The Tech Trek

Elevano
  • 5.0 (75)
  • Technology
  • Updated Semiweekly

The Tech Trek is a podcast about building and leading technology companies. Each episode features founders, CTOs, engineering leaders, and operators sharing how they make decisions around product, engineering, AI, data, teams, hiring, and growth.

  1. Your Team Is Using AI Anyway

    1d ago

    Your Team Is Using AI Anyway

    AI adoption is no longer just a policy conversation. For many organizations, the bigger question is how to move faster without creating avoidable risk. In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir Bormand sits down with Aimee Cardwell, CIO and CISO in residence at Transcend, to talk about responsible AI deployment, the tension between speed and control, and how leaders should think about security, compliance, productivity, and customer experience as AI moves through the enterprise. Aimee brings a rare view across the CIO, CISO, and board lens. The conversation gets into why blocking AI often backfires, how prompt redaction can help teams move faster safely, where companies should draw the line on risk, and why some teams may need to rethink old assumptions about tech debt, code ownership, and modernization. Practical Takeaways • Responsible AI depends on the lens. Security, compliance, business, board, and technology teams may all define it differently. • Blocking employee AI usage can create worse outcomes. People may use shadow tools anyway, or teams may fall behind in productivity. • Prompt redaction and enterprise agreements can give teams room to experiment while reducing exposure of sensitive data. • Moving fast is not the same as releasing half finished customer experiences. Bad AI tools can train customers to distrust the entire interaction. • AI may change how teams think about tech debt, refactoring, and whether some legacy systems should be rebuilt instead of patched forever. Timestamped Highlights 00:00 Responsible AI deployment and why the definition changes by role 02:35 Aimee explains the CIO, CISO, and board perspectives on AI adoption 05:14 Why companies that block AI may create shadow usage and slower teams 06:52 Prompt redaction as a practical way to let employees experiment safely 10:40 How AI risk changes when the data exposure model is different from traditional insider theft 15:10 Why releasing poor AI customer experiences can damage trust 21:50 Using shared enterprise prompts to raise the quality of AI output across engineering teams 26:20 How AI could change the way teams approach security debt and code modernization One Line That Stuck “The conversation has flipped, and it is really how can I get the company to go faster.” Pro Tips • Start by identifying what truly makes your business defensible. Not every asset carries the same risk. • Give employees safe paths to use AI instead of pretending they will not use it. • Build shared prompts with engineering standards, approved tools, and company context so teams do not start from scratch every time. • Ask whether old assumptions still hold. Some decisions made sense when changes were expensive, slow, or risky. AI may change that equation. Subscribe to The Tech Trek for more conversations on how modern technical teams are building, hiring, operating, and adapting around AI, data, platform, product, and engineering execution. #ai #agentic #techleadership #engineeringleadership

    27 min
  2. What AI Agents Need Before Production

    3d ago

    What AI Agents Need Before Production

    AI agents are easy to demo. They are much harder to trust, maintain, govern, and put into production. In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir Bormand talks with Lucas Thelosen, CEO and cofounder at Gravity, about the agent economy, AI analytics, and what changes when analysts move from doing every task themselves to managing AI systems that create more bandwidth. Lucas shares why Gravity built Orion, an AI analyst, after years working in analytics, product, and data teams at companies like Looker and Google. The conversation gets into the messy middle of AI adoption, why so many agent projects struggle to make it into production, and how context may become one of the most valuable assets a company owns. Practical Takeaways • Agent prototypes are easy. Production agents require support, maintenance, accuracy checks, and clear ownership. • Not every company should build every agent internally. If the capability is not core to what you sell, buying may be the faster path. • Context matters because it lets humans critique AI output with business judgment, not just technical review. • Analysts may shift toward data architecture, governed data models, and internal product management for analytics. • AI does not remove human responsibility. It raises the bar for review, delegation, and decision making. Timestamped Highlights 00:40, What Gravity is building with Orion, an AI analyst designed around the work analytics teams already know well. 02:28, Why mature companies still miss major insights, even when they already have data teams. 03:43, The agent economy reality check, easy prototypes, hard production, and the gap between demo and durable system. 06:28, Why companies still build agents internally, even when many projects never reach production. 09:48, The case for experimenting now instead of waiting for the AI stack to settle. 11:40, How AI shifts people from doing the work to managing the work. 18:50, What the future analyst role may look like as AI takes on more of the execution layer. One Line That Stuck "Where previously you were the person doing the work, now you're the manager." Subscribe to The Tech Trek for more conversations on how technical teams are building, hiring, operating, and adapting around AI, data, platform, product, and engineering execution.

    27 min
  3. Yahoo CTO on AI, Engineering Velocity, and Why the SDLC Has To Change

    Jun 18

    Yahoo CTO on AI, Engineering Velocity, and Why the SDLC Has To Change

    Yahoo is not just adding AI on top of existing products. It is using AI across product experiences, internal tools, engineering workflows, and modernization efforts. In this episode of The Tech Trek, Lee Zen, CTO at Yahoo, joins Amir Bormand to talk about modernizing at massive scale, moving from on prem infrastructure to the cloud, rebuilding internal tools with AI, and how engineering organizations need to rethink process when agents can move faster than people. Lee also shares how Yahoo views AI as a coworker, not just a tool, and why the next bottleneck in software delivery may be human judgment. Practical Takeaways • Modernization at scale often means operating in two worlds at once, keeping proven systems running while new cloud based services move faster. • AI can help teams move past legacy tools by reverse engineering requirements and rebuilding modern versions from scratch. • The real unlock is not only code generation. It is connecting agents to documents, chats, emails, production context, and internal knowledge with the right permissions. • As agents speed up execution, engineering teams need to rethink where human approval, judgment, and review should live. • The build versus buy equation is changing because some tools that were too expensive to build before may now be realistic to create internally. Timestamped Highlights 00:31, Yahoo’s mission and why the internet still feels hard to navigate 02:01, Where AI fits across Yahoo products and engineering work 03:30, The challenge of moving from on prem data centers to cloud based infrastructure 05:27, How Yahoo has used AI to rebuild internal tools and leave technical debt behind 07:25, Why agents need access to engineering context, not just code 10:20, AI as a coworker and the shift from human speed to machine speed 16:27, Why parts of the SDLC may need to change as AI increases delivery speed One Line That Stuck “AI as a coworker, not just as a tool.” The Tech Trek is for technical leaders thinking through how teams build, operate, modernize, and adapt as AI changes the work. Subscribe or follow for more conversations with engineering, product, data, and technology leaders.

    26 min
  4. Why AI Founders Need to Say No Faster

    Jun 16

    Why AI Founders Need to Say No Faster

    Mike Choi wanted to work at Apple for years. Then he got there and had the moment many ambitious builders eventually hit. Is this the thing I was sprinting toward? In this episode of The Tech Trek, Mike Choi, co founder at Koah, shares his path from Korea to the United States, mandatory military service, Apple, Twitter, and eventually building Koah, an AI monetization company helping AI app builders create sponsored experiences. The conversation is less about the glamour of startups and more about what founder work actually demands: making decisions without complete information, learning from Big Tech without copying it, and staying focused when AI moves faster than your team can absorb. Practical Takeaways • Big Tech can teach you strong operating patterns, but startups force you to build your own style. • Founder decisions rarely come with complete data. Moving creates the next data point. • In AI startups, speed can become a distraction if every new tool or feature changes the plan. • Clear vision helps teams make decisions without waiting on the founder. • Knowing when to share an idea matters as much as having the idea. Timestamped Highlights 00:38, Mike explains Koah and why AI products need new monetization models. 02:25, Mike shares how his father’s Korean Air Force service brought him to the United States as a child. 05:01, Mandatory military service, pausing college, and learning to code around strong engineers. 07:29, The long term goal of working at Apple and the unexpected feeling after getting there. 10:57, Why Mike chose to build from scratch instead of staying on the Big Tech path. 14:05, What Big Tech did and did not prepare him for as a founder. 17:03, The founder lesson of making decisions before the full picture is clear. 19:35, Why AI startups move so fast and how shiny object syndrome drains energy, time, and attention. One Line That Stuck “Just make the decision, produce data points that way through actions, and make a better decision tomorrow.” Subscribe to The Tech Trek for more conversations on how modern technical teams are building, hiring, operating, and adapting around AI, data, platform, product, and engineering execution.

    20 min
  5. Why Sovereign AI Matters Now

    Jun 11

    Why Sovereign AI Matters Now

    AI is moving fast, but the bigger question for companies and governments may be control. Who owns the data, the workflow, the output, and the risk? In this episode, Amir talks with Shaun Modi, cofounder and CEO of Capitol AI, about sovereign AI, shadow AI, model dependency, government use cases, and why organizations need repeatable, governed, auditable workflows before AI becomes part of core operations. Shaun also brings a design lens to the conversation, connecting AI adoption to user experience, voice interfaces, and the next wave of AI in the physical world. Practical Takeaways • Sovereign AI means having control over your data, outcomes, upside, and risk. • Shadow AI creates short term productivity, but can also create silos, governance gaps, and data exposure. • Organizations need repeatable, governed, auditable AI workflows, especially in regulated environments. • Model independence matters because model costs, performance, and capabilities keep changing. • Design will come back into focus as AI systems become more powerful and more embedded in work. Timestamped Highlights 00:40, What Capitol AI does and why decision ready artifacts matter 01:50, Shaun defines sovereign AI in plain language 02:36, The intelligence paradox, more data, less control 04:15, Why shadow AI can become a governance and accuracy problem 10:29, Zero data retention, model independence, and evaluation criteria 17:53, Why AI user experience may be entering a new design cycle 25:56, Where AI may create major impact in the physical world One Line That Stuck “Companies and governments have more data than ever, but they are losing control over the outcomes.” Practical Takeaways For Teams If AI is moving into real business processes, start by asking what needs to be controlled. Data rights, model choice, accuracy standards, workflow governance, and auditability all matter more once AI is producing work that affects customers, citizens, or critical operations. Follow The Tech Trek for more conversations on how technical teams are building, operating, and adapting around AI, data, product, and engineering execution.

    29 min
  6. Healthcare AI Starts With Boring Problems

    Jun 9

    Healthcare AI Starts With Boring Problems

    Most healthcare AI stories start with diagnosis. Edmund Jackson thinks that misses the real bottleneck. In this episode of The Tech Trek, Edmund Jackson, CEO and founder of Unity AI, joins Amir to talk about AI for healthcare operations. The conversation gets into why scheduling, staffing, follow up, payer coordination, and interoperability are often where healthcare breaks down, and why solving those operational problems may matter more than chasing the flashiest use cases. Edmund brings a healthcare first view to AI. His argument is simple: healthcare is not slow because people are ignoring technology. It is slow because the real workflows are complex, regulated, high context, and hard to capture cleanly in software. What You’ll Take Away • Why healthcare experience matters when choosing which AI problems are actually worth solving • Why diagnosis is not always the best starting point for healthcare AI • How scheduling becomes much more complex when patients, payers, clinics, staff, protocols, and follow up all have to line up • Why AI can help clinics save time while moving human staff toward higher value patient interactions • Why interoperability is still hard, even with standards like FHIR gaining momentum Timestamped Highlights 00:29, What Unity AI does and why healthcare operations is the focus 01:11, Why healthcare AI needs people who understand the domain, not just the technology 02:26, The danger of solving the hardest or flashiest problem instead of the most pragmatic one 05:15, Why AI may finally help healthcare handle personalization and operational complexity at scale 07:47, Why scheduling a healthcare visit is nothing like scheduling a delivery or restaurant order 10:42, How operational AI can save time and reduce downstream chaos in clinics 24:33, Why healthcare data is much harder to structure than financial data One Line That Stuck “Software is like children. Making it is all fun and games. Maintaining it is a whole other question.” Practical Takeaways • Start with the workflow that actually blocks progress, not the one that sounds most impressive • In healthcare, operational context is often the product • AI should create more room for humans to handle the interactions that require judgment, care, and clinical responsibility • More software is not always the answer, especially in regulated environments where maintenance, compliance, and security matter Subscribe to The Tech Trek for more conversations with founders, operators, and technical leaders building through AI, data, product, platform, and engineering execution.

    28 min
  7. AI Coding Agents Are Changing Engineering Teams

    Jun 4

    AI Coding Agents Are Changing Engineering Teams

    Deepak Bapat, CTO and co founder at Tabs, joins The Tech Trek to talk about how his team is using tools like Claude Code and Cursor, where AI is helping, and why systems thinking may matter more than raw coding ability as engineering work shifts. Practical Takeaways • AI coding agents are already producing useful production work, but judgment still matters. • Tool choice may be less important than standardizing the expected output. • Messy repos can make AI generated work harder to trust, so cleanup and patterns matter. • The future engineer may look more like a product engineer with strong systems thinking. • Teams may move from debating features to rapidly building multiple versions and testing what works. Timestamped Highlights 00:37 What Tabs does and why contracts create hard revenue workflow problems for B2B finance teams. 02:16 Deepak compares pre AI engineering work with the current shift toward AI assisted development. 05:09 How the Tabs engineering team uses Claude Code, Cursor, and other coding tools in real work. 08:13 Why inconsistent codebases create more risk when teams add coding agents 14:00 The idea that teams can build the same feature multiple ways in one afternoon. 20:53 Deepak’s view on whether the future team needs separate PMs and engineers, or more product engineers. 23:38 A future where software can become more bespoke to each customer because AI changes the cost model. One Line That Stuck “You can build on three different work trees the same feature in three different ways and see which one you like, and you can do it all in an afternoon.” Practical Moves From The Conversation • Keep humans close to the review process, especially when the last five percent still requires taste and judgment. • Clean up inconsistent code patterns before letting agents operate broadly across the repo. • Hire for adaptability, systems thinking, and problem solving, not just past tool familiarity. • Use AI to explore more product options faster, but do not remove the need to ask whether the feature should exist. Subscribe or follow The Tech Trek for more conversations on how technical teams are building, hiring, and operating as AI changes the work.

    27 min
  8. Agentic AI Has a Data Layer Problem

    Jun 2

    Agentic AI Has a Data Layer Problem

    Agentic AI is not just a model problem. It is exposing gaps in how teams store, share, retrieve, and coordinate context across applications, agents, and people. In this episode, Amir talks with Karthik Ranganathan, cofounder and co CEO at Yugabyte, about why databases are under new pressure as AI moves from model serving into agentic workflows. They discuss Yugabyte’s evolution, the limits of today’s data infrastructure, and why memory, knowledge, and shared context may become central to how agentic systems actually work. Practical takeaways • Agentic workloads push databases beyond simple relational access because agents may need relational, vector, graph, NoSQL, scale, and multi tenant support in the same workflow. • A query can be optimized inside each data store and still be slow, expensive, or wasteful when the work spans multiple systems. • Context sounds simple to humans, but it becomes messy when it includes private memory, shared project knowledge, conversation history, team collaboration, and agent actions. • Human handoffs can erase much of the speed promised by agents when teams have to copy outputs, re explain reasoning, and manually reconcile conflicts. • Yugabyte is working on Meko as a data infrastructure layer for agents, with a focus on memory, knowledge, context quality, and shared learnings. Timestamped highlights 00:43 What Yugabyte does and why critical data needs to survive infrastructure change 04:08 How databases evolved from mainframes to internet apps, mobile, cloud native systems, and now AI 09:42 Why agentic workloads create new demands across relational, vector, graph, NoSQL, and multi tenant data 12:29 Why the current agentic data stack is still in the messy middle 15:24 Why context becomes hard when agents, people, teams, and permissions collide 21:50 How agent collaboration can fall back to human speed 24:34 How eeko aims to capture memory, knowledge, learnings, and reasoning across agent workflows One Line That Stuck “We have killed the velocity of agentic development and brought it back to human speed.” Practical signals for teams building with agents • Do not treat context as one generic blob. • Decide what should stay private, what should be shared, and what should become reusable project knowledge. • Watch for hidden cost when agents query across separate systems. • Pay attention to agent collaboration, not just single agent output. • Build for memory and knowledge flow before team size makes the gaps harder to fix. Follow The Tech Trek for more conversations with technical leaders building modern teams, products, and infrastructure around AI, data, and engineering execution.

    30 min
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5
out of 5
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About

The Tech Trek is a podcast about building and leading technology companies. Each episode features founders, CTOs, engineering leaders, and operators sharing how they make decisions around product, engineering, AI, data, teams, hiring, and growth.

Information

  • Creator
    Elevano
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    679
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Elevano
  • Show Website
    The Tech Trek