FirstMark

The AI infra scene in NYC is red hot 🔥🔥🔥 Erik Bernhardsson, CEO, Modal based in SoHo Viraj Mehta, CTO TensorZero based in Brooklyn Leonard Tang, CEO Haize Labs based in FiDi All presenting tonight at #DataDrivenNYC We also loved having May Habib, CEO of Writer who’s based in SF but has an office in NYC! Event by FirstMark + generously hosted at Ramp

Had so much fun talking to Matt Turck of FirstMark about synthetic data last night in NYC! That #datadrivenNYC audience is AMAZING! SO much of the misunderstanding around synthetic data techniques originate with the name; I agree with Shawn swyx W  that synthetic data needs a rebrand. He suggests “verified data augmentation”; I suggest “LLM-ready training data.”

Where is AI headed? What are the guardrails? How can GenAI help with governance and compliance? How do the rising stars like Writer differentiate themselves? How do customer assign value and ROI to their GenAI efforts? At FirstMark #DataDrivenNYC we heard first hand from leaders on the cutting edge of the GenAI powered industry. May Habib described how Writer's Graph Based RAG is using advanced methods of information retrieval to allow LLMs to access large volumes of structured data about entities and their relationships. The result is not only better accuracy but a more customer friendly experience and accelerated workflows. The vision is for software that can build software that uses software and Writer is productizing every step of the way. From a use case perspective, Writer is giving investment banks the tools to do deep dives on companies and sectors. They're working with large insurance companies to build knowledge assistants for customer service representatives. They're helping massive CPGs support high-end knowledge tasks like figuring out what product attributes and campaigns will result in the fastest and most effective new product launches. GenAI is a crowded space and a significant investment, and it's critical to reinforce time to value and ROI. What we saw firsthand on Wednesday night is how some of the category leaders and emerging technology platforms are delivering practical solutions that are driving massive value in what would have been impossible just a few years ago. And the exciting thing is that we are very early in the adoption cycle for enterprise companies. Yet at the same time the C-Suite recognizes how transformative it is and are often involved first hand because they see companies like Writer helping them develop new products faster and delivering customer service better and faster and making quantum leaps in compliance and governance. Huge shoutout to Ben Winn and Matt Turck from FirstMark for pulling this cutting edge NYC community together. Thanks also to Ramp for hosting in your amazing NYC office and to all the speakers from Writer, Haize Labs, TensorZero, and Modal!

FirstMark's 2nd annual Alternative Capital Demo Day is happening November 14th at 5:30pm — want to attend? Join the waitlist here: https://shorturl.at/EjjzY This evening is an opportunity for select members of our network to hear from emerging companies whose businesses leverage credit / structured capital to scale. By attending, you will: ➡️ Hear from 7 fascinating companies spanning next-generation structured credit, real estate, and alternative investments. ➡️ Get an inside look at non-obvious opportunities to drive outsized returns in the fintech ecosystem. ➡️ Have quality networking time with founders, hedge funds, credit funds, institutional LPs, family offices, and VCs. See you there!

I had such a great time talking "Where Tech Meets Politics: The 2024 Election & Beyond" at the FirstMark CEO Summit with my friend and former United States Senate Committee on Finance colleague Chris Campbell. It was also fun reconnecting with Omaze UK CEO Matthew Pohlson and my fellow board members Rick Heitzmann, Wyc Grousbeck, and Sim Blaustein. Thank you Rick and Ben Winn for the invitation and congratulations to the entire FirstMark team on another successful CEO Summit and Founder Dinner at the NYSE!! #Speaker #Election2024 #Business #Tech #Economy

Last week was one of our favorite days of the year: the FirstMark CEO Summit & Annual Founder Dinner at the iconic NYSE 🏛️ We brought FirstMark founders together to... ✅ Ring the opening bell ✅ Hear from bestselling authors, political leaders, and brilliant executives ✅ Collaborate with peer CEOs in breakout sessions ✅ Learn special skills from Navy SEALs ✅ Hoist the NBA Championship trophy (big thanks to Wyc!) ...and more! We then closed the day by hosting 250 VC Partners and Founders for a reception on the NYSE Trading Floor and a seated dinner in the Boardroom, bringing the NYC venture ecosystem together for an incredible once-a-year celebration. Thank you to everyone who joined us! We've called NYC our home for almost two decades, and feel more excited and energized than ever by the growth and potential of the greatest city in the world 🗽 Thank you to our partners at NYSE, Riviera Partners, Silicon Valley Bank, and Gunderson Dettmer — we are already looking forward to next year!

What an incredible experience it was to once again take part in the NYSE opening bell ceremony with our investors FirstMark. A huge thank you to Matt, Rick, and Amish for the invitation! And Ben and May, you smashed the event! 🔔 🇺🇸 Have a great week, everyone! #database #nyse #SurrealDB

Spots are going quick for our next Data Driven NYC event featuring: ➡️ May Habib (Cofounder & CEO of Writer) ➡️ Erik Bernhardsson (Founder of Modal) ➡️ Leonard Tang (Cofounder & CEO of Haize Labs) ➡️ Viraj Mehta (Cofounder & CTO of TensorZero) Reserve your spot and join NYC's largest AI/ML meetup at Ramp on November 6 at: https://lnkd.in/gaR4NJqK

Clem Delangue 🤗 has led Hugging Face from an unlikely pivot to a $4.5B valuation and dominant position as the world’s collaboration platform for open source AI. Great episode where we covered the geopolitics of open source AI, the rise of small models, why NLP is boring and trashing the lean startup handbook 🎙️ * YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ejcNAQpc * Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eQtBvQfs * Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/esktg66g

My chat with Clem Delangue 🤗 of Hugging Face: 01:46 - Miami vs. New York vs. San Francisco 03:25 - Is Open source AI in trouble? 11:12 - Government regulation of AI 13:18 - What does open source actually mean, in AI? 15:21 - The geopolitics of Open source AI: China vs U.S. 18:32 - LLMs vs. SLMs 22:01 - Are commercial LLMs just 'Training Wheels' for enterprises? 24:26 - Software 2.0: built with AI 28:03 - Hugging Face's original pivot story 37:03 - Competition and network effects 44:06 - Most interesting emerging models on Hugging Face 50:35 - The Hugging Face business model 55:06 - Bloom & Idefix 58:44 - Trash the lean startup handbook: building a different company culture 01:04:44 - The future of Hugging Face https://lnkd.in/efXZrfMw