Welcome to another Founder Spotlight! Today,we're diving into the world of innovative gifting with Jonathan Nass and HughLagroterria, the co-founders of Outdone—an AI-powered solution making giftshopping smarter, easier, and way less stressful.

Born out of the chaos of holiday shopping andthe shared frustration of two roommates, Outdone started with a simple idea:that finding the perfect gift could be better with a little help from tech.Fast forward, and their startup has grown from a Google Form to a machinelearning-powered product that's gone viral on TikTok and been featured in theNew York Times.

In this conversation, we hear how Hugh andJonathan brought Outdone to life, validated their idea, and cracked the code onTikTok marketing.

What’s the origin story of Outdone?

Hugh and I were roommates when we came up withthe idea. We were both feeling the stress of holiday shopping and thought therehad to be a smarter way. We figured gifting was a personal experience but alsosomething machine learning could help with. When the pandemic lockdown hit in2020, we started building.

How didyou validate your idea?

We started by testing with simple Facebook adsleading to a rough landing page with a Google Form. People filled it out, andwe manually sent gift suggestions—no AI yet. But conversion rates weresurprisingly high, which motivated us to build our first machine learning MVPfor the 2021 holiday season. Engagement was strong, so we kept improving.

What marketing strategies worked best for you?

TikTok was huge for us. We partnered with agifting-focused creator whose video went viral and crashed our site. It onlycost a few hundred dollars and brought thousands of users. Definitely one ofour best-performing channels.

What contributedto your Product Hunt success?

Two things: having a solid product and rallyinga community in advance. We engaged with users on Product Hunt for weeks beforelaunch, so we had a great turnout on launch day.

How did you get your first 100 users?

We shared it with friends on social media andlaunched on Product Hunt. That quickly brought in our first hundred—andeventually our first thousand—users.

What channels helped you grow?

TikTok first, followed by earned media. We werefeatured in a New York Times article and named one of Built In’s Future 5 ofBoston Tech. Both helped build credibility and drive traffic.

Can you explain your TikTok strategy?

We found influencers through hashtags like#giftideas and worked with them to replicate their top-performing videos. Wealso asked friends to boost early engagement. TikTok's Spark Ads let us promotethose posts like native content, which helped a lot.

What’s been your biggest win so far?

When our site crashed due to viral traffic. Itwasn’t ideal, but it showed real demand. Since then, we’ve had over 25,000visitors and continued to get great feedback.

Any advice for new founders?

Start now. It might feel like your end productis far away, but consistent effort adds up fast. Don’t overthink—just keepbuilding.

Want to go from idea to launch like Outdone? Check out our Launch with AI series:

• Part 1: From Service to Product

• Part 2: Validating with No Code

• Part 3: Building with AI

• Part 4: Marketing with Influencers

• Part 5: Scaling with Smart Systems

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