Welcome to Velocitize Talks Encore, a new series where we catch up with some of our favorite industry leaders and all-around awesome people who have appeared on Velocitize Talks. In this interview we speak with Nabyl Charania, Chairman and CEO of exponential company builder Rokk3r.
Charania appeared on Velocitize Talks in July of 2018. Watch the full episode here.
1. In just one word, how would you describe the state of digital marketing today?
Omnipresent.
2. How do you see AI evolving in the digital era?
In a way, AI has already evolved the era to something beyond digital. Consider that every industry impacting our day to day lives, be it health, education, transportation, construction, food, security, banking, etc., is being reconstituted as a result of AI. There are consequences to each segment of every single value chain in these key industries.
Perhaps what’s most apparent in AI’s evolution of the digital era is the exponential impact as AI intersects with other accelerating technologies like robotics, drones, AR/VR, and more.
Think about the present repercussions of AI, and now consider the reverberation when it intersects with other similar powerful technologies.
3. What do you consider the most exciting developments in transformative technologies today?
I can think of about three that come to mind immediately. The first centers around advances in enterprise digital transformations; increased computing power and the resulting progress in AI, blockchain and similar technologies have conclusively evolved the DNA of enterprises.
Consider in your mind any enterprise that has been around for multiple decades in any industry. Perhaps an insurance company, or a banking institution, or even a construction enterprise? Each is in a race and fight for their ‘lives’ to adopt exponential technologies across internal and external ecosystems to survive.
Second, we are witnessing a never-before-seen confluence of biology and engineering that allows cells to be programmed with the aim of fighting diseases, the editing of genes to combat mutations, programming of microbes, and so much more. The follow-on and complementary impacts of synthetic biology to different value chains across the health industry are incredible.
And third, developments in technologies driving the space economy are quite exciting—from advances in 3D printing that actualize space economy infrastructure, to headways in satellite imaging (photography/video/data) that is pulling traditional industries such as agriculture into the fourth industrial revolution.
4. How can a startup (with limited resources) build the audience they need to succeed in the digital economy?
Understanding a prime audience gets tricky not simply because of what seems like a sprint to amass a large following, but also because at times, a startup is working to change behaviors.
They’re creating new categories of audiences, or changing the way a particular audience traditionally has been known to exist.
So, in concert with strong, data-driven tools and strategies to find and harness the power of an audience, a continued reflection of the startup’s higher, aspirational purpose should occur. This way, data is complemented with purpose to power a startup’s enduring and burdensome struggle, to identify, nurture and harness an audience in the digital age.
5. What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.
Learn more about Rokk3r on its website and follow them on Twitter at @rokk3r_inc. To read more about Nabyl Charania, check out his personal website.
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