The success of the co-founding team was attributed to the strong relationship built on trust and respect, despite differing perspectives. The culture of open debate and disagreement in front of the team was emphasized to build trust and reduce politics in the company. The co-founders actively prioritize the customer's voice in decision-making, ensuring that feedback and insights are central to every conversation. This commitment to listening to the customer helps guide their debates and discussions, leading to a complementary and effective partnership. By fostering a culture of openness, trust, and comfort with discomfort, the company maintains a low meeting culture and asynchronous work environment, allowing for fast-paced growth and success.
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”