Most marketing copy fails for one reason: it does not make anyone feel anything. Sharmin Ali, co-founder of Instoried, is building a platform to fix that.
She is a second-time founder who first tried to build an Indian Netflix. In this episode she talks about emotion-driven AI content, selling to the US, co-founder chemistry and why she now cares more about retention than hype.
What is emotion-driven AI content? Sharmin Ali’s core thesis
Sharmin’s view is that AI should assist writers, not replace them. Instoried helps businesses generate copy, then analyses its emotional tone, predicts how it may perform and recommends edits before anything is published.
She frames this as a loop she calls GAME: generate, analyse emotional engagement, measure likely impact and engage better. Her argument is that tech is the enabler and human editors still add the final quality.
- Emotion decides copy. Different products sell different feelings: joy for baby products, fear-based urgency for insurance.
- AI is an assistant. The goal is productivity for copywriters, not replacing them.
- Retention is the north star. Word counts and sign-ups are vanity; repeat usage leads to profit.
- Co-founders must complement. One calmer, one more energetic can be a strength.
What does Instoried do and how does it work?
Instoried is an AI-driven content platform for small and mid-sized businesses and individuals. Sharmin describes it as an end-to-end tool: you generate content, analyse its emotional engagement, get a predicted performance view, and receive smart recommendations to edit it.
She says it was trained on around 50 million sentences with tagged emotions such as joy, anger, fear, sadness, surprise and anticipation. Predictions use historical performance data, built with statisticians.
- Generate copy from templates.
- Analyse tone, sentiment and emotional engagement.
- Predict how the content may perform before publishing.
- Use recommendations to edit and improve it.
Will AI like GPT-3 replace copywriters?
Sharmin says no. Many competitors build on GPT-3, so the real challenge is not building the technology but keeping customers.
She argues that raw generation can produce meaningless sentences, so a human layer remains important. Instoried pairs its tool with an in-house team of linguists who offer content as a service, mainly for enterprise clients.
- Tech speeds up high-volume work such as descriptions, titles and ad copy
- Human editors raise quality and trust
- Enterprises tend to want content as a service, not only a tool
Which startup metric matters more: growth or retention?
Sharmin is blunt about vanity metrics. She mentioned a competitor boasting about millions of words generated, and said word count tells you little.
Her north star is retention: how long users spend and how often they return. Acquisition is easy; customer retention is what leads to profitability.
Why profitability now?
With the funding boom cooling, she said investors want real value and revenue. Her plan was to reach profitability within 12 months and aim for about 200 percent growth by focusing on the US market.
How do you sell to the US market as an Indian founder?
Her observation is that selling in the US is emotional: people want to be heard, and relationships take months before a deal. She shared a story of building trust with a customer through genuine empathy before ever talking about the product.
She says B2B is the better route to profitability than B2C, which tends to burn money.
What does she say about co-founders, investors and decision-making?
She credits her co-founder’s complementary skills: he builds the tech while she sells and raises money. In any working relationship, she says, one person is usually a bit more intense and the other more grounded, and founders must accept that.
With investors, she believes in respecting their money while owning the vision. She also stresses declutter: give customers clear choices and focus on one or two things instead of many.
- Pick complementary co-founders and keep that relationship healthy
- Tell a clear story that backs your positioning
- Prioritise ruthlessly and avoid the sunk cost fallacy
What founder mistakes does she warn against?
She lists three traits for founders: being a people person, empathy and building for impact beyond money. She also lists three mistakes to avoid.
She also spoke about the importance of mental wellness, saying founders should seek support and give themselves time to reset.
- Starting a company only for the money.
- Chasing valuation in a first company instead of making early investors successful.
- Holding on to something that is not working because of the sunk cost fallacy.
Further reading and sources
- GPT-3 (Wikipedia)
- Sentiment analysis (Wikipedia)
- Customer retention (Wikipedia)
- Sunk cost (Wikipedia)
Frequently asked questions
What is Instoried?
Instoried is an AI-driven content platform co-founded by Sharmin Ali. It helps businesses generate copy, analyse its emotional engagement, predict performance and get recommendations. It also offers content as a service through human linguists for larger clients.
Can AI writing tools replace human copywriters?
According to Sharmin, no. She sees AI as a productivity assistant for high-volume content, with human editors needed for quality and judgment. Tools that only generate text also struggle to keep customers.
Which metric should an early SaaS startup track?
Sharmin argues for retention: how long users stay and how often they return. Vanity numbers such as total words generated or sign-ups do not show real value, while retention is what drives profitability.
Conclusion
Sharmin’s message is to build something customers keep using, back it with empathy, and stay focused on a few things done well.
If you are building a content or AI product, track retention from day one and pair automation with human quality.
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