Midjourney

In twenty twenty-two, AI startups raised hundreds of millions in venture capital. Investors backed teams of hundreds chasing artificial intelligence. David Holz launched Midjourney with fewer than a dozen people and zero outside funding. The product generated images from text prompts. He built the business inside Discord and charged from day one. Discord served as storefront, community, and support channel. Users typed prompts in public channels. Every image was visible to thousands browsing the same server. Each creation became an advertisement. New users watched others generate and immediately wanted to try. Acquisition cost was zero because the product marketed itself with every single use. Midjourney charged ten dollars monthly for basic and thirty for professional.