The Death of ‘Zero to One’: Is AI Killing Classic Startup Theory?

For two decades, Silicon Valley has operated on the ‘zero to one’ playbook, a business theory obsessed with value extraction, creating centralized monopolies, and capturing user attention. But in the age of autonomous systems, this classic model is being systematically optimized out by AI agents. This fundamental breakup of traditional startup models is forcing founders to reimagine how they build, scale, and monetize. A new thesis, titled “Zero to Many,” from research-led investment firm Outlier Ventures argues that AI agents are systematically dismantling classic startup theory source: https://beincrypto.com/ai-vs-zero-to-one-startup-theory/