When I decided to co-found (with the amazing Andrew Montalenti ) a startup way back in 2009, we were driven by two things:
- The desire to build a company radically different than our experience working for large, bureaucratic organizations.
- The rising promise of being able to launch a tech company without much in terms of team, capital or experience a.k.a. a startup.
We founded Parse.ly on the back of the Great Recession and with much skepticism from those close to us. But we went after it with our blinders on, because we wanted to build the company that we wanted to work for. And irrespective of our eventual outcome (acquired by Automattic in 2021) we succeeded in doing exactly that over the 13+ years since launch. Throughout all the ups and downs, we never compromised on the company we wanted to build.
When I left Parse.ly in March of 2022 I wasn’t sure I was going to do another startup. Dedicating over thirteen years of your life to building a company and seeing it succeed could have been enough for me. Three things, though, were undeniable:
- Unlike other recent hype cycles, large language models and generative AI represented real value that I could easily see shifting the tides of industry. There was a chance to build a generational company on the back of something that we haven’t seen since the mobile phone or the internet.
- Two other people I knew agreed and were eager to discuss the latest innovations and the second order effects of generative AI. They also happened to be two of the best, earliest and most committed hires we made at Parse.ly: John Levitt and Mike Sukmanowsky.
- I missed building and creating. I really started to miss it about 9 months after leaving Parse.ly. I thought angel investing and startup advising would fill that void, but it didn’t. In fact, working with other talented founders just made me want to get back in the game.
And, of course, I wanted to continue the journey of building a company that I wanted to work for. Though we got very far towards that vision with Parse.ly, there’s still more to do. Startup #2 was inevitable for me.
So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to Elvex and my co-founders, Mike Sukmanowsky and John Levitt (though most of you probably know them). We’ve raised a pre-seed round with some incredible investors, and are now building the first AI management platform to help companies accelerate their adoption of AI, without the risks.
We’re working closely with a select few companies in a private beta and will launch in 2024. Keep your eyes peeled for more information on Elvex in a future post (if you’re really curious, just send me a message or email!).
For now though, couldn’t be happier to say I’m back… watch out!
