Yadid Ramot

Talk to Buildstash and Robbie Cargill if you want to manage your game or app binaries.

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🚰 VODA.ai is building software to make one of our scarcest, most important resources safer and more cost effective to manage🚰 It's W13 / Q2 / 2024 & this week in our MGMT Boston startup series we’ve got VODA.ai, an AI startup helping analyze our nation’s water infrastructure at a local level to deliver better service for utilities and local populations across the country. Co-Founder & CEO George Demosthenous was working in product management at a utility technology vendor that builds metering & network infrastructure for utilities. George consistently heard that while the technology Mueller was selling was effective, the external pipe detection equipment and sensors they were purchasing didn’t necessarily stop leaks. There are 2.2M miles of drinking water pipes across the U.S. In Jackson, MS more than 65% of their processed water does not make it to end customers. In Detroit’s Highland Park neighborhood an estimated 70% of water is lost from 120 year old pipes. Imagine if Apple shipped 100M iPhones stateside and 50M were littered across the Pacific Ocean floor on their way over from Asia. Crazy, right? VODA.ai is building a software company that uses existing data to assess the condition of pipes that cannot be seen and determine which ones will have the highest likelihood of an event, like a leak or a break. VODA.ai created an AI engine dubbed “daVinciTM” here in Boston that uses pattern recognition in the way that LLMs probabilistically identify the next word in a sentence. daVinciTM has been tested head-to-head with other alternative models and has always outperformed! No pressure.. Since COVID they have grown both revenue & customer count by 200%+ y/y, continuing to leverage AI with both their product & team. AI’s emergence has helped VODA.ai’s sales cycle fall from a full year to three months as utilities broadly want to leverage best in class AI software. This Seed-stage startup has already analyzed over 1M miles of pipe (almost 50% of America!) and over 2M miles of service lines with customers from Boston to San Jose, CA. They are planning to more than 2x revenue in 2024, becoming the go to decision support platform for water utilities across the country in the next five years. VODA.ai is backed by local Boston investors Innospark Ventures and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. MassCEC has named VODA.ai a top carbon reduction emission leader, the team has twice been voted (by water utilities!) the Best Smart Water Solution at the Smart Water Summit, and VODA.ai plans to continue to grow their team in Boston in the quarters ahead. Operators to Know: -Kyra Dubinsky, Chief of Staff -Cory Sides, SVP Sales -Dan Hack, EVP of Operations and International Sales -Lowell Rust, MBA PMP, VP of Customer Success If you're interested in learning more, the full post is linked in the comments! And sign up for the newsletter to see who we bring you next week, will you?? #bostontech #startups #AI

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We gathered dozens of operators from the MGMT Boston Operators Club and local founders alongside the 186 Ventures team this October to discuss the evolution of our dear software markets, the status of some predictions for 2024 (all looking good!), and what’s on deck for next year. General Partner Giuseppe Stuto led us through the following predictions for 2025 to share with you all.. ↕ We will see more vertical AI applications manifest themselves within the Enterprise in a similar ways that SaaS moved from horizontal to vertical use cases 🔔 We will see services business models more common and software budget purchasing models less common - SaaS may even be given away for cheap/free as a “way in” ⚖ Capital efficiency, on a relative basis, will almost be required to create enduring & compounding defensible enterprise value. Details like procurement cycle lengths and creativity with non-dilutive financing, like leveraging revenue based financing tools for example, will all matter 💡 Specific to AI, premiums will be placed on applications that can actually get “reasoning” right. All purpose LLMs still have a ways to go and there are multiple approaches with the “jury still out” on how to get context and reasoning right. Infrastructure solutions that use general purpose or customizable knowledge graphs to help application developers get to 100% (enterprise acceptable accuracy) will emerge OR savvy application developers will fill the gaps themselves. We will likely see both, depending upon the specific case! Thank you Giuseppe, Julian, and Sophie for a great discussion and evening!

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Founder mode? "Dangerous"! Fund raising? "Waste of time"! OKRs? "BS"! Plaid's CEO and co-founder Zachary Perret shares some unconventional opinions in this episode of The Twenty Minute VC with Harry Stebbings. Here are our main takeaways 👇 ✉️ Subscribe to our newsletter for more podcast insights! (links in comments) #entrepreneurship #startups #business #founders

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Polls can be a cheat code for earned media, and a great way to build authority. But there are levels to this. Here's how one of the best I've seen - Capital One - does it. (And what I'd do differently to increase earned coverage). Led by Shena Ashley, PhD, Capital One's Insights Center is a masterclass in leveraging polls to create unique insights that would do incredibly well via earned syndication. Here’s what they do great: ✅ Content that sticks: Crucial issues > fleeting trends. Focusing on topics like financial stability, mobility, and entrepreneurship, it's easier to rationalize investment on topics with a longer shelf life. Their insights + stories can drive coverage for months to come. ✅ Visual storytelling: Data doesn’t have to be dry, and Capital One presents original insights through clear and eye-pleasing visuals that are easy to understand. Publishers like charts, they love colorful charts, and they LOVE colorful charts that are easy to understand. Check, check, check. ✅ Strong methodologies and extensive polling numbers: Capital One frequently involves 7k+ participants in their studies - they are not half a**ing it. Well explained methodologies are table stakes to get your polls covered, and Capital One does a great job outlining their data collection process, sample size, and research methodologies.   ✅ Easy to steal: Each report has multiple easy to take stories/soundbites, and are also written as full pieces of content, which can be taken as whole. Finally --- if I could change one thing... Add a byline. Brand publishing NEEDS a byline - no news outlet wants to cover a story that can't be credited back to a human. All in all, polls can be incredibly valuable for driving earned syndication - check out Capital One's Insights Center in comments for killer examples.

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HITRUST chose Vanta as the first pre-built HITRUST e1 solution, which means Vanta comes "out of the box" with the necessary controls, documents, and policies for an e1 assessment and eliminates the manual “do-it-yourself” approach that other platforms require. Up to 80% of requirements are automated by: *️⃣ Guidance around requirements: 44 new controls and 72 automated tests to ensure comprehensive and continuous compliance. *️⃣ Documents and policy templates: 80 new documents and 10 policy addendums to outline practices around managing sensitive data. *️⃣ Automated evidence collection: With over 300 integrations, Vanta automatically and continuously collects evidence from an organization’s technology stack. Our platform also applies overlapping, implemented controls from other supported frameworks, including up to 50% of SOC 2 and ISO 27001, to eliminate duplicative work across compliance programs. Coming soon, our partnership with HITRUST will expand into an integration with their audit portal, MyCSF, so customer evidence is transfered automatically from Vanta to MyCSF, further streamlining the HITRUST validation process Really excited for this collaboration!

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Big Fish, BIGGER FISH! Kathryn O'Day reveals what it’s like going from startup life to a major acquisition and the a MAJOR acquisition—whiplash, high stakes, and all. Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/em9xMrRC #Techpodcast #podcastforentrepreneurs #tech #design #startup #innovation #venturecapital #privateequity #techcxo #business Atlanta Ventures #talesfromtheskylounge

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🌸 Exciting Spring 2024 Product Updates! 🌸 Super proud of our team for all of their incredible work! A few highlights! 📍 New communities in North Dakota & San Francisco ✨ Improved location-sharing & directions 🚩 Report conditions & hazards in-app 🎉 Personalized onboarding 📊 Easy access to challenge reports for staff Check out our blog for more details: Spring 2024 Product Updates. #OutdoorRecreation #ParkManagement #SpringUpdates #VisitorExperience #OuterSpatial

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Our industry has a reputation for making last-minute changes due to new regulations. Historically, adjustments like adding an unsubscribe button, ensuring texts are sent only to those who opted in, and making sure TCPA text was placed on the offer were straightforward fixes. However, the new 1-to-1 consent ruling is different, and it brings significant challenges that we must address NOW. Here are some topics I believe need to discussed and considered: 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀: Lead generators are already operating on thin margins to meet client KPIs. Any cost increase due to the new regulations could trigger a domino effect across the industry. 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵/𝗗𝗲𝘃 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸: Compliance isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Significant front-end development and major workflow changes will be required to handle dynamic consent properly. 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀: Can your systems handle pings, dupe checks, and send back required data points to lead suppliers? These capabilities are crucial for dynamic consent. 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀: Lead contracts and purchase orders need updates to reflect changes in lead pricing, returns, and handling of failed posts. If a lead supplier's post fails, who bears the cost? 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: When and how will you test everything? Identifying what converts best and uncovering unforeseen issues is critical. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: What exactly does 1-to-1 consent compliance look like? Is E-SIGN required? Are predictive dialers omitted from the new regulations? We need clear answers -- I am hearing vastly different opinions. CMS is requiring 1-to-1 consent rules for this year’s AEP, and we have until the end of January to align our strategies. Delaying action will lead to chaos and potential lawsuits, jeopardizing Q1. I've spoken with many friends and clients in the industry, and the consensus is clear: the lack of current action is alarming. We need to act NOW, collaborate, and get on the same page. Jennine Rexon is calling for an industry open "online meeting of the minds" in September and this is exactly what we need -- more open communication! I am looking forward to this and any discussions related to these topics. What are your thoughts? Let's talk! #compliance #leadgeneration #fcc #1to1consent #communication #letstalk

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I chatted with Pawel Grabowski recently about how we (and our customers) are using video to grow their businesses: https://buff.ly/3QJijto Great discussion, and definitely a place I think most founders should lean into. How are you using video to grow your business?

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I think I've just heard the 20th definition of Agents.I now hear electrolytes when ever the word agents pops up 😁 Agent pitcher: We have autonmous agents with different personas running automation flows. Translation: We are running pieces of code running according to trigger and reading and writing data using APIs. lambda functions. Where is the hot AI? Agents pitchers: We have cognetive architecture that allows accurate and custom autonomous operations. Translation: Our lambda function are using prompts tuned per customer and use case. In Langware we develop Flowpad, A simple way to run data flows, data piplines, finetuning, agents and electrolytes , the cool part is the user dont even care or aware. user is doing thier native work , AI watch, learn and gradually suggest automatic actions.

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The discussion with Jason Fried, Co-Founder and CEO of 37signals, during a recent ProducTea with Leah episode (#42) was great. A particular one-minute segment (~14:20) really stuck with me. When asked about failures, Jason states: 🗣 “I don’t really think about failure. How does evolution work? Evolution is not sitting there using energy thinking about the wing shape that didn’t work. The wings that worked let’s make them even better...What’s working? Let’s do more of that. Let’s evolve.” This aligns perfectly with the concept of “slightly better problems” from The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. It’s a never-ending upward spiral. The key takeaway? Don’t ignore failures, but don’t dwell on them either. Focus on what works, refine it, and evolve. This approach ensures continuous improvement without getting bogged down by setbacks. #ProductManagement #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement

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📈 Curious about the startup scene in Massachusetts? Explore our detailed funding list featuring startup names, HQ locations, and investor info. Perfect for investors and entrepreneurs alike! Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dAp3xj-Q #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #managementconsulting

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We've been sharing some benchmarks recently about Encore's pretty impressive performance (9x faster than Express.js). Now if you're curious, here's a brand new step by step guide for how to migrate your Express.js API to Encore.ts, unlocking that sweet sweet performance boost 🔥 https://lnkd.in/djzudGYn

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AiScribe - #BuildInPublic Update # 8 Developed new screens for the RevenueCat Ship-A-Ton! I’d love your suggestions on the paywall, what do you think? #mobileapp #androidapp #buildinpublic

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It is getting interesting... As some companies start experimenting with in-house developed tools vs off the shelf products, platforms like Airbyte could prove to be deadly, if they are able to achieve what they promise. #GenAI #LLM #AI #Airbyte #API

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🎨 📺 Sharon Roth is a Product & Design leader who’s built her career in the lab, across different modalities, to bring more creative product experiences to life 📺 🎨 It's W3 / Q3 / 2024 and this week in our MGMT Boston up & coming operator series we’ve got Sharon who serves as the Senior Director of Product Management at Quantified.ai, the AI-driven flight simulator for sellers. The app feels as real as your next video call, scales across teams, programs, and companies, and ramps reps 42% faster. Sharon is leading Quantified AI’s Product & Design team after previous roles in Product leadership at Tamr & Honor Education. She’s excited to be back working in an Enterprise focused company, leading Design alongside Product, focused on strategic & execution based discipline. ❓Questions Are Your Roadmap ❓ It’s popular to encourage new hires to ask a lot of questions. But it’s always a good time to ask questions! When a member of your team comes to you and says “we really need to build X feature”, they’re coming to you for good reason. Dig into the why to understand how often the issue comes up, when it happens in a customer conversation, and why they’re asking for it in the first place. Is there an even better way to build a solution? Also, people are always excited about getting to a solution. By delaying the solution discussion to first get everyone to agree on the problem, you can coordinate a better response. Sharon has been in rooms where stakeholders can’t agree on the problem they’re trying to solve, which can sometimes be even more painful! By asking better questions and articulating the underlying issues thoroughly, they can work together as an organization to chart a better path forward. 3 Career Insights / Learnings 🙋‍♀️ Seek New Challenges - “Trying new things is how you learn and grow. At a startup, there are so many opportunities to try new things. As startups evolve, you need to embrace all that’s going to happen and make it a positive thing. Otherwise don’t go to a startup!” 🤝 Act with Integrity - “Do your best, show your work. But also treat others with respect and kindness while doing it. How you treat people and how you show up every day will impact your work environment. You’re responsible for the energy you bring to the room, so be authentic and try to inject some positivity. It will help you build the type of network you want to have too” 🗣 Invest in Communication Skills - “It helps you ask questions well, advocate for yourself, have your ideas be heard. It also helps others understand your impact. It takes continuous practice to do well.” If you’d like to learn more about Sharon’s career, the full post is linked in the comments. Go ahead and sign up for the newsletter to see the operator learnings we bring you in the weeks ahead too, will ya? #bostontech #operators

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"Monetization must be a first-class citizen in your product from Day 1 & if you're not thinking about entitlements early on, you're not setting yourself up for success." -- Justin Gagnon Justin leads growth engineering at Calendly, which means he's built & evolved monetization in the context of both hyper-growth & scale. We sat down last week for a conversation about feature management, monetization, and the services needed to deliver flexible pricing & packaging at scale. Some of the topics we covered: 1️⃣ Why monetization is so complex in B2B SaaS 2️⃣ The role of entitlements 3️⃣ Paying down bad product decisions vs. bad monetization decisions 4️⃣ How Justin & team built monetization infrastructure at Calendly 5️⃣ The tech & commercial debt that comes when monetization is a last-class citizen If you're a product & engineering leader, I highly recommend this episode with Justin. Schematic has learned much from him over the last year and so very excited to share the full episode (link in the comments).

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