In 2025, it feels like every startup is racing to add "AI-powered" to their tagline.
AI chatbots, AI assistants, AI productivity tools — everywhere you look.
But here's the brutal truth:

Building AI is now easy. Making real money from AI is still incredibly hard.

Most startups fail in AI not because they can’t code, but because they miss critical business and technology fundamentals — the kind of fundamentals only real experts can catch and fix early.

Why AI Startups Struggle

1. No Product-Market Fit

• They build cool AI demos — but not solutions that solve urgent, valuable problems.
• Investors clap, users shrug.

How an Expert Fixes This:
They validate ideas ruthlessly with real users, focus product strategy around pain, not just potential.

2. General-Purpose Tech, No Specific Problem Solved

• Everyone wants to build "the next ChatGPT."
• But startups die trying to be "everything for everyone."

How an Expert Fixes This:
They force startups to pick a vertical, a niche, a specific customer pain point — and dominate it.

3. No Pivoting After AI Disruption

• AI technology shifts monthly. Yesterday’s breakthrough is today’s background noise.
• Startups cling to dead strategies and die.

How an Expert Fixes This:
They stay on the bleeding edge, adapt tech stacks and business models fast, and pivot without ego.

4. Missing New Opportunities AI Creates

• New AI brings new pain points: hallucinations, compliance, explainability.
• Most startups miss the real money: solving these second-order problems.

How an Expert Fixes This:
They recognize new markets created by AI disruptions, not just build with AI but build for AI ecosystems.

So, Who Can Actually Lead This Transformation?

You need someone who has real-world battle scars.
Someone who has:

• Deployed AI and IoT at industrial scale.
• Adapted to Industry 4.0 standards.
• Led pivots when technology shifted.
• Focused on real user problems, not just tech hype.

Who Is Mahmoud Darweash to talk about this?

- AI & IoT Leadership:
Mahmoud Darweash led the real-world transformation of MRT Sungai Buloh operations, moving them into Industry 4.0 with AI and IoT — a critical infrastructure project where mistakes are not an option.

- Generative AI for Real Problems:
He also spearheaded HEXio's collaboration with Malaysia’s Halal Development Corporation to build HaNa (Halal Navigator) — applying GenAI to solve real industry pain points in the global Halal market.

- Thought Leadership in AIOT:
Mahmoud has delivered talks and workshops on AI+IoT synergies, teaching 50+ startups and corporations alike how to integrate emerging technologies smartly, not blindly.

Why You Should Care

If you have a full-time CTO, great.
But in the AI era, that's not enough.

You need external expert firepower:

• Fresh outside-the-building perspective.
• Faster tech adaptation cycles.
• Ruthless focus on real user problems.

with real success implementing AI transformations — could be the difference between "cool AI startup" and "profitable AI company."

Final Thought:

In AI, it's not about who builds the shiniest tool. It's about who solves the sharpest pain.