Mike Nellis is the founder & CEO of Authentic, a digital-first fundraising and advertising agency with an impressive list of Democratic clients, including President Joe Biden. Mike was an advisor to then Senator Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in 2020 and he’s a serial entrepreneur. His latest company is Quiller, an AI copilot that helps Democratic campaigns and allied organizations draft and deploy high quality, effective fundraising content.
In our conversation we learn about Mike’s journey launching Quiller, some strategic decisions he made along the way, and his advice for other entrepreneurs building with AI.
Key Points
- AI in Political Campaigns: Discussion about the use of AI in political campaigns, specifically in writing fundraising emails. The conversation highlights the restrictions of commercial AI products against political use cases and the emergence of open-source large language models.
- Tech Stack for AI Campaigns: Mike Nellis discusses the process of building their tech stack, including iterative trial and error and testing different foundational models. He mentions testing their system against OpenAI.
- AI vs. Experienced Digital Strategist: The conversation explores whether AI can replace an experienced digital strategist. Mike shares that they've rolled out their AI tool to 40 clients without any complaints. However, he emphasizes that AI is not near replacing humans in the process but rather aids in efficiency.
- Efficiency with AI: The use of AI in writing fundraising emails has significantly reduced the time it takes to create content. The tool helps to start the writing process at 75-80%, and the human's job is to close the gap to 100%.
- Future of AI in Campaigns: Mike shares his vision for the future of AI in campaigns, including tools to identify deep fakes and disinformation, analyze voter sentiment, and improve polling efficiency. He also discusses his desire to reduce burnout in the industry and make campaign work more sustainable.
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