Why AI Rollouts Failed in 2025, And What’s Actually Working in Go-to-Market

Join hosts Ken Roden and Erin Mills as they reflect on an incredible Season 2 of the FutureCraft GTM podcast. From pilot purgatory to agent swarms, they unpack how AI in go-to-market evolved throughout the year, share their biggest lessons learned, and make bold predictions for 2026.

Key Topics Covered

Season 2 Reflections [00:01:00]

• The slow start vs. strong finish of AI adoption
• Pilot purgatory and why 95% of AI rollouts struggled
• The accordion effect of AI tools throughout the year

Guest Predictions Review - "They Called It" [00:04:00]

• Rachel Tru Air on AI SDRs: Still a work in progress
• Chase Hannigan on no-code agentic systems: Ahead of the curve
• Liza Adams on EQ being the edge: Called it perfectly

Major Themes That Emerged [00:08:00]

• Adoption over tools as the key to success
• AI as teammate vs. AI as output generator
• The "sandwich model" - humans at both ends, AI in the middle
• Curiosity and EQ as critical differentiators

What Failed This Year [00:10:00]

• AI vendor spray-and-pray marketing
• Custom GPT overload (600 GPTs at one company!)
• Rolling out LLMs without proper change management

Business Impact Wins [00:17:00]

• Speed to market improvements
• Analytics accessibility for non-technical users
• 600% more time on site from AI-driven traffic
• Time auditing as a measurement strategy

Personal Lightning Round [00:32:00]

• Most overhyped buzzword: AIEO
• Underrated tool: N8N
• Biggest personal unlock: Self-regulation with AI use
• Best use case: Digital twins and content workflows

2026 Predictions [00:24:00]

• Agent swarms and workforces (Erin's pick)
• Digital twins as the hero (Ken's pick)
• Closed company-specific LLMs
• Fractional AI experts with their own agent teams
• New organizational structures emerging

Notable Quotes

"AI is like an intern with a PhD who doesn't have any business experience" - Ken

"Digital twins are great, but I think it's gonna be swarms" - Erin

"It's 90% focus on the people and 10% on the execution now, not the other way around" - Erin

"Get your hands dirty. Because this is new to everybody, there's a real need to understand what your team is going through" - Erin

Guests Mentioned This Episode

• Liza Adams
• Rachel Truair (Simpro)
• Chase Hannegan
• Sheena Miles
• Rebecca Shaddix
• Chris Penn

Key Takeaways

1. Change management is critical - 80% focus on people, 20% on execution
2. Start with boring problems - Don't chase the sexiest AI use cases
3. Define acceptable mistakes - Know when to call a pilot a failure
4. Agent swarms are the future - Moving beyond single-purpose tools
5. Communities matter - AI has opened unprecedented knowledge sharing
6. Speed to market - Months-long processes now taking days or hours

Resources Mentioned

• N8N workflow automation platform
• Relevance AI
• Lindy
• ElevenLabs (voice)
• Planet Money AI recruiting segment
• Chris Penn's analytics community

Coming in Season 3 (March 2026)

• Human agentic workflows with verification stopgaps
• Agent swarm implementations
• New modalities: voice and video applications
• More on the Iron Man suit approach to fractional AI work

Share what you want to see in Season 3 & Connect with the Hosts:

• Ken Roden
• Erin Mills

 

About FutureCraft

Stay tuned for more insightful episodes from the FutureCraft podcast, where we continue to explore the evolving intersection of AI and GTM. Take advantage of the full episode for in-depth discussions and much more.

To listen to the full episode and stay updated on future episodes, visit our website, https://www.futurecraftai.media/

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent those of any company or business we currently work for/with or have worked for/with in the past.

Music: Far Away - MK2