Top Ten Chatbot People I Met at F8
I had a blast attending my first F8 event in San Jose, CA last week. It was pretty cool to be in the building when David Marcus announced a bunch of great messenger and chatbot platform enhancements. Facebook also treated everyone to a free concert by one of my/everyone’s favorite artists — Chance the Rapper!
But events like this are all about the people you meet. Here’s a quick rundown of the ten more memorable chatbot individuals I had the pleasure of hanging with at F8, in no particular order.
Ryan Leslie from SuperPhone
I met Ryan Leslie on the conference floor under the lights of the giant Messenger booth. I had already been chatting with his chatbot for a few weeks so when I spotted him at the Chance show, I figured I’d shoot him a note directly. I did not expect a response, but to my surprise, we connected immediately and arranged a meeting. I knew he was big into technology and chatbots but I had no idea how accessible he was. Apparently this is his thing!
This dude is amazing. He’s a Grammy nominated recording artist committed to personally thanking and connecting with all of his fans/followers via his SuperPhone app. He shares his personal cell phone with the world, he is a Harvard Grad, and he attends nerdy tech developer conferences! When he showed me the app and told me his story — I was blown away.
SuperPhone isn’t exactly a chatbot. In someways it’s the reverse chatbot as it makes it easier for people (not robots) to maintain personal contact with their social media followers. But if you combine SuperPhone with the “buffer” and automation a chatbot can provide — you may just have the premiere tool set of the future for influencers and entertainers. Thanks Ryan for supporting our space and for being an artist who genuinely appreciates his fans!
Hussein Fazal from SnapTravel
I caught up with Hussein Fazal after he got off the stage from an F8 session titled “Let’s Chat About Bots.” It was a panel discussion about bot building best practices. I was really interested in connecting with him, not only because of his awesome chatbot business — SnapTravel — but also because he founded AdParlor (now a part of Adknowledge) and is an expert at optimizing Facebook ad campaigns. If there is anyone out there who can help me build a successful chatbot monetization business on Facebook — it’s Hussein.
We sat for 20 minutes or so and he gave me some great tips — particularly around leveraging chatbots for lead generation advertisers. We agreed that any advertiser currently spending ad dollars on Facebook today should look to start driving ad clicks to messenger chatbots v. website landing pages. A handful of tests have already proven that people are generally much more comfortable leaving their name, email, and other info via a familiar Messenger chatbot conversation than via a strange website they’ve never seen before. Thanks for the advice, Hussein. Consider it done!
Ayalla Barazany from Complex
Ayalla Barazany is VP of Product at Complex — one of my all-time favorite publications. She manages their chatbot, where I currently get my daily dose of hip hop, sneaker, and basketball news (what else could be more important in life, really?). She’s an incredibly bright and dynamic personality who I had the pleasure of meeting last year while I was at Kik. I was excited to reconnect with her at F8 to explore a few ways my new business can help grow her audience. We caught up at one of the dozen coffee/tea/snack tables Facebook had set up outside of the big convention rooms.
What’s great about Complex — in addition to their awesome content — is that they are one of the few big publishers that doesn’t have a mobile app. Why bother? No one is downloading apps anymore and they are expensive and annoying to manage. Complex is all in on chatbots and I love it. I’m super excited to begin working with her on growing their audience and optimizing their Facebook advertising initiatives. See you back in NYC, Ayalla!
Marcus Moretti from Mic
Marcus Moretti and I were partners last year while I was at Kik. He manages Mic’s chatbots, and together we successfully launched one of the world’s first premium native advertising campaigns ever served within a chatbot experience. We had connected on the phone a bunch of times but had never met in person. He was actually hanging with Ayalla when I met him. Great product people stick together!
Mic has been in the news recently on the heels of their big $21 Mil Series C raise and their plans to release 9 new content brands. I was happy to catch up with Marcus and discuss chatbot monetization ideas and new growth/discovery strategies I’ve been developing. I told him he needs to get his DisorDat bot on Messenger ASAP and that he should look into joining the waves.ai beta since that experience would be a perfect fit within DisorDat.
Marcus is one of the most progressive chatbot monetization fans I’ve met. Most folks are a bit squeamish on the idea of serving ads within chatbots, but Marcus is down to experiment and learn. I look forward to working with him again and co-developing some great experiences together.
Nathan Ross / Dan Gailey from RadBots
I was up in SF Thursday morning before my flight home and had the pleasure of meeting these fine gentlemen near the Twitter office on Market Street. Radbots is one of the few businesses I’ve come across looking to solve the same problems as my business — ChatDynamo. We agreed we can work together on this mission and that it makes no sense to compete!
I love how these guys are building a sophisticated DMP for chatbots that will not only allow chatbot owners to gain valuable insights into their audiences, but will also allow marketers access to more valuable targeting options. That’s going to be huge as the space evolves. I also love how active they are in the chatbot community. They even run a BotWorld podcast series. Keep up the good work, fellas!
Russell Ward from Massively
I have been a huge fan of Massively since my time at Kik. In fact their Insidious 3 chatbot was the first chatbot I ever chatted with (way back in 2015!). They consistently create amazing chatbot experiences and have NAILED character driven/persona bots. I’ve probably referenced their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles chatbot execution on Kik over a hundred times at this point. It’s still — to this day — the best and single most comprehensive messenger platform advertising execution I’ve ever seen. Not only did Paramount work with Massively/Kik to release four separate chatbots (one for each ninja turtle — all of which could chat with each other), they also released a series of GIFs, stickers, and emojis promoting the release of the film. These assets drove people to view the movie trailer, chat with the bots, and/or purchase tickets. The results were outstanding across the board.
I was excited to reconnect with Russell at F8 since he’s based in Toronto and I had only met him in person once before. We sat on the stairs leading down to the ground floor as other attendees gathered to watch the day 2 keynote streaming on the big screens. We chatted about Massively’s plans to release a world class bot builder platform and expand their operations to the US. I’m so excited for their future. There are well over 50 bot builder platforms/services in the space right now but I’m confident Massively will quickly emerge as one of the best in the business.
MATTHEW BLACK from Black Ops
MATTHEW BLACK is one of the coolest and most knowledgable people I’ve met in the space to date. He’s an influencer, a “hackerpreneur,” and a developer. Plus he’s got style and swag for days! I can feel myself getting smarter the more time I spend with him. We had already met in NYC over coffee a few days before F8 but we got a chance to meet up again after the “Boost Your Business with Messenger” session on day 1.
Matt’s already developed some best practices and generated some great results driving conversions for brands on Facebook. He understands- more than most- the power of driving consumers to chatbots v. websites post-ad click. I’m super excited to absorb more knowledge from him over the coming months as we look to tackle a few projects together. I am your apprentice now, Mr. Black. Please teach me the dark arts!
Manfred Strasser from Swell
Swell was prominently featured during F8 and rightfully so. They have built one of the most successful chatbot businesses in the game by tapping into people’s growing obsession with creating and answering A/B questions (take a look at the story of wishbone for more on this trend). Their tools give brands/influencers access to powerful market research and feedback as well. That’s one helluva business model.
I was excited to chat with Manfred Strasser specifically about their waves.ai project. Manfred and his team stood out from the crowd at F8 with their colorful blue hoodies and happy whale logos. Plus — just look at that magical beard. He was an easy guy to find in the crowd! With waves.ai, Swell wants to give other chatbots the ability to serve their A/B questions and help contribute to market research initiatives. What will chatbots get in return for doing this? Much needed revenue!
Hell yes. I told him I want to help bring this solution to chatbots as one of a suite of monetization options. We agreed to keep in touch as our businesses evolve. Anyone building monetization solutions for chatbots is a friend of ChatDynamo!
Anthony Green from Snaps
Anthony Green is a close friend and a powerful figure in the messaging/chatbot industry. We used to work together at Kik, and he’s a big reason I’ve gotten so involved in the space. His passion is contagious. Plus we both share a love of Seinfeld trivia, live music, and the occasional afternoon glass of wine. We both used to love fried chicken sandwiches too until he moved to LA and turned vegan on me.
I hadn’t seen Anthony since he moved last year so I was excited to catch up with him for lunch just outside of the convention center on day 1. At Snaps he’s helping power some amazing messenger experiences for the biggest brands and platforms in the space. When I think about what advertising should look like within a messaging experience — I think of Snaps. I think about consumers downloading and sharing sticker packs, emojis, keyboards, and GIFs with their friends. I think about big brands and agencies working with Anthony and his team on comprehensive messenger strategies- chatbots, expression content, analytics, insights…The whole shebang. They have a great business and Anthony will continue to be a trusted advisor and friend. I miss you here in NYC, mate!
Jendrik Hoeft/ Max Koziolek from Spectrm
Finally- I have to mention Jendrik Hoeft and Max Koziolek- my two new friends from Spectrm. We ended up hanging out a few times during F8 — after the Chance show on day 1, at lunch on day 2, at happy hour on day 2… we just kept bumping into each other. I don’t think we ever really talked about business either. You’re into bots, I’m into bots… blah blah whatever…let’s grab some beers and enjoy the show!
Guys like Jendrik and Max make awkward conference networking and mingling so much easier. There was nothing forced or fake with them and we immediately hit it off after Marcus Moretti introduced us (thanks Marcus!). They were never fixated on their phones or scanning the room for other people to talk to. They were engaged and present in the moment. These are exactly the kinds of guys I like to do business with.
In fact — looking back at this list — I can confidently say that all of these folks were like that when I met with them — friendly, helpful, passionate, focused, and fun. What a great sign for our industry! I valued my interactions with all of these guys and look forward to doing great things together in the future.
Thanks for making my first F8 experience that much better, gang!
