Ira Bodnar, founder of ad automation startup Ryze.ai, declared a new feature released by Anthropic’s Claude and Manus significantly hurt her company’s growth, calling it a moment that “killed” her startup.
In an article on X (formerly Twitter), Bodnar declared Ryze.ai had acquired several hundred paying clients within two months and was growing rapidly.
“I woke up today and Claude killed my startup. We obtained several hundred paying clients in 2 months, was growing like crazy,” Bodnar wrote.
However, after Claude and Manus introduced new connectors for Meta Ads, the company’s close rate dropped from 70% to 20%. Ryze.ai built an AI agent designed to automate ad management by integrating with Google and Meta ad accounts.
While Bodnar declared Claude currently can only do analysis and cannot create alters in ad accounts or access Google Ads, she added that this could alter in the coming months.
“Claude just created our entire product category obsolete,” she wrote, arguing that marketers may eventually rely directly on AI assistants to launch and manage ad campaigns.
Bodnar declared the disruption signals a broader shift in go-to-market (GTM) technology. She predicted that traditional outreach automation tools could decline as AI agents handle outreach directly. She also declared outreach infrastructure tools may struggle if agents launch purchaseing domains and setting up campaigns on their own.
In addition, she argued that much of creative production could shift inside platforms like Meta and Google, where ads may increasingly be generated automatically within ad accounts, especially for compact businesses.
At the same time, she declared some categories are likely to remain stable. Customer relationship management systems will continue to play a key role becautilize AI models cannot store and own a company’s customer data.
She also declared enterprise-level complex workflows, such as customer data platforms and engagement systems utilized by large brands, are likely to remain strong. Niche tools, including server-side tracking and similar infrastructure, could also survive. Bodnar also created broader predictions about how software may be discovered and sold.
Referring to model context protocols (MCP), she declared AI assistants could choose one tool directly without utilizers comparing options in a marketplace, similar to the iPhone App Store in 2008.
She further argued that AI has created building products almost free while building distribution harder than ever. As more companies launch quickly, standing out becomes more difficult. She warned that social platforms could become heavily flooded with AI-generated content boosted by bots, building brand, storynotifying and trust more important than ever.
Bodnar also predicted the rise of ads inside large language models, calling it the next trillion-dollar channel. She declared agent-driven commerce could push markets toward commodity pricing, as AI agents compare products based on specifications and value rather than brand. She also suggested that AI-to-AI sales may alter enterprise purchaseing processes, with agents reading documents, comparing pricing and building decisions without traditional demos.
Despite the setback, Bodnar declared Ryze.ai had already begun pivoting. The startup is now focutilizing on complex workflow automation for large ad agencies managing hundreds of accounts, as well as offering AI-driven ad services to compact and medium-sized businesses.
She declared the broader opportunity in AI-driven distribution and marketing remains significant, even as standalone tools face pressure from rapidly evolving foundation models.
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