In Conversation with Andrea Kayal of Electric Ai

Can you describe Electric AI in a few words? 

IT powers businesses, Electric powers IT. Traditionally IT support required a human being, but Electric provides IT support with technology.

What was your background prior to joining Electric AI?

 I am the CMO at Electric. I’ve been helping grow tech startups in NY for the last 15 years.

What attracted you to Electric AI? 

The people. When you join a company, especially at the executive level, your peers usually have high IQ’s, but what’s so often lacking is EQ. Electric is a special place when it comes to people. It’s just a bunch of kind people doing really great work together.

What are some common issues Electric AI tackles on a day to day basis for companies?

Especially now that everyone is remote, Electric was natively built to support issues in real-time without the need for a human being.

How is Electric AI differentiating itself from other IT solutions on the market? 

Because we solve problems with technology, we are massively more cost effective than other IT providers.

Since starting your career, what are some of the biggest lessons you have learned?

Don’t work for jerks. It’s easy to find companies that have high IQ, but it’s hard to find companies where the executives are kind and empathic. 

What is the biggest challenge you have encountered along the way?

I don’t think I spent enough time listening to customers the first 5 years of my career. Getting customer feedback is absolutely critical to doing better marketing work.

What is the accomplishment you are the most proud of to date?

Creating team cultures that embody the Radical Candor philosophy. In each team I’ve run, I established this mentality with the group. We need to care about each other personally so that we can challenge each other directly.

How has your industry been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?

Thankfully, businesses still need IT to ensure there’s business continuity, productive employees, and an IT infrastructure that keeps business and customer data secure. We also provide IT support at a fraction of the cost so switching to Electric became vitally important for some customers.

What advice can you offer to listeners who are just starting their careers and want to climb the corporate ladder?

Look for companies with the following in order:

1. Do not discount the importance of EQ.
2. Product Market Fit is critical. Make sure you ask what the NPS is before you join. If the NPS is negative, but the CEO is aware and care to fix it, then you’re good to go. The farther it is in the postive, the easier it is for Sales and Marketing to be successful.
3. Total Addressable Market: Having a lot of businesses to market and sell to, is much easier than selling into just the Fortune 100 or 500.

What does being an Intraprenista mean to you?

Supported. It’s incredible to see all of the female entrepreneurs, founders and operators who have shared their stories, their struggles and their wins. As a female exec in tech which is largely dominated by men, seeing all of the success stories has been really empowering and inspiring.

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