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Alex Wiltschko

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
332 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

So, were our predictions worse than the worst person, or were they in the pack somehow? And it turned out that our AI predictions of what these smells were going to be were better than the average panelist.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

So, were our predictions worse than the worst person, or were they in the pack somehow? And it turned out that our AI predictions of what these smells were going to be were better than the average panelist.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

Meaning, if you were going to add one more person to this panel, you'd actually prefer to ask our software what it smells like that doesn't have access to the physical molecule than to train up another person to physically smell it, which is kind of like passing an odor-turing test.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

Meaning, if you were going to add one more person to this panel, you'd actually prefer to ask our software what it smells like that doesn't have access to the physical molecule than to train up another person to physically smell it, which is kind of like passing an odor-turing test.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

When that happened, it was very clear that Mother Nature was not going to stand in the way of continuing on this journey of actually digitizing the sense. So if you can solve that one problem, it means you can start to ask, okay, great.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

When that happened, it was very clear that Mother Nature was not going to stand in the way of continuing on this journey of actually digitizing the sense. So if you can solve that one problem, it means you can start to ask, okay, great.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

Now, what happens if instead of feeding this AI algorithm a pre-digitized molecule, what if I feed it a reading from a sensor, like the data off of a camera, if we were talking about images? And then what if I then ask it to recreate that smell with the ability to mix together different molecules to create a new scent? If you can actually round-trip

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

Now, what happens if instead of feeding this AI algorithm a pre-digitized molecule, what if I feed it a reading from a sensor, like the data off of a camera, if we were talking about images? And then what if I then ask it to recreate that smell with the ability to mix together different molecules to create a new scent? If you can actually round-trip

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

a smell, so take a physical smell, put it in one system, and then round trip through the reader this map that we built, this graph neural network-based map, and then write it back out again, and then compare it, and it actually smells like the thing that you put in. It means that you have actually digitized a human sense.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

a smell, so take a physical smell, put it in one system, and then round trip through the reader this map that we built, this graph neural network-based map, and then write it back out again, and then compare it, and it actually smells like the thing that you put in. It means that you have actually digitized a human sense.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

We hit all of our scientific milestones at Google, and we asked ourselves, what's the right way to scale this idea? And that's where Josh Wolf comes in. So we were thinking internally at Google, maybe this should be a company. And I was working with Krishna Yeshwant at GV, who's a very close friend. We'd worked together for five years.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

We hit all of our scientific milestones at Google, and we asked ourselves, what's the right way to scale this idea? And that's where Josh Wolf comes in. So we were thinking internally at Google, maybe this should be a company. And I was working with Krishna Yeshwant at GV, who's a very close friend. We'd worked together for five years.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

And someone at GV, another investor named Izzy Rosen, was getting lunch with Josh, who's the founding and managing partner at Lux Capital. And apparently, Josh had this 10-year-long thesis about digitizing Wolf Action, and we had never met. And so Izzy was listening to Josh give this pitch again. He said, hey, have you talked to this guy, Alex? He's kind of in the smell.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

And someone at GV, another investor named Izzy Rosen, was getting lunch with Josh, who's the founding and managing partner at Lux Capital. And apparently, Josh had this 10-year-long thesis about digitizing Wolf Action, and we had never met. And so Izzy was listening to Josh give this pitch again. He said, hey, have you talked to this guy, Alex? He's kind of in the smell.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

And then Josh and I met and it just was an instant connection. And so Josh was integral in pulling this IP out of Google Brain and building it into a completely new company. So Josh led the round, Krishna at GV co-led, and we build Osmo and we're on our way.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

And then Josh and I met and it just was an instant connection. And so Josh was integral in pulling this IP out of Google Brain and building it into a completely new company. So Josh led the round, Krishna at GV co-led, and we build Osmo and we're on our way.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

I... I think in the limit, we're going to be able to explore that design space more fully. But it really depends on what's the market you're entering with that platform capability. So a lot of successful platforms are entering markets where there's already a ton of vibrant activity and they're helping to grease business and make that happen more fluidly.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

I... I think in the limit, we're going to be able to explore that design space more fully. But it really depends on what's the market you're entering with that platform capability. So a lot of successful platforms are entering markets where there's already a ton of vibrant activity and they're helping to grease business and make that happen more fluidly.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

There's not a lot of fragrance companies out there. So there's not that many buyers. The question is, do you become a software provider for the incumbents? Or do you take your capabilities and do you compete in that market? And I think there's been examples on both sides of this. There's plenty where you are an input or a service provider.

Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
Alex Wiltschko - Giving Computers A Sense Of Smell - [Invest Like the Best, EP.415]

There's not a lot of fragrance companies out there. So there's not that many buyers. The question is, do you become a software provider for the incumbents? Or do you take your capabilities and do you compete in that market? And I think there's been examples on both sides of this. There's plenty where you are an input or a service provider.