LvlUp Ventures reviewed 2,500 applications in a month: 78% use AI somewhere, and 82% of one-year survivors had a go-to-market story.

Aaron Golbin's September 18 breakdown covers roughly 25,000 applications over the past year. More than 78% of founders are using AI in at least one part of the startup, and close to 82% of companies still operating a year later had a strong go-to-market foundation in the deck rather than a technical differentiator. These are self-reported figures from one firm's own pipeline, so treat the precision loosely. The direction matches what I keep seeing: the technical moat evaporated first and nobody has replaced it with anything except distribution.