Siqi Chen is the founder and CEO of Runway, an a16z and Initialized funded startup enabling operators to grasp their enterprise with no need a level in finance. As an operator and founder, he served because the CEO of Sandbox VR (a16z), VP of Product and Progress at Postmates (later acquired by Uber), CEO of Hey, Inc (Google-funded, acquired by Postmates), Head of Product at Zynga (IPO 2011) and CEO of Critical Enterprise (funded by Lightspeed, acquired by Zynga).
Along with his operational roles, Siqi is an investor in almost 100 firms, together with notable names like ElevenLabs, Amplitude, Pipe, and Proprietor.com. Previous to his entrepreneurial ventures, Siqi made important contributions at NASA JPL, the place he achieved the excellence of being the only recipient of a Congressional House Act award whereas nonetheless at school. This recognition was a results of his contributions to machine imaginative and prescient know-how on the Mars Exploration Rovers.
Are you able to clarify the idea of ‘ambient intelligence’ and the way it differentiates Runway from different AI-driven monetary platforms?
Ambient Intelligence is a totally new expression of how AI can be utilized in merchandise.
Most merchandise deal with AI as a separate creature proper now—it’s both an agent working by itself, or a chat interface it’s a must to discuss to. These are the default experiences, however there’s one other technique to do it: by making the AI invisible.
When you take a look at how folks really use AI at work, GitHub Copilot might be probably the most broadly used device. It isn’t a separate chatbot or agent. It’s extra delicate, and so deeply embedded in GitHub’s platform that it simply makes what you’re doing sooner and extra environment friendly. With the present capabilities of AI fashions, that form of seamless integration is a a lot better expression of AI.
Apple did the identical factor with its newest iOS announcement at WWDC. They didn’t add separate brokers or chatbots. They only constructed AI into their workflows, so it could possibly remedy math equations as you kind them or summarize textual content in real-time.
That’s how AI ought to be expressed: as a device for thought, working quietly within the background. At Runway, we name it Ambient Intelligence.
We agree with Joel Spolsky, who labored on Microsoft Excel, and as soon as mentioned: “Google makes use of Bayesian filtering the best way Microsoft makes use of the IF assertion.” That’s how deeply ingrained know-how ought to be in a workflow.
It’s the identical with AI. 4 years in the past, we considered calling ourselves “CFO.ai.” We have been suggested in opposition to it as a result of calling our product “AI-powered” would quickly sound as dated as labeling it “powered by AJAX” or “powered by AWS.” All know-how ultimately turns into outdated, so the main focus ought to be on enhancing consumer expertise as an alternative.
In Runway, AI is deeply embedded in workflows and doesn’t need to be prompted. It robotically explains what your mannequin does or why your actuals are completely different out of your forecast. That’s what we imply by Ambient Intelligence—an expression of AI that’s a local a part of your workflow, so it enhances every part you do and makes you go sooner.
What impressed you to create Runway, and what key challenges in monetary planning are you aiming to handle with this platform?
In 2020, after I was the CEO of Sandbox VR, our income dropped to zero after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. No person knew how lengthy the pandemic would final, so we would have liked to create a number of contingency plans for emergency funding—starting from 3 months to 2 years.
We needed to create these eventualities manually in Google Sheets, utilizing electronic mail and Slack to collaborate. It was such a clunky and error-prone course of, that I requested my CFO if there was a greater device for this process. He mentioned: “No, that is it.” I couldn’t consider it. We had instruments like Notion, Figma, and Airtable, however nothing constructed particularly for finance.
Everybody discovered finance—and by extension, enterprise—obscure. However nobody had solved that downside. So I requested myself a easy query: what if everybody might perceive how their enterprise really works? That’s why I began Runway.
Our aim is to make enterprise accessible and comprehensible to everybody. Runway exhibits how all features, from gross sales and advertising to product and engineering, match collectively. It provides groups a transparent, shared understanding of the enterprise, to allow them to align on strategic selections and create extra impression.
Ambient Intelligence goes additional. As a result of it’s deeply embedded in Runway, it makes your work clearer, higher, and sooner. It robotically provides useful context, and surfaces deep insights that will help you make higher selections effortlessly.
How does Runway’s Ambient Intelligence proactively help finance groups with out being intrusive?
The quick reply: by not turning AI right into a separate creature—like an agent or a chatbot—that it’s a must to work together with.
Ambient Intelligence is invisible; it’s a part of your on a regular basis expertise with Runway. It really works quietly within the background, with out interrupting. It’s constructed into the platform, so it could possibly anticipate intent and enable you with out being prompted. In the identical manner the GitHub Copilot autocompletes your code, or Apple Intelligence solves formulation as you write them, Runway’s Ambient Intelligence makes your work clearer, sooner, and extra environment friendly.
What meaning is you don’t need to hint a driver by means of your whole mannequin to grasp the way it connects with every part else—we simply let you know that, in plain English. You don’t need to verify in case your actuals match your forecast—we spotlight deviations and enable you perceive what occurred. All of that occurs robotically—Ambient Intelligence doesn’t make any adjustments to your mannequin or eventualities, and doesn’t need to be advised which context or perception is most related to you within the second. It simply does the job.
May you elaborate on the ‘Driver Explanations’ function and the way it enhances understanding throughout the group?
In any enterprise mannequin, the drivers are interconnected and kind a posh community. Meaning it’s a must to hint a driver by means of the whole mannequin to grasp the way it’s calculated and what it impacts.
The way in which folks try this as we speak is by digging by means of spreadsheets and tracing every part manually. Understanding a single method just isn’t sufficient; it’s a must to know the way one driver impacts others, and the way the whole community is structured. That’s the way you construct deep instinct concerning the enterprise and establish the levers you may pull.
Runway makes that simpler. Whenever you hover over a driver, we present you a transparent, concise, automatically-generated rationalization that helps you perceive the way it works. You don’t need to ask a chatbot what ‘Gross Margin’ is and the way it suits into your mannequin—we clarify every part in plain English. That’s how ‘Driver Explanations’ work—seamlessly, invisibly, and robotically, so everybody at your organization can perceive your mannequin.
Runway claims to show hours-long duties into seconds. Are you able to share particular examples or metrics that spotlight this enchancment
This was a quote from one in all our clients Andrew Maher, Head of Finance at Superhuman. Learn the complete story right here.
“With Runway, we noticed our effectivity skyrocket with a 50X to 100X enchancment, turning hours-long duties into seconds,” mentioned Andrew Maher, Head of Finance, Superhuman. “Complicated monetary fashions have been distilled into clear, actionable insights, making it simpler to reply shortly to key executives. Runway was like including a contact of magic to our monetary technique, turning information into actionable intelligence—think about having a co-pilot in finance that brings crucial insights alongside quantity crunching.”
How does Runway’s integration with present enterprise instruments like accounting software program and CRM programs improve its performance?
We provide you with a holistic understanding of your corporation by pulling in each information and context.
Runway integrates with over 650 of the commonest instruments, and we transcend common integrations like normal ledgers and HR programs. We join with CRMs, databases, spreadsheets, and even challenge administration software program like Jira.
We consider that finance is not nearly finance; it is about understanding how every part within the firm suits and works collectively. By integrating with challenge administration instruments and databases, for instance, we join necessary context to your corporation mannequin. This manner, completely different departments work with a single supply of reality, and get a shared understanding of your corporation.
How does Runway place itself in opposition to rivals like conventional monetary planning instruments and different trendy AI-driven platforms?
Our core perception locations us in a completely completely different class from different monetary options.
The primary problem of contemporary finance is collaboration. However the concept finance ought to be collaborative isn’t new; it’s been round perpetually. And but, nobody has really constructed a product that allows actual collaboration. Why is that?
As a result of conventional instruments solely enable you save time or provide you with extra management. That’s the place they cease. Our core perception is that this stuff are desk stakes. What trendy finance wants is one thing that helps everybody instantly and intuitively perceive how the enterprise works. Actual collaboration can solely occur as soon as everybody has that shared context.
It’s understanding that lies on the heart of this downside. That’s what Runway solves for finance, product, gross sales, advertising, and each different crew.
To make enterprise comprehensible, we begin by connecting your information to necessary enterprise context and your roadmap. We use abstractions that truly map to how folks suppose. And other people don’t consider plans by way of numbers on a spreadsheet—they consider selections and timelines. So we present plans in a manner that’s intuitive, and that everybody can simply play with. Anybody in your crew can modify these plans, and see how completely different selections would impression your mannequin. That’s how we ship a shared understanding of how your corporation works.
Our deep give attention to creating readability units us aside. Our clients, like Superhuman, AngelList and ConvertKit (quickly to be Equipment), are already seeing the distinction with Runway.
What methods are you using to keep up Runway’s aggressive edge and proceed its speedy progress available in the market?
We don’t compete with those that construct monetary merchandise for finance groups.
We’ve got clients in finance, however the core worth we ship is that this: actual collaboration throughout the whole group, pushed by true understanding.
We’re uniquely centered on creating deep, intuitive understanding. Our design and engineering efforts are centered on this single aim. Nobody else available in the market shares our stage of give attention to fixing this particular downside.
I don’t suppose we’ve any competitors in any respect. We’re taking part in a completely completely different recreation.
How do you envision the position of AI and ambient intelligence evolving within the finance business over the subsequent 5 years?
As AI capabilities evolve, I feel we’ll see a significant shift in how work basically will get carried out. Whereas I don’t suppose fashions are fairly there but, it’ll occur in a short time. When it does, we’ll see a major enhance within the quantity of leverage folks have—one individual will do the work of ten, 100, or perhaps a thousand folks.
Enterprises will leverage AI to get extra output with the identical headcount, and planning will turn into exponentially extra advanced. However folks will nonetheless have to make strategic selections and perceive how the enterprise works—solely a lot sooner, and far more effectively than ever earlier than.
We’ll want radically higher instruments for thought simply to maintain up. Ambient Intelligence can allow that by enhancing human functionality effortlessly, with out getting in the best way.
As a CEO and AI influencer, what are your ideas on the broader implications of AI in enterprise planning and decision-making?
Let’s put aside AGI, ASI, and the thought of technological singularity for a second—as a result of in that world, the place AI does every part and we’re all lounging by a pool, it’s a totally completely different story.
Earlier than we attain that time, although, I feel we’ll see an exponential enhance in human functionality—the place one individual can do the work of lots of. Human output will attain unprecedented ranges, making companies and programs far more advanced. We’ll want AI to assist us perceive what’s occurring and to make smarter selections.
It’ll all go hand-in-hand—AI will drive elevated leverage, which in flip will add to the complexity of programs. To handle elevated complexity, we’ll want much more superior instruments to additional improve human functionality.
Thanks for the good interview, readers who want to be taught extra ought to go to Runway.
