In this episode, host Sanjay Kalluvilayil sits down with Abdel Filali, Founder & CEO, of Rel8 AI to explore why most professionals leave events with a stack of business cards they never follow up on and why the 48-hour window after every handshake is where deals are won or lost.
They explore how Rel8 AI, a Relationship Intelligence Platform. rescues these connections from the 'Business Card Graveyard' by capturing, ingesting, enriching, and activating those connections automatically.
💠 Key Insights from the Episode
1. Why Most Professionals Lose Their Best ConnectionsMemory decays 80% within a day of an event. Rel8 AI's voice debrief captures the context no data provider can replicate.
2. Why One Photo Can Replace Hours of CRM Data EntryBulk-scan 10 cards in one photo, auto-enrich each contact, and sync to your CRM in seconds.
3. Why AI Native Is Not the Same as AI PoweredMost companies bolt AI onto existing products. Abdel built Rel8 AI using AI to build the product and AI as the product.
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⚡ The Show Log — The AI Space Podcast — Season 2 | Episode 11
🎙️ Guest: Abdel Filali | Founder & CEO | Rel8 AI
📍 Dallas, TX
🎙️ Host: Sanjay Kalluvilayil | Founder & CEO | Stonehaas Advisors | Creator | The AI Space Podcast
📍 Dallas, TX
🔔 Subscribe - Real world insights for AI Founders & Start-ups!
Key Links:
🌐 https://theaispacepodcast.ai
📅 https://calendly.com/sanjay-stonehaasadvisors/ai-advantage-15-min
🔗https://theaispacepodcast.ai/platforms
👤 Guest Bio Abdel Filali is a technology entrepreneur and executive, best known as the founder of RelAI Technology. He has held executive leadership roles in enterprise technology, and led teams across networking, infrastructure, and advanced technology initiatives. His career blends executive management, large-scale delivery, and AI strategy within complex enterprise environments.
💠 Company Bio: Rel8 AI is a relationship intelligence platform that transforms how professionals capture, remember, and nurture their network. Rel8 is Your AI Sidekick for Relationships. It scans cards, ingest inboxes, and sync calendars. Rel8 auto-writes follow-ups, surfaces context, and updates your CRM, so you can focus and stay human while the busywork runs itself.
📈 Host Bio: Sanjay Kalluvilayil is a visionary leader on a mission to help AI businesses win clients, convert sales, and scale operations to maximize cash flow and valuation. As a trusted advisor and fractional CXO, I bring 30+ years of strategic and execution expertise—from Big 4 consulting to Fortune 500 transformation to startup acceleration.
🎯 Company Bio: At Stonehaas Advisors, we work with AI founders and businesses to overcome growth and cash flow challenges by designing and executing GTM strategies that drive organic growth, successful capital raises, and strategic exits.
Chapters
0:00 Trailer: Transform Handshakes into Sales
1:38 Host Intro - Sanjay Kalluvilayil
2:10 Key AI Trends in 2026
5:41 Surprising Insight - Agentic AI at Production Level
7:05 Top AI Strategies to Grow & Scale
9:15 Guest Intro - Abdel Filali | Rel8 AI
10:04 AI Journey - Abdel Filali
11:50 Ericsson Experience - Mobile
14:52 WWT Experience - IT
18:07 Rel8 AI Overview
20:27 Why Rel8 AI?
23:06 Incubating vs. Spinning Off
27:23 AI-ML Architecture & Tech Stack
30:01 Business Card Graveyard
33:47 React
35:41 Computer Vision + OCR + LLM
38:51 Relationship & Sales Intelligence Platform
40:25 AI Voice Agent
41:17 Quality Outreach & Follow-up
45:25 Why The AI Space Podcast?
47:27 Subscribe & Follow Us
48:44 Vision, Mindset, & Strategy
49:55 Actions & Execution
51:58 Sales & Marketing Insights
56:45 Streamline & Scale Operations
1:01:17 AI Democratization
1:10:24 Ethical & Responsible AI
1:14:32 Final Thoughts & Encouragement
1:16:44 Show Outro
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