The Great Ai Reset: It’s Time To Refound Your Start-up. Now.

Is your B2B startup now part of the past … because it was founded before 2023? Maybe.  Be honest.

Has growth slowed while new AI entrants in your space are growting at epic rates?

No one’s coming to save you.  But … but … it’s too late to refound your start-up in the Age of AI.  It’s not too late.

The Pre-AI Stigma Is Real

If you founded your SaaS company before 2023, you’re wearing the “pre-AI” label whether you like it or not. VCs especially are obsessed with AI-native startups. New pitch decks without an AI strategy aren’t even making it past associates. The market has fundamentally shifted.

When I talk to founders who launched in 2020 or 2021, I hear the same anxiety: “Are we already legacy?” Their products were built for a different world – before ChatGPT, before the great AI awakening, before every investor and customer started demanding AI capabilities as table stakes.

In B2B and SaaS, being considered legacy after just 3-4 years seems absurd. But that’s exactly where we are.

Plot Twist: Today’s AI Leaders Were Yesterday’s “Dated” Startups

Yet here’s the fascinating contradiction that doesn’t get enough attention: many of today’s most impressive AI companies weren’t founded yesterday. They weren’t even founded last year.

• Anthropic (founded 2021)
• Stability AI (founded 2020)
• Cohere (founded 2019)
• Databricks (founded 2013)
• Windsurf (founded 2021)
• Cursor (founder 2022)
• Hugging Face (founded 2016)
• OpenAI (founded 2015)
• Synthesia (founded 2017)
• Palantir (founded 2003)

These companies didn’t start with today’s AI vision fully formed. They pivoted, evolved, and capitalized on their existing foundations when the AI opportunity became clear.

It’s “Re-Founding” Time

So what’s actually happening? Smart founders aren’t abandoning ship – they’re “re-founding” their companies around AI.

Re-founding means:

1. Hard product decisions: What parts of your current stack can be AI-enhanced vs. what needs a complete rebuild?
2. What would you build today, if you could start from scratch?  You need to build that.  AND support your existing customers and their needs. Yes, this is hard.  Yes, this is now the job.
3. Redefining your value prop: You’re no longer just a “project management tool” – you’re an “AI-powered work orchestrator”.  But this needs to be for real.
4. A skunkworks team?  You may need to create a seperate AI-first team to drive progress faster
5. Move on from the Too Slow.  Folks that can only work at the 2021 pace with the 2021 playbook may … need to find a new home.

Why Your “Pre-AI” Startup Might Actually Have an Edge

Here’s the counterintuitive truth: being a pre-AI startup that successfully navigates the transition to AI-native might actually be the optimal position.

The Pre-AI Advantage Checklist:

• You have real customers solving real problems – while AI-only startups are still searching for product-market fit
• You understand your domain deeply – which is crucial for applying AI meaningfully rather than as a gimmick
• You have battle-tested infrastructure – while new startups are building everything from scratch
• You’ve likely achieved some revenue stability – giving you runway to experiment and transition
• You’re not competing with 500 identical AI startups – differentiation is your friend

The Re-Founding Playbook

If you’re ready to re-found your pre-2023 startup around AI, here’s my practical playbook:

1. Audit Your Current Value — and Team.  Be Ruthlessly Honest.

Before throwing everything out, identify what underlying value you’re already delivering. The core problems you solve probably haven’t changed – but how you solve them will.

2. Find Your AI Wedge

Find the single most impactful workflow where AI creates 10x improvement. Make this your wedge.  Build it this week.  Stop saying it’s hard or there is too much to do.

3. Talk to Your Top Customers Even More

Your power users will guide your AI transformation better than any investor or consultant. Ask them: “If we could make any part of our product magical with AI, what would create the most value for you?”

4. Consider the Dual-Track Approach.  Yes, This is Hard.  It’s the Job.

The best founders are often building their AI future as a parallel product line while maintaining their core business.  This may be 1.5x the work or more.  Nobody cares. Nobody cares how hard it is.  You need to find a way, or likely, lose.

The Final Truth: Hurry Up.  Really, Hurry.  But There’s Still Time

Yes, if you’re pre-AI, you’re late to the party. But the AI revolution is still in its earliest chapters in almost every category.  But that won’t last.

We’re seeing a classic diffusion of innovation curve: the AI-native startups of 2023 were the innovators. The re-founded startups of 2025 will be the early adopters who cross the chasm and bring these technologies to the mainstream.

So don’t panic about being “dated.” Instead, recognize your unique position to combine proven business fundamentals with AI innovation.

The window is closing, but it’s still open. Re-found your company now.

There’s still time.