I’ve been thinking a lot about how AI will change startups. I have read numerous articles and talked to a lot of people about it. This is all my own opinion.
TLDR
Right Now
If you look at your phone’s home screen, very few apps are truly AI-native. We still mostly use tools built for the mobile era, not for the AI era.
This gap shows how early we are. I think the next decade will see a wave of apps rebuilt from the ground up with AI at the center. The opportunity feels massive. Just like the web-to-mobile shift, I think we’ll see a total reset in what apps dominate our daily lives.
How Will Startups be Built?
I love Andrew Chen's post on this, but think he's missing some key points.
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Will startups of the future need fewer employees?
I think the answer is yes for many categories, because AI gives crazy amounts of leverage. One person may be able to do the work of 50. But at the same time, there will still be roles where human taste and creativity are the bottleneck. -
We will 100% see solo founders or indy hackers getting aquired for hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars. I think this will happen more often with the increase of random niche AI tools.
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There will be a suttle divide between startups providing the shovels and startups buying shovels. Look at Nvidia's stock price. Some startups on the infra layer will get acquired for millions of dollars even though they don't have much of a moat.
In addition to all of this, design, brand, and storytelling will still be important - AI can generate pretty well, but it can’t decide what “feels right” to people.
Defensibility
Defensibility is another huge question. If AI makes it easy to copy products, how do you protect a moat?
I think speed becomes the moat. Whoever can ship, iterate, and capture users fastest will be the one who wins.
Brand will matter too. When tech becomes cheap, trust and reputation become the scarce resources. Some startups may be cheaper to build, but not cheaper to grow. Distribution and customer acquisition will still eat up capital.
AI won’t solve the challenge of grabbing people’s attention. It may actually make the noise worse by flooding the market with more products. That’s why I think founders who know how to distribute will have the edge. The bottleneck shifts from product to reach.
Team structure could also change. Today we separate product, engineering, and design, but AI may blur those roles.
One founder could guide AI through an entire flow: wireframe, code, copy, design. This collapses what used to be multiple departments.
History shows us this happens whenever technology advances. We reorganize labor as tools change, from artisans to factories to corporations. Now we may reorganize again around agents and models. The company of the future could look totally different.
Location is another big one. Does San Francisco stay the hub, or do startups spread everywhere? I think both happen. SF keeps its network effects, but AI lowers the need to be physically close to talent. That means new hubs will rise, like New York, Austin, or even cities outside the U.S. The next great founder could be anywhere.
Venture Capital
Venture capital will definitely shift.
I believe there will be more funds with the core thesis of volume of early stage companies than medium to later stage companies. I am still formulating this opinion.
Some say - if one or two people can build something profitable fast, the role of VC changes. Capital may move towards growth instead of risk. More founders will raise later, once traction is clear. I would agree with this.
This could blur the stages of pre-seed, seed, and Series A. Products might jump straight to scale once the market shows demand.
I think that’s healthy. It democratizes who gets funded and spreads opportunity globally.
Of course, incumbents still have the advantage of data, distribution, and compute. They may use AI to reinforce their dominance.
AI-Native Startups
Startups tend to be scrappy and fast. I believe speed and focus will allow some to break through anyway.
The real battle is whether incumbents get innovation first or startups get distribution first. That’s the race we’re watching now.
The optimistic path is exciting. AI-native startups could be leaner, faster, and more creative than ever before.
The pessimistic path is centralization. The big players get bigger, and startups fight over scraps.
I think we’ll see a mix of both. Some industries will decentralize, while others consolidate around giants.
I Don't Have the Answers Yet
The truth is, no one has the answers yet. But asking the right questions, like Andrew did, helps us think about the future.
For me, the lesson is clear. Founders shouldn’t just focus on product features — they need to rethink defensibility, team design, and growth from the start.
Every major tech shift created new playbooks. AI will force us to invent fresh ones.
I think the people who experiment now will define the rules for everyone else. That’s why it’s such an exciting time to build.
The next few years in startups will be wild. I can’t wait to work alongside some of the smartest people in the world to build something great.