The Technology Economy

Jason Marks | LEAD Above

Technology. Business. Everything Connected.Join technology consultant and sales educator Jason Marks and his AI cohost Nora for practical, in-depth conversations about the technology shaping business—and the business behind technology. From AI and cloud infrastructure to Microsoft licensing, cybersecurity, and how technology gets bought and sold, each episode connects the details to decisions you can actually use.Built for technology professionals, sales teams, business leaders, and curious people who want to understand how it all fits together. Focused topics, real-world perspectives, and room to go deeper. New episodes when there is a conversation worth having.A LEAD Above production.

Episodes

  1. Oct 21

    The AI Gold Rush — Who Gets Rich?

    Billions are pouring into AI—but who actually gets paid? Jason Marks and Nora, his AI cohost, follow the money from chips, cloud, and data centers to software, consulting, and managed services. Built for technology sellers, business leaders, and sales-training students, this conversation connects the industry map to the decisions customers actually face. Jason challenges Nora on Meta’s cloud ambitions, shares what happened when an AI task burned through $200 in tokens in 15 minutes, and explains why a small, measurable use case can beat an ambitious rollout. They also debate independent consultants versus full-service partners, adoption and security, voice-agent handoffs, and why workflow matters as much as the model. In this episode: • The six layers of the AI economy and how they connect • Tokens, usage costs, and the economics of AI agents • Scope creep, buyer trust, and choosing the right partner • Copilot, voice AI, and keeping people in the workflow • The ongoing opportunity for managed service providers Sponsored in part by Ingram Micro. Hosted by Jason Marks with Nora, an AI-generated cohost. Company developments and product capabilities are discussed as of the recording. 00:00 Opening and Ingram Micro sponsorship 00:36 Who benefits 01:19 Chips and cloud 05:03 Cloud and private AI 07:05 Software and physical infrastructure 08:50 Power introduction 08:58 Power constraints 09:20 Layer recap 09:59 LLMs, tokens, and model landscape 16:35 Enterprise adoption and consulting 20:46 Agent economics and buyer perspective 26:52 CIO options and measured pilots 29:01 Voice-agent handoffs 30:21 Copilot question 30:31 Copilot and workflow 32:20 Managed services 34:08 Recap 34:44 Closing banter and goodbye

About

Technology. Business. Everything Connected.Join technology consultant and sales educator Jason Marks and his AI cohost Nora for practical, in-depth conversations about the technology shaping business—and the business behind technology. From AI and cloud infrastructure to Microsoft licensing, cybersecurity, and how technology gets bought and sold, each episode connects the details to decisions you can actually use.Built for technology professionals, sales teams, business leaders, and curious people who want to understand how it all fits together. Focused topics, real-world perspectives, and room to go deeper. New episodes when there is a conversation worth having.A LEAD Above production.