David Ottlik

🧠 Value creator passionate about design, psychology, technology & impact 🌱
Architect, turned entrepreneur, turned startup CEO, turned consultant

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

@henrythe9ths AI Guide

[Henry Shi @henrythe9ths]

There's a shocking fact about AI that nobody tells you: You can catch up to the public AI research frontier in just 2 weeks. Yes, really.

I've built a $150M annual revenue startup over the last 8 years and If I were to start a company today, I’d drop everything and go all-in on AI.

But like many busy software builders, I felt lost—overwhelmed by the noisy, crowded and fast-moving modern AI landscape. And I wasn’t alone.

So I spent my entire holiday diving deep into AI research—reading 30+ papers, watching hours of lectures, analyzing trends, and catching up to the research frontier.

✨ Here’s what I learned:
- You don’t need months (or years) to catch up.
- You don’t need a PhD or decades of ML experience.
- You need fewer than 20 papers and 2 weeks to understand the major breakthroughs shaping AI today.

It's because the technology is extremely nascent and most techniques that came before are no longer relevant:
- ChatGPT is barely 2 years old and Transformers are only 7 years old.
- Most game-changing discoveries happened within the last 4 years, driven by a few breakthrough ideas, scaling laws, and efficient matrix multiplication.

The biggest secret?
Many groundbreaking AI papers with thousands of citations are surprisingly simple and applied, like adding "let's think step by step" to the prompt, or simply asking the LLM over and over again to improve its answer (Self-Refine).

I realized there are tons of founders and builders in the same boat—wanting to dive deeper into AI but unsure where to start.

I've created an essential AI Guide that helped me catch up, in just 2 weeks, to the frontier of public AI research to figure out where the next opportunities and gaps were:
- Curated list of only the most important papers
- Simple explanations of key concepts
- Clear pathway to understanding the frontier of modern AI

It’s perfect for:
- Founders expanding into AI
- Builders wanting to innovate at the frontier of AI
- Investors looking to separate the signal from the noise

👇 Want the full guide?
- Like and Share this post
- Comment "AI Guide"
- I'll send you the complete guide

(ps, I’m also teaming up with @VishalVasishth, co-founder of @obviousvc with @ev (focused on large-scale societal impact companies like Twitter, Medium, Beyond Meat), to host a small meetup to discuss what's working and needs to be solved in the AI stack in SF. Message me if you're interested)

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

#Amazon wants to give users $10 in exchange for #tracking them all over the web https://t.co/cDTmn4QMFQ

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

@marketoonist on #canneslions2019

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

"4. Prioritise creating an emotive response, but make sure it’s relevant to your brand/product"
Emotion helps us to process, remember and share information...

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

#Unilever’s boss on why leading a #business is much like managing a #brand https://t.co/J8GQsQQOWA

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

What’s Hot and what’s Not in #B2B #Marketing for #2019 https://t.co/2OrxJ7404B

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

Chinese merchants refuse cash as #mobile #payments take off https://t.co/QiJBC7sKoX

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

#CBS: #Nielsen Using 'Market Power' To Raise Prices https://t.co/JGnP68Ag5S

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

😆 If Christmas carols were about current news... 😅 https://t.co/k2PWoQ4waa

[Larry Kim @larrykim]

🚀25+ Marketing Experts Share Genius Tips for 2019
@Inc

@larrykim
@chiefmartec
@jeffsauer
@basvandenbeld
@bradgeddes
@EvanCarmichael
@JuliaBramble
@ievazelcha
@ashleymadhatter
@ArianneDonoghue
@nickwilsdon
@IanCleary
and More.

https://t.co/IpcQh4wjqL

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

Who to watch in #2019? » @Politico 28 Class of 2019, The ranking https://t.co/9BL9yMM2Ka

[NASA @NASA]

📸 Wish you were here! @NASAInSight sent home its first photo after #MarsLanding:

InSight’s view is a flat, smooth expanse called Elysium Planitia, but its workspace is below the surface, where it will study Mars’ deep interior.

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

The New Rules of #Marketing #Technology & Operations: awesome summary of the latest #MarTech trends and how to deal with them from @chiefmartec https://t.co/X9xl5Zl85J

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

This beautiful map shows everything that powers an #Amazon #Echo, from #data mines to lakes of lithium @verge https://t.co/LpUHicvias

[Synetiq @SynetiqLab]

❗️JOB OPENING❗️
If you are a #talented and #passionate #software engineer who wants to join our #engineering team developing data processing and reporting applications, apply on our website!👇🏼

https://t.co/pXVw2LNlJx

#workatsynetiq #lifeatsynetiq #jobopening #startuplife

[Synetiq @SynetiqLab]

#nobullshit client breakfast with @SynetiqLab, @neticle_hu, Doupla at #GoogleGround

[Synetiq @SynetiqLab]

@SynetiqLab represents #Hungary on the "Best #Advertising & #Marketing #Startups in #Europe"- list! Wow! https://t.co/OOg9vM251P @ValuerAI

[Synetiq @SynetiqLab]

ROI increase with neuromarketing? 📈YES 👊
"80 % of companies that saw gross revenue increase over the previous year were somewhat or very familiar with neuroscience applications to marketing" #neuromarketing #adperformance #ROI https://t.co/H4vUwZX7BQ

[David Ottlik @davidottlik]

Deeper #Insights, #ROI and the Future of #Consumer #Neuroscience - @SynetiqLab https://t.co/QmsA7229lB