Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Three local tech entrepreneurs have come together to launch their next venture: an Indianapolis-based artificial intelligence education and consulting firm called Pragmatico.
Co-founders Santiago Jaramillo, Rod Feuer and James Paden quietly started Pragmatico in the spring, but the company had been operating in stealth mode until its public launch this week.
Pragmatico offers hands-on workshops to help both beginners and advanced users effectively use AI in their organizations. It also offers consulting on topics including data cleansing and structuring and process and workflow automation.
The goal, Feuer said, is to help clients navigate not just the technology itself, but the organizational adjustments that come along with it—things like making AI use a regular habit and encouraging employees to experiment with AI tools.
“We’re really talking about a human implementation challenge, and really making sure that we’re navigating those things, just as much as we’re navigating the technology itself,” he said.
The firm’s early customers include Indiana University, Eli Lilly and Co., Fishers-based software startup Spokenote and Bloomington-based senior living operator CarDon & Associates.
Jaramillo co-founded Fishers-based employee-engagement software firm Emplify Inc. in 2016. The firm was acquired by San Francisco-based 15Five Inc. for $50 million in 2021.
In 2017, Feuer co-founded Costello, an Indianapolis-based sales-manager software firm. In 2019, Costello was acquired by Atlanta, Georgia-based SalesLoft for an undisclosed amount.
Paden was a partner and chief strategy officer at Indianapolis software development firm Expected Behavior from 2015 until May. His previous experience includes founding Emailium, an email campaign database tool that was acquired in 2013 by FreshAddress (now AtData).
Jaramillo said Pragmatico is initially targeting senior leaders at Indiana companies because company research shows leaders in the Hoosier state are behind when it comes to AI.
In connection with its public launch, Pragmatico released results of a survey that includes responses from 278 Indiana employees and a matched sample of U.S. employees.
In that survey, 37% of employees nationally, but only 27% of Indiana employees, said their managers encourage the use of AI.
The survey also showed that, among national respondents, 25% said AI is a priority for their organizations and 24% said they have received AI training within the past six months. In Indiana, those percentages were 19% and 17%, respectively.
“Part of why we exist is to help Indiana remain competitive with this incredible technology shift that’s happening,” Jaramillo said. “And we think that those who will adopt this [technology] first and better will have greater success.”
Pragmatico’s three co-founders are currently the company’s only employees. Jaramillo said the business has a network of outside consultants it uses as needed. He said the firm plans to hire additional employees, but hasn’t set a timeline for doing so.
The company has been bootstrapped to date, taking no outside funding from investors, Jaramillo said.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.