About Christoph Schell
At Intel Vision 2024, Christoph Schell, Intel’s Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, hosted a keynote focused on AI and customer partnerships. Schell said he had learned in 30 years in sales “to use my two ears and my one mouth in the relative proportion given to me,” and stated he would not do the talking but instead bring up customers and ecosystem partners to discuss AI. He introduced Zach Cleaver, CEO of WaitTime, a crowd and occupancy management company, and noted that WaitTime is “making our life better” by addressing the hassle of queues at large venues like concerts and sports events.
Schell asked Cleaver about WaitTime’s work with the National Exhibition Centre in the UK, which hosts over 2 million guests per year. He also discussed the company’s use of Intel silicon, software, and services, and emphasized a value-based sales approach, saying, “we make money when he makes money” and telling his team it is “important to have skin in the game.” Schell concluded by wishing Cleaver well and expressing hope that WaitTime would “conquer more venues so life gets easier.”
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Christoph Schell's recent appearances.
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Transcript (12 segments)
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Christoph Schell0:11
Minutes I will not do the talking. I will bring up customers and ecosystem partners to talk with you about AI and to get you thinking about what could be done in your business, what you could do for your customers, how you could differentiate. The first partner I'm bringing up is a company that got really annoyed when going to large venues. Think about concerts, think about I talked about Liverpool, think about Chelsea. We have a couple of Chelsea fans here in the room as well, I'm sure West Ham as well, but it's all good. But when you go into these venues, I'm very often put off going to these venues because I know it's a hassle. I'm going to be stuck in traffic on the highway, I'm stuck in traffic going into the parking lot, I get out of my car, I have to go through...
Zach is the CEO and founder of a company called WaitTime, and Zach is making our life better. Zach, where are you? Come up.
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Zach1:22
I started the company about 9 years ago because I missed a game-winning goal at a hockey game because I was stuck in line. WaitTime is the world leader in crowd and occupancy management. I want organizations to handle crowd management better than they are.
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Christoph Schell1:40
Zach, great to see you again. Thank you. So as I said, S and I did this two weeks ago in sunny Arizona. How do you like the weather in London?
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Zach1:49
Good, really? It's good, huh? Yeah, this is I think as good as it gets.
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Christoph Schell1:54
That's right. Yeah, I don't think it gets much better than this. But Zach, it's awesome that you're here...
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Zach2:10
And customers like NEC, absolutely. So I'm going to start with a question. Raise your hand if you've ever stood in a line. Keep your hand up if you were upset or annoyed by the line. Did you also come through Heathrow like I did? Yeah, that's right. So I'm from Michigan, I'm from Detroit, and I was at a Detroit Red Wings hockey game about 10 years ago, and I leave to go buy that last beer, of course, that we all love, and I stood in this very long line and I missed a game-winning goal of this game because I was stuck in line. And as an avid sports fan, that's a terrible, terrible experience. So I thought to myself, I said, I want to know how long lines are as a person, but also I want organizations to handle crowd management way better than they are, because right now, and back then, they're just scratching the surface.
Homegrown, our own artificial intelligence. Our whole entire solution is artificial intelligence. We've developed four algorithms that we patented, but we've also used one API and Vune and other Intel technologies that really accelerate our growth and to make us scalable worldwide.
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Christoph Schell3:29
Okay, so what I very often hear from customers: most of our customers know us from selling silicon, and you use our silicon, but you actually use a system, a system that consists of silicon, software, and services. How do you work with Intel?
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Zach3:46
So many years ago, about five, six years ago, we started to work with Intel, and as you said, you know, built on silicon, but then also over the years we have a very cohesive go-to-market strategy. Current day, so we can't...
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Christoph Schell4:10
Systems, but also how we sell that system. It's a value-based sales motion. We make money when he makes money, and that's what I tell my team. It's important to have skin in the game. Zach, I wish you all the very best, and I want you to conquer more venues so life gets easier. Thank you very much.
