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Ben McKean shared thisToday marks the biggest change to the Hungryroot brand and digital experience since 2019. Food shopping is changing. It's becoming less about searching for something you already know you want, and more about discovering what you didn't know existed. A dish in a feed. A recipe from a creator. Something you save, share, and come back to later. This week, we rolled out a new Hungryroot experience built around that idea. The Discovery Feed offers a personalized and interactive way to discover foods and recipes. Cookbooks let you save, organize, and share what you love, and explore collections created by others. Soon, you'll be able to import recipes from across the web and have them delivered in your next Hungryroot order. Together, these features close the gap between finding something you want to eat and actually having it on your table. There is a lot to discover. Hungryroot now has more than 100,000 shoppable recipes, and that number is growing quickly. That gives us the ability to help each customer find food far more specific to them, whether they're looking for a 10-minute dinner, a high-protein meal, a new cuisine, or simply something that looks delicious tonight. Importantly, these features change what personalization enables. Historically, SmartCart has learned what you like, predicted what you'll want, and built your cart. Now, customers can shape Hungryroot themselves. Every recipe you save and every Cookbook you build helps create a food experience more your own—while making Hungryroot better at helping you find what to eat next. Personalization becomes not just something an algorithm does for you, but something you actively create. We first launched these features to a subset of customers in June. The response exceeded our expectations, so this week we rolled them out to everyone. As AI makes shopping more efficient, discovery becomes even more valuable. AI agents will get very good at handling the things you already know you need: reorder this, find the best price, make sure it arrives every month. But food needs aren’t static, and the best food experiences often involve something new. You might be trying to eat more protein, accommodate a new dietary need, or simply find something different for dinner. The best discovery experiences make that process enjoyable and interactive, adapt to what you need, and make it easy to turn inspiration into something you can actually put on the table. That's the future we're building at Hungryroot: a place that gets better at knowing what you love while constantly helping you find what you might love next. The Hungryroot we've imagined for years is starting to feel a lot more real. Have you seen the new Hungryroot experience? If so, what do you think? If not, what are you waiting for?
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Ben McKean shared thisMy grandfather used to say to me, “A scoop of ice cream is like a cool hug on a hot day.” He never really explained what he meant, but I think he was talking about the unique impact food can have on us. He was a food entrepreneur who started a chain of ice cream parlors in the 1970s called Baileys of Boston. This picture hangs in my office today. Before that, it hung in their flagship store. I’ve looked at it thousands of times. It’s a little ridiculous. Dogs eating sundaes. A giant bow. An entire world organized around ice cream. But I think that was part of the point. My grandfather understood that people weren’t coming to Baileys simply because they needed calories. They were coming for a feeling. A sundae could be a celebration. A date. A reward after a bad day. Something a kid remembered years later. Food is unusually good at doing that. It can transport us somewhere else almost instantly. I didn’t appreciate how much my grandfather’s view of food shaped me until much later. When I started Hungryroot, I thought a lot about nutrition, convenience, and making it easier for people to eat well. I still do. But after more than a decade building a food company, I’ve come to believe the best food experiences do something beyond solving a practical problem. They create anticipation. Discovery. Connection. Joy. Maybe that’s what he meant by ice cream being a dream. This picture reminds me that food doesn’t just fuel a life. Sometimes it makes life feel a little bigger. What food takes you somewhere else?
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Ben McKean shared thisIn 2018, we debated building the "Allbirds of Food” or the "Stitch Fix of Food.” We chose wrong. It had been three years since starting Hungryroot, and we had just raised a $22M Series B. But it was clear we needed to rethink our positioning. Most people thought of Hungryroot as a vegan meal kit. That was holding us back. So we laid out two options. The Allbirds of Food meant focusing on our unique food products. We would win because of our delicious, legume-based cookie doughs, clean-ingredient sauces, and other foods you couldn’t find anywhere else. The Stitch Fix of Food meant focusing on our service. We would learn what each customer liked, recommend the right foods for them, and get better at those recommendations over time. The products mattered, but the real product would be the personalized experience. We chose Allbirds. At the time, the choice made a lot of sense to me. Our food was what made us different. We had products people couldn’t find anywhere else. They were tangible. Easy to photograph. Easy to explain. And we knew how to make them. Personalization felt much less concrete. It was harder to describe, harder to build, and harder to know whether customers would value it enough. So we spent the next year becoming more of a food brand. We opened a store in New York City featuring our best products. Our advertising highlighted our sauces and cookie doughs. We put more and more energy into the thing we were already good at. It didn’t work. By the spring of 2019, growth had stalled and we were losing money. We eventually realized that great products were valuable, but they were only one part of solving a much bigger problem: figuring out what to eat every week. So we pivoted. We don’t call Hungryroot the “Stitch Fix of Food” today, but the underlying idea remains. In retrospect, choosing wrong wasn’t entirely wrong. Building distinctive products has made our service much better. But we had confused what made us special with the problem customers actually needed us to solve. I think companies—and people—do this all the time. We double down on what we’re good at instead of asking whether it’s the thing that matters most. What’s the best company pivot you’ve seen?
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Ben McKean shared thisOne of Hungryroot's most popular products started because I read a blog post and immediately drove to the grocery store. In 2015, I came across a recipe for homemade chickpea cookie dough. I had never considered putting chickpeas in cookie dough. It sounded strange enough that I needed to try it. I bought the ingredients, went home, and started experimenting. I fell in love immediately. At the time, Hungryroot had our own production kitchens, so there wasn’t much distance between “this is interesting” and “could we actually make this?” That same week, we started testing it in production. The first version included roasted sweet potatoes. They tasted great, but made the shelf life too short, so we eventually took them out. Within a couple of months, we launched our Almond Chickpea Cookie Dough. You can bake it into cookies. Or, as many of us prefer, eat it raw with a spoon. Since then, we’ve added Black Bean Brownie Batter and Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Dough. They have about half the sugar and twice the protein and fiber of most cookie doughs. And we’ve now sold more than 10 million of them. Looking back, what sticks with me is how little ceremony there was between curiosity and action. We tend to think innovation means inventing something no one has ever thought of before. But great ideas rarely emerge from a blank page. They come from paying attention—to something you read, eat, see, or experience—and then asking what you could do with it. The inspiration doesn’t have to be original. What you do next does. If you’ve tried ours, which is your favorite: Almond Chickpea, Black Bean Brownie, or Peanut Butter Cup? And are you team baked or team raw? If you haven't, what are you waiting for?!
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Ben McKean shared thisI used to eat this 3-4 times a week, but within a year, we had to stop selling it. When we launched the Celery Root Noodles with Basil Pesto Gremolata in 2015, it felt like the perfect expression of what we wanted Hungryroot to be. It was beautiful, delicious, packed with nutrition, and unlike anything else on the market. We spiralized fresh celery root into noodles, then paired them with an herby basil pesto gremolata, roasted tomatoes, and parmesan. It turned a humble root vegetable into something people genuinely got excited to eat. But it wasn’t meant to be. Behind the scenes, it was much harder than it looked. Finding celery roots that were the right size for spiralizing wasn't easy, and inconsistent sizing meant more labor and more waste. A couple customers experienced unexpected sensitivities because they had never eaten that much celery in one meal. The product's shelf life was also just too short. It was a tough lesson: some of the best product ideas never become the best products. Now we know that a great product isn't just a great idea. It's an idea that can survive contact with the realities of sourcing, operations, economics, and scale. Today, we still look for ideas that surprise and delight people—but we've learned that the most enduring innovations are the ones that work just as well in a fulfillment center as they do in a photoshoot. What's a product you still miss years after it disappeared?
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Ben McKean shared thisTen years ago today, I woke up at 4am, got dressed, and took the dark 45-minute subway ride to Hungryroot’s production kitchen in Long Island City. Half asleep, my eyes were blinded as I walked into the facility, stinging from the ginger shots being made next door. I stumbled into our kitchen to find it ransacked, a total mess just an hour before we were supposed to start work. I had arrived early to set up our production schedule, an elaborate Excel sheet that felt very sophisticated at the time. But now the kitchen needed cleaning. Fortunately, we had an incredibly selfless team—people like Gregory Struck, Zoe Stephens, Franklin Becker—who showed up ready to do whatever needed doing. Unfortunately, what needed doing that day was manually spiralizing 20,000 pounds of carrots. By hand. All day, for the fourth day in a row. Our forearms were wrecked. By the time the sun went down, I shut off the lights, locked up the facility, and dragged myself back to the subway. On the ride home, two women got into a vicious fight. It felt strangely representative of the chaos of the day. I got home, kissed my wife goodnight, and went straight to bed. I never stopped to ask whether any of it was worth it. Ten years later, I’m grateful for that day. Not because it was fun. It wasn’t. But because the grind has a strange way of giving meaning to everything that follows. The things that feel chaotic while you’re living them often become the stories that remind you what mattered: the people who showed up, the work you believed in, and the version of yourself you became by refusing to quit. The lows are never as low in hindsight. Often they become the parts you’re most grateful for.
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Ben McKean shared thisI’ve been thinking a lot recently about how AI is accelerating almost everything—except trust, judgment, and human commitment. Historically, change was gradual, information was disjointed, and human labor was often the constraint. Management systems were built to coordinate work, monitor execution, and optimize predictable processes. That world is fading fast. In the AI era, information is abundant, routine work is automated, and technical capabilities are evolving monthly instead of yearly. That means the real bottleneck is no longer just execution. It is alignment. Clarity, trust, adaptability, judgment, creativity, and coordinated decision-making under uncertainty are becoming the new operating system. AI can write code, automate workflows, and take actions. But it cannot create durable human commitment. It cannot give people meaning, context, psychological safety, accountability, or shared direction when the ground is shifting beneath them. This is why people leadership matters more than ever. The strongest organizations won’t simply be the ones with the best AI tools. They’ll be the ones whose leaders help teams adapt faster, experiment without chaos, maintain trust through change, and translate technological possibility into coordinated action. AI can make almost any individual more productive. But a dysfunctional team with AI will simply create dysfunction faster. I’m interested in what you think. If AI makes work faster, what becomes even more important for leaders to get right?
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Ben McKean shared thisThis is my third and final year serving as a judge for EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Here are some things I’ve learned through this experience: The best entrepreneurs have selfless ambition. They work with equal parts passion and humility. They turn their spark into a bonfire by inspiring a collective mission with positive societal impact. Sameer Malhotra from Cafe Spice stands out here with the way he has helped bring authentic Indian cuisine from his family’s restaurant roots to a much broader audience. They practice thoughtful clarity. Each entrepreneur has only 12 minutes to pitch the judges. That requires starting with why their company matters, making simple feel smart, and shaping the message to the moment. Ron E. Rudzin from Saatva stood out here with his “tomorrow starts tonight” mantra. They courageously connect. This requires self-awareness and empathy, and is supercharged by opening up about who they are. I’m inspired by Ryan Serhant of SERHANT. and how he wears his heart on his sleeve. If you haven’t seen his show, Owning Manhattan, on Netflix, check it out! They operate with creative urgency. They solve problems with speed, openness, and practical imagination. This means breaking the box (and then thinking outside of it), challenging requirements, and moving before certainty arrives. Michael Martin from RapidSOS exhibits this in the way the company has completely rethought emergency response—helping first responders access critical information faster when every second matters. Lastly, they live with serious joy. They pursue meaningful work with energy, gratitude, and a sense of play. Brad Charron of ALOHA lives up to this through his mission to build a better-for-you food company that is as joyful, human, and energizing as the products themselves. Through the Entrepreneur of the Year program, I’ve had the chance to meet incredible people, some well known such as Reese Witherspoon (shown with me above), Martha Stewart, and Vince Vaughn, others less so but doing equally impactful work. Thank you E&Y for the honor! Have other traits that you feel distinguish exceptional entrepreneurs? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. #ey #entrepreneur #sgfus
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Ben McKean shared thisI’m just leaving our Hiram, Georgia fulfillment center, where I had the chance to tour our facility and discuss the investments we’re making in our operation. In a world increasingly shaped by AI, technology alone is no longer a moat — and our vertically integrated supply chain is more important than ever. Over the next twelve months, we’re making targeted investments to unlock better experiences for our customers. I’m so grateful to our hardworking operations team — both on the floor of our fulfillment centers and on our corporate teams — and I’m excited to share more in the coming months.
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Ben McKean liked thisBen McKean liked thisI'm very excited to announce that I've started a new role as the SVP of AI & Analytics for CVS Health supporting our 9,000 pharmacies and retail stores. I still remember the excitement as a kid shopping for 1st grade school supplies at the CVS in my neighborhood (yes I still remember my trapper keeper and my prized translucent green plastic ruler!). Now decades later I see the critical role that CVS plays in the lives of my family members as they age and need more support on their health and wellness, a situation I know all-too-well with my own ongoing health challenges stemming from long-COVID. My #1 priority for my next role was the ability to translate my AI expertise into meaningful scaled impact in peoples lives, and its with these memories in mind that I'm confident I've found the right opportunity. The magic of retail is how personal it is, and those memories of key points in our life that are attached to it. When you fold in health and wellness, it becomes the most personal journey we have. I can't wait to work with the team to create more experiences that we can be proud of as a partner to people throughout all the shapes and moments that our lives take. Separately: if you have any feedback about our store and pharmacy experiences, please send them along. For those who have worked with me before you know that I love getting "hands in the soil" and really getting into our experiences, so it would sincerely be a gift to hear about your experiences and where we're delivering for you or can be doing better.
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Ben McKean liked thisTo date in 2026 I've lost about 20 pounds and the biggest change for me has actually been improving data quality. Tracking what I burn is easy thanks to WHOOP recording calories out all day without my having to think about it. Tracking what I ate was my previous roadblock. Guessing at portions and ingredients gave me exactly the kind of messy, unreliable input data I'd never accept at work. Hungryroot fixed that for me. Every item comes with full nutrition data, so I scan it into Cronometer and the calories and nutritional info are logged automatically. From there I have a simple automation to track calories in, calories out, the daily difference and how much room I have left against my weekly target. Once I started to trust the inputs, the results kicked in after a few weeks. That's part of why this week's Hungryroot launch is so exciting to me. The new Discovery Feed and Cookbooks make it much easier to find meals that fit a goal like mine without eating the same thing every night. Feel free to check out my high-protein cookbook here: https://lnkd.in/gkMAz-in. If you'd like to try Hungryroot for the first time, send me a message and I'm happy to share a discount code for your first order. And if you've built a food tracking system that works better than mine or that you like, I'd love to compare notes.
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Ben McKean liked thisEvery week I go grocery shopping with my children. They are 5, 3 and 1 year. We go to Costco, sprouts, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, depending on the week. They enjoy the process and often they try to put different items in our cart. I often find myself explaining why we don’t buy certain products, even at Whole Foods market. We don’t buy produce that is not organic and part of the “dirty dozen”. We try to avoid natural flavors where we can, but it is very hard considering it’s in everything such as chicken broth and pretty much every beverage. “Natural flavors” don’t really disclose what is in a food product, which can be problematic. Lots of “healthy” products have seed oils, gums, preservatives, the list goes on. I created a standard in my head of what we buy and what we don’t buy. However, how do I explain this to my toddler children? So, I created a character. 🦔 His name is Inspector Crumb. He is a part of our conversations when grocery shopping. He reads ingredient labels and validates products. If we buy something, its because he approves it. He is forthcoming, and gets pleasure in finding “suspicious ingredients”. He feels that CPG food products should have ingredients you find in your own kitchen, not ones that were made in a lab. In CPG, I really feel that the food scientists have gotten out of control with their formulations and Americans are addicted to cheap food. There are always trends - right now it is protein maxing. I’m sure the next one will be fiber, or whatever. We’ve lost the plot. But what about eating high quality food, and enjoying it and tasting its true flavor? Why is everything masked by "natural flavors"? This is what I want to share with my children. That being said, I couldn’t help myself and am launching something new soon. It’s a brand that is a love letter to my children. It is delightful, has a sense of humor and hopefully some day, can feel nostalgic to my children and today’s generation. I can wait to share more with you. #CPG #newbrand #cpgstartup #momlife
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Ben McKean liked thisBen McKean liked thisProud to be named a 2027 Top AI Leader by Rethink Retail, among a cohort of leaders defining what's next for AI in retail by doing the real, hands-on work. Honors like this are meaningful because they come from peers and reward execution, not just ambition. That distinction matters more than ever. If you want to hear more about how we are putting AI into practice, join us at Rethink Retail's AiR Virtual Summit on October 28. See the full 2027 cohort: https://lnkd.in/g_nC-gyB #AIinRetail #TopAILeader2027 #RethinkRetail
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Ben McKean liked thisBen McKean liked thisWhat if you could bite into a lemon and have it taste like candy? There’s a small red fruit from West Africa called the miracle berry that can make that happen. The berry contains a protein called miraculin. On its own, it doesn’t taste particularly sweet. But after you eat it, miraculin attaches to your taste receptors. Then, when something acidic hits your tongue, those receptors start telling your brain: sweet. For the next little while, lemons can taste like lemonade. Vinegar can taste almost syrupy. A grapefruit becomes something entirely different. The food hasn’t changed. Your experience of it has. This is a simple reminder that food is much stranger—and more magical—than we usually give it credit for. We eat multiple times a day, yet there are still fruits that can seemingly rewrite the rules of taste. What food feels magical to you?
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Ben McKean liked thisBen McKean liked thisThree and a half years ago, on March 29, 2023, I started Brightly with an idea. Could we create something new at the intersection of two enormous challenges: climate change and hunger? Could we measure the environmental value created every day by food rescue organizations and turn it into a new source of funding for the people and communities they serve? Today, that idea has gone from concept to reality. I am thrilled to announce that Brightly has achieved the first issuance of Verra-verified carbon credits generated from rescued food, more than 721,000 credits representing the work of incredible food rescue organizations across the United States! It is difficult to describe what this moment means to me. Brightly has been a true labor of love. Over the past three and a half years, I have been tested, challenged in ways I couldn't have anticipated, and had the privilege of meeting extraordinary people along the way. I am especially grateful to Matt Jones and Nicolas Dobler for their partnership, camaraderie and unwavering commitment, and to Eric Cooper, our partner at Feeding America from the very beginning, who believed in what this could become long before we knew exactly how we would get here. I am grateful to the food rescue organizations that entrusted us with their data and patiently navigated this journey with us; to the companies and partners who committed to purchasing credits before they were issued; and to the many people who challenged our thinking, opened doors, shared their expertise and believed in what we were building. Through it all, what kept us going was the reason we started. We live on a warming planet while millions of people face hunger every day. Food rescue sits at the intersection of those challenges: feeding people, keeping good food from going to waste, and avoiding greenhouse gas emissions. Today feels a little like what I imagine reaching Everest Base Camp must feel like to a mountaineer. Getting here required a long, difficult climb and an awful lot of persistence. But Base Camp isn't the summit. 🏔️ These credits can now generate meaningful new resources for food rescue organizations and the communities they serve. And our aspirations extend far beyond the United States. We believe the model we've built can help food rescue organizations around the world capture the environmental value they are already creating and put that value back to work serving people. Three and a half years. One idea. An extraordinary group of people who helped make it real. We know there is much more work ahead. But today, this feels pretty special. 💟
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Ben McKean liked thisBen McKean liked thisForty years after EY Entrepreneur Of The Year™ began, I asked Greg Ericksen, one of EOY’s founders, a question: If you were launching EOY today, in 2026, what would you do differently? His answer: not much. For #EYAlumniWeek, Catherine Franks and I had the chance to reconnect with Greg and hear why. The original team saw an entrepreneurial market that deserved greater attention and went after it. I loved the description of them as “renegades.” What began as a lunch grew into a dinner, then a gala, before expanding across the US and ultimately around the world. EY’s tagline at the time was “We take business personally.” Greg described becoming a trusted adviser as a combination of professional competence and genuine care. EOY gave EY a way to demonstrate both. Today, as an entrepreneur himself, Greg speaks to the future as “high tech, high touch.” Forty years later, the format has evolved. The purpose has not. That feels like a pretty good test of an idea built to last. Greg was also clear that ideas like this need sponsorship from the top. Thank you to Janet Truncale, Hanne Jesca Bax and EY leaders across generations for continuing to back the renegades and give entrepreneurial thinkers the space to build what comes next. And thank you, Cath and Greg, for a fabulous conversation and for finding these amazing photos from the early years!
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Ben McKean liked thisExcited to bring this next chapter of Hungryroot to life—and proud of everyone on the team that helped build it! Finding food you love should feel easy. With discovery tailored to your tastes and new favorites for every meal, mood and craving, we’re making it easier to break out of your food rut.
Experience & Education
Patents
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SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING USER PLANS FOR FUTURE UNITS
Issued 470094401
Embodiments are directed toward systems and methods of optimizing a user plan while predicting and selecting units for a user. A user plan is received for a user to be provided a plurality of units at a given frequency. A type of each unit of the plurality of units is determined based on the user plan. The plurality of units are selected for the user in accordance with the determined type of each unit. User input that changes the type of at least one unit of the selected plurality of units…
Embodiments are directed toward systems and methods of optimizing a user plan while predicting and selecting units for a user. A user plan is received for a user to be provided a plurality of units at a given frequency. A type of each unit of the plurality of units is determined based on the user plan. The plurality of units are selected for the user in accordance with the determined type of each unit. User input that changes the type of at least one unit of the selected plurality of units is received. The selected units are then updated based on the user changes and an order for the plurality of units is initiated. The user plan is also optimized based on the user input, such as by modifying the user plan to include the changed type of the at least one unit or selecting a different user plan that includes at least the number of units of each type as changed by the user.
Other inventors -
Automated Packaging Assembly Line for Perishable Items
Issued 17680992
An automated apparatus and method for configuring and producing packaging for orders of variable configurations of perishable items includes an automatic case erector-sealer; a packing liner dispenser; a cold pack dispenser; a control system; a point of sale ecommerce platform; and a data processor to capture order configuration, order destination, and available order points of origin.
Other inventors -
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PRE-FILLING GROCERY CART
Issued 11587145
Systems and methods to predict and optimize automated recipe selection and item delivery for a customer. An item-selection server selects a plurality of predicted recipes based on customer preferences and order history. Hard and soft constraints are obtained to perform the optimization of the predicted recipes. The hard constraints define parameters that cannot be violated by a recipe or set of recipes, and soft constraints define parameters that expresses a tradeoff value associated with a…
Systems and methods to predict and optimize automated recipe selection and item delivery for a customer. An item-selection server selects a plurality of predicted recipes based on customer preferences and order history. Hard and soft constraints are obtained to perform the optimization of the predicted recipes. The hard constraints define parameters that cannot be violated by a recipe or set of recipes, and soft constraints define parameters that expresses a tradeoff value associated with a recipe or set of recipes. Optimization includes selecting multiple sets of predicted recipes based on the hard constraints and scoring each recipe set based on the soft constraints, item inventory, and customer preferences. A specific set of recipes is selected for the order based on the scores, and the filling of the order is initiated for the customer with items associated with the selected set of recipes.
Other inventorsSee patent -
PROMOTION REDEMPTION AND PAYMENT GATEWAY
Issued US 058407-441558
Systems, methods, and computer readable program code are provided to, in general, to facilitate secure and convenient payments and promotion redemptions, such as without requiring a consumer to provide payment data (e.g., a credit card) and/or promotion redemption data (e.g., an instrument such as a voucher or coupon) for each transaction.
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Training Artificial Intelligence Model Using Tags For Sequences of Units to Recommend Future Units
Filed 18931825
Embodiments are directed toward systems and methods of selecting groups
of units for users. An artificial intelligence mechanism is used to generate a model to predict a next
group of units for a target user based on a plurality of sequence of tags for a plurality of sequences of
groups of units. The plurality of sequences of groups of units are first received for a plurality of
users. Each corresponding sequence of groups of units of the plurality of sequences of groups of
units…Embodiments are directed toward systems and methods of selecting groups
of units for users. An artificial intelligence mechanism is used to generate a model to predict a next
group of units for a target user based on a plurality of sequence of tags for a plurality of sequences of
groups of units. The plurality of sequences of groups of units are first received for a plurality of
users. Each corresponding sequence of groups of units of the plurality of sequences of groups of
units is then processed to generate the corresponding sequence of tag.Other inventors -
GROCERY PERSONALIZATION OPTIMIZATION ENGINE
Filed US 63196468
Honors & Awards
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Entrepreneur of the Year
Goldman Sachs
Named one of the “Most Exceptional Entrepreneurs of 2024” by Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) at their annual Builders and Innovators Summit in Healdsburg, California, which honors visionary entrepreneurs making an impact in their respective industries.
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Entrepreneur of the Year
Ernst & Young
Founded in 1986, the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award is the most prestigious recognition given to ambitious and visionary entrepreneurs building a better world for us all.
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Josh Resnick
So honored to be featured on the Startup CPG podcast this week. Really enjoyed the conversation on what we’re building at OpenSky Ventures, how we think about early stage investing across consumer and AI, and lessons from my operator journey that continue to shape how I invest today. Appreciate the Startup CPG team for having me on. If you’re building in the space, would love to hear what resonated. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/g_w3nAQ9
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Keval Desai
- Can we scale the startup funnel by funding more companies at the top and expect more companies to emerge at the bottom as category leaders? - How can one identify whether a founder will scale from inception through an IPO? - Can small & big (funds) co-exist or has VC changed forever? The great folks at Uncovered Media shared our conversation on these topics & more on their recent podcast. If you get a chance to listen (link below), please share your thoughts as well. Thank you Sean Lindy Brandy Whalen & team! cc SHAKTI
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Matthew Nichols
One of my agentic commerce predictions for 2026 in this recent Forbes piece: Matt Nichols, General Partner at Commerce Ventures, notes that the mechanics are already in motion. Looking ahead, he predicts that this year, "Agentic commerce transaction volume reaches meaningful levels as consumers advance from research to buying on AI platforms. 2026 will be the year that transactions are completed in these platforms." To this prediction, Nichols adds another: retailers will be forced to build "super-feeds" specifically for AI platforms. “These data feeds may involve monetary transactions that could include payments to AI platforms or payments to the retailer/brand (depending on balance of power).” https://lnkd.in/g65RAerA
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Rob Frasca
Frasca Executive Dispatch | Wednesday: AI (Enterprise / Leadership) At Affinnova we used genetic algorithms to help Fortune 500 brand teams choose packaging and product concepts. The algorithm was never the hard part. The hard part was persuading a brand group to let the result overrule a call it had owned for a decade. The clients who changed who signed off got the value. The ones who kept the old sign-off got a very good report. 1. OpenAI released GPT-6 Sol and Luna on 22 September and cut API prices in half against the previous tier. The company says the new rates are permanent, not introductory. Frontier-grade reasoning just became a line item a procurement desk can approve without a meeting. 2. The same day, The Information reported that Amazon, Microsoft and Figma are discounting or bundling AI features to hold customers. FICO's CIO, Mike Trkay, said dozens of his vendors have added AI at no extra cost at renewal, and that a contract charging separately for it is one he would no longer sign. 3. A PYMNTS Intelligence study published the same day found that firms with AI embedded narrowly and firms with it embedded widely use it on roughly the same number of tasks. The returns diverge anyway: 55% of the narrow group report one, against 93% of the wide group. The deep adopters also report nearly twice as many barriers. They are not finding fewer problems. They are finding more of the company. What this rhymes with: Affinnova. The optimisation was for sale. The willingness to act on it was not. Second-order effect: when every competitor rents the same intelligence at the same falling rate, the model stops being the differentiator. Decision rights, clear ownership and an approval path that does not assume a person retyping data become the advantage. For institutions: stop benchmarking which model you bought. Ask which decisions it is allowed to make, who changed their sign-off to let it, and what your operating plan assumes about the cost of intelligence. AI doesn't replace experience. It compresses it. — Rob Frasca | COSIMO Digital | cosimodigital.com Capital markets, rebuilt on-chain, amplified by AI #EnterpriseAI #AILeadership #FutureOfWork
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