Startups Are Shipping Less—and Pitching More
Open LinkedIn. Scroll past three pitch decks, two launch waitlists, and one “we’re in stealth” announcement. Ask yourself: How many of these startups have actually shipped something?
Now more than ever, funding has become the product—and “building” has taken a backseat to “presenting.” And in a tech culture that once prided itself on scrappy MVPs and fast iteration, that shift is… a little worrying.
We’re witnessing a quiet inversion: Startups used to build first, pitch later. Today, many pitch first, and keep pitching.
The Culture of Constant Pitching
There’s nothing wrong with raising money. Startups need capital to scale. But what we’re seeing in 2025 is different. It’s a culture of perpetual storytelling—where slides and vision statements are updated more often than the product roadmap.
Why?
- Because AI lets you demo without building.
- Because investors now fund momentum, not milestones.
- Because being loud = being fundable.
- And frankly, because attention is the currency—and shipping isn’t always sexy.
Startups are optimizing for visibility, not viability.
Shipping Is Risky. Pitching Isn’t.
Here’s the unspoken truth: shipping exposes you.
Once something is live, people can judge it. Use it. Critique it. But when you’re still “in stealth” or “testing waitlist response,” you can control the narrative.
And in an ecosystem driven by investor optics, it’s safer to delay release than to launch a half-baked product that might disappoint.
So we get a lot of buzz… but not a lot of breakthroughs.
AI Has Changed the Game—and the Incentives
With GPT-based coding assistants and design automation, it’s easier than ever to simulate a product that doesn’t actually work. Landing pages, app mockups, explainer videos, even AI voices for fake testimonials—it’s all buildable in a weekend.
Startups can show traction before traction. They can show a product before they’ve even hired a developer.
And to be fair, that’s clever. But it also means the demo culture is outpacing the delivery culture.
Investors Are (Partly) to Blame
VCs used to back teams with traction. Now, some are betting on momentum alone—press hits, LinkedIn buzz, and vibes. Founders respond by staying in “story mode,” always prepping for the next round rather than the next feature.
The result?
- 12-month waitlists that never launch
- AI tools that never leave beta
- SaaS products with gorgeous websites and… no customers
It’s not about bad intent. It’s about misaligned incentives.
What Real Builders Are Still Doing
Thankfully, there’s a growing undercurrent of indie hackers, bootstrappers, and quiet builders who are going the other way:
- Shipping fast
- Launching ugly
- Iterating in public
- Growing slowly—but steadily
They may not trend on Product Hunt. But they’re solving real problems for real users—and learning faster than pitch-perfect founders who never release.
So, What Needs to Change?
Startups need to reclaim the build-first mindset. That doesn’t mean ignoring pitch decks or avoiding capital—it means flipping the default back to:
“Let’s build something useful.”
We need:
- More working demos than concept decks
- More changelogs than slide transitions
- More real feedback than investor FOMO
Because the world doesn’t need another beautiful vision of a product. It needs products that exist.
Let’s Be Honest…
If your startup has raised three rounds but hasn’t shipped a public version—are you building a company or a pitch?
At some point, the real product has to go live. Otherwise, you’re just practicing.
