#2290 He’s building an AI media empire - Startup Stories - Mixergy Recap

Podcast: Startup Stories - Mixergy

Published: 2025-12-29

Duration: 0 min

Summary

Ricardo Vaisantos is revolutionizing media through AI by creating personalized children's books and envisions a future where all media is customized for individuals. His company, Dream Stories, leverages generative AI to produce thousands of unique stories tailored to each customer.

What Happened

In this episode of Startup Stories, host Andrew Warner sits down with Ricardo Vaisantos, the founder of Dream Stories, a company that utilizes AI to create personalized children's books. Ricardo shares that since launching, they have produced many thousands of unique books, with about 70,000 characters created on their platform. Each book is customized for the individual customer, showcasing the potential of AI in media creation. While he has been asked about revenue figures, Ricardo emphasizes that the financial aspect is secondary to the larger vision of the company, which aims to transform how media is consumed and created.

Ricardo reflects on his background in the media space, including his early experiences at Spotify, where he observed the demand for personalized content. He recalls a thought experiment he had about the future of bespoke content and how platforms like Spotify had already begun to explore this concept with customized songs. He notes that while people initially thought this personalization was made by hand, it laid the groundwork for the potential of AI to automate and scale this creative process. The conversation transitions to the inspiration behind Dream Stories, which stemmed from his desire to provide his children with more adventurous and engaging content compared to what was available in the market, which he described as often generic and uninspired.

Key Insights

Key Questions Answered

How does Dream Stories use AI to create personalized books?

Dream Stories employs generative AI to produce unique children's books tailored to individual customers. Since its launch, the company has created about 70,000 characters, each contributing to the customization of stories. This approach allows families to engage with content that resonates more deeply with their children's interests and identities.

What inspired Ricardo Vaisantos to start Dream Stories?

Ricardo was inspired to create Dream Stories after noticing a disparity between the content available to his children and the adventurous tales he enjoyed as a child. He wanted to provide his children with stories that ignited their imagination and sense of adventure, leading him to realize the potential of AI to develop custom narratives.

What are the revenue figures for Dream Stories?

While Ricardo acknowledges that previous figures suggested around $3 million in annual revenue, he prefers to focus on the vision and mission of his company rather than financial metrics. He believes that revenue should support the larger goal of transforming media, rather than dictate the narrative of success.

How did Ricardo's experience at Spotify influence his vision?

During his time at Spotify, Ricardo observed the power of personalization in music, which sparked his interest in the potential for customized content across different media formats. This experience helped him conceptualize how generative AI could enable bespoke content creation, similar to the way Spotify tailored music to individual tastes.

What is the future vision for media according to Ricardo?

Ricardo envisions a world where all forms of media, including movies and TV shows, are customized to individual preferences. He believes that as technology advances, people will have the tools to create high-quality content for their personal consumption, leading to new behaviors and opportunities in media consumption.