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Last week, some of the worlds most notable brands, creatives, and executives gathered at Cannes Lions to explore the issues shaping the future of advertising and communicationsfrom the rise of AI to the growing importance of ESG to the topic currently under fire: diversity, equity, and inclusion. Since January, many across the industry have noted a shift. The momentum behind DEIonce front and centerhas been dimmed by growing backlash, driven largely by U.S. political pressure and a wave of corporate rollbacks. These critics are trying to distract, deflect, and delay progress. But they wont win. Despite the backlash, it wasnt hard to find leaders at the festival choosing courage over caution. Leaders like Adrianne C. Smith, founder of the Cannes Can: Diversity Collective (CC:DC) and chief inclusion and impact officer at FleishmanHillard, who opened the fifth Inkwell Beach installation with a clear message: Dont talk about it. Be about it. This call to action resonated with me and many others, but it raises an important question: were brands and their leaders in attendance truly listening? As we head into the second half of 2025, one thing is clear: the metric brands must begin to track, integrate, and prioritize is Return on Inclusion. Its the ROI that will define the future of the creative industriesand its one brands can no longer afford to ignore. Heres why. Brands Should Hit the DEI Reset ButtonAs Long as Its Done with Intention Amid the glitter and glamour, spaces like Inkwell Beach stand outnot as performative checkboxes, but as intentional, purpose-driven platforms for real progress. One of the most rewarding aspects of Cannes Lions is hearing diverse perspectives that truly move our industries forward. One of these leaders is Frank Starling, VP and Chief DEI Officer for Cannes Lions. We sat down to discuss whats next for DEI, what brands should be thinking about now, and where they can focus to make a meaningful impact. As Frank pointed out, as a world, we are living in a paradox: hyperconnected, yet more fragmented than ever. This is why brands must prioritize both relevance and resonance and be ready to answer two crucial questions: How do we reset with intention? And what does that look like inside our organization? In 2025, the workplace is more generationally diverse than ever. According to SHRM, as many as five generationstraditionalists, baby boomers, Gen X, millennials, and Gen Zcan now be found at the same company, sometimes at the same table. These employees need to feel safepsychologically and physically. And its up to brands to make more, not less, room for the unique perspectives, values, and lived experiences they bring. According to Frank, in todays fast-changing world, we must build and foster climates that spark creativity and innovation. Every organizations DEI reset will look differentbut it must be rooted in intention. Creativity Drives Disruption. And You Cant Spell Creativity without E&I. When I launched The Sway Effect in 2019, I knew two things were nonnegotiable: diversity, equity, and inclusion had to be central to everything that we do, and we would only collaborate with brands that believed inclusivity leads to the best work. Research continues to prove this: according to Harvard Business Review, inclusive organizations are 73% more likely to reap innovation income 70% more likely to capture new markets up to 50% more likely to make better decisions, and up to 36% more likely to have above-average profitability. The bottom line is, inclusivity separates the leaders from the followersand shows both employees and customers that you are showing up for the communities that you represent and serve. Despite the clear value of this approach, fearnot convictionis driving too much of todays creative work. And its not surprising, with critics like Elon Musk declaring that DEI must die and the U.S. government labeling some DEI efforts as egregious and discriminatory. But apprehension cannot outweigh the responsibility to build safe, inclusive workplacesand create lasting impact across our industries. After all, you cant spell creativity without E&IEquity and Inclusion. When I shared my 2025 (and beyond) mission statement with Frank, heres how he expanded on the vision: Ensure that inclusive leadership is at the center of your organization.That means collaborating across differences, challenging bias, and leading with courage and cultural intelligence. Embed inclusion to spark innovation and creativity. Make space for everyone to speak up, challenge ideas, and be themselves. That sense of belonging fuels innovation. Focus on impact over volume. Pull back, assess what will truly move the needle, and invest your time, budget, and resources there. The Future Belongs to Those Who Show Upand Stay the Course As the dust settles from a thought-provoking week on the Croisette, one thing is clear: there will always be a place for purpose. My message to brands post-Cannes is thismeasure DEI success not just by return on investment, but by Return on Inclusion. Thats what will shape the future of creativity, culture, and DEI. Lead the conversations. Build the culture. Drive the change. Those are the brandsand the leadersthat will always have a seat at my table.
Category:
E-Commerce
Who says the world needs another podcast? We do. By Design is your new home for design news and criticism, plus in-depth interviews with some of the biggest names in the space. Its the first podcast from Fast Companys design desk and is hosted by senior editor Liz Stinson and global design editor Mark Wilson. Our first guest is Michael Bierut, the man behind some of the most iconic design work in recent history including Mastercard, Slack, Saks Fifth Avenue, and countless others. Now, as Bierut steps into (semi) retirement, he sat down with Liz and Mark for a thoughtful reflection on his legendary career and why both humans and technology will need to work together for real design innovation. (And yes, they do revisit the infamous H logo he designed for Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign.) Liz and Mark also give their analysis on the latest in design news: Is Apples Liquid Glass any good? Can Sam Altman and Jony Ive make a useful piece of AI hardware? Plus, they rank the best and worst designs of the month. Listen to the first episode now on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts.
Category:
E-Commerce
Productivity myths can stand in the way of personal and professional growth, often without our awareness. Moreover, what equals productivity for one person or company may not be the same for others. This article challenges common misconceptions about productivity that experts have found to be misleading or harmful in the workplace. Here, experts offer practical alternatives to these myths that actually make a difference in your efficiency. Redefine Productivity for Your Role One belief about productivity that I’ve found particularly misleading is the idea that it has a fixed definition. While there are standard ways to define it, in reality, it looks different depending on where you work and what you do. In some companies, productivity is measured by how many tasks you check off. In others, it’s deals closed or impact created. It’s not one-size-fits-all, and treating it as such is where we go wrong. It’s also a mistake to assume we’re all productive at the same time or for the same number of hours. I’ve had days where I accomplished more in two hours than I did in a full eight-hour stretch. Quantity is not quality. And creative roles, especially, can’t be measured with the same yardstick as technical ones. You can’t expect a content writer to be productive in the same way a software developer is. What’s made a real difference for me and my team is being intentional about when we work, not just what we work on. I actively encourage everyone to block out focus time on their calendars during their personal peak hours. That’s when the real work gets done. We leave meetings, admin, and the lighter tasks for the rest of the day. In the end, productivity isn’t just about how much you do. It’s about when and how you do it and whether it actually matters. Marialena Kanaki, content marketing manager, TalentLMS Embrace Flexible Daily Planning Strict scheduling doesn’t work for everyone. While it makes me feel great, as managing partner, to see an organized calendar for each team member’s entire week, I’ve learnedsometimes the hard waythat this approach can actually decrease productivity. I’m a natural scheduler. I make a plan, stick to it (barring emergencies), and get a real sense of satisfaction from knowing exactly what I’ll be doing on any given day. But not everyone works like I do. Some people genuinely struggle with rigid schedules. They do their best work when they follow their instincts, tackling the task that best matches their energy, mood, or the day’s circumstances. Asking them to hand me a detailed weekly plan on Monday often backfired. It locked them into commitments that didn’t match how the week unfolded. Instead of leaning into their strengths, they felt stuck doing tasks they no longer felt primed to complete. So I’ve changed my approach. Now, I ask team members to give me a heads-up each morning about what they’re planning to focus on. If something shifts, they can check in again around lunch with any updates. It’s a compromise that keeps me in the loop but gives them the flexibility to do their best work, when and how it makes the most sense. Megan Mooney, managing partner, Vetted Take Regular Breaks to Boost Performance There’s a strange idea that if you’re behind or have a lot to do, you shouldn’t take breaks. We almost shame ourselves into it, or feel guilty because there’s this growing list of things that need to be done. I think it’s really harmful, and it almost always backfires. You’re not a machine. When you don’t give yourself a break, your focus drops, mistakes creep in, and you end up working longer with less quality. Even if there are a rising number of inquiries and our team has a lot to catch up with, we still take regular breakseven on the busiest days. It helps us recharge and come back sharper as opposed to feeling drained or not giving our best. Caring for our team means trusting them to manage their work in a way that’s sustainable. Mike Roberts, cofounder, City Creek Mortgage Prioritize Recognition Over Rewards Having spent over a decade in the field of employee engagement, I’ve gained a unique perspective on what truly drives workplace productivity. Many leaders believe that rewards alone, monetary or otherwise, are the key to boosting performance. However, my experience, especially through building our employee engagement platform, has shown me that recognition, a sincere appreciation and acknowledgement of an employee’s effort, is a far more powerful and sustainable motivator. This insight aligns with the motivational crowding theory, which explains how extrinsic rewards can sometimes crowd out intrinsic motivation when not balanced carefully. To ensure this approach is fully embraced, we introduced the “flipping of Rs” concept, shifting the focus from rewards to recognition. Practically, embedding consistent, personalized recognition moments into daily workflowswhether through peer-to-peer shoutouts or leadership appreciationhas transformed how our people connect with their work, driving efficiency and fulfillment far beyond what rewards alone can achieve. Partha Neog, CEO and cofounder, Vantage Circle Shift to Decision-First Culture Popular belief: more meetings mean more alignment. This sounds reasonable in theory, but in practice, it often kills momentum. We’ve found that excessive internal check-ins, especially when not tied to immediate outcomes, tend to drain time, fragment focus, and slow execution. In fast-paced sales environments like ours, where every hour matters, this mindset can quietly erode team performance. We shifted from a “meeting culture” to a decision-first culture. If something doesn’t require a clear decision or unblock a team, it probably doesn’t need a meeting. We tightened our weekly rhythm to focus on what moves deals forward, such as pipeline blockers, campaign results, and fast-turn feedback. A practical habit that works: we moved to a lightweight, asynchronous reporting approach where each team member, whether a sales development representative, account executive, or campaign lead, shares a quick weekly update outlining key developments, shifts in prospect behavior, and immediate next actions. It keeps everyone aligned without overloading calendars. The result? More autonomy, less friction, and more time spent on what actually drives growth. Vito Vishnepolsky, founder and director, Martal Group Align Work with Your Natural Rhythm The myth? That productivity starts with a 5 a.m. wake-up call. There’s a persistent narrativ that equates early rising with ambition and discipline while sidelining anyone whose energy doesn’t peak with the sunrise. Night owls, caregivers, and individuals managing chronic health conditions are all left out of that picture of “success.” I’ve done my best thinking at 9 p.m. and struggled through 8 a.m. meetings. Once I stopped contorting my schedule to fit someone else’s idea of productivity, everything shiftedmy focus, creativity, and energy. What’s made the biggest difference? Protecting time for deep work and being honest about how and when I work best. Christin Roberson, CEO and career coach, the Career Doc Batch Process Communications for Focus One of the most problematic and harmful beliefs about productivity is the idea that to be responsive in the workplace, you need to have notifications on for emails, Slack, Teams, etc., and answer as quickly as possible. In fact, studies show that every time you get interrupted or distracted (and yes, that’s happening even when you just glance at a message to determine if it’s important), it takes, on average, 23 minutes (!) to refocus on what you were previously doing. This results in productivity losses of about a third of the workday. And all that context switching is not only killing your productivity, it’s also very stressful. Here’s how you can avoid falling prey to this “always on” belief. These are strategies that work well for me, for the teams I’ve worked with, and for my clients: Turn off all the email notifications (no one uses email in an emergency) and, if you can, turn off the Slack/Teams notifications as well, or at least ensure that you’re only receiving notifications for direct messages (no channel notifications). Batch process your email/Slack/Teams. Instead of checking your inbox 30 times a day, process your incoming messages a few times a day. Most people can do this every couple of hours and still be very responsive, perhaps even more responsive than they were prior to moving from “checking” to “processing.” Processing means handling the email (by archiving (because no response is needed), responding, and/or adding the work to your task system, as the case may be). Determine with your team what the “emergency channel” is (text, phone call, etc.); this is the method of communication to be used if a message truly can’t wait. If it makes you feel more comfortable, update your status on Slack/Teams during periods when you’re not active to, “Heads down on a few things, will be back in here at [time]. If it’s urgent, contact me at [emergency channel].” Relish in how much you can get done when you’re not interrupted by pings and dings every five minutes. Most of my clients tell me that when they adopt the process above, they start immediately saving an hour a day, and my experience has been similar in my life and business. Alexis Haselberger, time management and productivity coach, Alexis Haselberger Coaching and Consulting Create Capacity Matrices for Smart Planning One popular belief about productivity that I’ve found to be harmful is the idea that “being constantly busy equals being productive.” This belief not only glorifies burnout but also penalizes peopleespecially those from historically excluded communitieswho may need flexible work arrangements, mental health accommodations, or simply a different pace to thrive. It reinforces a one-size-fits-all model of performance that is neither sustainable nor inclusive. In my work with organizations, we overcome this by shifting the focus from visibility and hours worked to outcomes, clarity of purpose, and psychological safety. One strategy that’s made a real difference is creating “capacity and competency matrices”a tool we use to align people’s strengths, availability, and bandwidth with organizational priorities. This allows teams to plan smarter, reduce overload, and foster shared ownership instead of individual overextension. The real productivity gains come not from doing more, but from doing what mattersand doing it in a way that honors people’s mental health, lived experiences, and need for balance. Bhavik R. Shah, founder and culture change strategist, Bhavik R. Shah Simplify Tools to Enhance Workflow Many teams fall into the trap of thinking that adding a new productivity tool to their tech stack will fix workflow inefficiencies. In reality, layering more tools without fixing underlying habits can lead to fragmentation, decision fatigue, and duplication of work. You end up spending more time figuring out how to work instead of actually doing the work. Our team learned this lesson the hard way. At one point, we were juggling Jira for tickets, Notion for docs, Slack for stand-up meetings, Loom for async updates, Asana for project management, and Linear for roadmap planning. Our workflow looked modern, but it was a big mess. Context-switching was constant, and some critical updates were lost across systems. After thorough deliberation, we decided to audit our workflows, and the result was astonishing. A single product sprint involved seven-plus tool handoffs, and over 25% of dev time was spent navigating or syncing between tools. The turning point was simplifying everything. We cut back our entire workflow to three tools and standardized their use. The result was a 20% reduction in sprint cycle time over two quarters and noticeably less burnout. The real gain wasn’t from adding another productivity tool, but from aligning the team around fewer, clearer ways of working. That is what made the difference. Roman Milyushkevich, CEO and CTO, HasData Make Your Hard Work Visible The belief that “hard work pays off” can be harmful and misleading, especially for people who identify as part of minority groups like myself. I spent over 15 years in corporate jobs in two countries, with 10 of those years in corporate America. I thought working hard was the answer to getting a promotion or a raise. I believed my manager would see my hard work, and eventually, I would begin to climb the ladder. The reality was that I went from job to job, underpaid, undervalued, and unappreciated. All my hard work was invisible to my peers and my manager. I remember watching colleagues doing less work than me, arriving late and leaving the office early, and not caring as much about their tasks. Then, during a performance review, they got raises and promotions. I felt defeated and blamed myself for not doing more, even though I was already working close to 60 hours a week and was exhausted. I felt like being who I was was not enough; even though I knew I had value I didn’t feel I could sell that at work. As an introvert, I didn’t feel empowered to speak up and thought only loud voices could get ahead until I learned the power of quiet confidence. I began learning about self-advocacy for introverts. I realized the issue was that my work wasn’t visible. So, I began to work on a strategy to improve my relationship with my manager. I asked for feedback, shared my goals, set low-stakes boundaries with extra requests and workload, brought structure to my one-on-one meetings with my manager, and discussed my results before waiting for the performance review. The change wasn’t an overnight success, but little by little, I felt more comfortable speaking up and advocating for myself. You don’t need to brag about your accomplishments, but it’s essential to help your manager understand that you are getting results. Your manager can’t read your mind and know everything you do. The goal with self-advocacy is not necessarily to consistently achieve the result, but to be on a journey to change your mindset about how you see yourself and perceive your achievements. Our brains love to go for negativity and seek situations to confirm that. However, the little you do to change that mindset, the more equipped you’ll feel to see the positive results of self-advocacy. It’s about standing up for yourself and using your voice. Hard work only pays off if it becomes visible to your manager. Working hard constantly without recognition can lead to burnout, not productivity. Ana Goehner, career strategist, Ana Goehner Career Strategist Select Right People for Task Efficiency Delegating more people to a task, especially a project, will not always improve the quality of outcomes or efficiency. Context matters. One needs to carefully select individuals with the right mindsets and personalities who possess the optimal skills to complete the task at hand. Having the wrong personalities, regardless of their competency, can create more bottlenecks, thus triggering a domino effect of negative side effects impacting operational efficiency and company morale. When frustrations rise and morale declines, becoming the new norm, it creates an opportunity for employees to leave the organization. Sometimes, it’s not the titles that dictate who should work on specific deliverables but the right perspective that can guide people effectively to the finish line. This is more common in entrepreneurial environments than in traditional settings, where the latter may risk taking longer to complete work while adhering to more organizational red tape and mediocre productivity standards. This comes down to whether people are being rewarded for productivity or just logging hours to receive a paycheck. The latter can impact motivation and how an employee approaches their obligations. While not always the case, it happens often enough to prompt managers to become selective in how they delegate tasks. Sasha Laghonh, founder and senior advisor to C-suite and entrepreneurs, Sasha Talks Practice Serial Monotasking for Better Results We’ve been taught that multitasking (doing two or more things at once) is bad because it usually leads to more mistakes, takes longer to complete tasks, and increases our stress level. While this is true, what workplace, job, or leader allows you to focus on only one task at a time? And multitasking can still be found on most internal job descriptions. Because there will always be competing priorities, our team has learned to work with them, not against them. Taking a break from one task to work on something else can actually help you. It gives your brain a chance to rest when you’re feeling stuck or tired, so you come back feeling fresh. Plus, stepping away lets your subconscious keep working on the problem, which can lead to creative ideas. Also, if you focus too long on one thing, your energy and creativity can drop, so switching tasks helps keep you sharp. And in busy workplaces where you have lots going on, jumping between tasks can help you make steady progress on everything without getting overwhelmed. So the one practical strategy that we practice daily is “serial monotasking.” We focus on one task for a set period (for 25 to 50 minutes), then intentionally switch to another when we need a break or hit a mental block. Before switching, we jot down quick notes about where we left off to make it easier to pick up later. This helps us enjoy the benefits of task switching without falling into the trap of multitasking. This isn’t about semantics. It’s about navigating our workload by working smarter. If you feel stuck when you’re trying to get things done, give yourself permission to switch tasks intentionally, but avoid trying to do both at the same time. Anu Mandapati, CEO, Qultured
Category:
E-Commerce
For brands, trying to reach Gen Z is hit or miss: New product launches can be lost to the ether just as easily as they can go viral. But failing to connect with the younger generation is no longer an option, and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine knows it. On June 18 at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Witherspoon announced that Hello Sunshine’s newest launcha Gen Z-focused platform called Sunniewill come to life via Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, a website, a virtual zine and in real life, including media content, events, and mentorship opportunities. Gen Z consumers, roughly between the ages of 13 and 28, have already shown interest in Hello Sunshine’s content, particularly thanks to projects like Daisy Jones & the Six and the Legally Blonde prequel, Elle. The idea for Sunnie first came during the company’s flagship live event, Shine Away, with organizers noticing attendees bringing their daughters along. With Hello Sunshine founded as a platform to fill in the white space of women representation in media, the team noticed a similar vacuum absent for the younger generation. “That piqued our curiosity. It’s like, what is this younger generation looking at differently and what do they need?” Hello Sunshine CEO Sarah Harden tells Fast Company. “We’re bringing Sunnie to life very similarly to how we brought Hello Sunshine to lifein digital communities, in real life, and in real connections.” And while the overarching mission of Sunnie and Hello Sunshine align, targeting a particular demographic was a new challenge, in need of new approaches. To do so, the company put intentionality front and center, bringing research and real Gen Z voices to the table, and partnering with those who have it figured out. ‘Changing the way girls feel about themselves’ Founded in 2016, Hello Sunshine sold to Blackstone-backed Candle Media in 2021 for $900 million, Fast Company reported at the time. While the young company had only a handful of movies and TV series at that point, its projects were top drivers of user engagement on streaming platforms. Prior to launching Sunnie, the company partnered with YPulse, a marketing research and insights company focused on Gen Z and millennials, and mentorship platform tre, to better understand just what Gen Z is actually looking for in media. Surveying 1,000 teen girls aged 13 to 18, the study found that 76% of Gen Z believe that advertising does not reflect them, underscoring a clear gap between companies and young consumers. The study also explored what Gen Zers are actually looking for and the lasting impact that media can have. Finding that 7 in 10 young girls actively seek opportunities to connect and wish they had more community in their lives, Sunnie is focusing on fostering that community online, and in-person, with upcoming live events. “We had years of working with Gen Z, and then the research came back and told us what we had already learned from the Gen Z customer ourselves, but it’s validating,” says Maureen Polo, Hello Sunshine’s head of direct-to-consumer. The findings also reignited a sense of purpose for the ambitious initiative, revealing that 91% of respondents value brands that provide them with tools to express their individuality, and 63% seeing themselves as someone who can make a difference in the world. “It is proof that storytelling doesn’t just reflect culture, it actually helps build confidence, purpose, and possibility in girls,” Harden says. “What the research showed is if we do that well, we will play a part in changing the way girls feel about themselves and their confidence.” Bringing Gen Z into the equation At Sunnie, Gen Z is not left out of the conversation; they are leading it. A major insight from the study revealed that 87% of respondents believe brands should involve girls early in their design and planning processes. “It’s moving beyond representation and young women being better seen in their mediawhich they told us they weren’tbut moving from that to not just speaking to them, but actually cocreating with them,” Polo says. To do so, Sunnie and tre gathered a Gen Z advisory board of 22 girls and young women, providing insights on everything from programing and content to even the platform’s name. Additionally, Sunnie and Hello Sunshine’s programming aims to foster deeper relationships between Gen Z and their parents. While Hello Sunshine’s data showed Gen Z is its fastest growing digital audience, 52% of its base audience is mothers and caretakers of Gen Z girls, inspiring a multigenerational approach. “We reach these moms of young girls and moms of teenage girls,” Polo says. “We’re helping them understand this next generation as we’re learning about them, and we’re actually translating that back.” Partner with those who get it right In the spirit of cocreation, Sunnie not only tapped into Gen Z expertise, but also that of brands and institutions that have the Gen Z connection figured out, such as the makeup and skincare brand e.l.f. Beauty. “We started looking at the brands that are out in the world doing an amazing job talking to consumers, and in some cases, some of the world’s most powerful brands are actually product companies,” Polo says. “We started partnering really thoughtfully and strategically to talk to the next-generation audience with brands that we believe super serve them to learn together.” Kory Marchisotto, e.l.f Beauty’s CMO, says the secret to forging connections with consumers is simply listening and responding to their needs. “It’s very simple, and it’s called putting your ear to the ground and tuning the outfit,” Marchisotto says. “We don’t make this stuff up. They tell us, we listen, and we act on what we hear.” Inspired by e.l.f Beauty’s work, which includes activations on Roblox and Twitch, Sunnie aims to foster similarly meaningful connections. For instance, the beauty brand often follows up on popular requests left on social media, and talks directly with consumers. On a recent TikTok live, Marchisotto, who will be a Sunnie mentor as well, jumped on a popular trend of reusing the brand’s packaging to create a giant lip gloss, following the instruction of users who were tuned in. “We did it together,” she recalls. “And I asked them why the hell they were doing it. And at the end, I really understood whybecause there’s no distance between me and the community as the CMO. There’s no ivory tower.” Sunnie also partnered with other institutions, creating an ecosystem of mission-focused experts, including AnitaB.org, Child Mind Institute, Lyda Hill Philanthropies IF/HEN Initiative, Step Up, the Womens Sports Foundation, and Purdue University, harnessing their individual expertises for various projects. If Sunnie succeeds in its mission, its launch could provide other companies with a framework to connect more effectively with a younger generation of consumers. “It’s really listening with a scalpel,” Marchisotto says. “But more important than listening is acting on what you hear so that you can shape culture together.”
Category:
E-Commerce
Everyone whos ever talked to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other big-name chatbots recognizes how anodyne they can be. Because these conversational AIs creators stuff them with as much human-generated training content as possible, they dont end up sounding like anyone in particular. Insteadto borrow the title of a 1986 book by philosopher Thomas Nagelthey offer the view from nowhere. But what if you could train a bot by feeding it material youd created, reflecting your knowledge, way of thinking, and style of self-expression? Instead of sounding like nobody, it might sound like you, or at least a rough approximation thereof. Given enough training fodder and sufficiently advanced technology, such a bot could even be capable of serving as an automated extension of your own brain. Thats the idea motivating Delphi, an AI startup whose 14-person team is building a platform for what it calls digital minds. The 2-year-old company, which previously raised $2.7 million in seed funding, is announcing its $16 million Series A round, led by Sequoia Capital with participation from Menlo Ventures, Anthropics Anthology Fund, Michael Ovitzs Crossbeam, and others. It will use the new infusion of cash to continue to build out its web-based tool kit, which already includes features for creating, refining, and monetizing digital minds. The creators currently using Delphi tend to be people with substantial existing followings theyve built up through websites, newsletters, podcasts, social-media accounts, speaking engagements, books, and other modes of communication. They include business-advice newsletter kingpin Lenny Rachitsky, wellness coach Koya Webb, HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan, sex therapist Vanessa Marin, motivational speaker Brian Tracy, financial adviser Codie Sanchez, bodybuilder-actor-governator Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many others. Its possible to chat with their digital minds via a texting-style typed session or a voice call; creators can also enabled video calls. Digital mind conversations can be in text form or via calls with simulated voices. [Image: Courtesy of Delphi] Despite the voice and video options, the core of the concept isnt about deepfaking how a creator looks and sounds. We’ve centered everything around the mind, Delphi cofounder and CEO Dara Ladjevardian told me during my recent visit to the companys San Francisco office. That doesn’t mean just capturing your expertise, but also capturing how you reason about things, he says. So you can give personalized advice, so we can be predictive of what you might say in new situations. Even if Delphis emphasis on the quality of the conversation over audiovisual razzmatazz helps it avoid a disconcerting uncanny valley effectWe’ve seen consumers don’t really care about the video, Ladjevardian saysits still a bit of a mind-bending proposition. Along with overcoming the obvious technical challenges of teaching AI to channel a specific person in a way thats trustworthy enough to actually be useful, Delphi will also need to get consumers comfortable with seeking advice from simulated versions of real experts. The Delphi site includes a browsable guide to digital minds dispensing advice of many kinds. [Image: Courtesy of Delphi] This, today, I think, to a lot of consumers just seems weird, says Sequoia partner Jess Lee, who led the firms investment in Delphi. We need to cross the chasm and there need to be more people using them. And I think that will come with new Delphi owners shipping and showcasing what it can do. Already, Delphi is helping early adopters scale up their ability to engage with audiences. We’ve always had a fundamental challenge, which is that more people want to ask me questions than I’m possibly able to get to in 10 lifetimes, let alone in the next year, says relationship and confidence coach Matthew Hussey. Last year, his company created Matthew AI, a Delphi digital mind trained on 17 years of his existing content. By calling it Matthew AI, he hoped to manage expectations about what it could and couldnt do. Even then, he wasnt sure how customers would respond. We sort of launched this squinting, bracing ourselves for a whole bunch of mixed reviews, Hussey told me. And it’s probably been one of the most well-reviewed things we’ve ever created. How to create a (digital) mind In Ladjevardians account, the Delphi story begins with a gift he received in 2014: a copy of Ray Kurzweils book How to Create a Mind. In it, the noted inventor and futurist explored the inner workings of the human brain and how they might be re-created in computer software. As it often does, Kurzweils own mind had raced ahead of what was possible at the time. But the forward-looking analysis resonated with Ladjevardian. He eventually started an AI company that let people shop by sending text messages, then quickly sold it. Entrepreneurship ran in Ladjevardians family: Decades earlier, his grandfather had been a successful businessman in Iran. After the 1979 revolution, he had to be smuggled out of the country, came to the U.S. with nothing, and was able to build a life, explains Ladjevardian, whod started his AI shopping company on his own, found life as a solo founder lonely, and craved wisdom from his grandfather. But a stroke had greatly limited the elder mans ability to communicate. Ladjevardians thoughts turned back to Kurzweils book. He talks about the mind being a hierarchy of pattern recognizers, Ladjevardian says. And when I was building thi first startup, I realized an LLM is pretty much a pattern recognizer. So I set out to create a digital mind for my grandpa and use it for advice. It was therapeutic. In November 2022, the experience of turning a memoir his grandfather had written into an interactive tool led him to start Delphi with Sam Spelsberg, a colleague from Miami-based OpenStore, where Ladjevardian had worked after selling his startup. Spelsberg is now Delphis CTO. Delphi creators can tweak their digital minds to be chatty or to the point, creative or all business. [Image: Courtesy of Delphi] Harnessing AI to preserve human insight for the ages remains part of the story at Delphi, whose website calls the service your path to digital immortality. But by applying the technology to the immediate needs of people who make a living as experts on various topics, the company gave itself a mission with a clearer business model. It offers free accounts trained on 100,000 words and limited to text chatting. Creators who pay $79, $399, or $2,499 per month get progressively richer access to features such as larger training sets, voice and video calling, analytics, setup help, and the ability to charge for sessions and keep 85% or more of the proceeds. (Delphi is already realizing revenue from its cut but doesnt disclose a specific figure.) Creators decide how much free access users get to their Delphi experience and when a paywall kicks in. As Sequoias Lee points out, there are additional ways digital minds can bolster a business, such as upselling products and providing customer support: I talked to a clinician who runs a nutrition program and uses it to train other nutritionists on his program, she says. Delphi responses can include citations linking back to relevant material such as articles and podcasts. [Image: Courtesy of Delphi] In my unscientific experiments chatting with a few digital minds, I learned not to expect too much from the technology in its current state. Maybe it will someday pass a sort of specialized Turing test where youre unsure if youre talking to Lenny Rachitsky or his synthetic doppelgänger. For now, however, Delphi Lennys auto-generated observations are rife with telltale evidence of their artificiality, such as a tendency to repeat the same phrases. Still, the tips it gave me on how cash-strapped startups can hire the best talent seemed solid and included links back to Real Lennys Substack and podcasts. According to Ladjevardian, Rachitsky uses his Delphi to help shape his writing: People can ask him follow-up questions when they read a blog, and he can look at analytics to see what’s resonating and use that for ideas for future content strategy. Even if todays digital minds do churn out responses that feel, well, digital, the originating humans viewpoint can come through. When I asked the digital version of investor Keith Rabois about the ideal place to start a company, it was as blunt and opinionated as the real thing: Miami offers a pro-business environment, a growing talent pool, and a lifestyle that attracts top-tier people. . . . San Francisco, on the other hand, is a disaster. Its unsafe, overregulated, and culturally toxic. ChatGPT would never put it quite that way. (For the record, Delphi itself relocated from Miami to its current digs in San Franciscos Jackson Square neighborhood: If you want to attract the best engineers, youve got to be in San Francisco, Ladjevardian says.) Then theres another digital mind whose answers I found of particular interest. Before I met with Ladjevardian, hed trained one based on my large archive of published writing for demo purposes. I later supplemented it with additional content until it drew on more than 5,000 itemsarticles, podcasts, tweets, and more. Placing a voice call to a simulated version of yourself speaking in a synthesized version of your own voice is a surreal exercise, but my biggest takeaway was that tech journalism is not the best source material for Delphi in its current form. In most cases, articles I wrote years ago about now-obsolete products are of limited training value today. And Delphi didnt yet know my take on matters of the moment such as Apples upcoming VisionOS 26. My conversations with my digital self left me with a greater appreciation for why the experts featured on Delphis site tend to focus on topics with longer shelf lives, from leadership to sex. Please dont call them clones In a world full of tech companies whose self-professed aspiration to create AI thats smarter than any human, theres something reassuringly down-to-earth about Delphis short-term goal of helping specific humans boil down what they know into a monetizable product. Yet the startups work to imbue AI with human-like traits is inherently fraught. When other companies are in the news for attempting to humanize AI, its often in a negative light, for reasons ranging from the silly (the failure of Metas terrible celebrity chatbots) to the tragic (lawsuits resulting from teens developing an unhealthy relationship with Character.ai). Details as mundane as terminology matter. Originally, Delphi referred to its AI conversationalists as clones, but that sounds a little dystopian when you hear it at first, says Lee. It seems like a facsimile of a person. That’s not really what you’re doing. You’re just taking someones existing expertise, their blog posts, their tweets, and you’re making it conversational. A Delphi-Sequoia brainstorming session led to the digital mind term, which Lee finds somehow much more accessible. That said, when I spoke with Ladjevardia, he was still getting used to the switch and referred to clones a few times before correcting himself. Even with Delphis emphasis on practical advice and downplaying of fancy visuals, a lot could go wrong. Ladjevardian says the service doesnt let anyone generate digital versions of other people and is manually vetting users by making them upload photos of themselves holding an ID. (It has, however, resuscitated some long-deceased philosophers and other notable figures; I chatted with one former president of the U.S. whose greetingHi, I’m Abraham Lincoln. How can I help?was a touch out of character, though he sounded more Lincolnesque in the conversation that followed.) The company also has guardrails in place to prevent inappropriate answers: When I asked physician Mark Hymans digital mind questions involving my own health, it did not attempt to answer them and instead recommended that I see a healthcare provider. Ladjevardian, who volunteers that his project to build a bot based on his grandfather got him canceled on Twitter, understands the need to acclimate people to what Delphi is doing. Some companies that have unsuccessfully pursued vaguely similar ideas were founded by AI researchers who were way too focused on the technology, he says. And this is a very human company. I’ve had people cry to me after creating their digital mind. As the startup sees where its product can go, creating experiences that can bring people to tears will be optional. Engendering confidenceeven among those prone to skepticism about AIwont be. Ladjevardians bet: The fact that garden-variety LLMs have left us awash in information and advice of questionable provenance makes Delphis association with specific human experts only more powerful. Whenever there’s an era of abundance, the pendulum swings and people want curation and trust, he argues. Even the brightest of digital minds might have trouble foreseeing whether that theory will indeed play out to the companys advantage.
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