The question isn’t if you should use AI, but rather how powerfully you can use it to amplify your business growth. On a recent episode of the Awakened Titans, Lily Patrascu invited AI-driven growth expert, Lillian Pierson, to unveil the 8 often overlooked AI tools for startups to drive triple digit growth in 2025.
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Here’s a breakdown of the tools and strategies that startups should prioritize on their journey to scalable success.
First, The Categories of AI Tool for Startups
Before diving into specifics, let’s categorize the AI tools for startups, which of course cater to—from budding entrepreneurs to established business titans. Pierson categorizes the use cases based on business size and maturity:
- Early-Stage Startups: Starting at revenue marks less than $4MM ARR per year.
- High-Growth Startups: $4MM+ ARR per year
The beauty of Pierson’s recommended tools is their scalability—solutions apt for modest startups are often just as potent for their larger counterparts.
1. OpenAI’s GPT: A Fundamental Tool
An undeniable frontrunner in Pierson’s toolkit is OpenAI’s GPT-4.0, especially its custom GPT features. Pierson champions this tool not necessarily for its political or operational directives but for its unmatched capacity to customize language models:
- Custom GPTs: These allow uploading of customer personas, value propositions, and more. This enables them to generate content closely aligned with business strategies. The result is tailored marketing copy that mirrors the finesse of a professional copywriter.
2. Perplexity and Chat-Based Tools for Strategy Development
AI isn’t limited to execution—it also plays a pivotal role in strategizing. Pierson highlights tools like Perplexity and chat-based GPT-4.0 which are invaluable for conducting market research. By allowing businesses to engage in insightful, argument-based decision-making, these tools push strategic thinking to new heights.
3. Marketing Optimization and Revenue Growth with AI
AI shines brightly in marketing optimization. Surfer AI, for instance, infuses human-like quality in content creation, particularly suited for SEO-optimized blogs. Meanwhile, tools like Dynamic Pricing AI focus on sales enablement. They offer machine-learning features that enable Shopify entrepreneurs and SaaS businesses to fine-tune pricing, increasing both revenue and customer engagement.
4. Empowering Entrepreneurs with Video and Voice AI
For entrepreneurs like the podcast’s own host, Lily, AI’s potential in video creation is particularly intriguing. Whether it’s generating video content from scripts or replicating voices, tools like those under development by AI startups provide a promising outlook for content generation….
Despite technical hiccups—exemplified by Lily’s less-than-flattering AI-generated videos — Pierson’s insights offer a glimpse into future possibilities for seamless video integration into business strategies.
5. AI Tools for Startups Looking to Optimize Sales Conversions
Discussing AI tools for startups that drive sales conversions, Pierson introduces Humanic AI, which aids SaaS products in tracking customer journeys, targeting communications to fend off churn, and driving activation / free tial to paid conversions.
Despite her caution around cold outreach and AI-driven business development (BDR) tools, Pierson doesn’t dismiss AI’s potential in optimizing sales processes.
6. ThriveStack: Streamlining SaaS Onboarding
In the SaaS ecosystem, where time is of the essence, tools like ThriveStack emerge as essential. This platform automates client onboarding, manages password logistics, and segments user bases for targeted marketing efforts, thus simplifying what is typically a resource-heavy process.
7. Workflow Automation with Make
For entrepreneurs eager to leverage automation, tools like Make provide a fascinating workaround. These platforms connect various AI tools to trigger automated workflows. From newsletter generation to streamlining client interactions, such tools significantly reduce the time expense of routine operations.
8. Embracing Video Editing AI
On the content creation frontier, Pierson explores video editing tools such as KapWing, which promise innovative solutions in auto-editing and storytelling through video. These tools are invaluable for solopreneurs, specifically in producing engaging content without extensive manual input.
Final Thoughts
As we prepare for the technological climate of 2025, it’s imperative for businesses to adopt a strategic approach to AI integration. Whether it’s the AI tools for startups that are proven to imptove marketing efficiency, refine strategic operations, or increase sales conversions, AI’s versatility is its greatest strength. And, if you’re ready to move beyond simple AI tools for startups, and start leveraging data and AI strategically to drive some serious growth then, be sure to read Lillian’s new book, The Data & AI Imperative: Designing Strategies for Exponential Growth (pre-order now on Amazon).
