Feeling the Pressure to “Do Something” With AI?
You read the headlines. You see competitors rolling out chatbots, “AI-powered” services, and automation tools. Your staff keeps asking, “Shouldn’t we be using AI?” The pressure is real — but so is the risk of doing something stupid.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most SME owners who jump into AI do it backwards. They sign up for three or four tools, try to use them all at once, get confused, and quietly abandon them. That’s not innovation. That’s waste.
Joshua Kushner, founder of Thrive Capital and one of the smartest investors in the AI boom, just put a name to this problem. In his first-ever investor letter, he warned that excitement about AI is undermining judgment. Not just in Silicon Valley — but as a Malaysian SME owner, you should be paying attention too.
TL;DR: Don’t adopt AI because it’s trendy. Choose a small number of high-impact areas, go deep, measure the results, and only then expand. Treat your AI adoption like a smart investor treats a portfolio — concentrated, not scattered.
What This Means
Kushner’s critique is aimed at venture capital, but the logic applies directly to your business. In Silicon Valley, many investors follow an “outlier” strategy: make a ton of bets, expect most to fail, and hope one or two hit big. That’s the spray-and-pray approach. Kushner argues this is a grave error because it lets enthusiasm weaken discipline.
Instead, Thrive Capital takes the opposite approach. It goes big on a small number of companies it believes in, with about 90% of its fund invested in its top 15 picks. It doesn’t chase hyperincremental tech turns. It thinks about where the technology ultimately leads.
“Not every fast-growing business is exceptional. And not every exceptional company is a great investment at every price. Our responsibility is to maintain those distinctions.” — Joshua Kushner
Substitute “business” with “AI tool” and “investment” with “adoption” — and you have a rule for your own company. Not every popular AI product is useful for your business. And even if it is useful, it might not be the right time to adopt it.
Kushner also makes a key point about how industries change. “Unlike many of our peers, our conviction was not only that these industries would be disrupted from the outside in but also that many would be transformed from the inside out.” This is deeply relevant to Malaysian SMEs. You don’t have to wait for a big startup to come and take your customers. You can start transforming your own operations — from the inside — right now.
How This Applies to Malaysian SMEs
Let’s get concrete. Thrive has bought more than 70 businesses and works with a team of 35 engineers to rebuild them with AI. One of those companies is an accounting platform. It uses AI agents to produce tax returns 30% faster with 98% accuracy. If you run a small accounting firm in KL, or even handle your own books, that’s a wake-up call. Instead of buying five different AI add-ons for your accounting software, pick one system you already use and learn its AI functions deeply. That concentration delivers speed and accuracy. Scattered adoption delivers confusion.
Another Thrive portfolio company — an IT services firm — has AI agents independently solving half of its help desk tickets. Picture your Malaysian SME: a small software shop, a managed service provider, even a wholesale distributor. How many customer messages follow the same pattern? “What’s my password reset?” “Where’s my delivery status?” “How do I get an invoice?” A single, well-trained AI agent can handle a large share of those without a human touching them. That’s not hype. That’s happening today.
The inside-out transformation is your opportunity. Consider a Malaysian e-commerce business selling through Shopee and TikTok. Instead of waiting for a competitor to launch AI-first customer service, you can automate product categorization, write better product descriptions with AI, or train a reply bot on your actual return policy. But start with one operation — say, inventory management — and do it properly before layering AI onto marketing, finance, and HR. Depth beats width.
Finally, apply price discipline without the price tag. At a networking event, you’ll hear about a “revolutionary” new AI platform. Your instinct will be to try it just in case. That’s exactly the “hyperincremental turn” Kushner warns about. Instead, write down your three biggest operational bottlenecks. If the tool doesn’t clearly solve one of them, skip it. There will always be another tool next month.
Data Points From Thrive’s Disciplined Approach
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Share of fund allocated to top 15 investments | 90% |
| Companies acquired by Thrive Holdings | 70+ |
| Engineers focused on AI integration | 35 |
| Accounting platform — faster production | 30% faster |
| Accounting platform — accuracy | 98% |
| IT services — help desk tickets solved by AI agents | 50% |
Practical Takeaways For Your Business
- List your top three operational bottlenecks — the things that slow you down every week.
- Choose one process where AI can produce a clear, measurable outcome (faster delivery, fewer errors, shorter response time).
- Set a 30-day trial with one tool. Not five. One.
- Define your target before you start — e.g., “reduce response time by 20% by end of month.”
- Assign one team member to become the in-house expert, not everyone guessing on their own.
- Review quarterly. Keep what proves itself, drop what doesn’t. No guilt.
The Bigger Picture
In five years, AI will be a standard feature of every decent software product — like internet connectivity or cloud storage. The tools will be even easier to use, and the basic features will be everywhere. So what will separate one Malaysian SME from another? Not the tools. The way they’ve integrated them into their specific workflows, customer service style, and operational rhythm.
That’s good news for you. It doesn’t require a data science team or an enormous budget. It requires judgment, focus, and the courage to say no to shiny distractions. Kushner said it plainly: “We are independent because markets move between fear and enthusiasm, and neither is a substitute for judgment.” The AI market is moving at a breakneck pace. Your judgment — about what actually matters to your customers and your operations — is your most valuable guardrail.
Start small. Go deep. Measure everything. That’s how a serious investor captures value, and it’s exactly how a serious SME owner builds an AI-empowered business without falling into the euphoria trap.
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