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🌟 We hosted an inspiring event that brought together ~200 founders, technologists, and investors to discuss the cutting-edge advancements, challenges, and opportunities shaping the world of artificial intelligence. Our incredible panelists—Michael Talan, Jia Li, Jenny Xiao, and He Lu—shared their unique perspectives, sparking dynamic conversations on three key topics:
🏗️ Building Moats and Differentiation in AI Startups
💰 AI Monetization and Return on Investment (ROI)
📈 Future Trends and Frontier Innovations in AI
Speakers
🎤 Michael Talan, Senior Director, Enterprise AI Strategy at Nebius AI (NASDAQ: NBIS), Professor of Computer Science / AI at Lincoln University, ex-VP Cloud Sales at MTS Group, ex-Director at Oracle
🎤 Jia Li, Co-founder, Chief AI Officer & President at LiveX AI; Lecturer on Gen-AI and large scale multimodal data at Stanford University, Founding Global Head of R&D, Co-Founder Cloud AI/ML at Google
🎤 He Lu, Co-Founder & CEO at Centauri AI, YC-backed document ETL and data science platform for institutional finance; Co-founder / CTO at Blue Water Financial Technologies
🎤 Jenny Xiao, Partner at Leonis Capital, ex-Researcher at OpenAI, Forbes 30 Under 30
💡 Some Memorable Quotes from the Night
🛞 Jia Li: "The power of data is not just in having it but in how you generate user interactions and leverage them to create a data flywheel. It’s about being as close as possible to how users interact with your AI solutions."
⚡ Michael Talan: "For us, AI advancement is about efficiency—power-efficient computing, advanced networking, and innovative hardware like U5 chips. These are the pivotal innovations in driving AI forward."
🤖 Jenny Xiao: "The AI business model is transforming because of the cost structure. AI agents have high marginal costs compared to traditional software, making usage-based pricing the future of enterprise AI."
🧮 He Lu: "Enterprise customers don’t buy products to play with; they want quantifiable ROI—saving time, reducing manual effort, or increasing revenue pipelines. Solving their problems is your first moat."
👩💻 Michael Talan: "The most successful startups I’ve seen are the ones where the founder is still hands-on, building alongside the team. When startups lose their founder-driven energy, they start slowing down."
🙏 Thank you to our amazing panelists and engaged audience for making this event such a success! The conversations were insightful and will no doubt inspire further innovation in AI. A huge shoutout to Nebius, our co-host, and our amazing partners JJ Lake Business Center and UpScaleX for their support in making this event a success!