Building a New Age AI Services Company: Cognida CEO Feroze Mohammed (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: So, talk about what you pitched to your first clients and how you got them. Where does this begin?

Feroze Mohammed: Sure. I think even before we started, one thing we learned from our journey in Sierra Atlantic and later with Hitachi is to play the game only when you have an unfair advantage to win. And that comes from having very specific differentiation.

Before we even started, we built the IP. We looked at many companies that were available and acquired one that gave us a jumpstart on the IP.

We built a platform called Zuno.predict, which allowed predictive modeling and the ability to build ML models very rapidly. So we built that platform first. That was our entry strategy. We demonstrated to business users how to build models and see the art of possible. From day one, we were focused on demonstrating how predictive modeling would look like in business.

Sramana Mitra: OK, so you did not try to sell this software, but provided services on top of this software that you acquired?

Feroze Mohammed: We do that now. To be honest, when we began the journey, we were trying to sell the software. We entered with the IP and the software. We were using a slightly different approach. While most predictive modeling platforms were pitching to data scientists, we changed direction and pitched to business users. We made our software intuitive and easy to use so that business users could build models without needing to be data scientists.

That was our initial pitch. We democratized the building of ML models. You needed some analytic skills but did not need to be a data scientist. Most of our pitch was about selling the software to the platform. There was a lot of education involved at that time.

Sramana Mitra: So that didn’t work. Nobody bought your software?

Feroze Mohammed: People did buy the software, but we realized it was not easy for businesses to use it. Along with selling the software, we had to provide many white-glove services, like providing data science abilities to work with them and build hypotheses.

Predictive modeling involves a lot of experimentation. We had to provide the capability to do that. It took us a while to figure out that selling point solutions or a platform alone would not work in enterprises. We’d have to provide an end-to-end solution. We morphed over time.

Today, while we have very strong and capable platforms, we don’t even go to market with them. We build foundational business solutions on top of these platforms and use that as an entry strategy.

Our evolved go-to-market strategy includes a library of foundational business solutions in three buckets: business solutions that help improve revenue, business solutions that help drive operational efficiencies, and business solutions that help improve customer experience.

We showcase these foundational business solutions, which seed ideas, and people can figure out how they could work in their business. We tailor these solutions or build bespoke ones for their needs.

The entire approach has changed. We still use the tools for design and runtime but go with the solution set, not the platform set.

Sramana Mitra: In general, I think this industry is moving towards services and solution selling. It’s more about “do it for me” rather than “do it yourself.”

Even with IP, service providers will use it to build solutions on top and sell those solutions rather than selling software alone.

Feroze Mohammed: That was a learning experience for us. Initially, we did many demos, and people liked what the software could do, but selling the platform alone was difficult.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Building a New Age AI Services Company: Cognida CEO Feroze Mohammed
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