About AI Ace
AI Ace was founded in October 2023 by Leon Niederberger, a student at IE Business School in Madrid. Initially built to help with his macroeconomics midterm, Leon trained an AI tutor using CustomGPT and shared it with friends. Within three days, the tool had answered 1,750+ questions from 300+ students. Recognizing the demand, Leon brought on fellow student Danil Galkin as CTO, and together they evolved the AI into a scalable academic support platform.
Challenge
Leon and Danil identified a clear gap in the educational AI space:
- Existing AI lacked the ability to cite textbooks or academic resources
- Generic tools like ChatGPT often pull information from unrelated sources
- Existing AI lacked the ability to cite textbooks or academic resources
- Students risked studying irrelevant topics before exams
- No tailored AI solutions existed for specific midterm or subject-based learning
“If you want to achieve a similar output with ChatGPT, you will have to research each chapter and copy the format and the deadline into ChatGPT-4. AI Ace will only create questions regarding the midterm topics due to its training on the course content.“
Leon Niederberger
Founder, AI Ace
Solution
AI Ace was developed as a highly targeted learning tool:
- Data-Driven Training: Trained extensively on textbook and course content
- Custom Persona: Developed a tutor-style persona to guide students in a friendly, clear tone
- Anti-Hallucination Safeguards: Ensured answers were accurate and citation-backed
- Deployed to Real Students: Rolled out within the IE student community for live testing and feedback
This tight alignment with course material allowed AI Ace to outperform generalized AI in both relevance and usefulness.
Results
The impact of AI Ace was fast and measurable:
- Secured a $1.2 million valuation, validating both the model and business potential
- Over 1,750 questions answered within the first three days
- Adopted by more than 300 students almost instantly
- Won “Best Undergraduate Start-Up” award from IE University
- Outperformed GPT-4 in accuracy and helpfulness, according to user feedback
Why it Worked
AI Ace worked because the team solved a specific, urgent need using CustomGPT’s advanced training and Persona capabilities.
- They chose precision over generality by using textbook-only content
- The AI delivered answers that students could trust without double-checking
- The tutor persona improved approachability and retention
- Community-first deployment created a fast feedback loop and organic growth
Conclusion
AI Ace shows how deeply trained, purpose-built AI agents can achieve measurable impact when aligned with real academic needs. The founders’ decision to train on official course material, focus on citation-backed responses, and design an approachable tutor interface helped them outperform even the most powerful general AI tools.
Want to watch Leon’s award winning pitch for AI Ace? Click here to check it out on YouTube!
You can connect with Leon on LinkedIn here.
