WEBVTT - Advancing Opportunities and Human Capabilities with AI

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news.

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<v Speaker 2>You're listening to Bloomberg BusinessWeek with Karl Messer and Tim

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<v Speaker 2>Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio. When we talk about financial inclusion,

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<v Speaker 2>we think about the participation of different groups within the

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<v Speaker 2>traditional financial ecosystem, think banks and financial services and the like.

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<v Speaker 2>We talk about people being unbanked versus people being banked.

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<v Speaker 2>And according to a FDIC survey from twenty twenty one,

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<v Speaker 2>it's the most recent year that data are available, unbanked

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<v Speaker 2>rates were higher among lower income households, less educated households,

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<v Speaker 2>black households, Hispanic households, working age households with a disability,

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<v Speaker 2>and single mother households. Also, differences in un banked rates

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<v Speaker 2>between black and white households and between Hispanic and white

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<v Speaker 2>households in twenty twenty one were present at every single

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<v Speaker 2>income level. One person who thinks a lot about financial

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<v Speaker 2>inclusion is Sheena Allen, the founder of Mindful AI. She's

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<v Speaker 2>also the founder of a former CEO of Capway, She's

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<v Speaker 2>spent her career thinking about financial inclusion. She joins us

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<v Speaker 2>now from a Los Angeles she in a good to

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<v Speaker 2>have you on the program, How are you?

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<v Speaker 3>I will how about yourself.

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<v Speaker 2>We're doing really well. I want to talk about your

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<v Speaker 2>most recent startup, Mindful AI. You're focusing on the idea

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<v Speaker 2>that helping those folks out there who have a vision

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<v Speaker 2>but don't necessarily have the skills too or education to

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<v Speaker 2>create that vision that they have in mind. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>this is like the promise of AI, right.

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<v Speaker 3>It's supposed to be.

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<v Speaker 2>It's supposed to be. Okay, are we there?

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<v Speaker 3>You know the point of mine? Well, so Mife was

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<v Speaker 3>a parent company. One of our first products is about

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<v Speaker 3>people who are or have a idea for some software,

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<v Speaker 3>usually an app or our website. But the problem in

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<v Speaker 3>AI is we are still full of gaps and biases

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<v Speaker 3>with a lot of the data that goes into making

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<v Speaker 3>these advanced systems and these language models. And that's the

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<v Speaker 3>part that we want to change in Mindful.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you see because you're a big part of your

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<v Speaker 2>career is focused on financial inclusion when you were at Capway,

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<v Speaker 2>do you see similarities between financial inclusion or lack thereof

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<v Speaker 2>and inclusion when it comes to AI?

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<v Speaker 3>I do the parallels are when I was you know,

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<v Speaker 3>a Capway and I still continue to do that work.

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<v Speaker 3>In other aspects, we talked about unbanked underbank. I'm born

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<v Speaker 3>and raised in Mississippi, so the state that has the

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<v Speaker 3>highest population of unbanked the underbank residents. So that was

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<v Speaker 3>family that was family members still live to some degree.

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<v Speaker 3>You look at the fact that Mississippi, I use that

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<v Speaker 3>as an example. We just got to Chase Bank maybe

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<v Speaker 3>in the last year year two. I think a lot

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<v Speaker 3>of people think that national banks are everywhere, but that's

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<v Speaker 3>not the case. By the time, it's local banks, it's

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<v Speaker 3>community banks, and all the times there's no banks at all.

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<v Speaker 3>And so a lot of what we dealt with at

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<v Speaker 3>Capway was people who didn't have access to the system,

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<v Speaker 3>and if they did have access to the system, did

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<v Speaker 3>they trusted, did they have the knowledge that they have

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<v Speaker 3>the access. We saw an expedited piece in financial inclusion

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<v Speaker 3>with COVID, because of course people couldn't walk into a

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<v Speaker 3>bank branch. But similar to financial inclusion, a lot of

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<v Speaker 3>the biggest issues it's lack of data, it's lack of knowledge,

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<v Speaker 3>it's lack of access from both sides. You got to

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<v Speaker 3>think when we got our twel hundred dollars from COVID,

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<v Speaker 3>people were surprised that a lot of people came out

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<v Speaker 3>and said, well, how am I supposed to cash this check?

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<v Speaker 3>I don't have a bank account. I can't get out

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<v Speaker 3>of docum deposit. Now, I think we're seeing that an

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<v Speaker 3>AI from the aspect of people are starting to realize

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<v Speaker 3>just how many, how much of biases are playing a

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<v Speaker 3>role some of the advancements that we're seeing.

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<v Speaker 1>So talk about some of the products that you have

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<v Speaker 1>mindful AI and how those products are specifically helping black businesses. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 3>So one of our first products is a product called

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<v Speaker 3>app it out like map it out, but it's app

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<v Speaker 3>it out, and the entire idea of it is taken

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<v Speaker 3>get giving someone who has an idea for an app,

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<v Speaker 3>for a website or some form of software, but they

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<v Speaker 3>don't have a technical background, and how do we use AI.

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<v Speaker 3>One aspect of AI, which is called room is taking

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<v Speaker 3>text to software. That's the AI piece of it. But

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<v Speaker 3>the way that's happened, particularly for black businesses and small

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<v Speaker 3>businesses is when you think of black businesses, if you

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<v Speaker 3>look at the stats, to look at the data, most

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<v Speaker 3>of them only employ one person, which is themselves, and

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<v Speaker 3>usually don't they don't have that money to hire a

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<v Speaker 3>tech team to offshore to outsource and most of them

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<v Speaker 3>don't have a technical background, and so how do we

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<v Speaker 3>create something that help some advanced We are in a

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<v Speaker 3>digital space, a digital world. And while yes it's great

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<v Speaker 3>to have on social media, so Facebook page, Instagram page,

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<v Speaker 3>which is also a great way to engage with customers.

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<v Speaker 3>Can an app help you? Can a website help bring

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<v Speaker 3>more sales, more customers? And so for people who struggle

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<v Speaker 3>there and they don't have that access, they don't have

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<v Speaker 3>that knowledge, they don't have the money to hire someone,

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<v Speaker 3>how do we take app it out? How do we

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<v Speaker 3>take room AI and create that text and software particularly

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<v Speaker 3>for them?

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<v Speaker 1>And how many give us a sense of just I

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<v Speaker 1>guess the scale right now of mindful AI. Who are

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<v Speaker 1>your customers and how has that grown since you know

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<v Speaker 1>you started the company to where we are now?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, you know, we focus right now strictly on like

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<v Speaker 3>the non technical aspect. We have some other products that

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<v Speaker 3>are coming right now. App it out is what we

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<v Speaker 3>focus on. We're working from everywhere from enterprise to individuals.

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<v Speaker 3>So it's a mixture, it's not one or the other.

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<v Speaker 3>Also small businesses. And it's interesting because we have two

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<v Speaker 3>sides to app it out bringing customers for both sides.

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<v Speaker 3>We keep a human aspect to it, so we have

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<v Speaker 3>everything from like workbooks to courses to boot camps, and

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<v Speaker 3>then now it's working on this more small language model. Really,

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<v Speaker 3>as we're bringing in room for the text to software,

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<v Speaker 3>we're seeing that growing from once again individuals to more

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<v Speaker 3>of now enterprises and small business and enterprises, so we

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<v Speaker 3>continually see it grow. I think people underestimate how many

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<v Speaker 3>people are non technical but would love to have some

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<v Speaker 3>form of an app or a website or some form

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<v Speaker 3>of access to technology that oither once again they don't

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<v Speaker 3>know about or they don't have the funds to do.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm wondering about the startup landscape right now and what

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<v Speaker 2>it's like going out there and looking to raise money

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<v Speaker 2>and talking to angel seed and in venture capitalists investors

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<v Speaker 2>right now, what's the vibe you're getting from them when

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<v Speaker 2>you pitch them.

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<v Speaker 3>AI is still kind of a hot trend right now.

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<v Speaker 3>It is cooling itself, but overall in the startup space,

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<v Speaker 3>what is for myself of them speaking to peers, just

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<v Speaker 3>knowing the space in itself, It's actually still tough, you know.

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<v Speaker 3>I don't think we will ever see it. I don't know,

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<v Speaker 3>if I'll say ever, it will be a while before

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<v Speaker 3>we ever see the funds flowing the way that we

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<v Speaker 3>saw in twenty twenty one and some of twenty twenty

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<v Speaker 3>two four things to the shift. We're still wing on

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<v Speaker 3>interest rates to be cut, you know, we're hoping that

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<v Speaker 3>they come sooner than later. But a lot of investors

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<v Speaker 3>are not deploying capital. If they are deploying capital, what's

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<v Speaker 3>required to get that money is a lot of different circumstances.

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<v Speaker 3>It used to be, Hey, I have an idea, I'm precede,

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<v Speaker 3>I need this to do X y Z. Nowad is

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<v Speaker 3>what is your attraction? What is your revenue? And if

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<v Speaker 3>you don't have that, do you have a true path

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<v Speaker 3>to revenue to custom attraction? What is your goal to market?

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<v Speaker 3>Is it feasible? How much does it take to get there?

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<v Speaker 3>So a lot of more questions are being asked, a

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<v Speaker 3>lot of more requirements are being needed in are to

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<v Speaker 3>get money that the startup landscape, the investment landscape is

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<v Speaker 3>still very much a rocky roll right now.

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<v Speaker 2>How many news are you getting forevery yes?

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<v Speaker 3>Now it's crazy cafway I would have probably said twenty

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<v Speaker 3>to one's.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean I've heard. I've heard worse, like you know,

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<v Speaker 2>in terms of experience.

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<v Speaker 3>Go ahead, Yeah, no, you're right, Cafway wasn't as bad.

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<v Speaker 3>This one is is a little bit different. It is

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<v Speaker 3>as and once again you're in the hot space. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>but it is the fact that you're having to pitch

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<v Speaker 3>to way more people now. And I think the issue

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<v Speaker 3>that we've seen, honestly or for me the CEO who's pitching,

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<v Speaker 3>is a lot of investors are still taking investment meetings,

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<v Speaker 3>but they're not honest about the fact that they're not

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<v Speaker 3>deploying capital, and so that plays a role into it. Also,

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<v Speaker 3>it's like I would rather just tell me that, hey,

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<v Speaker 3>right now, we're not deploying capital, and I could have

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<v Speaker 3>saved that meeting. But I think a lot of investors

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<v Speaker 3>still they still want to be part of it. They

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<v Speaker 3>won't know what's going on. They want to have the conversations,

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<v Speaker 3>keeping their network. But as the CEO from the other side,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, it hurts because you know, we're trying to

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<v Speaker 3>raise money. We need to get to more yeses for

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<v Speaker 3>people who are actually deploying capital.

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<v Speaker 1>She know, we only have about a minute left, but

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<v Speaker 1>I'm looking at your background and It's quite impressive. You've

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<v Speaker 1>been the founder of multiple startups. What kind of advice

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<v Speaker 1>would you give to young people who are maybe from

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<v Speaker 1>a non technical background but want to get into the

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<v Speaker 1>startup space.

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<v Speaker 3>Find great mentors, find great sponsors. All these two different things.

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<v Speaker 3>Mentor sponsors and find networks where you can find people

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<v Speaker 3>to be quargrt team team is extremely important. I've been

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<v Speaker 3>a solopreneur. Is extremely tough find great team members in

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<v Speaker 3>networking place and how you do that?

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<v Speaker 2>Shina, thanks so much for joining us on Bloomberg Business Week.

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<v Speaker 2>We do really appreciate it. Sena Allen, founder of Mindful Ai,

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<v Speaker 2>also the founder and former CEO of Capway. Sina joining

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<v Speaker 2>us from Los Angeles,