AMA w/ Paul and Chris from CopyAI: How we grew from $0 to $1.2M ARR in 7 months and raised $2.9M, all while building in public

[tornagainchristian]

@cadams2 Choosing to raise capital vs bootstrapping is a very nuanced decision. Bootstrapping is great if the market size is smaller/you're able to build everything you need with the capital/money you're making.

Venture is designed for one thing and one thing only: high growth for massive visions

When we started Copy.ai, we saw it as a side project. But as we experienced the power of AI, we realized we need to not only democratize access, but we needed to help people capture the value to empower their own lives.

We believe humans are naturally creative. People want to create/start/own their own businesses but the work involved to get there is way too high. We believe CopyAI can help lower the barriers of entrepreneurship and create a whole new generation of entrepreneurs.

To tackle this larger vision, we need a team that is much better/smarter than us. To hire a team, we needed capital which led us to our decision to raise from VCs!

 

[seraphina45]

@tornagainchristian Hey guys,

I hope I’m not to late but I have really enjoyed reading this thread.

My question is around BIP. Im halfway into my first year of building a subscription based learning & development community platform for the recruitment industry.

My channel and where I get a lot of everything I need to grow my business like you guys comes through Linkedin.

My question is, if I’m halfway down the track of the first year have I missed the boat to start BIP?

Or do I start by saying hey everyone, this is where we are today, this where we are going and I’m going to bring you on the journey?

What are your thoughts? I feel like being real / honest / open on the BIP way is really in-line with who I am so I have really resonated with this approach.

Any thoughts, should I just start ?

 

[cheung]

@seraphina45 Hi Hishem! It's never too late to start - so yes! I'd recommend doing BIP on Twitter instead of LinkedIn. It's about finding the community of people who are doing BIP too and I haven't yet found that on LinkedIn. You can DM me (@paulyacoubian) your intro tweet post (consider making it a thread of everything you've done/learned/mistakes made/progress made over the first 6 months). I'll retweet it and we can see if we can help you find the community. Cheers! Paul

 

[seraphina45]

@cheung Hey Paul,

Thanks a lot for coming back to me.

Interesting point on doing in a place where other people are doing it.

Twitter was a channel for me that I leveraged a lot but I haven’t for the last 12 months as I have focused on my podcast, newsletter & LinkedIn.

Maybe I could encourage / start this on LinkedIn?

I appreciate that I will certainly tag you when I get my first tweet up and geat idea on the thread.

 

[thelordismighty]

@tornagainchristian When I tried your service, it mostly gave me copy lifted from my competitors websites. I really love the idea, but had a hard time with the copy it generated. If I didn't know my competitors copy as well as I did, I don't know if I would have noticed. Is this something you are aware of?

 

[tornagainchristian]

@thelordismighty Hey! Chris here!

The way the AI works is that it's constantly trying to predict the words that are in a given context. These models are so massive it is highly unlikely that the copy will be copies word for word! However, for the shorter content (headlines, mottos, etc) there is a higher chance of generating something that already existed!

Do you mind sharing which tool you were using?

 

[thelordismighty]

@tornagainchristian Mostly just running tests. I just tried to replicate my previous attempts but my trial is over so I can't. From what I remember it was nearly word for word headlines from specific sites. It was un-useable to the point where I didn't want to try the other tools.

 

[tornagainchristian]

@thelordismighty Got it! If you PM me your email, I'd be happy to restart your free trial!

If you used it very early on, that could have been an issue that we fixed over the last few months!

Appreciate your feedback!

 

[poppy14]

@tornagainchristian Lets do a creativity exercise.
You are back in Nov 2020 and GPT-3 wouldnt exist. What other opportunity/(ie) would you pursue?

Thaaanks!

 

[cheung]

@poppy14 Urban transportation via zipline networks. Put together some mockups of what that might look like.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1221246315314720769

I think the physical world will be radically different in a few years and I feel like there is a ton of innovation that needs to happen there.

 

[candidly]

@tornagainchristian Hello Paul & Chris

I know you've heard this already but Copy.ai is a game-changer. and I am blown away by all that you have achieved in 7 months

Quick question:

I'm curious to know, what plans do you have in place to meet your users' evolving needs?

 

[tornagainchristian]

@candidly Thanks Amam!

We have a few ideas in mind that we need to test! It comes down to making the results better and more useful for the end user! Right now, we can create a lot, but we don't make it super clear how it is useful for them!

 

[sspx_teen]

@tornagainchristian I used Copy.ai for the first time today after seeing this AMA. It is indeed a game-changer though generating copy for marketing is secondary compared to its ability to generate ideas for new markets. I used the product description tool (just happened to be the first thing I saw) and I’m blown away by all the ways this ai is interpreting my product. Are you marketing Copy.ai this way? If not, you definitely should be.

 

[tornagainchristian]

@sspx_teen That's a great idea! We are trying to figure out how to really make the messaging work. Iterating and ideating with an AI is a very new concept which people just aren't use to! We're really excited to see the long term effects of interacting with AI on human creativity (we think it can make people more creative long term)!

 

[jenlm]

@tornagainchristian How did you integrate Webflow with the GPT3 backend ? Do you make direct HTTP calls from webflow form submissions or is there a server side app that talks to GPT3 ?

Also, what database are you using currently?

 

[tornagainchristian]

@jenlm We are currently using Firebase! For GPT-3, you need a server side app that sends the request!

For Webflow, we're using Firebase's Cloud Function calls which helps wrap the entire request!

 

[raymondpembrose]

@tornagainchristian How can I get access to gpt3?

 

[tourist49]

@tornagainchristian

1. What are your top 3 distribution channels that are currently working?
2. I see you tried TikTok ads. Would you say it made a significant difference in bringing customers?
3. If you've not made Copy AI with GPT-3, what other ideas would you have pursued with GPT-3? I'd love to hear your top 3 ideas?