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Dmitry Stavisky

Full-stack startup advisor specializing in international expansion

Dmitry Stavisky is a seasoned full-stack startup advisor based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in international expansion and helping tech companies navigate various challenges. He has been self-employed since 2021, providing strategic guidance to startups in areas such as market analysis, product development, fundraising, and public relations.14

Professional Background

Stavisky has an extensive background in the tech industry, having held significant roles in various companies:

  • Co-Founder and COO at Buddy.ai (2020-2021): He helped develop a voice-based AI English tutor for children, significantly increasing the company's international revenue during his tenure.14

  • Head of International at ClassDojo (2021-2022): He was responsible for planning and executing the company's international expansion strategy.14

  • Vice President for International Operations at Evernote: He played a crucial role in expanding Evernote's presence globally, launching the service in 26 countries and developing an international market development team.24

Stavisky is also known for his earlier work with Edwin.ai, a platform aimed at helping students learn English through AI technologies, which later merged with Buddy.ai.23

Education

He holds a PhD in Geophysics and Numerical Climate Modeling from the Institute of Geography, USSR Academy of Sciences, and has also completed a program at Y Combinator, further enhancing his entrepreneurial skills.12

Current Endeavors

As a full-stack startup advisor, Stavisky assists early-stage founders with a wide range of challenges, drawing from his extensive international network and experience in launching tech companies. His portfolio includes advising several startups, such as Hints, Tactiq, and Linguix.145

Highlights

Aug 8 · linkedin

This can be of interest to folks in EdTech and Education - an update on AI deployment in South Korean schools: https://lnkd.in/gx8jH-T9

TL;DR:

  • South Korea adoption of AI-powered digital textbooks, to be introduced in the new school year starting March 2025 for 5 million students from elementary to high school. The program is the first of its kind in the world. With these textbooks, student proficiency levels will be assessed via AI, with extra material provided to those who are lagging behind and higher-level content given to more advanced students. Virtual reality will be added to lessons as well.

  • LG has installed "future classrooms" in schools at 18 locations across South Korea since 2023, featuring digital whiteboards linked to its AI-equipped CLOi robots.

  • Samsung announced in June a new generative-AI-equipped display designed for schools. Teachers can give voice commands from anywhere in the room to the AI, which automatically transcribe or summarize lessons. Teachers are no longer stuck at the front of the classroom, allowing them to walk over to students for more one-on-one attention

  • Naver has developed an app for education and career counseling

  • Kakao has an app for contacting students' parents or guardians.

#AI #ML #EdTech

Jul 10 · linkedin

An interesting -- historic -- perspective on the AI alignment problem from the review of David Runciman's new book The Handover, https://lnkd.in/gqrEQDbQ: "Runciman argues that the rise of artificial, machine-like systems is not remotely novel - we are surrounded by [Thomas Hobbes's] leviathans. He argues that the state itself is an artificial (if not intelligent) ‘being’ whose goals are not the same as the humans which make up its constituent parts, and the reward function of the state is the ability to make decisions related to its survival and power, not to make optimal or correct decisions from our point of view. States can - and obviously do - provide benefits to the population, but survival remains its ultimate goal." "A related and more granular approach was developed by Richard Danzig, who argues that markets, bureaucracies and machines are all information processing systems which reduce reality into more narrow inputs, such as bits, prices and completed driving licence applications. Just as AI can seem alien and new to us, so can the behaviours of states and outcomes of markets." "When discussed in the context of the omnipotent power of the state leviathan, AI comes to sound like a similarly lumbering and unresponsive entity. However, personal assistants and AI systems rooted in and aligned to the interests of individuals could empower them in the face of the leviathans which currently surround us, helping to navigate the bureaucracy which characterises much of our interaction with the state (there is nothing ‘human’ about filling out forms any more than delegating it to agents we trust). They could act as cognitive shields, protecting both our stated and revealed preferences from external influence. They could provide the context, information and cognitive support to help us make better decisions as individuals." "The section on how close we came to destruction during the Cold War as a result of automated state systems and nuclear response plans (but were ultimately saved by human intuition), is effectively discussing an alignment problem." "The book argues that the state is the only social structure we have with a wide and long enough view of history to ensure AGI remains moored to our long-term interests (albeit one which comes with its own non-aligned aims and survival goals). So shouldn’t working on AI safety be a top priority for the state and society? Some modern leviathans seem to think so."

Related Questions

What are some key challenges Dmitry Stavisky has faced during international expansions?
How did Dmitry Stavisky's experience at Y Combinator influence his advisory style?
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Can you provide examples of successful market analyses conducted by Dmitry Stavisky?
How did Dmitry Stavisky's role at ClassDojo impact his approach to international expansion?
Dmitry Stavisky
Dmitry Stavisky, photo 1
Dmitry Stavisky, photo 2
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Experience

Full-stack startup advisor, Self Employed (2021 - Present)
Head Of International at ClassDojo (2021 - 2022), Co-Founder and COO at Buddy.ai (2020 - 2021), Co-Founder and CEO at Edwin.ai (2016 - 2020), Advisor at Zenly, Inc. (2013 - 2017), CEO and Board Member at Tellus Institute (1991 - 1994)

Education

PhD in Geophysics and Numerical Climate Modeling from Institute of Geography, USSR Academy of Sciences, MS in Meteorology, Atmospheric Physics and Glaciology from Lomonosov Moscow State University (MS

Location

San Francisco Bay Area