AI Adoption Trends

Analysis of how organizations and individuals embrace or resist artificial intelligence technologies over time, including adoption patterns and resistance factors.

9 episodes

If You're Not Making Money, You're Not Worth Money: 1,000 Valuations | Gregg Ficery, Ep 51

If You're Not Making Money, You're Not Worth Money: 1,000 Valuations | Gregg Ficery, Ep 51

Gregg Ficery, founder of Integgra Advisory Services, discusses his 15-year career in business valuation, explaining when companies need valuations (fundraising, 409A compliance, M&A, litigation), how to maximize company value, and current trends in venture capital and AI investment. He shares his journey from dot-com survivor to Silicon Valley Bank to independent consultant, plus his side project: a book documenting pre-NFL professional football history.

What Builders Get Wrong About Capital, From Someone Who Knows Both Sides | Kumar Ampapathini, Ep 48

What Builders Get Wrong About Capital, From Someone Who Knows Both Sides | Kumar Ampapathini, Ep 48

Kumar Ampapathini, a fractional CFO and former Wall Street banker, discusses his transition from software engineering at Cisco to investment banking and eventually fractional CFO work. He explains how AI is transforming startup economics, why institutional investors prioritize path-to-profitability over pure growth, and what founders misunderstand about capital. Kumar shares M&A negotiation insights and emphasizes that strong founders matter more than perfect products.

2026 Trends: Trust in AI, Healthcare, College, AGI & More | Bryan Dennstedt, Ep 41

2026 Trends: Trust in AI, Healthcare, College, AGI & More | Bryan Dennstedt, Ep 41

Todd and Bryan Dennstedt review their 2025 AI predictions, finding they accurately forecasted the AI trough of disillusionment, agentic AI emergence, and VC conservatism. They predict 2026 will be defined by organizational absorption of AI capabilities rather than new breakthroughs, with agentic workflows becoming default, SaaS pricing models compressing, and trust verification emerging as a critical business category. They emphasize that rapid AI-powered software development is fundamentally changing startup economics and making previously marginal business ideas viable.

SpeedRun Ep19 Marketing Plans with Virginie Glaenzer - Tales from the Sky Lounge

SpeedRun Ep19 Marketing Plans with Virginie Glaenzer - Tales from the Sky Lounge

Todd and Virginie demonstrate live how to build a complete marketing plan using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude. They identify lack of clarity as the biggest barrier to AI adoption among executives, design a five-step 'AI Value Blueprint' service offering targeting CMOs, CROs, and COOs in B2B SaaS, and develop persona-specific messaging and automation workflows—all within one hour using conversational AI.

Beyond Resumes: The Case for Talent-First, Human-Centered Hiring | Teja Yenamandra, Ep 29

Beyond Resumes: The Case for Talent-First, Human-Centered Hiring | Teja Yenamandra, Ep 29

Teja Yenamandra, founder of Gun.io, discusses building a talent-first freelance marketplace that connects senior software engineers with companies based on merit rather than price. He shares insights on remote work culture, AI's impact on software development, the importance of relationship-focused venture capital partnerships, and how the developer job market is shifting toward backend and AI implementation work.

Sales, Marketing, and AI: How to Survive, Scale, and Avoid Stagnation | Alan Gold, Ep 24

Sales, Marketing, and AI: How to Survive, Scale, and Avoid Stagnation | Alan Gold, Ep 24

Alan Gold, a 30-year marketing and sales veteran, discusses his career spanning Wi-Fi launches, speech recognition, and AI tools across startups and M&A. He covers current market uncertainty, the shift from sales tactics to strategy, AI's impact on entry-level roles, and why promoting top salespeople to management typically fails. Gold emphasizes listening skills, differentiation, and strategic thinking over tactical execution.

Phishing, AI Scams, and the Ever-Intensifying Cybersecurity War | Antonio Pagano, Ep 23

Phishing, AI Scams, and the Ever-Intensifying Cybersecurity War | Antonio Pagano, Ep 23

Antonio Pagano, CTO and co-founder of Symbol Security and founder of Wano, discusses the evolution of cybersecurity threats—particularly AI-enhanced phishing attacks—and the human vulnerabilities that remain the weakest link in security. He shares insights from running two companies across continents, bootstrapping Symbol Security for six years, and building Wano's 45-person development team in Colombia while maintaining work-life balance and continuous learning.

2025 Trends: AI, Venture Capital, and the Future of Work | Bryan Dennstedt, Ep 22

2025 Trends: AI, Venture Capital, and the Future of Work | Bryan Dennstedt, Ep 22

Bryan Dennstedt, fractional CTO at Tech CXO and sustainable investing advocate, discusses 2025 trends with host Todd. They cover venture capital's conservative shift post-SVB, AI's permeation across business (from agents to trust frameworks), the rise of niche podcasts and influencer marketing, and crypto's regulatory thaw under new US leadership. Core insight: AI and blockchain will become as fundamental as electricity, but organizations must navigate trust, compliance, and the trough of disillusionment before realizing transformative value.

AI Roundtable: Where Do We Stand and What's Next? | Ep 14

AI Roundtable: Where Do We Stand and What's Next? | Ep 14

A panel of AI and machine learning practitioners—Joel Foreman (Director of AI at Airworks), Nicos Vasilioglou (VP of Research at Relational AI), and Kevin (Partner at TechCXO)—discuss the current state of AI, distinguishing hype from reality, practical applications, and future directions. They explore LLM capabilities, ethical concerns around training data, the need for AI infrastructure standards, and emerging opportunities in medicine, optimization, and enterprise applications.

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