Where the Company is Right Now

There is a general sentiment of slow progress and frustration among the founders regarding Karmanline's current standing. Chloe notes that the specific "landing point has only really become clear to me in the last week. So I don't think we are anywhere along that line" (Chloe, 30m 55s), adding that progress has been "slower than I think we all would have liked" (Chloe, 31m 52s). She acknowledges feeling "a little concerned that things are slower than I think we all expected" (Chloe, 33m 58s).

Paul is even more direct, stating "Who fucking knows? Because we jump from one gut feel to the next and that's the problem that we have" (Paul, 3m 35s). He describes the company's current state as "wishful" and lacking "a compelling enough proposition yet" (Paul, 11m 23s, 11m 33s).

Michael echoes this frustration, expressing that he feels they have "very little to show for the time we spent on this" (Michael, 27m 55s), with only "a couple of slide decks we don't love, a couple of clickable prototypes that aren't worth showing and a website, and that's it" (Michael, 28m 10s). He highlights the critical lack of funding, noting, "We need funding bad because we're in the AI space. You can't just bootstrap it. Not really" (Michael, 23m 40s), and worries they are "living in la la land" (Michael, 23m 50s). Michael also states that they have "not progressed at all. We've got a slightly better idea than we had but we don't have funding or a product or the semblance of what will become a product" (Michael, 24m 13s).

Hannah indicates that while there's been market research and profile-raising conversations, the product offering has "flip flopped slightly" (Hannah, 22m 15s). She candidly admits, "I don't think we communicate very well" and "I don't really know. I don't think it is working" (Hannah, 25m 42s, 27m 02s). Simon, while expressing confidence in Karmanline's potential, acknowledges that a "natural fear and a malaise and a concern right now in our business... is slowing us down" (Simon, 33m 07s).

The need for funding is a consistent and pressing concern across all founders. Chloe sees "customers" and "product market fit" as paramount, and explicitly states the need for "investment" (Chloe, 42m 05s, 42m 08s, 43m 22s). Hannah confirms, "We should get funding" or "it needs to start making money one way or another" (Hannah, 32m 02s, 32m 43s). Paul notes their lack of "private money or equity money or investor money" (Paul, 241). Simon simply states, "I just need money" (Simon, 32m 53s).

What Karmanline Should Do Next

There is a broad consensus on the need to move forward pragmatically to secure customers and funding. Chloe advocates for taking the problem in "bite sized chunks" and focusing on "first paying customers" with a more pragmatic, "Today view" rather than overly progressive, long-term visions (Chloe, 9m 34s, 13m 26s, 28m 31s). She wants to show prototypes to potential clients like Warner and the BBC soon (Chloe, 31m 17s).

Hannah believes Karmanline should focus on solving the current lack of knowledge about AI usage in the industry by helping companies "understand what's being used and maybe an educational, informative process" (Hannah, 14m 45s). She suggests building an "audit tool" or "paper trail" as a starting point (Hannah, 13m 46s). Michael aligns with this, proposing a "horizontal slice" solution that acts as a "portal" through which AI is accessed, enabling "controls and traceability and observability" for studios (Michael, 14m 16s). This would provide the "reassurance that the big, big studios would require" (Michael, 15m 31s). Paul suggests creating a "showcase" or "demonstration of our capabilities" (Paul, 3m 57s) to facilitate conversations with the industry and identify actual needs.

Simon, while passionate about empowering creators and seeing Karmanline as a "vanguard company" for UK IP (Simon, 5m 48s, 10m 39s), also boils it down to a "visualization production tool that empowers the writer to understand what they're producing" (Simon, 36m 07s). He envisions this specifically for "procedural dramas" (Simon, 22m 57s, 38m 30s). The immediate next step for all is to engage potential clients and secure funding. Paul emphasizes that they "don't yet know who our customer is. Not properly, not really, not deeply" and that they need to "hook up with said clients to get more meaningful observation and validation from them" (Paul, 8m 08s, 8m 30s). Michael suggests aiming for "three design partners" within 12 months (Michael, 31m 43s).

Approach to Developing and Testing Their First Solution

There is a strong preference among the technical and product-focused founders for an iterative, lean, and user-centric approach to development. Paul believes they should "knock something up, iterate and test" (Paul, 5m 46s), creating something that is "not very deep, we won't build it very polished" but is "credible enough to have a conversation with" (Paul, 4m 58s, 5m 22s). He suggests building "a few different bets" or prototypes quickly to "test them" with the industry (Paul, 15m 16s).

Michael explicitly outlines this approach: "to build a version that has some, that provides some value and it can be ugly and it can have sharp corners. Put it in the hands of what I've always referred to as like design partners. Three of them, let's say, have them work with us to iterate and to move towards something they would pay for" (Michael, 25m 31s). He stresses that they are "not really building anything revolutionary" but rather integrating existing AI tools into a portal for "reassurance" (Michael, 15m 31s). Chloe's idea of a basic "opt-in" framework for tracking AI tool usage on productions is a pragmatic starting point, focusing on what studios "could hope for today" (Chloe, 40m 40s, 21m 55s).

Simon's past experience "using ChatGPT, Mid Journey Runway, Discord" to "previs the entire episode and showed it to a crew of 300 Indians that didn't speak English" (Simon, 17m 57s, 18m 15s) demonstrates a similar rapid prototyping mindset. His vision is for a tool that instantly visualizes what a writer is creating, akin to "playing the C chord. You hear it, you know, just. It's just not. You don't just. You can hear it now. You can hear and see it" (Simon, 12m 33s, 12m 41s).

Tensions Between the Founders

Several areas of tension and disagreement emerge from the interviews, primarily centered around focus, process, and vision:

Lack of Clear Focus/Direction

Paul directly highlights this as a major issue, lamenting, "Who fucking knows? Because we jump from one gut feel to the next and that's the problem that we have" (Paul, 3m 35s). He urges the team to "Stick to one thing and focus on it, get it done" (Paul, 14m 39s). Chloe agrees, identifying "a slight lack of discipline around ideas" (Chloe, 37m 07s) and acknowledging that "we haven't been able to pinpoint the starting point effectively and stay on track" (Chloe, 37m 07s).

Hannah also describes the "level of flip flopping" in their product direction as "extraordinary" (Hannah, 13m 46s). Michael points out that a script visualization tool was worked on and then "binged" (Michael, 19m 50s), indicating a lack of consistent focus.

Process and Meeting Structure

Hannah is critical of the team's operational rhythm, particularly their weekly meetings. She states, "We have like a Thursday meeting and it's like we just turn up on the Thursday meeting and there's no agenda" (Hannah, 28m 59s). She finds it a "meandering chat" that is "not a place for like ideation" and feels like "wasting it" when considering the cost of everyone's time (Hannah, 29m 47s, 144).

Leadership Style and Decision-Making

Hannah explicitly states that "Tim leads instinctively and I don't always fully agree with his instincts, but I'm not going to interfere with it" (Hannah, 30m 45s). She cites the website launch as an example: "He just decided to launch the website and send it somebody... I kind of repeatedly said we only launch once and it needs to have maximum impact. And it had no impact because it was done really quickly" (Hannah, 30m 56s, 31m 16s). She emphasizes this is "100% not how I would do it" (Hannah, 31m 16s).

Divergent Visions and Pragmatism

Chloe clearly identifies a tension in visions, stating, "I think that our appetites and profiles don't necessarily help with that because I think Simon is a very much like Future Horizons. And I'm a, I'm a pragmatist in terms of what the, what the industry wants to today" (Chloe, 33m 58s).

Simon's passionate and ambitious ideas about a "full production visualization model" and revolutionizing the industry (Simon, 15m 02s, 10m 39s) are contrasted with Chloe's focus on smaller, more immediate, revenue-generating solutions. Michael also perceives a difference in how he, as the CTO, defines what is "technical and engineering" compared to the broader interpretation of the other founders (Michael, 11m 54s). Simon acknowledges, "Tim's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know what I mean? Someone's gonna build this" (Simon, 30m 59s), indicating his tendency to generate numerous ideas.

Commitment and Financial Expectations

Chloe expresses concern that not all founders are equally committed, noting, "I think we all need to really want this to happen because I think it is very easy for everybody except Tim to be continuing with their other bits and Bobs workwise" (Chloe, 44m 08s). She feels that "Tim is taking on more of the risk than he should be" (Chloe, 45m 47s) and that not everyone is "breathing this company at the moment" (Chloe, 46m 20s).

Hannah highlights a significant financial obstacle: "We have these immense salaries for our business plan... Tim has a salary that he has to earn and thinks he should earn... But then we've got like a million pound wage bill before we even get off the block, which is an obstacle" (Hannah, 35m 52s, 156), suggesting this might be "potentially insurmountable" (Hannah, 37m 07s).

Areas of Agreement

A. The Industry is Struggling/Slow to Adapt to AI
All founders recognize that the film and TV industry is hesitant, fearful, or slow to adopt AI, creating both a problem and an opportunity for Karmanline. Simon states "everybody's terrified of what's coming and they don't know what to do" (Simon, 26m 02s). Hannah notes a "lack of institutional adoption of bespoke solutions" (Hannah, 106). Chloe mentions freelancers are "afraid and nervous and mystified" (Chloe, 21m 05s).

B. Need for Funding/Revenue
There is unanimous agreement that Karmanline critically needs funding or to start generating revenue to sustain itself and progress.

C. Focus on the "Corporate" Client
While freelancers are the end-users, there's a general understanding that the primary customer (the one who pays) will be the larger studios and production companies, who need solutions for AI adoption and oversight.

D. Value of the Team's Diverse Expertise
The founders appreciate the unique blend of legal, technical, product, and industry experience within the team, seeing it as a key strength that differentiates Karmanline. Chloe explicitly states, "That's not a, that mean that is a very unique set of humans there" (Chloe, 37m 10s). Simon agrees that having the right people "brings a. A confidence to people. Oh, okay. These guys are serious" (Simon, 32m 33s).

E. Iterative/Prototype-First Development
There's a shared understanding that an MVP or prototype-first approach, rather than a full, polished product, is the way to test ideas and engage potential partners.

F. Building Trust and Reputation
Hannah emphasizes that trust and reputation will be crucial for building a client base in this evolving and sometimes "cowboy" industry (Hannah, 21m 30s).

Areas of Disagreement

1. Specific Problem to Solve (Current Focus)
This is the most significant area of disagreement.
Chloe is leaning towards a pragmatic solution focusing on AI adoption and benchmarking for corporates, but isn't "100% sure that that is the way to go" (Chloe, 15m 13s).
Hannah advocates for an "audit tool" to track AI usage as a starting point to understand the problem, but also has a grand vision of a "production operating system for the studio of the future" (Hannah, 13m 46s, 15m 22s).
Michael believes in a "horizontal slice" portal for AI access to enable controls and traceability, and views "previs" (pre-visualization) as a "crowded space" they shouldn't focus on (Michael, 14m 16s, 14m 02s).
Paul initially pushed for a "showcase" in the "previs world" as a demonstration of capabilities (Paul, 3m 57s, 5m 10s), but acknowledges they "jump from one gut feel to the next" (Paul, 3m 35s).
Simon has a clear vision for a "visualization production tool that empowers the writer" specifically for "procedural dramas," which he sees as a "full production visualization model" (Simon, 36m 07s, 15m 02s).

2. Urgency of Progress/Timeline for Funding
Michael expresses significant frustration and worry about the lack of progress and funding momentum, unable to speculate on timelines for a usable product or financial sustainability (Michael, 27m 55s, 24m 57s). Others acknowledge slowness but perhaps less intensely.

3. Internal Communication and Structure
Hannah believes they "don't communicate very well" and criticizes the lack of agenda and meandering nature of their group meetings, advocating for "loads more structure" and objective-driven discussions (Hannah, 25m 42s, 28m 59s, 144). Michael agrees he tends to be quiet in meetings and worries he should be more vocal (Michael, 11m 02s).

4. Leadership and Decision-Making Style
Hannah disagrees with Tim's "instinctive" leadership, particularly his decision to launch the website without consensus or proper strategy, contrasting it with her preference for tightly controlled execution (Hannah, 30m 45s, 30m 56s, 31m 16s).

5. Commitment Levels and Financial Expectations
Chloe feels that not all founders are showing the same level of commitment and risk-taking as Tim (Chloe, 44m 08s, 45m 47s).
Hannah also points to the high salary expectations in their business plan as a potentially "insurmountable" obstacle to attracting investment (Hannah, 35m 52s, 37m 07s).

Links to videos

• Chloe
• Michael
• Hannah
• Paul
• Simon