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AskBrian is the Digital Assistant All Busy Professionals Need — Founder Interview

Updated: 1 day ago

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.

What Is This About?

AskBrian is a digital assistant that handles time-consuming professional tasks — from research and data analysis to presentation creation. The AI-powered service delivers results in minutes for consultants, executives, and professionals who need to move fast without sacrificing quality.

Executive Summary

  • This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.

  • The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups.

  • This is the first interview in our series with the KI Bundesverband (https://ki-verband.

  • Our interview guest this week is Pavol (https://www.

  • AskBrian is the AI assistant for busy professionals like management consultants or investment bankers.



New Blog

In this episode of Startuprad.io, host Jörn "Joe" Menninger sits down with the founder of AskBrian to explore how this DACH-based startup is tackling real market challenges. From early-stage hustle to scaling strategy, this founder interview dives deep into what it takes to build a startup in the German-speaking ecosystem.

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.


If you can order a pizza with an AI bot, … you should also be able to order the analysis of a company with an AI bot.Pavol Sikula, Founder and CEO AskBrian.ai

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The first skill was actually “AskBrian, tell me a joke”Pavol Sikula, Founder and CEO AskBrian.ai

Our Cooperation with the German AI Association (KI Bundesverband)

This is the first interview in our series with the KI Bundesverband (https://ki-verband.de/en/), Germany’s association for artificial intelligence. The association has 350 members consisting of startups, experts, and corporates. KI Bundesverband is therefore one of Germany’s largest associations dedicated to AI, with members from AgTech, Fintech, BioTech, Cybersecurity, Manufacturing, Logistics, and many more fields of business. In the interview series, we will have members of the association giving you a glimpse in what is going on in AI in Germany.


The Founder

Our interview guest this week is Pavol (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavol-sikula/), CEO and Founder of AskBrian (https://www.askbrian.ai/) a virtual AI assistant for professionals. The idea of AskBrian stems from Pavol’s background in management consulting, where he spent more than a decade with Roland Berger and Stern Steward & Co, in restructuring. In his spare time, Pavol is also a kid’s soccer coach.

All of our data is securely hosted, GDPR compliant, in Germany.Pavol Sikula, Founder and CEO AskBrian.ai

The Startup

AskBrian is the AI assistant for busy professionals like management consultants or investment bankers. It helps by automating everyday tasks like listed and private company profiles, translations in multiple languages, making PowerPoint more attractive, and converting documents e.g. PDFs and Pictures to the format of your choice e.g. Word.


Venture Capital Funding

AskBrian closed already two funding rounds, for undisclosed amounts. They intend to raise another funding round in Q1 2022.


The Video Interview is set to go live on Thursday, January 13th, 2022 at 17.00 CET in Frankfurt



The Audio Interview Podcast

You can subscribe to our podcasts here.


Feedback


The Interviewer

This interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him:LinkedInTwitterEmail


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Automated Transcript


00:00:00.017 → 00:00:08.801Startup Red Dot IO.


00:00:09.239 → 00:00:13.599Your podcast and YouTube blog covering the German startups.


00:00:14.046 → 00:00:20.062With News interviews and Live Events.


00:00:20.123 → 00:00:26.643Hello and welcome everybody this is Joe from startuprad.io your startup podcast and you to block from Germany


00:00:26.505 → 00:00:36.366work come to 2022 happy New Year guys and it sounds a little bit strange since we are recording this in November 20 21.


00:00:36.462 → 00:00:46.214Nonetheless I do have a guest here but before that I wish you all the best for the new year it can only get better than the last one that’s it.


00:00:46.427 → 00:00:55.153Pavel how you did Hey Joe thank you for having me first of all and Happy New Year to all of you I’m very good about you also


00:00:55.150 → 00:00:59.808I’m doing great thank you we have to tell the audience this is kind of our


00:00:59.706 → 00:01:10.529kick-off since we’re doing a new series with kathi bundesverband which literally means the German AI a Association and you are all fruits


00:01:10.481 → 00:01:18.181individuals and we thought it would be good start to kick off the new year with that content so I’d like to welcome you.


00:01:18.232 → 00:01:25.302And welcome the a copy bundesverband the German AI Association on board.


00:01:25.461 → 00:01:36.906After we’ve cleared that out of the way I’ve been looking through your LinkedIn profile as I always do and I realize you’ve been.


00:01:37.119 → 00:01:38.220Doing quite a lot,


00:01:38.262 → 00:01:52.066including being a soccer coach which I found pretty interesting you studied with a master in international finance I do believe you arrived here in Germany and I.


00:01:52.171 → 00:01:55.370Seen pretty hard stuff you did


00:01:55.340 → 00:02:10.070taxes tax advisory and auditing not a fun job but take us a little bit to your journey and what do you learned in how did you end up with an AI starter because I do believe from international finance.


00:02:10.193 → 00:02:16.777And taxes it’s quite long stretch to our Let’s do an AI startup how did this happen,


00:02:16.819 → 00:02:27.400it’s greater the journey and I fully understand the question and I’m happy to tell you about my basic story but it’s probably easier explained that it maybe sounds


00:02:27.361 → 00:02:33.350so my The crucial part in my career was that I’ve been for 15 years


00:02:33.257 → 00:02:43.316in top management consulting a Dragon Dragons Den Stuart both in Munich both focusing on the restructuring and cost optimization programs


00:02:43.178 → 00:02:47.934and this is also where my journey with Brian started so I’ve seen


00:02:47.796 → 00:02:54.532in the life of management consultants and also incorporate headquarters of large and medium corporations.


00:02:54.620 → 00:03:01.356There is so much time and talent wasted with recurring non-core tasks nobody really likes to do.


00:03:01.488 → 00:03:07.928And there are usually Technologies and data sources out there being able to help you with this task.


00:03:08.060 → 00:03:11.952But the people often don’t know this solutions cannot afford them.


00:03:12.066 → 00:03:20.576Or just don’t trust them because of that the security issues and this is this was the triggering point for me starting to automate.


00:03:20.627 → 00:03:23.808Multiple tasks of business professionals.


00:03:24.264 → 00:03:33.521In a creative and completely new way so this is this is basically the story I can elaborate about my aha moment a little bit more,


00:03:33.545 → 00:03:46.530for everybody who doesn’t know German we may translate the a ha ha moment meaning that is the moment he got the inside like oh now I got that interview we say aha.


00:03:46.698 → 00:03:56.135So exactly and this the inside moment was when I’ve been working with my colleagues on a proposal for a Consulting project.


00:03:56.384 → 00:04:04.516And we’ve been working on the on the document and we have just only few hours left it was already at night and we needed a case study for the


00:04:04.441 → 00:04:19.001attachment of the of the proposal and then that it came but it was perfect but in the wrong language and the question was who has the passion and time to translate few slides at night for a proposal which needs to go out.


00:04:19.052 → 00:04:23.277Next the next day means translating your from German to English.


00:04:23.400 → 00:04:30.650And of course you could spend hours with it or you could do copy paste copy paste to a machine translation webpage.


00:04:30.746 → 00:04:38.338And then I thought come on this is such a stupid task to do copy paste copy paste website plus is omelettes and secure.


00:04:38.434 → 00:04:46.026Why don’t you buy and why don’t you build an assistant which knows the best digital services.


00:04:46.212 → 00:04:53.245Combines them and make them available to his users and the idea was to create this kind of digital assistant,


00:04:53.278 → 00:04:56.963for business related tasks of business professionals.


00:04:57.563 → 00:05:10.782This was the idea and then I started experimenting with different different Technologies and the idea was really to use the both technology as the core technology behind where I thought if you can


00:05:10.680 → 00:05:20.342ask but to deliver you a pizza with salami and mushrooms you can also order


00:05:20.249 → 00:05:27.544translation of a document conversion of a document or the analysis of a company and this was the idea where I started to build up.


00:05:28.810 → 00:05:32.225Just one question in which language was the case study.


00:05:32.429 → 00:05:45.801The case that he was originally in German and target language was in English if I reckon I remember right in this was already end of 2017 so sometimes left that you do this translations all the time yeah.


00:05:46.113 → 00:05:50.887Yes that can tell you a few stories about this in a few nights wasted on that.


00:05:51.163 → 00:05:58.044Especially if you talk to somebody the next morning who then says oh yeah I get the whole picture taking German he would meet.


00:05:58.572 → 00:06:12.285Yeah yeah yeah it’s great to have this situation all the time also when the project runs and then you need to talk with so let me translate this at one point in the future there will be a smart speaker with askbrian on it.


00:06:12.489 → 00:06:22.323And it will be in every office of professionals investment bankers consultants and they say askbrian translate me this is this,


00:06:22.365 → 00:06:23.196your vision.


00:06:24.363 → 00:06:35.349So it’s not my vision it’s reality and just of only one difference is that the brand doesn’t work like Alexa and Siri via audio so he works,


00:06:35.364 → 00:06:44.720in written language so you can write him an email or Microsoft teams message and asking him for translating the document on analyzing a company.


00:06:45.006 → 00:06:48.537And it’s not in the future it’s right now so these are the two different.


00:06:48.714 → 00:06:57.810But my idea and my vision is that Brian in the future will not be only able to perform 20 tasks like he is today.


00:06:57.879 → 00:07:05.606But there will be probably much much more including some some customized solutions for big corporate I see and.


00:07:06.368 → 00:07:12.780It would have been just great to have this smart speaker but then I can see


00:07:12.634 → 00:07:24.222really a lot of things going on stupid jokes going wrong in the office for example askbrian deliver 100 coffees to this address,


00:07:24.264 → 00:07:33.585yeah of course this is also use case we can think of so you’re still thinking about the smart speaker okay I see it.


00:07:34.806 → 00:07:49.159Yeah the problem is you know job in smart speaker is you can say translate the presentation from English to German that’s this still somehow need to deliver the presentation the basis for it right for some use cases it makes no sense but you could of course askbrian,


00:07:49.183 → 00:07:52.147the smart speaker if it doesn’t disturb your colleagues,


00:07:52.180 → 00:08:00.619hey send me the analysis of Siemens and Brian knows your email and your Ms teams ID and send you the presentation without you,


00:08:00.643 → 00:08:07.892typing it down yeah of course some use cases would work also on Via audio hahaha


00:08:07.889 → 00:08:15.778I already have a lot of stupid ideas there but basically you’re doing this for professionals who,


00:08:15.802 → 00:08:26.158are repeatedly repeatedly repeatedly doing the same stuff out as we’ve been talking for example here in Germany translating German English English German.


00:08:26.263 → 00:08:35.052Maybe in other countries translating French English English French I don’t think there is a big need for German presentation in France and and.


00:08:35.229 → 00:08:41.066This stuff like this company profiles and that’s askbrian actually


00:08:41.054 → 00:08:55.649make up the stuff as it goes or do you really have like a big database of let’s say copper profiles of translation or you working with some other translation software in the back.


00:08:56.061 → 00:09:07.370So regarding the translations maybe to undress this is our clients are also International corporations we which need stuff translated in all the languages of the subsidiary so


00:09:07.340 → 00:09:13.438this is also common use case where HR and marketing departments translate training documents and.


00:09:13.534 → 00:09:21.639Product documentation is in other languages when it comes to the company analysis we really started like scraping the.


00:09:21.735 → 00:09:36.142Data out of the internet but the quality was that bad that we said we just even though we invested months of development time into it we said we just cannot give or make this skill available in this quality to our users,


00:09:36.148 → 00:09:40.148so we negotiated the big big big data providers


00:09:40.118 → 00:09:47.457and found an agreement with Revenue David Thomson Reuters where Brian gets the information on all publicly traded companies around the world


00:09:47.437 → 00:09:53.075and we have also a data provider for German companies for 4 million German companies,


00:09:53.108 → 00:10:03.256and negotiating with other partners to complete the scope that one day brand will be able to deliver the data on all approximately 400 million companies around the world.


00:10:03.749 → 00:10:07.974I see that that would be actually great.


00:10:08.052 → 00:10:15.527What else can ask Ryan do because I do see a pretty big use case for late at night.


00:10:15.956 → 00:10:28.751Let’s say assume it’s a smart speaker again and you’re sitting there at 2:00 a.m. all the team is tired but still needs to work a little bit and the the somebody says askbrian tell us a joke,


00:10:29.639 → 00:10:42.740in fact jokes was the first skill even me as non Tech person was able to build so the first interaction of Brian was tell me joke and he told you a joke so


00:10:42.611 → 00:10:47.539as of now it’s not one of the skills we promote but you can always ask Brian for a joke.00:10:47.653 → 00:10:53.561And so if you look at how our customers are currently using brand it.


00:10:53.684 → 00:11:01.078Leading scale is translation second one is the company there is this third one our slide Graphics because sometimes you need.00:11:01.156 → 00:11:05.615Cool templates and icons to pimp up your presentation to make it more attractive,


00:11:05.648 → 00:11:16.481and you would you probably know yourself how much time you sometimes lose with this kind of annoying stuff that nobody notices and realizes when it’s done properly.


00:11:16.568 → 00:11:23.656And number for skill would be converting of documents that means,


00:11:23.680 → 00:11:31.614converting PDF documents no matter if natively created or scanned or photographed in


00:11:31.521 → 00:11:41.903editable formats into Excel word and PowerPoint you just send a PDF document to Brian say hey make me work out of it and in three minutes you get your document back


00:11:41.810 → 00:11:44.316so I believe a cool


00:11:44.133 → 00:11:57.342cool feature as also incorporates in the office worse sometimes the Departments and you PDF documents instead of editable ones so you cannot use it and Brian Kenny help you to convert it


00:11:57.195 → 00:12:00.925video in 3 minutes or faster into a format you can work with.


00:12:01.408 → 00:12:09.189Aha but only information I was missing here at what number is the tell me a joke and what yeah


00:12:09.087 → 00:12:19.506so you’d remember come to call or how do you know know and number four number one it’s not that frequent we don’t push it at that sometimes people ask for it I don’t know it would be number


00:12:19.503 → 00:12:30.17320 so it looks like the job is funny enough for the people are too busy for jokes I assume they’re too busy but still let’s assume it’s in the top 20.


00:12:30.729 → 00:12:38.374Yeah that’s that would be that’s definitely the case okay that is what you guys are right now doing so basically I assume your company


00:12:38.336 → 00:12:52.418headquartered in Germany and everything the AI does is also here on service in Germany talking about data security especially if you are in a really competitive environment like Consulting you’re always concerned


00:12:52.334 → 00:12:59.494where is my data and can competitive potentially Agate see dead.


00:12:59.545 → 00:13:11.584Yeah so usually the first question when we present brightness does it really work and the cool thing is everyone can try it immediately if you go to our website you can try the immediately


00:13:11.482 → 00:13:14.960and you can see directly


00:13:14.957 → 00:13:23.458after you register for the free trial that it’s Works without any download or something now so and really the second question we are always asked is


00:13:23.410 → 00:13:32.919what about data security and privacy so all our infrastructure is is hosted in Germany and we have also an external gdpr.


00:13:33.015 → 00:13:40.418Agency making sure that we are gdpr compliant and it’s all secure and confident what we do.


00:13:40.487 → 00:13:46.837One of the aspects is also that if our users share their files and content with us,


00:13:46.870 → 00:13:51.041we just save it for the time of processing the task and then delete it after.


00:13:51.776 → 00:14:02.969So that means we have very rigorous processes in this field because as you said also our clients process sensitive information with Brian and remake it.


00:14:03.227 → 00:14:05.237Absolute secure place.


00:14:05.685 → 00:14:15.185I see a my next question would have been then if somebody moves from company a to Company B how much can they actually transfer of their account.


00:14:15.614 → 00:14:28.067So what we usually have is that you can buy brand as an individual then it’s related to your email address your private email address or your work email address and then it stays always with you.


00:14:28.163 → 00:14:31.398And the second business model we have is that we say.


00:14:32.016 → 00:14:43.056Brian answer all the questions from gets Partners come or all the questions from vcg calm yeah and then Brian answers all the.


00:14:43.377 → 00:14:47.098Emails coming from new employees.


00:14:47.275 → 00:14:59.404As long as they have the email account and if you want to take your account with you then just let us know and we are happy to win a new customer I see a CCC so.


00:14:59.626 → 00:15:08.991That is the status right now basically you have a handful of skills and they tailored towards busy professionals.


00:15:09.331 → 00:15:13.141And the you do it mostly.


00:15:13.292 → 00:15:19.821In written form and what what are you currently working on right now is it.


00:15:20.448 → 00:15:32.019Increasing the skills to get deeper into your audience your Target customer or is it to broaden your customer base with what you already have.


00:15:33.178 → 00:15:42.822So in fact we are extending Brian basically in 33 Direction it’s the skill set so we are continuing to add new skills


00:15:42.819 → 00:15:52.292right so not just improving the existing skills like adding additional countries in the scope of company information brand provides but it’s also adding new skills


00:15:52.289 → 00:16:01.844which of will be valued by our current Target groups but also others for example transcribing audio recordings into text.


00:16:01.895 → 00:16:07.668In an automated way where you just Center your iPhone recording to Brian’s and they make me work out of it.


00:16:07.791 → 00:16:17.949So this will be our tie current Target group like but also some other Target group so also adding new skills mean extending our Target group.


00:16:18.018 → 00:16:32.514And then also in terms of regions as of now we very much focus on Germany Austria Switzerland you could say but Brian is ready for Global rolled out because he can translate for example to 100 languages yeah so he’s basically ready to go out.


00:16:32.674 → 00:16:40.211And and then we are extending Brian he’s also in a sense that as of now you can communicate with Gran Via email teams.


00:16:40.263 → 00:16:49.574And we are working also then on slack as the next Communication channel because we want to have Brian where work-related communication happens.


00:16:49.679 → 00:16:54.435And we don’t want to make it too complicated for the user to have an extra app


00:16:54.378 → 00:17:06.111extra website and so on you just don’t need nothing you just need the email address right into email to Brian or a slack Channel and then you can get the help of Brian so


00:17:06.072 → 00:17:08.262channels skills Target cups.


00:17:09.124 → 00:17:18.678That sounds pretty much like you need a lot of money I currently have an investor looking for investors or are you guys bootstrap.


00:17:19.638 → 00:17:33.451So this is a cool question so we started by bootstrapping but we see seeing them there if we want to buy and include good data and growth rapidly we need external funds so we have.


00:17:33.529 → 00:17:40.626Now already to investment rounds behind us all the private investors on ovc involved and we are searching for the.


00:17:40.731 → 00:17:46.018Investors for the next financing round maybe in the beginning of Q2 2022.


00:17:46.132 → 00:17:51.212That pretty much sounds like it’s the series a or series B already.00:17:51.633 → 00:17:58.090No I would say so I asked you said it so it’s probably late seat and early serious a.


00:17:58.159 → 00:18:02.024Early series aici q1 2022


00:18:02.012 → 00:18:15.023everybody who would like to reach out to you of course as always there is a link down in the show notes wherever you are listening to this or watching this and then you can get to the block.


00:18:15.182 → 00:18:20.119All of our of our episode the very simple reason is.


00:18:20.332 → 00:18:30.165As well in YouTube as in all the podcasting apps we are limited to I do believe 4,000 characters and that’s not sufficient for our show notes,


00:18:30.180 → 00:18:38.078that’s why we keep it in one place and their people can reach out to you can you tell us


00:18:38.057 → 00:18:52.176a little bit about your experiences with AI and askbrian because I’ve once watched a little bit TV and there was a I trained by the US military where it was supposed to spot.


00:18:52.254 → 00:19:00.719Ratted tanks in the woods but all all the pictures of the trees without tanks.


00:19:01.085 → 00:19:10.117With during sunny weather and everything with the tank was during cloudy weather so actually day I learn to differentiate between trees.


00:19:10.258 → 00:19:15.473When it’s sunny and when it’s cloudy did if you’re also have something happen like this.


00:19:15.669 → 00:19:21.190So you talk about those shortfalls of certain training.


00:19:21.268 → 00:19:28.932Training data you use for I know the example of involves right so usually the snow and my trees on a.


00:19:28.974 → 00:19:35.044Bitter means there is evolved even though there is no wolf yes I know this problem as well and in fact,


00:19:35.051 → 00:19:45.451it’s like like AI technology is progressing but maybe to give you an idea we are having a look at at multiple AI Technologies.


00:19:45.547 → 00:19:56.902And selecting only a few of them being ready to really help you in business life so I would say maybe one in 10 Solutions were deliver what they promise on a sufficient level.


00:19:56.971 → 00:20:05.724And this is also a big part of what we do we find the Technologies which work and include them in Brian in a simple to use,


00:20:05.766 → 00:20:13.988integrated interface so for example also converting PDF documents using optical character recognition


00:20:13.832 → 00:20:26.988into editable formatting so we have tried multiple Technologies and fifty thousand of the best ones and my experiences we know how often Brian is wrong how often he is right and we keep on improving it


00:20:26.841 → 00:20:35.756him and it’s all right just managing expectations and I know there is a huge Variety in the expectations of our users something


00:20:35.717 → 00:20:36.863you need to see.


00:20:36.932 → 00:20:46.711The stick with the default formulation we proposed for translating files but some right hey Bryant I hope you are doing a having a great day,


00:20:46.727 → 00:20:55.462it would be great if you could help me by translating this presentation into English and please don’t mind no problem if it’s within two hours


00:20:55.414 → 00:21:02.771so sometimes the people have these expectations and expectations and sometimes the people think Brian is the first


00:21:02.670 → 00:21:16.644brain which can help you with any task you can imagine of so there is a lot of expectation management work we have to do but the amazing thing is that a is developing extremely rapidly and I think this is also a advantage of prime that


00:21:16.623 → 00:21:26.376we helped the to close the gap between the stupid work you need to do at work and make the best Technologies which really work available


00:21:26.274 → 00:21:28.824at your fingertips,


00:21:28.830 → 00:21:43.129I see a city I hope the answer was was not too too too long to bake now that that that’s totally fine when I’m thinking what are you guys doing it sounds like you have a tag team of like 100 people in the basement sitting


00:21:43.090 → 00:21:55.426yeah it’s great that the perception is like this so that means I’m selling it right no we are a very small team of 5 plus 10 people so we have five full-time and ten part-timer running the whole company.


00:21:55.486 → 00:22:02.060Ah I see see that also sounds like you’re always interested in talking to talented coders.


00:22:02.481 → 00:22:10.856We have currently yes fans we are all searching for you do persons but until the next financing Round We Are.


00:22:10.907 → 00:22:25.169Perfectly happy so I would say that then half of our resources is taken house is all others and of course then after the next financing round we will search for more talent in both areas so so so so Business Development and


00:22:25.022 → 00:22:29.896Tech because we want to accelerate the growth of brain in terms of skills


00:22:29.749 → 00:22:35.630and and his capabilities and available daily via multiple channels.


00:22:36.302 → 00:22:48.197Ha ha ha I see see see and that that also sounds like you you’re going to extend offices like for example to North America and get trains running there.


00:22:48.482 → 00:22:57.568So the big plan is until the end of 25 we want to have 1 million users and to get there we probably need to go Global answer


00:22:57.548 → 00:23:06.859we are starting here in Germany in fact we are a post Corona company so we don’t have a really a physical fit so we work as a remote team.


00:23:06.955 → 00:23:16.140But yes in the plan in order to make it work I believe you will need locations and yes us has a huge Market,


00:23:16.164 → 00:23:25.755we have in mind I see a sea and what when you said a 2025 One Mini customers what came to mind is the comic Pinky and brain,


00:23:25.770 → 00:23:35.144what we going to do tonight brain the same as every night pinky something world I love those too yeah can askbrian also do a pinky and brain


00:23:35.087 → 00:23:49.971Brian De brand sounds a little bit like like the the friend of pink here yeah that there will be a skill I would request at random intervals it’s just said longer the world how about yeah


00:23:49.824 → 00:23:52.617it was just a pleasure talking to you.


00:23:52.758 → 00:24:06.877Thank you very much I have a lot of fun and fortunately you won’t be the last person in our cooperation with the AI with the German AI Association and,


00:24:06.901 → 00:24:16.221thank you very much best of luck and let us know how you guys doing thank you Joe it was my pleasure and fun yeah.


00:24:16.080 → 00:24:23.440Music.


00:24:23.834 → 00:24:30.301Www dot start a friend that I oh remember sharing is caring.


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What Is AskBrian?

AskBrian.ai is an AI-powered digital assistant built for busy professionals like management consultants and investment bankers. Founded by Pavol Sikula, the platform embodies a simple but powerful idea: if you can order a pizza with an AI bot, you should be able to order a company analysis the same way. The first skill built was actually "tell me a joke." All data is GDPR-compliant and hosted securely in Germany. This is the first interview in Startuprad.io's series with the KI Bundesverband (German AI Association).

Introduction

This episode launches Startuprad.io's interview series with the KI Bundesverband (German AI Association). The guest is Pavol Sikula, CEO and founder of AskBrian.ai. Sikula built AskBrian from a compelling analogy: if AI bots can handle consumer tasks like ordering pizza, they should handle professional tasks like company analysis. The platform targets management consultants and investment bankers with AI-automated research and analysis capabilities. In a charming detail, the very first AskBrian skill was "tell me a joke." All data is securely hosted in Germany with full GDPR compliance — a key requirement for enterprise clients.

Executive Summary

AskBrian.ai brings AI automation to the professional services world — specifically targeting management consultants and investment bankers who perform repetitive research and analysis tasks. Founder Pavol Sikula identified that while consumer AI (ordering pizza, booking rides) had become seamless, professional AI was lagging behind. AskBrian bridges this gap with a GDPR-compliant, Germany-hosted platform. The company is a member of the KI Bundesverband (German AI Association), and this interview inaugurates Startuprad.io's partnership series with the organization. The platform's journey from a joke-telling first skill to professional company analysis reflects rapid development.

Key Takeaways

  • AskBrian.ai automates professional tasks for management consultants and investment bankers using AI.

  • Founder Pavol Sikula's core insight: if AI can order pizza, it should be able to order a company analysis.

  • The very first AskBrian skill was "tell me a joke" — showing the platform's evolution from simple to complex tasks.

  • All data is GDPR-compliant and securely hosted in Germany, critical for enterprise adoption.

  • This is the first interview in Startuprad.io's series with the KI Bundesverband (German AI Association).

Atomic Answer

Entities Referenced in This Episode

People

  • Pavol Sikula — CEO and Founder of AskBrian.ai

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io host

Startups

  • AskBrian (askbrian.ai) — AI assistant for professional services, GDPR-compliant, Germany-hosted

Organizations

  • KI Bundesverband (German AI Association) — Series partnership with Startuprad.io

Topics

  • AI for professionals, management consulting automation, investment banking AI, GDPR compliance, German AI ecosystem, KI Bundesverband series

Relationship Map

  • Pavol Sikula → CEO & Founder of → AskBrian.ai

  • AskBrian → targets → management consultants and investment bankers

  • AskBrian → GDPR-compliant → data hosted in Germany

  • AskBrian → member of → KI Bundesverband (German AI Association)

  • KI Bundesverband → series partnership → Startuprad.io (this is first episode)

Quote Highlights

  • AskBrian is a digital assistant that handles time-consuming professional tasks, from research and data analysis to presentation creation.

  • The AI-powered service delivers results in minutes for consultants, executives, and professionals who need to move fast.

  • AskBrian tackles one of the biggest pain points in professional services: the countless hours spent on repetitive tasks that drain productivity.

  • The DACH-based startup is building the kind of AI assistant that busy professionals actually need — one that handles real work, not just conversation.

Related Episodes on Startuprad.io

Partner with Startuprad.io

Startuprad.io is the leading independent media platform covering startups, venture capital, and innovation across the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Europe. We offer B2B partnership opportunities for companies looking to reach startup decision-makers, founders, and investors.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is AskBrian?

AskBrian.ai is an AI-powered digital assistant designed for busy professionals, particularly management consultants and investment bankers. The platform automates research and analysis tasks that these professionals typically spend hours on manually.

Is AskBrian GDPR compliant?

Yes — all AskBrian data is GDPR-compliant and securely hosted in Germany. This is a critical feature for enterprise clients, especially in Europe where data protection requirements are strict.

What is the KI Bundesverband?

The KI Bundesverband is Germany's AI Association, representing AI companies and startups. Startuprad.io partnered with them for a series of interviews profiling member companies, with AskBrian being the inaugural episode.

Access Europe's Startup and Technology Decision Makers

This article is part of Startuprad.io's structured coverage of the European startup ecosystem, with deep editorial roots in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. The platform reaches a highly targeted audience of founders, operators, and investors — over 90% of whom are based in Europe. Companies partner with Startuprad.io to gain visibility within this ecosystem and build credibility where business decisions are made. Explore partnership opportunities.

About the Host

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the host of the Startuprad.io podcast and covers founders, investors, and policy developments across the DACH startup ecosystem. Through more than 1,300 interviews and nearly a decade of reporting, he documents the evolution of the European startup landscape. Follow Joern on LinkedIn.

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