Sateesh Seetharamiah: I’ll give you an example. Today, 80% of data is hidden in documents in enterprises and is very inaccessible. Why don’t we apply AI to solve this problem? Let’s build a horizontal platform – a domain-agnostic platform – to extract information. While the platform can do it, as soon as you start throwing it to a customer, they say, “What do I do with it?” It’s a very natural question.
We went through an exercise of saying, “What are the areas that we can pick?” This is a problem that’s faced by many entrepreneurs. We don’t have domain capabilities. We are technologists. We build horizontal platforms. How do I bridge that gap? We decided to engage with a customer.
>>>According to a recent report, the Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market is estimated to grow 10% CAGR to reach $44.7 billion by 2030 from $20.4 billion in 2022. Communications PaaS player Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) recently announced its third quarter results that surpassed market expectations. But a weaker outlook has sent the stock tumbling.
>>>If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Wonderful story from 2020 of how Lawline CEO David Schnurman, an online education entrepreneur, had worked through plateaus and scaled his business over 15 years.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?
David Schnurman: I’m from Brooklyn, New York, an area called Park Slope. It’s a beautiful area. I grew up there until I went to college in Washington DC where I met the love of my life, who’s here with me in Barcelona. We met in college and then I moved back to New York.
Sramana Mitra: You work through incubators and accelerators.
Evgen Verzun: Yes. They come to us through the network. Somehow, they reach investors, right? These investors already have a successful experience with Kaizen. Investors refer us. Investors use us as crisis managers. It’s like, “We have a great project, but they have a huge problem.” We jump in and solve it. It’s tough, but we can do it very fast. It’s small pieces of the puzzle that we can put together.
Sramana Mitra: How many such customers do you have?
>>>Sramana Mitra: The use case that you just described works a lot better in automation than as humans. For humans to look at things and decide at what price to bid and whether to bid or not, there is no way humans can beat AI in doing something like this.
Sateesh Seetharamiah: It was done by humans. Even today.
Sramana Mitra: Wall Street traders made huge amounts of money in functions that don’t need to be done by humans.
>>>Entrepreneurs are invited to the 596th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, November 10, 2022, at 8 a.m. PST/11 a.m. EST/5 p.m. CET/9:30 p.m. India IST.
If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch” and sell your business idea. You’ll receive straightforward feedback, advice on next steps, and answers to any of your questions. Others can register to “attend” to watch, learn, and interact through the online chat.
You can learn more here and REGISTER TO PITCH OR ATTEND HERE. Register and you will receive the recording by email, even if you are unable to attend. Please share with any entrepreneurs in your circle who may be interested. All are welcome!
If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
When we spoke in 2020, Pura Vida CEO Co-founder Griffin Thall and his partner had turned an investment of $200 into a $130 million company. Amazing execution!
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised? What kind of background did you have?
Griffin Thall: I grew up in LA. I went to school at San Diego State. After graduating from college in 2010, my business partner and I went on a trip to Costa Rica. We were there for five weeks to travel, surf, and explore.
Earlier last month, Ontario-based Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) announced its quarterly results that outpaced market expectations. Despite the growing economic uncertainty, Shopify continues to invest in product upgrades to help merchants grow their business on its platform. As the recessionary conditions put pressure on the growth of e-commerce, Shopify’s investment into merchant focused products will help it continue to grow.
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