tech

December 21, 2025

33-year-olds shuttered their $2M-a-year startup, risked running out of money—now their AI business is valued at $100M

Dhruv Amin and Marcus Lowe shut down their developer marketplace in 2023 after predicting that the AI revolution would render their business model obsolete.

33-year-olds shuttered their $2M-a-year startup, risked running out of money—now their AI business is valued at $100M

TL;DR

  • Anything, previously known as Create, pivoted from a marketplace connecting startups to freelance engineers to an AI-powered coding tool.
  • The pivot was driven by the rapid advancements in generative AI, exemplified by the launch of ChatGPT, which threatened to make their original business model obsolete.
  • The decision to rebuild involved significant risk, including laying off half of their seven-person staff and ceasing operations with freelance developers.
  • The company relaunched as Anything in April 2025 with a product for building entire online businesses without coding experience.
  • Within two weeks of the relaunch, Anything achieved a $2 million annualized revenue run rate.
  • Despite the early stage of AI coding, non-technical users have successfully built commercial apps using Anything.
  • Co-founders Dhruv Amin and Marcus Lowe deliberated for months, assessing the risks and potential of rebuilding their company around AI.
  • Investor reaction to the pivot was initially hesitant, questioning the viability of AI-generated code for real-world applications.
  • The company's mission to enable people to build production products without coding knowledge was a key factor in sticking with the AI-centric pivot.
  • Amin anticipates significant advancements in AI-powered app building capabilities within the next two years.

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