The First Casualty of AI...
Welcome to the Dave vs. Startups.
The marketing industry just hit junior copywriters with a sledgehammer, and most people don't realize how fast this happened.
I have a friend who runs an ad agency that he sold a couple years ago.
He was telling me recently about how AI tools have totally changed that industry.
And when you think about marketing, the copywriting impact is pretty obvious.
If you're a junior copywriter trying to get in the market now, you're totally screwed. It’s the first casualty of AI… but definitely not the last. AI is coming for all of us.
Senior copywriters and agencies can now use AI to handle the basic copy work that used to be the entry point for new copywriters.
You know, the stuff that junior writers would cut their teeth on:
Email campaigns
Social media posts
Basic ad copy
That work still needs to get done, but now one experienced copywriter with AI tools can handle what used to require a whole team of junior writers.
The problem is that junior copywriters need that foundational work to build their skills and portfolios.
Without those entry-level opportunities, how do you even break into the field?
It's like they pulled the bottom rung off the ladder.
Meanwhile, experienced copywriters who know how to work with AI tools are more valuable than ever.
They understand strategy, they know how to prompt AI effectively, and they can edit and refine AI output to match brand voices.
But if you're just starting out and you don't have that strategic experience yet, you're competing directly with AI that can write basic copy faster and cheaper than you can.
The whole career progression path that used to exist in copywriting just got disrupted.
I think this is happening across a lot of creative fields.
But copywriting might be getting hit the hardest because the barrier between AI and human-level output is so thin for basic copy work.
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IPOs are dying. Instead, founders find more wealth privately. For us smaller fish, search funds and private equity are a way to make a lot of dough.
Go in, do it better than legacy market competitors, and build a monopoly.
Tune into the Startup Different Podcast for more.