Value

“Start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can’t start with the technology and try to figure out where to sell it.”

Yep, Steve Jobs. In 1997.

Here we are in 2025, almost 30 years later, watching tech companies spend wildly to embed AI in the customer experience without regard to human needs. Indeed, human needs seem to be last on the list of their features and benefits.

And they’re not even trying to sell AI, much less charge for it; most are forcing it on us without a choice.

People often ask me how we will convince people to pay more for music when they can get it for free or cheap elsewhere today.

The question implies that money is the only thing of value, and that our time, energy, and need for connection, meaning, and relevance are, well, irrelevant.

If you love music, you know the value of supporting the people who make it. You probably even swear by it. However, connecting with people and finding meaning and relevance are core human needs that everyone values.

Music connects people with meaning and relevance like nothing else. It’s the universal language of life, love, and everything in between. Sawtooth is a celebration of music.

So, no, I don’t worry about charging more for our customer experience, value prop, and vastly different ethics and principles.

I would be far more worried if I were in the position of trying to charge people for the kind of AI slop that no one needs and will never value. That’s a losing proposition every day.