Everyone Wants an AI Startup. Nobody Talks About Distribution

This article argues that the hardest problem in AI startups has shifted from product development to distribution. As APIs, open-source models, and AI tooling make software creation dramatically cheaper and faster, competitive advantage increasingly comes from audience ownership, workflow integration, partnerships, trust, and organic distribution loops rather than pure model quality. The broader thesis is that AI companies now succeed less because of technological superiority and more because of...