Zero
Zero (ZeroApp.email) is an on-device, AI-powered corporate email client aimed at regulated industries. As of the interview, the company was pre-revenue and free on the App Store, with about 30,000 downloads, 10,000 monthly active users, and 2,000 daily active users. It had six pre-sale corporate customers waiting for its paid version, planned for December 15, at roughly $2.99 per user per month, and had raised a $700K seed round.
Alex Babani's team saw that corporate customers in law firms, healthcare, and financial institutions rely on outdated software and strict security policies that block cloud-based AI email tools. They built an on-device, device-centric AI email client so data stays between the user's device and the email provider.
- •Selling to regulated industries where cloud-based AI is blocked turns on-device processing into a real differentiator rather than a marketing checkbox.
- •Pre-sale commitments from six corporate customers gave the team leverage to justify a $5 million cap while still pre-revenue.
- •A free consumer app built user familiarity and produced investors among its users, which lowered the cost of early fundraising.
- •Corporate CIOs who adopt a tool can spread it across a company, so a few large accounts can carry significant reach.
- 1.Identify a regulated niche (e.g., law, healthcare, finance) where current software is outdated and cloud tools are not permitted.
- 2.Collect paid pre-sale commitments from companies in that niche before the paid product ships.
- 3.Launch a free app to build a user base and daily engagement, then use it as the path to paid corporate seats.
- 4.Price per seat per month and add support fees by company size, then present the pre-sale list to investors when raising.
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