Artificial Intelligence and machine learning are transforming the world of business intelligence and marketing. But before ‘AI’ became a buzzword, it was not easy to convince businesses that the technology could be a game changer for their enterprise. In 2012, Chih-Han Yu launched Appier with a vision to make AI accessible for all. That vision was tough to sell as it was a technology the world had yet to discover. In the years that followed, Appier pivoted many times on its mission to help companies adopt AI and big data to power business decision-making. On this episode of Moonshot, we speak to Appier co-founder and CEO Chih-Han Yu about what it takes to build a global AI-as-a-service company, and how he tapped on his team’s deep technical roots to build a product focused on customer-centricity.

• Introduction [00:31]
• Appier’s first-mover advantage [01:26]
• A race against time to find product-market fit [11:27]
• Developing software prowess in a hardware kingdom [13:55]
• Maintain a learning mindset and tap on the best [16:42]
• Going public: The transition from startup founder to public company CEO [27:00]