Most people saw AI startups. The real shift? AI as infrastructure.
~160 companies accepted. The signal was clear:
Agentic AI (~30%+) Not wrappers. Systems executing multi-step workflows autonomously. Replacing humans, not assisting them.
The vibe-coding edge (~25%) 1 in 4 companies had ~95% AI-generated codebases. AI wasn t just a tool; it was the development process. Speed became the moat.
Vertical > Horizontal Generic productivity lost to domain automation. Tighter workflows. Clear ROI. Stronger defensibility.
Not the loud roadmap requests. The quiet idea you built on instinct.
A small UX tweak. An automation you weren t sure about. A default that just made things smoother.
I ve noticed these are often the features users don t talk about. They only notice them when something breaks or disappears.
Those instinct-driven decisions rarely come from surveys. They come from building, using your own product, and trusting that feeling of this should be easier.
