Jaclyn Rice Nelson’s Post

Being a founder requires shamelessness and luckily, I have plenty to go around... just ask Martha Stewart who I accosted in the lobby of the BBG Ventures conference today (sorry Susan Lyne I couldn't resist)! Now back to our regularly scheduled programing... The title of my talk was "Does every company need to be an AI company?" and the answer is an unequivocal YES! • Being AI-enabled simply means using AI to gain efficiencies for your business-- every company should do this and it is quickly becoming table stakes • Being AI-native means rethinking how AI can transform your end customer experience. Whether you're a startup or an existing business, any company can become AI-native, but the time to act is now • Similar to past platform shifts those who use AI to deliver value to their end customers will be the real winners (think Netflix vs. Blockbuster with the internet) Thank you to Nisha Dua, Susan Lyne and the BBG Ventures team for hosting an awesome day and gathering so many great people in one place: Anna Harman, Charles Hudson, Ita Ekpoudom, Tracy Fong, Caroline Hyde, Toyin Ajayi, Rebecca Kaden, Eurie Kim, Linnea Roberts, Holyn K. and so many more! ps Martha Stewart if you're serious about building your own AI, Tribe AI can help!

The Tribe AI team is spread across the country this week onsite with customers and speaking at conferences with one goal-- to help enterprises turn AI into tangible value for their organizations. Together we're: • Cutting through the hype of AI • Identifying high value use cases • Setting north star metrics • Understanding platform costs and business model implications • Designing technical architecture diagrams • Accelerating and derisking AI development Feeling very proud of the Tribe team and the impact we're having across the AI ecosystem. Magic happens in-person and we're taking this show on the road with the help of amazing partners like Amazon Web Services (AWS). Special thanks to the people who make it all happen Christine Halberstadt, Paul Zimmerman, NACD.DC, Drake Pruitt, Ebram Megally, Victoria Sherwood, Kurt Gilman, Keesha Organ, Jessica DuBois, Purav Shah and many others.

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with Edward Ludlow and Caroline Hyde of Bloomberg Technology to discuss the impact of AI on a strong jobs report. Two key takeaways based on our experience at Tribe AI building hundreds of AI products for large enterprises: (1) AI will be a lever for growth, not just profit. Historically, the AI conversation has been centered around efficiency, cost-cutting, and job reductions. At Tribe AI, we're seeing it play out differently. Efficiency will soon become table stakes and value creation will no longer be limited to the bottom line. We're seeing AI drive a new wave of product development and commercialization, and we see this as a tremendous value driver for companies, investors and the economy/job market as a whole. (2) Every company today wants or needs to become an AI company, but most don't know how. Pressure to have an AI strategy starts at the Board level and cascades down. The result is companies spending millions without the expertise or resources to make their efforts successful. That's where Tribe AI comes in, we work with companies to build AI products that matter for their business. Check out the full video below and if you're looking to accelerate your company's AI strategy or development efforts, we'd love to hear from you!

I love any opportunity to make AI tangible, and even more so when it ties into my personal life. My son's first media feature and he's so excited it's about AI. Proud to be raising a loyal reader of The Information, Julia Black, and an AI fan for life: "My six-year-old is obsessed with AI, and since Kindergarten has been a hard adjustment for him, we’ve set up a reward system: ‘If you can get through the next few days, then we can do something really fun this weekend.’ His answer is always, ‘Can we do AI?’ We use ChatGPT to read stories that we write together in real time. He can change the variables and watch the story evolve: He and his friends get to be characters, or we can tie in things we did that weekend. We have a series of stories about my husband’s childhood dog named “Mischievous Oliver.” I think it's the feedback loop that blows his mind. I probably wouldn't be doing creative writing exercises with my six-year-old otherwise, but... these are tools that push creativity, and it's the opposite of how we typically think about kids and technology, which is passive and zombie-like."

I’m thrilled to announce Tribe AI's latest milestone and a true leap forward: the addition of Hal Jagger as our Chief Revenue Officer. Hal joins us most recently from phData and before that at SHI International Corp., where he incubated new business units, scaled teams and ran multi-billion dollar organizations. As a Services veteran, Hal knows what it means to earn the trust of enterprise customers and shares our commitment to delivering value from emerging technologies. With his leadership, we're poised to accelerate our market reach and deliver unparalleled value to our customers. I have had the pleasure of getting to know Hal over the last year and am thrilled to have him as a partner at Tribe. As a founder, it’s an incredible moment when someone who you look up to, who has been where you want to go, comes on board to help realize your vision. Noah Gale and I will remain closely tied to our customers, partners and projects, and we know you will love working with Hal as well. As far as what’s next for Tribe, this is one of the most exciting year ends I’ve experienced. We're not just growing, but evolving as we enter this next chapter for Tribe. And we need more amazing people to come on this journey with us. We are actively hiring for sales, engagement management, partnerships and partner marketing. If you’re excited to bring AI to the Enterprise, we’d love to hear from you. 

After holding our breath as an industry for 6 days, Sam Altman is back as the CEO of OpenAI. What few people are talking about is what this drama means for enterprises, who have finally hit a hard earned inflection point in AI adoption. Through my role as CEO of Tribe AI, an AI strategy and implementation partner to leading businesses, I have a front row seat to to enterprise AI development. Here’s what's at stake: 1. The future of AI is hybrid – multi-cloud, multi-model and open source. Prior to this week, the best companies were already experimenting with multiple models. After the drama and chaos of last week, the value of diversification is undeniable. 2. We've hit an inflection point in Enterprise AI adoption, and need trust and stability to sustain it. Despite the risks, we have seen enterprises move at an unprecedented pace to adopt AI. The instability created by the OpenAI drama put all of this progress in jeopardy. Now that we’re on the other side, the focus needs to be stability and trust. 3. We need enterprise adoption to drive AI forward. If incumbent players can successfully transform to become AI companies, we all win. As an industry we need tangible use cases of demonstrated business value that go beyond chatbots in order to sustain and multiply AI investment and innovation. 4. Startups have a big role to play in shaping the AI ecosystem. We need an independent OpenAI and Anthropic to continue to innovate at a pace that large companies simply cannot. The partnership between these startups and hyperscalers Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure has gotten us to this point in AI adoption, but it’s far too early for market consolidation. After a whirlwind week, I’m hopeful we have landed in the best of both worlds – the mission, team alignment and speed of startups with the governance, oversight and transparency of public companies.