Natan Voitenkov

Founder | a16z/Speedrun | exGoogler | Ironman | UWC Alumni

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@vtellis haha 😂

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

5 learnings from building an AI Agent (@GenwayAI) for the past 2y.

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@aniketh745 @GenwayAI Indeed! That being said - I still keep asking myselg if compliance is an issue down the road. For example IoT - security was always built down the line rather than from the get go. w/ agents I am not so such...

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

(5/5) Cross-channel fragmentation: phone --> SMS --> WhatsApp --> email --> LinkedIn. Despite a decade of (web) omni-channel preaching, every transition leads to a cold start, the agent remembers nothing about your conversation on Saturday.

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

(4/5) 4. Volume throttle: sales agent built for 500 follow-ups/day? Carrier SMS limits choke it in the first hour.

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

Saying goodbye is never easy, especially not when you are in love. In love w/ the customers, the employees and most importantly - the problem space.

@GenwayAI was - and is - a great product. We built an AI-moderated user research platform when very few ppl knew what it means, and ever fewer believed that this is a massive category. We worked with tier 1 customers such as Salesforce, ServiceTitan, NEXT, Rakuten and dozens of others.

I am proud of what we built, and who we built it with - @galdayan1895, @OmriBenSho1995, and a team that bet on a hard thesis when AI agents were still mostly chatbots.

How does one fix a broken heart of an entrepreneur?

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@liadagmon מילים כדורבנות. אני לא בטוח האם זה תוצאות עיסקיות נטו, או שילוב של שלב הדולר ומהפכת ה AI. כך או כך - החברה עשתה המון לטובת המשק הישראלי, ואם אפשר לנסות ולראות עתיד ורוד יותר אז זה שכל אותם אנשים ילכו ויבנו חברות משלב עצמם

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

זו הסקירה הכי מעמיקה שקראתי בנושא - תודה.
הייתי שמח לשמוע כיצד אתה חושב שחברות הייטק צעירות צריכות להתמודד עם המגמה. האם כדי לעשות hedging לשער ביום הגיוס, או פשוט להמיר 50% מהכסף לשקלים.

יש כאן trade-off מסוים בין כמות הזמן שהיזם יכול להשקיע בנושא, לבין רמת האימפקט כאשר מדובר בסכומים של early stage

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

it is time to let the cat out of the bag. There is no easy way to say that so I am just going to say it - @GenwayAI is pivoting. The emotional turmoil of a pivot reminds that of a stage 12 Beaufort storm. The pain signals your brain emits are as real as it gets. The founder dilemmas turn your stomach up side down.

I will be write more, a lot more, about all of that....
If you are an early stage founder building, thinking of building, or fundraising from @speedrun / @ycombinator make sure to tunein -
my story might be yours.

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@iamkobyheb עונש מוות!!!

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@amprateek_agr @speedrun @GenwayAI What's expected ARR?

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

Application for @speedrun 07 are officially open. The program not only changed @GenwayAI trajectory, but also ours as founders.

I am looking for a few folks to mentor, way more valuable than a scout cheque if you ask me. If you haven't done so yet - comment with a blurb of what you are building, and I will reach out via DM.

A tip I shared with folks that attended SR06:
If you are a team of 3+ crashing in SF/LA for the duration of the program, don't be cheap! Get an apartment with more than 1 bathroom... otherwise it will turn into Sparta quicker than you think 😅

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@kseniam0s @speedrun @GenwayAI @ThePageform What's the team structure? who else is onboard with this idea?

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@aryaa_sk @speedrun @GenwayAI That's a very harily goal to achieve. Any notable traction?

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@ilyasycom @speedrun @GenwayAI specific traction you can mentioned? As there are multiple giants in this space.

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@oezguercelebi @speedrun @GenwayAI I am not sure I understand what it means

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@mr_utsav_patel @speedrun @GenwayAI traction? team?
Why Indian lawyers specifically?

[Natan Voitenkov @NVoitenkov]

@SGhashghaei @speedrun @GenwayAI don't come in cold.