Introduction: The AI Gold Rush (and Why Many Startups Struggle)

AI is everywhere. Founders, investors, and enterprises alike are racing to build the next wave of AI-driven products. From healthcare to finance, education to cybersecurity, AI-powered startups are emerging in every sector, promising to revolutionize how we work and live. In other words, we live in the era of “AI for X”.

But despite the excitement, many AI startups struggle to turn their technology into a successful, scalable business. Building an Enterprise AI application is one thing – getting customers to adopt it, designing a sustainable data strategy, and scaling the business without losing product-market fit is another challenge entirely.

We believe we’re experiencing a true tectonic shift, driven by AI, that’s changing everything about how products are built, sold, and used. The truth is, nobody has all the answers yet. It’s unclear exactly how AI will reshape the world or which entrepreneurial strategies will win out.

As a team of founders and startup operators-turned-investors at Grove Ventures, we’re on this learning journey too, right there with the entrepreneurs. The lessons shared in this playbook reflect what we’ve learned firsthand through deep, hands-on work partnering with more than a dozen of our Enterprise AI portfolio companies as they moved from idea to impact. This knowledge is combined with valuable insights drawn from engaging with hundreds of other founders and key ecosystem players.

While some tactics will change fast, we think many core lessons we’ve learned will hold true. This playbook captures our insights from the journey so far.

The goal of this playbook is simple: to provide Enterprise AI startup founders with real-world insights on how to build, scale, and win with AI – not just as a technology, but as a business.