Our AI Content Enhancement Tool Just Raised $10M In Funding [India]

Sharmin Ali

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Published: April 21st, 2022

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Sharmin Ali

Founder, Instoried

Founders

Employees

Instoried

instoried.com

from Bangalore, Karnataka, India

started

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools Sharmin recommends to grow your business!

Discover what books Sharmin recommends to grow your business!

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In my personal experience, the CEO stands for Chief Everything Officer. Be it HR, finance, accounting, sales, marketing, or fundraising. I've been working on anything and everything. I've always felt the need to be wholly immersed in every aspect of this company. That comes from having to give up so much to start it. So as CEO, what am I doing? Everything! I have full skin in the game, and I want to ensure every aspect of our operation is in sync to succeed because there is no plan B.

But it's great knowing you are the boss and the one getting money on the table for every one of your 35 employees. It hasn't been easy. I've had sleepless nights thinking about what the bank balance is not looking like. Thankfully, we are at a stage where we have raised enough money, and I'm thankful we are in a comfortable position moneywise today, albeit not taking it for granted.

What's your backstory and how did you get into entrepreneurship?

I earned an engineering degree in India that led to work in data analytics consulting. I transitioned to Wall Street, where I had the opportunity to work for Fortune 100 companies like Pfizer, Walmart, and Allstate. I also received an MBA offer from an Ivy League school. I didn't think I'd be happy with graduate studies (although glad to hire a couple of MBAs) and couldn't conceive of doing anything with my life except entrepreneurship. So I decided to quit and create something from scratch.

Do some real work and try to create a real difference.

Quitting everything was not easy. Whatever life savings I had, I put everything into this business. I even pawned my gold jewelry and invested my fixed deposits and investments. My parents thought I had gone crazy and asked, "What is wrong with you? What are you doing?" Nevertheless, I was able to pursue several ventures related to screenwriting and media in India, which ultimately led to me wanting to be on the platform/content creation side of things. I am now the happy owner of a tech startup, raised a lot of money, and looking to further expand in other markets, including the U.S.

Take us through your entrepreneurial journey. How did you go from day 1 to today?

This is my second startup, so I brought experience and hard lessons learned about how to run a company with me. I also had a good idea in place. However, translating that idea into a sellable product didn't happen overnight, and I think the timing was the biggest factor in our favor. We started the company just before COVID. When the pandemic first struck, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because many brick-and-mortar businesses were shutting down. Since they could not get any foot traffic, they all decided to move online (if they weren’t already).

That gave rise to the uninitiated asking, "How do you sell online?" The answer: if you have good, quality content, the type that resonates with your audience, then you can move them to do anything and everything. There was this influx of marketers wanting online platforms and tools that could help them develop that content. That's where we came in. With lockdown in place and demand for our type of product, we could get feedback from live customers more easily and test things very quickly. That was the catalyst for our growth—during this time, we grew 300%.

Of course, it was not only the demand that allowed us to take off. We already had invested many resources to carefully develop our product. I interviewed over 500 content marketers globally to understand and model how they were connecting with audiences within a content and marketing communication context. I even went to Harvard to study neuromarketing which helped me better understand how to create content that can connect with the emotional brain and engage audiences. This is how we arrived at our product, focusing on targeting the five basic emotions. In short, the timing and resources invested influenced the whole picturization of what the product would be about and how we would get it to become globally accepted.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

We are doing well today, which is not something I could have said three years ago (when we were initially bootstrapped). We have 50 customers, recently raised $10 million and now we are a team of 35. We have over half a million users and we’re establishing channels in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

We have a very clear roadmap in place about how to expand in the U.S., including incorporation in the next quarter. We are also hiring for a few key positions. We are looking at expanding and going all out.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

My understanding of entrepreneurship might be radically different than most. In my opinion, anyone who says that they can survive without money is trying to fool themselves. You either have customers who are paying enough to sustain you or you are raising money. For me, funding has been very important because we are a deep tech startup. All the AI experts we’ve hired are very expensive, and it is not possible to sustain hiring and other expenses without having the right influx of money every month. Especially in the beginning, when it’s not easy to attract customers, it is crucial to raise money.

Secondly, it is important to hire very smart people. Without that kind of team, you will not be able to sustain all the technical aspects of product development.

Lastly, I would say be grounded. You could pursue money and fame, but these things are transient. You might be doing amazingly well today; tomorrow, you might not. The only thing that prevails in life is human relationships. So, it’s very important to be empathetic, humble, and kind towards people.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

We have a very strong tech team and are proud to say the whole technology has been built in-house, which took us about 18 months to produce. We boast an exclusive data set of over 30 million-plus points. We believe that the strength of the technology should lie with the company. It’s what sets us apart from our competitors. Although everything is hosted on AWS, the technology has been built completely in-house.

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

I'm a voracious reader, so there are so many books I could mention, but one that I like is Dragons of Eden by Carl Sagan. It's a pretty old book, and I read it some years ago, but I still remember its discussion of the triune brain model. He explains the whole evolution of man as just a small blip in the grand scheme of things, although human beings ended up acting like we own the whole universe. It was an amazing perspective. It is actually where my love for the human brain and neuromarketing started.

Two, I'm a huge fan of Steve Jobs, as I think every entrepreneur out there is. His Stanford speech is the best talk I’ve ever heard on love, loss, and passion. The man was an icon of passion. I think I must have heard it three dozen times. It's incredible. My biggest regret is that I couldn't meet him.

Three, I'm very highly inspired by my mother. I think women have that inherent capacity to do wonders in the world and my mother is one of those women. She is a lawyer, although she quit her practice a long time ago. And she brought up two very strong-headed daughters. I think we completely got that from our mother. She is a very strong woman and I think all women should be like that.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

First thing, identify a real problem, don't just copy and paste another person's idea. That doesn't work in the long term. Authenticity is how you get ahead. Do some real work and try to create a real difference.

Number two is related to a question that I get asked very often: how did we manage to weather the COVID-19 storm? The only thing I can say is never gives up. I just never gave up during this time. Be it relationships or work or anything in life, don't give up. Keep going at it. If you don't even try, then you shouldn't complain. So, please don't give up. That is very, very important.

Number three: respect people. Value people, be empathetic no matter where you get in life. Don't take anyone for granted. Karma is a bitch. Don't mess with people. It comes back around.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

We are hiring a full-fledged sales team in the U.S., as well as a group of sales VPs in the U.S., Dubai, and India. We are hiring for everything sales right now.

Where can we go to learn more?

Please visit our website.