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Jim has co-founded six companies over the last 25+ years and built a number of sales…
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Leveraging Data as a Strategic Weapon!
Leveraging Data as a Strategic Weapon!
Reuben Vandeventer, CDO Guest Speaker Listen as world-renowned Chief Data Officer Reuben Vandeventer, Co-Founder and…
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Jim Weldon reposted thisJim Weldon reposted thisThis philosophy changed my life. (it's only 3 words) "Use the Difficulty" Here's how Michael Caine discovered it: As a young actor, he was rehearsing a play scene when a chair got stuck in the door and blocked his path. He told the other actor he couldn't get by the chair to enter the room in the scene. The actor's response: "Use the difficulty...if it's a comedy, fall over it, if it's a drama, pick it up and smash it." This idea—of using the difficulty—became a defining mantra for Michael Caine's life. "There's never anything so bad that you cannot use that difficulty...if you can use it a quarter of one percent to your advantage, you're ahead, you didn't let it get you down." This idea hit me hard... How can you use the difficulty you're currently facing? How can you embrace the struggle? How can you find flow through the friction? How can you sow the seeds of your light during the periods of darkness? As with everything in life, control the controllable: The difficulty is already there, you can't control it. You can control how you react to it. You can control your response to it. You can control your attitude towards it. Lesson: Difficulty is inevitable. Use it. 📌 Want the books that built my best systems and ideas? Download my Favorite Books PDF (free) and join 800,000+ who get my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eSrGb8Kr
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Jim Weldon reposted thisJim Weldon reposted this𝗪𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻 “𝗟𝗟𝗠.” ⬇️ In 2025, the AI landscape has evolved far beyond just Large Language Models (LLM). Knowing which model to use for your specific use case — and how — is becoming a strategic advantage. 𝗟𝗲𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟴 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼: ⬇️ 𝟭. 𝗚𝗣𝗧 – General Pretrained Transformer → The classic workhorse. Processes tokenized input, applies pretrained knowledge, predicts text contextually. 🛠 Use case: chatbots, text generation, summarization, coding assistance. 𝟮. 𝗠𝗼𝗘 – Mixture of Experts → One model, many “experts.” A gating network routes tasks to specialized model slices and merges outputs. 🛠 Use case: scalable training/serving, cost-efficient large models, domain specialization. 𝟯. 𝗟𝗥𝗠 – Large Reasoning Models → Built for deep reasoning. Decompose problems, generate multiple answers, self-reflect to verify. 🛠 Use case: math, logic puzzles, multi-step problem solving, planning. 𝟰. 𝗩𝗟𝗠 – Vision Language Models → Fuse text + images into one shared representation for multimodal reasoning. 🛠 Use case: multimodal chat (e.g. GPT-4o, Gemini), robotics, visual Q&A, assistive tech. 𝟱. 𝗦𝗟𝗠 – Small Language Models → Lightweight transformers with fewer parameters. Fast, private, deployable at the edge. 🛠 Use case: on-device AI, enterprise apps, privacy-first chatbots, IoT. 𝟲. 𝗟𝗔𝗠 – Large Action Models → Where language meets execution. Parse intent, plan steps, call tools, deliver results. 🛠 Use case: AI agents, automation flows, copilots, orchestration. 𝟳. 𝗛𝗥𝗠 – Hierarchical Reasoning Models → Two levels of reasoning: high-level planning (slow, strategic) + low-level computation (fast, tactical). 🛠 Use case: long-horizon planning, multi-agent coordination, simulations. 𝟴. 𝗟𝗖𝗠 – Large Concept Models → Abstract representation models. Use embeddings, diffusion, and normalization to capture higher-order concepts. 🛠 Use case: scientific discovery, semantic search, creative generation, conceptual modeling. Understanding these distinctions isn’t just academic — it’s the key to choosing the right foundation for your AI project. The result: more effective, scalable, and context-aware systems. And this chart is only the start. Beyond LLMs, VLMs, MoEs, SLMs, and LCMs, new model classes keep emerging across language, vision, speech, and robotics — each optimized for specific domains. Kudos for the nice graphic to Rakesh Gohel! 𝗣.𝗦.: 𝗜 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 — 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹-𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀 — 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲: https://lnkd.in/dbf74Y9E
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Jim Weldon reposted thisEver overdone it at a buffet and ended up paying for food you didn’t even touch? 🍽️ Now, picture that as your bad data, piling up and costing you big time. Bad data is the sneaky culprit behind email bounces, wasted clicks, and rising costs. It’s like paying for that untouched plate—and trust us, your platform isn’t letting you get away with it. At 5x5, we don’t do messy data. We keep things clean, efficient, and cost-effective—so your campaigns get results without the extra charge for wasted space. Check out Brian Perks’s article on how bad data is draining your resources—and let’s clean it up to start winning campaigns! 💥 #CleanPlateClub #BadDataCosts #DataQuality #MarketingStrategy #TechTrends #5x5Jim Weldon reposted thisThe cost of your bad data is yours, and is the reason that your platform partners are going to charge you when your data misses the mark (and makes a mess in their lap).The cost of bad data is not only real, but you are going to pay for it.The cost of bad data is not only real, but you are going to pay for it.
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Jim Weldon reposted thisJim Weldon reposted thisCuration - a publisher’s friend or foe? While #curation was a burning topic during Base.Camp Denver last week, there’s also been skepticism among publishers as to whether curation platforms are working in their best interests. Top three perceptions? 1. Curation platforms “rounding up inventory to sell cheaply at scale, leaving publishers with scraps” 2. As third-party data gets harder to find, the only "good" data = small pockets of first-party data 3. A finite view into first-party interactions. Multiple publishers tell us they wish they had an open source publisher-first co-op Unlike walled gardens, at 5x5 we believe in #transparency for our #publishers and partners - who can then extend that same level of transparency when curating audiences, whether for net new acquisition, enrichment, or expansion. ✔️ We’re seeing more and more evidence of publisher-to-publisher curation partnerships and GTM efforts ✔️ Through a #datacoop, publishers gain access to these “small pockets” of first-party data, but at the normalized scale needed to build subscribers, products, & revenue ✔️ An ID graph can support curation via O&O and programmatic To find out more, head to the comments. #basecampdenver #audiencedevelopment #data #dataenrichment #identitygraph Brian Perks, Nick Weldon, Guy Jones, Dave Zahner, Tim Bradbury
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisGet business done with the Graphite™ Business Cash Unlimited Card from American Express.The Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card from American ExpressThe Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card from American Express
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisOpus 4.7 just shipped file-based memory. Your AI assistant finally remembers your projects. Here's what's change. The old way was pure manual labor. Every new Claude session started from absolute zero. → You re-explained your business. → You re-explained your tools. → You re-explained your preferences. Every single time. The new way automates the context. File-based memory persists across sessions. Claude remembers your entire project history. For solo founders, this is MASSIVE. Your AI chief of staff actually knows your business now. But strict instruction following triggers a new rule. Prompts must be explicit. No more guessing. I rebuilt every automation workflow at LeadPanther this week. I audited the old systems to take advantage of persistent memory. I put in the hours so you don't have to. DELEGATE the memory. SCALE the output. Huuuuuge. Now Claude just needs to stop overcharging for tokens (please!
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisWhen Steve Jobs needed a coach, he called John Mattone. So did the CEO of PepsiCo and Fortune 500 boards across industries. Now, the world's #1 executive coach teaches his exact framework to a small cohort of executive coaches. Stop building your credibility from scratch. Use the authority and proven systems that transformed leaders at Apple, PepsiCo, and hundreds of Fortune 500 companies. Click "Learn More" to get the official program brochure for the #1-ranked executive coaching certification program. Next cohorts: May 19-21 and July 28-30. Limited to 15 coaches per cohort.
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisA few more moments from Austin. Simple days, small moments, and a lot of perspective. Experiences like this remind you how much environment matters. When people feel comfortable and connected, everything feels lighter. Those reminders tend to stick with me long after the trip ends. You see it in how naturally people show up, how little effort it takes to enjoy the moment, and how much better things flow when nothing feels forced. #Family #WorkLifeBalance #Gratitude
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisBest‑dressed Easter crew right here. 🐣🐰 These two make every holiday brighter.
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisBlackpearl Group closes FY26 with $26.8 million in Annual Recurring Revenue, delivering 114% year-on-year growth whilst improving operating efficiency across all key metrics. The data technology company added $3.1 million in ARR during Q4 FY26, positioning itself within reach of the $30 million milestone ahead of internal expectations. The dual validation of organic expansion and Data as a Service scalability provides the foundation for Blackpearl's pathway to $50 million ARR over the next three to five years, underpinned by the Pearl Engine AI platform processing over 31 billion daily sales and marketing signals. 📋 Announcement Highlights: 🔹 ARR grew 13% quarter-on-quarter to $26.8 million with $3.1 million added in Q4 🔹 Customer acquisition costs improved 33% year-on-year with CAC payback period dropping to 3.5 months 🔹 Data as a Service maintained 0% revenue churn for both Q4 and full FY26 🔹 SaaS revenue churn improved to 4.9%, down from 5.3% in prior year period 🔹 ARR per employee rose 41% year-on-year to $346,000, demonstrating operating leverage The Pearl Engine represents Blackpearl's competitive moat, combining data volume, quality, supply context, and temporal precision to identify customer demand that traditional targeting methods miss. A detailed NFL apparel case study demonstrated how AI correction identified teenage girls in California as the real buyers for Kansas City Chiefs merchandise, rather than the assumed demographic of males aged 25-45 in Kansas and Missouri. Chief Executive Officer Nick Lissette explained: "We have compelling growth momentum. And now, our focus is on optimisation: tighter cohorts, shorter ramp cycles, and bringing in customers who realise value faster." 📅 Upcoming Catalysts: 🔸 FY27 strategic execution on cash conversion priorities 🔸 $30 million ARR milestone achievement 🔸 Operating leverage expansion through improving ARR per employee metrics Found this insightful? Hit 'like' and follow for updates on Blackpearl Group's pathway to $50 million ARR and Pearl Engine AI platform developments. 🔗 Read the full ARR analysis and unit economics breakdown: https://lnkd.in/g7kTep5p
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisThe hype around AI isn't matched by the reality our Gorilla Logic customers are experiencing. My recent Forbes Technology Council article delves into some of the reasons why. https://lnkd.in/gE4B5t4VThe Paradox Of Pace: Why AI Acceleration Is Making Your Team SlowerThe Paradox Of Pace: Why AI Acceleration Is Making Your Team Slower
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisThis book was never just about writing, it was about conversations, challenges, and the people who shaped the journey along the way. At its core, The Digital Human Advantage explores the shifts I continue to see shaping the future of business and leadership: - AI evolving from tools into true collaborators - Interfaces becoming the real differentiator - Organizations rethinking how decisions are made when intelligence is embedded into everyday work I’ve been especially encouraged by early readers and colleagues in the industry who engaged deeply with the ideas, including @Eman K., @Priya Reddy, and @Dara Meath, PMP Michael Kabella among others. One reflection that stayed with me was how “grounded and practical” the work feels, and the importance of clearly stating that “AI won’t replace humans,” a perspective that often goes unsaid but is central to how I think about this space. I’m deeply grateful to the leaders and peers who helped sharpen these ideas along the way. Seeing it now in your hands is deeply meaningful. #WLDA #ArtificialIntelligence #Leadership #FutureOfWork #DigitalTransformation #Innovation #BusinessStrategy
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Jim Weldon liked thisJim Weldon liked thisA few days in Cleveland with people I genuinely enjoy being around. ☝️ Experiences like this reinforce something I believe strongly: Culture isn’t created in presentations or mission statements. It shows up in how people interact when they don’t have to. If the environment feels easy, respectful, and grounded — that’s usually not luck. That’s standards at work. Appreciate them and the foundation we continue to protect. 💪 #ProfessionalWisdom #TeamGrowth #GrowthMindset
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Rick Spair
Governor Gavin Newsom Announces $2 Million in Innovation Grants for California Startups: California was the first state to directly invest in innovation-focused businesses owned by diverse founders, according to Newsom's office. http://dlvr.it/TRL4z9 #California #InnovationGrants #Startups #GavinNewsom
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Opportunity Radar - By Startup Researcher
FoundersBoost, in collaboration with the Alliance for SoCal Innovation and Hacker Fund, is running the SoCal B2B Accelerator in Glendale. • For: Pre-seed and seed stage B2B technology startups in Southern California with initial customer traction. • Offer: A six-week, no-equity, no-fee accelerator providing one-on-one mentorship, pitch coaching, and strategic guidance. • Program Manager: Audrey Wu, Program Manager – SoCal B2B Accelerator. • Post-program: Qualified alumni gain access to The Alliance for SoCal Innovation’s Venture Pipeline for introductions to VCs. Why it matters: The program provides non-dilutive support for early-stage B2B startups to prepare for investment and revenue generation. More at: https://lnkd.in/eZkXJMNE #Startups #B2B #SoCal #Accelerator #Preseed #Funding
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Jesse Landry
When most people hear "solid-state," they think storage. But in Santa Clara, xMEMS Labs just gave that term new resonance, literally. The company just raised $21M in Series D funding led by Boardman Bay Capital Management, with Cloudview Capital, CDIB-TEN Capital, Harbinger Ventures, Susquehanna Asia Venture Capital, and other strategic investors tuning in. This isn't another round of capital, it's an #amplifier for a company turning silicon into a new language of #sound and #cooling for the AI era. Founded in 2018 by Joseph Jiang and Jemm Liang, xMEMS spun out of piezoelectric R&D at TSMC and turned what was once wafer-level theory into commercial hardware. Joseph Jiang, a veteran of Knowles, Fortemedia, and InvenSense, leads with precision and swagger, while Jemm Liang, who built Ultrachip from the ground up, drives the engineering with surgical focus. Co-Founder & CLO Wei-Fu Hsu, the former MediaTek exec and IP expert, ensures xMEMS' innovation is as protected as it is disruptive. Their play? A monolithic MEMS platform that transforms voltage into vibration, silicon into sound. Unlike legacy coil speakers and fans, xMEMS tech doesn't move parts, it moves markets. Over 500K MEMS speakers shipped in 1H'24, backed by >250 global patents. The Cypress & Sycamore lines redefine what "small" can do: 1mm-thin, full-range, and capable of sub-bass response once thought impossible in earbuds. Their XMC-2400 µCooling chip, 1mm-thin, fan-on-a-chip, inaudible, moves 39cc/sec of air at just 30mW. That's not cooling, that's choreography at a molecular level. Dr. Chester Hwang, named CTO on Oct 15, 2025, joins to push that curve further. Alongside veterans Mike Housholder (VP Marketing & Biz Dev), Jim Wargnier (VP N.A. & EU Sales), James Lee (VP & Korea GM), Steven P. Bentley (VP Sales), and Martin Lim (VP MEMS Tech), xMEMS is scaling at semiconductor speed. They're already in BleeqUp's AI sports glasses and teamed with Dongguan Rayking Electronics for TWS modules. When OEMs talk "next-gen," they're talking xMEMS-level integration. For investors like Boardman Bay's Will Graves, this isn't just sound engineering, it's signal intelligence. With AI pushing devices thinner, faster, and hotter, xMEMS' piezoMEMS platform sits at the intersection of #acoustics and #thermals, where every millimeter matters. Backing them is a bet that the next wave of #sensorytech won't just compute, it'll feel alive. So what's next? Scaling production, expanding capacity, and embedding xMEMS' silicon pulse into everything from earbuds to AI #datacenters. In a world chasing speed, silence, and fidelity, xMEMS isn't following the beat, they're building the frequency the future will hum to. #Startups #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #SeriesD #AI #Sound #SoundEngineering #Semiconductors #Data #DataDriven #Technology #Innovation #TechEcosystem #StartupEcosystem #Hiring #TechHiring If software engineering peace of mind is what you crave, Vention is your zen.
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Paula Goldman
Skilled labor is the bottleneck in industrial ops. Elevāt's platform basically tries to “productize the expert” using machine signals + docs + prior fixes. Now they have $12M to scale. Congrats to them. In industrial AI, the tech is usually the easy part....adoption is the battle. Curious what you think is the real gating factor: -- trust (techs believe it’s right and won’t get them hurt), -- workflow integration (it fits into CMMS/ticketing/parts + works offline/on-device), OR -- incentives (the field team is rewarded for using it vs “just fixing it their way”). Which one kills deployments most often in your experience?
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Hassan Murad
📣 San Francisco partners with Intuitive AI 📣 We’re proud to partner with the San Francisco Environment Department to bring Oscar, our AI-powered waste-sorting assistant, across the city—starting at the iconic Ferry Building by the Port of San Francisco, Exploratorium and many other sites coming up! ✨ Huge thanks to Tyrone and the SFE team for the collaboration and shared vision. We’re excited to scale Oscar’s impact across the city and help residents sort smarter and reduce waste. 🎉 Check out the press release here: https://lnkd.in/g-kZnCnV
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Timothy Papandreou
✈️Waymo has just been approved to start testing autonomous vehicle service at San Francisco International Airport! 🙋🏻♂️SFO is the largest ridehailing hub for the SF Bay Area. 🌁The Mayor’s office and Waymo signed a “Testing and Operations Pilot Permit” after years of back-and-forth negotiations. ⛹🏻The city permit requires passing these 3-phases : 1: testing with test driver 2: limited rides for Waymo & SFO employees 3: General public rides. 🫨But… they will not be given intial access to the same area that taxis and ridehail companies pick up. Instead they will be cordoned off in the “kiss n fly” area necessitating a air train ride to the terminals. ( anyone have an issue with that one??☝️) 📈Once they jump through these hoops, and they’re operational, we will see a step jump in ride demand and market share. You can’t stop this innovation folks…. 👏🏼Kudos to both teams (as former from both side- this needs tenacity and patience of saints!) as the customer will be the one who benefits from this. Follow me, Timothy Papandreou for the latest in emerging technologies.
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Kwamane Liddell, JD, MHA, BSN
There’s a lot of conversation about how AI is concentrating capital. That’s real. But I’m also seeing how it’s expanding what small teams can build. At ThriveLink, AI has allowed us to move faster, reach more patients, and build technology that helps families navigate systems that were never designed to be easy. We’ve been able to do with a small amount of capital what used to require entire teams and millions in funding. The tools are changing. The mission isn’t. Thankful to the Los Angeles Business Journal and Plug In Ventures for highlighting the changing venture landscape and what founders like myself are navigating right now.
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