Towards Data Science is a community-powered publication that showcases work in data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Every day newcomers, seasoned researchers and industry practitioners publish tutorials, research notes and real-world case studies that help the field move forward.

Towards Data Science

A VC general partner argues that AI commoditization has fundamentally changed startup economics, making traditional venture-backed unicorn hunting harder than ever. With AI lowering barriers to entry, enabling ephemeral apps, and eroding distribution moats, most software startups now lack defensible differentiation. The piece introduces the 'donkey' model as an alternative: solo founders using AI agents to run portfolios of small, bootstrapped micro-businesses in narrow niches simultaneously, distributing risk across many modest revenue streams rather than betting everything on one unicorn. This approach requires no outside capital, preserves founder ownership, and is newly viable at scale due to AI-driven automation of ideation, prototyping, customer research, and operations.

Donkeys, Not Unicorns

“It’s All About Distribution” Or Is It?