Making Your AI Startup Stand Out

Fortunately, there are many ways to stand out from the competition.

Solve a Real-World Problem

Get customers' attention by tackling a pain point or making their lives better.

Lacey Kaelani, CEO at Metaintro, founded her job search platform three years ago when AI was still a nascent technology. She had a background in recruitment and had previously founded a labor marketplace startup, and she wanted to use AI to make job searching more efficient.

Although her company uses AI under the hood, she says that users aren't especially interested in how the product works. What matters to them is that their job search improves.

"Consumers at the end of the day do not care if you are using AI, blockchain technology, whatever buzzy buzzword that you're throwing into your marketing splash page, they don't care. They just care that your product allows them to do X faster and better," Kaelani says.

Focusing on one very specific problem can also help you get noticed. Erin Vandermore, a licensed therapist and CEO at Mind Circuit, says that occupying a well-defined niche has helped her app grow. Her app concentrates on a phase of EMDR therapy and uses AI to generate personalized affirmations for users to incorporate into their sessions. There are plenty of AI wellness apps out there but not many competitors in this particular area.

"The more that you can pick one thing and do it really, really well, the easier the path's going to be because that's your thing," Vandermore says.

Have a Purpose

Committing to a mission can help your startup stand out. Vandermore was inspired to create her app after clients commented that they wished they could carry her around in their pocket. Several people asked her for therapy app recommendations, too, and she realized there wasn't much on the market that she could recommend.

She says that sharing her passion for mental health builds emotional resonance with users and makes her product more memorable.

"Helping an individual understand the why behind a product like an app helps the individual to feel that they belong, that they're connected, that they're not alone, which is fundamental human psychology," Vandermore says.

Choose a Distinctive Name

Iconic brands like Apple and Amazon have easily recognizable, appealing names. Give your startup a strong name, too.

When Mitchell Jones, founder and CEO of Lava, was choosing a name for his usage and payments platform for AI companies, he considered that his product made it easier for companies to charge based on metered usage. The flow of metered services brought to mind the smooth flow of lava. Plus, he liked that the name was short and easy to say.

It's often best to avoid names that are tied to individual features or that call out a particular use case. Your name should continue to make sense as your company evolves.

"Sometimes if you make a name too on-the-nose, it can box you in to having to be a very specific thing," Jones says.

Market With Authenticity

People have divided opinions about AI; the Pew Research Center found that half of U.S. adults are more concerned than excited about AI's role in daily life. So in the short term, AI startups might get some attention by rage-baiting the public. But stirring up negative emotions isn't likely to win customer loyalty over time.

Kaelani used A/B testing to see how users responded to emotionally charged AI references in ads.

"We've run massive, massive campaigns in the past, from fear-based, like, 'AI is going to take your job if you don't hop on Metaintro.com and find a job with a robot,' all the way to just, 'Jobs are here and you'll discover X amount more jobs on Metaintro.com.' And while fear-based is effective, what we measure are return users," Kaelani says. Campaigns that didn't stress AI usage brought more people back to the platform.

Even if you're mentioning AI in a positive or neutral way, make sure it doesn't distract from your main message. Vandermore conducted some A/B tests and found that explaining the neuroscience behind her product was more effective than highlighting the AI component. She wasn't planning to rely on AI buzzwords anyway, but the testing confirmed that she had made the right choice.

Emphasize User Autonomy

The Pew Research Center also found that most Americans want more control over AI. Consider how your product can empower people, and put that capability front and center.

Vandermore says one of her app's strengths is that it allows users to take charge of their own mental health.

"My app allows a person anytime that they're feeling overwhelmed or they can't shut their brain down to sleep, whatever the circumstances are, they have something they can use to take some control over the situation to help themselves. And that's always a wonderful thing to be able to give a person," Vandermore says.

Pitch Intentionally

When pitching investors, keep in mind that they have probably heard hundreds of AI pitches recently. Steer clear of jargon.

"The more complex your pitch, the easier it is to lose someone," Jones says. "Simple actually stands out a lot more than complex."

Craft a compelling pitch by demonstrating that you've given serious thought to structure and scalability. Your startup should be designed to grow.

"When you're going out and raising capital, I think the things that make you stand out are your cost controls and your internal infrastructure to be able to scale at some point. Because if an investor's going to be looking at you and saying, 'I am giving you $20 million and two thirds of that cost is going to AWS bills,' or whatever cloud provider you're using, it doesn't really make sense. You weren't built from the beginning to scale," Kaelani says.

Show investors that you to have the flexibility to take advantage of new models when they're released. Consider going through an AI gateway to keep your options open.

"Try to make sure you're model-agnostic as quickly as you can. Don't be built just for one model," Jones says.

You should be able to clearly articulate your pricing strategy, too.

"Try to make sure you're aligning your pricing with value you're delivering to customers. So if you want to do it on outcomes or things like that, like work that was done on behalf of customers, it very much helps them understand why they're paying X, why they're paying Y, why they're paying Z," Jones says.

Lean in to Your Expertise

Successful AI founders leverage their prior experience in their fields to spot opportunities and avoid missteps. They're also able to speak more confidently about their value proposition because they know their customers' struggles from before AI was introduced.

"If you're an expert, it'll allow you to kind of navigate the hype because you've seen that industry pre-AI hype, and it'll allow you to think a little bit more intentionally about what you're building and why," Kaelani says.

Be Clear on Your Product's Boundaries

Your startup can't be everything to everybody. Communicating what your product does not do builds trust with users. Vandermore, for example, states upfront that her app isn't a replacement for therapy.

When other startups are racing to be the first to announce new features, you can differentiate your company by resisting the pressure to overpromise.

"Don't worry too much about having to do something the way someone else is doing it just because they're doing it that way," Jones says.

Get to Know Your Customers

Make a name for your startup by cultivating a deep understanding of your customers' needs. You can use AI tools to support customer engagement, but don't try to automate away this crucial step. Talk to your customers to find out what they love about your product, what isn't working for them and what they'd like to see in your next iteration.

"Never stop talking to customers. There's always more you can do and always more you can learn. The minute you think there's no more you can learn from your customers, you probably should be in a different business," Jones says.

Reach out to your customers for one-on-one calls, attend events they frequent and host gatherings where you can get to know them better. "We've actually hosted a few of these things called AI demo nights where we allow founders to come and show us what they're building," Jones says.

The AI space is very competitive right now. But while the technology is new, time-tested principles of growing a startup still apply.

"AI is just a means to an end. How you build a good business and a good product has not changed," Jones says.