Ottomate

Ottomate

Share this post

Ottomate
Ottomate
AiFi CEO Explains How an SNL Skit is Evidence of Cashierless Checkout Moving Towards Mainstream
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Cashierless Checkout

AiFi CEO Explains How an SNL Skit is Evidence of Cashierless Checkout Moving Towards Mainstream

Steve Gu talks new investors, new verticals and new features.

Christopher Albrecht's avatar
Christopher Albrecht
Mar 15, 2022
∙ Paid
1

Share this post

Ottomate
Ottomate
AiFi CEO Explains How an SNL Skit is Evidence of Cashierless Checkout Moving Towards Mainstream
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

You don’t normally expect Saturday Night Live to come up during a video chat with a startup founder, but that’s exactly what happened when I spoke with AiFi CEO Steve Gu this week.

He was referencing the Amazon Go "Just Walk Out” parody that ran on this past weekend’s episode. The skit is more about racial inequality than cashierless checkout technology, but for Gu, the fact that such a skit appeared at all on a popular show like SNL meant something even more.

“You get a sense that it's entering into mainstream if it's on SNL,” Gu said, “People these days are getting more familiar about the concept.”

That means Gu and other CEOs in the cashierless space can spend less time explaining the concept of autonomous stores to retailers, and spend more time signing those retailers up as clients.

AiFi made headlines at the end of last week when it announced a $65 million Series B fundraise. I took the opportunity to catch up with Gu, who told me about AiFi’s new investors, new verticals its entering and new features coming down the pike.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Ottomate to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Ottomate
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More