Zerodha’s Nithin Kamath says startups just saying ‘we use AI’ won’t impress investors anymore. He believes they need to show actual results and business value created by the technology to get funding.
Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath has a simple message for startups: just saying you use AI is not a big deal anymore. In a recent post, he pointed out that investors are no longer impressed by the ‘we use AI’ line in pitch decks. According to Kamath, startups need to prove their worth not by mentioning the technology, but by showing the real-world results they have achieved for their customers using AI.
‘We use AI’ is not enough anymore
Kamath said he is getting tired of seeing the phrase “we use AI” in almost every investment pitch deck. He feels that using AI is no longer a special competitive advantage for a startup. Instead, it has become a basic necessity, something everyone is expected to have.
Like saying you take a bath every day’
To explain his point, Kamath used a sharp and funny comparison. He said that bragging about your product using AI is “like bragging that you take a bath every day”. Basically, it’s so common now that it’s not a unique selling point (USP) worth highlighting.
What should you say to grab an investor’s attention?
Kamath suggests that instead of just saying “we use AI”, founders should explain the exact problem they solved with it. They should show how it benefited customers and back it up with solid numbers. For instance, he said a pitch like, “We reduced a task that took five hours to just 15 minutes, and customers are paying for it,” is far more powerful.
AI-made pitch decks are also common
Kamath also noted that with generative AI becoming so widespread, creating a polished-looking pitch deck is now very easy. This means many startups might be using the same AI tools, leading to very similar presentations. In such a scenario, what truly matters to investors is the core business model, the solution to a customer’s problem, revenue, growth, and the product’s actual impact.
Results matter more than ‘AI’
The main takeaway from Kamath’s message is this: using AI is not the achievement. The real question is, what have you achieved *with* AI? As AI becomes a standard tool for most startups, getting funding will depend less on buzzwords and more on showing a unique product, a real solution for customers, and measurable results.