1980s
Des Traynor says his mother bought him the Amiga 500, which cost about 700 Irish pounds, roughly a thousand dollars.
“So whatever costing 700 Irish pounds, which is probably like a grand or something like that in dollars.”
Topic
Des Traynor
7 facts from 2 episodes, in date order. These are what speakers said on the shows, each linked to the moment it was said. They aren't independently verified.
1988
Des Traynor says that in 1988, at age seven, he became obsessed with the Commodore Amiga 500 computer.
“And in 1988, when I was seven years old, I basically was obsessed with this computer called the Amiga 500 by Commodore.”
2022
Des Traynor said he had a call with Intercom's head of AI, Fergal, the day after ChatGPT launched, and that work on an AI version of Intercom began the following Monday.
“ChatGPT launched, I think on a Thursday. I think I had a call with Fergal, our head of AI on Friday.”
2023
Des Traynor says he has invested in Kettle, a tool that generates editable vector graphics from text descriptions.
“there's one I've invested in called Kettle, where like again, you just describe the visual of what you want, and they produce a vector.”
Undated
Des Traynor says he met both his wife and Intercom CEO Owen at the same meetup, which Owen had organized.
“I met my wife at the same meetup that own had organized, where I met him for the first time.”
Undated
Des Traynor's first test for a good AI startup is revenue backed by real usage, as opposed to unused software or pilots.
“It's rare you see all four, but the things you want in an AI startup is kind of one is the revenue backed by usage.”
Undated
Des Traynor said the other two tests for AI startups are deep differentiated AI rather than a thin wrapper and positive unit margins or a clear path to them.
“It can't be a thin wrapper. And then the fourth one is, yes, you want positive unit margins on all this,”
Episodes