This New Way

What if your AI agent could send emails, check your calendar, and even text people on your behalf—all securely and with your permission? In this episode, Aydin and guest co-host Alexandra from Fellow talk with Sam Partee, co-founder of Arcade, about how AI agents are actually becoming useful in the real world.

Sam breaks down how Arcade enables LLM-powered agents to act on your behalf across tools like Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, and more, without sacrificing security. He also shows us how he automates his own workflows, from email triage to iMessage replies, and shares how tools like Cursor and Claude are reshaping how engineers work day-to-day.

Whether you're technical or not, this episode is packed with actionable insights on what it means to work in an AI-native company—and how to start doing it yourself.

Timestamps

0:00 – The future of agents impersonating people

01:20 – Meet Sam Partee and his background in high-performance computing

02:50 – What Arcade is and how it powers AI agents

05:10 – Use case: ambient social media agents

06:50 – “YOLO mode” vs. human-in-the-loop agent workflows

07:30 – Building a lean AI-native company

08:00 – Engineers are now 1.5x more productive—with caveats

12:00 – Why the whole team (PMs, QA, etc.) should use tools like Cursor1

4:00 – How Markdown became the LLM-native format

17:00 – Sam’s iMessage agent and calendar automation

18:45 – His AI-powered inbox (email triage + drafting)

21:00 – Live demo: using Slack assistant “Archer” built with Arcade

24:00 – How non-technical people can use these tools too27:00 – Cursor vs. Copilot: What’s better?

30:00 – Cursor agent mode and example developer workflows

34:00 – Vector databases and prompt design

35:00 – Using LLMs to redesign error handling and generate docs

38:00 – Advice for teams adopting AI: start by building

Tools and Technologies:

Arcade – Let AI agents act on your behalf (email, Slack, calendar, etc.) with secure OAuth.

Cursor – LLM-native IDE with full-codebase context. Ideal for AI-assisted development.

Claude – Chat interface + agent orchestration, paired with Arcade.

LangGraph – Multi-agent orchestration framework with human-in-the-loop support.T

ailScale – Secure remote networking; enables Sam to access agents from anywhere.

Twilio – Used for SMS reminders and notifications.

Obsidian + Markdown – Sam uses Markdown + AI for personal notes and research.

GitHub Copilot – Used in tandem with Cursor for inline suggestions and PR reviews.

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In this episode, Edmundo Ortega, partner at Machine & Partners, joins to explore how AI is transforming the way we build and ship software. He shares real-world use cases—from cutting document processing time by thousands of hours to prototyping apps with tools like Bolt in under 15 minutes.

We also dive into:

• How non-technical team members can now contribute to development

• How Ed uses Claude to write in his own voice

• Why leaders should think beyond cost savings to unlock AI’s full potential

Whether you're a developer, founder, or team leader, this episode will reshape how you think about building with AI.

Timestamps

00:00 – The promise of AI beyond cost savings

01:10 – Edmundo's background and the founding of Machine & Partners

04:40 – How Machine & Partners identifies and builds AI use cases

05:45 – Personal shift to an AI-powered workstyle

07:00 – Building internal tools using Bolt

09:20 – Demo: Creating a chart parser app using Bolt

12:00 – Claude vs. ChatGPT for writing with custom instructions1

5:15 – Use case: Automating document extraction for analysts

21:00 – Workflow transformation with AI and report generation

25:15 – PMs using AI to prototype and inspire devs

33:00 – AI's impact on team structure and dev productivity

38:24 – How to get in touch with Ed and his advice for the next 18 months

Tools & Technologies Mentioned

• Bolt (bolt.new)

• Claude 3.7 (Anthropic)

• ChatGPT / GPT-4.5

• Cursor (AI coding assistant)

• Chart.js• Google Sheets

• OpenAI API

• Replit

• N8N

• Make.com

• Gumloop

• Relay

• SectionSchool.com

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In this episode of This New Way, Aydin sits down with Sukhpal Saini, founder of Engyne, to dive into how AI is reshaping the way we build products, market them, and even manage our personal networks. Sukhpal shares how he prototypes with AI, automates content creation, and turns conversations into distribution-ready assets. From building 30+ products to launching a Canva app for LinkedIn carousels, this episode is packed with actionable insights.

Timestamps:

0:00 — Intro: Welcome to This New Way

1:30 — The AI curiosity wave and why people are hungry for tactical content

4:00 — Suk’s journey from IBM, Apple, and Saks to 30+ side projects and Engyne

5:45 — The shift from building in Figma to building 5 real prototypes with A

8:00 — Using Replit and ChatGPT to get fast, real customer feedback

13:00 — How marketers can build lead gen tools without engineering

16:30 — Will we have fewer engineers in the future?

19:00 — Demo #1: Nexus — Using AI to query your own network

22:00 — Why personal productivity tools no longer require SaaS subscriptions

24:50 — Demo #2: A Voice of Customer app to analyze transcripts and shape messaging

29:00 — Demo #3: Carousel Studio — Turn your ideas into LinkedIn carousels with a Canva app

35:00 — The power of creating from your unique opinion, not AI-generated fluff

37:00 — Engyne’s vision: Become a mini media machine

39:00 — Closing thoughts and future predictions for AI-powered solo businesses

Tools and Technologies Mentioned:

Replit – A browser-based coding environment that lets you write, run, and deploy software quickly. Suk uses it to rapidly prototype multiple product ideas in minutes.

ChatGPT – OpenAI’s conversational AI model, used to generate code, iterate on features, and assist in product development.

Claude – An AI assistant developed by Anthropic, used similarly to ChatGPT for coding and ideation.

Prisma – A modern ORM (Object-Relational Mapping) tool for Node.js and TypeScript, used in Suk’s Voice of Customer app to manage the database.

OpenAI API – The underlying API that powers GPT models like ChatGPT, allowing users to integrate AI functionality into their custom apps.

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In this episode of This New Way, Aydin talks to Rob, co-founder of Heartee Foods, co-founder of Assent and longtime AI practitioner, about how he’s integrating AI into every corner of his mushroom farming business — from training systems and voice-driven data entry to hiring pipelines and grant applications. Rob shares how his team replaced costly software with internal tools powered by LLMs, dramatically accelerating operations and unlocking new insights. If you're curious how AI can power real-world logistics and training — this one's for you.Timestamps:00:00 – Intro: Rob’s background in machine learning and startup journey01:15 – Building Heartee Foods and pivoting from software to farming03:00 – Voice-based data collection for daily farm operations04:50 – Replacing forms with AI-powered voice inputs06:00 – Creating an internal LMS using LLMs and video training07:40 – Why traditional audits now take 2 hours instead of 2 weeks10:00 – The power of voice in AI interfaces and workplace design12:00 – Using AI to build and query internal documentation systems13:45 – Why LLM-powered search beats traditional search16:30 – Building internal software faster than ever before20:00 – How Rob uses AI to evaluate job candidates using transcripts24:00 – Demo: Ranking resumes with NotebookLM28:00 – Using LLMs to draft government grant applications34:00 – Automating grant budgeting and narrative writing with AI36:00 – The future of coding: From dev-led to voice-initiated workflows38:00 – Rob’s advice to leaders: “Just start using it”Tools & Resources Mentioned:Fellow – For recording and transcribing interviewsAnthropic Claude / GPT-3.5 – Used to build internal toolsNotebookLM (Google) – Used to rank resumes and answer hiring questionsCursor – AI coding tool for faster software developmentSiri (macOS voice dictation) – Used for hands-free data entry and draftingCustom LMS with LLM integration – Built in-house to replace third-party toolsSubscribe at Thisnewway.com to get the step-by-step AI workflows.

In this episode of This New Way, Aydin talks to Rob Imbeault, co-founder of Heartee Foods, co-founder of Assent, and longtime AI practitioner, about how he’s integrating AI into every corner of his mushroom farming business — from training systems and voice-driven data entry to hiring pipelines and grant applications. Rob shares how his team replaced costly software with internal tools powered by LLMs, dramatically accelerating operations and unlocking new insights. If you're curious how AI can power real-world logistics and training — this one's for you.

Timestamps:

00:00 – Intro: Rob’s background in machine learning and startup journey

01:15 – Building Heartee Foods and pivoting from software to farming

03:00 – Voice-based data collection for daily farm operations

04:50 – Replacing forms with AI-powered voice inputs

06:00 – Creating an internal LMS using LLMs and video training

07:40 – Why traditional audits now take 2 hours instead of 2 weeks

10:00 – The power of voice in AI interfaces and workplace design

12:00 – Using AI to build and query internal documentation systems

13:45 – Why LLM-powered search beats traditional search

16:30 – Building internal software faster than ever before

20:00 – How Rob uses AI to evaluate job candidates using transcripts

24:00 – Demo: Ranking resumes with NotebookLM

28:00 – Using LLMs to draft government grant applications

34:00 – Automating grant budgeting and narrative writing with AI

36:00 – The future of coding: From dev-led to voice-initiated workflows

38:00 – Rob’s advice to leaders: “Just start using it”

Tools & Resources Mentioned:

Fellow – For recording and transcribing interviews

Anthropic Claude / GPT-3.5 – Used to build internal tools

NotebookLM (Google) – Used to rank resumes and answer hiring questions

Cursor – AI coding tool for faster software development

Siri (macOS voice dictation) – Used for hands-free data entry and drafting

Custom LMS with LLM integration – Built in-house to replace third-party tools

Subscribe at Thisnewway.com to get the step-by-step AI workflows.

Subscribe at www.thisnewway.com to get the step-by-step playbooks, tools, and workflows.

In this episode, Aydin chats with Irosha de Silva, the founder of Marketrics, about how AI is transforming customer support from passive documentation to real-time, visual, and agentic assistance. They discuss how they met through an AI networking tool called Bordy, how Irosha transitioned from running a software agency to launching an AI-powered startup, and how tools like Grok and GitHub Copilot are changing the game for fast-moving teams. Irosha also demos how Marketrics works—revealing a future where SaaS tools can support users visually and contextually, without human intervention.

TIMESTAMPS

0:40 – How Aydin and Irosha met through Bordy, an AI networking agent

2:50 – Irosha’s tech background and software agency journey

4:55 – Going “all in” on building a product in AI6:15 – The frustrating customer support moment that sparked Marketrics

8:20 – How Marketrics uses agentic AI to improve customer support

10:00 – The impact of AI on company-building today

11:45 – How startups can now reimagine any function with AI

12:45 – Tools Marketrics uses: GitHub Copilot, Grok, ChatGPT

14:00 – How AI is helping founders actually get things done (like LinkedIn posts!)

16:00 – Irosha’s process for turning notes into a high-performing post using Grok

21:10 – Live demo: How Marketrics works with Canva as an example

27:00 – Reimagining support: From reading docs to real-time visual guidance

30:00 – Why user patience is dropping in the AI era

31:00 – What excites Irosha most about the next 12 months of AI

32:50 – How to connect with Irosha

Tools & Resources Mentioned

Bordy – AI networking agent that introduces professionals via email

Marketrics – Irosha’s AI-powered customer support platform (marketrics.ai)

Grok – AI tool (by xAI) Irosha uses to generate real-time LinkedIn posts

GitHub Copilot – AI code assistant used by Markettrics’ dev team

ChatGPT – Used alongside Grok for content creation and support

Cursor – Another AI coding tool briefly mentioned by Aydin

Nvidia GTC Conference – Where Irosha gathered content for his LinkedIn post

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In episode 6 of This New Way, Fredrik Thomassen and Phillip Maggs walk us through how Superside—a global creative services company—has fundamentally transformed its workflows using generative AI. From automating asset production to embedding AI directly into tools like Figma, Superside is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in creative automation. We also get a live demo of their “brief-to-draft” workflow and discuss how AI is reshaping the talent landscape.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:52 – What Superside does and its global scale

2:10 – Phil’s role and what “Director of Generative AI Excellence” means

4:08 – The turning point: DALL·E and Superside’s AI transformation

8:00 – How they approached AI experimentation via “shadow projects”

10:54 – Testing AI-created assets alongside human work

13:20 – How talent profiles are changing with AI

19:00 – Where AI is most disruptive: video production

22:00 – Live demo: from brief to hundreds of personalized assets

32:00 – In-tool editing and automation directly in Figma

36:00 – Image-to-video transformation with Runway

41:00 – What’s next for Superside and the creative industry

46:30 – Final thoughts: what Fredrik and Phil are most excited about

TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES MENTIONED:

DALL·E – AI image generation

MidJourney – Creative image ideation

Stable Diffusion – Open-source image gen

ChatGPT / GPT-3.5+ – Prompt writing and copy support

Figma – Design collaboration with custom AI plugins

Runway ML – AI video generation

Zapier – Workflow automation

Superspace – Superside’s internal platform

Foul – Model inference layer

Node-based AI orchestration – For prompt chaining and bulk generation

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In episode 5 of This New Way, Aydin sits down with Liam Martin, co-founder of Time Doctor and Running Remote, to explore how AI is reshaping team productivity, SaaS economics, and the future of work. Liam shares how his team replaced $40K/year worth of employee engagement software with open-source AI tools — and how their internal R&D lab, Chainsaw, is building the future of workforce analytics.

You’ll hear how Time Doctor uses AI to reclassify productivity metrics by job role, how AI has changed their approach to product-market fit, and why they’re betting on proprietary agents as the next evolution of workplace tools. Liam also shares his personal tech stack, insights on open-source AI models like DeepSeek, and how he's replacing Google with LLMs in his day-to-day workflow.

You’ll walk away with practical ideas for how to reduce SaaS spend, empower your R&D teams, and get ahead of AI's disruptive force in remote work and beyond.

Click here to check out the AI-generated timestamps, episode summary and transcript.

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Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and share the episode with someone who will benefit from listening.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:36 Liam’s McGill story and how he accidentally left academia

02:45 The early days of remote work and building Time Doctor

05:57 What Time Doctor actually does (and how AI is changing it)

08:08 How AI reclassified productivity by job type

11:03 Could product-market fit collapse due to AI?

13:44 Building the Chainsaw team

20:02 Replacing Google with LLMs

24:35 Why proprietary AIs might need to be “pushy,” not polite

28:03 Don’t wait for economics — just solve the problem

29:45 What’s coming next in the AI cost curve

35:58 GPT customizes slide decks based on personality types

39:07 Build complex no-code apps with just a prompt using Lovable

43:46 Engineers may be more disrupted by AI than customer service

TOOLS & RESOURCES MENTIONED

AI Tools & Models

DeepSeek OCR → replaced paid OCR tools, cutting costs by 90%

Do Browser (Chrome extension) → automates browser actions like a human

LM Studio → runs open-source LLMs like DeepSeek and Claude locally

Claude (Anthropic) → used for AI-based task delegation

OpenAI GPT-4 / Operators → tested against open-source alternatives

Internal Innovation & AI Systems

Chainsaw R&D Team → focused on building from scratch, not optimizing

Workforce Analytics with AI → redefining productivity dynamically by role

AI-driven feature decisions → testing new models before looking at ROI

OCR Video Analysis → used to assess best vs worst execution of tasks

Philosophies & Frameworks

“Build a chainsaw, not a sharper axe” → rethink, don’t just improve

“Solve one customer’s problem perfectly” → from Y Combinator playbook

Personal AI-first workflows → replacing search with LLMs

Subscribe at ⁠www.thisnewway.com⁠ to get the step-by-step playbooks, tools, and workflows.

In episode 4 of This New Way, Aydin sits down with Andrew Waitman, CEO of Assent, to explore how a billion-dollar B2B SaaS company is transforming operations, product development, and team productivity with AI. Andrew shares how Assent went from under $1M to nearly $200M ARR, became one of the earliest adopters of GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT Enterprise, and how they now embed AI-driven OKRs across every team.

You’ll hear real use cases: from summarizing messy trip reports, generating synthetic bills of materials for secure testing, and accelerating supplier document reviews — to measuring impact on productivity and profitability. Andrew also offers actionable insights on how to drive AI adoption across teams, how CEOs should personally lead the AI charge, and which tools he uses daily to stay ahead.

You’ll walk away knowing how to start small, scale fast, and turn AI into a measurable force multiplier across your org.

⁠⁠Click here⁠⁠ to check out the AI-generated timestamps, episode summary and transcript.

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Like this episode? Be sure to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review and share the episode with someone who will benefit from listening.

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:35 Andrew’s background and Assent’s growth journey

02:37 The scale: 18,000 suppliers, 200 compliance topics

05:07 The post-ChatGPT transformation and Vista Equity OKRs

06:09 Early adoption of GitHub Copilot & ChatGPT Enterprise

08:51 Trip report improvements using AI synthesis

09:35 Generating synthetic bills of materials for safe testing

12:26 Where AI drives efficiency: entity resolution, part matching, document validation

13:12 Measuring AI’s impact: productivity, quality, and profitability

17:32 Expanding customer success capacity without adding headcount

20:37 How to drive company-wide AI adoption (hackathons, Slack, evangelists)

24:10 Andrew’s personal AI workflows & deep research routines

TOOLS & RESOURCES MENTIONED:

AI Tools & Platforms

• GitHub Copilot (Microsoft) → adopted early for engineering

• ChatGPT (OpenAI, including Enterprise license) → used across teams for synthesis, rewriting, summarization

• Perplexity AI (Pro) → used for deep research reports
  

Internal AI Use Cases & Systems

• Synthetic bills of materials → generated using AI to safely test software without exposing sensitive customer data

• Automated document review → handling millions of supplier documents for compliance

• Entity resolution → using AI to match the right supplier or part across massive datasets

• Part resolution & document validation → automating complex checks in the supply chain
  

Company-Wide AI Adoption Tools & Methods

• OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) → embedded AI goals at company, team, and functional levels

• AI hackathons → internal competitions to inspire creative use cases

• Slack channels → for sharing, evangelizing, and discussing AI applications internally
  

Personal CEO Tools & Workflows

• Perplexity deep research → running 12–15 deep research reports per day

• AI summarization & rewriting → e.g., turning multi-page trip reports into professional one-page summaries

Subscribe at Thisnewway.com to get the step-by-step AI workflows.

In episode 3 of This New Way, Aydin sits down with Philippe Dame, CPO of Recollective, to unpack how AI is transforming qualitative market-research, sales operations, internal knowledge-sharing, and day-to-day productivity.Phil walks through the product pivot that turned Recollective’s vast unstructured data into an “AI-first” insights engine, then demos a stack of no-code automations — from AI-powered lead scoring in Google Sheets to a self-serve Vertex AI search that makes every doc, deck, and Gong call instantly searchable.You’ll hear concrete play-by-plays, see cost breakdowns , and learn how to start small, scale fast, and turn AI into a force-multiplier across your org.

Timestamps:

00:35 Phil’s background and early web-tool days

01:44 Pivot to Recollective and focus on market-research tech03:18 Why hybrid qual + quant research matters

03:58 Unstructured data → perfect AI playground

04:50 “Roadmap reset” after ChatGPT pressure

06:00 How the team up-skilled on LLMs & vector DBs

08:12 First AI features: summarization → theme extraction → comparisons

09:05 Making space for AI work without derailing commitments

10:10 Company-wide AI wins: sales data mining & lead scoring

13:08 Relay + Google Sheets workflow for automated enrichment

16:18 Running internal “AI office hours” to drive adoption

17:05 Staying current: newsletters, trials, and cost control

20:25 Seat-based vs. usage-based pricing—Phil’s take

23:04 Perplexity as Phil’s go-to research sidekick

24:50 Cutting the “collaboration tax” with self-serve AI answers

27:24 Live demo: Recollective’s Ask-AI tab & verbatim citations

31:28 Segment @mentions for instant comparative analysis

37:04 Emotion tagging and drilling into negative feedback

38:30 Building an internal Vertex-AI search in one afternoon

42:23 Agent Builder setup walkthrough

44:34 Relay use-cases: lead workflows, news scraping, stand-up bot

53:23 n8n migrations: 4,000 Gong calls plus on-the-fly analysis

56:30 OpenAI Playground & Notebook LM for ad-hoc knowledgebases

1:02:20 Google AI Studio multimodal experiments (free)

1:04:04 Start simple—one use-case, one stakeholder, iterate

Tools & Resources Mentioned:

AI / LLMs & Model-Playgrounds

• ChatGPT (OpenAI)
• OpenAI Platform & Playground
• Claude (Anthropic)
• Perplexity Pro- Google Gemini (Workspace)
• Google AI Studio

KnowledgeBase & Search

• Vertex AI Agent Builder / Search (Google Cloud)
• Notebook LM (Google)
• Internal Vertex-powered “ask-AI” portal

Automation & Workflows

• Relay (no-code workflow tool with AI steps)
• Zapier (reference point)
• n8n (open-source automation + AI agents)

Data, CRM & Sales Enablement

• Google Sheets
• Salesforce
• Outreach
• Gong (call recordings)

Collaboration & Productivity

• Slack (AI channel, human-in-the-loop flows)
• Notion (company intranet)
• Google Drive & Google Calendar
• RSS feeds + custom “Article Extractor” scraper

Core Product

• Recollective (Phil’s qualitative-research platform with built-in AI features)

Developer / Engineering Utilities

• Cursor IDE (AI-assisted coding, briefly cited)