Home » Artificial intelligence » Better AI is Leading to Better Product Experiences
Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures, has backed some of the most iconic consumer brands of the past two decades — from Warby Parker to Chime to Dollar Shave Club. In this conversation, she shares how great products (not marketing tricks) still win.
Forerunner Ventures has a 2025 Consumer Trend Report. The annual Consumer Trend Report is a deep dive into where consumers stand today and how major shifts are shaping new needs and opportunities. They spend months distilling signals from the past year to uncover what they reveal about the road ahead, because we believe that the clearest view of the future comes from a deep, precise understanding of the present.This moment in 2025 is a particularly dynamic one for reflection. The past year was defined by stark contradictions — volatile consumer sentiment, erratic markets, explosive technological breakthroughs, and a remarkably resilient labor market, all unfolding alongside rising anxieties about career and financial security. In this report, they examine how economic pressures, technological advancements, and shifting consumer priorities are reshaping behaviors. They focus on three driving forces — Health & Wellness, Gen AI, and Personal Security — each accelerating fundamental changes in the way people work, transact, and plan for what’s next.
AI is unlocking a new kind of emotional relationship between consumers and technology, and what founders can learn from the messy creative stage we’re in right now. She also breaks down how shifts in distribution, wellness, and digital behavior are reshaping what it means to build for real human needs.
AI chat is winning because it is more natural to ask a question that it is to search for a keyword.
AI memory is the underpinning to emotional operating systems. It is be able to take the memory and create context going forward.
AI Voice can prompt conversation and is more delightful and rich experience.
Voice and memory make it far more engaging.
The future AI experiences will be all new but it will take a lot of trial and error to find it.
AI product creators have to really understand the core value that they are providing.
People have to need it and not a novelty.
What sort of product marketing can you do once you know the product is good and valuable.
Companies need to change from keyword search to conversational search.
Ads and SEO will find their way into the new AI interfaces.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
01:05 – What will the consumer AI wave look like?
04:54 – The ability to have memory
07:35 – Data personalization
08:58 – Voice as an unlock
11:07 – The messy creative stage of consumer AI
12:07 – How to nail distribution
14:58 – Don’t just do things for the sake of marketing
16:09 – Why the Dollar Shave Club ad worked so well
17:39 – What convinced Kirsten to invest in Dollar Shave Club
20:16 – What large companies are realizing for search, marketing
23:02 – How will we use different AI tools as consumers?
26:20 – Forerunner’s latest trend report on health, wellness, security
32:16 – How do you compete against ChatGPT?
33:52 – Advice for new founders
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.