Most AI startups die before they even ship.

Worse: they spend months building the wrong thing.

This week on Zero to One, Ankur Patel (Multimodal / AgentFlow) dropped some of the clearest, most brutal (and useful) advice we’ve heard for anyone trying to go from zero to one in enterprise AI. 💡

5 hard truths for builders:

1. Speed is your only moat Foundation models evolve weekly. If you’re not shipping fast, you’re irrelevant. Velocity beats architecture, funding, and cleverness.
2. Pick your wedge and obsess Startups that try to be a platform from day one don’t make it. Start wide → feel for the pull → double down on 1–3 use cases people will pay for.
3. Trust is more important than tech Enterprises won’t deploy agents that feel like black boxes. You need: traceability, sandbox validation, human-in-the-loop checks, clear ROI. No trust = no production.
4. Being an outsider is an edge If you’re young and don’t know the rules of the industry, good. You’ll move faster and see opportunities incumbents overlook.
5. Failure is leverage now Failing at a startup doesn’t hurt your career anymore, it accelerates it. You’ll either win or become 10x more valuable.

This episode is worth your time if you’re building in AI and trying to get real traction.

What’s your biggest blocker going from zero to one? Drop it in the comments.

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