AI note taking startup started out as 2 guys pretending to be AI
6 days ago
- #ethics
- #AI
- #startup
- Two founders charged $100/month for an AI notetaker service, which was actually them manually taking notes in meetings.
- They scaled Fireflies to a $1B valuation after multiple failed business ideas, including a crypto food delivery startup.
- The founders validated their idea by personally attending meetings as 'Fred from Fireflies.ai' before automating the process.
- Privacy concerns were raised about the founders secretly joining meetings without disclosure, potentially breaching trust and legality.
- The story highlights the ethical dilemma of 'validation before automation' when it involves deception.
- Despite criticism, the founders' perseverance led to success, but questions remain about data privacy and company culture.