Value Creation When AI Makes Prototypes Cheap

Generative AI has made it dramatically easier to create software prototypes, but it has not made startup value disappear. The real moat has moved from building something that looks functional to building something customers can trust, adopt, and rely on inside their actual workflows. In B2B software, durable value still comes from domain expertise, product judgment, operational reliability, and the ability to turn a working demo into a real business.