Are Enterprises Buying AI From Startups

There's been ongoing debate recently about whether enterprises are genuinely willing to adopt AI solutions from startups—or if they're primarily sticking to their trusted legacy vendors. In reality, based on our conversations with digital transformation leaders, enterprises are actively evaluating and purchasing AI solutions from startups, not just established giants.

Why is this happening?

Persistent Challenges with Legacy Vendors

More than two years since ChatGPT’s breakthrough release, enterprises still feel the market lacks true product-market fit (PMF). Many legacy AI solutions have:

• Consistently over-promised yet under-delivered.
• Been poorly implemented by large consulting firms, ultimately failing to solve the real issues enterprises face.
• Cost substantial amounts of money, often leading to disappointing outcomes.

It’s not uncommon to see enterprises spend upwards of $5 million on implementations that result in minimal adoption or outright rejection by users. Even when legacy providers offer products for free, lack of effective onboarding and training frequently results in little to no usage.

A Growing Appetite for Startup Innovation

Though selling into enterprises is always challenging for startups, the market dynamics are shifting. Enterprises today display more willingness than ever to explore innovative solutions outside their traditional tech stacks. Driven by a desire to fully participate in the AI revolution, companies recognize that relying solely on legacy vendors could mean missing critical competitive advantages.

However, this openness has one essential caveat: startups must meet stringent security and privacy standards. Enterprise-grade security is non-negotiable, yet many startups struggle to meet these rigorous requirements. That’s precisely why we prioritized achieving SOC 2 Type II compliance over a year ago.

The Future Looks Promising for AI Startups

With clear evidence that legacy providers often fall short in addressing specific, real-world enterprise problems, AI startups that demonstrate clear value, coupled with robust security compliance, are increasingly gaining traction.

Enterprises aren’t just open to startup solutions—they actively seek them out when these solutions deliver genuine, measurable business value and proven security standards.

Why enterprises choose Myko?

Myko was built specifically to address the needs and concerns of the modern day enterprise. With robust enterprise security and white glove onboarding that is handled by the Myko team, enterprises are able to get up and running in a short period of time.

By reducing the timeline to having the product in users hands, Myko is able to provide near immediate value.