Launching an A.I. Content Suite

At Maker AI, I successfully launched an AI content creation suite, generating $200K in ARR within a brief 3-month period. As part of my responsibilities, I oversaw the entire process from ideation and hypothesis formulation to the final customer launch.

Background

Draft served as a content writing marketplace, connecting customers in need of various content, such as blog posts and marketing copy, with skilled writers to fulfill their requirements. 

During this period, OpenAI had already released GPT-3 in June 2020; however, it wasn't until the introduction of OpenAI's text davinci-002 model in March 2022 that AI copywriting achieved a level of quality suitable for professional applications. 

This development presented a significant opportunity for AI-powered content writing, enabling us to leverage OpenAI, train our own models, and create a comprehensive suite of AI-driven content solutions. So, we created Maker AI.

Maker AI served as an AI content creation suite mainly targeted towards content marketers and small business owners, enabling them to effortlessly generate AI-generated copy for various platforms, including blogs, social media posts, and product descriptions. 

My Role

As a product manager of a small, early-stage startup, I undertook the end-to-end development of an innovative AI-generated content service, overseeing every aspect from its conceptualization to its final execution.

 This involved conducting thorough user research, performing market analysis, collaborating on design and ideation, and crafting a comprehensive product roadmap and creating analytic dashboards to measure product health. Additionally, I worked closely with the engineering teams to ensure successful implementation of the service. 

After launch, I further developed the product roadmap after capturing user feedback and reviewing product analytics. 

User Research

Initially, we held the hypothesis that AI content creation could completely replace human intervention, thereby potentially obviating the need for manual content generation. To explore this idea, I conducted an extensive user research study, gathering feedback from over 30 individuals including writers, entrepreneurs, and content marketers. Their insights played a crucial role in shaping our understanding of the feasibility and desirability of AI-generated content.

However, user feedback provided a valuable revelation - users highly valued the AI's ability to rapidly generate ideas and drafts. It became evident that AI-generated content often lacked adherence to brand guidelines and tended to be excessively verbose. 

This crucial insight strongly influenced the design of our AI content workflows, leading us to prioritize the generation of multiple copywriting options for users, enabling them to choose the most suitable content that aligns with their brand guidelines and preferences.

Roadmapping and Pre-Launch

I played a pivotal role in overseeing the project's timeline and roadmap, from initial preparations to post-launch adjustments. 

Our initial launch consisted of two tools: an A.I. Blog post creation tool and a product description generator. Together with the engineering teams, I ensured the technical feasibility of user stories, while working alongside the design team to swiftly ideate design prototypes, incorporating valuable insights gathered from usability tests.

I also took charge of creating analytic dashboards in Heap to effectively track and monitor the product's health. These dashboards provided valuable insights and metrics for ongoing evaluation and optimization after launch.

Lastly, I was also charged with developing the go-to-market strategy. I closely coordinated with the sales, marketing, finance, and legal departments and aligned our efforts to develop a comprehensive plan around product positioning, promotion, and distribution.

Result

• Grew to $200K in ARR within 3 months

• As the primary manager of our A.I. copywriting tools, I managed the product roadmap, focusing on improving A.I. content quality and expanding the suite of tools, while also overseeing the implementation of monetization and developing the pricing strategy for Maker AI