Adam Torres and Seema Alexander discuss AI and driving impact.
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Show Notes:
What should businesses/organizations be doing today to prepare for the largest technological revolution of our time? In this episode, Adam Torres and Seema Alexander, Co-founder, Virgent AI; Founder, Disruptive CEO Advisory; Co-chair DC Startup Week, explore the AI landscape and what business owners need to know.
About Seema Alexander
As a former corporate director, Seema was responsible for developing a brand & marketing strategy for a billion-dollar business & supported the award-winning repositioning initiative that took Prudential into the 21st Century. Named one of the top 20 rising stars in marketing and had the opportunity to ring the closing bell at the NASDAQ.
Through her firm, Disruptive CEO Advisory, she has worked w/ 1000+ services, SaaS & emerging tech brands in every industries through her consulting, business growth accelerator & mentoring programs & is on a mission to impact the growth of 1M entrepreneurs by 2035 w/ her UNIQUE Method
Seema is a co-chair & heads growth for DC Startup Week— supporting 15,000+ entrepreneurs from idea to growth; an advisor for emerging tech startups in AI ; a former entrepreneur in residence at USG; board member at Codespa America & the Host of the From Spaghetti to Growth Podcast.
About Virgent AI
Virgent AI is an AI development company that specializes in creating custom AI agents, GPT models, and autonomous workflows to revolutionize the way businesses operate. Unlike other providers, They leverage a business -first strategist that will help you focus on the highest impact, highest value opportunities to develop AI Agents or AI-enabled solutions that will seamlessly integrate across your various platforms.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to missionmatters. com and click on be our guest to apply. All right. So today’s guest is Seema Alexander, and she is co founder of Virgin AI, founder of Disruptive CEO Advisory and co chair over at DC Startup Week.
Seema, welcome to the show. Adam, thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to have this conversation with you. All right. a great topic and a great point to start. So moving from AI curious to an AI powered business slash organization to drive more impact and who doesn’t want to drive more impact.
So I guess let’s get us kicked off here. How did you link, I mean, AI with driving impact? Cause the two important, like top of mind things, like we’re, that start with. Oh, my goodness. Okay. This is a great question. My entire career. I’ve been focused on entrepreneurs and growth and specifically disruptors, right?
So people who want to change the world to want to make more impact. And I always have a mantra. Impact and profit. It’s more of like, you know, as you can create your organization in a way that’s sustainable and you can become sought after, you can do more in the world and specifically with your mission, which you’re all about.
Right? You can actually make it happen. Right? And so for years, I, I ran an advisory company for 10 years, and I have a very specific, Okay. Formula for growth where I see entrepreneurs failing or staying stagnant. So you work with a lot of entrepreneurs on this or have listened and have brought on a lot of entrepreneurs on this podcast.
And so you probably know the numbers, right? 18 to 24 months, 80 percent of, of entrepreneurs or businesses fail. Then you get to that like five year mark and 50 percent sale and then 10 year mark. And literally that’s been my focus for a long time. I’m still working. I got two more years before that 10.
We’re looking pretty good, Seema, but you never know. Go ahead. Yeah, it’s beautiful because all businesses evolve, right? You never know, right? You never know, right? Because it’s, you’re going to be fine. But I’m just saying for me, it’s like. I’ve learned that when you first start your business, there’s so many learnings, right?
and so you have to kind of step back and. And really focus on analyzing who you were when you first started is never where you end up. So You have to create sort of these informed decisions to figure out how you’re uniquely positioned in the market and refine your business model And and really that helps accelerate your growth, right?
And so back to your question of how AI and impact Came to play the last four years I’ve worked in with thousands of founders and all types of industries, but emerging technology has become a core focus of mine. So many in the web three space, and then in AI and about two years ago, I was asked to advise an artificial intelligence development environment called magic ML.
And that’s when. Everything Adam started to connect for me in terms of, wow, we are in one of the biggest industrial revolution, technology revolutions. In our generation, right? And the power of AI, I mean, AI has been around, machine learning has been around you know, for a minute, right? People have been working on this stuff, but with the advent of like the large language models, so we have the chat TTS and the bards and all the things in the world, and then generative AI, so you can literally talk to text to create an image and all these things that are happening.
Quickly, the whole paradigm of business is starting to change. And so as I started to think about what this power of AI can do for unique customer experiences to actually take away some of those mundane tasks with something we call AI agents. So humans will have more agency. To focus on the things that matter, to focus on the things that help really build their impact in their business and not have to do as much of the sort of the other, other pieces of the business that we know what we call ourselves like the editor in chief, because there’s so much to do.
So I know that was a little bit of a long story, but I’m bringing it back to the AI and impact. And so where, where do businesses start with this? Because now you’re, I mean, you’re, knee deep in the space you obviously have been working with founders and entrepreneurs for a long time in many different ways, as you mentioned, but now you know, that AI, I mean, which makes sense because you’re in the middle of like, what is most important right now.
So it makes sense for your skillset. So I mean, it all aligns and it makes sense to me. What, what, where do, where should business owners be thinking about as they prepare for this technology revolution? Yeah, we’ve done a lot of market research, a lot of market insights on sort of where founders are.
And, you know, going back to this whole, like, wow, there was the industrial revolution when, like, the cars and all the things and it took, like, hundreds of years to implement. Right? And we had digital, like the digital era, and I don’t know your age, but I can, I can age myself because in the 90s, it’s like, when the Internet was rising and, you know, social media and Google ads, all the things started to occur, but it’s still like, you know, it’s 10s of years to get the digital quote unquote transformation happening for folks.
Right? But when you think about AI, especially after, you know, basically chat GPT hit the market now is gone from implementation from years to months. And this is where it puts a lot of founders and sort of industry leaders in this like dilemma. I call it like it’s a conundrum because they’re like, I get it.
some most see it. They’re like, you know, I, I can see the, the power in some of this. Some are still, we’re calling AI curious. Right. And it’s, and so. It’s a struggle because there’s still uncertainty. It’s an emerging tech, right? There’s things that are being built out to mitigate safety and all the core things that all, you know, I’m sure we’ll get into in a few minutes.
But, you know, when I think about what should a founder first do for just educate yourself, like, start to understand that this technology Is a game changer with the Internet, you know, how many businesses failed because they were not paying attention to the digital revolution new categories of businesses occurred.
Right? So you went from brick and mortar to eCommerce. That was not in existence until the nineties. Right? You go from, Think about the, I don’t know if you all remember, but there was blockbusters and then they, there came Netflix. Like, you know, like there, there was like, you know, Google wasn’t around.
Amazon wasn’t around. So there’s, this is even bigger than the advent of the internet. So I’m. You know, yeah, I’d love to hear your perspective, too, on it, because Well, the tricky part, too, on this is going to be that unlike some of the trends you’ve mentioned in the past, like, this is just going to be so much faster that people don’t quite understand that they don’t have a choice.
I’ll give you one example, and you may or may not be aware of this example. I haven’t met too many people that were, and actually, I think this is the first time I’m talking about it on the podcast. I’ve talked about it in, like, My circles and internally, but so we do a lot of publishing is one of the things we do as well.
So obviously podcast production, all that, but publishing authors and I’ve been grappling with this I released a book last year with another co author and i’ve been grappling with this concept of like should we Do more of our books in our catalog and in audiobooks form because I know the numbers.
There’s less than 4 percent of books out there. Depending on whose numbers you read that are an audio book form. So I’m like, Oh, that’s another way for us to reach our audience, right? We’re good in audio. We have the capability. So we spent probably the last, I don’t know, let’s call it. It wasn’t a big project.
So it took three months. It could have been faster, but it was, let’s say it’s. Three months. It took us to do it in our first audio book. Then I get an email and obviously we have the production capability. We have all that, like that, that’s our business. It doesn’t matter. Not that we do a lot of audio books, but we do a lot audio production for podcasts we’ve released, you know, over 7, 000 episodes.
So that being said, I get this email from Amazon because we published so much with them. And we just, we added another tier for a beta that they’re having. And this beta. Was to to start bringing our catalog into audio book form, and it was going to cost us 0. It was going to be AI generated in terms of the voice.
There was a ton of voices to choose from. And, and let me tell you how fun that was. Funny this is I’m like, I’m like, I don’t want to be in the studio and ride blasting. I need to do it to be doing more recording. I’m fine. I got enough interviews. I’m busy enough. I don’t even, so I don’t even want to record it.
And even though it’s my profession, my own audio book, I’m like, ah, let me give this a shot. I’m telling you, I can’t make this up. I had the audio book version done within seven minutes. Okay, do you understand what you just said? But by the way, with zero, by the way, with zero, with zero cost and, and it’s, and it’s, is it a 10?
I mean, it’s a business book genre that we don’t, I wasn’t going to read it. I was going to read it in a direct manner anyway. So what that means is that every single voice actor out there, I mean, that’s a big segment of their market. If they had that niche done. Anybody that was doing audio books now, and it’s not even about the money part, it’s about the time.
So anybody that had, you know, 15, 20 grand to do an audio book in the past and spend six months doing it and do all this other stuff, I mean the talent, I mean that maybe the author wanted to read their own book. Are they going to do that? Are they just going to push a couple of buttons and then it’s done?
I mean, you’re signing up for a big, so now that whole industry is done. It’s done. That whole 80 percent of the industry. And then they don’t even know it. Most of them, cause this is just the beta. So Amazon just now, they just, that whole industry is done. I know, but think about it. So now they’re, they have to focus, they have to pivot, they have to, but it’s like, if you’re not educated and that’s just one example, I just want you to, and I just want to reiterate this for your audience, it went from audio, you can take a week or you can take time to actually have to do it, it’s time out of your time, months, months, sure.
Months, right. You did it in seven minutes and it sure. It sounded professional. I mean, The human voice activations within AI are just getting better and better. The other one, if you think about like like people who transcribe like different languages, right. The multi multi languages, that’s another area, like all of a sudden, like.
You know, you’re not going to need those folks in certain aspects. There’s other, like, it’s more of like, just educate yourself right now. What’s occurring because I’ve never seen anything happen this fast. And for me, I am very passionate about business. Like I’m going to, it’s going to give you a quick little story, a backstory.
The reason. I’m so passionate. My parents were immigrants from India, came here with nothing. Started the first Indian vegetarian in wash restaurant in Washington DC Wow. And it grew travel agency and like a couple restaurants. That’s amazing. But in amazing the nineties. It was amazing. And I, I started working when I was 12 and I just understood like, this is like small business.
You know, when you’re in it, you’re in it. But, Mm-Hmm. , we went from doing really well to close to bankruptcy in the nineties. And when I started getting into the world of AI and business growth has always been the reason I’m such a proponent is because I am very empathetic to a founder who works really hard in, in their business, but doesn’t understand how to amplify it externally.
And that’s one very good at, but with AI, It reminds me of my parents business because that was the rise of the internet and they did not get on the Google, the Google search, the, the ads, the, the keywords, the social media bandwagon, right. But their competitors did. You see what I’m saying? So like, for me, this is that moment for a lot of businesses to really just start to get going back to where your question was, educate yourself, start playing with these, Out of the box tools, right?
Start to think about like, what are some pain points in your business or get an expert like, you know, like what we do, because it’s more of like the things that you have to really think about in your business is what’s going to be like safe, right? And allow for the highest value, highest impact for the investment that goes into, you know, these opportunities, but you have to look at Return on investment differently.
Like AI is going to change business models. It’s going to change the ability to, you know, actually, can I give a couple other use cases? So these are interesting. These are just things that I find fascinating. So think about customer service, right? I actually did a pitch last week and it was, it was really fun because I was like, I was on the, into it, the male chimp.
I’m just going to call them out. The MailChimp website, right? And I was like, I had a question around integration for something and you asked the chatbot today and it’s like, hey, Is it related to these four questions? Cause chatbots, that’s how they work. You know, you, you filled out some form and it’s like, it might be like this.
That was like, whatever the algorithm it was associated to. So you go down this rabbit hole, a 15 minutes of just trying to get this thing to tell you what you need, right? Now imagine a scenario if you’re on the other side and you go to a website and you ask the question, not only does it answer for you, but it’s like, here’s Four other things that you should be thinking about very proactively.
If let’s just do this one. If the internet was to go off and like, you have to start all over after, you know, just starting this conversation or going into it, an AI agent, a customer service agent, when you get right back on, we’ll remember you, we’ll remember your history, we’ll be like, Hey, you know, you’re in Florida right now, how’s the weather?
I feel like, you know, like It’s a completely different experience that, and the possibilities are endless because the way this technology is starting to Adopt in the mainstream, if you will, the capabilities are out there. Yeah. and I think to me, that’s, it’s super inspiring because it gives people more choices, but then it also is, it just depends on, you know, like And the bad with digitization, there’s still people that don’t have a website and don’t want to do anything online.
And it’s okay. You know, it was okay. But but with this, it just depends on what industry is. It may, it may not be okay for you not to like, you may not be able to because things can may shift like that. It can just fall out under your feet, like for those companies that I mentioned, like, my guess is as soon as Amazon, like, cause most people, a lot, and I shouldn’t say most, but they have the bulk of the market for Kindle and for publishing online.
once they are done with their beta and they start sending that email to everyone, like, I feel like the, the phones for the other. For some of those companies might not be ringing in the pivot part. Like you said, maybe they adopt some technology. Maybe they figure out another way to add value in that market with those same resources.
I don’t mean it’s time to close up shop. We’re entrepreneurs, right? So we’re going to, we’re going to figure it out. We’re going to keep moving, but like to your point, if you’re not learning or thinking about it right now, Then to wait until those phones start ringing or those leads start or the, or the spend and your return on your investment on that marketing, you’ve been doing all of a sudden, the numbers just flip overnight.
That’s going to be, you find out it’s because Amazon sent one email and it’s done like that. You don’t want to be in that position. Cause then it’s hard. It’s harder to pivot. It’s harder to figure out like what you’re going to do next. So I love it. Can we talk about the elephant in the room though?
What is that? Well you know, I know people are concerned also about jobs, right? Like in AI, right? And any sort of emerging tech, there’s going to be a reduction of humans. We’re all going to be delivering food. It’s okay. Fine, it’s fine. I’m okay with it. I’m like, I live in a downtown area. I’m gonna go, no.
It’s quite opposite. No, I mean, because here’s the deal. Oh, you’re right. The drone’s going to take that one too. Well, that’s our next evolution before we start with the drone. And then they can, then we’re just going to be like on whatever, on Black Mirror. And then we’re just going to be on treadmills for electricity.
I already know. I’ve seen it. Go ahead. Oh my God. No, you’re talking sci fi movies. No, but what I’m talking about is what if, you had an AI agent, like say you’re in the real estate area. And part of your job is like deep analysis on a portfolio, right? What if you could train an AI agent to, you know, have that understanding of your analysis?
Be able to integrate into marketing comms, be able comps. Mm-Hmm. be able to like integrate into like, okay, here’s previously the deals that we liked and why, why we didn’t like them. And like whatever the set in stone, sort of like criteria and. Software is to help you make that analysis happen. But then it gives it, what we say is like, it’s like your number two.
So that now becomes like your junior analyst. And now that allows you to make decisions faster with more precision. So you can actually run your business better. So it’s more of this. Productivity can 100x because you’re not dealing with the stuff that these agents, which are either semi autonomous, eventually fully autonomous kind of running for you.
There are your systems in a lot of ways, right? So it’s just thinking about, like, the capacity of human agency, being able to. Be more creative work on larger complex things because you have these tools with you around you for you. Right? talk to me a little bit about your obviously.
I know that I’m virgin AI. That’s your on your primary focuses. But I know I saw some of the other things that you’re involved in, like, D. C. Startup weekend. I’m just curious overall, like, your thoughts on community because it seems to me like you’re not only obviously. The greater what you do, but your community builder within these different networks and startup communities.
Am I, am I off on that? You know, you’re, you’re exactly on point. Here’s the reality. I think if any entrepreneurs listening and you’re on a mission, entrepreneurship is lonely. Like it is, it’s one of the most like, it’s like, you know, it, right. You work on, I heard by the way, your, your creds, mission matters, like what you guys have done with your platform.
I mean, it takes a lot of work, right. But it’s like unbelievable how much inspiration and impact you’re making. Right. But you’re doing a lot of that. With yourself or a lean team. I don’t know your background, but it’s like you forget like, I’m like, it is a lonely thing, especially when you’re trying to disrupt something, go after something.
And there’s like the naysayers or whatever it may be. So, for me, actually, I after college, I moved to New York. I actually worked in corporate for 13 years, learned a lot about repositioning and growth and strategy, and then started my own advisory practice. But I ended up back in D. C. seven years ago.
And when I came back to DC, it was really interesting. Cause I was like, everything here is like government contracting or like politics. And I’m like, where are my innovators at? Like where are my entrepreneurs? And I was like, I got asked to speak actually at DC startup week. It was their third year in, and I got there and I was like, Oh my God, this is my tribe.
But I was like, I’m a growth person. I know how to grow companies and brands. I was like. I, and then I quickly got involved with the organization and then became the co chair several years ago with Rachel Foresky. And we’ve grown the, the organization as 15, 000 plus local entrepreneurs, investors, ecosystem builders.
We do a major five day conference every October. And we’re talking 150 like content from early stage growth, stage AI, web three, CPG, you name it. Like we have 10 different tracks. 300 speakers, keynotes. Like we’ve had Steve Case this last year, we had Brett Schulman, the CEO, Cava, Seth Goldman. Like we’re going after the big things.
And our ultimate vision is to create the South by Southwest of the mid Atlantic. So working on that, but community is everything. When you’re an entrepreneur, you need. You need, you need to celebrate with people. You need to be able to share your, your challenges. You need relatability. And our goal is to create these pockets and constant opportunities.
So you don’t feel alone and that you can disrupt and you have a community to help and support you as you need it. Amazing. Well, Seema, this has been great having you on the show today. And and I’m so happy we were able to have this conversation. If somebody is listening to this or watching, and they want to learn more, connect with you or any of your brands, what’s the best way for them to do that?
I would actually love if they go to Virgin, V I R G E N T dot A I, and there’s an amazing free download guide where you, gives you the foundations of how do you move from an A. I. curious to an A. I. powered business. And it will just give you the foundational insight. And start to educate you. Cause that’s our number one goal is starting to educate people about what’s happening right now.
And the impact it’s going to have on business and the opportunities you have to make a bigger impact. It’s wonderful. And for everybody watching, we’ll, put all that information in the show notes. And speaking of the audience, if this is your first time with us, this is a daily show each and every day.
We have new entrepreneurs, new executives new thought leaders that we’re bringing on. And we don’t want you to miss anything. So hit. That subscribe button, because we have, again, it’s a daily show each and every day. We don’t want you to miss anything. And Seema, thank you so much. It was amazing meeting you and I wish you much more continued success.
Thank you. Thank you for having me, Adam. Really appreciate it.
