In today's fast-paced business world, companies often find themselves in need of expert advice and opinions to drive their projects forward. The traditional go-to platforms like LinkedIn and GLG, however, often fall short in providing the quality and depth of insights required. This is where innovative startups like Ethos step in, leveraging AI to revolutionize the expert network landscape.
Unlocking Expertise with Voice
Ethos, a London-based startup, has raised an impressive $22.75 million in Series A funding, led by a16z. Their unique approach involves voice-powered onboarding, allowing them to gather a wealth of data about experts' knowledge beyond their job titles. This enables a more accurate and nuanced matching process for companies seeking specific skills and capabilities.
For instance, Ethos can help a pharma company find doctors with specialized knowledge and research experience in a particular area, ensuring a deeper level of expertise. This is a significant step up from the shallow signals provided by traditional platforms, as Anish Acharya from a16z points out.
The Power of Voice Communication
What makes Ethos' approach particularly fascinating is their focus on voice as the primary mode of communication. As Acharya notes, voice is the original and most natural form of human expression. Many people struggle to articulate their expertise and experiences effectively in writing, but voice interviews can unlock a wealth of information and insights. Ethos' curated questions and voice agents help extract this valuable data, creating a more comprehensive profile of each expert.
Building an Expert Network
The founders of Ethos, James Lo and Daniel Mankowitz, bring diverse yet complementary backgrounds to the table. Lo's experience at McKinsey and SoftBank has given him a deep understanding of providing economic opportunities, while Mankowitz's AI research at DeepMind has equipped him with the skills to develop innovative algorithms. Together, they aim to tackle the challenges of building an expert network that goes beyond job titles.
Lo highlights the shift towards skill-based searches, especially as the human and agent economies merge. Ethos' platform not only considers experts' data but also analyzes public sources like blogs and academic papers, along with social links, to ensure a comprehensive match. This multi-faceted approach sets them apart from competitors like Listen Labs and Outset, who primarily focus on conversational AI interviews.
Scaling and Growth
While Ethos hasn't disclosed the exact number of experts on its platform, they report a weekly growth rate of approximately 35,000 new users. This rapid expansion is partly attributed to the increasing demand from AI labs, which are mapping out economically valuable occupations and building professional services across various sectors. Lo sees this as a significant tailwind for their business, as these labs require a diverse range of experts to develop and refine their models.
With a compact team of eight, Ethos is focused on maintaining a lean structure while scaling up. Their goal is to continue providing an exceptional service to both their expert users and clients, ensuring a high level of satisfaction and retention.
Conclusion
Ethos' innovative use of voice technology and AI algorithms is transforming the expert network industry. By going beyond traditional job titles and descriptions, they are able to match companies with the specific skills and capabilities they need. As the platform continues to grow and evolve, it will be interesting to see how they further enhance their expertise-matching capabilities and maintain their competitive edge.
