666: Sentient $100M+ Raised, A/B Testing With Artificial Intelligence with Exited Founder and SVP Jon Epstein
Jonathan Epstein. He\u2019s the current senior VP for international at Sentient Technologies, the maker of Sentient Ascend, the first conversion optimization solution that is powered by evolutionary artificial intelligence. Epstein has been in many companies at the forefront of technology and media including GameSpot, which he\u2019s the founding CEO, and Omek which was sold to Intel and GameSpy which was eventually sold to IGN.\xa0\xa0
Famous Five:
- Favorite Book? \u2013 Hire With Your Head
- What CEO do you follow? \u2013 Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos
- Favorite online tool? \u2014 BuiltWith and SimilarWeb
- How many hours of sleep do you get? \u2014 5-6
- If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \u2013 \u201cI wished I had stepped on entrepreneurship early\u201d
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Time Stamped Show Notes:
- 01:22 \u2013 Nathan introduces Jon to the show
- 02:18 \u2013 Jon\u2019s good exit range is from tens of millions to the hundreds of million dollars
- 02:39 \u2013 Jon helped the founding CEO of Gamespot turn it around
- 03:18 \u2013 Jon has worked in an actual gaming company
- 03:29 \u2013 Jon started at IDG as magazine publisher
- 03:49 \u2013 GameSpot was the first professional online review site for games
- 03:56 \u2013 GameSpy had an editorial element and Jon published some of its software
- 04:35 \u2013 GameSpot was launched in 1995
- 04:45 \u2013 Jon launched the magazine Digital News and Multimedia World
- 04:53 \u2013 Jon was working for IDG when he launched the magazines under their brand
- 05:28 \u2013 Jon had great partners when he started GameSpot
- 05:55 \u2013 The initial idea came from the 2 co-founders
- 06:20 \u2013 It was clear that the internet thing was happening
- 06:30 \u2013 The problem, then, was that the release of the magazine came out way too late for newly released game reviews
- 06:55 \u2013 Having the magazine online is a better way to update the gamers
- 07:13 \u2013 GameSpot took in external investors
- 07:34 \u2013 GameSpot was sold for stock in ZDNet
- 08:09 \u2013 Jon had an international role and wanted to gain experience in dealing with other countries
- 08:16 \u2013 ZDNet had joint ventures and Jon had been with them for a while
- 08:34 \u2013 Jon had invested from ZDNet to GameSpy
- 09:04 \u2013 Jon had 8% of GameSpy
- 09:28 \u2013 Jon joined GameSpy in September 2001
- 09:32 \u2013 GameSpy was sold in March 2004
- 10:01 \u2013 Jon made around $61M cash from GameSpy\u2019s exit
- 10:21 \u2013 Jon stayed with IGN after the exit and stayed there for a while
- 10:30 \u2013 Jon joined Double Fusion, which is a venture-backed startup
- 10:55 \u2013 Sentient had been around for 9 years and was one of the best funded companies
- 11:21 \u2013 Jon fell in love with Sentient because of their goals
- 11:29 \u2013 Sentient was built with a powerful AI platform
- 11:34 \u2013 It focuses on AI at scale and is able to run AI problems across millions of GPUs
- 11:58 \u2013 Sentient does multiple types of AI
- 12:00 \u2013 One is deep learning or neuron-network which is used for handwriting, voice recognition and image analysis
- 12:12 \u2013 Another product of Sentient is the evolutionary computation which is an AI that mimics natural selection
- 12:38 \u2013 Sentient ran a hedge fund using their products
- 12:51 \u2013 The fund size is growing rapidly
- 13:14 \u2013 Big investors invest to hedge funds in order to achieve stable, good returns
- 14:16 \u2013 Sentient is a SaaS business disrupting the world of AB testing
- 14:48 \u2013 Using the evolutionary AI approach speeds up AB testing
- 15:41 \u2013 Sentient currently has 25 paying customers
- 15:52 \u2013 Average contract price is $3K-30K a month
- 16:12 \u2013 Zero customer churn
- 16:24 \u2013 CAC
- 16:52 \u2013 Sentient is also doing paid advertising
- 16:56 \u2013 Sentient attends conversion conferences where they spend $5K-10K for sponsorship
- 17:40 \u2013 Sentient has raised a total of $143M
- 17:52 \u2013 Sentient has around 110 employees
- 17:58 \u2013 There are still 15-20 open positions
- 18:24 \u2013 Sentient was founded in 2007
- 18:57 \u2013 \u201cWe think it\u2019s too early to sell\u201d
- 19:15 \u2013 Mark Cuban said that the first trillionaires will come from AI
- 20:35 \u2013 The Famous Five
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3 Key Points:
- Never be scared about exits \u2013 it just means new doors are opening for you.
- Be in a company that you\u2019re really interested in\u2014where you can align yourself with their goals.
- Start as early as you can when it comes to entrepreneurship.
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Resources Mentioned:
- The Top Inbox \u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
- Organifi \u2013 The juice was Nathan\u2019s life saver during his trip in Southeast Asia
- Klipfolio \u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
- Acuity Scheduling \u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
- Host Gator\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
- Audible\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
- Freshbooks \u2013 Nathan doesn\u2019t waste time so he uses Freshbooks to send out invoices and collect his money. Get your free month NOW
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives