Ismail is the co-founder and CEO of LiveLink – an AI video editing platform. They’ve raise from Google, Biz Stone (the co-founder of Twitter and Medium), Cur8 Capital, Capital T, and others. Prior to LiveLink, he joined Google’s marketing team – helping businesses across UK & Ireland scale their marketing efforts. Ismail built his first business at university which helped raise over £900,000 for charity and interest-free student loans. He has been featured in Buzzfeed, Business Insider, BBC, Vice News, Techcrunch, Forbes, and The Sun. He ranked as one of the ‘top 100 coolest people in tech’ by Business Insider and the top 100 minorities in tech by the Financial Times.
I started my career as a marketer at Google. It was a great job, but my true passion was creating videos. Naturally, I began making videos for fun. I wasn’t trying to go viral—just experimenting. But that passion quickly turned into something bigger. What began as a side project evolved into an idea for a video teaching platform.
The idea was simple: help people turn their knowledge into video content to teach others. But as we developed the platform, something unexpected happened. Creators and businesses started asking for something else. They wanted help automating their content, specifically cutting down long videos into short, engaging clips.
We listened. We pivoted. And today, we help creators and businesses turn hours of video into bite-sized clips using AI. Quickly. After analysing millions of minutes of video from over 100,000 creators, we’ve learned a lot about what works—and what doesn’t. If you’re curious, you can check out how we do this on our platform. Let’s dive into the key lessons we’ve picked up.
TikTok is King
There’s no denying it. TikTok is where creators are putting their focus. Sure, we support other platforms—LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, you name it. But TikTok? It’s the clear favourite. In fact, on our platform, 70% of scheduled clips are headed for TikTok. Compare that to just 15% for other channels, and the trend is obvious.
It makes sense, though. TikTok has cracked the code on short-form content. It’s fast-paced, engaging, and, most importantly, it’s where the audience is. Creators, influencers, and even brands are flocking to it because that’s where they see the most growth. The algorithm, the reach—it all aligns to give content a viral boost, which is much harder to achieve on other platforms.
But don’t write the others off just yet. LinkedIn is great for B2B content, Instagram still holds strong for visual storytelling, and YouTube remains the go-to for longer content. That said, if you’re trying to grow quickly with short videos, TikTok is where you should be focusing your energy. And our AI-powered platform makes it even easier.
Speed is Everything
Let’s face it—no one likes waiting around. Especially creators. They want results, and they want them fast. When we first started building our platform, speed was one of the biggest things we focused on. We didn’t want creators waiting hours for their videos to process or clips to be generated. Instead, we designed our tool to get you from upload to the finished product in minutes.
And here’s what we found: speed isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a game-changer. When creators can quickly turn around content, they’re more likely to stick with it. They see results almost immediately, schedule their clips, and stay in the flow. It’s like building momentum. And when the process is quick, they’re more likely to experiment with new platforms or content formats.
On the other hand, when things slow down, it’s a killer. We’ve noticed that creators who use slower tools tend to take longer breaks between content creation, and they’re less likely to explore new social channels. In a world where attention spans are short, speed isn’t just important—it’s critical. That’s why we’ve made speed our top priority with Livelink.
AI Does the Heavy Lifting, But Creators Bring the Magic
AI is brilliant. I’m a huge fan. It can do the hard work—like analysing long videos, identifying key moments, and cutting them down into shareable clips. It’s fast, efficient, and pretty clever. But here’s the thing: AI isn’t everything. In fact, it’s only 90% of the equation.
The remaining 10%? That’s where the magic happens. Creators still want to add their own flavour to the mix. They tweak the video length, customise the fonts, or add the perfect song. Sometimes, they’ll adjust the framing or throw in unique transitions. It’s those personal touches that make a video stand out.
We’ve learned that AI can get you far, but it’s the human touch that makes content truly shine. It’s like baking a cake—AI can handle the mixing and baking, but the icing and decorations? That’s all up to the creator. And that’s what makes each video unique. Creators bring their style, their personality, and their audience’s preferences into the mix to create something memorable.