Ready to launch your own podcast? Book a strategy call.
Frontlines.io | Where B2B Founders Talk GTM.
Strategic Communications Advisory For Visionary Founders
Conversation
Highlights
Building in the AI Winter: How Early Conviction and Product Focus Led to Market Validation
Five years before ChatGPT captured global attention, Hikari Senju was already building in generative AI. During a recent episode of Category Visionaries, the Omneky founder shared how maintaining unwavering focus through periods of market skepticism ultimately led to product-market validation.
When most investors viewed AI as perpetually “over-promised and under-delivered,” Hikari saw a different future. “I thought that generative AI would be a massively huge thing,” he recalls. “I knew that if this technology is exponentially improved by a couple of magnitudes, the applications are pretty ginormous in a variety of industries.”
Rather than wavering in the face of skepticism, Hikari adopted a two-pronged approach: build a sustainable business while staying laser-focused on the long-term vision. The company achieved profitability within its first year, creating breathing room to pursue their larger mission. “We had structured the company in a way where it was profitable and had good mortgages and good cash flow from very beginning,” Hikari explains. “So there was less of an existential concern there.”
This foundation allowed Omneky to take a methodical approach to product development. Instead of trying to build everything at once, they evolved their technology stack alongside advancing AI capabilities. “Initially when we launched the product, it was just GPT-1 and stock images,” Hikari shares. “Then it began with GPT-2, GPT-3, GPT-4, and then regarding the image generation with stock images, then it was Dolly, and now it’s our fine-tuned kind of stable diffusion based models on our own, hosted our own GPUs.”
The team’s conviction was rooted in a deep understanding of technological evolution. Drawing parallels to his grandfather’s experience at IBM, Hikari notes: “Every time spending time with grandfather was all about Moore’s law. Innovate or die. You have to always be innovating. The world changes every six months, and you’re always in the sprint for building the next product, even with the assumption that the product will go out of date in a year.”
This perspective helped maintain momentum through challenging periods. Rather than being discouraged by market skepticism, Hikari found validation in historical patterns. “By definition you become a successful entrepreneur because you saw an opportunity before anyone else did,” he explains. “And so therefore, by definition, they spent the first couple of years being rejected.”
The focus remained squarely on product development and customer value. “Just consistently communicating to the market that we are the leading generative AI company for advertisers year over year. Not really deviating from that message has helped,” Hikari shares. “Building data integrations with all these different ad networks and platforms take time. Not anybody can get access to these ad networks.”
This patient approach paid off as market sentiment shifted. When ChatGPT launched and validated the potential of generative AI, Omneky had already built deep technical infrastructure and customer relationships. The company’s early positioning began resonating more widely: “The market started to understand the messaging and the value problems we’ve been communicating consistently for the past several couple years.”
For founders building in emerging spaces, Hikari’s experience offers valuable insight into maintaining conviction while building sustainable businesses. Rather than chasing rapid growth at all costs, the focus was on creating genuine value while methodically advancing their technical capabilities.
Looking ahead, Hikari sees an acceleration of individual entrepreneurship enabled by AI. “We’re going to see the explosion of single person entrepreneur. We’re going to see single people, companies become unicorns,” he predicts. “Because what these generative models enable and empower is that kind of leverage for brilliant visionaries.”
The journey from building in the AI winter to market validation reinforces a crucial lesson for founders: sometimes the most valuable opportunities require maintaining conviction through extended periods of market skepticism. The key is building sustainable businesses that can survive long enough to see that validation arrive.
Actionable
Takeaways
Leverage Personal Passion:
Convert personal interests and passions into business opportunities, as Hikari did with his fascination for generative AI, blending technology with creativity.
Emphasize Scalable Solutions:
Build solutions that can easily integrate into existing workflows to ensure they are adoptable at scale, which is critical for technologies like AI in established industries.
Focus on Continuous Innovation:
Stay ahead in technology-driven fields by continuously innovating and updating your offerings as new technologies and methodologies become available.
Utilize Feedback Loops:
Implement robust mechanisms for gathering and incorporating customer feedback to refine and enhance product offerings continually.
Build a Strong Brand Identity:
From the outset, focus on building a strong brand identity that communicates your unique value proposition clearly and consistently, as this helps in long-term market recognition and trust.
Recommended Founder
Interviews
Michael Bamberger
CEO and Founder of Tetra Insights
Michael Bamberger, CEO and Founder of Tetra Insights: $7 Million Raised to Power the Future of Qualitative Research
Leena Joshi
CEO of CloseFactor
Leena Joshi, CEO of CloseFactor: $15+ Million Raised to Automate Repetitive Sales Processes
Zack Rosenberg
CEO and Founder of Qortex
Zack Rosenberg, CEO & Founder of Qortex: $11 Million Raised to Build the Future of Video Analytics
Dan Rua
CEO of Admiral
Dan Rua, CEO of Admiral: $28 Million Raised to Build the Future of Visitor Relationship Management
Daniel Erickson
Founder and CEO of Viable
Daniel Erickson, CEO of Viable: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of Customer Feedback Analysis
Pierce Ujjainwalla
CEO of Knak
Pierce Ujjainwalla, CEO of Knak: $25 Million Raised to Empower Enterprise Marketers with Codeless Email and Landing Page Creation
Cory Schmidt
Head of Marketing of Heyflow
Mastering Organic Growth: Insights from Heyflow’s Head of Marketing
Tom Lee
Co-Founder of LOVO AI
Tom Lee, Co-Founder of LOVO AI: $7 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Voiceovers
Jonas Rinde
CEO of Nomono
Jonas Rinde, CEO of Nomono: $15 million Raised to Power the Future of Podcasting
Ashish Nagar
Founder & CEO of Level AI
Ashish Nagar, CEO of Level AI: $35 Million Raised to Power Contact Centers of the Future
Jared Siegal
CEO and Founder of Aditude
Jared Siegal, CEO and Founder of Aditude: $15 Million Raised to Build the Future of Publisher Monetization
Rajat Mishra
Founder & CEO of Prezent
Rajat Mishra, Founder & CEO at Prezent: Over $24 Million Raised to Build the Presentation Productivity Platform Category
Ishveen Jolly
CEO and Co-Founder of OpenSponsorship
Ishveen Jolly, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenSponsorship: Over $5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Sports Influencer Marketing
Luke Hansen
CEO and Founder of CompanyCam
Luke Hansen, CEO and Founder of CompanyCam: $38 Million Raised to Build the Future of Visual Communication for Contractors
Pulkit Agrawal
CEO & Co-Founder of Chameleon
Pulkit Agrawal, CEO & Co-Founder of Chameleon: $15 Million Raised to Build the Product Adoption Category
Taylor Lint
CEO and Founder of Swantide
Taylor Lint, CEO and Founder of Swantide: $7 Million Raised to Revolutionize How Companies Design and Build Their GTM Infrastructure
Spencer Dusebout
CEO & Founder of Aidium
Spencer Dusebout, CEO & Founder of Aidium: $19 Million Raised to Build the Future of Mortgage CRM
Andrew Forman
Founder of Givz
Andrew Forman, CEO of Givz: $3 Million Raised to Make Donating, Not Discounts, eCommerce Brands Ultimate Growth Lever
Jonathan Legge
Co-Founder and CEO of &Open
Jonathan Legge, Co-Founder and CEO at &Open: Over $35 Million Raised to Create the Future of Corporate Gifting
Vinay Jain
Founder of MadMen AI
Vinay Jain, Founder of MadMen AI: $4.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI-Powered Marketing Platforms
Creating the Marketing Automation Category with Mark Organ
CEO of Eloqua
Creating the Marketing Automation Category with Mark Organ
Ava Barnes
VP of Brand & Community of Alvys
From Psychology to 5X Growth: Inside Alvys’ Marketing Playbook
Sam Mallikarjunan
Co-Founder & CEO of OneScreen
Sam Mallikarjunan, Co-Founder & CEO of OneScreen: $10 Million Raised to Power the Future of Offline Advertising
Rob Sadow
CEO & Co-Founder of Scoop
Rob Sadow, CEO & Co-Founder of Scoop: $8 Million Raised to Build the Future of Hybrid Team Coordination
John Jahnke
CEO and Co-Founder of Tackle.io
John Jahnke, CEO and Co-Founder of Tackle.io: $148 Million Raised to Build the Future of Cloud Go-to-Market
Parry Bedi
Co-Founder and CEO of Tingono
Parry Bedi, CEO of Tingono: $7 Million Raised to Help Companies Boost Net Revenue Retention
Adrien Menard
CEO and Co-Founder of Botify
Adrien Menard, CEO and Co-Founder of Botify: $82 Million Raised to Build the Future of SEO
Marc Bernstein
CEO and Founder of Balto
Marc Bernstein, CEO and Founder of Balto: $52 Million Raised to Power the Future of Contact Centers
CEO and Co-Founder of Sendoso
Creating the Sending Management Category with Sendoso’s Kris Rudeegraap
Dan Malgran
VP of Marketing of Steno
Dan Malgran, VP of Marketing at Steno: Elevating Legal Tech with Revenue-Driven Marketing Strategies
Omed Habib
VP of Sapient AI
Omed Habib, VP of Marketing at Sapient AI: A Technical Founder’s Guide to B2B SaaS Marketing
Ariana Faustini
Head of Golioth
Ariana Faustini, Head of Global Marketing at Golioth: Embracing Authenticity in Developer Marketing
Tyler Strand
Co-Founder and CTO of Air
Tyler Strand, Co-Founder and CTO at Air: $38 Million raised to Build the Creative Operations Category
Lars Grønnegaard Hansen
CEO and Co-Founder of Dreamdata
Lars Grønnegaard Hansen, CEO & Co-Founder of Dreamdata: $12 Million Raised to Build the Future of B2B Revenue Attribution
Chris Golec
CEO and Founder of Channel99
Chris Golec, CEO and Founder of Channel99: $5 Million Raised to Power the Future of B2B Marketing
Alex Reynolds
Alex Reynolds, CEO & Co-Founder of Vendelux: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Event Intelligence
Chris Strahl
CEO of Knapsack
Chris Strahl, CEO of Knapsack: $7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Design Systems
Tine Karlsen
Co-Founder & CEO of Vev
Tine Karlsen, CEO and Co-Founder of Vev: $7 Million Raised to Power the Future of No-Code Visual Design
Creating the Go to Market Category with ZoomInfo’s Bryan Law
CMO of ZoomInfo
Creating the Go to Market Category with ZoomInfo’s Bryan Law
Andy Mowat
CEO and Co-Founder of Gated
Andy Mowat, CEO and Co-Founder of Gated: Over $3 Million Raised to Build Noise Cancelling Headphones for Email
Sangram Vajre
Co Founder and CEO of GTM Partners
Behind the Category: Creating the Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Category with Sangram Vajre
Thomas Millay
CEO of DemandJump
Thomas Millay, CEO at DemandJump: Over $25 Million Raised to Power the Future of Content Strategy
Robert Thelen
CEO & Founder of Rownd
Robert Thelen, CEO & Founder of Rownd: $3.3 Million Raised to Build the Future of App Onboarding
Patrick Woods
CEO and Co-Founder of Orbit
Patrick Woods, CEO and Co-Founder of Orbit: Over $22 Million Raised to Power the Future of Communities
Ori Entis
CEO and Co-Founder of Staircase AI
Ori Entis, CEO and Co-Founder of Staircase AI: $5 Million Raised to Power the Future of Customer Revenue Growth
Sam Fonoimoana
Founder & CEO of Datajoin
Sam Fonoimoana, Founder & CEO of Datajoin: $3.5 Million Raised to Help Brands Leverage Customer Behavioral Insights
Stephen Karaolis
Marketing Director of Cleary
Stephen Karaolis, Marketing Director at Cleary: Mastering Speed to Market – The Key to Dynamic Content Strategy
Katy Carrigan
CEO of Goody
Katy Carrigan, CEO of Goody: $32 Million Raised to Build the Future of Corporate Gifting