# Obliterate, Don’t Automate
**作者**: Michael Mignano
**日期**: 2026-07-22T14:25:27.000Z
**来源**: [https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326)
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In 2015, my partner Fred Wilson published a short blog post, Don't Automate, Obliterate, on how @USV thinks about startup investments. The post was based on a 1990 HBR article by Michael Hammer by the same name. Specifically, Fred and the rest of USV partners found that the best investments were in the companies that were not just building software to automate existing markets… but to fully obliterate them instead.
Since then, it's become a defining characteristic for how USV assesses startup opportunities. In many ways, every thesis USV has ever articulated has been built upon this idea. You can trace it through direct-to-learner education (Duolingo), programmable money (Coinbase), and publishing without publishers (Twitter). Our whole quest has been how to overhaul market structures instead of simply creating efficiencies within them. But only recently did it become clear to us how AI makes the potential for true obliteration of existing business models and markets that much stronger. In other words: there’s never been a better time to obliterate.
## So what changed?
The internet collapsed the cost of distribution and stripped the market power from the media companies that controlled it. AI does the same thing to expertise. As expert-level intelligence becomes abundant to anyone with an agent, the people, companies, and institutions whose power came from gatekeeping that expertise start to lose it. Instead of renting expertise from a gatekeeper, you can access and deploy it directly. No gatekeeper required. That shift, from the supply side to the demand side, is what actually restructures a market. We've already made a few investments that we think have the potential to obliterate the markets in which they exist, thanks to AI.
Doctronic, as one example, doesn't simply help streamline the experience between doctors and patients. Instead, it democratizes medicine by putting an AI doctor (that can even legally write prescriptions, starting in Utah) into the pocket of anyone with a smartphone.
Isembard doesn't just sell software to existing factories. It rebuilds the factory itself by packaging the expertise of running a high-precision manufacturing line into software. The industrial capability that used to live in a handful of aging machine shops becomes something you can deploy through AI.
Or Cofounder, a company that doesn't make product development, sales, marketing, and distribution easier, but launches and manages full businesses on behalf of its customers.
In each of these examples, if they work, the markets they're in won't look the same for much longer. And in nearly every category of business, across both consumer and enterprise, it's clearer than ever that AI has the potential to reset the table completely. Almost everywhere you look, there's an opportunity to transfer the balance of power away from an existing gatekeeper and towards a customer. The opening is that big.
This is what we mean by obliterate.
## 相关链接
- [Michael Mignano](https://x.com/mignano)
- [@mignano](https://x.com/mignano)
- [31K](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326/analytics)
- [Don't Automate, Obliterate](https://avc.com/2015/04/dont-automate-obliterate/)
- [@USV](https://x.com/@USV)
- [business models](https://blog.usv.com/after-hours)
- [Doctronic](https://www.doctronic.ai/)
- [Isembard](https://www.isembard.com/)
- [Cofounder](https://cofounder.co/)
- [Upgrade to Premium](https://x.com/i/premium_sign_up)
- [10:25 PM · Jul 22, 2026](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326)
- [31.1K Views](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326/analytics)
- [View quotes](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326/quotes)
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*导出时间: 2026/7/23 11:12:33*
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## 中文翻译
# 消灭，而非自动化
**作者**: Michael Mignano
**日期**: 2026-07-22T14:25:27.000Z
**来源**: [https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326)
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2015 年，我的合伙人 Fred Wilson 发表了一篇简短的博客文章《不要自动化，要消灭》，阐述了 @USV（联合广场风投）如何看待初创企业的投资。这篇文章基于 Michael Hammer 于 1990 年发表在《哈佛商业评论》上的同名文章。具体来说，Fred 和 USV 的其他合伙人发现，最值得投资的公司不仅仅是开发软件来自动化现有市场……而是要彻底消灭它们。
从那时起，这已成为 USV 评估初创企业机会的一个决定性特征。在许多方面，USV 所阐述的每一个投资论点都是建立在这个理念之上的。你可以从直接面向学习者的教育、可编程货币以及去出版商化的出版中追溯这一脉络。我们要探索的核心一直是如何彻底重塑市场结构，而不仅仅是在现有结构内提高效率。但直到最近，我们才清楚地意识到，人工智能让真正消灭现有商业模式和市场的潜力变得空前强大。换句话说：现在是消灭旧事物的最佳时机。
## 那么，什么改变了？
互联网降低了分发成本，并削弱了控制分发的媒体公司的市场权力。人工智能对专业能力也起到了同样的作用。随着任何拥有智能体的人都能获得专家级的智能，那些通过把守专业能力而获得权力的人、公司和机构开始失去这种权力。你不再需要从守门人那里租用专业知识，而是可以直接获取和部署它。无需守门人。这种从供应侧向需求侧的转移，才是真正重构市场的力量。得益于人工智能，我们已经进行了一些投资，我们认为这些投资有潜力消灭它们所在的市场。
例如，Doctronic 不仅仅是帮助简化医患体验。它通过将一位 AI 医生（甚至可以合法开处方，首先从犹他州开始）放入任何拥有智能手机的人的口袋中，实现了医疗的民主化。
Isembard 不仅仅是向现有工厂销售软件。它通过运营高精度生产线的专业知识打包成软件，从而重建工厂本身。原本只存在于少数陈旧车间的工业能力，变成了可以通过 AI 部署的能力。
还有 Cofounder，这家公司不只是让产品开发、销售、营销和分发变得更容易，而是代表客户启动和管理完整的业务。
在这些例子中，如果它们成功了，它们所在的市场将很快变得面目全非。几乎在所有的商业类别中，无论是面向消费者还是面向企业，都前所未有的清楚，人工智能有潜力彻底重新洗牌。无论你看向哪里，都有机会将权力平衡从现有的守门人转移到客户手中。这个机会窗口就是如此巨大。
这就是我们所说的“消灭”。
## 相关链接
- [Michael Mignano](https://x.com/mignano)
- [@mignano](https://x.com/mignano)
- [31K](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326/analytics)
- [Don't Automate, Obliterate](https://avc.com/2015/04/dont-automate-obliterate/)
- [@USV](https://x.com/@USV)
- [business models](https://blog.usv.com/after-hours)
- [Doctronic](https://www.doctronic.ai/)
- [Isembard](https://www.isembard.com/)
- [Cofounder](https://cofounder.co/)
- [Upgrade to Premium](https://x.com/i/premium_sign_up)
- [10:25 PM · Jul 22, 2026](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326)
- [31.1K Views](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326/analytics)
- [View quotes](https://x.com/mignano/status/2079935862372958326/quotes)
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*导出时间: 2026/7/23 11:12:33*