Salsita is an up-and-coming Prague-based company that has created the first 3D product configurator equipped with a highly trained AI chatbot. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Salsita founder and CEO Matthew Gertner to learn more about the company.
Matthew Gertner’s Background
What is Matthew Gertner’s background? Gertner said:
“I have a fairly international background. I was born to English parents in London but was raised and educated in the U.S. I’ve been passionate about software development since a very young age. I remember pecking out programs on my dad’s HP calculator when I was around 10 years old. Combined with my interest in foreign languages, this led me to get a dual degree at the University of Pennsylvania in Computer Science and Linguistics.”
“Immediately after university, I moved to Paris to work as a software engineer. After a few years, I ended up in Hamburg, then moved to Prague to set up an IT services company with a friend in 1998. I’ve been living here and making my living as an entrepreneur ever since. Salsita is my third company.”
Formation Of Salsita
How did the idea for the company come together? Gertner shared:
“My current company, Salsita, has a rather unique background. My previous company was a venture-backed startup developing a file-sharing extension for Firefox. We didn’t achieve product-market fit, and I ended up freelancing for Mozilla, Yahoo, VMware, and others for a few years, focusing mainly on browser extension development.”
“I set up Salsita with the naive idea that I’d just hire another developer to help me out. Naturally, once we had a company and an office, things took on a life of their own. We just kept hiring people as the workload dictated, pivoting to web and mobile development once we had outgrown the extension space. Last year we reached a peak headcount of around 100 people.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Gertner reflected:
“I’ve had the company for almost 15 years, so obviously there have been a lot of great memories along the way. Some of my fondest memories are from the early days when we only had a handful of people, and it was really a family atmosphere. We used to do a company dinner once a month, with the whole staff attending.”
“Because we were so small, we had many restaurant options and enjoyed some amazing meals. I remember one time sitting at a table on the banks of the Vltava, Czech beer in hand, enjoying great food and spectacular views with the entire Salsita team. There are advantages to having a bigger team, but those memories are irreplaceable.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Gertner explained:
“Our main product is Salsita 3D Configurator, a platform for building 3D product configurators. It has all the features you would expect, including stunning 3D visualizations, an intuitive interface for changing the configuration, augmented reality support, a real-time pricing engine, and integrations with the leading e-commerce platforms.”
“What really sets us apart is our use of Conversational UI for the configurators. Almost since the day ChatGPT appeared on the scene, we’ve been working on a conversational interface to make it easier for shoppers to configure the product of their dreams. Imagine an elderly relative trying to configure a custom closet on the IKEA website using their configurator, and you can immediately see the appeal of our approach, which turns all that complexity into a simple, natural conversation.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Gertner and the team faced in building the company? Gertner acknowledged:
“Our product efforts were triggered by changes in the IT services space, both in Prague and worldwide. Prague used to be a low-cost city, but now it’s just a regular (albeit relatively affordable) Western European capital. In addition, improved communication technology, globalization, and newer websites – like Toptal and Upwork – have made the space ever more competitive.”
“As a result, we’ve had to evolve and specialize, which has presented many challenges. We’ve had to shift our focus several times, such as the move away from browser extension development. More recently, we’ve shifted our focus from services to product development. Making big changes like this is never easy. I’m really proud of the work our team has done to create a world-class product, and I’m excited by its potential.”
Evolution Of Salsita’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Gertner noted:
“The main evolution has been the addition of conversational capabilities to our configurator platform over the past year and a half. With the advent of generative AI, the capabilities of modern chatbots have taken a huge step forward. It’s been no small task to integrate these into our product, but the result is amazing. When people try out with our conversational configurators, it’s a real ‘wow!’ moment.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Gertner cited:
2010 – Establishment of the company 2013 – Pivot from browser extension to web and mobile app development 2018 – Landed our biggest client, eBay, who has been a great long-term partner to this day 2020 – Started work on our 3D product configurator platform 2021 – Launched our first configurator implementation 2023 – Added conversation capabilities to our configurators using the ChatGPT API
Customer Success Stories
When asking Gertner about the company’s customer success stories, he highlighted:
“One of the most impressive recent implementations is the conversational configurator that we built for L’Atelier Paris Haute Design, a maker of high-end French kitchen ranges. Their ranges are completely customizable down to a fraction of an inch, with a large array of components: anything from induction burners to a BBQ grill or wine fridge.”
“When we started working with them, they were struggling to sell effectively online since there was no good way for their customers to configure the ranges to their specifications and see in real-time what they looked like. We built them a top-notch 3D configurator that has turned into a vital sales tool for them.”
“The configurator is also one of the best showcases of our conversational capabilities. Atelier’s products are quite intricate, with a lot of options and degrees of freedom, so it can be tough for customers to master all aspects of the configurator. Adding an intelligent assistant who can tell you about product options, make suggestions, and even change the configuration for you, has been invaluable. It’s also really cool and fun to play with!”
Funding
When asking Gertner about the company’s funding details, he revealed:
“We’re currently in the process of raising our seed round. If any of your readers are potentially interested in participating, they should feel free to get in touch with me directly.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Gertner assessed:
“It’s a bit hard to get a grip on the size of the configurator market, since it is not something that any analysts track directly. We have commissioned our own research, which suggests that the TAM is currently in the $200-3B00M range. There is strong growth potential due to the increasing popularity of mass personalization by brands, driven by newer technologies like 3D printing and CNC machines.”
“We also believe that our conversational technology is applicable to other areas in the e-commerce space, which opens up a bigger chunk of the e-commerce tools market. This is estimated to be around $8 billion annually.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Gertner affirmed:
“The biggest differentiation is our use of Conversational UI. There’s been a lot of hype around ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and the like. But I haven’t actually seen too many practical implementations beyond obvious areas like summarizing text. Our head start in applying conversational technology to e-commerce has given us a real competitive advantage.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future goals? Gertner concluded:
“With the amazing feedback we have received so far on the conversational configurators we’ve already deployed for clients like L’Atelier Paris, we have started to look into the broader problem of finding the right product on an e-shop and how our conversational technology could help.”
“It’s very early days, but all the brands and retailers I’ve spoken to recognize that showing a potential customer a grid of similar-looking products is not the best way to land a sale. Yet that’s what most e-shops look like today. So we’re exploring whether Conversational UI could provide a more satisfying purchasing experience that drives more customer engagement and increases sales.”
