Andy Walsh2x Exited Founder, Startup Strategist & Podcast Host

What Changes When Your Startup Goes AI-First

12 Aug 2026 · 1 min

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Startups using transformer models like ChatGPT are growing revenue faster while keeping costs flat. This creates better economics than a decade ago: more growth per dollar spent. A portfolio company shifted to AI-first and saw revenue re-accelerate with expenses staying roughly the same.

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With ChatGPT and the whole transformer technology has come out since, that has been enormous for product, but also enormous for how startups run themselves. And we've been very focused on both. We have a large existing portfolio and a lot of our companies have moved to become AI-first companies. And so we've seen a reacceleration in revenue growth accordingly. Without accelerating expenses. So there's a lot more operating leverage, which means the economics of a startup today are a little different than they were a decade ago.