ThinkData Podcast

Dataworks Group Limited
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The Growth Playbook brings you inside the minds of the leaders shaping Data and AI. Each episode, we sit down with some of the most interesting voices in the industry, from startup founders to seasoned execs, to hear their stories, lessons learned, and the real strategies behind growing great businesses. Dataworks helps Seed–Series B AI companies across the US and Europe build GTM, engineering, and data teams. Visit Dataworks - www.mydataworks.io

  1. Sep 10

    S4 | E25 | AI Digital Workers: The Future of Enterprise Automation with Dries De Coster, Founder of meet DWIGHT

    AI is increasingly moving beyond tools that simply help people work faster. The next step could be AI-powered digital workers capable of taking responsibility for entire business processes. In this episode of ThinkData, Alex Hutchings is joined by Dries De Coster, Founder & CEO of meet DWIGHT, a company building AI-powered digital workers to automate middle and back-office processes. After around 20 years in the HCM industry, including leadership roles at SAP and The Access Group, Dries launched meet DWIGHT just over three years ago. The conversation explores why he believed the timing was right for a new approach to automation, how the company identified genuine product-market fit, and what it takes to build and position an AI company in one of the noisiest technology markets we have seen. In this episodeWhy Dries left The Access Group to build meet DWIGHTThe problem meet DWIGHT is trying to solve with AI-powered digital workersWhy the timing was right for a new generation of enterprise automationHow early-stage AI companies identify genuine product-market fitHow to position an AI company when virtually everyone is talking about AIThe biggest GTM lessons from scaling meet DWIGHTHiring lessons from building an early-stage AI companyWhat Dries looks for when hiring into a startupWhat success looks like for meet DWIGHT over the next 12–24 monthsHow the digital workforce could evolve as AI technology matures

    S4 | E25 | AI Digital Workers: The Future of Enterprise Automation with Dries De Coster, Founder of meet DWIGHT

  2. Sep 3

    S4 | E24 | AI Sprawl, Token Costs & Enterprise AI with Nikhil @ Cribl

    AI is supposed to make businesses more productive. But what happens when AI itself becomes one of the biggest expenses? In this episode of ThinkData, Alex Hutchings is joined by Nikhil Mungil, Head of AI R&D at Cribl, to explore the growing challenge of AI sprawl, the true cost of enterprise AI adoption, and how businesses should think about AI investment as usage continues to accelerate. Nikhil explains why the next phase of enterprise AI isn't simply about buying more tools or accessing better models. The real competitive advantage could come from how businesses harness that intelligence, integrate it into their own workflows, and measure whether it is actually creating value. They discuss why AI budgets may eventually need to be managed more like payroll, with different teams receiving different levels of AI resource depending on their workloads and the value they generate. Nikhil argues that trying to measure AI ROI across an entire organisation can be misleading — the real measurement needs to happen much closer to individual teams, tasks and workflows. Alex and Nikhil also explore how AI is already changing the structure of technical teams, with smaller groups increasingly supported by AI agents, copilots and AI-assisted development tools. In this episodeWhat AI sprawl means for enterprise technology teamsWhy organisations are struggling to measure AI ROIHow businesses should think about AI token budgetsWhy AI spending could eventually be managed more like payrollThe shift from standardised software towards intent-driven workflowsWhy enterprises may need to own more of their AI “harness”AI tools vs underlying intelligenceHow smaller teams can achieve more with AI agents and copilotsWhy AI investment needs to balance experimentation with measurable returnsWhat CEOs should consider before investing millions into AI One of Nikhil's central arguments is that businesses should “own as much of the harness as possible” — maintaining control over the workflows, evaluation and business logic surrounding AI, while retaining the flexibility to change underlying intelligence providers. About Nikhil MungilNikhil Mungil is Head of AI R&D at Cribl. His background spans companies including Substack, Splunk and ThoughtWorks, with much of his career focused on observability, security and large-scale machine data. At Cribl, Nikhil established its AI research and development organisation across engineering and product, working on models for telemetry data alongside agentic products designed to help users turn huge volumes of machine data into useful insights. About ThinkDataThinkData brings together founders, executives and technology leaders shaping the future of data and AI. Hosted by Alex Hutchings and brought to you by Dataworks, the podcast explores what it really takes to build, launch, and scale companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence and data. About Dataworks Dataworks helps Seed–Series B AI companies across the US and Europe build GTM, engineering, and data teams. Visit Dataworks

    S4 | E24 | AI Sprawl, Token Costs & Enterprise AI with Nikhil @ Cribl

  3. Aug 20

    S4 | E23 | Moving Fast Without Breaking Trust: The Reality of AI Governance with Rowan Stewart @ Transcend

    AI is moving faster than almost any technology we’ve seen before. But is governance keeping up? In this episode of the ThinkData Podcast, I sat down with Rowan Stewart, AI & Data Safety Product Leader at Transcend, and discussed what happens when organisations rush AI products to market without the right data, privacy and governance foundations in place. Before joining Transcend, Rowan spent around six years at BCG X, helping organisations build and launch new technology. Today, she works with companies including Robinhood, Brex and Groupon as they navigate the increasingly complex world of AI and data governance. We discussed why so many businesses are still treating AI governance as something to solve later, whether regulation really has to slow innovation, what responsible AI actually looks like in practice, and the consequences when businesses get it wrong. We also explored one of the biggest challenges facing startups today: how do you continue moving at startup speed while ensuring the AI products you build are trustworthy, compliant and capable of scaling? In this episodeRowan’s journey from BCG X to TranscendWhy companies are struggling with AI governanceWhy governance becomes harder when it is bolted on laterHow startups can move quickly without creating unnecessary riskWhat “responsible AI” actually means in practiceThe role data foundations play in trustworthy AIWhere responsibility for AI governance should sit inside an organisationThe commercial and reputational consequences of getting it wrongWhether regulation slows innovation or can actually enable itHow AI governance is likely to evolve as adoption accelerates

    S4 | E23 | Moving Fast Without Breaking Trust: The Reality of AI Governance with Rowan Stewart @ Transcend

  4. Aug 6

    S4 | E22 | AI isn't replacing recruiters with Arsham Ghahramani - CEO & Co-Founder @ Ribbon AI

    AI is transforming every industry, but few are changing as quickly as recruitment. This week, I'm joined by Arsham Ghahramani, Co-Founder and CEO of Ribbon, an AI-powered hiring platform helping companies interview every applicant through conversational AI. Before founding Ribbon, Arsham led machine learning teams at Amazon and completed a PhD focused on AI bias and model stress-testing. Since launching Ribbon, the company has grown to more than 500 customers, raised $8 million in funding, and was recently named Fast Company's #1 AI recruiting platform. In this episode, we discuss: Building AI that recruiters and candidates can trustWhy AI should improve—not replace—the hiring processThe biggest misconceptions around AI recruitmentWhy bias remains one of the hardest problems to solveProduct-market fit and scaling an AI startupWhat hiring could look like in five years' time Whether you're a founder, recruiter, hiring manager, or simply interested in where AI is taking the future of work, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

    S4 | E22 | AI isn't replacing recruiters with Arsham Ghahramani - CEO & Co-Founder @ Ribbon AI

  5. Aug 4

    S4 | E21 | Building the AI Agents That Could Change the Internet | Abhishek Das, Co-founder @ Yutori

    What happens when AI can browse, understand, and interact with the web just like a human? This week on the ThinkData Podcast, I'm joined by Abhishek Das, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Yutori. Before founding Yutori, Abhishek was a research scientist at Meta, where he worked on AI agents long before the recent explosion in generative AI. Today, Yutori is building specialised AI models designed specifically for web agents—systems capable of navigating websites, completing tasks and operating autonomously in complex online environments. In this episode we discuss: • Why specialised AI models outperform general-purpose LLMs for web automation • The biggest technical challenges of building reliable AI agents • Why AI demonstrations often fail in production • Product-market fit in one of AI's fastest-moving markets • What founders consistently underestimate when building AI companies • How AI agents could fundamentally change the way businesses and consumers use the internet If you're interested in AI infrastructure, startups, product, engineering, or the future of autonomous software, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

    S4 | E21 | Building the AI Agents That Could Change the Internet | Abhishek Das, Co-founder @ Yutori

  6. Jul 23

    S4 | E20 | Enterprise Data is Broken. Here's What's Next with Ethan Ding Co-Founder @ TextQL

    Enterprise data has never been more valuable, yet most companies still struggle to answer simple business questions. This week, I sat down with Ethan Ding, Co-Founder and CEO of TextQL, to discuss why traditional analytics tools weren't built for the age of AI, how autonomous agents are changing enterprise infrastructure, and what happens when AI starts generating thousands of queries where humans once generated dozens. We discuss: • Why today's BI tools are reaching their limits • The biggest technical challenges behind enterprise AI • How TextQL is rethinking the modern data warehouse • Why data analysts aren't disappearing—but their jobs are changing • Finding product-market fit in one of AI's most competitive markets • What enterprise software looks like over the next five years If you're building, investing in, or buying AI products, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

    S4 | E20 | Enterprise Data is Broken. Here's What's Next with Ethan Ding Co-Founder @ TextQL

  7. Jun 8

    S4 | E19 | The future of software engineering teams with Scott Breitenother – Co-Founder @ Kilo

    Agentic engineering is quickly becoming one of the most important shifts in software development. In this episode, I sit down with Scott Breitenother, Co-Founder & CEO of Kilo Code, to discuss why individual coding assistants won't drive the future of software development, but by autonomous AI agents capable of planning, building, testing, and shipping software. Scott shares the journey from building and selling Brooklyn Data Company to launching Kilo, an open-source agentic engineering platform designed to help developers become dramatically more productive in the AI era. We discussed product-market fit, engineering adoption, the realities of competing with Cursor, Copilot, and Claude Code, and what engineering leaders should be thinking about as AI fundamentally changes how software teams operate. If you're a founder, engineering leader, developer, or simply interested in the future of AI-powered software development, this is an episode you won't want to miss.

    S4 | E19 | The future of software engineering teams with Scott Breitenother – Co-Founder @ Kilo

  8. Jun 2

    S4 | E18 | Rebuilding Post-Discharge Care With Clinician-Led AI & Dimer Health

    In this episode of the ThinkData Podcast, I welcome back Dimer Health Co-Founders Carrie Hodge, Sarig Reichert, alongside Chief Medical Officer Dr. David Feldman. Fresh off the announcement of their $13.5 million Series A, the team discusses why the 30 days following hospital discharge remain one of the most broken parts of healthcare, and how Dimer is using clinician-led AI to transform patient outcomes. The conversation covers scaling after fundraising, building culture during hypergrowth, the realities of operating at Series A, and what it takes to create a new layer of healthcare infrastructure.

    S4 | E18 | Rebuilding Post-Discharge Care With Clinician-Led AI & Dimer Health
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About

The Growth Playbook brings you inside the minds of the leaders shaping Data and AI. Each episode, we sit down with some of the most interesting voices in the industry, from startup founders to seasoned execs, to hear their stories, lessons learned, and the real strategies behind growing great businesses. Dataworks helps Seed–Series B AI companies across the US and Europe build GTM, engineering, and data teams. Visit Dataworks - www.mydataworks.io

Information

  • Creator
    Dataworks Group Limited
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    115
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Dataworks Group Limited
  • Show Website
    ThinkData Podcast