This episode of The Startup Vagabond is a conversation with Max Tolmachov, founder of Sumi Studio, about AI video, founder focus, China, venture capital, and building a product in one of the most competitive AI markets.
Max’s journey started in traditional finance, crypto, Binance, GameFi, and Bitcoin mining before moving deeper into AI. After exploring ideas around private data centers and AI model aggregation, his team pivoted toward AI video creation after studying competitor gaps, user complaints, agency workflows, and demand from B2B customers.
Sumi Studio is building an AI creation tool that brings the full content workflow into one canvas. Instead of jumping between separate tools for scripts, images, video generation, editing, camera movement, lighting, and style, the platform gives users access to hundreds of models, AI agents, and a “movie director” stage that makes professional-style AI video creation easier to control.
We talk about how the team reached 300 paid users in one month with zero marketing budget by interviewing agencies, creators, and potential customers before building the features they needed.
We also discuss why most AI video users are not just random content creators. Max explains that much of the market is B2B: marketing agencies, AI creation firms, TV studios, design companies, gaming companies, and traditional businesses experimenting with AI-generated video.
The conversation also gets into China’s startup ecosystem, relationship-driven business culture, the importance of learning local languages, why the 2026 venture market is difficult, and how founders need traction, revenue, and differentiation to raise capital right now.
The broader takeaway: AI creation is moving from novelty content into real business workflows. But in a crowded market, founders need to listen carefully, find specific gaps, and focus on one product long enough to win.