• The AI Journal
  • Posts
  • The Power User Loop: How Great AI Products Start Small and Scale Smart

The Power User Loop: How Great AI Products Start Small and Scale Smart

Why your first 10 users should feel like co-founders, not customers

In partnership with

👋 Hey friends,

A few months ago, I was on a call with a founder who said something that really stuck with me:

“Our first 10 users weren’t customers. They were co-founders we didn’t pay.”

That line captures one of the most overlooked truths about building AI products right now.

Most builders start too broad. They dream of creating a “copilot for everyone” — flexible, intelligent, universal. But if you look closely, the products that actually make it? They start painfully narrow.

They don’t build for everyone.
They build for one person — so deeply that it feels like magic.

And that’s the foundation of what I call The Power User Loop — a repeatable process used by top AI builders to learn faster, design smarter, and scale without losing focus.

TL;DR

The best AI products don’t start with scale.
They start with clarity — one archetype, one workflow, and one tight feedback loop that compounds learning over time.

In this edition, we’ll explore:

  • Why building for everyone breaks most AI products — and how narrowing your focus creates better outcomes

  • How small, obsessed user groups evolve into entire markets — the quiet path from niche to adoption

  • The Power User Loop Framework — a step-by-step model for turning feedback into product momentum

  • The One-Workflow Rule — how focusing on a single repeatable task accelerates clarity and retention

  • The Weekly Power User Playbook — a tactical way to apply these ideas starting today

— Naseema Perveen

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ATTIO

Introducing the first AI-native CRM

Connect your email, and you’ll instantly get a CRM with enriched customer insights and a platform that grows with your business.

With AI at the core, Attio lets you:

  • Prospect and route leads with research agents

  • Get real-time insights during customer calls

  • Build powerful automations for your complex workflows

Join industry leaders like Granola, Taskrabbit, Flatfile and more.

Subscribe to keep reading

This content will always be free! Subscribe and get every addition sent to your inbox on a weekly basis.

I consent to receive newsletters via email. Terms of use and Privacy policy.

Already a subscriber?Sign in.Not now

Reply

or to participate.