These days, startups founded by people who have worked in big tech companies and have witnessed the power of ML/AI will definitely apply it from day-1.
You don't have to invent or implement the algorithm yourself. You can use AI/ML intelligent/cognitive services provided by the big-3 cloud companies to reduce your starting cost significantly.
To have positive ROI, your problem complexity should have crossed the threshold where common-sense traditional solutions don't work any more.
If you do embark on ML research yourself, then be sure to walk the path from simpler models to complex ones while carefully establishing performance metrics.
You don't have to invent or implement the algorithm yourself. You can use AI/ML intelligent/cognitive services provided by the big-3 cloud companies to reduce your starting cost significantly.
To have positive ROI, your problem complexity should have crossed the threshold where common-sense traditional solutions don't work any more.
If you do embark on ML research yourself, then be sure to walk the path from simpler models to complex ones while carefully establishing performance metrics.