Building with AI: Promises and Heartbreaks

In this episode, Yoni sits down with Lindsay King, a brand marketer with experience at Uber and Instacart, to explore how AI is reshaping the future of marketing. Lindsay explains why brand marketing has always been harder to measure than performance marketing, how AI could change the way teams test creative ideas, and why the next generation of marketers may need to become systems thinkers. From...

In this episode, Yoni sits down with Preeti Vaidya of Morgan Health to explore how AI can improve healthcare without replacing the human judgment at its center. Preeti shares how AI can support clinicians, help patients navigate care, and reduce friction in employer-sponsored healthcare by meeting users inside their existing workflows. The conversation also digs into the realities of data fragment...

In this episode, Yoni sits down with Nondas Virvidakis, product leader at UBS Wealth Management Americas, to explore how AI is being built and adopted inside a highly regulated enterprise. Nondas shares how AI can help financial advisors better serve clients, why successful adoption depends on champions, training, and feedback loops, and what it takes to balance innovation with the controls requir...

In this episode, Yoni sits down with Ryan Wexler, Principal at SignalFire, for a wide-angle view of the AI market. They explore what’s actually getting adopted inside large enterprises, why most organizations are still early in their AI journey, and the three major ways AI companies are winning today—from individual productivity tools to next-generation SaaS and full workflow transformation. Ryan...

In this episode, Yoni sits down with Rittika Jindal, Principal Engineer at Thomson Reuters, to explore what software engineering looks like in an AI-native world. From planning and code generation to automated reviews, testing, and debugging, Rittika shares how her team has rebuilt the entire software development lifecycle around AI. The conversation also dives into what this means for engineering...

In the second half of the conversation, Todd James joins Yoni to dive deeper into the practical realities of scaling AI inside organizations. They explore how leaders should think about governance, evaluation, and long-term AI strategy as experimentation gives way to real operational impact. Todd shares lessons from the front lines of AI adoption, including how to prioritize the right use cases, m...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf sits down with Todd James, CEO at Aurora Insights, to explore what it really takes to move from AI experimentation to meaningful execution. Drawing on years of leadership experience, Todd shares how organizations can avoid common pitfalls, build internal alignment, and create a foundation that makes AI adoption sustainable—not just exciting. The conversation...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf sits down with Almog Shunim, VP of Data and Research at AtBay, to unpack how his team built an internal AI assistant that employees actually trust and use. Almog shares why off-the-shelf tools fell short, how his team built OLI from scratch using agentic workflows, and what it took to reach production-grade accuracy. The conversation explores real-world lesso...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf sits down with Leena Chanvirach, Regional Head of Data & Analytics at A-Commerce, to unpack the real story behind building an AI analytics product for Southeast Asia. Leena shares why AskIQ didn’t land the way her team expected with customers—and how it unexpectedly became a powerful internal tool that scaled client service, shifted work away from BI team...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf talks with Reut Einav, VP of Data at HiBob, about what it takes to rebuild a company’s entire data foundation for the age of AI. Reut shares how her team migrated HiBob’s infrastructure in just six months—while keeping the business running—using agents, automation, and a relentless focus on communication and change management. From empowering 2,000 employees...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf talks with Glen McCracken, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Lantum, about separating AI hype from reality. With nearly 30 years in data, technology, and transformation, Glen shares how to build successful AI initiatives by focusing less on tools and more on people—empowering teams, managing fear, and building trust. From failed pilots to the 5% that tr...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf talks with Nimrod Fisher , longtime data leader turned independent consultant, about how analysts can stay relevant—and even thrive—as AI reshapes their work. Nimrod shares what he’s learned from running AI workshops for data teams around the world, the skills analysts should master next, and why the future of analytics will be about strategy, storytelling, a...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf talks with Joel Hron, CTO of Thomson Reuters, about what it really takes to build trustworthy AI for some of the world’s most demanding professionals. Joel shares lessons from launching seven AI products in 18 months, including legal research and contract drafting tools used by lawyers and tax experts worldwide. From evolving eval systems to balancing speed,...

Venture capitalist and builder Tomasz Tunguz joins Yoni to share how hands-on experiments with AI are shaping his view of the future. From failed email agents to breakthroughs in tool orchestration, Tomasz explains what worked, what didn’t, and why the next generation of builders will need to master delegation to machines. It’s a rare look inside how one of the most thoughtful minds in tech is usi...

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf talks with Ilan Frank, Chief Product Officer at Checkr and former product leader at Slack and Airtable, about what it really takes to build AI that works in the real world. Ilan shares lessons from launching early AI features at Airtable, the importance of chasing pain before innovation , and how Checkr is using AI to make background checks faster, more accur...

Meenal Iyer , VP of Data at SurveyMonkey and one of the top 100 AI influencers of 2025, joins Yoni to share how she turned experimentation into execution. From using ChatGPT to jump-start her own learning to leading company-wide AI hackathons, Meenal reveals how her team is building trust, driving effectiveness, and redefining what it means to build with AI—one workflow at a time.

Miles Garvey joins Yoni to discuss what it really takes to get data teams ready for AI. From bottom-up model building to federated team structures, Miles unpacks the promise and pitfalls of semantic layers, why skipping the groundwork leads to disaster, and how businesses can evolve their data culture to thrive in an AI-first world.

In this episode, host Yoni Leitersdorf talks with Benn Stancil , co-founder of Mode and prolific writer on data and technology, about how AI is reshaping the way we think about analytics. From the hype and heartbreak of semantic layers to the deeper question of whether we can ever fully trust machine-driven decisions, Benn shares insights that push the conversation beyond BI and into the future of...

Zack Martin went from Best Buy’s supply chain to building one of the most vibrant new communities in analytics: Data GOATs. In this episode, Zack and Yoni talk about what worked (memes, events, authenticity), what didn’t (AI-written posts), and why curiosity and adaptability are the best skills for thriving in data, analytics, and beyond.