Podcasts about CTO

Moments Lab co-founders and identical twins, Frederic & Philippe Petitpont, realized they were in the wrong role. The CEO became CTO. The CTO became CEO. As a result, the business got stronger. In this episode, they break down how to spot role misalignment and how putting the company first can unlock real scale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Cohen is a four-time founder (including two unicorns, one being WP Engine) and an investor in over 60 startups, and has been sharing his lessons on company building at A Smart Bear for nearly 20 years. In this episode, Jason shares his methodical five-step framework for diagnosing stalled growth—a problem that faces almost every team.We discuss:1. Jason's five-step framework: logo retention, pricing, NRR, marketing channels, target market2. A small tweak that'll double response rates on your cancellation surveys3. Why “it's too expensive” is almost never the real reason customers cancel4. The “elephant curve” of growth5. How repositioning the same product can increase revenue 8x6. When to reconsider if growth is even the right goal for your business—Brought to you by:10Web—Vibe coding platform as an APIStrella—The AI-powered customer research platformBrex—The banking solution for startups—Episode transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-your-product-stopped-growing—Archive of all Lenny's Podcast transcripts: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/yxi4s2w998p1gvtpu4193/AMdNPR8AOw0lMklwtnC0TrQ?rlkey=j06x0nipoti519e0xgm23zsn9&st=ahz0fj11&dl=0—Where to find Jason Cohen:• Preorder Jason's book: https://preorder.hiddenmultipliers.com/• X: https://x.com/asmartbear• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncohen• Blog: https://longform.asmartbear.com• Website: https://wpengine.com—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Jason Cohen(05:19) Jason's writing journey(08:25) Questions to ask when your product stops growing(18:17) Getting real customer feedback(20:27) Analyzing cancellation reasons(26:54) Onboarding and activation(29:35) Quick summary(35:46) Revisiting pricing strategies(41:46) Positioning strategies(47:52) Why pricing is inseparable from your strategy(52:06) The importance of net revenue retention (NRR)(01:00:25) Asking whether or not this is good for the customer(01:04:34) Leveraging existing customers(01:06:42) Are your acquisition channels saturated? The “elephant curve”(1:09:41) Why all marketing channels eventually decline(01:12:04) Direct vs. indirect marketing channels(1:13:36) Getting creative with new channels(01:19:04) Do you actually need to grow?(01:25:57) Deciding when to quit(01:29:27) Book announcement(01:33:21) AI corner(01:34:35) Contrarian corner(01:37:43) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Tyler Cowen's website: https://tylercowen.com• How to Perform a Customer Churn Analysis (and Why You Should): https://www.groovehq.com/blog/learn-from-customer-churn• Linear: https://linear.app• Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira• Patrick Campbell's post on X about pricing: https://x.com/Patticus/status/1702313260547006942• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan• Pricing your AI product: Lessons from 400+ companies and 50 unicorns | Madhavan Ramanujam: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/pricing-and-scaling-your-ai-product-madhavan-ramanujam• Pricing your SaaS product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy• M&A, competition, pricing, and investing | Julia Schottenstein (dbt Labs): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/m-and-a-competition-pricing-and-investing• “Sell the alpha, not the feature”: The enterprise sales playbook for $1M to $10M ARR | Jen Abel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-enterprise-sales-playbook-1m-to-10m-arr• Buffer: https://buffer.com• AG1: https://drinkag1.com• How to find hidden growth opportunities in your product | Albert Cheng (Duolingo, Grammarly, Chess.com): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-hidden-growth-opportunities-albert-cheng• How Duolingo reignited user growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth• The Elephant in the room: The myth of exponential hypergrowth: https://longform.asmartbear.com/exponential-growth• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com• Zigging vs. zagging: How HubSpot built a $30B company | Dharmesh Shah (co-founder/CTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-30-years-of-building• Adjacency Matrix: How to expand after PMF: https://longform.asmartbear.com/adjacency/• Ecosystem is the next big growth channel: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ecosystem-is-the-next-big-growth• ChatGPT apps are about to be the next big distribution channel: Here's how to build one: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/chatgpt-apps-are-about-to-be-the• 10 contrarian leadership truths every leader needs to hear | Matt MacInnis (Rippling): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-contrarian-leadership-truths• Breaking the rules of growth: Why Shopify bans KPIs, optimizes for churn, prioritizes intuition, and builds toward a 100-year vision | Archie Abrams (VP Product, Head of Growth at Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shopifys-growth-archie-abrams• Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/geoffrey-moore-on-finding-your-beachhead• ER on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/ER-Season-1/dp/B0FWK5WJQ4• The Pitt on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/The-Pitt-Season-1/dp/B0DNRR8QWD• Wispr Flow: https://wisprflow.ai• Anker: https://www.anker.com—Recommended books:• Will: https://www.amazon.com/Will-Smith/dp/1984877925• Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price: https://www.amazon.com/Monetizing-Innovation-Companies-Design-Product/dp/1119240867• Hidden Multipliers: Small Things That Accelerate Growth: https://preorder.hiddenmultipliers.com• On Writing Well: The Essential Guide to Mastering Nonfiction Writing and Effective Communication: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548• Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition: The Updated Version of the Insightful Guide on Bringing Cutting-Edge Products to the Mainstream: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Ricky Blanco Saavedra is a Sr. Executive Assistant at Viva Exec, supporting the CTO and Head of Go-to-Market at Shippo.In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Ricky talks about discarding the “I'm just the EA” mindset, and stepping into a leadership mindset, how to fight impostor syndrome, and more.Show Notes -> leaderassistant.com/360 --In-person meeting planning can be a lot to manage. That's where TROOP Planner comes in. TROOP Planner is built to make life easier for busy assistants like yourself. Whether you're organizing an executive offsite, department meeting, or team retreat, TROOP keeps it simple, fast, and organized.Visit leaderassistant.com/troop to learn more! --Are you ready to level up? Enroll in The Leader Assistant Academy at leaderassistant.com/academy to embrace the Leader Assistant frameworks used by thousands of assistants. --Eliminate manual scheduling with YouCanBookMe by Capacity's booking links, automated reminders, and meeting polls. Sign up for a FREE trial -> leaderassistant.com/calendar.More from The Leader Assistant... Book, Audiobook, and Workbook -> leaderassistantbook.com The Leader Assistant Academy -> leaderassistantbook.com/academy Premium Membership -> leaderassistant.com/membership Events -> leaderassistantlive.com Free Community -> leaderassistant.com/community

BONUS: Thinking Like an Architect in the Age of AI-Assisted Coding How can engineers leverage AI to write better code—and think like architects to build systems that truly scale? In this episode, Brian Childress, a CTO and software architect with over 15 years of experience, shares hard-won lessons from teams using AI coding tools daily, and explains why the real challenge isn't just writing code—it's designing systems that scale with users, features, and teams. The Complexity Trap: When AI Multiplies Our Problems "Most engineering projects and software engineers themselves lean more towards complexity, and I find that that complexity really is multiplied when we bring in the power of AI and its ability to write just tons and tons and tons of code."   Brian has observed a troubling pattern: AI tools can generate deeply nested components with complex data flows that technically work but are nearly impossible to understand or maintain. When teams don't guide AI through architectural decisions, they end up with code that becomes "a little too complex for us to understand what is actually going on here." The speed at which AI produces code makes understanding the underlying problem even more critical—we can solve problems quickly, but we must ensure we're solving them the right way. In this segment, we mention our longer AI Assisted Coding podcast series. Check that out for further insights and different perspectives on how our software community is learning to make better use of AI Assisted Coding tools.  Vibe Coding Has Its Place—But Know Its Limits "Vibe coding is incredibly powerful for designers and product owners who want to prompt until they get something that really demonstrates what they're trying to do."   Brian sees value across the entire spectrum from vibe coding to architect-driven development. Vibe coding allows teams to move from wireframes and Figma prototypes to actual working code much faster, enabling quicker validation with real customers. The key distinction is knowing when to use each approach:   Vibe coding works well for rapid prototyping and testing whether something has value Architect thinking becomes essential when building production systems that need to scale and be maintained What Does "Thinking Like an Architect" Actually Mean? "When I'm thinking more like an architect, I'm thinking more around how bigger components, higher level components start to fit together."   The architect mindset shifts focus from "how do I work within a framework" to "what is the problem I'm really solving?" Brian emphasizes that technology is actually the easiest part of what engineers do—you can Google or AI your way to a solution. The harder work is ensuring that the solution addresses the real customer need. An architect asks: How can I simplify? How can I explain this to someone else, technical or non-technical? The better you can explain it, the better you understand it. AI as Your Thought Partner "What it really forces us to do is to be able to explain ourselves better. I find most software engineers will hide behind complexity because they don't understand the problem."   Brian uses AI as a collaborative thought partner rather than just a code generator. He explains the problem, shares his thought process, and then strategizes back and forth—looking for questions that challenge his thinking. This approach forces engineers to communicate clearly instead of hiding behind technical jargon. The AI becomes like having a colleague with an enormous corpus of knowledge who can see solutions you might never have encountered in your career. Simplicity Through Four Shapes "I basically use four shapes to be able to diagram anything, and if I can't do that, then we still have too much complexity. It's a square, a triangle, a circle, and a line."   When helping colleagues shift from code-writing to architect-thinking, Brian insists on dead simplicity. If you can diagram a system—from customer-facing problems down to code component breakdowns, data flow, and integrations—using only these four basic shapes, you've reached true understanding. This simplification creates that "light bulb moment" where engineers suddenly get it and can translate understanding into code while in flow state. Making AI Work Culturally: Leading by Example "For me as a leader, as a CTO, I need to show my team this is how I'm using it, this is where I'm messing up with it, showing that it's okay."   Brian addresses the cultural challenge head-on: mid-level and senior engineers often resist AI tools, fearing job displacement or having to support "AI slop." His approach is to frame AI as a new tool to learn—just like Google and Stack Overflow were in years past—rather than a threat. He openly shares his experiments, including failures, demonstrating that it's acceptable to laugh at garbage code while learning from how it was generated. The Guardrails That Make AI Safe "If we have all of that—the guardrails, the ability to test, automation—then AI just helps us to create the code in the right way, following our coding standards."   The same engineering practices that protect against human errors protect against AI mistakes: automated testing, deployment guardrails, coding standards, and code review. Brian sees an opportunity for AI to help teams finally accomplish what they've always wanted but never had time for—comprehensive documentation and thorough automated test suites. Looking Ahead: More Architects, More Experiments, More Failures "I'm going to see more engineers acting like architects, more engineers thinking in ways of how do I construct this system, how do I move data around, how do I scale."   Brian's 2-3 year prediction: engineers will increasingly think architecturally because AI removes the need to deeply understand framework nuances. We'll have more time for safeguards, automated testing, and documentation. But expect both sides of the spectrum to intensify—more engineers embracing AI tools, and more resistance and high-profile failures from CEOs vibe-coding production apps into security incidents. Resources for Learning Brian recommends staying current through YouTube channels focused on AI and developer tools. His top recommendations for developer-focused AI content:   IndyDevDan NetworkChuck AI Jason   His broader advice: experiment with everything, document what you learn as you go, and be willing to fail publicly. The engineers who thrive will be those actively experimenting and learning.   About Brian Childress   Brian Childress is a CTO and software architect with over 15 years of experience working across highly regulated industries including healthcare, finance, and consumer SaaS products. He brings a non-traditional background to technology leadership, having built his expertise through dedication and continuous learning rather than formal computer science education. Brian is passionate about helping engineers think architecturally and leverage AI tools effectively while maintaining simplicity in system design.   You can link with Brian Childress on LinkedIn.

A los 25 años, Alejandro Casas dejó su trabajo como CTO convencido de que sabía todo sobre emprender. La primera semana quedó paralizado. No sabía nada.Pasó por 11 ideas diferentes. Recibió decenas de "no" de fondos de inversión. Vivió un accidente grave que lo obligó a repensar todo.Hoy es CEO de Simetrik, una empresa presente en 28 países que procesa más de 80 mil millones de dólares al año para clientes como Mercado Libre, NuBank y Rappi.En este episodio descubrimos:•    Por qué las ideas no tienen valor (y qué sí lo tiene)•    Cómo transformar los "no" en combustible•    Qué nos falta a los latinoamericanos para construir empresas globales•    Por qué en la era de la IA tenemos que soñar más grande"Creía que sabía todo sobre emprender. La realidad me enseñó humildad”, confesó Alejandro.Cambia cómo ves. Todo lo demás sigue.

Pirelli CTO Piero Misani

Ian Dunn, CTO of Spectrum Control, talks with Pat Hindle about their evolution into subsystems to meet the changing military customer needs. Ian talks about RF integration, system responsibility, open systems and reducing time to deployment. Sponsored by Spectrum Control.

Microwave Journal editors Pat Hindle and Del Pierson review the products in the Jan Radar/Antenna themed issue, talk with Ian Dunn, CTO of Spectrum Control, about RF architecture evolution and review industry news/events. Sponsored by RFMW and Spectrum Control.

Lior Gavish, CTO and co-founder of Monte Carlo Data, joins Ben Lorica to discuss the critical transition from data observability to agent observability in production environments. Subscribe to the Gradient Flow Newsletter

Matt is joined by Karell Ste-Marie, founder of The Serious CTO YouTube channel. Together, they tackle one of the biggest hidden challenges in software companies: the language and cultural barrier between engineers and executives.Karell and Matt break down why innovation is so rare in large organizations, why engineers and business leaders often talk past each other, and how the CTO role often becomes the critical bridge between the two worlds.Key Discussion PointsThe cultural resistance to change inside enterprisesHow introversion and communication style shape engineering cultureWhy the best CTOs speak “both languages”Lessons from mistakes made on the path to leadershipResources & LinksThe Serious CTO on YouTube – Karell's channel where he shares insights on engineering leadershipProduct Driven - Get the BookSubscribe to the Product Driven NewsletterWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent SprintFull Scale – Build your dev team quickly and affordably

Como a inteligência artificial pode ajudar a identificar COMPORTAMENTOS em VÍDEO? No episódio 19 do Hipsters.Talks, PAULO SILVEIRA , CVO do Grupo Alura, conversa com RUBENS RODRIGUES , CTO da School Guardian sobre VISÃO COMPUTACIONAL, detecção de objetos com YOLO e PYTHON e como treinar MODELOS DE IA PARA IDENTIFICAR COMPORTAMENTOS específicos em vídeos. Descubra a diferença entre usar bibliotecas prontas e treinar seus próprios modelos, APIs de cloud vs processamento local e o futuro dos desenvolvedores na era da IA! Sinta-se à vontade para compartilhar suas perguntas e comentários. Vamos adorar conversar com você!

In this episode, we discuss the 'Drupal in a Day' initiative, aimed at introducing computer science students to Drupal and invigorating the community with new energy. Martin Anderson-Clutz and Hilmar Hallbjörnsson talk about its origins, development, and the specifics of condensing a comprehensive university course into a single-day curriculum. They also cover the enthusiasm and logistics behind the events, insights from past sessions in Vienna and Drupal Jam, and future plans for expanding the scope of this program. Tune in to hear the vision for bringing more students into the Drupal community and the benefits for universities and organizations alike. For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe013 Topics What is Drupal in a Day? Origins and Development of Drupal in a Day Target Audience and Curriculum Teaching Methodology and Community Impact Student Engagement and Event Comparisons Momentum and Future Plans for Drupal in a Day Logistics and Volunteer Involvement Open Source and Community Contributions Personal Stories and Final Thoughts Hilmar Hallbjörnsson Hilmar Kári Hallbjörnsson is a senior Drupal developer, educator, and open-source advocate based in Iceland. He works as a Senior Drupal Developer at the University of Iceland and is the CEO/CTO of the Drupal consultancy Um að gera. Hilmar is also an adjunct professor at Reykjavík University, where he teaches "Designing open-sourced web software with Drupal and PHP." Deeply involved in the Drupal ecosystem, Hilmar is an active contributor and community organizer, with a particular focus on Drupal 11, modern configuration management, and the emerging Recipes initiative. He is a co-founder of the Drupal Open University Initiative and Drupal-in-a-Day, and has served on the organizing committee for DrupalCon Europe. His work bridges real-world engineering, teaching, and community leadership, with a strong interest in both the technical evolution and philosophical direction of Drupal as an open-source platform. Martin Anderson-Clutz Martin is a highly respected figure in the Drupal community, known for his extensive contributions as a developer, speaker, and advocate for open-source innovation. Based in London, Ontario, Canada, Martin began his career as a graphic designer before transitioning into web development. His journey with Drupal started in late 2005 when he was seeking a robust multilingual CMS solution, leading him to embrace Drupal's capabilities. Martin holds the distinction of being the world's first Triple Drupal Grand Master, certified across Drupal 7, 8, and 9 as a Developer, Front-End Specialist, and Back-End Specialist. (TheDropTimes) He also possesses certifications in various Acquia products and is UX certified by the Nielsen Norman Group. Currently serving as a Senior Solutions Engineer at Acquia, Martin has been instrumental in advancing Drupal's ecosystem. He has developed and maintains several contributed modules, including Smart Date and Search Overrides, and has been actively involved in the Drupal Recipes initiative, particularly focusing on event management solutions. His current work on the Event Platform aims to streamline the creation and management of event-based websites within Drupal. Beyond development, Martin is a prominent speaker and educator, having presented at numerous Drupal events such as DrupalCon Barcelona and EvolveDrupal. He is also a co-host of the "Talking Drupal" podcast, where he leads the "Module of the Week" segment, sharing insights on various Drupal modules. Martin's dedication to the Drupal community is evident through his continuous efforts to mentor, innovate, and promote best practices within the open-source landscape. Guests Hilmar Hallbjörnsson - drupalviking Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu

Deric Rosenbaum, President and CTO of Groucho's Deli, a legendary brand celebrating 85 years in business, shares his journey from a commercial construction background to leading the brand's growth and technological evolution, emphasizing a philosophy of "adapt, not change" to modernize systems while preserving the core essence of community and hospitality. He discusses the strategic decision to prioritize controlled, concentric growth through franchising, the importance of fostering human connection in an increasingly digital world, and how leveraging data and a robust tech stack (including Square for restaurants, Ovation, and Bikky) helps optimize operations and enhance customer loyalty without sacrificing the personal touch.10 Key Takeaways "Adapt, Don't Change": Modernize systems (technology, operations) while retaining the core brand identity and legacy (e.g., original recipes). Community and Hospitality are Core Assets: Building community and genuine hospitality is crucial for customer loyalty and takes time and investment. Controlled Growth Strategy: Groucho's prefers slow, measured, and concentric growth to maintain quality, brand recognition, and efficient distribution, avoiding rapid, capital-intensive expansion common in private equity models. Technology as an Enabler, Not a "Shiny Object": Tech should enhance guest experience and simplify operations, not just be used for its own sake. Prioritize Retention Over Acquisition: Focusing on retaining existing guests drives frequency, which in turn leads to organic new guest acquisition and revenue growth, even during economic pressures. The Importance of an Open API: A robust and open POS API (like Square's) allows for seamless integration with "best of fit" third-party tools (like Ovation for feedback and Bikky for data) to create a unified commerce ecosystem. Data-Driven Decisions: Utilizing a customer data platform (CDP) like Bikky allows for deep understanding and segmentation of guests to tailor marketing and improve operational efficiency. Consistency Creates Loyalty: Standardizing processes across the chain and delivering consistent experiences fuels success in the long term. Invest in Training and Culture: Especially in a franchise model, training operators (not just money partners) on the fundamentals of hospitality is key to maintaining brand standards and a positive guest experience. Listen to Your Guests: Use feedback mechanisms (like Ovation's text-based system) to engage in two-way conversations and make targeted operational adjustments based on sentiment analysis.

This Week In Startups is made possible by:Northwest Registered Agent - www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twistCrusoe Cloud - https://crusoe.ai/savingsLinkedIn Jobs - http://linkedIn.com/twistToday's show: On today's TWIST episode, Alex interviews two of the top startup co-founders: Keller Cliffton of Zipline and Anastasis Germanidis of Runway. Zipline announced its $600 million raise at a $7.6 BILLION valuation. Kellers breaks down the origins, economics, and future of Zipline's contrarian bet in drone delivery. What was science fiction a decade ago is now a regular part of life for many. In fact, Zipline operates more flights than United!Zipline is set to leapfrog the car delivery apps AND self driving cars with the superior economics of drone delivery. It is much cheaper to transport your burrito in a lightweight drone than a 6,000 pound self driving car!Then, Alex is joined by Anastasis Germanidis, the CTO and co-founder of Runway, to explain why the next frontier of generative AI is world models! Runway  is looking to build a universal simulation, which will unlock massive gains in robotics, autonomy, and simulations. The world model would be able to simulate rare edge cases that could take years to find naturally! Check out how this cutting edge AI startup's NYU Tisch School of Art's originsThen, See Jason's answer to the question: “When should founders pivot or give up?”Timestamps: (00:00) The Drone revolution is here!(02:46) Inside Zipline's factory to build 20K drones a year(04:40) American dynamism Vs. Chinese manufacturing dominance(09:00) How Zipline is growing 75% month on month(9:50) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist(11:15) Zipline teleports food and goods to your house(21:54) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/savings to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.(23:02) Is it affordable to use a drone to deliver a burrito?(29:18) Zipline DOUBLES United's flight numbers(31:11) LinkedIn Jobs - post your job for free at http://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs new AI assistant.(32:21) Anastasis break's down Runway's AI modeling(35:24) Runway's Gen 4.5 and the world model(40:57) Why do robotics companies need a world model?(43:04) Using AI to simulate robot laundry folding(52:37) Runway's origins at NYU's art school(55:46) Founder Q/A: When to pivot or give up on your startup*Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com/Check out the TWIST500: https://twist500.com)Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp*Follow Lon:X: https://x.com/lons*Follow Alex:X: https://x.com/alexLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm/*Follow Jason:X: https://twitter.com/JasonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis/*Thank you to our partners:(9:50) Northwest Registered Agent. Get more when you start your business with Northwest. In 10 clicks and 10 minutes, you can form your company and walk away with a real business identity —  Learn more at www.northwestregisteredagent.com/twist(21:54) Crusoe Cloud: Crusoe is the AI factory company. Reliable infrastructure and expert support. Visit https://crusoe.ai/savings to reserve your capacity for the latest GPUs today.(31:11) LinkedIn Jobs - post your job for free at http://linkedIn.com/twist then promote it to get access to LinkedIn Jobs new AI assistant.Check out all our partner offers: https://partners.launch.co/

From graduate engineer to CTO, Andrew Phillips' 16-year journey at Skyscanner is a story of continuous reinvention. He didn't chase titles—he chased growth, deliberately stepping out of his comfort zone and unlearning the habits that no longer served him. What's kept him at the company for over a decade isn't status, but challenge: new teams, unfamiliar problems, and the chance to stay close to the work, even as his scope of leadership expanded.In this episode, we explore how Andrew is now applying that same mindset to leading in the AI era—personally and professionally. He shares how he's built a personal AI stack to stay more present, how Skyscanner is blurring traditional team roles to unlock speed, and why “directed autonomy” is more important than ever. For leaders navigating scale, technology, and the desire to make meaningful impact without burning out, Andrew offers a powerful perspective.Key TakeawaysGrowth through discomfort: Andrew's biggest accelerations came from switching roles and leaving his comfort zone—not climbing a predefined ladder.AI as a leadership enabler: He uses AI tools to be more present, thoughtful, and effective—especially during high-stakes meetings.From feature factory to outcome focus: Leaders must reconnect people to impact, not just output.Directed autonomy: Empowering teams with AI means giving clear goals—not micromanaging the execution.Unlearning process overreach: Traditional roles, ticketing systems, and rigid handoffs are ripe for reinvention in AI-native organizations.Additional InsightsThe personal AI stack Andrew uses includes ChatGPT, Otter, Cursor, and SpecKit—enabling him to ideate on walks, build apps during board meetings, and maintain strategic presence.Skyscanner's senior engineers are back coding, using AI to close the gap between architectural thinking and execution.AI-driven productivity unlocks don't just mean faster work—they mean better work-life balance, deeper engagement, and more human leadership.Episode Highlights00:00 – Episode RecapAndrew Phillips shares how stepping into uncertainty—and building his own AI stack—transformed his leadership at Skyscanner. From personal growth to organizational reinvention, he's leading the charge on what modern technology leadership looks like.01:35 – Guest Introduction: Andrew PhillipsBarry introduces Andrew Phillips, CTO of Skyscanner, reflecting on their 15-year relationship and Andrew's rise from graduate engineer to technology leader.05:45 – The One Trick Pony MomentAndrew recalls the pivotal moment when a CEO challenged him to move teams and stop playing it safe—triggering his real leadership evolution.12:33 – Starting with Yourself in AIBefore transforming your company with AI, Andrew urges leaders to start by experimenting personally and learning from the ground up.15:15 – Writing Better Prompts, Building Better SpecsAI tools thrive on clear direction. Andrew realized that better prompting and crisp product requirements accelerated his results dramatically.20:01 – Directed Autonomy in the AI EraGiving AI tools (and people) the “why” rather than micromanaging the “how” builds trust, speed, and better outcomes.24:56 – Parallel Productivity and Boardroom AppsHow Andrew built an entire app—during a board meeting—by offloading work to AI and staying fully present in the room.27:13 – Reclaiming Work-Life BalanceAI allows Andrew to unload his mental backlog—using...

Robert Blumofe: a CTO on Technical InfluenceCTO Robert Blumofe oversees areas like edge computing, zero trust, 5G, and IoT, while working closely with customers and internal leaders on digital transformation. In this conversation, we will explore how technical professionals can better communicate with nontechnical audiences, why technical excellence alone is not enough to influence outcomes, and what organizations can do to close that gap.To learn more about Robert, visit https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-blumofe-258233/.__TEACH THE GEEK (http://teachthegeek.com) Prefer video? Visit http://youtube.teachthegeek.comGet Public Speaking Tips for STEM Professionals at http://teachthegeek.com/tips

Mek Stittri, CTO at Stuut, breaks down a leadership skill that sounds simple but gets messy fast, trust, then verify. You will learn how to delegate without losing control, how to stay close to the work without becoming a micromanager, and how AI is changing what it means to review and own technical outcomes. Key takeaways• Trust and verify starts with alignment, define success clearly, then keep a real line of sight to outcomes• Verification is not micromanagement, it is accountability, your team's results are your responsibility as a leader• Use lightweight mechanisms like weekly reports, and stay ready to answer questions three levels deep when speed matters• AI is pushing engineers toward system design and management skills, you will manage agents and outputs, not just code• Fast feedback prevents slow damage, address issues early, praise in public, give direct feedback in privateTimestamped highlights00:41 Stuut in one minute, agented AI for finance ops, starting with collections and faster cash outcomes01:54 Trust without verification becomes disconnect, why leaders still need to get close to the details03:42 The three levels deep idea, how to keep situational awareness without hovering06:33 The next five years, engineers managing teams of agents, system design as the differentiator11:40 Feedback as a gift, why speed and privacy matter when coaching16:54 The timing art, when to wait, when to jump in, using time and impact as your signal19:43 Two leaders who shaped Mek's leadership style, letting people struggle, learn, and then win23:29 Curiosity as the engine behind trust and verificationA line worth repeating“Feedback is a blessing.” Practical coaching moves you can borrow• Set the bar up front, define the end goal and what good looks like• Build a steady cadence, short weekly updates beat occasional deep dives• Calibrate your involvement, give space early, step in when time passes or impact expands• Make feedback faster, smaller course corrections beat late big confrontations• Use AI as a reviewer, get quick context on unfamiliar code and decisions so you can ask better questionsCall to actionIf you found this useful, follow the show and share it with a leader who is leveling up from IC to manager. For more leadership and hiring insights in tech, subscribe and connect with Amir on LinkedIn.

Carter and Payton Bradsky—siblings, co-founders, and the CEO/CTO team behind LymeLess Health—join Dr. Karlfeldt to share a deeply personal and practical conversation about navigating Lyme+ illness and how they're using technology to change the patient experience. With Carter's lived experience battling Lyme disease, Babesia, Bartonella, and mold toxicity—and Payton's background as a former Google software engineer and product manager—this episode connects real-world patient pain points to a new kind of solution: Ella, an AI-powered companion built specifically for Lyme+ patients. Learn more (and find the app) at https://lymeless.com/.You'll hear how their family's journey began with their mother being dismissed after years of symptoms and dozens of doctors—until one chance conversation led to Lyme testing and answers. Carter and Payton break down what it was like to be kids and caregivers, how symptoms can show up differently in each person (from brain fog and anxiety to seizure-like episodes and misdiagnosis), and what actually helped them move toward remission. They also explain why Lyme care is so difficult to manage day-to-day—and how Ella helps patients track symptoms, treatments (including pulsing protocols), and lifestyle factors, then turn that data into actionable insights and shareable reports to improve doctor visits.If you've ever felt overwhelmed trying to remember what changed, what helped, or what triggered a flare—this episode offers a new framework: reduce the burden of “managing Lyme” so you can focus on living again. From weekly insights to provider-ready summaries and a future vision for research breakthroughs driven by patient data (with patient privacy and ownership at the core), this conversation is packed with hope, clarity, and next-step tools.Key Topics CoveredThe Bradsky family's “Lyme was a family affair” origin story—and how diagnosis finally happenedMedical gaslighting and dismissal: “It's all in your head” and the toll it takes on familiesBeing a child/caregiver while a parent becomes bedridden: trauma, coping, and shifting family dynamicsCarter's symptoms (brain fog, anxiety, dissociation) and the impact on athletics and college lifePayton's seizure-like episodes, epilepsy misdiagnosis, loss of license, and eventual Lyme/Babesia/Bartonella diagnosisWhy Lyme recovery is rarely linear: flare patterns, stress effects, and measuring progress when memory is impairedIntegrative treatment approaches: herbals + antibiotics, detox support, probiotics, and pulsing protocolsThe “appointment gap” problem: forgetting symptoms, underreporting, and losing clinical time to catch-upHow Ella works: daily check-ins, trend detection, symptom/treatment tracking, and weekly insightsProvider-facing reporting (“warrior report”) and the long-term goal of precision medicine + research breakthroughs via opt-in anonymized data _______________________________The Karlfeldt Center offers the most cutting-edge and comprehensive Lyme therapies. To schedule a Free 15-Minute Discovery Call with a Lyme Literate Naturopathic Doctor at The Karlfeldt Center, call 208-338-8902 or email info@TheKarlfeldtCenter.comCheck out Dr. K's Ebook: Breaking Free From Lyme: A Comprehensive Guide to Healing and Recovery here: https://store.thekarlfeldtcenter.com/products/breaking-free-from-lymeUse the code LYMEPODCAST for a 100% off discount!

Sourcegraph's CTO just revealed why 90% of his code now comes from agents—and why the Chinese models powering America's AI future should terrify Washington. While Silicon Valley obsesses over AGI apocalypse scenarios, Beyang Liu's team discovered something darker: every competitive open-source coding model they tested traces back to Chinese labs, and US companies have gone silent after releasing Llama 3. The regulatory fear that killed American open-source development isn't hypothetical anymore—it's already handed the infrastructure layer of the AI revolution to Beijing, one fine-tuned model at a time. Resources:Follow Beyang Liu on X: https://x.com/beyangFollow Martin Casado on X: https://x.com/martin_casadoFollow Guido Appenzeller on X: https://x.com/appenz Stay Updated:If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16zFind a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16zListen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYXListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenbergPlease note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see http://a16z.com/disclosures. Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Tacos & Tech, Neal Bloom sits down with longtime friend, founder, and self-described “Maine Melon,” Jared Ruth, founder of Ripcurrent. What starts as a walk down memory lane through San Diego's early startup ecosystem turns into a wide-ranging conversation about entrepreneurship, marketing, AI, and the human moments technology should protect - not replace.Jared shares his journey from decades in telecom and corporate innovation to building Ripcurrent, a marketing and automation agency focused on Main Street businesses. Together, Neal and Jared unpack how generative AI and no-code tools have radically lowered the barrier to building, why small businesses are both overwhelmed and empowered by tech, and how the next era of marketing isn't about shouting louder - it's about removing friction so humans can show up where it matters most.Key Topics Covered* Jared's path from telecom and corporate innovation to founding Ripcurrent* Early days of San Diego's startup ecosystem, Founder Dinners, and CTO roundtables* Building “startups inside big companies” and why that experience matters* The moment GenAI unlocked solo building and rapid experimentation* Vibe coding, no-code tools, and the rise of AI-native workflows* Why small and Main Street businesses struggle with modern marketing tech* Google Business Profiles, search, and what visibility means in an LLM-driven world* Automation as a way to remove transactional work - not human connection* Where AI agents help brands and where they can quietly destroy trust* Why trust and brand moments matter more than the underlying technology* Parallels between AI adoption and autonomous driving trust curves* Using technology to give business owners their time - and humanity - back* The optimism (and responsibility) that comes with building in the AI eraLinks & Resources* RipcurrentConnect with Jared & Neal* Jared Ruth* Neal Bloom This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit risingtidepartners.substack.com/subscribe

This week, Dmitri chats with Russell Wedelich, the President and CTO of Eventide Audio. Eventide has been shaping Eventide has been shaping recorded music since 1971, and Russell has used his background in both electrical engineering and musical engineering to help create products like the Space Stomp box, H9000, Physion, and Temperance reverb just to name a few.  They talk about Eventide's history and philosophy of creating audio tools, re-releasing legacy software, and why Russell believes fear and creativity are opposite's when it comes to AI's impact on music. They also talk about NAMM and why it is still worth going in 2026 (if you're going this week, make sure to check us out at Booth 10607 in Hall A.   The news Spotify hikes price for Premium subscribers in the US, other markets Music streaming platforms now host quarter of a BILLION tracks. Where does it end? Matthew McConaughey tackles deepfakes with trademark filings   The Music Tectonics podcast goes beneath the surface of the music industry to explore how technology is changing the way business gets done. Visit musictectonics.com to find shownotes and a transcript for this episode, and find us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. Let us know what you think!  Get Dmitri's Rock Paper Scanner newsletter.

David Li is the CTO at Washington University Investment Management Company, where he's led a lean, data‑driven build of the endowment's tech stack. David's path runs from Harvard Management Company to independent consulting to WashU, bringing a builder's mindset to the role.For those not familiar with WashU's concentrated, co-invest heavy approach, Ted sat down with CIO Scott Wilson a while back, and that conversation is replayed in the feed.David shares how a modular architecture with Snowflake at the center gives his team cleaner data, faster changes, and less technical debt; and how clear governance and practical security can make for efficient workflows.We also get into AI adoption in the endowment world - where to use “walled gardens,” and how to spot tools that look great in demos but fall down on data quality. For emerging and seasoned institutions, David shares concrete advice on buy‑versus‑build, vendor selection, and running pilots that surface issues early, plus how to set expectations and give business owners real responsibility so technology actually matches how investors see their portfolios.Learn More Follow Capital Allocators at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@tseides⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mailing list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Access transcript with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Premium Membership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)

In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Tom says, I'm a software developer with six years experience, mostly at small startups with engineering teams anywhere between 2 and 10 developers. Because these startups have been small, most of the interviews were really casual. I'd speak to either the CEO, or CTO about my past experience, and we would talk about the direction the company was heading, and whether I'd be interested in joining. They felt less like interviews, and more like free-flowing conversations. I'm now back on the market, and I'm looking at larger, more established tech companies. I can get past the tech interviews just fine, but I'm struggling with the soft-skills interviews. Compared to what I'm used to they're a lot more structured and it feels like they're looking for answers that fit a certain criteria and format. What advice would you give to someone used to interviewing at small startups, but now interviewing at larger companies? I took an unpaid full stack internship role at a new non-profit, and it turned out to be a team completely made of other interns. There isn't a single experienced engineer on the team. I have gone way deeper than originally intended and am now functionally a founding engineer where the founder pretends I'm a lead engineer and calls me an intern. The founder is also hellbent on having the highest development velocity, and sometimes will contribute their own AI-generated code, often bypassing the review process especially for things I'm not comfortable signing off on like an AI-generated TOS and user agreement. I recently learned that the founder is not viewed highly in their local area after a scandal where they were accused of scamming a large sum of money, which is likely why they are doing their free community projects they started now in order to save face. This has backfired, and now people are calling their projects “AI generated schemes” despite the services being completely free. I'm not sure if I should continue contributing to these projects anymore. Since the founder rushes things to get done, walks through legal areas with their AI “lawyer,” and has a bad image, I'm worried about whether my resume will be taken seriously by potential future employers. Should I continue working for this person or is the experience not worth it?

From building internal AI labs to becoming CTO of Brex, James Reggio has helped lead one of the most disciplined AI transformations inside a real financial institution where compliance, auditability, and customer trust actually matter. We sat down with Reggio to unpack Brex's three-pillar AI strategy (corporate, operational, and product AI) [https://www.brex.com/journal/brex-ai-native-operations], how SOP-driven agents beat overengineered RL in ops, why Brex lets employees “build their own AI stack” instead of picking winners [https://www.conductorone.com/customers/brex/], and how a small, founder-heavy AI team is shipping production agents to 40,000+ companies. Reggio also goes deep on Brex's multi-agent “network” architecture, evals for multi-turn systems, agentic coding's second-order effects on codebase understanding, and why the future of finance software looks less like dashboards and more like executive assistants coordinating specialist agents behind the scenes. We discuss: Brex's three-pillar AI strategy: corporate AI for 10x employee workflows, operational AI for cost and compliance leverage, and product AI that lets customers justify Brex as part of their AI strategy to the board Why SOP-driven agents beat overengineered RL in finance ops, and how breaking work into auditable, repeatable steps unlocked faster automation in KYC, underwriting, fraud, and disputes Building an internal AI platform early: LLM gateways, prompt/version management, evals, cost observability, and why platform work quietly became the force multiplier behind everything else Multi-agent “networks” vs single-agent tools: why Brex's EA-style assistant coordinates specialist agents (policy, travel, reimbursements) through multi-turn conversations instead of one-shot tool calls The audit agent pattern: separating detection, judgment, and follow-up into different agents to reduce false negatives without overwhelming finance teams Centralized AI teams without resentment: how Brex avoided “AI envy” by tying work to business impact and letting anyone transfer in if they cared deeply enough Letting employees build their own AI stack: ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini, Cursor vs Windsurf, and why Brex refuses to pick winners in fast-moving tool races Measuring adoption without vanity metrics: why “% of code written by AI” is the wrong KPI and what second-order effects (slop, drift, code ownership) actually matter Evals in the real world: regression tests from ops QA, LLM-as-judge for multi-turn agents, and why integration-style evals break faster than you expect Teaching AI fluency at scale: the user → advocate → builder → native framework, ops-led training, spot bonuses, and avoiding fear-based adoption Re-interviewing the entire engineering org: using agentic coding interviews internally to force hands-on skill upgrades without formal performance scoring Headcount in the age of agents: why Brex grew the business without growing engineering, and why AI amplifies bad architecture as fast as good decisions The future of finance software: why dashboards fade, assistants take over, and agent-to-agent collaboration becomes the real UI — James Reggio X: https://x.com/jamesreggio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesreggio/ Where to find Latent Space X: https://x.com/latentspacepod Substack: https://www.latent.space/ Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction 00:01:24 From Mobile Engineer to CTO: The Founder's Path 00:03:00 Quitters Welcome: Building a Founder-Friendly Culture 00:05:13 The AI Team Structure: 10-Person Startup Within Brex 00:11:55 Building the Brex Agent Platform: Multi-Agent Networks 00:13:45 Tech Stack Decisions: TypeScript, Mastra, and MCP 00:24:32 Operational AI: Automating Underwriting, KYC, and Fraud 00:16:40 The Brex Assistant: Executive Assistant for Every Employee 00:40:26 Evaluation Strategy: From Simple SOPs to Multi-Turn Evals 00:37:11 Agentic Coding Adoption: Cursor, Windsurf, and the Engineering Interview 00:58:51 AI Fluency Levels: From User to Native 01:09:14 The Audit Agent Network: Finance Team Agents in Action 01:03:33 The Future of Engineering Headcount and AI Leverage

In this episode of Molecule to Market, you'll go inside the outsourcing space of the global drug development sector with 20+ CEO/c-suite leaders from the CDMO space, who discuss the optimism levels for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for 2026.   Guests include: Christiane Bardroff, Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Rentschler Biopharma SE Philip Macnabb, Chief Executive Officer at Curia Kaan-Fabian Kekec, Partner at Simon-Kucher‘s Healthcare & Life Sciences division Dirk T. Lange , Chief Executive Officer at Pyramid Pharma Services Bruce Thompson, CTO at Kincell Bio Bill Vincent, Biotech Entrepreneur, CEO, Board Member Derek Hennecke - founder, investor, board member Matthew Bio, CSO at Cambrex & President, Snapdragon Chemistry Stephen Dilly, CEO at Sonoma Biotherapeutics, Bill Humphries, Chief Executive Officer at Medpharm Elisabeth Stampa, CEO at Medichem SL Philip Lee, CEO at GeneFab Kerstin Dolph, SVP of Manufacturing at Charles River Labs Eric Edwards, Chief Executive Officer at Phlow-USA Peter DeYoung, CEO at Piramal Pharma Ian Tzeng, Managing Director at L.E.K. Consulting Adam Siebert, Managing Director at L.E.K. Consulting J.D. Mowery, President CDMO Division Bora Pharmaceuticals Peter Belden President, US, Tjoapack   Molecule to Market is also sponsored by Bora Pharmaceuticals and Charles River Laboratories, and supported by Lead Candidate. Please subscribe, tell your industry colleagues and join us in celebrating and promoting the value and importance of the global life science outsourcing space. We'd also appreciate a positive rating!

What does it take to modernize government for the pace of AI?In this episode of the Washington AI Network Podcast, host Tammy Haddad speaks with Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, about the launch of the US Tech Force and the push to bring the best technologists into government service. The conversation also features Arun Gupta, CEO of the NobleReach Foundation, a founding partner of US Tech Force; Justin Fanelli, CTO of the U.S. Navy; and Christopher Watkins, CMEIO of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Together, they discussed the urgency of skills-based hiring, early-career pipelines, public-private mobility, and how AI is already reshaping mission-critical decision-making across national security and civilian agencies.Recorded before a live audience at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center Theater.

Hubble Network is redefining what's possible in satellite connectivity by connecting standard Bluetooth chips to satellites over 500 kilometers away using advanced antenna arrays and digital beamforming. Founded in 2021 by Alex Haro (co-founder of Life360, which IPO'd in 2019 and grew to 80+ million monthly active users) and Ben Longmier (whose previous company's protocol became Amazon Sidewalk after acquisition), Hubble has launched seven operational satellites via SpaceX and is serving enterprise customers across intermodal logistics, off-grid construction, and outdoor recreation. In a recent episode of BUILDERS, I sat down with Alex to explore how Hubble is building the infrastructure layer for global IoT—positioning as the "T-Mobile of space" rather than competing in device markets. Topics Discussed: The technical architecture behind connecting Bluetooth to satellites: lowering bit rates, optimizing modulation, and deploying hundreds of antennas for digital beamforming SpaceX's rideshare program mechanics and what it actually takes to book satellite launches as a startup Why Hubble deliberately chose to be network infrastructure rather than building hardware for specific verticals The psychology barrier of overcoming Bluetooth's short-range association—even among experienced RF engineers from Google, Amazon, and Starlink Strategic focus decisions when facing unlimited market opportunity across construction, agriculture, mining, logistics, and defense Transparent pricing as a developer-first GTM strategy versus traditional enterprise carrier sales models The transition from Life360's consumer hardware exploration to founding a satellite networking company GTM Lessons For B2B Founders: Choose your competitive layer strategically—infrastructure scales differently than applications: Hubble explicitly positioned as network infrastructure, not a device manufacturer. Alex stated: "We're not focused on building the hardware or devices. We very much view ourselves as a networking company." This allows enterprise customers to integrate Hubble connectivity into their existing devices with just a software change to the Bluetooth chip. The result: each B2B customer can deploy hundreds or thousands of devices to their end users, creating exponential reach. For founders building horizontal technology, consider whether competing at the infrastructure layer—even if less immediately tangible—creates superior unit economics and market leverage versus building full-stack solutions. Developer-first positioning requires operational commitment, not just marketing: Hubble's pricing transparency wasn't a marketing tactic—Alex described it as "hardcore to our ethos" because their goal is connecting billions of devices. They explicitly modeled after Twilio and Stripe rather than Verizon or AT&T, making it possible for engineers to validate unit economics independently and start free trials without sales conversations. This wasn't debated internally because both co-founders and the early team aligned on this approach. For infrastructure companies targeting massive scale, half-measures on developer experience will fail—the entire go-to-market motion must support self-service validation and transparent economics. Constraint forces clarity—unlimited TAM demands disciplined ICP filtering: Despite viable use cases across construction, oil and gas, mining, agriculture, supply chain, and defense, Alex emphasized: "In the early stages, focus is the most important thing. Every hour matters and being able to focus matters quite a bit and defocusing yourself can really hurt." Hubble's "sexy hook of Bluetooth to space" generates inbound interest across industries, creating constant pressure to expand. Their active debate centers on which industry leaders are "solving important use cases" with existing customer bases of "hundreds, if not thousands of customers." For founders with horizontal technology, resist opportunistic deals—filter aggressively for partners who provide concentrated distribution rather than one-off deployments. Physical demonstration collapses credibility timelines for counterintuitive technology: Hubble faced skepticism even from sophisticated RF engineers because of hardwired associations between Bluetooth and short range. Alex noted: "Some of the investors that joined our A or B, they passed on our seed and A because they thought, well, I believe in Alex, but is this really physically possible?" Post-launch with working satellites, the conversation shifted from "is this possible?" to commercial terms. The lesson isn't just "show don't tell"—it's that for technically improbable innovations, rushing to demonstrable proof compresses months of explanation into minutes of validation. Founders should potentially sacrifice feature breadth to reach a single, undeniable proof point faster. Operational domain expertise reveals infrastructure gaps others can't see: Alex spent years as CTO of Life360 attempting to build connected hardware for families—smart pet collars, GPS watches for kids, fall detectors—but existing networks had "super short battery life, very bulky, no global coverage, way too expensive." He invested in Ben's previous mesh network company and became a close advisor before co-founding Hubble. The insight wasn't theoretical—it came from failing repeatedly to solve the problem with existing infrastructure. Founders should treat operational frustrations in previous roles as proprietary market intelligence: you've already paid the learning cost that competitors will need years to acquire. // Sponsors: Front Lines — We help B2B tech companies launch, manage, and grow podcasts that drive demand, awareness, and thought leadership. www.FrontLines.io The Global Talent Co. — We help tech startups find, vet, hire, pay, and retain amazing marketing talent that costs 50-70% less than the US & Europe. www.GlobalTalent.co // Don't Miss: New Podcast Series — How I Hire Senior GTM leaders share the tactical hiring frameworks they use to build winning revenue teams. Hosted by Andy Mowat, who scaled 4 unicorns from $10M to $100M+ ARR and launched Whispered to help executives find their next role. Subscribe here: https://open.spotify.com/show/53yCHlPfLSMFimtv0riPyM

Product management is being rewritten in real time, and AI is doing the editing.Matt sits down with Jerel Velarde, product manager at Full Scale Ventures, to discuss how AI is reshaping the relationship between PMs and engineering. We dive into what Jerel calls prompt prototyping, how expectations for product velocity have changed, and why the best PMs today are blending design, strategy, and code—all while staying laser-focused on validation over output.If you're a founder, CTO, or product leader trying to navigate the new frontier of product development, this one's for you.Key Discussion PointsIs “Product Manager” even the right title anymore?The new definition of PM: focused on outcomes, not artifactsHow PMs are using AI to validate fasterHow to lead product in a startup vs. a scale-upHow to think about MVPs when AI can build anythingResources & LinksConnect with Jerel on LinkedInProduct Driven - Get the BookSubscribe to the Product Driven NewsletterWhat Smart CTOs Are Doing Differently With Offshore Teams in 2025Subscribe to the Global Talent Sprint

THIS is how you keep your infrastructure costs from spiraling out of control. Today, we're talking to Albert Strasheim, CTO at Rippling. We discuss the cost crisis facing CTOs in the age of AI, how he reduced infrastructure costs by 30% while growing traffic by 25%, and why holding back feedback is actually the most selfish thing a leader can do. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!  To learn more about Rippling, check out their website here.

An AI chatbot that hallucinates is annoying. A robot or physical AI that hallucinates can cause injury or death. Burkhard Boeckem, CTO of Hexagon, explains why the bar for physical AI is fundamentally higher than digital AI, and what it takes to deploy robots that actually work in the real world. All this in CXOTalk episode 905.In this conversation, we cover:→ What physical AI actually means (and why it's different from the AI you use every day)→ Why digital twins are the foundation for training robots safely→ The gap between impressive YouTube demos and robots that create economic value→ Functional safety: the "big theme" coming in 2026→ Cloud vs. edge computing for autonomous systems→ Where robotics deployments fail (hint: it's not the technology)→ What boards get wrong about robotics investments→ Timeline: when will we see real autonomy?Key insight: "Many boards overestimate the speed and underestimate the system work. It's not a software rollout—it's a complex engineering system."Burkhard's prediction: Autonomy in constrained environments is 1-3 years away. The "butler humanoid" that does everything? Still a ways off.⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 Introduction: What is Physical AI?02:06 Digital Twins as the Foundation03:23 Understanding Ground Truth06:42 Digital AI vs. Physical AI: Safety and Reliability08:47 Real-World Business Applications10:48 Security and Functional Safety14:57 CES Announcements and Industry State20:01 Cloud vs. Edge Computing in Robotics22:32 Regulations for Physical AI25:10 Addressing Bias in Physical AI27:51 Timeline to Autonomy31:46 Creating Economic Value Beyond Demos33:26 Where Robotics Deployments Fail35:59 The Future of Humanoid Form Factors38:38 The Humanoid as User Interface40:06 Digital Twins for Robotics42:36 Fleet Collaboration and Swarm Intelligence43:46 What Boards Get Wrong About Robotics45:18 The Future of Work46:32 Responsible Deployment47:15 Manager AIs for Worker AIs?48:16 Looking Ahead: Next 2-3 Years49:37 Core Technical Challenges————————————————

In our latest episode, co-hosts Robby and Tim talk with Julien Mangeard, Co-Founder of open source backup platform Plakar. Plakar's open source, also called plakar, has 1.5K stars on GitHub and provides a backup solution powered by open source, immutable data store Kloset.The podcast discusses why data backup remains a critical but unsolved problem, especially as the number of data sources has exploded across SaaS applications, cloud databases, and on-prem systems. For CISOs and CTOs, this complexity makes it increasingly difficult to ensure everything is done “the right way.” The core argument is that the only truly safe approach is maintaining an independent, secure copy of your data - without vendor lock-in and with guaranteed long-term access, sometimes for decades. End-to-end encryption, immutable storage, and compatibility with different storage backends are emphasized as essential foundations rather than optional features.The conversation contrasts hype-driven cloud-only backup companies like Eon with Plakar's back-to-basics approach: an open source, resilience-focused system designed to handle large and diverse datasets securely. Built around an immutable storage engine (Kloset), Plakar aims to let individuals or small teams manage their own backups while also supporting collaboration at scale. The founder's motivation is rooted in personal experience- having previously lost critical data as a CTO - which reinforced the need for security, openness, and community involvement to continuously add and validate new data sources in a rapidly evolving data landscape.

Greg Foster, Co-founder and CTO of Graphite (recently acquired by Cursor), joins the podcast to discuss the massive shift occurring in software engineering: the move from maximizing "Inner Loop" speed (writing code) to solving "Outer Loop" bottlenecks (reviewing, testing, merging). With AI generating code faster than humans can review it, the traditional Pull Request model is under pressure. Greg explains how "Stacked PRs" and agentic review workflows are essential for high-performing teams, and why he believes the role of the software engineer is evolving into an "architect of agents." We also cover the strategic rationale behind the Graphite/Cursor merger, the controversial "PRs per engineer" metric, and why he predicts that by 2029, manual code writing will be near zero—but demand for engineers will be higher than ever.

Doug Green, Publisher of Technology Reseller News, spoke with Mark A. Daley, CEO of ROLM, and Cole McKinley, CTO of USX Cyber, about the Department of Defense's phased enforcement of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements and what it means for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Defense Industrial Base. With CMMC now actively enforced, hundreds of thousands of subcontractors—many without dedicated security teams—must demonstrate compliance to continue working with prime contractors. Daley stressed the urgency of the moment, noting that delays are over. “The government is no longer kicking the can down the road,” he said. “CMMC exists to protect the defense industrial base, and SMBs are now squarely in scope.” To address this challenge, ROLM and USX Cyber have partnered on an integrated, SMB-focused platform built around USX Cyber's Guardian solution. McKinley explained that Guardian was designed to make compliance achievable without stitching together multiple tools. “We built Guardian to be a one-stop platform that makes CMMC approachable, affordable, and audit-ready for SMBs,” he said, adding that the platform satisfies 83 of the 110 required NIST 800-171 controls while providing 24×7 monitoring, evidence management, and guided compliance workflows. Daley highlighted that the solution goes beyond certification prep, combining continuous security operations, governance, and AI-driven automation to reduce long-term cost and complexity. “This is not a one-and-done, check-the-box exercise,” he said. “You have to be ready not just for today's audit, but for the one coming three years from now.” The discussion underscored why CMMC represents both a major risk and a significant opportunity for MSPs and channel partners serving regulated industries. Learn more at https://rolm.ai/ and https://usxcyber.com/.

Plus: Airbnb appoints former Meta AI executive as CTO. And Coca-Cola creates a new chief digital officer position. Julie Chang hosts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The industry has pivoted from scripting to automation to orchestration – and now to systems that can reason. Today we explore what AI agents mean for infrastructure with Chris Wade, Co-Founder and CTO of Itential. We also dive into the brownfield reality, the potential for vendor-specific LLMs trained on proprietary knowledge, and advice for the... Read more »

In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview Ole Lensmar, co-founder and CTO of Testkube.Ole shares his unique perspective growing up across Germany, the US, and Sweden, and how those experiences shaped his adaptability and approach to entrepreneurship. He reflects on the differences between launching tech startups in Europe versus the United States, and why he believes the US remains a more mature market for scaling innovation. From his first ventures in the mid-90s to the creation of SoapUI, Ole explains how his passion for coding and solving practical problems led him to build tools that filled gaps in the QA and software testing space.Ole dives into the origins of Testkube, explaining its mission to decouple testing from CI/CD pipelines and empower QA teams with a centralized, cloud-native platform. He discusses the open-source model, the challenges of enterprise sales, and the evolution of his ideal customer profile. Ole also shares insights on how Testkube differentiates itself from CI/CD tools and cloud execution vendors, enabling companies to run unlimited tests at scale without infrastructure limitations.Explore how Ole Lensmar turned coding challenges into software solutions and shaped modern QA practices in this episode of The First Customer!Guest Info:Testkubehttps://testkube.io/Ole Lensmar's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/olensmar/Connect with Jay on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jayaigner/The First Customer Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@thefirstcustomerpodcastThe First Customer podcast websitehttps://www.firstcustomerpodcast.comFollow The First Customer on LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/the-first-customer-podcast/

In this episode, Sahaj Garg, CTO of wispr.ai, joins SE Radio host Robert Blumen to talk about the challenges of building low-latency AI applications. They discuss latency's effect on consumer behavior as well as interactive applications. The conversation explores how to measure latency and how scale impacts it. Then Sahaj and Robert shift to themes around AI, including whether "AI" means LLMs or something broader, as they look at latency requirements and challenges around subtypes of AI applications. The final part of the episode explores techniques for managing latency in AI: speed vs accuracy trade-offs; speed vs cost; latency vs cost; choosing the right model; reducing quantization; distillation; and guessing + validating.

Is AI really the new UI, or is that just another tech buzzphrase? Or ... is AI actually EVERY user interface now?In this episode of TechFirst, host John Koetsier sits down with Mark Vange, CEO & founder of Automate.ly and former CTO at Electronic Arts, to unpack what happens when interfaces stop being fixed and start being generated on the fly.They explore:• Why generative AI makes it cheaper to create custom interfaces per user• How conversational, auditory, and adaptive experiences redefine “UI”• When consistency still matters (cars, safety systems, frontline work)• Why AI doesn't replace workers — but radically reshapes workflows• Whether browsers should become AI-native or stay neutral canvases• The unresolved risks around AI agents, payments, and controlFrom hospitals using AI to speak Haitian Creole, to compliance forms that drop from hours to minutes, this conversation shows how every experience can become intelligent, contextual, and helpful.

What happens when one of the toughest challenges in vascular medicine—severe arterial calcification—meets breakthrough engineering? In this episode of Med Tech Gurus, we sit down with Dr. Robert Chisena, Co-Founder and CTO of Amplitude Vascular Systems (AVS). With a PhD in mechanical engineering and a portfolio of five patents, Robert has dedicated his career to tackling one of the most stubborn barriers in cardiovascular health: hardened arterial blockages that resist traditional interventions. From the labs at the University of Michigan to the founding of AVS, Robert shares how he and his team are developing a next-generation intravascular lithotripsy platform designed to fracture calcium safely and effectively—combining the familiarity of angioplasty with the power of shockwave technology. Along the way, he offers lessons on building IP-rich startups, fostering innovation cultures, securing clinical adoption, and navigating the high-stakes path from spinout to commercialization Whether you're an engineer, entrepreneur, or investor in medtech, this conversation shines a light on the strategies, setbacks, and breakthroughs required to transform a complex clinical challenge into a scalable, life-saving solution.

Erez Druk, CEO of Freed, was motivated to bring technology to the healthcare environment based on his wife's experience as a family medicine doctor.  Freed was founded to alleviate the provider's administrative burdens by leveraging AI to streamline pre-visit preparation, billing, and EHR maintenance.  The focus is on small and rural private practices, giving them tools to save time, reduce costs, and maintain their independence. Erez explains, "So the need that I identified, together with my wife Gabi, was that clinicians need more time in their lives. They want to spend less time on this admin work and more time again with their patients and families. And that was it, thinking about how we can use these new technologies and feel better products that really take care of that, help clinicians be happier and freer, hence the name Freed. Yes, super proud now to be supporting more than 25,000 clinicians who will use Freed to do a lot of this work for them. So that's how the need was identified for years of watching the pain, let's say."   "But my background is, so I studied mathematics and computer science back in Israel. So I'm originally from Israel. In the Technion, we like to think of Technion as the MIT of Israel. So I studied there as an undergrad, and then I moved to the Bay Area to work for Facebook as an engineer. I was very lucky to start on the same day on the same team with this guy named Andrey, who, 10 years later, after lots of convincing, is my co-founder and CTO. So he is the real technical brain behind what we're doing here. So I worked as an engineer and tech lead at Facebook, and then I started working in my first startup called UrbanLeap." "And with EHR integration- I'm going a bit into the weeds here- but EHR integration is a big problem in healthcare that is mostly unsolved. So, we built an agent, which we call "EHR Push," that goes into the EHR and, like a human, finds the right fields, navigates to the right places, and puts the note and everything in the EHR for the clinician. And it's working amazingly. It saves clinicians a lot of time. And that's another example of how we apply this agentic AI to solve more and more complex problems for the clinician, keep it simple, and just save as much time as we can for clinicians." #FreedAI  #AIscribes #HealthcareAI #ClinicianBurnout #HealthTech #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareAI #MedicalDocumentation #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalHealth #PhysicianWellness #HealthcareEfficiency #MedTech GetFreed.AI Listen to the podcast here  

Erez Druk, CEO of Freed, was motivated to bring technology to the healthcare environment based on his wife's experience as a family medicine doctor.  Freed was founded to alleviate the provider's administrative burdens by leveraging AI to streamline pre-visit preparation, billing, and EHR maintenance.  The focus is on small and rural private practices, giving them tools to save time, reduce costs, and maintain their independence. Erez explains, "So the need that I identified, together with my wife Gabi, was that clinicians need more time in their lives. They want to spend less time on this admin work and more time again with their patients and families. And that was it, thinking about how we can use these new technologies and feel better products that really take care of that, help clinicians be happier and freer, hence the name Freed. Yes, super proud now to be supporting more than 25,000 clinicians who will use Freed to do a lot of this work for them. So that's how the need was identified for years of watching the pain, let's say."   "But my background is, so I studied mathematics and computer science back in Israel. So I'm originally from Israel. In the Technion, we like to think of Technion as the MIT of Israel. So I studied there as an undergrad, and then I moved to the Bay Area to work for Facebook as an engineer. I was very lucky to start on the same day on the same team with this guy named Andrey, who, 10 years later, after lots of convincing, is my co-founder and CTO. So he is the real technical brain behind what we're doing here. So I worked as an engineer and tech lead at Facebook, and then I started working in my first startup called UrbanLeap." "And with EHR integration- I'm going a bit into the weeds here- but EHR integration is a big problem in healthcare that is mostly unsolved. So, we built an agent, which we call "EHR Push," that goes into the EHR and, like a human, finds the right fields, navigates to the right places, and puts the note and everything in the EHR for the clinician. And it's working amazingly. It saves clinicians a lot of time. And that's another example of how we apply this agentic AI to solve more and more complex problems for the clinician, keep it simple, and just save as much time as we can for clinicians." #FreedAI  #AIscribes #HealthcareAI #ClinicianBurnout #HealthTech #AIinHealthcare #HealthcareAI #MedicalDocumentation #HealthcareInnovation #DigitalHealth #PhysicianWellness #HealthcareEfficiency #MedTech GetFreed.AI Download the transcript here  

Leaders may shy away from thinking about insider threats because it means assuming the worst about colleagues and friends. But technology executives do need to confront this problem because insider attacks are prevalent—a recent study claims that in 2024, 83% of organizations experienced at least one—and on the rise. Moreover, AI and deepfakes vastly enhance... Read more »

Has organizational change redefined your job role? If it hasn't yet, it will at some point. Whether acknowledged or ignored, every organizational change at a company impacts you. This is broader than just layoffs and more employees under a single manager. What are the organizational changes we might see, and what can we do to stand out and stay the course? This week in episode 355 we're joined by guest Ryan Conley. Listen closely as we uncover different patterns of organizational change and provide practical tips to take action when those changes happen. Ryan helps us understand the corporate lifecycle and how to reframe this concept to understand where we are in the career lifecycle. You'll hear from Ryan's personal experience why the most resilient (and successful) technologists can identify and fill the gaps left after an organizational change whether that means working for a new boss, joining a different team, or changing job roles. Original Recording Date: 11-13-2025 Topics – Framing Our Focus on Organizational Change, Observations and Patterns, Defining the Career Lifecycle, When Colleagues Leave the Company, Layoff Resources, Working for a New Boss, Becoming Part of a Different Team, Shifting Job Roles or Job Level Changes, Parting Thoughts 2:58 – Framing Our Focus on Organizational Change Ryan Conley is a global field principal with 11p years of technical pre-sales experience. Before this, Ryan accumulated 13 years of systems administration in industries like education, finance, and consulting. In a recent episode of our show, guest Milin Desai compared organizations to living, breathing organisms that change. Nick posits that we don't always think changes at our company will or can affect us as employees, but they do. Ryan references Aswath Damodaran's writings about organizational change through the frame of a corporate lifecycle. We can relate by considering where our company might be in that lifecycle. As we experience the impacts of organizational change, Ryan encourages us to consider where we are in our career lifecycle. 4:19 – Observations and Patterns We see organizational change in different ways. What are some of the things Ryan has seen that he would classify as organizational changes? Let's take a step back, past the current headlines, and look at the wider industry. Companies are growing inorganically (through mergers and acquisitions) or organically through investments in R&D (research and development), for example. Ryan has worked with companies that grew by acquiring 2 new companies each year to give an example. When you're on the IT side of the acquiring company, there is a lot involved in the process like integrating e-mail systems, networks, and CRM systems. This process also involves getting 2 teams to work together. If one team needs to move from Office 365 to Gmail, it can be a big adjustment to employees' daily workflow. The acquiring and acquired companies may have the same or very different cultures. In some cases, a company will want to acquire others with similar cultures, while some may not be concerned about the culture and choose to focus on the intellectual property (products or services, knowledge of how to build or manufacture something, etc.) of the company to be acquired. Nick says the experience for people on the side of the acquiring company and that of the company getting acquired can be quite different. Nick worked in IT for a manufacturing company for about 9 years, and over the course of his time there saw the company acquire several other companies. Nick usually had to go assess technology systems of companies that were going to be acquired and figure out how to integrate the systems in a way that would best service the user base. From what Nick has seen, some employees from the acquired company were integrated into the acquiring company, while others were eventually no longer with the company. Anxiety levels about an acquisition may be different depending on whether you work for the acquiring company or the acquired company. “The people are just as much of the intellectual property of the company as, in many cases, the actual assets themselves. And in some cases, that culture just isn't a fit.” – Ryan Conley Ryan shares the example of someone he knew who left after another company acquired their employer because the culture was not a fit. Losing a key leader or a key subject matter expert after an acquisition could create a retention problem because others may want to follow them or start looking elsewhere. "So how do you protect the culture internally? How do you integrate a different culture in? But also, how do you kind of protect the long-term viability of the team as individuals, first and foremost, but then also the organization long-term? Depending on the intellectual property the acquiring company is after, we don't usually know the level of due diligence completed to understand the key resources or subject matter experts who must be retained for longer-term success. Ryan encourages to imagine being the CTO or VP of Research and Development at a specific company that is suddenly acquired. People in these roles drive the direction of the technology investment for their company today as well as years to come. After being acquired, these people might be asked to work in lower levels of leadership with different titles, which could result in “title shock” and require some humility to accept. This scenario is a leadership change that happens as a result of an acquisition, but we might see leadership changes outside of acquisitions. Some leadership positions get created because of a specific need, others are eliminated for specific reasons, and some get shifted down or changed. Each of these changes has a downstream impact on individual contributors. Ryan talks about the positive impacts of leadership changes and gives the example of when a former manager was promoted to senior manager and allowed that person to hire a manager underneath him. There isn't always internal mobility, but leadership changes could create these opportunities for individuals. Nick talks about the potential impact of a change in our direct boss / manager. If a boss who was difficult to work for leaves the company, getting a different boss could make a huge positive impact on our daily work lives. Similarly, we might have a great boss leave the company or take a different role, requiring that we learn to work for someone else who may operate very differently. Ryan tells us he has worked for some amazing leaders and says a leader is not the same as a manager. Ryan cites an example of getting promoted into a role that allowed him to have more strategic conversations about the focus of a team with his boss. We can choose to mentor members of our team so that when opportunities arise from structural change, they are equipped to seize those opportunities. Change can be viewed as an opportunity. A company's overall priorities may have changed. Shifting priorities may require a company to operate very differently than it has in the past, which can cause changes to people, processes, and technology. Nick references a conversation with Milin Desai on constrained planning from Episode 351. Milin encourages regularly asking the question “is this still how we want to operate?” The way a company or team operated in the past may not be the best way to do it in the future. Changes to operations may or may not create opportunities for our career. Ryan loves this mindset of reassessing, which could apply to the company, a team, a business unit, the technology decision, etc. “I love the mindset of ‘what was best, why did we do it, and why was it best then?' And then the follow up question is ‘is that still best today?' And it's ok if the answer is no because that leads to the next question – ‘how should we be doing it today…and why?'” – Ryan Conley, commenting on Milin Desai's concept of constrained planning Ryan talks about companies reassessing their core focus. We've seen some companies divest out of a particular space, for example. Nick says this reassessment could result in a decision to pursue an emerging market which could lead to the creation of a new business unit and new jobs / opportunities for people. It could also go in the other direction where the company decides to shut down an entire business unit. 15:30 – Defining the Career Lifecycle Going back to the analogy Ryan shared about corporate lifecycle, we can reframe this and look at the career lifecycle. “Where are you at in your individual career journey? Where are you at in that lifecycle?” – Ryan Conley People close to retirement may be laser focused on doing well in their current role and hesitant to make a change. Others earlier in the career may want to do more, go deeper, or be more open to making a change. Ryan recounts speaking to a peer who is working on a master's degree in AI. “With challenge comes opportunity, so do you want to try something new? And it's ok if the answer's no. But if there is an opportunity to try something new and you're willing to invest in yourself and in your company, I think that's worth considering.” – Ryan Conley We've talked to a number of former guests who got in on a technology wave at just the right time, which led to new opportunities and an entirely new career trajectory. Becoming aware of and developing expertise in emerging technologies can lead to new opportunities within your company (i.e. being able to influence the use of that technology within your company). “I think as technologists, whether you're a business leader over technology, whether you're day in / day out in technology as an individual contributor…emerging technology brings new challenges, just with a learning curve…. There's hard skills that have to be learned. You get beyond the education it's then also sharing with the peers around you…. So, what was best yesterday? Is it still best today? And tomorrow, we'll ask the question again.” – Ryan Conley Ryan says this goes back to our analogy. Should we be doing certain things manually now, or is it better to rely on tools that can help automate the process? If we go back for a second to Ryan's previous mention of integrating the technology stack for different companies, being part of the integration process might enable someone to learn an entire new technology stack. We might have to assess what is best between Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, for example, and develop the transition plan to move from one to the other and perhaps even capture the business case for using both within a company. To Ryan, this is an example of seeing a problem or gap and working to fill it. “If you want to be just a long-standing contributor to the team and your individual organization, I think it's worth calling out…those who stick around longer and get promoted faster are the ones who see a gap and they plug it.” – Ryan Conley Ryan shares a personal story about a co-worker who attended a Microsoft conference on their own dime. This person worked over a weekend to setup a solution that saved the team significant time doing desktop imaging. But then, Ryan's colleague took it a step further and trained the team on how to use it. Nick highlights the fact that we should remember to document our accomplishments to keep track of how we've changed as a result. We can use this information when searching for new opportunities or even in conversations with our leader. 20:34 – When Colleagues Leave the Company Another form of organizational change we've seen is outsourcing specific business functions. Daniel Paluszek spoke about companies outsourcing functions outside of their core business in Episode 338. If IT is outside the core business, a company might decide to outsource it. It doesn't mean that's the right decision, but it could be a possibility. Companies may outsource other functions like HR and payroll as well to give other examples. If IT was internal and it gets outsourced, that is an organizational change and will affect some people. Similarly, insourcing a function which was previously outsourced will have an impact. Ryan has learned in the last few years that some people are more adaptable to change than others. “And it's not just looking at the silver lining. It's recognizing the change. Maybe there's a why, and maybe there isn't a why. Or maybe the why hasn't been clearly articulated to you. Being able to understand, what does this mean to me…. As an organization do I still believe in them? Do I still believe in the technology as a technologist? Do I still enjoy the people I work with? Those are all questions that come up, but ultimately you have to decide…is this change I want to roll with? Is this change I don't want to roll with?” – Ryan Conley To illustrate, Ryan gives the example of a peer who left an organization after seeing a change they didn't like in order to shift the focus of their role from technology operations to more of a site reliability engineering focus. While this type of change that results in a talented individual leaving an organization can be difficult for teammates to accept and for a manager to backfill, these types of changes that are beneficial to someone's career should be celebrated. When we assess whether the changes made at a company are those we can accept and roll with, we can first make sure we understand what we are to focus on as individuals operating within the organization. We have an opportunity to relay that to other members of our team for the benefit of the overall team culture and to build up those who do not adapt to change well. Understanding organizational changes and what they mean for individuals may take repetition. While Ryan understands that he responds well to change, he remains empathetic to those folks to need to hear the message a few times to fully understand. Nick says we can learn from the circumstances surrounding someone leaving the company. For those we know, what interested them about taking a role at another company? Perhaps they took a role you've never thought about for yourself that could be something you pursue in the future. If a member of your team leaves the company, sometimes their role gets backfilled, and other times it may not. If the role is backfilled, you get to learn from a new team member. If not, the responsibilities of the departing team member will likely be divided among other team members. Though it would result in extra work, you could ask to take on the responsibility that would both increase your skill set and make you more valuable to the company. When Ryan worked for a hedge fund, the senior vice president left the company. This person was managing the company's backups. Ryan had experience in this area from a previous role at a consulting firm and volunteered to do it. Shortly after taking on this responsibility for backups, he found that restoring backups from tape and needing to order new servers posed a huge risk to the company in a disaster scenario (i.e. would take weeks to restore everything). Ryan was able to write up a business plan to address the business continuity risk and got it approved by the COO. “Being able to see a gap and fill it is the central theme, and that came from change.” – Ryan Conley Ryan says if you're willing to do a little more work, it is worth the effort to see a gap and work to fill it. 27:34 – Layoff Resources We acknowledged some of the byproducts of organizational change like layoffs and flatter organizations in the beginning of our discussion. We are not sidestepping the fact that layoffs happen, but that is not the primary focus of our discussion today. Here are a few things that may help if you find yourself being impacted by a layoff: First, know that you are not alone in experiencing this. “When a layoff hits, it's important to remember…it's extremely rare that that's going to be personal. Once it's firmly accepted, look for the opportunity in a forced career change. It's there.” – thought shared with us by Megan Wills Check out our Layoff Resources Page to find some of the most impactful conversations on the topic of layoffs on our show to date. We also have our Career Uncertainty Action Guide with a checklist of the 5 pillars of career resilience as well as reusable AI prompts to help you think through topics like navigating a recent layoff, financial planning, or managing your mindset and being overwhelmed. 28:43 – Working for a New Boss Let's move on to section 2 of our discussion. If you're still at a company after an organization change has happened, we want to talk through some of the ways you can take control, take action, and succeed. We want to share a thought from former guest Daniel Lemire as we begin this discussion: “Companies are the most complicated machine man has ever built. We build great machines to accomplish as set of goals, objectives, or outputs. The better you can understand the value the company delivers…the faster you can understand where you fit in that equation. If you don't understand where you contribute to that value, there's work to be done. That work may be on you, may be on your skills, or perhaps it's your understanding of where you fit into that equation.” – Daniel Lemire Let's say that you're impacted by an organizational change and will be working for a new boss. What can we control, and how to we make a positive impact? Ryan says we can be an asset to the team and support larger business goals by first giving some thought to who the new boss is as a person. Try to get to know them on a personal level. Ryan wants to get to know a new boss and be able to ask them difficult questions. Similarly, he wants a boss to be able to ask him difficult questions. Meeting a new boss face-to-face is ideal if that is possible, but this can be more difficult to arrange if your boss lives a large distance from you. Make sure you understand the larger organization's mission statement. As individual contributors, we may lose sight of this over time. “If that is important to the team and the culture, I think it's worth making sure you're aligned with that. I think it's worth understanding your direct manager's alignment toward that and then having that kind of fuel the discussions…. What are you expecting of me? Here are my expectations of you as my manager. Where do you see change in the next 6, 12, 18 months?” – Ryan Conley, on using mission to drive conversations with your manager A manager may not have all the answers to your questions. They could also be inheriting a new team. Ryan encourages us to ask how we can help our manager to develop the working relationship further. This is something he learned from a previous boss who would close every 1-1 with “is there anything else I can do to help?” Nick says a manager may be able to contextualize the organization's mission statement for the team and its members better than we can do for ourselves. For example, the mission and focus of the team may have changed from what it once was. A new manager should (and likely will) set the tone. Nick would classify Ryan's suggestions above as seeking to learn and understand how your new manager operates. Back in Episode 84 guest Brad Pinkston talked about the importance of wanting to know how his manager likes to communicate and be communicated with. This is about understanding your manager's communication preferences and can in some ways help set expectations. A manager may be brief when responding to text messages, for example, because they are in a lot of meetings. But if they tell you this ahead of time, it removes some assumptions about any hidden meanings in the response. Ryan gives the example of an executive who used to respond with Y for yes and N for no to e-mails when answering questions. We can also do research on a new boss in advance. We can look on LinkedIn to understand the person's background and work history. We can speak to other people inside the company to see what they know about the person. Ideally, get a perspective from someone who has worked for the manager in the past because a former direct report might be able to share some of the context about communication preferences and other lessons learned from working with that specific manager. We can also try to be mindful of how the manager's position may have changed due to organizational flattening. They may have moved from managing managers to having 15 direct reports who are individual contributors, for example. “Their time might be stretched thinner, and they're just trying to navigate this new leadership organizational change with you.” – Ryan Conley The manager may or may not have wanted the situation they are currently in. How is your boss measured by their boss, and how can you help them hit those metrics? You may not want to ask this in the first 1-1, but you should ask. Ryan suggests asking your boss what success looks like in their role. You can also ask what success for the team looks like in a year and what it will take to get there. Based on the answer, it might mean less 1-1s but more in depth each time, more independence than you want, or even more responsibility than you wanted or expected. Ultimately, by asking these questions, you're trying to help the team be more successful. We want our manager to understand that we are a competent member of the team. Understanding what success looks like allows us to communicate with our manager in a way that demonstrates we are doing a good job. Some of the time in our 1-1s with a manager will be spent communicating the things we have completed or on which we are actively working. We need to demonstrate our ability to meet deadlines, for example. Daniel Lemire shared this book recommendation with us – The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter. It's a great resource for new leaders but also excellent for individual contributors. Ryan tells us to keep track of our wins over the course of any given year (something that was taught to him) so we have it ready for performance reviews. He encourages keeping a journal that we start in January. Keep track not only of what you did but the outcomes your work delivered and the success metrics. For example, if you gave a presentation, note the number of people present. The company culture may have some impact on the language you need to use to word your accomplishments (i.e. using “I” statements). “I didn't want to be the only person who could do it. I'd rather learn it and then enable 5 other people to do it. And then those 5 people go do it, and that is a much bigger outcome.” – Ryan Conley, on the outcome of efforts at work and being a force multiplier Have a journal of the things you do at work that you update consistently. This could be screenshots, a written description, etc. “What are the metrics that you should be tracking? Mentally think about that because…when you have your annual review, you're going to miss something. You're going to miss a detail. You're going to miss an entire line item versus if you started in January and you just get into the practice of ‘I did this.' And then when you're having your first annual review with this brand-new manager, it's far easier to have a more successful conversation.” – Ryan Conley, on the importance of documenting our work in a journal somewhere Ryan reminds us it is ok to use generative AI tools to check our work. Use multiple different tools to get suggestions on how you might want to phrase the outcomes you delivered and the metrics you tracked. Nick says we should document our accomplishments as Ryan mentioned, but we should make sure we keep a copy of them so that we do not need to rewrite them from nothing in the event we are impacted by a layoff. If the journal containing all of your accomplishments is sitting in the corporate OneDrive or cloud storage, you will lose access to it when you leave the company. Be sure you have a disaster recovery plan for your accomplishments! The new boss is probably going to have team calls of some kind. While what you experience may vary from this, in Nick's experience the first time a manager hosts a call with their team they will share some career background, how they operate, and give team members some idea of what to expect. This kickoff team call usually happens before 1-1s begin. Listen really carefully when this first team call happens. Write down some questions you can ask the boss in that first 1-1 conversation. The manager will have to lead that first 1-1 conversation a little bit, but coming into it prepared with questions will be far easier than trying to think of questions in the moment. A simple follow up question Ryan suggests is how the manager wants to handle time off. Is there a shared team calendar, a formal process, carte blanche, specific blackout dates to be aware of, etc.? We can handle the simple things about how this new manager operates and what their values are early on in our working relationship. Ryan tells us he learned far too late to ask how managers handle promotion / raise / career growth conversations. One of Ryan's past managers scheduled a quarterly checkpoint to specifically talk about career growth items. Ryan was in charge of making the agenda in advance, and his manager would come prepared to talk about each agenda item. It's ok to ask for these regular career discussions. If your manager has a large team, these may be less frequent than otherwise. Ask the manager about the best way for both you and them to come into these discussions prepared. Nick likes the idea of an individual owning the agenda for these conversations. Nick tells us about a manager who sent out 1-1s to team members and provided a menu of options for the types of things that could be discussed during the 1-1 time in the body of the meeting invitation. It helps give people ideas for things to discuss but also lets them know the overall intention of the 1-1s. For the very busy manager, we could ask to use a specific 1-1 to talk about career-related items rather than in a separate meeting (if needed). Nick mentions a recent episode of Unicorns in the Breakroom Podcast in which Amy Lewis talks about using a shared document for 1-1s to hold an employee accountable for bringing agenda items and to document what transpired in previous conversations. Along the lines of trying to be helpful to a new manager, ask how they want to handle team calls when on vacation. Will team calls be cancelled when the manager is on vacation, or are they looking for team member volunteers to host these calls? This may be an opportunity to step up and do more if you want that, especially if you want to gain some leadership experience. Ryan tells us at one point he was a team lead, and part of his responsibility was leading team calls in his manager's absence. This involved leading the call, taking notes, and taking action on follow up items from the meeting. We should bring up time sensitive items to the boss quickly, especially if something needs attention. Communicate things that have a financial impact to the company (a subscription renewal, drop dead due date to exit a datacenter facility, point at which access to something will be lost, etc.). Do not assume your manager knows if you are unsure! Ryan recounts a story from earlier in his career when a CFO wanted a specific number of users added to the Exchange server. There were several cascading impacts of completing this task that went well beyond the scope of licensing and involved procuring more hardware. Ryan took the time to explain the implications. “This is a simple ask. You want the answer to be yes, but I'm going to give you more context…. There is a deadline. I want to make sure we hit it as a team, but there are some implications to your ask. I want to make sure you're fully aware.” – Ryan Conley, on giving more context to leadership Share what you have in flight and the priorities of those items. The new manager may want you to change the priority level on some things. 45:21 – Becoming Part of a Different Team You could end up working on a completely different team of peers as a result of organizational change. You might work on the same team as people you already know but might not. You may or may not work for the same boss. Ryan and Nick have experienced very large reorganization events and ended up in different divisions than they were previously. Ryan had a change of manager, change of a peer he worked closely with, and joined a new team of individuals reporting up to the same boss all at once. “A little bit of the tough lesson is you go into a bigger pond…. I think it's ok to take a moment and pause. For me, I had to kind of reassess and kind of figure out…what are these changes? What are the new best ways to operate within this new division so to speak? …within my team, no one on my prior team was on my team, so it was like this whole new world.” – Ryan Conley After this change, Ryan saw an opportunity to go deeper into technology and chose to take a different role. Ryan worked for a new (to Ryan at least) leader who was very supportive of his career goals. This leader helped Ryan through the change of roles. “If you do good work, even through change…if you're identifying gaps, you're filling it, you're stepping up where the team needs you to step up, you're aligning with the business direction to stay focused…I think there can still be good outcomes even if in the interim period you're not 100% happy.” – Ryan Conley If you don't know anyone on your new team, you have an entire set of people from which you can now learn. Does your job function change as a result of joining this new team? Make sure you understand your role and its delineation from other roles. Maybe you serve larger customers or work on different kinds of projects. Maybe you support the technology needs of a specific business unit rather than what we might deem as working in corporate IT. Maybe you focus on storage and high-level architecture rather than only virtualization. It could be a chance to learn and go deeper in new areas. Did the focus of the overall team change (which can trickle down and impact your job function)? Maybe you're part of a technology team that primarily manages the outsourced pieces of the technology stack for your company. So instead of working with just employees of your company you now work with consulting firms and external vendors. Ryan says we can still be intentional about relationships and he illustrates the necessary intentionality with the story behind his pursuit of a new role. Ryan was intentional about his desire to join a new team after the reorganization, but it didn't work out on the timeline he wanted. He remained patient and in constant, transparent communication with a specific leader who would eventually advocate for him with the hiring manager. Just doing our job can be difficult when we're in a challenging situation like a manager we do not get along with, trying to evolve with a top-level strategy change, etc. This can involve internal politics. Stay the course. Ryan tells us about a lesson he learned when interviewing for a new role he wanted. “Maybe be a little bit more vocal. Pat yourself on the back in a concise way. Again…go back to your journal, know your metrics, and stick by them.” – Ryan Conley, on interviewing and humility Nick says the intentionality behind building relationships applies to your relationship with your boss (a new boss or your current boss that has not changed). This also applies to new teammates! What are the strengths in the people you see around you? Who volunteers to help? Who asks questions when others will not? Ryan shares a story about 2 peers who on the surface seemed to disagree a lot but ended up making each other better (and smarter) by often taking opposing sides on a topic. When one of them left the company, the other person missed getting that perspective and intellectual challenge. Ryan suggests we pay attention to the personalities of team members and the kinds of questions they ask. If a specific teammate tends to do all the talking in meetings, find ways to enable others to speak up who have valuable perspectives but may be quieter. This at its heart is about upleveling others. We can do that when we join a new team, but we can also do this for former teammates by keeping in touch with them over time. This could apply to former teammates who still work at the same company as well as those who have left the company. Ryan tells us a story about when he first made the transition from working in IT operations to getting hired at a technology vendor in a very different role. “It's very different being face-to-face as a consultant, face-to-face as a vendor. And I had a buddy. He started going back 11 years almost to the day here. We were each other's lifeline…. He would have a bad day, and he would call me. Most of the time I was just there to listen…. And then the next week it was my turn, and I would call him…. So having a buddy in these change situations I think is a great piece of advice.” – Ryan Conley It can be easy to fall out of touch with people we no longer interact with on a daily or weekly basis. This takes some effort. We've met people who try to setup a 1-1 with someone in their professional network once every 1-2 weeks. Ryan has a tremendous amount of empathy for others who have recently had a child, for example. We can buddy up with specific professional or life experience and take the opportunity to learn from them. Ryan refers to building an “alumni network” of people you want to remain close with over time. While this helps build our own set of professional connections, we can do this by mentoring others as well (a chance to give back, which is usually much less of a time commitment than we think). Ryan has mentored a number of new college graduates and managed to keep up with their progress over time. Listen to the way he describes the career progression of his mentees and the long-term relationships it produced. We might be mentoring others (on our own team or beyond). This could act as relatable experience for a future role as a team lead or people manager, but highlighting this experience to your manager is something you should do in those career conversations. In those 1-1s with your manager you are asking how you are doing but also how you can do better. Sometimes that means doing more of something you have done in the past. Ryan reminds us that the journal is a tracking mechanism for specific actions and their impact. Whether it's mentoring or helping the manager with hiring or candidate evaluation, be sure to track it! There might be a gap in expertise on your team that you can fill (either because you have a specific skill or because you learned a new skill to fill that gap). When joining a new team, do some observing and stay humble before you declare there is a gap and that you are the one to fill it. Ryan says we can raise gaps with our manager. For example, maybe there is only one person on the team who knows how to do something. Could you pair with that person and cover them while they are on vacation? “I think it goes back to recognizing that you cannot learn it all and then revaluating…what do I need to learn? So, there's certain functions that you have to know how to do, and that's where your manager's going to help you set those expectations…. We're in technology, so as a technologist, what do you want to learn? What do you want to do more of? And that could be a gap that you see, and you have that conversation….” – Ryan Conley If there is not an opportunity at work to learn what you want to learn (i.e. your manager might not support you doing more of specific work, etc.), you can learn it on your own time and then re-evaluate longer term what you want to do. 59:46 – Shifting Job Roles or Job Level Changes We talked about this a little bit earlier. Maybe you stay an individual contributor, move into leadership, or change leadership levels entirely within an organization. Ryan talks about the new expectations when you change your daily role. There are expectations we put on ourselves and those expectations put on us by our leaders. There are both opportunities and challenges. Ryan shares that he has been approached in the past to lead a team, but when this has happened, he took the time to think through what he wanted (his career ladder, his motivations, and his desired focus). “Leading people is not something that I want to currently focus on. I know what I'm motivated by. I'm a technologist at heart. I want to keep learning, and I personally like the technology that I'm focused on right now. And it's not that leadership would necessarily remove technology entirely…. It's just it would be a different focus area. And I think in your career journey it's worth just kind of keeping tabs on where you're at in your career (the ladder of change that we keep mentioning, that lifecycle)…. Do you want to go up the ladder as part of your lifecycle and get into a management role? I think mentorship can be very fulfilling. I think leading people can be very fulfilling. But in my case, I've decided I still want to stay an individual contributor. There's still aspirations that I have there….It's ok to say no is really what I'm getting at…. Really think about the job that you're in at the company that you're in. What are the opportunities within? What motivates you? And stay true to that.” – Ryan Conley Ryan has said no to being a people leader as well as to technical marketing roles. He had a desire to get through the principal program. He encourages listeners to think about whether they would be happy in 1-2 years if they took a new role before making the final decision. Nick mentions the above is excellent when you have the choice to take a new role. But what if it's forced on you as the result of an organizational change? We can recognize where we are in the career lifecycle even if an organizational change places us in a new role that was not our choice. Make sure you understand what the new role is, and think about how you can align it with where you are in the career lifecycle (including the goals you have and the things you want). Nick had a manager who encouraged his team to align their overall life purpose to the current job role or assignment. In doing this, it will be easier to prevent intertwining your identity with your job or your company. We may have to put out heads down and just do the work for a while. But maybe there is an opportunity to align with the things you want and the type of work you want to do which is not immediately obvious. In this job market, if you are employed, be thankful and do a great job. Ryan hopes listeners can think back to an unexpected change that happened which led to new opportunities later. “Pause, recollect, align your focus with your new manager, align your focus with either the changing mission statement or the current mission statement…. What is fulfilling you personally (your own internal values)? If they are being conflicted, I think there's a greater answer to some of your challenges, but they're not being conflicted how can you be your best self in a company without the company being all of yourself? …The cultural identity of the workplace and the home can sometimes be a little too close, a little to intertwined…. Maybe you're just way too emotionally invested in your day job and it's just a good moment to reset…. What is your value system? Why? And then how can you be your best self in your workplace? And I think far too often we want to have our dream job…. ‘A dream job is still a job. There are going to be days when it is just a really difficult day because it's a really difficult job. It's still your dream job, but every job is going to have a difficult day.'” – Ryan Conley Every job will be impacted by some kind of organizational change multiple times throughout your career. 1:06:18 – Parting Thoughts Ryan closes with a funny anecdote about a person who worked on the same team as him that he never had the chance to meet in person. In this case, the person invested more in their former team than meeting members of their new team. Maybe a good interview question for those seeking new roles could be something about organizational changes and how often they are happening at the company. Ryan encourages us to lead with empathy in this job market and consider how we can help others in our network who may be seeking new roles. Ryan likes to share job alerts on LinkedIn and mentions it has been great to see the formation of alumni groups. “Share your rolodex. Help people connect the dots. And lead with empathy.” – Ryan Conley To follow up on this conversation with Ryan, contact him on LinkedIn. Mentioned in the Outro A special thanks to former guest Daniel Lemire and listener Megan Wills for sharing thoughts on organizational change that we were able to include in this episode! Ryan told us we can lead with empathy when helping others looking for work in this job market, but Nick thinks it's empathy at work when we're asking a new boss or team member how we can help. If you want to bring more empathy to the workplace, check out Episode 278 – Uncovering Empathy: The Greatest Skill of an Inclusive Leader with Marni Coffey (1/3) in which guest Marni Coffey tells us about empathy as her greatest skill. It's full of excellent examples. If you're looking for other guest experiences with organizational change, here are some recommended episodes: Episode 210 – A Collection of Ambiguous Experiments with Shailvi Wakhlu (1/2) – Shailvi talks about a forced change of role that was actually an opportunity in disguise Episode 168 – Hired and Acquired with Mike Wood (1/2) – Mike Wood's company was acquired, and the amount of travel went up soon after to increase his stress. Episode 169 – A Thoughtful Personal Sabbatical with Mike Wood (2/2) – Mike Wood shares another acquisition story that this time ended with him taking a sabbatical. Episode 84 -Management Interviews and Transitions with Brad Pinkston – Brad Pinkston shares what he likes to do when working for a new boss. Contact the Hosts The hosts of Nerd Journey are John White and Nick Korte. E-mail: nerdjourneypodcast@gmail.com DM us on Twitter/X @NerdJourney Connect with John on LinkedIn or DM him on Twitter/X @vJourneyman Connect with Nick on LinkedIn or DM him on Twitter/X @NetworkNerd_ Leave a Comment on Your Favorite Episode on YouTube If you've been impacted by a layoff or need advice, check out our Layoff Resources Page. If uncertainty is getting to you, check out or Career Uncertainty Action Guide with a checklist of actions to take control during uncertain periods and AI prompts to help you think through topics like navigating a recent layoff, financial planning, or managing your mindset and being overwhelmed.

Leaders may shy away from thinking about insider threats because it means assuming the worst about colleagues and friends. But technology executives do need to confront this problem because insider attacks are prevalent—a recent study claims that in 2024, 83% of organizations experienced at least one—and on the rise. Moreover, AI and deepfakes vastly enhance... Read more »

Business - Noah Labhart - Startup Founder & CTO

Has AI really become THIS powerful in the enterprise? Today, we're talking to Brian Elliott, CEO at Blitzy and Tom Jackson, CTO at RSM US LLP. We discuss how AI agents are autonomously completing months of development work in days, why organizational change management is now the biggest bottleneck in software development, and how enterprises are achieving 5x engineering velocity with agentic SDLC platforms. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!  To learn more about Blitzy, check out their website here.

We've never had a CTO on Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki! So we went full behind-the-scenes with Kelvin Pho, CTO & Co-Founder @ Mia Labs!  Kelvin pulls back the curtain on what's happening in AI tech right now. He shares his insights on what matters, what's hype, and what dealers should actually be asking before they buy another "AI tool." We talk real-world dealership problems like missed calls, after-hours coverage, messy data, and integrations across CDK, Reynolds, Tekion, Xtime, and more. Then we get into the stuff nobody explains: why "built on Azure" matters, how safety and content controls prevent AI from going rogue, and why "bank-level security" isn't just a buzzword. Kelvin also shares a dealer-friendly AI maturity test (latency, P90 latency, interruption/turn detection), plus the #1 misconception: AI doesn't arrive perfect, it's like hiring a new employee and it needs training. If you're heading into 2026 trying to modernize your communication stack without getting burned, this is your vetting checklist. kelvin@mia.inc | www.mia.inc  Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki Podcast |

In this episode I talk with Miles Woodroffe, CTO of Mindful Chef. We discuss his music career touring with The Specials and working with Bob Dylan and Ray Charles, how he transitioned into tech, building great teams, and finding people who enjoy working together.Links:mileswoodroffe.comMindful ChefNonsense Monthly

BONUS: Saving Democracy—How AI Is Transforming the Battlefield for Our Minds In this very special BONUS episode, we speak with Anthony Vinci, former CTO and Associate Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution. Anthony has been at the frontlines of modernizing the intelligence community for the age of AI, and in this episode, he lays out a stark warning: we are entering an era where machines don't just augment intelligence—they transform it. But the real battlefield isn't just digital; it's cognitive, economic, and societal. From Startup Founder to Intelligence Modernizer "When I started my career, it was kind of the last dot-com boom... then I went into intelligence and became a case officer who goes out and recruits sources. I went to Iraq and places like this."   Anthony's career has uniquely zigzagged between the tech industry and the intelligence community. Starting in a New York startup during the 2000 dot-com era, he later became a case officer before returning to the startup world. When NGA needed someone to bring AI and modern technology into the agency, Anthony's rare combination of intelligence experience and tech entrepreneurship made him the ideal candidate. At NGA, he led the effort to implement computer vision and machine learning into workflows that were historically manual—where analysts would literally print satellite imagery and examine it with magnifying glasses. Nine years later, NGA now produces intelligence reports with "no human hands" involved. The Automation Arms Race "I believe where we're entering now is where the machine, the AI, has to do the analysis itself. Period. And it never comes to a person."   The volume of data has surpassed what humans can process, regardless of how sophisticated our tools become. Anthony points to a recent Anthropic report showing Chinese actors used Claude to automate 80-90% of a cyber espionage campaign. He believes we're approaching a world where 100% of cyber operations—both offensive and defensive—will be automated. The parallel he draws is striking: just as quantitative hedge funds trade in microseconds without human intervention because competitors do the same, cyber warfare and eventually physical drone warfare will follow this pattern. The only way to defend against automated attacks is to automate your defense. How Social Media Already Threatens Democracy "The longer a user was on TikTok, the more they used it, the more benevolent view of human rights in China that user had. So it's actually working, and it's so subtle, you can't even see it unless you do these big statistical studies."   The threat isn't theoretical—it's measurable. Researchers at Rutgers demonstrated that TikTok doesn't just censor content about the Uyghurs or Tiananmen Square; prolonged use of the platform actually shifts users' views on Chinese human rights. And that's just one piece of evidence, there are more! Unlike the 2016 election interference where the Russian Internet Research Agency placed targeted ads, modern influence operations work through algorithmic content selection. The platform doesn't need to show you propaganda; it simply needs to decide what you don't see. AI Will Hack Our Minds "AI is a dialogue. AI becomes this arbiter of information... This is really, really different when it comes to information operations. It's more like what I used to do as a case officer, where I'm trying to convince you of something."   Recent studies in Science and Nature demonstrate that AI systems trained for political persuasion are dramatically more effective than traditional advertising—not through persuasive rhetoric, but by overwhelming users with an abundance of "facts" (which aren't always factual). Anthony warns that the 2026 and 2028 elections will see widespread use of these tools. More alarming: Anthropic research shows that just 250 documents can poison a large language model. Foreign adversaries don't need millions of data points to corrupt the AI systems we increasingly rely on for information. The Fourth Intelligence Revolution: What Must Change "The first thing that we need to do is to compete in intelligence in those fields as well... economics, science, technology. And doing that requires intelligence to work with private companies, with the public."   Anthony outlines a three-part solution:   Expand intelligence scope: Move beyond traditional political and military focus to include economic, scientific, and technological competition with China and other adversaries through a whole-of-society approach Automate everything: Embrace AI across all intelligence functions—it's the only way to compete against adversaries who are already automating Democratize resilience: Since everyone is now a target of foreign information operations, we can't rely solely on government protection. Citizens must learn to think like intelligence officers Think Like an Intelligence Officer "No matter how trusted the source, they're always going to look at another source. If you read the New York Times, go read Newsmax, or vice versa. And if they both say the same thing, that probably means it's true, or more true."   Anthony offers practical advice for personal information resilience. First, acknowledge you are personally being targeted—this isn't paranoia, it's the new reality. Second, triangulate information like an analyst: never trust a single source, and deliberately seek out opposing viewpoints. Third, think like a technology officer: before adopting any new app or platform, research who made it and assess the risks. This doesn't mean avoiding risky technologies entirely—it means using them with awareness and mitigation strategies like VPNs, limiting shared information, or using multiple accounts. Name the Threat "One thing is to think about the threat and to think that there may be someone who's targeting you... not just generally—me as an individual."   The core message is clear: the threat to democracy is the capability of adversaries to influence our views to go against our own interests. Whether it's voting behavior, economic decisions, or social cohesion, foreign actors now have the tools to target individuals at scale with personalized influence campaigns. The first step in defense is naming this threat openly. The book The Fourth Intelligence Revolution provides both the warning and a framework for response.   About Anthony Vinci   Anthony Vinci is the former CTO and Associate Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in the USA, and author of The Fourth Intelligence Revolution. He has flip-flopped between the tech industry and intelligence throughout his career—starting in a New York startup during the dot-com boom, becoming a case officer who served in Iraq, founding and exiting a tech startup, and then returning to government to modernize NGA for the age of AI. He is now CEO of Vico, a startup building AI for intelligence analysis.   You can link with Anthony Vinci on his website and subscribe to his Substack, 3 Kinds of Intelligence.

Wondering how to raise funds using equity crowdfunding?  In this episode of Crowdfunding Demystified, Salvador Briggman sits down with Chase, founder and CTO of Emission Free Generators, to break down how his team raised over $407,903  on WeFunder for a hydrogen-powered portable generator designed for safe, indoor use. In this episode, you'll learn: How military-grade hydrogen technology was adapted for a consumer hardware product Why equity crowdfunding (Reg CF) was the right funding path for a capital-intensive startup How Emission Free Generators validated demand before scaling manufacturing The storytelling framework that turned everyday investors into long-term advocates Social media traffic strategies used to drive investor interest and momentum Key Reg CF lessons for founders raising outside of traditional VC channels This conversation dives deep into what it really takes to launch a physical product, raise capital through equity crowdfunding, and build trust with investors in a massive, growing backup power market. If you're building hardware, considering Reg CF, or looking to raise capital while validating demand, this episode is packed with real-world insights you can apply today. Resources and Tools Mentioned: Book a coaching call Subscribe for Weekly Crowdfunding Tips Fulfillrite: Kickstarter and crowdfunding reward fulfillment services. They come highly recommended! Download their free shipping and fulfillment checklist FREE Kickstarter Course Kickstarter Launch Formula Audiobook FREE Crowdfunding PR Course Emission Free Generators on WeFunder The Lean Startup by Eric Ries