‘If you build a community, you won't become a commodity’: Boast AI’s Lloyed Lobo

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. I like to say that it takes a village to raise a fintech firm. You can really see the power of the ecosystem when it comes to successful companies in our space like Square and Plaid. Lloyed Lobo has seen first hand the power of having an audience. Launched in a spare bedroom with pizza nights, the community he co-founded, Traction, now numbers 100,000 people building companies. Lloyed’s company, Boast AI, has seen the fruits of this community. It helps companies apply for R&D tax credits. With a newly formed fund of $100 million, it also helps tech firms finance their credits. We talk about the power of community and how it can help find early fans and customers for a novel concept. Lloyed shares his experience building Boast and how smaller firms are now able to tap these credits that previously were accessible by some of the largest tech companies. Boast uses a hybrid tech and human delivery model – Lloyed talks about that, too. Lloyed Lobo is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.