Episode Transcript
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Brooke (00:02):
Welcome to How I AI the
podcast featuring real people,
real stories, and real AI inaction.
I'm Brooke Gramer your host andguide on this journey into the
real world impact of artificialintelligence.
For over 15 years, I've workedin creative marketing events and
business strategy wearing allthe hats.
(00:22):
I know the struggle of trying toscale and manage all things
without burning out, but here'sthe game changer, ai.
This isn't just a podcast, How IAI is a community.
A space where curious minds likeyou can come together, share
ideas, and I'll also be bringingyou exclusive discounts, free
trials and insider resources soyou can test drive the latest
(00:45):
tools and tech yourself.
Because AI isn't just a trend,it's a shift.
The sooner we embrace it, themore freedom, creativity, and
opportunities we'll unlock.
How I AI is brought to you inpartnership with the collective,
A space designed to accelerateyour learning and AI adoption.
(01:05):
I joined the Collective and it'scompletely catapulted my
learning, expanded my network,and show me what's possible with
ai.
Whether you're just starting outor looking to refine your AI
strategy, The Collective givesyou the resources to grow.
Stay tuned to learn more at theend of this episode, or check
the show notes for my exclusiveinvite link..
Hello everyone.
(01:25):
Welcome to another episode ofHow I AI Today I have a very
special guest.
Her name is Iman Oubou.
She is a scientist, turned MissNew York, turned entrepreneur,
and she's the co-founder ofVocable AI.
Iman, I'm so excited to have youhere.
Please take it away.
We'd love to hear all about whoyou are and what you're up to.
Iman (01:47):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited.
By the way, I love the name ofthe podcast.
Thank you.
"How I AI", I didn't think ofthat before, yeah, so I started
off my career as a scientistspecifically in cancer research.
And initially I went to schoolthinking I was gonna be a
doctor.
But eventually I would say,after trying it out, I've gone
on medical missions around theworld.
I really wanted to see thepractical side of it, which was
(02:09):
super fulfilling as far asphilanthropy work.
But I just knew immediately thatit was not a career that I was
gonna potentially thrive in justbecause it wasn't for my type of
personality.
And I'm.
I'm grateful that I was able toassess that early on.
I think generally speaking,sometimes people just get pushed
into careers that they know arenot for them, but then they
insist that they wanna continueworking in that space.
(02:31):
So I was able to really quicklyknow that's not for me.
I went to school after that, forcancer research then, so I went
from medical practice to biotechresearch and after that I moved
to New York and then pursuedmore of the communication
investor relations side ofbiotech, which kind of became
the starting point for me inmarketing and comms and public
(02:53):
relations and just reallyunderstanding the power of
storytelling and the power ofalso knowing how to resonate
with your target customer andtarget audience.
Because initially when I workedin that space, I worked for
biotech companies that werecreating really complex, tech
or, medicine or whatnot orscience that needed somewhat of
(03:14):
explaining to the public thatdoesn't have a science
background.
And I was the middle woman inthat space.
So taking kind of scientificexplanations and complex
concepts and then turning theminto stories that patients and
physicians and investors couldactually understand.
Yeah.
And so that's when I realizedthis is something I want to
pursue.
And I loved being in that space.
And so shortly after I launchedmy podcast, which was called
(03:38):
entrepreneurs in Vogue at thatpoint.
And it was mostly because I hadthat pageant experience.
I won miss New York, US in 2015.
And I thought, wow, this wasfirst of all, unpredictable.
I didn't think I would ever bein the pageant world.
And not only that, but I wouldnever.
Win one.
And so now that I have thisplatform, now that I have this
voice, how can I use it to trulybecome a community change agent?
(04:02):
And at that point I felt also alittle lost in my career.
So I loved what I did as far as,communication, marketing,
storytelling, but I didn't thinkthat I fit in the corporate
world.
I felt like I was too creativeand too just a little bit all
over the place.
At that point I was, I think 24or 25, and I felt a little
restricted in corporate world,especially in New York, even
(04:24):
though I had landed my dreamjob.
And so I decided now that I havea platform, I'm gonna launch a
podcast just so I can interviewother women that maybe took the
unconventional road to success.
And maybe that'll help me figureout.
My path as well.
So in a way, I launched thatpodcast selfishly because it
(04:44):
felt better than reaching out towomen I admired or looked up to
and asked them to pick theirbrain or take them out to coffee
and ask them questions.
So I thought I actually, havinga podcast and having the title
of Miss New York made it easierto kind of land guests that I
really wanted to talk to, butalso it was a great way to
provide value for them and sharetheir stories with other women
(05:06):
that might be facing the sameblock that I had right at the
time.
And surprisingly, the podcasttook off really quickly.
At the time, I think therewasn't a lot of female focused
podcasts.
Especially aroundentrepreneurship.
This was around 2015 and quicklyafter that, it turned into its
own media brand called Sway.
And I would say that's how Iaccidentally became an
(05:27):
entrepreneur.
So I never really set out to beone.
I felt again, blockedmisunderstood in the career that
I had.
And it felt really almost sadfor me because that was the
career I worked so hard for.
I went to school for that.
I moved to my dream city, Ilanded my dream job.
Everything was going great, butI was so miserable at work to
(05:47):
the point where I couldn't getup and go to work in the
morning.
I had to come up with excuses.
And so I felt like obviouslythat was a pivot that I didn't
know was gonna turn out to bethe rest of my life.
And I never thought of myself asan entrepreneur either.
Which was really interesting.
I've always been into scienceand I've always been into
research, so I thought I wouldeventually find myself again and
then go back to corporateAmerica, but maybe at a
(06:08):
different company or a differentjob.
But I ran with it.
I saw that I was able to providevalue, even though I didn't
really have a business plan, Ididn't know how to make money
from whatever I was doing at thetime.
And also being in a media, spacein New York at that age and not
having that experience was alittle bit difficult to raise
money for that, to just even tryto compete with all the other
(06:30):
media startups that werespringing out of New York.
So it was a tough journey, but Idefinitely one that led to
self-actualization and also, soto my experience running a media
company and being in the contentspace.
Then I moved on to obviouslylaunching vocable, which is now
an AI powered content marketingplatform.
Brooke (06:48):
Wow.
Thank you so much for thatbeautiful introduction and I
love when I get the opportunityto interview women in the AI
space.
So again, thank you for beinghere.
And I love that expansion ofyour intro.
I saw so much of myself and myarc of my career in that story
as well.
And it's very just expanding toshare just how the little pieces
(07:10):
of the puzzles of our life allfit together in the end.
I'd love to dive in for whereexactly and when did AI enter
the chat?
When did it start to
Iman (07:22):
come into your life?
Yes.
That's a good question.
I think back in 2019 when I wasin the midst of basically
scaling my media company.
We were bootstrapped at thatpoint, we had raised a little
bit of angel money and then werealized, okay, we need to
create a sustainable contentplatform.
Yeah.
(07:43):
And scale without necessarilyhiring too much overhead or
bringing on more and moreeditors in a team and
strategists in the team andcontent writers and ghost
writers, because we were amembership model.
And we basically offered contentcreation services and mentorship
to a lot of underrepresentedvoices like women who wanted to
(08:04):
leverage storytelling andleverage publishing platforms to
be able to market themselvesposition themselves as thought
leaders.
So it was almost a service-basedplatform, but we were looking
around how to turn it into aself-serving product so that we
can scale without hiring againagainst the demand that we were
getting.
(08:25):
And at that point is where Istarted looking into obviously
the tech behind how we could dothat.
Yeah.
And so this was probably aroundwhere maybe GPT 2.0 is what I
stumbled upon at the time.
Okay.
And I've always, it's funnybecause my vision for Sway at
the very early stages, even backin 2015, was always to be one of
the first publishing platformthat helped people with AI to
(08:47):
create content so that theycould just make it accessible to
everybody.
Wow.
Because I saw firsthand how muchpeople struggle with the act of
creating content in general.
And not only that, but just theact of telling their stories in
a way that makes them feel notso vulnerable, but still
authentic.
And also in a way that couldhelp them resonate better with
(09:08):
their target customers andaudiences.
So I've always seen thepotential of artificial
intelligence in the near futureof how that could be streamlined
and level the playing field whenit comes to content creation.
But I dove deep into it around2019 and, my brother at the time
also was helping me.
He was not fully, officially ateam member would sway.
(09:30):
But he definitely helped mebuild the product, the platform,
whenever I needed, the tech kindof aspect of it.
And so I started picking hisbrain right around, Hey, I think
we could really automate a lotof the services that we offer to
our members so that we can scalemore.
How do you think we can bring AIinto this?
And then we started researchingit, looking at models at the
time that were available.
We were still fine tuning.
(09:52):
And, I wouldn't say training,but we were fine tuning kind of
GPT 2.0, which was a lot harderat the time it was not as
advanced.
We had to use the playground'cause there was no interface.
Of course that was more what wehave now with ChatGPT and other
chat bots.
So it was a little bit morecomplicated then Mm-hmm.
But I definitely saw potentialin it.
And it was also something I gotreally excited about,
(10:13):
surprisingly because I didn'tconsider myself too much of a
techie.
But I just really got excitedabout how even at the time the
output was and how much thiswould save time for people.
And how much everything thatwe're doing could be now applied
with ai.
And we could offer this to notjust a hundred of our members,
(10:33):
but rather a hundred thousandpeople over the world.
And so that's really what got meinto AI in the first place.
And so of course we did ourresearch.
We started building in thebackend.
We didn't really tell peoplethat we were doing that.
We were just prototyping.
And I think by the time we builtour first prototype as part of
the last company, that's whenChatGPT started coming around.
(10:55):
Okay.
And we thought, all right,shoot.
Now everything that we've beenworking on is now mainstream,
right?
Yeah.
So people are using ChatGPT tocreate that content.
At the time we would just giveit like a topic or whatnot.
It would just create an article.
So we did that already withprototyping, but ChatGPT did
that better, and it did thatwith an interface that obviously
was easier to use.
(11:15):
And so then we started thinking,all right, obviously we need to
pivot in some kind of way.
So let's think through what wecan really build using this it's
a good thing actually thatChatGPT came out and people love
it and are now more familiarwith the concept of AI and how
to use it.
And so that's when we startedlooking into, okay, product
versus, AI driven features.
(11:36):
What kind of product andworkflows can we actually now
make easy or automate for peoplearound content creation as a
concept, not just become anotherAI writing tool because that
ChatGPT is already doing that.
Brooke (11:48):
Yes, you touched on a
couple things I think are super
important is the ability topivot right now with all of
these new advances coming out intechnology.
That's incredible.
You're able to just adapt to theenvironment and still remain
valuable.
So this was almost five yearsago now, if not more.
And flash forward to today, wehave way more than chat ChatGPT
(12:09):
2.0 I would love to hear what'syour current tech stack?
Iman (12:13):
Yeah, what's interesting,
I was actually, it's funny, I
was using Vocable yesterdayOkay.
To create a few scripts for myupcoming videos and it gave me a
really interesting.
Script for YouTube video.
Okay.
Around how I built, I think itwas called, I built an AI during
the Hype cycle and here's what Ilearned.
Brooke (12:35):
And it
Iman (12:35):
was almost so spot on, and
this is not to hype up my own
platform if I'm a little biased.
And I was reading through it andI was actually really impressed
because it was almost word forword, the kind of experience
I've gone through.
Because yes, I did build an AIstartup in the midst of the hype
cycle.
Yes.
Even though technically Istarted way before the hype
cycle.
But when the hype cycle kind oftook off with, everything kind
(12:58):
of ChatGPT wrappers, we werestill in that space.
We were also building another AIwriting tool, what people would
call a ChatGPT wrapper.
But I think one of the biggestthing we've done differently and
it we continue to do now is.
Really be plugged in with ourcustomers and listen to the
(13:19):
actual pain points people havearound content creation as a
lifecycle versus the act ofcreating the content or
generating the content.
Obviously there are so manytools now that where you can
just go put in a prompt and itgives you an image.
Or a post, or a caption or anarticle.
But I think content creationthat people want to achieve,
(13:44):
right?
So actual content marketing has,there's a lot more to it,
Brooke (13:48):
right?
Iman (13:48):
There's a lot more that
goes into creating content that
actually converts, that actuallysells, that actually resonates
with your audience.
It's not just writing a promptand coming up with the idea on
the day of and then posting andthen hoping for the best.
Which I think these tools arehelpful to do that if, come up
with an idea of oh, actually Iwanna post about this.
Let me quickly do this.
So it's a quick fix versusestablishing an actual system
(14:11):
that allows you to consistentlydo content right at scale.
And so that's our vision, atleast for the product.
It's, I'm not interested increating another AI writing tool
or AI tool in general that helpsyou with one task.
I'm looking at the entireworkflow.
All multi-channel contentworkflow, right?
So there are so many channelsnow that people are managing,
(14:33):
and especially when we'retalking about small businesses,
which is my target audience,because I know that's where the
biggest need is.
Yes.
We're talking about maybe one ortwo people in the team that are
managing maybe 10 channels.
And then having to post.
30 days of content across all ofthese channels and then figuring
out what that narrative is, whatthe brand story is what kind of
(14:56):
posts are actually doing well,what story hooks can we use to
explain this concept Yes.
And really resonate with our, sothere's a lot more that goes
into it.
And I think that's what I bringto the table as a founder.
As opposed to, I feel like a lotof our competition is the domain
expertise.
I've been doing contentmarketing in different areas
from an agency perspective, froma startup perspective.
(15:18):
I consulted for other businessesand content marketing team.
So I've seen the struggles frombig teams all the way to a one
person team.
Yes.
And I just understand thedifferent process that it takes
to actually land a contentmarketing strategy that works
well for you, that you can scaleover time.
And so going back to just how wepivoted is we started thinking
(15:42):
about what is the currentworkflow?
And not only how does AIgenerate the content, but where
does AI fit into every step ofthe workflow?
To help people minimize thetedious work and really focus
more on the creative or focusmore on refining their brand
story.
Because ultimately the brandstory is what dictates yes.
Your content, and that's whatdictates why people should buy
(16:05):
from you or take your servicesversus your competitor.
And if you have more time tofocus on that and less on the
tedious work that goes aroundcontent creation, then we've
done our job.
That's how we're approaching ourproducts is really making sure
that workflow is powered by AIversus just the act of creating
the content or writing thepieces.
Brooke (16:23):
I think that you touched
on so many key points.
It's about the systems, theprocess.
Where is your customer and theirlifecycle journey?
How are you speaking to them inthat exact moment?
Rather than just being a machinepumping out content.
Very important points there.
So beyond Vocable ai, which isan amazing platform, what else
(16:44):
do you have in your tech stack?
Iman (16:46):
I'm a big fan of HeyGen.
Okay.
I've been one of their veryearly adopters because I just
love the idea of not having tofilm every single time.
And I'm actually gonna be partof their customer panel coming
up because Cool.
I really want to see how wecould potentially integrate that
into our workflow with Vocable,because one of the things I've
(17:07):
been experimenting with a lot asfar as my content personally, is
coming up with a script onVocable.
And then taking those scriptsand then using HeyGen to create
a full.
UGC reel or AI avatar of mine,or even a full YouTube video,
just using my AI avatar insteadof me actually recording myself
(17:28):
day in and day out.
Because that is, and I've talkedabout this very opening.
I absolutely hate being oncamera, and I just hate the act
of having to record something.
Yeah.
Constantly.
Yes.
Because I know you have to getready, you have to have your
hair done, you have to have yourmakeup.
And then on top of that, I feelthat I'm not fully myself if I'm
talking straight to a camera.
Yeah.
Like, this is fine.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When we're having conversation,but then me having to record and
(17:52):
speak to the camera, that's whenI feel like I lose the plot.
And being able to have aplatform like HeyGen that can
just take in my scripts and thenuse my 11 labs voice.
And then my AI avatar that I'vecloned and I've spent a lot of
time cloning myself.
So I have maybe like 12 clonesready to go.
Great.
Yeah.
And different looks anddifferent kind of gestures,
(18:12):
different, backgrounds.
I really have been refining thatclone stack.
Now I'm trying to see what isthe process there?
How can I use Vocable to create30 days of scripts and video
ideas, which Vocable does reallywell.
And then I pull that scriptstraight into, Hey gen, and then
I can even have just one of myteam members handle the rest,
(18:34):
right?
So they put in the script.
Then they pick the AI avatar andthen they do the final editing,
which is adding the graphics andmaking the video engaging for
the right platform.
So that's one major platformI've been using as far as AI
content creation.
I think I talked to you aboutAna before we yes.
It's actually another deal I sawon AppSumo and I joined their
community, and I really love theidea of just, let's say this
(18:56):
podcast that we've just donenow.
I can just put the full video inthere or you a link to a YouTube
video that I've done before, andit would just turn that into
different posts, it'll createthe IG version of it, the
LinkedIn video of it, theFacebook post, and whatever
other types of content I want itto create.
It's really good for repurposingone long form piece of content
(19:19):
into 10 different other formats.
And it's really good for peoplewho don't wanna continuously
reinvent the wheel.
Mm-hmm.
If a content piece is reallyperforming for you, why not keep
repurposing it and leveragethat, piece of content to get
traction in other platforms?
Yeah.
11 Labs is another one I love,and I don't actually use that
just for content.
(19:39):
I have it plugged in with my heyGen.
'Cause I think they have thebest voice clone in technology
of all the, current products.
Great.
I also use it to visualize mydreams, my life.
Whoa.
I actually create.
This vision on ChatGPT of, whata day in my life looks like by
December, 2025.
And then I refine it, I add itto Eleven Labs app, which is
(20:02):
called Eleven Reader.
And then I add my voice to it.
So it's almost like I'm reading,whoa, I'm listening to an
audiobook of myself talkingabout what my day in the life
looks like at the end of thisyear.
And it's actually a reallyinteresting exercise because you
would get goosebumps.
Like, it feels so real.
So it's a great way to help youvisualize your life or what your
(20:23):
dreams look like in reality, sothat's an interesting kind of
product.
I think these from the contentcreation are the ones I use the
most.
I've been looking at other AIpowered products like Planable,
who are great at social mediamanagement.
And just scheduling, publishingand tracking your content.
So then that's basically thesecond half of the content
(20:44):
lifecycle.
Now that I have created all thecontent, especially in batches,
which I definitely advise peopleto do that because it helps you
just get rid of that anxiety ofhaving to come up with content
on a daily basis.
Brooke (20:55):
Right.
Iman (20:55):
So I batch create 30 days
of content.
I create the supporting assetsusing hey Gen 11 labs anything
else, Alphana, and then I uploadthem to a Planable to schedule
and basically get them publishedand track their performance.
It's a good system.
It's a five step system that Ihave actually talked about it
quite a lot on my socialchannels and webinars that I've
(21:17):
done.
It's five steps and I think fourdifferent tech platforms.
Brooke (21:23):
I love that.
Keep it simple.
Don't get too distracted.
I've seen your work in the AIclone space.
That's really incredible.
I haven't made a clone myselfyet.
Iman (21:33):
Oh, you have to get on it.
You'll be so excited to see howmuch it evolves.
Yeah.
Because I just compared my clonein September and then the clones
I've just done two weeks ago,actually even two days ago.
And it is incredibly.
Different.
We've come a long way just in afew months.
You also see the evolution ofthe technology, which is really
(21:53):
great.
They still struggle a little bitwith the lips and the mouth.
Brooke (21:58):
Oh, okay.
Iman (21:58):
At least that's, at least
my clone does.
Yeah.
But I hope that's somethingthey'll probably fix here soon.
Brooke (22:03):
Okay, good to hear.
I am super interested what youjust spoke about blending
personal growth andself-development in ai.
It's something I'm a bitpassionate about is using this
tool for good and seeing thepositive outlook and benefits
that we can use this technologyfor.
I actually have a friend thatdoes something very similar.
(22:24):
He records affirmations andmantras and that's all he
listens to in, in hisheadphones.
And it helps him build thatvision and reprogram his
subconscious.
So that's a really cool tidbitthat you shared.
I'm gonna look into doing thatfor myself'cause that's
something I've been working on,reprogramming and getting in
that state of my future dreamlife.
(22:45):
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So of this simple tech stack,and I love by the way, how
affordable your solutions are aswell, what would you say you pay
monthly or annually on them?
I always think that's animportant question to ask.
Iman (22:57):
Yeah, definitely.
I think a few of them are free.
Like Napkin is free, which ismore graphic space.
I would say a total probably isless than 500 a month.
Okay.
Yeah, less than five.
And I try to keep it.
Very lean.
Especially also, I don't use alot of them all at once.
(23:18):
If I don't need to use, a coupleof them for a certain period of
time, then I just cancel and Iresubscribed later when I need
them the most.
But I think they are allaffordable in a way where, first
of all, as a business you canexpense that.
So I think as a business owner,if you're listening to this,
don't ever shy away from beingmore efficient because it pays
(23:38):
for itself eventually and you'reable to do more with less.
So it's definitely worth theinvestment.
And the only thing you wannamake sure of is that the tool
actually works for you.
And that's why a lot of thesetools have trial periods.
So again, not every tool is foreveryone.
We have customers that loveVocable, for example.
Mm-hmm.
Because it just makes sense forthem and they're.
Customers that just don't seethe value in it because they're
(23:58):
maybe not creating as muchcontent throughout the month, or
maybe they prefer to just promptChatGPT and move on.
So again, it depends on your usecases.
And so that's another, I think,important step before you figure
out what your tech stack is.
You gotta know what your processis Yes.
And where your bottlenecks are.
Yes.
What your team looks like as faras who's using ai, who's using
(24:19):
these tools, who's gonna bemanaging each of these tools
again?
Especially when you have a smallbusiness, you want to not
overwhelm yourself and have todo it all yourself.
Even with ai, it's great tothink I can do it all.
But it's always good to see,okay, this person can manage
vocable, for example, or thisperson can manage my video
editing.
So knowing what your processlooks like, what your team looks
like, and then where yourbiggest bottlenecks are, and
(24:41):
start with maybe one or two.
Don't try to solve every problemall at once.
Because that's when you getreally overwhelmed quickly and
you feel like you don't see thevalue in AI anymore.
I think AI is so great whenyou're so good at understanding
your use cases and then findingthe right tool that solves that
for you and then solves the painpoint for you.
And I think a lot of people skipthat step.
Or they ask, oh, what are youusing so I can use it too?
(25:04):
And I'm like, okay, here's whatI'm using.
Yeah.
But.
Because this is my process, I'mnot sure if this will be for
you, but try it out and seebecause it could be different
based on your own needs, on yourown frequency of maybe
publishing or maybe your ownbusiness functions and
processes.
Everybody's got different thingsgoing on.
Yes.
So the biggest step that peopledefinitely skip, and I've seen
(25:24):
this'cause I've done a lot of AItraining, is what is your
process?
And I would ask them and they'dbe like, what do you mean I
don't how do you go from A to Z?
What is your outcome look like?
What are you trying to solve?
But then what is the processbefore that?
And I think especially withsmall businesses, because
they're under resourcedsometimes.
Yeah.
They don't have those processesdocumented.
Yeah.
Or the data that goes with it aswell.
And that's another importantpart.
(25:44):
Right?
Yeah.
I think a lot of the AI usecases to really make the most of
it, you want to use your owndata to personalize it even
more.
And again, that's why I thinkchat bots are good, but they're
very versatile, but they're notproducts that you can
personalize very well for yourown brand, for your own needs,
using your data, right?
You can create GPTs, but I don'tthink they're as really
(26:06):
personalized and customizable asI want them to be, at least.
So having a grasp on your dataand documenting that.
And then your process, what yourteam looks like, your
bottlenecks, having that alreadyin place before you think, okay,
now let me bring, AI is a veryimportant first step.
Brooke (26:22):
I agree.
And that is the intention aroundthis podcast is to really
explore how we're eachindividually approaching it for
our own specific use cases andfor the listener to be expanded
and see themselves and theinterviewer or interviewee and
get expanded in different ways.
I love that you touched on that.
You already shared a lot aboutthe benefits, time saved.
(26:44):
AI clones.
What about challenges for AIadoption?
Did you run into any of thosemaybe in the beginning when you
had to restructure yourbusiness?
I'd love to hear about thatjourney into adoption into your
own workflow.
Iman (26:58):
Yeah, I think, the biggest
challenge was again, just making
sure that the AI was applicableto the outcomes we want to
achieve, but also it wasresonating with what our brand
was about and understood thatbecause then if we were able to
use platforms where we have somekind of control and flexibility
(27:18):
over training, quote unquotefine tuning or personalizing the
AI even more, then that makes itthat much more valuable and
easier.
The challenge is having toconstantly explain to ai what we
do and who we are constantly,every time we want.
It to step in and help, right?
Yeah.
Quote unquote.
I think that was probably thebiggest challenge, to find the
(27:38):
right approach and also todocument our own data that we
want to feed into theseplatforms or even into our own
ai, solutions that we buildinternally.
What does that look like inorder to really make this AI an
extension of us versus us havingto always treat it like an
intern and explain into it, ohmy God, here's how you have to
(28:01):
do, here's what you need to do.
That became a lot moreinefficient in the long term.
Brooke (28:05):
Yes.
Iman (28:06):
And I wanna make sure that
myself and my team as well, when
we have AI as an applicationinto our business, that we are
not wasting time with it andthat is actually making us more
efficient, more effective.
And so if we're not trackingthat progress and seeing those
benefits, then we're doing itwrong, right?
(28:26):
And so that's another thingpeople should keep in mind when,
especially if you are a businessor a business leader or C-suite
leader looking into implementingAI into different aspects of
your business, have a plan inplace to track the efficacy and
efficiency of the progress andthe process using ai.
(28:48):
Because if you're not seeingimprovement, then obviously
you're either doing it wrong ormaybe you should just go back to
your old way, right?
Because the whole point of usingAI is to become better and do
things faster.
Gain more, creativity even moreclarity, have more strategic
insights.
If you're not feeling likeyou're achieving those in the
parts of your business whereyou've implemented AI, and at
(29:10):
least have a way to track thatthen.
Again, maybe you wanna take astep back and reevaluate how
you're approaching it.
And I feel like also people arenot tracking that.
So for me, I was tracking speedand quality when it comes to
content I was creating.
And even when I'm evaluatingVocable now as output and value
as a product to our customers, Iwant to feel like even I'm, I
(29:33):
say I'm my own customer.
Zero.
I wanna feel like when I'm usingVocable, I've saved hours and
then I've saved money by nothiring a writer or editor or
whatnot.
Then that also, my content feelslike it's better, it's more
engaging, but it didn't takelong to get there.
So if I have to take days torefine a piece of content,
(29:54):
because AI didn't do a good job.
And it gave me maybe like threegood sentences in there and I
have to rework everything.
Obviously I'm doing it wrong.
Yes.
So evaluating speed and qualityis important for different
business functions that youimplement AI for.
Brooke (30:08):
Okay.
Do you use custom GPTs for thatwhen you are having to give the
background or have set personasin place for different projects?
Do you lean on custom GPT a lot?
Iman (30:20):
I did early on.
Okay.
I will say when I looked at thebenefits of it, I think it
didn't really translate to whatI expect out of it.
Brooke (30:30):
Okay.
And then
Iman (30:31):
this is also with me
pulling in a lot of
documentations and feeding itinto different custom GPTs.
I also didn't like the idea ofhaving to constantly have six or
10 different gpt that my teamhad to use.
Because of that, actually, thenI started thinking more what are
the products out there?
What are AI tools that actuallyhave workflows built into them?
Brooke (30:51):
Yeah.
So I don't have to create an SEOGPT a social media caption.
GPT, persona, generation GPT.
Yes.
Can a platform out there have astep-by-step workflow where all
of this AI is alreadyimplemented in it?
I just feed it my documentation,maybe my business, my brand.
And it's able to walk me throughevery step without having for me
(31:12):
to toggle in between gpt.
Because the problem with havingdifferent GPT is that the
outcome or the output of eachone is not.
Related to the next one.
So if you stack together GPTs,they don't talk to each other.
Yes.
And then this is,
Iman (31:25):
I think the next frontier
though, this is agents, right?
So I think for me, I would loveto use gpt, but if they acted
like agents, then that wouldmake more sense.
Yeah.
But that's why I think we're nowentering this whole agent AI
frontier.
Because the whole idea is thatif you have different AI systems
or AI agents working for you,then the whole point is that
they need to collaboratetogether, kind of how a team
(31:46):
works, right?
Yes.
So you're not working in silos.
Yes.
And you don't want, John'soutput to be copied and pasted
into Emma's, folders.
It's just a lot.
Again, this is what we talkabout inefficiencies.
Brooke (31:58):
Yes.
Iman (31:58):
And so understanding how
to stack these AI tools in a way
that makes the process.
Seamless and connected is reallyto me how I see the benefit of
AI and how every business orevery individual should look at
it as far as implementation.
How I AI is brought to you inpartnership with the collective,
A space designed to accelerateyour learning and AI adoption.
(32:20):
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Brooke (32:41):
How many agents do you
lean on at the moment?
Iman (32:43):
I am mostly focused on
customer support agents now.
Okay.
Because that is probably ourbiggest, I can imagine
uh,
I wouldn't say bottleneck,
but that's where we're the
busiest now.
Yeah.
Because we've launched ourplatform on AppSumo more
recently, so there's a lot ofgreat.
Influx of feedback and questionsand which we wanted we wanted to
launch on a platform likeAppSumo because we wanted to
(33:06):
validate our roadmap.
We wanted to really understandthe raw feedback from a
community that understands AItools and tools in general
software a community that hastested a lot of other AI tools
in the market.
And then can actually comparehow we compare, not from my bias
as a founder or my team's bias,but really our customers telling
us how we compare in the marketand how we can even position
(33:29):
ourselves better.
And all that raw feedback iscoming to us as an influx.
We had a bit of a hard timeinitially to organize it all
into a way that can translateinto a roadmap mm-hmm.
that's we can execute on.
And also being able to keep upwith all of the questions that
people are asking.
A lot of them sometimes arerepetitive, right?
We have customer support agentsand chat bots that we built
(33:51):
specifically for that.
Actually, my AI clone isfiltering a lot of that on the
platform.
Wow.
Which is great.
And I consistently take a lot ofthe questions and answers that
we have and feed it back into myAI clone so that she's able to
pull in from my answers and thengive the right answers when
people go through her beforethey come to me.
So being able to automate thatprocess has helped us do more
(34:13):
and also listen to more feedbackand implement it quickly.
'cause the whole reason why youwant that feedback is you want
to execute on the implementationand show that people that you're
listening, but also that you aretaking in the feedback and yes,
releasing new features,improving the product, iterating
as you go.
And so customer support agentsthere have been really great.
One of the platforms that hasbeen super helpful when it comes
(34:37):
to agent building is beam.ai.
Brooke (34:39):
Beam.
Do ai.
Yeah.
And
Iman (34:40):
I actually interviewed the
founder last year as part of
what, one of my webinars, andthey were one of the first
people in the market to build.
AI agents in a way that was easyfor anyone to create.
It's very easy with theinterface.
It's very intuitive and theyoffer agents across different
business functions.
So that is basically anextension of what GTS should be
(35:02):
doing, but on an agent side.
Brooke (35:04):
Okay, I'll have to look
into that one.
Yeah.
So you're validating yourroadmap.
You're super close to yourcustomer.
You have weekly office hours.
Switching gears a bit firstlet's touch on what it's been
like to be a founder in the techscene and seeking investment and
being in Miami specifically,which seems like a big tech hub
(35:25):
on the rise.
Why did you choose to live inMiami versus somewhere like
Silicon Valley?
How do you think it relates andcompares, and are you enjoying
being here during this process?
Iman (35:34):
Yeah, so I think my answer
might be a little different from
what most founders would say,because I didn't necessarily
pick Miami for work reasons orfor business reasons.
I think for me it was probablythe best city and the best
environment to optimize myselfas an individual.
(35:55):
And it really was more aboutwork life balance.
Because I know I've lived in NewYork for 13 years and I've done
the startup founder in New YorkYes.
For years.
And obviously it is probably oneof the best cities to be in as
far as networking goes, as faras resources and VC money and
investors and opportunities andother tech founders that you can
(36:17):
collaborate with and even hubsthat they have throughout the
city for startup resources orwhatnot.
And I did that and fromexperience, I'm not saying this
is the case for everybody else,I felt like I had way more
anxiety and I wasn't operatingoptimally as a founder because I
was also not taking care ofmyself as an individual, as a
(36:38):
woman.
And I've spent some time, mybrother made the leap of faith
before me and moved to Miamifrom New York.
Okay.
And I started to come to visit,and first of all, I never
thought I would ever live in acity like Miami because I
thought it was more of a, Iwouldn't say party city, but it
just felt like it was vacation24 7.
And I'm like, I'm never gonnaget any work done here.
(36:58):
It just feels too comfortable.
People are just living theirbest life.
And then I'm like, okay, maybethat's a good thing.
That's a good thing that I'mable to move to a city where I'm
not constantly stressed.
Yeah.
That I'm not constantly anxiousand because if I am, then I'm
not able to operate right.
For my business.
What they say is you can't pourfrom an empty cup.
(37:20):
And I felt like I was an emptycup living in a city like.
New York, and I imagine it's thesame with San Francisco or all
the tech hubs because you'reconstantly in this race of just
competing with other techfounders.
So for me, Miami was a greathub, and I think a lot of people
are starting to feel that waybecause that environment also
fosters a more kind ofcollaborative and being at peace
(37:43):
type of feeling.
And I think that leads to moreexcitement about what you're
doing and preserving my passionfor what I'm building, which is
something I lost when I was inNew York.
I felt when first startup, itjust became very stressful very
quickly, and I almost lostinterest in the passion I
initially had for the projects Iwas working on.
And so I learned a lot when itcomes to self-development and
(38:05):
also just self-care from myfirst startup.
And that's also why I launched abook and wrote a book about a
lot of this learnings before Ieven started my second company.
And now I'm basically practicingwhat I preach.
And Miami has also been able tohelp me get back in touch with
my inner child in a way.
Now, I'm more active.
I beautiful play tennis again,which is a sport I love playing
(38:28):
since I was a child and I losttouch with A lot of my social
gatherings are very low key andit's more around building and
fostering true connectionsversus just running around a
city and networking, which Idon't think is really that
effective anymore in my stage ofbuilding a business.
So yeah, I think I definitelypicked Miami for different
reasons, but I do think it isthe best choice I've made as far
(38:50):
as having a good environment tobuild a startup especially in
the AI space.
Brooke (38:56):
Interesting
conversation.
People always like to compareMiami, New York, la Yeah.
I love that you came herefollowing your sibling.
When I lived in Los Angeles.
Two of my siblings followed methere and they still live there,
which is great.
Oh good.
'cause I get to go visit.
Yeah.
And I agree.
I feel like the entrepreneurialspirit is a bit different in New
York versus Miami right now.
(39:17):
I live there for some time aswell, and I love the people and
the experiences and it's ahustle, but it's not as intense
of a hustle.
There's more balance.
Yeah.
Like you were saying.
So it's been something that'skeeping me here for now.
During this phase of my life aswell.
Yeah.
I wanna talk a little bit aboutyour experience raising capital.
(39:38):
I know that you're in the thickof that right now.
If you wanna share a bit aboutthat journey as a tech founder,
because so many people are inthis amazing opportunistic
moment to become founders.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
And to create things that havenever been created before with
this technology.
Yeah.
So what advice would you like togive?
And also first to share yourstory and your journey and what
(40:00):
you're experiencing around it.
Iman (40:02):
Yeah, definitely.
I raised pre-seed capital mostlyfrom family offices and
strategic angels initially whenwe were in the building phase of
the product.
It made sense because I thinkearly on people invest in people
they trust and they believe in.
So I think I was very lucky tohave a lot of amazing strategic
investors that kind ofunderstood my vision and also
(40:23):
have known my work ethic andhave known me for a bit and
really seen what I'm trying tobuild.
And that wasn't, I would say toobad as far as the effort I went
into it because it almost seemsorganic, right?
And you want to do that earlyon, and especially again, if
you, it depends.
So let me backtrack.
I think when you're buildingsomething a startup, you also
(40:45):
have to understand how much ofbig tech do you have any deep
tech, do you have anythingproprietary?
Do you a lot of those companies.
Require heavy capital before youeven go.
So you might want to think VCearly on.
And also because VCs bring a lotof those resources and
experience and operationalresources that you need to build
companies like that.
(41:05):
But if you are building kind ofAI products or tools that you
think you can go to market withreally fast and don't require a
lot of tech or deep tech tobuild initially, then I don't
think you wanna waste too muchtime going after VC money early
on.
Because you probably can raiseenough from angels and family
(41:27):
offices to at least go tomarket.
And that's probably the biggestthing you need in this space
right now.
And during this hype cycle.
'cause I do think we're still inthe midst of the hype cycle.
Yes.
Especially now going intoagentic.
That's another hype cycle thatI'm seeing kind of emerge, where
everybody's building AI agentsand they're raising money for
them.
But I think now investors arecatching on really quickly that,
(41:48):
this is all just product thatyou're building features around.
And no one's actually likebuilding deep tech.
You're not, most of thesecompanies including ourselves,
we are not creating models fromscratch.
You're using open source models?
Yes.
You're using models that arealready trained and available,
and then you're building on topof these models and basically
you're focused on solvingproblems that, a target
(42:09):
customers have.
So with this kind of companies,there is now never been a better
time to launch them quickly andvery resource efficient.
So you don't need to raise thatmuch money.
And I think, initially for me, Ialways thought of the idea of
raising capital as a must dobefore if you are in a tech
space.
It almost felt like, oh,everybody else is raising money.
(42:31):
I should too.
And now I'm thinking about itdifferently too.
'Cause I've talked to a lot ofAI founders.
I've talked to AI founders thatlaunched their companies and got
from zero to 10 million in a rin less than 18 months just
because they're, obviouslysolving a specific problem, for
a specific niche that theyunderstand very well.
Yes.
They use short form content,they use marketing that is very
(42:52):
cheap, not like even ads toreach their customers.
And you don't need to raisemoney for that kind of products.
And I always advise foundersbuilding in this space now is
thinking is my time better spentmaking revenue and just pushing
this product as quick aspossible?
Getting feedback, understandingmy customers getting them to
(43:14):
rally behind this and believe init early on.
And then really just.
Building and iterating as I go.
Or do I wanna spend my time andeffort chasing VCs that may or
may not see what I'm trying tobuild?
Because that is a very drainingprocess and that's at least been
my experience.
And I think every founder, andI've just had a conversation
(43:35):
today with a friend who's alsoraising money for a startup that
definitely needs money.
'cause it's hardware, it's notsoftware.
And I could just see howexhausted and tired and just
drained he was.
Because it is not easy to standin front of, VCs and investors,
10 of them a day and get thatno, this is not gonna work.
No, we don't think this is gonnabe for us.
(43:56):
You also have to have that thickskin to be able to get those nos
on a daily basis.
'cause you have to really getabout almost five to 10 meetings
a week at least.
And if you're getting no after,no.
You're only human.
Yeah.
That definitely is gonna take atoll on you.
And it just becomes ugh, why doI even need to do this anymore?
I know I went through thatphase.
So now, and then I compared thatto focusing instead or shifting
(44:19):
my focus on, okay, let me justfocus on my customers.
Let me just focus on knowingwhat channels for us drive
revenue.
Yeah.
What our customers think of ourproducts.
Because ultimately that's reallywhat matters, right?
I want to know what my customersthink versus what investors
think.
Yeah.
'Cause you're not gonna be forevery vc what you're building is
not for what every VC is,investing in.
And focusing on the customer andthen pulling in that revenue
(44:43):
instead of pulling in investmentfor me felt like that's what put
life back into my soul and Ijust felt, okay, this is
probably the path I need to betaken.
And again, it differs betweendifferent founders.
Some people love just raisingmoney and I know founders that
just thrive in that space.
And then there are founders thatjust do better with just growing
a business and raising somecapital from people who are,
(45:03):
close friends and family orstrategic, which is a lot less
draining as a process.
Yeah.
And then focusing on justbuilding and then launching
quickly and then bringing inrevenue and then growing in that
phase.
And when you do have traction,when you do have revenue and you
have customer validation andyou've gotten maybe to even
products market fit that at thatpoint it becomes a lot easier to
(45:25):
raise money because ultimatelyyou Yes.
Numbers don't lie.
If you are in front of investorsand say, okay, here's how much
we grew.
Obviously our customers lovewhat we're putting out.
Here's the growth we'veexperienced, here's at traction
we have.
It's hard to argue against that.
So I always try to, especiallyfor first time founders if you
can launch at with just a littlecapital and grit traction before
(45:49):
you go into vc, that is probablythe best play that you could
have for yourself.
Brooke (45:54):
I had the opportunity to
go to a couple conferences here
and hear the founder of HuggingFace and learn a bit about what
it means to be centralized andopen source.
And so you touched a little bitabout how you are decentralized
and.
Why that matters.
For those who might notunderstand what that means.
Can you share a little bit aboutthat process and that decision
(46:14):
of your infrastructure?
Iman (46:16):
Yeah, so we were,
initially, we thought we wanted
to go that way.
'cause Bittensor was this kindadecentralized model, AI platform
that was easier to build onbecause you can fine tune and
also a lot of the data that ourusers would put into the product
would easily be fine tuned.
And there's an incentive processto it.
Decentralize is that you havedifferent miners.
(46:38):
I think, and my brother coulddefinitely explain this a lot
better because this was his sideof the project.
Yeah.
Miners who are constantlyimproving on the platform, on
the model because of theincentive.
So the model's always gettingbetter and it's also cheaper as
a way.
And initially we thought wewanted to go that way because we
wanted to offer a free productinitially.
And we did, I think 2023 when welaunched for at least six
(47:00):
months, we were free for a lotof users.
Because again, of the nature ofour target audience, small
businesses or solopreneurs whodon't have a lot of resources to
invest in products would seevalue in that.
But again, I think withBittensor and all, it just
wasn't always stable.
So it was in the hype cycle andthen it wasn't.
(47:22):
Yeah.
So we didn't think that it wasprobably the best business idea
or business plan to have anunstable kind of platform that
relied on decentralized.
And we didn't have a lot ofcontrol at the end of the day.
So we decided then to go back toproprietary and also open source
models and then fine tune ourown models.
And then just have a little bitmore control there.
(47:43):
And then at that point we wouldoffer the product at a small
price.
But definitely no longer free.
But I think with also opensource, it gave us the
opportunity to eventually haveour also users almost train
their own model as they continueusing the product more and more.
Yeah.
So Al every kind of user accountwill be associated with their
(48:04):
own model that continuously getsbetter with them and grows with
them as their content needsgrow.
Brooke (48:10):
Yeah.
That's awesome.
One of my favorite questions toask everybody that I interview
is to put your creative hat on.
And if you could createsomething with a magic wand that
isn't out there yet, or maybeyou're already plotting your
second entrepreneurial spiritsof what you'd wanna create, what
(48:33):
would you put out there?
And it can be business or it canbe personal.
For ai, a magic wand tool.
Iman (48:41):
I was thinking of taking a
break after this.
I'm like already a close.
I don't think I can bring anymore ideas to this world.
I need a moment to myself.
No, but I think I've beenthinking about this idea for a
while too, and at some point Iwas gonna pursue it.
It's basically turning all of mynewsletters, which I subscribe
to a lot because obviously,especially AI related
newsletters, I have to.
Stay apprised of the news andwhatnot.
(49:03):
But then I'm realizing that I'vesubscribed to a lot of them, but
I never get to read all of them.
Brooke (49:07):
Yeah.
And
Iman (49:07):
I have an email inbox just
for newsletters, and then I
realize, how do I launch an AIapp that basically plugs into
all of your email pulls andextract all of your email
newsletters and turn them into adaily podcast that you listen to
the moment you wake up.
So every morning at 8:00 AM or7:00 AM 9:00 AM or on your
commute to work, you get thisnotification from your phone
(49:29):
saying, okay, your daily digestis ready.
And it's basically your AIpulling all of the newsletters
that you subscribe to, and thenturn in all of the content
across all of them into thisreally curated podcast, 20
minute, you can pick theduration of it, 20 minutes an
hour, whatever that might be.
And then that way you canconsume the news and stay
(49:50):
updated without the hassle ofhaving to open newsletters,
going through each one of themand reading each of those news
sources.
And then figuring out what do Ineed to take away from this?
I was gonna call it newscast, sodon't steal this.
Okay.
Don't steal.
So that would actually, for me,I always think of ideas based on
my own pain points and my ownthings like that.
(50:11):
I wish I had, and I'm sure thereprobably is something like this
around there, right?
Yeah.
That's one thing I was thinkingabout, and this was probably
like, almost a year ago.
Brooke (50:19):
That's a great idea.
I also think of my own personalpain points.
Lately, this past week I've beenlearning to Descript for my
editing needs and also justexperimenting with different
platforms.
And I'm not the one to take thetime.
Always.
I'll watch maybe one tutorialwhen I get onto something, but
other than that, it's, I'm justin there exploring and I found
(50:42):
myself having to go to chat GPTand ask very specific questions,
okay, I'm at this point, how doI do this?
Or.
All of a sudden I'm togglinginto this settings and there's
four different options and Ihave no idea what it means.
Like think about the audio techand stuff that happens in a
podcast.
I'm like what the heck does thatmean?
And I find myself going toChatGPT and then speaking to it
(51:04):
because I prefer conversations.
To be okay, this is what I'm upagainst.
What does this mean?
What should I choose?
Should I toggle this on or off?
How do I go to this step?
Why is this not working?
I like to speak to it that way.
And I think that it would begreat if this was a feature in
every platform or tool to justhave a voice agent with you.
(51:27):
To be like, Hey, how do I dothis?
Or, this is what I need to do.
Here's my goal or outcome, orhere's the very specific problem
I'm having, how do I fix it?
Yeah.
De Script has a thing calledMagic Lord right now, where you
can talk to it in that way, butit's not there yet.
Yeah.
So that's my magic wand moment.
Iman (51:47):
That's so interesting.
I was just having thisconversation with a, yeah.
A friend of mine who was aformer senior Apple product
leader.
And one of his.
Predictions is we're talkingabout agent ai, but also I
needed his kind of feedback onour platform.
And he's like, whatever youbuild next, make sure that it
has a conversational featureYes.
(52:08):
Where you have voice ai.
That's almost leading the wayand then your users, instead of
pointing and clicking, which Ithink now with AI agents is
that's gonna definitely be, goneand disrupted.
Most people just want to have aconversation and almost let talk
to AI and let AI guide themthrough a product, an interface,
(52:29):
a problem.
Yeah.
And so now with a lot of SaaSthat's something you don't have
to be like a voice-based tool.
Yeah.
In order to have that featurethat every tool and every
software should offer a voicefeature where people could just
ask it to, Hey, create a contentplan for me.
Hey, can you expand on this planfor me today?
Yes.
Or things like that instead of.
(52:50):
Having to figure out where thatfeature is and where to click on
the software.
'cause I do think people aregetting that fatigue now.
Brooke (52:56):
Yes.
Iman (52:56):
I talk to a lot of
customers and it's interesting,
sometimes you could see also theheat map and you could see how
frustrated people are.
They're just clicking iteverywhere.
And not knowing where to click.
Sometimes people click, and Ihad a Loom video sent by a
customer where she was trying tofind her content on the platform
and she clicked in every singlebutton except for the button
(53:17):
that says view content.
I'm like, see, this is will beinteresting if you could just
talk to the platform through aiYes.
And say, Hey, can you open mycontent for me?
And then that just gets done byAI in the backend.
Brooke (53:30):
Yes.
My friend calls this pushingpixels, why are we still moving
mouse?
And pointers around and thefuture is like that.
So that's interesting that youalready see that as a trend.
Is there anything else that yousee as trends coming out for
SaaS companies or just in thetech space of how people are
adapting and soon we'll just bespeaking voice.
(53:51):
What else do you see?
Iman (53:53):
Yeah, I think the biggest
challenge now for the industry
when it comes to just marryingSaaS and ai, especially with AI
agents in the horizon mm-hmm.
and the true autonomous AIagents.
Not a lot of what we see nowthat are more automations is re
reinventing and disrupting thisuser experience and user
interface that we just talkedabout.
And I think that's probably oncesomeone figures this out, like
(54:15):
how does.
Human and machine, how do theyinteract now in the world of
agentic ai?
That is still a big questionmark.
And I think once someone figuresout a new trend of having humans
interact with agents in a veryintuitive, seamless way, that's
when we're gonna hit massadoption.
And so I think everyone I talkto, and it's interesting, I'm
(54:37):
doing a webinar on this withMike Pell, who's the head of the
Microsoft Garage.
And his whole kind of concept islike human machine interaction
and how do we re-disrupt or rereinvent the idea of user
interface in the era of agenticai.
Because if AI is now taking overand strategizing, executing,
(54:57):
completing tasks, and you'rebasically just supervising from
afar.
You're not pointing andclicking.
What does that interface looklike?
Since you don't have to andwe've also started experimenting
with this'cause we built ouragents and we haven't really
announced it, but we've builtour AI content agents and we've
been testing that and we're alsofigure out what is the right
time to have even alpha testerson board.
(55:19):
And we see that basically youcan just connect your entire,
let's say Twitter, and it doesscrapes, it comes up with all
the posts creates the post foryou, then publishes it, and you
basically don't have to doanything.
But I also can foresee howpeople feel uncomfortable with
that because most people don'twant maybe AI to log into their
channels and then run that showfor them.
(55:39):
They just maybe want tospecifically focus on this part
of the content lifecycle, andthen they'll take it over from
there on.
This is where I think things geta little bit complicated, but
also there's only one way tofind out is by launching and
seeing how people interact withit.
But I do think the biggestquestion mark right now in the
industry is what is the human AIagent interface look like moving
(56:01):
forward?
Brooke (56:02):
I love this conversation
and if you need an alpha user,
I'm available.
We might
Iman (56:07):
I just need to come up for
air after this AppSumo campaign
and do a lot of the productupgrades there.
And then I think we can finallythen shift our focus on.
Getting the AI agent sharpenough to have some of our users
test them out.
Because I've tested them out alittle bit with my own Twitter.
'cause I don't use Twitter.
I'm like, okay, if it's gonnamess up, it can mess up on
Twitter.
(56:28):
And it's really interesting andit's actually fascinating
because also a lot of thefeatures we built for the AI
agents is what a lot of ourcustomers now request on the
current product.
So I think there's a bigoverlap, and we've basically
thought about Vocables platformnow as a stepping stone into
Agentic AI workflow when itcomes to handling their entire
content lifecycle.
(56:48):
We just need to understand whatdoes that transition look like
going from AI SaaS and pointingand clicking, which people still
love to do and feel comfortablewith.
To then completely handing overthe tasks and the content
lifecycle to AI agents thatcollaborate between each other.
And then you're basically theone kind of just approving the
post at the end before going into get published in each
(57:10):
platform.
Brooke (57:11):
I was having this
thought just last night of how I
love sci-fi movies and howthey've been predicting the
future for so long.
And I think about that movieMinority Report with Tom Cruise
and how he interacts with thecomputers every morning and
walks into Gap and theyrecognize him and just the
future that we're headed towardsand what that looks like when
we're, as humans interactingwith these machines.
(57:34):
I was thinking of compiling andputting together a fun movie
list of AI and see what's cometrue so far,
Iman (57:40):
I'm just surprised we
still haven't had the clueless
closet yet.
That's what I'm waiting for.
I'm like, as someone who reallywants to streamline that
process.
'cause I don't wanna also be thekind of person that just wears
the same thing over and overagain because I just don't have
the time to decide what to wear.
Yeah.
I'm like, how has nobody come upwith the coolest closet just
yet?
Because that seems likesomething that's doable now.
(58:01):
It
Brooke (58:02):
does.
Why is that not there yet?
I don't know.
Iman (58:04):
We might have to
collaborate on this and push it
up.
Speaking of that idea that youwere talking about earlier,
that's one idea.
Let's go.
There we go.
Brooke (58:11):
We hit on so many
amazing points today, but I
wanna just open the floor forany final remarks.
What would you like to leavelisteners with?
Specifically, which I feel mylisteners are beginning their AI
journey and they're wanting tobe expanded and any advice for
someone who's just entering thisspace, they're learning, they're
getting pulled in all thesedifferent directions.
(58:31):
Speaking to that,
Iman (58:32):
As people implementing,
not building an ai.
Correct?
I think honestly, the best wayto get started or just to
continue building yourself inthis space is having fun with
it.
And this is coming from someonewho's not.
A techie.
Yes.
I'm not a software engineer.
I'm not an AI machine learningspecialist or expert and by any
(58:53):
means, but I just know that thereason why I thrive in this
space is because I have fun withit, and genuinely, there are
times when my parents call me onrandom idol Tuesday nights is
like 11:00 PM Like, what are youdoing?
I'm oh, I'm experimenting withMidjourney.
I was able to do this and dothat.
And then I took it fromMidjourney to Kling ai, and I
made it move and they're likemaybe you should go to sleep.
(59:13):
Like what?
I'm always just having fun withit and learning and making that
experience fun as opposed tobeing, Ugh, this is something I
have to now do.
And be part of.
And I didn't even ask for that.
I think a lot of people come atit from a very pessimistic,
yeah.
Almost like a chore.
Oh, I have to learn AI now.
But they don't realize that it'sactually really fun once you
(59:36):
genuinely dedicate one or twohours even a week.
Start there and then Googleresearch products that are out
there.
What can AI do?
Or maybe think about, oh, I havethis issue here.
I wonder how AI can help withthis.
And even just like you said,you're having conversation with
ChatGPT or Claude.
Using those chat bots to alsolearn the craft.
(59:56):
There are so many ways that nowAI is leveling the playing
field.
And you should literally beexcited about that versus seeing
it as, oh my God, this isanother thing I have to add to
my to-do list after work orwhatnot.
Because it genuinely can be afun process to learn because you
will start seeing how your lifewill become better.
(01:00:17):
Yeah.
And more freed up because I wasable to do a lot now because AI
is able to take over.
And I was able to figure outhow.
So I think just having fun withit.
Dedicate a couple hours a weekto learn the craft.
Be very curious about what'sgoing on.
Keep up with what's happening.
You don't have to understand itall.
But yeah, just leverage it asalmost a hobby now, and then
(01:00:39):
you're gonna start seeing howyou can easily implement it into
other areas of your life andyour work.
Brooke (01:00:44):
Beautiful.
I love that final mindset shift.
So where can listeners find you?
How can they get in contact withyou?
How can they learn more aboutVocable ai?
Yeah,
Iman (01:00:54):
so you can find me on
Instagram and LinkedIn.
Iman Ubu, I-M-A-N-O-U-B-O-U.
And vocable.ai is the platform,so you could definitely learn
more about that there.
We also have a community that Ihave on my Instagram, so if you
are curious about AI in generalor want to share, insights or
even just wanna learn more aboutVocable, you can join that
(01:01:16):
community for free as well.
Brooke (01:01:17):
Again, thank you so much
for being here.
I appreciate your time and Ihave so much to look into after
our conversation and I'm gonnahit you up about that clueless
closet project.
Iman (01:01:28):
Let's do it.
And we have so much free timenow, so why not?
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Brooke (01:01:35):
Wow, I hope today's
episode opened your mind to
what's possible with ai.
Do you have a cool use case onhow you're using AI and wanna
share it?
DM me.
I'd love to hear more andfeature you on my next podcast.
Until next time, here's toworking smarter, not harder.
See you on the next episode ofHow I Ai.
This episode was made possiblein partnership with the
(01:01:58):
Collective ai, a communitydesigned to help entrepreneurs,
creators, and professionalsseamlessly integrate AI into
their workflows.
One of the biggest game changersin my own AI journey was joining
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It's where I learned, connectedand truly enhanced my
understanding of what's possiblewith ai.
(01:02:19):
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