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AICO by Boeni Industries – Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy

1. Positioning & Narrative

Core positioning (external tagline)
AICO by Boeni Industries is an open-source, local-first AI companion that’s emotionally present, privacy-preserving, and technically serious enough for researchers and builders.

Three pillars (repeat everywhere): - Companion, not chatbot – emotional intelligence, relationship evolution (Companion → Confidante → Sidekick → Co‑Adventurer). - Local-first & encrypted – CurveZMQ, SQLCipher, key management, no cloud lock‑in. - Serious architecture – message bus, modelservice, memory system (working + semantic + KG + AMS).

Founder positioning (Michael):
Founder-engineer at Boeni Industries, researching long-term AI companionship, memory, and embodiment, building AICO as a reference architecture and real product.

Use this in bios, talks, and social profiles.

Current assets: - Website (primary landing, Squarespace): https://boeni.industries/aico – AICO by Boeni Industries - GitHub (code + issues + discussions): https://github.com/boeni-industries/aico - LinkedIn (company): https://www.linkedin.com/company/boeni-industries/ - Community (real-time chat): Discord server for the AICO community (to be created, linked from README and website)

2. Product Line

AICO Core (MIT, open-source)
Open-source, local-first AI companion platform by Boeni Industries. For builders, tinkerers, and researchers who want full control and are happy to self-host and self-support.

  • Full platform as in this repo: backend, modelservice, CLI, Flutter frontend, memory system, knowledge graph.
  • Community docs and community support (issues, future Discord/Matrix).
  • DIY install, configuration, monitoring, and backups.

AICO Pro (paid, serious individuals & small teams)
Ready-to-use AICO with assisted setup, curated configuration, and priority support for power users and small teams.

  • Guided setup and recommended production defaults (models, security, backups).
  • Opinionated deployment recipes and upgrade guidance.
  • Priority support (e.g. email/Slack with response targets).
  • Additional convenience features that don’t require heavy infra: more polished Studio/admin flows for single-instance setups, enhanced Memory Album UX, extra evaluation/diagnostic tools.

AICO Enterprise (paid, high-touch)
Enterprise-grade AICO with advanced governance, integrations, and SLAs for organizations embedding AICO into products or workflows.

  • Architecture and integration support (on-prem, VPC, hybrid).
  • Enterprise features: SSO/SAML/OIDC, RBAC, audit trails, multi-team/tenant management.
  • Advanced AMS/KG/Studio views for governance and analytics.
  • Commercial license (OEM/embedding rights), SLAs, security reviews, and dedicated support.
  • Optionally: fully managed AICO operated by Boeni Industries.

3. Commercial Model

AICO Core
- Free (MIT, open-source).
- Monetization role: top-of-funnel for adoption, contributors, and credibility.

AICO Pro
- Paid subscription aimed at serious individuals and small teams.
- Revenue components: - Recurring subscription for support and “production-ish” guidance. - Optional one-time onboarding fee for white-glove setup and configuration. - Value proposition: “Make AICO actually run reliably for you without weeks of yak shaving.”

AICO Enterprise
- High-touch consulting + annual contract for organizations.
- Revenue components: - Initial project/engagement for architecture, integration, and rollout support. - Annual support + commercial license (and optionally managed operation) with SLAs. - Value proposition: “Embed AICO in your product or organization with governance, compliance, and a vendor that stands behind it.”

This model lets AICO Core stay genuinely open-source while Pro and Enterprise monetize your time, expertise, and higher-value features instead of restricting the core.

4. Launch Phases (6–12 Weeks)

Phase 1 – Foundation (Weeks 1–2)

Goal: Create canonical URLs and “explainers” you can point to for months.

Long-form cornerstone posts (publish on your own site as the source of truth, optionally cross-post): 1. Why I’m building a local-first AI companion (AICO) - Vision: companion vs tool, family angle, embodiment. - Privacy, autonomy, local-first architecture. 2. Inside AICO’s architecture: message bus, memory, and modelservice - System → Domain → Module → Component hierarchy. - CurveZMQ-encrypted message bus, FastAPI gateway, modelservice + Ollama. - Memory: LMDB working memory, ChromaDB, knowledge graph, AMS. 3. Designing an AI that remembers you: AICO’s memory system - Working vs semantic vs KG vs AMS + Memory Album. - Concrete user stories: how AICO recalls details and evolves.

Publishing order of precedence: - Primary: https://boeni.industries/aico (or a dedicated /blog//articles path under that domain). - Optional distribution: cross-post to Medium/Substack/Dev.to with canonical link back to your own site.

Repo & docs polish: - Add a “Start here” section to README: - For users: requirements, install, “what works today”. - For contributors: how to run, 3–5 good-first-issue links. - Add architecture diagram and link to docs/architecture. - Ensure links to website, docs, Discord/Matrix (if used) are prominent.

Phase 2 – Distribution & Awareness (Weeks 2–6)

Goal: Be consistently visible where builders, researchers, and potential partners are.

Twitter/X (primary for reach among AI/builders): - 3–5 posts/week. - Formats: - Threads: e.g. “How AICO’s memory system works (and why I didn’t just use a vector DB).” - Short code/architecture snippets (CurveZMQ, LMDB, AMS, KG diagrams). - UI gifs (glassmorphism, skeleton loader, connection rings). - Reuse phrases: local-first, private AI companion, CurveZMQ-encrypted, hybrid memory.

LinkedIn (credibility, future enterprise buyers): - 1–2 posts/week. - Focus: - Milestones: “AICO v1.0.0 core released”, “Memory evaluation framework live”. - Thought pieces: privacy, AI companionship, ethical agency.

GitHub & docs (conversion to contributors): - Maintain clear issues with labels (good first issue, roadmap, help wanted). - Keep README + docs index in sync with public narrative. - Add basic project board for visibility (Now / Next / Later).

HN & Reddit (traffic spikes + early adopters): - Prepare Show HN: - Title: Show HN: AICO – a local-first AI companion with serious memory and security. - Content: what it is, what works today, architecture highlights, how to try it. - Cross-post explanations to: - r/MachineLearning, r/LocalLLaMA, r/selfhosted, r/homelab. - Answer every serious comment with technical depth.

Phase 3 – Deep Dives & Authority (Weeks 4–12)

Goal: Establish you + AICO as reference for local-first AI companions, memory systems, and secure AI infra.

Deep-dive articles / posts (blog + cross-post): - CurveZMQ & Security: - “CurveZMQ in production: 100% encrypted message bus for AI systems.” - Memory & Retrieval: - “Hybrid memory for AI companions: LMDB + ChromaDB + Knowledge Graph + AMS.” - “Evaluating long-term memory in AI companions (AICO’s evaluation framework).” - Frontend & Embodiment: - “Designing an emotionally-aware Flutter UI for an AI companion.” - “From Thermion to Three.js: building AICO’s 3D avatar pipeline.”

Talks & conferences: - Turn best articles into talk proposals: - Python/FastAPI conferences (message bus, memory, modelservice). - Flutter conferences (companion UI & offline-first). - ML / HCI events (AI companionship, emotional intelligence).

YouTube (optional but powerful): - 10–20 minute videos: - “AICO architecture overview (whiteboard).” - “Implementing CurveZMQ in Python: a tour of AICO’s message bus.” - “AICO’s memory system: from user input to hybrid retrieval.” - Cut short clips for X/LinkedIn.

3. Channels & Formats Overview

Primary channels: - GitHub – truth source (code, issues, Discussions, releases), conversion to contributors. - Website (Squarespace, https://boeni.industries/aico) – canonical marketing/landing page. - Twitter/X – day-to-day visibility, networking.

Secondary channels: - Discord – real-time community chat (support, dev discussion). - GitHub Discussions – asynchronous, searchable Q&A and design discussions. - LinkedIn – credibility, future enterprise partners. - Hacker News & Reddit – spikes of attention, early OSS users. - YouTube – deep dives and “face of the project”. - Conferences / meetups – high-leverage authority and relationships.

Formats per channel: - GitHub: README, architecture docs, issues, project board. - Blog: essays, technical deep dives, case studies. - X: threads, diagrams, short code snippets, milestone posts. - LinkedIn: narrative posts, milestone announcements, thought pieces. - HN/Reddit: “Show” posts, technical writeups, AMA-style comment replies. - YouTube: architecture walkthroughs, coding sessions, demos.

4. Monetization Strategy (OSS-Compatible)

AICO stays open-source but provides multiple monetizable layers.

4.1 Product / Services Lines

1) AICO Pro – Managed / Assisted Deployments - For users/companies who want the local-first privacy guarantees without operational burden. - Offer: - Assisted or fully managed deployment (on their hardware or their cloud, keys under their control). - Pro tier with: - Automatic updates & security patches. - Optional managed modelservice with heavier models (licensing handled by you). - Monitoring, backup, recovery recipes.

2) Commercial License / Enterprise Features - Keep core AICO under a permissive or strong copyleft OSS license. - Offer commercial licensing for: - Companies embedding AICO in proprietary products. - Organizations needing SLAs, long-term support, compliance. - Optionally keep some advanced features as enterprise add-ons: - Multi-device roaming & P2P sync. - Advanced AMS dashboards and behavior analytics. - Enterprise Studio features (user management, observability).

3) Consulting & Customization - High-margin work for organizations wanting custom companions: - Custom personalities & Modelfiles (Eve-like characters for brands/products). - Domain-specific plugins (healthcare coach, team assistant, education companion). - Hardware and embodiment (desktop devices, robotics, AR/VR integrations).

4) Paid Support & Training - Support subscriptions for companies using OSS AICO in production. - Training/workshops: - “Building local-first AI companions using AICO.” - “Designing privacy-first AI architectures with CurveZMQ and encrypted databases.”

4.2 Align Content With Monetization

Every significant public artifact (article, talk, video) should have two CTAs:

  • OSS / community CTA:

  • “Star AICO on GitHub, join the community, pick up a good-first issue.”

  • Commercial CTA:

  • “If you want a private, local-first AI companion or to embed AICO in your product, reach out at michael@boeni.industries for consulting, integration, or commercial licensing.”

Place CTAs at the end of blog posts, talk slides, video descriptions, and repository README.

5. Concrete Next Actions (0–2 Weeks)

  1. Publish first cornerstone article
  2. “Why I’m building a local-first AI companion (AICO)” on your site.

  3. Cross-post to Medium/Substack.

  4. Write and publish architecture deep dive

  5. “Inside AICO’s architecture: message bus, memory, and modelservice.”

  6. Include diagrams and code snippets linked to the repo.

  7. Polish GitHub landing experience

  8. Add “Start here” section for users + contributors.

  9. Link to docs, first issues, community channel.

  10. Start consistent Twitter/X presence

  11. 3–5 posts per week focused on specific parts of AICO (memory, security, UI).

  12. Draft and schedule Show HN

  13. Prepare the text and assets.

  14. Launch once docs and quickstart are solid.

  15. Define first commercial offering page

  16. Simple page: “AICO Pro & Consulting” with 2–3 packages and clear contact.

This document should be treated as a living GTM artifact and refined as traction and feedback come in.