Tech Talks Daily

*]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-(--header-height)" dir="auto" tabindex="-1" data-turn-id= "b1254d76-9782-4038-9aa8-382a2395255e" data-testid= "conversation-turn-13" data-scroll-anchor="false" data-turn="user"> *]:pointer-events-auto scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" tabindex="-1" data-turn-id= "80196f3d-a0ce-44b9-917e-9b4df5d25b93" data-testid= "conversation-turn-14" data-scroll-anchor="true" data-turn= "assistant"> Why do small business leaders keep buying more software yet still feel like they are drowning in logins, dashboards, and unfinished work? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sit down with Jesse Lipson, founder and CEO of Levitate, to unpack a frustration I hear from business owners almost daily. After years of being pitched yet another tool, many leaders now spend hours each week troubleshooting software instead of serving customers. Jesse brings a grounded perspective shaped by decades of building SaaS companies, including bootstrapping ShareFile before its acquisition by Citrix, and what stood out to me immediately was how clearly he articulates where the current software model has broken down for small businesses. We talk about why adding more apps has not translated into better outcomes, especially for teams without dedicated specialists in marketing, finance, or sales. Jesse explains how traditional software often solves only part of the problem, leaving owners to become accidental experts in accounting, marketing strategy, or customer communications just to make the tools usable. From there, our conversation shifts toward what he believes will actually matter as AI adoption matures. Rather than chasing full automation or shiny new dashboards, Jesse argues that the real opportunity lies in blending intelligence with human guidance, allowing AI to work quietly behind the scenes while people remain the face of authentic relationships. A big part of our discussion centers on trust and connection in an AI-saturated world. Jesse shares why customers have become incredibly good at spotting automated communication and why relationship-based businesses cannot afford to lose the human element. We explore how AI can act as a second brain, helping business owners remember details, follow up at the right moments, and show up more thoughtfully, without crossing the line into impersonal automation that turns customers away. His examples, from marketing emails to customer support, make it clear that technology should support better relationships rather than replace them. We also look ahead to what small businesses should realistically focus on as AI evolves. Jesse offers practical guidance on getting started, from everyday use of conversational AI, to building internal documentation that allows systems to work more effectively, and eventually moving toward agent-based workflows that can take on real operational tasks. Throughout the conversation, he keeps returning to the same idea, that AI works best when it helps people become the kind of business leaders they already want to be, more present, more consistent, and more human. If you are a founder, operator, or small business leader feeling overwhelmed by tools that promise productivity but deliver friction, this episode offers a refreshing reset. As AI becomes more capable and more embedded in daily work, the real question is not how many systems you deploy, but whether they help you build stronger, more genuine relationships, so how are you choosing to use AI to support the human side of your business rather than bury it? Useful Links Connect with Jesse Lipson Connect with Jesse on X Learn more about Levitate

What happens when power, rather than compute, becomes the limiting factor for AI, robotics, and industrial automation? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I'm joined by Ramesh Narasimhan from Nyobolt to unpack a challenge that is quietly reshaping modern infrastructure. As AI training and inference workloads grow more dynamic, power demand is no longer predictable or steady. It can spike and drop in milliseconds, creating stress on systems that were never designed for this level of volatility. We talk about why data center operators, automation leaders, and industrial firms are being forced to rethink how energy is delivered, managed, and scaled. Our conversation moves beyond AI headlines and into the less visible constraints holding progress back. Ramesh explains how automation growth, particularly in robotics and autonomous mobile robot fleets, has exposed hidden inefficiencies. Charging downtime, thermal limits, and oversized systems are eroding productivity in warehouses and factories that aim to run around the clock. Instead of expanding physical footprints or adding redundant capacity, many operators are questioning whether the energy layer itself has become outdated. One of the themes that stood out for me is how energy has shifted from a background utility to a board-level concern. Power density, resilience, and cycle life are now discussed with the same urgency as compute performance or sensor accuracy. Ramesh shares why executives across logistics, automotive, advanced manufacturing, and AI infrastructure are starting to see energy strategy as a direct driver of uptime, cost control, and competitive advantage. We also explore the industry-wide push toward high-power, high-uptime operations. As businesses demand systems that can stay online continuously, the pressure is on energy technologies to respond faster, charge quicker, and occupy less space. This raises difficult questions about oversizing infrastructure for rare peak loads versus designing smarter systems that can flex in real time without waste. If you are building or operating AI clusters, robotics platforms, or industrial automation at scale, this episode offers a clear-eyed look at why energy systems may be the next major bottleneck and opportunity. As power becomes inseparable from performance, how ready is your organization to treat energy as a strategic asset rather than an afterthought?

Sonali Shah, CEO of Cobalt and cybersecurity veteran across finance, engineering, product and strategy, discusses how AI is speeding up reconnaissance and exploitation. She highlights findings from Cobalt’s State of Pentesting on remediation times, low closure rates, and why large enterprises lag. The conversation centers on continuous, human-validated testing, risks in generative AI and LLMs, and practical steps to reduce programmatic risk.

Sina Yamani, founder and CEO of Action Model who builds community-owned autonomous AI, discusses Large Action Models that learn to navigate screens and perform real online workflows. The conversation covers who captures value as AI automates work. It explores Action Model’s contributor-driven training, ActionFi’s outcome-based rewards, and the tradeoffs around privacy, security, and job displacement.

John Higgins, Chief of Client and Partner Success at Pegasystems, helps clients modernize complex systems. Dan Kasun, Head of Global Partner Ecosystem, builds partner strategies and marketplaces. They discuss AI-driven Blueprint that speeds discovery, how AWS collaboration accelerates modernization, why reimagining workflows beats wrap-and-renew, and how partner economics and marketplaces are reshaping delivery.

Simon Pettit, Area VP for the UK & Ireland at UiPath with a Royal Navy start and long NetApp tenure, talks practical AI at scale. He covers why the region matters, why many projects stall in pilot mode, real automation wins that reached production, the rise of agentic AI and risks of agent sprawl, and why ecosystems and partnerships will shape enterprise AI success.

Dr. Rebecca Swift, Senior Vice President of Creative at Getty Images, leads global teams shaping how visual culture is produced and trusted. She explains “AI sloppification” and why mass-produced visuals dilute brand meaning. Listens explore audience demands for transparency, risks from training data and legal exposure, and why authentic photography and consented datasets still matter.

Joshua Altman, founder of beltway.media and fractional chief communications officer, helps organizations simplify and align their messaging. He explains the CCO role in shaping perception, trust, and consistent storytelling. Conversations cover why simplicity beats overcommunication, taming tool and AI-driven noise, practical AI use for research, and cutting tool sprawl to regain time and alignment.

Zubair Magrey, co-founder and CEO of Ergodic and former aerospace engineer, builds world-model AI for enterprise decisions. He explains structured simulations that model cause and effect. He contrasts pattern-matching ML with physics-aware models that respect capacity and time. He walks through supply-chain and manufacturing scenarios and discusses practical adoption and ROI.

Ondřej Chrastina, a developer relations pro with roots in QA and development, shares his journey across CMS and data platforms. He discusses supporting diverse developer personas, why showing working examples builds trust, the hidden importance of CKEditor inside many products, HTML editing complexities, and the value of long-term maintenance and integrator-focused support.