Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We live more and more online, including more and more
of our financial lives online, more and more business transactions online.
But with the advent of very clever criminals and AI
which could potentially be used by clever criminals but also
by the good guys, how do you know that you
can trust the business you are trying to do online?
(00:20):
My next guest, Max von Kouk, is head of a
company called io you that is working in that space,
and frankly, I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It very well. It's technical, but.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It will apply and does apply to your every day
online business life in particular, so I want to understand it. Max,
thanks for joining us here on KOA.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Thanks Ros, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So first, describe the problem that your firm IOU is
aiming to solve.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
So the main problem, the way I'm going to solved
is should you trust when you're engaging in a small
business transaction. There's a lot of systems in place for
large business transactions obviously that go into legal spaces in
other areas, but when it comes to doing small business deals,
it's hard to know if the person you're about to
engage in business with is somebody that has a good
(01:17):
track record of doing business who they've done business with before.
There's no real place out there right now that has
that as a validated source of peer reviews of people
they've worked with. And so the point point we're looking
to solve is I want to know that is this
person I'm about to engage in business with someone that
I should engage in business with, someone that will probably
pay on time, Somebody that will that will communicate, well,
(01:38):
that is professional, that has all these things right? And
how can I know that that's aver that there's verifiable
evidence that they are somebody that they say they are
based off of their past business transaction history.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And so that's that's the main point we're trying to tackle.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Is this mostly B to be? Is it equally B
to see? What is it?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
That's a great question. So a large which part of
this is B to B? It's going to be small.
Our main target audience is small business owners, teams of
you know, anywhere from solopreneurs to fifteen to twenty people
that don't really have the infrastructure to go and do
all that kind of diligence.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They're the people that are getting left behind the most.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Me and myself as either an entrepreneur, as a co
founder and as a contractor. In all those situations, I've
been in places where I've gotten into business with people
who don't end up paying their bills and it's the
most painful emotional toll of any business owner.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
And so that's where it really starts.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But it also.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Applies for there's kind of a B two C sector
as well.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
If you are a contractor, sometimes your client is a person,
not a business, right Maybe you're building a maybe you're
doing a bathroom contracting. A lot of these places come
in these transactions, come into a place where there you
don't know this is a client that's so one you
want to work with because in the past, maybe they
haven't paid on time, maybe they're really problematic client, maybe
(02:57):
other people don't like to work with them, whether it's
an agent, see an individual. So our target is small
businesses where they have the biggest pain point, but individuals
as well.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Apply.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And I'll mention to listeners.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Max's website is io you marker dot com. Io you
marker dot com. So let's just stick with your example
and we just have a few minutes here, but I
want to get as much as we can in so
Imagine there is a company that remodels houses and there
are potential clients out there, and a potential client contacts
this company, And so what you're suggesting is this can
(03:34):
go both directions in the sense that the person who's
looking for a home remodel or wants to make sure
you can trust that that particular contractor, and the contractor
wants to make sure that he's not getting involved with
a with a deadbeat or otherwise problematic client.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Right correct, Okay, so how does AI help with them?
How do you solve this?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
We'll jump into it.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
So the way it works basically that a contractor was
set up contract through IOU, they would countersign the contract
our AI and AGENTIC would then have context of the contract.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
It would be responsible for the follow.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Ups on the payments, it would be responsible for mediation,
and then when all of that work is done, it
would then allow both counterparties to review each other, just
like an Airbnb host reviews of guests. Oh wow, right,
And so over time, you build this equity of reputation
that you can say, you know, this is somebody that
you want to work with.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Would the only available source of reputation impacting information on
your platform, be what people have done on your platform,
or does your platform go out and look for BBB
violation or you know, complaints or other such things.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
It's a good question.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
So we're we're exploring integrating other sources of trust that
you can come to us with.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
The one issue that we have is, as.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You mentioned, the beginning of the Internet, it's becoming very
hard to trust, right and top down reviews also.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Are becoming hard to trust.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
People are not really trusting institutional reviewing and things like that.
There's a lot of corruption in that, and people trust
each other, but they need to be verified that it's
somebody that should have done the review, most online reviews
or all these things. At this point, I can build
a bot network that can just fill my Yelp up
with positive reviews or whatever it might be. And so
there are going to be external factors that can help.
(05:16):
But our bet is that we're making a platform that
has the utility of the AI agentic payments remediation as
well that is so useful on top of it that
that's how we start to implement this scoring and you
start building that reputation, right, and so before the scoring
goes in, what is there is the knowing that you
will get scored, which is what social accountability is, right,
(05:36):
So you know in this that there will be a
social accountability level or at the end, and that even
though you don't know, the person at start should create
some pressure, which is normally where this happens. Pressure comes
from the social accountability.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Okay, last question for you, and this is more of
a logistical question, but let's stick with our example of
a home remodeler and a potential client. So how would
it work. Would one of these parties perhaps say to
the other one, Hey, I want to work with you,
but I want to go through IO you marker for
your contract.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Is that how it works?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (06:10):
They would upload their contract and get the counter signature
and I owe you right, And so the kind of
party would sound and are you just like any counter
sider software. There's plenty of them out there, and so
the contract would go on there. Then our urgentic would
then pull the information out of that provide the invoices
of the depaus it's would do. The follow up would do,
the chasing, would check with both parties when it is
the job done?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Are you satisfied?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (06:29):
No, blah blah, blah, and it goes through the steps
and then it gets to the end, and then that's
where the you know, there's social accountability involved, and then
the client and the contract and say, hey, this is
good for both of us because it's going to create
social accountability that I do my job well and I
communicate professionally and well and all these things, and it's
going to create a track record for you that you're
a good client and somebody the people who want to
work with and they don't have to worry about it
and put all these protections because they don't.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Know who you are in that structure.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Are you guys on the hook for anything if somebody
doesn't perform.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
No, it's their contract, right, it's their contract. There are things.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
All we're doing is creating the tool set to help
pull for these things and the social accountability.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
But they're doing a business transaction.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
We're just providing a platform that they're able to.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Execute that transaction through.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Right, We're not actually providing any sort of guarantee of
payment or any of those things.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
It's just this is the information.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
We're providing a sort of platform that allows to make
that information more transparent, more trust, more accountability.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's a fascinating and important space in an online world
that is increasingly, in reality and perception, less and less trustworthy.
Max von Kuch's company is called Iowe You. I Owe
You marker dot com is the website Iowe You marker
dot com. Thanks Max. Is very, very fascinating. I actually
(07:43):
understood most of that, but that's because.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
You dumbed it down for me.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I wish you lots of success and maybe we'll talk
again as you as you get bigger.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Yeah, absolutely, ross, Thanks for the opportunity, Thanks for having
us
Speaker 2 (07:55):
On all right, glad to do it.
We live more and more online, including more and more
of our financial lives online, more and more business transactions online.
But with the advent of very clever criminals and AI
which could potentially be used by clever criminals but also
by the good guys, how do you know that you
can trust the business you are trying to do online?
(00:20):
My next guest, Max von Kouk, is head of a
company called io you that is working in that space,
and frankly, I don't understand.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It very well. It's technical, but.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
It will apply and does apply to your every day
online business life in particular, so I want to understand it. Max,
thanks for joining us here on KOA.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Thanks Ros, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
So first, describe the problem that your firm IOU is
aiming to solve.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
So the main problem, the way I'm going to solved
is should you trust when you're engaging in a small
business transaction. There's a lot of systems in place for
large business transactions obviously that go into legal spaces in
other areas, but when it comes to doing small business deals,
it's hard to know if the person you're about to
engage in business with is somebody that has a good
(01:17):
track record of doing business who they've done business with before.
There's no real place out there right now that has
that as a validated source of peer reviews of people
they've worked with. And so the point point we're looking
to solve is I want to know that is this
person I'm about to engage in business with someone that
I should engage in business with, someone that will probably
pay on time, Somebody that will that will communicate, well,
(01:38):
that is professional, that has all these things right? And
how can I know that that's aver that there's verifiable
evidence that they are somebody that they say they are
based off of their past business transaction history.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
And so that's that's the main point we're trying to tackle.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Is this mostly B to be? Is it equally B
to see? What is it?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
That's a great question. So a large which part of
this is B to B? It's going to be small.
Our main target audience is small business owners, teams of
you know, anywhere from solopreneurs to fifteen to twenty people
that don't really have the infrastructure to go and do
all that kind of diligence.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
They're the people that are getting left behind the most.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Me and myself as either an entrepreneur, as a co
founder and as a contractor. In all those situations, I've
been in places where I've gotten into business with people
who don't end up paying their bills and it's the
most painful emotional toll of any business owner.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
And so that's where it really starts.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
But it also.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
Applies for there's kind of a B two C sector
as well.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
If you are a contractor, sometimes your client is a person,
not a business, right Maybe you're building a maybe you're
doing a bathroom contracting. A lot of these places come
in these transactions, come into a place where there you
don't know this is a client that's so one you
want to work with because in the past, maybe they
haven't paid on time, maybe they're really problematic client, maybe
(02:57):
other people don't like to work with them, whether it's
an agent, see an individual. So our target is small
businesses where they have the biggest pain point, but individuals
as well.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
Apply.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And I'll mention to listeners.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Max's website is io you marker dot com. Io you
marker dot com. So let's just stick with your example
and we just have a few minutes here, but I
want to get as much as we can in so
Imagine there is a company that remodels houses and there
are potential clients out there, and a potential client contacts
this company, And so what you're suggesting is this can
(03:34):
go both directions in the sense that the person who's
looking for a home remodel or wants to make sure
you can trust that that particular contractor, and the contractor
wants to make sure that he's not getting involved with
a with a deadbeat or otherwise problematic client.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Right correct, Okay, so how does AI help with them?
How do you solve this?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
We'll jump into it.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
So the way it works basically that a contractor was
set up contract through IOU, they would countersign the contract
our AI and AGENTIC would then have context of the contract.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
It would be responsible for the follow.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Ups on the payments, it would be responsible for mediation,
and then when all of that work is done, it
would then allow both counterparties to review each other, just
like an Airbnb host reviews of guests. Oh wow, right,
And so over time, you build this equity of reputation
that you can say, you know, this is somebody that
you want to work with.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Would the only available source of reputation impacting information on
your platform, be what people have done on your platform,
or does your platform go out and look for BBB
violation or you know, complaints or other such things.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
It's a good question.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
So we're we're exploring integrating other sources of trust that
you can come to us with.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
The one issue that we have is, as.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
You mentioned, the beginning of the Internet, it's becoming very
hard to trust, right and top down reviews also.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Are becoming hard to trust.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
People are not really trusting institutional reviewing and things like that.
There's a lot of corruption in that, and people trust
each other, but they need to be verified that it's
somebody that should have done the review, most online reviews
or all these things. At this point, I can build
a bot network that can just fill my Yelp up
with positive reviews or whatever it might be. And so
there are going to be external factors that can help.
(05:16):
But our bet is that we're making a platform that
has the utility of the AI agentic payments remediation as
well that is so useful on top of it that
that's how we start to implement this scoring and you
start building that reputation, right, and so before the scoring
goes in, what is there is the knowing that you
will get scored, which is what social accountability is, right,
(05:36):
So you know in this that there will be a
social accountability level or at the end, and that even
though you don't know, the person at start should create
some pressure, which is normally where this happens. Pressure comes
from the social accountability.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Okay, last question for you, and this is more of
a logistical question, but let's stick with our example of
a home remodeler and a potential client. So how would
it work. Would one of these parties perhaps say to
the other one, Hey, I want to work with you,
but I want to go through IO you marker for
your contract.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Is that how it works?
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (06:10):
They would upload their contract and get the counter signature
and I owe you right, And so the kind of
party would sound and are you just like any counter
sider software. There's plenty of them out there, and so
the contract would go on there. Then our urgentic would
then pull the information out of that provide the invoices
of the depaus it's would do. The follow up would do,
the chasing, would check with both parties when it is
the job done?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Are you satisfied?
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes?
Speaker 4 (06:29):
No, blah blah, blah, and it goes through the steps
and then it gets to the end, and then that's
where the you know, there's social accountability involved, and then
the client and the contract and say, hey, this is
good for both of us because it's going to create
social accountability that I do my job well and I
communicate professionally and well and all these things, and it's
going to create a track record for you that you're
a good client and somebody the people who want to
work with and they don't have to worry about it
and put all these protections because they don't.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
Know who you are in that structure.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Are you guys on the hook for anything if somebody
doesn't perform.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
No, it's their contract, right, it's their contract. There are things.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
All we're doing is creating the tool set to help
pull for these things and the social accountability.
Speaker 3 (07:03):
But they're doing a business transaction.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
We're just providing a platform that they're able to.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Execute that transaction through.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Right, We're not actually providing any sort of guarantee of
payment or any of those things.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
It's just this is the information.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
We're providing a sort of platform that allows to make
that information more transparent, more trust, more accountability.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It's a fascinating and important space in an online world
that is increasingly, in reality and perception, less and less trustworthy.
Max von Kuch's company is called Iowe You. I Owe
You marker dot com is the website Iowe You marker
dot com. Thanks Max. Is very, very fascinating. I actually
(07:43):
understood most of that, but that's because.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
You dumbed it down for me.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
I wish you lots of success and maybe we'll talk
again as you as you get bigger.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Yeah, absolutely, ross, Thanks for the opportunity, Thanks for having
us
Speaker 2 (07:55):
On all right, glad to do it.
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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