Getting the Band Back Together: A Tech Startup Journey with AcademyAI

Last year we met with Andy Lambert to discuss ContentCal and its acquisition by Adobe, and this year he’s back to share the journey so far as co-founder of AcademyAI.

After four years at Adobe, Andy found himself at a crossroads. The stability of a large company was comfortable, but he missed the energy, ownership and creativity that came with building something from the ground up. His next chapter would take him from the familiar world of social media technology into the rapidly evolving market of AI.

Listen to the Podcast: Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Knowing When to Start Again

Whilst Andy found his time at Adobe valuable for learning how to build products at scale, he eventually began to feel disconnected from the sense of ownership he had previously experienced as a founder.

The decision to leave was not straightforward. He had spent around 15 years building his expertise in social media and B2B marketing, making it tempting to stay within a market he already understood. Working with Supergrow initially felt like the obvious next step, as he already had an established audience within the space. This is when his former ContentCal co-founder approached him about building something new.

The decision was not simply about the opportunity itself; Andy realised the people he built with were just as critical as the problem they were trying to solve. Since they had already worked together, the founding team understood each other's strengths, weaknesses and communication styles, allowing them to move quickly without spending months establishing their working relationships.

Building AcademyAI

AcademyAI is a platform designed to help organisations improve their use of AI. The platform’s focus moves beyond individual productivity towards meaningful organisational transformation.

Andy believes that simply giving employees access to tools such as ChatGPT or Claude doesn’t necessarily guarantee effective use of such tools. Businesses need to understand where AI can be applied, how to define a clear task, what good output looks like, and how to evaluate the results.

This is where AcademyAI comes in. AcademyAI is built around a six-axis framework, informed by research from the Turing Institute. The platform focuses on broader human capabilities to be utilised to work effectively with AI rather than simply teaching people how to write better prompts.

Keeping the Discovery Process Alive

One of Andy’s biggest lessons from building a startup for the second time is to reduce one’s notions of certainty. 

Rather than becoming attached to an early idea or a handful of customers, he believes founders should continue treating the business like an experiment. To exemplify, AcademyAI spent its first six months researching, building with pilot customers, and testing different audiences and propositions.

Its early customers have included CEOs of mid-market businesses that recognise the importance of AI but may not have the technical capability or internal processes to know where to begin. At the same time, the team is exploring other potential buyers, including chief AI officers and AI transformation leaders.

For Andy, the goal is not to assume the first version of a product is correct, but to keep testing until there is stronger evidence of product-market fit.

The Challenge of Building from Scratch

Despite the team's experience and a successful seed round, according to Andy, the hardest part of building AcademyAI has been marketing and distribution.

Unlike his previous ventures, he does not have an established audience in the AI space, meaning the team was not only building a product from scratch, but also its community, customers, and reputation.

What’s more, the challenge is even greater in a market where new AI companies appear constantly and software can be built faster than ever. For this reason, Andy believes trust and advocacy are increasingly important within a team, as traditional technology moats become harder to create.

Currently, AcademyAI is focused on finding its ideal customer profile, proving the value of the product and building a distribution engine that can support the business as it grows.

Listen to the Podcast: Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

For more details, listen to the full episode with Andy Lambert from AcademyAI on Tech Startup Stories, hosted by Natalie Binns, and follow for more conversations that focus on the true realities of building a startup.