This week, Benjamin Ross, founder of economAIcs, about leaving a successful commercial career to build an AI company focused on public transport. After 15 years of being prompted to start his own business, Ben finally took the leap, bringing together his experience in sales, his interest in technology, and a desire to solve a practical problem within an industry he cares about.
His journey has already seen plenty of change. Alongside launching the business, Ben welcomed a daughter, learned to manage the many responsibilities of being a solo founder and began developing a product in an industry where adopting new technology takes time and trust. In this episode, he discusses how he keeps regulates balance in his endeavors.
Listen to the Podcast: Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
From Commercial Leadership to Founder
Ben spent years in senior commercial roles, he led sales teams and worked for international businesses. Though he had spent years pondering the idea of starting his own company, it took the right opportunity to turn that ambition into action.
The idea behind economAIcs emerged from a conversation with a former colleague in the transport industry. When discussing the potential of AI, they considered how inaccurate outputs could create costly mistakes when preparing bids. One example involved an AI-generated calculation that misrepresented a driver's salary, potentially putting a bid worth around half a million pounds at risk.
For Ben, this highlighted a gap between what AI promises and what businesses can safely rely on. His initial idea centred the financial side of AI in transport, eventually developing into a specialised AI business focused on public transport procurement and bidding.
Building AI for an Industry That Cannot Rush
Public transport is a business-critical sector, and introducing new technology requires a different approach from launching a product into a less regulated market. Legacy systems, manual processes, and varying levels of confidence in technology all influence how quickly organisations can adopt new solutions.
Ben has taken a deliberate approach to development, using AI tools alongside engineering support to build, test and refine the platform. Rather than spending months trying to create a perfect product before introducing it to customers, he focused on getting an early version into the hands of users and learning from their feedback.
This approach helped him achieve his initial goal within the first six months: securing people who were not only using the product but also paying for it.
However, Ben is clear that early customers do not automatically mean product-market fit. His next priority is to understand how customers use the platform, to improve its usefulness and establish a stronger foundation before concentrating on wider commercial growth.
Why Feedback Matters More Than Perfection
One of Ben's biggest lessons so far has been the importance of hearing what is not working. While early feedback can be uncomfortable, it provides founders with an area to improve upon, whereas spending too long developing an untested idea can mean building something nobody actually wants.
Ben also acknowledges how easy it is to lose focus when AI makes it possible to develop new ideas and prototypes so quickly. A challenge emerges both from building something that actually works, as well as deciding which problem is worth solving and keeping the product focused on such needs. As a solo founder, he has found this particularly difficult. Without a co-founder to challenge him, it can be easy to fall into an echo chamber, especially when AI tools reinforce ideas rather than provide the critical perspective offered by a partner.
Building a Business Around What Matters
Beyond the product itself, Ben's experience has changed how he thinks about success. He believes startup founders often become focused on the rapid growth stories celebrated on LinkedIn, overlooking businesses that prioritise sustainable revenue, a healthy working environment and a fulfilling personal life.
For Ben, building economAIcs is about creating a sustainable company in an industry he genuinely enjoys, maintaining control through bootstrapping, and making a meaningful difference to public transport. Since becoming a father, he has also become more conscious of building a business that allows him to be present for his family.
As far as his aims for the next 12 months, Ben hopes to generate enough revenue to bring someone into the business, begin paying himself, and develop a product that customers rely on in their everyday workflows.
His journey is a reminder that building a startup does not have to mean pursuing success on the largest scale. Success can mean solving a worthy problem, listening intently to customers, and creating a business that works with life you want to lead, not in place of it.
Listen to the Podcast: Available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Learn more about economAIcs, connect with Benjamin Ross and, follow Tech Startup Stories for more conversations that focus on the true realities of building a startup.