{"id":8162,"date":"2026-04-05T21:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/data-mania.com\/blog\/?p=8162"},"modified":"2026-04-05T21:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T01:02:08","slug":"the-secret-to-building-ai-software-that-actually-sells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/the-secret-to-building-ai-software-that-actually-sells\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret To Building AI Software That Actually Sells"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wanna know the secrets to building AI software that sells? If you&#8217;ve got an awesome idea for an AI Software, and you want to make sure it&#8217;s actually going to sell before you start building, this post is for you! I&#8217;m going to show you 5 easy ways to make sure that your AI software will be a success BEFORE you ever write one line of code.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the end of this post, I\u2019m going to share the exact process I used to bring in $68k in revenue within the first 2 weeks of launching my last product. That was a pre-sold product, sold in December of 2020 and released in Jan 2021 &#8211; so I know that this approach works in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/JM_ALyIs6G0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>YouTube URL:\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/JM_ALyIs6G0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/JM_ALyIs6G0<\/a><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you prefer to read instead of watch then, read on&#8230;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the best data leadership and business-building advice on block, subscribe to my newsletter below and I\u2019ll make sure you get notified when a new blog installment gets released (each week). \ud83d\udc47<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><!-- ConvertKit: Unauthorized --><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why am I qualified to say anything about building AI software that sells? Well, I&#8217;ve been selling data science products since 2014\u2026to the tune of 6-figures in profits per year, just from data products alone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My name is <\/span><a href=\"mailto:lillian@data-mania.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lillian Pierson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and I support data professionals to become world-class data leaders and entrepreneurs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re reading this, you probably have an awesome idea for an AI startup or an AI software\u00a0 &#8211;\u00a0 and what we need to do is to make sure that you\u2019re actually starting with <\/span><b>consumer needs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and not technology. To validate your focus, that\u2019s going to require market research&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phase 1: Market Research<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019ve been updating my book Data Science for Dummies lately and when I was looking at tools that I recommended in 2016, I found that most of them are now extinct. In other words, they\u2019re not supported anymore, the websites are down and the businesses are no longer operating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I\u2019m sure that the people who created these tools were smart people but they had the wrong focus. So what I want for you is to focus on <\/span><b>monetizing and then building<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and it all starts with <\/span><b>MARKET RESEARCH<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After you have researched your AI software idea, do your market research and make sure that:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a need for it in the market\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That people are willing to pay to have that problem solved<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s not too much competition<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After you\u2019ve nailed down the exact niche of who you\u2019re going to help and how you\u2019re going to help them, AND made sure that there\u2019s a demand and not too much saturation, then you will be ready to start delivering.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phase 2: Sell &amp; Deliver the Service\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Selling services is the fastest way to monetize your data business. Another added benefit is you can get paid and earn money while building your software. You can also build your business and your tribe of your future software users while you\u2019re actually building them the product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s what you need to do:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deliver the AI SaaS as an ML service<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sell it to customers<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Optimize the processes<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tweak it to better fit on-the-ground needs of your ideal client<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-pin-nopin=\"nopin\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9609 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-300x300.png\" alt=\"AI software idea\" width=\"365\" height=\"365\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-90x90.png 90w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea-649x649.png 649w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/software-idea.png 1080w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 365px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 365\/365;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phase 3: Build your Business while you Build your SaaS\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This would take anywhere from 12 to 18 months, but because you\u2019ve monetized your services, you don\u2019t have to worry about hitting the market fast because you have some leeway &#8211; you have some budget in order to bring in a team that can help you develop your product faster and make your business more scalable.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><b>So you\u2019re basically growing your customer base while making money from your machine learning services.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, it\u2019s time to do the following: <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-11518 lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-576x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"building AI software that sells\" width=\"300\" height=\"533\" data-pin-title=\"The Secret To Building AI Software That Actually Sells\" data-pin-description=\"TRUTH TIME \ud83d\udca5 Your customer doesn\u2019t care about what algorithm your software uses or what coding language it\u2019s written in. The only thing they care about is whether it will SOLVE THEIR PROBLEM. Learn more secrets to selling AI software! #influencer | http:\/\/data-mania.com\/blog\/the-secret-to-building-ai-software-that-actually-sells\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-576x1024.jpeg 576w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-169x300.jpeg 169w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-768x1365.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-51x90.jpeg 51w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-864x1536.jpeg 864w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-450x800.jpeg 450w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells-365x649.jpeg 365w, https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/The-Secret-To-Building-AI-Software-That-Actually-Sells.jpeg 1080w\" data-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/533;\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reinvest some of the money you earn<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hire a team<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Save money for operations &amp; maintenance<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have an extra budget<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Build up your social media and email list<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hire launch help!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phase # 4: Pre-sell Your AI SaaS\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>How do you make sure that your product release is profitable?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why you will need an email list of your prospective clients, as well as, a bank of clients you\u2019re already working with &#8211; because these are the people who will likely pre-purchase your product before it\u2019s actually ready for release. This is also why it\u2019s important to build trust by contributing to your community, posting blogs and getting to know your customers via email marketing, so when this time comes, they will be ready to work with you and try out your product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What you\u2019ll need to do:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pre-launch to your list<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Offer them an extra bonus for signing up early &#8211; probably a custom configuration set-up or support that you can give them for free because they trusted you<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set a release date<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create your launch content<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This pre-launch will probably last about 2 weeks &#8211; launch privately inside your email list and then you can start working to get these pre-sales about 5 weeks before the official release of your product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking of selling data science services If you want to learn how to sell yours for $300\/hour or more, then <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/data-mania.com\/blog\/consulting-rates-for-online-data-analytics-services-in-2021-in-western-economies-charge-300-hour\/?preview=true\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">check out this video<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I did on <a href=\"http:\/\/data-mania.com\/blog\/consulting-rates-for-online-data-analytics-services-in-2021-in-western-economies-charge-300-hour\/?preview=true\">Consulting Rates for Online Data Analytics Services in 2021<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now peeking back up, so far you have done\u00a0 market research, started delivering AI SaaS ideas as a machine learning service, started building your SaaS product as you deliver your service and you have pre-sold your product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now it\u2019s time for you to launch your product!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On this 5th step, I will show you how to do a profitable launch so when your product is released, you are rolling in the moolah&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Phase # 5: Product Launch<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember we discussed setting your product release date? Great! Take that product release date and back calculate 8 weeks prior, because that\u2019s when you need to start working on your launch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s look at the timelines:<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 8 weeks: Create your launch storyboard<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Map out the content you\u2019re going to share each day of the launch and because you\u2019ll be launching a new product, you probably want to release for 3 weeks. You want to think of content ideas for anywhere between 16-21 days depending on how frequently you want to publish your content during your launch.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 7 weeks: Create your email copy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need to put together about 14-16 emails for your customers &#8211; they follow your storyboard and they help sell your product. It\u2019s probably going to be about 40-60 pages of email copies written out.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 6 weeks: Create your launch event copy:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Anytime you\u2019re launching a product, you want to make sure that you are showing up and doing live events that will help build trust. Offer free mini-trainings that will get mini-transformations for your target customers and ideal clients which will give a little taste of what it\u2019s like using your product. Make sure you have your copy in place for all the live events &#8211; may it be a webinar, 5-day challenge or a live Q&amp;A event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 5 weeks: Create your social posts:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take the email copies you created and repurpose it to social media posts.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 4 weeks: Schedule your content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get all your copies pre-scheduled as much as possible so you don\u2019t have to worry about publishing stuff. I also want to advise you to leave a gap here just because crap happens and you need to leave a little wiggle room on your launch calendar, always.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 3 weeks: Warm up content<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start publishing some of the content you created &#8211; these warm up content should demonstrate your expertise as a solution-provider in your niche and start building people\u2019s trust and kind of give them an idea that something&#8217;s coming.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 2 weeks: Launch event promo:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Start promoting that launch event part and get as many people as possible to sign up.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 10 days: Launch event:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hold the launch event and unveil your new AI SaaS product available for purchase at the very end. You want to give people some sort of early bird bonus for signing up early, especially since your product isn\u2019t officially released until the end of the launch, which is gonna be 10 days later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T &#8211; 7 days: Early bird ends<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">End your early-bird pricing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T 7 &#8211; 4 days: FAQs:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do FAQ type of content to help people make the decision of whether or not they want to get the special deal you\u2019re offering.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>T 3 &#8211; 0 days: Last call:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do a real push and let people know that they might be missing an opportunity to be an early adopter of this new product. This is probably where you\u2019re gonna get 70% of your sign ups.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Product release date:<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure that you have your team ready and in-place to help support you. This includes all of the customer service inquiries that will be coming in as people start using your products. Be prepared for that by hiring support before you actually start launching. That way, when you need admin people in place, they are prepared, trained and ready to go. And you can then have a seamless customer experience for all of your clients.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re digging all these tips and tricks on building AI software that sells and how to make money for your artificial intelligence expertise, then I\u2019m sure you\u2019re going to love my <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/data-entrepreneur-toolkit\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FREE Data Entrepreneur\u2019s Toolkit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s an ensemble of all of the very best, most efficient tools in the market! I\u2019ve discovered these tools after 9 years of research and development. A side note on this, many of them are free, or at least free to get started. And they have such powerful results in terms of growing your business. These are actually the tools we use in my own business to hit the multiple 6-figure annual revenue mark.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/data-entrepreneur-toolkit\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Download the Toolkit for $0 here.<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You may also love it inside our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/data.leaders.and.entrepreneurs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Data Leader and Entrepreneur Community on Facebook<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It\u2019s chalked full of some of the internet\u2019s most up-and-coming data leaders and entrepreneurs who\u2019ve come together to inspire and uplift one another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/data.leaders.and.entrepreneurs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Join our community here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hey! If you liked this post, I\u2019d really appreciate it if you\u2019d share the love with your peers. Share it on your favorite social network by clicking on one of the share buttons below!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NOTE: This description contains affiliate links that allow you to find the items mentioned in this article and support the channel at no cost to you. While this blog may earn minimal sums when the reader uses the links, the reader is in NO WAY obligated to use these links. Thank you for your support!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>Want a clean, repeatable system for measuring B2B growth? Get the free <a href=\"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/growth-metrics-os-email-course\/\"><strong>Growth Metrics OS<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 a 6-day email course for technical founders and operators who want to measure growth and make better decisions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>Want to secure early sales and establish a customer base before full market release?<\/b> Learn how by reading up on preliminary market research, monetization through initial service offerings, and effective strategies for pre-launch and product launch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[582],"tags":[480],"class_list":["post-8162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startups","tag-the-secret-to-building-ai-software-that-actually-sells","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20183,"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8162\/revisions\/20183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.data-mania.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}