How AI Will Empower Startups to Revolutionize the Future

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After COVID, businesses continue their transformational journey against inflation, economic recession, rising energy costs, and overall geopolitical / supply chain disruptions. What was seen as a fast-paced innovation rate is now seen as standard, leading founders and executives to do what it takes to keep the business afloat. The only aspect that remains constant is the power of cloud technology.

Not long ago, the cloud was only used as a scalable IT infrastructure with unlimited resources. Nowadays, the cloud represents the starting point for any business to innovate by facilitating the implementation of SaaS solutions accessible throughout a mesh of hardware devices, with the value chain in mind. Often we see companies improving their customer experience simply because the cloud allows them the perfect merge between productivity suites, back-office systems, and end-user portals/channels; this gives the customer a sense that the whole company works towards their needs and desires.

The cloud is such a powerful tool… But still just a tool. We need to embrace the idea that, regardless of how powerful a tool is, its execution only depends on the operator. And operating tools in an exquisite manner imply critical thinking, which is a human trait. When companies understand this principle and decide to hire the best people, you witness the savage hunting for talent across the globe. Even though COVID and the lockdowns have taught us the importance (and ROI) of remote work, specialized intellectual work is the main differentiator in a company’s growth.

Now, you might ask: “If I want to start my business, how can I be competitive in this shark tank for talent?”

To be fully honest, your chances are shallow since the market is now saturated with more offers than available talent.

You need to think outside the box and address the challenge from a primitive perspective by addressing the root cause rather than just the symptoms. You need to keep the right people in the right places to effectively manage your products & services, plus all other “satellite” departments, like Finance, HR, Marketing, and Sales.

You need something that can consume & digest information, rationalize over datasets, determine outputs, learn from them, and improve their decision-making framework — the same way a human would do: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Today’s AI-driven tools are revolutionary for startups, offering automation and improvement across various departments, such as finance, marketing, sales, and human resources, just to name a few. Let’s examine the transformative impact of AI in some areas, highlighting specific tools and use cases that can accelerate startup growth and streamline operations.

Finance: Meet your new AI-powered CFO SageMaker

In the world of finance, accuracy and real-time insight matter. Amazon SageMaker is a powerful AI tool enabling startups to build, train, and deploy machine learning models rapidly.

Some Use Cases:

• Automate Financial Forecasting: SageMaker analyzes historical financial data to create accurate forecasts to help improve budgeting and investment decisions.
• Fraud detection and prevention: By examining patterns and anomalies in financial transactions, SageMaker can detect potential fraud and protect startups from financial loss and reputational damage.

Marketing: Say hello to Persado, AI marketing guru

Crafting the perfect marketing message is a difficult task. Enter Persado, your AI-driven platform that leverages natural language processing and machine learning to create compelling, personalized marketing content.

Some Use Cases:

• Improving Email Campaigns: Persado’s AI engine generates subject lines and email copy that resonate with your target audience, increasing open, click, and conversion rates.
• Increase Social Media Engagement: Persado can create customized, high-impact social media messages that increase engagement and brand awareness.

Sales: Unleash the Power of Gong to Close Deals Faster

Sales are vital for any startup, and Gong, the AI-powered Salesforce platform, can help. Gong’s AI analyzes sales calls, meetings, and customer interactions to provide actionable insights for your sales team.

Some Use Cases:

• Improve Sales Calls: By identifying patterns and trends in successful sales calls, Gong provides personalized coaching to sales reps to improve sales calls and close deals faster.
• Improving Customer Relationships: Gong’s AI identifies customer pain points and preferences, helping sales teams adjust their approach to build stronger relationships.

HR: Revolutionizing Talent Management with Harver

Attracting and retaining the right talent is critical for startups. Harver, an AI-powered talent acquisition platform, streamlines the hiring process and matches candidates with the positions that best fit their skills and potential.

Some Use Cases:

• Automated Candidate Screening: Harver evaluates resumes and applications to identify top candidates, saving HR teams valuable time.
• Improved employee retention: By matching candidates to the right roles, Harver increases job satisfaction, reduces employee turnover, and develops more engaged and productive employees.

Conclusion:

As a startup, adopting AI tools can revolutionize your business processes and pave the way for success. Automating processes & flows gives you the clarity and flexibility to:

• Hire more strategic people to drive business growth.
• Avoid/reduce tactical hires to comply with business-as-usual topics that AI tools can leverage.
• Build a data-driven business constantly learning about market trends, human behaviors, and other valuable insights captured by tools with reasoning capacity.

Embracing this change may require much effort and support, but the rewards are immense. Companies that adapt well to this new era will face enormous challenges and will ultimately be best positioned to succeed in adversity.

Do you want to run a pilot in your company with some of these AI tools? Give me a call.

About me

‍I’m an Entrepreneur and Founder from Lisbon, Portugal, who had his fair share of international initiatives in the latest tech scene. Now, I use my expertise to help Founders and Executives reach the next growth level in startup and corporate ecosystems through my IGNIGHTS platform. Click here if I can help.