In this episode of the DevReady Podcast, host Anthony Sapountzis welcomes Jack Bear, Managing Director, Norg.ai to explore the transformative journey from web development to AI innovation. Jack shares invaluable insights on leveraging AI to enhance e-commerce solutions, the importance of data-driven results, and navigating the complexities of integrating large language models. Tune in to discover the strategic pivots and future directions of Norg.ai in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.

 

Jack shares the story of Norg.ai, a startup that has grown over the past 13-14 months with a team of 14 in Australia and several overseas contractors. Initially evolving from a web development agency, Norg.ai used surplus funds and project work to develop its own AI products, driven by the need to stay competitive and meet client demands. Jack emphasizes the transformative impact of AI on their services, particularly in SEO and content writing.

 

Anthony and Jack discuss Norg.ai’s evolution and its current offerings. Initially focused on chatbots to address e-commerce pain points, they quickly pivoted due to market saturation and negative connotations associated with chatbots. Instead, they now focus on personalized product recommendations and optimizing customer interactions on e-commerce websites. Jack highlights the importance of data-backed results, such as increased sales and support efficiency, drawing parallels to how Amazon’s "people also bought" feature enhances the shopping experience.

 

The conversation shifts to the complexities of integrating large language models (LLMs) into AI products. Jack shares his experiences pitching AI solutions to the Victorian Government and addresses the skepticism around LLMs due to inconsistencies and hallucinations. Norg.ai tackles these challenges by implementing sanity checks to ensure reliability. Jack underscores the importance of personalized, accurate interactions in AI, particularly for enterprise clients, and the need for innovative, in-house solutions to address emerging problems.

 

Jack also shares the challenges of transitioning his team from an agency structure to developing AI solutions at Norg.ai. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining team cohesion and adapting to a less predictable startup environment. Customer feedback and iterative testing are crucial in refining their product, with initial experiments leading to several pivots. Jack discusses the competitive landscape and the strategic advantage of maintaining an agnostic approach to AI integration. He also highlights the prevalence of companies rebranding existing products with AI buzzwords without substantial functionality, cautioning against the "smoke and mirrors" prevalent in the market.

 

Finally, Jack emphasizes the critical importance of stakeholder feedback in the product development process, planning to focus entirely on iterating based on this feedback for the next six to nine months. He shares a retrospective strategy of creating multiple waiting lists for different product concepts to gauge market interest and gather feature preferences. This cost-effective approach helps validate product ideas before full development. Jack also discusses an upcoming feature: leveraging AI to provide highly personalized shopping recommendations and search results based on user behavior and preferences, highlighting AI’s transformative potential when deeply integrated into product functionality.