When Every Startup Becomes an AI Startup

If you spend enough time in startup spaces right now (accelerators, pitch competitions, founder groups) you’ll notice a pattern:

Every pitch has an AI slide. Every product has an “AI-powered” feature. Every investor is asking, “What’s your AI play?”

It’s the temptation of the moment: add “AI” to your deck and watch the room light up.

I’ve felt it myself at BeHerVillage . AI is exciting, it’s everywhere, and there are real ways it can add value. We’ve had internal conversations about what it could look like in our product, where it might help our parents, and whether we’d be missing out if we didn’t move on it right away.

But here’s the thing: we’re already starting to see AI fatigue and it’s happening faster than almost any hype cycle before it.

New AI-powered tools launch daily. Some are brilliant. Many are existing products with a chatbot bolted on. The market is being flooded with “just add AI” features, and it’s getting harder to tell what’s genuinely useful from what’s just trying to ride the wave.

When everything is AI, nothing stands out. And customers are catching on. The word itself is starting to lose meaning.

That’s not just noise for noise’s sake, it’s a risk. When the shine wears off, founders who built their positioning entirely around “AI” will be left scrambling to define their real value.

The pressure to jump in is real. In some rooms, it feels like you need an AI feature to get investors to lean forward.

I’ve had conversations with other founders who admit they’re adding AI, not because their users need it, but because their pitch needs it. I get it. Raising is hard, and buzzwords open doors.

But here’s what we’ve been reminding ourselves at BeHerVillage: we’re building a company for the long term.

Why We’re Not Leading With AI

That doesn’t mean we’re ignoring it. AI has a place in our toolkit, especially behind the scenes. But our differentiator has always been our personal, high-touch customer service. The way we talk to parents. The way we guide them through creating a registry that actually supports them and don't hawk products at them that they don't need. The trust we’ve built by showing up like humans that actually care, not just a platform.

AI could help us make that process more efficient, but it can’t replace the human connection our brand is built on. And that’s the part we’re unwilling to sacrifice for the sake of a trend.

We’ve seen too many companies chase hype and lose their footing when the market shifts. For us, the question isn’t “Can we add AI?” It’s “Would this make our product better for our parents in a way that lasts beyond the hype?”

So where does this leave us? We’ll keep exploring ways to use AI, just like we do with any new technology. But it’s not going to be the thing we hang our hat on. Our north star is the value we bring to parents, not the label on our tech stack.

If you’re feeling the pressure to add AI just to keep up, here’s the reminder I’ve been giving myself: buzzwords might get you a meeting, but they don’t build a business.

🧠 What I’m thinking about this week:

• Investors may chase trends, but customers stick around for consistent, meaningful value.
• Not every company needs an AI feature, especially if it’s not solving a real user problem.
• In the long run, trust is harder to build (and easier to lose) than technology.

📌 This week’s commits:

• Revisit our product roadmap and gut-check any AI ideas against actual customer needs.
• Keep investing in the customer service experience that sets us apart.
• Stay informed about AI advancements without feeling pressured to chase them.

I’ll end with this: in a gold rush, the temptation is to start digging where everyone else is. But sometimes the smarter move is to keep building on the ground you already own.

Talk next week,

— Sara