The AI Chopping Block

David Stepania
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Learn what works in AI right now and future-proof your business or your career so you don't end up on the AI chopping block.Right now, AI is used for less than 1% of the problems it can solve. We're here to change that.Every week, we interview industry insiders & the builders behind game-changing AI-powered companies to uncover practical insights you can implement in your business or career to get ahead.Hosted by David Stepania with tech veterans Ben Smokovic & Derek Skinnell, these conversations cut through the hype to show how real businesses are leveraging AI's untapped potential.

  1. AI Transforms Silent Churn Into Predictable Growth

    16H AGO

    AI Transforms Silent Churn Into Predictable Growth

    Failed payments silently drain $443B from SaaS and subscription businesses every year. Most founders accept it as an unavoidable cost — but it doesn’t have to be. In this episode, FlyCode CEO Tzachi Davidovich reveals how AI transforms silent churn into predictable revenue growth. From YC learnings to CFO playbooks, this is the inside story of building an AI-native company solving one of SaaS’s biggest leaks. If you’re a founder, PM, or exec in SaaS or fintech, this episode shows how to turn failed payments into a new growth engine. What you’ll learn in this video: • Why failed payments cost $443B annually • The AI workflow FlyCode uses to predict retries • How SaaS and e-commerce recover revenue invisibly • The 5–8% ARR boost CFOs can expect • YC lessons on building lean, AI-native teams Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    45 min
  2. The Silent Killer of Sales — Fixed by AI with Brian Grech

    SEP 11

    The Silent Killer of Sales — Fixed by AI with Brian Grech

    Most online businesses don’t realize they’re losing 2–15% of revenue to false declines — when legitimate customers are wrongly flagged as fraud. It’s the silent killer of sales. In this episode, we sit down with Brian Grech, ex-PayPal exec and now Co-Founder of Corgi Labs, to explore how AI precision models are rewriting the payments playbook. From building PayPal Working Capital into a billion-dollar product to helping today’s merchants recover hidden revenue, Brian shares insights every founder, product leader, and exec needs to hear. 👉 What you’ll learn: Why false declines cost merchants more than fraud itselfHow AI fraud models unlock hidden revenueReal examples from SaaS and subscription businessesBrian’s founder journey: PayPal → Corgi LabsLessons for fundraising in today’s market If you’re building in AI, fintech, or SaaS — this is a conversation you can’t afford to miss. Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    1h 22m
  3. Ship AI Features in Minutes, No Coding Required.

    SEP 4

    Ship AI Features in Minutes, No Coding Required.

    In this episode, we talk with Tyler Postle, CEO & Co-Founder of Voker AI, a Y Combinator-backed startup helping small and mid-sized businesses scale without in-house AI engineers. Voker makes it possible for product managers and business leaders to build reliable AI agents and automations through a no-code platform, then deploy them instantly with APIs. Tyler shares: How Voker helps SMBs cut costs and move faster without AI teamsReal-world use cases in HR tech, pet healthcare, and SaaS platformsThe guardrails that make AI agents safe and production-readyLessons from scaling an e-commerce brand to $100M revenueWhat he learned at Y Combinator about building sustainable AI startupsWhether you’re a founder, operator, or product manager, this conversation shows you how to unlock AI’s potential and start shipping AI agents that actually work. 👉 Explore Voker AI: https://voker.ai Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    47 min
  4. Behind YC’s AI Agent Boom

    AUG 28

    Behind YC’s AI Agent Boom

    YC’s latest wave is all about AI agents — but how do you actually make them scale? In this episode, we sit down with Sam Bhagwat, co-founder of Gatsby and now founder of Mastra, a JavaScript/TypeScript framework making AI agents production-ready. Sam shares: How Gatsby grew into one of the most popular open-source frameworksWhy 2025 is the year of AI agents, and why YC startups are betting bigThe 5 principles of building scalable AI agents (orchestration, composability, reliability, developer-first design, continuous learning)Real-world use cases: from fintech (PLAID Japan) to aerospace and healthcareHow Mastra boosts developer productivity 2–3× with agent workflows and code-review bots👉 If you’re a founder, developer, or tech leader, this episode is your playbook for navigating the agent era — and learning how to automate before you get automated. #AIagents #YCStartups #SamBhagwat #Mastra #FutureOfWork Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    52 min
  5. From Months to Minutes: The Future of Market Testing with AI Societies

    AUG 21

    From Months to Minutes: The Future of Market Testing with AI Societies

    From recreating months-long experiments in minutes to forecasting customer behavior through AI personas, discover the future of rapid, safe experimentation powered by artificial collective intelligence.  Join James He, Co-Founder and CEO of Artificial Societies, as he unveils how AI-driven simulated markets are transforming the way businesses experiment, innovate, and grow.  In this Episode: 00:00 Intro and motivation behind Societies 02:30 The two-month experiment recreated in two minutes 09:50 Using simulated markets to refine sales and marketing 14:00 Live demo of AI personas responding to outreach messages 20:30 Future of artificial collective intelligence and AI-powered experimentation 27:00 The evolving landscape of AI, jobs, and creativity 35:00 Q&A on China vs US in AI race and personal backstory 43:30 How James’s lean team builds advanced AI tools today 47:50 Jobs of the future: creative engineers and attention economy 50:00 Founder’s reflections and community invite Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    53 min
  6. AI Pricing Secrets from Uber to Shopify with Peter Moot

    AUG 13

    AI Pricing Secrets from Uber to Shopify with Peter Moot

    🚀 AI pricing tech once reserved for Uber is now boosting Shopify store revenues by 50%+! Discover how former Uber Product Manager Peter Moot is transforming e‑commerce pricing for small and mid‑sized businesses. In this episode, Peter shares the AI pricing and discount personalization strategies he helped scale at Uber—and how he adapted them for Shopify merchants to unlock 50%+ revenue growth. From overcoming merchant skepticism to running rigorous A/B tests, leveraging neural networks, and scaling a team of four with AI tools, Peter reveals the secrets behind Promi.ai’s success and its mission to democratize enterprise‑level price intelligence. Perfect for founders, e‑commerce owners, and AI enthusiasts eager to turn data into profit. Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    47 min
  7. Traceloop CEO on Why LLMs Fail Silently — and How to Fix It!

    AUG 6

    Traceloop CEO on Why LLMs Fail Silently — and How to Fix It!

    Why do LLM apps break in production — and how can you stop them before users notice? In this episode, Nir Gazit (co-founder of Traceloop, ex-Google/Fiverr, YC W23) breaks down how his team is solving AI’s biggest failure mode: observability. You’ll hear how Traceloop became the go-to black box recorder for LLMs, powering companies like Cisco, IBM, Miro, and more. We cover: Real-world LLM horror storiesHow OpenLLMetry hit 2M+ downloadsMiro’s strategy for safely deploying GPT-4.1What AI teams can learn from traditional dev observabilityThe roadmap to self-improving agentsIf you're building with LLMs or planning a GenAI rollout, this is essential listening. Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    45 min
  8. Why AI Personalization Is Failing — And How Belief-Aware Agents Can Fix It | Bryan Johnson | Don't Die App

    JUL 31

    Why AI Personalization Is Failing — And How Belief-Aware Agents Can Fix It | Bryan Johnson | Don't Die App

    Robert Ta breaks down why today’s AI agents fall short at true personalization — and what it really takes to fix it. He shares how his company, EpistemicMe, is building belief-aware systems that align with your mental model over time. From working with Bryan Johnson’s Don’t Die App to helping developers personalize AI agents in health, mental health, and high-stakes verticals, this episode is packed with tactical insight. Forget surface-level AI personalization. This is about long-term alignment, trust, and AI that truly understands its users. 🎙 In this episode: 00:00 – Intro: What Epistemic Me Is & The Big Problem with AI Personalization 04:24 – Why Belief Modeling Is the Next Layer of Alignment 07:40 – Bryan Johnson’s Don’t Die App Use Case 10:05 – What “Belief Drift” Means & How to Detect It 14:20 – Building AI Memory Architecture (Working, Episodic, Semantic) 18:11 – Epistemic Evaluations vs. Traditional Engagement Metrics 21:45 – Shared Values as Core to Trustworthy AI 24:15 – Guardrails & Anchoring AI in Reliable Content 28:38 – Why They’re Building in the Open & Collaborating Through Open Source 31:50 – Treating Beliefs as Data for Long-Term Personal AI Alignment 36:05 – Mental Health Use Cases & Democratizing Access to Therapy 40:20 – How Personal AI Could Outperform Traditional Support Systems 44:35 – Can AI Be More Helpful Than People? A Nuanced Debate 48:10 – The Mental Health Gym: What Skipping It Looks Like 52:25 – The Tradeoff Between Hustle, Health, and Foundership 56:40 – The Real Pain of Today’s Healthcare Experience 01:00:55 – What the US Healthcare System Gets Wrong 01:05:10 – Can Personalized AI Close the Care Gap? 01:09:25 – Final Thoughts on AI Alignment, Policy & What’s Next 🎧 Listen now and get future-ready. — 🔗 Find the blog recap: https://www.thehomebase.ai/interviews 👤 Connect with Fedor: linkedin.com/in/fedorzhdanov 📩 Join 6,000+ founders & tech leaders: thehomebase.ai Where to find me: • David: Linkedin • Email: hello@thehomebase.ai Want to stay ahead of AI's impact on jobs and future opportunities? Join 18000+ tech leaders and founders who are shaping the future of AI here: • Newsletter: Join Here

    1h 18m
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About

Learn what works in AI right now and future-proof your business or your career so you don't end up on the AI chopping block.Right now, AI is used for less than 1% of the problems it can solve. We're here to change that.Every week, we interview industry insiders & the builders behind game-changing AI-powered companies to uncover practical insights you can implement in your business or career to get ahead.Hosted by David Stepania with tech veterans Ben Smokovic & Derek Skinnell, these conversations cut through the hype to show how real businesses are leveraging AI's untapped potential.

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  • Creator
    David Stepania
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    18
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 The AI Chopping Block
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    The AI Chopping Block