Hal9 Weekly Roundup: AI MVP Webinar replay, How Optimly built their first customer-ready product in one month

Hi Reader,

At Hal9, we help Startup Founders turn AI ideas into products—fast. Each week, we’ll share insights from our founder Javier, spotlight real customer stories, and keep you updated on what’s happening at Hal9 and beyond.

Event Spotlight: From Idea to AI MVP in 30 Days

Couldn’t make our live webinar? You can now watch the full replay of our session with Lou Bajuk and Javier Luraschi.

We walk through Hal9’s proven 3-Stage Playbook that’s helped dozens of founders go from idea → MVP → customer in record time. You’ll learn:

✅ How to validate your idea before writing code

⚡ How to build prototypes that feel real, fast

🔧 How to launch without getting stuck in DevOps

Plus, real-world stories from founders who built working AI products in under 30 days.

👉 Watch the replay here

Javier's Insights of the Week

1. Use Less AI (and Build Smarter)

Most founders overestimate what their AI should do.
The trick? Scope down. Build the smallest, most delightful version first.
→ Find one specific, high-value problem your AI can solve really well.
→ Use simpler automation for the rest.
Ironically, using less AI often makes your product feel smarter.

2. Don’t Hire an AI Team Too Soon

Hiring a team of PhDs before you’ve validated the problem is one of the biggest founder mistakes.
Start like Tesla did with lane assist — simplify your goal, validate it, and expand later.
→ Simplify your problem before you scale your team.
→ Complexity kills early momentum.

3. No Data? No Problem.

Every founder hits this wall. Here are three proven ways to move forward:
→ Build something that collects the data yourself (even a form counts).
→ Combine public or related datasets into your own foundation.
→ Generate synthetic data with AI to test ideas fast.
You don’t need perfect data to start — just momentum.

See more of Javier's posts on LinkedIn here.

Founder Spotlight: Optimly

AI-Powered Brand Optimization in One Month

Optimly helps businesses understand how AI models perceive and recommend their brands — optimizing presence across search and discovery.

Hal9 helped Optimly:
🚀 Develop a multi-LLM comparison tool in just one month using the Hal9 Platform.
🤖 Integrate multiple AI models (Grok, Anthropic, Gemini) for deeper brand analysis.
⚙️ Optimize cost and efficiency, reducing complex reasoning time from days to hours.
💡 Deploy a scalable cloud-based API for real-time insights.

The result? Optimly signed their first paying customer and built a foundation for ongoing innovation in AI-powered brand intelligence.

“Hal9 is so fast. Accelerated my progress more than I could have imagined. We made 6 months of progress in 6 weeks!”
— Apurva Luty, Founder @ Optimly

👉 Read the full case study

Let's Talk

We love talking with founders, current and aspiring—whether you’re refining your idea or scaling your product.

👉 Book a 30 minute Strategy Call with Javier here to share your product or idea, and explore how we can help.

Or reply with your biggest AI product challenge—we’ll feature answers in future issues

Talk soon,

—The Hal9 Team

Hi from Hal9!