Jeremy Barnett is a 3x founder and the CEO & Co-Founder of RAD Intel, an AI holding company focused on building and acquiring category-defining businesses at the intersection of artificial intelligence, marketing, communications, and vertical SaaS. Through its portfolio of companies, including RAD Amplify, Lickly, AVC, and its flagship AI platform, RAD Intel, the organization combines proprietary AI, enterprise software, and specialized services to help organizations make smarter, more measurable business decisions.
Jeremy’s passion for artificial intelligence began in 2012 when he co-founded Trendy Butler, serving as CEO through its successful exit in 2017. Since then, he has dedicated his career to identifying commercial applications for AI, building AI-enabled operating companies, and helping organizations transform high-performing businesses into highly scalable enterprises by embedding artificial intelligence across every facet of their operations. His work focuses on applying AI to solve real business problems, improving everything from sales and marketing to client success, operations, and strategic decision-making.
Under Jeremy’s leadership, RAD Intel has grown into one of the most successful AI companies to leverage SEC-regulated Regulation A and Regulation CF offerings, raising nearly $100 million from more than 30,000 investors worldwide while demonstrating a new model for funding and scaling private technology companies.
Today, Jeremy’s focus extends beyond building individual products to building an ecosystem of complementary businesses that combine artificial intelligence, software, services, strategic communications, and data to create long-term enterprise value across multiple industries.
Jeremy is a recognized thought leader in artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, SEC-regulated capital formation, and marketing innovation. In 2016, he founded OSF/LA to support the Orphaned Starfish Foundation, helping expand access to technology and education for underserved children around the world.
Jeremy’s companies have been featured in Inc., Fast Company, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, VentureBeat, Vanity Fair, Forbes, and Business Insider.
Outside of work, Jeremy has been married for 21 years and is the proud father of three. Whether supporting his son’s pursuit of Division I golf and beyond, supporting his daughter’s competitive figure skating journey, surfing, or spending time with his family, he believes the greatest long-term investments are the ones made at home.
Company: Rad Intel
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Jeremy Barnett: I’m a three-time founder and the CEO and Co-founder of RAD Intel. Before RAD Intel, I built Trendy Butler, a fashion technology subscription company that reached approximately $20 million in annual revenue before its exit in 2017.
That experience helped shape the idea behind RAD Intel. We relied heavily on paid media, creators and audience data to grow Trendy Butler, but too many important decisions still came down to instinct. I believed there had to be a better way to understand what would resonate before the money moved.
Today, RAD Intel is an AI-first holding company that builds and acquires businesses across marketing, communications, creator technology and vertical SaaS. Our portfolio includes RAD Amplify, Lickly, AVC Communications and Altivera Vision. Each company has its own leadership, market and customer, while benefiting from shared intelligence, technology and go-to-market capabilities.
What key lessons from your first company (and exit) have most strongly shaped how you’re building your current venture?
Jeremy Barnett: The biggest lesson was that distribution matters as much as the product. At my last company, Trendy Butler, we grew because we learned how to identify the right audiences, create content that moved them and acquire customers efficiently. That ultimately became the foundation for RAD Intel.
I also learned how fragile growth can be when a company depends too heavily on one channel, one customer-acquisition strategy or knowledge that lives inside a few people’s heads. This time, we are turning what works into systems, technology and repeatable playbooks.
An exit gives you confidence, but the more valuable thing is scar tissue. You remember the decisions that worked, the ones that almost broke the company and the problems you should have addressed sooner.
How has having capital, credibility, and a network from your previous success changed the way you approach product, hiring, and growth this time around?
Jeremy Barnett: Experience changes the questions you ask and how quickly you recognize what matters. We can invest in infrastructure before it becomes an emergency, hire leaders for the company we are becoming and give strong people real ownership. Our network also opens conversations with customers, partners and potential acquisitions that would have taken years to access the first time.
Capital creates options, but it does not replace discipline. If anything, having more resources increases the responsibility to deploy them carefully. We still expect product decisions to be supported by customer demand, growth decisions to be measurable and every hire to strengthen the system we are building.
In what ways is your second-chapter company more ambitious than your first, and what enabled you to aim higher this time?
Jeremy Barnett: Trendy Butler was one company serving one market. RAD Intel is designed to build and grow a portfolio of companies that become more valuable together.
When a business joins RAD Intel, it gains access to shared intelligence, technology, content, communications and go-to-market capabilities. At the same time, what we learn from that company strengthens the broader portfolio. The ambition is to create a system in which knowledge compounds instead of resetting every time we enter a new market.
That larger vision became possible because of the team we have assembled, the technology we have built, the capital we have raised and the lessons we learned from building before.
What unexpected challenges have you faced as a second-time founder that you didn’t anticipate after your exit?
Jeremy Barnett: Previous success creates credibility, but it also creates expectations. People assume the second company should move faster, encounter fewer setbacks and follow a cleaner path. That is rarely how building works.
Another challenge is knowing when pattern recognition is useful and when it becomes a liability. The market changes. Customers change. Technology changes. A lesson from your previous company can help you make a better decision, but it can also give you false confidence if you apply it without questioning whether the conditions are still the same.
Building a portfolio adds another layer. Acquiring or launching a company is only the beginning. The difficult work is integrating it without erasing the leadership, expertise and trust that made it valuable in the first place.
For other founders who have just had a successful exit and are considering their next company, what’s the most important advice you’d give them about building again?
Jeremy Barnett: Do not build your next company simply because you know how to build companies.
After an exit, there can be pressure to prove that the first success was repeatable. That is not a strong enough reason to commit another decade of your life. Choose a problem that has become more compelling as you have gained experience and one you would still want to solve when the excitement wears off.
Your next company should reflect who you are now, not recreate the conditions of your previous win. Bring the relationships, judgment and scar tissue with you, but be willing to become a beginner again.
