For Saskatoon-based Realtor Gregg Bamford, who has been in the business for more than two decades, clients are the core of his business.
But sometimes, he says, managing these relationships could prove difficult. That, he says, is why he was all in when his business partner, Caroline Gilmore, approached him last fall with an idea to streamline client communication processes.
“I basically vibe-coded the first version of the app and went to our Realtor team, so Greg included, and said, ‘Would this make it easier for you to be able to do your job?’ And that’s kind of where it grew from,” said Gilmore.
Gilmore says she built the first version of the app, called Rivra, entirely using artificial intelligence (AI), turning to large language models like ChatGPT to help her code it.
“We’ve gone in the last nine months from an idea to a production-grade app, which is going to go out to our first test users,” said Gilmore.
The two then pitched the idea to Co.Labs, a Saskatoon-based tech incubator that has supported over 250 startups in its nine years of operation.
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The incubator’s program director says every supported startup is now using AI in some capacity, from creating minimum viable products to integrating more advanced products into its business operations.
“That could range all the way from using tools like OpenAI or Anthropic chat products, all the way to coding agents and tools that assist in very deeply technical parts of building a product,” said Graeme Jobe, program director of Co.Labs.
The incubator, which receives funding from both the federal and provincial governments, currently supports around 30 resident entrepreneurs.
Jobe notes that AI is reshaping the entrepreneurial landscape in the province, lowering the barrier to entry by letting founders build things “a lot faster at a lower cost.”
“I’m just really excited to see where that takes us and how AI can lower the barrier to entry for anybody out there who has a great idea or knows uniquely how to solve a problem,” he said.
Jay Maharaj’s sports management app TeamLinkt began at Co.Labs seven years ago. Since then, it has grown into a team of 30, moving beyond the Co.Labs workspace and serving around 600,000 users.
He says AI is changing how entrepreneurs spend their time.
“Now it’s less about product because product can be built much more efficiently and faster, and really understanding go-to-market, like how are you going to bring that product to customers in an efficient way,” he said.
But while AI is helping founders build faster, it is also lowering the bar for competitors — something that is not lost on Bamford.
“What we’re building, I think, is a great concept. But at the same time, other people could possibly beat us to the mark on that,” he said.
Despite this, Bamford says he owes a lot to AI and its ability to help scale his business so quickly.
“If we did it two years ago or three years ago, I don’t think that we would have been able to, because if you look at the user interface of what we actually built, it probably would have cost over $100,000 just to be able to just build that,” he said.
“Without AI, we wouldn’t be here today.”
The pair are beginning to beta-test their app and say they are targeting a launch date in the third quarter of this year.
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