Passion, Fear, and Memory: Thomas Noh's Startup Philosophy
When most of us think about starting a business, we imagine clear paths and obvious motivations. But for Thomas Noh, founder of Sociable AI, the journey to building a company that delivers memorable experiences on social media began with something much more human: fear.
"I was born into this world as someone who is very motivated by fear," Thomas reflects. "It's actually not me chasing something, but rather getting chased down by my own fear."
This admission and its honesty haunted the back of my mind for our entire conversation. It’s a hard thing to admit, especially to a relative stranger, but for me it’s completely relatable.
Personally, I’ve lost count of every time I’ve made business decisions, creative decisions, even life decisions motivated by some form of fear. Whether that’s fear of an empty checking account, fear of creating something no one cares about, or fear of missing a life changing opportunity.
As we’ll hear from Thomas, fear is a powerful motivator. It forces us to make decisions and take chances. But compared to passion, it’s cheap fuel. Action motivated by fear may lead to short-sighted decisions that keep us afloat, but may not actually drive us toward our goals.
Finding our passion, our why, on the other hand, allows us to work just as relentlessly toward building something we’re actually proud of—something that might outlive us and be remembered long after we’re gone.
Slowly replacing fear with passion equipped Thomas to build a company that excites him, fulfills his creative desires, and allows him to lead a team of passionate people.
Sociable AI helps consumer brands connect with social media users and stick in the back of their minds. The key ingredient is virality—predicting which posts will go viral and posting highly engaging comments on those viral posts.
You know how brands like Duolingo leave funny comments that go viral on social media? It’s like that, but with a high emphasis on brand voice and identity, and at scale.
Thomas’s story isn't just about business success, though—it's about the winding path of discovering what drives you and learning to chase your why.
Wandering Toward Your Why
Thomas's entrepreneurial journey began in high school, sparked by a conversation with his adventurous cousin. This cousin had traveled the world before starting a career as a carpenter. After that he pivoted to creating graffiti art, and later left that behind to join Netflix.
Thomas remembers asking his cousin, “How do I live a life like yours?”
His cousin introduced him to Earl Nightingale's teachings, which planted two crucial seeds: that people in the top 1% wake up every day thinking specifically about how to achieve their goals, and that most people invent their passion instead of discovering it.
"You'll never beat someone who's more passionate than you at something. It's just not going to happen," Thomas explains.
This realization sent him on a quest to find what he was truly passionate about.
Like many young entrepreneurs, Thomas started with dropshipping. His parents objected to him abandoning college plans, even though he was making decent money. So he moved into a friend's basement for eight months, determined to make dropshipping work. It didn't.
"I totally failed. It didn't work out," he says. "And the main reason was because I didn't know how to bring traffic into the website."
Determined to learn from this particular failure, he tried his hand at digital marketing. He gained skills and insights by working for free until someone finally paid him. And despite his early success in a digital marketing career, he began to reconsider his plans about forgoing college.
Entrepreneurs VS. Founders
At the University of Maryland, Thomas discovered something that would reshape his entire approach to business: the difference between entrepreneurs and founders.
"I think entrepreneurs and startup founders are two different people," he explains. "I think founders are really focused on building something that's much bigger than them. And an entrepreneur is more like, ‘how can we make income that turns into passive income.’"
This became crucial to his evolution. While he had been focused on making money through various schemes, meeting founders opened his eyes to building something meaningful.
"That's where I stopped focusing on making money, and rather building something," Thomas says.
After reflection, he realized his passion lay in "creating something, for someone else, that's a memorable experience for them."
Whether through cinematography, cooking, or later, marketing—the common thread was helping others experience moments they'd remember.
From Virtual Influencers to AI-Powered Comments
Thomas's path to Sociable AI began while working at a cosmetic company as a social media manager, along with a side project creating virtual influencers—3D characters that would gain followers and interact with audiences.
But managing different brand personalities across accounts became exhausting.
For the cosmetic brand, he remembers writing comments and replies like, "OMG, slay! That's so slay, Queen.”
His words, not mine.
On the other hand, he could respond more casually and a little more like himself for his virtual influencer account. The constant personality switching felt inauthentic and draining.
When a friend introduced him to large language models in 2022, before ChatGPT's public release, Thomas saw an opportunity.
"If I could use an LLM to train different brand voices, it'd be pretty cool,” he remembers thinking. “And then I did it.”
That insight became the foundation for Sociable AI, initially focused on automating brand responses to DMs and comments. But Thomas and his team soon learned that saving time for low-level marketers wasn't a compelling business model.
The pivot led them to their current focus: helping brands place engaging comments on viral posts early, using AI to predict which content will go viral and drafting brand-appropriate responses that human marketers can edit & approve.
"You're trying to get the top comment, which means it's a comment that most people found insightful or funny. And that requires some creativity,” Thomas explains. “AI alone can't do something like that.”
“Also, no brands or social media users want to see AI spamming in the comment section. Effective engagement must provide real value. So yeah, we require human creativity."
Building Through Belief and Sacrifice
The transition from being a college student with an idea to a funded startup founder required Thomas to make some bold moves. With two months left until graduation, he started fundraising. When Brickyard, a Chattanooga investment group, offered support with the condition that he move to town, Thomas didn't hesitate.
His co-founder, An, immediately agreed to drop out of college and join him. Another teammate, Hudson, was also convinced. But he needed to sell his parents on the idea.
What followed was a scene straight out of a startup movie.
Thomas, who hadn't slept for two days while fundraising and packing for the move to Chattanooga, showed up at Hudson's parents' house for dinner, disguised as “just a friend,” before revealing why he was actually there.
"I walk in,” Thomas remembers, “and I’m like, 'Hey guys, I actually came to convince you that your son should drop out.'”
“And immediately they put on poker faces. They say, ‘Not happening,’"
After hours of conversation, though, Hudson's parents agreed to let him take a gap year and help build Sociable AI. One year was enough.
Creating Memorable Moments at Scale
Today, Sociable AI works with major brands to create the kind of comments that get hundreds of thousands of likes—moments that people remember long after scrolling past.
"We're actually saying some hilarious and sometimes out-of-pocket things in the comment section for brands,” Thomas says. “Some comments are so funny they get 100 thousand likes, just on a single comment … It’s like, people gonna remember this comment for sure.”
For Thomas, this work connects directly to his core motivation.
"I want myself to be remembered, but also for my creations to be remembered, and we're just doing that at scale,” he says.
His vision extends beyond just helping brands grow their social media presence. He wants to push companies toward more authentic, entertaining content.
"I think companies being genuinely funny and personal in the comment section is one way of being organic, and relatable, and it’s something I enjoy as a consumer," he explains.
The Philosophy of Chasing Why
Thomas's approach to leadership reflects his belief in the power of understanding motivation. With his team members, he doesn't just ask if they want to work on something—he digs deeper.
"I chase why for every single thing that I do,” he says. “And even for people that I work with, I like to identify their why. I actually ask them, ‘Why do you wake up in the morning? Why do you study computer science? Why are you even in school?’"
This philosophy extends to his definition of success, which he measures not in traditional metrics, but in influence—and not the kind you might be thinking. It’s an influence measured by its positive impact on people’s lives.
"My personal definition of success is the amount of influence you show to the world," Thomas explains. "It's the depth of the impact times the number of people you reach."
A Journey Still Unfolding
Thomas's story reminds us that finding our path often requires getting comfortable with uncertainty and fear, but ultimately finding a more sustainable motivator.
His journey, from being a high schooler sleeping in a friend's basement to building AI-powered tools for major brands, was not linear. It was driven by an honest acknowledgment of what motivated him and a willingness to keep chasing his why, despite multiple failures.
For Thomas, the why is a desire to create something memorable—from memorable comments that make people stop scrolling and smile, to the company Sociable AI, itself.
In a world where most social media content feels corporate and calculated, Thomas Noh is pushing brands to find their voice in the most human place possible: the comments section. And in doing so, he's building something he hopes people will remember.
