Episode 317: Deon Nicholas - CEO & Co-Founder, Forethought

Episode 317 of The VentureFizz Podcast features Deon Nicholas, CEO & Co-Founder of Forethought. I was at a couple of networking events the other week and let’s just say the word AI was brought up many, many times. Yes, we are in a major shift in terms of a tech platform, but doesn’t it feel like some companies are forcing AI into their business model or solution… versus an organic solution. Well, this is not the case for Forethought where AI has been core to their platform since the beginning. Forethought is a leading Generative AI company providing customer service solutions that transform the customer experience. The company has raised over $92M in VC funding from top investors. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * A discussion around AI and how it should be organically applied to a business and not forced. * Deon’s background story including how he got involved in AI back in high school and getting his career started at Dropbox and Pure Storage. * The background story of Forethought and how they ended up pitching at and winning TechCrunch Disrupt. * How Forethought is disrupting the customer service industry and why AI as a solution makes sense. * The current state of the company and future outlook. * The importance of storytelling for raising capital, hiring, sales, etc. * And so much more.