Coding is not the hard part; it’s what comes next
So many founders get it wrong. Coding is not the hard part.
As a VC, I review hundreds of AI pitches from founder a month and I pass up most, why?
Building product has never been easier, there are 47,000 AI tools (according to There’s an AI for that), AI tools can take you from idea to working MVP in days, and tools like Codex, Claude Code, Replit, and others help you think through architecture before you write a single line.
But shipping code was never the hard part.
You can build something that works and still find yourself with no users, no retention, and no word of mouth. Distribution is a different muscle than development.
Understanding what your users actually need and to get them to come back versus what you built requires a different discipline. Weaving in a business strategy like network effects, so the value increases, and people care and want to come back over and move requires yet another.
The real work starts after you launch. And since AI has lowered the barrier to ship, more founders are arriving at that stage faster, which means the post-launch challenges are now more competitive, not less.
The question for founders and business leaders today: where are you investing your energy? Building, or everything that comes after? I’ve published a piece on how to build an Enduring AI startup, in five points
