637th 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting NOW: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 637th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting NOW, on Thursday, April 18, at 8 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT / 5 p.m. CEST / 8:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!       

Featured Videos

637th Roundtable for Entrepreneurs Starting in 30 Minutes: Live Tweeting by @1Mby1M

Today’s 637th FREE online 1Mby1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs is starting in 30 minutes, on Thursday, April 18, at 8 a.m. PDT / 11 a.m. EDT / 5 p.m. CEST / 8:30 p.m. India IST. CLICK HERE to join. PASSWORD: startup  All are welcome!

Bringing a Generative AI Product to Market: RJ Talyor, Founder CEO, Backstroke and Pattern89 (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: So let’s go to the point where you’re starting the first company. Tell me what was going on in the market, what product angle did you take, and why?

RJ Talyor: At that time, there was a huge proliferation of social channels. We had Facebook and then Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Reddit. Then there were all these other social channels that were coming out, and marketers were trying to experiment with their dollars. At the time, there weren’t any rapid experimentation tools on the market to help marketers figure out which ones worked and what messaging worked.

Video FAQs

The Startup Velocity Question: The Human Element

I am acutely aware of how painful it is to have raised venture capital and then not hitting rocket speed.

The pressure is enormous, of the kind that first time founders have no prior experience of.

The media hype makes you believe that fundraising is the end game.

No, fundraising is only the beginning.

The Startup Velocity Question: Diagnostic

How do you diagnose what is hindering velocity in your startup?

The Startup Velocity Question: What is the Right Exit Strategy?

Sometimes, the answer is to give up on the Unicorn dream and seek an exit.

It is expensive to build a full-fledged sales organization.

The right answer may be to find a workable Positioning and seek an exit.

The Startup Velocity Question: What is the Right Funding Strategy?

For a venture funded startup facing velocity problems, it is a good idea to remember that before you go out to raise another round of funding, you have to have an answer to the velocity question: WHAT is hindering acceleration?

Bringing a Generative AI Product to Market: RJ Talyor, Founder CEO, Backstroke and Pattern89 (Part 1)

RJ talks thoughtfully about product idea validation in two AI companies, Pattern89 and Backstroke.
Backstroke is operating in the cutting edge of Generative AI and delivering clear ROI solving a very specific problem.

Sramana Mitra: All right, RJ, let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised? What kind of background?

RJ Talyor: Thanks for having me. I’m born and raised here in Indianapolis, Indiana. I always thought I’d leave, but I graduated from college with an English degree out of an entrepreneurial honors program. I ended up in this entrepreneurial fellowship right after school here in Indianapolis. It paired Indiana grads with leaders across the state and I got into a role at ExactTarget, which was, at the time, a small startup. We grew to be a $2.7B acquisition by Salesforce and became the ExactTarget Marketing Cloud within the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. So my career grew there over that ten years.