How AI is Transforming Consumer Brands and Retail: Insights from Shaveer Merpuri of Insight AI

Shaveer Merpuri, founder and CEO of Insight AI, recently appeared on The Matt Waller Podcast to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming the consumer brands and retail industries. Insight AI, founded in 2019, uses AI to help major CPG companies optimize their retail channels, manage relationships, and drive revenue growth.

Some key takeaways from the interview:

Insight AI has achieved remarkable growth under Shaveer's leadership, tripling revenue in just 15 months. He attributes this success to 1) developing a great product with advanced AI capabilities, 2) bringing on smart people from CPG and retail who deeply understand the industry problems, and 3) establishing credibility and trust with customers.

The $19 million Series A funding raised last year will help educate consumer brands on their AI strategy and support their organizational change management as they adopt these new technologies.

Major opportunities for AI in consumer brands/retail include: better data harmonization, more accurate demand forecasting, optimization of pricing/promotions/assortment, and interpretable AI to explain the recommendations.

Attracting top AI talent requires having the data and giving them the freedom to lead real change. Retention is about empowering them as founders and tying them to the vision, not just the company.

Partnering with large CPGs requires mapping their organizational structure and team motivations to orchestrate how they work together and adopt new solutions.

As a leader, Shaveer deals with the stress by focusing obsessively on how to accelerate explosive growth and getting passionately obsessed with problem-solving.

The interview provides fascinating insights into how AI can empower CPG brands and retailers to make better data-driven decisions. Shaveer makes a compelling case for how these technologies will transform go-to-market strategies, negotiations, and operational efficiencies in the near future.