How technology enables companies to connect with customers
I was thrilled to give the opening keynote at the Step SF Conference, hosted by my good friend Ray Dargham. My mission was to speak to the many AI founders in the Bay Area and beyond about how they can build an enduring business in … Continue readingBuild an Enduring AI Strategy
When tech features become a never-ending arms race, business strategy matters even more.Shocking…I just asked hundreds of AI founders and corporate AI leaders at the GenAI Summit in Silicon Valley: “How long does a technical moat in the AI industry last?” The most common response … Continue readingThere is a Shrinking Technical Moat in AI
Photo by Erick Davidson A Night of AI Innovation in the South Bay, hosted in Downtown San Jose On May 22, 2025, Llama Lounge celebrated its two-year anniversary with 250 AI founders, investors, and corporate partners at Zoom HQ in San Jose — marking one … Continue readingLlama Lounge 18, a Two-Year Anniversary at Zoom HQ
Probably the largest event we’ve hosted to date. On April 17 2025, Llama Lounge 17 brought together over 500 attendees at Stanford’s Jen-Hsun Huang Engineering Center for a sold-out evening of AI innovation, startup demos, and community connection. Curated by Jeremiah Owyang and the Blitzscaling … Continue readingLlama Lounge 17 at Stanford
I started Llama Lounge to be out in front of the GenAI movement. It began as a humble event in SF and grew to become a platform partnered with the world’s largest corporations, top startups, and most successful VC firms—while also being covered in national … Continue readingLlama Lounge at 2 Years Old: Growing the GenAI Ecosystem
Blueprint of a Future Company. I analyzed the Lean AI Native Leaderboard, but I did some additional calculations and removed the non-AI native Telegram from the dataset. I’ve been in Silicon Valley tech since DotCom and want to provide a broader perspective comparing prior tech … Continue readingAnatomy of a Super Lean AI Startup: Overview, Funding and Revenue
In my keynotes, one slide consistently drops jaws: a comparison showing that AI-native startups are 5X more revenue productive than traditional software companies. This week at Llama Lounge 18, I’ll be unveiling a new version of that slide—one that highlights an emerging category I’m calling … Continue readingLean Unicorn Club: Small Teams, Real Revenue, & AI-First Culture
Staggering Data: New AI-SaaS generates far more Revenue per Employee than Trad-SaaS Above Image: The new wave of AI and Agentic Startups are hyper productive: Generating over $1M revenue per employee, from Lean AI Native Leaderboard We’re on a path to seeing a solo-employee startup … Continue readingAI Startups are Dominating Traditional Software in one Key Metric
What did 40+ AI Agent CEO/Founders talk about in a closed room session? AI Agents: Software that can independently think and act, often in unison with humans or with other AI agents.. A few weeks ago, I hosted an intimate event for about 40+ AI Agent … Continue readingInsights from the AI Agent Congress 2
Epic event hosted by Amazon Web Services in downtown San Francisco, all photo by Erick Davidson, professional photographer See the official Luma page. Amazon Web Services in San Francisco hosted aprox 300 AI founders at the AWS Loft on Feb 6th. The event featured 12 … Continue readingLlama Lounge 16 at AWS
