Wu: Technical execution matters more in AI than in past tech waves
Scott Wu · How AI Agents Are Creating 12X Productivity Gains · Joe Lonsdale · Mar 27, 2026 · at 5:00
Scott Wu, co-founder and CEO of Cognition (creator of Devin), contrasts AI startup moats with historical startup advantages like marketplaces, logistics, or distribution hacks.
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“I think in AI, what you see is that really excelling on the technical aspect just matters much more, I think, in AI than some of these other fields, and I think there's been lots and lots of businesses in the past that have been very, I'll say, like very intense logistics businesses or very tough kind of like marketplaces to get started, or for example, businesses where a lot of your edge is just, like, how you figure out pure distribution, or how you kind of, like, you know, make the right little, like, addicting loop, and so on. And AI has a ton of these, too, obviously, and, you know, I think all of those same skills are still necessary. However, I think in AI, in a lot of factors, in a lot of these verticals, you know, what you see is that, obviously, pure technical execution, it's like for every level that you push, push it, there's still, like, another level to go hit. And a lot of the best companies that we see in, in, in the Valley are the ones that are just able to roll out, like, technology pushes or breakthroughs that, that others have not.”
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