x15ventures’ Post

Spent my Friday afternoon with Adam H. Phillips, Darius Clair and the Techstars team as part of their applicant screening committee for the next Techstars Washington DC accelerator! A few things jumped out at me: 1. The best ideas? They're coming from folks who really get the problem they're trying to solve. You can tell when someone's heart is in it and have the experience to back it up. 2. A strong, concise narrative and storytelling will always be important to stand out. 3. AI is everywhere! Almost every pitch had it. But it wasn't just all buzzwords - some teams are going much deeper into the power of AI/ML: The AI standouts were: • Using data to actually tell us something useful • Predicting stuff that matters for their customers • Automating workflows to drive real productivity and efficiency • Using AI in creative ways (multimodal) to get a fair, unbiased views and outcomes I love all things emerging tech and growth in the startup world. Lots of great choices for their next cohort--especially given I only saw 1/4 of the applications. Can't wait to see which ones go through. Thanks for the opportunity Adam and Darius--and great meeting the other fellow screening committee members. #TechstarsDC #startuppitch #AIinAction #virgentAI #DCStartupWeek #futureofbusiness

Struggling to optimize cost-efficiency in your GenAI projects? Our lead Data engineer Yuri Sa dives into how open-source LLMs democratize GenAI development, enabling innovation for startups, SMBs, and individuals. Explore the advantages that make open-source LLMs a cost-efficient, flexible, and secure solution for your AI initiatives in 2024. Excited to learn more? Check out the article here https://shorturl.at/chlzX.

„Although the public-facing argument for AI regulation is to promote safety, we believe the true purpose is to suppress open-source innovation and deter competitive startups. The more onerous the regulation, the more difficult it is for startups—along with the researchers, academics and hobbyists who make up open-source efforts—to comply.” link in comments

💭If you were drafting legislation with policymakers to make sure AI is developed safely and responsibly, what would you prioritize? Check out this episode of The Next Wave with Matt Wolfe, Nathan Lands, and guest Anjney Midha to learn about the potential ramifications of California's proposed bill, SB 1047, on the tech industry, startups, and researchers. Watch here: https://hubs.ly/Q02Hjjdy0

🌟 Happy 4th of July! 🌟 As we celebrate independence and innovation, I want to spotlight the remarkable growth of AI startups shooting off right here in Washington State. Two weeks ago, we had an incredible #SeattleAIWeek, celebrating the groundbreaking advancements emerging from the Puget Sound. With thousands of participants, our community engagement was just a brief glimpse of a bright future for everyone. While I don't have fireworks to share, I do have the closest thing to it with my ongoing research of AI startups coming from our region. I'm thrilled to share a visual of over 2,500+ startups in Washington interacting with AI, including machine learning, software development, coding institutions, and more. Along with some industry partners I will be digging into the startups, founders, investors, and anyone passionate about the AI ecosystem. Let's connect! Reach out to get networked with local and industry supporters. Together, we can drive innovation and make a significant impact for our region and the world. Stay tuned for more details in the upcoming weeks! #Innovation #ArtificialIntelligence

Missed the contest; no problem! Don't miss the opportunity to save 15% with code DCSW15. 🔽 Register today to attend our partner event, as seats are limited: https://bit.ly/3Vlgfe5 The speaker lineup includes industry heavyweights: Steve Case, Chairman & CEO of Revolution; Lina Khan, Chair of the FTC; former OpenAI board member Helen Toner; and the Co-Founders of HumaneAI. We'll dive into the future of regulation around AI and Big Tech, and which cities will become beacons of the AI boom. The speaker lineup includes industry heavyweights: Steve Case, Chairman & CEO of Revolution; Lina Khan, Chair of the FTC; former OpenAI board member Helen Toner; and the Co-Founders of HumaneAI. We’ll be covering the future of regulation around AI and Big Tech and which cities will become beacons of the AI boom.

The AI Act is here, and it’s bringing big changes to the table. But how will it impact businesses, from startups to tech giants? Our panelists— Daniel Abbou (EU AI Forum), Łukasz Gabler (TikTok), Orestis Trasanidis (EIT Digital), and Patrik Tovarysš (Meta)—explored the pros, cons, and everything in between, with the great Milly Doolan moderating. And the conclusion? "One Act to rule them all!" 😄 #AIWeekend #Weekend #WeekendMediaFestival

It's Friday, which means #SFTechWeek - the largest decentralized tech conference, presented by Andreessen Horowitz is coming to an end. This week, over 575 events brought together startup founders, investors, engineers, and the entire community from various verticals. Of course, there was a big focus on AI, and we had to choose from more than 50 daily events focused on Generative AI 😁 Just imagine how massive it is! Events were packed, with waitlists, because after all, networking is key. Here's a view from one of the events at the 42nd Floor Skybar 😍

Intensive Weekend: 🚀Shahar Hillel and I set up an AI voicebot dedicated to mentoring startup founders in record time. 🚀 Our adventure began last Thursday while chatting with Alex M Dascalu, who was busy advising startup founders on that day. We asked him whether an "AI coach for startup founders" would be useful. His response? "Sure thing!" We got immediately inspired! Shahar and I (team #AI-migos) then registered for Veridion's great hackathon in Bucharest that very same day. We immediately began working on a voice bot, convinced that voice engagement would provide deeper insights and better advice to founders in the long run. Over the weekend, we focused on integrating this bot with Veridion's extensive dataset : Veridion ingests all corporate data from the web on a weekly basis. This enables us to map the competitive landscape for any startup project, based on a phone conversation. This challenge was submitted by Bogdan Iordache for the hackathon. A big shout-out to the organizers at Veridion! We named our bot "Greg", after my good friend Gregory Rondin!

If you are a tech enthusiast or startup enthusiast then this is the place where you should be on 22 May at 9.30 AM ‼️ I am honored to share that I will be speaking at the “Youth Tech Speaker” and share my 2 cents 🙂 There will 29 amazing speakers who will be sharing there story and how AI is being implemented. Where is the tech industry going and what we should do about it. The registration is free and the link is in the comment section. Looking forward to meeting you all 💯 #youthtechsummit #softwareindustry #techindustry