Modern CTO

Who really owns cybersecurity when a company gets breached? Today, we’re talking to Matthew Rosenquist, a cybersecurity strategist with 36 years in the field and host of the Cybersecurity Insights podcast. We explore how Europe’s NIS2 directive changes what’s expected of boards and executives, how leaders can decide how much security is enough, and what they can do now to be ready when an incident hits.

 If you want more of his perspective, follow him on LinkedIn or check out Cybersecurity Insights.

https://www.cybersecurityinsights.us/

Why do some AI projects look brilliant in a demo and then fall apart the moment they have to run across a whole engineering org? Today, we're talking to Zohar Einy, CEO and co-founder of Port.io. We get into how teams can move from agents and skills scattered across individual laptops to one factory everyone can build on, why context, governance, and knowing when to keep a human in the loop matter so much, and what leaders can measure to see whether the whole thing is paying off.

If you want to dig deeper, Port shares its AI software factory content on YouTube and its blog, and you can catch them in person at Portcon in San Francisco on November 17th and 18th, 2026.

Learn more at https://www.port.io/

What if preparing your people to move on is the secret to attracting great talent in the first place? Today, we're talking to Sean Phelps, President of College Works. We explore how to run a business where most of the team turns over every year, why hiring on objective criteria can beat going with your gut, how a regular shadowing habit keeps even seasoned leaders sharp, and what a college degree is worth in the age of AI.

https://collegeworks.com/

What if the quantum threat everyone is preparing for isn't the one that will actually arrive first? Today, we're talking to Konstantinos Karagiannis, Senior Director of Quantum Computing Services at Protiviti.

What if the biggest AI risk in your company is the tool your team quietly adopted last week? Today, we're talking to Andrius Buinovskis, VP Product Strategy at NordLayer. We explore how shadow IT evolved into shadow AI as work moved into the browser, why the instinct to ban is giving way to securing use instead, what separates human AI from non-human AI, and how CTOs can start protecting data without slowing adoption.

Modern CTO listeners can use code MODERNCTO10 for an extra 10% off at nordlayer.com/browser/moderncto.

Today we’re talking to Eriona Hysolli, Head of Biological Sciences at Colossal Biosciences; and we discuss how Colossal is working on bringing wooly mammoths back from extinction, the role de-extinction will play in conservation in the future, and the DNA editing and printing technology that’s being used for de-extinction efforts.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!

Today, we're talking to Mario Ciabarra, founder and CEO of Quantum Metric. We discuss why a generative AI demo that works in an afternoon proves almost nothing, how testing ten ideas against real customers beats betting on one big strategy, and why building a multibillion dollar company comes down to loving the daily grind more than anyone expects.

What’s left for humans to do once AI is better at solving problems than we are? Today, we’re talking to Scott Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist at UT Austin who has spent his career on quantum computing theory. We explore how AI is changing the way we do math and teach students, what it takes to keep increasingly capable systems aligned with human goals, and why one of computer science’s most famous puzzles, P versus NP, matters to everyday programmers.

The best reliability work is the kind nobody notices, and that's exactly why it deserves more credit. Today, we're talking to Kolton Andrus, founder and CEO of Gremlin. We discuss why the engineers who prevent fires deserve as much recognition as the ones who fight them, how testing failure on purpose turned a dreaded holiday on-call into a quiet one, and why teams that pair AI speed with real-world testing can build software that holds up.

All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!