Danny Postma is a serial product builder who has launched and sold multiple software products. Chatbase, however, represented a different kind of opportunity — one that arrived at the intersection of a new technology wave and an underutilized distribution channel.
The product itself was straightforward: users could upload a URL or document, and Chatbase would create a custom AI chatbot trained on that content. Businesses could then embed the chatbot on their websites for customer support, lead qualification, or internal knowledge management.
What distinguished Chatbase from competitors was not the technology but the go-to-market strategy. According to publicly available accounts, Postma turned to TikTok — a platform rarely associated with B2B software marketing. He published short demonstration videos showing the product in action: uploading a website, then having a natural conversation with an AI trained on that site's content.
The format worked because the product was inherently visual and immediately impressive. A 30-second demonstration communicated the value proposition more effectively than any landing page could. The videos gained significant organic reach, and the resulting traffic translated into signups.
The growth trajectory attracted acquisition interest. Postma eventually sold Chatbase, though the specific terms have not been fully disclosed. The timeline from launch to exit was notably compressed — a pattern that has become more common in the AI software space, where market windows open and close rapidly.
The case is instructive for several reasons. It demonstrates that distribution innovation can be as valuable as product innovation. It suggests that platforms typically associated with consumer content — TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels — may be underutilized channels for software products. And it illustrates the speed at which value can be created and captured in the current AI market.