Solyntek on Who Are These Podcasts

Welcome to Who Are These Startups?

podcast shorts featuring founder interviews of Canadian startups.

Welcome back to Who Are These Startups?

I'm the startup coach, founder of Frana Starts, and with me today is Iskender L.

Amri, co-founder and CEO of Solentech.

Welcome Iskender.

Hi, thank you for having me on the show.

What does Solentech do?

Alright, so we're an AI system, like we're a SaaS platform that helps companies have a safer work environment for their workers.

So we're using the computer vision technology combined with the security cameras that are already installed in the work environment to detect unsafe situations and stop them before they become accidents.

Who is Solentech for?

Companies that work in the industrial field like manufacturers, refineries, warehousing, these types of companies that our solution will be helpful for them and to create a safer environment for their workers.

So Solentech helps on the floor people avoid accidents?

Yes, we do that.

We have a trained algorithm that detects unsafe situations that could be missing protective equipment, risks of falls, trips, falling objects, like faulty equipment, and we use that by leveraging the footage that comes from security cameras.

How much money is lost in North America due to injury, this type of injury that's happened?

So it is estimated it's costing the North American economy $171 billion each year and costs related to injuries, productivity loss, insurance premiums, like it's a major loss and also there is even sadder statistics that there are 14 workers who are injured in the workplace in North America every second.

It's a huge problem that everyone faces on the floor.

What is your startup story?

So my background, I worked in the oil and gas for six years.

One day there was an accident that happened.

Basically three people sadly lost their lives because they were not wearing their gas detectors with them.

There was a lethal gas leak and they forgot their gas detectors in the truck next to them.

Yeah, and that accident could have been prevented because there are cameras all over the place.

So that's why I was brainstorming with a couple of my friends, like how do you solve that and AI and computer vision could be very helpful in these settings.

And how do you define success?

We're defining success is how much we're able to help companies prevent accidents and prevent injuries.

So whenever there is something that we prevented from escalating to becoming an injury for someone, I think that we are successful because we save that person from either getting hit or also maybe losing their lives if escalated.

What is your business model?

So we're operating as a software as a service for each camera that is using our system.

Basically we're going to charge our clients per camera, per site, per month.

So it's a SaaS model.

What is your funding situation?

For now we're bootstrapping, so we're using our own resources and we're doing the development like in-house.

So yeah, but we're looking for like a pre-seed or seed funding to help us accelerate because I mean, we have some limited resources like we scrapped like whatever we got together to create something that I could show to people, show to clients.

But then like to take us to the next level, we're actively looking for funding.

What is your biggest learning as a founder?

Biggest learning is always listen to the client and try to solve like a real problem for them because you could spend your time building a product or a solution that is like very cool like in terms of technology but like no one is interested in like it's not solving a real problem.

So I'm going to sit on the shelf so just need to like go to your client, talk to them and try to validate as much as possible before like you invest in developing the technology.

And I think that's the biggest learning as a founder.

My background is in engineering so I like building stuff but like if you build the best solution ever and no one is interested in like you lost your resources, your time and it's going to sit on the shelf sadly.

What's your biggest lesson in pitching your startup?

For pitching I think you need to well expose the problem and the value proposition but also like you don't have to use buzzwords or like very complex jargon like has to be understood by a majority of people.

I think a good exercise is like trying to explain it to a child.

If a child understands it, I think like well most of people understand it in like pitching situations.

Sometimes like you have different investors with different people from different backgrounds so like they're not always at the same level so having a message like that like that everyone could understand is very, very good.

As an AI founder, what's your favorite productivity hack or AI tool?

Right now I'm using a lot of chat GPT for brainstorming like posts for LinkedIn or even like drafts for like even contracts sometimes like helps you to do that and it's amazing.

Also sometimes when debugging we use either GPT or like co-pilots from GitHub.

Yeah these tools are like amazing and like they boost your productivity I guess times 10.

So like you have a team of 10 person with you like with just one.

You were in the Next AI program.

Can you tell us a little bit about your experience?

We started the Next AI in February by the end of February and so far it's been like an amazing program.

The mentors were like top notch, the classes and like workshops are like very good, very interesting.

Like they go straight to whatever like a founder needs like on a business level and also on a personal level.

You're also building a connection with a big community and like in the startup world here in Canada.

It was like there are some like good connections that are being built through the program.

So I highly recommend it to any other founders who are in AI to like check the program and like to play for it.

Do you have any tips for founders?

You have to be persistent because the road it's a bumpy road.

It's like there are ups and downs challenges.

If you believe in your idea you have to be persistent like most of the time whenever you call like clients like usually you're not going to get like the beginning like positive responses but you have to be persistent to find the right niche, find the right people and keep working until like I guess you become successful or I mean if your market validation told you that your market like your idea needs to be tweaked or fixed like don't be shy from like doing a pivot or something like that.

What's one book every founder should read?

The Lean startup and I guess a lot of people read that but it's very good.

I mean I did my batch was in industrial engineering where we did a lot of Lean and like manufacturing like Lean engineering.

So I think taking those principles and put them to entrepreneurship is an amazing thing because you're applying the scientific method to something I guess that people in the past did not apply to.

And I find that the connections are really amazing and it's very useful because you use whatever resources you have and you try to validate as much as possible and you have a product that people will use and love.

As an AI founder what is your reaction to the current call to pause AI development and all the fear around it?

Well I think that we should be cautious about like the applications of AI for example some like for example I see that combining like weaponry and AI should be something that needs to be like regulated or even avoided at all.

But like if banned for like six months or more I think it's something that is like slowing the progress because I don't see like stopping the progress something good because we've been like progressing at an amazing speed in like in science.

And like if we let's say people back in the 20th century at the beginning where cars were developed like you know stop that progress would have been like right now like using courses and stuff.

So stopping the progress is not the best idea maybe like having some regulations around it is good but like I don't think a stop is and even Elon Musk he was like saying yeah we need to stop but right now he's investing in AI startup and buying a bunch of GPUs.

Right now AI tools are hot so people are using AI as tools to do their job.

At what point do humans become tools for AI's to do their job.

That's a tough.

I think while the AI I guess someday will like reach a like a general like intelligence like I could like you give it a problem we'll be able to solve it may making human behavior but we as a human like we have that creative part of our minds that I don't think that we're at that level of technology that AI could like do creative thinking it's just processing billions of billions of data points and just regurgitating whatever it is.

Reggitating whatever it learned different like styles of different configurations but it's still like it had to learn from something when you look at what the human could do like in terms of creativity I think it's going to be challenging for AI to catch that level.

I always see it as a tool and even though like it's it's gonna like even if it progresses going to help us to achieve more than I don't think a human will become a tool for the AI.

I would see it as a collaboration maybe like for example an iron man like you see like the AI Jarvis like is being an assistant to like to iron man like.

Even though it's a general intelligence so I see it that way but not like we becoming the tool for AI Jarvis had access to weapons so that goes against your first one.

Yeah, yeah it had so that yeah yeah good point so that parts of regulation needs to happen like 100% like sure of that like we don't need to mix with AI with weapons because it goes against like the like I think the Geneva Conventions like for weapons I think so I don't think like mixing those like is a good idea and should be like like tamford with.

Where can our listeners connect with you and solid tech online.

We have our website solid tech dot com also on LinkedIn and solid tech.

So you'll find there you find there there also if you go to our website you'll see like our system works more details and you could if you're interested in our technology or more like to learn more.

You could book a meeting with us to go in further details and demonstrate our system.

All those links will be in the show notes so just check it in your podcast app.

I really appreciate you taking the time to be part of who are these startups.

Thank you so much.

This has been who are these startups find out more at who are these startups calm and check out our live events at Toronto starts calm slash events. (upbeat music)