Three lessons from Google and AWS that decide whether a Swedish startup makes it. First: get in front of customers early and stand the critique. Tech-heavy founding teams often believe so strongly in their idea that they don't test it until the product feels 'finished'. Engineer-perfection is rarely what the customer wants.
Second: hold a clear product vision and roadmap, or you'll fall into the consulting trap where every large customer demands custom adjustments until the product becomes impossible to scale. Third: put sales and product development together, not in silos.
AI dramatically lowers the threshold to start new companies: which makes the discipline of these three lessons more important, not less. Whoever combines the power of AI with the classic principles of product-market fit is the one who'll win the market share.
