On Business Envy, Greg and I are going to start a great new business venture together. We are desperate to not screw it up though, so first we are talking with the most successful people in business and Hollywood to glean knowledge from their hard lessons and get their honest advice.

Our first guest is venture capitalist, author, Northwestern professor, early Apple employee and former Redbox exec Mark Achler.

You can listen to the trailer and the first episode here:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube
• iHeartRadio
• Google Podcasts

Greg and I have wanted to do something like this together for over a decade, ever since we first met. In fact, this is not the first time Greg and I have tried to start a business together — it’s a story we will dive deeper into throughout the show.

Our guests will range from celebrities who have started successful businesses to incredible founders with multi-million (or billion) dollar exits to the world’s smartest investors and business leaders.

You will be seeing some big names on the show in the coming months!

Our mission for Business Envy is to use our journey to help demystify the many topics that are top-of-mind for the millions of entrepreneurs and businesspeople around the world.

I Could Use Your Help

Please, if you’re willing, help Greg and I give Business Envy a head start:

• Please subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.
• Please share the trailer and first episode on LinkedIn, Twitter, and anywhere else you’re willing to share it.
• Please send us an email if you have any suggestions for guests we should interview, topics we should cover, or ways we can improve and/or promote our podcast.

Finally, I want to say thank you to my co-host and friend Greg for embarking on this journey with me; our launch advertisers TripleWhale and Avast; our amazing producer Nick Marzock; Beth Eloshway, Tim Street and the team at Authentic Shows; my Octane AI co-founder Matt Schlicht; and my soulmate Deborah Yarchun.

Thanks for your continued support,

~ Ben

This post is an adaptation of an email I sent to subscribers of my past newsletters and my network. If you want to get updates on what I’m doing (once per quarter or so), then subscribe to my newsletter.

Get Quarterly Updates from Ben Parr

Announcing the Business Envy Podcast with Actor Greg Grunberg (Heroes, Alias, Star Wars) & Ben Parr was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Get your copy of Captivology (paperback, ebook and audiobook) here.

The former editor of Mashable, cofounder of Octane AI, and co-host of Business Envy examines the psychological phenomena that captivate our attention — and how we can leverage them to draw and retain attention for our ideas, work, companies, and more.

Whether you’re an artist or a salesperson, a teacher or an engineer, a marketer or a parent — putting the spotlight on your ideas, insights, projects and products requires a deep understanding of the science of attention.

In Captivology, award-winning journalist and entrepreneur Ben Parr explains how and why the mind pays attention to some events or people — and not others — and presents seven captivation triggers — techniques guaranteed to help you capture and retain the attention of friends, colleagues, customers, fans, and even strangers.

Parr combines the latest research on attention with interviews with more than fifty scientists and visionaries — Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, film director Steven Soderbergh, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, magician Jon Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author Susan Cain, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, founder of Reddit Alexis Ohanian, and more — who have successfully brought their ideas, projects, companies, and products to the forefront of cultural consciousness.

The result is an insightful and practical book that will change how you assign jobs to your kids or staff, craft a multi-million dollar ad campaign, deliver your next presentation, attract users to your product, or convince the world to support your cause.

Buy Captivology from Your Favorite Bookstore:

• Amazon.com
• HarperCollins
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-a-Million

Select Praise for Captivology

“Throughout the book, Parr keeps readers engaged, amused and focused, proving that the science of Captivology works.” — Success Magazine

“Parr gets it: To succeed in a world where attention is scarce, captivating audiences at every level is a skill that everyone needs. Captivology will show you how to capture other people’s attention, whether you are teacher, entrepreneur, musician, or simply a dreamer with a big idea.” — Adam Braun, New York Times bestselling author of The Promise of a Pencil

“The Internet has made it easier to communicate but also more challenging to be heard. Ben Parr’s Captivology applies recent discoveries in psychology and neuroscience to the attention economy so that anyone can rise over the crowd and stand out.” — Craig Newmark, founder, Craigslist

“Filled with useful tips, practical advice and case studies, Captivology is a book everyone in the attention business should buy. (By the way, that’s YOU. Every. One. Of. Us.)” — Sree Sreenivasan, former Chief Digital Officer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and professor of digital media, Columbia Journalism School

A Note From the Author

Attention is the fundamental currency and lifeblood of the modern economy. Teachers can’t get anything done without the attention of their students. Charities can’t survive without the attention of donors. Entrepreneurs need the attention of users and customers.

That’s why I wrote Captivology: to help everybody capture attention for their passions, projects and ideas. This book will teach you the real science behind attention and how that utilize that knowledge effectively for whatever you’re passionate about. That’s why I analyzed more than 1,000 research studies and interviewed dozens of researchers and thought leaders to uncover the science of attention.

I firmly believe Captivology can change the world for the better. I hope you’ll take a chance and read my book.

~ Ben Parr, Author of Captivology

Captivology: A Book on the Science of Capturing People’s Attention was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

My longtime friend and business partner Matt Schlicht and I have spent a combined 30+ years in Silicon Valley working with some of tech’s top companies, founders, and VCs, leading to multiple exits.

Now we are formalizing our ad hoc advisory work into something more.

Our areas of Expertise

Marketing and lead generation; virality and growth hacking; press and PR; early-stage fundraising; hiring and recruiting; product strategy; startup operations; building sales teams and operations.

Who we work with

Matt and I primarily work with early-stage companies, such asLeadIQ (raised $40m) and Socialcam (acquired by Autodesk), but we’ve also worked with Fortune 500 brands (e.g. Lufthansa and Sears). We only work with companies where we think we can have a 10x impact on their business.

How we operate

We set aside some time to work with a limited number of founders and executives on a 1:1 basis, including regular check-ins, advice over email and text, and ad-hoc calls when needed.

What we help with as marketing advisors

• Growth hacking and viral strategy
• Honing branding, messaging and overall brand marketing
• PR coaching and how to pitch journalists for media coverage
• Advising on individual marketing campaigns and strategies
• Building a community
• Partner programs and partner marketing
• Coaching on paid media, TikTok, outbound, and more
• Introductions to press, influencers, and potential hires

What we help with as fundraising/ops advisors

• Helping develop and advise on fundraising strategy and process
• Making introductions to angel investors, VCs, and private equity
• Providing targeted feedback on decks and data rooms
• Giving feedback on hiring and making introductions to potential execs and recruiters
• Coaching and advising through difficult and stressful situations whenever they arise

We open new coaching and advisory slots as they become available. To request our help, fill out this form:

~ Ben and Matt

Marketing and Fundraising Advisory was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One of my favorite YouTube channels, Real Life Lore, has released a video that does an excellent job of laying some of the geographic, economic, and political reasons Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine — and which country he is likely to invade next.

In short:

• He wants to prevent Ukraine from replacing Russia as the primary oil and natural gas provider to Europe.
• He wants to control more of the North European Plane.
• Russia’s power will continue to wane as its military-age population shrinks, giving him a limited time to invade.

There’s much more context than this, so I suggest watching Real Life Lore’s video in full:

~ Ben

Why Putin is Invading Ukraine [VIDEO] was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Original Published March 25, 2014

2/23/22 Author’s note: Wow, this article was more prescient than I anticipated. Unfortunately for Facebook, its worst fears came true when Apple gave users the ability to opt out of data tracking in 2021. It’s why zero-party data is so critical and Facebook continues to push the metaverse — to escape from its Apple and Google platform dependency.

Can’t say I saw this one coming.

Facebook, on the heels of its $19 billion blockbuster acquisition of WhatsApp, has dropped another $2 billion (plus a potential $300 million in earn-outs) for Oculus VR, the company that makes Rift.

If you haven’t tried the Rift, it’s extraordinary. The first time I played with it, I was awestruck by the immersive experience. It brings not just gaming, but any type of virtual interaction to a whole new dimension that no other product has ever even come close to accomplishing.

And now it all belongs to Facebook. Why?

Here’s what Zuckerberg said in the press release:

“Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow. Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.”

Translated: Facebook sees Oculus as one of the next great platforms for the future. Right now, it doesn’t control a platform. Its content has to go through Google (Android, Chromebook), Apple (iOS, Mac) and Microsoft (PC). It’s friendly with the latter and not-so-friendly with the former.

If Facebook can turn Oculus’s technology into a true platform — not just for gaming, but for everyday interaction — then it’ll be the best $2 billion it has ever spent.

Facebook doesn’t want to be held down by Google or Apple. Acquiring the platforms of the future is the best way for Facebook to control its own destiny.

This entry was posted in Innovation, My musings. Bookmark the permalink.

Originally published at http://benparr.com.

Oculus Rift: Facebook’s $2 Billion Attempt to Seize Its Destiny From Apple and Google [ARCHIVES] was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Glass, FuelBands, FitBits and Why We Don’t Wear Them

Quick show of hands: how many of you are currently wear a FitBit, FuelBand or another “Wearable” device? Keep your hand up if you’ve been wearing for more than a month.

I suspect there aren’t a lot of hands in the air. Why? Last year, all of my friends were wearing Nike+ FuelBands. Now I can only think of two friends who I see consistently wear them. I suspect this is one of the reasons of why Nike laid off members of the FuelBand team.

It’s not that the FuelBand — or any other wearable device — is inherently flawed. In fact, I think the FuelBand, FitBit and Jawbone Up are all excellent health devices. But despite their benefits, it seems like we fall out of the habit of wearing them. I know that after I broke my FuelBand, I never got motivated to replace it. And my FitBit, given to me by their PR team? I lost it, and never went out to buy a new one. I have other working wearables that I just don’t use anymore.

I’ve asked other investors and entrepreneurs about wearables, and they have all seen this trend. They’ve even mentioned a time frame: Three Weeks. That’s about how long somebody keeps a wearable on their wrist or their face before they forget to put it back on.

The Three Weeks Problem boils down to this: consumers like the idea of wearables, but fail to get into the habit of wearing them. James Temple over at Re/Code points this out in his recent article on the FuelBand layoffs:

While a surge of companies have hit the market with all manner of digital health trackers in recent months, it’s still unclear how much demand there is on the part of mainstream consumers. Industry insiders, at least some and at least quietly, acknowledge that usage drops off steeply within a few weeks or months.

The Three Weeks Problem is a serious one. For some reason, we’re not motivated enough to keep wearing them, fix them when they break, or replace them when we lose them.

Is it that they don’t provide enough value? Do they no longer confer the social status they used to convey? Are they simply too bulky to be worn on a daily basis? Wearable companies need to answer these questions if they want to figure out the fundamental reasons behind the Three Weeks Problem.

These devices really do have the capability to improve our lives, yet until they can find a way to transform from wearable into habit, there will be trouble for the entire wearable device market. Let’s not even get started with some of the more controversial wearables, like Google Glass.

I absolutely believe that consumers want these devices. I absolutely believe that consumers can embrace devices. After all, many of us wear watches, necklaces and rings every single day. I suspect that’s why Apple’s focused on building a watch — it’s something people are already in the habit of wearing.

If wearable makers like Nike and Google really believes these devices are the future (I do), the, they need to focus on turning these devices into habits first. Until that happens, wearables will remain in the niche.

[Motivation, habit formation and the mechanics of human rewards are all subjects I cover in my upcoming book, Captivology: The Science of Capturing People’s Attention (HarperOne, early 2015). I’m going to write a follow-up on how we can turn wearables into popular habits, but I hope you’ll sign up for updates on the book at Captivology.com or follow @Captivology as well.]

(P.S. — I’ll give you a hint: the reason we wear watches and wedding rings isn’t because they’re habits. We have far more intrinsic motivations for wearing them.)

The Three Weeks Problem: The Real Challenge for Wearables was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In 1959, D.C. Comics introduced Kara Zor-El to the world in Action Comics #252. Created by writer Otto Binder (who’s also responsible for Captain Marvel/Shazam) and artist Al Plastino (who, with Binder, also made badass Superman villain Brainiac), Kara Zor-El was a younger, blonde Kryptonian sent by her parents to Earth to be raised by her cousin Kal-El/Superman.

Kara, better known of course as Supergirl, was an instant hit with the fans. She quickly became one of the most recognizable female superheroes around, her in-comic power and out-of-comic popularity rivaling (but never surpassing) her more famous cousin.

Since her debut, she’s come and gone from the comics (most notably a two-decade absence after her comic book death in the ‘80s), but her popularity is peaking once again, thanks to the new show Supergirl, which debuts tonight on CBS.

Since the superhero renaissance began with Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight in 2005 and launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man in 2008, we have seen extremely few female superheroes grace the big or small screens. Unfortunately, most women in comics are portrayed as second fiddle love interests to their superhero counterparts. Pepper Potts, Rachel Dawes, Jane Foster, and Lois Lane may all have been updated to be strong, independent women who can run billion-dollar companies and win Pulitzer Prizes, but the fact remains that these women take second billing to Iron Man, Batman, Thor and Superman.

In fact, no women has led a superhero film since the superhero movie renaissance has led a film (the horrendous box-office bomb Elektra in 2005 is the last one). Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow, a badass character who has been a high point in all the films she’s appeared, still hasn’t been given her own movie. The first female superhero lead on the big screen in over a decade will be 2017’s Wonder Woman, followed by Captain Marvel in 2019.

Which is why Supergirl is so important, and why the world needs her. Like it or not, these superheroes become role models and objects of admiration to young children and teens. Young boys will dress up as Iron Man, Thor, Batman, Superman, and even Ant-Man (who’d have thought?!) this Halloween. But young girls don’t have as many female superhero equivalents, and they have never been center stage. Beyond Black Widow and Catwoman (both leather-clad), who is there? What does dressing up like Jane Foster or Pepper Potts look like?

Supergirl will help change this equation. The show has tremendous promise, if its pilot (which I saw as press) is any indication. Supergirl is not a show about Kal-El’s younger cousin — it’s about Kara Danvers, the almost-invulnerable Kryptonian learning how to use her powers while protecting National City from dangerous criminals. It’s about Kara Danvers, who plays second fiddle to nobody on her own show (thanks in part to Melissa Benoist perfectly embodying the role).

Supergirl was one of the first female role models who showed young girls that being strong, brave and independent were virtues, not vices. In an modern superhero landscape lacking in female heroes, NBC’s re-imagining of Kara Zor-El’s story is a breath of fresh air.

The world is ready for Supergirl.

Why The World Needs Supergirl was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Drive sales, capture leads, and increase engagement on your Facebook Page.

We are thrilled to announce the private beta launch 🚀 of Octane AI, the easiest way to create a bot and engage your customers or audience via messaging! Starting today, we are opening up access to the Octane AI private beta with the intent to open up the platform to everyone in the near future.

We are also announcing our initial funding: a $1.5 million seed round led by venture capital firm General Catalyst. Evernote founder and GC managing director Phil Libin — a friend of mine since my early Mashable days — led the investment. We are thrilled to be working with Phil and the rest of the General Catalyst team!

Other investors in Octane AI include Boost VC, Dimension 6, Ustream founder Brad Hunstable, angel Larry Braitman, and Hired founder Allan Grant.

Octane AI’s founders are Matt Schlicht (CEO), Leif K-Brooks (CTO), and me (CMO).

Octane AI Launch Partners

For the last few months, our team has been working quietly to build out the Octane AI platform. To that end, we’ve been quietly deploying bots on the Facebook Pages of our launch partners, including:

• 50 Cent / G-Unit Records
• Aerosmith
• KISS
• Magic Mike
• Shots Studios
• NextShark
• SPiN
• Curejoy
• Joanne Peh
• Cinta Laura
• Gushcloud
• Epic Rights
• Free Association

We want to thank these initial partners for working with us really early in our product development cycle. We’re looking forward to adding many new partners to this list very soon!

Building a Community

Octane AI came into existence as a result of the difficulty that exists in creating and managing chatbots. My co-founder Matt Schlicht became fascinated with messaging ever since he learned that the top messaging platforms are growing faster than the top social network’s. His interest in messaging led him to create Chatbots Magazine, the Bots Group on Facebook, and the definitive beginner’s guide to chatbots.

The magazine and the group took off like rocket ships. Chatbots Magazine now captivates over 200,000 readers per month, and the Bots Group has become the largest community for chatbots in the world, with 17,000+ developers, investors and enthusiasts discussing bots, messaging, and artificial intelligence.

Matt will be diving deeper into the genesis of Octane AI soon. Stay tuned. :)

What’s Next?

We will be giving more and more people access to our private beta over the next few weeks and months. We will be using this time to refine the product and add new features and plugins. We will also be adding new people to the team, so if you want to help us build the future of communication, check out our careers page and our open positions.

We will not be charging for Octane AI during the private beta. Pricing is a really difficult thing to figure out, but our goal is to make Octane AI accessible to everyone — that means a price that’s reasonable and affordable.

Octane AI / Chatbot FAQ:

1) What Is Octane?

Octane is a service that lets you easily set up a chatbot 🤖 in minutes — no programming or designing required.

2) What Does Octane Do?

Octane provides the tools you need to interact with your customers on messaging applications, such as Facebook Messenger.

3) Why Should I Use Octane?

More people are using messaging applications than social networks, and messaging is growing faster as well. Thus, every business needs a strategy to engage with their customers via messaging — just as they have a strategy for email and social media. Octane gives you the tools you need to do this.

How? Octane lets you create a powerful chatbot — a simple application that lets you interact with customers via messaging — in minutes without the need to design, code, or build anything.

Businesses receive messages on Facebook all the time and usually don’t respond. This is because they don’t have anyone focused on interacting via Messenger. Octane fixes this.

4) What Is a Chatbot?

Chatbots are computers you can talk to via messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, Kik, WeChat, and SMS. Chatbots can automatically respond to your messages for you.

Modern-day chatbots provide the same functionality that mobile apps provide while living in a messaging conversation. No app installations required. They are used for customer support, automatically answering questions, delivering content, and even games and entertainment.

For more, read our in-depth guide to chatbots on Chatbots Magazine.

5) What Are the Benefits of Octane for Businesses?

99% of businesses don’t have someone dedicated to responding to incoming messages via platforms like Facebook Messenger. Octane makes sure that incoming messages always get a response — without requiring ongoing attention from the business.

More and more business customers are on messaging apps. Octane lets businesses engage with their customers on these popular platforms.

Octane bots have features that make the lives of business owners easier by saving them money and time, such as customer support, showing off content, collecting information from customers, showcasing merchandise, and letting customers subscribe to notifications from your business.

6) How Does Octane Work?

You create an account on Octane, create a bot, choose what you want your bot to do (by installing features/plugins), customize your bot, connect it to a Facebook page, and you are done!

Once your bot is live, you can see how it is doing on our dashboard, which includes analytics and the ability to send messages, polls, and links to your subscribers.

You can also train your bot on how to respond to incoming messages in our “Train Your Bot” section.

7) How Easy Is Octane to Set Up/Use/Customize?

You can have a chatbot up and running on your Facebook page in less than five minutes! No coding required. It’s easier than setting up a Facebook Page.

8) How much does Octane Cost?

Pricing is a very difficult thing to figure out, so during the private beta we will not be charging. Our goal is to make Octane AI accessible to anyone, so while we will charge, it will never be an outrageous price.

9) How Do I Sign Up?

Just go to Octaneai.com and request access to the private beta!

…

Introducing Octane AI, The Easiest Way to Create a Bot was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There were lines around the block at local markets and grocery stores across the country. Millions of people pinned their hopes on winning Saturday’s Powerball and its record $951 million jackpot. Some of my millionaire friends even bought tickets, because unless you’re Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, $951 million is life-changing money.

But something strange happened: nobody won. And now the Powerball jackpot is estimated to balloon to $1.3 billion or more* by Wednesday’s drawing. This jackpot shatters all previous records by miles.

$1.3 billion is a lot. It’s so much that it can be difficult to fathom it — and even harder to know what to do with it. But have no fear! I’ve done the research for you on unique ways you could spend you 1300 million (yup).

Here with a few ideas for how to spend your eventual winnings:

• Purchase 3,250 of the 2017 Ford GT Supercars. Each one costs $400,000. But it’s worth it, because the GT is freaking SICK. Of course, Ford’s only making 250 of these per year, but with $1.3 billion dollars, I’m sure you can convince them to make a few more.

• Buy 13,000 Rolex Submariner for Cartier watches. This limited-edition watch sells for $100,000 on today’s market. You could buy many six-packs of Rolexes with that kind of bling bling.
• Own the Soloman Islands. Ok, ok, you can’t actually buy an island country with $1.3 billion. But you’d have more wealth than the entire GDP of the Soloman Islands and 17 other countries.
• Eat 52,000 bowls of The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate ice cream sundae, the most expensive desert on the Earth. Perhaps you’re a foodie. Well, with $1.3 billion, you could dine on the world’s most expensive dessert every day for the next 142 years. Serendipity 3’s Frrrozen Haute Chocolate comes with 28 cocoas, 5g of edible gold flakes, and a goblet made of gold and diamonds. Bon apetit!

• Acquire Thumbtack, Auttomatic (WordPress), Warby Parker, Twilio, Shazaam, Cloudflare, or Eventbrite. According to the CBInsights “unicorn” tracker, all of these companies are valued between $1 billion and $1.3 billion by the private markets. Convincing any of these companies to sell to you is another matter.
• Build 130,000 wells for communities and schools that need it. You could also give millions of people meaningful work across the world with that money. If Zuckerberg can donate $40+ billion to charity, you can spare a billion.
• Buy 58.6 million copies of my book. That’s 26,000+ tons of paper! *wink**wink*
• Fully fund NASA… for 26.8 days. Reaching for the stars ain’t cheap. Neither is defense and war, though. Your $1.3 billion wouldn’t even get the U.S. military through a single day.
• Purchase the Chateau Louis XIV, the most expensive home in the world… 4 times. This insane mansion and 56-acre property outside of Paris was purchased by a Middle Eastern buyer for $301 million. Which means after buying the Chateau Louis XIV four times, you’d still have $96 million left over to buy furniture for your four new homes.

All of us know the stats — you’re far more likely to die in a lightning strike than hit the Powerball jackpot. Yes, you almost certainly won’t win, but it’s never a crime to hope and dream. So good luck, and remember to send me a finder’s fee when you eventually win!

*I know taxes and lump sum payments basically take the $1.3 billion jackpot and cut it in half. But hey, if you have $600 million, you can easily turn that into $1.3 billion with some smart investing.

Here Are 9 Things You Could Do With Your $1.3 Billion Lottery Winnings was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’ve been hard at work.

It’s been a month-and-a-half since the launch of the Octane AI private beta, and we wanted to provide an update to the thousands of people who signed up for our private beta and have been patiently waiting for access.

A Successful Launch

First, we want to thank the community for such an amazing response. We’ve been flooded with signups, inquiries, and ideas. It only validates the interest and passion that businesses, developers, and creatives have for Octane AI and the long-term potential of bots. Thank you!

Since we announced the private beta on November 2nd, our team has been heads-down to prepare for the public beta.

• We added Megan Berry as our new Head of Product
• Updated our UX and UI
• Quietly implemented some new features
• Improved the overall architecture that powers Octane AI

In addition, people already in the private beta have also been launching new bots! My new favorite is Lindsay Lohan’s official bot, but we have some awesome Octane AI-powered bots debuting in the next few months:

Gabi on Twitter

Creating a Recovery Chatbot using @OctaneAI Super helpful when I need support ASAP❤️ #OnDemandTherapy #recovery #chatbot #technologyforgood

The Rollout of the Private Beta Has Begun

We have begin to open up access to the Octane AI platform. We are only letting in a small amount of people in the beginning in order to flesh out the kinks. Our goal is to increase the amount of people we are able to give access to over until we reach public beta.

If you’re one of the lucky ones to receive an invite to create an account during the private beta, we want your feedback. When you’re invited to the beta — and after you’ve had time to launch a bot and use the product — please let us know what we can improve by sending us a note.

If you haven’t signed up to make a bot on Octane AI yet, you can do so by clicking here — we would love for you to be in our beta! We’re only at the beginning of our journey to make bots accessible to all. We can’t wait to see what bots you build!

~ Ben, Co-founder of Octane AI

Get the latest on Octane AI and bots:

• Website: Octaneai.com
• Chatbots Magazine: chatbotsmagazine.com
• Octane AI on Facebook
• Octane AI on Twitter
• The Octane AI Bot 🤖

An Update on the Octane AI Private Beta was originally published in Ben Parr | Entrepreneurial Musings on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.