ServiceNow (NYSE:NOW) recently reported its first quarter results that continued to outpace market expectations. Like several others, ServiceNow is also betting on the AI space and integrated several helpful AI tools within the latest release of its platform.
>>>Sramana Mitra: What did you do after college?
Ned Hill: I had a painting company while in college. That was successful and there was a person who heard about me and recruited me to help them figure out how to clean shoes. This is a crazy story. They had these huge crates of shoes that had mildew all over them. They recruited me to see if I can figure it out.
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I seldom get to interview an entrepreneur who is candid about his mistakes. Yet, people tend to learn more from failures than from successes.
In this story, you will see how Ned built technology looking for a problem to solve, an absolute no no.
You will also see the negative impact of not validating your product idea upfront.
Read on. This is a unique interview.
>>>I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Mendocino III
Mendocino III | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Brush Pen | 9 x 12, On Paper
This report from CB Insights illustrates the state of retail tech. Funding and deals in retail tech continued to fall but there was strength in early stage deals. For this week’s posts, click on the paragraph links.
>>>I’m publishing this series on LinkedIn called Colors to explore a topic that I care deeply about: the Renaissance Mind. I am just as passionate about entrepreneurship, technology, and business, as I am about art and culture. In this series, I will typically publish a piece of art – one of my paintings – and I request you to spend a minute or two deeply meditating on it. I urge you to watch your feelings, thoughts, reactions to the piece, and write what comes to you, what thoughts it triggers, in the dialog area. Let us see what stimulation this interaction yields. For today – Mendocino II
Mendocino II | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Brush Pen | 9 x 12, On Paper
During this week’s roundtable, we worked with four entrepreneurs. Several have issues with TAM modeling.
Pistis
First up, we had Kirill Demishev from Tbilisi, Georgia, pitch Pistis, a loyalty program for car rental companies.
Counsl
Next, we had James Loft from London, UK, pitch Counsl, a 2-sided marketplace for professional services.
Glimpz
Then Dhruv Tiwari from Atlanta, Georgia, pitched Glimpz, a 2-sided marketplace for music discovery.
Organic Aqua Solutions (OaS)
Next Saket Kumar from South Delhi, India, pitched Organic Aqua Solutions (OaS), a water purification technology.
You can listen to the recording of this roundtable here: