Building an AI Platform Company for Real-Time Applications: Vantiq CEO Marty Sprinzen (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Okay. But standard VC route at the time was different from the standard VC route of today because the number of, the amount of money that VCs used to invest was much smaller. The VC fund sizes were much smaller. It was actually the way venture capital should have been.

The way venture capital is right now is not the way venture capital should be done, but that’s a different conversation.

Marty Sprinzen: Well, you’re right. So, many billion-dollar unicorns are being created. Anyway, the unique thing that happened to me was that I sold Forte, which had done very well over several years.

Sramana Mitra: Who bought Forte?

Marty Sprinzen: Sun Microsystems. It was a unicorn. They paid a good sum.

Sramana Mitra: What year was that?

Marty Sprinzen: That was in 2000.

Sramana Mitra: Okay, before the crash?

Marty Sprinzen: Yes, right before the crash. A few of us in Palo Alto were thinking this whole thing might collapse—and it happened a little sooner than we anticipated.

Sramana Mitra: It did. So, then what did you do?

Marty Sprinzen: I took some time off. Learned how to fly planes and jets. Learned how to ski—got pretty good at it. But that didn’t quite suit me. I was still on the board of a couple of companies, and eventually, I got a little bored.

More importantly, during that time, I went on a nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker to the North Pole with my kids. This was when the U.S. and Russia were still friendly. There were a bunch of professors onboard—experts in climatology and environmental science. That trip really struck me. I saw how much help the world needs.

I thought, “Software can help solve these problems.” Especially software enhanced by AI.

When I came back, I decided to start a new company—and that’s how Vantiq was born.

We’re serious about helping the world tackle challenges like climate change, healthcare, food supply, water management, and making systems run more efficiently.

Sramana Mitra: That sounds like a very broad charter. Tell me more about the specifics of how you got started. What were you trying to do in the beginning of this company?

Marty Sprinzen: It is a broad charter, but there’s a common thread. We developed a platform to build applications across those domains. Each vertical requires deep expertise, of course, but a general-purpose platform can serve them all.

But why do you need a platform? You have all that AWS and Microsoft stuff out there.

The reason is real-time automation. Real-time systems are very different. You can’t rely on traditional databases—you need instant response, often at the edge, for both performance and security.

It’s a totally different system architecture.

Sramana Mitra: So real-time was your differentiator?

Marty Sprinzen: Exactly. Real-time was our unique selling point.

Sramana Mitra: What year was this?

Marty Sprinzen: The company was originally formed in 2015.

Sramana Mitra: So in 2015, real-time was your USP. What did the market look like for real-time platforms back then?

Marty Sprinzen: It was still early. Most companies weren’t thinking about real-time yet. But we had interest—we built a disaster management system for all of Japan. It helped first responders get to the right place at the right time, equipped with the right tools. It used sensors to detect floods and determine their severity. So, we could build systems.

But the advent of GenAI made a world of difference, because now, you don’t have to write deterministic systems, which is of course where software comes from. You could actually look at different types of situations and get recommendations on how to deal with them that have never been thought of before. And that makes a huge difference for real-time operations.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Building an AI Platform Company for Real-Time Applications: Vantiq CEO Marty Sprinzen
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