What the top AI startups are doing differently
Execution lessons from the companies pulling ahead
If you’re building in this market, it’s hard to know what to focus on.
The hype cycle has cooled. Funding takes longer. AI infrastructure is shifting fast.
But some startups are still pulling ahead—growing fast, monetizing early, and doing it with lean teams.
This post is for founders who want to understand why. Not from a place of theory, but from what we’re seeing in the real world—specifically, the Lean AI Leaderboard compiled by Henry Shi.
These aren’t just hot companies. They’re resilient ones.
And they share a common set of patterns:
Monetize early—even if it’s imperfect
Build around GTM, not just product
Focus where workflows live, not in new dashboards
Don’t chase virality—solve something painful
Small, focused teams > solo geniuses
Optionality beats overcapitalization
Execute from day one
Here’s what that looks like in practice—and how to apply it to your own company.
Early monetization isn’t risky—it’s clarity
Many of the strongest companies are charging customers from the start. They’re not waiting to “unlock monetization” post-traction. They’ve designed for it from day one.
Sometimes that means $5/month. Sometimes it’s a $50K pilot. But in nearly every case, it’s real users, paying real money, for something that delivers clear, repeatable value.
That clarity tightens feedback loops. It gives founders leverage. And it keeps companies grounded in what actually matters.
Repeat founder mindset, whether or not you’ve done it before
Roughly 40% of the top companies are built by repeat founders. But it’s not the résumé that matters—it’s the mindset.
Founders who’ve been through the cycle before tend to approach things differently. They think in terms of cost structure, pricing strategy, and go-to-market from the start. They know that top-line growth doesn’t fix a leaky funnel. That margin structure matters early. And that you can’t bolt GTM on later—it has to be baked in.
But you don’t need an exit to think this way. You just need to focus on execution from day one.
The best teams aren’t huge—but they’re rarely solo
The average team size across the leaderboard is just 23 people. But what stands out even more is the co-founder pattern: most of these companies started with 2–3 founders.
These aren’t lone geniuses shipping in silence. They’re balanced teams—someone who deeply understands the tech, paired with someone who knows how to take it to market.
Especially in AI, where technical complexity and UX friction can kill a product fast, having complementary skillsets from day one is a major advantage.
The best products don’t live in dashboards
The fastest-growing AI tools aren’t asking users to adopt new behavior. They’re embedding directly into workflows that already exist.
That might mean autocomplete inside an IDE. An AI helper inside your CRM. A recommendation engine inside a patient notes app. The value isn’t in the surface area—it’s in how well the tool fits the work.
These companies win not because they’re smarter—but because they’re frictionless. And in product, frictionless wins.
Focus isn’t a constraint—it’s a moat
Vertical AI is quietly outperforming horizontal plays.
Founders who go deep—into legal, healthcare, education, logistics—are often winning faster, monetizing earlier, and retaining longer. Not because these are easier markets. But because they’re hard. And being hard creates defensibility.
What looks like complexity from the outside often becomes the moat from the inside. That’s what makes these companies durable.
Optionality is power
Some of the top-performing companies haven’t raised traditional VC. Or they’ve raised much less than you’d expect.
This isn’t about being anti-venture. It’s about being capital-efficient enough to choose when and how to raise—on their own terms. That optionality is incredibly valuable right now, especially as market cycles shift.
Fundraising is a tool. It’s not the strategy.
It’s not too late. But it is time to get sharp.
If you’re early-stage, you don’t need to copy Midjourney’s architecture or Cursor’s UX. But you can take a page from how they built: small teams, sharp execution, early monetization.
That means asking:
What makes this product indispensable at scale?
What breaks in our margin model if we 10x usage?
What distribution wedge gives us momentum today—not just a story tomorrow?
Where can we embed, rather than compete for user attention?
These companies aren’t just hyped.
They’re not just building wrappers or chasing mega-rounds.
They’re building real businesses—lean, durable, and designed to compound.
And they’re doing it by focusing on execution from day one.
If this is how you’re building, I’d love to talk.