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Dec 13, 2016 · 16m · top-founders

EP 507: $300k Raised, ChatBot Helps Your Audience Talk To You and Get Answer with CEO Abhimanyu Godara

Abhimanyu Godara · 7m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top Podcast, host Nathan Latka interviews Abhimanyu Godara, CEO of Botter.me, exploring how his startup raised $300,000 from 500 Startups to build automated personal chatbots that power conversational commerce.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 47.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.5 Guest teaching 2.3 Guest disagreement 1.3 Nathan pushing back 3.5
05100:0010:000:27–4:06 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Upcoming Previews The segment begins with an intro monologue and contest announcement before transitioning into introductory questions about Botter.me. Latka probes about the business model and asks if they are pre-revenue, to which Godara clarifies their pivot history.4:06–7:38 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Botter.me Monetization and Platform Demonstration Latka conducts a live test on the Botter platform using a Donald Trump bot and points out where the conversational commerce fails. Godara defends the current prototype and explains the planned automation features.7:39–12:12 · Nathan as informed peer 6/10 Seed Funding, Growth, and Conversational Commerce Use Cases Latka pushes hard on Godara to disclose the exact funding amount, threatening to check public SEC filings until Godara reveals the $300k figure. Latka also challenges the product positioning between e-commerce and information retrieval.12:13–14:54 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Connecting with Botter and Acuity Scheduling Promotion Includes an extended sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question segment.0:27–4:06 · Guest teaching 2/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Upcoming Previews The segment begins with an intro monologue and contest announcement before transitioning into introductory questions about Botter.me. Latka probes about the business model and asks if they are pre-revenue, to which Godara clarifies their pivot history.4:06–7:38 · Guest teaching 3/10 Botter.me Monetization and Platform Demonstration Latka conducts a live test on the Botter platform using a Donald Trump bot and points out where the conversational commerce fails. Godara defends the current prototype and explains the planned automation features.7:39–12:12 · Guest teaching 3/10 Seed Funding, Growth, and Conversational Commerce Use Cases Latka pushes hard on Godara to disclose the exact funding amount, threatening to check public SEC filings until Godara reveals the $300k figure. Latka also challenges the product positioning between e-commerce and information retrieval.12:13–14:54 · Guest teaching 1/10 Connecting with Botter and Acuity Scheduling Promotion Includes an extended sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question segment.0:27–4:06 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Upcoming Previews The segment begins with an intro monologue and contest announcement before transitioning into introductory questions about Botter.me. Latka probes about the business model and asks if they are pre-revenue, to which Godara clarifies their pivot history.4:06–7:38 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Botter.me Monetization and Platform Demonstration Latka conducts a live test on the Botter platform using a Donald Trump bot and points out where the conversational commerce fails. Godara defends the current prototype and explains the planned automation features.7:39–12:12 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Seed Funding, Growth, and Conversational Commerce Use Cases Latka pushes hard on Godara to disclose the exact funding amount, threatening to check public SEC filings until Godara reveals the $300k figure. Latka also challenges the product positioning between e-commerce and information retrieval.12:13–14:54 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Connecting with Botter and Acuity Scheduling Promotion Includes an extended sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question segment.0:27–4:06 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Weekly Contest Winner and Upcoming Previews The segment begins with an intro monologue and contest announcement before transitioning into introductory questions about Botter.me. Latka probes about the business model and asks if they are pre-revenue, to which Godara clarifies their pivot history.4:06–7:38 · Nathan pushing back 5/10 Botter.me Monetization and Platform Demonstration Latka conducts a live test on the Botter platform using a Donald Trump bot and points out where the conversational commerce fails. Godara defends the current prototype and explains the planned automation features.7:39–12:12 · Nathan pushing back 7/10 Seed Funding, Growth, and Conversational Commerce Use Cases Latka pushes hard on Godara to disclose the exact funding amount, threatening to check public SEC filings until Godara reveals the $300k figure. Latka also challenges the product positioning between e-commerce and information retrieval.12:13–14:54 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Connecting with Botter and Acuity Scheduling Promotion Includes an extended sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question segment.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 67% · guest 33%0:00 · Nathan 67% · guest 33%3:00 · Nathan 9.1% · guest 90.9%3:00 · Nathan 9.1% · guest 90.9%6:00 · Nathan 49.8% · guest 50.2%6:00 · Nathan 49.8% · guest 50.2%9:00 · Nathan 17.5% · guest 82.5%9:00 · Nathan 17.5% · guest 82.5%12:00 · Nathan 83.4% · guest 16.6%12:00 · Nathan 83.4% · guest 16.6%15:00 · Nathan 94.7% · guest 5.3%15:00 · Nathan 94.7% · guest 5.3%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 10:00 Rejecting the premise about bloggers

Godara firmly pushes back on Latka's assertion that bloggers without physical products cannot use the tool, sharing concrete use cases of mommy and travel bloggers using it for service gigs.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 8:05 Demanding undisclosed funding figures

Latka refuses to accept Godara's deflection about funding being private, pressing him by noting SEC filings are public until Godara discloses the $300k figure.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 11:14 Explaining conversational commerce workflow

Godara walks Latka through the specific user flow of engaging an influencer through a bot rather than a standard static web form.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:04 Live testing Donald Trump bot limitations

Latka uses real-time user testing during the recording to expose limitations in the bot's commerce handling, showing where the automated responses break down.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Weekly Contest Winner and Upcoming Previews 2202 The segment begins with an intro monologue and contest announcement before transitioning into introductory questions about Botter.me. Latka probes about the business model and asks if they are pre-revenue, to which Godara clarifies their pivot history.
Botter.me Monetization and Platform Demonstration 5325 Latka conducts a live test on the Botter platform using a Donald Trump bot and points out where the conversational commerce fails. Godara defends the current prototype and explains the planned automation features.
Seed Funding, Growth, and Conversational Commerce Use Cases 6337 Latka pushes hard on Godara to disclose the exact funding amount, threatening to check public SEC filings until Godara reveals the $300k figure. Latka also challenges the product positioning between e-commerce and information retrieval.
Connecting with Botter and Acuity Scheduling Promotion 1100 Includes an extended sponsor read for Acuity Scheduling followed by the standard Famous Five rapid-fire question segment.

Statements from this episode (5)

Disclosure
Godara: Botter.me Initially Targets Influencers and Celebrities for Personal Chatbots
“Initially we are focused on influencers and celebrities who have a lot of fans and followers, and they want to automate and simplify their life by creating a bot that can take questions on their behalf.”
Abhimanyu Godara Dec 13, 2016 ▶ 3:08
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Botter.me generated $10k in first six months before pivoting to platform
“But gradually in six months, we made like more than 10,000 dollars in revenue and realized We need to build more of a platform that can scale.”
Abhimanyu Godara Dec 13, 2016 ▶ 4:35
Disclosure
Godara: Botter.me will take a cut of transactions and charge for listings
“And now we'll be taking a cut from the services that they provide or even charge them for featured listings on our platform.”
Abhimanyu Godara Dec 13, 2016 ▶ 5:24
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Godara: Botter.me had around 250 paying customers under initial model
“So yeah, so in, in terms of our the services model that we had around two and 50 customers paying customers on our platform.”
Abhimanyu Godara Dec 13, 2016 ▶ 5:39
Disclosure
Godara reveals previously unannounced $300k seed funding round for Botter.me
“It's not in public yet, but we raised around 300 K you know.”
Abhimanyu Godara Dec 13, 2016 ▶ 8:13
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