Jim Rebesco: Another challenge that we face is the data-centric AI movement. The data-centric AI movement says, “We can do a lot better in preparing and building analytics if we spend that marginal hour not on playing with model architecture but rather if we think, very thoughtfully, about the data we’re using to train the models.”
This is a trend that is mirrored in the more commercial side of analytics. What does that mean? This means that these data-enabled companies are now seeing this trend of increasing personalization. Maybe the model that works best for me may be very different for you.
>>>If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page.
Tod Browndorf, CEO of Coggno, has built an interesting online education company focused on specific niche course types. Read on to learn more from our conversation in 2016.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?
Tod Browndorf: Wow! We’re really going way back. I’m originally from the east coast. I was born in South Carolina but was raised in New York and New Jersey for most of my life. I lost my father when I was 10 and a half years old. I started working very early in life. He was in the manufacturing business. I started working early through school. I travelled the world pretty extensively. I lived in Australia for quite a while. I lived in the Middle East and eventually started my career in Finance. I started off as a trader on Wall Street, then later here in San Francisco.
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 – Les Voiles Rouges III
Les Voiles Rouges III | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Brush Pen | 9 x 12, On Paper
This conversation deep dives into the nascent ML Ops industry.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to Striveworks.
Jim Rebesco: I’m one of the co-founders at Striveworks. We’re an ML Ops company that focuses on where we see analytics going in the future – a future where analytics would be cheap and ubiquitous; and the scaffolding that supports them disappears. We provide that as a platform to our customers.
>>>This feature from MIT Technology Review by William Douglas Heaven looks in detail the breakthrough in imitation learning achieved by making a Minecraft-playing bot watch 70,000 hours of videos of people playing Minecraft. 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 – Les Voiles Rouges II
Les Voiles Rouges II | Sramana Mitra, 2021 | Watercolor, Pastel, Brush Pen | 9 x 12, On Paper
Entrepreneurs are invited to the 597th FREE online 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable on Thursday, December 15, 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.
One Click Ventures Co-founders Angie Stocklin and her husband built a portfolio of e-commerce businesses using a very unusual strategy. I had a lot of fun learning about their journey back in 2016, and hope you will as well. One Click Internet Ventures was acquired by Foster Grant, International in July of 2018.
Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your personal journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?
Angie Stocklin: I was born in a small town called Paisley in Indiana. It’s a town of about 2,500. My mom was a teacher and my dad is a farmer and somewhat of an entrepreneur in the fact that farming is a self-employed type of business. My dad and his brothers owned an implement dealership. They sold tractors. I grew up with a little bit of an entrepreneurial spirit. I went to college at the University of Evansville and started studying Psychology. I went on to get my Masters and my educational specialist degree in School Psychology. I worked as a school psychologist for three years before starting One Click.