Hope you all had a relaxing holiday season! Join us for an episode filled with laughter and reflection as we sit down with our friend Enoch. We explore his inspiring journey—from growing up in Hong Kong to studying in the US, giving up a PhD for work opportunities, move to the UK, becoming a technologist with an artistic heart, and ultimately discovering his passion for building startups.
In today's episode, we're thrilled to have our first VC guest, Xuhui Shao, the managing partner at Foothill Ventures. With a $250 million fund focused on early-stage deep tech investments, Xuhui brings a wealth of knowledge from the venture capital world.
Before diving into venture capital, Xuhui had an impressive career in engineering analytics at startups, and held significant roles at Yahoo and other tech giants.
Chapters (Powered by ChapterMe) -
00:00 - Introducing our first investor interview
00:55 - Recap & Highlights
02:13 - Intro for Xuhui Shao
03:32 - WeRide's upcoming IPO
07:51 - WeRide's CEO Tony's leadership and teams resilience
11:45 - AI deals at the highest level in 2 years, what's Xuhui's take on this?
14:49 - Key areas for AI funding
16:43 - Key investment highlights 2024
18:51 - Infrastructure company investment paid off
20:07 - Google's foresight and missed opportunities in AI
21:27 - Which companies did Xuhui wish he invested in?
22:09 - Power law, great companies, risktaking
27:01 - Portfolio design and risk management
30:07 - Foothill Ventures's key focus this year
33:42 - Jumped into startup as firstgeneration immigrant
35:35 - Advantages of joining a startup over big companies
38:55 - How to evaluate a start up? Employee vs VC mindset
42:30 - PhD An overlooked path for tech founders right now?
44:21 - Deep tech companies rely on immigrants, PhDs
47:25 - Key founder characteristics perseverance, grit, dedication
#aivp #aiventurepulse #InvestorInsights #StartupFunding #TechStartups #AIInvestments #VentureFunding #EmergingTech #BusinessGrowth #FoundersJourney #TechTrends #VentureVisionsPodcast #VentureCapital #DeepTech #StartupLife #Innovation #TechInvesting #Entrepreneurship #WeRide #FoothillVentures #TechPodcasts
Today's episode is a special one, where we have a fireside chat with our friend Sean Chen. Recently, Sean quitted his job at Sam's Club and moved from SF Bay Area to London. He's all in to pursue his startup dream.
We debated a lot on our opinions regarding Big Tech vs Startup for career, especially as young expats. And we also shared some of the caveats for people working in Big Tech looking to switch roles/join startup.
If you have anything to share from your perspective, we'd love to hear from you!
Chapters -
00:00 - Intro Clips
01:31 - Seans career highlights data scientist, PM, startup, blind
05:26 - Sean's international background - China, Australia, UK, US
07:31 - Deep dive in Data Science career
13:08 - Enjoy any job as your own product
17:43 - Big corporate vs start up life
23:15 - TypeScript and Python as AI tools
25:21 - Expanding team, finding complementary skillsets
28:13 - Application to Y Combinators
29:45 - Antler vs YC
Is this the future of AI Therapy? We are excited to have Chris Aeberli, the Co-founder at #sonia (#ycombinator W24), on the show to talk about his #vision for the #future of #mentalhealth and how #ai (#llm) can play a critical role in making therapy free and accessible for everyone, across the world.
Chapters - 00:00 - Highlights 00:37 - Sonia intro 01:25 - Chris intro - international founder in US, MIT, and more 02:39 - Where did the name "Sonia" come from? 04:31 - Building a start up 05:11 - Unofficial Entrepreneur in ResidenceUnofficial Entrepreneur in Residence experience at Verkada 06:20 - Current state of mental health 08:53 - 2 things you need to get right when you build AI theraphist 11:20 - Teaching AI to "think" as a therapist 14:51 - Most important data in training & fine-tuning? 16:52 - What is the user journey? 19:33 - Most loved feature with Sonia so far? 23:40 - Usage drop-off? vs talking in person with therapist 24:59 - Organic growth vs paid growth? 26:53 - Potential business-to-business (B2B) collaboration? 27:18 - Sonia's plan for the future
#aivp #podcast #ai #interview #startup #business #innovation #therapy #ml #sonia #ycombinator #mentalhealth #health
In today's episode, we're glad to interview Jackie Bernhelm, Founder and CEO of LocalBy. Previously, Jackie was the director at Google's internal incubator Area 120, and has been a growth equity and angel investor and startup PM.
LocalBy is transforming how we discover and buy unique, handmade goods directly from local makers. Using cutting-edge technology like LLMs, generative media, and image recognition, LocalBy optimizes the local shopping experience.
#marketplace #startup #AI #AIVP #retail #gigeconomy
Welcome back to AI Venture Pulse! In today's episode, we dive deep into the world of Unify.ai, a groundbreaking LLM-router startup aiming to revolutionize how we use Large Language Models (LLMs) across various models and providers.
Daniel also shared his journey and insights at YCombinator, the top startup accelerator in the world, and pivoting the strategy coming out of it.
Too busy to watch but want to stay on top of AI startup deep dive? Check out our newsletter at AI Venture Pulse.
#machinelearning #nvidia #funding #llm #ycombinator #AI #AIVP #AIVenturePulse #Innovation #Startup #Invest
🔍 AI-Powered Deal Engine for Wholesalers Bazarr.ai stands out by providing an AI deal engine designed to help online wholesalers grow through AI-generated resale deals. Alon shares how this innovative approach is changing the landscape of wholesale by making processes more efficient and profitable. #AI #AIVP #AIVenturePulse #Wholesale #Innovation #Startup #Invest
We're glad to have Co-Founder and CEO of Bambi, Nirav Chheda on our show.
Bambi is a company offering AI-optimized scheduling, routing, dispatching, and business management for US NEMT (Non-emergency medical transport) businesses.
Landscape:
NEMT is a $10 billion industry.
Projected to more than double over the next ten years because the entire baby boomer generation is now getting into the age range where they need non-emergency medical transport services.
Supply is having a hard time catching up.
#Logistics #Transporation #Medical # Software #AI #Optimization
This time, we're glad to have conversation with CEO Imtiaz Shams of FLOX.
FLOX utilizes computers to improve animal welfare for modern farming. It monitors the condition of chickens in the sheds, providing feedback and compliance solutions for farmers and integrators.
Revolutionizing Hollywood with Generative AI, CyberFilm AI is setting the stage for a new era of storytelling.
Co-founder and CEO Russell Palmer shared his story from leading AI/ML products in big tech to launching CyberFilm AI, funded by renowned Angel Investor Jason Calacanis.
Check out our newsletter at: https://www.aiventurepulse.com/
Try out Saga from CyberFilm AI at: https://writeonsaga.com/