AI Retail Startup
Helping a founder take an AI retail startup from idea to sellable product in 8 weeks.
Took an AI retail startup from idea to a live, sellable product in 8 weeks, competing head to head with YC, a16z and Sequoia-backed rivals.
Where they started.
A founder set out to build a high-growth AI startup in retail, entering a market crowded with well-funded competition.
Before the build, we did the Focus work: direct conversations with CPG brands and users to map what they want, what they would pay and what the experience should be.
We then engaged as part-equity owners, skin in the game alongside the founder, to shape, build and scale the product.
The work.
- 01
Plan. We designed a scalable product architecture: which AI agents and services do what, and how the platform would hold up as it grew.
- 02
Design. We shaped the user experience directly with the buyers and users who would pay for it, and designed the product around them.
- 03
Build. We built a production AI platform that delivers that experience reliably at low LLM cost, and shipped the first sellable version in 8 weeks. Then we pushed processing latency to sub-second while holding costs to low cents.
- 04
Launch. We took it to market: acquired the first clients onto the platform and built the initial team around the product, ready to sell and deliver.
What it produced.
- 01
A live, state-of-the-art AI startup competing head to head with startups backed by Y Combinator, a16z and Sequoia.
- 02
A unique, reliable product enabling fast growth of the customer base: sub-second, accurate processing of complex documents at negligible LLM cost.
- 03
The product has been featured at key industry events.