Are You Using AI? Are You Working with a Startup?

Ajey Anand, CEO, Norigin Media & Startup Ambassador, IAMT

These two questions are synonymous to me. They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, at least not overnight. Large companies build their efficiency over years, layering processes, tools and legacy in general. Startups offer a breath of fresh air, bringing in new ideas, if not a business case.

Changing one piece of an organization causes ripples that spread everywhere: through operations, through job roles, through the people actually doing the work. A company can look sleek and efficient from the outside while things are genuinely turbulent on the inside. That tension is exactly what’s playing out across our industry right now as everyone tries to figure out what AI actually means for them.

Can AI Build Your UI/UX Needs?

With AI, engineers feel like they are professional designers, or the other way around, so of course!

At Norigin Media we design, engineer and publish streaming TV apps across app stores for broadcasters and telcos worldwide, so we’ve had a front row seat to how AI is changing the process of building software. The honest answer is yes, AI can help design, build and launch apps, and the productivity gains are real. We’ve seen output increase by 200 to 400 percent on certain tasks. But take this with a pinch of salt, that we have not yet replaced people but in fact expanded our expert teams to do more.

More output isn’t automatically more value. A good chunk of that surplus is wasted: code nobody asked for, features built because they were easy to generate rather than because a customer actually needs them. The skill now isn’t generating more. It’s knowing what’s worth generating at all.

Start-up, Not Pivot-Away

This is exactly where startups have the edge. They don’t have decades of tooling and process history to untangle before they can experiment. They can pick up the best new AI thinking and put it straight to work, without asking permission from six departments first. That’s not a pivot, it’s just how startups operate. It’s also exactly why the industry needs more of them at the table, not fewer.

I was thrilled when IAMT CEO Saleha Williams asked me to take on the role of the IAMT Global Start Up Ambassador. For emerging companies in MediaTech, becoming an IAMT member is absolutely crucial and it’s also why I sit on IAMT’s Board.

• IAMT keeps startups connected by bringing them into an innovative global network of industry leaders and visionary experts to drive meaningful, life-long connections.

• IAMT empowers startups  with exclusive access to cutting-edge IAMT research, business intelligence, news, reports, specialized training, and continuous development.

• Most importantly, IAMT gives  startups  an Influential platform as part of a unified independent voice shaping the future of the MediaTech industry.

Both Saleha and I are passionate about advocating for startups to help them leverage these vital opportunities to scale.For me, watching a founder go from idea to working-product in a matter of weeks, using the same AI tools the rest of us are still figuring out how to fit into decades-old workflows, is genuinely energizing.

While attending the WAIC conference in Shanghai, China, I noticed how much value startups and robotics companies working with or building AI tools are generating there, far more than what I’ve seen in the West. Of course, IBC will change that, with ambitious plans for Hall 14 this year.

Established Players Should Borrow!

For established broadcasters and telcos, this discipline is worth studying closely, maybe even copying outright. The instinct in a big organization is to build everything internally, because that’s how control has traditionally been maintained.

Building anything in-house takes time, and time is the one thing streaming and broadcast businesses don’t have much of right now. Every extra month spent building a custom TV app framework is a month a startup down the road has already spent shipping and learning from real users.

The lesson from startups isn’t “use more AI.” It’s “be selective about what you build, and be fast about what you buy.” That holds whether the thing being bought is a piece of software or a partnership with a startup that’s already solved the problem you’re still scoping out.

IBC Is the Perfect Place for Startups

There are some existential issues and a real reckoning happening in the media-tech space right now, more than I’ve seen before. That’s an opportunity.

That’s the thinking behind Startup Discovery Night, which Norigin Media is co-hosting with IAMT on 12 September in Amsterdam, during IBC week. IBC is one of the best places in the calendar for a startup to find a real customer, or run a proof of concept with a reference partner that actually matters in this industry. Broadcasters, telcos and media businesses are under real pressure to reinvent how they operate. Frankly, who better to reinvent alongside than the people building the newest tools with the least legacy baggage?

Startup Discovery Night is built to put both sides of that equation in the same room, at the exact moment of the year when they’re all in the same city anyway.

Future of Media Tech

If you’re at IBC this year, come find us, or come find me specifically.

I’ll be easy to spot: I’m usually the one asking a startup founder more questions than anyone else in the room. Whether you’re a startup chasing your next real-world test case, or an established broadcaster wondering how to move faster without breaking what already works, Startup Discovery Night on 12 September is worth an hour of your evening.