Monday.com’s rise from $10M to over $1B in ARR in just eight years wasn’t just about product-market fit—it was about embedding AI as a strategic growth lever.

Co-founder and Co-CEO Eran Zinman shares a perspective that every sales and product leader should note:

“AI is not just a feature; it's a core part of our product strategy.”

That mindset shaped how Monday.com approached everything—from customer workflows to product innovation. Instead of treating AI as a bolt-on or gimmick, they made it integral to the user experience. The result? More intuitive automation, smarter insights, and a platform that adapts to the way teams really work.

Here are three key lessons from their journey:

AI is Infrastructure, Not Add-on They invested in making AI foundational. This allowed their features to scale across multiple verticals and use cases without having to rebuild core logic for every department.
User Empowerment at Scale AI wasn’t used to replace human decisions—it was designed to amplify them. Features like AI-powered task suggestions and workflow automation helped users move faster with less friction.
Speed Fuels Product Velocity By deploying AI across teams internally (not just in the product), Monday.com improved their development cycles and operational efficiency. That internal AI adoption was just as critical as customer-facing innovation.

For sales professionals and startup founders, the takeaway is clear: the companies that win with AI aren’t just using it—they’re designing around it. That means aligning teams, building with scale in mind, and constantly asking: how can AI make this better for the user?

Reference: Lemkin, J. (2025, February 28). AI at Scale: 8 Learnings from Monday.com Co-Founder and Co-CEO Eran Zinman. SaaStr.