When Mark launched his first startup, he imagined the classic entrepreneurial story: long nights, brilliant ideas, and eventually — success. What he didn’t imagine were the eighteen months of uncertainty, the savings he burned through, or the moment he realized

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic vision—it’s a crowded, rapidly evolving marketplace where new startups emerge every week. In 2025, identifying the AI companies that will actually endure and thrive requires sharper criteria than ever before. Here’s the framework