Some products do only what their maker built: a fixed set of features. If you need something else, you wait.
Other products can be extended. They offer connection points where anyone can plug in a new tool, a new source of data, a new skill.
The Wall Socket
Think of a wall socket. The maker does not need to know what you plug in. But notice who holds the power. The owner of the socket decides its shape. Everyone else has to build plugs that fit.
Change the socket, and every plug has to change with it. That is why extensibility is control. Whoever defines how others connect shapes everything that gets built on top.
A Worked Example
The video gives an illustration. A closed assistant ships with 10 tools, all built by its maker. An open one ships with 10 and lets others add 1,000 more. That is 1,010 in total, which is this publication’s addition.
The second product grows without its maker doing the work, and its maker still sets the rules.
The open product grows without its maker building the tools, and its maker still sets the rules. An illustration with round numbers.
Why It Matters
This is why the strongest position is often not the best product. It is the product that everything else connects to. Leaving it means rebuilding every connection.
There is one more case. Sometimes the socket is a shared standard that no single company owns. Then a tool built once works everywhere, and the control is spread among everyone who uses it.
The Business Engineer framework maps where each part of the AI stack sits and who holds the leverage. These pills are short lessons from the same library.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
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