Editor’s note: Each week, the San Antonio Report publishes a brief synopsis of the weekly bigcitysmalltown podcast hosted by Robert Rivard, co-founder of the Report.
Ray Cantu’s startup illustrates the power of networking and the strength of the growing entrepreneurial ecosystem in San Antonio.
That’s what prompted Robert Rivard to invite Cantu onto the latest episode of his bigcitysmalltown podcast, which is all about San Antonio “and the people who make it grow and go.”
Raised in an Air Force family in San Antonio, like a lot of natives, Cantu left town for several years before returning, drawn back to the city by the promise of opportunity. He returned during the pandemic and joined Geekdom, using the co-working space as an office to grow his nascent commercial real estate business.
In January of last year, Cantu was playing with the first iteration of ChatGPT, which had just been released a couple months prior. He was wondering whether he could use this new technology to make more effective sales calls.
Cue the potential magic of a co-working space: Cantu turned to the guy sitting next to him, a newcomer from Los Angeles named Eliot Gerstel.
“The beautiful thing about Geekdom is that you have a lot of just really brilliant entrepreneurs that think outside of the box,” said Cantu. “Every idea is worth exploring. And that’s what we did.”
Gerstel and Cantu were admitted into Geekdom’s second incubator cohort of 2023, and by the end of the year, the pair’s startup, known as ColdCALR, had earned Geekdom’s $20,000 pitch prize.
Last month, ColdCALR announced it would become Simmie as its platform has evolved. Simmie uses AI to create persona’s specific to a customer’s industry, to act as a role playing partner in online simulations that train sales people.
Simmie’s value, Cantu said, comes from the analysis it can offer after a training session, “whether it’s improving your empathy… how to tell stories better … or strengthen your negotiating position,” he said.
Cantu said Simmie brings the most value to “consultative selling, where there are complex conversations and the stakes are high.”
The stakes remain high for Cantu as well. The company has raised $100,000 and was recently accepted into Capital Factory’s portfolio, he said, and is now trying to raise its next $300,000, “to get us to the next level.”
To learn more about Simmie’s path and the benefits of being in Geekdom’s “universe,” tune into episode 72 of bigcitysmalltown.