Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Jason Corso, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Voxel 51, an AI software company that has raised $15.5 Million in funding.
Here are the most interesting points from our conversation:
- Academic Foundations in AI and Transition to Entrepreneurship: Jason's journey from academia to founding Voxel 51, driven by a desire to have a broader impact beyond academic papers, showcases the transition from theoretical research to practical, impactful entrepreneurship.
- Initial Experiments and Pivots: Voxel 51 began with consulting and pilot projects, including with the Baltimore City Police Department, but quickly learned the market wasn't ready for their initial offering. This led to a significant pivot towards developing developer tools for video understanding.
- Embracing Open Source as a GTM Strategy: Jason and his team decided to leverage open source as their go-to-market strategy, which was crucial for engaging with the community, validating their product, and building a base for future commercial relationships.
- Learning and Adapting from Market Feedback: The transition from CEO to Chief Science Officer for Jason was part of Voxel 51's evolution. It underscored the importance of aligning founders' strengths with company needs, emphasizing growth in scientific and technical leadership.
- Category Creation and Market Education: Voxel 51's journey involves educating the market about the value of developer tools in the AI space, particularly for video data, and establishing a new category around data set management and workflow management systems.
- The Importance of Community and Authentic Engagement: Jason highlights the significance of engaging with the user community authentically, providing value through open source software, and using community feedback to refine and expand their offerings.