🚀 Will AI Ever Outgrow Human Limits? Let’s Talk About It!

AI is built on centuries of human brilliance—our books, code, art, and science. But sometimes, it feels like it’s just remixing what we’ve already done. đŸ€” What if AI could go beyond our limitations? Imagine it inventing new physics, creating art we can’t yet comprehend, or solving problems we haven’t even thought to ask.

When will AI stop mirroring us and start leading us into the unknown? And what does that mean for the future of innovation? I’m curious about the possibilities—and the challenges. How do we balance giving AI freedom to explore while keeping it aligned with our values?

💡 What’s your take? When do you think AI will truly break free from human constraints? Are we ready for it? Drop your thoughts below—I’d love to hear from innovators, skeptics, and dreamers alike! 👇

Small chain. Big valuation. Welcome to the new playbook.

Dishoom’s not scaling sites. They're scaling soul.

Dishoom just hit a ÂŁ350M+ valuation. Goldman Sachs is running the process. NYC launch is locked in. Only 14 sites.

Built slow. Built loved. Now going global.

This is the power of brand-led compounding.

I love seeing UK-born brands get this right.

A few I think could be next:
- Flat Iron – steak, simple, scalable
- Grind – coffee meets lifestyle
- Gail’s – bakery with serious brand power

Inspired by what happens when you scale narrative and loyalty, not just footprint.

“Faster Horses” and Why Customer Feedback Can Be a Trap

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” — Henry Ford (allegedly)

It’s one of the most misunderstood truths in product building.

Too often, startups obsess over “listening to customers.” Surveys. Focus groups. Feature requests. But the hard truth?

Customers don’t always know what they need.

They speak in terms of what’s familiar:

  • They wanted better taxis, not Uber.
  • Better Blackberries, not iPhones.
  • More targeted ads, not ChatGPT.

Listening is important. But interpreting is what matters.

When I work with teams, I always ask:

Are you solving for what users say they want, or what their behavior shows they need?

Innovation lives in the gap between what people ask for and what actually changes their life.

So how do you build what people need, and not what they say?

1. Watch behavior, not words

People lie-unintentionally. They say they want to read more, but spend hours on TikTok. Action > opinion.

2. Look for friction

What are people tolerating, hacking around, or complaining about quietly?

3. Solve root problems, not feature gaps

“Make the app faster” is rarely the real issue. Maybe the whole process should be redesigned.

4. Test, not just ask

Put something in people’s hands. See what clicks. Surprise them.

5. Ask: What’s the ‘faster horse’ in your industry?

What are users clinging to just because they’ve never seen a better way?

Case Study: The Real Game Changers Never Ask for Permission

  • Stripe didn’t ask merchants if payments were painful. They made it invisible.
  • Notion didn’t build more Word docs. They reinvented how teams think together.
  • Tesla didn’t ask if you want an electric car. They made electric sexy.

If you’re building based on surface-level feedback, you’re improving the past.

If you’re building based on pain and potential, you’re inventing the future.

You don’t win by giving people what they asked for.

You win by giving them what they can’t live without—once they experience it.


The One Hiring Rule I Took from Uber, and Still Use Today

Most startups flex about hiring speed.

Speed’s nothing if it’s sloppy, just chaos.

At Uber, we kicked off a Bar Raiser program in 2014, grabbed from Amazon, twisted to fit our scale. A tight crew of operators got veto power on every hire. Teams drooled over a candidate? Didn’t matter. A Bar Raiser could kill it. No politics, no shortcuts, one rule: Is this one better than the last?

I was a Bar Raiser at Uber. Took that job serious.

Now at Tools for Humanity, I run that same play, building teams for global punch and real mission fit. As a GM, they had me grill GMs and managers across LatAm, Europe, Asia. Hundreds of hires later, the best stood out clear. They didn’t just fill a slot, they jacked up the bar.

Most companies stack bodies. Great ones stack strength.

Scaling fast? Figure out who’s guarding your hiring line.

One principle I won’t ditch: Pick builders, not talkers. What’s yours?

5 Hacks That Hold Up

  1. Trajectory Over Logos. Skip the resume flex. Where’d they start, where’d they land? Growth tells the story.
  2. Chaos Over Scripts. Hit them with real mess, like “Top client bolts mid-rush, now what?” Grit shows up, polish doesn’t.
  3. Yes or No, Full Stop. No spark, no deal. Middle ground sinks the bar quick.
  4. Builders, Not Suits. Get people who dig in. Ask for flops they fixed, not playbooks they followed.
  5. Cross-Border Check. Trusted hands vet across regions. Keeps the standard tight, from Uber to now.

At Uber, We Didn’t Just Use Data. We Lived in It

Most companies? They’re drowning in reports but starving for insights.

At Uber, Operations didn’t start with operations. It started with query building. Before you managed supply, pricing, or incentives, you had to pull raw data yourself. No waiting on the Data team. No guessing. You owned your numbers, or you didn’t last.

We had real-time dashboards that refreshed every 15 minutes:

📊 Last 15 minutes – Instant feedback loop

📊 Today’s total – Daily pulse check

📊 Week-to-date – Trends forming

📊 Week-over-week, Month-over-month – Performance trajectory

We didn’t find out something was broken after a weekly report. We knew in minutes.

That’s why our Ops teams could move faster, react quicker, and execute better than anyone else.

Now? I talk to Ops teams and hear:

"That’s the Data team’s job." ❌

"We’ll get insights next week." ❌

No. If you don’t speak data, you don’t control your business.

Winning teams don’t wait for insights.

They query, analyze, and act. Fast.

And the best part? We weren’t just working for a salary—we were working for ownership.

Everyone had a piece of the company.

This is why I respect companies where data is at the heart of the founders, leadership, and every decision. No fluff, no delays, just execution at speed.

If your company still runs on delayed reports instead of real-time decisions, you’re already behind.

How often do you check your numbers? Daily? Hourly? Or only when there’s a crisis?