Two of my portfolio companies had opposite approaches to why your way of creating ai art is holding you back. The one you'd expect to win didn't.
A lot of founders keep using old habits for making AI art, and it’s costing them. I’ll be honest about the mistakes I see and offer practical advice to help you improve.
What I've Learned From 87 Companies
After investing in 200+ startups and running two companies to successful exits, I've developed a pretty clear picture of what works with why your way of creating ai art is holding you back.
The biggest misconception is that you need to the best solutions are often the simplest ones. 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 why your way of creating ai art is holding you back. Their approach was counterintuitive but brilliant.
Why Most Approaches Fail
Let me be direct: about 70% of the approaches I see to why your way of creating ai art is holding you back are fundamentally flawed. Not slightly off. Fundamentally flawed.
The root cause is usually one of three things:
- Copying what big companies do without understanding why they do it. What works for Google doesn't work for a 10-person startup.
- Over-engineering the solution when a simple approach would work better. I've seen teams spend six months building something that could have been done in two weeks.
- Ignoring the human element. Technology is the easy part. Getting people to actually use it is where the real challenge lives.
The Reality Nobody Talks About
Most people approach why your way of creating ai art is holding you back 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 timing is everything in this game. 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 the best solutions are often the simplest ones. Once we made the switch, everything changed.
The Numbers Don't Lie
I've tracked the performance of companies in my portfolio that take why your way of creating ai art is holding you back seriously versus those that don't. The difference is stark.
Companies that invest early in why your way of creating ai art is holding you back see, on average, 2-3x better outcomes within 18 months. That's not a small edge. That's the difference between raising your next round and running out of runway.
One of my portfolio companies went from struggling to profitable in under a year after they finally got serious about this. The founder told me later that they wished they'd started sooner.
This connects to broader themes around generative media, DALL-E, AI design tools, AI video 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 why your way of creating ai art is holding you back: 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 why your way of creating ai art is holding you back 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
How has this view evolved over time?
My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.
Do all experts agree with this view?
No, and that's fine. The best ideas in business are often contrarian. I share my perspective based on my experience and data, but I encourage you to seek out opposing viewpoints and form your own conclusions.
What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.