What Founders Can Learn From Topaz Labs

I recently interviewed Eric Yang, the chief executive officer of Dallas, Texas-based visual AI company Topaz Labs, for my newsletter, CrazyStupidTech. His father, Albert, started the business. The company stands in sharp contrast to our valuation-obsessed startup culture known for blitzscaling, infinite venture funding, and hypergrowth. Topaz is bootstrapped and has quietly built a $48 million business by breaking nearly every Silicon Valley rule. Here are some key insights from my conversation with Eric:

1. Focus on solving real problems

“We try to figure out the problems that are being underserved by everybody else by talking with customers and then completely disregarding everything else until we solve that thing and make sure we’re best at that thing.”

The power of focus cannot be overstated. While most startups try to build big platforms and take a “boil the ocean” approach, Topaz has thrived by solving specific problems very well.

2. Listen to Your Users (Even When It Hurts)

“There was a photography forum at the time where I was trying to push our software and people were rude… They said, ‘That’s cool and all, but not useful at all. What we want is this other thing,’ which was 10 times easier to make and not as interesting technically.”

Sometimes the best product isn’t the most technically impressive one. Instead, it’s the one customers actually need. Topaz succeeded by solving real problems people would pay for. This is in sharp contrast to Silicon Valley, where companies end up wasting time and energy chasing technical elegance.

3. Let Your Expertise Guide Your Decisions 

“It seems like upscaling is essentially a finite problem… But what we’ve found is people seem to always have the need to upgrade the value of their content.”

Understanding the evergreen nature of certain problems is crucial. While others assumed better cameras would eliminate the need for upscaling, Topaz saw that quality enhancement would remain valuable across technological waves.

4. Own Your Niche & Know Your Customer.

“I think we’re one of the AI tools that is least offensive to them, because we never generate things from scratch. We just help solve quality problems.”

Find your niche and own it completely. By focusing on enhancement rather than generation, Topaz has become trusted even by traditional production houses skeptical of AI.

5. Stay Paranoid, Stay Innovative

“A really healthy dose of paranoia at all times is actually pretty exciting… We panicked. We thought ‘Oh my gosh, we have to get on this. Otherwise we’re going to die as a company.'”

When new technologies threaten your core business, treat it as an opportunity to evolve rather than a death sentence. Continue reading the full interview on CrazyStupidTech.com