A few years ago, I shared the power of sending update emails with the founder of an AI start-up. Shortly after that, he began sending updates to investors and supporters. I was included on the list, and even though we haven’t chatted in over a year, I’ve been following his progress closely.

This week, he sent an update notifying everyone that he’s shutting down his start-up. His reason is that the market he’s in is too competitive and consolidation has begun. Everyone is building essentially the same AI product, so I’m assuming margins were either not great or nonexistent.

This founder raised seven figures of venture capital. Interestingly, he’s shutting the company down with tons of cash in the bank. He has $1.1 million in cash, but instead of burning through it in a hyper-competitive market, he’s returning it to investors. He plans to work on something more promising.

I’m sure there’s more to this story, and I’ll reach out to the founder. My gut tells me that he’s optimizing for the best and highest use of his time in his prime years and concluded that his start-up isn’t the best use of his time anymore.