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After selling Drift, former HubSpot executive launches artificial intelligence for customer success managers

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Elias Torres has achieved rather a lot for someone who immigrated to the United States from Nicaragua on the age of 17 without knowing English. He served as vp of engineering at HubSpot and later co-founded Drift, an organization that sold to Vista Equity in 2021 for roughly $1.2 billion.

“It’s very rare to get this far, but I’m not done yet,” Torres told TechCrunch.

About a yr ago, Torres (pictured above) founded Agency, an AI startup focused on automating tasks traditionally performed by customer success managers (CSMs). These specialists provide personalized support to users of complex B2B software, from implementation and training to the sale of latest features.

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On Wednesday, the Agency comes out of hiding and proclaims that it has raised a $12 million seed round led by Sequoia and HubSpot Ventures.

The idea for the Agency was born when Torres began consulting for OpenAI in early 2023. The creator of ChatGPT asked Torres to assist develop AI solutions for a few of its enterprise clients, including the NBA and LiveNation. While completing this project, it occurred to Torres that firms may benefit from the assistance of AI-powered customer success managers.

He was encouraged to construct a startup around this idea when he met Brian Halligan, co-founder and executive chairman of HubSpot. “We were working on a CRM system together at HubSpot, and he said to me, ‘Let’s build something great together again,’” Torres said of the conversation with Halligan. (Halligan joined the Agency’s board of directors.)

Shortly after meeting Halligan, Torres reached out to Sequoia partner Patrick Grady, who had previously invested in Drift. Grady immediately liked the thought.

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“Great CSMs are hard to hire. Great CSMs are hard to scale,” Grady told TechCrunch. “If you have a product that can do a lot of the work on their behalf and you can scale your company without having to hire an army of CSMs. It’s quite useful.”

An agency can save time on a customer success manager’s job by handling tasks similar to planning, follow-up, note-taking, client onboarding, and meeting preparation.

Torres explained that the Agency’s AI deeply understands each customer based on emails, CRM data, chat messages and phone calls, allowing it to anticipate a customer’s needs at any given moment.

“It’s something we’ve dreamed about for a long time,” he said, adding that it was the goal of Salesforce, a CRM he helped construct at HubSpot and Drift, which built personalized conversations for salespeople. “We didn’t have the technology to do this until now.”

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The company’s product is currently being tested with firms including HeyGen and is accessible in an invitation-only beta version for customer success professionals.

While Agency currently faces little direct competition, one other function within the sales and marketing organization, the sales development representative, is facing disruption from dozens of AI-based solutions.

“I don’t know anyone else who wants to pursue this market,” Sequoia’s Grady said. “I hope people don’t discover it for a while and have some space to run.”

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This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com

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One of the long -term VC Elona Muska suits his former employer after alleged dismissal

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Concept illustration depicting messy litigation with an illustrated gavel on a multicolored background

Josh Raffaella, who has deep roots as an investor of the Silicon Valley and was supported by many firms Elon Musk, suits his former employer, massive trillion dollars Aum Brookfield Asset Management, reports the New York Times.

A major part of Raffaella’s criticism concerns how Brookfield covered losses related to the pandemic of real estate and claims that the company released him after submitting the criticism of informants at SEC. His lawsuit gives allegations akin to fraud and bribe, while Brookfield deny all offenses rapidly, said The Times.

In February, Brookfield quietly closed the Venture Capital unit run by Raffaella and threw some assets on one other unit, Bloomberg reported at the moment. One of Raffaella’s complaints in the lawsuit is that Brookfield didn’t buy so many shares in firms belonging to musk because he provided the possibility of purchase.

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Raffaella had shopping transactions in Musk, akin to SpaceX, XAI and a boring company, claims the claim. Bloomberg announced that his Brookfield fund was an awesome supporter of Twitter’s takeover by Musk.

The lawsuit is a really public battle of Raffaella, who previously worked as a partner at VC, known at the time as a drapeer Fisher Jurvetson. (Today it’s a set of funds.) In DFJ Brookfield, it has helped this company spend money on Musk, akin to Solarcity (acquired by Tesla), Spacex and Tesla.

(Tagstranslate) Brookfield

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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The AI ​​X Dream Machine library project is intended to help in underestimated innovators

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Dream machine, Van Jones, Google, Ai

Through the project of the AI ​​X library, the CNN commentator, activist and entrepreneurs Van Jones and co -chairman of the projects Inayah Bashir and Steven Pargett be sure that the Black and Brown communities have free, practical opportunities to learn the force of artificial intelligence.


Libraries have long been secure for knowledge, access and community. Now they grow to be starts in innovation. Through the CNN commentator, the activist and entrepreneur Van Jones and co -chairing Project Inayah Bashir and Steven Pargett be sure that black and brown communities have free, practical possibilities of learning the strength of artificial intelligence.

Launched by the trio Dream Machine Innovation Lab in cooperation with Google, AI X Library Project already has an impact on cities corresponding to Brooklyn and Atlanta, with plans to extend on Miami, Detroit and Los Angeles.

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“We don’t just want to consume technology – we want to create, shape and run it,” said Jones during an interview with Black company. „Myślę, że AI jest potencjalnie najbliższe odszkodowania, jakie kiedykolwiek dostaniemy, ponieważ po raz pierwszy od 400 lat mamy dosłownie równy dostęp i równe szanse na coś transformacyjnego. To, o czym polega nasz projekt, jest wrażliwa na możliwość i upewniając się, że jesteśmy w rozmowie o równym dostępie do dobrej rzeczy. Jeśli chodzi o edukację, jeśli chodzi o edukację, jeśli chodzi o edukację, jeśli chodzi o edukację, jeśli chodzi o edukację, jeśli It is about education when it comes to education when it comes to education when it comes to education.

Instead of focusing only on threats of artificial intelligence, corresponding to algorithmic prejudice, Jones, Pargett and Bashir, they challenge themselves to concentrate on the chances. “Often black people are very sensitive to threat and we quickly go into conversations about equal protection against bad things,” said Jones. “This is important. But our project is to be sensitive to possibilities-insulting that we are also in a conversation about equal access to good things.”

Libraries are a perfect entry point for such a democratized technological education. “The library has always been a technology center or anything else,” Bashir noted. “In the case of insufficient or underestimated people, the library is a place where they touch new technology for the first time. When the computers came out, when the internet began, people went to libraries to learn.”

During each AI X library workshop, participants can pick from topics corresponding to marketing with artificial intelligence, writing with AI-Holności, intelligent monitors and the long run of labor. Importantly, local librarians help select which topics might be taught on the idea of the needs of their patrons.

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“We were looking for a way to transfer this conversation to real communities,” said Jones. “A lot of online and fancy conferences are happening, but not much at the neighborhood level. Most districts still have a library. This is a trusted place. We decided to go there.”

The project attracted participants on the age of seven and old as 70, creating an intergenerational learning environment. “We develop at least three new business ideas in every workshop,” said Bashir. “In Atlanta we had a mother who runs a collective at home. She said that they already use artificial intelligence to plan the curriculum – and even used artificial intelligence to find our event.”

Other participants are a waste management employee in Miami, bringing their two sons to study next to him, and grandparents examined AI tools for the primary time. “It is amazing that families learn together,” said Bashir. “Excience exists – creativity is there.”

Changing considering, not only skill sets

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In contrast to the digital division in the 90s, where access to software and hardware created entry barriers, Jones believes that the most important obstacle with which our communities with which they stand today is the way in which of considering. “We have no problem with the equipment because everyone has a smartphone,” said Jones. “We have no problem with the software because it is so much free now. We have a problem with” wet software “. Our brains do not process artificial intelligence as something that is for black people. It must change. “

Instead of perceiving artificial intelligence as a perfect, almighty tool, Jones encourages people to give it some thought as “a bit stupid, but free, very fast interns”. He explained: “Nothing is perfect – you need to check human work and you need to check the work AI. But do you prefer to improve something that you will get in two weeks or improve something that you will get in two minutes?”

Marlon Avery repeated this sentiment, reminding the participants that everybody is involved with AI for the primary time at their very own pace. “It’s okay to hurry,” Avery said. “AI is like a treadmill – you can walk, jogging or sprint depending on what you are ready for. It is important to get on it.”

Building liberatorial innovations

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Ultimately, the project of the AI ​​X library concerns something greater than just learning latest tools – it is concerning the idea of ​​a greater future.

“Liberatorial innovation is not only creating new technologies and new systems – it is about creating new freedoms,” explained Bashir. “Our brains, our communities, even our definitions of what it means to be human.

Jones emphasized the urgency of quite a lot of participation in technology. “When one small group tries to design a civilization for everyone, it doesn’t work well,” he said. “We now have a chance to build something more human, more simply – but only when everyone takes place at the table.”

When Dream Machine tries to scale the project of the AI ​​X library outside its pilot cities, one thing is clear: the long run of innovation is not only happening in the Silicon Valley – it is built in neighborly libraries, one workshop without delay.

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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Fastino Trains AI models for cheap graphics games and just collected USD 17.5 million led by Khosl

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Fastino founders

Technological giants prefer to boast of trillion parameter AI models that require massive and expensive GPU clusters. But Fastino adopts a special approach.

The startup based on Palo Alto claims that he has invented a brand new kind of architecture of the AI ​​model, which is deliberately small and specific to the duty. Fastino says that the models are so small that they’re trained in low GPU class with a worth lower than $ 100,000.

The method attracts attention. Fastino secured $ 17.5 million of seed funds run by Khosl Ventures, famous for the primary Venture, Fastino, Fastino investor, only TechCrunch tells.

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This causes complete financing of the startup to almost $ 25 million. He collected $ 7 million in November last yr within the Przedseed round led by VC ARM M12 Microsoft and Insight Partners.

“Our models are faster, more accurate and cost a fraction for training, while exceeding the flagship models in specific tasks,” says Ash Lewis, general director of Fastino and co -founder.

Fastino has built a package of small models that he sells to corporate clients. Each model focuses on a particular task that an organization might have, equivalent to the editors of confidential data or a summary of corporate documents.

Fastino doesn’t reveal early indicators or users yet, but claims that its performance impresses early users. For example, because they’re so small, his models can provide your entire answer in a single token, Lewis told Techcrunch, showing technology, giving an in depth answer immediately in milliseconds.

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It’s still a bit too early to search out out if the fastino approach will gather. The AI ​​Enterprise space is crowded, and firms equivalent to Cohere and Databicks also advertise artificial intelligence that leads in some tasks. And manufacturers of SATA models focused on the enterprise, including Antropic and Mistral, also offer small models. It can also be no secret that the long run of generative artificial intelligence for an enterprise might be in smaller, more targeted language models.

Time can say, but Khosli’s early vote of confidence definitely doesn’t hurt. For now, Fastino says that he’s specializing in constructing the most up-to-date AI team. He is directed to scientists from one of the best AI laboratories who usually are not obsessive about the development of the biggest model or beating comparative tests.

“Our employment strategy is very focused on researchers who may have a contradictory thought process in the construction of language models,” says Lewis.

(Tagstotransate) Enterprise

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This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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