Making AI Work in Reality
This week we’re riffing on a timely Bain piece: “The Gap Between AI Strategy and Reality Is Execution”. Bain points out that while AI strategies are abundant, most organizations struggle to translate them into measurable business impact — the gap is rarely the technology itself, its execution. At CRO2go, we don’t just read about strategy and GTM best practices – we talk real talk (who does not like that). Recently, we sat down with Snigdha Sharma, an AI wizard who helps companies turn flashy AI ideas into projects that actually move the needle.
The takeaway? What Bain has been saying all along hits home in real life: AI projects flop when they’re not tied to revenue levers or built into workflows. Whether it’s a small optimization, a big AI play, or a full-on AI-powered company, the patterns are clear – and catching them early makes all the difference.
The playbook we see working in reality:
- Start with GTM: Define how AI will reach customers and create measurable business outcomes before building.
- Focus on a single revenue lever: Lead qualification, segmentation, or conversion optimization. Avoid scattered pilots.
- Embed in workflows: AI must feed into real sales and marketing decisions, not sit in isolation.
- Track a North Star metric: Pipeline velocity, CAC vs. LTV, or win rate — adoption alone is insufficient.
Why now?
Bain emphasizes that organizations often stall at execution. By aligning AI with GTM from day one, companies can close that gap and see tangible results fast — exactly where we play at CRO2go. And exactly what we also highlight in our thought leadership piece: https://snigdhasharma.substack.com/p/gtm-strategy-for-ai-products
AI + GTM Nugget – Your Quick Play This Week
And now – let us look at how to infuel the insights from above into your daily work. Here’s how to make AI actually move the business instead of just collecting hype points (even though they are shiny and glittery and cool). But what moves the needle:
- Factoid 1: MIT research finds that roughly 95% of enterprise AI pilots deliver no measurable P&L impact because they’re poorly integrated into workflows or aren’t tied to real business problems. byteiota | From Bits to Bytes
- Factoid 2: Only about 5% of companies are actually deriving meaningful value from AI investments, with the rest seeing minimal revenue growth or cost savings. Business Insider
This week:
- Review your current AI products or initiatives and see which ones actually influence revenue, pipeline, or customer experience.
- Kill or pause the ones that are interesting but GTM-irrelevant. Yes – sometimes you have to say goodbye to your darling. Because as we said in our last Newsletter („Your GTM: trying to do everything?“), sometimes less is more .
Pro tip: Thinking of AI as a toolkit is not enough, its success depends on whether it drives measurable outcomes in real-world go-to-market scenarios.
Behind the Scenes – CRO2go Reality Check
We’re two female founders who ditched corporate life for CRO2go. Translation: we signed up for a full-time rollercoaster. Some days we feel like superheroes. Some days like interns trying to figure out Slack. But on most days we do….
… love AI — really, we do. But we also ran a few AI tools that just didn’t deliver real value. Lesson learned: not every shiny AI initiative moves the business. If you’re investing in expensive AI projects, ask the brutal question: does this actually impact revenue, pipeline, or customer outcomes — or is it just a cool demo?
Your turn: Which AI project deserves the axe this week? Reply or hit us up on LinkedIn — let’s compare notes 🙂
