Today we’d like to introduce you to Shayan Rasouli.
Hi Shayan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Ever since I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be a businessman—the same way some kids dream of becoming astronauts. I was about eight or nine when I first saw my uncle living life on his own terms as an entrepreneur, and that planted the seed. Unlike most childhood dreams, mine never changed.
I followed the traditional path—went to school, got my MIS degree, and even worked a corporate tech sales job right out of college. But after five months, I knew it wasn’t me. I felt this pull that I had to make entrepreneurship work, no matter what. Around that same time, I had already been tinkering with an idea: building an AI company in the hospitality space with my cousin and cofounder.
He and I grew up like brothers—he in Iran, me in the U.S.—and every time I visited, we’d dream about starting a business together. It seemed impossible until he finally moved here in 2022 to study. As soon as he landed, I knew the time had come. He’s a full-stack programmer who had already built restaurant software in Iran, so naturally we leaned into what he knew best. And with the rise of ChatGPT, we saw right away how transformative AI would be.
For me, the pull toward AI started even before it was mainstream. I always wished for something that could answer my exact question—not just general results like a search engine. When ChatGPT came out, I was blown away that this was now possible. I knew it wouldn’t just change my own life, but the entire world. That conviction is what drives me every day in building NeoAI.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not. One of the hardest parts in the beginning was simply building the confidence to take our platform out into the world and ask people to pay for it. When you’re creating something from scratch, there’s always that question in the back of your mind—is this going to amount to anything, or am I wasting my time? I still wrestle with that sometimes. But the turning point has been hearing directly from our clients: when they tell us how much time, money, and stress our platform saves them, it reminds me that what we’re building really does make a difference.
Another ongoing challenge has been wearing so many hats. We’ve been bootstrapped from day one, which means every task—sales, product, operations, marketing—lands on my plate in some form. You can’t do everything perfectly at once, so if you double down in one area, another inevitably suffers. Learning how to prioritize and accept those trade-offs has been one of the toughest but most important lessons on this journey.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
NeoAI is an AI platform built specifically for hospitality. We help restaurants, bars, kava bars, and cafes bridge the knowledge gap with their customers and staff. On the guest side, Neo answers customer questions instantly in any language—everything from “What’s gluten free?” to “What pairs best with this dish?” That not only improves the dining experience, it also builds loyalty and drives upsells. On the staff side, we give teams AI-powered training tools—recipes, cleaning checklists, standard operating procedures—so they can spend less time answering repetitive questions and more time serving guests.
What sets us apart is that we don’t try to replace hospitality—we enhance it. A lot of tech in this industry forces businesses to change their systems or adopt complicated tools. NeoAI slips right into what restaurants already do. By handling repetitive questions, it frees servers to give guests more personal, meaningful experiences—building loyalty, deepening connections, and even helping servers earn more in tips.
I’m most proud of the impact. From kava bars in Seattle and Colorado, to steakhouses, to restaurants in Barcelona and Los Angeles, our platform is already saving staff hours, reducing errors, and creating better guest experiences. Hearing an owner say, “My customers are learning about our cuisine in a way they never could before,” is the biggest validation of all. That’s what I want readers to know—NeoAI isn’t just about AI, it’s about making hospitality more human
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is human connection. I’m a very face-to-face person—I love talking, building relationships, and that’s actually what I go to restaurants for aside from the food. When I see technology in restaurants that replaces that connection—like QR code ordering systems where you barely interact with a server—it just doesn’t feel right to me. Hospitality is supposed to be human.
That’s why I’m so passionate about figuring out how AI can actually enhance that experience instead of replacing it. With NeoAI, we’ve taken a technology that’s often seen as cold or impersonal and found a way to make it serve the most human part of the hospitality industry: giving servers more time to connect with guests, and giving guests richer, more personal experiences. It’s been a big challenge, but I’m proud of what we’ve achieved.
On a personal level, what matters most is taking care of my family and friends and being able to give back. This company has already given me the chance to do that in small ways, and I’m excited to see how far we can take it—not just in business, but in the positive ripple effects it can have in people’s lives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://neobreed.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neobreedai?igsh=MXIxZGdlY3JzYjZvZw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BGxLnUnbU/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neobreed
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@neobreed?si=biG791qDs1mlqotN
- Other: https://neobreed.org/testimonials
