HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah on where startups should build in the AI era
a16z Podcast · rss · 2026-11-10
On the a16z Podcast, HubSpot co-founder/CTO Dharmesh Shah and a16z partner Joe Schmidt discuss where startups can build as frontier labs expand into applications: - Start with a narrow market, learn fast, and solve the whole customer problem; - Lasting value for app companies lies in workflows, customer context, and the systems where work happens as models become infrastructure; - They also cover HubSpot's AI experiments, the rise of one-person businesses, and how cheaper software creation unlocks previously unviable markets. Related reading: Joe Schmidt's essay "Avoiding Death on the Yellow Brick Road."
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