Moondream AI

The value in talking with people is priceless. This compounds if you make it your goal to learn at least one thing from every person that you talk to, Each conversation carries a lifetime of experiences we can learn from. When Caleb John and Jamari Morrison introduced me to Jay Allen to chat, I went into it with no plan other than to pick his brain on Moondream AI. I wanted to learn from his personal experiences and perspectives and share some of mine from my time at the incubator. Our chat went long, and at one point, Jay started taking notes on what I had to say and said that "there are hundreds of early-stage startups that would want to hire somebody like you right now", the energy of the conversation got me thinking... After the conversation, my itch to get on the ground with the team and start hustling grew. A week after our first conversation, Moondream AI announced a $4.5 million dollar seed round backed by Felicis, M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, and Ascend. I spent another week or so reflecting on my two years~ at the incubator... Above all else, in it, the most important thing I realized was that: Timing and luck cannot be predicted, but they can be worked with. Even if it's the wrong time in the market, your job is to optimize and adapt to those conditions. You can maximize your chances of getting lucky by working relentlessly at your goals - remember, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. In startups, (and in life?) - success in its rawest form is simply an ability to adapt and grow. With that said, after my conversation with Jay I was presented with an opportunity, and at my second interview with the team received an offer to join them in their journey from 0 to 100. It was impossible to say no; I knew that I would learn priceless insights from hustling alongside the team and that I was prepared for it. I'm happy to formally announce that I've joined the Moondream AI team as Head of Developer Relations. I'll be working alongside Jay Allen, Vik K., Blunt Jackson, Caleb John, Jamari Morrison, and Ethan Reid relentlessly, working to make Vision AI accessible to everyone "by teaching computers to see". I sincerely thank Jacob Colker and the team at AI2 Incubator (cc: Yifan Zhang, Jenny Cronin, PhD, Vu Ha, Andy Lai, Arthur M., Oren Etzioni) for their endless mentorship and advocacy over the past two years and for supporting me and my Turing Minds initiative during my time at the incubator. This step up in my career wouldn't have been possible without the learning that came from my time there, and the doors that working on the incubators core team opened up. I'm thrilled to be joining Moondream AI, and you'll be hearing more about the cool stuff we're doing directly from me as I ramp up my posting. I'm eager to start putting together all sorts of resources; cookbooks, guides, and tutorials to help our users, no matter their skill level, get the most out of Moondream's Vision Language Modal tech. ??

The value in talking with people is priceless. This compounds if you make it your goal to learn at least one thing from every person that you talk to, Each conversation carries a lifetime of experiences we can learn from. When Caleb John and Jamari Morrison introduced me to Jay Allen to chat, I went into it with no plan other than to pick his brain on Moondream AI. I wanted to learn from his personal experiences and perspectives and share some of mine from my time at the incubator. Our chat went long, and at one point, Jay started taking notes on what I had to say and said that "there are hundreds of early-stage startups that would want to hire somebody like you right now", the energy of the conversation got me thinking... After the conversation, my itch to get on the ground with the team and start hustling grew. A week after our first conversation, Moondream AI announced a $4.5 million dollar seed round backed by Felicis, M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, and Ascend. I spent another week or so reflecting on my two years~ at the incubator... Above all else, in it, the most important thing I realized was that: Timing and luck cannot be predicted, but they can be worked with. Even if it's the wrong time in the market, your job is to optimize and adapt to those conditions. You can maximize your chances of getting lucky by working relentlessly at your goals - remember, luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. In startups, (and in life?) - success in its rawest form is simply an ability to adapt and grow. With that said, after my conversation with Jay I was presented with an opportunity, and at my second interview with the team received an offer to join them in their journey from 0 to 100. It was impossible to say no; I knew that I would learn priceless insights from hustling alongside the team and that I was prepared for it. I'm happy to formally announce that I've joined the Moondream AI team as Head of Developer Relations. I'll be working alongside Jay Allen, Vik K., Blunt Jackson, Caleb John, Jamari Morrison, and Ethan Reid relentlessly, working to make Vision AI accessible to everyone "by teaching computers to see". I sincerely thank Jacob Colker and the team at AI2 Incubator (cc: Yifan Zhang, Jenny Cronin, PhD, Vu Ha, Andy Lai, Arthur M., Oren Etzioni) for their endless mentorship and advocacy over the past two years and for supporting me and my Turing Minds initiative during my time at the incubator. This step up in my career wouldn't have been possible without the learning that came from my time there, and the doors that working on the incubators core team opened up. I'm thrilled to be joining Moondream AI, and you'll be hearing more about the cool stuff we're doing directly from me as I ramp up my posting. I'm eager to start putting together all sorts of resources; cookbooks, guides, and tutorials to help our users, no matter their skill level, get the most out of Moondream's Vision Language Modal tech. ??

how does a tiny vision model slap so hard? this talk by Moondream AI co-founder Vik K. is a must-watch to learn about the power and impact of small models.