Revolutionizing Growth: The 7-Year Journey of Bold New's Success

As we celebrate the explosive growth of StackBlitz, I'm Victoria from Evil Martians, sharing the secrets of how they went from nearly shutting down to crossing $100M in ARR, and how you can replicate their success for your business.

  • 1. Eric Simons' company, ST Blitz, was struggling, with little revenue and growth after 7 years.
  • 2. The board gave him an ultimatum: show progress by the end of 2024 or face shutdown.
  • 3. Just two months later, Bold New, a startup using browser-based technology, showed explosive growth.
  • 4. Victoria, from Evil Martians, has been Staglit's technical partner since 2021 and works with 40+ early-stage developer tool startups per year.
  • 5. Many companies want to bring AI into their products but don't know how.
  • 6. A common mistake is "sprinkling" AI into the UI, often resulting in underwhelming chatbot interfaces.
  • 7. Users are tired of chatbots and may lose interest if new features aren't compelling.
  • 8. Another pitfall is trying to AI-power everything, which leads to competing with large companies like OpenAI and Anthropic.
  • 9. Instead, focus on unique domains, expertise, or technology for higher chances of success.
  • 10. Some companies wait for AI to be perfect before building tooling; it's essential to build as you go.
  • 11. The biggest mistake is not talking to users, leading to wasted resources and irrelevant features.
  • 12. Staglit identified its unique advantage: running a full development environment in the browser without containers, servers, or local setup.
  • 13. AI helped amplify Staglit's competitive advantage by making coding processes more straightforward for average users.
  • 14. Instead of fitting AI into existing workflows, create a new category that leverages your unique capability.
  • 15. ST Blitz reinvented the user flow for coding with their unique advantage and bet everything on it.
  • 16. Identify your unique mode or competitive advantage.
  • 17. Determine how AI can amplify this advantage.
  • 18. Reinvent workflows or create a category based on your capability.
  • 19. Be honest about your product and its potential for AI integration and workflow reinvention.
  • 20. Finding answers to these questions puts you on the right track.
  • 21. The key to success is not unique AI, as everyone has access to similar tools; it's the unique competitive advantage that sets companies apart.
  • 22. Build tooling as you go instead of waiting for perfection.
  • 23. Focus on users and their needs rather than building features without user input.
  • 24. Creating a new category can give your company an edge in the market by changing how users interact with your product.

Source: AI Engineer via YouTube

❓ What do you think? What is one unique aspect of your business or product that, when amplified by AI, could revolutionize its category and lead to explosive growth? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!