Summary

In this episode of Masters of Automation, host Alp Uguray interviews Gokhan Egri, a successful entrepreneur who transitioned from academia to the startup world. Gokhan shares his journey from Turkey to Harvard, his experiences in Y Combinator, and the evolution of his companies, O'Leo and Brainbase. The conversation delves into the challenges of being a solo founder, the importance of customer feedback, and the future of AI and automation in the workplace. Gokhan emphasizes the need for transparency in automation processes and discusses the unique insights that drive his approach to enterprise AI. The episode concludes with reflections on the immigrant founder experience and the personal inspirations that fuel Gokhan's entrepreneurial spirit.

Key Takeaways

• Gokhan transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship after realizing the potential of AI.

• His first startup, O'Leo, was born out of a need for automation in education.

• Brainbase evolved from O'Leo, focusing on enterprise AI solutions.

• Customer feedback is crucial for shaping product development and messaging.

• The concept of the 'digital worker' is central to Brainbase's mission.

• ROI in automation can be measured through clear metrics and pilot programs.

• The 'black box test' helps identify automation opportunities within organizations.

• AI can significantly improve the efficiency of enterprise operations.

• Transparency in automation processes is essential for enterprise adoption.

• Immigrant founders often possess unique grit and adaptability that contribute to their success.

Summary

In this episode, Alp Uguray interviews Kaspar from Pactum about revolutionizing negotiations with AI. They discuss Kaspar's background and the founding of the e-residency program in Estonia. They also explore the concept of negotiations and how AI can assist in creating value for both parties. The conversation delves into the future of negotiations, the transparency of AI decisions, and the parallels between entrepreneurship and participating in an Ironman race. Kaspar shares insights on decision-making, prioritization, and the importance of mental resilience. In this conversation, Alp Uguray and Kaspar discuss the potential applications of negotiation AI and the challenges of implementing it in various industries. They also touch on the topic of AI regulations and the balance between innovation and bureaucracy. Kaspar introduces Pactum's four-level negotiation intelligence framework, which categorizes AI negotiation use cases based on complexity and impact. They also discuss the importance of building a foundation layer for AI in government services. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the benefits of Estonia's e-residency program for startups.

Key Takeaways

• Negotiations are happening everywhere in life, from personal relationships to business deals.

• AI can assist in negotiations by understanding potential terms, their value, and making trade-offs.

• The future of negotiations involves both parties using AI agents to engage in continuous negotiations.

• Transparency in AI decisions is important, and interfaces need to be developed to provide clarity and control.

• Entrepreneurship and participating in an Ironman race require mental resilience, quick decision-making, and the ability to prioritize tasks.

• In startups, it's important to postpone decisions that can be made later to gather more information and make smarter choices. Government contracts offer long-term and substantial opportunities for AI implementation.

• AI negotiations can lead to competitive advantages and market dominance.

• Regulations play a crucial role in ensuring transparency and accountability in AI negotiations.

• The four-level negotiation intelligence framework categorizes AI negotiation use cases based on complexity and impact.

• Building a foundation layer for AI in government services can lead to more efficient and innovative public services.

• Estonia's e-residency program provides time and cost-saving benefits for startups.

Episode Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Background

• 03:04 The Concept of Negotiations and AI

• 04:52 The Future of Negotiations: AI Agents on Both Sides

• 08:01 Transparency and Control in AI Decisions

• 11:08 Parallels Between Entrepreneurship and Participating in an Ironman Race

• 15:55 Prioritization and Quick Decision-Making in Startups

• 28:05 The Potential of Negotiation AI in Government Contracts

• 30:28 Navigating the Challenges of AI Regulations

• 42:21 The Four Levels of AI Negotiation Intelligence

• 48:15 Building a Foundation Layer for AI in Government Services

• 52:33 The Benefits of Estonia's E-Residency Program for Startups

Summary

Jonathan Corbin, the founder and CEO of Maven AGI, is backed by some of the best investors in the industry, like Sequoia, M13, and Lux Capital. Jonathan shares his journey from managing 1,000 people at HubSpot to starting his own AI startup, where he got together with Sami Shalabi (Founder of Google News) and Eugene Mann (Product Lead at Stripe). He discusses the evolution of customer support and the role of generative AI in improving customer experiences. Corbin emphasizes the importance of ingesting and analyzing data from various sources to provide personalized interactions and take complex actions. He envisions a future where customer support is streamlined, siloed systems are eliminated, and AI agents have contextual knowledge of customers. Corbin also advises aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on solving the actual problem with a first-principles mindset and leverage their specialized knowledge and skills.

Takeaways

• Generative AI has the potential to revolutionize customer support by providing personalized interactions and taking complex actions.

• Ingesting and analyzing data from various sources is crucial for creating a differentiated customer experience.

• The future of customer support involves breaking down silos, eliminating ticketing systems, and providing a single touchpoint for customers.

• Entrepreneurs should focus on solving the actual problem and leverage their specialized knowledge and skills.

• The future of generative AI is exciting and has the potential to transform various industries.

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Summary

In this conversation, Alp Uguray interviews Guy Kawasaki about his Ikigai, the concept of being remarkable, and the impact of artificial intelligence on our lives. They discuss how remarkable people structure their Ikigai, the definition of a better place, and the integration of AI into education. They also explore AI use cases and the role of AI in the future of work. Guy shares his perspective on the imposter syndrome and offers advice on overcoming it.

Takeaways

• Ikigai is the reason to wake up in the morning and can be found in activities like podcasting, writing, and surfing.

• Being remarkable means making a difference and making the world a better place through empathy, resilience, creativity, and grace.

• A better place is one that fundamentally benefits others, not just oneself.

• AI is a powerful tool that can be used in various fields, such as medicine, art, and customer support.

• The imposter syndrome is common and can be overcome by focusing on one's accomplishments and understanding that everyone experiences self-doubt.

• AI has the potential to accelerate human creativity and decision-making, but it should be used as a tool rather than a replacement for human judgment.

Summary

In this conversation, Alp Uguray interviews Enis Hulli about the impact of AI on the investment landscape and the changing role of founders in the rapidly evolving space. They discuss how the focus of investments has shifted towards DevTools and AI/ML tooling, and how founders need to adapt to the changing landscape. They also explore the role of AI in different industries and the challenges and opportunities it presents for startups. The conversation touches on the importance of founders having an open mindset, understanding customer feedback, and staying disruptive. They also discuss the impact of macroeconomic conditions on startups and the role of regulation in Europe.

Takeaways

• Investments have shifted towards DevTools and AI/ML tooling

• Founders need to adapt to the changing landscape and stay disruptive

• AI is an enabler in many industries, but distribution can still give incumbents an edge

• Startups in Europe often look to the US for growth due to regulatory challenges

• Founders should have an open mindset, understand customer feedback, and continuously improve

Tatyana Mamut, CEO of Wayfound, discusses her transition into entrepreneurship and the vision behind her AI agent platform. She explains that her goal is to create a platform that allows companies to work with AI agents as intelligence, not just pieces of software. The platform aims to empower humans to collaborate with AI agents in order to create better customer experiences and transform workplaces. Mamut emphasizes the importance of focusing on customer value rather than efficiency and encourages companies to build transformative customer experiences with generative AI. She also offers a one-month free trial of the Wayfound platform to listeners.

“Nobody wins based on efficiency. That’s nonsense. Companies win based on improved customer experiences. Websites are shitty. And the reason websites are shitty is because they’re built more for Google to SEO than they are for customers to actually have good experiences.””

— Tatyana Mamut on the future of customer experience (CX)

In this conversation, Antti Karjalainen discusses the evolution of RoboCorp to Semaphore AI and the shift towards agentic automation. He highlights the early adoption of generative AI and the development of AI agents. Antti explains that the direct personas for purchasing AI agents are often line of business champions, while AI innovation and governance are typically centralized within organizations. He also shares his personal evolution as an entrepreneur and the challenges and opportunities of working with AI. The conversation explores the potential of AI agents to automate complex processes, the importance of quantifying ROI, and the future of user experience paradigms in AI applications.

Takeaways

“When we think about tapping into the general intelligence of a foundation model, it’s like having a digital coworker that’s exponentially smarter and more efficient. Imagine an AI agent reasoning like an accountant or a software engineer, solving problems and creating new opportunities. The potential for innovation and democratization of entrepreneurship is immense.”

— Alp Uguray, on how best to tap into the artificial intelligence

In this episode, Alp Uguray interviews Hassan Sawaf, the founder of Aixplain. They discuss the democratization of AI, the power of open-source models, and the future of human-computer interaction. Hassan shares his insights on building AI platforms that empower non-technical users and allow collaboration between humans and AI agents. He also emphasizes the importance of thinking in descriptions and policies when building AI systems. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the role of data regulation and the coexistence of open-source and closed-source models.

Hassan Sawaf is the founder and CEO of aiXplain, a company focused on democratizing artificial intelligence. He has over 25 years of experience in artificial intelligence and machine learning, specializing in speech recognition, machine translation, computer vision, and natural language processing.

Prior to founding aiXplain in 2020, Hassan held senior AI leadership roles at major tech companies:

Director of Facebook AI (2019-2020)

Director of Artificial Intelligence at Amazon Web Services (2017-2019)

Head of Artificial Intelligence at eBay (2016)

He has a PhD from RWTH Aachen University in Germany and was previously a senior researcher there.

In the 1990s, Hassan worked on early natural language understanding systems for airports and airlines. He co-founded a speech recognition and machine translation company called AIXPLAIN AG in 1999.

At eBay, he established AI teams working on machine translation, computer vision, and chatbots. At Amazon AWS, he led the development of AI services like Amazon Transcribe, Amazon Lex, Amazon Polly, and others.

Hassan founded aiXplain with the vision of making AI more accessible and easy for businesses and individuals. The company provides tools for creating, benchmarking, and deploying AI models and solutions.

He is passionate about democratizing AI and enabling more people to leverage AI capabilities without needing deep technical expertise

“We’re giving the user the tools to recruit the right agents and make them solve a bigger problem. Lowering the barrier to entry allows great minds to focus on great problems.”

— Hassan Sawaf on the democratization of Agentic AI on problem solving and innovation

Jason is the CEO and Co-founder of Radical Candor. Over the last four years, he’s helped all kinds of organizations, from tiny startups to the giants in the Fortune 100, realize the power of creating a more Radically Candid culture. Through this work, he’s helped hundreds of companies develop real human relationships between team members and through those relationships, achieve amazing results collaboratively.

In his past lives, Jason received undergraduate and graduate degrees in business from New York University. He also worked as a product design team lead at Fog Creek Software, the small-but-mighty New York-based software company that created well-loved products like Trello and Stackoverflow. In 2010, he moved to California and helped launch Khan Academy, the world-renowned educational tech non-profit. Over the next seven years, he helped it grow from three people to a few hundred and reach over 100 million students around the world as both chief people and chief product officer.

In this episode, Alp Uguray interviews Jason Rozov, the CEO and co-founder of Radical Candor. They discuss Jason's background and career trajectory, as well as the transformative lessons he learned from implementing Radical Candor. They also explore the importance of building trust and clearing misconceptions in team dynamics, especially in remote work settings. The conversation explores the impact of AI on communication and organizational dynamics. It discusses the importance of creating clear lines of collaboration and using AI as an intermediary in conflict resolution. The role of human interaction and the limitations of AI are also examined. The dangers and benefits of AI are considered, along with the potential for AI to raise the floor for communication. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the development of communication skills and the concept of rock star mode and superstar mode. The potential of AI in coaching and teaching is highlighted.

Joining us today is an exceptional pioneer in the field of technology, Eric Daimler. Dr. Eric Daimler is an authority in Artificial Intelligence & Robotics with over 20 years of experience in the field as an entrepreneur, investor, academic researcher, and policymaker. Daimler has co-founded six technology companies that have done pioneering work in fields ranging from storage software systems to statistical arbitrage.

He's been an integral part of the leadership team at Carnegie Mellon University's Silicon Valley Campus, a Presidential Innovation Fellow during the Obama Administration, and most notably, the Chair, CEO & Co-Founder of Conexus. Currently, he also serves on the Board of Directors at companies like Petuum, Inc. and Welwaze Medical, Inc. He has also served as Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of Software Engineering in Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science. His academic research focuses on the intersection of Machine Learning, Computational Linguistics, and Network Science (Graph Theory). He has a specialization in public policy and economics, helped launch Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley Campus, and founded its Entrepreneurial Management program.

Eric Daimler advised the Obama administration on how to have conversations about AI. His work led to the creation of the AI office within the Science Advisory Group of The White House which has now become a cabinet-level position reporting to The President. Eric's a walking encyclopedia about AI policy and he shares all in this fascinating discussion about the future of technology, ethics, and society.

Join us for an insightful conversation with Tatyana Mamut, a transformative leader in Silicon Valley renowned for driving innovation through deep customer understanding and empathetic leadership. As a product executive at Amazon, Salesforce, Nextdoor, and IDEO, and currently serving as the SVP of New Products at Pendo, Tatyana brings a wealth of experience and insights.

In this session, we'll dive into Tatyana's journey from being an economist to help United Nations and then become a leader in global advertising to becoming a product executive in the Silicon Valley. We'll explore her unique approach to understanding customer behaviors, her work on human-centered design, the impact of Generative AI on the economy, products and life. With her background Anthropology, we will dive into scenario planning to accommodate multiple cases where AI can go right or go wrong. This episode challenges the positive and negative narratives set out by many of the tech leaders and lets the audience to ponder more about how to build guardrails, so that the AI benefits the society as a whole.

Key discussion points will include:

Tatyana's transition from global advertising to tech and her approach to understanding customer behaviors.

Her experience in human-centered design and the importance of experiencing the world through the customers' eyes.

The role of sales in understanding customer objections and building the product roadmap.

Emerging trends in design and innovation, particularly in the context of generative AI.

Balancing rapid innovation with ethical considerations in product and service development.

Strategies for building a culture that encourages innovation and motivates talent.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry's most forward-thinking leaders. Mark your calendars!

In this engaging episode of Masters of Automation, we dive into the world of automation and digital transformation with the Founders of Ashling, Marshall Sied and Donald Sweeney. Our guests share valuable insights on the importance of process mining, empowering employees through citizen development programs, and the critical role of executive leadership in driving successful automation initiatives. They also discuss the need to strike a balance between cost efficiency and maintaining a positive customer experience when implementing automation solutions. Throughout the conversation, the focus remains on not just cutting costs but on enhancing customer and employee experiences and unlocking the full potential of automation for a better future of work. Listen in to discover key strategies for successful automation implementation and the role it plays in transforming businesses across industries.

In today’s episode of the Masters of Automation podcast, the host Alp Uguray speaks with Antti Karjalainen, the founder of Robocorp, a Python-based open-source RPA (Robotic-Process-Automation) platform. Antti shares his story about what led him to automation, why he chose to open-source his product, the benefits of open-source, such as collaboration and innovation, and how it aligns with Robocorp's mission to make automation more accessible. We talked about the Robocorp community, managing remote teams, integration of generative AI and RPA, as well as the ethics of AI.

Our conversation then shifts toward the future of the industry, and Antti shares his insights on how he thinks the industry will evolve. He talks about integrating ChatGPT-like solutions within the product stack for automatic code generation and the challenges that come with it. The ability to integrate different solutions and providers within the core-RPA automation stack allows them to be more flexible and focus on the core automation promise. Being open-sources and Python-based helps with that integration as well.

We also discuss the industries that are the most and the least resistant to change and automation based on their exposure. The podcast ends with a discussion on managing a remote team. Antti shares his experience of running a fully remote team and the challenges and benefits that come with it. He talks about how a remote model creates equal opportunities for people from all over the world to participate fully in the company and get ahead in their careers.

This episode provides insights into the world of automation and its impact on businesses and employees. Antti's experiences offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs, startups, and anyone interested in automation and AI.

Here are some of the questions we discussed:

What inspired you to delve into the world of automation and RPA? Was there a particular problem or challenge that motivated you to build solutions for it?

As the creator of an open-source RPA platform, how do you balance the needs of both developers and business users within your community? Are there any challenges in catering to both groups?

The field of automation and AI is constantly evolving. What exciting developments do you see on the horizon for the industry, and how do you plan to keep up with these changes?

In your experience, which industries have been the most resistant to change and automation? How can we overcome this resistance and help businesses see the value in adopting these technologies?

With the rise of remote work, how have you managed to build and maintain a successful remote team? What strategies have worked well for you, and what challenges have you faced?

In this episode, we're joined by Jonathan O'Reilly, the Co-Founder and COO of Akkio. With a background in operations, product, and marketing at Sonos and Markforged, Jonathan brings valuable insights to the table, particularly in the Low Code AI space and with his vast experience in product management and experiencing companies like Sonos and Markforged scale from 0 to 1 and 100.

Jon’s personal story in going into the entrepreneurship and embarking on a journey within the AI and product space is an inspiring one. We discussed about Akkio, a Low Code AI start up that democratize access to ML models and allow integrating them in business processes. Jonathan also shared compelling insights on the integration of Low Code AI with robotic process automation software, highlighting the potential for these two technologies to work together to streamline and automate business processes.

We also discussed the challenges and opportunities in building a machine learning platform for all users by emphasizin the importance of an agnostic perspective and the ability to integrate generative AI algorithms like OpenAI to enhance the platform's capabilities.

Throughout our conversation, Jonathan touched on the ethical considerations surrounding the use of technology within AI and the responsibility of technology companies to ensure their products are being used for good. He also provided valuable advice on how to approach building high performance teams in a beneficial culture for a technology startup.

If you're interested in entrepreneurship, AI, and the technology space, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Tune in to hear from an experienced leader in the industry!

Joy Mountford is an internationally recognized leader in design, particularly human-computer interface, user experience and interaction design. She has built and led world-class design and innovation teams at Apple, Ford Motors, Akamai, Yahoo, and Interval Research. She has designed interfaces for a wide variety of systems including airplane cockpits, computers, the web, consumer electronics, musical instruments, and toys. She is inventor on over 28 key patents, granted in multimedia and human computer interaction. She created the International University Design Expo, which has touched the lives of thousands of design students for more than 20 years. She has given invited presentations at the top conferences in the field including ACM SIGCHI, IDCA, EG, and TED. She receivedWomen in Leadership Award in 2019 and received the SIGCHI Life-Time Practice Award and elected to the CHI Academy in 2012. In 2021 she contributed one of the first 3 invited transcripts covering her life works archived for the Babbage Institute, 2021.

“Joy is a founder of the intellectual and practical elite of design, a design legend" John Maeda – executive, designer, and technologist

"Joy is one of 1000 most creative individuals in U.S." Harry Marks, co-creator of TED conferences

As a pioneer of your field, how did your journey begin that led you to explore the human-computer interface? What led you to explore this field?

As the builders of the future, we are told that what we invest our time in today creates what's next for the children of tomorrow. What is the number 1 thing that today's design thinkers think about differently, and what are some things that may lead to bad experiences?

This is more of an open-ended question. As robots and software continue to interact with humans, such as pizza shops that automatically create pizza, restaurants without servers, self-driving cars, and pilots, human-to-human interaction is replaced for efficiency, consistency, and less interactivity. As humanity continues to find ways to boost Customer Experience (CX) with automation, what's the future that's waiting for us? Do people want consistency and efficiency over interactivity at all costs? And how can the young generations shape the future of work for a better experience for all? What are your thoughts?

Optimism and honesty lead to positive outcomes. Similarly, the purpose and the design of a product don’t mean that the product, when adopted, will be used for the same reasons that it’s designed for; hence you can point to the many stories revolving around Facebook or cup to filter boiled pasta water, what are some of your strategies to collect constructive feedback?

One of the most exciting aspects of predicting the future is that we always think and forecast what will happen but do not focus on what won’t happen. What won’t happen depends on what the innovative and entrepreneurial minds choose not to do in the next few years and where the people do not want change to happen. Given that the world is investing a lot of time and money into the metaverse, it opens new doors for Human and Computer interactivity. New user controls and new ways to experience the world of computers. What are your thoughts on this, particularly around a future where everyone is wearing a helmet and sitting on a couch can be both bright and dark?

George is an entrepreneur, advisor, and technologist who built a start-up in 1999 that focuses on Intelligent Document Processing and data extraction. George was born in Romania, also the home of UiPath. He studied at the first specialized high school for computer programming until he moved to the US in 1991. George dedicated his many years to researching and developing Semantic Technologies, NLP, and AI applications in unstructured content processing. After working as a Software Architect for many years, In 1999, together with his Co-Founders, he started Recognos Inc. where he helped build the platform's AI engine. In April 2018, the platform was acquired by UiPath to create UiPath's Document Understanding capability.

At UiPath, after leading the technology alliances program for many years, he is now taken a lead role as an Evangelist for UiPath. He has seen the technology partners of UiPath, who similarly also build intelligent document processing solutions and beyond. He is one of the founding members of the Romanian American Business Network, whose mission is to bring together people with an interest in the Romanian business environment. Also, he is the Honorary Consul of Romania in San Francisco and is on the board of a few NGOs and startups.

Rob Enslin joined UiPath most recently from Google Cloud, serving as President of Global Customer Operations. In that role, he led global field operations, tripling the size of the sales organization and driving Google Cloud's growth at scale. Enslin also spent 27 years at SAP in various leadership roles across sales and operations. In his final role with SAP, Enslin served as President of Cloud Business Group and Executive Board Member, where he led the development and delivery of SAP's entire portfolio of cloud applications and services, including SAP Concur, SAP Ariba, SAP Customer Experience, SAPSuccessFactors, and the Qualtrics business. In addition, he developed and managed SAP's entire cloud product portfolio, led the field revenue and enablement efforts across multiple geographies, and oversaw core functions, including professional services, ecosystems, channels, and solutions.

Rob has excellent international experience, working in South Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Also an avid supporter of youth advancement and development, Enslin has served as the honorary global Chairman of the Els for Autism Golf Challenge.

Some questions we discussed:

How did the journey start that led you to the technology space and then SAP and Google?

You worked at two of the world's largest Tech giants and led their revenue teams to very successful outcomes. My audience would love to learn more about some of your learnings in handling complex challenges and helping the tech giants grow and scale. Can you share your experiences at Google Cloud and SAP, such as building high-performance teams, challenges you faced, and how people adapted and reacted to the change? (Overcoming challenges)

What led you to the RPA World, and what attracted you the most?

Here are two questions that sound like a single one :) Having worked with international teams across the world, like Asia and Europe, what were some observable behaviors that stood out to you about how work is done? And As the future of work is constantly changing with automation and digitalization, now looking back, how would the different cultural backgrounds impact the adoption of digital technologies?

Our community's many entrepreneurs, technologists, and builders create robots, solutions, and products. What would be your one piece of advice for them to keep them motivated and keep going on what they do to be relentless?

As we are inventing the future of work, we are introducing new concepts like telehealth, where patients can speak to doctors over virtual spaces, building remote offices that leverage the global workforce, real-time orchestration that allows delivering vaccines across the US on time, call center agents are faster and deliver better customer experiences, and removing mundane work like reading an invoice. Automation is all around us and expanding into many spaces. In your perspective, where still is untapped?