Jun 9 • 🧲 leads-help
Is it better to niche down by industry or by problem in AI consulting?
Something I keep hearing from people getting into AI consulting...
"Should I pick an industry or pick a problem?"
Honestly, I remember having similar conversations years ago in consulting, long before AI was part of the discussion.
The technology changes.
The question doesn't.
Over the last few months, I've spoken with quite a few people building AI consulting businesses.
Most seem to fall into one of two camps.
Some are trying to become "the AI person" for a specific industry.
Others are trying to solve a specific operational problem across multiple industries.
Document collection.
Client onboarding.
Lead qualification.
Knowledge management.
Follow-ups.
After thinking about this quite a bit, I find myself leaning more toward the industry side.
Not because problems are not important.
They absolutely are.
But I have learned that understanding the industry often helps you uncover the real problems much faster.
When you spend enough time in a specific space, you start noticing things that are not obvious from the outside.
You understand the language.
You understand the workflows.
You understand where delays are accepted as "normal" even though they create massive operational drag.
And perhaps most importantly, clients feel understood.
One practical lesson I've learned over the years:
People rarely buy technology.
They buy confidence.
Confidence that you understand their world.
Confidence that you have seen similar situations before.
Confidence that the solution will fit how their business actually operates.
The technology is just the delivery mechanism.
That said, I can also see strong arguments for leading with a specific problem.
Some operational challenges show up everywhere.
A bookkeeping firm, a property management company, and a software services business may look completely different on paper.
Yet all three might be losing hours every week chasing documents, following up on missing information, or manually moving data between systems.
So I am not convinced there is a perfect answer.
I am curious.
For those building consulting or agency businesses: Have you found more success niching by industry or by problem?
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Is it better to niche down by industry or by problem in AI consulting?
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