The hype is palpable: as techies from near and far converge for TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 in San Francisco – one of the only places where Waymo is accessible to the public – there is a lot of talk about the autonomous vehicle service.

“If you think about the hype about AI and everything, everyone is excited about what 10 years down the road will look like when you look at self-driving cars,” said Pegah Ebrahimi, co-founder and managing partner of FPV Ventures, on stage at TechCrunch. Disrupt 2024. “You don’t get perfect for a while, but people are really excited, and they’re living in this world of optimism about what it could be, and they kind of want it to happen now. »

The excitement about Waymo among Disrupt attendees outside of San Francisco is a clear example of how hype works: we’re investing more in what might happen, as opposed to what’s actually happening now, i.e. that Waymo is slower (and sometimes more expensive). than Uber. But it’s fun and irresistible to share a video of the driverless vehicle on social media.

For Natalie Sportelli, director of Bullish, social media is a key part of how hype works.

“I think the excitement over the Internet and the media creates a lot of hype for consumer (products),” Sportelli said on stage. But social media doesn’t just work for futuristic experiences like Waymo. Even Millwhich founder Harry Tannenbaum calls “the raccoon’s worst nightmare”, has managed to control 80,000 subscribers on Instagram for its high-tech trash can.

“We’re asking people to come dumpster dive with us,” Tannenbaum said. “I think any time you have people who can help you amplify your message and create content that’s really exciting and interesting in its own right, that’s way better than paying for a click.”

Mill Bins dehydrate compostable materials and break them down into pomace, which can be used for gardening or as chicken feed. Waste technology may not be particularly glamorous, but its business can easily be reframed as a valuable green technology that has the potential to reduce food waste (once Mill reaches a price point accessible to the average consumer – at currently the device costs $360 per year).

On the consumer side, Sportelli says the best way to capitalize on the hype is to build lasting relationships with customers.

“One thing I’ve definitely learned over all my different careers is that people will love you and continue to buy from you if they truly love the product experience and love how it makes them feel,” he said. -she declared. This remains true whether it’s a trendy product like Glossier facial cleanser or, yes, trash. “This is also true with B2B SaaS, for example, I love Guideline, my 401(K) provider, and it’s software, and I think the experience is amazing.”

Given the current hype around AI, some companies are eager to tell investors that they are powered by AI, while others are less open. What you might not understand about the Mill product at first glance is that it uses AI to know when there is enough food in the bin to start dehydrating it.

As an investor, Ebrahimi is more interested in a company’s overall potential than its relationship to media buzz.

“If you’re actually solving a problem, you’re not talking about trendy stuff — you’re saying this is the problem I’m solving,” she said. “You don’t want to hear about hype. …You just want to know, what are you solving and can you solve it for me efficiently?