I think of my career as a sequence of small steps in which I applied what I learned in the past to something new – that, combined with a difficulty saying “no” when asked to do something.

At Luminoso, I found a company with disruptive technology – in this case, a fundamentally different way to use AI to automate text analytics. I chose to lead the company as CEO because I saw its potential to help businesses across industries quickly understand and act on text-based customer feedback, such as customer review surveys and chatbot conversations.

As exciting as it is to sell a brand new technology, this also means that we are solving problems that customers didn’t know could be solved. So selling successfully requires education and demonstration, and sometimes the customer must create a new line item in their budget for us. I’m incredibly proud to say that world-leading brands such as Hilton, athenahealth, DENSO, Officeworks, Supercell, and Swiss Post Solutions now use Luminoso’s AI-powered text analytics solutions.

At Luminoso, I’ve had the pleasure to receive guidance from both our board, and our incredible leaders across the organization. And while customers are generally considered mentors, our customers are smart and creative and have taught me new ways they’ve been able to apply our technology, which plays a large role in how we market, sell, and improve our products every day.

AI is becoming an essential tool in many marketing workflows, but a lot of AI-powered software still requires data scientists or developers to implement. In 2020 and beyond, I expect we’ll see even more companies develop AI-powered martech software that people without technical backgrounds can implement—software that doesn’t require training, coding, libraries, or ontologies.

Business leaders across industries are inundated with vendors claiming to sell AI solutions that will be game-changers for their companies. So, as an AI company, it’s critical to elevate our brand above the noise in order to increase awareness and drive sales. Luminoso is not just another company trying to hop on the AI bandwagon — we build AI-powered products that address business-critical needs and deliver on our promise to eliminate a lot of manual work. 

Our marketing efforts are built on a foundation of thought leadership around AI, Natural Language Understanding (NLU) and Machine Learning research. This focus on thought leadership is helping our marketing team attract attention from businesses around the world, many of which turn into customers.

Now that everyone is working, shopping, and virtually congregating at home these days, companies that facilitate this are in a great position. Zoom obviously, but also strong e-commerce sites, such as Fancy.com, and software that reduces the need for in-person work, like PingThings that allows electric utilities to monitor the performance of utility equipment remotely.

Having led a number of companies across industries over the last 25 years, I’ve become a firm believer in doing what you can to help other companies grow and succeed. I imagine when I share this article in my personal networks, some will go to Unboundb2b to learn more about the services you offer.

I am passionate about continuing to lead Luminoso as CEO. The company has created a fundamentally different way to use AI to automate text analytics, and I’ve very much enjoyed leading the company through a period of incredible growth.