The Startup Who Tested Reality Before Launch

What if you could simulate human reactions — and know exactly how your customers, investors, or audience will respond before you act? James He is building precisely that with Artificial Societies.

In this episode, we dive deep with James, YC W25 founder of Artificial Societies — a wildly ambitious startup that simulates entire groups of humans using AI personas to predict how messages spread, markets react, and products succeed (or fail). From simulating 1,000 VCs to get into YC… to replacing $20,000 market research surveys, this conversation is a masterclass in founder execution, behavioral science, and AI-first GTM strategy.

What you’ll learn:

• How Artificial Societies works (and how founders are really using it today)

• Why traditional A/B testing and market research are broken

• Product-led growth lessons from 15,000+ activated users

• The surprising YC tricks James used to get into the batch

• Practical ways AI can upgrade your messaging, GTM, and PMF search

• The future of simulating entire economies (and why we’re not there yet)

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Chapters:

00:00 Simulating Investors: The Early Days

00:27 Introducing Artificial Societies

00:48 Journey to YC and Beyond

01:06 How Artificial Societies Works

03:02 The Science Behind Social Influence

05:27 Technical Insights and Applications

17:28 James' Personal Journey

22:29 Building and Growing the Startup

24:50 Using Internal Tools for Optimization

27:38 The Evolution of A/B Testing with AI

29:41 Challenges in Market Research

33:14 AI's Role in Market Research

34:40 Balancing Customer Feedback and Product Vision

42:55 Future Predictions and AI Capabilities

47:48 Closing Remarks and Final Thoughts

🎧 Listen on the go:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1u1JyRKH8JYFjhBkvTUOAP

Apple: https://apple.co/4cZ8RMm

My other YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UCahCIZ9KfmeK4rLosGNYpdg

My other YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GJarrosson