Impactful AI Takes Strong Focused Leaders On A Mission, Raj Koneru - Founder & CEO Kore.ai

How do you find companies driving market-making moves with AI? Look for strong focused leaders that are on an impact mission—but aren't afraid to pivot.

For years I have been speaking on, writing about, advising, and running AI-related ventures. But with Generative AI (GAI) at the peak of the Gartner Hype Cycle, we still find ourselves in the too much talk and not enough impact phase. This “all hat, no cattle” dilemma reminds me of the famed Wendy’s “Where’s The Beef” ad campaign.

Sure, there are some wins on the board since the AI sector got a turbo boost with the introduction of ChatGPT at the end of 2022. This innovation continues to drive endless hype, competition, and investment into the AI sector, specifically for Large Language Models (LLMs) and GAI. But beyond the novelty cocktail party chatter, that will come and go like most hyped cycles, I’ve been looking for phase two AI organizations that can transform companies, industries, countries and even societies. One way to spot those, or find the beef, is to follow the smart money.

At the forefront of this wave, helping others develop and integrate generative AI for their needs, is Kore.ai. With over 200 partners and working with 400 Fortune 2000 companies across the globe, Kore.ai helps all of them decide what AI strategy would best benefit their needs. Kore has even made building AI easy through their no-code system, where even I can build, train, and test your AI in a drag-and-drop builder called XO.

One of the fastest growing companies in the sector, Kore has chatbots and co-pilots deployed by 100s of partners and thousands of large corporations, who are automating conversations and streamlining customer and employee experiences. They just closed a $150M investment from FTV Capital and NVIDIA (NVDA). It’s not the largest round we’ve seen, and Kore may not be a familiar name for some of you. But the round is significant for the sector and provides leaders lessons/insights about how to get to this level and what’s next.

To talk us through the reboot of the generative AI industry, we invited Kore’s Founder and CEO, Raj Koneru, to The Reboot Chronicles. A serial CEO and strong/focused leader, who has been at the helm of Kore for the last decade, Raj unpacks how generative AI can revolutionize customer and employee experiences—and more.