New Apparel Startup Has GPT4 as it’s CEO
What happens when you ask AI to build a company from scratch?
That’s what VC investor João Ferrão dos Santos wanted to know.
“I asked GPT4 to become a CEO and create the most profitable company you can build with 1,000 USD and 1 human hour per day.”
Actually, I think many of us have asked AI a similar question. I know I’ve asked ChatGPT for a lot of business advice, purely out of curiosity.
The difference is, João Ferrão dos Santos actually took GPT4’s answer and started a real brand in March 2023. Every day he posts about his experiment on LinkedIn—and it’s definitely got me hooked.
If you’ve ever thought of building a cashflowing business with the aid of AI, this is one story you’ll definitely want to hear!
AIsthetic Apparel, the brand run by AI
When João Ferrão dos Santos asked GPT4 to become a CEO and create a profitable company, GPT4 offered several different options, including starting a social media management business or offering online courses. The option that dos Santos went with was GPT4’s last suggestion: starting a print-on-demand store.
Dos Santos then prompted GPT4 to generate a name (AIsthetic Apparel) and a business strategy for the new store.
“GPT4 drafted a 10 step business plan and suggested I use Shopify and Printful, selling exclusively print-on-demand.”
Interestingly, it was dos Santos’ decision to stick with apparel only for the print-on-demand store, instead of offering other items like mugs or art prints. So AI didn’t make all of the major business decisions for this startup.
He also decided to use entirely AI-generated designs for the t-shirts. GPT4 creates the prompts, which are fed to Midjourney to generate the designs.
Originally, dos Santos did ask for a business that could be started with only $1000. But he later consulted GPT4 about seeking out some angel investors for AIsthetic Apparel. He ended up bringing three angel investors on board, raising $2500.
For screenshots of his conversations with GPT4, click here to read dos Santos’ Substack post detailing the beginning of this experiment.
Growing an AI-led business
Okay, so GPT4 created a plan of action for AIsthetic Apparel. What next?
Well, dos Santos works pretty fast. He launched AIsthetic Apparel on day 4 of his experiment building an AI-led company.
Actually, a large chunk of the work was knocked out by day 2.
By day 6 (2 days after launching AIsthetics Apparel), dos Santos already received 200 orders. By day 9 he crossed 10,000 EUR in sales.
Not bad! But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
“Our angels and a few close supporters reached out to let me know that Printful’s embroidery was low quality because it felt itchy on the inside. I asked our CEO (GPT4) what to do about this.”
After going over options with GPT4, dos Santos discontinued AIsthetics Apparel’s embroidered products in favor of sticking with standard printing.
What’s really neat is that he had GPT4 draft a PR statement in response. He shared GPT4’s PR statement below in his Substack post for week 2 of the experiment.
In addition to launching the store and doing damage control, dos Santos also added hoodies to the store inventory and raised more capital.
GPT4 as a CEO: success or failure?
If you look at the numbers, it’s pretty clear that AIsthetics Apparel is on the path to success. But does that mean GPT4 makes good decisions as a CEO?
Dos Santos tried to let GPT4 take the reins in leading the company.
“All decisions are made by GPT4 whenever possible, even if it hurts the company.”
Considering how much AIsthetic Apparel grew in just a few weeks, it’s easy to assume that GPT4 made good business decisions. But we’re forgetting important human factors!
Writing prompts for GPT4
If you’ve tried out GPT4 for yourself, you know how much the prompt can influence the output. Even if you’re trying to let AI make the decisions, the way you write your prompt and the amount of information you give has a huge impact on the response. So, while dos Santos is trying to let GPT4 be the CEO, he is still a strong guiding force behind GPT4’s decisions.
Spreading the word
The other thing to consider when looking at AIsthetic Apparel’s success is how much visibility the brand is getting. Dos Santos has been very public with his experiment, posting about his progress building AIsthetic Apparel every day on social media. He’s also shared about his project in interviews and speaking events. Without the visibility that dos Santos brings to the company, there’s no way AIsthetic Apparel would have received so many orders right after launching.
AI + human partnership
That doesn’t mean this experiment was a failure. GPT4 has a lot of potential for helping businesses grow and scale more efficiently. And dos Santos’ experiment has been beyond successful in showcasing what GPT4 can do, from naming a business to drafting contracts to writing PR statements.
But it’s also shown how important it is to have a savvy human working alongside AI. If someone without business knowledge, investor connections, or a pre-existing social media audience had tried this same experiment, they would most likely be struggling to make sales.
At this point, AI still requires strong human guidance to be useful. So, while GPT4 can be a powerful asset for building a business, you might not want to make AI your CEO just yet!
