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We have a special guest today who’s made it his mission to reduce online misinformation and abusive content from the internet. Dhruv Ghulati is Founder and CEO of Factmata, a London-based tech startup who uses unique algorithms to score and classify content.
Since 2017 he has raised $3.5 million from the likes of Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, but also from the Founders of Zynga, Brightmail, Twitter, and Craigslist, to name a few.
With the help of thousands of experts, Factmata has built contextual understanding algorithms to analyze automatically online content and identify biases, hyper-partisanship, credibility or hate speech. They've launched a series of products that help companies with content moderation, brand analytics, brand safety, and content review.
Dhruv has a truly outstanding experience. In this podcast episode, we talk about how he went from investment banking to launching his own company, traction, fundraising, and we cover some of the mistakes he made along the way. It's full of actionable insights. Enjoy!
“When I thought about business ideas, I didn't really think what would be a great business idea. I thought about what do I care about, spending the next 5 to 10 years of my life on, and being an expert in. And to me this idea of fact checking politicians was what captivated me at the time.”
Enjoy the show!
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What’s Factmata’s offering – [01:21]
Dhruv’s path from investment banking to founding AI-powered startup – [02:35]
Why Dhruv decided to launch Factmata – [05:20]
How Dhruv balanced impact and profitability – [07:22]
The importantce of understanding your Ideal Customer Profile and Factmata’s incredibly effective customer acquisition strategy – [10:09]
Why going after big customers may be the wrong strategy to gain traction – [12:59]
Dhruv’s advice on fundraising and how he managed to raise money from Mark Cuban and from the founders of Zingy, Twitter, Craigslist, and Brightmail – [14:58]
The rationale behind Factmata’s long-term vision – [23:00]
How Dhruv measures success in his startup – [25:09]
How Factmata approached challenges such as algorithmic biases – [28:18]
Dhruv’s top mistakes as a first-time founder – [35:36]
The ideal employee profile according to Dhruv – [36:59]
What Dhruv would have done differently with fundraising – [37:59]
What’s next for Factmata in the next 12 months – [40:00]
Factmata’s Trusted News on Product Hunt
Business Insider’s article: 25-year-old CEO emailed Mark Cuban to pitch his startup
If you're feeling generous why not spread the words on Twitter.
Have a good one!
