Phoebe Gates, Bill Gates’ youngest daughter, says she and her cofounder tried to “reverse engineer” viral videos when crafting marketing content for their fashion tech startup, Phia.
On Friday’s episode of “The Burnouts” podcast — which Gates co-hosts with her cofounder, Sophia Kianni — the duo spoke about the marketing strategies they used to promote their business.
Gates said they combed through social media platforms and compiled a list of videos that they thought were especially well done.
“Then we’ll make an Excel sheet: These are really good videos, here’s why this video was good, and then we’ll reverse engineer how to make that video,” Gates said. “A lot of times, even for our simple founder videos, we’re reverse engineering other content that we’ve seen do really, really well.”
For example, they used ChatGPT to model their own founder videos on two videos that had gone viral online, Kianni said.
She first transcribed the videos using ChatGPT before using it to analyze what made them so successful.
“I was able to break down, OK, what was the hook, how did they start the video, what was the middle, and then how did they end it. Then I turned that transcript into, like, I wrote a description of Phia, then I put that into ChatGPT, and I asked it, ‘Can you turn this script into one that works for Phia?'” Kianni said.
There are “patterns” behind why things go viral, and understanding them is crucial for marketing success, she said.
“You should not be starting anything from scratch. The internet exists for a reason,” Kianni said.
The cofounders’ approach is part of a broader shift: More and more people across the world are using AI tools like ChatGPT at work and in their personal lives.
“I use AI almost every single day and it supercharges me,” Gates said.
Wall Street banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are relying on AI-powered tools to boost productivity, while everyday users are turning to ChatGPT to brainstorm ideas and even as a substitute for therapy.
Gates and Kianni, who were roommates at Stanford, launched Phia in April. The platform compares clothing prices across 40,000 sites to help users find the best deals.
In the premiere episode of the podcast, Gates revealed that her father wouldn’t let her drop out of college to start a business like he did.
“They were very much like, ‘You need to finish your degree; you don’t just get to like drop out and do a company.’ Which is so funny because my dad literally did that, and that’s, like, the reason I’m able to go to Stanford or have my tuition paid,” Gates said.
In April, Bill Gates said that his daughter didn’t ask for his help to fund her business.
“I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky, and I probably would have been overly nice, but wondered if it was the right thing to do. Luckily, it never happened,” the Microsoft cofounder said.
A representative for Gates and Kianni did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.
