In 2008, shortly after my first company was acquired, I was exploring ideas for what would come next. I met up with a sharp entrepreneur and investor, a fraternity brother of mine, to share an early concept for an e-commerce platform. After listening, he said something I’ve never forgotten: “Yes, I hear you, but isn’t that space too crowded?”
He was right. The space was crowded. So I pivoted. But the conversation planted a seed that’s stayed with me for over 15 years.
Now it’s 2025, and I can say with confidence: AI has completely killed the crowded space argument.
Today, the companies that understand how to truly pair AI with human talent can enter any market—saturated or not—and reshape it entirely. We’re seeing it happen everyday.
When my co-founder and I started AgileBlue, it was to create an autonomous Security Operations (SecOps) platform. We entered a market dominated by massive players, organizations with 10-year head starts, hundreds of SOC analysts, and big claims about stopping cyberattacks. The problem? Cyberattacks haven’t stopped. They’ve exploded. If cybercrime were a nation, it would rank third globally in GDP behind only the U.S. and China. That’s not progress. That’s crisis.
Legacy vendors built models based on brute force—people in chairs, reading logs, clicking buttons. We built AgileBlue differently, from day one: an autonomous AI-powered SecOps platform fueled by machine learning and generative AI. Our AI handles over 90% of routine analyst tasks—at speed, scale, and precision. Not only is this more effective, it’s far more sustainable.
While incumbents are retrofitting siloed tech with AI wrappers, we built AI into the core of our platform. The result? Our platform gets smarter with each and every interaction. Their tech debt holds them back; our velocity pushes us forward.
This isn’t just about innovation—it’s about economics. AI flips the cost structure. In the past, new features meant more headcount. Today, a lean team with the right models can outperform legacy giants. Foundation models are the new infrastructure. What cloud did to fixed hardware, AI is now doing to bloated R&D teams.
The competitive edge is no longer about who can build it—it’s about who can aim it.
In an AI-first world, strategy shifts from scale to specificity. Security operations today are fragmented, expensive, and complex. AI collapses that fragmentation—lowering cost of ownership, simplifying workflows, and improving protection. And yes, even in cybersecurity, better security may finally start costing less.
The “too crowded” excuse belongs to a pre-AI era. Now, the winners aren’t those with the most people or the longest history. They’re the ones who can adapt the fastest, aim the smartest, and automate where it matters most.
The bigger picture is AI isn’t killing the crowded space; it’s reshaping it into a more dynamic, opportunity-rich ecosystem. AI didn’t just enter the chat—it rewrote the rules.
