Black founders are tailoring the ChatGPT experience, and crypto makes a comeback | Equity Podcast

This episode is presented by invest Puerto Rico if you believe your business Can go anywhere Puerto Rico is the [Music] Place hello and welcome back to equity Tech crunch's Flagship podcast about the Business of startups this is our Monday Show where we take a look at the weekend And get you ready for the week ahead Today is June 17th 2024 and I'm Rebecca Balan a senior reporter at TechCrunch It's a beautiful morning now although we Are getting ready for an incredibly hot Week in New York just the thing to get Us all hot and bothered for today's Tech News let's get caught up on today's show We have how black Founders are creating Tailored chat GPT experiences Tik tok's AI actors IPO news from Tempest and Sheen The Return of crypto and to close Out today hi is back with a pitch deck Tear down for connect let's get started [Music] Let's dive into the big news that Matters for our first story today black Founders are creating tailored chat gpts For a more personalized experience as You may have noticed chat GPT and other AI chatbot tools sometimes struggle with Cultural Nuance often spitting out Answers that largely reflect a Eurocentric worldview a handful of Blackowned chat Bots and chat GPT Versions like lr. chat black GPT and

Spark plug have cropped up to ensure Black points of view are included in the AI conversation and that black Founders Get a cut of this trillion dollar Industry as Tomar Huggins founder of Canada-based spark plug told TechCrunch We are the keepers of our own stories And experiences we need to create Systems and infrastructure that we own And control to ensure our data remains Ours what does that look like well Here's an example of the same question As to chat GPT and chat black GPT beta The question is what is the culture open AI chat GPT said the culture refers to a Fictional Interstellar Society featured In a series of science fiction novels And stories from Scottish writer Ian M Banks one that's characterized by its Advanced Tech post scarcity economy and Highly Anarchist socialist and Libertarian aspects meanwhile black gbt Said the culture is a term frequently Used within the black community to refer To the shared experiences Expressions Norms values and practices that are Unique to the people of African descent Who've lived in the US and across the African diaspora things like language Music dance fashion religious beliefs And social habits that have been passed Down through the generations from Jazz And Hip Hop to the ability to create Spaces of joy and resistance in a

Society that has marginalized them Chatbots like these are an important Step in creating more racially inclusive And culturally accurate data to combat Entrench societal biases as AI becomes More part of our Lives the problem of Lack of representation in Ai and how That presents in data sets and outcomes Is something we've touched on this show Before so I absolutely love this Initiative can we please have one for [Music] Women next up we're looking at what's Real and what isn't on social media First up Tik Tok is introducing Generative AI avatars I guess Tik Tok Creators aren't protected by the Agreements from the Hollywood actor and Writer strikes the social media company Which I remind you is owned by Chinese Parent company bite dance and is Currently in illegal battle with the Biden Administration to go American or Go home is bringing a new level of Creepy to its platform creators and Brands can now use custom avatars as Digital Representatives that means Creators can choose to scale their Likenesses to create multilingual Avatars and expand their Global reach And brand collaborations and Brands can Create avatars out of their own Spokespeople or out of creators they've Partnered with before to localize Global

Campaigns Tik Tok is also bringing quote Stock avatars a new phrase that I Already hate into the mix these are Pre-built avatars that are created using Paid actors and that are licensed for Commercial use the idea as Tech crunch Writes is to give businesses a way to Add human touch to their content oh the Irony the new AI featur should help Tik Tok and the creators and brands that use It sell more stuff on the platform but While Tik Tok aims to warp your senses Of reality YouTube is introducing a new Tool to help combat misinformation on The platform TechCrunch got the scoop That YouTube is experimenting with a new Notes feature allaha X's Community notes That allows viewers to add notes that Provide more context and information Underneath videos things like hey this Song is a parody Or this is actually an Old event presented as current news it's A push in the right direction of Combating misinformation during a 10 Election year listeners if this sounds Familiar that's because late last month We reported on Google running a batch of Cartoon ads on YouTube Instagram and Facebook called pre-b with Google they Highlighted common methods of spreading Misinformation via email and social Media so we'll be keeping our eyes open For other companies walking the line of What's real and what isn't in the age of

AI moving on in the last bit of AI news I swear Tempest is demonstrating Investor appetite for a health Tech with The promise of AI tempus is a genomic Testing and data Analysis company Started by Groupon's founder Eric Levkovsky it had a warm welcome on the NASDAQ last week Rising 15% and raising $441 million on the opening this is Perhaps a signal that investors are Frothing for startups that not only do Healthtech but do it with a promise of Gen never mind that tempest's AI Revenue Only accounted for 1% of its total Revenue in 2023 the company's prospectus Clearly states that its AI product line Is nent but it intends to quote embed AI Including generative AI end quote in Every aspect of its Diagnostics tools Also in IPO news per the financial times Sheen's executive chair Donald Tang Claimed last month that its corporate Values meant Sheen could be considered a US company now the retailer is trying to Walk back on those comments why does This matter Beijing has not yet green Lit the company's application to list Outside of China ahead of its planned London IPO despite Sheen submitting Materials to the China Securities Regulatory Commission last November A Source told the financial times that Beijing's signing off on Sheen's foreign IPO would quote equate to unofficially

Endorsing the founders model of dechy to Gain business success end quote Something Chinese Regulators have tried To halt in the past by blocking foreign IPOs in our ongoing hunger for IPOs Regular listeners will know we've been Watching Sheen's progress and we'll be Keeping an eye out for the e-commerce Giants future gains according to Yahoo Finance Sheen is looking to raise 50 Billion which is about4 billion from its London IPO and before we head into today's Pitch deck tear down a question for you All is crypto back over the weekend Bloomberg reported that crypto startup Funding has hit a hundred billion since Around 2014 when we all started being Like wait what's Bitcoin many of you Might have thought that increased Regulation and the death of FDX was Leading to crypto's downfall but we're Actually starting to see some more Investment in the space as of recently According to pitchbook data crypto Funding was up $2.5 billion in the first Quarter of this year up from a recent Low of 1.9 billion in the fourth quarter Of 2023 with that uptick we're seeing The return of eye-catching billion Dollar valuations for startups like Farcaster bar chain and hidden rone Partners can we expect to see more per Bloomberg some of the top VCS in the

Space are coinbase Ventures which tops The charts with 443 Investments or Roughly 4% of all deals since 2017 Anoka Brands and outlier Ventures claim the Second and third spots respectively so We'll be keeping an eye on activity from Them and others aside from funding we're Also seeing consolidation earlier this Month we reported on Robin Hood's Acquisition of global crypto exchange Bit stamp for $200 million a sign that More m&a activity could be on the Way what's next in Tech that's not the Right question it's where Puerto Rico Where an entrepreneurial ecosystem Pulses with connectivity capability and Possibility where the most competitive Tax incentives in the US FastTrack Success and hard work is rewarded with Sunsets and turquoise Waters if you Believe your business can go anywhere Puerto Rico is the place invest pr.org [Music] TechCrunch that's it for me this morning But keep an eye on Tech crunch for even More Tech startup and Venture news As always if you want to dive deeper Into anything we talked about today We'll have links to the stories we Covered in our show notes now let's Check in with haak comps for today's Pitch deck tear down take it away Haa thank you Rebecca all right everyone If you're new here I'm ha cams and it's

Time for another pitch deck te tear down This week we're looking at connect's $250,000 Angel deck connect is a cool New startup that's all about preserving Those precious family memories it's like Your digital family scrapbook but but Supercharged it's not just for photos Think of it as videos audio recordings And a slick timeline to keep everything Organized like a pro it was founded just Last year and it's already making waves With $100,000 in funding from techar Rising stars program and I took a quick Look at the pitch deck for Tech Crunch And here's what I found one thing I Really enjoyed is that the company Really plays on your heartstrings and Then backs it up with Statistics the Stats are clear and impactful Approximately 44 million American adults Are significant L lonely and more than 30% of older adults are feeling isolated Now the numbers specifically don't Matter that much but the use of emotive And Powerful language effectively Underscores the urgency and magnitude of The issue and it makes it clear that It's both widespread and a pressing Problem to boot it also does a really Good job of putting an emphasis on the Impact of the problem the company Painted a vivid picture of the problems Effects which really helps investors Understand the depth of the issue and

They are able to dream big about the Potential market for connect the final Thing I really loved was a y me element In the team Slide the company's founder Omar Alvarez shared his personal Experiences including losing his Grandfather to alzheimer's a few years Ago and losing a friend to leukemia a Month ago it paints such a vivid picture Of his motivation and it shows that this Isn't just a business Endeavor for him It's a deeply personal mission and That's an incredibly believable story Now it's not all rainbows and unicorns Though there's a couple of things that Are not entirely right there's a bunch Of information missing for example Crucial details like a go-to market Strategy user acquisition plans team Member credentials and concrete Milestones are all not there filling in These gaps are essential because it Helps give comprehensive pitch and it Shows that the founder knows what They're doing talking about the founder His slide needs some polishing to really Shine the founder boasts over 10 years Of experience which is a cool story but Who cares if it doesn't tie back to the Company there's a glaring lack of Founder Market fit here and even looking Him up on LinkedIn shows that none of The past gigs even made a cut on their Profile so what exactly has he been

Doing all this time and which roles did He play in all of these companies it's a Little bit of a wamp wamp moment and it Makes me really kind of nervous about Continuing the conversation with this Founder there's a red flag and I don't Really know what the red flag is easily Avoided don't make that mistake the Other thing I want to highlight is the Business model it's a little bit Pie in The Sky the company's says it's gunning For $200 million of annual recurring Revenue and that's cute but let's talk Reality here finding customers that are Willing to drop $80 a year on something That doesn't really scream urgent need Is a really tall order I would have Loved to see some real world examples of Families that are happily paying that Amount of money for similar Services Because right now it's a little bit of a Head scratcher and even more importantly What is this product doing that Facebook Isn't already doing for free right let's Do a quick recap So what can you learn from connects Pitch deck well first of all if it's Appropriate tie your startup story to Your own it really makes things come to Life number two show the impact of your Problem because it helps give a sense of Scale and it helps investors get pretty Excited and make it feel urgent make it Feel of the now and make sure that it's

Like this oh we have to get behind this Now so what can you learn from connects Pitch deck that helps you improve your Own well for one thing make sure you use A checklist to ensure that you have all The info that investors are expecting Make sure you have a great founder Market fit why are you the right person To start this company and make it Believable you get to be bold you get to Dream big but remember if you are Relying on Behavior change make me Believe that you can pull it off because That stuff is really really Hard right so we've been doing pitch te Teardowns on the podcast for a couple of Weeks now and I'd love to hear your Feedback what do you want more of what Do you disagree with what are you Excited about I want it all you can Email us at Equity POD at techcrunch.com And tell me what you think all right That's it for today's episode but don't You worry Equity will be back on Wednesday if you want to keep up with us In the meantime you can follow equity on X and on threads under the handle Equity Pod and if you want to submit your pitch Deck to a pitch deck tear down check out Today's edition in the show notes and Follow the submit your deck link thanks Again for listening and we'll talk again Soon Equity is produced by Teresa Lo Conso with editing by Kell Bryce Durban

Is is our illustrator and we'd like to Give a big thanks to our audience Development team and Henry pcket who Manages Tech crunch audio products Thanks so much for listening and we'll Talk to you next time