How does it feel?

Everyone’s racing to ship an app, plugin, or GPT. Most know the problem they’re solving, they just don’t take the time to think through how the solution should feel.

I’ve seen founders pour months into training models and APIs, then realize too late that, sure, it works, but it’s missing the spark that makes people care. That spark is what keeps a brand alive long after the launch.

You want an enduring flame,

not a flash in the pan.

Values aligned is a good start.

But when the product doesn’t live it, it fails to resonate. That’s the real miss: racing to build what no one ends up feeling. If the strategy is “get there first”, you’re already behind. Because the market is already full of slop: rushed tools no one remembers.

A study from MIT’s GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025 reports that despite $30–40 billion in enterprise investment, 95 percent of organizations see zero measurable return.

According to The Financial Brand (August 2025), which visualized the same study, only 5 percent of task-specific AI pilots ever make it into successful implementation.

The real race isn’t for speed.

It’s for meaning.

Sit with:

Are we solving something real, or inventing a reason to matter?

Would anyone miss this if it disappeared?

What’s the human experience?

Already built it? Ok. Now let’s make it feel like something real. Let’s talk

Ian Adams, Founder the little red sofa

Before founding the little red sofa, I led strategy and creative for brands like Jeep, HSBC, and Unilever at top global agencies and in-house teams across 8 countries. Now I work with founders to turn brand clarity into sustainable growth.