Anthony Soohoo

🎙 🎧 All things #productleadership & #executiverecruiting with Chris Johnson, Founder & Managing Partner of Artisanal Talent! That's the next episode of Product Leader's Journey which drops this coming week. In this short, Chris talks about the relevance of domain experience in hiring. We cover many important topics in the full episode about how to craft a well structured narrative about your experience, addressing weak spots on the resume, and more! Watch this space!

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In the next episode of the Duran Inci Podcast, we delve into the true nature of innovation with guest Alex Berg, exploring how it extends far beyond the pursuit of profit. Our conversation will uncover how a deep-seated desire to challenge the status quo can yield extraordinary and widespread impacts. We will examine the crucial decisions that ambitious individuals face, revealing how embracing daunting challenges can profoundly influence one's trajectory. Whether you are an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned executive, or simply intrigued by the dynamics of transformative change, this episode will equip you with valuable insights into the art of pushing boundaries and redefining possibilities. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of what drives innovation and how it shapes the future. #DrivingInnovation #MoreThanProfit #EntrepreneurialDrive #EmbraceChallenges #ShapeTheFuture #TechInnovation #LeadershipInsights #StartupJourney #AgentsOfChange #ExpandBoundaries

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Economies thrive with automation, and Formic is accelerating state-of-the-art robotics & AI across our factories and warehouses:

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Consumer founders in SF come check out our event next week and register below

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What prompted it all: “Could we electrify the cold chain? What would it look like to do battery-powered shipping?” What they made: The device is a white plastic cube, small enough that it can be held with one hand. Pop the lid, and inside up to four vials can be stored. On the outside, there’s a USB-C port to charge a lithium-ion battery that powers a solid-state heat pump, which provides cooling or heating depending on outside conditions. The cube can keep samples at 3 degrees C (37.4 degrees F) for at least 56 hours. Thermometers, accelerometers and GPS keep track of the package, and a cellular connection lets customers keep tabs on its precious cargo. Who made it: Hannah Sieber and the Artyc team use battery-powered refrigeration to create sustainable and reliable shipping solutions for temperature-sensitive items -- starting off with pharmaceuticals; with a total addressable market down the road including perishable foods, chemicals/materials to name a few. So proud to be an investor and supporter.

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Whether I am on a sales call, at a party, or just speaking with friends, explaining the breadth of Viam’s capabilities in words has been difficult. I have, however, found that once I show the platform at work, eyes light up and ideas about the different devices that could benefit from Viam begin flowing. Here are some of my favorite projects to “show off” when I am giving a demo of Viam. What devices in your life would you hack to do the same? https://lnkd.in/eFn6eD52 #software #robotics #opensource

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Instacart is a market leader when it comes to leveraging AI tools to boost productivity at work. I had an amazing conversation with JJ Zhuang, Instacart’s Chief Architect, who has shepherded over 50 AI-driven initiatives to market across the org. We explored what catapulted Instacart to the forefront of AI integration, supporting radically diverse use cases across various functional areas. One striking insight (echoed by Ethan Mollick and others elsewhere) is that you often don't need specialized tools for specialized work. Frontier models like GPT-4 can seamlessly adapt to a wide range of functions and use cases. They're not just for engineers; they're incredibly versatile tools used by marketing, comms, and legal teams. From generating code to proofreading and ideation, GPT-4 empowers every department to leverage AI for enhanced productivity and innovation. By integrating LLM’s like GPT-4 into their workflows, teams can streamline processes, automate repetitive tasks, and unlock bandwidth for new creative possibilities. How can you harness the power of AI in your own work to boost productivity? Share your thoughts below 👇 Want to hear more insights from JJ? Check out the full podcast episode by clicking the link in the comments.

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The best ideas are often timeless. Insights from AI pioneers, like Allen Newell and Herbert Simon, have made a lasting impact and remain relevant even today. Joon Sung Park spoke about how important it is to balance the novel capabilities of cutting-edge technology with the time-tested principles of effective product development. Here's our full conversation: https://lnkd.in/gs4vAD2p

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Given the recent news with Scarlett Johansson and OpenAI and WIRED's recent piece, I was excited to speak with Maggie Sin, the CEO of MyCompanions.AI, a platform that allows creators to use AI to communicate with their fans. Maggie and I discuss the timely ethical issues surrounding AI and how MyCompanions empowers creators to communicate with their fans. #creatoreconomy #llms #VC #AI #Creators #OpenAI #UncannyValley

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Just finished an interview with CNBC at SuperReturn in Berlin, where we discussed opportunities in enterprise software and how GenAI will revolutionize the software sector. At Thoma Bravo, we see AI as an opportunity, not a threat, and software incumbents are in a great position to benefit from this technology. Over the years, we've seen enterprise #software evolve from the limitations of on-premise to the flexibility of SaaS, and now, GenAI is set to redefine business operations. We're actively embracing #GenAI's transformative power and are already seeing products emerge within our portfolio companies. Focusing on #AI is more important than ever, and we're excited and optimistic about what this means for the future of enterprise software. https://lnkd.in/ePHUTjNe

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Zypsy, a design firm with a track record of helping early-stage startups, has launched a new and somewhat unique venture investment program.  It will be offering 10 startups up to $100,000 of brand and product design services, spanning 8 to 10 weeks of engagement, for no cash payment. Instead startups will pay by issuing Zypsy 1% equity of their companies via a SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). There is one potential gotcha: if a startup needs more work than outruns that cap, it will need to pay for it. https://lnkd.in/eAuiJbbz

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In his recent article on AI application pricing Kyle Poyar with Palle Broe call out the lack of innovation in the pricing of first generation AI applications. These are mostly relying on per user pricing and have conventional GBB packaging patterns. They identify an opportunity for pricing innovation in the second phase of AI applications. https://lnkd.in/gaHpTpKV #AI #pricing #SaaS #pricingAI #innovation

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If retailers feel that their world has been turned upside down by the newer generations of shoppers and the technology the world is embracing, we at Silicon Road Ventures wish to contend that this is only the beginning. Though recent headlines trumpet how the old-guard retailers are going out of business, the reality is that retail sales have grown and continue to do so. In this competitive landscape, the key to survival is not just adapting to change, but embracing it. Retailers who innovate and build stores, in real life or virtually, that cater to consumers' evolving needs, will emerge victorious. I'm speaking with Walmart's Ram Rampalli about the role of strategic investing in guiding innovation and getting retailers into the investment game at NRF Nexus (nexus.nrf.com). We'll discuss this and the recent trend of retailers making strategic investments in retail tech startups. If you're going, I'd love to connect.

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Science-fiction is inherently speculative. Author George #Orwell of ‘#1984’ predicted concepts such as doublethink, little earbuds and society’s obsession with the black mirror screens that dominate our lives — and according to the BBC, novelist and short story author JG Ballard, of “High-Rise” and “Crash” fame, has predicted the current tool and cultural fixation of #GenerativeAI in the modern society — only he didn’t just speculate them within a story, he is actually one of the first use-cases of a generative AI used in a creative context — Ballard was so fascinated with the growing technological advancement of computers that he used one to compose poems, essentially the precursor to what we have now with ChatGPT. Today, the debate about the creative use of generative AI and its value on creative industries is an extremely fraught and controversial topic, but if controlled in a space that doesn’t replace human labor or try to equate itself to traditional art forms, it is interesting to see what computers can do and how they are creatively limited in comparison. Ballard’s two poems, The Yellow Back Novels and Machine Gun City are generated, and both include notes on how Ballard achieved producing them. Regardless of quality (Ballard himself probably wouldn’t describe these two poems as his best work), it is interesting to see primitive versions of the technology that we utilize on the daily today, and how these moral conversations that concern them would continuously evolve.

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I love this! Thank you to Rachel Brown from Beauty Independent to kick-off this exchange with Andrew Ross' provocative thesis and have us all react to it. I truly enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts on the topic of the shortening lifecycle of beauty brands. Here is a snippet of mine: "Because beauty brand lifespans are shortening, it is important that we are able to differentiate brands with staying power from brands that will end up being a flash in the pan. There are much more of the latter than the former in the market right now, and if a brand is not well-positioned, it will be challenging for that brand to survive over the long-term. That’s why we focus on understanding each brand’s differentiators and long-term relevance." See more here: https://lnkd.in/esVbwnu2 and you will discover what Kevin Murphy, Odile Roujol, Rich Gersten, Tina Henry Bou-Saba, Oliver Nordlinger, Claire Chang, Manica Blain, Sonya Brown, George Birman had to say. #beautyindustry #beautyinvesting Stride Consumer Partners

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Great podcast on AI from Marc Andreeson and Ben Horowitz, founders of one of the world's leading VC firms. Worth a listen if you're interested in: >> How startups can use AI effectively and not be replaced by one of the big models.  >> How the AI revolution compares to microprocessor/PC/internet revolutions. >> Our ability as humans to continuing new things to want/need.  >> The hype cycle - and demand/oversupply. #ai #vc

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It was a real honor to interview Brad Burnham co-founder of Union Square Ventures and partner Placeholder on the history of hype cycles in technology and the value they bring to capital and market formation. Brad has had tremendous success across decades investing at the frontier - when it was the frontier/ before it was obvious. Crypto is still the underdog and his views on the opportunity and its nuances are prescient. Specifically it is both a technical and financial innovation which can lead to excess volatility and a unique muscle as it relates to being a venture manager. But the returns are real. And the innovation is real despite some of the the common narratives. No one debates the breakthrough applications in AI at M13 we have been very active. It is also very clear that incumbents have massive data and distribution advantages which can make it challenging to find the right pockets to invest. AI is on its own hype cycle and as always the best teams (typically with contrarian takes) win. Very exciting times to be a venture investor.

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Product Market Fit (PMF) is a crucial yet elusive concept for many early-stage startups. Achieving it can make or break a company's long-term success. In the latest episode of the "Founder & CEO Podcast," Michael Viscuso and I discuss what PMF is, what it looks like, and what to do once it's achieved. Check out the podcast here: https://lnkd.in/g2fw7v9g

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