Nithin Kamath urges startup founders to stop leading pitches with AI: ‘It’s like bragging you take bath every day’
Zerodha co-founder and CEO Nithin Kamath has sparked a discussion online after urging startup founders to stop presenting artificial intelligence as a key differentiator in their investment pitches, saying that simply using AI has become “table stakes” for companies.Kamath criticised startup pitch decks that lead with “we use AI”. (@Nithin0dha/X)In a post on X, Kamath said he receives a large number of investment decks that begin with claims about using AI. He admitted that such pitches have become so common that they now make him lose interest in the presentation.”The number of investment decks I get leading with ‘we use AI’ is ridiculous,” Kamath wrote. He added that it had reached a point where it “automatically makes my eyes roll” and that he had “almost stopped looking at them”.Kamath said that founders should understand that AI is no longer a unique selling point. “AI is just table stakes now,” he said. He also compared highlighting AI usage in a pitch to bragging about an everyday habit. “Bragging that your product uses AI is like bragging that you take a bath every day,” Kamath wrote, adding that it is “not a differentiator”.He further warned that opening a pitch with a generic AI claim could result in founders being ignored venture capitals.”Especially now that AI has democratized the ability to generate ‘nice-looking’ decks, the last thing you want to do is say the exact same generic things as every other founder using the exact same tools,” he wrote.(Also Read:
