Substrate

Transcenda

Substrate is a video interview show about the engineering, design, and product leadership beneath software-intensive companies. Host Megan Fales, Co-founder and CEO of Transcenda, talks with the technical and business leaders responsible for the products their customers use, and for the organizations that build them. Each episode goes into the strategies, tradeoffs, and insights that determine what scales, what gets rebuilt, and what stays consistent through it all. These are conversations that run from the boardroom to the build, and back. Substrate, produced by Transcenda.

Episodes

  1. 2d ago

    Alex McLeod - Building at the edge of what’s possible

    Megan sits down with Alex McLeod, co-founder and CTO of Serval, the AI-native automation platform for internal business processes across IT, HR, finance, and legal. Alex shares how years of leading engineering teams and building products led him to found Serval, and why they chose to build the entire platform instead of a thin layer on top of existing tools. He explains why the best place to build is the border between what's possible and what's impossible, and why going from zero at a startup meant unlearning some big-company habits. Alex and Megan dig into what AI means for engineering teams, and Alex shows how all engineers now have to think like a technical and product leader. They also talk about hiring founder-shaped people at every career stage, Serval's operating principles of being negative maintenance, pulling timelines forward, and raising the bar, and how to tell a one-way door decision from a two-way door. We're grateful to Alex for sharing his perspective on trust, ownership, and leadership, and for joining us on Substrate. Quotes “If you can really find that border and that edge between possible and impossible given current technology, that's where you can create the most compelling products and user experiences and therefore company success.” - Alex “Everyone knows what it means to be high maintenance and low maintenance, but being negative maintenance means you subtract maintenance from the world around you.” - Alex “If you own the full experience, if you own the entire stack or the entire product, you can get to the best possible outcome.” - Alex Time Stamps [00:00] Welcome to Substrate: Meet Alex McLeod, Co-Founder and CTO of Serval [01:03] The Pain Points Behind Serval [04:31] What the Market Research Revealed [07:20] Building Inside Verkada vs. Founding From Zero [10:13] Unlearning Big-Company Habits [12:32] Do the Hard Things Always [15:19] Building at the Edge of Possible and Impossible [16:10] Trust as the Foundation of a Co-Founder Partnership [19:25] Question All Advice: Starting a Company in the AI Era [21:28] Where Engineers Should Focus Now [24:02] Why AI Agents Are Order Takers [24:37] Hiring Founder-Shaped Talent at Every Level [28:12] Serval's Operating Principles: Negative Maintenance [29:50] Pulling Timelines Forward and Raising the Bar [32:21] Strong Convictions, Held Weakly [33:30] One-Way vs. Two-Way Door Decisions [38:01] Pick a Direction, Learn, and Rebuild [38:28] Leadership: Making People Less Dependent on You [41:26] Letting People Own Their Decisions [42:49] Family, Music, and Staying Grounded [44:37] What Excites Alex About the Future [46:15] Closing Thoughts Links Connect with the guest and host on LinkedIn! Megan FalesAlex McLeodLearn more about: ServalTranscenda Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  2. Oct 21

    Archie Mayani - The importance of trust and humility in building software for healthcare

    Megan sits down with Archie Mayani, Chief Product Officer at Evolent, a health tech company that specializes in connecting care for people with complex conditions.  Archie walks through what it takes to be a product leader building trust and collaborative relationships when clinical expertise and empathy are the keys to better care and better patient outcomes. Archie and Megan discuss how the once-separate roles of product, engineering, and design are converging within smaller, faster-moving teams. They talk about what it actually takes to hire and retain top AI talent, and why curious, ambitious, and humble are the markers of a strong fit for engineers and designers in the healthcare technology space. As AI accelerates how software gets built, Archie reflects on why the most human parts of product leadership only grow in importance. We're grateful to Archie for sharing her perspective and for joining us for the very first episode of Substrate. Quotes "The recipe for trust hasn't changed….I think you still have to have a sound strategy. AI cannot be a strategy disinfectant, right? It is an accelerant…" — Archie "Product is a team sport like no other, and influencing without authority is so critical. You may be brilliant, but if you can’t collaborate and if you can’t influence, your brilliance is not going to scale, period." — Archie Time Stamps [00:00] Welcome to Substrate — Meet Archie Mayani, CPO of Evolent [00:01] Evolent’s Product Landscape: An Operating System for Care Decisions [00:02] Where AI Can Make the Biggest Impact on Patient Experience [00:03] Healthcare’s Stakes: "You Get It Wrong, You Really Get It Wrong" [00:04] Building Product Strategy Amid Constant Change [00:06] The Biggest AI Misconception: Model vs. Workflow [00:07] The Monday Morning Test for Responsible AI [00:08] Building Trust With Skeptical Clinicians and Operators [00:10] Why AI Is an Accelerant, Not a Strategy Disinfectant [00:11] How the Product Leader Role Has Evolved [00:13] Product Judgment: What to Automate, Augment, or Abstract [00:16] Product, Engineering, and Design: The Blurring Lines [00:18] The Product Engineer Model: Collapsing Roles Into Nimble Teams [00:20] Recruiting Talent at the Intersection of Product, AI, and Healthcare [00:23] What Actually Drives Retention [00:25] Rethinking the Interview Process for AI Talent [00:27] Why Natural Curiosity Is the Biggest Hiring Signal [00:29] Hunger and Humility as the Stable Stakes for Success [00:30] Advice for Product Leaders Entering High-Stakes Environments [00:32] Building Culture by Modeling It From the Top [00:33] What’s Next: AI Raises the Bar on Product Leadership [00:34] Closing Thoughts Links Connect with the guest and host on LinkedIn! Megan FalesArchie MayaniLearn more about: EvolentTranscenda Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  3. Oct 14

    Welcome to Substrate

    Substrate is a video interview show about the engineering, design, and product leadership beneath software-intensive companies. Host Megan Fales, Co-founder and CEO of Transcenda, talks with the technical and business leaders responsible for the products their customers use, and for the organizations that build them. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

  • 3 Episodes

About

Substrate is a video interview show about the engineering, design, and product leadership beneath software-intensive companies. Host Megan Fales, Co-founder and CEO of Transcenda, talks with the technical and business leaders responsible for the products their customers use, and for the organizations that build them. Each episode goes into the strategies, tradeoffs, and insights that determine what scales, what gets rebuilt, and what stays consistent through it all. These are conversations that run from the boardroom to the build, and back. Substrate, produced by Transcenda.

Information

  • Creator
    Transcenda
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Transcenda
  • Show Website
    Substrate