Inside the Fastest-Growing AI Startup in History
Six insider observations on building, scaling, and leading in the age of AI.
Eight months. Forty-five people. $100M ARR. Lovable isn’t just another AI company—it’s rewriting the growth playbook for the entire SaaS industry. In this post, I’ll share what it’s really like on the inside of the fastest-growing AI-native company in the world.
Lovable’s 8-month journey just made us the fastest growing software company ever - faster than Cursor, Wiz, and OpenAI. This is particularly staggering since it took most of the top SaaS companies 5-10 years. We all know this already, but the global appetite for AI is changing the game and driving market adoption unlike anything we’ve seen before.
I’ve been quiet here because I’ve been advising Lovable deeply in marketing - and helped, with an amazing team of collaborators, secure the front page of Forbes - in print this week. Read the whole article about Lovable here.
What's it like inside the fastest-growing company ever?
What it’s ACTUALLY like inside of an AI-Native company - and one growing at this unprecedented rate? As someone who has been obsessed with AI and covering how marketers are using it most and trends on how to navigate it, I am thrilled to get an insider’s view. A few of my early observations:
#1 Inspiring - Only 1% of the planet can code. Lovable is for the other 99%. I was getting depressed about the dystopian future AI would bring, but Lovable has given me hope that AI will actually unlock an unimaginable number of businesses and ideas if people can really create more and do more. 2.5M sites were built with Lovable in June - over 10% of all new sites on the internet that month. We’re running a six-week deep-learning and building program, and the leaderboard has people from countries all around the world. AI is unleashing creativity and productivity like never before, especially for early-stage entrepreneurs. AI could be a job creator as well. Takeaway for leaders: AI’s greatest impact might be in empowering non-technical people to create and innovate. Democratization of technology isn’t a side effect—it’s the growth engine.
#2 Game-Changing - Lovable helps people build websites and apps by just chatting with AI. And not just janky sites, but full-stack, beautiful, interactive apps on custom domains, with authentication, attached to databases. It's a major unlock. Lovable is an amazing company, but it’s also riding a massive wave of pent-up demand for non-technical people to create on the web themselves - personally and professionally. People who have wanted a portfolio website and never had a developer or designer are creating sites at breakneck speed on their own. In businesses, product managers who were previously stuck with 2D mockups are now creating working prototypes to share ideas more effectively. Marketers are creating microsites and landing pages themselves. Operations teams are building custom tools that were stuck in an infinite dev backlog and never getting done. The accessibility of being able to bring your idea to life in seconds, not weeks or months, is driving a tidal wave of change in personal and professional settings.
Takeaway for leaders: Hypergrowth is based as much on market demand as on top company performance. Right technology, right time, right market transformation. How do we all capitalize on this moment?
#3 AI-Centric - Not surprising for a young, AI-Native company, but beyond AI being central in the product, AI is central in every aspect of our work - coding, recruiting, analyzing data, strategizing, messaging, research - all of it. There is no shame to "work that isn't yours" or "looks like AI built this slide." AI's a constant companion in every meeting, every doc, every conversation, driving incredible speed from a small team. The CEO just evaluated my marketing strategy by asking ChatGPT’s deep research live on our call together and screensharing its analysis. Some extra diligence is needed in double-checking: a Fortune 500 list produced by AI listed 300 companies 🧐... But the speed of assistance and immediate insight is unbeatable.
Takeaway for leaders: The future of work is human-AI collaboration at every level, all day long. The companies that normalize and institutionalize AI in every team member and workflow will outpace those that treat it as a side tool. If some team members make it the norm, everyone else will feel the pressure to come along.
#4 Cutting Edge - The team is at the forefront of understanding the nuances of every leading LLM and how they differ for our own use and for our customers' use cases (they do!). They are in conversations on the LLMs roadmaps. OpenAI announced Agents 12 days ago. A recruiting flow was ready within days built atop the new tech. The team has technical chops, is hungry and urgency-driven, and makes room to test and use the latest developments. At the same time, the edge feels cutting. So much is happening every day, so many changes, so many new products being launched, there’s a constant fear (excitement) and hustle.
Takeaway for Leaders: Hypergrowth demands a culture that’s comfortable with relentless change. Build teams that thrive on continuous learning, fast shipping, and iteration over perfection.
#5 Social - Lovable has built much of its success to date through its amazing social media presence and word of mouth. Through a combination of storytelling, collaboration with influencers, user-generated content, and a vibrant community, Lovable has built a social powerhouse across platforms. The X post from the CEO was seen by more than 2.5M people, his LinkedIn fundraising post had 22,000 likes, more than I’ve ever seen. (FYI - the “AI people” are not on LinkedIn but are all over on X). The Forbes article with “traditional media” was a whole new category for Lovable - YouTube, X, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn have been primary growth channels to date.
Takeaway for Leaders: In the ‘new world,’ social isn’t just a channel but can be a primary growth engine.
#6 Intellectual - Lovable has a remarkably bright, accountable, and passionate team, currently comprising a ridiculously small team of 45. Former physicists, investors, founders, competition math champions, and more fill out the group. When I was in Sweden a few weeks back, the conversations at meals were as challenging, interesting, and fun as the fast-paced workday. Businesses are built on the quality of the people, and the arms race for the best and brightest is on.
Takeaway for Leaders: Hypergrowth is fueled by extraordinary people. In the AI era, the competition for top talent is global and fierce—attracting and empowering the brightest minds is non-negotiable.
What’s Next?
Hypergrowth at this pace raises as many questions as it answers. New era, new playbooks, new market realities. I’m the interim head of marketing right now, helping Lovable build out and scale the team. I’ll share more insider lessons from the journey as I go — subscribe below to stay ahead of how AI-native companies are reshaping business as we know it.
P.S. We’re Hiring
We’re hiring for a number of roles, mostly in Stockholm - but two that might be most relevant for my followers: a Senior Product Marketing Manger in Stockholm and a Community lead that can be remote. Come join the rocketship.
Carilu Dietrich is a former CMO, most notably the head of marketing who took Atlassian public. She currently advises CEOs and CMOs of high-growth tech companies. Carilu helps leaders operationalize the chaos of scale, see around corners, and improve marketing and company performance.
What fascinates me most is how Lovable embraced constraints as a growth engine. If AI-native companies can move this fast, what’s the new baseline for everyone else?
Great analysis!