Chad Pytel

548: Product Management vs Project Management with Bethan Ashley

November 1st, 2024  |  Season 14  |  34 mins 35 secs

In this episode, we're joined by Senior Product Manager at thoughtbot and Founderland Startup Mentor, Bethan Ashley, who shares her insights and advice on how and when to leverage AI tooling, the difference between project management and product management, and much more.

547: Fight better using AI with CJ Tayeh

October 24th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  38 mins 12 secs

We’re joined by Flank founder, CJ Tayeh, a human rights lawyer turned growth marketer turned social innovator. With a mission to address inequalities and power imbalances, especially around money, she explains how Flank’s AI companion acts as a mediator to foster trust and communication.

546: Class Awareness with Dr. Justin Key

October 17th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  41 mins 25 secs

In this special episode, we're joined by Dr. Justin Key, the Founder of Black Theorem Consulting, to discuss societal divisions driven by social and economic status, and how digital products and services can drive change on a global scale, how designers and developers can be a part of that change, and why developers need to check their biases when building digital technology.

545: Generative AI: How to Leverage its Power and Mitigate the Risks

October 10th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  46 mins 18 secs

We're joined by Sema Founder and CEO, Matt Van Itallie. Sema improves outcomes for users, companies, and developers by providing automated tools to assess code. We discuss the five reasons why you should know how much generative AI is used in your code, and much more.

544: How BonePixel is Redefining Diagnosis and Treatment with Nazgol Tavabi and Mohammadreza Movahhedi

October 3rd, 2024  |  Season 14  |  39 mins 36 secs

We're joined by Nazgol Tavabi and Mohammadreza Movahhedi, the co-founders of BonePixel, a healthcare startup focused on using AI and big data for the diagnosis and treatment planning of joint disorders. We discuss the origins of BonePixel, the challenges of building a healthcare startup, and how they are leveraging AI to make patient-specific treatment planning more accurate and efficient.

543: The Intersection of AI and Recruitment with Brian Glover

September 19th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  42 mins 12 secs

We're joined by Brian Glover, Co-founder and CEO of Previewed, an immersive, streamlined, and intelligent solution for recruiters and candidates. We unpack the company’s skill-based assessment method, the ‘gamification’ of recruitment tools, how Previewed’s platform helps with retention, identifying gaps in a candidate’s skills, and much more.

542: Shaping Company Culture using AI with Elie Rashbass

September 12th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  41 mins 16 secs

Elie Rashbass, CEO & Co-founder at ScultureAI, a startup developing innovative solutions that shape organizational culture from the ground up joins the show to discuss the endless interactions that shape company culture, why it matters, and how Elie and his team are helping companies use AI to embed their culture into actualized, organization-wide behavior.

541: Fixing the way that families hire, manage, and pay in-home care professionals with Jon Levinson

September 5th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  42 mins 48 secs

We're joined by Jon Levinson, founder of Clara Home Care, to share his personal experiences with in-home care that led him to research the industry, identify the challenges, and co-found Clara, which is reimagining the way that home care is delivered in America.

540: The Tech Behind Eslando’s Circular Fashion Revolution with Karishma Gupta

September 4th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  37 mins 46 secs

We're joined by Karishma Gupta, the Founder and CEO of Eslando Circular Fashion, a company dedicated to changing the clothing industry through circular economy principles and textile recycling.

535: AI in Healthcare: How CareTrainer.ai is Changing Elder Care

July 25th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  48 mins 19 secs

Hosts Will Larry and Chad Pytel interview Brock Dubbels, Principal UX and AI Researcher at CareTrainer.ai, who explains how the company leverages AI to address the care crisis in elderly populations by automating routine tasks. This approach allows caregivers to focus on building meaningful relationships and providing personalized care, ultimately enhancing the quality of care and reducing burnout. Brock also discusses CareTrainer.ai’s apprenticeship model, which uses AI assistance to accelerate caregiver training and improve job satisfaction and retention.

534: How Toma is Transforming Car Dealerships with Voice AI Technology

July 18th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  44 mins 37 secs

Host Chad Pytel interviews Monik Pamecha, CEO of Toma, about how their AI technology automates phone calls for car dealerships, significantly enhancing customer service. Monik shares Toma's journey from initial AI experiments to focusing on voice AI, detailing the challenges and successes along the way. The discussion also covers the practical implementation of Toma's AI solutions in the automotive industry and the importance of clear communication about AI's role in customer interactions.

533: Leveraging Data for Gender Equality with Amy-Willard Cross

July 11th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  32 mins 59 secs

Founder Amy-Willard Cross discusses Gender Fair, a consumer rating system for gender equality that uses data and UN Women Empowerment Principles to evaluate companies in various categories, making it easier for consumers to make informed choices via their app and browser extension. She emphasizes the power of transparency and collective consumer action in driving corporate accountability and reflects on the challenges and future plans of Gender Fair.

505: Commsor with Mac Reddin

December 21st, 2023  |  Season 11  |  40 mins 48 secs

Mac Reddin is the CEO of Commsor. He discusses Commsor's evolution from community-led growth software to a go-to-network model, emphasizing the importance of various overlapping networks in a company's ecosystem. He shares his journey from running a Minecraft-based company as a teenager to founding Commsor, which initially began as a newsletter and evolved into a community and then a product.

Mac stresses the effectiveness of authentic community building and relationship-based growth over traditional sales and marketing strategies. He criticizes cold calling and email tactics, advocating for genuine interactions and relationship-building. Commsor’s approach, including personal onboarding of every user and fostering a company culture where employees are encouraged to express their individuality and interests, has shown success and satisfaction internally and in the market.

Chad reflects on his experiences at thoughtbot, aligning with Reddin's perspective on community and user-centric approaches. He emphasizes trust and freedom within his team, allowing for authentic individual contributions to the company's growth and reputation. Together, they discuss the importance of personal connections in business and how modern sales tactics might need reevaluation in favor of more genuine, relationship-based approaches.

500: Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots 500th Episode!

November 16th, 2023  |  Season 11  |  1 hr 12 mins

We released episode one of this podcast on June 11, 2012. Now, more than a decade later, we're celebrating the 500th episode of our show. In honor of this milestone, Victoria, Will, and Chad caught up with each of the past hosts of the show: Ben Orenstein, Chris Toomey, and Lindsey Christensen.

We chatted about what they’re up to now, what they liked and learned from hosting the show, their time at thoughtbot, and more!

494: Aigo.ai with Peter Voss

September 28th, 2023  |  Season 11  |  33 mins 54 secs

Peter Voss is the CEO and Chief Scientist of Aigo.ai, a groundbreaking alternative to conventional chatbots and generative models like ChatGPT. Aigo's chatbot is powered by Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), enabling it to think, learn, and reason much like a human being. It boasts short-term and long-term memory, setting it apart in terms of personalized service and context-awareness.

Along with host Chad Pytel, Peter talks about how most chatbots and AI systems today are basic. They can answer questions but can't understand or remember the context. Aigo.ai is different because it's built to think and learn more like humans. It can adapt and get better the more you use it. He also highlights the challenges Aigo.ai faces in securing venture capital, given that its innovative approach doesn't align with current investment models heavily focused on generative or deep learning AI. Peter and Chad agree that while generative AI serves certain functions well, the quest for a system that can think, learn, and reason like a human demands a fundamentally different approach.

481: Oscar Health with Neetu Rajpal

June 29th, 2023  |  Season 11  |  31 mins 49 secs

Neetu Rajpal is the CTO of Oscar Health. Oscar aims to make a healthier life accessible and affordable for all by refactoring healthcare to make great care cost less.

Chad talks to Neetu about working for a relatively new insurance company, reorganizing its structure by getting people into the right positions, and how incorporating large language models and generative AI is an inflection point that will help move things forward.