AI note-taking startup Fireflies received a $1 billion valuation earlier this year after the launch of its “Talk to Fireflies” AI meeting companion app. This is an impressive feat for a company started by “two broke guys” – especially as one of its co-founders recently revealed that its AI transcription service was originally powered by both founders typing notes by hand.
“We charged $100 a month for an AI that was literally just two people surviving on pizza,” Firefly co-founder Sam Udotong proudly announced in a LinkedIn post earlier this week (via Futurism ).
Or, you know, provide that AI service that they promised their customers they would get. And while it’s tempting to cheer on the success of two young hopefuls who are working hard to take the principle of “fake it until you make it” to the extreme, scrolling through the comments reveals the potential pitfalls of announcing such a plan.
Automation expert Omar Aftab said, “Sitting in someone’s meeting without being invited is a violation of privacy. They wanted a bot in the meeting, not an uninvited person.” “This way you damage trust and legal complications can arise.”
“Good luck with all the lawsuits,” added another. “This may sound like a serious founder hustle story,” said software engineer Mauricio Idarraga. “But this really is one of the most careless and sound-deaf posts I’ve seen in some time.”
As Udotong’s post is now beginning to be widely reported on the interwebs, I can’t imagine it will take long for one of Fireflies’ original customers to read about his now-public hoodwinking, and I doubt they’ll be particularly pleased. However, some LinkedIn commenters see little fault with Fireflies’ questionable initial business practices.
“Super inspiring story,” says another co-founder and CEO. “Haters will always hate. And most other people won’t understand what it takes to go from 0-1 while trying to survive as a human being. In the end, your patience paid off — and you changed the world.”
Hmm, I’m not so sure about that. Still, it’s certainly at least getting people talking. Is there really no such thing as propaganda? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.