Is over-spending on AI tokens the new version of throwing money at IBM?
@Get_Writer CEO May Habib (@may_habib) thinks so.
"Almost every one of our customers has everything under the sun, and they don't get results," she says.
Habib says she's met Anthropic customers that have spent $3M more than expected in 2 weeks simply by running Excel with Claude.
"If you're not learning the right lessons, then that is not money that is well spent," she argues.
It's up to CEOs and CFOs to step in at big organizations to curb spending -- or face consequences.
"The answer to no one got fired for buying IBM, should be people f***ing getting fired for buying IBM."
This season of The Upstarts Podcast is presented by @Rippling.
"Survive. Don't sell. Don't quit."
@Get_Writer CEO May Habib (@may_habib) has lived this mantra through a pivot, casual VC bias, and living in the shadow of the buzzier, brasher AI labs.
"Anthropic and OpenAI salespeople walk in like heroes, get a contract, and leave to literally never be seen again,” she says.
She's built Writer into a $1.9B valued business with customers like Accenture, Cigna and Vanguard anyway, by focusing on old-fashioned ROI, and AI tools built for "normal" people: non-coders who she argues are otherwise in danger of getting left behind.
On this can't-miss episode of The Upstarts Podcast, Habib isn't pulling any punches 🥊
We talk tokenomics "insanity," and why she believes more accountability is needed In AI spending: "People should be getting f***ing fired."
We also cover her pivot from Qordoba to Writer, and why Writer trains its own models, but doesn't want to be a lab.
And she calls out as venture capital's ongoing gender bias -- including one famous firm that wrote that her mom status was "inspiring" while they passed 👀
This season is presented by @Rippling 🫡
TIME STAMPS: 00:00 Introduction 1:55 How Writer helps ‘normal’ people 9:31 The temperature in the C-suite around AI 16:56 The killer use case for Writer’s tools 21:16 Pivoting from Qordoba to Writer 22:31 Vinod Khosla, Sequoia, and bias in VC 27:43 ‘Survive, don’t sell, don’t quit’ 30:33 Why Writer trains models, but isn’t a lab 33:38 Anthropic, OpenAI and how Writer can compete 40:52 Why people should be fired for buying AI badly
Enjoy!
