'Claude Just Killed Our Startup': This SF Founder Says AI Made Her Product Obsolete Overnight

Ira Bodnar, founder of San Francisco–based startup Ryze, said her company's core product was effectively made obsolete overnight following rapid AI breakthroughs by Anthropic and Manus AI.

“Claude just killed our startup,” Bodnar wrote on X on Monday, referring to Anthropic’s popular chatbot. The AI firms unveiled features that directly competed with Ryze’s product, a tool for managing Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Meta (NASDAQ:META) ads, causing the company’s deal close rate to drop drastically from 70% to 20%.

Despite having gained several hundred paying clients in just two months, Ryze found its specialized category redundant due to the AI’s native automation.

However, Bodnar remains optimistic about the future, announcing plans to pivot Ryze towards building complex AI workflows for large advertising agencies.

Predictions On AI’s Next Disruptions

Bodnar also made a few predictions:

MCP as the new App Store: Claude selects tools via Model Context Protocol (MCP) without showing alternatives, reminiscent of the iPhone App Store in 2008.

Ads in LLMs: Large language models could create the next trillion-dollar advertising channel, connecting chatbots like Google-connected websites.

Agentic commerce: AI agents shop independently, comparing specs and reviews to pick the best value, driving categories toward commodity pricing.

AI-to-AI sales disruption: AI agents handle enterprise procurement by reading documents, comparing specs, and analyzing pricing—eliminating traditional sales tactics like demos or persuasion.

Social Media: AI will soon dominate content platforms, with nearly 98% of videos on TikTok and Instagram being AI-generated or artificially amplified, signaling that the AI-driven disruption is just beginning.

AI Integration Speeds Up Ad Shift

Following Meta's acquisition of Manus AI, the company has started integrating the autonomous AI agent into its Ads Manager, advancing its push toward AI-driven campaign automation. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Manus AI will help power consumer-facing AI products at Meta Platforms, including agentic shopping tools to connect users with businesses in Meta's catalog and support premium subscription offerings.

Meanwhile, Anthropic’s Claude Cowork tool, updated last month, has connectors and plugins designed to “turbo charge” the capabilities of individual employees, making it a game-changer in the AI industry. Companies can now integrate Claude Cowork with Google Drive, Gmail, DocuSign Inc. (NASDAQ:DOCU), and FactSet Research Systems Inc. (NYSE:FDS)

Bodnar highlighted that Claude currently can only analyze data and lacks access to Google Ads or the ability to make changes in ad accounts, but she expects those capabilities to arrive within months.

Bodnar’s predicament underscores the rapid pace of AI development and its potential to disrupt established business models. Anthropic launched its new Claude Code Security tool on Friday, which scans codebases for vulnerabilities and suggests fixes, shaking up the cybersecurity market. The result was a sell-off in cybersecurity stocks, such as CrowdStrike Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: CRWD), Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW), and Cloudflare Inc. (NYSE:NET).

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by a Benzinga editor

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