POPULARITY
Categories
Bret is joined by the founders of Plakar - Julien Mangeard and Gilles Chehade - to nerd out over backup engineering. The kind where you're building your own file formats and cryptographic layers, not just wiring up cron jobs. We get into how Plakar deduplicates and encrypts at the source so your cloud provider never sees your keys. Also, their snapshot model has no chain dependencies, which means you can delete any backup without breaking the others. We had a fun hour of backup horror stories, ransomware pragmatism, where I'm lobbying hard for a Docker volume integration.Check out the video podcast version here: https://youtu.be/OPRK5osKQHI
In this sponsored episode, FluidCloud co-founders Sharad Kumar and Harshit Omar sit down with William and Eyvonne to discuss how FluidCloud tackles multi-cloud portability. They detail how FluidCloud acts as a cloning platform that scans an existing cloud or VMware environment, extracts complex infrastructure configurations (including compute and storage, as well as firewall rules and... Read more »
Kyler and Ned sit down with Liz Fong-Jones, Technical Fellow at Honeycomb, to discuss the impact of AI on open-source contributions. Liz proposes shifting the script from code patch contributions to detailed bug reports. They also break down the distinction between programming and software engineering, and the critical role of OpenTelemetry in ensuring the observability... Read more »
Kyler and Ned sit down with Liz Fong-Jones, Technical Fellow at Honeycomb, to discuss the impact of AI on open-source contributions. Liz proposes shifting the script from code patch contributions to detailed bug reports. They also break down the distinction between programming and software engineering, and the critical role of OpenTelemetry in ensuring the observability... Read more »
A real-world phishing incident. Real financial impact. Real lessons for MSPs.In this episode, we unpack a phishing attack that led to unauthorized access to an Azure subscription and significant financial loss for an MSP client. The conversation goes beyond the incident itself to examine where policy gaps, weak controls, and unclear ownership increased liability, and what changed when the MSP committed to cybersecurity maturity.Joined by Chad Holstead, we walk through how pursuing the GTIA Cybersecurity Trustmark helped transform the MSP's security posture, improve privileged access controls, and dramatically change the insurance conversation, lowering costs while increasing coverage. This isn't about adding more tools; it's about leadership, governance, and proving maturity before advising clients.If you're an MSP talking cybersecurity to customers, this episode makes one thing clear: secure your own house first.For more GTIA On location interviews, head over to YouTube and just search GTIA On Location or use this link
In this episode, we're deconstructing the blueprint of the ultimate modern defender: Alessandro Bastoni. We trace his evolution from a promising youth prospect at Atalanta to the tactical heartbeat of Inter Milan. Bastoni isn't just a center-back; he's a deep-lying playmaker disguised in a defender's frame.We dive deep into his "midfielder-standard" technical ability, his telepathic partnership with Federico Dimarco, and how he manages to maintain a staggering 7.53 match rating while anchoring a title-contending backline. Whether he's delivering cross-field diagonals or shutting down elite strikers, Bastoni is proving that the traditional Italian "catenaccio" has been upgraded for the digital age.
In this Mentor Moment, Gerry Hussey shares a simple but powerful way to visualise success that founders can actually put into practice. Instead of vague “future goals,” Gerry breaks it down into outcomes, daily process enablers, and identity — becoming the person who already lives the life you're working towards. You'll hear his step-by-step exercise to map what you want, identify the habits that get you there, and close the gap between who you are today and who you need to become. For the full conversation with Gerry Hussey, listen to Episode 413 of The Entrepreneur Experiment. *Our Sponsors * Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26 Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 Rory's Travel Club: https://bit.ly/rorys26 Chartered Capital: https://bit.ly/49ZuFrk
The episode identifies a fundamental structural shift in the MSP and IT services landscape: vendor channel consolidation and ecosystem dependency are increasingly determining who controls customer relationships, margins, and access to recurring revenue streams. Companies such as Microsoft, Anthropic, and Huntress are actively reshaping the ecosystem by investing significant resources in partner programs and platform strategies that dictate operational baselines and restrict neutrality. This realignment is driving MSPs to deliberately choose platform alignments, as attempting to remain neutral increasingly results in a loss of relevance and market access. Central to this shift is Anthropic's $100 million investment in launching the Claude Partner Network for 2026, which creates certification and co-sell incentives for firms capable of implementing Claude within enterprise environments. According to Dave Sobel, this is not long-range product development but a concentrated customer acquisition cost to rapidly build channel coverage. In parallel, Microsoft is embedding Anthropic models within Copilot, shifting to a multi-model approach that retains flexibility at the AI model layer while keeping Azure as the entrenched operational platform. Supporting developments reinforce these channel and ecosystem pressures. Huntress's move to expand its partner program to value-added resellers (VARs) dilutes its previously MSP-exclusive channel, removing some of the distribution advantages MSPs may have relied upon. Sonomi's positioning of third-party risk management as an MSP revenue opportunity comes amid rising supply chain risk, as supported by ConnectWise's 2026 MSP Threat Report highlighting increased identity abuse and supply chain attacks. Simultaneously, declining PC shipments—especially for budget devices—are shifting the economic emphasis from hardware projects to operational service engagements such as identity governance and lifecycle management. The operational implications for MSPs are clear: partner program frameworks have become the gatekeepers of pricing, leads, and ongoing service annuities, reducing the room for independent strategy or procurement-driven decisions. Ecosystem alignment must be intentional and based on a realistic assessment of program timelines, certification windows, and revenue structure. As hardware refresh cycles slow and vendors consolidate services and identity requirements, MSPs face increased dependency risk, potential margin erosion, and diminished negotiating leverage. Those failing to anticipate or adapt to these shifts risk being relegated to subcontractor roles without control over customer relationships or recurring revenues. Three things to know today 00:00 AI Channel War 02:27 Identity Baseline Shift 03:43 Refresh Revenue Shift 04:46 Why Do We Care? Supported by: Small Biz Thoughts Community
In today's Cloud Wars Minute, I explore how Microsoft is using Copilot Studio and multi-agent orchestration to dramatically improve customer support performance. Highlights 00:09 — Now, one of the best ways to assess the impact of Microsoft Copilot is to examine case studies of the technology in action. Microsoft has announced details of a recent project delivered through Copilot Studio, aimed at enhancing the customer support experience on microsoft.com, building on the Ask Microsoft web agent created using Microsoft Copilot Studio. 00:51 — This new approach resulted in a 61% reduction in latency and up to 70% fewer human escalations. The Microsoft team tested and refined the original web assistant, getting it live within just a few weeks using Copilot Studio tools. 01:11 — However, it was the facilities multi-agent orchestration feature that truly enhanced this project, enabling the team to connect the main agent to sub-agents with domain-specific knowledge in areas such as Azure or Microsoft 365 . 01:34 — Firstly, Microsoft is presenting a very tangible use case for Copilot Studio here. Secondly, it highlights the speed at which Copilot Studio can be used to rapidly deploy and easily edit agentic workflows. And finally, it serves as a really good advertisement for multi-agent architecture and orchestration, which I believe unlocks the most capable AI performance. Visit Cloud Wars for more.
We unpack why the “SaaS-Pocalypse” is less about software dying and more about buyers finally right sizing cloud and marketplace deals with better data. We dig into AI unit economics, token driven cost volatility, and how procurement, FinOps, and venture capital are being rewritten in real time. • Flywl as a cloud meta marketplace across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud • Buyer pain and buyer empathy as the product design center • Why AI inference costs make traditional FinOps reactive • Treating a marketplace purchase as a transaction lifecycle asset • Real time consumption tracking, alerts, and contract renegotiation timing • Outcome based pricing challenges with token variability and agentic workflows • Revenue recognition uncertainty in consumption and outcome models • Why humans still matter in go to market despite AI agents • The data cleanup problem in procurement and the need for universal product IDs • Why enterprises are not rushing to build all SaaS internally with AI • 2026 VC dynamics, mega rounds, capital concentration, and what counts as real recurring revenue “SaaS-Pocalypse” makes for a great headline, but the real shockwave is quieter and more disruptive: enterprise buyers finally understand their cloud environment well enough to demand better deals, better governance, and real proof of value. We sit down for a roundtable on cloud marketplaces, AI unit economics, and the new reality of software procurement where a purchase is no longer a static line item, it's a living asset you have to monitor, benchmark, and continuously right size. Ankur Srivastava, CEO and founder of Flywl, explains why he built a cloud meta marketplace to unify buying and selling across AWS Marketplace, Azure, and Google Cloud and why “buyer empathy” is the only way to fix a broken procurement playbook. Priya Ramachandran, founder and managing partner at Foster Ventures, connects the dots from operator experience to investing, and breaks down why traditional FinOps can't keep up with AI inference costs, token volatility, and outcome-based pricing models like per ticket resolved. Then we zoom out to the 2026 venture capital environment: mega rounds, capital concentration, and the debate over whether AI-native efficiency makes old funding assumptions obsolete. Along the way, we tackle an agentic economy question: when algorithms negotiate with algorithms, what happens to trust, brand, and human relationships in go to market?Ankur Srivastava: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankursrivas/Ankur Srivastava is the CEO and Founder of Flywl, the world's first cloud meta-marketplace transforming how enterprises buy and sell software across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Previously, he was an elite sales leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he spent five years as Head of Field and Customer Business Development for the AWS Marketplace.Priya Ramachandran: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sivapriyaramachandran/Priya Ramachandran is the Founder and Managing Partner at Foster Ventures, an early-stage VC firm she built from the ground up to act as the "startup of the VC world". She is an operator-turned-investor with significant experience building and scaling products at companies like Coupa Software, BetterCloud, and Intel.Website: https://www.position2.com/podcast/Rajiv Parikh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajivparikh/Sandeep Parikh: https://www.instagram.com/sandeepparikh/Email us with any feedback for the show: sparkofages.podcast@position2.com
Welcome to Episode 423 of the Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast. In this episode, Ben is live from Workplace Ninjas, joined by Eric Woodruff, Chief Identity Architect at Semperis and Microsoft MVP in Security focused on identity, and Chris Brumm, Cyber Security Architect at glueckkanja and Microsoft MVP in Security with over 16 years of experience in cybersecurity. Together they dig into the often-overlooked world of non-human identities in Microsoft Entra ID. They cover what service principals are, why they tend to fly under the radar compared to user accounts, and how attackers actively exploit that gap. The conversation spans credential management best practices, the risks of improper owner assignments, the challenges of multi-tenant app configurations, and why managed identities should be your go-to wherever possible. They also discuss the growing challenge of AI agent identities and what IT pros need to start thinking about now before that surface area explodes. Show Notes Eric Woodruff on LinkedIn Eric Woodruff on X (@ericanidentity) Eric on Identity Chris Brum on LinkedIn Chris Brumm on X (@cbrhh) Chris Brumm’s Blog Application and service principal objects in Microsoft Entra ID Workload Identities Securing service principals in Microsoft Entra ID Securing managed identities in Microsoft Entra ID Conditional Access for Workload Identities Microsoft Entra Audit Logs Microsoft Sentinel Detection Templates Eric Woodruff Eric Woodruff is the Chief Identity Architect at Semperis and a Microsoft MVP in Security with a focus on identity. He specializes in all things Microsoft Entra and Active Directory, with a passion for helping organizations understand and secure both human and non-human identities. You can find Eric on social media as @ericanidentity. Chris Brumm Chris Brumm is a Cyber Security Architect at glueckkanja based in Germany, with over 16 years of experience across virtually every corner of cybersecurity. He is a Microsoft MVP in Security with a primary focus on identity security. His team operates SOC services and he brings a detection and response perspective to identity risk, helping organizations build lifecycle processes and monitoring strategies for non-human identities in Microsoft Entra. About the sponsors TrustedTech is a leading Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) specializing in Microsoft Cloud services, Microsoft perpetual licensing, and Microsoft Support Services for medium and enterprise-sized businesses. Our robust team of in-house, U.S-based Microsoft architects and engineers are certified in all 6/6 Microsoft Solutions Partner Designations in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program. M365 Licensing Consultation M365 Tenant Assessment Copilot Readiness Assessment At Intelligink, our focus is singular: the Microsoft cloud. Our Microsoft 365 and Azure experts help you work securely and efficiently by unlocking the full value of what you’re already paying for, so you can focus on running your business.
In this episode of The Entrepreneur Experiment, Gary Fox sits down with Eoin Cluskey, founder and head baker of Bread 41, the Dublin bakery business built on craft, care, and real food. From leaving school early and training as a carpenter to finding his calling in kitchens abroad, Eoin shares the winding road that led him back to Ireland to build one of the country's most loved bakery brands. Bread 41 launched in 2018 and has since expanded across multiple locations while staying fiercely committed to quality and values. This is a conversation about much more than bread. Eoin opens up about losing money in a failed early venture, writing the original Bread 41 vision in a copybook, building a 24/7 bakery model, scaling without taking on growth for growth's sake, and why he'd rather walk away than compromise the product. If you're trying to build a business that grows without losing its soul, this episode is packed with practical wisdom. Show notes In this episode, we cover:
Realities Remixed, formerly know as Cloud Realities, launches a new season exploring the intersection of people, culture, industry and tech.After years of remote‑first work built on swift trust, companies are asking a harder question: what does a organization really stand for when people rarely show up together? As AI accelerates change, leaders are rethinking presence, team design, and collaboration to fuel trust, innovation, and growth. This week, Dave, Esmee, and Rob are joined by Dr. Tim Currie, disruptor, author, innovator, and advisor, to examine transformation versus trust, the role of AI, and whether organisations can truly build culture without deeper human connection. TLDR00:42– Introduction01:10 – Hang out: New film releases07:17 – Dig in: The trust gap in remote work17:57 – Conversation with Dr. Tim Currie54:07 – The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere in Las Vegas and staying connected GuestDr. Tim Currie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-tim-currie-37756a/Book Swift Trust: https://swifttrustbook.com/HostsDave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/Esmee van de Giessen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeevandegiessen/Rob Kernahan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kernahan/ProductionMarcel van der Burg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-vd-burg/Dave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/ SoundBen Corbett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-corbett-3b6a11135/Louis Corbett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-corbett-087250264/ 'Realities Remixed' is an original podcast from Capgemini
FluidCloud calls itself a cloud-cloning platform. In other words, the company can map and copy all the cloud infrastructure settings from one public cloud—including compute, storage, networking, and identity—and port those settings to a different public cloud. On today’s sponsored Day Two DevOps, Ned and Kyler talk with FluidCloud’s co-founders to understand how the platform... Read more »
The tech industry is split between two fantasies – that AI writes production software while you get coffee, and that everything AI touches is slop. The reality is messier and more interesting: AI tools are force multipliers for people who already know what good looks like, and an expertise amplifier disguised as an easy button. ... Read more »
FluidCloud calls itself a cloud-cloning platform. In other words, the company can map and copy all the cloud infrastructure settings from one public cloud—including compute, storage, networking, and identity—and port those settings to a different public cloud. On today’s sponsored Day Two DevOps, Ned and Kyler talk with FluidCloud’s co-founders to understand how the platform... Read more »
FluidCloud calls itself a cloud-cloning platform. In other words, the company can map and copy all the cloud infrastructure settings from one public cloud—including compute, storage, networking, and identity—and port those settings to a different public cloud. On today’s sponsored Day Two DevOps, Ned and Kyler talk with FluidCloud’s co-founders to understand how the platform... Read more »
Is your security team treating your Identity Provider (IDP) like a firewall? In this episode, Adam Bateman (CEO & Co-founder of Push Security) explains why that's a dangerous mistake and how modern attackers are bypassing SSO entirely .Drawing from his background leading red teams that simulated nation-state attacks , Adam breaks down the massive architectural shift from network-based attacks to browser-native exploits. We dive into the terrifying evolution of phishing, from "Click Fix" attacks that trick users into running malicious commands via their clipboard, to "Consent Phishing" that completely takes over Azure without ever touching the endpoint .If your company relies heavily on SaaS applications or Chromebooks, this episode would be a valuable listen. Guest Socials - Adam's Linkedin Podcast Twitter - @CloudSecPod If you want to watch videos of this LIVE STREAMED episode and past episodes - Check out our other Cloud Security Social Channels:-Cloud Security Podcast- Youtube- Cloud Security Newsletter If you are interested in AI Security, you can check out our sister podcast - AI Security PodcastQuestions asked:(00:00) Introduction(02:50) Who is Adam Bateman? (Red Teaming & Simulating Nation States) (05:40) Why Identity & MFA Are Not "Solved" Problems (07:50) The Myth: Why an IDP is Not a Firewall (11:30) Consent Phishing: Exploiting OAuth Apps (13:30) The Architectural Shift: Network to Browser (15:30) Scattered Spider & The Rise of Identity Coalitions (19:30) Threat Modeling: On-Prem vs. Chromebooks (23:20) The Problem with SSPM and API Limitations (28:40) How "Click Fix" Attacks Trick Users into Running Malware (32:30) Omnichannel Phishing: LinkedIn, SMS, and Google Ads (34:30) Weaponizing Legitimate SaaS Apps (The DocuSign Exploit) (37:00) Consent Fix: Full Azure Compromise Inside the Browser (38:50) Disrupting the Secure Web Gateway (SWG) Market (41:40) Fun Questions: Wakeboarding, Culture, and Brat's RestaurantResources spoken about during the episode:You can find out more about Push Security here.Thank you to Push Security for sponsoring this episode.
In this Mentor Moment, Lorraine Heskin — founder of Gourmet Food Parlour — takes us back to 2006, right in the heart of the Celtic Tiger, when she made the leap from a stable job into the unknown to build her own café brand. Lorraine shares how she approached brand-building from day one, why finding a location was the hardest part (and why she refused to pay key money), and the magic of opening the doors to a queue down the street — proving the idea wasn't just in her head, the community wanted it. For the full conversation with Lorraine and the full Gourmet Food Parlour origin story, listen to Episode 423 of The Entrepreneur Experiment. Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26 Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 Rory's Travel Club: https://bit.ly/rorys26 Chartered Capital: https://bit.ly/49ZuFrk
On the show this week, our guest is Dinesh Narayanan, Head of Commercialization, General Robotics. Dinesh shares insights into the founding of General Robotics, highlighting the transition from Microsoft and the development of their proprietary platform, Grid. This platform aims to streamline the deployment and scaling of robotics solutions by integrating simulation, AI models, and deployment pipelines. Dinesh emphasizes the importance of adaptability in AI techniques and the company's focus on providing rapid prototyping and deployment capabilities. The conversation also touched on the potential of humanoid robots and the role of Grid in facilitating their development. Dinesh concludes by discussing the company's business model and future aspirations, drawing parallels to the impact of platforms like AWS and Azure in the tech industry. ### – SPONSOR – Download the 2026 State of the Robotics Industry Report: https://www.therobotreport.com/state-of-robotics-industry-report-2026/
Strategic Technology Consultation Services This episode of The Modern .NET Show is supported, in part, by RJJ Software's Strategic Technology Consultation Services. If you're an SME (Small to Medium Enterprise) leader wondering why your technology investments aren't delivering, or you're facing critical decisions about AI, modernization, or team productivity, let's talk. Show Notes "So it essentially is a build orchestration framework. So it doesn't replace the .NET CL or MSBuild or whatever you're using today. It doesn't replace GitHub Actions or Azure pipelines. What it does is that it reduces the complexity of those things"— Mattias Karlsson Hey everyone, and welcome back to The Modern .NET Show; the premier .NET podcast, focusing entirely on the knowledge, tools, and frameworks that all .NET developers should have in their toolbox. I'm your host Jamie Taylor, bringing you conversations with the brightest minds in the .NET ecosystem. Today, we're joined by Matthas Karlsson to talk about Cake (aka C# Make), the build orchestrator built entirely in .NET. "Like, you need to evaluate and see what works for you. Because, like, if you have an open source project and all you do is dotnet pack, then it might be too complicated."— Mattias Karlsson Along the way, we talked about what a build orchestrator is, why you might consider one (and when it might be too complex to have one), the recent single file application changes to .NET (i.e `dotnet run file.cs`), and talk about why it's important to have multiple tools in your development toolbox. Before we jump in, a quick reminder: if The Modern .NET Show has become part of your learning journey, please consider supporting us through Patreon or Buy Me A Coffee. Every contribution helps us continue bringing you these in-depth conversations with industry experts. You'll find all the links in the show notes. Anyway, without further ado, let's sit back, open up a terminal, type in `dotnet new podcast` and we'll dive into the core of Modern .NET. Full Show Notes The full show notes, including links to some of the things we discussed and a full transcription of this episode, can be found at: https://dotnetcore.show/season-8/from-yaml-chaos-to-csharp-clarity-mattias-karlsson-on-cake-build/ Useful Links: Cake Build Mattias' links: Website LinkedIn Bluesky Mastadon Supporting the show: Leave a rating or review Buy the show a coffee Become a patron Getting in Touch: Via the contact page Joining the Discord Remember to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or wherever you find your podcasts, this will help the show's audience grow. Or you can just share the show with a friend. And don't forget to reach out via our Contact page. We're very interested in your opinion of the show, so please get in touch. You can support the show by making a monthly donation on the show's Patreon page at: https://www.patreon.com/TheDotNetCorePodcast. Music created by Mono Memory Music, licensed to RJJ Software for use in The Modern .NET Show. Editing and post-production services for this episode were provided by MB Podcast Services.
In episode 281 of our SAP on Azure video podcast we talk about Azure resiliency with Azure Backup for SAP. Running an SAP System on Azure is one thing. But what about resiliency. For a long time Microsoft has been offering Azure backup for SAP workload and we have not only been supporting HANA, but also ASE. To share more on the latest inovation on Azure Backup for SAP, I am glad to have Anam with us today. Find all the links mentioned here: https://www.saponazurepodcast.de/episode281Reach out to us for any feedback / questions:* Goran Condric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorancondric/* Holger Bruchelt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/holger-bruchelt/ #Microsoft #SAP #Azure #SAPonAzure #Backup #Security
Join us as Amelia shares the debugging story nobody tells you about - how her vector store DB couldn't surface specific data until she tested it with simplified data from ChatGPT. Amelia walks through her journey from throwing JIRA tickets into a large language model without understanding pipelines or data cleaning, to discovering why her production vector store was failing. You'll learn about the gap between chatting with data and getting accurate connections, how to validate vector similarity search results, the difference between production and synthetic test data, and practical troubleshooting workflows for AWS vector stores. This episode reveals the messy reality of RAG systems - when everything seems fine but the outputs are subtly wrong, and how testing with simplified data can expose what production complexity hides. Timestamps 0:00 Cold Open 1:03 Welcome & Introduction 2:06 Amelia's Background & DeepRacer Trophy 4:49 The JIRA Ticket Use Case Origin Story 5:53 Getting Into the Presentation 6:03 Accessing & Cleaning Data Sets 8:12 Losing Production Data & Recreating with ChatGPT 12:45 Understanding Vector Databases 18:22 How Embeddings Work 24:16 The Hallucination Discovery 30:41 Testing Strategies for Vector Stores 36:52 Debugging Vector Similarity Search 42:18 Real-World Troubleshooting Workflows 44:26 Where to Find Amelia & Wrap-up How to find Amelia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliahoughross/
Andrea Reynolds, Founder & CEO of Swoop, joins Gary to break down what founders actually need to know about funding, cash flow and building a business that lasts. Andrea started Swoop after becoming deeply frustrated by how hard it was for business owners to access grants, loans and funding quickly. What began as anger at a broken system became a fintech platform helping businesses access cash faster, automate funding applications and identify savings across essential services. In this conversation, Andrea shares the real-world funding lessons most founders only learn the hard way: why you should raise debt before you need it, why revenue solves more problems than almost anything else, how to think about investors properly, and why profitability matters more than hype. She also opens up about building under pressure, raising millions across multiple rounds, expanding internationally, surviving market shocks, and why empathy is still her most important business principle. If you're a founder, operator or business owner trying to grow without losing control, this one is packed with practical insight. Show notes Andrea Reynolds is the Founder & CEO of Swoop, a fintech platform helping businesses access funding faster through data, automation and smarter financial decision-making. In this episode, Gary and Andrea discuss: Why businesses fail when cash flow gets tight The original frustration that sparked Swoop How Andrea manually tested demand before building the product Winning early funding through timing, momentum and experimentation The open banking opportunity that accelerated Swoop's growth What founders get wrong about fundraising Why you should raise before you actually need the money The difference between debt, grants and equity Why some investors can become a liability How to think about boards, board observers and investor fit Why diversification matters in a volatile market The shift from “growth at all costs” to profitability Expanding from Ireland and the UK into the US and beyond Building a forever business instead of chasing hype Andrea's personal approach to time, energy and staying grounded The books, habits and mindset shifts that have shaped her This episode is full of practical advice for founders navigating growth, fundraising and uncertainty. Links and resources mentioned Swoop: https://swoopfunding.com/ie/ Enterprise Ireland: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/ Books: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz High Output Management by Andrew Grove The Art of War by Sun Tzu *Our Sponsors * Nostra: https://bit.ly/nostra26 Azure: https://bit.ly/azure26 Rory's Travel Club: https://bit.ly/rorys26 Chartered Capital: https://bit.ly/49ZuFrk
Realities Remixed, formerly know as Cloud Realities, launches a new season exploring the intersection of people, culture, industry and tech.Business messaging is transforming customer engagement by enabling brands to move conversations into familiar, always‑on messaging platforms. The result for customers is greater convenience, quicker resolutions, and more meaningful, personalized interactions. This week, Dave, Esmee, and Rob are joined by Kathleen Tandy, Global Director and Head of Business Messaging Marketing and WhatsApp for Business at Meta , to explore how companies are using messaging platforms to engage customers, what customers expect from these experiences, and the challenges of scaling messaging in tech.TLDR00:35 – Introduction01:00 – Hang out: The new Remarkable05:25 – Dig in: Using messaging to enhance customer experiences20:49 – Conversation with Kathleen Tandy55:26 – The passion for college football and championship weekend!GuestKathleen Tandy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kptandy/HostsDave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/Esmee van de Giessen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeevandegiessen/Rob Kernahan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kernahan/ProductionMarcel van der Burg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-vd-burg/Dave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/ SoundBen Corbett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-corbett-3b6a11135/Louis Corbett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-corbett-087250264/ 'Realities Remixed' is an original podcast from Capgemini
Engineers and developers are using AI like never before, including in production. That has potential consequences, both good and bad, for uptime, operations, security and risk management, and more. Today’s guest, Rich Mogull, guides us through the decision-making process of adding AI to your production lifecycle and possible ramifications. Rich is Chief Analyst at the... Read more »
Engineers and developers are using AI like never before, including in production. That has potential consequences, both good and bad, for uptime, operations, security and risk management, and more. Today’s guest, Rich Mogull, guides us through the decision-making process of adding AI to your production lifecycle and possible ramifications. Rich is Chief Analyst at the... Read more »
Container base images (like Official Docker Hub images) are often updated without new tag versions. I call this Silent Rebuilds. There's no way to know this happens without image digest-checking automation like Dependabot and Renovate with specific settings. Failure to keep up-to-date is a prime source of vulnerabilities that can lead to serious security breaches. Automate the updates!Check out the video podcast version here: https://youtu.be/z_ahbsSc4Fo
Engineers and developers are using AI like never before, including in production. That has potential consequences, both good and bad, for uptime, operations, security and risk management, and more. Today’s guest, Rich Mogull, guides us through the decision-making process of adding AI to your production lifecycle and possible ramifications. Rich is Chief Analyst at the... Read more »
In this episode, we take a focused look at Startup-Scale Landing Zones. We've previously discussed Enterprise-scale Landing Zones and how the default model from the Cloud Adoption Framework is the usual approach for new deployments. SSLZ is an opinionated approach that is better suited to smaller environments. We talk about the pros, cons, differences, and how to get started.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:51) - Show content starts.Show links- Startup-Scale Landing Zone (GitHub)- Nice intro page for SSLZ- Give us feedback!
Subscribe to our Newsletter:https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/Check Out UPX:https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ The Shift from Attention to Trust In this compelling episode, Ashleigh Vogstad, CEO of Transcends, joins Vince Menzione to discuss the tectonic shifts occurring in the global partner ecosystem. Ashleigh shares her firsthand experiences studying AI at Oxford, the rise of the “Trust Economy,” and the controversial Amazon vs. Perplexity lawsuit. They dive deep into the practicalities of becoming a “Frontier Firm,” the importance of building proprietary AI agents, and the ways Gen Z and AI-driven marketplaces are revolutionizing the buyer journey. Whether you are looking to win Microsoft Partner of the Year or navigate the demise of traditional SaaS, this conversation provides a strategic roadmap for leading through the AI revolution. Key Takeaways The economy is shifting from a focus on human attention to a foundation of verified trust. Future commerce will involve “selling to machines” as AI agents begin making purchasing decisions on behalf of humans. Microsoft is prioritizing “Frontier Firms” that integrate AI into every customer interaction and internal process. Gen Z buyers are prioritizing product value and “dupes” over traditional brand names, with 75% of buyers expected to be Gen Z by 2030. To win Partner of the Year, organizations must publicly celebrate “better together” stories with validated customer wins. Modern leaders should transition from a “growth mindset” to a “frontier mindset” to keep pace with rapid technological change. https://youtu.be/xJmd43NvfnI If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Trust Economy, Selling to Machines, Amazon vs Perplexity Lawsuit, Frontier Firm, AI Agents, Copilot Studio, Anthropic Claude, Microsoft Partner of the Year, B2B Marketplaces, Gen Z Buyer Behavior, Digital Freedom, AI Therapy, Ray Kurzweil Singularity, Substack Growth, Co-selling Partnerships, MCI Funding, Azure Accelerate, Agentic AI, Transcending Tech, Ashleigh Vogstad. Transcript Asleigh Vogstad Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Ashleigh Vogstad: The attention economy is about selling to human beings. Now, if you look at something like the Amazon versus Perplexity lawsuit, the whole underlying premise is around the shift of no longer selling to humans directly, but of selling to machines. [00:00:19] Vince Menzione: We just finished Ultimate Partners Winter Retreat here in beautiful Boca to a sold out crowd. Today I’m joined by Ashley Waad. The CEO of transcends for this compelling discussion. Ash, welcome back to the podcasts. [00:00:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s so good to be here, Vince. Thank you. Uh, [00:00:37] Vince Menzione: so well, we’re back in Boca again and we were just here yesterday for the Ultimate Partner Executive Winter Retreat in person. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: What a great event we had together. [00:00:46] Ashleigh Vogstad: It was phenomenal. Thank you so much for having us there and on stage and, and genuinely the community is like a family, so seeing so many familiar faces and spending some quality time was just great. [00:00:57] Vince Menzione: It has really, truly become like family. It really, I’m, I’m, I’m having so much fun with this and getting to watch. [00:01:04] Vince Menzione: Not just our business grow and our community grow, but to see all of our friends and, uh, organizations like Transcends that have been with us since the beginning, since the very first ultimate partner acting even before the first ultimate partner. And, uh. We were just talking about. I’d love to catch up with what you’ve been doing. [00:01:22] Vince Menzione: Like you just came, you’ve been on a whirlwind. I mean, you’re always, every time like it’s, where’s Ash? She’s, uh, she’s on a plane again, or she’s on, she’s on the slopes. But tell us where you were just this week. [00:01:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. The week started in a snowstorm, actually transporting myself from Whistler. I didn’t know if I would make it to the airport, but then down to Silicon Valley and [00:01:45] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:01:46] Ashleigh Vogstad: Wow, that place is just inspiring and eyeopening. I mean, seeing the Nvidia campus, a MD, it’s really just other worldly and it had me reflecting on, it’s [00:02:00] Vince Menzione: not Whistler. Yeah, it’s [00:02:02] Ashleigh Vogstad: definitely not Whistler. Definitely not Whistler [00:02:05] Vince Menzione: about, [00:02:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: um, yeah, it just had me reflecting on being down there. I used to spend a lot of time in the Valley around 2017 and. [00:02:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: In this theme of AI and kind of what’s really coming, I was, I was thinking about, I had met this woman, Julia Moss Bridge, who’s a neuroscientist studying ai. She had a project called Loving Ai, and I was down there when they had borrowed Sophia, this humanoid robot from S and Robotics. [00:02:32] Vince Menzione: Oh yes. Yes. [00:02:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: Really interesting. [00:02:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: Sophia’s actually a citizen of Saudi. Mm-hmm. First, first robot to actually be made citizen of a country. So they had Sophia set up and the part that was just mind boggling at the time was that Sophia was hosting in real life therapy sessions with actual human beings sitting across the table. And what really struck me as. [00:02:59] Ashleigh Vogstad: Kind of just, you know, that was only eight, nine years ago. And that was esoteric. Wacky and [00:03:05] Vince Menzione: eerie. [00:03:05] Ashleigh Vogstad: Weird. [00:03:05] Vince Menzione: Eerie at the time. [00:03:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: Incredibly eerie. Yeah. I mean, a, a human getting, uh, you know, therapy sessions from a robot sitting across the table. Yeah. And it just had me thinking how far we’ve come today. In 2025, Harvard Business Review said that therapy is actually the number one use case for ai. [00:03:26] Vince Menzione: I’ve heard that. That is striking. I go back to COVID. We were having this conversation last night at at the dinner for the Ultimate Partner event, and I think that COVID allowed us to transcend, [00:03:42] Ashleigh Vogstad: mm-hmm. [00:03:42] Vince Menzione: No pun intended there, but actually accelerate where we are today, that the acceptance of AI and the acceleration, or the ability to accept change so quickly. [00:03:56] Vince Menzione: Started with COVID because we were so, so we were forced on whatever it was, March 10th I think, here in the United States to shut down everything and move to this remote life. [00:04:08] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm-hmm. [00:04:09] Vince Menzione: And I think we’ve been shocked by that. I think our systems have all been shocked by that. And then here comes chat GBT in November of 2022 and we’re like. [00:04:20] Vince Menzione: Shocked in some respects, but like really everyone has embraced it in such a strong way, and now we’re getting. It’s almost daily update. You know, we’re gonna talk, I know we’re gonna talk about Anthropic and some of the things that’s been happening just in this last month that are striking and changing that have a lot of organizations trying to navigate, which is what, you know, you, you help organizations do. [00:04:43] Vince Menzione: But it feels like this is happening so fast and will continue to happen so fast. And as I said yesterday, I don’t know what this world’s gonna look like by 2030. [00:04:53] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, and I think the thing is, is that nobody knows what the world is gonna look like in 2030. I’ve been reading Ray Kurz Well’s, the Singularity is nearer, so the original book, the Singularity is near and he’s known to be a very accurate predictionist on the future. [00:05:11] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. But even with someone like that, you know, there, there nobody really knows what the world is gonna look like. And when you talk about COVID. At transcends, we have a value of digital freedom. So I founded the business in 2018, which was pre COVID. I as a fully remote organization, and at the time that was, you know, more groundbreaking, but then very quickly with CI that, that became the so-called new normal. [00:05:37] Ashleigh Vogstad: But we’re always thinking about. You know, remote first doesn’t mean remote only, and I think in this tide of what you’ve talked about, technological change being more acceptable and the pace of change. One of the interesting things that we see as a go-to-market agency is that in-person events are increasing. [00:05:56] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:05:57] Ashleigh Vogstad: People want and crave the face-to-face. Just like with the ultimate partner series. [00:06:02] Vince Menzione: I felt it. So it was striking yesterday. It, it seems like it’s, again, this was event number nine for us, but to see the, um, uh, receptiveness isn’t the right term, but it was this, uh, people, the, the embracing. Of seeing each other and hugging each other and being in the same room with each other. [00:06:22] Vince Menzione: And even people that didn’t know each other, like by the, the, as the day evolved, this, uh, connection that they all seemed to have with one another during the sessions and participating, everyone actively participated in the sessions. And, um, I said this in the beginning, we’re not a Slack channel and we’re not like some post on LinkedIn. [00:06:43] Vince Menzione: Uh, we’re there, there’s no playbook that’s set today around partnerships or even go to markets and marketing that we could espouse and say, this is the playbook for the next year. Right. It’s, it’s changing so rapidly. [00:06:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: So rapidly, [00:06:57] Vince Menzione: and you’ve embraced it. And I, and what we’re gonna talk about right now, I mean, I, I, you know, you’ve embraced AI in such a strong way. [00:07:04] Vince Menzione: Um, personally and with your business, I want to, I wanna dive in here a little bit. First of all, a couple things For those of those who are listening who don’t know you, I think maybe just a moment about transcends and your role, and then I wanna dive in on how you’re thinking about ai because I know you’re doing some things personally. [00:07:22] Vince Menzione: I want you to share that with, with our listeners and viewers today. [00:07:25] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, great. And I just wanna comment that it was a cool moment yesterday being up on stage with yourself and Mark Monday from ServiceNow and having the audience so engaged and active and Nina Harding from Microsoft stepping up and entering the conversation. [00:07:40] Vince Menzione: So cool. [00:07:41] Ashleigh Vogstad: It just made for such a collaborative experience, which was a cool moment, but yeah. Um, so. I founded this business, transcends a go-to-market agency after being at Microsoft myself. And really our differentiation is deep strategic partnerships with hyperscalers, whether that’s AWS, Google, Microsoft, and you know, that. [00:08:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: It comes with a challenge to be on the leading edge of technology. [00:08:08] Vince Menzione: Yes, [00:08:09] Ashleigh Vogstad: it, it’s really an imperative for our business and we are an AI first firm. Microsoft talks a lot about Frontier Firm, and I’ll take a, a different kind of angle on it. You know, when I think about Frontier. I now think about it as instead of the growth mindset, I now think about a frontier mindset. [00:08:28] Vince Menzione: Frontier mindset. You have to change my principles. [00:08:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, maybe, like you said, the world is changing so rapidly. Yeah, it’s [00:08:36] Vince Menzione: changing rapidly. [00:08:36] Ashleigh Vogstad: And what a frontier mindset means is that as we’re approaching work for our clients, we are thinking about AI innovation in every single customer. Interaction, customer innovation. [00:08:49] Ashleigh Vogstad: So today we’re building AI agents into much of the work that we’re delivering for clients. And as a business owner and leader, I’ve been challenged to also think critically around how I’m choosing to run the company. And right now we’re going through a huge overhaul of where we have data sitting in silos and different applications. [00:09:09] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yep. And getting that into one place with one view so we can start layering on more insight. AI innovation. [00:09:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And data’s such an critical part, part of this, as we, we talked about yesterday. But you know, even the, what you said, which is, would, would’ve been striking a year ago to say, we’re an AI first, uh, agency isn’t as striking anymore. [00:09:32] Vince Menzione: Uh, we heard Nina when we were having this conversation on stage yesterday, say that it’s an imperative at Microsoft that the agencies that they choose to work with, the third party vendors that they work with have to be an AI first organization. I have to be a frontier firm, and so I’m a, I am sensitive to the word frontier firm. [00:09:53] Vince Menzione: I understand why Microsoft uses it and I understand the value of what we used to call, you know, customer zero or back in the day we used to say eating your own dog food, but essentially being an organization that has leaned in, in a way, and with ai. Even more so, so important to do it. So tell us, I know you’ve done some things personally as well, but tell, tell us what you’ve done with the organization. [00:10:18] Vince Menzione: Uh, you talked about data and making data available and having, having a true data state as opposed to silos of data, but then you also made some personal investments and sacrifices. I would say. [00:10:30] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. [00:10:30] Vince Menzione: Yeah. In terms of what you’re doing around ai, [00:10:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: so I mean, let’s start on the personal side. I’m the CEO of my organization, and you can read in books or news articles that it is critical for AI transformation to start at the C-suite and specifically in the CEO seat. [00:10:46] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:10:46] Ashleigh Vogstad: And that really. Landed for me and so I’m personally leading in About two weeks ago, I built an agent, just end-to-end on my own, got into copilot studio. Wow. Got comfortable with the interface. You know, I was clunky moving around in there at first, chose my model. You know, I went with one of the anthropic Claude models for this particular project and built up an agent that can deliver executive communications like. [00:11:14] Ashleigh Vogstad: Thought leadership blogs, uh, LinkedIn posts, but in a particular human being’s voice by ingesting things like their social profiles, their SharePoint sites, where they live and work. And it has been so surprising doing an ab test between just what a chat GBT or a copilot could produce. [00:11:32] Yeah. [00:11:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: In comparison with the authenticity of the voice coming from the agent. [00:11:37] Ashleigh Vogstad: Uh, it was just a really cool experience to roll up the sleeves and get in there. But also I think the, the investment that you’re referring to is, I made a big decision to return to school and uh, got accepted to go to Oxford. [00:11:52] Vince Menzione: Wow. [00:11:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: And I’m studying artificial intelligence there. [00:11:54] Vince Menzione: That is incredible. That is incredible. [00:11:57] Vince Menzione: Oxford, uh, we’ve heard of that school before here in the United States. [00:12:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, it’s been a really great experience. It’s in person, so I’m traveling there about every 60 to 90 days and living on campus. I mean, really, Oxford isn’t. Formally a campus, it’s sort of a, a city and a university all, all ruled into one and the experience has been really powerful. [00:12:21] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yes. One of the things I wanted to get outta the program was a more global perspective, and it’s been fascinating to me that about half the faculty so far, or or professors, guest lecturers that have been coming into the program have been from China or very direct experience working in the Chinese market. [00:12:38] Vince Menzione: That is fascinating. [00:12:39] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s been a completely different view. Or for example, you know, really digging into some of the legal cases that are driving precedence for how AI is interacting with corporations. [00:12:51] Vince Menzione: Mm. [00:12:51] Ashleigh Vogstad: One of the big ones for me has been looking at Amazon versus p perplexity. This is still a live case that’s happening right now. [00:12:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: And you know, I think it was Forbes magazine that the headline was the End of Commerce for this case because it’s really about. How human beings are being replaced with machines and hearing some of the world’s leading thinkers, leading AI researchers on these topics has just been really expansive. [00:13:19] Vince Menzione: It’s fascinating. [00:13:20] Vince Menzione: I mean, it’s, this started a couple years ago with, uh, Hollywood, in fact. Suing the industry or suing the technology companies with regards to, uh, employment, right? Mm-hmm. About the, the, uh, copyright infringement and what’s gonna happen in the entertainment industry. And I think that was just a one very small example. [00:13:40] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, voice people think about DeepFakes. Yeah. And they think about video, but actually voice is a big issue. And you look at the, um, you know, the what happened between Scarlett Johansson and her voice in her, and then open AI rolling out a voice that sounded identical. Sounds like her. [00:13:59] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:59] Ashleigh Vogstad: To Scarlett Johansen and, and where that went. [00:14:01] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s, it, this is a new ground for, for everybody that we’re going through right now. [00:14:07] Vince Menzione: It is. We can dive and go in so many different directions, but let’s talk about marketing and advertising since that’s kind of. Transcends core, and a lot of the people that watch and listen to us are in the partnership world. [00:14:22] Vince Menzione: They’re leading organizations, they own organizations, the the chief executives or CVPs of organizations. Let’s talk about advertising and where that’s going. [00:14:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, great. [00:14:33] Vince Menzione: Yeah, [00:14:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: I mean, uh, I love Marshall McCluen. He’s a Canadian theor, uh, media theorist, and in 1964, he very famously said, the medium is the message. [00:14:43] Ashleigh Vogstad: And what that really means when you peel back the layers is that every type of communication medium has these inherent biases. And I think what we’re experiencing right now is this new medium of artificial intelligence, and I’m really interested in exploring what that means for the media world. So. If I gonna take you back to 1997, there’s this really famous, the Innovator’s Dilemma. [00:15:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yes. Kind of a classic business 1 0 1 type book by Clayton Christensen. Yes. And he talks about this theory of disruption where new technologies, emerging technologies start at the low end of the market. They gain this momentum and they eventually displace incumbents. And you know, sometimes seemingly out of nowhere. [00:15:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And Microsoft was a good example of this at that time. [00:15:32] Ashleigh Vogstad: Def, [00:15:32] Vince Menzione: yeah. [00:15:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: All the big players. All the big players. I mean, Google go for search as well, right? So that’s one of the classic examples. And so. If we look at storytelling technology, you have things like chat, GBT and Sora entering the scene. And in the beginning, you know, they’re producing a shitty first draft. [00:15:51] Ashleigh Vogstad: Uh, you know, it’s things like post-apocalyptic dogs with five finger human beings. Yeah. Things like this. But, you know, and they really lacked emotional resonance. But as we all know. That’s not the case anymore. No, it’s [00:16:05] Vince Menzione: not. [00:16:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: AI is increasingly producing content that is very powerful and is starting to resonate with people. [00:16:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, I’m definitely not a neuroscientist, but if we, we look into the neuroscience, it’s your cortical sal circuit that. Kind of is responsible for pattern recognition and it compares what you’re seeing in the real world with what you expect to see. So when you take this into a space of advertising, you know, if there’s an ad that is AI generated, that is just weird and kind of. [00:16:38] Ashleigh Vogstad: Tweaking for you. [00:16:39] Vince Menzione: Like that robot we were talking about earlier, [00:16:41] Ashleigh Vogstad: like the robot we were Exactly, yeah. Like Sophia, you enter what psychologists call the uncanny valley, so it’s like what you’re looking at isn’t exactly what you’re expecting to see and the Spidey sense is, is tweaking. You know, that’s a low place of emotional resonance. [00:16:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: This world is changing really, really quickly and we’re seeing AI generated media make huge impacts in the market Now, tools like Luma Dream Machine, I mean, it’s incredible what they can achieve today. [00:17:11] Vince Menzione: It’s fascinating. We see it in, you know, I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. That’s sort of the world of our business community, and you can very easily detect when someone is doing a post. [00:17:22] Vince Menzione: Or they’re writing an art, whatever they’re doing. Right. Some type of draft of something. Uh, and you can tell when it’s ai, I mean, it’s so easy to tell, and even people are generating reports and claiming that their research papers or studies or whatever they call them, uh, and it’s AI generated and it’s just the authenticity isn’t there. [00:17:39] Vince Menzione: The, the sense that this is real. That it can be trusted is not there. And I think trust is what we’re talking about here too, as well. [00:17:47] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. I mean, let’s go to authenticity ’cause that’s super important. Yeah. And I know a lot of your listeners, you come from the hyperscaler world of partnerships. You need to have that differentiated, better together story. [00:17:59] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. It’s really important to have an authentic voice in market. And I think about that also in terms of platforms and channels. We’re seeing a decrease in certain major social media platforms, and yet Substack spiked 48% in monthly active users last month. [00:18:15] Vince Menzione: That’s [00:18:16] fascinating. [00:18:16] Ashleigh Vogstad: Um, you know, and I think that one of the reasons is it’s viewed as a more authentic channel where you’re getting thought leadership from people that you’re, you know, genuinely interested in hearing their, their points of view. [00:18:28] Ashleigh Vogstad: And I think that’s really an important piece in here. [00:18:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah, you mentioned this yesterday and you had me thinking about it as well because we have used LinkedIn for everything internally, our newsletter, which has been around for six or seven years now. But that Substack is really, and I go to Substack too, to, if I really wanna dig in on a topic. [00:18:47] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:18:47] Vince Menzione: And there’s a particular author that I like their point of view, I’ll follow, I’ll follow them on Substack. [00:18:53] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. I mean, and this comes, maybe brings us around to who is the buyer and who is the audience, and who do we need to be thinking about when we’re designing sales and marketing programs. And really we’re, we’re shifting into the place of the Gen Z buyer by 20 30, 70 5% of buyers are gonna be Gen Z. [00:19:12] Ashleigh Vogstad: They’re gonna control 12 trillion in. Spend [00:19:16] Vince Menzione: by 2030. ’cause we, we’ve been, we’ve been saying that the millennial is the new buyer the last three years. I think Jay said it right here at this stage. [00:19:23] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:19:24] Vince Menzione: Um, so now it’s Gen Z. [00:19:27] Ashleigh Vogstad: And they’re buying online. Yeah, they’re buying in marketplaces. Yeah. So a stat recently was that roughly half of them made purchases on the social platforms of YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok in the last month. [00:19:39] Ashleigh Vogstad: I mean, that buyer behavior of being inside. Social type application and directly making a purchase. And I think in the B2B world, we need to take lessons from here and start thinking more front and center than we even have been around marketplaces. I mean, part of my reason for being in Silicon Valley this week was to celebrate a $12 million transaction that happened via Marketplace and two years ago that would’ve been a huge deal. [00:20:06] Ashleigh Vogstad: Huge, [00:20:07] Vince Menzione: huge. [00:20:07] Ashleigh Vogstad: And, and it still is a really big deal, but these things are becoming. More and more common experiences. Very much so. We need to be there and in that conversation. [00:20:16] Vince Menzione: So how are you thinking about it? How are you directing your clients to behave or act around it? What are you, what are you doing exactly that we could take to this community perhaps and share with them. [00:20:28] Ashleigh Vogstad: I’ll bring it back to the authenticity piece because you need to have a product that delivers value first and foremost. There is, there is no substitution for that. Yeah, and what I would say is. One of my professors at Oxford, Eric Zow, he has this theory that I’m really digging into and finding very fascinating, which is that for the last several decades we’ve been in the attention economy, and that’s shifting to the trust economy. [00:20:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: Now the attention economy is about selling to human beings. Yeah. It’s about the, the business model is essentially that you need human being eyeballs on lists of recommendation links. Yeah. Whether that’s from Google or from, you know, searching, shopping on Amazon, you get this list of recommendation links and the economic engine that drives that business model is advertising. [00:21:19] Ashleigh Vogstad: Now, if you look at something like the Amazon versus Perplexity lawsuit, the whole underlying premise is around the shift of no longer selling to humans directly, but of selling to machines, or in other words, agents who are making purchases, s on behalf on your behalf. And an agent isn’t going to be razzle dazzled by some inauthentic story. [00:21:44] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:21:44] Ashleigh Vogstad: They’re gonna be looking for third party validation on Exactly. You know, they need to be sure that they’re making the right decision. [00:21:51] Vince Menzione: They’re gonna look at surveys, they’re gonna look at customer comments. Like if I went through my Amazon site and I was looking to see what people said about the purchase or the product and specifically Exactly. [00:22:01] Vince Menzione: The agent’s gonna do this on my behalf, is what you’re saying. [00:22:04] Ashleigh Vogstad: This is what I’m saying. Yeah. And, and. I believe that to layer on top of, you know, Eric Z’s philosophy, I’ve been thinking about this in terms of the hyperscaler world, and I think that this is the time to lean into co-selling partnerships. [00:22:18] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, because being third party validated by somebody like AWS Microsoft and having all that co-sell data, what are your recent wins? Yes, that’s really high integrity, trusted data source for an agent to make a purchasing decision, and marketplaces are a key part of that. [00:22:35] Vince Menzione: So we’ll move from AI will take a, a more active role in the marketplace. [00:22:40] Ashleigh Vogstad: I definitely believe so. [00:22:42] Vince Menzione: Which makes total sense. I, you know, we’ve been doing this for nine or 10 years now, and when I was at Microsoft, we started co-selling. In fact, it was, uh, Aaron Feiger was up on stage yesterday talking about it. Right? January of 2016, co-selling began. [00:22:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:22:56] Vince Menzione: And there were only a few companies doing it. [00:22:59] Vince Menzione: Right. So she worked with one of the very first ones that were doing it. Uh, the challenge we have today is there are tens of thousands of partner organizations in the marketplace that are all trying to get the attention of the Microsoft sellers. Hmm. As, or the Google sellers or the AWS sellers and tell their story. [00:23:19] Vince Menzione: And a seller only has so many minutes in a day, they have a quota that they have to hit. These quotas are tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars of annual quota of cloud consumption. And I wanna sell my $50,000 widget, whatever it is. Yeah. Right. And I, I don’t understand why I’m not getting a callback. [00:23:38] Vince Menzione: And this, this is the dilemma we’ve faced because of, because of this, uh, scarcity of time and this over overwhelming of tech, you know. Tech, tech buyers trying to make this all happen, so now the AI can come in and help me solve for it as a seller, right? [00:23:55] Ashleigh Vogstad: The AI is definitely acting as an interface to make recommendations to field sellers in different organizations and. [00:24:04] Ashleigh Vogstad: To, to kind of take this on a, a tangent. Dupes. So a dupe. I know people of my generation, we’d think about this like a knockoff Right. You know, a knockoff handbag. [00:24:15] Vince Menzione: Yep. [00:24:15] Ashleigh Vogstad: Dupes have exploded. [00:24:16] Vince Menzione: Fake. Fake Rolexes. [00:24:18] Ashleigh Vogstad: Exactly. The fake Rolex for sure. And I think it was in December, P WC rolled out a survey. 81% of Gen Z were planning to purchase a dupe this holiday season. [00:24:29] Vince Menzione: That’s wild. [00:24:30] Ashleigh Vogstad: Dupes can be, you know, we gave luxury, good examples, but Louis [00:24:34] Vince Menzione: Vuitton and yeah. So, [00:24:35] Ashleigh Vogstad: but furniture, these sorts of things. And the important takeaway here for tech is the same principle will land, is that people are looking for value out of a product, not necessarily a name brand. AI is accelerating this whole process, and agents are gonna be looking at the same thing. [00:24:56] Ashleigh Vogstad: They’re looking for that authenticity in terms of the actual product value. So, you know, beware there’s lots of disruption happening in the market right now with this dupe mentality, which is actually a cultural shift talking about I appreciate value over a superficial. Brand name. In some cases, there’s also a, a small contrary trend where certain luxury goods are rising because yes, things are never that simple. [00:25:22] Vince Menzione: So you work with a lot of these tech companies, a lot of SaaS companies, is we, we call them ISVs, we also call them, uh, software development companies. Now we keep changing these acronyms around. Uh, there’s been a lot of, uh, consternation in that segment, I would say, around ai. Right, because a lot of them are getting told that they’ll be outta business in a few years. [00:25:43] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. I think Satya Nadella famously said this last year that SAS will go away. Right? He’s predicting the demise. How do you help some of these organizations to differentiate? And there’s some of these are huge value organizations. We have have them in the room with us, ServiceNow and Veeam and Adobe. [00:26:01] Vince Menzione: Um, how do you help them achieve their results? ’cause that’s what you, you know, your organization is really helping these organizations to achieve their pinnacle as a partner. What do you, what do you say to them now and how do you help them through this time? [00:26:16] Ashleigh Vogstad: I’m on the side of the fence that I really can’t see an organization ripping out something like Salesforce, Adobe, ServiceNow. [00:26:24] Vince Menzione: Agreed. [00:26:24] Ashleigh Vogstad: I mean that the amount of change management and. The extent to which these, these platforms are embedded, actually running and operating organizations. I personally, if, if we’re calling those companies, SaaS companies, I don’t agree that that layer is gonna go away. I mean, we’re seeing these organizations lean into AI in a huge way to borrow Microsofts. [00:26:50] Ashleigh Vogstad: Term, you know, they’re all becoming frontier firms. [00:26:54] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:26:54] Ashleigh Vogstad: So where I would go to, to answer that question, we do work with many, you know, organizations on that caliber, on things like their marketplace strategy on how to light up the fields of different hyperscalers. It really does come down to things like having a strong drumbeat with the Microsoft field, celebrating your win stories. [00:27:15] Ashleigh Vogstad: Maybe that’s where I’ll land as Please do the marketer, because it sounds so simple, and I don’t know why we kind of continue to come back to this, but we’re talking about that third party validation and really, um, in order to have that, like what the hyperscalers want is you jointly celebrating success. [00:27:36] Ashleigh Vogstad: Here’s the kicker. Publicly. [00:27:38] Vince Menzione: Publicly, [00:27:39] Ashleigh Vogstad: you know, you need a customer story on your website, a press release that contains a quote from your customer. Ideally, also a quote from an executive at one of the hyperscalers. Like, actually lean in to live the value of your better together story. And when you do that, when you, when it comes around to partner of the year time, and we talk to you about, okay, what client stories are we gonna feature? [00:28:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: We’re even gonna know because when we Google you, we can see the public press of the joint wins that you’ve been celebrating. And I can tell you that that is a huge indicator on whether or not you’re well-placed to be in the 4% of partners who actually win Partner of the Year award’s. [00:28:20] Vince Menzione: Fascinating to me. [00:28:21] Vince Menzione: ’cause to me it would feel like table stakes maybe ’cause where we sit is ultimate partner and where this room sits with all the top partners that I just assume that everybody follows that. That, that guidance. [00:28:34] Ashleigh Vogstad: Mm. [00:28:34] Vince Menzione: And so this is really impactful and I want to get here because I know you spent a lot of time here and we’ve talked about it before, but I think the partner of the year awards, when we first met many years ago, that was a you, you’ve expanded the business, but that’s still a core mission and and value that you bring to the community and to the partner ecosystem is helping them through this process. [00:28:55] Vince Menzione: So I know that that’s gonna be coming up soon, so I thought maybe we’d spend a couple moments on that. [00:29:00] Ashleigh Vogstad: Partner of the Year awards, regardless of which partner, I mean, Salesforce has their own awards there. There’s more and more award programs coming out, and they’re a great way to celebrate the incredible work that your organization has done. [00:29:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: Jay McBain is brilliant on this. He’ll talk a lot about the increase in valuation. Yeah. The, the increase in stock valuation or the likelihood that if you’re looking to be acquired, that you’re acquired within 12 months of a partner of the year win it. It’s really impressive. There is strong business value there. [00:29:33] Vince Menzione: He like, he likes, he likes to tell the story of that when the award is handed to them and they go back into the audience, that the private equity people are all over them right then and there and making offers. I mean, that’s the visual that you get [00:29:47] Ashleigh Vogstad: and it’s very powerful. Yeah. Very powerful. It’s very powerful and it, it can make it worthwhile to invest in the process, but don’t invest in the process if you haven’t been investing in the process for the 12 months. [00:29:57] Ashleigh Vogstad: Prior, [00:29:58] Vince Menzione: exactly. [00:29:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: The Microsoft field or you we’re talking about Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards. They need to know about your win that that needs to be top of mind for them. Yeah. How much Azure revenue is it driving? Was it a huge marketplace? Build sales and. You know, one of the questions I get asked a ton, everybody wants to know how do we get money out of the hyperscalers? [00:30:20] Ashleigh Vogstad: How do I get access to marketing development funds or all these different programs? Yeah. You know, at Microsoft, some of these programs are like EI and customer investment funds or Azure Accelerate, you know, and there’s millions and millions and millions of dollars in these, these buckets of funds, but. [00:30:36] Ashleigh Vogstad: An interesting point of view is that it’s actually a scorecard metric for many people at Microsoft who have partnership roles for you to be drawing down those funds. [00:30:45] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:30:45] Ashleigh Vogstad: You know, your interests are actually aligned here, and so again, when it comes to Partner of the Year awards, how much money have you pulled down? [00:30:54] Ashleigh Vogstad: How much have you been an activating partner of key Microsoft programs that they’re pushing? What are you doing with marketplace rewards? How are you resing? Those into your business. These are the types of things that you really wanna be thinking about. Sitting it. You know, this time of year we probably will get the awards were likely be due in July. [00:31:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: They haven’t officially announced timelines, but you’ve got a few months to start moving these pieces into place. [00:31:18] Vince Menzione: And there are quite a few of them. And to your point, Nina, when she was up on stage here yesterday, there were at least 10 or 12 award. Uh. Funding categories that were on her, that were on her slide. [00:31:31] Vince Menzione: Her partner, her partner slide. So, [00:31:33] Ashleigh Vogstad: and what great looks like for a partner is that you understand your end-to-end funnel as it is mapped to Microsoft’s SEM model, the Microsoft customer Engagement model. Mm-hmm. The first stage there, inspire and design. That’s really the marketing space of lead generation. [00:31:50] Ashleigh Vogstad: So how are you generating leads with webinars, in-person, event activations, digital campaigns, and then at the very end, in the fifth column, you have the Microsoft outcomes that you’re driving. Yes. Whether that’s Azure consumed revenue, marketplace build sales, co-pilot, monthly active usage, these sorts of things. [00:32:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: And in each of those SEM swim lanes. There’s Microsoft funding associated to it. And that’s one of the things that Nina Harding was showing yesterday. When and where does it make sense to make requests for EA funds versus Azure accelerate the MCI funding? There’s different workshop proof of concept funding, and those all fall at specific stages in that EM model. [00:32:33] Vince Menzione: And what you’re also pointing out in this conversation is that the co the partners need to understand that mm, they need to understand MM. We talked about it years ago. I’ve had, haven’t had anybody on stage recently talk about m You could probably take us through that if we wanted to devote some time here, uh, and then understand all of those categories and how to access those funds. [00:32:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, it’s critical and. The number one place we point partners, if you want a quick overview of what that looks like is to Microsoft’s FY 26 solution playbooks. Nice. They’re available on the web for download. There’s, well, there used to be three, but they’ve added a few agen being, being one. So, so there’s a handful of, they had [00:33:11] Vince Menzione: simplified it, now they’re, now they’re expanding it back again. [00:33:14] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, exactly. I think there’s now a breakout for security as well. Yes. So take a look at those playbooks. It will map programs and incentives very specifically to each solution area and to each sales play that are gonna be available to you. And then we’re always happy to guide people through the details [00:33:32] Vince Menzione: as well. [00:33:32] Vince Menzione: I love that. I love that. And reach out to the. Ashley is just amazing at this process. I’ve, I’ve watched her for years now, work with some of the top, what have become the pinnacle partners of Microsoft and with the award season coming up. So we wanna make sure we have a plug there. But I also wanna talk about like, podcasts with you. [00:33:50] Vince Menzione: Um, you’ve been on this podcast multiple times, been in the studio before doing this, and I understand you have your own podcast now. So tell us about that. [00:33:58] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, Vince, I just wanna say. As a friend and a mentor. You’ve been so inspiring. Thank you. And I think from years ago when we met, there was this seed in my brain of, you know, I, I should really get out there. [00:34:13] Ashleigh Vogstad: And you talk a lot about growth mindset and fear setting is, is one of Tim Ferriss’s terms? Yes. And models. [00:34:21] Vince Menzione: I love Tim Ferris. I’ve been, been a fan of his for 10 years now. So that’s settled. We all got started with this. Sorry. Sorry, I [00:34:26] Ashleigh Vogstad: interrupt. No, no, not at all. [00:34:27] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:34:28] Ashleigh Vogstad: And. I think it’s just been, it’s been back there. [00:34:31] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. That I’m really passionate around having voice is how I think about it. And as a marketing agency, we’re really amplifying the voice, um, or helping companies to find their voice, particularly in hyperscaler partnerships. And what better way to assist, you know, authentically the amazing people in our network, in our community and our clients than with our own channel where we can celebrate their stories and success? [00:35:00] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:35:01] Ashleigh Vogstad: So the podcast is called Transcending Tech. It’s about [00:35:06] Vince Menzione: very cool transcending tech. Just so you don’t [00:35:08] Ashleigh Vogstad: transcending tech. [00:35:08] Vince Menzione: It’s out there now. [00:35:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: It, we just released our first episode. Okay. I think two days ago. [00:35:13] Vince Menzione: So by the time we’re live, yes. We’ll, we’ll be able to access it. Good. [00:35:17] Ashleigh Vogstad: You will be able to access it. [00:35:18] Ashleigh Vogstad: The first episode is with Alyssa Fit. Patrick from Elastic. [00:35:21] Vince Menzione: Oh my goodness. [00:35:22] Ashleigh Vogstad: And the concept of the podcast, it’s long form and it’s really about getting to the people behind the platforms. [00:35:29] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:35:29] Ashleigh Vogstad: And to the stories that transcend technology. So we’re here to get to know the human beings behind. Agents. [00:35:38] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:35:38] Ashleigh Vogstad: And taking the time to, to go in deep and really explore that. [00:35:43] Vince Menzione: So I am excited to see all the developments here with the, with the podcast. And you’re gonna be joining us again. You were just here, you in Boca. But you’ll be joining us again in Bellevue. Not too far a little bit. Closer ride or travel, uh, for you to come to Bellevue. [00:35:57] Vince Menzione: We’re gonna be hosting the first ultimate partner live, which is our larger events in this beautiful facility, this new Intercontinental hotel, which is fabulous. And, uh, you’re gonna be taking a more active role. Your leadership around AI is. Palpable and we’re gonna love to have you on stage and talking through some of the changes. [00:36:17] Vince Menzione: I, I suspect by the time we get to Bellevue we’ll have a lot more to talk about. That hasn’t even happened yet. [00:36:23] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah, I’m really excited. I’ll have been through my next cohort at at Oxford, kind of coming out hot from there back to the Pacific Northwest, and really excited to just share the learnings and Awesome. [00:36:35] Ashleigh Vogstad: Genuinely. It’s also helping me in my own research, really formulate particularly around the role of ag agentic AI in hyperscaler partnerships. [00:36:43] Vince Menzione: That’s so cool. And then what I’ll say is this, and I don’t know, we on the space perspective, and I’ll, the team will probably hang me for this because we haven’t done it yet, but if you wanna bring the podcast along with you, there might be, we’ll see if we can find an extra room for you to set up. [00:36:58] Vince Menzione: If you wanna do some interviews while you’re. In, at the event. So [00:37:02] Ashleigh Vogstad: you’re so generous, Vince. [00:37:03] Vince Menzione: That’s [00:37:04] Ashleigh Vogstad: amazing. [00:37:04] Vince Menzione: Thank you. Again, I can’t say for certainty yet, but, uh, let’s see, let’s see what happens with that. So, uh, let, let’s, uh, you know, I always, we, we have known each other for years and I just assume everybody knows this amazing Ashley sda. [00:37:19] Vince Menzione: But, um, we always, I like to ask this question because it helps us kind of dig in a little bit about you personally. And it’s my favorite question. I ask all my guests this question now, and it’s, um, you’re hosting a dinner party, Ashley, you are, pick a pace, place, you wanna have this dinner. We could talk about parts of the world. [00:37:36] Vince Menzione: You’ve traveled all extensively. Uh, and you can invite any three people, guests from the present. Or the past to this amazing dinner party you’re throwing. Whom would you invite and why? [00:37:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: It’s a beautiful question, Vince and. Instantly I go to a place in terms of the location, since you asked that part, which was surprising. [00:38:01] Ashleigh Vogstad: I, I like that is my home. I, I love where I live up in Whistler, Canada and [00:38:08] Vince Menzione: I hear it’s beautiful. I haven’t been yet, [00:38:10] Ashleigh Vogstad: it’s so gorgeous and it’s, it’s my own sanctuary. You know, I live on a plane 75% of the time and coming back to that place is really grounding for me. Yes. So, so I would love to have it at, at my home and to invite. [00:38:24] Ashleigh Vogstad: Pippa Malrin would be one. She, Pippa [00:38:26] Vince Menzione: Malrin. [00:38:27] Ashleigh Vogstad: Yeah. She’s sure. I get an advisor to the White House for many administrations. Okay. She’s an economist and she just has really interesting perspective on geopolitics. Uh, I follow her on Substack ’cause she’s a big substack. Okay, now [00:38:41] Vince Menzione: I need to look. This is awesome. [00:38:42] Vince Menzione: The [00:38:43] Ashleigh Vogstad: mal, she’s fantastic. I would say Dr. Lisa Sue, the CEO, Dr. Lisa of a md. [00:38:49] Vince Menzione: Okay. Yes, yes. I know a little bit about her. [00:38:51] Ashleigh Vogstad: So she was one of Time Mag, I think she was the only woman in Time Magazine’s, group of people of the year, which was basically this AI cohort in including, you know, the Elon Musks of the world. [00:39:03] Ashleigh Vogstad: Uh, it’s just so impressive what she’s doing with leadership in a MD. I don’t think it’s as public as. Anybody else who is on the cover of that magazine, but it’s incredibly powerful. [00:39:14] Vince Menzione: Yeah, they’ve made a com uh, turnaround’s probably not the right word, but it seems like they’ve made a tremendous, uh, gains turnaround probably in the last few years. [00:39:23] Ashleigh Vogstad: I would say that many would say turnaround. And then lastly is Dr. Fefe Lee, who. For those in the AI space, particularly AI research space. I mean, she’s arguably number one. Um, she’s leading at Stanford currently. [00:39:37] Vince Menzione: Wow. This is gonna be a heady conversation, but you know, I love conversations. So if you don’t mind, maybe I’ll bring dessert and come, come in for a few moments, maybe do some podcast interviews there. [00:39:48] Vince Menzione: How’s that? [00:39:49] Ashleigh Vogstad: That sounds absolutely perfect, Vince, [00:39:50] Vince Menzione: so, so good. So good to have you here today. So great. Good to have you in the studio again, and, uh, excited for transcends and all the great work you’re doing. Um. This time with ai. I think you, uh, we talked about this a little bit last night. I think you’ve made some really wise, personal and professional decisions about how to lead and how to take this forward and not kind of rest on your laurels, which you see so many organizations do People fear change [00:40:17] Ashleigh Vogstad: Hmm. [00:40:18] Vince Menzione: And you embrace it, which is just, it’s astounding to me that you do that and, um. I look forward to working with you in the future and for years and years to come. So I will ask you one more question though, because we are still at the precipice of these tectonic shifts and we’re still early in 2026. And so for our listeners and our viewers today, what would be the one thing you would tell them that they need to go do now that possibly they haven’t done yet as they prepare for 2026 and beyond? [00:40:52] Ashleigh Vogstad: The generic phrase would be, be curious, but if we want an action, it would be go build an agent. [00:40:59] Vince Menzione: Go build an agent [00:41:00] Ashleigh Vogstad: if, if you haven’t already. Yeah. And, and I’m, yeah. Speaking hopefully to like a business audience, you know, to, to anyone. Yeah. Really, um, find something that is interesting that you’re passionate about. [00:41:12] Ashleigh Vogstad: A, a use case that it doesn’t have to be some big thing. It could be quite mundane, but just something that’s gonna help you in your role. It’s, you know, what is creativity is an interesting question, and I can tell you that sitting down and hands-on keys and actually creating something is, is a beautiful, powerful experience. [00:41:32] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Awesome. All right. We’re all gonna go create agents this weekend, so thank you for listening. Thank you for viewing the Ultimate Guide to partnering on our YouTube channel, ultimate Partner, and on each end of your platforms at the Ultimate Guide to partnering. Thank you for being with us and supporting us all these years. [00:41:50] Vince Menzione: Thank you. Don’t forget, ultimate Partner Live is coming soon, May 11th through the 13th in beautiful Bellevue, Washington. I hope to see you there.
Get started with VS Code for the Web - Azure to seamlessly run, debug and deploy your applications with no setup! This browser-based VS Code environment allows you to work as you would locally, but wherever you are. Watch this video to see us create an enterprise-grade application, run it and deploy it to Azure within minutes! Chapters 00:30 - Introduction 02:26 - VS Code for the Web - Azure Overview 05:21 - AI Template Entry Point Scenario 06:00 - Microsoft Foundry Entry Point Scenario 08:42 - RAG Chat Application - Enterprise-level Application Scenario 13:52 - GitHub Copilot in /azure 16:25 - RAG Chat Application Deployed - Testing Scenario 18:10 - Go to vscode.dev/azure to try it out today! Recommended resources VS Code Docs Connect Scott Hanselman | Twitter/X: @SHanselman Meera Haridasa | LinkedIn: /in/meeraharidasa/ Azure Friday | Twitter/X: @AzureFriday Azure | Twitter/X: @Azure
Get started with VS Code for the Web - Azure to seamlessly run, debug and deploy your applications with no setup! This browser-based VS Code environment allows you to work as you would locally, but wherever you are. Watch this video to see us create an enterprise-grade application, run it and deploy it to Azure within minutes! Chapters 00:30 - Introduction 02:26 - VS Code for the Web - Azure Overview 05:21 - AI Template Entry Point Scenario 06:00 - Microsoft Foundry Entry Point Scenario 08:42 - RAG Chat Application - Enterprise-level Application Scenario 13:52 - GitHub Copilot in /azure 16:25 - RAG Chat Application Deployed - Testing Scenario 18:10 - Go to vscode.dev/azure to try it out today! Recommended resources VS Code Docs Connect Scott Hanselman | Twitter/X: @SHanselman Meera Haridasa | LinkedIn: /in/meeraharidasa/ Azure Friday | Twitter/X: @AzureFriday Azure | Twitter/X: @Azure
In this episode, host Sandy Vance chats with Hari Bala, the Chief Technology Officer for Health Information Systems at Solventum. Together, they explore how healthcare organizations can build trust and confidence around AI adoption, drawing on insights from Solventum's recent global survey of healthcare professionals. The research highlights a growing demand for AI alongside concerns that innovation could increase pressure on clinicians. Hari shares practical perspectives on how AI can support rather than overshadow providers, improve efficiency without compromising quality, and help organizations introduce new technologies in ways that feel safe and sustainable. Listen to learn how leaders can ensure clinicians feel comfortable incorporating AI into their daily workflows while improving the overall patient experience. In this episode, they talk about: The three key trust factors and why trust is the foundation for AI adoption Why trust is the currency of successful implementation The role of AI in improving patient care and clinician efficiency How speed and quality can improve together rather than compete Key findings from Solventum's healthcare AI adoption survey The cultural and mindset shifts required for successful implementation The impact of AI on the patient experience How leaders can evaluate potential technology partners A Little About Hari: Hari Bala joined Solventum as Chief Technology Officer for Health Information Systems in May 2025. He brings more than 25 years of experience building scalable, distributed systems using generative AI, data science, analytics, and machine learning across healthcare, cloud, and security. Before Solventum, Hari led AI, data, analytics, and cloud transformation initiatives at GE Healthcare and Oracle Cerner. At Oracle, he helped establish the AI Services organization and led development of the Health Data Intelligence and Analytics platform, a near real-time, cloud-based population health solution, while advancing AI and machine learning tools for clinical use. Earlier in his career, Hari spent nearly 19 years at Microsoft in leadership roles across Azure and several core enterprise technologies.
AI funding rounds are getting bigger. Infrastructure bets are getting steeper. And the SaaS model is back under pressure. On episode 294 of The Six Five Pod, Patrick Moorhead and Daniel Newman break down the $110B OpenAI raise, Amazon's expanded role, AMD's $100B Meta deal, sovereign cloud momentum, and whether or not the SaaS premium is being permanently eroded. The handpicked topics for this week are: OpenAI's $110B Funding Round & Amazon's $50B Commitment: OpenAI secured a $110B round backed by Amazon, NVIDIA, and SoftBank. Amazon committed $50B over eight years, including Tranium capacity, co-development, Bedrock integration, and custom model initiatives. Microsoft remains the exclusive API cloud provider, but the competitive cloud dynamics are shifting. Anthropic, the Pentagon & the AI Safety Line: Anthropic risks a $200M DoD contract over refusing to drop safety restrictions related to mass surveillance and automated weapons. Pat and Dan explore the ethics and competitive positioning of this, and what happens if another lab steps in. Model Distillation & IP Risk: Anthropic cited 24,000 fraudulent accounts generating 16 million interactions to distill model capabilities. The episode examines IP theft, enforcement gaps, and global competition. DeepSeek & NVIDIA Blackwell Reports: Recent reports suggest DeepSeek leveraged NVIDIA Blackwell chips. The hosts discuss export controls, enforcement realities, and whether this was ever realistically in doubt. Microsoft Sovereign Cloud Goes GA: Microsoft introduced full-stack Azure sovereign cloud capabilities with support for disconnected operations. Sovereignty, regulatory compliance, and latency management are becoming core enterprise and government requirements. AMD's $100B Meta AI Infrastructure Deal: AMD secured a massive multi-gigawatt inference-focused deal with Meta using MI450. The discussion centers on competitive dynamics with NVIDIA, scale-up architecture, and whether AMD can materially shift market share. Intel & SambaNova Alignment: Intel Capital invested in SambaNova's Series E. The hosts examine inference strategy, CPU resurgence, and how Intel rounds out its AI positioning while advancing its GPU roadmap. The Flip: Is SaaS Permanently Repriced? Are enterprise SaaS multiples structurally resetting due to AI agents and consumption models, or is the market misreading enterprise AI adoption speed? Nuance emerges around consolidation, consumption pricing, and the durability of complex enterprise platforms. Bulls & Bears: NVIDIA, Salesforce, Synopsys, Dell, Snowflake, IBM, Everpure, HP Strong earnings across several big tech companies met with mixed market reactions. Terminal value concerns, consumption transitions, stock-based compensation, and memory constraints shape sentiment more than raw performance. For a deeper dive into each topic, subscribe to The Six Five Pod so you never miss an episode.
For many homesteaders, the dream is complete self-sufficiency. Producing all your own food. Depending on no one. Living independently.But is that really possible? And more importantly, is it even the right goal?In this episode of Everyday Homesteading, we're sharing why complete self-sufficiency is actually a myth and what matters far more: building practical skills and strengthening community.We discuss how focusing on skills rather than trying to do everything yourself leads to more resilience, less overwhelm, and greater freedom in your homesteading journey.You'll learn how to shift your mindset, avoid burnout, and build real, lasting resilience for your family.Read the full blog post here: https://homesteadingfamily.com/self-sufficiency-is-a-myth/Thanks to Azure Standard for sponsoring this episode! Azure has been our trusted source for bulk foods and pantry staples for years. When we can't grow or produce something ourselves, Azure Standard is often our first choice. Get 15% off your first order of $100 or more using coupon code "HOMESTEADINGFAMILY15" at checkout: https://homesteadingfamily.com/main-azure-standard-bTime Stamps:0:00 - Introduction - Azure Standard - Main Topic~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~MORE ABOUT US!WELCOME! We're so glad you're here! We are Josh and Carolyn Thomas. Together with our eleven children, we are The Homesteading Family where we're living a self-sustainable life in beautiful North Idaho. Let us welcome you and show you a bit about us here: http://bit.ly/HFWelcomeVideoGrow, Preserve & Thrive with us!Visit us on our blog: https://www.homesteadingfamily.comFacebook at https://www.facebook.com/homesteadingfamilyInstagram: https://instagram.com/homesteadingfamilyRumble: https://rumble.com/HomesteadingFamilyA few highlights you don't want to miss are our FREEBIES!!Healthy Healing at Home – Learn how to confidently use herbal medicine in your home with this FREE 4 video workshop: https://homesteadingfamily.com/HHHytYour Best Loaf – A Free 4 video workshop teaching you how to make great bread at home, every time, regardless of the recipe you are using: https://homesteadingfamily.com/free-bread-workshopYou know that every month, we send out a physical magazine to over 10,000 subscribers? Each issue has seasonal recipes, fresh inspiration for your kitchen, practical homesteading tips, and traditional wisdom from seasoned homesteaders. This magazine equips you to thrive on your homestead, whether you're in the city, a suburban neighborhood, or on 40 acres. Subscribe today for just $9 a month.
Cisco SD-WAN Bug Actively Exploited, MCP Azure Takeover Demo, CarGurus Data Leak, and Secret Service Scam Recovery Host Jim Love covers four cybersecurity stories: CSA warns a critical Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN controller vulnerability (CVE-2026-20127) has been exploited since 2023, enabling authentication bypass and rogue peering sessions, and orders U.S. federal agencies to inventory systems, collect logs and forensic artifacts, hunt for compromise, and apply Cisco's fixes by 5:00 PM ET on February 27, 2026, with no workarounds. At RSA, researchers show how flaws in Model Context Protocol (MCP)—a key integration layer for agentic AI—could lead to remote code execution and even Azure tenant takeover, highlighting rising enterprise risk. ShinyHunters reportedly published 12.4 million stolen CarGurus records, raising phishing and fraud concerns tied to vehicle shopping and financing context. Finally, an Ontario tech support scam victim recovers funds through coordinated work by Ontario Provincial Police and the U.S. Secret Service, which traced and froze the money in time. Cybersecurity Today would like to thank Meter for their support in bringing you this podcast. Meter delivers a complete networking stack, wired, wireless and cellular in one integrated solution that's built for performance and scale. You can find them at Meter.com/cst LINKS Cisco Advisory Cisco Security Advisory – CVE-2026-20127 Authentication bypass vulnerability in Cisco Catalyst SD-WAN https://sec.cloudapps.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-sdwan-rpa-EHchtZk CISA Supplemental Hunt and Hardening Guidance (Cisco SD-WAN Systems) https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/supplemental-direction-ed-26-03-hunt-and-hardening-guidance-cisco-sd-wan-systems Threat Hunt Guide (Technical PDF) Cisco SD-WAN Threat Hunt Guide (jointly referenced in federal guidance) https://media.defense.gov/2026/Feb/25/2003880299/-1/-1/0/CISCO_SD-WAN_THREAT_HUNT_GUIDE.PDF 00:00 Sponsor Message 00:19 Cisco SD-WAN Under Attack 02:48 MCP Azure Takeover Demo 05:28 CarGurus Data Dump 07:16 Secret Service Scam Recovery 09:24 Closing Sponsor Thanks
Join us as Du'An breaks down AI agents in a way that actually makes sense - what they are, how to use them, and how to get started today. Du'An walks through the fundamentals of AI agents with live demos and practical code examples you can use immediately. You'll learn about agent frameworks, when to use agents versus simple LLM calls, building your first agent, and real-world applications from bookmark management to automated workflows. This episode cuts through the hype with realistic expectations about what agents can and can't do, while showing you concrete examples including MCP servers, Strands Pack, and Du'An's personal second brain system. Timestamps 0:00 Welcome & Introduction 1:39 Du'An's Background & Previous Episode Success 3:06 Segueing from Last Week's Episode 4:03 CEOs Vibe Coding Discussion 6:49 Real Estate Developer Building Apps Story 8:23 Getting Started with the Presentation 12:45 What Are AI Agents? 18:22 Agent Frameworks Overview 24:16 When to Use Agents vs Simple LLM Calls 30:41 Building Your First Agent 36:52 Live Demo: Strands Pack 42:18 MCP Servers Explained 47:35 WriteStats MCP Demo 52:14 Real-World Applications 58:33 Du'An's Second Brain System 1:04:01 Bookmark Manager Walkthrough 1:07:17 Organizing Cloud Storage & Email 1:09:06 Wrap-up & Next Episode Teaser How to find Du'An: https://www.duanlightfoot.com/ https://github.com/labeveryday/ Links from the show: https://github.com/labeveryday/strands-pack https://github.com/labeveryday/writestat-mcp https://github.com/labeveryday/bookmark-manager-site https://bookmarks.duanlightfoot.com/ https://github.com/openai/whisper https://openai.com/index/whisper/
In just six months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more than tripled the amount of data stored on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform,The Guardian reports, "at the same time that its arsenal of surveillance technology ballooned." This week, tech workers with the No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) campaign staged a protest and informational picket at Microsoft's global headquarters in Redmond, WA, demanding that Microsoft cancel all contracts that provide technological support for Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and ICE's campaign of terror in the US. We speak with Ibtihal, a former software engineer at Microsoft and an organizer with the NOAA campaign. Additional links/info: No Azure for Apartheid Instagram and Linktree Harry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, "ICE reliance on Microsoft technology surged amid immigration crackdown, documents show" Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, "'Microsoft workers refuse to be complicit in the genocide'" Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, "Microsoft cancels Israeli spy unit access after tech worker revolt" Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, "The biggest labor story in the US right now is happening at Microsoft" Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song Credits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
In just six months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) more than tripled the amount of data stored on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform,The Guardian reports, “at the same time that its arsenal of surveillance technology ballooned.” This week, tech workers with the No Azure for Apartheid (NOAA) campaign staged a protest and informational picket at Microsoft's global headquarters in Redmond, WA, demanding that Microsoft cancel all contracts that provide technological support for Israel's ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and ICE's campaign of terror in the US. We speak with Ibtihal, a former software engineer at Microsoft and an organizer with the NOAA campaign. Additional links/info: No Azure for Apartheid Instagram and LinktreeHarry Davies & Yuval Abraham, The Guardian, “ICE reliance on Microsoft technology surged amid immigration crackdown, documents show”Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “‘Microsoft workers refuse to be complicit in the genocide'”Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “Microsoft cancels Israeli spy unit access after tech worker revolt”Maximillian Alvarez, Working People / TRNN, “The biggest labor story in the US right now is happening at Microsoft”Featured Music: Jules Taylor, Working People Theme SongCredits: Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-real-news-podcast--2952221/support.Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer.Follow us on:Bluesky: @therealnews.comFacebook: The Real News NetworkTwitter: @TheRealNewsYouTube: @therealnewsInstagram: @therealnewsnetworkBecome a member and join the Supporters Club for The Real News Podcast today!
Realities Remixed, formerly know as Cloud Realities, launches a new season exploring the intersection of people, culture, industry, and tech. Energy transportation is a deeply local business, safely delivering gas and electricity, more and more from renewable sources, directly to the communities it serves. Technology and AI help make that possible by strengthening safety, bringing companies closer to customers, and enabling teams to build the future together. This week, Dave, Esmee, and Rob are joined by John Koerwer, CIO of UGI Corporation, to explore explore why “the business” and tech still struggle to speak the same language, nd what helps close the gap.TLDR00:35 – Introduction01:17 – Hang out: new toys and coffee07:55 – Dig in: the business - tech divide21:07 – Conversation with John Koerwer59:40 – The amazing AI technology in The Sphere's version of The Wizard of OzGuestJohn Koerwer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-koerwer-46102127/HostsDave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/Esmee van de Giessen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeevandegiessen/Rob Kernahan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-kernahan/ProductionMarcel van der Burg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcel-vd-burg/Dave Chapman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chapmandr/ SoundBen Corbett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-corbett-3b6a11135/Louis Corbett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louis-corbett-087250264/ 'Realities Remixed' is an original podcast from Capgemini
William and Eyvonne tackle the biggest AI stories of early 2026. They dissect Matt Schumer’s viral “Something Big is Happening” essay – agreeing professionals need to skill up now while pushing back on the doomsday framing with real-world examples from engineering disciplines. The conversation takes a fascinating turn as Eyvonne draws a parallel between AI-assisted... Read more »
A Pew Research Center study shows 54% of teens between 13 and 17 years old use chatbots for school assignments, a California judge dismisses a trade secrets lawsuit from xAI against OpenAI, and Japan’s antitrust authority raids Microsoft Japan’s offices over suspected violations of the antimonopoly act with Azure. MP3 Please SUBSCRIBE HERE for freeContinue reading "Study Shows Over 50% of Teens Use Chatbots for Schoolwork – DTH"
Get featured on the show by leaving us a Voice Mail: https://bit.ly/MIPVM This episode explores how organisations can move from AI curiosity to real value using Microsoft Copilot and agents, drawing on practical insights from Yves Habersaat. The conversation focuses on adoption that starts where people already work, keeps early use cases simple, and scales only when the need is clear. It also covers real-world agent scenarios, model choice, and why low-code tools are often enough to deliver results quickly.
What does it take to get your SaaS offering on multiple cloud providers? Richard chats with Steve Buchanan about his new role at JAMF, which focuses on a mobile device management product for Apple devices. Originally built as a SaaS product on AWS, Steve is helping to build out the JAMF stack on Azure to support a broader range of customers. Steve talks about Kubernetes as the common ground among the major cloud players, but you need to dig into the rest of the tooling to minimize differences across implementations. That means cloud-agnostic tools for deployment, identity, instrumentation, and more! The good news is that there are plenty of tools out there to help you, but it does take time to work out your suite of tools to get consistent results, no matter where the backend resides.LinksJAMFOpenTofuElastic Kubernetes ServiceAzure Kubernetes ServiceGoogle Kubernetes EngineMicrosoft IntuneiOS and IntuneOktaPrometheusGrafanaSteve's Pluralsight ClassesKAgentSOC 2 Type 2Recorded January 8, 2026
Mercredi 25 février, Frédéric Simottel a reçu Fanny Bouton, directrice du quantique chez OVHCloud, Thomas Serval, PDG de Baracoda, Stéphane Zibi, consultant spécialiste en transformation numérique et en IA, Léa Benaim, journaliste BFM Business, François Hernandez, vice-président de Samsung Electronics France, Sylvain Trinel, journaliste BFM Tech, et Xavier Perret, directeur de l'entité Azure chez Microsoft, dans l'émission Tech & Co, la quotidienne sur BFM Business. Retrouvez l'émission du lundi au jeudi et réécoutez-la en podcast.
On this episode of The Classic Hits Show Broadcast live on Liffey Sound 96.4FM on 20th February 2026 we had with a live in studio performance from and interview with the super musician Roven Ordiales ( https://www.instagram.com/rovenordiales?igsh=MWFvZXQ4M2ozMGxrMA== ). It was a great craic agus ceol show and we had great chats about MyBand ( www.instagram.com/myband_thedublinsoundsociety ) Music, gigs, mental health and more
Free DNA Activation Masterclass + 21-Day Abundance Meditation: https://masterclass.samuelbleemd.com/dnaPeptides I use personally to regenerate, heal, and stay sharp:https://limitlesslivingmd.com/samuelIn this episode, Dr. Samuel B. Lee, MD delivers a focused solo transmission on the distortion of modern twin flame teachings, the mechanics of trauma bonding, and the sacred science of rebuilding love through the 12th dimensional avatar Christos template. He explores how relationship patterns form through early imprinting, how frequency resonance shapes attraction, and how the Azure ray point supports wholeness before partnership. The conversation also introduces eternal union arc codes as a pathway toward love rooted in coherence, devotion, and truth.Dr. Lee shares how emotional intensity can be misread as spiritual alignment. He emphasizes nervous system regulation and direct connection to Source as foundations for lasting union. This episode covers attachment wounds, subconscious programming, lineage trauma, and phantom soulmate projections. It also offers practical relational tools, including consistent communication rituals and inner work that restores safety in the body. The episode closes with a guided meditation to strengthen the tri-wave field and embody sacred union from overflow.Sacred Truths & Lessons from This Episode:• Wholeness Begins Within the Azure Ray Point• Frequency Resonance Shapes Attraction and Relationship Patterns• Trauma Bonding Often Comes From Early Nervous System Imprinting• Love and Truth Move Together Through Coherence• Sacred Union Supports Authenticity, Not Self-Abandonment• Eternal Union Arc Codes Invite Co-Creation and Shared Mission
Kat Traxler, Principal Security Researcher at Vectra AI, returns to the podcast to discuss her AI-powered vulnerability research workflow. She explains how she uses two different AI models to act as the “blackboard” while she applies her expertise to triage AI-generated ideas to increase her productivity. She also asks a concerning question: As AI automates... Read more »
Azure Standard founder David Stelzer joins Ginny Yurich for a direct, fascinating conversation about how food quality, farming practices, and community are tied together. David tells the origin story of Azure: his family's early move away from chemical-intensive farming, the hard years of transition, and the moment they lost a major buyer forcing him to start delivering organic grains himself, one small route at a time. That scrappy beginning grew into today's nationwide drop system (now 3,000+ locations), where families can access organic and carefully vetted products at scale while staying connected to independent farms and producers. Along the way, David explains what healthy soil actually does, why nutrient density matters, and why he believes rebuilding health has to start with rebuilding what we grow and what we eat. If you care about feeding your family well without getting lost in labels and marketing, this episode will give you a bigger framework—and a practical path forward. Learn more about Azure Standard and all they have to offer here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices