Cheong Ang, Field CTO at IBM, joins Mala Ramakrishnan to break down what it really takes to innovate in healthcare. From saving healthcare systems $90M annually, Cheong explains why healthcare is a people-and-process business, where AI helps, where it fails, and how founders can survive regulation, monetization, and scale. A clear look at startups vs incumbents, and what actually moves patient outcomes.

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Timestamps:

00:00 Intro and guest background

01:10 Early career and entry into healthcare

02:40 From pre-med to bioengineering

04:20 First healthcare roles and IBM roots

06:10 Healthcare digitization over the years

08:10 What hasn’t changed in healthcare

10:00 Innovating in a regulated industry

12:10 Founding LucidAct and the problem

14:10 Care pathways and workflow gaps

16:10 Competing with incumbents as a startup

18:00 Monetization and Medicare CCM

19:50 Lessons for healthcare founders

21:10 Transition from startup to IBM

22:20 Where AI helps and where it doesn’t

23:30 Personal habits and final advice

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🔗 Connect with Cheong Ang → https://www.linkedin.com/in/cheongang

🔗 Connect with Mala Ramakrishnan → https://www.linkedin.com/in/malaramakrishnan

🎧 Subscribe to the podcast

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnL3D6aI60R-cCvypFIkh4A

Apple Podcast: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/talking-to-the-leaders-of-ai-the-ceo-series-with-mala/22ad2bae-502b-4eb1-aa74-53bc79754db7

Visit our Website: www.malaramakrishnan.com | www.founderscreative.ai 

In the first episode of Mala’s podcast, Mala sits down with Jeff Wang, CEO of Windsurf (formerly Codeium). When a big tech bidding war erupts, Jeff unexpectedly finds himself stepping into the CEO role overnight.

He opens up about building Windsurf’s enterprise wedge, surviving Anthropic’s API shutdown, and keeping an $82M ARR business alive — all while navigating a merger with Cognition to launch the world’s first dual-agent AI coding platform.

We get a deep insight into the pros and cons of AI-powered code acceleration vs advanced agent-based code automation — and a raw, unfiltered look at startup survival, leadership under pressure, and the evolving future of developer tools in the AI era, from Silicon Valley’s frontlines to the next wave of intelligent code.

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction & Guest Welcome

00:06 Jeff’s Origin Story01:00 Joining Codeium: The “do-everything” role before revenue

02:20 Building the First On-Prem Copilot Competitor

03:20 Expanding Surface Area

04:00 Competing with Copilot, Cursor & Claude

05:55 The 72-Hour Crisis

06:50 Inside the War Room

08:45 Becoming CEO Overnight

09:30 Retaining Engineers & $82M ARR

10:40 Why Merge with Cognition

12:00 Going All-In on Enterprise

13:10 Partner-Led Distribution

14:00 Future of Developer Work

15:00 Market Dynamics

16:00 Leadership Lessons

17:20 AI Economics & Sustainability

18:00 Avoiding Key-Person Risk

19:20 Audience Q&A

22:10 Closing Reflections

______________________________

🔗 Connect with Jeff Wang → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefflinwang/

🔗 Connect with Mala Ramakrishnan → https://www.linkedin.com/in/malaramakrishnan

🎧 Subscribe to the podcast:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnL3D6aI60R-cCvypFIkh4A

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1NIDE4cT5fuVjC3HaGbCDK?si=eoSTNmhqQNKHQl9d1Jx0UQ

Apple Podcast: https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/talking-to-the-leaders-of-ai-the-ceo-series-with-mala/22ad2bae-502b-4eb1-aa74-53bc79754db7

Visit our Website: https://malaramakrishnan.com | https://founderscreative.org