Navigating the AI Deposition Frontier: 6 Lessons from Building a Legal Tech Startup
The journey of building a tech startup is often a winding path, filled with unexpected challenges and rewarding breakthroughs. In the realm of AI, this journey takes on an added layer of complexity. Here's a look at seven key lessons we've learned while building Depo IQ, an AI-powered platform revolutionizing the way businesses operate.
PLUS: Stay tuned for a deep dive into how AI is transforming the healthcare industry, and how Depo IQ is at the forefront of this revolution.
1. Unraveling the Mystery of Deposition A.I. Use Case
Understanding user interactions is crucial for any tech startup. For Depo IQ, this meant creating different roles on our platform to monitor and improve user interactions without compromising privacy. This change revolutionized our understanding of our product and users.
2. Bidding Farewell to Outdated Deposition Tools
As Depo IQ grew, so did the need for a more efficient scheduling system. We developed an automated scheduling feature on our platform, eliminating hours of back-and-forth and freeing up valuable time to focus on improving our model.
3. Bridging the Gap between Startup and Traditional Cultures
The culture of startups is vastly different from traditional industries. We learned to adapt our processes to be more asynchronous, saving time and resources.
4. Recognizing the Value of Our Product
In the bustling world of startups, the pace is fast, and the communication is often asynchronous. Decisions are made on the fly, meetings are held across different time zones, and the traditional 9-to-5 workday is a thing of the past. This is the DNA of startups - a culture of rapid response and constant innovation.
On the other hand, traditional industries operate on a more synchronous rhythm. Regularly scheduled meetings, set work hours, and a slower pace of decision-making are the norm. This difference in cultures became evident when we started managing our operations at Depo IQ.
We soon realized that we were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole - attempting to transplant synchronous processes from traditional industries into a startup culture that thrives on asynchrony. This approach was not only inefficient but also a drain on our resources.
Recognizing this, we shifted our approach. We began to encourage more informal, asynchronous discussions among our team members. We also made a concerted effort to instill the culture of asynchrony in our team, emphasizing its importance in a startup environment.
This shift was not without its challenges. As natural as asynchronous communication may seem to those immersed in the startup world, it was a new concept for many of our team members. However, with time and education, we were able to successfully merge these two distinct cultures.
The result? A more efficient, agile team that could respond quickly to changes and make decisions on the fly. This cultural shift not only improved our internal operations but also allowed us to better serve our clients in the fast-paced world of AI.
5. Diversifying Our Use Cases
In the initial stages of building Depo IQ, our team, with a strong focus on machine learning, was always buzzing with exploratory projects outside of our core product development. These projects were seen as the "extra" features, the cherries on top of our main product - the communication platform. One such exploratory model was our speech-to-text function, an AI-powered feature that extracts and structures consultation data to automatically deliver a report.
However, as we delved deeper into testing this feature, we discovered that it was far more than just a "nice to have" addition. This machine learning model was a game-changer, a time-saver, and a stress-reliever all rolled into one.
During our product demos, we initially presented this feature towards the end, almost as an afterthought. But as we began to understand its true value, we realized that this feature was not just a ribbon on a gift, it was the gift itself. It was solving a significant problem for our customers - reducing clinical time spent on administrative tasks, thereby driving business gains.
This realization was a pivotal moment for us. It made us understand that what we had been developing in our "secret lab" thinking "someday", was actually the core of our product and the key to our business today. It was a lesson in recognizing the value of our own product and understanding the needs of our customers.
Today, our AI-powered features are no longer the cherries on top, they are the cake itself. They are what makes Depo IQ stand out in the crowded tech market, and they are what our customers love about us.
6. Embracing Regulations
Regulations can be daunting, but they are crucial for building trust with users. We learned to view regulations as allies, not obstacles, and built our product with privacy-by-design principles.
Building Depo IQ has been a journey of continuous learning and adaptation. These lessons have shaped our product and our company, and we hope they can provide valuable insights for other tech startups navigating the AI frontier.
