Howie: The AI Secretary | Austin Petersmith, Co-founder and CEO

Austin Petersmith is the Co-founder and CEO of Howie, the AI secretary.

We talk about why AI assistants are so hard to build, why they decided to build Howie super narrow, and everything that went into their brand, name, and viral launch.

Thank you to Adam D’Augelli, Sophia Amoruso and Alex Cohen for help brainstorming topics for the conversation.

Thank you to Hanover Park for supporting this episode. Try the modern, AI-native fund admin at hanoverpark.com/Turner

Timestamps:
(3:35) Howie: The AI Secretary
(6:08) Why AI assistants are so hard to build
(16:19) Why Howie started in email
(20:49) Adding a human in the loop
(30:48) AI software vs AI-powered humans
(36:21) How a meme inspired Howie
(39:29) Inside the making of Howie’s launch video
(44:15) Howie’s viral launch video + Discussion
(53:47) Designing the brand
(1:01:37) Long-term opportunity and roadmap
(1:07:53) Working for Jason Calacanis
(1:12:00) Jason's media lessons
(1:16:51) Getting Howie's first users
(1:19:35) Pitch deck strategy that raised $6m
(1:24:09) The mistake of optimizing for growth too soon
(1:29:48) Building an AI company outside of SF
(1:33:13) Being Superhuman’s 1st customer, Mercury’s 3rd

Referenced
Try Howie: howie.com
Jobs at Howie: app.dover.com/jobs/howie
Howie Dewitt Meme: knowyourmeme.com/memes/howie-dewitt
NewKid: newkid.services

Follow Austin
Twitter: x.com/awwstn
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/awwstn

Follow Turner
Twitter: twitter.com/TurnerNovak
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/turnernovak

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week: thespl.it