7 Things I Learned Building a Compliant AI Under the EU AI Act

Published 2025-03-08 · Updated 2026-05-23 · 6 min read · AI Ethics and Regulation · By Sahin Boydas

I just spent 18 months and over $250,000 making our AI product fully compliant with the EU AI Act. It was brutal, but the lessons were invaluable. I'm breaking down the 7 most critical, non-obvious takeaways for any founder in the AI space.

I've been wrong about 7 things i learned building a compliant ai more times than I'd like to admit. But the last mistake taught me something I can't unlearn.

I just spent 18 months and over $250,000 making our AI product fully compliant with the EU AI Act. It was brutal, but the lessons were invaluable. I'm breaking down the 7 most critical, non-obvious takeaways for any founder in the AI space.

The Reality Nobody Talks About

Most people approach 7 things i learned building a compliant ai with assumptions that made sense five years ago. The world has moved on. When I look at my portfolio companies, the ones that succeed are doing something fundamentally different.

The first thing to understand is that the best solutions are often the simplest ones. I've seen this play out across dozens of companies. The pattern is unmistakable.

At RemoteTeam, we learned this the hard way. We spent months going down the wrong path before realizing that most founders overthink this and underspend on execution. Once we made the switch, everything changed.

The Counterintuitive Truth

Here's what surprised me most about 7 things i learned building a compliant ai: the best practitioners do less, not more.

When I was building MovieLaLa, we tried to do everything at once. We had the best technology, the smartest team, and we still almost failed because we spread ourselves too thin.

The lesson I took from that experience, and from watching hundreds of other companies, is that you need to move fast and break things. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.

What I've Learned From 63 Companies

After investing in 200+ startups and running two companies to successful exits, I've developed a pretty clear picture of what works with 7 things i learned building a compliant ai.

The biggest misconception is that you need to you should focus on one thing and do it exceptionally well. That's backwards. The companies that win are the ones that most founders overthink this and underspend on execution.

I remember sitting with the Anthropic team early on and discussing how they thought about 7 things i learned building a compliant ai. Their approach was counterintuitive but brilliant.

What I Tell Founders

When a founder in my portfolio asks me about 7 things i learned building a compliant ai, I usually start with three questions:

  1. What's your timeline? Because the right approach for a company with 6 months of runway is very different from one with 3 years.
  2. What have you already tried? Most founders have tried something. Understanding what didn't work is often more valuable than knowing what might.
  3. Who on your team owns this? If the answer is "everyone" or "no one," that's your first problem to solve.

These questions seem simple but they reveal a lot about where a company actually stands.

This connects to broader themes around AI alignment, EU AI Act, ai-ethics|AI bias, responsible AI, AI governance that I've been thinking about a lot lately.

Wrapping Up

I've shared a lot here, and I know it can feel overwhelming. But here's the thing about 7 things i learned building a compliant ai: you don't need to get everything right on day one. You just need to get started and keep improving.

The founders in my portfolio who excel at 7 things i learned building a compliant ai share one trait: they're relentlessly practical. They don't chase perfection. They chase progress.

That's the mindset I'd encourage you to adopt. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. And keep pushing forward.

As always, I'm rooting for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which item on this list has the highest impact?

It depends on your stage and context, but in my experience, the items near the top of the list tend to have the broadest applicability. That said, sometimes the less obvious items create the biggest breakthroughs for specific situations.

Are these recommendations still relevant in 2026?

Absolutely. While specific tools and tactics change, the underlying principles remain consistent. I update my thinking regularly based on what I'm seeing in the market and across my portfolio companies.

How were these items selected?

Each item on this list comes from direct experience, either from building my own companies or from patterns I've observed across the 200+ startups I've invested in. I prioritize practical, actionable items over theoretical concepts.

Can I implement all of these at once?

I'd strongly recommend against it. Pick the 2-3 items that resonate most with your current situation and focus there. Trying to do everything simultaneously is a recipe for doing nothing well.

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