How does a young agency land a partnership with Netflix, Pepsi, and Doritos? Meet Jay Singh, the founder of Casper Studios and a former LinkedIn Business Development lead who is redefining how we think about distribution in the age of AI. Jay's team recently powered a voice AI experience for Stranger Things that saw over 400,000 fans call in to speak with their favorite characters, resulting in a staggering 30% revenue lift for their partners.

In this episode, we move past the AI hype to discuss the "deterministic vs. probabilistic" debate, why Jay builds products specifically to lower his Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), and how he uses a long-horizon LinkedIn strategy to land Private Equity clients. If you want to know how the biggest brands in the world are navigating the transition to AI—and how you can protect yourself from the dark side of voice cloning—listen in.

Most entrepreneurs struggle to move from "building" to "distributing." In this episode, Jay Singh, CEO and Founder of Casper Studios, joins Ashok Sivanand to pull back the curtain on the 400,000-call marketing campaign for Netflix, Pepsi, and Doritos. Jay shares the surprising reason why the creators of Stranger Things pulled back on fully generative AI, choosing instead a deterministic model that drove a 30% lift in-store. We explore Jay's background at LinkedIn, the future of digital identity and verification, and a specific 6-month networking framework that can land even the most elusive "whale" clients. Whether you are leading an AI transition in a Private Equity firm or trying to protect your family from voice cloning, this conversation provides a front-row seat to the future of media and technology.

In this episode:

• The Stranger Things Activation: A deep dive into the 400k-call "Teen Telethon" and the ROI of voice AI.

• Distribution over Product: Why Casper Studios builds "learning products" to acquire enterprise customers.

• The LinkedIn Strategy: A 6-month framework for building authority and landing mid-market PE clients.

• Digital Identity: Why a family "safe word" is the most important security tool you own.

• AI Adoption Roadmaps: How to implement AI in regulated industries without the legal headaches.

Mentioned in this episode...

• Casper Studios (AI-focused product studio)

• LinkedIn Verification (Jay's legacy project)

• LiveKit (The orchestration layer for voice agents)

• Eleven Labs (Voice cloning technology)

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Stop overthinking and start acting: learn how to use the TRIZ framework to resolve business contradictions and implement AI automation without blowing up your team. In this episode of The Convergence, Ashok Sivanand tackles the common trap of executive paralysis. Many leaders identify "choke points" in their business but relegate them to the back burner when firefighting mode kicks in. This episode provides a roadmap to move from "bike shedding" on familiar problems to solving the big, unfamiliar challenges that actually move the needle.

Ashok introduces the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ), a methodology for identifying and resolving the inherent contradictions in business—like wanting to increase monetization without eroding customer trust. By categorizing problems into five distinct levels, leaders can avoid the dual traps of over-engineering simple issues or under-reacting to paradigm shifts. Featuring a real-world case study of a logistics company that saved $200,000 a month through a 3-day AI prototype, this episode is a call to action for leaders to embrace "reversible first steps" over rigid roadmaps.

Listen to my interview with Ivan Gekht all about TRIZ

• The Overthink/Underact Trap: Why leaders focus on the familiar instead of the transformational.

• TRIZ Framework: Understanding the 5 levels of solutioning to match the right technology to the right problem.

• The Power of Contradictions: How to frame business hurdles as tension points that drive innovation.

• Case Study: How a "Level 3" computer vision prototype saved $200k/month in just 72 hours.

• Office Hours: How you can get direct help defining your business contradictions.

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Master the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) with Ivan Gekht to resolve complex product contradictions and build ideal systems that deliver results without over-engineering. Most business owners don't struggle with a lack of ideas; they struggle with wasted effort and innovation bets that don't pay off. In this episode, Ivan Gekht, CEO of Gehtsoft, joins the show to discuss how his background in rocket science and high-stakes software engineering led him to a more predictable model for innovation. We dive deep into TRIZ—a framework built from studying hundreds of thousands of patents—to understand why the most effective systems are often those that eventually disappear while their benefits remain. From removing databases to increase trading speed to using nature-inspired algorithms to optimize logistics, this conversation is a masterclass in seeing problems differently to achieve "unfair" simplicity.

In this episode:

• The 5 levels of innovation: Moving from known solutions to true breakthroughs.

• Contradiction Framing: Why resolving contradictions beats brainstorming every time.

• The "Ideal System": Achieving outcomes without the overhead of the system itself.

• Efficiency at Scale: Reducing logistics compute time from one hour to 40 seconds.

• The Renaissance Man: Why E-shaped talent is the ultimate advantage in the AI era.

Mentioned in this episode...

• Gehtsoft (Boutique software engineering team)

• TRIZ / TIPS (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving)

• OnePlus Open (Foldable smartphone)

• Formula One (F1) Pit Crew process optimization

• The Mysterious Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

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April Palmer joins this episode of Convergence.fm to break down a practical, repeatable approach to product innovation that starts with customer conversations and ends with shipped improvements. We talk about why most innovation is actually "amelioration," how to run a closed loop ladder from stories to product decisions, and how to earn buy-in from sales and frontline teams so innovation becomes a team sport.

April is in charge of client relationships at Duckbill and teaches product innovation at VCU. She is a former top sales performer for Fortune 100 companies across various industries, where she consistently drove double-digit growth in six- and seven-figure portfolios. Today, she helps aspiring entrepreneurs turn their ideas into successful businesses by developing strategies that integrate finance, marketing, sales, and customer experience. April shares how a sales driven internal request at Duckbill became Skyway, a cloud contract and spend visibility product, and why the best use of AI is helping humans do human work better.

In this episode:

1. Defining product innovation as improvement of existing workflows, not just net new invention

2. The closed loop ladder: capture, translate, synthesize, decide, ship, close the loop

3. The "wet monkeys" lesson, how tradition blocks obvious change

4. How to use ride alongs and story capture to surface patterns fast

5. How to earn trust from sales and frontline techs without slowing them down

6. Why call centers are opportunity centers, not just cost centers

7. AI in support: where it helps, where it creates risk

8. Sales led innovation stories from ADP and Duckbill, from insights to new offerings

9. Building a challenge network and creating room for whimsy in problem solving

10. Delightful product experience, why Wayfair's self explanatory assembly labeling mattered

1. Follow April Palmer on LinkedIn

2. Duckbill and Skyway

3. Share More Stories and SEEQ

4. They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan

5. Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman and Mark C. Winters

6. TED app

7. Blinkist

8. Headway

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In this episode, I walk through a real, high-stakes moment inside a warehousing and logistics operation, thousands of pallets of telecom cable, a hard year-end deadline, and a task nobody actually owned. The team was facing a potential six-figure hit, measuring precious metal content by hand with clipboards and micrometers, under serious time pressure. During a simple office hours session, we paused, reframed the problem, and realized this wasn't a labor issue at all. It was a vision problem.

What followed was a fast, scrappy sprint. Sales, warehouse staff, and engineers worked side by side. We prototyped, tested, and shipped a vision-based AI system in days, not months. Using lightweight tooling, we cut monthly costs by more than $150K, improved measurement accuracy, and delivered a working solution in under 72 hours. If you're skeptical about what "good enough" AI can actually do in the real world, this story is a clean proof point

Visit convergence.fm and contact us for to schedule your own office hours and get clarity and confidence tackling your toughest product and engineering challenges.

• A logistics company's urgent copper-measurement problem with no clear owner

• The hidden cost and inefficiency of manually measuring more than 5,000 pallets

• How a single office hours conversation reframed the problem as a vision-AI opportunity

• Training a custom vision model using pallet photos and simple index cards

• Rapid prototyping with automation and vision tooling to ship in days

• Over $150K in cost savings and a dramatically better experience for warehouse teams

• Why involving frontline workers accelerated adoption and improved feedback loops

• Letting go of perfection and embracing statistically "good enough" outcomes

• What this teaches us about speed, trust, and momentum through small wins

• Where this approach goes next and why similar teams should be paying attention

• n8n (automation platform)

• Roboflow (vision model training)

• ChatGPT (image and text analysis)

• OpenAI API

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Note: Visuals in the video form of this episode were generated by AI (Gemini) as the originals are sensitive and confidential to our customer and their staff.

Is your team writing code before they've actually validated the problem? In this episode, Ashok sits down with Mohammed Ali Cherwala (MAC), co-founder of Wednesday Solutions, to dismantle the traditional "build first" mentality. Mac explains why "Product Engineering" is distinct from simple software development and how his firm uses "Sprint Zero" to validate ideas cheaply using methods like fake door tests and prototypes—ensuring you don't waste capital on features nobody wants.

We also dive into a radical business model shift: moving from hourly billing to outcome-based pricing, where clients pay for moved metrics rather than hours worked. Mac shares how this aligns incentives and reduces founder burn. Plus, we explore how hiring has evolved in the age of AI, why "framework thinking" beats instinct for Product Managers, and real-world examples of using on-prem LLMs to automate compliance and QA at scale.

In this episode:

• Sprint Zero: How to use discovery sprints to validate business gaps before building.

• Outcome-Based Pricing: Why charging for results is better than charging for time.

• Hiring with AI: A new interview simulation to spot engineers who think like product owners.

• Automating Quality: How defining "what good looks like" enables AI agents to take over manual QA.

• The "Ocean's 11" Team: A metaphor for building high-trust, specialist teams.

Mentioned in this episode...

• Wednesday Solutions: Mac's product engineering firm.

• Books: The Mom Test, Continuous Discovery Habits.

• Tools: Gemini Bot, Code Rabbit, PostHog, Clarity, Testim, Keploy, Fathom, PRDkit.ai.

• Service: Urban Company (InstaHelp).

Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge.

Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts including video episodes to get updated on the other crucial conversations that we'll post on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast

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Are you stuck deciding between building custom software or buying an expensive SaaS solution? In this episode, Ashok breaks down a real-world workshop with a medical device CEO facing a costly operational bottleneck. You'll learn how to size problems effectively to ensure they are worth the tech investment and why "renting" software might actually be the fastest path to owning your own high-value IP.

Ashok challenges the common "tech-enabled" playbook—hiring a C-suite CTO immediately—and offers a leaner alternative: the "In-House Prototyper." Discover how using AI tools and low-code platforms can help you validate business value before committing to expensive development. Whether you are navigating compliance-heavy industries or just trying to improve EBITDA, this episode provides a tactical framework for negotiation, sequencing, and strategic capital allocation.

Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge.

In this episode:

Build vs. Buy Math: How to calculate the break-even point for custom software.

The "Sandbox Pilot": How to negotiate a 1-month trial instead of a 12-month lock-in.

Strategic Sequencing: Why you should "rent to learn" before you build to own.

The Prototyper Role: A high-leverage alternative to hiring a full-time CTO.

Problem Sizing: Identifying problems that compound with growth vs. those that vanish.

Mentioned in this episode:

Prototyping Tools: Lovable, Bolt, Replit, Vibe Coding.

Workflow Automation: N8N, Langflow

Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts including video episodes to get updated on the other crucial conversations that we'll post on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast

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Why do smart leadership teams with great strategies still fail to execute? The answer often isn't a lack of talent, but a hidden structural problem called Information Asymmetry. In this episode, host Ashok Sivanand breaks down a real-world case study of a CEO (Visionary) and COO (Integrator) who trusted each other implicitly but still struggled to drive change. You'll learn why "scaling efficiency" often comes at the cost of "scaling understanding," and how to fix the gap between your boardroom strategy and your frontline reality.

Ashok explores how world-class organizations like Toyota, Amazon, and Shopify use specific tools to bridge this gap, enabling their teams to make faster, decentralized decisions. If you feel like your team is constantly waiting on you for permission, or if you're constantly surprised by bad outcomes, this episode offers the tactical framework you need to build a high-context culture.

Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge.

In this episode:

• Information Asymmetry: What it is and why it kills speed.

• The 3 Missing Links: Why you must share Assumptions, Early Measurements, and Feedback requests.

• Decks vs. Docs: Why Amazon's 6-page memos beat slide decks for strategy.

• The Andon Cord: How Toyota empowers frontline workers to stop the line.

• Talent Retention: Why admitting uncertainty helps you keep your best employees.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Rocket Fuel: (Book on Visionary/Integrator leadership models).

• Toyota: The "Andon Board" system.

• Shopify: Their use of MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers for internal knowledge.

• Amazon: The 6-page memo culture.

• Integral: Product success labs and consulting.

Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts including video episodes to get updated on the other crucial conversations that we'll post on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast

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Ben Perreau has helped CEOs of some of the world's most influential companies define their next act. But instead of staying in the boardroom, he turned his attention to the managers on the front lines, the people who quietly make or break culture every day. In this episode, Ben joins Ashok to talk about why so many managers feel underprepared, how culture actually changes, and how his latest venture, Parafoil, is using psycholinguistics and AI to build better leaders in real time.

From navigating billion dollar strategy shifts to coaching individual managers through difficult feedback conversations, Ben shares a wide ranging perspective on leadership, self-awareness, and the small but powerful rituals that shape great teams. Whether you're a CEO, a first-time manager, or considering your next step, this conversation will change how you think about leadership and how to measure it.

Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge.

Inside the episode...

Why most culture change doesn't start at the top, it starts with managers

The massive training gap: 82% of managers feel underprepared

The key differences between leadership, management, coaching, and mentorship

How Parafoil uses psycholinguistics to help managers understand themselves and their teams

What makes great CEOs different (hint: it's not just decision-making)

Why "I," "you," and "we" in conversation say more than you think

Concrete ways to measure leadership effectiveness and improve it

The ethics of building AI for human development

How organizations can avoid stagnation by rethinking their management layer

Why the Beatles are a model for creative, high-performing teams

Mentioned in this episode:

Parafoil (https://parafoil.co)

SY Partners

Netflix personalization algorithms

James Pennebaker and psycholinguistics

Remarkable Paper Tablet

Stanford d.school

IDEO

Google X

Howard Schultz's investment firm

MITI framework (Motivational Interviewing) (referenced implicitly in style)

Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge.

Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts including video episodes to get updated on the other crucial conversations that we'll post on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast

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Learn how a garbage collection company saved millions by adopting AI without a tech team or a massive budget. This episode deconstructs how traditional businesses can bypass expensive $100k software contracts by using local devices and open-source models to generate massive ROI safely and quickly.

Watch our full episode with Ryan Collins of Tahoe Truckee Sierra Disposal: https://youtu.be/O249ZlOr6ks

Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge.

If you are a leader waiting for your IT department to "handle AI," you are falling behind. We discuss why installing Copilot isn't a strategy and why leadership must break the apathy "Catch-22" by getting hands-on. From identifying the "rebels" on your team who will drive innovation to "vibe coding" solutions for under $100, this is a blueprint for practical, low-cost AI adoption.

In this episode:

The Blue Collar Unlock: How non-tech workforces are using AI to solve complex problems.

Leadership Strategy: How to spot internal innovators and build a "Wins and Losses" culture.

Myth-busting: Why you don't need in-house experts to start today.

Mentioned in this episode:

Ryan Collins: Managing Director of a California garbage collection company.

Tools: ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot.

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