20VC: How to Survive and Thrive in a World of OpenAI, Are LLMs Being Commoditised, Where Does the Value Lie; Infrastructure or Application Layer, How Apple Could Win in a World of AI, How Amazon Could Threaten OpenAI and Why Google Struggle with Des Traynor, Co-Founder @ Intercom

Des Traynor is a Co-Founder of Intercom, and has built and led many teams within the company, including Product, Marketing, and Customer Support. Today Des leads all of Intercom’s R&D efforts, and parts of Intercom’s marketing.

In Today’s Episode with Des Traynor We Discuss:

1. From Consultancy to Founding a Unicorn:

• What was the founding a-ha moment for Des and the team with Intercom?

• Why does Des believe that most startup advice is BS and outdated in 5 years?

• What does Des know now that he wishes he had known when he started?

2. LLMs: The World is Not Equal:

• What does Des mean when he says the world of LLMs is not equal?

• How do the different LLMs vary in quality, price and speciality?

• Does Des agree with Alex @ Nabla, “the best companies in the future will work with many LLMs at the same time and switch between them for different things”?

• To what extent does Des believe LLMs will be commoditized and it will be a race to the bottom?

• Would Des be a buyer of OpenAI at a $90BN price? Why not?

3. How to Survive in a World of OpenAI:

• What two simple questions will determine if Open AI will kill your existing business?

• What 3 criteria will determine if there is a new business to be built on top of OpenAI?

• What is the different between a thin layer on top of an LLM and a thick wrapper with real value?

• Which traditional incumbents are most vulnerable? What should they do in this new world?

• How long does it take for incumbents to really be impacted?

4. The Titans of Tech: Who Wins:

• Why does Des believe that Apple could be a massive winner in the next wave of AI?

• Why does Des believe that Google have not been impressive and failed to keep pace?

• Why does Des think OpenAI should be wary of Amazon? What could they do to threaten them?

• What opportunity does Facebook have here? How could Instagram and WhatsApp win?

5. Startup and Investing 101:

• Why does Des believe that every founder should write a blog post per week?

• Why does Des believe that most B2B marketing sucks? What makes great B2B marketing?

• What are Des’ biggest lessons from the Hopin journey?

• How has Des’ angel investing changed in the last year with the rise of AI?