@svpino: I don't think the companies building the best foundation models will also be the ones that win on the products built on…

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Summary

Santiago argues that the companies building the best foundation models won't necessarily win on the products built on them; focus and attention to detail are key, using cloud providers as an example.

I don't think the companies building the best foundation models will also be the ones that win on the products built on top of them. Doing both well is really hard. Focus wins. The cloud is one example: the best products running on AWS, Azure, and GCP came from companies that obsessed over the details and focused solely on their core product. AI will be the same. The companies with a real edge are the ones that 1) don't lock themselves into one model and 2) sweat the details. Customers will always go to whoever makes the "it just works" app.
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Cached at: 06/26/26, 04:12 PM

I don’t think the companies building the best foundation models will also be the ones that win on the products built on top of them.

Doing both well is really hard. Focus wins.

The cloud is one example: the best products running on AWS, Azure, and GCP came from companies that obsessed over the details and focused solely on their core product.

AI will be the same.

The companies with a real edge are the ones that 1) don’t lock themselves into one model and 2) sweat the details.

Customers will always go to whoever makes the “it just works” app.

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