I Don’t Have It All Figured Out (And That’s the Point)
- Catherine Del Vecchio Fitz
- May 29, 2025
- 5 min read
Building AI-first solutions for real-world teams—deliberately, not reactively
TL;DR:
In a world where companies are racing to publish AI memos and launch bold new offerings, I’m taking a slower, more deliberate path. This post explores the pressure to have everything figured out and why I’m choosing to listen first, design carefully, and build solutions that actually work for biotech and life sciences teams navigating complex, high-stakes workflows.
The Pressure to Have It All Figured Out
Lately, I’ve been feeling the weight of an all-too-familiar pressure—the expectation to present a fully-formed business with a clear value proposition, polished offerings, and a clean roadmap that signals confidence and momentum.
When you work at the intersection of AI, operations, and life sciences, it’s easy to internalize the belief that speed equals credibility, and that if you’re not showing progress in public, you must be falling behind. I’ve certainly felt that pull: to define my services more quickly, to publish more frequently, to move faster than feels right.
But here’s the truth. I’m not selling anything yet. I don’t have a launch date. I don’t have it all figured out, and I’m not pretending to.
That’s a choice. And yes, it’s uncomfortable.
Building something in public without a clear, finished offer often feels like showing up to a black-tie event in a bathrobe, fully aware of the choice and still a little unsure how to explain it. You know it’s the right long-term move, but in the moment, it’s hard not to feel out of step.
Even so, I’m choosing to trust that the discomfort is a signal I’m on the right path. Because the goal here isn’t to appear polished or perform momentum. It’s to build something that works.
Why I'm Building Deliberately
I didn’t start Savvyn Insights to capitalize on a trend. I started it because I saw the same issues show up again and again in early-stage biotech and diagnostics teams: incredibly smart, driven people stuck inside workflows that are clunky, fragmented, and slow. This isn’t due to a lack of talent or vision, but because the systems around them aren’t built to keep up.
I believe AI can help, not as a silver bullet, but as a practical tool for creating leverage where it’s needed most. And while it would be easy to jump to a solution, package something that sounds compelling, and start selling, I’m resisting that impulse.
Instead, I’m taking the time to deeply understand the context—the way the work actually gets done, where people lose time and momentum, and how technology can support them without adding more noise. For me, the real opportunity lies not in adding another tool to the stack, but in rethinking how we structure the work itself.
Designing Before Selling
Over the last few months, my focus has been less on developing a product and more on recognizing the patterns that reveal what’s truly broken beneath the surface. I’ve been having honest, unhurried conversations with biotech founders, operators, and small teams, listening not just for what they think they need, but for the friction they’ve come to accept as normal.
What I’m paying attention to is the stuff that never gets mentioned in pitch decks or celebrated in LinkedIn posts. Behind every funding announcement or milestone update, there’s still someone spending hours copying data between spreadsheets, formatting slides alone at night, or chasing down the latest version of a protocol draft that exists in five places.
That hidden labor—the low-grade chaos beneath the surface—is what I care about solving.
Rather than rushing to define a product or force-fit a use case, I’m taking time to understand how the work unfolds day to day, where it gets stuck, and where a well-placed AI workflow could provide real relief. I’m not designing from a blank slate. I’m designing from lived experience, both mine and theirs.
I know I could have something out there already, something that checks the box. But that’s not the point. The goal is to create something that actually solves the right problem, and that starts with understanding what’s broken at the root, not just what looks inefficient on the surface.
You Don’t Need to Be Duolingo to Act on AI
In the past few months, we’ve seen companies like Shopify, Duolingo, and Uber publish sweeping AI memos outlining how they plan to integrate generative tools across their organizations. These high-level strategies make headlines for a reason. They signal momentum, boldness, and the willingness to rethink how teams work at scale.
But if you’re a solo operator, an early-stage founder, or a small science-first team without an internal AI task force, it’s easy to feel like you’re already behind before you’ve even started. The bar can feel impossibly high.
Here’s what I want to say: you don’t need a memo. You don’t need a roadmap. You don’t need a platform. You just need to start with one thing that feels heavier than it should—one process that’s frustrating, repetitive, or constantly lagging behind—and ask how it could be better.
That’s where AI becomes useful. Not in theory, but in the practical, often-overlooked corners of your work.
Where I’m Focused
At Savvyn Insights, I’m not trying to become a platform company or build a sprawling AI solution. My focus is more grounded than that.
I work with small, ambitious teams who are doing complex work with limited time and high expectations, and I help them move faster by removing the friction that slows them down. That includes:
Turning fragmented inputs such as notes, spreadsheets, or outlines into clean, actionable deliverables like abstracts, dashboards, and internal strategy documents
Designing lightweight, AI-supported workflows that make their work more efficient without adding complexity
Creating clarity in the places where things have become too chaotic to move forward
All of it is rooted in real-world constraints and built in collaboration with the people doing the work.
The Tension Is the Point
There’s a real tension between being ambitious and choosing to slow down. Holding back when you know how fast you could go is not easy. But every time I’ve tried to skip steps, I’ve reminded myself that this business isn’t about looking ready. It’s about being useful.
If you’re in the thick of this same in-between space, trying to clarify your offer, clean up your systems, or build something that actually matters, I’d love to hear how you’re approaching it.
This isn’t just my journey. It’s one a lot of us are on right now.
Thanks for reading,
—Savvyn (your partner in ruthless efficiency)
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