The Istanbul Bazaar of AI: Why Every Product Has Its Customer
In Istanbul's ancient bazaars, you'll find an oddly practical lesson about the future of AI and business. Walk down any cobblestone street in the old city, and you'll encounter five to ten restaurants side by side, all seemingly identical.
Each chef vigorously shakes the same clay pot. Each menu offers the same testi kebab. Each restaurant survives despite this apparent redundancy.
This image has been in my mind me lately as I consider where AI is taking us.
The Coming Product Uniformity
AI is rapidly eliminating technical moats. The tools that once distinguished one business from another are becoming universally accessible. Whether we're talking about design, marketing, development, or customer service – the underlying technology is equalizing at unprecedented speed.
When I started GoFunnels, our technical capabilities in marketing automation created clear differentiation. Today, those same capabilities can be replicated by anyone with access to the right AI tools and basic process knowledge.
What does this mean for business? We're rapidly approaching a world of functional equivalence – where multiple products will serve the same purpose with similar effectiveness. Like those Istanbul restaurants, all selling the same dish.
Yet they all stay in business. Every bird finds its worm.
The Human Selection Mechanism
When presented with ten seemingly identical options, how do people choose?
They choose based on the people behind the product.
Watch tourists in Istanbul make their restaurant selection. It's rarely about the food itself (which they haven't tasted yet). Instead, they choose based on the waiter who made them feel welcome, the recommendation from someone at their hotel, or simply the vibe they got walking past.
The same principle will increasingly apply to business as AI commoditizes functional capabilities. When every CRM system can perform the same tasks with similar effectiveness, customers won't select based on feature lists. They'll choose based on who they want to work with.
This explains why I've pushed our entire team to be active on X. In this environment, the relationship between creator and customer becomes the primary differentiator. The people customers learn from are the people they'll eventually buy from.
The Human Element as Strategic Advantage
In this landscape, the person behind the technology becomes the critical differentiator. Technology providers will distinguish themselves through:
- Their ability to articulate problems precisely
- Their skill in teaching complex concepts plainly
- The frameworks they provide for implementation
- The community they foster around their approach
- The distinctive perspective they bring to application
When products become commodities, value doesn't disappear—it relocates.
I've seen this firsthand with our clients. They don't just want the CRM or automation system; they want guidance on implementation, frameworks for thinking about their problems, and a perspective that helps them see possibilities they couldn't envision alone.
The New Market Position
For businesses adapting to this reality, strategic focus must shift:
- From features to frameworks - Providing not just tools but structured ways of thinking
- From products to perspectives - Offering unique viewpoints on implementation
- From capabilities to communication - Excelling at explaining complex concepts simply
- From transactions to transformations - Creating meaningful change, not just functional tools
This is why I look for teachers when hiring. I've found that good teachers are invariably good learners, and this combination—the ability to absorb new information quickly and translate it effectively to others—becomes invaluable when technology is constantly evolving.
The Marketplace Transformation
As AI eliminates traditional moats, business is returning to its marketplace roots – where personal relationships and reputation determine success more than product differentiation.
In the Istanbul bazaar, you don't buy the spice; you buy from the spice merchant. You develop relationships with specific vendors, not because their products are objectively superior, but because you trust them, enjoy interacting with them, or have history with them.
This isn't a step backward. It's actually a return to how commerce functioned for thousands of years before mass production and corporate anonymity became the norm. The bazaar model – where business is personal, reputation is everything, and relationships determine success – is being reborn through technology.
Technology companies must now learn this same lesson. As AI democratizes creation, success will come not from what you make, but from who you are when you're making it.
What This Means for You
If you're building a business in the AI era, recognize that your technical advantage is likely temporary. No matter how sophisticated your solution, similar capabilities will eventually become widely accessible.
Instead, focus on these enduring differentiators:
- Teaching over selling – Educate your market generously. The people who learn from you will eventually buy from you.
- Community over customers – Build relationships that transcend transactions. Your business isn't just selling a product; it's creating belonging.
- Process over features – Your unique approach to solving problems will remain valuable even as technical capabilities converge.
- Voice over volume – Develop a distinctive perspective that helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace.
In Istanbul, the restaurant with the most compelling story, the most genuine hospitality, or the most memorable experience wins – not the one with marginally better ingredients. The food gets you fed, but the experience brings you back.
The Bazaar Advantage
There's something strangely comforting about this trend. As technology accelerates, we're circling back to human fundamentals.
When I ask myself what will distinguish successful businesses in five years, I'm increasingly convinced it won't be their technology stack or even their raw capabilities. It will be the relationships they form, the trust they build, and the communities they create.
In a world where everyone has access to similar tools, the human element becomes the differentiator. Like selecting a restaurant in an unfamiliar city, customers will increasingly ask: "Who do I want to do business with?" rather than "What can this product do?"
The technology will get the job done. The relationship will make the sale.
Every testi kebab finds its customer – not because it's unique, but because someone connected with the person serving it.
