How to Pivot Big & Become the Next Big AI Start-Up🤖📈

Everyone dreams of backing a start-up tech company right before it becomes the next big thing. And entrepreneurs want to be perceived as that hungry start-up that’s just about to change the world.

If you’re reading this, chances are you have these dreams, too. Yet few people get to live it. But Hendrix Liu, a founding member of Keywords AI, might be living through those critical moments now.

Keywords AI is an all-in-one DevOps platform built specifically for AI software. That makes it extremely relevant for the current boom period in machine learning and AI. With Keywords AI, companies have a single place for building, testing, deploying, and monitoring their software.

It screams right place, right time. The rollout of their product illustrates this. They launched at the number two position on Product Hunt on April 2 and raised half a million dollars from Y Combinator.

I met with Liu to learn more about the company and the insights they’ve gained from their experience.

Want to learn how they managed a successful launch? You can check out their own LinkedIn write-up about it here.

Pivot Big, Pivot Early

Today, Keywords AI is a much different animal than it began. Believe it or not, Liu and the team started out trying to create a “one-stop job search copilot.”

Along the way, they continued to listen to the market and tracked where they were getting interested. Once they became part of Y Combinator, they saw a bigger need going unfulfilled, so they pivoted.

It was a major product change, but because they discovered this early on, they didn’t have to abandon much. Better to find your pivot as early in the process as you can, then you have more flexibility to leap into the more attractive niche.

If anything, Liu thinks the big pivot could have come sooner in the process. “We should talk to customers earlier so that we can understand their pain points better and build more features they want.”

Connect to Customers, No Really

Whether B2C or B2B, connecting directly with customers is the sure-and-slow method. Obviously with social media, it’s easier than ever before.

As Liu says, “To be honest, we are always investigating a better way to acquire more users/customers. The current way is to continuously post content on social media and reach out to target customers on LinkedIn.”

This mirrors what is becoming a best practice in the start-up world: try to make as many real connections as you can through tireless outreach. Those direct links to potential customers can end up paying dividends down the road, and it's the kind of relationship that larger, more established firms have difficulty competing with.

It’s easy to throw a little bit of time and attention into social media, but even in 2024, many start-ups don’t understand what a lifeline this can be. It also folds back into Liu’s emphasis on understanding your customers’ pain points as soon as possible. Making genuine connections means you’ll know your customer in-depth, able to serve their needs proactively.

Teams Get Through Hard Times

While we often romanticize the story of the visionary start-up founder and how they heroically steer their company through the early rough patches, the truth is that a resilient team is the most essential element.

Liu’s enthusiasm for his team is striking as soon as he starts talking about them. “Our team is perfect, all of our team members will encourage each other during tough times. We all believe we can build a great product and we’ll build a billion-dollar company together.”

Early on, every team member you bring on board plays a massive part in the culture and dynamic of your company. That’s an incredible opportunity. Take it seriously.

Continue to Iterate

Like any promising start-up, Keywords AI is still iterating and improving after the product launch. It’s one of the benefits of creating a digital tool, after all.

But Liu’s team isn’t just making tweaks, they are making big moves to improve their product. As Liu said, “We just pushed a new feature, Prompt management, on our platform, where you can easily collaborate and iterate on prompts. In the next few weeks, our users can fine-tune models, cache response, and have more evaluation metrics on our platform.”

Keywords AI can integrate the elements of their launch into iteration. Now that they have found their niche, have a deep understanding of and connection to their customers, and have a high-performing team — the sky’s the limit.

What’s Next?

The race to a big launch can absorb almost all of a start-up’s attention. But next thing they know, the party balloons have sunk down to the floor, and it’s on to the grind of building a sustainable company.

As Liu describes, “We’ll continuously build new features for our customers. We’re also trying to let people self-host their own models on our platform.”

Part of this phase is continuing to network and maybe even raising money. “We’re considering raising a small amount of money this round. Open to talk with investors.” Their CEO is currently taking calls.

Interested in seeing what Liu’s company is creating? Check out the Keywords AI website to learn more about their platform.

We’ll reach out soon with more stories and insights into entrepreneurship, as well as smart tax strategies that save you money.

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