AI is changing how businesses understand their customers, but many founders are still unsure where to start or how to use it in a practical way.

In this episode of Creating the Curve, Anna is joined by Matt Wilkinson, founder of Strivenn, to explore how AI can help founders get closer to their customers without needing massive budgets or complicated tools.

Matt shares his journey from scientist to AI consultant and explains how his background in research and marketing shaped the way he approaches AI today. The conversation focuses on one particularly powerful idea, synthetic customers. These are AI-powered personas built from real data, insights, and research that allow founders to test ideas, messaging, and products before taking them to market.

Together, Anna and Matt explore how founders can use AI to create deeper customer insights, test ideas earlier, and avoid the costly mistake of building products that nobody actually wants. They also talk honestly about where AI works brilliantly and where human insight is still essential, particularly when it comes to emotion, storytelling, and connection.

This episode is packed with practical thinking for founders who want to use AI in a thoughtful way, not just to produce content, but to make better decisions and build products that truly meet customer needs.

In this episode, Anna and Matt discuss:

• What synthetic customers are and how they work
• Why most businesses struggle to truly understand their customers
• How AI can help founders test ideas before launching products
• The difference between logical insight and emotional understanding
• Why customer research is still essential, even with AI
• How AI helps analyse large volumes of customer feedback quickly
• The risks of relying too heavily on assumptions
• How founders can start experimenting with AI without large budgets
• Why AI should support human creativity, not replace it
• The importance of keeping customers at the centre of decision making

This episode highlights how thoughtful use of AI can help founders move faster, reduce risk, and build solutions that people genuinely want.

To find out more about Creating The Curve, our community and membership, go to: https://creatingthecurve.co.uk

To chat to our guest Matt Wilkinson, head over to: https://strivenn.com