Professional advisory services helping companies improve operations, strategy, and performance.
21 episodes
Jim Hasty, founder of Cogle Group, discusses practical AI adoption strategies for mid-market and government organizations. He shares lessons from building Plan Checkers, an AI-powered municipal permit review tool that reduces review times from weeks to minutes, and explains why most companies still struggle to move beyond basic ChatGPT experiments despite AI's transformative potential.
John Yates, a tech attorney with 44 years of experience, and Greg Bedol, a serial entrepreneur and consultant, discuss their new venture Traction BD—a voice-enabled AI platform that automates business development for professionals. They explore how AI is revolutionizing relationship-based selling by making it easier to maintain consistent, personalized outreach without the emotional fatigue and time constraints that cause most professionals to abandon prospects after just 2-3 touches.
Todd and Bryan Dennstedt review their 2025 AI predictions and discuss 2026 trends including agentic AI workflows, SaaS pricing disruption, trust verification systems, and the transformation of software development through AI-powered rapid prototyping. They explore how AI is enabling low-capital entrepreneurship, challenging traditional venture models, and requiring fundamental shifts in business planning and execution.
Todd and Brian review their 2025 predictions about AI adoption, venture capital, and technology trends, then discuss 2026 forecasts. They explore how AI agents are transforming software development, the shift from SaaS models to custom automation, and emerging opportunities in local manufacturing and rapid business creation enabled by AI tools.
Neil Miller, a partner emeritus at Tech CXO with 19 years at the firm, shares his journey from public accounting through CFO roles at multiple public companies to fractional executive work. He discusses his involvement with 70+ companies including Cloud Sherpas and Boomtown, offering insights on fundraising challenges, the fractional executive model's value during economic uncertainty, and how AI is compressing business cycles while changing capital requirements.
Brantley Fry, partner at Tech CXO's human capital management practice, shares her unconventional career path from environmental lawyer to political state director to HR strategist. She discusses her work on major environmental cases including the TVA coal ash spill and BP oil spill, her role as state director for Senator Doug Jones, and her current focus on helping high-growth companies optimize people operations. The conversation explores M&A communication strategies, non-traditional hiring approaches, and Birmingham's emerging biotech ecosystem.
A father demonstrates how AI (Claude) helped his college-age son, an aspiring audio engineer, develop a comprehensive business development plan for launching a recording studio service in Atlanta's hip-hop scene. Using a $350 budget and access to two local studios, the AI generated detailed market analysis, pricing strategies, venue partnerships, social media tactics, and a 90-day action plan tailored to the local music ecosystem.
A demonstration of using Claude Desktop with MCP integrations to automate proposal generation. The host connects Google Drive and Gmail, feeds meeting transcriptions and email threads into Claude, and generates a complete statement of work by synthesizing client requirements, meeting notes, and web research—all formatted to a template and saved automatically.
Mike Biwer, CEO of Cavalo, discusses how his company helps wholesale distributors optimize profitability through technology that controls pricing and margins at the line-item level. Founded by a distributor who built software to solve his own business problems, Cavalo evolved from a Microsoft Dynamics add-on to a multi-platform solution serving the $10 trillion distribution industry. Biwer shares insights on navigating ERP migrations, maintaining product-market fit, and competing in a fragmented market where average pre-tax profit margins are under 5%.
Bob Brogan shares four decades of experience transforming companies across operations, IT consulting, and strategy. From early data warehousing in Canada to leading a $100M exit for a 43-year-old online ordering pioneer, he discusses business cycles, modular design principles, and the transition from tactical execution to strategic leadership. Now managing partner at Tech CXO Great Lakes, he emphasizes paying forward through mentorship, angel investing, and community work including founding the Legacy Guild scholarship program.
Alan Gold, a fractional CMO and sales consultant with 30+ years in technology marketing, discusses the evolving landscape of sales and marketing in the AI era. He covers M&A market dynamics, hiring and developing sales talent, the critical importance of strategy over tactics in marketing, and how companies can break through growth plateaus by finding adjacent markets and refining their differentiation.
Jim Rozich, founder of Wheels Up Sales and Marketing, discusses helping early-stage startups build effective sales processes and avoid common founder mistakes. He emphasizes value-based messaging over feature lists, proper CRM implementation, and understanding buyer psychology. The conversation covers cold email strategy, multi-channel outreach, AI tools for sales, and the importance of discovery calls that prioritize listening over pitching.
Ghazenfer Mansoor, founder of Technology Divers, shares his journey from Pakistan to the US, building a mobile app development company that evolved into a product development consultancy. He discusses his 'blueprint methodology' for converting napkin sketches into production-ready software, managing distributed teams across multiple continents, and helping non-technical founders navigate the complexities of software development. The conversation covers entrepreneurial mindset, AI's impact on software development, and the importance of peer groups for founders.
Kirby Winters, fractional CISO at TechCXO, discusses his journey from telecom to cybersecurity consulting, emphasizing leadership lessons from Boy Scouts and entrepreneurship. He covers the evolving threat landscape, social engineering attacks, cyber insurance challenges, and compliance requirements like SOC 2 and CMMC. The conversation explores how AI is amplifying security risks and the growing need for fractional security leadership in small to mid-sized businesses.
Three fractional IT executives discuss cost optimization strategies and leadership challenges during economic downturns. Ian Fley, David Johnston, and Paul King share experiences conducting technology health assessments, identifying waste in cloud infrastructure and vendor contracts, and navigating workforce reductions while preserving institutional knowledge.
Mark McCarthy, founder of Pro Consult IQ, discusses the complexities of cross-Atlantic business expansion for B2B software companies. He covers cultural differences in sales approaches, regulatory considerations across US states versus UK markets, and the critical importance of hiring locally and understanding regional business practices. McCarthy emphasizes that successful market entry requires more than language compatibility—it demands cultural adaptation, proper incorporation, local partnerships, and strategic timing for direct market presence.
Katherine Hunter-Blyden, a fractional CMO, discusses her career journey from Fortune 500 companies like Ford and Progressive to serving small businesses. She shares insights on modern marketing strategies, the importance of email marketing and content distribution, measuring business growth, and how AI tools are transforming marketing efficiency. The conversation covers practical approaches to brand building, direct response marketing, and the critical differences between marketing at scale versus scrappy startup environments.
Mike Blake, founder of High Score Strategies, discusses business valuation methodology, the changing landscape of patent protection, and his journey from venture capital to founding Atlanta's influential Startup Lounge networking series. He shares insights on when valuations help or hinder startup negotiations, the dramatic weakening of patent value through PTAB proceedings, and his recent relocation to Portugal.
Maria Goldsholl, fractional Chief People Officer at TXO, discusses authentic leadership, building trust-based cultures in startups, and the value of fractional executive services. She emphasizes humility over ego, the importance of going through hard things together to build team resilience, and how transparency and psychological safety drive organizational success.
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