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Customers’ decisions and buying patterns are driven by emotions, not logic. So, appeal to your consumers’ desires, as opposed to just selling numbers and data, because emotion-based selling is the future, Sharmin Ali, founder and CEO of Instoried, an artificial intelligence (AI) based platform that helps people write better content, told the audience at TechSparks 2022.

Speaking to YourStory’s Varnika Gupta on the subject of ‘Hacking content growth: AI & Empathy’ on the second day of TechSparks 2022, India’s top tech startup conference, Sharmin explained how Instoried’s platform, built in-house, was tailored to help analyse the emotional engagement quotient of a brand’s content through a fixed set of metrics.

“Our biggest USP is that we essentially understand why empathy is so important for any content marketer, and we ensure that they’re able to empathise with their audience’s requirements with what they actually need,” said Sharmin.

When asked if there was ever such a thing as too much tech, she replied, “Every second or third customer of mine has asked me, are you going to replace my copywriter? But, I don’t think AI can ever completely take over human-enabled expertise, not just in content, but many other categories also.”

An actor, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker who has also authored two books—‘Y.O.U.’ and ‘How I was forced to become a staunch RACIST’, Sharmin has travelled to around 47 countries to figure out what she wanted to do next before launching Instoried in March, 2019.

“No matter how great you are in what you do, unless the timing is right, things don’t click.”

On her journey of founding a deep-tech company, and being taken seriously as a woman in tech, Sharmin said, “As long as you know what you’re talking about, as long as you’re doing the right thing, people will take time, but eventually, they do understand you know your stuff. And, I’ve given 12x or 15x exits to my initial investors, so they do take me very seriously.”

Giving due credit to her co-founder, Sutanshu Raj, who is also the CTO (chief technology officer) of the company, Sharmin said it’s important to pick the right team, “And if you know what’s in your brain, and if you can convey it right, it might take some time, but you’ll get there.”