[claytonjy]

I thought this was odd, from the about page

> We can help you find and incorporate data sets into your first models. From cleaning data to extracting the most important features, our team can help you get your production models to market.

While realizing the hardest part of a startup is everything but the tech, it seems odd they're telling AI companies they'll help with the hardest parts of the technical side, the ones that need to be done right well before anyone can tell if your tech has any merit.

I'd hate to be a first-pass reviewer for all the pitches they're gonna get. "I have this amazing idea, I just need someone else to build the AI behind it!"

[mattnewton]

Honestly, if the answer to that is that they invest in you and you use their money to buy google cloud ml services, and you go out and find customers, that doesn't sound bad.

[claytonjy]

I guess a big question here is, what does "AI company" mean to Gradient Ventures?

If it's "yet another company spewing buzzwords all over", ML-as-a-service might work, but I'm hoping it's more "adapting cutting edge AI research to do things people will pay for", which requires a hell of a lot more engineering and can't be done by just shoving their data into someone else's black box.

[doppenhe]

there is nothing that requires you to use GCP, Google ML services or anything along those lines. This was a surprise but true.

source: i am part of the Algorithmia team.

[mattnewton]

Right, I just meant in response to GP that said they didn't want buisinesses that wanted/needed much of their ML built for them. Google might be okay with that too.

[bra-ket]

Google is trying to find users for their cloud. A hot startup using GCP is good PR.