Will Answer Engines Become Shopping Agents?

This episode Bill and I are joined by John Andrews to mix up a smoky, balsamic riff on an Old Fashioned and talk about the evolution of commerce product discovery, the rise of CommerceGPTs, and how agentic commerce will really work.

John is CEO of Cimulate, a generative-AI native solution that covers many compelling use-cases - discovery, personalization, and more - focused on commerce, which he co-founded together with esteemed MIT Professor Vivek Farias. Prior to Cimulate, John and Vivek also founded Celect, an inventory optimization solution later acquired by Nike in 2019. Prior to Celect, John was a key leader of one of the early commerce search pioneers at Endeca - where he led both product and marketing. When Endeca was acquired by Oracle, John led up the Oracle Commerce product for a number of years - bringing the Endeca and the ATG commerce platforms together.

Bill and I have known John for many years - from way back to those Endeca days - and wanted to have John on the show to learn more about Cimulate and talk about what they have built - right in the sweet-spot of what we call CommerceGPTs.

It’s a great conversation, so please pour yourself something to sip along with us and enjoy our conversation with John.

Cheers!

Episode Chapters:

* Welcome and the Wood N’ Tooth: bourbon converts, balsamic reductions, and cherry smoke experiments.

* Hey Kai, understanding Cimulate with a trip to the toy store.

* The Cimulate Founder Story - From assortment optimization to GenAI and rediscovering the promise of commerce search and discovery.

* Commerce GPTs: The new era of commerce experience, context windows and understanding true customer intent.

* Data challenges and solutions to power Commerce GPTs: Why synthetic data might be the missing link.

* Beyond search: Experience, context, content, and conversations.

* The future of Answer Engines in commerce, and preparing for a new class of AI-powered digital companions.

* Discovery, not checkout: What AI-powered shopping might actually look like

* Agent-to-Agent interactions and business processes, the rise of MCPs, and the future of agent-to-agent protocols within the commerce and marketing stack.

* Beyond commerce: The impact of AI on future generations.

* Wood N’ Teeth redux: Shotgun shells, Jimbos, and bartender’s handshakes.

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This week’s cocktail: Wood N’ Tooth

Borrowed in name (and myth?) from a smoky suburban favorite of John’s near Boston, this drink blends the best of an Old Fashioned and a Black Manhattan. Its a smoky, boozy, cherry-cola flavored cocktail of unexpected complexity - based solidly on a classic spec. In other words, a wonderful cocktail. Cheers!

Cocktail Spec: Wood N’ Tooth’ Cocktail

2 oz. (~ 60 ml.) - Rye (Rittenhouse 100 proof recommended)

1/3 oz. (~ 10 ml.) - Meletti Amaro

1/3 oz. (~ 10 ml.) - Balsamic reduction (see notes)

2 dashes - Angostura Bitters (or other aromatic bitters)

Cherry-wood Smoke

Steps:

Add Amaro, balsamic reduction and bitters (everything except the rye whiskey) into a rocks glass and stir to incorporate.

Add a large piece of ice (clear rock preferred) and then the rye whiskey and stir about 5 times around. Use a smoking cap / hat to add the smoke using cherry wood chips and a torch. Leave the cap on for a minute or more to give the smoke time to do its work.

Notes:

* To make the Balsamic reduction: Take about ½ cup of balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan over medium heat stirring enough so it doesn’t scorch. Add 1 tbsp of raw or demerara sugar early in the simmer and cook until volume is reduced by almost half - 10 to 15 minutes. Alternatively, you may use a balsamic glaze if you happen to have one handy.

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In the meantime… Be well, drink well, and here is to good business!

Cheers! - Brian & Bill

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