Don’t Build an AI Platform — Build AI Alliances
In the rush to capitalize on AI, many early-stage founders are falling into a strategic trap: they’re building platforms. It’s easy to see why—platforms are seductive. They promise scale, defensibility, and investor appeal. But unless you’re sitting on proprietary data, a deep engineering bench, and the balance sheet of a public company, the odds are stacked against you.
Here’s the truth: AI platforms aren’t startups. They’re infrastructure plays. And while early-stage companies dream of building the “next great platform,” the market reality is that Big SaaS already has the distribution advantage—and the clock is ticking for them too.
Why Big SaaS Will Struggle on Their Own
Large SaaS players understand they must ship AI capabilities. Task forces have been spun up, roadmaps rewritten, acquisitions considered. And yet, results have been mixed at best.
Adobe is a case in point. As Alex Rublowsky recently highlighted in this LinkedIn post, Adobe’s AI roadmap has been highly visible—Firefly, Acrobat AI, generative design—but the market hasn’t been impressed. Despite beating earnings expectations, the company’s stock has underperformed the S&P 500 by nearly 50 points in the past 18 months.
The issue isn’t technology. It’s organizational inertia. Risk-averse executives, complex org structures, fragmented GTM motions, and the persistent “we can build it ourselves” mindset—all of these combine to slow execution to a crawl. Meanwhile, the market clock doesn’t stop. Most large SaaS companies have less than a year to prove they can deliver meaningful AI capabilities, followed by another year to show revenue impact. For most, that window will close too fast.
And when they miss it? They’ll buy.
Where Alliances Come In
This is where startups have a choice—and where alliances can become the smartest strategy in the room.
Instead of chasing the impossible platform play, early-stage AI founders can focus on building solutions that fit inside Big SaaS ecosystems. Solve a specific pain point. Leverage their existing data, APIs, and GTM motion. Make the integration frictionless and the business case obvious.
But here’s the key: you don’t have to wait for acquisition to realize value. That same clarity of fit can (and should) power alliances. Big SaaS companies are hungry for credible partners who can help them bring meaningful AI capabilities to market faster. For startups, this means you can:
Build distribution before you build scale. Tapping into a partner’s install base is often faster than chasing direct sales.
De-risk your roadmap. When you align with a partner’s strategy, your product has a clearer path to relevance.
Increase optionality. A well-structured alliance gives you customer access and credibility now, while positioning you for acquisition later.
The Pragmatic Play
None of this means lowering ambition. It means matching ambition to market realities. AI success in the next 24 months will come less from trying to “own the platform” and more from finding the right place to plug in.
Founders who think like alliance builders—not just product visionaries—will win the trust of Big SaaS faster. And when the acquisition wave hits (because it will), those same founders will be first in line.
In other words: don’t build a platform. Build alliances.
