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I can understand downsizing staff when you integrate Pando with Broadbean. But letting go top producers I don't understand, unless it is that gloomy, or maybe there is yet another strategic tie-up concerning HR tech. Who knows.
Well that's the second time we saw someone from Pando exaggerate the annual revenue.
My guess either one, they added Broadbean revenue, or two, they took a period of time when Amazon was at its highest in terms of revenue to Pando, and then annualized it out using that peak Amazon rate.
If you read the comments of that post, there are comments from Nikos Livadas, VP Partnerships and Alliances, and Matthew Oconnor, CRO and others saying how great she is. Why let her go then.
Another one from Pando gone, and says drove revenue from 12M to 100M annually.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7168322709720879104/
by the way, if they are spending time trying to inform aiWare administrators on OS updates and release notes, it doesn't look like aiWare being relegated to just an in house platform.
But why say absolutely nothing publicly about aiWare developments?
This page was posted 3 days ago. Instructions on how to view system information and release notes.
https://support.veritone.com/s/article/000004595?language=en_US
In the example, it shows release notes dated 2/13/24 and 2/16/24.
But when I log into aiWare, and view the system info and release notes, it only shows release notes up to 2/2/24.
Bigbear.AI was at 1.92 on Friday. Now at 3.15, with no announcement that I can see.
While being strapped for cash or at least seeing an obvious cash problem on the horizon, when RS took the CEO helm, decided to spend the entire year, and to date, NOT communicating how Veritone differentiates from competitors.
Having a cash problem while calling yourself a wilderness guide. Brilliant!
Veri when in a bind for cash couldn't attract any investment that we know about.
Convertible note holders had Veritone by the balls. Note holders wouldn't allow someone to step in and make an investment into Veritone without being dealt with first.
With the new debt structure and the warrants, the Note holders now will end up with the same number of shares as they would have with the original convertible note deal. It's all speculation and hope, but hoping the debt restructuring paved the way for a strategic deal, which I believe needs to come in March, or doomed.
If some strategic plan was not in place in 2023 to prepare for so-called disruptive growth in 2024, then RS at the CEO helm, along with board members has been pure incompetence, purposeful dereliction on display.
Or maybe the entire Veritone becomes part of a new entity involving strategic partners.
Certainly appears that way. But then again, as stated ad nauseam, they spent the entire 2023 and to date not even appearing to try to push aiWare.
From a public perspective, it appears they gave up on pushing aiWare as a universal AI platform back in 2022.
And all during this time, funneling millions to Chad Steelberg for ongoing aiWare development, and starting in January 2024, funneling more millions to Chad Steelberg to stand by as an advisor for aiWare.
So from our perspective, looks like Chad Steelberg is nothing but a tax on the company.
But if aiWare somehow involved with partners during the course of 2023 to present, then I can see how some type of deal on aiWare would create revenue synergies with a tie up with one or more strategic partners.
Back in 2022, Veritone said they were going to focus on their ecosystem of business, and leave the rest to partners.
So Veritone apparently spent 2023 streamlining ecosystem of businesses. And they bought Broadbean and formed Veritone Hire. So if there ends up being some type of strategic deal involving aiWare, then I can see how revenue synergies are created via a strategic tie-up.
If aiWare became part of a new entity with reputable strategic partners that have the ability to scale, then Veritone will have Veritone Hire which is already integrated into this new aiWare type entity, providing HR solutions across all industries. That's how I can see Veritone experiencing disruptive growth and cost and revenue synergies.
Bottom line though, I agree with you that if Veritone and aiWare going it alone, then aiWare definitely not catching on in AI world, and Veritone didn't even try from late 2022 to present.
I asked Google Gemini.
In business, what are revenue synergies
In the world of business, revenue synergies refer to the increased revenue generated by two companies combining forces, exceeding what they could achieve if they operated independently. It's essentially the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Here's a breakdown of the key points:
Concept: Combining companies leads to higher overall sales than their individual sales added together.
Motivation: Companies often pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the hope of achieving these revenue synergies.
Examples: Some ways to achieve this include cross-selling products to each other's customer base, bundling complementary products, or leveraging combined brand power for better market reach.
It's important to note that while revenue synergies are often a major goal in M&A, achieving them can be challenging. Research suggests it takes longer to capture them compared to cost savings (cost synergies).
Agree.
They haven't issued a PR announcing any business activity since mid-December. Website basically unchanged and a mess. No page that explains what Veritone Hire actually is or wants to achieve. Nothing new on aiWare, keep aiWare site hidden from view.
If going it alone, looks like intentional, flagrant suicide to me.
What are your thoughts on this quote from the restructuring PR
The organizational restructuring is only one component of a larger strategy focused on driving Veritone towards profitability through a range of cost and revenue synergies that will streamline operational efficiencies through continued integration.
For Veritone, beyond organizational restructuring, what could possibly achieve cost and revenue synergies through continued integration? Only thing I can think of is some type of strategic transaction, a tie up with another entity.
agree with all of that. they most definitely have not earned credibility with investors.
For me though, I made my bed, and have to hope that they are serious when they say next phase of disruptive growth, and long term strategy propelling next phase of growth. So just trying to put the pieces together, which thus far has been fruitless.
Still, from a public perspective, for all of 2023 and to date, it looks like they haven't even tried. Marketing has been so lame, it just doesn't make sense to me. Not even trying to support the stock price, and even being the stocks worst enemy. So have to hope that there is a time in the near future when they finally come out swinging.
March is the key, whether it be disruptive growth, or doomed. jmo
In the case of the ADP PR, assuming that they are in fact using aiWare technology, this would explain why Veritone has been silent on marketing aiWare since RS took over as CEO. Nothing is going to be branded as aiWARE. In the case of ADP Marketplace, it is branded as ADP Marketplace, and they would be licensing/integrating aiWare capabilties.
I remember RS commenting on some Linkedin post back in 2023. Giants like Google and Microsoft coming out with their large language models.
RS said we will let the giants fight it out with their LLMs, we want all their models and applications. What struck me was that he included applications.
I had always thought of aiWare as a collection of AI models. But when you think about it, applications are made up of AI models. So if Veritone can make all AI models compatible with each other, stands to reason that they can make all AI applications compatible.
They have Veritone Hire, but there might be marketplaces powered by aiWare coming up in many different industries like Security, Government, Healthcare, etc.
Also remember a Linkedin post a while back where Veritone was talking about "our government solutions", and they listed a few solutions in the post that were not Veritone solutions. Maybe getting other government AI solution providers onto aiWare via AION standard.
I think they reference both Broadbean and Veritone Hire right now because were still in process of getting Broadbean integration with aiWare complete. Broadbean had its own go-to market- strategy with its people on the ground pushing Broadbean. Think integration with aiWare creates a whole new go-to-market strategy, Which Veritone says creates revenue and cost synergies. So maybe now can reduce a lot of Pando Broadbean staff. Basically now someone like ADP pushing Veritone Hire (which includes aiWare) out to customers.
Wonder what Veritone Hire actually is.
This is what they said back in August.
"Veritone HR Solutions will be the leading provider capable of offering universal talent acquisition and AI-driven data solutions to its global set of customers leading to significant growth opportunities beginning in 2024."
Looks like key word there is "universal", Universal talent acquisition and AI driven data solutions. So maybe refers to working with all players involved in providing HR tech solutions, and getting their offerings all compatible with AION standard and onto aiWare. And say growth opportunities start in 2024.
And looking at these quotes again back from August:
From a strategic perspective, Broadbean is integrated in over 100 applicant tracking systems with global customers across the EMEA, North America and APAC and is integrated with over 2,500 global job board providers accelerating our previous product roadmap by years. With the addition of our programmatic advertising solutions, we expect to realize significant revenue and cost synergies beginning in the first half of 2024 as we finalize our go-to-market and sales strategies.
Most importantly, our HR solutions will now benefit long-term by leveraging our AI with fully integrated ATS data sets. Based on our conversations with Broadbean customers, there is a lot of excitement around the long-term potential of data migration across top-of-the-funnel talent through the employee life cycle. We remain highly confident in the strength of our hiring solutions platform.
So with Broadbean being already integrated into over 100 applicant tracking systems and integrated with over 2500 global job board providers. Get Broadbean integrated with aiWare and now aiWare is integrated with all of Broadbean integrations.
This quote from the ADP PR:
"ADP Marketplace also uses machine learning to easily surface best-fit applications to meet clients' critical HR needs."
So with Veritone programmatic and predictive capabilities with all Broadbean data sets, customers can get the right application at the right time . and that application can come from anyone as long as it is on aiWARE and AION
just rambling
Kind of interesting
ADP is a 100 billion market cap company.
Last Thursday they issued this PR.
ADP® Offers AI-Enabled Partner Solutions on Powerful, Simple and Secure ADP Marketplace
HR leaders can rapidly source and implement benefits of AI across their HCM ecosystems
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/adp-offers-ai-enabled-partner-133600999.html
Pandologic posted this on Linkedin.
ADP Marketplace announced that it's enhancing the overall experience by offering AI-enabled partner solutions adhering to responsible AI principles, improving HR processes with integrated applications, securing data handling, and simplifying client procurement. Veritone Hire is committed to ADP Marketplace's standards with a strong focus on security and seamless integration so clients can access the marketplace with ease and comfort. #ADPPartner #ADPMarketplace #VeritoneHire
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7166518845178867712/
Kind of sounds like ADP might be enhancing its marketplace to be powered by aiWare
https://apps.adp.com/en-US/pages/why-marketplace?_gl=1*g4856b*_ga*NDkyNTM1OTcuMTcwODYzMTMzMg..*_ga_Z7FCJ8MYEN*MTcwODgyNDcwNC4yLjEuMTcwODgyNTI1Mi4yNS4wLjA.#WhyChooseMarketplace
First Linkedin a week or two ago, now Indeed. Seems that these giants want to get their picture taken with Broadbean.
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7166772086777044992/
Bottom line, whether an increase in revenue and demand, or no increase in revenue and demand, they were anticipating this 2024 headcount reduction way back in early August of 2023, and this weeks PR headline makes it sound as if this headcount reduction plan is something new. They torpedo'd the stock with news that they knew was going to happen way back in August.
Generally speaking, I think the plan has been to create efficiencies on how Pando and Broadbean go to market. Think that getting Pando and Broadbean on aiWare opens up a lot of opportunities to get the HR technology out there efficiently and integrated into other systems like maybe Linkedin, Google Jobs and many others. With their AION standard could easily integrate Veritone Hire tech with other technology.
I could be just blowing smoke, but I think the combination of aiWare with Veritone Hire solutions could really create a situation where the whole go to market process is much more efficient.
They haven't even revealed their aiWare roadmap yet, so we really know nothing of their plans as to how all of this is going to work. But I could see it creating investment interest in Veritone. This all assumes aiWare works and is ready for prime time and they have strategic partners. I think it is encouraging to see that Linked in refers to Veritone Hire as a preferred partner.
Another point about the 2/21/24 PR.
First, the heading of the PR, "Veritone Announces Restructuring Initiatives", makes it sound like this is a new initiative, like they just made the decision to do this, this year.
From the PR:
The organizational restructuring is only one component of a larger strategy focused on driving Veritone towards profitability through a range of cost and revenue synergies that will streamline operational efficiencies through continued integration.
Now, here is a quote from the August 08, 2023 Q2 earnings call.
"From a strategic perspective, Broadbean is integrated in over 100 applicant tracking systems with global customers across the EMEA, North America and APAC and is integrated with over 2,500 global job board providers accelerating our previous product roadmap by years. With the addition of our programmatic advertising solutions, we expect to realize significant revenue and cost synergies beginning in the first half of 2024 as we finalize our go-to-market and sales strategies."
Looks to me that they had anticipated the 1st quarter 2024 headcount reduction for a long time now. But like I say, they torpedo'd the stock with that headline, making it sound like this is something they decided to do this year.
Also, when they say back in early August "beginning in the first half of 2024 as we finalize our go-to-market and sales strategies, it looks like this timeline coincides with aiWare commercialization timeline.
Yeah, and back in late 2022 is when they were saying "sum of parts" grossly undervalued. So assume they spent 2023 on looking at opportunities to unlock value.
Yeah, it's like they stopped fussing with the aiWare website at the end of 2023. Although I did notice in the "about" section, where they show photos of aiWare engineers, there is at least 3 less photos than there used to be. Gregory Meinke photo is gone and his Linkedin page now says Open to work. Premsankar Alwarsamy is another photo that is gone. And Derek Wang is another photo that is gone.
The latest aiware update shown on the website is Version 3.48.2.1 Deployment- 12/12/23.
But if you log into aiWare, the updates go to Feb 2nd.
I don't think any disruptive growth comes from Veritone alone, at least the Veritone as we know it, which really sucks from a public perspective.
Think many of layoffs in January were from aiWare division. Did all the hard work to get aiWare ready in 2023, don't need that many engineers working on it anymore. Coincides with the change in CS consulting agreement, no longer working on aiWare, now just at the CEO beckon call.
Maybe some type of merger. Trying to get the employee count right leading up to the merger. Would explain the reason for layoffs, would explain how they can arrive at disruptive growth. Would explain why CS consulting agreement changed to where he is no longer working on aiWare and now just responding to the CEO requests.
Would explain why they have not been hyping and don't care about the stock price. Would explain why they torpedo'd the stock yesterday. The stock was on a run and they didn't want it to get ahead of itself leading up to earnings when they announce the transaction. Just speculating.
But also explains why no hype through 2023. Spent 2023 trying to get aiWare commercially ready and ultimately arrive at a strategic transaction involving aiWare. Didn't want the stock to be caught up in AI market hype and price themselves out of the market. Keep the stock low, attract more potential tie ups.
Well, right now the stock is next to nothing. If aiWare and their other assets are worth anything, then there is no reason why they can't by now, arrive at a strategic transaction which places Veritone in a better financial position with better prospects going forward.
I just think we may see a strategic transaction involving Veritone. Think Ryan and Zemetra may be out. And CS is contracted to report to the new CEO.
Also, they have said Broadbean integration will be complete by early this year. Would assume more HR tech layoffs due to ongoing integration.
I don't know, but I expect fireworks in March. If business as usual, then doomed.
If aiWare is to be kept just as an internal platform, again, why not get into detail on explaining advantages of aiWare throughout 2023 when talking about DMH, Redact, or anything else. I remember once commenting on one of Veritone's Linkedin posts in early 2023. I said "I thought you had the ability to orchestrate AI models" or something like that. They responded, yes we can do that, but we are not talking about that right now. None of Ryan's interviews since he has been CEO ever goes into any detail about aiWare. And that is what differentiates them! All his interviews are just vague as hell. Why throughout 2023 didn't anyone think to evangelize aiWare. Sean King, Mr. Wilderness guide, "two scoops of AI" Lol.
As far as CS goes, I would argue that no strategic partners are going to be on board if it is going to be the Chad Steelberg show. I think if aiWare was always going to be kept internal then we would have heard more from CS throughout 2023. Nobody evangelizes aiWare better than CS. Why did they shut him up. And why was he a consultant instead of an employee?
But to keep aiWare as only an internal platform and then spend the entire 2023 NOT talking about aiWare makes no sense to me.
Ever since Ryan took over, they have not given a shit about the stock price. For all of 2023 they could have been playing to the AI hype. Even if they don't have a pot to piss in, they could do simple things. Have a nice organized website and keep it updated. Have a site dedicated to Veritone Hire, and even if not ready, show the possibilities of Veritone Pando Broadbean combination. Nothing.
Don't hide the aiWare site from the public. Talk about aiWare. Talk about enhancements to aiWare. They say they have enhanced Digital Media Hub. Talk about it. Tell how they have integrated generative AI into DMH. Talk about conversational AI.
Instead, all they ever talk about is generalities. We are focused on AI for good. We have added generative AI. We are your wilderness guide.
I don't care how bad they are. No CEO is that bad. In my opinion, Veritone success has always depended on aiWare. It is the only thing that differentiates them. Without aiWare they are nothing. They took aiWare out of the conversation when Ryan took over.
In my opinion, if anything good comes out of this crap investment, it will be if/when they reveal the aiWare roadmap. Ever since Ryan took over, I don't think this has ever been about Ryan taking the helm of Veritone and trying to go it alone. It's all about aiWare, and what happens strategically with it. That's why they don't give a shit about the stock price and even appear to want to keep it down. It's why they allude to disruptive growth and don't give any specifics.
I'm not saying they will be successful. I'm just saying that if they do have success and anything resembling disruptive growth, it will be because of whatever strategically happens with aiWare.
agree, but will say again, what was the purpose of yesterday's PR? Unless they are blind, they knew their stock was finally starting to move over the last couple weeks. They have to know that their investors are frustrated as hell, and they purposely torpedo'd the stock.
On another note, awhile back I had noticed that all of Veritone's energy specific patents have been assigned to Gridbeyond. Looks like Veritone has retained all of the Atigeo patents, however.
Still can't even list recruiting as an industry. And why not a dedicated Veritone Hire page. Anyone interested in Veritone Hire as to click about 5 different places just to try to get a full picture.
Why have the empower energies case study front and center on the website. Just a mess
The website has been a confusing convoluted mess for quite some time.
Like you point out they add Opexus under partners, but don't bother to delete the many partners listed that are no longer partners. Still list energy partners, and some of the so-called partners no longer even exist.
Also don't list Voice or anything M&E under ecosystem. Seems ecosystem is getting smaller.
I see they finally removed VeriVerse from ecosystem. Wonder why they don't list government, or at least State and Local
ok I see it now
Where do you see "Ecosystem"?
Yeah but that convertible note was a beautiful piece of paper. lol
Veritone has been reduced to nothing in the credibility department.
I realize and fully accept the incompetence of Steelbergs, but a lot of this seems on purpose. Don't talk about any aiWare advancements. Don't talk about any HR tech progress. Even the recent interview with Alex Fourlis, head of Veritone Hire, he provided absolutely nothing new describing any progress, just alluded to some sort of announcement "later this year".
But via incompetence and also purposeful effort, Veritone has been reduced to nothing, imo. A strategic partner could make a killing on this stock and totally change the sentiment and outlook going forward.
Think Zillis first order of business should be to get Zemetra out of the picture.
He should definitely be gone in March. jmo
Yeah, still puzzling why Zillis wanted to join this shit show. Same with Maria Moore. She was CMO at Hireright, just under a billion market cap. She won a Stevie award as CMO in 2023. Then she leaves to become SVP marketing at shit show Veritone.
Still say that this upcoming earnings report is either final nail in the coffin, or they somehow show that they have their shit together.
Get an investment from a strategic partner. Have that strategic partner supply a capable, reputable CEO. Get Steelbergs totally out of the picture. The stock could fly and the strategic partner would make a killing. jmo