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Dec 2, 2025 8:40 AM

Why Satya Nadella Spends Weekends Studying Startups— And What It Reveals About Microsoft's AI Fears

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella admitted that the company’s size is a significant obstacle in the race to develop AI at the speed of startups.

Nadella Hails Startups For Speed

Speaking with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, at the  “MD MEETS” podcast aired on Saturday, Nadella revealed that he spends his weekends studying how startups build products. He explained that Microsoft’s vast size has become “a massive disadvantage” in the AI race.

Nadella pointed out that startups move faster because everyone involved in building the product is "all sitting in one little table," enabling rapid decisions across product, science, and infrastructure. By comparison, Microsoft has "three divisional heads who manage those three things," which naturally ...