Article • 3 min read
Startup thinking, enterprise scaling: 3 AI-first approaches
Startups are leveraging AI to move faster, scale efficiently, and drive growth. Here's why every company can learn from their approach.
출처 Reetu Kainulainen, Vice President of Product for AI Agents, Zendesk
최종 업데이트: March 14, 2025
Ask any successful founder how to scale a business and they’ll tell you one thing: embrace innovation.
And it’s true—early AI adoption is redefining what’s possible for startups, which is why they’re leaning in faster than anyone else. They’re using it to build better products, boost productivity, and scale their impact. That’s why every company, big or small, has something to learn from their approach.
Startups are 25% more likely to have advanced-level AI capabilities and are looking for every opportunity for deeper integration across their business. They’re taking a long view of AI’s benefits, seeing it not as a one-time fix, but as a dynamic, evolving partner. One that can deliver instant impact while setting the stage for future value.
The team at wellness startup Vagaro is a great example: they recently tapped AI to improve their self-service experience and saw deflection rates jump 10x in just one day. And they’ve already set their sights on what comes next: an AI agent that can tailor its responses to match each customer’s unique journey or experience with the platform.
This isn’t a one-off experience, but a pattern of behavior with proven results. Here are three ways that startups approach AI differently to benefit their customers—and their business.
1. Start small, iterate quickly, and evolve your perfect AI solution
Startups don’t expect AI to be perfect from day one. That’s why they start small, adjust as they go, and work up to greater capabilities over time. At Vagaro, the team knew they needed a better self-service experience and tapped AI for the job, but they spent months testing internally, tweaking customizations, and actually rewriting some of the articles in their help center to produce better results.
The key to success? Just getting started by picking 1-2 small areas where you can measure impact. “You can sit here and try to over-engineer this, talk about what you do or don’t know, but that’s not helping anybody,” said Shabib Sheikh, VP of Customer Success at Vagaro. “You have to find your way just by doing.”
2. Let AI scale your impact where it matters most
Startups are relying on AI to help them stretch their resources by automating repetitive tasks, streamlining workflows, and serving as the first touchpoint for every interaction. This allows the rest of the team to focus on those strategic initiatives that really move the needle. AI enhances productivity and efficiency without the need to expand headcount, allowing startups to scale their operations while keeping costs low.
“All our customers coming through chat now start with the AI Agent,” said Sheikh. “By using AI to tackle those level one questions—you have a question, I have an answer—we can now direct our focus to those more complex, level two questions.”
3. Create AI-powered experiences that grow the business
Startups know that the key to growth is attracting and retaining loyal customers. That’s why they’re 20% more likely to prioritize personalization than their larger competitors. With tools like generative AI, they’re putting their data to work where it matters—producing more tailored experiences at scale.
Focus must be on AI tools that will have the biggest impact on growing the customer base and the business. For instance, having an AI Agent that can access information about a customer’s status—whether they’re in a trial or perhaps if they haven’t used some of the platform features—this agent can actually offer solutions that help with retention or even new sales opportunities.
There’s no doubt that AI is transforming customer service. But recognizing these benefits requires businesses to take that critical next step. For some, this could mean piloting a new AI solution. For others, this might mean finally putting something in front of customers and getting feedback. Either way, startups don’t have time to spin their wheels endlessly. Their business depends on experimentation, iteration, and producing results. Time to take a page from their playbook.
