👋 Hey friends — it’s Friday, and a good time to step back and rethink how we’re building.

A founder said something to me last week that I can’t shake:

“We used to grow by getting louder.
Now we grow by getting smarter.”

That one sentence says everything about where growth is going next.

The old playbook — funnels, ads, and endless A/B tests — is breaking.
Not because it stopped working, but because the world has changed faster than the systems that run it.

Attention is maxed out.
Budgets are flat.
And most companies are realizing that “adding more AI” doesn’t magically fix broken growth engines.

So this week, I want to go deeper into what actually is working — and why.

We’ll unpack how AI is quietly rewriting the rules of product-led growth, and why the next era of scale won’t come from code or campaigns…

…it’ll come from learning.

Here’s what we’ll explore together:

• The Big Shift: Why funnels are fading — and how growth is becoming a continuous learning loop.

• The Data Reality: Why 42% of AI projects fail before launch — and what the best ones do differently.

• The AI Growth Loop Framework: The 5-step system that turns intelligence into compounding growth.

• Real-World Examples: How Perplexity, Runway, Duolingo, and Notion are scaling through feedback, not ads.

• The Emotional Layer: How “feeling-aware” systems are quietly redefining retention.

• The Reflection: Why clarity, not code, is the ultimate growth edge.

Let’s dive in. 

— Naseema Perveen

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LEVANTA

The Future of Shopping? AI + Actual Humans.

AI has changed how consumers shop by speeding up research. But one thing hasn’t changed: shoppers still trust people more than AI.

Levanta’s new Affiliate 3.0 Consumer Report reveals a major shift in how shoppers blend AI tools with human influence. Consumers use AI to explore options, but when it comes time to buy, they still turn to creators, communities, and real experiences to validate their decisions.

The data shows:

• Only 10% of shoppers buy through AI-recommended links

• 87% discover products through creators, blogs, or communities they trust

• Human sources like reviews and creators rank higher in trust than AI recommendations

The most effective brands are combining AI discovery with authentic human influence to drive measurable conversions.

Affiliate marketing isn’t being replaced by AI, it’s being amplified by it.

Download the full report to see what this means for your brand.