Driving Business Transformation through Generative AI: An Interview with Idan Geva, CEO of Verbato AI
I had the pleasure of interviewing Idan Geva, CEO & Co-founder of Verbato AI, a company that’s turning Generative AI into business applications.
Idan Geva is an ex-athlete and musician, and a veteran entrepreneur who bootstrapped and exited his previous two companies respectively. Born and raised in Israel, Idan moved to New York in 2017 to ramp up his previous startup. Idan moved to Santa Monica, CA since, and started Verbato AI with his old friend & brilliant technologist, Aric Fedida. Idan is happily married to Idit, a relocation mental wellness coach, and his two young boys are aspiring athletes.
Thank you so much for joining us!
My pleasure! Congrats on SuperWarm, it sounds like a really smart way to optimize time & resources for both founders and investors.
What motivated you to launch your startup?
True story: When we relocated, my wife was struggling to speak “American” with her clients when we moved. As a mental wellness coach that is a crucial skill to have. It inspired me to want to build “language and culture immersion” simulators using AI characters. When I realized that there’s a huge tidal wave of AI leaps, and what opportunities lie ahead, we shifted our value proposition to a GenAI management platform — I was even more excited about being able to help modernize businesses’ customer interfaces by allowing them to tap the latest & greatest AI without needing to know anything about AI.
What is it that excites you about what you’re building?
Turning nascence into impact. If I can help businesses, small or large, to turn many different endpoints into the way they interface smartly with their customers, fans, consumers, and communities, that would be a huge achievement. There are so many areas we can touch, from just helping people get proper support and orientation, to education and healthcare.
What has been your biggest challenge when growing your startup?
To be perfectly honest, I feel like this has been the most puzzling financial climate I’ve experienced when it comes to fundraising. All stage-related KPIs seemed to have shifted forward due to various factors stemming from the global financial crisis, which seems to have shuffled the cards for many startups, us included. I feel like we were “forced” to make some tough and brave choices due to this and are coming out on the other end of it stronger and with a better offering.
What are your future plans for your startup?
I believe we will be the gold standard of generative AI management, and so with the growth and evolution of those tools and engines, we will be able to provide easily customizable and robust turnkey solutions for business clients to lift & shift those AI capabilities. I really do think we can be the Twillio of the AI/ML industry.
If you had to share, “words of wisdom,” with a Founder who’s about to start their own startup, what would they be?
Aha! So many come to mind, but I think the one overarching theme for all new founders would be: “don’t consistently prioritize your venture over your mental or physical wellbeing”. It’s inevitable to have spurts of travel, hackathons, and stressful periods, but your company needs you to be healthy and focused — to bring your A game every single day. A smart investor once told me: “I want my founders hungry, not starving”. I would encourage you to never lose sight of your personal mental and physical health as well as your spouse and kids, if you have any. I know this is easier said than done but it’s a hard learned lesson after a meltdown I had in 2018.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Thanks for asking! I’m not super active on social media but I would appreciate more readership :)
LI — For (mostly) business stuff I’m at /idan-geva
IG — For my foodie/amateur chef ideas @idangeva
My personal blog is https://gevaz.com where I share thoughts about business, food, and sports. I haven’t been active recently but I plan to soon!
This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!
