The Importance of Niching Down in the AI Space (with Maddie Bell)

“I just read the best fiction of my life and it was my pitch deck from two years ago.”

Join Johnny Page (@johnnypage13) and Matt Verlaque (@mattverlaque) on a new episode of the SaaS Academy Podcast as they sit down with Maddie Bell, CEO of Scheduler.ai. Maddie's journey from Procter & Gamble to co-founding a thriving startup is packed with valuable lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Discover how Maddie and her husband successfully balance the challenges of building a company while raising a family. Learn how they've leveraged AI to streamline scheduling and cater to a niche market, proving that technology and personal life can coexist harmoniously.

Maddie opens up about the risks and rewards of leaving a stable job to pursue her passion, sharing her experiences from fundraising rounds and the valuable lessons she's learned along the way.

But it's not just about the tech – Maddie delves into the importance of aligning AI with the core principles of customer connection and business growth. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of AI, entrepreneurship, and achieving a fulfilling work-life balance

(05:40) - Maddie Bell's backstory

(6:34) - Winning two Hackathons (Slack and Square)

(10:32) - Unexpected expansion through 'niching down'

(13:26) - De-risking and setting timelines to go all-in

(21:35) - Expectations before leaving Procter & Gamble and feelings after the fact

(24:30) - Fundraising rounds before and after the change of focus

(26:50) - To patent or not to patent (ROI considerations)

(31:26) - The right and wrong ways to leverage AI

(35:20) - The entry point to start using AI

(37:10) - The three phases of AI (including the two we've seen so far)

(42:45) - Scheduler AI competing with basic ChatGPT wrapped tooling

(47:48) - Intimately understanding the jobs to be done for your customer

(51:40) - The rhythms and habits of Maddie and her co-founder Mike Bell

(55:18) - Maddie's thoughts on 'founders are the ceilings of growth'

(57:15) - The value of coaching

(1:01:48) - "You were digging for oil and you were close but you stopped."

(1:07:30) - What Maddie wants to be remembered for

Check out Maddie’s LinkedIn and her website:

➤ [LinkedIn] (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maddiebell)

➤ [Website] (https://www.scheduler.ai/)

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The Importance of Niching Down in the AI Space (with Maddie Bell) | Ep 26

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