Sarel Roets,  Ryan Kohler and David Shein  Founders of Trusst AI , CX veterans Sarel Roets and Ryan Kohler has raised a seed round of  $4 million led by OIF ventures . What does TRustAI do TrusstAI implements autonomous agents that integrate into customer systems, cloning your best workers, 24/7, powering automation and reducing costs.  TrusstAI empowers the intelligent workforce by managing, analysing, automating and personalising customer interactions in any language or channel, learning and adapting in real time.    It analyses customer data, helping ..read more

My friend Zsolt Nagy is arguably one of the most connected humans on the planet. He has various onterests around the world ?, including an agribusiness in Slovakia . Here is his takeouts from a mastermind of 168 agribusiness leaders and innovators from around the world at a high-level strategic forum, , where they  tackled some of the most pressing challenges and groundbreaking opportunities shaping the future of agriculture. ? The Future of Agribusiness: Innovation, Resilience, and Growth ? This wasn’t just a program—it was a global exchange of ideas, exploring how we can future-p ..read more

Here are Ari’s  Level 2 questions that dig into markets, moats, and long term value: ❓1. How big and durable is the market, and where does the company stand? ?Is the market growing, stable, or at risk of disruption?  ?Who are the main competitors, and how are you positioned to win? ?Are there regulatory, economic, or cultural trends that significantly impact the market, positively or negatively? 2. ❓Why’s this team the one to back now? ?What relevant track record or domain expertise does leadership have, and what evidence shows they can execute against ambitious timeli ..read more

Great insites from VC legend Ari Klinger  5 questions any business needs to nail  1. Who are you selling to?   Create an avatar of your ideal client  2. What are they buying?  What is the painkiller for your client  3. Why you?  What is your unique proposition - is it your superpower 4. How will you profitably and sustainably deliver on that promise? The business model  Revenue /costs/Gp  Scalability and cost of scaling  5. How do you measure success? What are the metrics and kpis  Here’s Ari’s blog https://www.ari ..read more

Founders of Upflowy   Guillaume Ang  , Matthew Browne  and Alexandre Girard  raised  $4m in Feb 2022 and an excited to see the launching of Psyke! The funding is being used to  grow the team to 40,  go to the USA, Enhance platform capabilities by integrating AI and predictive personalization and  develope an ai co-pilot Psyke. Upflowy is  launching its Psyke next week  - an AI-driven game changer for marketing automation and customer experience optimization. Am looking forward to the product launch on Wednesday 26 Februa ..read more

Steve Blanks latest article on needing to go through the hard yards of peeling potatoes to doing the crummy inane jobs - like peeling potatoes  - was all part of the process enabling him to become a successful entrepreneur!! Becoming a sussessful entrepreneur is not for the feint hearted  -and let me tell you - the odds are not in your favour!!!!   There’s no shortcut…. And the risks are massive !!!! You can read as many self help books and how the facebooks, NVIDIA and Amazon’s have done it ….. but unless you’ve done it , failed, pivoted , failed again , a ..read more

Founders  …. Amish Sinha Skye Theodorou and Sajjad Naveed  have raised $19m in a series a round for their company Upcover, which they founded in 2021., The funding will support the expansion of digital insurance products in 2025, building on its existing base of 60,000 businesses using the platform. The Pain  They Identified a pain that general insurance is mainly analogue and very little digital with less choice . The existing analogue customer experience is painful and cumbersome , and has provided an enormous opportunity for a digital disruptor to change t ..read more

This is a summary of a great blogpost about how founders are wired -  by Steve Blank - author of the lean start up, whom I had the fortune to listen to at an entrepreneurship course at hAAS business school with Jerry Engel  at Berkeley University in 2002 . Sane people have normal jobs - and live lives that are predestined - while founders and entrepreneurs  are closer to artists than any other profession. They see things that others don’t and spend their lives trying to bring those visions to fruition.  Founders belong to  an ecosystem of  ..read more

The meteoric rise of Indians in America - showcasing the power of what immigration of smart people can do to develop innovation , wealth and health of a country !!! This article showcases a few powerful people, including my friend Kanwal Rekhi - one of the founders of venture capital and innovation in Silicon Valley. ?A similar story can be told about the rise of South Africans in America - that can include the likes of Elon Musk ,Steve Collis and countless others that have made a positive influence to their communities .  ?You can change the narrative of this article by cutting and ..read more

Great ideas are just great ideas until someone has the ability to commercialise them into a saleable product or service  Steve Jobs gives a great metaphor of his neighbour showing him a great invention in his garage when he was young - that turned rocks  into smooth  polished - by continuously rubbing  and bumping against each other .  He likens this to an idea and the need for a team  of incredible talented people bumping up against each other , arguing ,collaborating and working together and polishing each other  that enables one t ..read more