5 ms·

Throwaway here. I'm the CEO of a fast-growing AI startup. Alex asked to meet with us about a year ago (when we were about 1/10th the size), and after asking us

Throwaway here. I'm the CEO of a fast-growing AI startup. Alex asked to meet with us about a year ago (when we were about 1/10th the size), and after asking us to prepare lots of materials, they indicated they wanted to buy us or invest in us. People warned us not to talk to them because they have a reputation for gathering technical detail, and then trying to copy it rather than striking a deal. Our software could have radically accelerated and improved the Alexa experience basically overnight. At one point in the meeting, the head of Alexa's M&A/investment team said "tell us how much you think you're worth." I threw out a number, and he laughed and left the room. Today we're valued at more than that number and Alexa's core experience hasn't changed in the past year. They haven't been able to copy us. The Alexa leadership team has some hubris IMO.

enlyth 2y ago
> Our software could have radically accelerated and improved the Alexa experience basically overnight By improve the Alexa experience, do you mean make it more useful for users or help it shift more chineseware for Amazon? Because as a user, I will never order anything without seeing a picture and reading reviews, voice shopping is dead on arrival If it's the former, I imagine it's Alexa hooked up to some gimmicky LLM, and I don't see where the actual profit comes from, I would have laughed and left the room too
- alexa_throwaway 2y ago
  It's not Alexa hooked up to some gimmicky LLM. I don't want to give away too many details given that this is a throwaway account, but the way Alexa's ecosystem works is they have "skills" Alexa users can instantiate. Our API would have increased the utility (and therefore usage) of some of the top skills by quite a lot. I think of the Alexa team the same way I think of juiced up bodybuilders who think they can beat up anyone even though they've never trained MMA. The Alexa team looks in the mirror and sees big muscles, but they don't know how to use those muscles to fight. Yes, the strength and muscle helps, but ultimately to do well at MMA you have to develop specific skills, and you need to start with humility. Anyway, the past is the past. It sounds like Jassy is focused on turning around this division, which is a good thing IMO.
  - wordpad25 2y ago
    >Anyway, the past is the past. It sounds like Jassy is focused on turning around this division, which is a good thing IMO. If you got 10x bigger aren't they your competitor now or are you still tiny relatively speaking?
    - alexa_throwaway 2y ago
      We're still tiny compared to Alexa, but we have over a million MAUs so we're not tiny for a startup. At present, Alexa itself is not a direct competitor, although a large and growing use-case for Alexa skills would benefit directly from our tech. This may change if Alexa gets its act together, but based on the past year I'm not holding my breath!
OrigamiPastrami 2y ago
> Today we're valued at more than that number and Alexa's core experience hasn't changed in the past year. They haven't been able to copy us. The Alexa leadership team has some hubris IMO. I can't really evaluate you since you want to stay anonymous, but you're not really giving any credibility here. FAANG being arrogant isn't really any different than flavor-of-the-year tech startup being arrogant. There are numerous stories of high-flying startups that went bankrupt a few years after rejecting an acquisition offer, including significantly multiplying their valuation and raising capital along the way. You're also in an infamously overvalued sector. I wish you all the best but try not to fall prey to the same mindset you're criticizing Amazon for.
- alexa_throwaway 2y ago
  Thanks for writing that. It may be that Alexa made the right decision to pass (time will tell, you're right the valuation itself isn't the best barometer) but the point of my post was simply that the Alexa leadership team felt very arrogant and disrespectful regardless of whether they made the right decision. They acted like we needed them, whereas in my opinion time has shown it was more the opposite. I can't speak for all startups, but at my company we treat even the tiniest startups with respect, and even if we can't work together we wouldn't approach that decision the way Alexa did. Anyway, as I mentioned in another comment, the past is the past. The Alexa leadership team is being shaken up and I wish them the best going forward. Just sharing my experience here because it's relevant to the thread.
  - Shocka1 2y ago
    This is wonderful to hear thanks for mentioning it. My last position as a software engineer at a very well known company I was in countless meetings where third parties or contracting companies were treated downright disrespectfully. Any time I brought this factor up to management or co-workers I was looked at like I was speaking a foreign language. Even in fast paced engineering environments, there is never room for disrespect. I enjoy stories like this and wish you and your company the best.
DaoVeles 2y ago
I call businesses like that Llama's. When a Llama (the creature) generally starts getting friendly towards someone it means they are about to get nasty and attack/spit in your face. Amazon and Microsoft are two great examples of this. When they get close to you be weary. Go for the buy out or watch out for them trying to get ideas to steal.
- wiether 2y ago
  > When a Llama (the creature) generally starts getting friendly towards someone it means they are about to get nasty and attack/spit in your face. Is that why Meta decided to call their _open source_ LLM this way? It would make a lot of sense!
  - smolder 2y ago
    It's called Llama because it has L L M in it and is cute.

enlyth 2y ago

> Our software could have radically accelerated and improved the Alexa experience basically overnight By improve the Alexa experience, do you mean make it more useful for users or help it shift more chineseware for Amazon? Because as a user, I will never order anything without seeing a picture and reading reviews, voice shopping is dead on arrival If it's the former, I imagine it's Alexa hooked up to some gimmicky LLM, and I don't see where the actual profit comes from, I would have laughed and left the room too

alexa_throwaway 2y ago
It's not Alexa hooked up to some gimmicky LLM. I don't want to give away too many details given that this is a throwaway account, but the way Alexa's ecosystem works is they have "skills" Alexa users can instantiate. Our API would have increased the utility (and therefore usage) of some of the top skills by quite a lot. I think of the Alexa team the same way I think of juiced up bodybuilders who think they can beat up anyone even though they've never trained MMA. The Alexa team looks in the mirror and sees big muscles, but they don't know how to use those muscles to fight. Yes, the strength and muscle helps, but ultimately to do well at MMA you have to develop specific skills, and you need to start with humility. Anyway, the past is the past. It sounds like Jassy is focused on turning around this division, which is a good thing IMO.
- wordpad25 2y ago
  >Anyway, the past is the past. It sounds like Jassy is focused on turning around this division, which is a good thing IMO. If you got 10x bigger aren't they your competitor now or are you still tiny relatively speaking?
  - alexa_throwaway 2y ago
    We're still tiny compared to Alexa, but we have over a million MAUs so we're not tiny for a startup. At present, Alexa itself is not a direct competitor, although a large and growing use-case for Alexa skills would benefit directly from our tech. This may change if Alexa gets its act together, but based on the past year I'm not holding my breath!

OrigamiPastrami 2y ago

> Today we're valued at more than that number and Alexa's core experience hasn't changed in the past year. They haven't been able to copy us. The Alexa leadership team has some hubris IMO. I can't really evaluate you since you want to stay anonymous, but you're not really giving any credibility here. FAANG being arrogant isn't really any different than flavor-of-the-year tech startup being arrogant. There are numerous stories of high-flying startups that went bankrupt a few years after rejecting an acquisition offer, including significantly multiplying their valuation and raising capital along the way. You're also in an infamously overvalued sector. I wish you all the best but try not to fall prey to the same mindset you're criticizing Amazon for.

alexa_throwaway 2y ago
Thanks for writing that. It may be that Alexa made the right decision to pass (time will tell, you're right the valuation itself isn't the best barometer) but the point of my post was simply that the Alexa leadership team felt very arrogant and disrespectful regardless of whether they made the right decision. They acted like we needed them, whereas in my opinion time has shown it was more the opposite. I can't speak for all startups, but at my company we treat even the tiniest startups with respect, and even if we can't work together we wouldn't approach that decision the way Alexa did. Anyway, as I mentioned in another comment, the past is the past. The Alexa leadership team is being shaken up and I wish them the best going forward. Just sharing my experience here because it's relevant to the thread.
- Shocka1 2y ago
  This is wonderful to hear thanks for mentioning it. My last position as a software engineer at a very well known company I was in countless meetings where third parties or contracting companies were treated downright disrespectfully. Any time I brought this factor up to management or co-workers I was looked at like I was speaking a foreign language. Even in fast paced engineering environments, there is never room for disrespect. I enjoy stories like this and wish you and your company the best.

DaoVeles 2y ago

I call businesses like that Llama's. When a Llama (the creature) generally starts getting friendly towards someone it means they are about to get nasty and attack/spit in your face. Amazon and Microsoft are two great examples of this. When they get close to you be weary. Go for the buy out or watch out for them trying to get ideas to steal.

wiether 2y ago
> When a Llama (the creature) generally starts getting friendly towards someone it means they are about to get nasty and attack/spit in your face. Is that why Meta decided to call their _open source_ LLM this way? It would make a lot of sense!
- smolder 2y ago
  It's called Llama because it has L L M in it and is cute.