The Exchanges

Q But Andre, isn't the, isn't the knowledge graph only as powerful as the data set that you feed it in the sample size of that data set? And isn't that directly, I mean, if, if, if the customer that signs up for your tool doesn't have a large data set to feed it, your knowledge graph is going to be really poor for that customer.

A Well, I mean, of course we have built a lot of tooling for enriching this graph and improving whatever data you start from. I mean, for example, we now have the ability to ingest the The Google merchant feed directly into the knowledge graph, and then we can start enhancing, you know, this merchant feed and making it better because we upscale the images, or we add additional metadata to the products, or we, you know, start to categorize product with a different taxonomy. So there is a lot of value that gets into the creation of the data inside the graph. I mean, it's not just the graph. Of course, the data that you bring in, it's, it's the first asset, but we, we have to improve it because otherwise there's no SEO value. But once we improve it, then there is not just SEO value. You have something way more valuable, which is you're going to build your AI stack on top of it.

AI assessment note: “we have built a lot of tooling for enriching this graph and improving whatever data”

Q I see. You mentioned adding more to the ESOP pool. If you do another round, are you planning to raise additional capital in the next 12 months?

A Yes. Um, so we see that generative AI, it's, um, it's a great opportunity. So we saw that we could, uh, you know, double on major client and, and there is a significant opportunity because we are at this specific point in time where we have learned that the quality of the data is as important as the language model. And so the more we can focus on strengthening the tooling that creates and qualifies the data that we ingest from client, the better the content will get. And so, We want to double on that. And I want to increase the speed. I want to open an office in the U S and I want to have a, you know, a larger product team.

AI assessment note: “Yes. Um, so we see that generative AI, it's, um, it's a great opportunity.”

Q That's incredible. Now, how do you, talking about your team, how many people are on it?

A So we have, uh, now, uh, 15 people, uh, one, five, and, uh, six are tech, uh, and, uh, I kind of include myself into the tech, but, uh, maybe I shouldn't. So yeah, between five and six. Uh, so, and then, and then we have, uh, like three, three sales and two marketing or 3.5 sales and two marketing, but it's going to grow. I mean, we're going to just expand now the, the, the marketing and the sales team, because currently, uh, We acquire clients with, uh, inbound, which means that if I take the marketing cost and I kind of put the, into, into the, you know, the numbers, we spent, uh, 161 180 euro per acquisition of a client.

AI assessment note: “we have, uh, now, uh, 15 people”

Q Yeah. And what's the top thing you think they can help you with?

A Ah, good question. Um, connections, um, structure, uh, because of course, uh, in order to scale a car, I mean, I've been bootstrapping most of my businesses, so I know how, how to do it. But if I have to create a company that it's worth, uh, you know, um, 10 or maybe hundreds million dollars, you know, what is the strategy there? And, uh, you know, I need an advice on that. And, uh, and how, how should I shape the structure? Because I'm always, you know, Looking at, uh, high profitability, but, uh, but I might lose, you know, the focus on, you know, what is the overall business value and, uh, and I need help for that.

AI assessment note: “connections, um, structure, uh, because of course, uh, in order to scale”

Q today at founderpath.com forward slash products. That's plural forward slash valuations. Again, both plural founderpath.com forward slash products forward slash valuations. So let me ask you a question. Um, you guys were doing when you raised a 100,000 recently about 1.5, you know, 1.6 million run, run, run rate revenue. Um, why didn't you, you know, to save that 15% equity that you sold, why didn't you guys consider debt?

A Uh, because it's, uh, it, you know, it's not, it's a combination of factor. I mean, that, uh, can, can, we can easily get that at the moment. You know, if I go to a bank, I can get a good deal and, and banks actually are looking for us because we, we bring money in the bank. So, but, uh, it's not just about, uh, as you know, it's not just about the cash. It's also about, uh, you know, the network, uh, and kind of structuring things. So, I mean, there is more than just, you know, the cash. If, if it's just cash, you go to the bank, you get a good deal. If you're profitable, you, you will not spend much. In any case, you know, the cost of money hasn't been high. Now it's, of course, rising back, but hasn't been high. Um, so I mean, that is, is of course an option, but, uh, I always used that in the past, but, uh, but I think it's also about system.

AI assessment note: “it's not just about the cash. It's also about, you know, the network”

Q today at founderpath.com forward slash products. That's plural forward slash valuations. Again, both plural founderpath.com forward slash products forward slash valuations. So let me ask you a question. Um, you guys were doing when you raised a 100,000 recently about 1.5, you know, 1.6 million run, run, run rate revenue. Um, why didn't you, you know, to save that 15% equity that you sold, why didn't you guys consider debt?

A Uh, because it's, uh, it, you know, it's not, it's a combination of factor. I mean, that, uh, can, can, we can easily get that at the moment. You know, if I go to a bank, I can get a good deal and, and banks actually are looking for us because we, we bring money in the bank. So, but, uh, it's not just about, uh, as you know, it's not just about the cash. It's also about, uh, you know, the network, uh, and kind of structuring things. So, I mean, there is more than just, you know, the cash. If, if it's just cash, you go to the bank, you get a good deal. If you're profitable, you, you will not spend much. In any case, you know, the cost of money hasn't been high. Now it's, of course, rising back, but hasn't been high. Um, so I mean, that is, is of course an option, but, uh, I always used that in the past, but, uh, but I think it's also about system.

AI assessment note: “it's not just about the cash. It's also about, you know, the network”

Q Yeah, I, I gotta tell you, I just found this tool called remote.com, and they make it so easy to manage remote employees. Like, I don't want to deal with freaking paperwork in Indonesia or China or Australia, but you click a button, remote enables you to handle it. Do you use any tools like that to manage your remote teams?

A Um, so we, we, we do have a lot of tools for, uh, Kind of feeling that we are all in the same space, you know, Slack, Trello, probably the one that we use the most. Uh, we use every hour for tracking times and tasks, which allow us to optimize, you know, the, the, the work of everyone. Uh, so every hour probably is the one that we would use the most. But, uh, you know, I think it's more about the spirit of the company kind of, you know, for us, we used to do like two gatherings. Per year where everyone gets in Rome or somewhere else and we get together. I think these are essential. We kind of missed that because of the pandemic, but, um, yeah, we have to get back there and, and definitely, definitely an incentivization plan is needed.

AI assessment note: “we do have a lot of tools... Slack, Trello... we use every hour”

Q Got it. Do you remember that first year? How did you get your first 10 customers?

A Um, so I've been in the business for many years, so it wasn't, it wasn't hard for me to get the first, I think what is, what it was hard is, is like kind of making the first subscription and getting, you know, the first, uh, what was it? Like, uh, 2000 euro a monthly recurring. That's, that's kind of, you know, it was like my, okay, so we got it. Because of course, um, I, I always been doing, uh, consultancy and working on, on different areas. So, um, At a certain point, you have to decide now, SaaS is the thing, and you want to put your effort there, though it gets very easy to maybe get, you know, a gig for a lot more money, but then you have to kind of focus on, on, on building the machine that makes the money and creates the value for the end user. And that's, that's the game I was, you know, I started in 2017 with.

AI assessment note: “it wasn't hard for me to get the first, I think what it was hard is”