Brian O'Kelley

I saw Greg Isenberg share a long post on 2026 AI predictions and pulled out a few that, in my view, will actually shape how we build digital products and relationships in the next 12-18 months. Instead of treating them as „futurism" I tried to answer a simple question: What does this mean for people who build communities, news apps, and employee communication platforms today? I added some notes on each one. What it might mean for engagement, for trust, for how people actually use what we build. Credit and thanks to Greg Isenberg for putting together the original list. I just filtered it through the lens of what we do. 🔗 Link to his post in the comments 👇

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🔎 Why Did Synthetic (AI) Research Become a Thing? 🤖 Recently, I was in conversation with Chris Silvestri about how synthetic research even became necessary in B2B (and honestly, why we need it so badly). If you work with B2B companies, you know recruiting real participants—actual decision-makers that match your target profile—is almost impossible. Sure, for usability tests, sometimes a proxy audience is enough. But when it comes to deeper questions—like testing language, messaging, and value propositions—the “real thing” matters. No scenario or persona brief can make a random tester turn into a CMO or CTO overnight. From my own experience, my research process is layered—think iceberg style: 1️⃣ Surface: Start with what users and prospects say—reviews, sales calls, support chats. It’s about getting the language and tone right. 2️⃣ Structural: Move deeper—heatmaps, analytics, user recordings to understand actual behavior and decision context. 3️⃣ Deep Qualitative: The bottom of the iceberg—real interviews, qualitative surveys, and even deconstructing competitors’ messaging to find gaps or stand out. But that final, deepest layer—the one that unlocks truly valuable insights for B2B—is also the hardest. Good luck finding C-level execs to spend 30 minutes on even a paid usability test! (Expensive, rare, and frankly: unlikely.) That’s where synthetic research comes in. For Chris, it started as a practical need: He needed a way to “test” and validate messaging and user experience for ICPs that would never show up in a panel. Somewhere between structured research, creative scenario-building, and technology, synthetic research gave him new ways to learn, iterate, and ship better products. Curious how others are approaching this—how are you solving the “hard to recruit” problem for B2B UX and messaging research? Anyone using synthetic approaches or building their own customizable research stack? #research #B2B #syntheticresearch #ux #usertesting

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The way we build custom applications has shifted dramatically. But even with AI doing the heavy lifting, how do we ensure our code remains modular and scalable? In my latest conversation on Talk Commerce, Mark Shust and I explored this exact dilemma. Mark argues that while frameworks like Laravel are incredibly powerful for rapid development, there is a specific need for an organized, "clean slate" framework that carries a robust module ecosystem. Think of it this way: developers are accustomed to running complex platforms like Magento or WordPress side-by-side because of their extensive plugin libraries. Mark’s new framework, Marko, aims to provide that same modular power for custom applications—without the massive overhead of legacy systems. "You can almost start from scratch... [but with] an organized way to actually build something out that has this module ecosystem in place." The vision? A universal framework that combines the simplicity of building with AI with the long-term maintainability of a shared module ecosystem. Whether you’re building a simple app or a complex commerce platform, the goal is to keep the architecture elegant, clean, and—most importantly—easy to extend. It’s an intriguing take on how to balance modern AI-driven velocity with the structural discipline that enterprise projects require. Connect with Mark Shust on LinkedIn: https://vist.ly/4x7wt Learn more at: https://vist.ly/4x7wu #SoftwareArchitecture #WebDevelopment #AI #Coding #MarkoFramework #TalkCommerce #ModularDesign

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