags are often
astronomical. We're talking $500 plus engagement
sometimes, and they can be slow, kind of bureaucratic,
not great for agile businesses. Okay, so that's
one side. What's the other? The other side is
the pure builders, the traditional tech agencies.
They're fantastic at execution, technically very
skilled, but they often lack that higher level
business strategy piece. They tend to wait for
the client to tell them exactly what to build.
Without necessarily asking why or if it's the
right thing to build. Precisely. So you've got
this huge gap in the middle. Businesses need
someone with the strategic brain of a consultant,
but the street cred and know -how of a builder
who's actually implemented this stuff. And that's
where agencies with a development background
have a unique advantage. Totally. It's like Sam
Altman said, managing AI is kind of like managing
junior employees. It needs both deep tech understanding
and strategic direction to really work well.
And this isn't just for giant corporations, right?
Not at all. Think about the SMB market, small
and medium businesses. They're like half the
U .S. economy, half the jobs includes tons of
finance folks, stock traders, Forex brokerages,
crypto startups. So many are looking at AI, but
very few are getting the expert guidance they
need. It's a massive underserved market just
waiting for the right kind of strategic partner.
Whoa. Just imagine scaling that kind of focus,
strategic help, transforming hundreds, maybe
thousands of those businesses from just tinkering
with AI to really using it effectively. That's
powerful. It's a huge opportunity. So in this
crowded space with big consultants and pure builders,
what's the absolute key differentiator for an
agency wanting to capture this market? Deep technical
background combined with strategic business acumen.
That's the magic combo. All right, let's get
practical. How does an agency actually make this
transition? Let's map it out. Phase one. Phase
one. Stop thinking like just a builder. Seriously,
your deep technical experience. That's not a
liability. It's your superpower. It's your unfair
advantage. You've been in the trenches. You've
seen what breaks. You know it actually works.
Pure consultants. They can't fake that kind of
hands -on credibility. Okay, so embrace the tech
background as a strength. What's phase two? Phase
two, add assessment and education to your offerings.
You don't have to flip your whole business model
overnight. Start small, maybe with your existing
clients who already trust you. Offer them a free
AI readiness assessment. Like a quick checkup.
Exactly. Or put together a simple training workshop
for their team. And crucially, start documenting
everything. What use cases have you already solved?
What was the ROI? Build those compelling case
studies. Show, don't just tell. Got it. Document
the value. Phase three. Phase three. Target the
early majority. Your ideal client for this strategic
partnership model isn't necessarily the super
bleeding edge startup always chasing the newest
thing. It's more likely the established successful
business. They're maybe a bit cautious, but they're
definitely curious about AI. They've heard the
hype, maybe seen some failures, and now they
want a trusted guide. Precisely. They want someone
to help them navigate it smartly. Think established
financial firms, Forex brokerages, well -funded
crypto projects needing operational efficiency
businesses looking for real results, not just
experiments. Okay, and the final step, phase
four. Phase four, build your transformation partner
offering. This is where you gradually formalize
everything, develop a structured audit process,
create professional -looking training materials,
maybe build partnerships with other specialists
if there are areas you don't cover, like specific
legal or compliance aspects. You're solidifying
your shift from builder to guide to full strategic
partner. And the irony here, as the source mentions,
is that the very AI tools that seemed like the
threat. They become your superpower. It's beautiful,
really. These tools let you build prototypes
faster, test ideas cheaper, dramatically cut
down development time. Which means better margins
on projects. Better margins, lower risk for the
client because they can see things working quickly,
and critically, it increases your capacity. You
can handle more strategic work, serve more clients
because the build phase is so much faster and
more efficient. So if an agency leader listening
right now wants to take the very first concrete
step towards this pivot, what should they do
today or tomorrow? Offer an AI readiness assessment
to their existing clients. Start that conversation.
So wrapping this all up, the big idea we've explored
today is that the real value in the AI space
is shifting. It's moving upstream, away from
just the technical build, and towards strategy,
guidance, education, true partnership. Yeah,
exactly. But... And this is key, that technical
foundation you've built, all that hands -on experience.
It's absolutely essential for credibility in
this new strategic role. You know how these systems
actually work. You know the pitfalls. That's
gold to businesses looking for someone they can
trust. There's that great quote from the expert
in the source. Oh, yeah. People are going to
try to come in at the consultant level, but they're
going to have none of the base you guys have
been building. That really nails it. So this
really feels like a unique moment, a chance for
agencies with that tech foundation to bridge
this growing gap between what AI can do and what
businesses are actually achieving with it. It
absolutely is. The big question for listeners
is, are you ready to step up and be that bridge?
Are you ready to lead? A powerful thought to
end on. Thank you for joining us for this deep
dive. We really hope these insights give you
a new lens, a new perspective to apply to your
own situation. And you can find more deep dives
like this from The Deep Dive wherever you get
your podcasts. Thanks for listening.