Dmitry Afonov

20+ yrs as CTO → CEO at (@AithorCom), an AI writing assistant for courseworks

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

My 1st big U.S. interview (5M readers monthly) dropped on Starter Story. I shared how our startup started, the team who made it happen, and what's next. Huge shoutout to @thepatwalls and the teams at @AithorCom & Starter Story.

Check it here:
https://t.co/ZekA8qDIcY

[Anatoly Terentyev @tolianich]

Today I'm launching Chiaro AI. Chiaro turns your phone into a personal tour guide.

Point your camera at any object: a monument, a painting, a building. Chiaro will tell you what it is, reveal hidden details, and suggest interesting places nearby. As text or as an audio guide. Chiaro recognizes art, architecture, and cultural artifacts better and more accurately than ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

I love to travel, discover unexpected places and hidden gems. Chiaro turns your phone into a local friend-guide, wherever you are. The idea was born many years ago during a trip to Italy, which is why I chose the Italian name Chiaro, meaning "clear" in Italian. Chiaro brings clarity to what you see.

I was solving my own problem, and I love using my product in cities. I vibecoded it from scratch, without developers. Not over a weekend and not with a single prompt, but through a long and persistent path of trial and error.

I would be infinitely grateful for your feedback from testing my app on the streets and in the museums of your city. Or simply for sharing this post with your traveler friends.

Try Chiaro today.

[scade.xyz @scade_xyz]

Meet Scade. The first full-cycle marketing system

Forget the 30-person marketing team

Build a full content plan for the month in 10 minutes

All in one place: visuals, copy, trends, auto-posting, metrics

Waitlist is LIVE: https://t.co/1QmmiVJwhH

More below 👇

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@tomrossi7 @stripe @PaddleHQ Yeah, we switched to @PaddleHQ from Stripe @AithorCom.
We've had a bit of a story with Stripe actually: https://t.co/ysnP4OF403 Then we had like 40 offers from payment providers. Paddle was the best fit and we've never had a single regret. The guys are brilliant.

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@rebryk @fluently_app Hey!
@AithorCom – AI writing assistant. We made $1M MRR in a year

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@trikcode Hi! I'm definitely in tech, building AI writing assistant. We made $1M MRR in a year

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@ItsAndraz Hey! Dima, founder of @AithorCom. We made $1M MRR in a year

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

What are we doing for better engagement & retention?
This October & November, we're keeping our users hooked with significant feature updates.

– All-in-one platform for writing
We're developing an all-in-one AI writing assistant platform where everyone can reduce routine (time spent) and create academic paperwork that matters. We’re developing new features to prevent users from needing alternative tools. Soon, users will be able to upload and integrate their own materials directly, implement a better AI & Plagiarism detector, and more.

– Literature Review & RAG
RAG, our newest feature launched this summer, has transformed content creation within the platform. We've revamped a tool to directly support the depth and breadth of academic research. With access to an expanded database of over 4.5M sources, users can now integrate relevant citations and references into their work. We developed it to help our users simplify the literature review process, making it easier to help produce well-founded academic texts. The auto-quoting test didn't go as planned. We ran into quite a few errors and had to roll it back for some fixes. It’s been tough, but we’re keeping at it and everything will sort itself out.

These are just part of our ongoing strategy to adapt and respond to our users' needs. My own ambition is to make @AithorCom a leader in academic and professional content creation.

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

We’re preparing our product for the high season. The #strategy is to invest in conversion at the beginning of the first half of the season, and in retention in the second, starting from November.

What are we doing for better #conversion?
(1) Focus on mobile traffic
Historically, our mobile traffic conversion rates have been quite low. This is due to the nature of our service – it’s much easier to write long texts on a desktop than on a mobile. Still, we have room to improve here. Since we’ve started focusing on it, we've increased conversion rates on the mobile web by 50%. Our new improvements for mobile checkout and onboarding are meant to boost by at least 50% more.

(2) Improve conversion in different geos
With a surge expected in October, our drive is towards sharpening conversion rates and lowering acquisition costs. This includes AB testing individual price options in different countries and integrating new payment options for India and Indonesia.

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

When Im talking to UX designers, I always ask them - if you were to choose a single thing in UX that matters most, what would it be? The answer Im looking for - simplicity.
This is how we built Aithor from the start and this is what differentiated us from competitors. At any given moment visitor should be given you a single simple decision to make. Split customers' journey into clear steps and never throw multiple challenges in them at a time.

[Yasmine Khosrowshahi @yasminekho]

9. Don’t confuse your customers with too many options.

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@ethanlurk Innovation comes from individuals. The bigger company is, the more bureaucracy you have. Individuals get lost in it.

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@CatchTheLatest DM me pls, sure!

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

A new season is almost here. Wrapping up our preparations, now focusing on creating the best AI writing assistant platform where everyone can reduce routine (time spent) and create #academic paperwork that matters. Marketing main focus 👇🏻

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

I'll soon share our main product focus. Stay tuned!

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

⚡️ Process Optimization
We optimize marketing workflow by automating back-office tasks like contract signings and payments. This move boosts productivity by 20-30%, making our operations more effective. Last, but not the least, we're prioritizing efficiency together with growth. Previously, our focus was on revenue, and now we focus on the #LTV/#CAC metric and revenue to grow a sustainable economy.

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@0xV0k3r @leojrr @aithor You can check it out in my interview for Starter Story (highlighted in my profile)

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

@kingoverwealth @thepatwalls @AithorCom Appriciate it! Thanks

[Dmitry Afonov @afonov]

My 1st big U.S. interview (5M readers monthly) dropped on Starter Story. I shared how our startup started, the team who made it happen, and what's next. Huge shoutout to @thepatwalls and the teams at @AithorCom & Starter Story.

Check it here:
https://t.co/ZekA8qDIcY