Rameez Tase

At time of my departure leading brand, marketing & engagement at Tractor Ventures, we'd funded 200+ companies, growing outrageously faster than many a venture backed company. Message to market always adjusted, but underlying blunt recommendation remained the same: Access non-dilutive $$. Get them faster and easier. Put the $$ to work in the company and see a quick return. A.K.A. Let them rip. Often, the marketing as the Tractor brand would emphasise increasing revenue c/o increased funds, spiking the valuation and resisting equity dilution. But what I was really saying in 3+ years of newsletters and countless socials and events and thinktanks and meetings and millions of DM's was: Tap us for funds continuously. Exploit us, like a bank, and never stopping asking. Then return again and again, over and over. And be highly cynical of people parlaying a financial decision-maker into one playbook course of action. That's a charlatan at play, and I stumbled across many in my time in funding world, which continues to this day. Last year Tractor was fastest growing Fintech 'startup' in Australia as judged by AFR, according to revenue figures, after we grew a few hundred % YOY each year (and a few thousand % one of those years too) Some founders would tap Tractor over & over. Happily. Plenty would never even enquire as to how much they could access. Plenty took poor advice from other investors in their wanderings. And plenty took poor advice from poor advisors they leant on continuously. Advisors who had no idea how private debt works, security aspects, nor even which VC fund to approach for funding for their client who they were absolutely taking the piss in charging. (This has inspired some new approaches to tech company growth advisory which I'll curate in the near future, but more on that soon) IMO - any advisor advising a tech company founder not to explore all the options at their disposal to understand how much $$ is available at any one time, is providing a bum steer, and I enjoyed the moments when we could light up a financial decision-maker in the business with an 'A-Ha' moment. Considering I didn't come from a financial background myself, quite the interesting challenge taking this storytelling role on in the early days. The founders of Tractor bought me in to manage 'community' which was essentially shepherding the advisory component of Tractors offering. But, I was very used to brand-building, so we moved on from 'quaint' funder of 'a few' bootstrapped companies to full-fledged funding machine in the market, at a time when many/most VC companies were not. And with agency to storytell, I took control, and loved it, and I think a few others enjoyed that too. The thing worked, & worked for the founders accessing it. As it had for decades in Europe and USA previously. The market just needed to understand it more, and that continues to this day. & that my friends, is yet another example, of using every character in the LI post!

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“What Artificial Intelligence Means for Retail – with Asha Sharma of Instacart” https://lnkd.in/enCtZzP2 Emerj Artificial Intelligence Research CEO and Head of Research Daniel Faggella recently spoke with Instacart’s Asha Sharma on Emerj’s ‘AI in Business’ podcast to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing retail leaders in the post-COVID world and the role data and analytics play in redefining the grocery shopping experience and online retail overall. This article examines two critical insights from their conversation: - Building beyond features for deeper personalization: When building their next customer experience, online retailers must think in terms of systems over standalone features. - Foiling fraud with predictive AI modeling: Machine learning and AI to start a cycle of learning and application where online retailers address security threats proactively through finding opportunities in improved customer experiences. #Retail #AI #UseCases #BusinessIntelligence

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Secludy uses differential privacy & synthetic datasets that mimic source data to train AI models on your most valuable data – without leaking PII. Translation? They build the safest, most private way to train AI for your user base. Excited to support Ben Cerchio and Mingze He,Ph.D. on this mission.

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New podcast episode with Varun Anand co-founder at Clay We talked about how he joined Clay as a co-founder ~3 years in (see clip below), Clay's journey from $0 revenue and no PMF to 2+ years of 10x growth and next-level PMF. This company and product has some of the most insane PMF I've ever seen. Also covered a a few other topics with Varun including: - How he cold-emailed his way into a job on Hillary Clinton's campaign - Tech career pre-Clay - Why B2B SaaS is boring but his first time using Clay's product felt like Magic - Joining Clay 3 years into the companies journey as an advisor and eventually becoming a co-founder. (not a typical path to being a founder) - The initial customer vertical that led to Clay's early PMF. - Why focus is a super-power. - His views on commitment in life and career. + more... --- One thing especially stood out to me about Varun. In preparation for the interview, I asked multiple mutuals with Varun for ideas on questions / topics to discuss with him. I was blown away at how many people loved and respected this guy. Multiple folks told me that he's dramatically impacted their lives for the better or had some story about him going out of his way to help them. Rare to see that. This conversation with Varun is one of the best episodes we've recorded so far in my opinion. Check it out and let us know what you think. Full links to Youtube, Spotify, Apple, etc. in the comments. 👇

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You've already seen the data from Edmunds. For the sake of this post, we will call it 'Market Based Unaffordability' where 17.4% of consumers in Q3 financed a new vehicle at over $1,000 per month. What's even more disturbing is the 18.4% of loans that are 84-months, which is sure to "weld the customer into the vehicle" due to inequity (famous phrase from Robert Hollenshead). Are things actually getting better with rate cuts? No. Carmatic data is showing many makes and models are actually increasing rates as we close out October. You can see in the image below, the average best deal APR is creeping back up. Perhaps this is how the OEMs intend to regain some of the incentive dollars they've promoted throughout the month. Are OEM incentives going to change the course? So far, not even close. Some OEMs are sort of playing along (like Stellantis), but most others aren't. OEMs need to turbo charge incentives. Instead we see them robbing Peter to pay Paul. Incentives go up, rates go up. Incentives down, rates down. Or at least that seems to be a recent trend. It's almost irrational to watch some of the incentivized rates, like Nissan Motor Corporation's (up to) 36 month loan for 0% APR. If they understood the data, they would know that the majority of consumers can't afford loans that are less than 60 months anyways (nearly 70% are over 60 months per Edmunds). Wouldn't a couple thousand incentive dollars on the hood be more appealing? So then, is it just going to be left to the dealers to adjust prices and make deals? Maybe, but that's not a winning strategy at the macro level. I saw any interesting post from Ramp and Car Dealership Guy that said almost 50% of car dealers are using vAuto by Cox Automotive. That's great... except that means half of the market is using the same pricing strategy. With growing inventory counts and the same strategy as the guy down the road... how will you stand out? Here's a thought: In many cases, Dealers know their customer, their affordability profile and frequently, what vehicle they are in. The data lives in the DMS and CRM. What if we targeted individuals with a personalized and affordable payment on a new(er) vehicle that fits their budget?  What if we did this at scale? It's a very real strategy for attacking the market. Instead of carpet bombing consumers at the make-model level based on lackluster lead data, let's talk about Market Based Affordability and how you can start targeting your next customers with VIN specific payment offers. It goes without saying, advertising units with real payments do indeed perform better. Learn more about Market Based Affordability here: https://lnkd.in/g5HYbTpr Source: https://lnkd.in/gZ4s6qFd

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Our latest blog post dives into the second half of the IAB's Digital Out of Home (DOOH) & In-Store Retail Media Playbook, a must-read for #brands looking to elevate their in-store #campaigns with strategic partnerships and innovative tactics! Read to discover insights into defining in-store retail media metrics and comprehending the complexity of in-store #impressions. ⬇ Access the blog below! #RetailMedia #InStoreAdvertising #DOOH #MarketingStrategies

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New episode alert! Tune in as Brian and guest host Gabrielle discuss the latest market research news - everything from AI personas, the recently released 2024 Insights & Analytics Market Report to Dynata emerging from bankruptcy. Listen now: https://lnkd.in/egQcCck5 #mrx #mrnews #podcast #AI

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One of the biggest challenges for marketers is knowing whether their efforts actually led to conversions. Dave DeRobbio, Director of API and Off-Platform Data Partnerships at Instacart Ads, shares insights on achieving success through the pivotal role of relevance, the opportunity to standardize measurement, and the exciting future of AI-driven creatives → https://lnkd.in/gbYhuGFr #RetailMedia #DigitalAdvertising #AI

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While the IPO window still feels like it’s nailed shut, and some verticals (AI) are faring better than others (SaaS), the overall startup outlook (at least on the layoff front) has improved. When startup fundraising plummeted in the summer of 2022, the key measure of success shifted from rapid growth to a clear path to profitability. Tech layoffs overall are now at a two-year low, despite recent downsizing at Miro and Dropbox, suggesting a potential stabilization across the industry. It will be interesting to see how these numbers look in H1 2025 as innovation in AI continues. #startupoutlook #startuptrends

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When we asked CPG founders who they wanted at Founderland... Their answer was clear: People who can help them grow their business & achieve their goals. Specifically: - The top retailers - The most founder-friendly investors, and - Other founders they can learn from and share with This conversation that I'm hosting at Founderland is a perfect representation of this group, plus one BIG bonus. We're also including Joel Toledano and ChargeUp.ai which is one of my favorite tech companies that is supporting consumer brands today. They automate the retail deduction and chargeback process for brands, saving them an insane amount of time and money. Such a cool co. Excited to teach, share and connect...and get some deals done, while of course having lots of fun. Joel Toledano Jen Zeszut Kim Coffin Deb Conklin

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I am always amazed when someone discovers whitespace in B2B SaaS that is eligible for pre-seed funding. It's interesting to see that Chiratae Ventures led Pre-Seed round for Pepsales. Pepsales is trying to help B2B SaaS companies improve their sales by creating personalized product demos using AI and ML. The pain point they are trying to address is that most demos don't impress buyers because they tend to be generic and one-size-fits-all. Congrats Ajay Singh and Abhinandan Sahgal! Source: INC42, Entrackr, VCCircle #VentureCapital #B2BSaas

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Casper-powered summary of a recent Sequoia Capital article titled "AI in 2025: Building Blocks Firmly in Place" I'll link the article in the comments. As a meta point - if you've read the article itself, I'd love to get your feedback on the quality of the summary.

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Eyeota, a Dun & Bradstreet company's latest Audience Data Session Q&A is with Margo Hock, the Vice President of Partnerships over at AnalyticsIQ. In this Q&A, Margo discusses the markets in which AnalyticsIQ operate and their long lasting partnership with Eyeota. Margo further illustrates the five strategies they find to be the most effective in improving marketing and advertising results when working with clients alongside Eyeota.  Read the full blog post from the link below 👇 https://hubs.li/Q02yMZyB0

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We’re thrilled to have had Morgan Seybert, Chief Business Officer and Head of Retail at Tredence, on OmniTalk's Podcast Spotlight Series! 🎙️ Play it here: https://lnkd.in/gEv_DZfZ   This episode comes on the heels of Tredence being named a leader in Retail Analytics Services by ISG—an exciting recognition of our industry impact!   Discover how Tredence’s leadership in data analytics is driving transformative results in the retail space. Whether you're a retail leader or a tech aficionado, this conversation is packed with actionable takeaways you won’t want to miss!   In this must-listen episode, Morgan dives into:  🔍 Proven AI strategies to enhance pricing and promotions  📈 How to leverage retail media networks for maximum impact  💡 Practical insights for executives and tech enthusiasts alike   🎧 Tune in now to explore how data analytics can help retailers not just survive, but thrive in today’s dynamic market! https://lnkd.in/gEv_DZfZ Chris Walton | Anne Mezzenga | #Retail #AIstrategies #RetailIndustry #Tredence #BeyondPossible

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