Meet Gen T

The founder and CEO of Rocketbots on the evolution of artificial intelligence in Hong Kong

Gerardo Salandra is the founder of Rocketbots

From a young age, Gerardo Salandra had an interest in technology.

It was instilled in him by his engineer father, who encouraged his children to take apart anything that broke at home and try to fix it. Years later, Salandra began his career with stints at IBM and running app Runtastic, before moving from El Salvador to Hong Kong to undertake an MBA. It was here that he set up the Artificial Intelligence Society of Hong Kong to encourage the development of AI. He started giving talks on the subject, particularly relating to chatbots—software that simulates human conversation—which led to LVMH becoming Rocketbots’ first customer. Building chatbots was a profitable business until the market evolved and the start-up was forced to adapt by focusing instead on providing the tools needed to build such chatbots. Here, Salandra reflects on his work in his own words.

Hong Kong went from having almost no AI in 2016 to being one of the main hubs in Asia.

There was no infrastructure for AI and no one who could talk about AI in Hong Kong, but over time I have seen people starting different AI associations, more people able to train people, companies starting to use it and professionals beginning to understand it.

There are always a lot of sacrifices.

We have lost major customers, been borderline bankrupt, our server has gone down at the most critical time and we have fought internally, but we always knew that we needed to keep trying because we all had the same vision and we were willing to give everything to achieve it. This level of never giving up got us here and is what will hopefully take us to the next level.

Be flexible along the way.

We thought we were going to be a billion-dollar company based on chatbots. That was naive. The market changes and you either die with the old market or evolve with the new one.

I’m interested in how people think.

If I give you a problem, can you solve it? I have a different way of hiring people because I would rather hire someone without experience and with high potential than someone with a lot of experience who is compliant or comfortable. I want someone who makes me believe they have the capacity to face any challenge thrown at them.

I am continuously building this product.

I don’t see it as a product that’s ever going to be finished. I’m always looking at what’s wrong and how to improve it.

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