This chapter traces Mae's journey from founding Cordoba, a machine translation startup, to developing Writer, an AI writing assistant. It highlights the company's transition from focusing on target language to source language and the integration of advanced technologies like GPT-3 and Transformers to create a comprehensive generative AI platform for various industries. The chapter also explores the challenges Writer faced in adapting to market demands and evolving technologies, emphasizing the importance of translating conversations into actionable insights for the product team.
May Habib is the co-founder and CEO of Writer, a full-stack generative AI platform built for enterprises. The model is trained on a customer’s own data to create content that is consistent with their brand style and voice. Writer recently raised $100M at a valuation of around $500M. Prior to Writer, May co-founded Qordoba, an AI writing assistant.
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In today’s episode, we discuss:
- Advice for AI founders in 2024
- Why it’s difficult to scale AI products for enterprise
- The secret to finding champions
- Signs of a healthy co-founder relationship
- The future of agentic AI
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Referenced:
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Where to find May Habib:
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Where to find Todd Jackson:
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Where to find First Round Capital:
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Introduction
(02:34) Writer’s origin story
(06:30) Building a full-stack generative AI platform for enterprise
(11:56) The #1 challenge building Writer
(15:41) Writer’s approach to finding champion customers
(20:29) How Writer is winning the enterprise space
(27:11) Signs Writer found product-market-fit
(29:26) Scaling LLMs for specific use cases
(31:53) Writer’s goals for 2024
(33:57) Advice for 0 to 1 founders
(35:53) Creating a culture of “connect, challenge, and own”