Your Product Has a New User. It’s Not Human.

Everyone (I think?) agrees that defining your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) is important.

所有人（我猜？）都同意，定义你的 ICP（理想客户画像）很重要。

It’s the thing that makes the whole company go around - marketing and sales build their entire personality around it, founders try to change it every week, and engineers nod while secretly thinking ‘this feels made up.’

正是这东西让整个公司运转起来——市场和销售把整个人设都建立在它上面，创始人每周都想改一次，工程师则一边点头一边暗自觉得‘这玩意儿感觉是瞎编的’。

Define your customer → build for them → grow.

定义你的客户 → 为他们打造产品 → 增长。

Easy.

简单。

In theory.

理论上。

But there’s an assumption baked into all of this: Your user is human.

但这一切背后藏着一个假设：你的用户是人类。

I think that assumption is breaking.

我觉得这个假设正在崩塌。

As agents begin to interact with products on our behalf - often via protocols like Model Context Protocol (MCP) - your ‘user’ may never actually touch your product.

随着 agent 开始代表我们与产品交互——通常是通过 Model Context Protocol（MCP）这类协议——你的‘用户’可能永远都不会真正碰你的产品。

Which changes pretty much everything.

这几乎改变了一切。

In the past, even API-first products had a clear answer.

过去，即便是 API 优先的产品也有明确答案。

Your ICP was still a human, usually a developer.

你的 ICP 仍然是人类，通常是开发者。

Someone chose your product, integrated it, and used it.

有人选中你的产品，集成它，用它。

But now, LLMs will definitely be involved in every step of that process, and may even replace it.

但现在，LLM 一定会介入这个过程的每一步，甚至可能取而代之。

This is the question I think every company should be asking:

这就是我认为每家公司都该问的问题：

What happens when your main ICP is an MCP?

当你的主要 ICP 变成一个 MCP，会发生什么？

Hey, I’m trying out a new format!

嘿，我在试一种新的形式！

I’ll be specifically featuring products and services I personally recommend to this community.

我会专门介绍一些我个人真心向这个社区推荐的产品和服务。

Plus, sometimes a few that I’m exploring.

另外，偶尔也会有几个我正在研究的。

→ Stripe: The GOAT for payment processing.

→ Stripe：支付处理领域的 GOAT。

They also crush it with billing, invoicing, and pretty much the whole monetization stack.

他们在账单、开票以及几乎整个变现栈上也做得极其出色。

They’re an essential part of our growth work at Lovable, and I use them to manage payments for all of my solopreneurship stuff, too.

他们是我们在 Lovable 做增长工作不可或缺的一环，我自己所有单人创业的支付也都用他们来管理。

If you’re considering alternatives… don’t.

如果你在考虑其他替代品……别考虑了。

Just use Stripe.

直接用 Stripe。

🎁 Offer: Playbook for scaling AI product pricing.

🎁 福利：给 AI 产品定价并规模化扩张的操作手册。

How are we supposed to price AI products, exactly?

我们到底该怎么给 AI 产品定价？

Stripe put together the 5-step framework you need.

Stripe 整理出了你需要的五步框架。

→ Lovable: What can I say?

→ Lovable：我还能说什么呢？

Yes, I work here.

是的，我在这儿工作。

But… I work here because I was obsessed with the product, first.

但……我之所以在这儿工作，是因为我一开始就痴迷于这个产品。

It’s the best way to build an app or site, even if you have no technical experience.

它是打造 app 或网站的最佳方式，哪怕你完全没有技术背景。

Try it out!

试试看吧！

🎁 Offer: Get a year of Lovable for free!

🎁 福利：免费获得一年 Lovable！

(For paid subscribers to Growth Scoop)

（面向 Growth Scoop 的付费订阅者）

→ Factors.ai: Here’s one I’m exploring: The problem they’re going after?

→ Factors.ai：这个我正在研究——他们要解决的问题是什么？

Running ABM campaigns manually and across a bunch of different platforms.

手动地、横跨一堆不同平台去跑 ABM 活动。

Factors.ai has an agent that pulls together visitor identification, intent data, ABM activation, and multi-touch attribution.

Factors.ai 有一个 agent，能把访客识别、意图数据、ABM 激活和多触点归因整合到一起。

How much better could all this be if it’s all in one platform?

如果这一切都在一个平台里，能好上多少？

🎁 Offer: LinkedIn Benchmarks report.

🎁 福利：LinkedIn 基准报告。

The Factors.ai team analyzed 100+ b2b companies and they’re giving away the insights for free.

Factors.ai 团队分析了 100+ 家 b2b 公司，并把这些洞察免费送出。

Good products have always been about understanding the quirks of how humans actually operate and interact with things.

好产品从来都是在琢磨人类真实做事、真实与东西打交道时那些古怪的习性。

We built onboarding flows to reduce friction, polished UI to feel intuitive, added empty states and tooltips and delightful microcopy so users feel guided and successful.

我们打造引导流程来降低摩擦，打磨 UI 让它感觉直观，加上空状态、工具提示和讨喜的微文案，好让用户感觉一路被引导、有成就感。

Entire growth teams exist to improve the conversion between steps in a flow that assumes a human is clicking through it.

整个整个增长团队的存在意义，就是提升某个流程里各步骤之间的转化——而这个流程默认背后有个人在一步步点击。

But what happens when none of that is seen?

但如果这一切根本没人看见，会怎样？

Agents don’t care about onboarding.

agent 不在乎引导流程。

They don’t care about your navigation.

它们不在乎你的导航。

They don’t care about user psychology.

它们不在乎用户心理。

They don’t care that you spent six weeks debating whether the CTA should say ‘Get Started’ or ‘Try Now.’

它们不在乎你花了六周争论 CTA 该写‘开始使用’还是‘立即试用’。

They care about whether your product returns the right output, quickly, reliably, and in a format they can use.

它们在乎的是，你的产品能不能快速、可靠、以它们能用的格式返回正确的输出。

If it does, you stay in consideration.

如果能，你就还在被考虑之列。

If it doesn’t, you will get replaced.

如果不能，你就会被取代。

Not churned.

不是流失。

Replaced.

是被取代。

If agents are going to sit between users and software, then your product needs to be accessible to them.

如果 agent 要坐在用户和软件之间，那你的产品就得能被它们访问到。

Which is where the MCPs come in.

这正是 MCP 登场的地方。

If your product isn’t exposed through MCP (or something equivalent), agents can’t use it.

如果你的产品没有通过 MCP（或等价的东西）暴露出来，agent 就用不了它。

And if agents can’t use it, you’re not part of the workflow anymore.

而如果 agent 用不了它，你就不再是工作流的一部分了。

This means that every B2B company will be pressured to open up.

这意味着每一家 B2B 公司都将被迫开放。

And might be forced to, even if they don’t want to.

而且可能是被强迫的，哪怕它们并不情愿。

Which means some uncomfortable tradeoffs.

这意味着一些让人不舒服的取舍。

Opening up your product means sharing functionality, data, and workflows in a structured, machine-consumable way.

开放你的产品，意味着以结构化、可被机器消费的方式共享功能、数据和工作流。

You are effectively saying: ‘Here is what we do.

你实际上是在说：‘这就是我们做的事。

Here is how to use it.

这是使用方法。

Go ahead.’

上吧。’

Which is great for accessibility.

这对可访问性来说很棒。

And terrible for any moat that depended on friction, UI complexity, or user habituation.

但对任何依赖摩擦、UI 复杂度或用户习惯养成的护城河来说，则糟糕透顶。

If your product required training, onboarding, or repeated human interaction to be valuable, that created a kind of stickiness.

如果你的产品需要培训、引导流程或反复的人为交互才能产生价值，那就制造出了一种黏性。

Some companies have gotten confused and thought the stickiness was based on their product being superior.

有些公司搞混了，以为这种黏性来自产品本身更优越。

But it wasn’t.

但并不是。

It was just too painful to switch.

只是切换起来太痛苦了。

Agents remove that pain.

agent 消除了那种痛苦。

They don’t need to ‘learn’ your product.

它们不需要‘学习’你的产品。

They don’t care how it feels.

它们不在乎它用起来什么感觉。

They just evaluate whether your output is better than the alternative.

它们只评估你的输出是否比替代品更好。

Which leads to a pretty brutal question: If an agent can reproduce your core functionality without ever touching your product, what exactly are you defending?

这就引出一个相当残酷的问题：如果一个 agent 压根不碰你的产品就能复现你的核心功能，那你到底在守护什么？

In that world, your UI is not a moat.

在那个世界里，你的 UI 不是护城河。

Your ease of use is not a moat.

你的易用性不是护城河。

Your brand is not a moat.

你的品牌不是护城河。

Even your workflow might not be a moat.

甚至你的工作流可能都不是护城河。

Your moat becomes whatever cannot be easily replicated at the output layer.

你的护城河，变成了在输出层无法被轻易复制的那些东西。

For some companies, that’s proprietary data.

对某些公司来说，那是专有数据。

For others, it’s unique aggregation, network effects, or deep integration into systems of record.

对另一些来说，是独特的聚合、网络效应，或对记录系统的深度集成。

For many, it’s… unclear.

对许多公司来说，那是……说不清。

This shift in ICP affects your core product flows, but please also consider what Growth looks like when agents are a core part of the buying process, too.

这场 ICP 的转变影响着你的核心产品流程，但也请想想，当 agent 同样成为购买过程的核心一环时，增长会长成什么样。

A lot of what we call ‘Growth’ today is really distribution and conversion optimization for human users.

我们今天所称的‘增长’，很多其实是针对人类用户的分发和转化优化。

Ads, traffic, funnels, activation rates, onboarding completion.

广告、流量、漏斗、激活率、引导流程完成率。

With this in mind, you start designing differently.

带着这个念头，你会开始以不同的方式做设计。

With agents and MCPs as part of the mix, distribution is almost reversed - you’re not taking it out to them, you’re making it easier for them to come get it from you.

把 agent 和 MCP 纳入其中后，分发几乎被反转了——你不是把东西送到他们面前，而是让他们更容易从你这儿来取。

Are you part of the set of tools an agent can call?

你是不是 agent 能调用的那组工具之一？

Are your endpoints discoverable, documented, and trusted?

你的端点是否可被发现、有文档、且被信任？

You stop asking: ‘How do we get users into our product?’

你不再问：‘我们怎么把用户弄进我们的产品？’

And start asking: ‘How does our product fit into their workflow?’

而开始问：‘我们的产品怎么嵌进他们的工作流？’

You start prioritizing:

你开始优先考虑：

• clean, well-documented interfaces

• 干净、文档完善的接口

• predictable, structured outputs

• 可预测、结构化的输出

• reliability

• 可靠性

Do you even need a traditional landing page anymore?

你还需要一个传统的落地页吗？

Clean, thorough documentation may do the trick.

干净、详尽的文档也许就能搞定。

Does ranking on Search matter?

在搜索上的排名还重要吗？

Now we’re not just talking about ‘People ask ChatGPT instead of Google’ - we’re talking about people not asking at all, because an agent is going out to find the answers for them.

现在我们说的不只是‘人们去问 ChatGPT 而不是 Google’——我们说的是人们根本不去问，因为有个 agent 替他们出去找答案。

And that agent is wayyy more thorough.

而且那个 agent 细致得多得多。

They’re not going to stop at the first few options.

它们不会在前几个选项就停下。

There’s no ‘below the fold’ for them.

对它们来说，不存在‘首屏以下’。

They’re on a relentless mission to evaluate every option and then choose based purely on performance.

它们背负着一个不留情面的使命：评估每一个选项，然后纯粹基于表现做选择。

And as agents are able to not only evaluate but actually purchase software, things get even crazier.

而当 agent 不仅能评估、还能真正购买软件时，事情就更疯狂了。

Since Stripe launched Machine Payments Protocol (MPP) a couple weeks ago, all of a sudden, the possibility of agents handling the entire purchase flow seems more real than ever.

自从 Stripe 几周前推出了 Machine Payments Protocol（MPP），突然之间，agent 处理整个购买流程的可能性看起来比以往任何时候都真实。

Once you start thinking through this, you’ll realize that some of the things you used to invest in may not matter as much in this new layer.

一旦你开始把这些想通，你会意识到，你过去投入的一些东西，在这个新层里可能没那么重要了。

So, invisible, mechanical replacements for every product??

所以，每个产品都会被隐形的、机械的替代品取代？？

Nah.

不至于。

But I do think this will split the market.

但我确实认为这会把市场劈成两半。

A good analogy is what happened with ghost kitchens during Covid.

一个好的类比是新冠期间幽灵厨房发生的事。

Restaurants that went all-in on delivery optimized everything for that model.

全力押注外卖的餐厅，把一切都围着那个模式来优化。

Speed, packaging, menu design, pricing.

速度、包装、菜单设计、定价。

They didn’t need ambiance or location or even a particularly strong brand outside of the delivery apps.

他们不需要氛围、地段，甚至不需要在外卖 app 之外有个特别强的品牌。

They survived and thrived during that time while restaurants focused on the in-person dining experience got destroyed.

那段时间他们活了下来、活得还很好，而那些专注堂食体验的餐厅则被摧毁了。

I think we will see something very similar with software.

我觉得我们会在软件上看到非常相似的一幕。

Some products will double down on being genuinely enjoyable to use.

有些产品会加倍下注，做到用起来是真的令人愉悦。

These are your “minimum lovable product” companies.

这些就是你的 "minimum lovable product" 公司。

They win because people choose them, advocate for them, and build affinity with them.

他们赢，是因为人们主动选择他们、为他们摇旗呐喊、和他们建立起亲近感。

Others will become almost entirely invisible.

另一些则会变得几乎完全隐形。

They exist as infrastructure.

他们作为基础设施存在。

As a codified set of rules that is hard to reproduce.

作为一套难以复现的、被编码化的规则存在。

They are never opened directly, never explored, never ‘used’ in the traditional sense.

他们从不被直接打开、从不被探索、从不以传统意义上被‘使用’。

They are just… there, powering outcomes.

他们就只是……在那儿，驱动着结果。

And you know what, I think most of the B2B will fall here.

而且你知道吗，我觉得大部分 B2B 都会落到这一档。

Gasp.

（倒吸一口凉气）。

Why?

为什么？

Because most people don’t actually enjoy using business software.

因为大多数人其实并不享受使用商业软件。

Most of B2B product experiences… suck.

大部分 B2B 的产品体验……烂透了。

They use it because they have to.

他们用它，是因为不得不用。

If an agent can take over those interactions and deliver the same or better outcomes, most users will happily step out of the loop.

如果一个 agent 能接管那些交互，并交付相同或更好的结果，大多数用户会乐呵呵地退出这个循环。

B2C will likely lag, because there are parts of consumer behavior that are tied to taste, identity, and exploration.

B2C 大概率会滞后，因为消费者行为中有一部分是绑定在品味、身份认同和探索上的。

But even there, pieces of the experience will get abstracted over time.

但即便在那里，随着时间推移，体验中的一些片段也会被抽象掉。

Every company has some decisions to make.

每家公司都有一些决定要做。

In order to evaluate your product and the value you can provide, agents and MCPs need to have the full picture - your structure, systems, processes.

为了评估你的产品以及你能提供的价值，agent 和 MCP 需要看到全貌——你的结构、系统、流程。

Most companies don’t want to share these elements… but if you don’t, you may be replaced by an alternative that does.

大多数公司不想共享这些要素……但如果你不共享，你可能会被一个愿意共享的替代品取代。

And even more than that: If all of that process doesn’t actually lead to a better output, we’re not just talking about a threat to your efficient distribution.

更甚于此：如果所有那些流程实际上并没有带来更好的输出，那我们谈的就不只是对你高效分发的威胁。

We’re talking about a threat to your company’s existence.

我们谈的是对你公司存续的威胁。

So start thinking about this.

所以，开始琢磨这件事吧。

The shift hasn’t fully played out yet, but the direction is pretty clear.

这场转变还没完全上演，但方向已经相当清楚了。

If people don’t want to use your software or product, they’re going to ask their agents to do it for them.

如果人们不想用你的软件或产品，他们就会让自己的 agent 替他们去用。

And if another upstart company can provide the same value to those non-human ‘users’ at a fraction of the cost?

而如果另一家初创公司能以零头的成本给这些非人类‘用户’提供同样的价值呢？

The LLMs may not be great at math, but that’s an equation I’m pretty sure they can solve.

LLM 也许不擅长数学，但这道方程我很确定它们能解出来。

So yes, you probably still need a clear human ICP.

所以是的，你大概仍然需要一个清晰的人类 ICP。

But if you’re not also thinking about how an agent evaluates, selects, and uses your product… you’re optimizing for a user that may not be in the loop much longer.

但如果你不同时思考 agent 是如何评估、选择和使用你的产品的……那你就是在为一个可能很快就不在循环里的用户做优化。

Edited by Jonathan Yagel.

由 Jonathan Yagel 编辑。

If you’re finding this newsletter valuable, share it with a friend, and consider subscribing if you haven’t already.

如果你觉得这份 newsletter 有价值，把它分享给朋友，如果你还没订阅，也考虑订阅一下吧。

There are group discounts, gift options, and referral bonuses available.

还有团购折扣、送礼选项和推荐奖励可用。