AI-native tech startups can weather an economic nuclear winter

Recently, I wrote a piece for VentureBeat distinguishing between companies that are AI-based at their very core and ones that simply use AI as a function or small part of their overall offering. To describe the former set of companies, I coined the term “AI-Native.”

As a technologist and investor, the recent market downturn made me think about the technologies poised to survive the winter for AI — brought on by a combination of reduced investment, temporarily discouraged stock markets, a possible recession aggravated by inflation, and even customer hesitation about dipping their toes into promising new technologies for fear of missing out (FOMO).

You can see where I am going with this. My view is that AI-Native companies are in a strong position to emerge healthy and even grow from a downturn. After all, many great companies have been born during downtimes — Instagram, Netflix, Uber, Slack and Square are a few that come to mind.

But while some unheralded AI-native company could become the Google of the 2030s, it wouldn’t be accurate — or wise — to proclaim that all AI-Native companies are destined for success.

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