Just Curious: Applied AI for Value Creation

Stuart Willson
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Just Curious helps investors and operators turn AI from buzzword to bottom line. Through sharp case studies and practical insights from the world's leading applied AI experts, we explore how to use AI to grow revenue, expand margins, build better products, and create value.

  1. 3D AGO

    How Sunrun Found $80M in Hidden Costs by Finally Understanding Its Data

    Adam Schwartz, Co-founder and CEO of Parable, explains why most enterprise AI initiatives fail before they ever touch the P&L. Drawing on firsthand work with Fortune 500 and private equity–backed companies, he breaks down how hidden operational inefficiencies block real transformation—and what leaders must measure to unlock durable AI-driven value. You’ll Learn Why executives consistently misjudge how teams actually spend their time—and how that blind spot derails AI strategyHow “keep-the-lights-on” work and operational debt quietly consume 50–70% of enterprise capacityWhy data warehouses and dashboards lack the context required for effective AI agents and decision-makingHow mapping work at the activity level enables AI use cases to be prioritized by ROI, not intuitionWhat Sunrun uncovered when it quantified technical and operational debt—and how that led to $80M+ in savingsChapters 00:00 Intro 01:33 Why leaders lack visibility into real work 05:12 The hidden cost of “keep the lights on” work 09:10 Why data warehouses fail at operational understanding 13:20 What a contextual work graph actually looks like 18:29 Measuring AI impact beyond adoption 23:46 Operational debt and resource allocation 30:01 Sunrun case study: uncovering $80M in inefficiencies 35:43 AI vs. process change—what to automate and why 41:57 The mindset shift leaders need for AI at scale Links Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/zDDspYqT_7oConnect with Adam Schwartz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgregoryschwartz/Explore more interviews: https://www.justcurious.io/articles/how-sunrun-found-80m-in-hidden-costs-by-finally-understanding-its-data Just Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    38 min

  2. JAN 12

    Stop Buying AI Slop: How Mid-Market Companies Actually Get ROI from AI

    Arman Hezarkhani is the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Tenex, an AI transformation firm helping middle-market and growth companies turn AI from hype into real P&L impact. Drawing from experience scaling Google’s cloud AI tools and building venture-backed startups, Arman breaks down how leaders can actually operationalize AI — not just talk about it. This episode is a practical guide for investors and operators who want measurable results, fast. You’ll Learn Why AI adoption is easy for individuals but structurally hard for organizations — and how to close that gap How to identify high-ROI AI use cases by starting with business goals, not technology What “AI slop” looks like in practice and how to avoid wasting capital on vaporware Why Tenex charges on output (story points) instead of hours — and how incentives unlock 10x productivity How to get your first AI win inside a company to build momentum and executive buy-in Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:49 Arman’s background and founding Tenex 02:30 Why AI is different from past tech waves 05:26 What AI changes — and what it doesn’t — in business 07:08 How companies should prepare for an AI-native future 09:01 How Tenex identifies and executes AI opportunities 12:15 Diagnostic process and opportunity mapping 15:13 Why CEO-level buy-in is critical 16:31 The Tenex output-based business model 21:28 Generative AI, agents, and AI-powered software builds 23:25 Avoiding “AI slop” and navigating the AI bubble 27:00 Build vs. buy decisions in an AI world 28:39 Real client example: AI-driven revenue and efficiency gains 33:24 Ruthless focus on business goals 34:02 Advice for new Heads of AI Links Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xRV_OnkK9eAExplore more interviews: https://www.justcurious.io/Connect with Arman Hezarkhani: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahez/Just Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    35 min

  3. JAN 6

    How Smart AI Guardrails Unlock Faster Growth (Without Killing Innovation)

    Evan Glaser, Founder & CEO of Alongside AI, joins Just Curious to break down how middle-market companies can actually deploy AI, without blowing up risk, compliance, or trust. Drawing on a decade of Fortune 100 experience, Evan explains why governance isn’t a blocker to AI value creation, but the accelerator most operators are missing. You’ll Learn Why AI governance is the fastest way to unlock real productivity—not slow it down How to design practical AI guardrails that let teams innovate safely and move faster Where middle-market companies typically underestimate their AI risk exposure How to turn siloed institutional knowledge into a scalable, AI-powered asset A real-world case study showing how AI reduced onboarding time and unlocked new revenue Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:24 Why middle-market leaders struggle to start with AI 02:59 Governance as an accelerator, not a brake 04:41 Defining AI guardrails that actually work 06:47 Common governance gaps and blind spots 09:03 What “good” AI governance looks like in practice 14:02 Unlocking trapped institutional knowledge with AI 19:59 Case study: AI-powered onboarding and faster ramp times 30:23 Turning AI questions into a new advisory revenue stream 33:54 The risks of shadow AI 36:13 Lessons from regulated industries that apply everywhere Links Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OXYdxzPgPKgConnect with Evan Glaser: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glaserevan/Explore more interviews: https://www.justcurious.io/experts/evan-glaserJust Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    38 min

  4. 12/05/2025

    Alex Gruebele & Chandler Gonzalez - Tau9 Labs | How Tau9 Labs Helped a Manufacturer Cut Quoting Time from Hours to Seconds — and Double Win Rates

    Alex Gruebele and Chandler Gonzalez, co-founders of Tau9 Labs, build custom AI systems that solve the messy, high-value problems generic manufacturing software can’t touch. With roots in robotics, hyperscale software, and logistics, they focus on the workflows where context matters most—quoting, downtime, document analysis, and technician knowledge. Their work shows how applied AI can transform mid-market industrial operations in months, not years, by fitting the way factories actually run. You’ll Learn Why generic SaaS breaks in manufacturing—and how custom AI can match real-world workflows without forcing process changes.How decades of unstructured documents hide the root causes of downtime, warranty costs, and defects—and how AI can surface them.A practical approach to turning vague “AI requests” into solvable, ROI-positive operational problems using on-site discovery and the five whys.How AI-accelerated engineering compresses build cycles from quarters to weeks, enabling tools like instant quoting platforms.When to build vs. buy: the signals that indicate a custom solution will outperform configurable off-the-shelf tools. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:00 Backgrounds & the origin of Tau9 Labs 03:20 Why manufacturing lags in software adoption 05:10 Common operational problems & unstructured data 07:15 Downtime, tribal knowledge, and automation 08:50 Quoting workflows and workflow automation 09:50 How Tau9 diagnoses the “real” problem 12:20 On-site discovery and the five whys 15:20 Case study: injection molding quoting platform 18:10 Designing for speed and user behavior 20:15 Building the platform in four months 22:50 Results: conversion lift & revenue impact 25:10 Build vs. buy in industrial AI 28:45 Why on-site U.S. engineers outperform remote teams 31:20 How AI changes software design principles 33:50 Who Tau9 Labs is best suited to help 35:50 Closing Links Explore more interviews: https://www.justcurious.io/articles/how-tau9-labs-helped-a-manufacturer-cut-quoting-time-from-hours-to-seconds----and-double-win-ratesWatch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/njuUtQucqHUConnect with Alex Gruebele: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgruebele/Connect with Chandler Gonzalez: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandlergonzales/Just Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    34 min

  5. 12/02/2025

    Felix Rösner - Marble AI | How Marble’s AI Clones Uncovered 40% Redundant Work. And Saved 250+ Hours/Month

    Felix Rösner, Co-founder of Marble AI, builds AI-driven workflow “clones” that reveal what really happens inside complex enterprise operations. His team helps private equity operators and middle-market leaders uncover hidden inefficiencies, quantify real ROI, and automate with precision instead of guesswork. In this episode, Felix shares why deep context—not tools—is the final moat in AI-enabled organizations. You’ll Learn How capturing keystrokes and screen activity uncovers the real workflow variations that break most automation efforts. Why PE roll-ups routinely misjudge operational reality—and how AI clones surface true time, cost, and redundancy patterns. How sharing internal best practices (revealed through data) can unlock major efficiency gains even before automation begins. How to translate thousands of workflow observations into programmatic specifications for reliable, end-to-end digital workers. The specific types of repetitive, customer-facing tasks where automation consistently returns 100–250 hours per month to teams. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:03 Felix’s background and Marble AI’s mission 03:12 Why context—not tools—is the last AI moat 05:06 What it means to instrument real workflows 07:30 The insight that sparked Marble’s approach 10:31 Why PE roll-ups struggle to see operational reality 12:24 AI clones vs. traditional process diagrams 13:34 Balancing workflow capture with privacy and compliance 15:21 Signals a company doesn’t understand its operations 17:03 Case study: diagnosing a PE-backed roll-up 20:40 Deploying the capture stack across teams 23:43 What Marble does with the collected data 26:27 Findings: redundancy, best practices, and ROI 34:05 The 40% redundancy insight 37:26 Practical advice for operations leaders Links • Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/sc-A0MPiZxE • Connect with Felix Rösner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/felix-roesner/ • Explore more interviews: https://www.justcurious.io/articles/how-marbles-ai-clones-uncovered-40-redundant-work-and-saved-250-hours-month Just Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    32 min

  6. 11/24/2025

    Jack Weissenberger - Ciridae | How AI Cut a 3-Hour Workflow to 10 Minutes for a Home Restoration Company

    Jack Weissenberger, Co-founder & CTO of Ciridae, shares how his team rebuilds core systems and deploys AI agents that remove bottlenecks across finance, operations, and project management. Ciridae works with private-equity-backed companies to identify the real constraints inside a business and replace slow, manual workflows with AI-native software built in days, not months. Jack’s perspective matters because he’s led AI teams at Apple and Salesforce-acquired 10X and now drives full-stack AI transformations in the middle market. You’ll Learn • How to identify high-leverage AI opportunities that sit behind the obvious pain point—like uncovering that insurance negotiations, not AR, were the true constraint in a restoration business. • Why unscoped, natural-language workflows (invoice routing, proposal comparisons, nuanced judgment tasks) are often the best candidates for AI agents. • How AI-native platforms shrink traditional timelines—enabling full-stack applications, including ERP components, to be rebuilt in days or weeks instead of quarters. • The operational impact of linking AI automation directly to key financial levers: cycle time, DSO, throughput, and leadership bandwidth. • Why data readiness—not model quality—is the silent blocker in most failed AI rollouts, and what companies must do before any automation can work. Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:00 What Ciridae Does 02:48 Why the Middle Market Is Ripe for AI 03:44 Inside the Ciridae Platform 05:04 How Clients Engage & How Audits Work 07:03 Identifying Unscoped Problems for AI 08:44 Why AI Projects Fail 11:08 Rebuilding AI-Native Sources of Truth 12:39 How Fast Can You Rebuild an ERP? 14:13 Where Custom Software Is Heading 15:26 Why Finance & AP/AR Are Perfect for Automation 16:43 Why Home Services Companies Are a Strong Fit 18:29 What “Large Enough” Means for AI Transformation 19:02 Case Study: Uncovering the Real Bottleneck 20:21 Automating Insurance Rebuttals 21:31 Deploying a Production System in 48 Hours 22:42 How AI Cut a 3-Hour Workflow to 10 Minutes 24:18 How This Solution Could Double Enterprise Value 25:32 Staying Open-Minded in AI Audits 26:33 Data Readiness & Integrations 27:59 Who Should Reach Out to Ciridae 29:01 Practical First Steps for Leaders Links • Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2PXce31N3IY?si=5PCQaM6DcS9236aM • Connect with Jack Weissenberger: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-weissenberger-9b8549144/ • Explore more interviews: https://www.justcurious.io/articles/how-ai-cut-a-3-hour-workflow-to-10-minutes-for-a-home-restoration-company Just Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    28 min

  7. 11/21/2025

    Jordan Gurrieri - BlueLabel | How to Turn AI Experiments into Enterprise Systems—Lessons from 300+ Deployments

    Jordan Gurrieri, Co-founder & CEO of BlueLabel, explains how mid-market and enterprise operators can finally escape pilot purgatory and deploy AI systems that scale reliably. Drawing on two decades of automation experience and hundreds of shipped products, he breaks down why AI initiatives fail, how to design for workflow fit from day one, and what it takes to turn tribal knowledge and inconsistent pilots into production-grade, agentic workflows. You’ll Learn: Why AI pilots break when more than a handful of people rely on them—and how to rebuild them for consistency, accuracy, and cost efficiency.How to identify high-friction workflows by mapping real user behavior, pain points, and dependency chains.How to convert tribal knowledge into durable, queryable agentic systems that support frontline teams in real time.Why agentic, workflow-embedded AI drives true competitive advantage while personal productivity tools do not.How a regional telecom automated dispatch operations and doubled field technician throughput with an AI-powered workflow system.Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:32 Jordan’s background & BlueLabel’s focus 02:09 How early automation shaped his AI worldview 03:31 Why pilots break when scaling AI 05:05 Common traps between pilot and production 07:15 What scaling AI actually requires 10:26 Personal productivity vs. organizational advantage 12:45 Telecom case study: the dispatch bottleneck 15:02 Agentic tools for field technicians 17:59 Change management inside legacy workflows 19:36 Rebuilding the pilot on a scalable API foundation 21:50 Lessons for future AI deployments 23:35 Identifying high-fit workflows 26:08 What makes a strong AI use case 28:05 A myth about AI implementation 30:15 Who should work with BlueLabel 31:52 Advice for leaders under AI pressure Links: Explore more interviews and Jordan Gurrieri's expert profile:  https://www.justcurious.io/experts/jordan-gurrieriConnect with Jordan Gurrieri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordangurrieri/Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/T7lhyDkZca0Just Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    31 min

  8. 11/20/2025

    Greg Shove - Section | How AI Is Redefining Leadership Roles

    Greg Shove, CEO of Section, breaks down why enterprise AI adoption remains stuck in low single digits—and what leaders must do to unlock meaningful productivity gains. With experience building six companies and training global workforces in applied AI, Greg explains how culture, workflows, and leadership behavior—not tools—determine whether AI becomes a competitive advantage. You'll Learn: Why only ~9% of knowledge workers are truly AI-proficient and how to move teams from anxious to confidentThe biggest mistakes enterprises make when rolling out tools like Copilot and ChatGPTHow workflow redesign unlocks real value and why “lighthouse” use cases accelerate adoptionHow executives can use AI as a strategic thought partner for better decisionsHow AI will reshape team structure, performance distribution, and talent development over the next five yearsChapters: 00:00 Intro 01:09 Why Greg pivoted Section to AI 03:29 Comparing AI to past tech waves 07:22 How AI changes cognitive work 09:14 The AI-proficient workforce 11:16 Why enterprise adoption is stalling 18:49 How to get from 8% to 50% adoption 25:19 Why AI isn’t “just software” 27:53 AI as a strategic advisor 33:40 Using AI to prep for board meetings 37:20 How AI will reshape teams 43:32 Who Section helps Links: Explore more interviews and Greg Shove's expert profile: https://www.justcurious.io/experts/greg-shoveConnect with Greg Shove: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregshove/Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4bXULTB9ySA Just Curious helps the world’s leading operators and investors cut through a noisy AI market and find the right partners — from strategy and assessments to full-stack AI development. Our network of applied AI experts spans generative and agentic AI, workflow automation, and custom software powered by AI, helping teams turn curiosity into measurable value. Explore more interviews and connect with experts at https://www.justcurious.io Subscribe to the newsletter at https://just-curious-ai.beehiiv.com

    43 min
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Just Curious helps investors and operators turn AI from buzzword to bottom line. Through sharp case studies and practical insights from the world's leading applied AI experts, we explore how to use AI to grow revenue, expand margins, build better products, and create value.

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