Think of the most famous boxers you know, likely the heavyweights: Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Mike Tyson. In a clash between titans, the advantages seem easy to understand, since the bigger fighter looks like the stronger one. Robinson's advantage was completeness: speed, footwork, intelligence and stamina. In a famous 1951 match against Jake LaMotta, Robinson schooled the reigning, heavier middleweight champion with a 13th-round TKO. Look at Klarna, valued at $6 billion in 2024. It made headlines claiming its OpenAI-powered chatbot could handle millions of conversations and do the work of 700 customer service employees. Customers hated the rollout, and by 2025, Klarna was hiring back humans. Or Jasper, which watched its value evaporate after ChatGPT commoditized its main offerings. Each year we speak with thousands of operators and founders, and one pattern is clear: The biggest long-term gains from AI will not flow to heavyweight incumbents or many AI-native startups but to scrappy...
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