I’ve always liked stories from first-time founders who started from zero and grew their companies into something big. Financial freedom and “being your own boss” are good reasons, but that’s not why I found it fascinating. It’s because most successful founders found a real pain point to solve. And I appreciate true and honest stories more than the bragging statements on LinkedIn.
But before you can make it big, you have to go through the uncertain middle that no one talks about.
When my co-founder and I first started working on our video creation platform, we had only a vague idea of how to make it work. We did some market research and spoke to a handful of people. Then we pieced it all together with our own experiences. Then, without too much fluff, we went straight into creator mode. And that’s where we hit our first real roadblock – creating a tech product without a tech co-founder. We had to learn fast and use any tool that could help us.
Entering the AI Era
The era of AI startups has begun. Just four years ago, you needed a whole team of developers to build even the simplest idea. Then you’d also need someone for marketing, sales, and of course someone to pitch to VCs. Fast forward to today, and suddenly a lot of those jobs can be done by AI.
For example, we used ChatGPT and a few other tools to do our first round of competitor research. We sketched out an idea on paper and used lovable.dev to turn it into a clickable frontend prototype. What used to take months suddenly took a weekend. It felt almost too easy.
But with that speed comes a different kind of challenge. Just because you can build something quickly doesn’t mean you’re building the right thing.
Because ChatGPT and other AI tools
have their limitations too. No, not every idiot can go ahead and create a solution. And honestly, sometimes I found it more of a hindrance than help. When you really want to narrow down the problem and the specific target group, you can’t just rely on prompts and generic outputs. Back to basics. We had to read and listen to actual conversations, and talk to potential users.
Creating neonine.ai in 3 months
What for does the world need another video creation platform? Aren’t there a gazillion tools already for every kind of private and business use? Yes and no.
We started neonine.ai because we saw a gap not in tools, but in purpose. There are plenty of video platforms out there, but most are built for aesthetics, not outcomes. We wanted a smart, automated tool that helps great companies get the attention they deserve. One that supports authenticity, not just pretty visuals or buzzwords, but real stories that connect and convert. Instead of drowning you in endless templates, neonine.ai takes raw input and turns it into a ready-to-share video that’s clear, compelling, and built to drive results.
But is it worth solving?
We asked ourselves what people and businesses are really looking for these days. And no matter how much we wanted them to need another organizational tool (trust me, we tried to convince ourselves), we kept hearing the same thing over and over again: We need more visibility. We need more customers. We don’t know how to stand out.
We’re still early, still scrappy, and we’re talking to as many people as possible. The journey is just beginning, let’s see what’s next.
EXPRESSO NIGHTS 