Happy Monday legends and welcome back to another fine edition of the Leaderboard. In todays issue: An AI that wants to disrupt the animation scene, a tool that automatically makes a biography of you and your loved ones, a new social app minus the dopamine, and of course the top products over the weekend. Let's dive in.
Animate AI: AI generation tool for animated seriesÂ
When I saw Animate AI launch, I was stoked. The idea of creating mini Pixar-like movies had me eager to explore how my book or movie ideas could come to life in animation. I quickly signed up and submitted a prompt, excited to see the results. But thatâs where the experience fell shortâthere was no indication of progress or how long it would take. Ten hours later, I had to abandon the process. The art and voiceovers were great, but the promise of animation didnât quite deliver. This feels like a common theme with some AI tools: they focus on the âmagicâ but skip crucial user feedback or clear expectations. A little transparencyâprogress bars, tooltips, or troubleshooting tipsâcan make all the difference in retaining users.
Remento:Â AI biographer for loved ones
Remento makes it surprisingly easy to capture and preserve the stories that matter most. You invite loved ones, share photos, and pick questions from their thoughtfully designed question bank. From there, Remento handles everythingâover the course of a year, they collect audio responses and turn them into a stunning hardcover biography filled with photos and memories. Itâs a chance to uncover stories you never knew about, and the best part? You can hear your loved one tell them in their own voiceâjust scan the QR code on the page. Itâs personal, heartfelt, and a little magical.
Mozi: A private social app for maintaining relationships
Ev Williams, co-founder of Twitter, is back with Mozi, a private social app that swaps likes and follower counts for something a little more⌠genuine. Itâs all about sharing where you are and what youâre up to with your closest friendsâno metrics, no noise, just connection. It sounds like the social media detox we all secretly want, but letâs be real: can we actually break free from the validation loops weâve been trained to crave, or will Mozi join the pile of social apps that just couldnât make the cut?
In an era where AI is reshaping how businesses operate, the journey of building an early-stage startup has never been more dynamicâor complex. How do founders navigate finding product-market fit, delegation, and scaling, all while adapting to technological innovations?
Join on January 14 at 3 pm PT for a fireside chat with Christina Cacioppo, CEO and Co-founder of Vanta, and Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and Founder of LTSE, as they explore the journey of the modern startup founder.
Eric and Christina will discuss: