A successful AI startup need not have:

  • a super strong defensible long-term moat (sorry VCs)
  • sexy UX, tech, proprietary LLM as a moat
  • a .AI domain (and branding) / won’t be shouting ‘we are an AI startup’ from the top of their lungs.

Instead, a successful AI startup will be:

  • A graveyard of a lot of failure products (translates to iterative mindset).
  • A full-stack product (own end to end experience/value chain, maximizing the value and hopefully, better LTV)
  • A portfolio of products – solving the core and the lateral problem statements, and most importantly:
  • A strong focus on JTBD of customers, alignment with the problem statement.