Background: Cuttable is an Australian ad-tech startup founded in 2023. One of its founders is Sam Kroonenburg, previously sold A Cloud Guru for around $2 billion back in 2021. Cuttable helps companies test a whole range of ad creatives across social media platforms. But instead of hiring a full creative team to test different ideas, it uses AI to do it instead.  

What happened: Early last year, Cuttable raised $10 million at a valuation of just under $45 million. 12 months later, more than 220 brands have used the product - and now, they're back to raising again at a $100 million valuation.      

What else: Kroonenburg says they're shipping more products with a team of just 8 engineers, compared to a 100-person team he had at Cloud Guru. So, it sounds like they're effectively using AI to build their AI product.    

What's the key learning

💡 AI isn't just changing products, it's changing how companies are built. Scaling used to mean bigger teams and more layers... but AI is flipping that model completely.  

💡 Startups can now do more with fewer people. With generative AI driving up to $4.4 trillion in productivity gains and boosting software engineering output by 30-40%, small teams can move faster than ever.    

💡 This shift is forcing companies to rethink headcount. For instance:

• WiseTech Global wiped out 29% of its staff
• Block cut 50% of its staff

It shows that when smaller teams can do more, the old 500-person company model starts to break.