Venture Passport
Venture Passport is the podcast delivering the inside view of early-stage global markets, brought to you by TAV; the global pre-seed VC shaping the industries of tomorrow.
The show is co-hosted by two VCs, Jack Richardson, and Richard Armstrong, exploring the inner workings behind the creation of thriving tech unicorns, showcasing conversations with leading pioneers and visionaries in the global startup arena.
Venture Passport
S1E2: David Benigson, Co-founder @ Signal AI <> Simon Menashy, Partner @ MMC Ventures
This week's guests are David Benigson, Co-founder at Signal AI, and Simon Menashy, Partner at MMC Ventures.
Signal AI is a leading global external intelligence company which has 40% of the Fortune 500 as customers for real-time market and media intelligence to uncover trends, risks and opportunities. MMC (which has one of the largest portfolios of AI companies in Europe) invested in Signal’s Series A round in 2016 alongside Hearst Ventures, Frontline & LocalGlobe.
We discuss:
- Engaging seed investors early on, through free MOTs
- The truly horizontal SaaS model, and how even now, Signal refuses to focus on a specific vertical
- The use of McKinsey's Horizon model for developing a product roadmap, and the importance of academic relationships to support in doing so
- MMCs input to sales methodology in the early days
- Safety and ethics in AI today
- Culture: how the business is much stronger than any one individual