Build a software factory first, not just a single product

When you're about to build a product with AI, you face two choices. Option one: go straight to a coding tool, describe what you want, iterate for hours or days, and ship. Option two: go one level up in abstraction. Instead of just building that one product, build a mini software factory first — the primitives that every product will need, like login, payments, social sharing, and a newsletter system to promote it. That foundational layer means the next product you build, or the next iteration of the same product, is so much faster, so much better, so much stronger. It's a measure-twice-cut-once approach where the measurement is building out that foundational layer. This is what dev tool companies did for engineering teams — you're creating that same kind of leverage for yourself, moving down the stack for your own production capability.