So, you want to start your own business. What now?
It can be challenging to strike out on one’s own. You might have a brilliant business idea, but a shortage of resources to bring the idea to life. Aside from actually developing your product or service, there’s consulting, design, copywriting, photography and videography – which means two things: time and money.
Or does it? With artificial intelligence constantly evolving at a rapid rate, there are now plenty of online tools that could assist with everything from logo design to website building – in turn, alleviating some of the stress that comes with starting a business.
To see how AI might help me start a business, I decided to test out an idea. In this scenario, I’m moving to upstate New York to start a new life as a beekeeper and launch a honey business. Using this idea, I tested out popular AI tools with seven areas of focus. These are certainly not the only tools that exist, but I chose these particular ones based on recommendations, cost and ease of use.
This list is organized using common problems a newbie business owner might face in the process of starting up. Keep reading to see AI’s answer to these problems.
1. I have an idea for a business and I need honest feedback.
Let’s face it – friends and family are not always the best people to ask for feedback. They’ll likely tell you your idea is brilliant, but will fail to point out any flaws. I pumped my idea into ValidatorAI, a free, AI-generated business consultant designed to give you the real talk. It is designed to point out any flaws in your brilliant idea that you need to work on, as well as offer advice on how to make your idea work.
- Cost: The written feedback, which I tested out, is free. However, if you want further mentoring, you can pay $49 for three phone calls with “Val,” a female-sounding AI business advisor who can give real-time analysis, feedback, market analysis reports and more. (The site provides Val testimonials here.)
- Test: ValidatorAI asked me a few basic questions, including who my target audience would be. I said the honey would be available for all consumers, which turned out to be the wrong answer. The tool advised me to refine my audience to create a more focused, compelling marketing strategy and give my brand a stronger edge. It didn’t stop there — it also identified three of my biggest potential competitors and offered tailored advice on how to stand out against them. Here’s the full feedback I got:
2. I need a business name and a domain.
Choosing a name for your business can be a real hangup. Once you choose a name, it will be printed on business cards and packaging and maybe even displayed on a storefront. NamingMagic makes it easy not just to choose a name, but to see if the domain you want is available. This tool was built by two former entrepreneurs who have spent hours brainstorming company names and wanted to find an easier way with GPT-3 natural language technology. Even if you don’t choose one of the names the generator comes up with, it can be a useful tool to draw inspiration from if you’re experiencing a creative block.
- Cost: Free
- Test: If I input my product description (locally sourced honey) and some key words (beekeeper, honey, farm, bees, local) into NamingMagic, it generates three names: Local Bee Haven, Honey Farmers Market and Beekeeper’s Bounty. I can see by the domains shaded in green which ones are available to use. If I don’t like any of the names, I can just press “Name My Startup” again for more options.
3. I also need a logo.
Unless you have artistic skills, it’s likely you’re thinking of hiring a graphic designer to design your company’s logo. But with LogoAi, you don’t have to. This tool generates a selection of logos based on your chosen business name, slogan, industry, color scheme and font styles – all in under one minute. While scrolling through the options, you are free to customize them until you’re happy with your final logo design.
- Cost: The basic package is $29, the pro package is $59 and the brand package is $99. You can make and download a logo with the basic package.
- Test: This logo for Beekeeper’s Bounty was created by inputting the company name, selecting a warm color palette (for joy, enthusiasm and happiness, according to the description) and a “Slab” font (logos of companies like Sony and Volvo were shown as examples of this font). There were pages of options to choose from — plus, I could make my own tweaks. The tool’s “Preview” mode even showed me what my logo would look like on business cards, shopping bags and more.
4. What about a website?
What was once a time-consuming task can now be done in under 30 seconds. No, really. With Durable, all you have to do is enter three pieces of information: your location, the type of business you are starting and the name of your business. It will generate all the framework of a website, specific to your company. After creating an account, you can customize it further with your own logo and photos.
- Cost: The packages range from $12 per month to $20 per month. You can choose between being billed monthly or annually.
- Test: After I entered the terms “Rhinebeck, New York,” “Honey,” and “Beekeeper’s Bounty,” and I briefly blinked, Durable created a website for me. All of the text was generated by AI, but I obviously had to add and delete some parts to make sure the website was accurately describing my company — for example, it initially added a menu featuring items like lavender honey scones and honey-drizzled pancakes, which, while delicious-sounding, was not what I had planned for my company. It came with stock images, so I sifted through Durable’s media library to choose photos. I was also able to add my own logo to the header.
5. I need to hire a copywriter.
Not necessarily. While you will need copy for all of your marketing and sales material – think product descriptions, emails, web copy, advertisements, social media posts and newsletters – there is a simple solution with Copy.ai. It offers a whole suite of AI-powered writing tools that are designed for specific tasks, from product descriptions to marketing emails to Instagram captions.
- Cost: There’s a free plan that gives you access to a solid range of features, including a limited word count for AI writing tools — ideal if you’re just testing the waters. But if you plan to use the platform regularly, you can upgrade to the Starter plan at $49 per month or the Advanced plan at $249 per month for more robust capabilities.
- Test: I asked Copy.ai to write a product description for a jar of orange blossom honey. All I had to do was write the name of the product and one short sentence about it, and the generator used that information to write up several different variations for me. The only changes I had to make were very minor — for example, I changed “family-owned” to “woman-owned” to more accurately describe my business. Besides that, the descriptions were all spot-on. Here’s my favorite:
Savor the Taste of Summer in Every Spoonful with Beekeeper’s Bounty Orange Blossom Honey
• Ethically sourced from local hives in Rhinebeck, NY
• Delicate floral notes and a touch of citrus
• Unfiltered and unpasteurized for maximum flavor and nutrients
• Perfectly balanced sweetness to enhance your favorite foods and drinks
Our Orange Blossom Honey is a true taste of summer, harvested straight from the hives of our woman-owned apiary in the heart of the Hudson Valley. Infused with the nectar of orange blossoms, this honey offers a delicate floral aroma and a subtle citrus finish that will transport you to a sun-drenched orchard. Unfiltered and unpasteurized, it retains all the beneficial enzymes, antioxidants, and vitamins that make honey a superfood. Drizzle it over yogurt, use it to sweeten your tea, or enjoy it straight by the spoonful for a healthy, delicious treat.
6. But wait – I also need professional photos.
Of course you do. When selling your products, you want to make sure they look good – presentation is everything. Mokker AI helps you to add backgrounds to photos of your products so they look more professional on your website and in social media posts. You can customize the backgrounds by answering a prompt and describing what kind of aesthetic you are looking for. With professional, polished images, your products are sure to attract some attention.
- Cost: You can get 20 photos for free on Mokker. For more, the Starter plan offers 500 photos per month for $13 per month (recommended for solo businesses) while the Team plan provides unlimited photos for $29 per user per month.
- Test: I used this generic photo of a jar of honey and put it into the system. Then, I entered different prompts that I thought might make a good background for a jar of honey, such as “apiary” and “on a tray next to a cup of tea.” It generated many options to choose from, and you can adjust the size of the honey jar (as well as light and shadows) to make it look proportionate and realistic.
7. What about professional videos?
You can do that, too. With Synthesia, you can create professional videos (for ads or in-house use) in just 15 minutes using AI. According to its website, the tool is used by companies such as Amazon and BBC and costs a fraction of conventional video production. Plus, it was featured in this year’s Forbes list of “The AI 50.”
- Cost: A personal account costs $30 per month, and the cost of an enterprise account is based on the number of seats.
- Test: To create the video, I started by writing a brief description of my company and the goal of the video. Synthesia then generated a script and storyboard, which I was able to customize by selecting the avatar, style, text and format. The result was a one-minute welcome video for new employees, featuring an avatar who enthusiastically introduces our woman-owned, ethically run apiary. While I’d likely choose real people for a public-facing ad — since the avatar still feels a bit robotic, and pronounced at least one word wrong (“artisanal”) — I found the tool to be a great fit for internal videos like this one:
Conclusion
While AI is not a replacement for human creativity and innovation (it won’t start the business for you) it can certainly lend a helping hand as you embark on this new venture. And the cost is cheap – to try all of these tools, you’d need to pay less than $100 (although a few had recurring fees or charged extra for more premium service.)
The feedback generator made me rightfully question whether I had all my ducks in a row, so to speak, for my fledgling honey business. The name and logo tools were also pretty impressive. So, too, were the photo, video and copy tools, if you consider how cheap and quickly they created basic elements.
But did the AI-generated creative assets look…perhaps a bit too fabricated? Would I feel comfortable as a business owner using fake images to promote my products? I fell down an existential rabbit hole as I started to ask these questions, but then I reminded myself: All businesses evolve and improve. Maybe somewhere down the line in my honey venture, I would earn enough revenue to hire real-life photographers and videographers. But until then, these AI tools aren’t a bad start. ◼️