Arte Merritt

Summary

Arte is a marketing, strategic partnership, business development, and product executive. He was the CEO/founder, and CMO, of two, venture backed SaaS startups which he led to be leaders in their respective spaces, both in crowded fields. He sold his first startup to Nokia and received multiple acquisition offers for the second. Arte is a thought-leader in conversational AI, chatbots, voice assistants, and analytics and has published over 70+ articles and spoken at global conferences on the topics. He has extensive operations experience as a CEO and executive board member.

Relevant Experience

Global Segment Leader for Conversational AI at AWS

2021-present

  • Created and launched global Conversational AI partnership program leveraging AWS AI/ML services to deliver hiqh quality, highly effective chatbot, voice assistant, and IVR solutions for enterprise customers
  • Created AWS Conversational AI Competency to differentiate top partners
  • Defined program, go-to-market strategy, and overall business plan
  • Lead all marketing, business development, and partnership efforts related to program
  • Recruited global SI and ISV partners
  • Achieved over 400% launched-wins goal
  • Spoke about conversational AI at global conferences including inBerlin, Cannes, Las Vegas, New Orleans, New York, and Washington DC
  • Recognized for “Invent and Simplify” Amazon Leadership Principle at annual partner all-hands

CEO, Co-founder at Dashbot

2016-2020

  • Co-founded analytics platform for conversational interfaces, chatbots, and voice assistants, including Alexa, Facebook Messenger, Google Assistant, IVR, SMS
  • Set overall product vision and go-to-market strategy
  • Led marketing efforts to organically acquire 20,000 customers, generating over 90 billion messages
  • Led business development, sales, and strategic partnership efforts with key industry players
    • Increased revenues in midst of Covid-19 – setting company on pace for 100% annual growth
    • Closed largest deal in company history during global pandemic
    • Partnered with ecosystem players, Fortune 500s, digital agencies, and system integrators
    • Received multiple M&A offers
  • Organized annual “SuperBot” conference featuring industry thought leaders from around the world
  • Published 50 articles on conversational AI interfaces & data insights
  • Industry speaker at MWC, SXSW, VentureBeat
  • Managed P&L
  • Raised 6.2M in venture funding

Senior Director, Emerging Tech at Turner Broadcasting

2011-2013

  • Corporate Development: identified, researched, and evaluated startups for partner, investment, and acquisition opportunities
  • Co-launched Turner’s “Media Camp” Accelerator program
    • Two portfolio companies acquired; one raised 14M
  • Evangelized mobile technologies and best practices within Turner

Founder, CEO / President at Motally

2008-2010

  • Founded mobile analytics platform 
  • Led successful acquisition to Nokia
  • Set overall product vision and strategy
  • Led product, marketing, business development, and partnerships
  • Managed P&L
  • Raised 2M in venture funding

Other Experiences

  • Product Manager, Yahoo! Mobile, 2005-2007
  • Product Manager, 3mg Inc, 2000-2003, 2005
  • Sales Engineer, Vettro, 2004
  • Senior / Lead Technologist, Viant, 1998-2000
  • Consultant, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 1997-1998
  • Internet Developer, RandomHouse Publishing, 1996-1997

Volunteer

  • Investor, VoiceFlow, 2021-Present
  • Investor, Dashbot, 2017-2021
  • Mentor, Orange Fab Accelerator, 2013-2018
  • Mentor, MIT Venture Mentoring Service, 2015-2018
  • Mentor, NYU AI NexusLab, 2017-2018
  • Investor, Advisor, SnapUp (acquired by Ipsy), 2014-2016
  • Director, Mobile Monday Silicon Valley, 2011-2013
  • Co-Founder, Mobile Monday Momentum Accelerator, 2013
  • Chairman, MIT Wireless Forum, 2001-2003
  • Entrepreneur Committee, MIT Club of Boston, 2001-2003
  • VP Communications, MIT Club of New York, 1997-1999

Patents

  • US Patent 8,180,376 for Mobile Analytics Tracking and Reporting
  • US Patent 8,620,315 for Multi-tiered anti-abuse registration for a mobile device user
  • US Patent 6,341,779 for Mathematical Card and Dice Game

Awards

  • 2019 Voicebot Top Technologist in Voice (Dashbot)
  • 2018 Gartner Cool Vendor in AI for Conversational Platforms (Dashbot)
  • 2018 MIT AI Idol Winner (Dashbot)
  • 2011 Telecom Council Spiffy Edison Award for Most Innovative Startup (Motally)
  • 2010 Mobile Ecosystem Forum Meffy Winner for Business Intelligence (Motally)
  • 2009 Amazon AWS Startup Challenge Finalist (Motally)

Skills

  • Conversational AI, chatbots, voice assistants
  • Big data, analytics
  • Marketing, Product Marketing
  • Strategic Partnerships
  • Business Development, Sales
  • Product Management
  • Public Speaking
  • P&L responsibility
  • Managing teams
  • Reporting to executive board

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

B.S. Management Sciences