How AI Is Changing the Way We Start Businesses: What to Know

I started coding at 15, staying up all night building game scripts in Delphi. Entering university, I quickly realized that it wasn’t working for me — I could learn everything needed online much faster. So dropping out to code full-time seemed like the obvious choice.

At 24, I co-founded HOLYWATER with Bogdan Nesvit. Since then, we’ve built several products, grown into a content ecosystem and reached more than 55 million users with over 100 million hours of viewing. Our e-book platform, My Passion, is No. 2 in its niche, while My Drama, a vertical streaming app, ranks No. 1 among American and European companies, with over 30 million fans worldwide.

My story may sound like an exception, considering that 93% of startups fail. But now, AI is changing the game. You no longer need coding skills or funding to launch an MVP — with the right tools, you can start almost for free.

If you’re curious, you can start creating today. But keep in mind the new rules.

A hacker mindset is more important than tech skills

Despite building a successful tech startup, 90% of our team doesn’t know how to code. And you know what? They don’t need to. What’s really crucial is having a hacker mindset — being a general style specialist, able to solve any problem and get things done. This mindset is all about data, not assumptions. Build something simple, show it to your friends and get data fast.

Startups fail not because of technical imperfections — 42% of companies close due to their product not meeting market demand. Therefore, aim not to create the perfect product, but to get user feedback ASAP. You can do this on Reddit communities in your niche or through quick interviews with your potential users. One more tip — reach out to influencers with relevant audiences, ask them to post your idea and share followers’ feedback.

How can you show your product to your audience if you don’t know how to code and have no money for a developer? Five years ago, technical skills were critical for founders. But today, you don’t need to be a coding expert to launch a tech product. Tools like Cursor write code from simple descriptions, Make.com automates complex workflows without programming, and no-code platforms let you build sophisticated apps in days, not months.

The hacker mindset is about speed, which is extremely important when launching startups in the era of AI agents. Almost half of the startups in the Y Combinator Spring 2025 batch were based around AI agents. The AI agent market is growing at a lightning-fast projected CAGR of 46.3% from 2025-2030. Technical debt won’t destroy your company, but delaying action just might.

The future belongs to founders who can navigate problems, not just write perfect code. Ship fast, learn faster and let AI amplify your vision.

Start small, think like a lab

You don’t need a massive team to launch. Today, we run HOLYWATER with around 200 people, but we started with just two: a builder and a seller. Nesvit, my co-founder, handled business development while I focused on product and tech. That was enough.

Here’s what most founders get wrong: They hire specialists too early. Instead, think of hiring generalists who can and want to wear multiple hats. At HOLYWATER, we channel the best parts of the startup mindset: Our writers pitch product ideas, our marketers suggest technical solutions and our designers dive into user research. This approach lets us ship dozens of tests every month and keep only the 20% that show strong metrics.

You need people who can test fast, learn from failure and pivot without ego. A designer who also runs user interviews can create a unique impact — combining skills that would otherwise require several people, while developing a full understanding of the product.

Develop creativity in yourself and your team — everyone can be creative with enough effort. Don’t stop learning on various topics (even those unrelated to startups) and talking to users from different industries — you never know where you’ll find this “aha” moment. What defines successful founders isn’t innate talent, but relentless curiosity about solving real problems.

Track what really matters, not vanity numbers

Here’s a costly mistake we made early on at HOLYWATER: focused on the wrong metrics. We pursued payment metrics and payback periods, but what really mattered for our industry was content engagement.

If users aren’t engaging with your core product, they’ll never pay. We learned this the hard way. Now we track engagement depth first, then optimize the path to payment.

Start by defining your North Star metric — the one number that best captures the core value you deliver to customers. This becomes your guiding light for all decisions.

Every industry has different benchmarks. Research yours. For instance, if you’re launching B2C products like language learning apps, focus on Day 1 retention rates, daily active usage and feature adoption before worrying about revenue. If your industry benchmark is 40% Day 1 retention, and you’re at 15%, think about optimization or pivoting. Maybe you chose the wrong audience segments for the test, or you need to improve the product. If you’ve tried to optimize but are still far from the benchmark, your core experience isn’t engaging enough.

I suggest using the Superhuman Product-Market Fit Survey to understand whether users need your product. This framework includes four questions:

• How would you feel if you could no longer use (product name)? Answer options: Very disappointed, Somewhat disappointed, Not disappointed.
• What type of people do you think would most benefit from (product name)?
• What is the main benefit you receive from (product name)?
• How can we improve (product name) for you?

Aim for at least 40% of users saying they’d be “very disappointed” if your product disappeared. Set a simple rule: Gather feedback from 5-6 power users and 100 total installs, then act. Perfect data doesn’t exist, but directional insights do.

Take action now

Founders, you don’t need coding skills or investments to start your startup right now. The barrier to entry has never been lower, but the importance of the hacker mindset has never been higher. Be curious, master AI agents, launch an MVP, plan your distribution and listen hard to your users. This way, you’ll know within days, not months, whether your idea has legs.