The Tech Trek
Episodes
How AI Is Reshaping the CISO Role and Modern Security Teams
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Fanning, CISO at Splunk, joins The Tech Trek for a grounded conversation on how the security leader role is changing in the AI era. This episo...
From Engineer to CEO | Tech Trek Brief
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What does it really take to go from engineer to CEO?In this Tech Trek Brief, Michael White, Co founder and CEO of Multiply, shares a few of the ideas ...
How Shadow AI Is Changing Cybersecurity and Insider Risk
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Raj Koo, CTO at DTEX, joins The Tech Trek for a sharp conversation on insider risk, shadow AI, and why security teams need a more modern way to think ...
How Agentic AI Changes Enterprise Software
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sumeet Arora, Chief Product Officer at Teradata, joins The Tech Trek for a sharp conversation on the shift from human driven SaaS to agentic software....
How AI Is Changing Crypto Crime, AML, and Cyber Investigations
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Victor Fang, CEO and Founder of Anchain AI, joins The Tech Trek for a timely conversation on crypto crime, AI driven fraud, and what financial institu...
How Data Teams Scale Project Management Without Slowing Down
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Cam Crowe, Director of Data and Analytics at Vacatia, joins The Tech Trek to unpack what happens when a startup outgrows informal ways of working. Thi...
Why Enterprise AI Fails Without Better Data and Business Process Design
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Deep Sogani, SVP and Group Data Management Officer at Datasite, joins The Tech Trek to unpack why data governance, lineage, and business process desig...
How Data Leaders Build New Technical Capabilities
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Suresh Martha, Head of Data Driven Innovation and Analytics at EMD Serono, joins The Tech Trek for a practical conversation on what leadership looks l...
Machine Learning: What Businesses Might Actually Need
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sourish Samanta, Director AI and ML at Advance Auto Parts, joins The Tech Trek for a grounded conversation on where machine learning still creates the...
How Robotics Could Transform Construction
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Shamoon Siddiqui, CEO and Founder of Human Friendly Robotics, joins The Tech Trek to break down what it really takes to bring robotics into constructi...
Why Most Companies Still Struggle to Operationalize AI
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Mary Elizabeth Porray, Global Vice Chair Client Technology and COO, Growth and Innovation at EY, joins The Tech Trek for a grounded conversation about...
From Engineer to CEO, Building an AI Mortgage Company
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael White, Co founder and CEO of Multiply, joins the show to talk about the path from engineering leadership to the CEO seat, and what it really t...
What VCs Really Want From AI Startups in 2026
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Susan Liu, Partner at Uncork Capital, joins Amir to break down what actually matters when backing early stage AI companies. From founder market fit to...
The Internet Was Built for Humans. AI Is About to Change That.
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What happens to e commerce when AI agents start shopping instead of humans?Maju Kuruvilla, Founder and CEO of Spangle, joins the show to unpack a shif...
How AI Is Modernizing the Equipment Rental Industry
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Most people never think about the technology behind construction equipment rentals. But behind every crane, excavator, and lift is an industry still r...
The Future of Earth Intelligence, From Imagery to Answers
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Luke Fischer, cofounder and CEO of SkyFi, breaks down how earth intelligence is becoming searchable, and why that changes decision making across defen...
Why Research Scientists Are Taking Over AI Startups
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Anish Agarwal went from MIT PhD researcher to founding Traversal, an AI company building intelligent site reliability engineering agents for the enter...
From Exit to Starting Over: What Nobody Tells You About Building Again
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Harry Gestetner built a creator economy platform in college, sold it, and walked away. Then he did the one thing nobody expected. He jumped back in an...
Edge AI Is Shifting From Chat To Action
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Behnam Bastani, CEO and cofounder of OpenInfer, breaks down why the last two years of AI feel explosive, and why the next wave is not chat, it is acti...
How to Build a Data Team From Scratch (And Get Leadership to Invest)
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Building data capability from zero is not a tooling problem, it is a trust and prioritization problem. In this episode, Laura Guerin, Head of Data and...
The Hiring Mistake That Kills Most Startups (And What to Do Instead)
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Riya Grover, CEO and co founder of Sequence, breaks down what “good CEO” actually looks like when the job is messy, fast, and high stakes. This is...
The CPTO Role Explained, How Product and Engineering Move Faster Together
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Arnie Katz has been running product and engineering under one roof since before most companies even considered combining the roles. As CPTO at GoFundM...
How AI Fixes the Healthcare Incentive Problem
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Anjali Jameson, Chief Product Officer at Arbiter, says the hard part is not gathering data. It is getting action across patients, providers, and payer...
Stakeholder Expectations, Deliver Value Faster
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Most data teams do not have a tooling problem. They have a customer service problem.Mo Villagran, Associate Director of Insights, Analytics, and Data ...
Pick The Jockey, Not The Idea
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ashok Krishnamurthi, Managing Partner at Great Point Ventures, says the biggest mistake in venture capital is confusing prediction with judgment.Early...
How to Break Into Robotics Without a Perfect Background
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Aditya Agarwal did not plan to work in robotics. He got rejected from his first-choice major, joined a student club to keep his parents off his back, ...
Stablecoins, AI Fraud, and the Future of Sports Payouts
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ronak Desai, Co-founder and CPTO at Payment Labs, breaks down a surprisingly hard problem that sits at the intersection of fintech, sports, and compli...
The Founder Rules Nobody Tells You
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Healey Cypher, CEO of BoomPop and COO at Atomic, breaks down what separates founders who win from founders who stall. You will hear a clear way to jud...
Modernizing Healthcare Without the Buzzwords
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Ty Wang, cofounder and CEO of Angle Health, breaks down what it means to give back through public service, then shows how that same mindset drives his...
The Hidden Fintech Behind the Compute Boom
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Gabe Ravacci, CTO and co-founder at Internet Backyard, breaks down what the “computer economy” really looks like when you zoom in on data centers,...
Data Fabric Meets AI, The Trust Layer Most Teams Skip
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Data leaders are being asked to ship real AI outcomes while the foundations are still messy. In this conversation, Dave Shuman, Chief Data Officer at ...
Cloud Costs vs AI Workloads, The Storage Decisions That Decide Scale
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Cloud bills are climbing, AI pipelines are exploding, and storage is quietly becoming the bottleneck nobody wants to own. Ugur Tigli, CTO at MinIO, br...
AI Is Changing Art Faster Than You Think.
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This is an early conversation I am bringing back because it feels even more relevant now, the intersection of AI and art is turning into a real cultur...
AI in the Enterprise, Why Pilots Fail and What Actually Scales
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Most teams are approaching AI from the wrong direction, either chasing the tech with no clear problem or spinning up endless pilots that never earn th...
AI Is Rewriting Manufacturing Quality, Here’s What Changes
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Manufacturing is getting faster, messier, and more expensive when quality slips.Daniel First, Founder and CEO at Axion, joins Amir to break down how A...
Synthetic Data Explained, When It Helps AI and When It Hurts
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Synthetic data is moving from a niche concept to a practical tool for shipping AI in the real world. In this episode, Amit Shivpuja, Director of Data ...
The Real Learning Curve of Engineering Management
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Pethel, VP of Engineering at Flock Safety, breaks down the real learning curve of moving from builder to manager, and how to keep your technical e...
Retention for Engineering Teams, What Keeps Top People Around
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Phil Freo, VP of Product and Engineering at Close, has lived the rare arc from founding engineer to executive leader. In this conversation, he breaks ...
Data Orchestration and Open Source Strategy
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Pete Hunt, CEO of Dagster Labs, joins Amir Bormand to break down why modern data teams are moving past task based orchestration, and what it really ta...
How Great Investors Spot Real Moats in AI
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sandesh Patnam, Managing Partner at Premji Invest, breaks down how long duration capital changes the way you evaluate companies, founders, and moats. ...
Outsource the Typing, How AI Agents Change Software Engineering
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Software engineering is changing fast, but not in the way most hot takes claim. Robert Brennan, Co founder and CEO at OpenHands, breaks down what happ...
Turning Compliance Into Product
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Deborah Hanus, Co-founder and CEO at Sparrow, joins Amir to unpack the founder journey from academia to building a scaled company. They dig into why l...
Why Insurance Is a Goldmine for AI and Data
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Max Bruner, Founder and CEO of Anzen, joins Amir Bormand to break down why insurance is quietly one of the biggest data and workflow opportunities in ...
Defending Against Bots At Scale
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Stu Solomon, CEO of HUMAN, joins Amir to unpack a blind spot most teams underestimate: a huge share of online activity is not people at all, it is aut...
Trust but Verify, How Great Tech Leaders Delegate
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Mek Stittri, CTO at Stuut, breaks down a leadership skill that sounds simple but gets messy fast, trust, then verify. You will learn how to delegate w...
Insurance is really just a big data problem
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Topol, Co-founder and Co-CEO at MGT Insurance, explains why insurance is quietly becoming one of the most interesting data and AI problems in ...
How VCs Really Pick Winners in Open Source and AI
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Marco DeMeireles, co founder and managing partner at ANSA, breaks down how a modern VC firm wins by being focused, data driven, and allergic to hype. ...
AI That Actually Improves Customer Experience
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
AI is everywhere, but most teams are stuck talking about efficiency and headcount. In this episode, Dave Edelman, executive advisor and best selling a...
The New Go To Market Playbook
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Amanda Kahlow, CEO and founder of 1Mind, joins Amir to break down what AI changes in modern sales and go to market, and what it does not. If you lead ...
Students Run This 100M Venture Fund
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What if the best people on your investing team are still in college? Peter Harris, Partner at University Growth Fund, breaks down how they run a rough...
Remote Surgical Robotics Is Coming Faster Than You Think
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Yulun Wang, executive chairman and co founder at Sovato Health, joins Amir Bormand to unpack the next wave after telemedicine, procedural care at a di...
From AI Pilot to Production
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Moiz Kohari, VP of Enterprise AI and Data Intelligence at DDN, breaks down what it actually takes to get AI into production and keep it there. If your...
The Right Way to Lead in Your First 90 Days
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
New leaders face a choice fast. Do you adapt to the organization you inherit, or reshape it around the way you lead?In this conversation, Amir sits do...
How to Ship AI Agents Fast Without Breaking Everything
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Nir Soudry, Head of R&D at 7AI, breaks down how teams can move from early experimentation to real production work fast, without shipping chaos. If...
Why Pricing Breaks as You Scale
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
B2B pricing is still way harder than it should be, even in 2026. In this conversation, Tina Kung, Founder and CTO at Nue.ai, breaks down why quote to ...
Physical AI in Farming, Autonomy That Actually Pays Off
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Tim Bucher, CEO and cofounder of Agtonomy, joins Amir to break down what physical AI looks like when it leaves the lab and shows up on the farm. Tim s...
The Simple Framework to Pick AI Projects That Actually Pay Off
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Data and AI are everywhere right now, but most teams are still guessing where to start. In this episode, Cameran Hetrick, VP of Data and Insights at B...
How To Hire Outlier Software Engineers
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Yogi Goel, cofounder and CEO of Maxima AI, breaks down how he hires outlier talent, people who think like future founders and thrive when the plan cha...
From Big Tech to Startup Founder, What Changes Fast
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chandan Lodha, Co-founder at CoinTracker, joins Amir Bormand to unpack the real shift from big tech to building your own company. From Harvard to Goog...
Engineering for EBITDA and the Private Equity Playbook
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joel Dolisy, CTO at WellSky, joins the podcast to reveal why organizational design is the ultimate "operating system" for scaling tech compa...
Why Your AI Strategy Will Fail Without A Business Plan
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stop chasing shiny objects and start driving real business outcomes. Marathon Health CTO Venkat Chittoor joins the show to explain why AI is the ultim...
Data Governance for Growth: Moving Beyond Compliance
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Stop treating data governance as a "data cop" function and start using it as a high ROI offensive weapon. In this episode, Peter Kapur, Head...
Stop Pushing Products and Start Predicting Intent
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Afrooz Ansaripour, Director of Data Science at Walmart, joins the show to explain how global leaders are shifting from simple historical tracking to p...
The Real Bottleneck in Healthcare AI Is Data Access
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shahryar Qadri, CTO of One Imaging, joins me to unpack a hard truth about healthcare tech: the goal is not to remove humans, it is to give them more r...
How to Pay Down Tech Debt Without Slowing Delivery
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Swarupa Mahambrey, Vice President of Software Engineering at College Board, breaks down what tech debt really looks like in a mission critical environ...
Trust but Verify, How to Use AI in Engineering Without Breaking Security
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Software is still eating the world, and AI is speeding up the clock. In this episode, Amir talks with Tariq Shaukat, co CEO at Sonar, about what it re...
How Great Teams Align Goals That Actually Drive Growth
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Gregg Altschul, Vice President of Technology at FanDuel, shares a clear and practical look at how leaders can create real alignment across personal, t...
How To Grow From Engineer To CTO And Still Love The Code
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ken Ringdahl, CTO at Emburse, joins The Tech Trek to share what it really looks like to grow from engineer to CTO without losing your love for buildin...
Factory operating systems and the AI hardware crunch
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Karan Talati, cofounder and CEO at First Resonance, joins me to unpack what modern manufacturing really looks like inside factories that build rockets...
Inside the Business of Modern Waste Management
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Marmo, founder and chief executive of CurbWaste, joins The Tech Trek to share how he went from catching fastballs in Europe to building softwa...
How data teams are rebuilding insurance from the inside
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Ash, Chief of Data at Symetra, joins the show to unpack how a mid sized insurer is rebuilding its data stack and culture so business and technol...
Data Culture That Actually Delivers With AI
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Morgan, VP of Data Science at Lincoln Financial Group, joins me to unpack what a real data culture looks like inside a complex, highly regulated...
How AI Role Play Levels Up Public Speaking Interviews and Tough Conversations
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Varun Puri, CEO and cofounder of Yoodli, joins the show to talk about using AI role play to transform how people practice for high stakes conversation...
Opening Venture Capital Investing To Everyone
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Collins, CEO of Alumni Ventures, joins Amir to unpack what it really means to democratize venture capital and why the next wave of value creation...
How New Engineering Leaders Win in the First Ninety Days
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chinmay Barve, VP of Engineering at Nooks AI, joins the show to break down what the first sixty to ninety days look like when you step into a senior l...
How Digital IDs Will Rewrite Online Trust and Agent Security
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Digital IDs are about to reshape how we prove who we are online. Peter Horadan, CEO at Vouched, joins the show to break down what this shift really me...
How an AI doctor helps you get care faster
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most people still think of AI in medicine as a novelty. Matt Pavelle sees it as the new first step in patient care.In this episode, Matt breaks down h...
The Mindset Shift Behind a True Zero Bug Policy
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Church, VP of Engineering at Rainforest, breaks down why a zero bug policy is more than a technical choice. It is a mindset, an operating model,...
The Skills Veterans Bring That Most Hiring Teams Miss
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Snehal Antani, co founder and CEO of Horizon3 AI, joins the show for a conversation about how veterans bring rare leadership strengths to fast moving ...
How Engineering Leaders Inspire Ownership
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Chandni Jain, VP of Engineering at Checkr, joins the show to talk about what it takes to build a real culture of ownership. She explains how clarity, ...
The Future of Autonomous Transit Is Not What You Think
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shawn Taikratoke, CEO and co founder of Mozee, joins the show to unpack one of the biggest questions in mobility today. How close are we to real auton...
How AI Is Changing the Way We Talk to Computers
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Hanson, CTO at Clockwise, joins the show to break down how our relationship with computers is changing as language based systems reshape expectat...
The Truth About Starting Again After a Big Exit
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Soham Mazumdar, CEO and co founder of Wisdom AI, joins the show to talk about what it really takes to build again after major exits at Facebook and Ru...
How One Startup Is Cutting the Cost of Borrowing Money
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Sadi Khan, Co-Founder and CEO of Aven, to unpack how technology can make capital fairer for ever...
How Data and Engineering Make the Impossible Real
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Svetlana Zavelskaya, Head of Software Engineering for Data Platform and Infrastructure at Quanata, joins the show to unpack what it really takes to ma...
The Future of Voice AI: When Machines Start to Sound Human
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nikhil Gupta, founder and CTO of Vapi, joins Amir to talk about how voice AI is reshaping the way we connect with businesses. From customer support to...
Building a Startup Culture Where No One Wants to Leave
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Daniels, Founder and CTO at Predoc, joins the show to share how he is building a mission driven healthtech company that is changing how medical d...
Building Infrastructure Startups: Why Everything Takes Longer Than You Think
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jordan Tigani, CEO and cofounder of MotherDuck, knows what world class infrastructure looks like. He spent years building Google BigQuery before takin...
Why Enterprise Product Management Is Completely Different
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ogi Kavazovic, co-founder and CEO of House Rx, joins the show to unpack what most product leaders miss about building for enterprise software. Drawing...
AI Investing in 2026
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Astasia Myers, General Partner at Felicis, breaks down how venture capital is betting on AI and why over 80% of their recent investments are in this s...
The Real Difference Between Leading People and Managing Them
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Amir sits down with Taofeek Rabiu, VP of Engineering at Etsy, to unpack a distinction that most organizations miss: being a people le...
How to Reinvent Your Role Every Six Months
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ion Feldman, CTO at Rightway, has learned to love one thing about scaling a company from a kitchen table to nearly 1,000 employees: his job completely...
How Great Founders Empower Their Teams
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jay Chia, cofounder of Eventual, joins the show to unpack what real empowerment looks like inside a fast growing startup. Most people confuse empowerm...
Data Science Got 50x Faster
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rohan Kodialam, cofounder and CEO of Sphinx, is building AI agents that treat data as its own language—one most models and humans still fail to unde...
How Operator VCs Change the Game for Founders
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Karl Alomar, Managing Partner at M13 and former COO of DigitalOcean, joins The Tech Trek to share how being an operator changes the way you invest. He...
Scaling Engineering Leadership in a Fast Growing Startup
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Michi Kono, CTO of Garner Health, to unpack what it really takes to scale engineering leadership...
How AI Is Rewriting the Way Engineers Work
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Vibe coding isn’t just a new buzzword—it’s a complete shift in how engineering teams build, ship, and think. Zach Wills, Director of Engineering...
From Research to Real World AI
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From a farm in Adelaide to the front lines of AI-powered personalization.Tullie Murrell, CEO and co-founder of Shaped, shares how he went from researc...
From Small Town Roots to AI Innovation
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jason Eubanks, Co-Founder and CEO of Aurasell, shares the path that led him from a small town in rural Ohio to building one of the most ambitious AI-d...
Building a People First Company
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some companies thrive while others quietly lose their edge.For Tanay Kothari, CEO of Wispr Flow, the difference comes down to one idea: people are you...