UK-based ProtonLabs Technology has quietly become one of the most recognised names in AI productivity software. Its flagship product, AskYourPDF, has consistently ranked among the leading productivity experiences on ChatGPT, while the company’s broader ecosystem now serves millions of users globally. Rather than chasing publicity, ProtonLabs has focused on building AI products that solve practical problems.
We spoke with Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Emmanuel Olarewaju David, about leadership, innovation, and what it takes to build globally adopted AI products alongside fellow founders Isaac Mayowa David and Yackson Kayode Oluwasesan.
AskYourPDF has remained one of the most recognised productivity experiences on ChatGPT for almost two years now. Did you ever imagine the platform would reach that level of adoption?
Honestly, no. We knew we were solving a problem that many people faced, but we never set out to chase rankings. Our objective was always to build something genuinely useful. Seeing AskYourPDF consistently recognised among the leading productivity GPTs on ChatGPT, generating millions of conversations and earning thousands of user ratings, has been incredibly rewarding because it validates years of disciplined product development rather than short-term hype.
Many people know the product, but fewer know the team behind it. What has made the founding partnership successful?
I think one of our greatest strengths is that we complement one another rather than compete with one another. Isaac has always had an exceptional ability to identify opportunities before they become obvious. His background in cybersecurity and research gives him a different perspective on technology and how people interact with it. My role has been to translate ambitious ideas into scalable AI products. As CTO, I lead our engineering efforts, from designing system architecture to ensuring our products remain reliable as they continue to grow. Yackson brings a unique combination of software engineering, DevOps and business strategy.
Building AI products isn’t just about writing intelligent software; it’s about ensuring the infrastructure behind those products is reliable, scalable, and efficient. Our different backgrounds have become one of our biggest competitive advantages.
ProtonLabs has expanded from one successful product into an entire ecosystem. Was that always part of the vision?
We never wanted to become a company known for a single product. Every time we solved one problem, users introduced us to another. They wanted better writing tools, document automation, AI integrations and developer platforms. Rather than treating those as separate businesses, we saw them as connected challenges. Today, our ecosystem spans document intelligence, AI-assisted writing, content authenticity, developer APIs and workflow automation. The common thread across all of them is simple: helping people become more productive through artificial intelligence.
The AI industry often celebrates companies raising billions of dollars. ProtonLabs has taken a different path.
We operate in an industry where funding announcements often receive more attention than product development. For us, the priority has always been creating value for users. Building a sustainable business has required us to stay disciplined, listen carefully to customer feedback and focus on solving problems people are willing to come back for every day. Being bootstrapped has shaped our culture. Every decision matters because it has to create long-term value.
ProtonLabs now develops multiple AI products across different areas. What connects them all?
We don’t think of ourselves as building AI for the sake of AI. Our mission has always been to make artificial intelligence practical and accessible. Whether someone is analysing research papers, writing content, automating forms or integrating AI into their own software, the objective is always the same: reduce repetitive work so people can focus on higher-value thinking.
As CTO, what has been the biggest technical challenge behind building AI products at scale?
Scaling is far more complicated than people often realise. It’s not only about building intelligent systems. You also need reliable infrastructure, efficient APIs, strong security, continuous monitoring and an engineering culture that prioritises quality. As adoption grows, every technical decision becomes more significant because it affects users around the world. That’s where having complementary expertise across our founding team has been invaluable.
Victoria Fakiya – Senior Writer
Techpoint Digest
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One milestone that attracted attention was AskYourPDF’s recognition within the ChatGPT ecosystem. What did that mean to you?
It was an important moment because it reflected genuine user adoption. To see the platform consistently rank among the leading productivity GPTs and process billions of AI tokens showed that people weren’t simply trying the product; they were making it part of their everyday workflow. For any product team, that’s probably the strongest validation you can receive.
AI is evolving incredibly quickly. How do you avoid simply following trends?
We spend much less time asking, “What’s the latest AI model?” and much more time asking, “What problem still hasn’t been solved well?” Technology changes constantly. Human problems change much more slowly. If you stay focused on solving meaningful problems, the technology becomes a tool rather than the destination.
Your founding team combines expertise in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, software engineering and DevOps. Do you think multidisciplinary teams have an advantage in AI?
Absolutely. Modern AI companies aren’t built solely on machine learning. You need secure systems. You need scalable infrastructure. You need exceptional software engineering. You need product thinking. You need operational discipline. That’s why our partnership has worked so well. Each founder brings a different perspective, and together we make better decisions than any of us could on our own.
What advice would you give to young African founders hoping to build globally recognised technology companies?
Don’t underestimate the value of solving one problem exceptionally well. You don’t have to build the biggest AI model or raise the largest investment round to create global impact. Focus on understanding users. Build consistently. Listen more than you speak. Most importantly, think globally from day one. Great technology isn’t limited by geography anymore.
Finally, what do you hope people remember about the work you, Isaac and Yackson are doing?
I hope people remember that we built technology that people genuinely found useful. Artificial intelligence will continue to evolve, and better ones will eventually replace today’s models. But if the products we’ve built have helped students learn more effectively, enabled researchers to work faster, supported businesses in becoming more productive and inspired other founders to solve meaningful problems. I think we’ll have achieved something worthwhile.
At the end of the day, technology is only valuable when it improves people’s lives. That’s the principle Isaac, Yackson and I have shared since the beginning, and it’s the principle that continues to guide everything we build.
