Zerodha co-founder and chief executive Nithin Kamath has urged startup founders to stop presenting artificial intelligence as the main differentiator in investment pitches, arguing that AI adoption has become a basic expectation.
Kamath said he receives numerous investment decks that begin by emphasising that a product uses AI. He argued that the approach has become so common that it can make an otherwise promising pitch less compelling. The Economic Times reported the comments as part of a broader warning to founders about generic AI positioning.
Kamath described AI as “table stakes” for startups, meaning that simply having AI functionality is increasingly treated as a baseline rather than a competitive advantage. His comparison was blunt: he likened boasting about AI in a pitch to boasting about taking a bath every day.
The argument is less about whether startups should use AI and more about how they explain the technology to investors. Kamath's view is that founders should show what their technology actually enables, rather than treating AI integration itself as the product's main selling point.
The comments come as AI tools have become easier for startups to access. Developers can now integrate commercial models and AI services into products without having to build a foundation model themselves, making basic AI functionality less unusual across the startup ecosystem.
Kamath also warned that AI tools have made it easier to create polished investment decks. That raises the risk of founders presenting similar-looking pitches and repeating the same generic claims about artificial intelligence.
The underlying investment question is therefore shifting from whether a startup uses AI to whether the company has a defensible business advantage. That could include proprietary data, distribution, customer relationships, specialised technology or a business model that competitors cannot easily reproduce.
Kamath has previously expressed a similarly measured view of AI in financial markets. In March, he argued that AI could help investors improve discipline and execute strategies but could not by itself create a sustainable informational advantage or guarantee trading profits.
His earlier comments also show that his criticism is not directed at AI itself. Kamath has discussed AI-assisted development and the use of tools such as Claude Code for building financial applications, while separately questioning whether AI creates a durable advantage in trading.
For founders, the distinction is important. Saying that a company uses AI explains a technology choice, but it does not necessarily explain why customers will pay, why the product will scale or why competitors will struggle to copy it.
Investors evaluating AI startups are also increasingly looking beyond demonstrations and polished presentations. Evidence of customer demand, retention, revenue, margins and the ability to build a durable competitive position can matter more than the presence of an AI feature alone.
Kamath's remarks reflect a broader change in the startup market as artificial intelligence becomes embedded across software and business operations. What once helped a pitch stand out can quickly become standard when competitors can adopt similar technology.
The immediate challenge for founders is therefore to explain the problem they are solving and the advantage they have built around it. AI may remain an important part of the product, but Kamath's message is that it should support the pitch rather than replace the reason for investing.
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