Maryam Nabavi

I help AI bets
become AI businesses.

Founder of Babbly. GM at Koru. Twenty years turning ambition into outcomes — across AI, healthcare, and consumer.

Connect on LinkedIn ↗ Chat with my twin ↗
Maryam Nabavi
Partnered with GoogleSamsungNASAAT&TGSKCognizantNEXT Canada
/ 01

Selected work

A few things I've built.

Babbly ↗

Co-founder & CEO
2019–2024

I founded and led Babbly, the world's first AI platform that detects speech milestones and risk of delay in infants — built from scratch and shipped to families across the US and Canada.

We raised from top VCs and public funds, recruited engineers from Amazon Alexa and Google, and built a clinical and business advisory board around the company.

$5M
Raised
91%
AI accuracy
12K+
Families served

In 2024, I led the IP sale — licensing our technology to a European group focused on infant cry detection, and to the University of Chicago to extend the platform into earlier diagnosis of conditions like Autism and Apraxia.

Koru ↗

General Manager
2025–Present

I'm currently General Manager of the venture studio at Koru, where I work with portfolio company C-suites to identify and execute on the AI value creation opportunities worth making.

The anchor engagement: a specialty lending contact centre in Canada, where we partnered with executive leadership to put AI capabilities into live agent workflows — production-grade, governed, with measurement running from day one.

93%
Adoption
−46s
Handle time
$3M
5-yr projected

Alongside the rollout, the diagnostic work produced a target AI operating model spanning strategic framing, funding, talent, governance, delivery, and reusable infrastructure. By completion, leadership was building toward a 3–5 year AI transformation strategy with dedicated AI product ownership.

Viral Moment ↗

Interim Product Lead
2024–2025

I led product at Viral Moment — an AI platform analyzing social video for Fortune 100 brands like Coca-Cola, Disney, Warner Bros, and NBCUniversal — while the CEO was on maternity leave.

I owned the strategic roadmap and launched a Comment Analysis product that hit 80% client adoption and an NPS of 60, both well above the team's engagement benchmarks. The work spanned customer discovery, feature prioritization, cross-functional execution with engineering, and direct CEO-coverage with the board and key clients.

NEXT Canada ↗

Venture Manager
2024–2025

As Venture Manager at NEXT Canada, I led a portfolio of 20 AI and venture-backed startups across the NEXT AI and NEXT 36 programs.

I advised founders on product-market fit, go-to-market, and fundraising — through weekly office hours, monthly workshops, and 1:1 strategy. Alongside the Chief Program Officer, I led initiatives on program positioning, venture pipeline development, and ecosystem partnerships.

Samsung

VP, Product Innovation
Idea Couture · 2015–2017

As VP of Product Innovation at Idea Couture, I led the executive team working with Samsung Electronics on next-generation wearables, smart home, and mobile experiences.

Our work shaped products that later became part of Samsung's earbud, smartwatch, and smart TV lines. Over my time at Idea Couture, I doubled the product innovation practice in under two years and grew annual revenue 150% for two consecutive years. The firm was acquired by Cognizant (NYSE: CTSH) in 2016.

/ 02

Other things I've done

A few things outside the resume.

Space

I trained as an aerospace engineer in undergrad, but my real interest in space is about the human experience in a new environment — what it does to people, how we adapt, what we discover about ourselves out there.

To get hands-on, I've completed multiple training programs and held workshops at the International Space University's Space Studies Program. I'm a trained citizen-scientist astronaut.

/ 03

Things I'm building

Side projects, written work, and a digital twin.

Future Founders Camp

A program for first-time founders figuring out what to build next.

futurefounders.camp ↗

My Delphi twin

Trained on twenty years of my work and writing. Ask it anything I'd answer.

delphi.ai/maryam-nabavi ↗

Writing

Essays on AI, building, and the messy parts of founder life.

medium.com/@maryamnabavi ↗

Talks & video

Founder lessons, AI strategy, and the occasional unscripted conversation.

YouTube ↗
/ 04

About

A few things about me.

I've spent twenty years at the intersection of product, strategy, and execution — first as a management consultant working with C-suite teams at companies like AT&T, NASA, GSK, and Samsung; then as founder and CEO of Babbly, where I raised $5M, built a 91%-accurate voice AI from scratch, and sold the IP; and now as General Manager at Koru, helping portfolio executives turn AI bets into operating businesses.

I've lived in four countries and trained as a citizen-scientist astronaut. I have a Master's in Innovation Design Engineering from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College, and a Bachelor's in Aerospace Engineering. I'm obsessed with design and neuroscience, and curious about a hundred other things.

What ties it all together: I'm interested in the work that creates business value — not the strategy deck about it, not the pilot that lives forever, but the version that actually changes the P&L. AI included, especially.

/ 05 · A point of view

Whatever it's like to be an AI, it can't be as painful, beautiful, or complex as being a human.

/ 06

Photography

Things I've seen. Shot on my SLR.

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/ 07

Let's talk.

I'm based in Toronto, building with teams working at the frontier of AI and human experience. I'm most useful where the work is hard, the stakes are real, and the AI has to actually ship into someone's day — in health and wellness and consumer tech especially. If that sounds like what you're building, let's talk.

nabavi.m25@gmail.com
LinkedIn ↗ Chat with my twin ↗ Toronto, ON