Listen Here

| |

Conversation
Highlights

 

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech’s most innovative B2B founders. In today’s episode, we’re speaking with Patricia, Co-Founder and CEO at Private AI, a privacy tech startup that has raised over $11 million. Patricia shares insights from her journey, emphasizing the critical intersection of privacy, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:

  • Origin Story: Patricia transitioned from academic research in privacy-preserving natural and spoken language processing into entrepreneurship. She put her PhD on hold to address privacy concerns in data processing, founding Private AI.
  • Motivation for Starting Private AI: The motivation stemmed from the challenges Patricia faced during her academic research projects. She realized the necessity for scalable privacy solutions in data processing, which led to the creation of Private AI.
  • Admiration for Jennifer Arnold: Patricia admires Jennifer Arnold, CEO of Minerva AI, for her leadership and the swift scaling of her company, highlighting the importance of identifying and solving critical problems in innovative ways.
  • Impactful Literature: “How the World Really Works” by V.A. Claus Mel influenced Patricia’s perspective on tackling global challenges, including privacy issues, by leveraging technological advances.
  • Private AI’s Mission and Products: Private AI aims to make data compliance easier across various languages and jurisdictions. Its products focus on identifying, redacting, and replacing personally identifiable information to help companies comply with privacy regulations like GDPR, PCI, and HIPAA.
  • Global Vision and Challenges: The company targets a global market, with initial success in North America and a strategic focus on Europe due to GDPR compliance. Patricia discusses the challenges of simplifying complex technical solutions for diverse markets and the importance of customer education and adaptive messaging.

Actionable
Takeaways

Identify and Solve a Real Problem:

Patricia's admiration for Jennifer Arnold, CEO of Minerva AI, underscores the importance of identifying real-world problems and developing solutions. B2B tech founders should focus on pain points in their industries that have not been adequately addressed, offering innovative solutions that can scale quickly.

Leverage Academic Research for Entrepreneurial Success:

Patricia's transition from academic research to founding Private AI illustrates the potential of leveraging specialized knowledge to address market needs. Founders should consider how their academic or technical expertise could solve industry problems, particularly in areas like privacy and data security.

Understand Regulatory Compliance as a Market Opportunity:

With the advent of GDPR and other privacy regulations, there is a growing market need for tools that help companies comply. Founders should explore how changes in legislation create opportunities for new solutions and consider privacy and compliance as integral to product development.

Globalize Your Solution from the Start:

Private AI’s focus on supporting 47 languages demonstrates the importance of considering global needs and compliance from the inception of your product. Tech founders should design their products with global markets in mind, ensuring they address the varied compliance and cultural requirements of different regions.

Educate Your Market:

Given the complexity of privacy tech and compliance, there's a significant need to educate potential clients. Founders should invest in content marketing, customer education, and transparent communication to explain their solutions' value and ease the adoption process. This approach helps in demystifying complex solutions and fostering trust with potential customers.

Recommended Founder
Interviews

Tom Trowbridge

Co-Founder of Fluence Labs

Tom Trowbridge, co-founder of Fluence Labs: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of Decentralized P2P Computing

Rich Taylor

Vice President of Seek AI

Rich Taylor, VP of Marketing at Seek AI: $10.5 Million Raised to Transform Data Analysis with Generative AI

Jonathan Dambrot

CEO and Founder of Cranium

Jonathan Dambrot, CEO and Founder at Cranium: $32 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI Security

Phillip Liu

CEO of Trustero

Phillip Liu, CEO of Trustero: $8 Million Raised to Build the Future of Compliance AI

Mike Conover

CEO & Co-Founder of Brightwave

Mike Conover, CEO & Co-Founder of Brightwave: $6M Raised to Build the Future of AI-Powered Investment Research

Douwe Kiela

CEO and Co-Founder of Contextual AI

Douwe Kiela, CEO and Co-Founder of Contextual AI: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Enterprise Language Models

Ryan Sevey

CEO of Mantium

Ryan Sevey, CEO of Mantium: $12 Million Raised to Help Teams Deploy and Monitor their AI Process Automations

Bob van Luijt

CEO and Co-Founder of Weaviate

Bob van Luijt, CEO and Co-Founder of Weaviate: Over $67 Million Raised to Power the Future of Vector Databases

Igor Jablokov

CEO of Pryon

Igor Jablokov, CEO of Pryon: $50+ Million Raised to Build the Future of Enterprise Knowledge Management

Alan Cowen

CEO and Founder of Hume AI

Alan Cowen, CEO and Founder of Hume AI: Over $17 Million Raised to Measure and Improve How Technology Affects Human Emotion

Joe Witt

CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo

Joe Witt, CEO & Co-Founder of Datavolo: $21 Million Raised to Unlock the Potential of Unstructured Data for AI

Ravin Thambapillai

CEO and Co-Founder of Credal

Ravin Thambapillai, CEO and Co-Founder of Credal: $5 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Security

Jonathan Schneider

CEO and Co-Founder of Moderne

Jonathan Schneider, CEO & Co-Founder of Moderne: $20 Million Raised to Build the Future of Code Remediation

Krish Ramineni

CEO of Fireflies

Krish Ramineni, CEO of Fireflies: $19 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Meeting Assistants

Nikola Borisov

CEO & Co-Founder of Deep Infra

Nikola Borisov, CEO & Co-Founder of Deep Infra: $9 Million Raised to Build the Future of AI Model Hosting

Richard Potter

Co-Founder and CEO of Peak

Richard Potter, Co-Founder and CEO at Peak: $118 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI-Enabled Businesses

Gabriel Bayomi Tinoco Kalejaiye

CEO and Co-Founder of Openlayer

Gabriel Bayomi, CEO and Co-Founder of Openlayer: $4.8 Million Raised to Power the Future of Machine Learning Testing

Deon Nicholas

CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought

Deon Nicholas, CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought: $92 Million Raised to Power the Future of Customer Support with AI

Anand Gopalan

CEO and Co-Founder of Vayu Robotics

Anand Gopalan, CEO & Co-Founder of Vayu Robotics: $12.7 Million Raised to Build the Next Wave of Robotics Solutions

Anand Kulkarni

CEO of Crowdbotics

Anand Kulkarni, CEO of Crowdbotics: $58 Million Raised to Power the Future of Rapid Application Development

David DeWolf

CEO & President of Knownwell

David DeWolf, CEO & President of Knownwell: $2 Million Raised to Build the Future of Commercial Intelligence

Harry Xu

CEO and Co-Founder of Breeze ML

Harry Xu, CEO and Co-Founder of Breeze ML: $4.6 Million Raised to Create the Future of AI Governance

Johannes Peeters

Co-Founder & CEO of VoxelSensors

Johannes Peeters, Co-Founder & CEO of VoxelSensors: $7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Spatial Computing

Roger Luo

Founder & Managing Partner of Embedding VC

Funding the Future: Roger Luo, Managing Partner at Embedding VC

Matt Theurer

CEO & Co-Founder of HyperSpectral

Matt Theurer, CEO & Co-Founder of HyperSpectral: $8.5 Million Raised to Power the Future of AI-Powered Spectral Intelligence

Ryan Alshak

CEO & Founder of Laurel

Ryan Alshak, CEO & Founder of Laurel: $55.7 Million Raised to Build the Future of Gen AI for Timekeeping

Ashley Montanaro

CEO and Co-Founder of Phasecraft

Ashley Montanaro, CEO & Co-Founder of Phasecraft: $22 Million Raised to Build the Future of Quantum Software

Alon Talmor

CEO & Founder of Ask-AI

Alon Talmor, CEO & Founder of Ask-AI: $20 Million Raised to Power the Future of Enterprise AI

Jonathan Corbin

CEO & Co-Founder of Maven AGI

Jonathan Corbin, CEO and Co-Founder of Maven AGI: $28 Million Raised to Build the Future of Customer Experience

Jeong-Suh Choi

CEO of Bobidi

Jeong-Suh Choi, CEO Bobidi: Nearly $6 Million raised to Deliver Better, More Inclusive AI Solutions for Developers

Ofer Ronen

CEO & Co-Founder of Tomato.ai

Ofer Ronen, CEO & Co-Founder of Tomato.ai: $12 Million Raised to Build the Accent Softening Category

Ariel Katz

CEO of Sisense

Ariel Katz: The Story of Sisense ($1+ Billion Valuation)

Jason Corso

Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel 51

Jason Corso, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel 51: $15.5 Million Raised to Build the Future of Developer Tools for Machine Learning

Daniele Grassi

CEO of Axyon AI

Daniele Grassi, CEO of Axyon AI: $5.5 Million Raised to Power the Future of Financial Markets with AI

Alex Sambvani

CEO & Co-Founder of Slang AI

Alex Sambvani, CEO & Co-Founder of Slang AI: $20 Million Raised to Power the Future of Voice AI for Restaurants

Jorge Torres

CEO and Co-Founder of MindsDB

Jorge Torres, CEO and Co-Founder of MindsDB: $50 Million Raised to Enable Developers to Integrate Machine Learning into Applications

Meryem Arik

CEO & Co-Founder of Titan ML

Meryem Arik, CEO and Co-Founder of Titan ML: $2.8 Million Raised to Revolutionize LLM Deployment

Jorge Penalva

CEO & Co-Founder of Lang AI

Jorge Penalva, CEO of Lang.ai: $40 Million+ Raised to Build the Customer Experience Operations Category

Davit Baghdasaryan

Co-Founder and CEO of Krisp

Davit Baghdasaryan, Co-Founder and CEO of Krisp: $19 Million Raised to Build the Voice Productivity Category

Malte Pietsch

CTO & Co-Founder of Deepset

Malte Pietsch, CTO & Co-Founder of Deepset: $45 Million Raised to Build the Future of LLMs