As an AI engineer at Meta, Boris Valkov helped build PyTorch, one of the world’s largest machine learning libraries.

During his time there, Valkov realized that artificial intelligence “was about to unlock capabilities…in the application layer in the software stack.”

He left Meta in late 2021 to start Lace AI, a startup that has developed AI-driven customer service software for home service companies.

The path to entrepreneurship started when Valkov was a boy, working in the family grocery store business. It taught him the power of telephone customer service. As an adult, he began to look for ways to combine his interest in AI and customer service. The idea for Lace was born.