What's New for SaaS in the AI Era | A Conversation with Serial Entrepreneur Tony Gu, Who's Been Building in AI Since 2018, on "Doing Smart Things the Dumb Way"
May 5, 2024
Tony started his career at Israeli USD fund Go Capital and later GSR Ventures, where he focused on AI and SaaS investments. After leaving VC, in 2018 he co-founded Yizhi Intelligence, an AI voice intelligence company. Once Yizhi became the top player in its niche and broke 100 million RMB in annual revenue, Tony wasn't content to rest. Energized by the wave of generative AI, he chose to start over and chase something bigger.
His new company, FreeSpirit AI, builds fully autonomous sales agents powered by large language models — AI that helps businesses sell high-ticket, non-standardized products priced above 3,000 RMB. As he puts it: "I'm not selling SaaS software anymore. I'm delivering sales results." "Selling copilots has no future. You need to deliver outcomes."
FreeSpirit AI is already quietly serving two enterprise clients, but Tony isn't rushing to launch an official website. The first thing he did after incorporating? He took his entire team to work as customer service reps and salespeople at a client's company for two months — "using dumb methods to do smart things."
To recruit the right engineer, he hustled through hackathons and built his Jike following from zero to 1,000, interviewing 80 candidates before landing the one he wanted.
In a frenzied AI startup landscape, Tony represents a radically different style: methodical, framework-driven, patient in building his team, patient in finding product-market fit.
Tony is still looking for more engineers with "light in their eyes." Interested? Add him on WeChat: tonygguu.
Timeline:
2:21 After co-founding Yizhi Intelligence and scaling it past 100 million RMB in revenue, why leave and start FreeSpirit AI?
4:02 First rule of AI entrepreneurship: the entire team goes to the client site for two months of sales
5:00 Why selling AI software has no future
7:30 For AI sales SaaS, the competitor isn't other SaaS — it's outsourcing companies
16:08 How to find the "right" client?
18:24 Can an AI sales SaaS company use its own product to sell itself?
19:29 What's different about AI-era startup teams? How do you build one?
26:55 Interviewed 80 AI engineers, hired 1
32:22 How did Yizhi Intelligence hit 100 million RMB revenue and turn profitable?
44:34 Why a SaaS pricing model can shape company culture — and even determine survival
51:27 The single best career decision you've ever made?
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We interview and bring together "active doers" of the AI era — today's Doraemons: curious, imaginative, anxious and complain-y at times, but mostly busy taking action and solving problems, giving us momentum to move forward.
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We track the industry shifts and entrepreneurial opportunities brought by the new wave of AI technology. "Crossroads" is Steve Jobs's metaphor for Apple — standing at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, where great products are born. AI is transforming every industry. We seek out, interview, and gather "active doers" of the AI era to explore and embrace the new changes and new possibilities, together.
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