Oumi started out as a popular open-source project. This meant it had interest and validation before it even became a commercial business. Something that enabled the company — whose platform lets customers automate building purpose-specific AI models — to quickly garner a bit of income from small startups that jumped on the platform after it officially launched. But for co-founder and CEO Manos Koukoumidis, Oumi’s first deal with a major enterprise was the true “first customer” moment he felt really validated his business.
“[Startups] are easier to convince. It’s easier to change the strategy. But when such a large organization [signs on], I think this is much more telling than getting a small startup,” he said.
For Oumi, that first large enterprise contract was with a top-10 global bank the company declined to name. The deal came about after Oumi presented at an in-person conference hosted by its investors. The pitch landed for the bank right then at the event, but it took about five meetings with the bank's senior leadership and its engineering leads to actually close the deal. Oumi said the bank was drawn to the combination of automated model development and ownership of the resulting model.
Koukoumidis and his co-founders all come from Big Tech, previously working at Google, Meta and Microsoft. So on a personal level, he said getting that validation of a product and idea that was fully his own was really rewarding.
“Building your own company on a strong conviction that you have, especially when you start on something that's so contrarian and you hear people who are industry experts, most reputable VCs, saying ‘you're doing it wrong.’ And you’re like ‘no, wait and see. The time will come,’ and then you see that shift happening. You see the biggest organization in the world sitting and willing to sign a contract with you,” he said. “It’s very rewarding to say the least.”
That shift is bigger than one bank. Read the full article on DeepL, Loora and Oumi, and the third option opening up between building an AI model and buying one.
Top photo: Manos Koukoumidis. Credits: Oumi
