The Tech Trek

In this episode, Amir Bormand interviews Marissa Saunders, Senior Director of Data Science at Recursion. They discuss the importance of research and development (R&D) in data science and its various implications for different companies. They emphasize the need to balance accuracy and completion with understanding business value and return on investment (ROI). Marissa explains how Recursion is focused on revolutionizing drug discovery by industrializing the process and incorporating more hypotheses to accelerate results and reduce costs. The goal is to move from traditional biotech to tech bio.

Highlights:

[00:01:50] Failing fast in drug discovery.

[00:03:14] Drug discovery and AI capabilities.

[00:08:25] Cooperating to gather clean data.

[00:10:02] Industrializing the drug discovery process.

[00:13:52] Ideation and problem-solving process.

[00:17:08] Refining pipeline for drug development.

[00:21:07] R&D and team setup.

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Ivan Lee, the CEO of Datasaur.ai, joins Amir Bormand to discuss productizing LLMs and dealing with labeling issues. Ivan shares his insights on the productization of LLMs and provides his thoughts on the future of this technology. Tune in to learn more about the work of Datasaur.ai and the exciting developments in the AI industry.

Highlights:

[00:02:44] The importance of data labeling.

[00:03:34] The challenge of harnessing AI.

[00:06:04] Disconnect in AI capabilities.

[00:09:04] The future of AI models.

[00:14:41] Productization of LLMs.

[00:15:36] LLMs in product innovation.

[00:18:52] LLMs and evolving business models.

[00:22:25] ROI in AI implementation.

[00:27:10] Exploring the potential of AI.

[00:29:13] NLP's transformative power.

Ivan Lee graduated with a Computer Science B.S. from Stanford University and dropped out of his master’s degree to found his first company, Loki Studios. After raising institutional funding and building a profitable game, Yahoo acquired Loki.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/iylee/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Amir Bormand interviews Ross Fubini, the managing partner at XYZ Venture Capital, to discuss the growing AI opportunity and how to identify lasting trends in the field. They delve into the impact of AI on enterprise software models and its potential for cost savings. Ross shares insights on XYZ's investment focus on enterprise and fintech companies, including those in the public sector. With a portfolio of 107 businesses, XYZ aims to support and build these companies actively. Please tune in to gain valuable insights into the AI landscape and its potential for transformative growth.

Highlights:

[00:00:04] Growing AI opportunity.

[00:02:43] AI and market shifts.

[00:05:45] The Internet's transformative potential.

[00:09:18] AI opportunity and emerging technologies.

[00:10:20] AI-powered consulting and new enterprise systems.

[00:15:38] Narrow AI application opportunities.

[00:19:27] Pricing and market disruption.

[00:23:12] AI growth in technology.

[00:24:29] AI Opportunities and Adoption.

[00:28:42] Leveraging AI for legacy brands.

[00:30:04] Generative AI and business opportunities.

[00:35:10] Looking back on emerging technologies.

Guest:

Ross Fubini is the founder and Managing Partner of XYZ Venture Capital. He’s made a career as a successful early-stage technology investor and is passionate about connecting people to build insightful products. Ross is from Virginia and is now based in San Francisco, where he married a local with whom he has two children and goes over the top on holidays. He is an avid triathlete, marathon runner, and previous Ironman competitor. Ross likes to go faster in all things - from races to building companies.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/fubini/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Amir interviews Stephen Chu, the Chief Legal and People Officer at InStride, about the impact of education on talent retention, attraction, and tenure. InStride partners with academic institutions to offer education programs for large enterprise companies, including high school degrees, college degrees, non-degree certificates, and coding courses. The goal is to create a win-win situation for employees, employers, and academic institutions. As employees gain new skills, employers benefit from upskilled talent, and academic institutions gain more learners.

Highlights 

[00:00:04] Impact of education on talent.

[00:02:26] Importance of combined legal and HR role.

[00:05:30] Retention and Mobility.

[00:09:30] Facilitating professional growth opportunities.

[00:10:23] CEO buy-in and program success.

[00:13:44] Advanced professionals are improving their skills.

[00:15:03] The importance of continuous learning.

[00:18:28] Education improves retention.

[00:21:42] Educational benefits and improvement.

Stephen Chu is the Chief Legal and People Officer at InStride, the partner of choice for businesses creating sustainable advantage and social impact through strategic workforce education programs that enable continuous growth for their people. As Chief Legal and People Officer, Stephen oversees legal and human resources.

Prior to InStride, Stephen was the General Counsel at Zwift, a global fitness platform for cyclists and runners, where he led all legal and compliance matters.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-chu-2189042a/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?
Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Ofer Shterling, CTO of Amberflo.io, joins the podcast to discuss the evolution of the CTPO role (Chief Technology and Product Officer). They dive into why this role is becoming a trend and why companies are adopting it. Ofer also explains the main problem his company solves - the pricing problem for businesses. They believe that measuring usage and understanding customer behavior can help companies achieve their pricing objectives. The conversation also touches on Ofer's decision to join a startup and the importance of product and ideation in his role. Please tune in to learn more about the CTPO role and its impact on companies.

Highlights:

[00:01:02] Solving the pricing problem.

[00:05:11] The CTO as CPO.

[00:10:11] Not scalable as CTO.

[00:14:23] Balancing passion, compassion, and inner peace.

Ofer Shterling is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Amberflo.io. He joined the company nearly three years ago, shortly after it secured seed funding, as one of the first two founding engineers. Ofer played a pivotal role in developing many of Amberflo's core pipelines and now serves as the CTO, guiding the company's technological direction.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ofer-shterling-32739b31
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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, host Amir interviews Ramiro Berrelleza, the founder and CEO of Okteto. They discuss the concept of building software cheaper and faster, exploring the changing landscape of development costs and productivity. They also delve into the impact of tools like GitHub Copilot on team efficiency and delivery. Ramiro highlights how Okteto's platform automates development workflows in Kubernetes, allowing developers to focus on coding and creating value rather than setting up environments manually. The conversation explores the challenge of balancing cost, speed, and quality in software development. Tune in to gain insights into optimizing development processes and achieving cost-effective results.

Highlights:

[00:02:30] Producing software cheaper and faster.

[00:05:57] Cost savings through automation.

[00:09:14] Sizing environments correctly.

[00:12:04] Agile tools.

[00:17:07] Feedback loop in development.

[00:20:23] Customer feedback.

[00:23:45] Bridging the gap as companies grow.

[00:27:39] Innovating the web experience.

Ramiro Berrelleza is the CEO and Co-founder of Okteto, the leading platform for Development Experience Automation. With over 20 years of experience in engineering, Ramiro is a seasoned professional with a passion for building developer tooling.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramiroberrelleza/

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Amir interviews Ugur Tigli, the CTO of MinIO, a high-performance object storage company. They discuss the infrastructure components of cloud storage, data protection, operating models, and costs and how they tie into AI workloads. Ugur explains that MinIO is an open-source, S3-compatible distributed object storage solution popular for its simplicity and ease of deployment. They also delve into why MinIO chose the open-source path and its benefits. Listen to the episode to learn more about cloud and AI workloads and the impact on cloud costs. 

Highlights

[00:02:40] Dual licensing model.

[00:04:15] Open source and security.

[00:07:36] AI and data growth.

[00:14:15] Complex data infrastructure evolution.

[00:16:39] Object storage simplification.

[00:20:19] AI and storage cost.

[00:24:07] Integrating with external systems.

Ugur Tigli is CTO at MinIO. In this current role, he oversees enterprise strategy and interfaces with MinIO’s enterprise client base. He helps clients architect and deploy API-driven, cloud-native, and scalable enterprise-grade data infrastructure using MinIO. Ugur has almost two decades of experience building high-performance data infrastructure for global financial institutions. Before MinIO, he was a technology leader at Bank of America, serving as the Senior Vice President and Global Head of Hardware Engineering. He joined Bank of America through the acquisition of Merrill Lynch, where he was the Vice President for Storage Engineering. Ugur has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Lafayette College.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugur-tigli-9a9323/

Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, we have Max Bruner, founder and CEO of Anzen, a marketplace for executive liability insurance. Max shares his unconventional journey from foreign policy to becoming a founder in the insurance industry. He discusses Anzen's mission and how they are working to accelerate change in the insurance sector. Additionally, Max talks about the impact of AI and the challenges of securing funding. Tune in to gain insights into Max's unique career path and the innovative work being done at Anzen.

Highlights:

[00:01:18] A path through foreign policy.

[00:04:10] Educating about the world.

[00:08:12] Learning about new technology.

[00:13:12] Risk insurance and its appeal.

[00:15:20] Applying AI to existing industries.

[00:19:06] Becoming a technology company.

[00:23:44] Helping founders and building companies.

Max Bruner, CEO and Founder of Anzen Insurance, a platform that is saving insurance brokers and companies thousands of hours and tons of stress, that has raised $10 Million in funding.
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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

In this episode, Amir Bormand introduces two guests, Ajax Trueblood and Chris Ieva, who discuss the book "Bastards and Brothers" written by Ajax. The book focuses on the Marines and their fight for al-Qaim in Iraq. Ajax, a retired Air Force intel officer, shares his motivations for writing the book, while Chris, a Marine who served in Iraq, provides his unique perspective. The conversation delves into the book's significance and connections to everyday experiences, including agile practices. 

Highlights

[00:03:53] Dark times in Iraq.

[00:07:36] Marine battalion's fascinating story.

[00:14:48] John Boyd and the OODA Loop

[00:16:27] The OODA Loop concept.

[00:20:23] Thinking in cycles

[00:25:51] Rules for winning firefights.

[00:29:19] The courage it takes.

[00:34:26] Coordinated strike on enemy.

[00:36:14] Marines rushing headlong into combat.

[00:39:10] Tying explosives on a rope.

[00:47:20] Communication techniques and gratitude.

[00:50:27] Building trust through honest communication.

[00:54:18] Risk and decision-making.

[00:59:02] Fighting with a small footprint.

[01:02:32] Outreach to local tribes.

[01:07:46] The ripple of wartime experience.

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Thank you so much for checking out this episode of The Tech Trek, and we would appreciate it if you would take a minute to rate and review us on your favorite podcast player.

Want to learn more about us? Head over at https://www.elevano.com

Have questions or want to cover specific topics with our future guests?

Please message me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirbormand (Amir Bormand)

Prashanth Sarpamale, CEO of Althea.ai, joins to break down the changing world of healthcare analytics and what it takes to move from chief analytics officer to the top seat in a company. He explains how data, AI, and real patient needs come together inside complex health systems. He also shares what leaders need to learn if they want to make the jump from technical roles to full business ownership.

Key Takeaways

● Healthcare analytics is shifting from simple reporting to a core driver of outcomes, cost control, and patient experience.

● Interoperability remains the biggest blocker. Systems must share data faster so AI can actually help with prediction and prevention.

● The analytics leader of today is expected to impact revenue, cost, and long term strategy rather than only produce dashboards.

● Moving from CDAO to CEO requires a strong focus on customers, P and L ownership, and comfort with business level risk.

● Leaders who want to grow must learn to speak the language of the business and embrace unfamiliar challenges.

Timestamped Highlights

00:48 How Althea.ai brings health equity and patient engagement together with analytics

02:59 What healthcare analytics really tries to solve for patients and payers

08:27 Why data sharing and interoperability still slow the entire system

15:11 Where AI will show real progress first inside healthcare

18:44 How a chief analytics officer builds the right base to lead a company

23:02 What technical leaders should practice if they want to move toward a CEO role

A Standout Idea

“Data and analytics used to support the business. Now it increasingly is the business.”

Pro Tips Shared in the Conversation

● Always connect analytics work to business outcomes and customer value.

● Learn how your data products fit into the day to day operations of the company.

● Take on roles that stretch you beyond technology so you can practice real ownership.

Call to Action

If this conversation helped you think differently about data leadership, follow the show and leave a quick rating. Share the episode with someone who wants to make the jump from technical expert to business leader.