--- title: "This Founder Raised $26M by Moving Before He Was Sure | Koah Labs, Nic Baird" url: https://daily.dev/posts/this-founder-raised-26m-by-moving-before-he-was-sure-koah-labs-nic-baird-rjpj9whep source_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC4hr_U8298 type: video:youtube source: "EO" published: 2026-06-03T13:18:32.686Z updated: 2026-06-03T13:23:55.909Z tags: ["startup", "ai-agents"] reading_time: 15 upvotes: 2 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # This Founder Raised $26M by Moving Before He Was Sure | Koah Labs, Nic Baird **[EO](https://daily.dev/sources/entreprenueropp)** · 15 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Nic Baird, CEO of Koah Labs, shares the founding story behind his $26M-backed ad monetization platform for AI tools. He explains the contrarian bet that ads — not subscriptions — are the sustainable revenue model for AI app developers, drawing on sailing analogies to describe probabilistic decision-making under uncertainty. The post covers the company's pivot from an agentic professional social network, the challenge of user trust in AI agents, and why customer demand erased early doubts. Baird also reflects on the role of community, founder psychology, and expected-value thinking in career and business decisions. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Koah raises $5M to bring ads into AI apps](https://daily.dev/posts/koah-raises-5m-to-bring-ads-into-ai-apps-7f1caobah) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [ElevenLabs' CEO on $600m revenue and the AI labs](https://daily.dev/posts/elevenlabs-ceo-on-600m-revenue-and-the-ai-labs-qwqtpraoq) · The Next Web · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [The pitch trick that helped an eSports startup raise $20M when VCs only wanted AI](https://daily.dev/posts/the-pitch-trick-that-helped-an-esports-startup-raise-20m-when-vcs-only-wanted-ai-ccbszko7o) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#startup](https://daily.dev/tags/startup), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/this-founder-raised-26m-by-moving-before-he-was-sure-koah-labs-nic-baird-rjpj9whep)