The Imperfect AI That Helped Creati Hit $10 Million ARR

When Ella Zhang first released her AI video tool, it barely worked.

“The UI was rough. We didn’t even have batch mode,” she admits. “But people flooded in with over 100 in a day. Users doubled. Revenue jumped. That’s when we knew we were onto something.”

That “something” would become Creati, an AI platform that helps ecommerce brands produce high-conversion video content without studios, shoots, or human actors. In just under a year, Creati has crossed 10 million downloads and $10 million in annualized revenue — not by chasing AI hype, but by solving a specific, high-value problem: video marketing at scale.

For companies managing thousands of SKUs, especially in fashion and beauty, producing fresh product videos is an operational bottleneck. Creati changes that equation. Brands upload raw assets, clothing, accessories, product images and pair them with AI Ambassadors, synthetic presenters who move, speak, and emote like real humans. “No studio. No shoot. Just drop a photo and our AI writes the script, records the voice, and creates the video,” Zhang explains.

Fake-Looking AI

While AI-generated avatars have existed for years, most fail to engage audiences. They speak in stilted tones, lack emotional nuance, and often appear as little more than floating heads over B-roll footage. Zhang knew this wasn’t going to cut it for marketing. “The hard part isn’t lip sync,” she says. “It’s making sure body language, facial expression, and voice tone are all in sync. If someone looks surprised but their cheeks don’t move, it breaks the illusion.”

That challenge became a technical obsession. Her team spent over six months researching a specialized encoder architecture. The result, an AI ambassador that performs. It can wear clothes, hold products, and express emotions with physical authenticity. To make voices sound real, Creati worked with over 20 influencers to clone vocal styles, tonal inflections, and delivery patterns. The result is a library of ambassador profiles that sound passionate, persuasive, and brand-aligned.

The Pivot 

Creati wasn’t always a video company. Zhang’s first product, ZMO.ai, was a text-to-image tool that drew in 7 million monthly users but few paid.

“Everyone was chasing image generation,” she recalls. “But we didn’t understand why people were using it, or what problem it solved.”

The turning point came when Zhang went back to what she learned during her time at Apple, where she worked on the first generation of AirPods. “At Apple, we talked to users in person — not just surveys,” she says. “That’s how you uncover real pain points.” After speaking with over 300 users, a new direction emerged: marketers didn’t want generative toys. They needed practical, branded, scalable video content fast.

Creati rebuilt its product around that insight: a video generator where users could upload brand assets and receive ready-made, marketing-optimized videos. No prompt engineering. No guesswork. The results were immediate. Some customers saw conversion rates jump from 5% to 50%. Customer acquisition costs dropped. Brands started replacing costly agency shoots with Creati’s AI engine.

Real Impact, Real Revenue

“We’re not just UI polish or marketing buzz,” Zhang says. “It’s about delivering actual results.” Today, Creati powers ecommerce content for thousands of users, producing videos that are watched, clicked, and converted at scale. The business model is simple: charge based on value content that drives revenue.

In an era where many AI startups struggle to monetize, Creati did $10 million in annualized revenue within a year without relying on freemium or inflated vanity metrics. Every user video becomes part of a growth loop, helping Creati expand through creator-brand virality. “When creators use our templates, they bring their audience. And when brands share videos, they promote us by default,” Zhang explains. “It’s a compounding loop.”

Navigating AI’s Ethical Edge

But with AI-generated content comes a new layer of responsibility especially in marketing. “People will accept AI ambassadors if brands are honest about it,” Zhang says. “Transparency is key.” To that end, Creati enforces strict content guidelines and allows brands to blend AI and human influencer content, a strategy that has increased click-through rates by up to 20% for some campaigns.

“We’re not trying to replace people,” Zhang adds. “We’re trying to extend what’s possible.”

Zhang’s story mirrors that of many AI founders but with a crucial difference: she built a business, not just a demo. Leaving Apple wasn’t easy. “I miss the team. But I wanted to work on something I truly cared about,” she says. As a child, Zhang found video more accessible than long texts and dreamed of a future where communication and learning happened through motion and voice.

Now, she’s building that future.

“I wasn’t an expert in AI. But I believed I could learn,” she says. “The motivation came from knowing what I wanted to build.”