‘They called it a crazy sci-fi idea’: CEO rejected 100+ investors built a $4 billion AI startup
When Victor Riparbelli launched his AI video startup in 2017, artificial intelligence was still a niche technology rather than the global phenomenon it is today. Five years before ChatGPT introduced millions to generative AI, he believed AI would completely reshape how videos were made.Victor Riparbelli turned an early AI video idea into a $4 billion company. (Synthesia)That vision failed to impress most investors. More than 100 of them rejected the idea, calling it unrealic. But one cold email to billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban changed the company’s future. Today, Riparbelli’s London based startup, Synthesia, is valued at $4 billion.Speaking to CNBC Make It, the 34-year-old CEO reflected on the decision that transformed his business.(Also Read: Nikita Bier steps down as product chief at Elon Musk’s X after just one year)How did Mark Cuban invest in Synthesia?Riparbelli co-founded Synthesia in 2017 with the aim of making video creation faster and easier using AI. At the time, raising funds was a major challenge because few people believed the technology was ready for widespread use.The turning point came when Synthesia co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Steffen Tjerrild sent Mark Cuban a brief email along with a product demonstration. According to the company, Cuban responded within five minutes and, after several hours of exchanging emails, invested $1 million in the startup.Cuban later told CNBC Make It that he already believed “AI was the future and that video would be a core element.” He also wanted to know whether the founders were willing to “work their asses off,” something that soon became essential as the company struggled to gain traction.Why did Synthesia change its business model?Synthesia’s first product was designed for Hollywood studios, using AI to dub dialogue into videos. While studios found the technology impressive, Riparbelli said it was not something they urgently needed.As funding became tighter, the founders noticed businesses asking a different question. Instead of movie studios, companies wanted to know whether the technology could create employee training videos and presentations.”They had completely different quality requirements, and they were very grateful that we even wanted to talk to them,” Riparbelli said.Rather than abandoning its original plan overnight, the team carefully evaluated the opportunity. “There’s always a lot of deliberating,” Riparbelli said, adding that changing direction meant giving up the business they had already built.The decision proved worthwhile. A beta version of Synthesia’s enterprise text-to-video platform reportedly generated more than $300,000 in revenue within four months from around 1,000 business customers. The company later expanded the platform with AI avatars, templates and editing tools.(Also Read: Google’s 30th employee and chief scient Jeff Dean quits after 27 years to launch startup)Today, Synthesia serves more than 60,000 enterprise customers worldwide. Looking back, Riparbelli believes the company’s biggest advantage was entering the AI industry long before it became mainstream. “If you’re early to a trend, and you survive long enough for the trend to take off, you’ll understand the trend better than most other folks,” he said.
