Investment banking taught him speed, but Amir Prodensky needed something bigger to build.

Fresh from Revolut's hyper-growth chaos, Amir saw the massive gap in financial services customer experience. Insurance customers were stuck with phone queues and paper processes while expecting Amazon-level service.

So he built Strada: AI agents that handle every customer interaction across phone, text, email, and chat while maintaining perfect context. These aren't simple chatbots—they connect to core insurance systems and take real actions like generating certificates and processing claims.

Amir's framework for AI adoption moves through five stages: from co-pilot tools to fully autonomous agents. The companies moving fastest through these stages are creating unbeatable competitive advantages.

His prediction: customer expectations will shift permanently once they experience resolution at AI-speed. Traditional service will feel broken in comparison.

🤝 Connect with Amir

• https://www.linkedin.com/company/getstrada/ 
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprodensky/ 
• 
  https://www.getstrada.com/

⏱ Episode Chapters

(00:00) From Bay Street to insurance AI agents(01:46) Career pivots: Banking to Revolut's US expansion(05:16) Big bets at Revolut: What worked and what didn't(14:24) Finding Strada: From horizontal automation to insurance-focused AI(21:17) AI-native product development without designers(25:06) Rapid fire: AI tools and expensive experiments that worked

🔥 Enjoyed the episode?Drop a like, subscribe, and share it with someone building fast.🎙 **The AI-First Business Podcast**Sharp strategy. Fast builds. Real AI.No panel chatter. No fluff. Just the moves that scale.📺 **Want more?**Search *AI-First Business Podcast* on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.📲 **Follow us:**Instagram / TikTok / LinkedIn → @aifirstbusinessAll links: [feedlink.link/aifirstbusiness](https://feedlink.link/aifirstbusiness)⚠️ **Disclaimer:** Views are personal and not reflective of any organization. For informational purposes only.

#AIInsurance #InsurTech #FinTechFounders #CustomerServiceAI #AIAgents #StartupJourney #InsuranceInnovation #VoiceAI #FinTech #TechFounders

He walked away from aerospace engineering and built a SaaS startup cutting data transformation time by 90%.

Kaustav Mitra, co-founder and CEO of Paradime.io, shares how he turned a restless career path into a weapon—building teams with autonomy, betting on AI before the noise, and rethinking how companies manage data at scale.

You’ll get clear on:

• Why autonomy isn’t a “nice to have” but a force multiplier.

• How AI is reshaping the modern data stack (ETL → ELT → AI-native).

• The leadership habits that let small teams compete with giants.

Before Paradime.io, Kaustav cut his teeth scaling analytics at Revolut and Octopus. If you’re serious about using AI to collapse development cycles and increase business velocity, this one’s non-negotiable.

🤝 Connect with Kaustav Mitra & Paradime.io

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitrakaustav 
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/paradimelabs
• www.paradime.io 
• https://www.youtube.com/@paradimelabs

⏱ Episode Chapters

(00:00) Kaustav’s unconventional career path(03:32) The MBA network that changed everything(06:02) Building Paradime with high-autonomy teams(12:16) Going AI-first with DinoAI(20:18) Leveling the playing field for startups with AI(25:28) ELT evolution and the future of the modern data stack(29:51) Educating customers on AI and reframing accuracy(36:24) Bridging human and machine-readable worlds(40:39) How AI will reshape data, teams, and entrepreneurship

🔥 Enjoyed the episode?Drop a like, subscribe, and share it with someone building fast.🎙 **The AI-First Business Podcast**Sharp strategy. Fast builds. Real AI.No panel chatter. No fluff. Just the moves that scale.📺 **Want more?**Search *AI-First Business Podcast* on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.📲 **Follow us:**Instagram / TikTok / LinkedIn → @aifirstbusinessAll links: [feedlink.link/aifirstbusiness](https://feedlink.link/aifirstbusiness)⚠️ **Disclaimer:** Views are personal and not reflective of any organization. For informational purposes only.

Barr Moses grew up running experiments in her dad’s physics lab. Today, she’s the CEO of Monte Carlo, the leading platform for data + AI observability.

This episode goes beyond her founder story. It’s about why data trust is the new currency in AI—and how Barr built the playbook for companies that want to move fast without breaking everything.

She’ll show you:

• Why clean dashboards don’t mean reliable data.

• The messy middle of making data dependable at scale.

• The real reasons intuition still matters when the numbers run out.

Listen if you want to bulletproof your AI stack from the inside out.

Barr Moses is CEO & Co-Founder of Monte Carlo, a data + AI observability company backed by Accel, GGV, Redpoint, and other top Silicon Valley investors. Previously, she was VP Customer Operations at Gainsight, a management consultant at Bain & Company and served in the Israeli Air Force as a commander of an intelligence data analyst unit. Barr graduated from Stanford with a B.Sc. in Mathematical and Computational Science.

🤝 Connect with Barr Moses

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrmoses 

• https://www.montecarlodata.com/

• https://www.montecarlodata.com/blog-the-past-present-and-future-of-data-quality-management/ 
• https://www.montecarlodata.com/blog-top-3-ai-problems-to-solve 
• https://www.montecarlodata.com/blog-are-we-in-an-ai-bubble/ 
• https://www.montecarlodata.com/blog-6-things-every-cdo-needs-to-know-about-ai-readiness/ 
• https://www.montecarlodata.com/blog-ai-fomo-is-tearing-your-company-apart/ 
• https://www.montecarlodata.com/blog-2026-will-be-the-year-of-data-ai-observability/ 
• https://www.montecarlodata.com/blog-will-genai-replace-data-engineers 
• https://www.montecarlodata.com/5-hard-truths-about-generative-ai-for-technology-leaders/

She spent a decade in public health—and built the product she wished existed.

Ludovica’s journey spans biotech, epigenetics, and behavior change. But after years designing obesity interventions, one insight stuck: people don’t need more advice—they need fewer barriers.

She founded Reveal My Food to make healthy eating frictionless. It’s the first AI-powered nutrition and food-ordering platform designed for employee health—merging science, behavioral design, and real-time environments.

In this episode:

• Why education doesn’t change eating habits—but context does

• How to build for default choices, not willpower

• The hidden architecture of obesogenic environments

• What nutrition tech gets wrong about human behavior

Her goal? Return 100 million years of good health to humanity. And it starts with what’s on your plate—by design.

📖 Chapters

(00:00:00) Why culture and diet are inseparable(00:03:08) From biotech to public health: Her path to food systems(00:06:33) How society makes healthy eating nearly impossible(00:10:20) The rise of the obesogenic food environment(00:13:18) Why public health interventions fail(00:19:38) From physical to digital food environments(00:22:47) The pitch: What Reveal My Food actually does(00:24:50) How AI personalizes workplace meals(00:29:10) Why staff canteens are the perfect entry point(00:33:10) Building the largest real-world nutrition dataset(00:36:12) What AI unlocks that wasn’t possible before

Connect with Ludovica de Pieri 

• www.linkedin.com/in/ludovicadepieri

Connect with Reveal My Food

• https://www.revealmyfood.com/

• https://www.youtube.com/@Revealmyfood

• https://www.instagram.com/revealmyfood/

  
  

"Culturalization isn’t just better marketing—it’s survival."

What’s the right way to scale globally with AI? Is localization enough—or do you need cultural depth to win trust and customers?

This episode is part of our **Revolut Mafia Series**, spotlighting the 100+ alumni now building some of the sharpest AI startups in tech.

Ashish and Ahmed, co-founders of Native (ex-Revolut), debate what it takes to break into new markets when AI drops the cost of experimentation to near zero. Ashish argues for deep culturalization—reshaping content for meaning, not just translation. Ahmed says simplicity scales better—and over-culturizing adds bloat and risk.

This episode covers:

• -How AI is redefining global marketing
• When localization fails (and why)
• What Revolut taught them about fast shipping and market trust
• The rise of technical founders as AI-native operators

If you're building a startup, launching in multiple markets, or rethinking your GTM strategy—this is required viewing.

📖 Chapters

(00:00:00) From Revolut to Nativ: Founders’ origin story

(00:02:17) Why global marketing is broken—and what Nativ fixes

(00:06:39) AI-native founding: How building companies just changed

(00:10:26) Why VCs want technical founders now

(00:16:14) The Revolut culture: Extreme ownership + execution

(00:20:12) Scaling signals: When to go all in

(00:24:17) Localization ≠ translation: The real nuance

(00:34:38) What most teams get wrong about global content

🤝 Connect with Ashish

• Linkedin and X

• Youtube

• DataShines Github

• • Ashish Ranjan Jha on Floating Questions
  • Published work on AI/ML
• • Fight Fraud with Machine Learning  [author]

🤝 Connect with Ahmed

• • Linkedin and X
  • Instagram and TikTok
  • www.ahmedahres.com⁠ 
  • Machine learning engineer: the job of a problem-solver
  • Ahmed Ares on Platform Rules Podcast

➡️ Nativ

• • https://www.usenativ.com/ 
  • https://speedrun.a16z.com/companies/nativ 

  
  

  
  

AI Agents Are Quietly Turning Your Back Office Into a Growth Engine

Most companies still treat finance and operations as cost centers. Sumant Shringari thinks that’s outdated — and dangerous.

In this episode, Sumant explains how his company Pontus uses AI agents, automation, and machine learning to turn back-office chaos into serious business value. Finance isn’t just about reporting anymore — it’s becoming a core growth engine. By eliminating inefficiencies and unlocking operational leverage, companies are converting bloat into scalable revenue. Forget “support functions” — this is where your next margin expansion lives. If you're not deploying AI to turn operational chaos into value, you’re already falling behind.

Sumant Shringari is the founder of PONTUS, where he helps the world’s largest enterprises eliminate inefficiency through outcome based automation. Before launching PONTUS, he led product at Gordian Software, powering revenue gains for travel giants like Booking.com and Priceline. A former AI researcher, Sumant has published several papers at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biology. He holds five degrees from the University of Pennsylvania—which, in hindsight, may have been excessive.

#AI #AIagents #Automation #Finance #OperationalEfficiency #CostCenters #ValueDrivers #BusinessTransformation #TechnologyAdoption #MachineLearning

Connect with Sumant Shringari

Published Academic Work from Sumant Shringari

Connect with PONTUS

🔗 Links

• Pontus Business Case Framework
• Lenny’s Podcast + Newsletter
• Wes Kao's Newsletter
• Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning (Information Science and Statistics) by Christopher Bishop
• Andrej Karpathy
• Selling With: The art of selling with champions to shape internal buying conversations & close enterprise deals by Nate Nasralla 

Enjoyed the episode? Drop us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — it helps more builders find us.

📺 Watch on YouTube
🔥 Subscribe for weekly drops
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🎙️ The AI-First Business Podcast

AI isn’t coming—it’s already built. This is the podcast where you meet the ones who did it first. No panel chatter, no posturing—just sharp strategy, fast builds, and the people reshaping products, ops, and industries with AI.

Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not reflect any affiliated organizations. Content is for informational purposes only.

What do venture capital, layer cakes, and early-stage startups have in common? Tyler from Menlo Ventures breaks it all down. With 15 years in the VC game, Tyler’s focus on FinTech and vertical SaaS has led him to develop the “layer cake” approach—building businesses with stacked, sustainable revenue models. He dives into the importance of long-term customer retention, adding products post-acquisition, and spotting early product-market fit.

But is the layer cake model the best strategy? While Tyler champions sustainable, customer-focused growth, not everyone’s convinced. Are traditional growth models better at managing risks like customer dependency and market volatility? Tune in to hear Tyler’s take on startups, Menlo’s hands-on support for founders, and why he thinks "flat revenue cohorts" are the key to long-term success.

If you’ve ever wondered how venture capitalists spot the next big thing—or how "beautiful layer cakes" fit into all of this—this episode has you covered.

Topics Covered:

• The "layer cake" business model for scaling startups.
• FinTech and vertical SaaS investment strategies.
• Menlo Ventures' hands-on approach to building great teams.

For: Founders, aspiring VCs, and anyone curious about how startups grow—or fail.

Connect with Tyler Sosin here

• Tyler Sosin Linkedin
• Menlo Ventures

Connect with Ash Akhan here

• Ash Akhan Linkedin

Episode References:

• GoCardless 
• Y Combinator

Enjoyed the episode? Drop us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — it helps more builders find us.

📺 Watch on YouTube
🔥 Subscribe for weekly drops
📲 Follow us on socials here
🎙️ The AI-First Business Podcast

AI isn’t coming—it’s already built. This is the podcast where you meet the ones who did it first. No panel chatter, no posturing—just sharp strategy, fast builds, and the people reshaping products, ops, and industries with AI.

Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not reflect any affiliated organizations. Content is for informational purposes only.

AI wasn’t always a welcome guest in cybersecurity—but that changed with Darktrace.

🎙️ In this episode, CISO Michael Beck shares how he left the UK  government to tackle a new kind of threat landscape: one where traditional defenses  were no longer enough, and AI had to prove its worth in the face of deep industry skepticism .

📌We break down:
🔍 The early resistance: Why AI in cybersecurity was dismissed—and what it took to gain trust 
📈 Darktrace’s blueprint: How anomaly detection and continuous learning  redefined cyber defense 
⚙️ Adoption lessons: What teams need to know when integrating AI into legacy systems 
🧍‍♂️ The human factor: Why perception, communication, and credibility are as important as the tech itself 

 This episode is for:
👩‍💼 Leaders navigating AI integration
🛠️ Builders scaling in critical industries
🧠 Anyone curious how trust, timing, and innovation collide in high-stakes environments 

Connect with Michael Beck:

• Linkedin
• Podcase Episode: Gen AI in Cybersecurity: Innovations, Threats, and Defence Strategies with Darktrace

Darktrace:

• Website
• The AI Arsenal: Understanding the Tools Shaping Cybersecurit

References:

• National Cyber Security Center (NCSC)
• Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (2025)
• Red Team / Blue Team
• Book Reco: Financial Intelligence
• Movie Reco: WarGames
• MITRE ATT&CK

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📺 Watch the full episode now on Youtube

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📺 Watch on YouTube
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🎙️ The AI-First Business Podcast

AI isn’t coming—it’s already built. This is the podcast where you meet the ones who did it first. No panel chatter, no posturing—just sharp strategy, fast builds, and the people reshaping products, ops, and industries with AI.

Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not reflect any affiliated organizations. Content is for informational purposes only.

What happens when a life shaped by East London streets, children’s homes, and prison pivots to building tech startups? Meet Duane—who found his way to becoming tech founder from a different angle. In this episode, Duane breaks down his wild transformation from running with the wrong crowd to running his own B2B tech ventures in accounting, HR, and payroll. Spoiler: coding saved the day.

Key Highlights:

1. From children’s homes to prison, Duane’s early environment shaped his path—until it didn’t.
2. Prison reflections sparked a shift: what’s your plan, or are you just part of someone else’s?
3. Tech became the escape route, with coding opening doors to building successful businesses.

Duane doesn’t hold back, sharing raw insights into how resilience, reflection, and intentional living redefined his future. This one’s for the hustlers and tinkerers navigating life’s curveballs. Tune in for a story of grit, growth, and second chances in the tech game.

Connect with Duane Jackson here

Connect with Ash Akhan here

#Entrepreneurship #TechFounder #Resilience

Enjoyed the episode? Drop us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — it helps more builders find us.

📺 Watch on YouTube
🔥 Subscribe for weekly drops
📲 Follow us on socials here
🎙️ The AI-First Business Podcast

AI isn’t coming—it’s already built. This is the podcast where you meet the ones who did it first. No panel chatter, no posturing—just sharp strategy, fast builds, and the people reshaping products, ops, and industries with AI.

Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not reflect any affiliated organizations. Content is for informational purposes only.

The hustle is born from finding solutions no one else has thought of.

What’s the secret sauce behind startup success? Steve dives into the chaotic early days of GoCardless—think empty offices, language barriers, and an emerging Shoreditch tech scene. From gritty beginnings to creating Duffel, a travel tech innovator, this episode unpacks the lessons, laughs, and challenges that shaped some of the UK’s most notable entrepreneurs.

Discover how the GoCardless alumni network sparked industry-changing ventures and why APIs are revolutionizing the future of travel. Plus, hear Steve’s take on navigating cultural shifts, balancing creativity with business, and why the startup grind might just be worth it.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, a tech enthusiast, or just here for the stories, this one’s for you.

Connect with Steve Domin here

• Steve Domin Linkedin
• Duffel
• Duffel Linkedin

Connect with Ash Akhan here

• Ash Akhan Linkedin

Episode References:

• | GoCardless | GoCardless |
• | Y Combinator | Y Combinator |

#VentureCapital #FinTechInnovation #StartupFunding #LayerCakeStrategy #BusinessGrowth #InvestmentTrends #TechEntrepreneurship #SaaSInvestment #TheFutureofFinance #Startups #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #BusinessTransformation #AIInnovation #Leadership #AIFuture #TechStartups #DigitalTransformation #InnovationPlaybook #AIadoption

Enjoyed the episode? Drop us a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ — it helps more builders find us.

📺 Watch on YouTube
🔥 Subscribe for weekly drops
📲 Follow us on socials here
🎙️ The AI-First Business Podcast

AI isn’t coming—it’s already built. This is the podcast where you meet the ones who did it first. No panel chatter, no posturing—just sharp strategy, fast builds, and the people reshaping products, ops, and industries with AI.

Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not reflect any affiliated organizations. Content is for informational purposes only.