20 mental models For The AI Business
This Week In Business AI [Week #17-2026]
This piece lays out that system as 20 mental models, organised into four analytical layers. The layers are not arbitrary groupings. They are a dependency chain:
Physics constrains architecture
Architecture shapes market dynamics
Market dynamics determine which strategic bets pay off
You cannot understand the bets without understanding the dynamics. You cannot understand the dynamics without understanding the architecture. You cannot understand the architecture without understanding the physics.
Start at the bottom.
The Executive Plan with the Claude OS Skill included
The weekly newsletter is in the spirit of what it means to be a Business Engineer:
We always want to ask three core questions:
What’s the shape of the underlying technology that connects the value prop to its product?
What’s the shape of the underlying business that connects the value prop to its distribution?
How does the business survive in the short term while adhering to its long-term vision through transitional business modeling and market dynamics?
These non-linear analyses aim to isolate the short-term buzz and noise, identify the signal, and ensure that the short-term and the long-term can be reconciled.
