Marketers of Technology
00:00:52 · Andres Figuera, Renee Calabro
[00:00:52] S1: No. No. We're very happy that you're here with us and that we're gonna host this episode for you. And just so that we can hit the ground running, Renee, would you be able to tell us a bit further about your background, how you came to become CMO at TS Imagine, and then what TS Imagine does in your own words? [00:01:07] S0: Yeah. Sure. So I've spent just over twenty five years in the industry. I have been working in the financial services industry, mostly doing public relations, really coming at marketing from a reputational sort of top of funnel standpoint. I started my career in crisis communications, actually, and then I segued that to an in house PR role at a giant bank during the two thousand and eight financial crisis. And then I worked at a public relations firm where I counseled financial services companies that are more established and those that are more new to marketing and those that were just starting up. And how I came to work at TS Imagine as the CMO is I actually worked with our founder when I was at that bank. We were both there during 2008, and we worked together on PR. And in financial industry, PR really leads a lot of the marketing strategy because it's all about reputation. So, yeah, that's kind of it. [00:02:12] S1: Okay. And then exactly what does TS Imagine do? [00:02:15] S0: TS Imagine is a capital markets technology provider. We work with 500 financial institutions providing trading, risk management, prime brokerage technology. And most recently, we launched an AI platform called TSIQ.
00:02:15 · Renee Calabro, Andres Figuera
[00:02:15] S0: TS Imagine is a capital markets technology provider. We work with 500 financial institutions providing trading, risk management, prime brokerage technology. And most recently, we launched an AI platform called TSIQ. [00:02:31] S1: Okay. And then I love when finance mixes with AI because I feel the finance sector has always been very traditional in its way of working and has its tried and true ways of doing things. So, terms of AI and the receptivity from the potential customers, how has that experience been? [00:02:49] S0: Yeah. So, it has been really interesting because in financial technology, innovation gets attention, but trust is what drives adoption. So we are selling an AI platform to, in many cases, a group of people who might not be allowed to use AI. And this is kind of the first foray into an auditable, trusted platform. So building trust has been really essential. But at the same time, the same customer base is responsible for driving AI ROI. And so this solution kind of fits in the middle, but explaining it requires a lot of work. [00:03:28] S1: Okay. And I do understand that because, yeah, with AI, you're not completely certain when it was done by a human, when it was done by the LLM, how much really is the... That that has this human touch for it. But when you talk about trust, Renee, would you be able to tell us a bit further of any strategies or campaigns you've implemented to make sure that potential customers trust what you guys are offering at TS Imagine?
00:03:28 · Andres Figuera, Renee Calabro
[00:03:28] S1: Okay. And I do understand that because, yeah, with AI, you're not completely certain when it was done by a human, when it was done by the LLM, how much really is the... That that has this human touch for it. But when you talk about trust, Renee, would you be able to tell us a bit further of any strategies or campaigns you've implemented to make sure that potential customers trust what you guys are offering at TS Imagine? [00:03:51] S0: Absolutely. So we use educational marketing a lot. We operate within a part of the financial industry that really has its own vocabulary, and that's the fintech part of capital markets. We use many terms that you will not find in a dictionary. And at the same time, the AI space is new and the things that people need to know about AI, such as what is an MCP or what are the differences between the planes or how a human can sustain control, that's all new to everybody. So we're educating kind of both sides of the market and that, I think, creates a lot of trust. We've always done a lot of thought leadership. We've always been very transparent putting our executives out to speak at conferences or speak to the media, putting a lot of white papers out. And, and I think that creates stress because we're not afraid to speak out and and explain what we're trying to do.
00:03:51 · Renee Calabro, Andres Figuera
[00:03:51] S0: Absolutely. So we use educational marketing a lot. We operate within a part of the financial industry that really has its own vocabulary, and that's the fintech part of capital markets. We use many terms that you will not find in a dictionary. And at the same time, the AI space is new and the things that people need to know about AI, such as what is an MCP or what are the differences between the planes or how a human can sustain control, that's all new to everybody. So we're educating kind of both sides of the market and that, I think, creates a lot of trust. We've always done a lot of thought leadership. We've always been very transparent putting our executives out to speak at conferences or speak to the media, putting a lot of white papers out. And, and I think that creates stress because we're not afraid to speak out and and explain what we're trying to do. [00:04:47] S1: I love that. Yeah. And and I feel that thought leadership is something that really is on the rise from a little while back because with AI and everybody being able to just place so many facts and making these perfect articles with the help of an LLM, when you have thought leadership that really expresses an opinion or provides a new learning or lesson that anybody can take away from, I feel that's when potential customers really see the value in the company and what you guys are offering.
00:04:47 · Andres Figuera, Renee Calabro
[00:04:47] S1: I love that. Yeah. And and I feel that thought leadership is something that really is on the rise from a little while back because with AI and everybody being able to just place so many facts and making these perfect articles with the help of an LLM, when you have thought leadership that really expresses an opinion or provides a new learning or lesson that anybody can take away from, I feel that's when potential customers really see the value in the company and what you guys are offering. [00:05:16] S0: Absolutely. And I think the other part of it is understanding the whole committee that would purchase an AI platform for a financial institution. It's not just about the front office user. It's about the people who would benefit from seeing the audit trail or from greater control or transparency. It's about that middle office. So it's it's also been an education and, appealing to different personas at the same time and educating those personas. [00:05:44] S1: Of course. Of course. And, Renee, just out of curiosity, do you only work with companies within The United States, or does TS Imagine work with all regions or or globally per se? [00:05:55] S0: We are a global company with a big footprint in Europe, headquartered in New York, and also offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney. So we're a truly global institution. [00:06:07] S1: Oh my goodness. So you guys really are all over the world. And how many people is TS Imagine in total? Do you have that number? [00:06:14] S0: Yeah. Sure. We're just under 400 people worldwide.
00:06:14 · Renee Calabro, Andres Figuera
[00:06:14] S0: Yeah. Sure. We're just under 400 people worldwide. [00:06:17] S1: Okay. That is a bunch. And, okay, so in terms of AI, not specifically the product that TS Imagine provides, is it TSIQ, the... What you mentioned is called the new AI functionality? [00:06:29] S0: That's right. [00:06:30] S1: Okay. And how are you leveraging AI in your day to day, like, for your own work? [00:06:34] S0: It's a great question. So we are, for lack of a better way of saying it, AI obsessed at TS Imagine. We have been for years. And so everything we do, everyone at the company is using AI and being rewarded for it. And we are absolutely lucky to work with a very talented AI and data engineering group who've been recognized for their innovation and creating our own LLM for creating agents. And even we have an employee called Taya, which is made up of AI, which does a lot of operational tasks for us. So we create our own AI and we use AI platforms every day. And it's really in every single thing that we do. We also encourage experimentation within, obviously, controlled environment to make sure that we're we're always secure. [00:07:23] S1: Emphasis in controlled environment because I've heard about the tokenomics within the companies and that everybody goes crazy with the LLMs. And then it's just a big token burn of the AI budget that was supposed to be a certain value, and then it just surpasses that. So I love the fact that you're taking care of that. And you also mentioned that you created your own LLM for the company?