When we started Captions, we focused on creating captions for videos, addressing a gap in the market for accessibility solutions.

The captions app was built in two days and immediately took off, demonstrating the importance of product-market fit.

After initially exploring various projects, we realized we should have focused on the captions app, which was already successful without any updates.

Captions aims to make video storytelling accessible to everyone without the need for recording or editing.

The aim of my AI research was to give AI a sense of humor, but it failed because it couldn't understand complex images and humor, often producing only mediocre results rather than deep, meaningful human humor.

The decision to focus on Captions instead of another app we were developing was crucial. Once we launched new features, the growth of Captions became exponential, highlighting how small decisions can lead to vastly different outcomes.

After launching the paywall, I forgot about the Captions app, but later discovered it was generating over $500,000 in revenue with no employees working on it, and users were retaining it without any support.

I find humor to be a way to engage people in considering the implications of technology, allowing for a more thoughtful response rather than immediate judgment.

Our first project was built in one weekend, quickly gained traction with 600 users per minute without marketing, and I almost deleted the Captions app due to its $10,000 monthly cost, but instead designed a paywall to see if users would pay for it, allowing us to keep it running without incurring costs.