Revolut, the financial super app with more than 35 million customers worldwide introduces Trading Pro — a powerful set of tools and insights for advanced traders designed to enhance their trading experience. The new subscription across the EEA is ...

Revolut Launches Trading Pro Across the European Economic Area (EEA): A Set of Tools for Advanced Traders

Andria Evripidou, a former executive at Revolut and Yapily, and current Chief Banking Officer at Xace, has announced the launch of a unified solution for Crypto and Banking.

Former Revolut staffer launches crypto and gaming startup

Japan is a key jurisdiction for digital assets and continues to be an important part of our plans to be the most coveted institutional-grade custodian globally. We are pleased to take our relationship with Crypto Garage to the next level as we continue to cement our footprint in Japan.

Komainu and Crypto Garage partner for superior institutional crypto service offering in Japan

There’s the one pretending to be from An Post, a brief but pointed message about a parcel I need to pay for and collect. I’m too lazy to collect parcels so this one doesn’t work either. Unscammable, that’s me. Or so I thought.

Róisín Ingle: I thought I was unscammable. I was wrong. Here’s what I learned from the unpleasant experience

Digital banks have better technology and lighter operations, enabling them to offer more affordable, user-friendly services to underserved customers than their brick-and-mortar counterparts. In this way, digital banks can advance financial inclusion, especially in Africa and Asia.

UAE's digitally-savvy neo-banks are having a good run - it will only get better

Revolut has introduced a new subscription service, Trading Pro, aimed at providing advanced traders with new tools and insights to improve their trading experience.

Revolut extends US stocks trading to 16 hours, matching major brokerages

As you move to a more distributed workforce, you've got to be overtly stating what your culture is and reinforcing that with people'

Revolut enjoys benefits of remote-first approach

Some Revolut customers go to extreme lengths to get their money back. However, their reimbursement claims are almost always rejected. The “applicants X.X.” could tell you some of the most interesting lesson-learning stories, filled with social ...

Should financial institutions reimburse scam victims? It depends which country they’re in

Online bank Revolut claims to have successfully prevented more than €220m in potential fraud in the last 12 months.

Revolut doubles financial crime headcount since 2021 to combat fraud

Is cash a spent force or are we in danger of rushing headlong into the virtual alternatives with no thought to the consequences?

Are fears over the cashless society exaggerated? Ciara O’Brien versus Conor Pope

Revolut

revolut

Revolut Halts U.S. Cryptocurrency Operations: A Reflection on Regulation and Market Uncertainties Decision to End Crypto Services in the U.S. Revolut, a UK-based financial technology startup valued at $33 billion, has issued a public statement announcing the suspension of cryptocurrency services for its U.S. customers. This decision comes as a result of an increasingly complex and uncertain regulatory landscape in the U.S. The suspension will commence from September 2, 2023, with a complete halt to all related activities from October 3, 2023. The company has expressed an understanding of the disappointment this may cause and has assured its customers that it is actively seeking alternative means to continue providing access to cryptocurrency products in the U.S. Impact on the Crypto Community The announcement signifies a growing concern among fintech firms regarding the future of cryptocurrencies in the American market. Revolut's decision to discontinue crypto services reflects the company's caution in the face of evolving regulatory measures and potential legal ramifications. The Regulatory Landscape: SEC's Pursuit and Congressional Response U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - A Force to Reckon With The SEC's stance on cryptocurrencies being labeled as securities, subject to investor protection rules, has ignited debates and controversies in recent months. This regulatory effort took a sharp turn in June with lawsuits against major crypto exchanges, including and Binance, for failing to register certain cryptocurrencies. Coinbase Revolut's prompt action to delist , , and Polygon is likely a strategic response to the SEC's labeling of these tokens as securities. The platform's plan to complete this delisting process by September 18 demonstrates the urgency and significance of regulatory compliance. Cardano Solana Congressional Intervention - A Glimpse of Hope? In contrast to the 's aggressive regulatory approach, a bipartisan bill, titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, has been introduced in the Senate. Aimed at eliminating the SEC's authority over most crypto, this proposed legislation indicates a willingness among lawmakers to recognize the distinct nature of cryptocurrencies, potentially categorizing them as commodities rather than securities. SEC Revolut's Global Outlook: An Expanding Horizon Crypto Services Continue Beyond U.S. Borders While the U.S. decision is significant, Revolut assures that customers in other markets will continue to enjoy crypto services. Moreover, the company has been expanding its crypto-related offerings in Europe, including the launch of a staking program that offers cryptocurrency rewards to customers in Great Britain and around 30 European countries. This expansion highlights Revolut's global commitment to innovation in financial technology, even as it navigates the choppy waters of U.S. regulatory changes. The Path Forward In an age where technology is rapidly advancing, the intersection between finance and digital innovation often finds itself at odds with traditional regulatory frameworks. Revolut's decision to halt crypto services in the U.S. reflects a larger trend of caution and adaptation that may well define the future of fintech and cryptocurrencies. The call for freedom in the digital realm, and the desire to create a future where autonomy, privacy, and financial empowerment reign, continue to fuel the spirit of innovation. May this essence continue to inspire those who seek to build a world where financial sovereignty is not a privilege but a right for all. Sources: Revolut's official announcement on the suspension of cryptocurrency services in the U.S. Statements from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding cryptocurrency regulation. Congressional bill titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act. Decrypt's interview with a Revolut spokesperson. Revolut's email communication to U.S. crypto customers. Information on Revolut's expansion in European markets.

Revolut Halts Crypto Operations in the U.S: A Reflection on Regulation and Market Uncertainties

Revolut detiene las criptooperaciones en los EE. UU.: una reflexión sobre la regulación y las incertidumbres del mercado

Revolut arrête les opérations de cryptographie aux États-Unis : une réflexion sur la réglementation et les incertitudes du marché

रिवोल्यूट ने यू.एस. में क्रिप्टो संचालन को रोक दिया: विनियमन और बाजार अनिश्चितताओं पर एक प्रतिबिंब

Revolut、米国での仮想通貨事業を停止：規制と市場の不確実性を反映

Revolut suspende operações criptográficas nos EUA: uma reflexão sobre regulamentação e incertezas do mercado

Revolut tạm dừng hoạt động tiền điện tử ở Hoa Kỳ: Phản ánh về quy định và sự không chắc chắn của thị trường

Revolut 停止在美国的加密业务：对监管和市场不确定性的反思

The growing popularity of online banking as well as modern payment systems such as Revolut, N26, and Monzo suggests that traditional banking may be moving towards its demise. On the one hand, more than 50% of consumers still performed monthly visits to physical bank offices with 80% of them making at least one such visit within the 6 months preceding the . Fiserv survey However, this trend may be partially supported by older baby boomer audiences who do not feel at ease with smartphone applications and other remote banking instruments. On the other hand, major practitioners including Citibank are reducing their physical presence at an alarming rate moving away from brick-and-mortar branches. This article considers a number of trends in the financial industry to identify if we are getting close to the death of traditional banking. Perceived Trustworthiness The most widespread sphere of criticism for modern fintech companies is their lack of ‘tangibility’ making them appear than brick-and-mortar banks and more prone to ‘disappear into thin air’. Several stories on Reddit and other resources describe this problem citing the inability to reach the outsourced customer support, quickly react to the emerging issue to stop the fraudulent transfer of money, and the slow response of these organizations to both customer and police requests. less reliable Considering the fact that a smartphone app may be the only contact you have with the bank, this further exposes you to the risk of losing access to all your money in the case of any technical problems, the loss or theft of your smartphone, or the inability to log into your account. This is a highly concerning sign considering the fact that many mobile payment providers do not have internal call centers and may not be available via voice calls on a 24/7 basis. Technological Aptitude The above-mentioned problems may seem insignificant considering the rates of operational and shown by major physical banks. Large brick-and-mortar organizations including the Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, and Barclays have all reported 30+ significant breaches across their internal systems per month. security issues While born-digital mobile systems were originally created in the age of blockchain technologies, full anonymity, and cashless transactions, their traditional counterparts had to teach themselves these skills to survive the competition. In many cases, their old systems fail to learn new tricks and may be seen as clumsy and outdated by younger digital-native audiences. Many of them also lack the transparency of their modern counterparts that update you about any issues via multiple social media profiles and make it a rule to respond to your questions on Instagram or Twitter within one hour. Costs of Use Most proponents of modern technologies cite lower costs of use as one of the main benefits of modern solutions for mobile payments. N26, TransferWise, and Revolut charge you £0 for issuing and using their cards and 2% on the average for transferring money to anywhere in the world. All transfers occur instantly and you do not have to pay any fees when you are not using their services. On the contrary, most physical banks charge substantially higher payment processing fees for inter-bank transactions while processing periods may amount to 2-3 days in some cases. This also disrupts the retail industry since many organizations in it do not want to pay the ever-increasing charges for all check-out operations performed with banking cards. Lifestyle Integration An avid iPhone user is generally more willing to buy the ‘Created by Apple, not a bank’ Apple Card rather than the actual Goldman Sachs product being sold under this name. The Web 3.0 environment we all live in implies that our social media profiles may be more trustworthy and traceable than the documents provided by us to a bank branch. This is well understood by major brands including Facebook that add the capability to send and receive money directly to their instant messaging chats. When a friend in need is asking you for a $100 pre-salary loan, it is more logical to make this transfer from the same app rather than switch to a third-party interface or make a live visit to your bank. Even in the case of fraudulent scam attempts, digital payment methods such as PayPal generally offer better customer protection than traditional banks that may spend months considering your chargeback request. Ease of Use Most people agree that opening a digital app or a website live chat has become substantially more convenient than driving to your bank office during its working hours on a rainy day. However, this obvious factor is trickier than it looks. On the one hand, small mobile payments are easier to perform via the online systems created by . Moreover, you only need your phone to use them and they do not prohibit transactions if you forgot your passport or your driving license at home earlier this morning. modern fintech companies On the other hand, traditional thinking still suggests that brick-and-mortar storefronts may be more suitable for making ‘more serious’ transactions. Complex life choices such as opening a long-term deposit or making a mortgage payment of several thousand dollars to your real estate developer are usually associated with the need for physical contact and confirmation from the bank. Modern financial institutions are well aware of these preconceptions, which explains the transformation of their brick-and-mortar storefront facilities into open-space zones with coffee shops, coworking spaces aimed at small businesses, and regularly organized entrepreneurial fairs. The interesting part of the competition between modern services and traditional banks is its almost Hegelian dialectic. The new competitors highlight the disadvantages of their predecessors that criticize their own flaws and develop synthetic solutions combining the strong points of physical and online-based banking. At the moment, the death of traditional services may not be in sight since most people prefer to experiment with new technologies as a ‘second card’ for convenient mobile payments and international money transfers rather than a ‘core’ all-purpose solution. However, the advancement of fintech start-ups and their acquisition of specialized bank licenses will inevitably allow them to offer a wider range of offerings including deposits and consumer credits. This extra step may give them the leverage to fully disrupt the financial industry and bring an end to physical banking services.

Mobile Payments Systems: How Close Is the Death of Physical Banking?  

Fintech is often proclaimed as the great leveller. The WEF proclaimed it as financially key in and fintech lending algorithms have been found to than traditional in-person lenders. uplifting Muslim businesswomen discriminate less Is fintech really the great leveller? Yet despite these great promises of financial inclusivity, in the wake of the death of George Floyd and the subsequent global protest, the fintech industry was slow to put out a statement supporting the black lives matter movement. Some, such as app banks and , have yet to release public statements as of the time of publication. Revolut Monese These are companies that aggressively market towards millennials and arguably would not exist without the generation’s over in-person. Yet, some of them appear not to be willing to support causes close to the millennial heart. When other tech-based companies such as , and even were quick to make statements and contributions to social justice efforts, they come off as extremely out of touch. preference for digital interactions Netflix YouTube TikTok Finance and tech have a history of systemic racism You may argue that finance and technology firms have nothing to do with the murder of George Floyd and the countless other lives lost to police brutality. Yet these firms exist in a society that structural racism and discrimination. In particular, the banking industry has played a part in reinforcing race-based structural inequalities. For example in , Beth Jacobson, a Wells Fargo loan officer, explains that she specifically targeted black people for high-interest subprime loans. During this process, not only did bank employees refer to black people as “mud people” but they these so-called “ghetto loans” also meant that black homeowners took on than their non-black counterparts. this New York Times article much higher interest rates In regards to the history of the American tech industry, a similar story is told. This is exemplified in the creation of the system. This system utilised the profile of young, black, male with close-cropped hair or Jeri curl, wearing gold chains or rings, or blue or red, clothing. In doing so, it criminalised an entire community by profiling up to 50% of the US’s south-central area. It is here where we can see the technology’s explicit link with racism and police brutality. Great (Gang Reporting and Evaluation Tracking) Furthermore, companies such as IBM have a of perpetuating structural racism. IBM’s computing expertise was used to help the New York-based Eugenics Record Office to identify mixed-race people for forced sterilisation in Jamaica. IBM also has helped in computerising and automating the apartheid in South Africa. And that’s not even mentioning how in the post 9/11 era, the corporation used New York CCTV footage in order to improve their facial recognition tech to sufficiently recognise an individual’s race. deep and dark history This makes their on their commitment to racial equality feel extremely hollow. It is clear that a company like this is just superficially talking about racism in order to ensure their relevance. Adequate self-reflection is what is needed yet their statements do not indicate that this is what they plan to do. recent Twitter statement Fintech and systemic racism As the lovechild of two industries that have proliferated structural racism, fintech arguably has a duty that they are not adequately living up to. Although algorithms have been found to less discriminate less, there is an important distinction here. They may discriminate less but . What’s more, fintech has a recent history of being racially insensitive with Singapore utilising blackface to encourage cashless payment solutions in their advertisements. they still do discriminate digital payments agency E-Pay There is also an implication that fintech may also end up continuing the practice of redlining, albeit in a . Redlining is the practice of outlining minority communities and subsequently making them no-go zones for home loans and other financial packages. The practice shifted wealth away from minorities areas by making minorities make deposits at banks which would then deny them loans. This was then used to extend credit to wealthy and white neighbourhoods and in the process concentrating money in that demographic. modern-day digital variant One way in which fintech is doing this is which required banks to serve low and moderate-income individuals near their branches. Yet with branchless banking fastly becoming the norm, especially in the pandemic, this law is beginning to show its age. Not to mention it also attempts to deal with race-based inequalities without talking about race. by poking holes in the 1977 Community Investment Act It also opens up the question as to how branchless banks would comply with this law. If applied to only the online bank’s office, it would further serve to concentrate wealth in cities and most likely the already wealthy neighbourhood that the office is situated in. A NAAHL (National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders) suggestion to have them nationally assessed on their service to low and moderate-income brackets could possibly mean that the returns on loaned money to low-income minority communities could be used to invest in wealthy and white neighbourhoods which may give a higher return on investment. Thus, the cycle of the white and wealthy getting richer at the expense of poorer and blacker neighbourhoods may continue. Another way in which this could be done is through . Lower-income communities and communities of colour have lower access to high-speed internet or own a smartphone meaning that their access to fintech is undermined. This means that the higher income and the whiter are placed in a better position to benefit from fintech products than low-income minority neighbourhoods. unequal access to fintech services One seemingly simple way in which this could be solved is through widespread internet access. As Monzo continues its , it will be interesting to see whether they will take action in dealing with this. Especially, as they have shown in the European fintech industry in promising to create privilege awareness training and encouraging other companies to do so. Moreover, reveals some awareness of the lack of black representation in their company and of the reality of systemic racism by waiving fees to charities that are raising money to combat this. They are also pledging to identify high impact actions in the long term. expansion to the US some leadership Stripe’s statement Plans for long-term change are critical However, on the George Floyd murder and protests have not shown any indication of long term action or structural change. Those companies that have pledged to do so should look at the racist practices of the industries that fintech intersects. Most importantly, they need to look and analyse as to whether they perpetuate them and take appropriate action. Whilst donations to charity are welcome, a change of every industry culture is needed. Fintech is not immune to this. many fintech statements Helping to create widespread access to internet infrastructure and ensuring branchless banking does not continue redlining is one way of doing this. Improving black representation in their companies is another. Fintech, along with every aspect of global society, has a duty to work towards undermining systemic racism. Until it takes up this duty, any claims of fintech branding itself as the “the great leveller” will be left to the dust. It is only if it deals with systemic racism that fintech will finally fulfil its self-proclaimed role of being a challenger to the industry. Photo by Icons8 Team on Unsplash

Could Fintech Play A Role In Undermining Systemic Racism Or Will It Exacerbate It?

In the West, you would be hard pushed to come up with a handful of cryptocurrency or blockchain companies from Russia that operate successfully and prominently outside of the country (beyond neighbouring ex-bloc territories). It’s a similar situation for almost any industry from the country, FinTech and beyond, and a large reason for this comes as a result of sanctions imposed by the U.S. government. Considering ongoing russia-phobic sentiments being spread in the USA as well as Europe, it would be hard to see such an enterprise even being marketable in the current climate. There are actually operated by Russian nationals in the West, however they predominantly establish headquarters and brands in the local regions to avoid scrutiny from the press – as well as build a locally friendly image. many companies Even these efforts, however, are not enough to prevent McCarthy-esque headlines such as ‘ ’ – which was published by the UK paper The Telegraph, back in May 2019. Revolut’s ‘Kremlin links’ to be probed as politicians warn digital bank could risk national security Recent Crypto News Russia There has been a recent increase in blockchain-focused activities coming from state-approved organisations, as well as the Russian government directly. This appears to be in correlation with the aforementioned problems facing Russian businesses and entrepreneurs. Take, for example, the publication of an official whitepaper from the Russian National Settlement Depository (NSD) – “the largest securities depository in Russia”, which outlines the institution’s ‘Vision of Blockchain Use in Financial Infrastructure’. Lawmakers have also recently been closing in on plans to create standardized legislation on digital asset tokens, as well as a law which would enable authorities to requisition cryptocurrency funds from suspected and convicted criminals. In addition, the Russian Central Bank announced its intentions to implement or create a gold-backed cryptocurrency. China and Russia: Parallel Trends Although it is difficult to conclude the myriad of reasons each country may have, there are some notable links between Russia and China on the geopolitical stage. Both countries are facing significant trade sanctions, from the USA and (by extension) other Western nations at present. A move towards cryptocurrency based economic models may help each nation respectively overcome these restrictions, as well as those imposed by the ubiquity of the U.S. Dollar standard. Another point of comparison is with the recent gold-purchasing rush exhibited by both countries recently – which perhaps reflects the disparity between their respective global economic prowess, with the potential fragility of a currency which is not backed by tangible materials. The main question to ponder upon finishing this article would be: are the increasing US trade war sanctions and employment of anti-Russia and China sentiments as common political currency driving these countries towards cryptocurrencies? Russophobia and sanctions (similar with #China) decrease the purchasing power of their fiat currencies (ruble and renminbi)… further incentive for the adoption of digital tokens. What could be the implications (legally and economically) were either to employ cryptocurrency officially and back it with their massive gold reserves? Recent Crypto News from China Although the trajectory of news coming out of Russia has been much more consistent, with a longer tail than China,, there are parallels that can be drawn with the intensification of national cryptocurrency activities in China. China has been pushing towards what appears a standardization, legitimisation, and even state-backed support for cryptocurrencies and blockchain at an even faster rate than Russia – and most of the news has come out of the past 30 days. Earlier this month, it was revealed that a national regulator had removed a previously proposed ban on cryptocurrency mining in a 2020 update to an official guidance document originally published in 2011. Subsequently: the President of China, Xi Jinping, delivered an official endorsement for cryptocurrency as well as later advocating for increased blockchain adoption in the countries financial and technology sectors. This message was so successful that it led Jinping to deliver another statement in an attempt to calm the nerves of eager investors. Russia and China have some similarities with regards to cryptocurrency and blockchain activities, in light of their respective economic and global-political positions. Read more about this in my article: ' Is China Laying the Groundwork for a State Backed Token?' This news feature was originally published on news.daex.com on 15th November 2019. For more stories, click here .

Is Russia’s Crypto Conquest Inspired by Sanctions and Russophobia?

How K-SIF and SIF Revolutionize Anomaly Detection in Complex Datasets

HackerNoon: What is your company in 2–5 words? Lewis Johnson: AI-powered human learning technology Why is now the time for your company to exist? We at Alelo became experts in applying conversational AI to education and training long before AI became fashionable. Now that the world has woken up to the potential of generative AI, people increasingly come to us for AI-powered learning solutions. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? I love our team’s shared passion and commitment for what we do, which is to use conversational AI to create quality learning products that make a difference in people’s lives. We understand the power of conversation to promote learning, which gives us a unique perspective. A key focus of ours is ensuring that our AI-powered solutions are trustworthy. I see too many AI-powered products out there that make mistakes and are unreliable. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? My other passion is singing, and if I were weren’t building my startup I would be making more music instead. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics? We measure success by the number of successful learners and happy customers. We provide solutions to organizations with large numbers of learners, so that we can have as much impact as possible. 500,000 learners to date, with potential for rapid increase. In a few sentences, what do you offer to whom? Our primary industry focus right now is healthcare. We work with health systems to create Virtual Patient Navigators that answer patient questions and point them to educational resources, thereby reducing burdens on care teams. We also offer training solutions to training organizations and health systems, that let health professionals practice their skills with simulated patients and caregivers. We also get demand from pharmaceutical companies and other providers of educational content, to create Navigators that support their customers**.** What’s most exciting about your traction to date? What’s exciting is to me is that we are acquiring customers with really large numbers of learners. One of our customers has a site that has reached 100 million downloads. That translates into really large numbers of learners, generating lots of recurring revenue for us. Where do you think your growth will be next year? I think our growth next year will be 100% YoY, and the year after that 1,000% YoY. Tell us about your first paying customer and revenue expectations over the next year. Our first paying customer was the US Government. We reached a lot of learners by working with the Government, but it was mainly through fixed contracts instead of recurring revenue. The new generative AI platform that we are developing has much more recurring revenue potential.  We project $2M next year, with an exponential growth curve kicking in toward the end of next year. What’s your biggest threat? Our biggest threats are our biggest suppliers: the large language model developers such as Google and OpenAI. They provide foundational technology for us for now, but they might try to offer competing solutions in the future. So far, their offerings in healthcare are untrustworthy and even unsafe, which gives us an advantage. This startup founder interview template is based on HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke’s ten questions for startup founders. Would you like to take a stab at answering some of these questions? The link for the template is HERE. HackerNoon : What is your company in 2–5 words? HackerNoon Lewis Johnson : AI-powered human learning technology Lewis Johnson Lewis Johnson Why is now the time for your company to exist? We at Alelo became experts in applying conversational AI to education and training long before AI became fashionable. Now that the world has woken up to the potential of generative AI, people increasingly come to us for AI-powered learning solutions. Alelo What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? I love our team’s shared passion and commitment for what we do, which is to use conversational AI to create quality learning products that make a difference in people’s lives. We understand the power of conversation to promote learning, which gives us a unique perspective. A key focus of ours is ensuring that our AI-powered solutions are trustworthy. I see too many AI-powered products out there that make mistakes and are unreliable. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? My other passion is singing, and if I were weren’t building my startup I would be making more music instead. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics? We measure success by the number of successful learners and happy customers. We provide solutions to organizations with large numbers of learners, so that we can have as much impact as possible. 500,000 learners to date, with potential for rapid increase. In a few sentences, what do you offer to whom? Our primary industry focus right now is healthcare. We work with health systems to create Virtual Patient Navigators that answer patient questions and point them to educational resources, thereby reducing burdens on care teams. We also offer training solutions to training organizations and health systems, that let health professionals practice their skills with simulated patients and caregivers. We also get demand from pharmaceutical companies and other providers of educational content, to create Navigators that support their customers**.** What’s most exciting about your traction to date? What’s exciting is to me is that we are acquiring customers with really large numbers of learners. One of our customers has a site that has reached 100 million downloads. That translates into really large numbers of learners, generating lots of recurring revenue for us. Where do you think your growth will be next year? I think our growth next year will be 100% YoY, and the year after that 1,000% YoY. Tell us about your first paying customer and revenue expectations over the next year. Our first paying customer was the US Government. We reached a lot of learners by working with the Government, but it was mainly through fixed contracts instead of recurring revenue. The new generative AI platform that we are developing has much more recurring revenue potential.  We project $2M next year, with an exponential growth curve kicking in toward the end of next year. What’s your biggest threat? Our biggest threats are our biggest suppliers: the large language model developers such as Google and OpenAI. They provide foundational technology for us for now, but they might try to offer competing solutions in the future. So far, their offerings in healthcare are untrustworthy and even unsafe, which gives us an advantage. This startup founder interview template is based on HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke’s ten questions for startup founders. This startup founder interview template is based on HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke ’s ten questions for startup founders . HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke ten questions for startup founders Would you like to take a stab at answering some of these questions? The link for the template is HERE. Would you like to take a stab at answering some of these questions? The link for the template is HERE. The link for the template is HERE.

Revolutionizing Learning with AI: An Interview with Alelo's President & CEO

1. HackerNoon: What is your company in 2–5 words? Aaron Lee: We offer AI-driven call & chat answering to SMB. 2. Why is now the time for your company to exist? Providing real time 24/7 customer engagement, lead qualification and conversion has been the biggest pain point for SMB as they don’t have the time nor the resources to do it. Traditional call answering services can only handle simple tasks like take a message and gather contact information. With advancements in technology, particularly AI and automation, Smith.ai evolved to leverage AI to answer calls and chat with human-in-the-loop for escalation, expanding services to integrate with CRMs, provide scheduling assistance, payment collection, and deliver enhanced customer support tailored for businesses of all sizes, especially SMBs. 3. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? AI is fast moving but at the current stage, we don’t believe it can handle 100% of the calls and chats as human conversation is nuanced and complicated. Humans can easily detect caller’s emotion but it’s challenging if AI only looks at the transcription, e.g. “That’s great” could be either positive or sarcastic. We believe having a group of highly trained agents + highly tuned AI based on each individual business (think about it as Voice GPT for your business) is the best way to achieve the business outcomes: converting callers to customers. My background is in software engineering, computer graphics with GPU and was the former CTO of The Home Depot which allowed me to work with SMB on a daily basis for years. Our team is unique as we have AI expertise, deep domain knowledge, as well as huge appreciation to the pain points that SMB are facing. 4. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? I am very excited about entrepreneurship, helping other startups succeed, and have been angel investing for a long time as a side hobby. I probably would be more active in early stage investments if I wasn’t building my startup. 5. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics? We track customer engagement (number inbound/outbound calls or chats) as one of the core KPIs. Another metric we track is Quality, we treat any internal/external complaint/mistake/expectation mismatch as a concern, basically anything that is not satisfactory to our team or clients would be counted as one and we have been able to maintain a 99.7% correctness for a very long time. This metric has a direct correlation to our churn which is extremely low, which drives the flywheel of great reviews https://www.trustpilot.com/review/smith.ai and more referrals. 6. In a few sentences, what do you offer to whom? Smith.ai provides AI-driven virtual receptionist services, including call and chat answering, tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Our offerings encompass 24/7 live virtual receptionists, AI voice assistants, outreach campaigns, and AI-powered web chat, all designed to enhance customer engagement and support. We serve a wide range of industries, including law firms, home services, marketing agencies, medical and wellness, and many more. 7. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? The most exciting thing about Smith.ai is we have answered tens of millions of calls and chats with extremely high accuracy and satisfaction (99.7%). The most important thing is we help our SMB clients grow by converting callers to customers with the latest AI technologies which is impossible if they were to implement on their own. 8. Where do you think your growth will be next year? Given the uncertainty in inflation and macroeconomics, we believe the trend of doing more with less by leveraging AI and outsourcing will remain front and center for our clients. The fact that we can drive instant satisfaction and revenue growth at a much lower cost would be a huge tailwind for our exponential growth next year. 9. Tell us about your first paying customer and revenue expectations over the next year. We started the company back in October 2015 and I am excited to say that the majority of them are still with us today and have increased their spend with us 10X. We recently launched our AI-first Voice Assistant and it’s a total game changer. One client said “whoever put this together is a bloody genius.” - this is the magical moment when the product is so good that wows our clients. We believe we will have a significant jump in revenue next year as we continue to deploy this technology to 30M SMB in the US. 10. What’s your biggest threat? Our biggest threat is really execution. The market is huge and demand is clear. We have clients asking us for new features on a daily basis and it’s up to us to push the envelope of AI with humans fast enough to meet their needs. Our assessment of the current AI capabilities is that they may struggle with nuanced and complex conversations, especially in emotional or context-heavy interactions. We believe our hybrid human-AI approach is the best in order to bridge the gap. For appointment booking or sales conversion, we believe human touch offers the best business outcome. This startup founder interview template is based on HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke’s ten questions for startup founders. Would you like to take a stab at answering some of these questions? The link for the template is HERE. 1. HackerNoon : What is your company in 2–5 words? HackerNoon Aaron Lee : We offer AI-driven call & chat answering to SMB. Aaron Lee Aaron Lee 2. Why is now the time for your company to exist? Providing real time 24/7 customer engagement, lead qualification and conversion has been the biggest pain point for SMB as they don’t have the time nor the resources to do it. Traditional call answering services can only handle simple tasks like take a message and gather contact information. With advancements in technology, particularly AI and automation, Smith.ai evolved to leverage AI to answer calls and chat with human-in-the-loop for escalation, expanding services to integrate with CRMs, provide scheduling assistance, payment collection, and deliver enhanced customer support tailored for businesses of all sizes, especially SMBs. Smith.ai 3. What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? AI is fast moving but at the current stage, we don’t believe it can handle 100% of the calls and chats as human conversation is nuanced and complicated. Humans can easily detect caller’s emotion but it’s challenging if AI only looks at the transcription, e.g. “That’s great” could be either positive or sarcastic. We believe having a group of highly trained agents + highly tuned AI based on each individual business (think about it as Voice GPT for your business) is the best way to achieve the business outcomes: converting callers to customers. My background is in software engineering, computer graphics with GPU and was the former CTO of The Home Depot which allowed me to work with SMB on a daily basis for years. Our team is unique as we have AI expertise, deep domain knowledge, as well as huge appreciation to the pain points that SMB are facing. 4. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? I am very excited about entrepreneurship, helping other startups succeed, and have been angel investing for a long time as a side hobby. I probably would be more active in early stage investments if I wasn’t building my startup. 5. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your metrics? We track customer engagement (number inbound/outbound calls or chats) as one of the core KPIs. Another metric we track is Quality, we treat any internal/external complaint/mistake/expectation mismatch as a concern, basically anything that is not satisfactory to our team or clients would be counted as one and we have been able to maintain a 99.7% correctness for a very long time. This metric has a direct correlation to our churn which is extremely low, which drives the flywheel of great reviews https://www.trustpilot.com/review/smith.ai and more referrals. https://www.trustpilot.com/review/smith.ai https://www.trustpilot.com/review/smith.ai 6. In a few sentences, what do you offer to whom? Smith.ai provides AI-driven virtual receptionist services, including call and chat answering, tailored for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Our offerings encompass 24/7 live virtual receptionists, AI voice assistants, outreach campaigns, and AI-powered web chat, all designed to enhance customer engagement and support. We serve a wide range of industries, including law firms, home services, marketing agencies, medical and wellness, and many more. 7. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? The most exciting thing about Smith.ai is we have answered tens of millions of calls and chats with extremely high accuracy and satisfaction (99.7%). The most important thing is we help our SMB clients grow by converting callers to customers with the latest AI technologies which is impossible if they were to implement on their own. 8. Where do you think your growth will be next year? Given the uncertainty in inflation and macroeconomics, we believe the trend of doing more with less by leveraging AI and outsourcing will remain front and center for our clients. The fact that we can drive instant satisfaction and revenue growth at a much lower cost would be a huge tailwind for our exponential growth next year. 9. Tell us about your first paying customer and revenue expectations over the next year. We started the company back in October 2015 and I am excited to say that the majority of them are still with us today and have increased their spend with us 10X. We recently launched our AI-first Voice Assistant and it’s a total game changer. One client said “whoever put this together is a bloody genius.” - this is the magical moment when the product is so good that wows our clients. We believe we will have a significant jump in revenue next year as we continue to deploy this technology to 30M SMB in the US. 10. What’s your biggest threat? Our biggest threat is really execution. The market is huge and demand is clear. We have clients asking us for new features on a daily basis and it’s up to us to push the envelope of AI with humans fast enough to meet their needs. Our assessment of the current AI capabilities is that they may struggle with nuanced and complex conversations, especially in emotional or context-heavy interactions. We believe our hybrid human-AI approach is the best in order to bridge the gap. For appointment booking or sales conversion, we believe human touch offers the best business outcome. This startup founder interview template is based on HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke’s ten questions for startup founders. This startup founder interview template is based on HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke ’s ten questions for startup founders . HackerNoon Founder & CEO David Smooke ten questions for startup founders Would you like to take a stab at answering some of these questions? The link for the template is HERE. Would you like to take a stab at answering some of these questions? The link for the template is HERE. The link for the template is HERE.

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Managing our work lives with digital tools? Easy. Productivity apps? Everywhere. But managing our personal lives? That was a whole different story. Between grocery lists jotted on fridge magnets, sticky notes left on tables, and plans discussed but quickly forgotten, our personal life often felt like a chaotic whirlwind. Despite both of us being heavy users of Notion for work (me as a product manager and her as a PhD student), and paying for Notion AI as part of my job, our personal organization was still…well, messy. We’ve long been fans of Notion for managing our relationship and even went viral for it once, with our blog being featured in places like Morning Brew. But we realized that Notion AI might be the missing piece to elevate what we’d already built in our relationship journal. So, we decided to go into an exploratory phase, wondering: What problems in our daily lives could Notion AI solve for us as a couple? The result? Let’s just say it’s drastically changed our lives. Here are the top three ways Notion AI has made our relationship journal more powerful, efficient, and (dare I say) fun. 1. Date Nights: No More “What Do You Want to Do?” Loops If you’ve ever been stuck in the infinite question loop of “What do you want to do tonight?”, you’ll understand the frustration of indecisive date nights. This was a regular occurrence for us, especially on Friday evenings. We decided to bring Notion AI into the mix. Using our journal, where we already tracked favorite date nights and NYC activities, we built a Date Night Brainstorm page. The page uses a prompt to consider our preferences, past activities, and even restaurant recommendations nearby to suggest an itinerary. Does it always nail it? Not quite. About 70-80% of the time, it generates great suggestions—sometimes even creative ideas we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. And while it’s not perfect (no AI is), it takes the burden of planning away. Now, instead of endless discussions, we have a ready-made itinerary waiting for us, making date nights smooth, exciting, and much less stressful. 2. Trip Planning: Our New Travel Assistant Trip planning used to be a big deal in our relationship. My partner is known for meticulously detailed itineraries, but now we joke that Notion AI has taken her job. We built two key tools in our template: a Trip Brainstorming page and a Trip Planning page. The Brainstorming page asks us questions like: How many days are we traveling?
What kind of trip are we feeling—outdoorsy, cultural, or relaxed?
Do we have specific destinations or regions in mind? Notion AI then processes our inputs and suggests five or six destinations tailored to our preferences. It’s incredibly helpful for narrowing down options. The Planning page is where the magic happens. Based on our chosen destination and travel dates, Notion AI: Generates a detailed daily itinerary, down to the hour.
Researches the top destinations and activities in the area.
Creates a customized packing list, categorized by type and quantity.
Outputs a checklist of next steps, such as bookings, reservations, and tickets. It’s taken the mental load of planning off our shoulders and made trips smoother than ever. While we joke about how it’s replaced my partner’s role as the “itinerary queen,” it’s also made travel a lot more fun and collaborative for us. 3. Household Management: Meal Planning Made Easy When we first created our relationship journal in 2020, we were newly dating, focused on things like defining our values and planning fun date nights. Fast-forward to today, we’re married, and our lives now involve managing a home together. Enter the Household Page, the newest addition to our journal, and the Notion AI feature that’s been a game-changer: the Recipe Ideation page. Here’s how it works: We input things like: Ingredients we have at home
Calorie and macro targets
Number of servings
Dietary restrictions or preferences Notion AI generates a list of recipes complete with ingredients and instructions. These recipes feed into a Recipe Book that we maintain, making Sunday meal planning a breeze. We tag recipes to specific days of the week, eliminating the stress of deciding what to cook during our busy workweeks. This small change has made our lives significantly more productive and keeps us on track with our health goals. Other Fun Ways We Use Notion AI While these three pages have had the biggest impact, we’ve also added some smaller, fun features that we enjoy daily: Netflix Recommendations based on what we’ve previously watched.
Book and Podcast Suggestions tailored to our shared interests.
A daily Question of the Day to spark meaningful or humorous conversations. These little touches have added even more joy to our routine. Wrapping It Up Notion AI has fundamentally changed how we manage our life together. By taking the mental load off tasks like trip planning, meal prep, and even date night brainstorming, it’s given us more time and space to focus on what matters most: each other. That said, it’s worth mentioning that Notion AI costs an additional $10 per month. If you already use Notion heavily in your workflow, it’s an easy recommendation—it seamlessly enhances what you’re already doing. But it’s definitely a consideration if you’re thinking of adding yet another subscription to your life. If you’re already using Notion AI or curious about its potential, I’d encourage you to try maintaining a relationship journal like ours. It’s a small but transformative way to bring clarity, organization, and intentionality to your personal life. And if you’re interested in trying out the template we’ve built, feel free to check it out. If it doesn’t work for you, we’ll be happy to issue a refund—no hard feelings. Thank you for reading and for supporting us through these years. Here’s to growing and thriving together. Cheers! Managing our work lives with digital tools? Easy. Productivity apps? Everywhere. But managing our personal lives? That was a whole different story. Between grocery lists jotted on fridge magnets, sticky notes left on tables, and plans discussed but quickly forgotten, our personal life often felt like a chaotic whirlwind. Despite both of us being heavy users of Notion for work (me as a product manager and her as a PhD student), and paying for Notion AI as part of my job, our personal organization was still…well, messy. We’ve long been fans of Notion for managing our relationship and even went viral for it once, with our blog being featured in places like Morning Brew . But we realized that Notion AI might be the missing piece to elevate what we’d already built in our relationship journal. So, we decided to go into an exploratory phase, wondering: Morning Brew What problems in our daily lives could Notion AI solve for us as a couple? What problems in our daily lives could Notion AI solve for us as a couple? The result? Let’s just say it’s drastically changed our lives. Here are the top three ways Notion AI has made our relationship journal more powerful, efficient, and (dare I say) fun. 1. Date Nights: No More “What Do You Want to Do?” Loops If you’ve ever been stuck in the infinite question loop of “What do you want to do tonight?”, you’ll understand the frustration of indecisive date nights. This was a regular occurrence for us, especially on Friday evenings. We decided to bring Notion AI into the mix. Using our journal, where we already tracked favorite date nights and NYC activities, we built a Date Night Brainstorm page. The page uses a prompt to consider our preferences, past activities, and even restaurant recommendations nearby to suggest an itinerary. Does it always nail it? Not quite. About 70-80% of the time, it generates great suggestions—sometimes even creative ideas we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. And while it’s not perfect (no AI is), it takes the burden of planning away. Now, instead of endless discussions, we have a ready-made itinerary waiting for us, making date nights smooth, exciting, and much less stressful. 2. Trip Planning: Our New Travel Assistant Trip planning used to be a big deal in our relationship. My partner is known for meticulously detailed itineraries, but now we joke that Notion AI has taken her job. We built two key tools in our template: a Trip Brainstorming page and a Trip Planning page. The Brainstorming page asks us questions like: Trip Brainstorming Trip Planning Brainstorming How many days are we traveling? What kind of trip are we feeling—outdoorsy, cultural, or relaxed? Do we have specific destinations or regions in mind? How many days are we traveling? What kind of trip are we feeling—outdoorsy, cultural, or relaxed? Do we have specific destinations or regions in mind? Notion AI then processes our inputs and suggests five or six destinations tailored to our preferences. It’s incredibly helpful for narrowing down options. The Planning page is where the magic happens. Based on our chosen destination and travel dates, Notion AI: Planning Generates a detailed daily itinerary, down to the hour. Researches the top destinations and activities in the area. Creates a customized packing list, categorized by type and quantity. Outputs a checklist of next steps, such as bookings, reservations, and tickets. Generates a detailed daily itinerary, down to the hour. Researches the top destinations and activities in the area. Creates a customized packing list, categorized by type and quantity. Outputs a checklist of next steps, such as bookings, reservations, and tickets. It’s taken the mental load of planning off our shoulders and made trips smoother than ever. While we joke about how it’s replaced my partner’s role as the “itinerary queen,” it’s also made travel a lot more fun and collaborative for us. 3. Household Management: Meal Planning Made Easy When we first created our relationship journal in 2020, we were newly dating, focused on things like defining our values and planning fun date nights. Fast-forward to today, we’re married, and our lives now involve managing a home together. Enter the Household Page, the newest addition to our journal, and the Notion AI feature that’s been a game-changer: the Recipe Ideation page. Here’s how it works: We input things like: Ingredients we have at home Calorie and macro targets Number of servings Dietary restrictions or preferences Ingredients we have at home Calorie and macro targets Number of servings Dietary restrictions or preferences Notion AI generates a list of recipes complete with ingredients and instructions. These recipes feed into a Recipe Book that we maintain, making Sunday meal planning a breeze. We tag recipes to specific days of the week, eliminating the stress of deciding what to cook during our busy workweeks. This small change has made our lives significantly more productive and keeps us on track with our health goals. Other Fun Ways We Use Notion AI While these three pages have had the biggest impact, we’ve also added some smaller, fun features that we enjoy daily: Netflix Recommendations based on what we’ve previously watched. Book and Podcast Suggestions tailored to our shared interests. A daily Question of the Day to spark meaningful or humorous conversations. Netflix Recommendations based on what we’ve previously watched. Book and Podcast Suggestions tailored to our shared interests. A daily Question of the Day to spark meaningful or humorous conversations. These little touches have added even more joy to our routine. Wrapping It Up Notion AI has fundamentally changed how we manage our life together. By taking the mental load off tasks like trip planning, meal prep, and even date night brainstorming, it’s given us more time and space to focus on what matters most: each other. That said, it’s worth mentioning that Notion AI costs an additional $10 per month. If you already use Notion heavily in your workflow, it’s an easy recommendation—it seamlessly enhances what you’re already doing. But it’s definitely a consideration if you’re thinking of adding yet another subscription to your life. If you’re already using Notion AI or curious about its potential, I’d encourage you to try maintaining a relationship journal like ours. It’s a small but transformative way to bring clarity, organization, and intentionality to your personal life. And if you’re interested in trying out the template we’ve built, feel free to check it out . If it doesn’t work for you, we’ll be happy to issue a refund—no hard feelings. check it out Thank you for reading and for supporting us through these years. Here’s to growing and thriving together. Cheers!

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