Consumer spending represents a colossal share of the global economy, accounting for around 60% of GDP across OECD countries – that’s around $12 trillion in Europe alone. This doesn’t include value created by companies serving consumers indirectly, such as ad-funded platforms like Meta and TikTok.

Historically, consumer startups have been a tougher bet for venture capital compared to enterprise-focused companies. According to research carried out by Forerunner, they’re less likely to reach later funding stages, but when they do, their outcomes are often outsized: consumer startups that reach Series B are more likely to IPO and are twice as likely to achieve $10bn+ outcomes compared to their enterprise peers. Our analysis indicates about 40% of European unicorns are consumer-focused, with household names like Spotify, Vinted, Revolut and Deliveroo leading the way.

While the sector has faced headwinds in recent years – driven in part by unpredictable demand post-COVID, skyrocketing customer acquisition costs, and macroeconomic uncertainty – it’s heating up again. The emergence of AI stands out as a key catalyst for renewed interest from generalist investors.

AI is not just a feature or a tool; it’s becoming the core value proposition for a new generation of consumer companies. The rise of large language models and AI-native products has fundamentally changed how consumers interact with technology. ChatGPT, for example, brought AI into the mainstream, making it clear that consumers are ready for smarter, more intuitive digital experiences.

Several factors make this moment particularly compelling for consumer investors and founders alike:

Where AI Is Transforming Consumer Experiences

AI’s impact on the consumer sector can be seen in two broad areas:

There’s also a wave of companies addressing the second-order effects of AI, from tools that help personalise digital experiences based on user data (like Fabric), to platforms promoting online authenticity (e.g. Ghosted) and human-led content creation (e.g. Ellipsus and Unvale).

AI is creating a lot of noise in the market, driving excitement, but several questions remain:

It’s not just the ‘What’ that’s changing in the AI era but the ‘How’, too. AI is fundamentally altering how companies are built across the board, and consumer is no different. A few things we’re already seeing include:

These changes mean more ideas, higher velocity, and ultimately, more innovation in the consumer sector. For us at True and for the world at large, that can only be a good thing.

For investors, the consumer sector – supercharged by AI – offers both scale and the potential for transformative outcomes. The next wave of consumer winners will be those who harness AI not just as a tool, but as the foundation of their value proposition, brand, and user experience. As the landscape evolves, the biggest opportunities will go to those who understand both the enduring fundamentals of consumer behaviour and the disruptive potential of AI. 

If you’re a founder building the next generation of consumer, we’d love to talk to you – please get in touch at 

Consumer sector is experiencing a resurgence, and at the heart of the revival is AI. For investors, the convergence of profound consumer trends and the inflection point of AI-led innovation presents a unique opportunity to build massive value pools, reshape industries, and back the next generation of category-defining companies. 

Here’s why we at True are excited about the next few years.

Consumer is back — here's why and how

Located in the heart of Knutsford, in the beautifully restored Grade II-listed Union Bank building, 

 (TCC) has opened its thirteenth and newest showroom. A blend of historic charm with TCC's signature handcrafted furniture, the Knutsford store showcases the leading homeware brand's thoughtfully curated collections and the debut of their brand-new Upholstery Hub to create an inspiring, immersive shopping experience. 

This follows the opening of TCC's most recent store in Harpenden, with a further three set to open this year.

Head to 127 King Street to see another stunning addition to The Cotswold Company.

The Cotswold Company has opened its very first showroom in the North West.

The Cotswold Company opens its 13th showroom in Knutsford 

In the last few years, artificial intelligence has moved from novelty to necessity in retail. We’ve seen AI brainstorm product ideas, write marketing copy and even chat with customers. But what happens when AI evolves from supporting roles to running the show? How would we design a retail organisation from a blank canvas if AI agents could autonomously make decisions and execute tasks across the business? 

This post explores that question through a timeline of AI agent evolution in retail from early experiments like the viral “HustleGPT” hustle, to today’s AI-generated brand studios, and towards a future where networks of autonomous agents could manage entire brands. Along the way, we consider how organisational structures might be radically reshaped, and why brands and retailers need to start thinking differently now.

2022: The HustleGPT Experiment – ChatGPT-Powered Business

At the end of 2022, as ChatGPT burst onto the scene, an experiment went viral that captured the imagination of entrepreneurs and retailers alike. An enterprising designer gave an AI a simple directive: “You have $100, and your only goal is to turn that into as much money as possible in the shortest time possible.” 

Dubbed HustleGPT, this project essentially tried to get a probabilistic language model to act like a scrappy startup founder. The AI (OpenAI’s GPT-4, operating through ChatGPT) proposed a plan launching an affiliate marketing website for eco-friendly gadgets—and the human partner dutifully executed its instructions: buying a domain and generating content. 

For a moment, the internet was entranced. Could an AI really hustle its way to business success? It certainly felt like a glimpse of science fiction, an AI agent concocting and guiding a real-world venture. 

Yet, despite the hype, HustleGPT ultimately underscored the limitations of the era. GPT-4 could generate a business plan and marketing copy, but it had no true agency or adaptability beyond its prompt. The AI relied on its human partner for every real-world action and lacked the long-term strategic judgement needed to navigate changing market conditions. In practice, the affiliate site itself made only modest revenue, and the experiment plateaued once the novelty faded.

2023: Rise of the AI Brand Studios – AI-Generated Brands

Fast-forward to today, and the landscape is evolving. Rather than one-off experiments, we now see serious ventures exploring AI-generated brands. A new breed of startup studios and e-commerce companies are using AI to design products, build supply chains, develop branding, and orchestrate marketing—essentially incubating brands digitally before launching them into the real world. 

 an AI-powered e-commerce brand studio. Their ambition is bold: to invent an AI that creates essential products for humanity and generates returns for investors. In practice, they act as a technology-driven brand factory, using AI to identify product opportunities and handle many operational tasks. The company has reportedly achieved over $13 million in GMV within 18 months, with 88% month-over-month growth, all without traditional marketing efforts. Their moonshot goal? To launch 10,000 products by 2030. 

Wonder Family is not alone. Across the sector, AI-powered brand builders are emerging. Some use generative AI to craft brand concepts and visuals in days. Others deploy AI in operations: forecasting demand, optimising online ads, or managing inventory with minimal human input. 

Despite these advances, however, true end-to-end autonomy remains elusive. Today’s AI brand studios remain piecemeal. They often focus on specific functions: automating the creative process or streamlining logistics without a unified "brain" tying it all together. AI may generate product ideas and marketing copy, but humans still handle key strategic decisions. 

The fundamental point: the tools lack contextual judgement, cross-functional coordination and memory. The orchestra has many talented AI musicians—but so far, no conductor.

The Next Frontier: Fully-Autonomous Retail

Our view is that the real opportunity goes beyond existing applications. Excitingly, we are seeing some, like 

, thinking about the bigger picture opportunity as we see it too. That is, creating a network of agents, able to make strategic decisions, not just functional, and to action these decisions fully autonomously. 

Honu is building what they describe as a “cognitive layer” for businesses—a unified brain that understands a company’s goals, context, and operations, orchestrating a fleet of AI agents accordingly. 

Rather than having isolated AI systems for marketing, finance and supply chain, Honu’s platform enables all agents to collaborate and share a common understanding. Instead of following narrow instructions, the agents act with strategic judgement, continuously optimising towards broader business objectives. 

Crucially, these systems aim to be proactive. They don’t just execute tasks; they suggest strategic pivots, identify risks and adapt autonomously. They retain context and build organisational memory over time. Imagine an AI that not only buys your ads day-to-day but spots a new market trend emerging and proactively recommends a product pivot—without waiting for human input. 

If we were designing a retail brand from scratch with this capability, the organisational chart might not look like a chart at all. Instead of departments, we would have fluid networks of AI services, connected by a shared understanding of the brand’s purpose and goals. 

A central AI "CEO" might set high-level objectives. Specialist AI agents would act as Heads of Marketing, Product Development, Customer Service and more – coordinating seamlessly across what are today considered separate siloes. In truth, these agents needn’t have formal job titles like “Head of X”, this is just a means of understanding their orchestration in more human terms. Real humans would still play vital roles in governance, creativity and oversight but the day-to-day operations could largely be executed by AI agents.  

Whilst all of this is not to negate the potential value in trying to automate each of the individual workflows that make up brand operations, ultimately the size of prize relative to the input costs are much less attractive.

The evolution from HustleGPT experiments to AI networks capable of autonomously managing brands signals a profound shift. It challenges leaders to rethink not just how AI is used, but how organisations themselves are designed. 

The question is no longer if AI will transform your business structure—but how you will respond. Will you layer AI on top of legacy structures, or seize the opportunity to reimagine your organisation from first principles? 

At True, we believe those who engage with this shift early will have a defining advantage. If you are a brand interested in testing autonomous agentic business models—or even just exploring where to start—we would love to hear from you. 

Get in touch with us to explore how AI agents could help future-proof and propel your brand into the next era of retail.

AI agents, inspired by the viral HustleGPT movement back in 2022, are opening up bold new possibilities for retail. This piece explores how autonomous brands—powered by AI—could reimagine how retail businesses operate, scale and grow. It's a glimpse into the future where innovation isn't just about what companies offer, but how they're built from the ground up to work smarter, faster and better.

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Consumer is back — here's why and how

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The Cotswold Company opens its 13th showroom in Knutsford

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From HustleGPT to Autonomous Brands: How AI Agents Could Redesign Retail Organisations