From Google SRE to AI-Powered Solopreneur

Automate the 80%. Keep the 20% That Makes It Yours.Automate the 80%. Keep the 20% That Makes It Yours.

What if the biggest barrier to AI adoption isn't the technology, it's trust? Cien Solon has been on both sides. As a product leader in fintech, she built AI-powered decisioning systems for fraud, credit, and onboarding that served 7 million customers. Now, as CEO of LaunchLemonade.app, she's building a platform where anyone can launch an AI agent business. In this conversation, she breaks down what happened when her team hyper-automated everything, why you should always do it manually first, and her vision for a future where you're not going to be an employee -- you're going to be a business. Chapters * 00:00 Introduction to Cien Solon * 00:43 Welcome and the Automate Yourself Philosophy * 01:34 From Digital Transformation to Fintech Product Leadership * 03:11 When AI First Changed the Game: The 2018 Chatbot * 05:05 When ChatGPT Hit: Kitchen Hackathons and Building Mode * 07:21 First Thing She Automated: Epics and User Stories * 08:38 "I'm Going to Be Out of My Job" -- and What Came Next * 10:09 The Hyper-Automation Mistake * 12:30 Playbooks First, Automation Second * 13:04 Three Obstacles to AI Adoption: Trust, Price, and Risk * 16:09 Security Risks, Prompt Injections, and Mitigation * 17:53 Advice for Getting Started * 19:30 What Launch Lemonade Is Building * 20:26 "You're Not Going to Be an Employee. You're Going to Be a Business." Keywords AI adoption, trust in AI, fintech AI, product leadership, hyper-automation, AI literacy, non-technical builders, AI agent business, Launch Lemonade, automation strategy, digital transformation, Techstars, chatbot, decisioning systems FIND ME ONLINE * LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate [http://linktr.ee/chillaborate] * Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com [http://newsletter.chillaborate.com/] * Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast [http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast] * X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate [https://x.com/chillaborate] * LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs [http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs] * Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate [http://instagram.com/chillaborate] * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate [https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate] FIND CIEN ONLINE * Launch Lemonade: https://launchlemonade.app [https://launchlemonade.app/] * Substack: https://launchlemonade.substack.com [https://launchlemonade.substack.com] * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciensolon/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciensolon/]

"I Have an Idea and I Just Go Do It." She Built 20 AI Agents to Automate Her PhD.

What happens when a leadership development consultant who's never written code decides to automate her entire PhD? Nathalie Salles spent her career in human development at Facebook and Google, coaching leaders and scaling talent programs. Now she's doing a PhD on AI, workplace, and gender, and somewhere along the way, she became a builder. She taught herself n8n, built a pipeline to process over 1,500 research papers, and started creating AI agents for her coaching clients. In this conversation, she shares what human-AI collaboration actually looks like when you're learning it from scratch, why the software engineers were impressed, and how she's using AI to give power back to the people who need it most. Chapters * 00:00 Introduction to Nathalie Salles * 00:33 Three Careers in One: Human Development to AI Research * 01:33 When AI First Caught Her Attention at Facebook * 03:09 Finding Her Tribe in Responsible AI * 03:42 Automating a PhD: 1,500 Papers and Counting * 05:23 Cognitive Load and the AI Highway * 05:36 Building the Literature Review Pipeline with n8n * 07:34 A Non-Techie All the Way Through * 08:15 When Software Engineers Said Her Results Were Better * 09:05 What Good AI Collaboration Looks Like * 10:43 Leading the Collaboration: Setting Boundaries with AI * 12:25 Building AI Agents for the HR Space * 13:00 Creating a Team of 15-20 AI HR Specialists * 15:06 Coaching Leaders with AI Mirrors * 17:33 Giving Power to People Through AI * 18:10 Advice for Getting Started with AI * 19:59 Identity in the Age of AI * 21:27 What She Would Automate: Finding Her Tribe * 22:52 Outro: Diving In Instead of Running Away Keywords AI PhD research, human-AI collaboration, leadership development, talent development, HR AI agents, n8n automation, non-technical AI builder, performance management, gender equity AI, cognitive load, career reinvention, coaching with AI FIND ME ONLINE * LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate [http://linktr.ee/chillaborate] * Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com [http://newsletter.chillaborate.com/] * Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast [http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast] * X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate [https://x.com/chillaborate] * LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs [http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs] * Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate [http://instagram.com/chillaborate] * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate [https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate] FIND NATHALIE ONLINE * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaliesalles/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaliesalles/]

This CPO Left a 20-Year Career to Bet on Herself. Here's What She Learned.

What does a 20-year CPO who walked away from the corporate track actually look like on the other side? Elena Luneva spent two decades leading product at Nextdoor, OpenTable, BrainTrust, and BlackRock, and then decided to bet on herself. In this conversation, she breaks down how a "no more hiring" mandate forced her team to get creative with AI, why 60% of managers are stuck rehashing information instead of making decisions, and what she wishes someone had told her about going solo: the product is you, and the go-to-market is the hardest part. Chapters * 00:00 Introduction to Elena Luneva * 00:40 Elena's 20-Year Product Leadership Journey * 02:29 Life as a Product Leader Across Industries * 04:09 When AI First Changed the Game * 07:25 Constraints Breed Creativity * 08:46 60% of Your Day Is Meetings (and How AI Fixes That) * 12:05 Going Independent After 20 Years * 15:09 Self-Awareness in the Age of AI * 15:42 AI Is a Packaging Tool, Not a Thinking Tool * 18:05 The "Three Weeks to 20 Minutes" Moment * 18:52 The Hardest Part of Going Solo * 21:44 Building Is Easy Now. Go-to-Market Is the Hard Part * 24:29 What's Next for Elena * 26:14 Advice: You're the Director of Your Own Movie * 28:46 Where to Find Elena Keywords CPO career change, product leadership, going independent, solopreneur, AI for executives, AI communication, career reinvention, product management, go-to-market strategy, automation, Maven courses FIND ME ONLINE * LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate [http://linktr.ee/chillaborate] * Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com [http://newsletter.chillaborate.com/] * Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast [http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast] * X/Twitter: https://x.com/chillaborate [https://x.com/chillaborate] * LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs [http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs] * Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate [http://instagram.com/chillaborate] * TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate [https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate] FIND ELENA ONLINE * Substack: https://elenasletters.substack.com [https://elenasletters.substack.com/] * Maven: https://elenaluneva.maven.com [https://elenaluneva.maven.com/] * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaluneva [https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaluneva]

From Google SRE to AI-Powered Solopreneur

In this episode of the Automate Yourself podcast, Dina Levitan and Yves Junqueira, founder of Pipeboard and former Google SRE, explore the transformative power of automation in business. They discuss how automation can empower solopreneurs to do more and more with AI, and Yves shares insights from his journey in building AI tools. The conversation delves into how to integrate best practices into automation and the potential for AI to redefine career opportunities. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Yves Junqueira and His Journey 03:24 The Role of Automation at Google 06:02 Transitioning to AI-Driven Marketing 09:07 Empowering Solopreneurs with AI 15:06 Best Practices in Automation 16:18 Building AI Solutions for Business Needs 18:53 Final Thoughts and Future Directions Keywords AI, automation, solopreneurs, marketing, career transformation, Google SRE, Pipeboard, innovation, technology FIND ME ONLINE LinkTree:     http://linktr.ee/chillaborate Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com Podcast:      http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast X/Twitter:    http://x.com/@chillaborate LinkedIn:      http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs Instagram:   http://instagram.com/chillaborate TikTok:         https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate FIND YVES ONLINE LinkedIn:       https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvesjunqueira  Website:        http://pipeboard.co

Scale Yourself with AI Employees: How One CEO Multiplied His Impact with 40+ AI Agents

In this episode of the Automate Yourself podcast, Dina Levitan and Jacob Bank, CEO of relay.app , discuss the transformative potential of AI and automation in the workplace. They discuss how individuals can leverage these technologies to enhance productivity, redefine their careers, and focus on higher-impact work. Jacob shares insights from his journey in building AI tools, emphasizing the importance of understanding the unique capabilities of AI employees compared to human workers. The discussion also touches on the evolving landscape of job security, the necessity of human skills in an AI-driven world, and the proactive steps individuals can take to adapt to these changes. Chapters * 00:00 Introduction to Jacob Bank and His Journey * 03:24 The Evolution of Productivity Tools * 06:02 The Role of AI in Workflows * 09:07 AI Agents and Their Impact on Small Businesses * 11:49 Understanding AI Employees vs Human Employees * 15:06 The Future of Work and Human Skills * 16:18 Navigating the AI Landscape * 18:53 Building AI Solutions for Business Needs * 21:43 Final Thoughts and Future Directions Keywords AI, automation, productivity, career evolution, future of work, human skills, job security, AI tools, innovation, technology FIND ME ONLINE LinkTree: http://linktr.ee/chillaborate Newsletter: http://newsletter.chillaborate.com Podcast: http://bit.ly/automate-yourself-podcast X/Twitter: http://x.com/@chillaborate LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/company/chill-labs Instagram: http://instagram.com/chillaborate TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chillaborate FIND JACOB ONLINE LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobbank YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@relayapp