Dominik Pogorzelski talks about European top 5 AI startup Restb.ai
Barna Hub
Barna Hub sat down with the charming Dominik Pogorzelski, Head of Product Management at Restb.ai. The company was recently named as a top 5 European AI startup by NVIDIA.
Restb.ai is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Startup operating in the Real Estate ecosystem across Europe, the USA, and Asia.
It offers Real Estate portals plug ‘n play computer vision solutions, based on a proprietary Deep Learning Convolutional Neural Network.
This cutting-edge AI tech can detect room types, tag property features and detect watermarks and logos.
Companies using Restb.ai benefit from boosted SEO and increased web traffic, improved user experience and conversions, and the opportunity to monetise 3rd-party logos.
So it’s all pretty high tech.
Over to you Dominik!
140 character pitch:
“AI with an eye for real estate”. We give real estate portals key insights by scanning and auto-describing each and every uploaded image
Call to action:
Check out how AI is disrupting the real estate industry by playing around with our demo
Down to business
Are you really a person, or are you just super convincing AI?
I’m a definitely real person. Probably.
Hmm. Okay, now we’ve got that cleared up, what made you want to work in a startup?
For me it’s mostly about the direct impact you have, both within the company and on your end customers.
Things move fast and you can often go from conceptualising a feature/product to actually launching it within a few weeks time. You’re not just some employee getting a project from some department so that you can then ship it off to another department.
It’s also a non-stop cognitive challenge because it basically comes down to you and your small team to overcome any obstacle that is thrown at you. You need to be creative, scrappy and think quickly on your feet.
What’s the best startup resource or tool and why is it useful?
A whiteboard! If there’s one thing I learnt in my years as a product manager it’s the importance of visualizations. When discussing thoughts/ideas with different people it’s crazy how much it helps to draw things out. It really anchors everyone around what it is you’re trying to say exactly. Test it out it! Next time you have a discussion, draw something on a whiteboard and notice how many times people will point to it as they’re explaining their own thoughts.
Hubbub – that’s probably the least techie thing you could have said. We love it!
If you could have dinner with one influential person, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Tesla, like the person and not the car. It’s really mind-blowing how ahead of his time he was. He challenged so many norms, both existential and scientific.
That being said, I also wouldn’t mind having dinner with Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla – the car and not the person. :)
Hubbub – Elon, we know you’re reading. You know what to do.
Barcelona Insight
What does Barcelona do better than anywhere else in the world, in your opinion?
Have a soul. There’s just something about this city that can’t be described in terms of stats or metrics. This city is alive. There’s a certain social fabric that connects everyone.
Everybody says ‘hi’ to each other. Everywhere. You can walk into the waiting area of a clinic and everyone will say “Holaaa” – you walk out of the waiting area and everyone will say “A deeeuuu”.
If you had to leave Barcelona tomorrow, forever, where would you have your last meal?
I would totally cheat on this question and make a quick detour to Girona to have one more dining experience at Celler de Can Roca. Barcelona has a phenomenal food scene, but Celler de Can Roca is just next level. Sorry, not sorry. #nomnomnom
What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting their own business in Barcelona?
Be patient, like veeeeerrrry patient. A NIE officer once told me with a straight face that I needed a private health insurance to get my NIE but at the same time needed a NIE to get my private health insurance. We then stared at each other blankly until I flinched, lost the stare down and went to get a private health insurance, somehow…
Also, find a good Gestor ASAP. Like before even booking your flight, no joke. I think officially they’re like accountants but essentially they’re your “how-to” guides for Spain. He/she will basically help you navigate this sea of maddening bureaucracy.
Hubbub – Absolutely spot on. Thanks for your great insights Dominik. I hope we get to talk to you again.
Adeuuuu!
Follow Dominik and Restb.ai online:
Dominik’s blog:
https://medium.com/product-management-tips-and-thoughts
Restb.ai social media:
https://www.facebook.com/restbai/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/restbai/
Bonus!
If you’re not sure what Dominik means about bureaucracy in Catalonia, please see Intereconomia’s take on it
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