By Larry Rulison Updated 4:14 pm, Friday, January 26, 2018
Dumstruck in Schenectady named a new CEO, Jeff Tetrault, center, who is standing with co-founders Michael Tanski, left, and Peter Allegretti, right.
Schenectady
Dumbstruck in Schenectady has hired a new CEO to take the facial recognition software company to the next level.
Jeff Tetrault, a digital video and advertising entrepreneur who grew up in the Capital Region and started his own digital media companies in New York City and Chicago, will work alongside Dumbstruck founders Peter Allegretti and Michael Tanski as Dumbstruck's chief executive.
Tetrault is a 1998 graduate of Watervliet High School and worked at local tech companies MapInfo and GlobalSpec before setting off on his own to work and later launch digital video startups in New York City and Chicago.
After his company Philo Media was merged with another company last year, he was asked to take a look at Dumbstruck by Andi Schneiter, the co-founder of GlobalSpec, which is now part of IEEE. Schneiter is a member of Eastern New York Angels, an investor in Dumbstruck. Allegretti had also been working on the idea of bringing in an experienced CEO as part of the company's growth plans.
"After the first couple of calls with the founders of Dumbstruck, it was immediately apparent to me that Dumbstruck had built a technology that could truly change the face of advertising globally," Tetrault said. "And getting to know the founders and team, I couldn't imagine doing anything else."
Tetrault will commute between Schenectady, where Dumbstruck is located, and Chicago, where he lives. He spends the majority of the week here in the Capital Region. Dumbstruck is located on State Street at the New York BizLab, a startup "incubator" owned by Transfinder owner Anthony Civitella.
The company's artificial intelligence software platform can study the facial reaction people have to advertising and marketing videos, allowing ad companies to better craft advertising to their target audiences.
Tetrault has deep ties to ad agencies in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles where Dumbstruck is planning to expand its presence. The technology hub will remain in Schenectady. The company currently has nine people working at the BizLab.
"After proving the effectiveness of our technology with a few major global advertisers, we strongly felt that we were ready to scale the business," Allegretti said. "But I knew it would be very difficult for us to scale efficiency without adding a few key pieces."
Tetrault was also able to bring on Howard Tullman as an investor in Dumbstruck through his venture capital firm G2T3V. Tullman is one of Chicago's best-known startup entrepreneurs and a well known philanthropist in the city. Tullman is the CEO of 1871, a tech incubator based at Chicago's Merchandise Mart.
"Howard has mentored countless entrepreneurs and startups that are creating new jobs and changing the face of Chicago's digital economy, and he has transformed 1871 into one of the leading technology incubators in the world," Mayor Rahm Emmanuel told the Chicago Tribune. "His imprint on a diverse new generation of leaders leaves a lasting legacy across the city."
"Emotional intelligence is quickly emerging as a powerful byproduct of AI (artificial intelligence), and Dumbstruck is right on the pulse of how businesses can leverage the technology to more effectively connect with consumers in order to better drive the bottom line," Tullman said.
Terms of the investment by G2T3V were not disclosed.