The Role of Fables in The Age of Machine Learning and A.I. (and a test run) ...

The Blind Woman and The Startup CEO

Next Generation Fables <= still figuring this out

I've always been fascinated by fables. From AESOP to The Brothers Grimm and many more in between, fables have helped me to make a point, defend a stand or achieve a desired outcome with efficiency and a hint of playfulness that tends to unify and disarm even the most worthy of opponents. To me, fables have a timeless vibe to them and have served us (humans) well for hundreds if not thousands of years, across diverse life situations from matters of the heart to boardrooms brawls and even galaxy flights to Mars. Yet, as we (humans) stand in the middle of massive and rapid advances in technology such as machine learning, A.I., VR, Bio Tech, Blockchain and many more, perhaps it's possible that all of this new technology could tech us an entirely new set of lessons about ourselves, each other and about life. If that's true, I wonder if a new generation of fable authors could emerge, step-up and help us document what we (humans) are about to learn using the time tested and simple lesson planning methods afforded to us by fables and their Authors.

 

I'm not a writer and certainly not trained in the art of fable telling, but I am willing to take a crack at it. Since, I launched my Tech Startup in 2016, I've learned countless valuable lessons, most of them the hard way, but all of which were captured through my practice of journaling. In my journal the names are very real, the emotion runs very high, the wins are epic and the losses are gut wrenching. Since the names have not been changed to protect the privacy of the players, I'm envisioning a fables for founders type collection that tells the harrowing tales from the men and women building future brands and the lessons they learned and wish to share and pass on to the next generation of visionaries, risk takers and founders to come. Fables For Founders ...hmm that could work!. So here it goes my first shot at a modern day fable .. This one may be a great bedtime story for Startup Founders. 😑💤

 

The Blind Woman (who could see) and The Startup CEO (who could not). Modernity Fables for Founders

Fresh off the stage of his first ever public talk to an amphitheater audience of suspicious grad students, industry critics, analysts that could make even the bravest of investors run for the hills and some highly over attentive competitors, a newly minted startup CEO dashed into the commissary for some water, a deep breath and some kind of relief from the flight or flight symptoms he was feeling and displaying publicly for all to see. He had less than 15 minutes to get across campus for what was sure to be a "ball breaking" panel discussion and audience Q&A session. Reading his notes and playing back his "You got it" style affirmations, his time-out was interrupted by a slight but hard not to notice young woman who approached with vigor, and asked him with a sense of authority to identify himself. "I'm Christopher" he said balancing his desire to be polite with instinctive "WTF / Not Now Lady" vibes that were conjuring up fast. Without the courtesy of a counter introduction the young woman requested a few moments to discuss some ideas she had about his startup and it's tech. "Yes, of course, happy to talk" he replied, "let's meet up this afternoon when I have more time". The brief encounter ended before it even began as the CEO dashed out the door and on to the rest of his big day. Later that afternoon the CEO was busy making some introductions and biding time until the airport Uber arrived to get him to Logan and on a flight back home. Again, the young woman approached and interrupted the conversation at hand "Christopher would now be a good time for us to meet?". He explained that there was a car waiting and a flight to catch but he would be happy to follow-up with her in the coming days once he was back in his office. The young woman handed him a plainly marked business card, expressed appreciation and disappeared into the crowd.

JetBlue#69 non-stop to FLL departed on-time and afforded The CEO some time to reflect on the events of the day. He came across the young woman's business card and reflected on her tenacity. He also considered something that didn't come up during his two encounters with the young woman on campus earlier that day - She, to the best of his ability to tell was blind. Right or wrong, good or bad, he arrived at that assumption by way of her dark glasses and use of a white cane with the lower third painted bright red. What could a blind person want from me he wondered. I'm building new media technology that's highly visual. This made no sense and the young woman's card was tucked away in that zipper pocket of your briefcase you only clean out a few times a year when it gets to full.

 

Days to turned to months and the young woman was long forgotten by the CEO. New business challenges and opportunities kept the CEO busy, not the least of which centered around complaints from critics and potential investors that more emphasis needed to be placed on the audio quality, features and functionality of the startups MVP. The CEO agreed that audio played a big role yes but it would mean back-tracking months in the teams engineering efforts and bringing on spatial audio engineers that there was no budget for, not to mention another costly delay in the go to market plan. One night as the CEO was researching potential solutions, he came across a series of research papers that seemed to address the hurdles his team faced. Could this be the technology we need? Could this help us satisfy the critics and get the investors leaning back into deals? The research centered on the use of audio in spatial computing applications as a way to help improve mobility for people with sight impediments and the CEO sent an inquiry to the research team that authored the research that very night. The next morning the CEO found a prompt email reply from a name that seemed familiar to him and it read like this ...

 

 

So great to hear from you and I'm happy to see your team is finally considering my spatial audio platform, I believe that the market will respond well. Since we met in Boston, I was able to find a media partner willing to help me test the audio application I worked on for my thesis: improving mobility and safety for people with sight impairments in urban environments. Together we got grant funding and won seed funds to develop a commercial version of the platform with the "Blank" AR fund. I'm here in Germany for two more weeks finalizing our MVP but will be happy to meet once I'm back in Boston.

 

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It seems the truly blind person here was the startup CEO

Lessons Learned:

❌Don't assume anything

✔ Listen to your markets and let them define potential use cases.

✔ Opportunity isn't packaged up with a bow and labelled as opportunity, you need to dig deeper, ask more questions and slow the product development roll at least enough to not miss them when they present themselves.

 

Got more? By all means ..

 

Photo Creds 😍

Analise Benevides Nathan Dumlao