AI founders are increasingly facing a competitive threat from the very platforms their companies are built upon, rather than solely from other startups. Major releases from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are prompting concerns that features developed by startups could become integrated into these foundation models.
This dynamic is reshaping strategic decisions for AI companies, impacting product development, differentiation, capital raising, and long-term value creation. The focus for founders is shifting from whether a product can be built to whether its value can be sustained as foundation models rapidly evolve.
Industry leaders, including Michel Tricot of Airbyte, Rob Toews of Radical Ventures, and Linda Tong of Webflow, are set to discuss these challenges at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 event. The session will explore how founders can build defensible AI companies by focusing on elements that models cannot easily replace, such as proprietary data, deeply embedded workflows, customer relationships, domain expertise, and trust.