You want AI to make a difference to the business you’re building.

That could mean serving customers better, giving your team time back, or making an idea possible that was once too expensive. You also have work that needs to be done though, so every new possibility has to compete for your attention.

And it’s not always obvious which new AI hype cycle deserves your attention.

An impressive demonstration can leave you with some important questions. With this workflow, our customers, our information, and the way we actually operate, what would we need to change? Is it worth doing, even?

You know your business. You’d like enough understanding of the technology to make those decisions with confidence.

Then there are the bigger questions: if AI makes part of what you do cheaper or easier to copy, where does your advantage come from? What will customers actually value? What could you offer them that was previously out of reach?

I write The Wayfinder Notes to help you work through those choices.

Each week in The Wayfinder Notes, I break down one company’s AI strategy: what changed, what the evidence shows, and what you can apply in your own business.

Alongside the breakdowns, I share practical guides and visual explanations to help you test ideas and build useful things. Sometimes that starts with a small personal project: learning how something works and making it your own.

My aim is to help you see what deserves your attention, feel comfortable leaving something behind, and know how to see past the hype and better spot if opportunities are worth pursuing.

What you’ll find here

A company breakdown each week

The decisions behind a company’s use of AI, explained through clear writing and visual maps. What is creating value? What has yet to prove itself? And which lessons could work in your business?

We’ll look at both sides: how companies change the way they work, and how AI changes what their customers need from them.

I’ll distinguish between what a company reports, what I’ve tried myself and where I’m making a judgement.

Practical guides for useful builds

Walkthroughs to help you turn an idea into something you can use. That might be a simple daily habit app, or a small system for your work.

The aim is to get something working, understand the important choices and learn how to improve it. You don’t need to be a software engineer to begin. A first build can be worthwhile for what it teaches you as well as what it does.

Notes and essays on the bigger picture

Short observations, lessons from experiments and occasional longer pieces on how business is changing.

When something becomes cheaper to produce, what will people still pay for? Which capabilities are worth developing? What should you build, buy or leave alone?

Who’s writing?

I’m James Kerr. I previously worked in Accenture Strategy and am now building CURN, an AI advisory and implementation business.

This newsletter brings together my company research, my own building experiments and the lessons I think are worth applying.

I particularly enjoy making complicated ideas easier to see. That’s why you’ll find plenty of diagrams here.

Start with these

• The 4 Secrets behind Shopify’s AI Strategy — what to borrow about shared knowledge, clear outcomes and staying useful to customers.

• How to Use AI Like a Strategy Consultant — turn a broad business question into a structured investigation.

• To Build a Mockingbird — what building my own version of a product taught me about buying one.

Subscribe for the next company breakdown, plus practical guides and ideas worth trying.

And when you do, reply and tell me what you’re working on. I’d like to know.

James