AWS exec predicts death of the ‘AI company’ label

Jon Jones, vice president and global head of AWS Startups, offered sharp insights into the startup ecosystem during a recent briefing at AWS re:Invent.

While freshly minted in the role, Jones spoke from his dual experience as a two-time founder and a leader in Amazon’s generative AI initiatives.

Calling out startups obsessed with tech over customer value

During his talk, Jones highlighted the importance of clarity in a startup’s mission.

“As I ask companies what they’re working on, if [their] answer is explaining their technology versus telling me about the problem they’re solving, it’s probably not a good signal that they’ve thought through what their mission is and what their objective is,” Jones said. 

“There’s a lot of interesting things you can build there. There are fewer interesting things you can build that will solve a hard problem that will result in a sustainable company and business.”

Jones emphasised that successful startups are laser-focused on customer needs and delivering tangible value. 

“The technology is interesting, and it’s easy to get lost in the amazing science and math that goes into it, but really having to focus on customers and delivering value is one of the biggest common denominators that we see in successful startups,”Jones said.

From AI companies to simply ‘companies’

Reflecting on the integration of artificial intelligence, Jones highlighted its ubiquity in modern business. 

“I just assume every company is leveraging AI at this point,” Jones said. 

He also predicted that distinctions between AI and non-AI companies will be non-existent in the near future.

“I think we’re really quickly coming to a point where – I don’t know if it’s within 12 months or 24 months – we’re just probably going to stop talking about AI companies, and we’re just going to start talking about companies again,” Jones said.

A shoutout to Leonardo.ai

Speaking about Australia, Jones praised its growing startup ecosystem. He also managed to sneak in a reference to Leonardo.ai, which was part of AWS’ generative AI accelerator program in 2023.

“There’s been a lot of really amazing innovation coming out of Australia. I was working with the Leonardo team very, very early on… That team has been really amazing,” Jones said. 

Referring to Canva’s acquisition of Leonardo, he added, “Sometimes it takes a spark to ignite the startup ecosystem, and we’re starting to see in places like Sydney… the research community really growing. I think Leonardo will be one of the seeds of that growth in Australia.”

The author travelled to Re:Invent in Las Vegas as a guest of AWS.

Never miss a story: sign up to SmartCompany’s free daily newsletter and find our best stories on LinkedIn.