This presentation by Shin Gunho, Head of B2B at DAY1COMPANY, explores how AX (AI Transformation) is as difficult as a startup, but applying startup frameworks can significantly increase the odds of success. He shares lessons learned from missed AX opportunities and presents three playbooks for successful AX: first, take a thin but end-to-end approach for rapid PMF (Product-Market Fit); second, achieve fundamental innovation through AI-native redesign; and third, become a full-stack AX builder to secure speed. Ultimately, succeeding at AI transformation requires entrepreneurial capabilities, and fast execution that delivers results to earn CEO investment is critical.
1. Shin Gunho's AX Experience and Key Questions
Shin Gunho has been deeply immersed in building AX while pursuing revenue generation as Head of B2B. He built various AX projects internally in 2025 -- GPTs, dashboards, agents -- and officially formed an AI Transformation team in November 2025. He poses the central questions: "How can we make AI transformation succeed?" and "How can we move beyond individual productivity to organizational-level productivity?"
He emphasizes that most business members inside enterprises are not innovators or early adopters but late majority or laggards on the technology adoption curve, making organizational AX success an extremely difficult challenge with only 2-3 attempts allowed.
2. Lessons from AX Failures and Successes: The Importance of 10x Value
Shin shares his experiences with both failed and successful AX attempts. A proposal search system he built -- achieving roughly 4x efficiency improvement -- was abandoned because the value wasn't sufficient. In contrast, a skill consulting pipeline AX that reduced 120 hours of work dramatically was adopted by the entire team.
The decisive difference was the magnitude of efficiency. A 4x improvement isn't enough to overcome the switching cost of abandoning existing workflows. Only 10x or greater value compels people to switch.
"The decisive difference was exactly one thing. Efficiency size determines AX success. It needs to be 10x or 20x -- 4x or 5x is woefully insufficient."
3. AX Is No Different from a Startup: Applying the Startup Framework
Shin concluded that sufficiently advanced AX is ultimately indistinguishable from a startup. Just as startups must deliver 10x value to win customers, AX must deliver 10x value to make internal customers abandon switching costs.
He maps startup concepts to AX: the market is the time consumed by workflows; MVP corresponds to PoC (proof of concept); PMF is reached when internal customers can't revert to old methods; investors are senior decision-makers; runway is the trust of those decision-makers; and the difficulty is equivalent to founding a company.
4. Required Capabilities for AX Success: Full-Stack AX Builder
Shin argues that AX builders need the combined capabilities of consultant, Product Owner (PO), and Project Manager (PM) -- what he calls the full-stack AX builder. This includes rapid problem decomposition and structuring (consultant), user empathy and product sense (PO), and stakeholder management with schedule resilience (PM). These are ultimately no different from what an entrepreneur needs.
5. Three Playbooks for AX Success
Playbook 1: Thin but End-to-End for Rapid PMF
Rather than targeting only bottleneck segments of workflows (thick approach), go thin but end-to-end -- recognizing that all workflows share the same inputs and outputs. This approach enables faster iteration cycles and higher likelihood of finding real problems.
Playbook 2: AI-Native Redesign for 10x Value
Apply first-principles thinking to redesign processes from scratch as AI-native. All intellectual activity is fundamentally about transforming low-value information into high-value information. Remove everything agents can handle and redesign entirely from AI's perspective.
Playbook 3: Become a Full-Stack AX Builder for Speed
Ultimately, the most critical factor is speed. Before decision-makers' trust and patience run out, you must deliver visible results. Expanding your skillset to become a full-stack builder is the only way to achieve the speed needed for AX success.
"Before trust and patience run dry, the key is speed. You must become full-stack to succeed at AX."