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What’s on tap today:

• Podcast

• Our interview with Peter Moot

• Weekly Headline Recap

• What's trending in AI this week

• Community Update

• How Homebase Helps You

🎙️ This Week’s Interview

AI Founder Story

From Uber's Discount Algorithm to Democratizing Price Intelligence

Quick Background

Peter Moot spent five years at Uber as a Product Manager overseeing the discount and personalization systems that determined which riders and eaters received those perfectly timed promotional offers. After witnessing firsthand how AI-powered price optimization could generate massive returns for Uber, he realized this game-changing technology was locked away from smaller businesses who needed it most.

The Eureka Moment That Started Everything

While running discount experiments at Uber, Peter discovered something that would change his entrepreneurial trajectory forever. The data revealed that personalized discounts vastly outperformed blanket promotional campaigns - but this sophisticated technology was exclusively available to tech giants with unlimited resources and massive data science teams.

We saw just how impactful personalizing discounts can be," Peter recalls. "The benefits of just having some basic understanding of price sensitivity for different customers allows you to really generate huge returns relative to just sending out a discount to everyone." This realization sparked a question that would consume him: What if every business could access enterprise-level price intelligence?

Key Achievements & Insights:

• Proven Results Across Industries: Delivered 51% increases in average revenue per user and 39% gross profit boosts for supplement brands

• Democratized AI Personalization: Built neural network models that work effectively with just $500K+ annual revenue (vs. Uber's massive scale requirements)

• Cross-Vertical Success: Generated 67% ARPU increases for clothing brands and 24-30% store-wide revenue growth across bakeries, skincare, and secondhand appliance sellers

• YC Graduate & Funded: Successfully raised seed funding based on team expertise and domain knowledge from Uber

• Lean AI-First Operations: Scaled to serve multiple merchants with just a 4-person team by leveraging AI tools for productivity

• Strategic Platform Focus: Captured nearly 10% of e-commerce by focusing exclusively on Shopify's massive ecosystem

Watch the full interview below! 👇

The Ultimate Lesson

Peter's journey reveals a profound truth about the AI revolution: the most impactful AI applications don't require building the next ChatGPT - they require identifying proven enterprise solutions and making them accessible to everyone else. While competitors chase flashy new AI capabilities, Peter focused on perfecting something that already worked at scale.

His approach of taking "very complicated AI models" from Uber and simplifying them for smaller merchants proves that successful AI entrepreneurship is less about innovation and more about intelligent democratization. By understanding that price sensitivity follows predictable patterns across industries - from supplements to clothing to baked goods - Peter built a business that grows stronger with every new vertical it enters.

Discover how Peter's team of four is disrupting billion-dollar pricing strategies and why Shopify store owners are seeing 50%+ revenue increases — Read the full interview →

HEADLINE ROUNDUP
Headline recap

• Sam Altman's Brain Wars

  OpenAI's CEO launches $850M neural startup to directly challenge Elon Musk's Neuralink with AI-powered brain implants.

  👉What's his secret weapon?

• Perplexity's $34.5B Chrome Gambit

  AI startup makes audacious bid to buy Google's Chrome browser, nearly double its own valuation amid antitrust pressure.

  👉Could this actually work?

• Musk vs. Apple: Legal Warfare

  Elon threatens immediate lawsuit against Apple over App Store rankings, claiming bias favors ChatGPT over his Grok AI.

  👉Who's really winning here?

• Foxconn's 27% Profit Explosion Proves It's Real

  iPhone maker Foxconn smashes forecasts with 27% profit surge as AI server demand turns manufacturing into a money-printing machine.

  👉Which companies cash in next?

• Google's $9B Oklahoma Bet

  Tech giant commits massive investment to expand AI infrastructure, part of $85B spending spree against Chinese rivals.

  👉Why Oklahoma of all places?

TRENDS
What's trending in AI

Hebbia

• Key Player: Hebbia is an AI platform that enhances knowledge work through its flagship Matrix product, enabling AI agents to perform complex, multi-step tasks across data types with full transparency and enterprise security.

• Market Value: The company reached a $700 million valuation in July 2024 after raising $130 million in Series B funding, with $13 million ARR representing 15x growth over 18 months.

• Adoption: Hebbia serves 30% of the top 50 global asset managers, including KKR, BlackRock, MetLife, the U.S. Air Force, and leading law firms like Ropes & Gray.

• Recent Developments: The company integrated OpenAI's o1 model into Matrix in January 2025, acquired FlashDocs in June 2025, and expanded partnerships with major law firms throughout 2025.

Growth: Hebbia has achieved explosive market interest with 22.2K search volume and +782% growth. The company went from $900K to $13M ARR in 18 months while achieving profitability at a 54x revenue multiple.

Why It Matters: Hebbia represents a shift from simple AI assistants to sophisticated agent systems that automate 90% of finance and legal work. Its 92% accuracy on rigorous benchmarks enables professionals to process unlimited data with full citations.

The Big Picture: As the document AI market grows from $3.14 billion to $15.57 billion by 2032, Hebbia's success signals evolution to enterprise-grade agent platforms. Its ability to serve mission-critical functions for top-tier institutions demonstrates AI has reached sophistication levels for high-stakes professional environments.

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