About
I've been present at three platform shifts.
The web in the dotcom era. Mobile when…
The web in the dotcom era. Mobile when…
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Scott Downes shared thisWhat an amazing ride this was! Now that we’re back to a ‘normal’ week (whatever that is when you work in startups!), I wanted to remind everyone of Supernal’s core mission. Nope, it’s not science fiction filmmaking. We put the power of AI in the hands of creative and technical builders like you, and we do it in a way that can take you to the top of your field. Look at what we did in the last few months as one small but compelling proof!Scott Downes shared thisThe Thorne Protocol took 3rd place in the FutureVisionXPRIZE out of 2,500+ entries, and it also won a People's Choice Award. We made this film in 19 days. It exists because a small group of humans and a team of AI agents built it together, which is the same way we think every company should be working now. The film is the proof. The vision is the point. Thank you to all who jumped in and never slowed down. #FutureVisionXPRIZE #ThorneProtocol
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Scott Downes reposted thisScott Downes reposted thisThe best feedback I’ve received after an Outcove retreat? “It changed my life.” I’ve been bringing these gatherings together for almost two years, and I still stop when someone says that. A few entrepreneurs and founders who’ve exited their companies have even called Outcove “the best retreat I’ve ever been to.” At our family office retreat, people came from around the world. In Park City, we brought investors, founders, and creatives into the same room. In Napa, we brought scientists, doctors, founders, and investors together to explore the future of health and longevity. People left with new friends, new ideas, and sometimes new business partners. That’s why I keep doing this. Our final gathering of the year is Outcove Thrive, November 4–8 at Sensei Lānaʻi, A Four Seasons Resort—my favorite place in the United States. 🏝️ We keep these retreats intimate: just 60 people. The group includes entrepreneurs who’ve built and exited companies, late-stage founders, investors, and family office principals. If you’d like to join us, apply at outcove.org 🤠
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Scott Downes shared thisI’m so proud of what we did on this project. It’s not just the output that matters though. It’s the process. We made a strong case that smart technology in the hands of a small number of committed & creative individuals can make a global impact. And that using AI doesn’t have to diminish your vision or your humanity. Real actors, real cameras, real writing, real people, supported by AI and not replaced by it. The electricity that comes from working in a small team of builders is the reason I love startups and indie rock bands. It’s the reason I still write code and write songs. Technology is the wand and on a good day those of us who build get to feel like magicians. This is why I’m here, and this is why we build. To quote the immortal words of Nathan Arizona from Raising Arizona, “that’s your whole g*dd*mn raison d’etre, ain’t it?” Yes, Nathan, it is.Scott Downes shared thisOut of 2,500 films, five are left. One of them is ours. The Thorne Protocol is a Top 5 finalist in the $3.5M Future Vision XPRIZE. On Friday it screens live in Los Angeles, judged on stage by Neil deGrasse Tyson and Neal Stephenson. Here is the part that matters to us more than the trophy. We build AI systems for businesses. We entered because we wanted a public test of what our process can do when the brief is hard and the bar is the best in the world. Nineteen days. One shoot day in Atlanta with real actors. Five days of post. An AI agent that worked the production from the first idea to final delivery. That process is what we sell. The film is the proof it works. Watch the trailer (link in comments). Friday we find out. #FutureVisionXPRIZE
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Scott Downes shared thisMost companies are paying for software twice. There's the subscription everyone already knows about. Then there's the second bill nobody tracks: the hours people spend setting tools up, stitching them together, and helping colleagues use them. TechRound asked whether small businesses are actually getting value from their AI spend. According to Capital on Tap data, the share of UK small firms paying for AI jumped from 1.1% to 12.8% since early 2023. That's a lot of new subscriptions. My take: before you add another AI tool, audit the second bill. The real win isn't one more login. It's technology that works around your people and processes as they are, not the other way around. Thanks to TechRound for including me alongside a great group of founders and operators. 👇 https://lnkd.in/ebymx4ARUK SMEs Have Increased AI Spend By 1,000% – But Is It Actually Paying Off? - TechRoundUK SMEs Have Increased AI Spend By 1,000% – But Is It Actually Paying Off? - TechRound
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Scott Downes shared thisThank you to Sam Kohn at the Chattanooga Times Free Press for including me in this look at the eight TEDxChattanooga 2026 speakers. This year's theme is "Unfinished," which feels very appropriate for a lot of reasons, some personal and some related to this particular moment in history. A few years ago, I founded an AI company called Supernal. As a CEO with a lot of experience in AI, I could easily nerd out about the impact of AI on society or talk about the inner workings of the technology itself and what we've learned in running this type of business. But that's not what my talk is going to be about. I had a big health scare last year, and through that experience I found a whole new dimension to my relationship with AI. Should I really be using cutting edge AI technology when the consequences are life and death? Am I trusting it too much or too little? And how should any of us think about the way that we're forming relationships (yes, actual relationships) with AI assistants? I can't promise that I have definitive answers to all those questions (hence the theme of 'unfinished'), but I can tell you that it's exactly what a lot of us are thinking about every day. Also wanted to add that I'm very grateful to Maggie and the TEDxChattanooga team for putting this together. There are eight of us speaking this year, and I've been lucky enough to get a sneak peek of what's coming from everyone. It's gonna be very interesting :) https://lnkd.in/ekhtaFp2Meet the eight featured speakers for TedxChattanooga 2026 | Chattanooga Times Free PressMeet the eight featured speakers for TedxChattanooga 2026 | Chattanooga Times Free Press
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Scott Downes reposted thisScott Downes reposted thisThe Thorne Protocol is a Top 50 finalist in the Future Vision XPRIZE, and it's up for the Specs Audience Choice Award. How it was made is the part worth knowing. Real actors, filmed in one day against a gray screen in an Atlanta studio. No character performance in the trailer is synthetic. The worlds around those performances were generated with AI. Nineteen days start to delivery, one day of filming, five days of post. An AI agent worked alongside the team the whole way, from mood boards and shot lists through production coordination and post. The people made every creative decision. The agent carried the coordination. That's the same model we build for our clients. Filmmaking is the unusually visible version. 1.2 million views so far. Voting is open through September 23. Watch it: https://lnkd.in/eGxPpprS Read the release: https://lnkd.in/eZF4JXKH Vote: fv.siv.org
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Scott Downes reposted thisScott Downes reposted thisWow I can't believe one of our companies (Supernal AI, which is NOT an AI film studio, last I checked) wrote, shot & cut a scifi trailer this compelling in... 12 days... while running their business & having their best revenue month ever?! (What world are we living in?!) Anyways, #FutureVisionXPRIZE - XPRIZE here we come... https://lnkd.in/eXpTr-49The Thorne Protocol (2026) | Official Trailer | #FutureVisionXPRIZEThe Thorne Protocol (2026) | Official Trailer | #FutureVisionXPRIZE
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Scott Downes shared thisSupernal builds AI solutions for growing businesses. So why would we ever enter a trailer into the XPRIZE optimistic AI storytelling competition? Don’t scratch your head for too long. We decided to enter this highly competitive contest because it's a very clear way to show how we build and why. We are not a film company. But I've spent years telling stories in music and words and images, and that job and this one are closer than they sound. Both are about getting people to believe in something that doesn't exist yet. The whole process of creating this trailer took 19 days from start to finish with one day of shooting and five days of post-production. What did we do differently from other AI film submissions? We used real actors, real cameras, and an amazing crew of filmmakers and storytellers who are among the best at their craft. We supported them with smart AI agents to coordinate our work and find workflow efficiencies. And then we created many of the environments and backgrounds with AI generation. I know this next part may sound like science fiction to some folks, but it's true. We invited an AI agent to sit with us during our ideation and planning. He was with us from mood boards to storyboards, managing everything from budgets to shot lists, and minimizing all the messiness of those of us who are proud to be called human. My point is... THIS is the business I am in. Building worlds and systems for companies to help them do what they love. At Supernal, we are all about celebrating humans being human. So this is not another example of AI slop. The trailer is for a movie called The Thorne Protocol which reflects those same values. Optimism doesn't mean putting your head in the sand and ignoring all the real terrors that the world may put in our path. It's about imagining a way beyond them. Watch it now — see YouTube link in comments :) #FutureVisionXPRIZE #BuildIt
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Scott Downes reposted thisScott Downes reposted thisThe best way to help companies become AI native is to be AI native yourself. We tell clients that constantly at Supernal, so it only holds up if we live it internally first, staying on the frontier instead of just reading about it. Which is why I was genuinely excited to open a Plaud Note Pro delivery this morning. We are a remote company, so most of my work happens on video calls, and I have used plenty of AI note-takers there. But I had never used an external device, and that is exactly what I am curious about. One tool that comes with me across all the modes my work actually takes: → Daily calls, the setting most note-takers already cover → In-person workshops at off-sites and with clients → Solo capture, the ideas that show up on a walk or right after a meeting So I am keen to put this to work and curious what has worked for you? Any use case I am missing?
Scott Downes commented on a post
3d
An amazing experience, intellectually and spiritually
Scott Downes commented on a post
1mo
Labels are so confining. Maybe on weekends we're an AI film studio :)
Whatever the right descriptor, we use AI every day to help builders and creators of all sorts to achieve their dreams. And sometimes we use AI to make our own dreams come true.
Btw, we just made the cut for the top 50 — https://fvxp.moonshots.com/creator/j-ryan-williams
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Scott Downes liked thisScott Downes liked thisI have a buddy who comes from a big family. He told me that growing up, he never felt like he got much attention from his parents. He learned to do his own thing, be independent, and rarely ask for help. As he got older, he felt like his relationship with his dad, in particular, wasn’t very strong. Recently, he decided to try something different. He sat down and started with age five, then went year by year through his life. For every year, he wrote down a memory of how his dad had showed up for him, something his dad had done, taught him, sacrificed for him, or simply been there for. When he finished, he realized the list was a lot longer than he expected. He sat down with his dad and read the entire thing to him. He told me they both got incredibly emotional. And in that moment, he felt more connected to his dad than he ever had been. What struck me was that his childhood hadn’t changed. His dad hadn’t changed. What changed was what he chose to look for, and once he started looking for the ways his dad had shown up, he realized there was a lot more love there than he had remembered.
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Scott Downes liked thisWhat an amazing ride this was! Now that we’re back to a ‘normal’ week (whatever that is when you work in startups!), I wanted to remind everyone of Supernal’s core mission. Nope, it’s not science fiction filmmaking. We put the power of AI in the hands of creative and technical builders like you, and we do it in a way that can take you to the top of your field. Look at what we did in the last few months as one small but compelling proof!Scott Downes liked thisThe Thorne Protocol took 3rd place in the FutureVisionXPRIZE out of 2,500+ entries, and it also won a People's Choice Award. We made this film in 19 days. It exists because a small group of humans and a team of AI agents built it together, which is the same way we think every company should be working now. The film is the proof. The vision is the point. Thank you to all who jumped in and never slowed down. #FutureVisionXPRIZE #ThorneProtocol
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Scott Downes reacted on thisScott Downes reacted on thisThe Thorne Protocol took 3rd place in the FutureVisionXPRIZE out of 2,500+ entries, and it also won a People's Choice Award. We made this film in 19 days. It exists because a small group of humans and a team of AI agents built it together, which is the same way we think every company should be working now. The film is the proof. The vision is the point. Thank you to all who jumped in and never slowed down. #FutureVisionXPRIZE #ThorneProtocol
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Scott Downes reacted on thisScott Downes reacted on thisThe best feedback I’ve received after an Outcove retreat? “It changed my life.” I’ve been bringing these gatherings together for almost two years, and I still stop when someone says that. A few entrepreneurs and founders who’ve exited their companies have even called Outcove “the best retreat I’ve ever been to.” At our family office retreat, people came from around the world. In Park City, we brought investors, founders, and creatives into the same room. In Napa, we brought scientists, doctors, founders, and investors together to explore the future of health and longevity. People left with new friends, new ideas, and sometimes new business partners. That’s why I keep doing this. Our final gathering of the year is Outcove Thrive, November 4–8 at Sensei Lānaʻi, A Four Seasons Resort—my favorite place in the United States. 🏝️ We keep these retreats intimate: just 60 people. The group includes entrepreneurs who’ve built and exited companies, late-stage founders, investors, and family office principals. If you’d like to join us, apply at outcove.org 🤠
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Scott Downes reacted on thisNever a dull moment in AI. After a week of Jensen Huang getting skewered online for many of his takes on the Ezra Klein show - from AI safety to remedial math and, strangely, not knowing his home address - Nvidia announced a robust new AI agent safety platform and a stock buyback. Interesting timing in a sector that barely had a name a few years ago. ALSO, and more directly in my lane as a protopian filmmaker, XPRIZE and Peter H. Diamandis' announced the winners of the #FutureVisionXPrize. A big congrats to the team from 'The Gifted', and especially Verena Puhm (2nd Place)- a pioneer in the creative AI space here in LA - and a fellow Duke University alum Scott Downes for his Supernal AI team's 3rd place prize for The Thorne Protocol. The top 5 projects all received a $100K prize. More importantly, the projects focused on visions of more hopeful futures through a technology lens. Repeated narratives influence the cultural imagination of what is possible. (Article link in the comments). 💥 And who will I see at TheWrap + Shira Lazar's #AICreatorsDay tomorrow? Check out all of last week's top news pieces and thoughts at the intersect of entertainment and emerging tech below. #FutureFilmFridays ⬇️Scott Downes reacted on thisAn all new FUTURE FILM FRIDAYS has dropped. 💥 And this week I went down an Agentic AI + filmmaking rabbit hole — partly because of the news, and partly because so many friends have been asking me what this actually means for production. Also in this week’s Future Film Fridays: 🤖 The emerging spectrum of creative + production agents 📺 A recap of Made on YouTube 🥽 A recap of Meta Connect 🎮 Microsoft reshuffles Xbox and Halo 🏢 Paramount + Warner Bros. continued drama 🛰️ Google is putting AI compute in space 📅 And an early looks at the upcoming LA Tech Week schedule AND MORE A particularly future-y week at the intersection of entertainment + emerging tech. Please LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE if you find it helpful! Dive in below 👇
Experience & Education
Licenses & Certifications
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Getting and Cleaning Data
Coursera Verified Certificates
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The Data Scientist’s Toolbox
Coursera Verified Certificates
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Creativity, Innovation, and Change | 创意，创新, 与 变革
Coursera Verified Certificates
Volunteer Experience
Patents
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Web-based collaborative framework
Issued US 8,392,962
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Information gateway manager for multiple devices
Issued US 7,752,331
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System and method for finding persons in a corporate entity
Issued US 6,990,495
Honors & Awards
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GrowthSpace Top Expert Award Winner
GrowthSpace
For having an average feedback rating of 5/5 for programs focused on Leading in Technical Roles.
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