The AI-First Business Podcast

He bought Amazon gift cards out of his own pocket to hit his KPIs. That's what metric obsession looks like at Revolut. Pierre Cahuzac is a product leader at Europe's most valuable fintech—and explains why their alumni start companies at ridiculous rates. It's not the dashboards. It's the ownership model. You'll walk away with Revolut's framework for organizing teams around...

He bet against trillion-parameter models when every VC said he was insane—now NVIDIA is publishing papers proving him right. Sudarshan from Smallest.ai cracked enterprise voice AI by ignoring Silicon Valley's foundation model obsession. While competitors chased infinite compute, his autonomous vehicle background revealed the truth: compact models handling life-or-death navigation decisions out...

Investment banking taught him speed, but Amir Prodensky needed something bigger to build. Fresh from Revolut's hyper-growth chaos, Amir saw the massive gap in financial services customer experience. Insurance customers were stuck with phone queues and paper processes while expecting Amazon-level service. So he built Strada: AI agents that handle every customer interaction across phone, text, e...

He walked away from aerospace engineering and built a SaaS startup cutting data transformation time by 90%. Kaustav Mitra, co-founder and CEO of Paradime.io , shares how he turned a restless career path into a weapon—building teams with autonomy, betting on AI before the noise, and rethinking how companies manage data at scale. You’ll get clear on: Why autonomy isn’t a “nice to have” but a force m...

Barr Moses grew up running experiments in her dad’s physics lab. Today, she’s the CEO of Monte Carlo, the leading platform for data + AI observability. This episode goes beyond her founder story. It’s about why data trust is the new currency in AI—and how Barr built the playbook for companies that want to move fast without breaking everything. She’ll show you: Why clean dashboards don’t mean relia...

She spent a decade in public health—and built the product she wished existed. Ludovica’s journey spans biotech, epigenetics, and behavior change. But after years designing obesity interventions, one insight stuck: people don’t need more advice—they need fewer barriers. She founded Reveal My Food to make healthy eating frictionless. It’s the first AI-powered nutrition and food-ordering platform des...

"Culturalization isn’t just better marketing—it’s survival." What’s the right way to scale globally with AI? Is localization enough—or do you need cultural depth to win trust and customers? This episode is part of our **Revolut Mafia Series**, spotlighting the 100+ alumni now building some of the sharpest AI startups in tech. Ashish and Ahmed, co-founders of Native (ex-Revolut), debate what it tak...

AI Agents Are Quietly Turning Your Back Office Into a Growth Engine Most companies still treat finance and operations as cost centers. Sumant Shringari thinks that’s outdated — and dangerous. In this episode, Sumant explains how his company Pontus uses AI agents, automation, and machine learning to turn back-office chaos into serious business value. Finance isn’t just about reporting anymore — it’...

What do venture capital, layer cakes, and early-stage startups have in common? Tyler from Menlo Ventures breaks it all down. With 15 years in the VC game, Tyler’s focus on FinTech and vertical SaaS has led him to develop the “layer cake” approach—building businesses with stacked, sustainable revenue models. He dives into the importance of long-term customer retention, adding products post-acquisit...

AI wasn’t always a welcome guest in cybersecurity—but that changed with Darktrace. 🎙️ In this episode, CISO Michael Beck shares how he left the UK  government to tackle a new kind of threat landscape: one where traditional defenses  were no longer enough, and AI had to prove its worth in the face of deep industry skepticism . 📌We break down: 🔍 The early resistance: Why AI in cybersecurity was di...

What happens when a life shaped by East London streets, children’s homes, and prison pivots to building tech startups? Meet Duane—who found his way to becoming tech founder from a different angle. In this episode, Duane breaks down his wild transformation from running with the wrong crowd to running his own B2B tech ventures in accounting, HR, and payroll. Spoiler: coding saved the day. Key Highli...

The hustle is born from finding solutions no one else has thought of. What’s the secret sauce behind startup success? Steve dives into the chaotic early days of GoCardless—think empty offices, language barriers, and an emerging Shoreditch tech scene. From gritty beginnings to creating Duffel, a travel tech innovator, this episode unpacks the lessons, laughs, and challenges that shaped some of the...

"In the rush to engineer cutting-edge AI, don't forget the user; it's not just about creating technology for the sake of it, but about how it genuinely improves our work experience." Michael Machado, who led the development of Salesforce Anywhere, Salesforce AI research, and  Einstein Voice at Salesforce, now leads DevRev with a modern approach to product management that fuses...

Is the future of healthcare being shaped without doctors? Dr. Sven Jungmann dives into the growing role of AI in medicine, the ethical dilemmas, and why many physicians feel left behind in this tech revolution. We explore the reality of physician shortages, an aging population, and how AI could ease the pressure—but only if doctors get involved. With many eager to adopt AI, the barriers are glarin...

Are traditional healthcare models ready for the disruptive innovations of entrepreneurs like Dr. Sven Jungmann? With extensive medical expertise and entrepreneurial vision, Dr. Jungmann co-founded Halitus to develop state-of-the-art breath analysis devices. Using AI/ML and digital health, Dr. Jungmann is bridging healthcare and tech. We cover: Dr. Sven Jungmann's shift from traditional medici...

'AI-First' has replaced 'Data-Driven'. AI technology must be integrated into systems, teams, tools, and products to survive. But what about the legal and compliance? Ramakrishnan has been at the forefront of AI adoption for enterprises, having held executive and advisory roles at Element AI and Perpetua Labs . Currently, he's co-founder and CEO at Armilla AI , which is pio...

Join us to dive into the world of AI infrastructure  with Wes Cummins, CEO and Chairman of Applied Digital. Prior to founding the company he also founded and led 272 Capital LP and led B. Riley Asset Management as President.  Applied Digital (Nasdaq: APLD) designs, develops and operates next-generation datacenters across North America to provide digital infrastructure solutions to the rapidly grow...

Ben Parr is a tech industry veteran with a career spanning from award-winning author to influential editor at CNET and Mashable. He's also the co-founder of Octane AI and the driving force behind the AI Analyst, a decade-long voice at the intersection of tech, business, media, and society. 💼🚀📱 🎙️ Looking for daily strategies on how to integrate AI into your life and work? Then this episode...

Engineers and data leads engaged in grassroots AI projects or tackling challenges related to AI headcount, budget, and ROI expectations might find this episode particularly resonates. Hadrian's Klaas Meinke and Jasper Insinger join us to share their experiences in founding AI projects at Hadrian, collaborating across functions, and achieving business ROI in AI deployments. Klaas, an aerospace...

Joseph Reeve from Amplitude Analytics' AI R&D team explores the world of building intelligent digital products using AI and ML. In our conversation we cover: Data Governance : Discussion on the importance of data governance, including proactive and reactive strategies. Proactive governance involves planning data collection, while reactive governance focuses on fixing data issues after the...

You can view screen-share from Paul on Youtube here In this episode, Keeper's Founder and CEO Paul Koullick explores the transformative impact of AI for tax preparation software. He discusses the limitations of rules-based systems and how AI, as exemplified by Keeper, simplifies tax preparation with machine learning. Paul also delves into the changing perception of AI, from being a novelty to...

Amin's journey into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) began around 2006 when he became captivated by the potential of neural networks to learn from data. He noticed that AI experienced periods of intense hype followed by quieter moments. Amin delved into AI by building neural networks from scratch in C. This hands-on experience enabled him to understand AI models thoroughly and create...