When Hypergiant emerged from stealth mode in February it quickly become one of Austin's most promising new AI startups -- one that has an experienced founding team and is, itself, making investments in fellow startups.
Now, the young company, which has offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston, is adding new talent to its team. C.K. Sample III, former chief product officer and CTO at YouEarnedIt, is joining Hypergiant as its chief technology officer in the Hypergiant Space Age Solutions Division. He'll lead AI development across a broad array of projects for big name clients.
Prior to YouEarnedIt, Sample was executive vice president of technology and development at Chaotic Moon Studios where Hypergiant's co-founders, Ben Lamm, Will Womble and John Fremont all worked until shortly after Accenture acquired it. And, before that, Sample helped run Netscape.com for AOL and helped launch Mahalo.com (now known as Inside.com) in 2007.
To learn more about Sample and what's next at Hypergiant, Austin Inno conducted an email Q&A with Sample and Hypergiant CEO Ben Lamm. Here we go...
Inno: I presume Hypergiant had some cool things in the pipeline to help attract you to this role. What types of projects are you most excited about?
C.K.: Honestly, the projects I am most excited about have to do with taking ordinary experiences and making them extraordinary for brands and customers alike. The Flanagan project is a perfect example of this, and one of the first reasons I was attracted to the role – beverage service is something we all know and experience all the time. The fundamentals haven't changed in centuries. Now, the application of AI and machine learning has truly brought bartending into the 21st century, creating personalized, innovative experiences that take the power of technology and the comfort of the service we all know so well to create something magical that also helps to bridge the physical bar with their digital customer all while learning more about each customer. Also, some of the recent work around AI-driven connected cities in partnership with Bosche got me extremely excited.
I can't say many specifics about the other projects, since they haven't been released yet, but I can say that broadly, the work in the aerospace and defense industries caught my interest. I am just now onboarding but believe we will be able to share some of the innovative aerospace work soon publicly.
Inno: What were some of your most memorable projects or achievements when you worked at YouEarnedIt and Chaotic Moon?
C.K.: At YouEarnedIt, I led an award-winning redesign that launched in early 2017. That was definitely a highlight, because it allowed us to grow the business with offerings that our customers had been asking for. It also paved the way for a partnership with Vista Equity Partners, which amplified our work and the entire company in a powerful way.
It's hard to pick just one at Chaotic Moon. I was lucky to work with such an incredible team of software and hardware innovators. Winning numerous awards including the GABA Technology & Innovation Award was definitely a big moment, as was assembling the Quality Assurance team that set us head and shoulders above everyone else. I will say that one highlight of my work at Chaotic Moon was designing and developing all the software for Tag Heuer's first ever connected smart watch in partnership with Intel and Google was a massive achievement which changed the entire watch industry forever.
Inno: What are a couple of the most important lessons you’ve learned both at recent endeavors and your time at Weblogs and other startups?
C.K: It's easy to get caught up in the thrill of innovation, especially with the speed at which the industry is moving and the speed at which Ben likes to run. You have to balance that thrill and love for innovation with a strong product development strategy and plenty of quality assurance. We're dealing with technology that is still proving itself, and we don't do anybody any good if we create something that doesn't deliver on to core business goals of the project for the brand.
Inno: What else would you like folks to know about this new role and how it impacts Hypergiant and the greater AI sector?
Ben: We brought C.K. on board because he is the perfect steward for Hypergiant's mission to create real business solutions with machine intelligence at the core. It's inevitable that this technology is going to impact every industry, and we have the opportunity to make sure it is applied both responsibly and effectively.
Space Age Solutions is not just throwing spaghetti at the wall when it comes to innovation – the innovative and transformative AI is done with intention and with business goals in mind. I think that's the real impact on the greater AI sector, the fact that we're introducing a new model for brands to successfully leverage AI in a practical way.
