5 Lessons from Building an AI Company

When I started ReThynk AI, I didn’t have investors, a big tech background, or a Silicon Valley zip code.
What I did have was:

• A laptop
• A vision
• A mission to help 10 million people move from AI fear to AI fluency

Since then, ReThynk AI has grown into:

• A bestselling AI book series (40+ titles)
• A growing global community
• A lab experimenting with real-world AI solutions

Here are the 5 biggest lessons I’ve learned — whether you’re building an AI startup or any purpose-driven business.

1️⃣ Clarity Beats Complexity
When I started, I tried to explain ReThynk AI with complex words.
Nobody remembered them.

Now, it’s just:

We make AI simple, accessible, and scalable.

Lesson: If your mission can’t fit on a coffee mug, it’s too long.

2️⃣ Build in Public — Even Before You’re Ready
I started sharing AI prompts, small experiments, and early wins before the company was “official.”

People followed the journey. They didn’t care that it wasn’t perfect; they cared that it was real.

Lesson: Your audience wants to join the ride, not just see the destination.

3️⃣ Create Value Before Selling Anything
Before we launched products, we gave away:

• Free prompt libraries
• AI how-to guides
• Case studies from our experiments

That generosity built trust — and when the books came out, the audience was ready to buy.

Lesson: Give value first. Revenue follows trust.

4️⃣ Systems Scale, Hustle Burns Out
In the early days, I was everywhere: writing books, posting daily, building the website, running the lab.

Then I built AI-powered systems to:

• Automate research
• Batch content creation
• Streamline client onboarding

Lesson: Hustle starts the fire, but systems keep it burning.

5️⃣ Stay Mission-First, Tool-Second
AI is moving fast.
It’s tempting to chase every new tool or trend.

But I ask: Does this align with our mission?
If yes, we test it. If not, we pass.

Lesson: Tools change. Your mission should be unshakable.

📌 Final Thought
ReThynk AI started with no Plan B.
Today, it’s a growing movement because we stayed clear, consistent, and committed to solving real problems with AI.

If you’re building something — in AI or beyond — these 5 principles will keep you grounded when everything else changes.

📘 Want to See Our Playbooks?
All the frameworks, prompts, and systems we use at ReThynk AI are available here:
👉 Browse the full library here

📌 Next Post: “How to Turn Your Expertise into an AI Book” — my full process for going from idea to published author.

Follow me here for daily AI strategies and behind-the-scenes from the ReThynk AI Lab.

Comments

[Stephen Stilwell]

So I navigated to your website, and what I learned is:
you're a consultant in B2B.
you want to digitally transform other businesses using AI.

It's difficult to determine who you are besides that..

There's seems to be some extra business here that sells prompt engineering services?

[vijo]

The link is misleading. No prompt or system library is available. It is clickbait. Spam!

[Jaideep Parashar]

Building an AI-based business needs more than AI itself.