AI startups are scrambling to survive in big tech’s shadow

At a New York AI agent conference, founders and investors said startups are hunting for niches that big model providers can’t easily copy or overtake.

Enterprise AI agent adoption is still early, giving startups some room, but big tech’s model advances are intensifying pressure on new products.

SaaS players are embedding agents into existing workflow tools, while infrastructure startups are targeting safe access to production data as a key barrier.

Investors said durable startup wins will likely come from product areas tied to real enterprise pain points, not just model capability alone.