The Decibel Podcast: Founders Helping Founders

Yaron Singer, Founder and CEO of Robust Intelligence: The Inconvenient Truth of AI

Episode Summary

Yaron Singer is the Founder and CEO of Robust Intelligence, the early leader in AI security that was recently acquired by Cisco. On today’s episode, Jon Sakoda speaks with Yaron on how academics need to decide on the right time to start a company, why the capabilities and risks of AI for many industries need to be approached end to end, and why startups should seek to dispel many of the myths of being acquired.

Episode Notes

Yaron Singer is the Founder and CEO of Robust Intelligence, the early leader in AI security that was recently acquired by Cisco. On today’s episode, Jon Sakoda speaks with Yaron on how academics need to decide on the right time to start a company, why the capabilities and risks of AI for many industries need to be approached end to end, and why startups should seek to dispel many of the myths of being acquired:

• Why Skateboarding Prepared Me Well for Entrepreneurship  [4:10 - 5:45] - Yaron early on picked up skateboarding as one of his first hobbies. He realized that in order to improve in skateboarding, you need to learn both physical and mental resilience. Your body has to endure quite a bit to get better! He was also inspired by those who pushed the sport by creating new tricks and techniques. This ultimately inspired him to chart his own course as a founder. 
• Why AI Has an Inconvenient Truth  [15:25 - 17:15]  - Yaron was a PHD student at Berkeley and ultimately became a professor of computer science at Harvard. Along the way, he learned the great power and also the great limitations of using machine learning and AI for many applications. As much as we would like to move quickly to embrace the power of AI, we don’t always understand how to do so safely. Yaron has ultimately dedicated his career to helping people step into the fear of the unknown by using his products.
• Dispelling the Myths of Getting Acquired [17:30 - 22:50] - Many founders told Yaron that partnering with a large company like Cisco would be a risk. Perhaps they would steal his intellectual property or compete with him directly? Yaron believes strongly that the benefits of partnering have outweighed the risk, and that every founder must make the most of partnership opportunities with large companies that can ultimately lead to successful M&A events.