How AI will (probably) make your new business fail | Noemi Kis | TEDxKULeuvenBrussels

Quick Overview

The premise that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will make starting a new business easy is flawed because relying solely on technology without understanding the core problem leads to failure, as demonstrated by the speaker's experience of launching a tech-heavy but substance-lacking water filtration business.

Key Points: The speaker moved to America at 15, dreaming of starting a business, but found the traditional path demanding significant time, money, and technical expertise. Even with AI advancements, which make creating things like websites or email lists instantly possible, the speaker asserts that many new businesses still fail at record numbers (two out of ten new businesses fail within the first year). The speaker’s first business, distributing water filtration products in the industrial sector, failed despite significant effort (cold calls, trade shows) because it lacked substance and she failed to talk to customers. In her second business, she used technology (like AI) extensively but still spoke to almost no customers, realizing too late that her solution was not solving a real problem for anyone. The speaker argues that the real difficulty in entrepreneurship is not the technical execution (which AI simplifies) but facing the fear of rejection and figuring out if anyone actually needs what you are selling. The failure rate for new businesses remains high (two out of ten fail in the first year, only three of ten survive after five years), indicating that technology alone does not guarantee success. The core challenge for entrepreneurs is to deeply understand the problem they are solving, not just rely on flashy technology or hustle culture.

Context: Noemi Kis delivers this TEDx talk at TEDxKULeuvenBrussels, focusing on the common trap entrepreneurs fall into: over-relying on modern tools like AI without validating the core necessity of their product or service. She shares her personal journey, starting with her move to America at age 15 with entrepreneurial dreams, and recounts the failures of her first two businesses where she invested heavily in execution (technology, marketing) but neglected crucial customer interaction.