The Skift Takeaway

THE ARGUMENT

The three investors were split on whether revenue-growing AI now beats cost-cutting AI in terms of funding. Jacob argued that cost is always measurable, while revenue is subjective, so the cost tool gets the contract first. Berenstein said AI startups that aim to grow revenue are more attractive because that’s the ultimate long-term strategy — no one pays to reduce costs forever. On consumer trip planning, the panel turned more negative. Berenstein said most trip planners are too small to offer a return, while Morisset said the category works only when embedded into a corporate solution. Underlying the debates was the question of how startups stay competitive as AI tools evolve rapidly and become more accessible.

THE EVIDENCE

• “No one gets paid for reducing cost. You get paid for making revenue happen.” — Berenstein
• “Cost will always be measurable. Revenue is always tough to measure.” — Jacob
• “As an investment perspective, the ROI that we see is on the cost optimization.” — Morisset
• “We have a lot of great trip planners and great travel AI assistants, but most of them are very small companies that cannot return money for funds like ours. And I wish that was not the case. It’s so niche.” — Berenstein
• “I would love to invest in companies building dynamic products, highly personalized experiences, where every element of the experience is put together for me … and I did that for eight years. There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not an investable category,” — Morisset
• “The ease at which you can start moving from thought process to reality has changed dramatically, which means that even companies cannot rest, they have to defend their turf very quickly.” — Jacob