When the market stops paying for AI proximity and starts paying for business outcomes.
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Twenty-six years ago, I interviewed for a role at eBay. One of the interviewers leaned forward and asked, "Tell me about your Internet experience."

I remember smiling and replying, perhaps with a little more sarcasm than was advisable, "I thought it just got invented". Fortunately, I recovered.

I explained that while I hadn't spent years working at Internet companies, almost no one had,I had spent the first six years of my career at General Electric at GE Aircraft Engines, GE Aerospace, GE Appliances, GEPlastics, and GE Capital. Between GE's Financial Management Program, Corporate Audit Staff,and multiple business units, I had learned how businesses actually work: how to analyze markets, allocate capital, measure performance, solve complex problems, and make decisions grounded in data instead of intuition. Those experiences taught me principles that were transferable to virtually any industry, including one that was just beginning to emerge.

I got the job.

Looking back, that interview has stayed with me because it captured something that seems to repeat itself every time a transformative technology comes along. In the early stages of a technology revolution, we naturally overvalue experience with the technology itself. Eventually, however, the market realizes that technology alone is not a competitive advantage. The people who create enduring value are those who understand how to apply that technology to solve customer problems, build organizations, and create better businesses. I believe we're approaching that moment with artificial intelligence.

Today, executives with AI on their résumé command extraordinary attention. Boards ask whether a candidate has worked at an AI-native company. Investors want leaders who understand large language models, AI product launches, or agentic workflows. Recruiters routinely receive mandates that begin with one requirement: "Find us someone with AI experience."

Those are entirely reasonable questions... for today. I'm not convinced they'll be the questions that matter most tomorrow.

As AI becomes embedded into virtually every software platform, workflow, and business process, the novelty of having worked at an AI company will inevitably diminish. Just as we no longer recruit "Internet executives" or "cloud executives," there will come a point when we stop recruiting "AI executives." AI will simply become another expectation of modern business. At that point, the questions will change. Boards won't ask whether someone worked in AI.

They'll ask whether that executive built durable revenue, created repeatable go-to-market systems, improved customer acquisition efficiency, launched products customers genuinely wanted, and adapted/modified organizations to compete in a changing market. In other words, they'll evaluate business outcomes rather than technological proximity.

That shift is what I think of as the coming AI talent repricing.

Every technology boom initially rewards proximity to innovation. Every mature market ultimately rewards operators who create measurable business value.

The executives who emerge strongest from this cycle won't necessarily be those who spent the most time inside AI companies. They'll be the ones who approached AI with genuine intellectual curiosity and a relentless desire to learn.

Over the years, I've found myself repeatedly drawn to executives with engineering backgrounds. Not because I expected them to build software or write code, but because they often shared a common mindset. They were endlessly curious. They wanted to understand how things worked and could be applied at a fundamental level. They weren't satisfied accepting conventional wisdom. They experimented and tested assumptions. They measured outcomes and refined their thinking based on evidence.

That same mindset consistently translated into exceptional leadership in product management, marketing, strategy, and even general management. Their advantage wasn't technical expertise. It was the way they approached learning.

The best operators I've worked with possess what I would simply describe as a high motor. When a new technology emerges, they don't wait for someone else to explain its implications. They explore it themselves. They ask better questions. They run experiments. They absorb what works, discard what doesn't, and continually refine their thinking. Their careers are defined less by the industries they've worked in than by their capacity to adapt.

That's the characteristic I believe boards and investors should increasingly be looking for. AI expertise can be acquired. Intellectual curiosity is much harder to teach.

The executives who create disproportionate value over the next decade will almost certainly be those who combine strong business fundamentals with an unusually high capacity to learn, adapt, and apply new technologies to real business problems. For Talent Partners, that creates a more nuanced challenge than simply identifying candidates with AI experience. The real question is whether a candidate's success was driven by favorable market conditions or by capabilities that will transfer into whatever comes next. When evaluating leaders from today's AI companies, I'd encourage companies, investors and boards to look beyond the company logo on the résumé.

• Ask what changed because this leader was there.
• How did they rethink pricing?
• What experiments did they run (possibly AI solutions) that materially improved customer acquisition, funnel dynamics, channel strategy, or brand segmentation?
• How did they change the way products were priced, positioned or sold?
• How did they respond when assumptions proved wrong?
• How quickly did they learn?
• How often did they challenge conventional thinking?

Those answers reveal far more than whether someone happened to work at one of today's most recognizable AI companies.

History suggests that every major technology wave creates temporary distortions in the talent market. During the dot-com era, Internet experience became the prized credential. During the rise of SaaS, companies prized executives who had "cloud" on their résumé. Today, the premium belongs to AI.

Eventually, however, every technology becomes infrastructure. Competitive advantage shifts away from simply understanding the technology and toward understanding how to harness it to create customer value, build resilient organizations, and generate profitable growth.

The premium moves from experience to judgment. Perhaps that's why I still remember that interview question from 1999. At the time, asking about my Internet experience seemed perfectly logical. Looking back, it wasn't really the right question.

The better question was whether I possessed the curiosity, adaptability, and business discipline to help build a company in a world that was changing beneath our feet. Twenty-six years later, I suspect we're asking a remarkably similar question about AI.

If history is any guide, the executives who will define the next decade won't simply be the ones who arrived first. They'll be the ones who never stopped learning.

About RevelOne

RevelOne is a specialized go-to-market search & advisory partner that drives Growth through People. Growth strategy and talent strategy are completely intertwined, yet often handled by different people. We staff searches with both an experienced recruiter and an operating partner to support our clients in sharpening their growth plans and ensuring they have the right full-time and part-time talent to achieve their specific goals.  

Over the past 10 years, we’ve successfully placed 2,000 people at over 750 clients, including both tech companies and traditional companies looking for modern GTM leaders. Over 50 of these clients are now unicorns.

Our GTM retained search practice focuses on Marketing, Sales, Client Success, and Partnerships/BD permanent hires for all levels, from executives to directors, managers, and team buildouts. We can also source temporary hires – pre-vetted GTM experts – for strategy and execution on interim, part-time, or project-based engagements.

Contact: Have a GTM question, a new hire, or a problem you’d like to solve? Reach out to RevelOne today to discuss: jlevisay@revel-one.com