Ben Parr

Interactive Content Manager

Octane AI

Octane AI is the AI and zero-party data platform for ecommerce brands. Our mission is to democratize AI for all and empower entrepreneurs in the process.  Shopify elected Octane AI as its Best Storefront App in 2021. 

Octane AI powers AI-enabled quizzes and surveys for thousands of merchants and brands, helps them personalize marketing channels like email, SMS and ads, and build deeper relationships with their customers using AI. Octane AI’s patented conversational technology enables thousands of merchants to collect zero-party data directly from customers and leverage it to build lasting relationships across owned marketing channels. Octane AI’s users experience an average increase in revenue by 20% and marketing opt-ins by 3-6x. 

Octane AI an all-remote company employing team members in over 12 countries. We've raised funding from top-tier investors including General Catalyst, Javelin Venture Partners, Bullpen Capital and Boost VC.

Co-Founder & President

Co-founded Octane AI in 2016 with my co-founders Matt and Leif. Our mission is to help brands and customers build real relationships through AI-enabled conversations. Our first product was the easiest platform to build Facebook Messenger chatbots, Since then, we have grown into the AI and zero-party data marketing platform for Shopify and ecommerce brands. 

My responsibilities as CMO/Chief Marketing Officer focused on growing Octane AI's brand presence, building partnerships, and supporting our CEO in executing the vision.

We've raised over $14 million from General Catalyst, Bullpen Capital, Boost VC, Javelin Partners, and dozens amazing angels and firms.

Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer

Theory Forge Ventures

Active AI founders backing AI founders at the pre-seed and seed stage, founded by Ben Parr and Matt Schlicht.

Theory Forge portfolio companies include Wordware (co-investors: Spark Capital, Felicis, DCM), Gumloop (co-investors: First Round, Y Combinator, Ludlow Ventures, Vertex Ventures), Payman (co-investors: Coinbase, Boost VC, Freestyle, Visa Ventures), Clout Kitchen (co-investors: a16z, Peak XV Partners, Weekend Fund, Hustle Fund), and Team-GPT (co-investors: True Ventures)

Managing Partner

The Leila Janah Foundation

In 2020, the not-for-profit arm of Samasource renamed itself the Leila Janah Foundation, in honor of its late founder and visionary, Leila Janah. I serve as a Board Member of the Foundation to further her legacy of Giving Work.

Leila believed that Giving Work was a far more powerful tool to eradicating poverty than giving aid, as it creates a permanent pathway toward economic security and financial independence. This foundation honors her vision of Giving Work, by focusing on non-profit programs that drive economic mobility for people living in underserved communities.

Board of Directors

Payman

First check (with my partner Matt Schlicht) in a $3.1m pre-seed round, joined by Boost VC, Coinbase, Visa, Untapped and Spartan Group.

Payman is a platform that lets AIs hire humans. Example: Imagine you had an AI that monitored your market for trends and then automatically hired someone to write a blog post.

Soon, AI agents and humans will work together on projects. AIs will take care of the tedious work, and the AIs will use Payman to hire humans to do the things that AI cannot do. But for humans and AIs to collaborate, there has to be a payment layer and platform to facilitate it. Payman is that platform.

Investor

Wordware (YC S24)

Wordware (YC S24) is an IDE for building AI agents and apps using natural language. It allows you to build AI apps 20x faster than you normally could, and you don't even have to be technical to use it!

When Matt Schlicht and I first tried Wordware and met founder Filip and Robert, it was clear that this company and product were DIFFERENT. Wordware is SO beautiful and it's so easy to use. There's nothing like it.

If you are building AI applications or agents, you have to sign up at http://Wordware.ai.

Gumloop (YC W24)

Thrilled to be an investor with my co-founder Matt Schlicht!b Gumloop is making it easy for anyone to build powerful AI workflows -- no AI expertise or coding needed.

Matt and I invested because Gumloop is hands down the easiest-to-use tool we've ever found for building AI automation and workflows. The founders are just as impressive.

The round was led by First Round Capital with participation from Y Combinator, Max Mullen (Instacart), Arash Ferdowsi (Dropbox), Andrew Ofstad (Airtable), Immad Akhund (Mercury), Kulveer Taggar (Zeus), Liquid2, WndrCo, Richard Aberman(WePay), JJ Fliegelman(Wayup), and Ludlow Ventures.

HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

A book on the science and psychology of attention; why we pay attention to certain people, products, companies and ideas; and how to capture, maintain, and grow attention. Analyzed over 1,000 research studies in psychology, neurology, communications, and economics, and interviewed dozens of thought leaders including Sheryl Sandberg, Steven Soderbergh, and David Copperfield to form the thesis of the book. 

Captivology has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Success Magazine, Forbes, Business Insider, USA Today, The Financial Times, and other publications. The book was named the best marketing book of 2015 by Strategy+Business Magazine.

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY: www.bit.ly/captivology

Author, "Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention"

Shopify

Named by Shopify as one of its first ten Developer Champions! We explain the virtues of building on top of the Shopify platform and spread the word about the MANY new innovations and features Shopify is launching. Shopify's Developer Champions include the creators/developers of some of Shopify's most popular apps.

Developer Champion (Honorary)

Ecommerce Magazine

Co-Editor

Worldwide Speakers Group

I speak on artificial intelligence, silicon valley, the psychology of marketing and attention, and the future of entrepreneurship to audiences large and small. Expect fireworks and confetti (literally)!
 
Direct booking: Bill Hart -- bhart@wwsg.com

Speaker profiles:
www.benparr.com/speaking
http://www.wwsg.com/speakers/ben-parr

Keynote Speaker

Ben Parr is an AI founder and investor. He is President and Co-Founder of Octane AI, a profitable AI platform that powers conversions for ecommerce brands. He is also General Partner & Co-Founder of Theory Forge Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture capital fund investing in the next generation of AI founders and companies.

Ben started his career as Co-Editor and Editor-at-Large of Mashable, where he wrote over 2,400 articles, and was a technology columnist for CNET. He is the author of the award-winning book, "Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention" (HarperCollins/HarperOne). Parr sits on the board of directors of the Leila Janah Foundation. He is a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 and an alum of Northwestern University.

The man. The myth. The legend himself Sam Altman!

Congrats to Sam and the entire OpenAI  team on an incredible 3rd edition of #DevDay! I’ve made a bunch of new friends and seen some amazing demos already — and there’s still more to go! But mostly I’m in awe of how much you and the team have been able to ship for developers. 

We are going to continue to double down on the OpenAI ecosystem at Octane AI. Our mission is simple: build the best AI products to help brands convert and grow. 

I feel lucky to be *EARLY* to the AI party. It’s been so much fun!

AI Founder & Investor | President of Octane AI (AI for Ecommerce) | GP at Theory Forge Ventures | Author, Captivology (HarperCollins)

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Monday: OpenAI DevDay!
Tuesday: Andreessen Horowitz's a16z speedrun demo day + Bessemer Venture Partners's Seed Summit! 

Props to a16z and BVP on putting on incredible events and bringing together the most amazing people. It's been incredible meeting new friends (shoutout to Daniela Passos, the highlight of my week!) and reconnecting with old ones. I think i have no less than 100 people I need to follow up with from the last two days...

I've also been showing Ella the beauty of SF in-between #SFTechWeek events. She's a good little traveler who loves meeting new people. Future VC or dev evangelist in the making? Or maybe she's destined for acting! 

SF friends -- I hope I run into you at one of these events this week!

I’m here in SF for OpenAI DevDay, to get the latest AI innovations to use for Octane AI’s customers! We will integrate them into our AI product suite for ecommerce ASAP!

I’m also scouting DevDay for the next trillion-dollar AI company for Theory Forge Ventures. Already ran into one portfolio company — Team-GPT! And I know it isn’t the only portco here. 

Will keep you all informed on what OpenAI announces today!

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