rachelpark.xyz/writing/2025-01-05-ai-and-relentless-execution

We’re knee-deep in a modern gold rush. For the young and unproven builder thinking of starting a company, it’s easy to feel both anxious and jaded by the frothiness of today’s AI ecosystem. In just a couple years, startups have crowded every obvious AI application area (i.e. codegen, marketing, customer support). Each of these spaces has a couple clear favorites via the conventional markers of emerging success—massive funding rounds at insanely high valuations, star-studded teams, and strong revenue growth. It’s tempting to assume that these early market leaders will maintain their edge and live up to their hype as the next generational companies, leaving little room for new entrants to create value. But those of us living out our first true tech wave should remember this hasn’t always been the case in the history of technology. Many of the iconic companies we know and love today were started by underdog founders years after their markets were already declared “won” by another player.

We’re knee-deep in a modern gold rush. For the young and unproven builder thinking of starting a company, it’s easy to feel both anxious and jaded by the frothiness of today’s AI ecosystem. In just a couple years, startups have crowded every obvious AI application area (i.e. codegen, marketing, customer support). Each of these spaces has a couple clear favorites via the conventional markers of emerging success—massive funding rounds at insanely high valuations, star-studded teams, and strong revenue growth. It’s tempting to assume that these early market leaders will maintain their edge and li