Two startups at global scale without DevOps

Two innovative startups, Relevance AI and Leonardo.AI, are redefining operational efficiency in the AI landscape by thriving without dedicated DevOps teams. Operating at a global scale, Relevance AI autonomously manages over 50,000 AI agents across popular platforms like Salesforce and Slack, while Leonardo.AI processes more than 4.5 million images daily for various creative sectors. Their success highlights a growing trend in the APAC startup ecosystem, where a shortage of infrastructure talent drives companies to adopt this lean operating model. With significant venture capital—over $1 billion invested in Australian AI-native startups alone—these companies focus on building products rather than managing infrastructure, effectively shortening their development cycles and enhancing innovation.

Utilizing platforms like Vercel for infrastructure management allows these startups to streamline operations, drastically reducing build times and preventing potential outages. For instance, Leonardo.AI cut build times from 10 to 2 minutes by automating provisioning, scaling, and observability, leading to a more efficient use of resources. This operational model showcases the potential for AI-native startups to scale rapidly while maintaining a lean workforce, suggesting that future success will favor those investing in product development over traditional ops teams.