AI as Co-Founder – A Recipe for Startup Building

On the second afternoon of the summit, I had the chance to go deeper with the audience in a workshop called "When We Start a Startup with AI." I wanted to share not just theory, but my own journey with Tengr.ai, a Hungarian-founded startup that began with a simple idea and grew into a global player.

Back in 2022, before the ChatGPT hype, we kicked things off with an AI-powered image generation concept. By the time the world was buzzing about OpenAI's latest models in 2023, we already had a working prototype. That happened thanks to open technologies and the resources we could access. Training a high-quality image model required serious GPU power, something usually out of reach for a small team. But thanks to the Governmental IT Development Agency, we were able to use the Komondor HPC (supercomputer) in Debrecen, powered by Nvidia A100s. That gave us world-class infrastructure right here in Hungary.

We built upon open-source frameworks like PyTorch, adapting and extending them to meet our specific needs. And the results came fast: by the end of 2023, without any marketing, we had 150,000 users. Word spread organically in tech communities. Today, Tengr.ai is a privacy-first generative AI platform serving creative professionals around the world, with more than half a million active users in over 100 countries. What began as a dream of a small Hungarian team has evolved into a startup competing on the global stage.

But the real story I wanted to share in Budapest was this: the barriers that once made starting an AI company nearly impossible are fading away.

• Generative models are everywhere. No need to reinvent everything. You can build on open-source models.
• AI-as-a-Service is booming. What once needed servers and deep expertise can now be accessed via a simple API call.
• Developer frameworks are exploding. Tools like LangChain let you snap together components like LEGO bricks: connecting LLMs with databases, giving chatbots memory, or integrating tools.

And AI doesn't just transform your product. It transforms the process of building a company. From brainstorming and market research, to validating an idea with a simple landing page, to building a prototype with low-code/no-code tools and AI code copilots, to scaling with AI-driven marketing and customer support. AI is now the co-founder who never sleeps.

That was my message to the crowd: in 2025, one person with the right tools can compete with what used to take a whole team. Not because people don't matter, but because AI lets us focus our human creativity where it counts.

As I told the audience, "Think of AI as a Swiss Army knife in your pocket. Always there. Always ready. Helping you solve problems in unexpected ways."

And yes, between you and me, I hinted that I'm already sketching out a new project with Magic Solutions. So stay tuned, because the story doesn't end here. 🚀

The key takeaway from AI Summit Budapest 2025 was clear: AI is no longer just a supporting tool; it can be a true co-founder in the startup journey. From idea validation and prototyping to scaling and marketing, the barriers to innovation have never been lower.

At Magic Solutions, we're not just following these trends; we're shaping them. By embedding AI into our processes, we're proving every day that bold ideas can become reality faster than ever before.

And this is only the beginning. We're already working on our next AI-driven project—one that we believe will open up even more possibilities for how people and businesses can collaborate with intelligent systems. The story continues, and we're excited to share the next chapter soon. 🚀