Waymark is a breakthrough AI production platform that uses a single prompt to create stunning personalized commercials and spec spots in minutes without creative skills needed. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Waymark CEO Alex Persky-Stern to learn more about the company.
Alex Persky-Stern’s Background
What is Alex Persky-Stern’s background? Persky-Stern said:
“I’m Alex Persky-Stern, CEO of Waymark. I’m a Michigan native with a background in tech and a passion for democratizing video creation. Before Waymark, I worked in various roles at startups Stik and SocialProof, always with a focus on helping small businesses grow.”
Formation Of Waymark
How did the idea for Waymark come together? Persky-Stern shared:
“Waymark grew out of a simple observation: small businesses needed high-quality video ads, but the process was too expensive and time-consuming for most. We saw an opportunity to use AI to make video creation fast, easy, and affordable for everyone. It was about leveling the playing field.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Persky-Stern reflected:
“I have many! Honestly, every time we hear that we’ve helped a small business reach new audiences or tell their story – it feels like a win for the whole team.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Persky-Stern explained:
“Our core product is an AI-powered video creation platform. It allows users to create professional-quality video ads in minutes, without any technical skills. We offer proprietary, human-designed templates, AI-generated scripts, and the ability to easily add your own branding and AI voice-over. (You can try it out for yourself with our interactive demo here.)”
Challenges Faced
What challenges have Persky-Stern and the team faced in building the company? Persky-Stern acknowledged:
“It’s a real challenge staying at the forefront of AI while making sure that our tech is reliable and practically useful for the businesses we serve. Our approach has been to stay knowledgeable about the bleeding edge of tech but bring extreme focus to customer value as a requirement for actual product development.”
Evolution Of Waymark’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Persky-Stern noted:
“We’ve come a long way since launch. Our platform has become far more sophisticated, allowing for more personalization and creativity. We’ve also expanded our capabilities to include things like synthetic AI voice-over talent, generation in multiple aspect ratios, and more advanced editing features. It’s all about giving our users more power and flexibility.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Persky-Stern cited:
“We’ve hit a number of major milestones in the past few years! Some big milestones include partnering with major media companies like Scripps, Paramount and Spectrum, surpassing one million videos generated, and hitting the point where we’d supported over $200 million in ad spend. Each of these represented a significant step towards our goal of democratizing video advertising.”
Customer Success Stories
When asking Persky-Stern about customer success stories, he highlighted:
“While the specific stories of small business victories are for our partners to share – you can check out the case studies on the Waymark website to see how we’re helping our media partners empower their local communities across the board.”
Funding/Revenue
When asking Persky-Stern about the company’s funding/revenue numbers, he revealed:
“We’ve been fortunate to ride the AI wave to rapid growth while staying profitable with no recent funding. Our culture and ethos is built on providing real, solid value for customers, and staying profitable rather than running up big deficits helps keep us sharp in making sure everything we deliver is high-value.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Persky-Stern assessed:
“The market we’re addressing is small business ad creative — and it’s unbelievably huge. Small businesses collectively make up 75% of advertising, and the market for the creative is over $30 billion!”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Persky-Stern affirmed:
“What sets us apart is our focus on making professional-quality video creation accessible to everyone. Our AI doesn’t just generate any videos – it uses a company’s own assets, and applies advertising best practices in the production process. Plus, our partnerships with major media companies give us unique insights into what makes effective ads.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the future company goals? Persky-Stern pointed out:
“Looking ahead, we’re aiming to make a good AI video creator great. We’re constantly updating the system to create even more personalized and compelling videos, even faster. “
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics to discuss? Persky-Stern concluded:
“I think we’ve covered a lot of ground! But I’m always happy to dive deeper into how AI is transforming the advertising landscape, or to discuss the importance of democratizing creative tools. These are topics I’m really passionate about.”
