Cory Janssen from AltaML

Cory Janssen is the Managing Director of AltaML Fund I LP and the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of AltaML. Previously, Cory co-founded Investopedia, a financial education site that provided content and tools to help educate individual investors. From its founding in 1999, Investopedia became one of the most popular financial sites on the web and was sold to Forbes Media in 2007. Cory is also a director at VerticalScope Inc., and sits on several private company advisory boards. Connect with Cory on LinkedIn.

AltaML is a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solutions developer. Working with organizations that want to use AI to leverage their data to develop solutions that drive tangible business results, AltaML empowers partners to create operational efficiency, reduce risks and generate new sources of revenue. Through a deep understanding of organizational pain points and challenges, AltaML’s solutions encompass the entire machine learning (ML) life cycle, from evaluating potential use cases and determining feasibility to piloting solutions, putting code into production, and ensuring model evolution.

Takeaways

Investopedia was founded accidentally during the dot-com bubble and became the web's biggest investor education website.

Successful AI adoption requires understanding business workflows, data, and creating a program rather than individual projects.

Large language models (LLMs) have the potential to revolutionize various industries and change how software is built.

How Rich Sutton with reinforcement learning (UAlberta) and Geoff Hinton with deep learning (UToronto) created the underpinnings for the AI industry.

Why Canada is not great at commercialization and how we can change that/adapt to it.

Talent in the AI industry can come from various sources, and it's important to have a mix of domain expertise and technical skills.

Canada needs to change its mindset and become a player in the AI industry to fully capitalize on its potential.

Having a circle of people to lean on, such as peer-to-peer groups, is crucial for getting through hard times as an entrepreneur.

Chapters

00:00 The Origin of Investopedia

02:22 The Acquisition by Forbes

06:07 Life After Investopedia

08:14 The Birth of AltML

11:50 The Venture Studio Model

23:49 Common Mistakes in AI Adoption

28:20 Focus on Large Language Models (LLMs)

33:30 Talent and Learning in the AI Industry

39:07 Keeping AI Talent in Canada

44:01 Capitalism and Entrepreneurship

44:41 Excitement for Clean Tech and Bursting of the AI Hype

45:31 Dealing with Hard Times

46:40 Reflections on Running the Podcast

49:40 The Importance of Asking for Help

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