AI is a tool, not a magic bullet. When we started Arphie, we knew we wanted to leverage AI, but we also knew that focusing purely on technology would be a mistake. We focused on solving real, tangible problems that we had experienced ourselves, like responding to RFPs more efficiently. One key example was a customer who was dealing with a huge volume of RFPs and struggling with long turnaround times. By using our AI, they were able to streamline their process, cutting response time from days to hours. By focusing on specific problems and not just the tech, we were able to create a solution that delivered real-world value.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming industries at a breakneck pace, and the entrepreneurs driving this innovation are at the forefront of this revolution. From groundbreaking applications to ethical considerations, these visionaries are shaping the future of AI. What does it take to innovate in such a rapidly evolving field, and how are these entrepreneurs using AI to solve real-world problems? As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dean Shu.
Dean Shu is the CEO and co-founder of Arphie, a software platform that uses AI and proprietary business data to build thoughtful, accurate RFP answers. Dean started Arphie after personally seeing ways that AI could transform processes as the GM and Product Leader of Studio at Scale AI, an AI leader in Silicon Valley working with companies like Open AI, Microsoft, and the US Department of Defense. Prior to Scale AI, he worked with software businesses at Insight Partners, and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company. Dean received his B.A. in Economics and Psychology at Harvard University.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?
Growing up, I was always fascinated by the idea of creating something from nothing and being in control of my own destiny. My entrepreneurial journey began early — I taught myself graphic design using Adobe Creative Suite when I was in high school. I started doing freelance design work online, creating everything from logos to promotional materials. That hustle not only gave me a sense of independence but also helped me pay for college.
Around the same time, I discovered a passion for live music and photography. I wanted to blend those interests, so I became a concert photographer, contributing to platforms like Live Nation. That experience taught me how to adapt quickly, work creatively under pressure, and connect with people — all skills that ended up proved invaluable later in building Arphie, a platform to streamline the process of responding to RFPs and security questionnaires.
Looking back, those early experiences weren’t just about earning money or following passions; they were about learning how to turn ideas into reality. That mindset has been the foundation of everything I’ve done since.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
Too many to share! I’ll go with one that happened recently with Arphie.
One of Arphie’s (now) customers is a tech company specializing in digital solutions for the sports and entertainment industry. While they were evaluating Arphie, they had received an RFP from a globally renowned athletic organization — one that manages some of the world’s most prestigious sporting events. The contract was a game-changer, promising multi-year collaboration and significant exposure in the industry. However, the competition was fierce, with several larger, more established tech companies also vying for the deal.
The tech company decided to run a one-week proof of concept (POC) with Arphie. They hoped the platform’s ability to streamline and optimize communication would help them craft a winning RFP response. We onboarded them in record time, training Arphie on their existing documentation, case studies, and data about the athletic organization’s stated priorities.
Within hours, the tech company started using Arphie-generated responses to address specific sections of the RFP. Arphie’s AI not only streamlined their work but also offered fresh perspectives on how to frame their value proposition in a way that resonated with the athletic group’s mission and goals.
As the deadline approached, the company relied heavily on Arphie to fine-tune their pitch, ensuring every answer was concise, relevant, and compelling. They even used Arphie to simulate potential follow-up questions the athletic organization might ask, preparing responses in advance.
After the POC was over and the RFP was submitted, the tech company received the news — they had won the contract. The athletic organization cited the clarity and focus of their responses as a deciding factor, saying it demonstrated a deep understanding of their needs and vision.
The win wasn’t just a milestone for the tech company; it became a defining moment for Arphie. It proved that our platform could empower businesses to punch above their weight in competitive, high-stakes scenarios. The tech company is now one of Arphie’s strongest advocates, often sharing how a one-week POC turned into a long-term partnership with one of the biggest names in sports.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
That’s such a great question, and it’s absolutely true — no one achieves success alone. For me, one of the most transformative experiences was my time as Chief of Staff to the CEO of Scale AI. It was an incredible opportunity to work closely with a visionary leader in the AI space and gain a front-row seat to what it takes to build and scale a top-tier AI company.
One of the most valuable lessons I learned was the balance between the science and art of B2B sales. I saw firsthand how important it is to deeply understand the customer’s pain points and craft solutions that resonate with their specific needs. It’s not just about building great technology — it’s about aligning it with real-world applications and delivering measurable value.
That experience didn’t just give me insights into running a company — it gave me confidence. It showed me how to lead with clarity, adapt to challenges, and stay focused on the mission. I’m incredibly grateful for that time at Scale AI because it helped shape me into the leader I needed to become to build Arphie.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” — African Proverb
This quote became particularly meaningful to me as I built the team at Arphie. In the early days, I thought I could do everything myself — after all, that’s the scrappy entrepreneur way, right? But I quickly realized that to truly scale and make an impact, I needed to surround myself with talented, passionate people who shared the vision. Building Arphie has been a team effort, and this quote reminds me every day that success is a collaborative journey.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
1. Leading by Example
I believe that no task is too large or too small when it comes to building something great. During Arphie’s early days, we were a lean team, which meant everyone — including me — wore multiple hats. I remember when onboarding one of our early customers, there was a lot of brute-force data cleaning that needed to be done. We split it up and each tackled it together, everyone taking their fair share, including myself. Leading by example showed my team that I was willing to do whatever it took to ensure our success, which inspired them to do the same.
2. Willing to Work Extremely Hard
As an entrepreneur, you’re always “on.” In the early days of Arphie, I was constantly toggling between working with prospects to close deals and ensuring our current customers felt supported. I’d spend my mornings on back-to-back calls with prospective clients, explaining how Arphie could solve their pain points, and my afternoons troubleshooting onboarding issues or jumping into product design sessions. Late nights were often spent preparing for the next day. It wasn’t uncommon to be on a midnight call with a customer in Asia or responding to emails at 4 a.m. to keep things moving for a prospect in Europe. That relentless drive to be present for our customers and prospects was instrumental in building trust and momentum.
3. Intellectual Curiosity
I’ve always been driven by a deep need to understand how things work, down to the tiniest detail. Whether it’s technology, customer workflows, or internal processes, I want to know the nitty-gritty. When we were building Arphie’s first prototype, I was deep in the weeds with Michael, my co-founder and CTO, on how exactly everything worked, and how the system would perform in certain edge cases. That same curiosity extends to customers. I’ve sat with their teams to watch how they work, asked detailed questions about their workflows, and even role-played as a customer support agent to truly grasp their challenges. That hands-on approach has been invaluable in creating a product that genuinely solves problems.
Each of these traits — leading by example, relentless work ethic, and intellectual curiosity — has shaped my approach to building Arphie and has been critical in driving its success.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. Share the story of what inspired you to start working with AI. Was there a particular problem or opportunity that motivated you?
The inspiration to start working with AI didn’t come from a sudden lightbulb moment — it came from shared frustration with a specific problem that both my co-founder and I had experienced firsthand. We both worked in roles where collaboration across teams was critical, but it often felt inefficient and disjointed. The question for us was always: How can we improve the way different teams work together?
As we explored this broad challenge, we wanted to identify a more tangible, specific problem that we had both experienced and could solve. That’s when the issue of responding to RFPs and security questionnaires came into sharp focus.
At Scale, I managed a software product line selling primarily to healthcare and financial services — industries notorious for their RFP-heavy processes. I vividly remember long nights and weekends poring over hundreds of detailed questions about product functionality, compliance, and performance metrics. As the person who knew the product best, I was the natural go-to for these tasks, but it was grueling and felt inefficient. I’d often think to myself, There has to be a better way to do this.
My co-founder, Michael, had a similar story. At Asana and Palantir, he frequently got pulled into RFP processes to provide subject matter expertise on infrastructure-related topics — everything from SLAs to uptime guarantees. He knew all too well the time sink and coordination headaches that came with these requests.
As we compared notes, it became clear that this wasn’t just our problem. It was a pervasive issue that many companies faced, especially in B2B environments. We decided to dig deeper, researching the RFP space and talking to others who shared similar pain points. What we discovered was a massive opportunity to use AI to streamline the RFP process — not just automating repetitive tasks, but improving the collaboration between sales, product, and engineering teams to produce better, faster responses.
That realization became the starting point for Arphie. We built our initial prototype around solving the RFP problem, and it resonated immediately. From there, we’ve expanded into adjacent areas, but that core inspiration — to improve how teams work together — has remained at the heart of everything we do. AI wasn’t just a tool for us; it was the key to unlocking a better way of working, and that’s what continues to drive our mission today.
Describe a moment when AI achieved something you once thought impossible. What was the breakthrough, and how did it impact your approach going forward?
One of the first moments I truly realized the potential of AI was when we moved to an agentic approach and successfully automated 90% of a RFP response for a major prospect. At the beginning of Arphie’s journey, I thought AI might be able to help with certain tasks, like drafting a good starting point for a good chunk of answers, but I didn’t imagine it could handle the complexity of a full RFP.
However, after working with a particular customer on ensuring there was a good corpus of existing data from prior responses and other resources, we were able to generate an almost completely automated response to a multi-hundred-question RFP for which the vast majority of answers were accepted out-of-the-box. Not only did it save the customer countless hours of manual work, but the response was also remarkably accurate and relevant. This breakthrough changed the way we approached product development. I now knew that Arphie’s AI agents could truly transform the way businesses handle complex, data-driven processes, and it cemented our belief in AI’s ability to create scalable, impactful solutions across industries.
Talk about about a challenge you faced when working with AI. How did you overcome it, and what was the outcome?
One of the biggest challenges we faced early on was ensuring the quality of the data that customers provided. When we first started, we relied heavily on customers’ historical responses to inform Arphie’s responses, but we quickly realized that not all data was created equal. Some of the datasets we were using were incomplete, outdated, or just not representative of the types of interactions our AI needed to process. This led to inaccurate or suboptimal outputs that couldn’t fully meet our customers’ needs.
To overcome this, we had to invest heavily in working with and educating customers on what data is the most appropriate to share with Arphie’s AI agents. We worked closely with our clients to better understand their data and built more robust data pipelines. We also iterated on our models that each agent utilized based on continuous feedback from customers, and rigorous testing. The result was a significant improvement in AI performance, and we were able to create a solution that better aligned with the specific needs of our clients. It reinforced for us the importance of not just using data, but using the right data.
Can you share an example of how your work with AI has had a meaningful impact (on others, on business results, etc)? What was the situation, and what difference did it make?
By enabling clients to respond to RFPs much faster, Arphie’s AI agents have allowed them to engage with more opportunities simultaneously, which has directly contributed to increased revenue. One client was facing multiple high-value RFPs from different sectors, all with overlapping deadlines. Without Arphie, managing these proposals would have been impossible without sacrificing quality or missing deadlines. However, with Arphie’s AI, they could generate highly tailored, accurate responses for each RFP in a fraction of the time. This efficiency freed up their team to focus on expanding relationships with existing clients while also closing new business. The result was a significant increase in the number of deals in the pipeline and more revenue, as they were able to handle more opportunities and close deals faster, all thanks to the AI-powered efficiency of Arphie.
Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five Things You Need To Know To Help Shape The Future of AI”?
1 . Collaboration Between AI and Humans is Key
AI can handle a lot of tasks, but it’s most effective when it collaborates with humans, not replaces them. In the early days of Arphie, we thought we could have AI completely automate the response generation for RFPs. However, we quickly realized that AI still needed human oversight for nuanced decisions, such as tone, context, and strategy. We built a hybrid system where AI handled the bulk of the task and human experts refined the results. This approach allowed us to move quickly without sacrificing quality, and it became clear that AI is an incredibly powerful tool when paired with human intelligence.
2 . Focus on Problem-Solving, Not Just Technology
AI is a tool, not a magic bullet. When we started Arphie, we knew we wanted to leverage AI, but we also knew that focusing purely on technology would be a mistake. We focused on solving real, tangible problems that we had experienced ourselves, like responding to RFPs more efficiently. One key example was a customer who was dealing with a huge volume of RFPs and struggling with long turnaround times. By using our AI, they were able to streamline their process, cutting response time from days to hours. By focusing on specific problems and not just the tech, we were able to create a solution that delivered real-world value.
3 . AI Can Empower Creativity, Not Just Automation
AI doesn’t just have to automate repetitive tasks — it can also be a tool for enhancing creativity. For example, our AI has helped many clients brainstorm new ideas for RFP responses, draft engaging marketing content, and even improve customer support. One of our clients, a major tech company, used Arphie to generate multiple variations of marketing copy based on real-time customer feedback. The AI helped them explore new creative angles quickly, which led to an increase in customer engagement. AI should be seen as a partner that augments creativity, rather than something that limits it.
4 . AI Must Be Transparent and Explainable
As AI becomes more integrated into business operations, transparency is key. When we launched Arphie, we quickly realized that our clients wanted to understand how our AI arrived at its decisions. It wasn’t enough to simply provide an output; we needed to explain how the model came to that conclusion. We worked to make our AI’s processes more transparent, ensuring that our clients could trust its decisions and better explain the results to stakeholders. This commitment to explainability has been a critical part of building trust in our AI and ensuring it aligns with our clients’ needs and expectations.
5 . Security and Privacy Are Non-Negotiable
As AI systems handle increasingly sensitive data, ensuring security and privacy is non-negotiable. When we started using AI to handle data for our clients, especially those in regulated industries like healthcare and finance, we made sure our platform met the highest security standards. One of our clients had strict data privacy requirements, and we worked closely with them to ensure our AI could handle their sensitive information securely. This focus on data protection not only kept us compliant with regulations but also built trust with clients, ensuring they felt comfortable using our AI for critical business functions.
When you think about the future of AI, what excites you the most, and how do you see your work contributing to that future?
The thing that excites me the most about the future of AI is its transformative power to solve complex, global challenges across industries. From healthcare to finance to sustainability, AI has the potential to drive significant advancements that improve quality of life and create new opportunities for growth. At Arphie, we’ve seen how AI can streamline business processes and enhance decision-making, but I believe we’re just scratching the surface. In the future, AI will enable businesses to tackle larger-scale problems more efficiently and effectively than ever before. I’m excited to contribute to this future by creating AI solutions that not only solve current problems but also open up new pathways for innovation and impact in the years to come.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs who want to innovate in AI? Can you share a story from your experience that illustrates your advice?
My advice for entrepreneurs looking to innovate in AI is to focus on solving real-world problems rather than getting lost in the allure of cutting-edge technology. It’s easy to fall into the trap of developing complex solutions just for the sake of innovation, but the most successful AI applications are those that address tangible, unmet needs. When we founded Arphie, we didn’t start with the idea of creating AI for its own sake; we focused on a problem we had personally experienced — RFP response inefficiencies. We knew this was an issue many organizations faced, and by targeting this pain point, we were able to build a solution that genuinely helped businesses save time and close deals faster. By focusing on solving a problem that matters, we were able to gain traction and grow.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
Honestly, I’m not that interested in talking to celebrities. If I had the opportunity to sit down for breakfast or lunch with someone, I’d much rather spend that time with one of our customers. Hearing directly from them about how AI is impacting their business — and more importantly, how they see AI transforming their processes in the future — would be incredibly valuable. I love learning about their unique challenges and seeing how we can continue to evolve and refine our solutions to meet their needs. That kind of deep, direct connection with our users is what helps shape the future of AI in the most meaningful way.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can follow along Arphie’s journey at www.arphie.ai, and follow my journey on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-shu/
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.
Dean Shu Of Arphie On Pushing the Boundaries of AI was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.