5 Key Advice on Starting an AI Business | Syncly Joseph Lee
TLDRJoseph Lee, co-founder and CEO of Syncly, an AI platform for understanding customer feedback, shares insights on starting an AI business. He emphasizes that customers are more interested in the value provided by a solution rather than the technology itself. Syncly was sold for $200 million after three years of revenue generation. Lee's previous company, SUALab, also sold for the same amount. He discusses the importance of understanding customer needs deeply, starting with a focus on the fashion industry and evolving to a global market. Lee highlights the challenges of finding the first ten customers and the growth strategy of proving value before asking for payment. He also stresses the significance of building social proof and leveraging personal networks. Lee believes that focusing on delivering value through technology is crucial for the longevity of a business and shares his excitement about the potential of AI to create new value in various domains.
Takeaways
- 💡 Customers prioritize the value provided by a solution over the technology used, such as AI.
- 📈 Joseph Lee's company, Syncly, was sold for $200 million after nearly three years of revenue generation.
- 🌟 Starting with SUALab in 2015 and selling it for $200 million in 2019, Joseph then founded Syncly, focusing on global expansion.
- ⚙️ AI's strength lies in pattern recognition, which can revolutionize industries like manufacturing that have remained unchanged for decades.
- 📊 Finding the first ten customers and generating revenue took time, involving testing various industries to determine the most significant impact.
- 🎯 Initially targeting the fashion industry without prior connections, the approach involved direct outreach and in-person demonstrations.
- 🤝 Offering a three-month value proof with no upfront payment led to payment from 75% of the prospects, highlighting the importance of trust and demonstrated value.
- 🚀 Focusing on delivering value through technology is crucial; merely leveraging AI without providing customer value is not sustainable.
- 🌐 The new company aims for a global market, emphasizing the need to deeply understand customer problems and workflows.
- 🔍 Engaging with customers through meetups and training sessions helps build trust and social proof, which is vital for customer engagement.
- 📝 Identifying the 'hair on fire' problem for customers involves narrowing down from multiple potential issues to the most pressing through extensive customer interaction.
Q & A
What is the main focus of Joseph Lee's company, Syncly?
-Syncly is an AI platform designed to understand customer feedback at scale, enabling everyone in a company to benefit from that feedback to build better products or conduct more effective marketing campaigns.
What was the significant milestone for Joseph Lee's previous company, SUALab?
-The significant milestone for SUALab was selling the company for $200 million in 2019 after operating for four years.
How did Joseph Lee perceive the role of AI in his business?
-Joseph Lee viewed AI as a medium to provide value to customers rather than an end in itself. He emphasized that the technology should serve the customers' needs and enable them to accomplish their tasks effectively.
What was the strategy Joseph Lee used to find the first ten customers for his AI business?
-Joseph Lee and his team cold-called around 500 prospects in the fashion industry, even without any prior connections. They offered a three-month trial period to prove the value of their technology, asking for payment only if the customers found it valuable.
How did Joseph Lee approach the challenge of understanding customer needs?
-Lee emphasized the importance of building trust with customers to understand their real problems. He suggested engaging with customers deeply, understanding their workflows, and starting by offering value through meetups or training sessions before introducing the product.
What is the key takeaway from the customer who told Joseph Lee that they didn't care about the technology used?
-The key takeaway was that customers are more interested in the solution and the job getting done rather than the technology behind it. This insight was a turning point for Lee in understanding how to approach AI and emerging technologies in his business.
How did Joseph Lee's experience with AI evolve over the past decade?
-Over the past decade, Lee has observed and participated in the evolution of AI, noting its growing capability to understand patterns and its potential to make a significant impact in various industries, including manufacturing.
What was the approach taken by Syncly to start providing value to customers without an immediate product?
-Syncly started by showing customers the end goal and the potential business impact of their technology. They offered a three-month period to prove the value from scratch, using existing tools and platforms that the customers were already familiar with.
Why did Joseph Lee decide to start a new company after selling SUALab?
-Lee decided to start a new company to explore a new market and customer base on a global scale, different from the primarily Asian focus of SUALab. He aimed to create a more global product and leverage his experience in AI.
What is the importance of social proof in building a customer base for a startup?
-Social proof is crucial as it helps establish trust and credibility. Lee suggests leveraging services, schools, or personal networks to get to the point where people have heard of the company, which aids in attracting customers.
How did Joseph Lee and his CTO approach the process of identifying customer pain points?
-They started by understanding the customers' goals and what success looked like for them. Through discussions, they narrowed down potential pain points and focused on the most resonant issues, which they identified as 'hair on fire' problems.
What advice does Joseph Lee give for co-founder relationships in a startup?
-Lee suggests that finding co-founders is like a marriage, requiring a great fit in terms of values and priorities. It's also beneficial if co-founders have complementary skill sets, as this can lead to more effective collaboration and company building.
Outlines
🤖 AI as a Medium for Customer Value
Joseph, the co-founder and CEO of Syncly, emphasizes that customers are primarily interested in the value delivered by a product rather than the technology used, such as AI. He recounts the story of selling his previous company for $200 million after three years of revenue generation, highlighting the importance of understanding customer needs and providing solutions that help them accomplish their goals. Syncly, a recent YC company, is an AI platform designed to analyze customer feedback at scale, benefiting everyone in the company to improve products and marketing strategies. Joseph shares his experience in the AI field over the past decade and how AI's ability to recognize patterns can revolutionize industries like manufacturing that have seen little operational change in the past 50 years. The narrative underscores the significance of focusing on the value proposition when leveraging technology to ensure long-term success and sustainability.
🔍 Identifying and Solving the 'Hair on Fire' Problem
The second paragraph details the process of identifying and addressing the most pressing problems, referred to as 'hair on fire' issues. Joseph explains how they start by understanding the customer's goals and what success looks like for them. By discussing and narrowing down bullet points through conversations, they can identify the most critical issues that resonate with customers. This approach helps in focusing on a smaller set of problems that can be addressed more effectively. Joseph also talks about the challenges of starting a company and the importance of selling the founder's vision rather than an incomplete product. He advocates for using existing tools that customers are already comfortable with to deliver value before building a new product. The paragraph also touches on the importance of finding co-founders with complementary skills and shared values, drawing from Joseph's experience of working with his previous CTO for a decade. The decision to start a new company was driven by the desire to create something new and the belief that AI can now provide solutions to long-standing problems in understanding customer needs for consumer apps and e-commerce.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡AI
💡Customer Feedback
💡Syncly
💡YC Company
💡AI Evolution
💡Manufacturing and AI
💡Revenue Generation
💡Fashion Industry
💡Technology as a Medium
💡Generative AI
💡Co-founders
Highlights
Customers care more about the value provided than the technology used, whether it's AI or another technology.
Syncly, an AI platform, helps companies understand customer feedback at scale to improve products and marketing campaigns.
The company was sold for $200 million after three years of generating revenue.
AI's ability to understand patterns can significantly impact manufacturing by automating the analysis of defective products.
The growth of the company was rapid, expanding five times each year.
The initial customer base was primarily in the fashion industry, despite no prior connections.
The founders personally contacted around 500 prospects in the fashion industry to establish a foothold.
Initially, the company offered a three-month proof of value with no upfront payment required.
Generative AI is gaining prominence, but the focus should be on the value delivered to customers, not just the technology used.
Building a global product is a strategic shift from the previous company's focus on the Asian market.
To truly understand customer problems, deep engagement and trust-building are necessary.
Social proof and community engagement are crucial for establishing a new company's reputation.
Identifying the most pressing customer pain points involves narrowing down from broad goals to specific issues.
Startups should focus on solving customer issues with their current capabilities, even if they don't have a product yet.
Integrating with existing tools and platforms can be a more effective way to deliver value than introducing a new tech stack.
Finding the right co-founder is akin to a marriage, requiring a great fit and complementary skills.
The maturity of large language models has opened up new opportunities for AI to provide value in understanding customer needs.
The journey of creating and running a company in the AI space is exciting and offers the potential to make a significant impact.