We have started to document the path to custom AI software with Software Built For You. In that post, we explained how the SaaS era delivered standardized solutions to common problems by offering superior governance, visibility, and collaborative workflows compared to traditional tools like Excel. But in today's AI-driven landscape, true value and competitive advantage come from software that solves enterprise challenges in uniquely tailored ways. Your organization’s unique communication, decision-making, and problem-solving create an irreplaceable layer of intelligence. This is where Private Tokens transform enterprises and future software.
What Are Private Tokens?
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Public AI models learn from open internet data (“public tokens”) and their output can get you the median result on almost anything. While that is an enormous feat, for your enterprise you need to combine what the models can do out of the box with your own unique knowledge and your own unique workflows. This is the promises of custom AI software that learns from your organization’s unique data—its private tokens. These private tokens include:
- Conversations: Sales calls, support transcripts, and client meetings
- Internal Knowledge: Strategy documents, meeting notes, and training materials
- Digital Communications: Emails, Slack messages, and collaborative documents
- Tribal Knowledge: Unwritten rules, best practices, and institutional wisdom
Think of Private Tokens as your company's digital DNA. While public AI models understand general business concepts, models trained on your Private Tokens understand your specific context—your language, your customers, and your challenges.
With Private Tokens and AI, you can start building software that, for the first time, delivers a true competitive advantage over-generalized SaaS. These advantages include:
- Proprietary Intelligence: Every organization has unique work habits and problem-solving approaches. Private Tokens capture this intelligence, enabling AI systems to operate with your company’s expertise.
- Real-Time Evolution: Unlike static SaaS, systems powered by Private Tokens grow smarter with every interaction. Every conversation and internal discussion enhances your AI’s capabilities.
- Deep Context: Generic AI overlooks the nuances that drive success. Private Tokens empower AI to grasp your industry’s terminology, processes, and culture.
- Defensible Moat: Competitors rely on generic AI trained on public data. In contrast, your Private Token-powered systems build a self-reinforcing advantage that deepens with use.
The transition from standardized SaaS to custom AI is well laid out in the following slide:
Getting Out of the SaaS Industrial Complex
The natural question is, how do I move my large company that is so wrapped around the current SaaS Industrial Complex? The shift to Private Token-powered AI represents a critical strategic choice. Your organization's unique knowledge—built through years of experience and countless interactions—is too valuable to simply hand over to third-party SaaS providers who may share those insights with competitors. We recommend you start small, identifying high-impact processes where your organizational expertise can shine, you can begin building solutions that truly belong to you. This isn't just about adopting new technology—it's about preserving and amplifying the distinctive knowledge that makes your company special.
The path forward is clear: capture your organization's unique insights today to create lasting competitive advantages that no one else can replicate.