$500M AI rounds. $0 revenue models. We’ve seen this movie before – it ended in 2001.

Pets.com raised $82M in 2000.
Spent $11.8M on a Super Bowl ad.
Dead 9 months after IPO.

Sound familiar?
Today’s $500M AI rounds are the same movie. Different cast.
Webvan raised $375M. Gone in 2 years.
Kozmo raised $280M. Gone in 18 months.

What killed them wasn’t the idea. It was the model.
Demo-first. Revenue-never.

The survivor? Zappos. Built on repeat customers. Not VC theater.

Now watch AI.
→ Your “proprietary” model? Commoditized in 6 months.
→ Your enterprise deal? 24 months to close.
→ Your burn rate? Unsustainable from day one.

Ecommerce had its Amazon.
AI has its OpenAI.

Founders who turned down $50M acquisitions in 1999 waiting for unicorn valuations?
Worth $0 in 2002.

History is rhyming loudly.
Revenue-first AI companies will be the Zappos of this cycle.

Demo-first AI companies will be the Pets.com.

The sock puppet was cute though.
Are you building for revenue or for the next round?