Scribble AI

University of California-Berkeley, Haas School of Business

Industry: Generative AI, Business-to-Consumer

Founding Student Name(s): Jayaditya Sethi, Ethan Jagoda, Sahil Mehta

Brief Description of Solution: Scribble AI is a simple mobile interface used to create customized written content with the aid of generative AI on both iOS and Android devices.

Funding Dollars: $15,000

What led you to launch this venture? When ChatGPT launched last year, we integrated it into our lives, saving many hours each week. However, we noticed that our friends and family outside the “Silicon Valley bubble” who were less technical did not experience the same benefits. For non-technical consumers, the use cases of generative AI have high barriers to entry. We designed Scribble AI to integrate the productivity benefits of AI into people’s daily lives.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture? Acquiring a user base with 6K+ downloads and 100K+ pieces of content (“Scribbles”) generated by users

How has your business-related major helped you further this startup venture? The biggest contribution the business major provided was through the Haas student community. Finding students in the business school who were also interested in entrepreneurship helped us to build a group of friends to consult for feedback and advice.

Which business class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it? The business class that was most valuable was the Impact Startup Disco taught by Jorge Calderon. It provides an opportunity to brainstorm ideas for social ventures, conduct customer research, and create a pitch within a single weekend. This class, with its fast pace and experiential approach, showed us how to move quickly and make rapid pivots when needed.

What business professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why? Lecturer Alex Budak’s unique framework for change-making, especially in the context of the lean startup methodology, was helpful for us to maintain a disciplined customer mindset – always ensuring we understand the core problems that customers are facing.

What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you? Manny Smith was one of my key inspirations as an aspiring entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of EdVisorly (a platform providing community college students easier access to opportunities for university transfer) and MBA ‘21 graduate from Haas. His persistence, go-getter attitude, and commitment to the problem his company is solving were attributes I have aspired to instill in myself.

What is your long-term goal with your startup? Launch a paid version of Scribble AI for enterprises and scale up, particularly in international markets, so that we can exponentially grow our impact

How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success?
The sheer number of entrepreneurship communities and incubators at UC Berkeley ensured we never lacked for access to mentorship, customer feedback, and technical expertise. Some of the most valuable startup communities that supported us were AI Entrepreneurs@Berkeley, Entrepreneurs@Berkeley, UC Launch, and Berkeley SkyDeck.