In this episode, Madrona Managing Director Matt McIlwain hosts David Shim, founder and CEO of Read AI. These two have known each other for over two decades, having worked together at Farecast and then Placed, which David founded in 2011. They came together again in 2021, when David started Read AI, which delivers AI solutions that make meetings, emails, and messages more valuable to teams with AI-generated summaries, transcripts, and highlights.

In this episode, David and Matt examine how leveraging emerging technologies, getting engagement from multiple members of your ecosystem in the early days, and learning your way into a business model have been three themes across David's startup journeys. They explore the challenges and success of implementing AI in various categories, the benefits of using AI model cocktails for more accurate and intelligent applications, and where they see the opportunity for founders well beyond productivity AI. It's a great discussion you won't want to miss.

Transcript: https://www.madrona.com/read-ai-david-shim-efficient-meetings-intelligent-agents

Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(01:51) The Genesis of Read AI: From Concept to Reality

(04:26) Leveraging Emerging Technologies: The Journey of Placed and Read AI

(09:10) The Evolution of Business Models: Learning from the Market

(12:13) Engagement and Distribution: Partnering with Platforms

(14:07) Innovating Meeting Summaries: Read AI’s Shift to Intelligent Recaps

(16:06) The Power of Model Cocktails: Enhancing AI Applications

(18:03) From Zero to Growth: The Momentum of Read AI

(21:06) Read AI: The Future of AI Productivity & Intelligent Agents

(26:12) Exploring Product-Led Growth and Market Expansion

(29:56) Horizontal v. Vertical

(31:46) Gen-native v. Gen-enhanced

(35:45) Importance of Model Cocktails

(35:55) Opportunities for Founders

336. Who Makes the Hall of Fame in 2025?