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Introducing
Faramarz FarhoodiFounder and CEO
(formerly Amazon, IAC, Auction.com)
Re-inventing the Online Shopping ExperiencePersonalized Shopping Technology for Specialty Retail - Powered by Proprietary Artificial Intelligence
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The Opportunity
has won the battle for product search
is the dominant general search engine
is creating the Ultimate Shopping Experience
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WE ARE ENTHUSIASTSFrustrated with the current state of online shopping for our interests
WE MAKE IT PERSONALWe make online shopping personalized, conversational, fun and guided
WE HAVE A CONCIOUS BUSINESS MODELCommitted to promoting sustainability, youth education, and the protection of the environment
WE ARE RESULTS ORIENTEDGoing to market with own marketplace in Action Water Sports to demonstrate the benefits of our technology
CREATING A GAME CHANGING SOLUTIONBuilding an AI engine that will re-invent the online shopping experience for specialty products
WE ARE EXPERTS!We have decades of experience in AI, Ecommerce, consumer retail, and action sports
OurStory
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Why Specialty Products?
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LESS PRICE SENSITIVE
HIGHER MARGINS
GREATER LIFE TIME VALUE (LTV)
ENTHUSIASTIC CONSUMERS
EASILY TARGETED AUDIENCE
USER EXPERIECE ONLINE INFERIOR TO IN-STORE
The ProblemOn average only 2 out of every 100 web site visits results in a sale
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ImpersonalOnline shopping sites have a cookie-cutter approach to users, are mechanical and lack understanding of people and products
Time ConsumingDespite the larger selection and lower prices, it is too time consuming to research and buy high ticket and specialized products online –on average 5 days
Lack Guidance Poor SearchDirect-nav and search-based discovery getting (even) harder due to increasing product selection
of consumers want a more personalized assisted shopping experience
74%of companies say they don’t understand how to carry out website personalization
72%
The current state is bad for both consumers and online shopping sites
Current site search and recommendation solutions are disjointed, weak and devoid of ‘intelligence’/’understanding’
75%of product searches start online but only 8% of sales occur online
Starts with a Conversation
OFFLINE SHOPPING ONLINE SHOPPING
Starts with Search
vs.
Where should I start?What factors are relevant?
What are my options?Why is this important?
What are the tradeoffs?
Which companies carry it?Which brands are best?Why should I buy this?
Who in my network has advice?
Who has the best deal?• Price• Return Policy• Warranty• Customer Service
The Consumer’s Dilemma
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+ A sales person finds out what you need - On average 5 days of research
+ Provides personalized advice
+ Helps you make decisions about products
+ Limited selection and higher prices
- Back and forth across multiple sites
+/-Online chat useful but inefficient
+ But larger selection and lower prices
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Re-inventing the Online Shopping Experience
ADVISEMake online shopping conversational –automated personal shopping assistance calibrated to each user
UNIFYCombine the best of in-store and online shopping
HUMANIZEIncrease the intelligence of online shopping tools –augment search and recommendations with human expertise and reasoning
PERSONALIZERelevance is key –personalize everything! Each user must feel like the shopping site was designed for his/her needs
CONNECTSupport Omnichannel shopping – same shopping experience on any device, online, or through call center
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01. Poor Search ResultsAmazon – like other web sites – has no understanding of product types , relationships, or budget, and produces results that do not match users’ intents
02. Driven/Biased by SellersAmazon’s search engine indexes keywords in product titles and descriptions as sent by sellers – has no information beyond these like expertise
03. Literal & MechanicalAmazon’s search engine cannot handle qualitative search requests – no understanding of terms like best, cheapest or budget
04. Unreliable & Time Consuming SearchForces users to sift through reviews to self-educate and then make a choice. Many fake reviews cause time wasting and mislead users
Searching for the Best Regulator for Diving under $700
Results should look similar to this:
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Example of Actual SearchAmazon.com
01. High Quality Search Results DiveThings.com considers multiple factors based on human expertise to score and sort sellers – not just Keywords
04. Saving Time for ConsumersProduct educational content, Amazon and local pricing and review, expert comparisons, as well as DiveThings.com expert reviews will save time and help consumer in making purchase decisions
03. Natural Language UnderstandingDiveThings.com can intelligently handle qualitative user queries – interactive product concierge replicating in-store shopping in Dev.
02. Unbiased Search ResultsDiveThings.com uses crowd sourced knowledge – from instructors and experienced divers - to match products with user queries – ignores seller keyword packing
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Example of Search using Sapient Shopping’s Semantic Search and Amazon’s Data (used on previous page)
Our Product Roadmap
Sapient ShoppingAI Engine (SaaS)
Software as a Service Plug-In to boost conversion on
Ecommerce Websites
Beta Release: 2016
Cloud BasedPoint-of-Sale
Market Launch: 2018
Turn Key Marketplace
Platform (SaaS)
SaaS Marketplace Software for 3rd Parties
Market Launch: 2017
Water SportMarketplace
Go-to-Market Strategy (Our own direct-to-
consumer marketplace to showcase our Tech and
generate revenue)
MVP 2016
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Competitive Landscape
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Full Shopping ExperienceSearch, Recommendations, Personalization, Content & Interactive Advice
Full Spectrum AIStrong AI (Semantics) + Machine
Learning
Pure TechnologyE.g. Search or Recommendations Only
Pure Machine Learning
* At Target State – End 2018
Investment Opportunity
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Exit Strategy: IPO or Acquisition by a Major E-Commerce Company
Bridge funding to Series A
$500kTHE ASK
FUNDING TO DATE$400K – Cash Investment
$400K – Equity funded
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Why Invest in Sapient Shopping?
Novel TechnologyA unique and proprietary combo of Artificial Intelligence and E-Commerce technologies tailored for vertical consumers.
Experienced LeadershipWith a proven track record of innovation and rapid growth in Ecommerce and the target markets.
Solid and DiverseOur revenue generation model is solid and diverse through direct to consumer marketplaces and technology offering to online retailers. This is a real business expected to be EBITDA + in 12 months from market launch.
Growth and Exit OptionsAggressive customer acquisition and revenue targets - to build to IPO or targeting exit through acquisition by a top retailer: Amazon (we already integrate with Amazon.com), Alibaba, eBay, and Google (Shopping) are likely candidates.
§ Our executive team are passionate about and actively involved in adventure sports and in protecting the environment in which we do those sports
§ Protecting the environment and following a conscious and sustainable business model underpin our path to business success, as highlighted in our corporate social responsibility policy
§ We have a Ph.D. and educator in Environmental Science in our advisory board – formulating specific ecological and education programs that are consistent with our revenue growth and sustainability objectives
§ Dissemination of information about environmental initiatives and agencies, sponsorships of ecological projects –especially for the young - and financial assistance will be central to our strategies for launching direct to consumer marketplaces
§ Examples of planned sponsorships for our water sports business unit include: Reef Check (http://www.reefcheck.org/), Waves for Water (http://www.wavesforwater.org/), Plastic Oceans (http://www.plasticoceans.net/) and One Percent for the Planet (http://onepercentfortheplanet.org/). Each of these organizations carry out incredible work to protect our environment
§ Please refer to our CSR policy for further details
Giving Back is Core to Our Strategy
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Use of Capital
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Engineering• To create the MVP of
core technology platform and launch of our own marketplace for action water sports
Operations• Rental of Office Space • Infrastructure for
Customer Support and Operations
• Hiring of 2 Full-Time Staff
Product & Comparison Content
• Dedicated team of 2 specialists plus consultants to curate and encode manufacturer product data
• Creation of educational animation and videos
Marketing• Social Media Marketing• Search Engine
Optimization (SEO)• Content Development:
Educational / How-To Videos
• Highly Targeted, Limited Search Engine Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing• Business Travel
§ Faramarz Farhoodi – Founder and CEO: Amazon/Target.com, Motosport (Sequoia company), IAC, Auction.com, Nationstar, Logica (CGI), Perot Systems (Dell), Haley Systems (Oracle)
§ Laird Hamilton – President of surfing: Surfing icon, inventor, entrepreneur§ Michael Eisenberg - EVP Commerce: Disney Direct, Sara Lee, Sears, Musicians Friend, Motosport§ Eldo Cherian - CTO: Infosys, Amazon, Aloha Airlines, Cisco Systems, Auction.com, Coolsoft (our tech partner)§ Paul Lalley – CPO: 2011 Red Dot Design Award, Gruppo Pozzi, Founder of K-Line Adventures § Ollie Graham – GM for Asia Pacific: Morgan Stanley, HSBC§ Rohit Apte – Chief Science Officer: 15 years building trading systems and pricing models, HSBC§ Olivier Brengues – GM for Europe: Entrepreneur (B2B software, ecommerce, mobile apps), investor and advisor
Advisors§ Mario Rosati – Advisor: Partner @ Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati (our law firm)§ Bob Hollis – Advisor: Founder and CEO of American Underwater Products (Steve Jobs of Diving!)§ Sam Solakyan – Advisor: CEO of Global Holdings, Inc. § Drew Lieberman – Advisor: CEO of Glyde, former eBay Executive§ Louis Castle – Advisor: Chairman of Metric Gaming§ Kevin Strawbridge – Advisor: President of Retail, Motorcycle Retail Group§ Michael Andersen – Advisor: Ph.D. in Environmental Science – Associate Professor @ North Texas University§ Jason Kravitz – Advisor: Angel Investor
Executive Team
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SummaryVALUE PROPOSITION: Fastest way for consumers to find and buy products and services
BIG OPPORTUNITYCreating a Category Killer in next generation personalized shopping
EXPERIENCED TEAMMultidisciplinary Mgt. team (market, technology, execution)
INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELBoth B2C and B2B revenue opportunity
SCALABLE REVENUE MODEL10% of transactions in our B2C marketplaces & B2B licensing of tech stack
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGYProprietary AI creates an in-store personalized shopping experience online
HIGH MARGIN BUSINESSEst. $104M in top line in five years from launch @ 59% margin – no inventory risk
DIVERSIFICATION OPPORTUNITIESIn other enthusiast markets & horizontal Ecommerce
SEEKING 500K POST-SEEDto complete Alpha to MVP and Series A
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Join Us to Create the Future of Online Shopping