He Was Building AI Everywhere. Then He Picked 3.
Mike Gibbs was pushing AI into every corner of SureStep at once. Nothing was finished. He stopped, named the 3 problems his firm actually exists to solve, and refused to let anything outside them compete for the people who ship. The project list stayed long. Things started shipping anyway.
October 2, 2026
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1 min read
SureStep implements enterprise software in regulatedindustries, where a half-built tool in a client's hands is worse than no tool.Gibbs had been treating AI as a general-purpose fix, starting wherever aproblem appeared, while the feed filled up with founders claiming a weekendbuild was already earning money. Most of it was a clay Ferrari: pretty from theoutside, nothing under the hood.
The mechanism was subtraction. He asked what are the keyproblems that we try to solve, and let the answer set the boundary. Three areassurvived: a GRC application, content, and an enterprise gateway that carriesthose platforms into large accounts. Other projects still run. They no longercarry the firm's name or its finishing capacity.
Why it matters to you.
You would have kept all of it going. Every project has a sponsor, a sunk cost and a reasonable case, and shutting one down feels like conceding the quarter was wasted. So the firm carries 10 half-built things and ships none of them. In a regulated market the damage is to credibility: one unfinished tool in front of a client costs more than the 9 you never started. Gibbs did not get faster by working harder across more fronts. He started finishing by shrinking the list to what the firm could defend.
“So for me, I had to stop and realize, okay, I can't fix everything in a day, but let's stop and focus. - Mike Gibbs, Founder, SureStep
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Your one thing.
Open your AI project list. Write down the 3 problems your firm exists to solve, then mark every project that does not serve one. You do not have to cancel them. You do have to stop letting them compete for the people who finish things. Pick your 3 and defend the boundary.
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