The Fizz

Justin Mannhardt & Kellan Danielson

Two AI practitioners. One conversation. No script. Justin Mannhardt and Kellan Danielson are the co-founders of Tiny Bottle AI, a consultancy built on one idea: focus beats coverage. Every week on The Fizz, they break down what's actually happening in AI and share an unfiltered look at building their company from scratch. The Drip — The week's biggest AI stories, filtered through a practitioner lens. Not a news recap. The stories that actually matter, why they matter, and what they mean for people doing real work with AI. Inside The Bottle — A deeper look at what Justin and Kellan are building, shipping, and learning at Tiny Bottle AI. Client patterns, tools they're testing, decisions they're making, mistakes they're catching. The stuff that usually stays behind closed doors. Lab Notes — Quick hits from the field. What each of them worked on, tested, or discovered that week. Short, punchy, standalone value. New episodes drop Weekly. Subscribe to the companion newsletter, The Weekly Fizz, at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz.

  1. 5d ago ·  Video

    Your AI, Your Responsibility

    00:00 Your AI Can Do That. Should It? 02:39 Encourage, Require, Refuse: A Simple AI Policy 03:13 Purpose: Chase Business Wins, Not AI Hype 05:16 Protection: What Your AI Must Never Expose 08:55 Permission: What Can AI Do Without Asking? 12:04 Shadow AI: Give People a Better Option 16:00 Private AI Models: Keep Your Data In-House? 18:00 Could “No AI” Be a Business Strategy? 19:31 Where Human Craft Still Matters 21:20 Should AI Write to Your Customers? 23:09 Judgment: Convincing AI Can Still Be Wrong 25:20 Ownership: Your AI, Your Responsibility 27:48 Learning: Why AI Governance Can’t Be Set-and-Forget 30:15 Turn AI Policies into Enforceable Rules Episode 26: Your AI, Your Responsibility What should people be able to do with AI at work? Justin and Kellan walk through six governance components and a simple way to answer each: we encourage, we require, we will not. Along the way, they discuss agent permissions, the work customers value, and who remains accountable for AI output. Purpose, protection, permission, judgment, ownership, and learning.Connecting AI use to business improvement, including what to do with the time it saves.Why a person’s access doesn’t automatically determine their agent’s authority.The tradeoffs of a deliberate no-AI strategy and protecting the craft customers value.Matching review standards to the stakes and involving someone who knows the subject.Revisiting policies as the tools change, then checking which controls can actually be enforced.New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz. Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: MXB6GUDAJNZEHPCJ

  2. Oct 7 ·  Video

    Stop Starting from Scratch with AI

    00:00 AI Vendor Updates and Tool Parity 05:13 Challenges with AI Memory Management 08:10 Building Trust and Onboarding in AI Tools 09:36 Building Skills for Daily Planning 18:17 Enhancing Productivity with AI 21:49 Integrating Loops and Schedules 24:48 Establishing Decision Boundaries with AI 27:17 Navigating AI Trust and Boundaries 28:42 Understanding AI Models and Their Decision Frameworks 31:11 The Future of AI: Productivity and Skills Development Episode 25: Stop Starting From Scratch with AI A useful AI chat is one thing. Having a routine that knows how you work is another. Justin and Kellan walk through how context, skills, schedules, loops, and human judgment fit together, using their own daily planning routines as the example. The Drip: Microsoft Copilot's latest agent features and the growing overlap between Copilot, Claude, and ChatGPT.OpenAI's dots and the move toward always-on agents.Why Justin keeps durable context outside individual tools, and what happens when a memory from one task applies everywhere.Inside The Bottle: Start with work worth repeating: the routine stays recognizable even when each day's inputs change.Bring in the context the task needs, through connectors or the information you're comfortable supplying.Turn the way you work into a skill, then improve it through actual use.Use a schedule to have the preparation waiting when you sit down.Two kinds of loops: check for changes, or keep working toward a defined result.Decide where human judgment belongs. A routine status update and feedback on a client's proposal call for different boundaries.New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz. Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: 4GEUDSHZMWPHJJZO

  3. Sep 30 ·  Video

    Your AI Opinion Needs Experience

    00:00 Live from St. Paul MN 01:11 The Drip: AI’s capability overhang 03:23 Why leaders need firsthand AI experience 06:58 Building vs. planning: two different approaches 14:10 How changing models change your workflow 16:37 Research blind spots and AI gaslighting 21:28 Plausible answers and strategic judgment 24:44 Trust, risk, and accountability 27:40 Finding useful business applications 31:06 Building your own informed opinion Episode 24: Your AI Opinion Needs Experience How much of your opinion about AI comes from using it? Recording together in St. Paul, Justin and Kellan compare the habits they’ve changed through hands-on work: where they give agents more room, where they stay methodical, and what still needs their own judgment. The Drip: Ethan Mollick’s “The Overhang” and the gap between AI capability and everyday use.Why a successful demo and a dependable business process are different things.Building an informed opinion through actual work, not just headlines.Inside The Bottle: A reversal in approach: more room for agents when building, more deliberate research when developing strategy.Asking for competing points of view before deciding what you think.Research blind spots—and the value of reading beyond an AI-generated answer.Why growing confidence in AI does not remove responsibility for checking its work.Mentioned in the conversation: The Overhang — Ethan MollickAI Pathfinder — answer 10 questions about your business to request a free, human-prepared Pathfinder Brief on where to focus and what to do first.New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz. Music licensed through Soundstripe. Code: T32XXQNFPVWDQ5YD, 5UT98UGHD683QC45, 9CVESBUKPVWTGG5K

  4. Sep 23

    AI for the Overlooked Customer

    00:00 Accountability at the Frontier 03:28 AI Tools and Workflows for Startups 08:09 Music, Creativity, and AI 09:53 The Evolution of Customer Onboarding with AI 16:52 Addressing the Needs of Small to Mid-Sized Businesses 17:54 The Future of AI: Ethics and Accountability 27:01 Navigating the Narrative Storm 30:02 The Risks of Autonomous Systems 31:41 Balancing Innovation and Regulation 33:17 Addressing the Cybersecurity Gap Episode 23: AI for the Overlooked Customer Our Guest: Justin Vandehey / Thread Some customers never had a dedicated team to help them get software working. Justin Vandehey, co-founder of Thread, joins Justin Mannhardt and Kellan Danielson to discuss agents that fill that gap, and a broader question about who gets the benefits and protection AI can offer. The Drip: How Vandehey uses AI for sales follow-up and shared intelligence across a distributed founding team.OpenClaw, AI music, and changing expectations about human and AI work.The hosts’ debate about frontier-model risk, accountability, and the gap between chat and agent experiences. Inside The Bottle: Why customers keep explaining their goals after the sale is already closed.Proactive onboarding and activation versus reactive customer support.Thread’s work with Customer.io and its focus on helping small businesses start accepting payments.“There just weren’t people”: serving customers who never had dedicated implementation help.Years of useful work with today’s AI capabilities, even as frontier risks remain unsettled.Why smaller businesses and their suppliers face different questions about access to AI protection. Related resource: Choosing where to start in your own business? AI Pathfinder offers a free personal Brief from Tiny Bottle AI’s co-founders after ten questions about your business. New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz.

  5. Sep 16

    The AI Trust Bucket

    00:00 Introduction to AI Enablement 01:55 AI in Education and Quality of Work 03:35 The Role of AI in Problem Solving 04:09 Human Involvement in AI Processes 04:42 Navigating AI Recommendations in Consulting 07:20 The Balance of AI and Human Expertise 09:56 Evolving Use of AI in Professional Settings 13:51 Navigating the Non-Deterministic Nature of LLMs 15:55 Building Trust in AI: The User Experience 18:30 Understanding AI Integration Challenges 20:27 Establishing AI Strategy in Organizations 24:13 Avoiding the AI Hype: Practical Considerations 25:19 Fostering Adoption: Meeting Users Where They Are 32:10 Critical Thinking in the Age of AI Episode 22: The AI Trust Bucket If someone produces better work with AI, how do you know they're getting better at their job? Justin and Kellan talk about trust, accountability, and what it takes to help people use AI well. Along the way: a confident recommendation that needed another question, a camp agent named George, and knowing when ordinary process improvement is enough. The Drip: The OpenAI research discussed this week: quality output, reasoning, and the question of whether people are building expertise.The Anthropic coding study and what people could explain after completing the task. Inside The Bottle: A full trust bucket still needs boundaries.Why a promising demo needs to survive a typical month's work.Getting the leadership team aligned before choosing another tool.Meeting people where they are: three useful jobs for a camp agent.Keeping learning and accountability in the work, including the questions a manager will ask. New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz.

  6. Sep 9

    Efficiency isn't a Strategy

    00:05 The Impact of AI on Work Efficiency 04:25 Redefining Job Roles in the Age of AI 07:47 Creating Value Beyond Efficiency 15:52 The Importance of Strategy in AI Implementation 22:02 Governance Tools and Enablement 23:09 The Role of Strategy in Governance 24:19 Legal Ramifications and Governance Practices 26:46 AI Efficiency and Leadership Messaging 28:04 The Unanswerable Question of AI Benefits 31:11 Serving Society Through AI Episode 21: Efficiency Isn't a Strategy AI is creating real efficiency inside companies, but efficiency does not tell anyone what to do next. Justin and Kellan talk through the gap between saving time and creating value, why workforce decisions need a longer view, and how strategy gives governance and experimentation somewhere useful to aim. The Drip: A BCG finding on frontline AI users saving roughly eight hours a week—often with little guidance for how to use the timeGartner reporting discussed in the episode: headcount reduction showed no clear correlation with better AI ROIAlgorithmic pricing and the uncomfortable choices companies can make when optimization becomes the strategy Inside The Bottle: Why AI-created efficiency is capacity, not automatically a better business resultHow automating entry-level work can weaken the future talent pipelineWhy a compelling vision should come before policies, controls, and guardrailsThe two jobs of governance: mitigate risk and create clarity for good workThe unresolved leadership question: who benefits from the eight hours AI gives back? New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz.

  7. Aug 26

    AI is for Dummies?

    00:00 Pete's Journey into AI and Renewables 05:33 The Role of AI in Sales and Personalization 08:07 Building Tools with AI: First Experiences 10:46 AI as a Facilitator in Decision Making 13:46 The Human Touch in AI Interactions 16:13 Trust and AI Adoption in Organizations 21:06 Building a Culture of Trust in AI Implementation 24:06 Connecting People to AI Tools Effectively 25:19 Preserving Trust and Authenticity in Sales 28:41 Designing Efficient Data Centers for AI 32:11 The Intersection of AI and Renewable Energy 34:29 Environmental Concerns and Technological Solutions Episode 20: AI Is for Dummies? Pete Halupka joins Justin and Kellan to talk about moving from reflexive AI skepticism to informed curiosity. They work through practical sales use cases, human quality gates, how companies discover an AI strategy, and the energy infrastructure beneath every prompt. The Drip: AI activity is skyrocketing while public sentiment is getting worseData-center demand is reshaping the conversation around the grid, solar, and battery assetsBetter model and infrastructure efficiency matter as much as adding more capacity Inside The Bottle: The “AI is for dummies” banner that pushed Pete to form an opinion through useHubSpot enrichment and an ElevenLabs cold-call coach as practical sales toolsToyota's human quality gates as a model for responsible automationWhy an AI strategy should be discovered inside existing business prioritiesPreserving trust, authenticity, and real relationships in AI-assisted salesPete's view from renewable energy and the data-center buildout New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz.

  8. Aug 19

    The AI Activity Trap

    00:00 Embracing Change: The Journey to Baldness 02:31 The Freedom of Letting Go: Personal Growth and Self-Expression 05:08 AI in Everyday Life: The Balance of Automation and Personal Touch 07:47 Navigating AI: The Importance of Intentionality and Context 09:00 The Activity Trap: Understanding AI's Role in Workflows 15:23 Developing an AI Strategy for Companies 20:04 Personal AI Strategies and Individual Engagement 23:04 The Human Element in AI Interactions 26:14 Navigating AI's Role in the Workplace Episode DescriptionEpisode 19: The AI Activity Trap Justin and Kellan start with Gemini moving into Chrome, then use a simple flight-booking example to ask the harder question: when does AI activity actually make a workflow better? They work through the gap between access and outcomes, why slower adoption can be smarter, and how strategy, ownership, and human judgment keep capable tools pointed at useful work. The Drip: Gemini Spark can browse Chrome using a person's existing accounts and logged-in context.Distribution inside a tool people already use may matter more than another standalone AI destination.Being able to hand off a task such as booking a flight does not automatically make the experience better. Inside The Bottle: Seats, prompts, tokens, and visible activity do not prove that a workflow or its outcome improved.Small, incremental deployments make it easier to discover missing context, rules, exceptions, and review checkpoints.A useful AI strategy clarifies what the company is trying to do, what it will not do, and who owns the result.The best automation boundary often appears where repetitive steps end and human judgment begins.The practical question is not only whether AI can do the work, but what becomes different when it does. New episodes every Wednesday. Subscribe to The Weekly Fizz newsletter at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz.

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About

Two AI practitioners. One conversation. No script. Justin Mannhardt and Kellan Danielson are the co-founders of Tiny Bottle AI, a consultancy built on one idea: focus beats coverage. Every week on The Fizz, they break down what's actually happening in AI and share an unfiltered look at building their company from scratch. The Drip — The week's biggest AI stories, filtered through a practitioner lens. Not a news recap. The stories that actually matter, why they matter, and what they mean for people doing real work with AI. Inside The Bottle — A deeper look at what Justin and Kellan are building, shipping, and learning at Tiny Bottle AI. Client patterns, tools they're testing, decisions they're making, mistakes they're catching. The stuff that usually stays behind closed doors. Lab Notes — Quick hits from the field. What each of them worked on, tested, or discovered that week. Short, punchy, standalone value. New episodes drop Weekly. Subscribe to the companion newsletter, The Weekly Fizz, at tinybottleai.com/the-fizz.

Information

  • Creator
    Justin Mannhardt & Kellan Danielson
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    26
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Justin Mannhardt & Kellan Danielson