Think AI Podcast

Grow Without Sacrifice | Ep. 9

🎙️ Grow Without Sacrifice This is an episode about three things that looked unrelated and turned out to be the same thing: a composer, a hand bike, and an AI workforce. If you have ever felt like the business you built was the thing standing between you and the life you actually wanted, this one is for you. By the end, I'll show you how an AI workforce gave me back my Saturdays, my hobby, and my today. In this episode: 00:00 The dark monitor moment that changed everything 03:30 Why sacrifice doesn't bill you in hours 05:30 The composer who stopped trying to play every instrument 08:30 The Kishore Kumar song that reframed why I build AI 10:30 AI as a cognitive prosthetic for the founders no one talks to 15:00 Meet the AI team: Maya, Morgan, Sasha, Owen, Felix, Harper, Theo 21:30 The hand bike: the real proof 25:00 Where to start in your next 90 days If this episode lands for you, pick the one role you would hire first, write a one-page job description, and send it to me on LinkedIn. I'll tell you if it's the right place to start. 🔗 Links & Resources LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/davegoyal/ [https://linkedin.com/in/davegoyal/] Grow Without Sacrifice (Pilot Program): https://growwithoutsacrifice.com/ [https://growwithoutsacrifice.com/] Think AI Consulting: https://thinkaicorp.com/ [https://thinkaicorp.com/] #GrowWithoutSacrifice #AIWorkforce #SoloEntrepreneur #DisabledFounder #DataAIStudio

Why 90% of Manufacturing POCs Die | Ep. 8 with Naresh Mehta

🎙️ Why 90% of Manufacturing POCs Die with Naresh Mehta After 20+ years building enterprise tech for global manufacturers across India, Mexico, and the US, Naresh Mehta has lived through every wave from Excel dashboards to digital twins to agentic AI to physical AI. In this conversation, he gets blunt about why most manufacturing AI projects never make it to production, names a brand new trap nobody is talking about (intelligence silos), and walks through two real deployments that prove what works when you stop chasing the model and start respecting the plumbing. We get into a real agentic AI build that automated 65% of supplier risk monitoring at an industrial conglomerate (200+ risk parameters, 8 multi-agent workflows, 20+ back office roles redeployed instead of fired), an auto OEM physical AI build that cut defect rates 25 to 30% by shifting inspection left with situationally aware robots, where quantum actually fits before manufacturing leaders even start asking, why every enterprise needs an AI control plane (and why the database-deletion horror stories happen without one), and what to tell the AI curious, the AI enthusiast, and the AI skeptic. In this episode: 00:00 Cold open 00:17 Welcome to Think AI Podcast 01:24 Meet Naresh: 20+ years across India, Mexico, US 02:00 The inflection point: when AI moved from read about to ship on 04:30 Pace of innovation vs. pace of adoption 07:03 The POC mindset that kills 90% of pilots 10:00 Data silos. Org silos. Now intelligence silos. 10:30 AI is 5%. The plumbing is 95%. 13:42 Real win #1: 65% supplier risk automation, 20+ roles redeployed 17:30 Real win #2: Auto OEM physical AI cuts defects 25 to 30% 22:28 AI meets quantum: why manufacturing should care now 30:19 The AI control plane: business outcomes + trust outcomes 34:00 The agent that deleted the database 35:57 Known patterns vs unknown patterns: the real implementation gap 39:14 What surprised me. What stayed boringly true. 46:01 Four things every manufacturer starting today must do 49:54 The cake analogy: build the slice first 50:58 Advice to your early 2000s self 53:09 Dave on building from a different lens (disabled, dyslexic) 54:45 Naresh's 10-year-old kid published a coloring book on Kindle 57:41 One message each: AI curious, AI enthusiast, AI skeptic 1:00:43 The unsolved problem: AI optimization for live video 1:02:36 Take one idea and turn it into action If you lead a plant, a network of plants, or any operation where AI has to survive shift three at 2am, this one is for you. Subscribe for weekly conversations on what AI is actually delivering for manufacturers and healthcare. Drop a comment on which silo (data, org, or intelligence) is biting you hardest right now. --- 🔗 Links & Resources - Naresh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naresh-mehta-53b1b437/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/naresh-mehta-53b1b437/] - Think AI Consulting: https://thinkaicorp.com [https://thinkaicorp.com] - Dave on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/davegoyal/ [https://linkedin.com/in/davegoyal/] #ManufacturingAI #AgenticAI #AIStrategy #DigitalTransformation #ThinkAIPodcast

The Long Arc of Data and AI | Ep. 7 with Reza Rad (RADACAD)

The Long Arc of Data and AI with Reza Rad Reza Rad has watched every Microsoft data platform turn since SQL Server. 15-time MVP. Founder of RADACAD. Author of seven books. 10 million YouTube views. In this episode he tells Dave Goyal exactly which workforce AI is replacing, why your Copilot output is only as good as your star schema, and what a 22-year-old should spend the next two years learning if they want to survive the next decade. In this episode: 00:00 Cold open: Who AI is actually replacing 00:34 Welcome and intro 01:48 What has actually changed and what has not in the AI era 07:52 Why Copilot in Power BI fails on a bad data model 10:39 The CFO who got the right Q3 number from stale data 14:59 Why AI is replacing juniors, not seniors 16:02 Real Fabric and AI customer outcomes 20:39 Governance, F-SKUs, and the iceberg under every AI investment 24:49 Mindset, energy, and surviving 20 years of platform turns 29:36 What Reza would tell a 22-year-old today 34:18 Power BI and Fabric Summit and why virtual beats in-person 37:55 Music, pattern, and improvising inside structure 42:13 What kept the content engine running for a decade 44:01 One thing AI-curious, AI-enthusiast, and AI-skeptic should each learn this quarter 47:02 New Zealand vs US adoption curves 49:22 Closing word If this conversation helped you frame your own Power BI, Fabric, or AI strategy, share it with one teammate wrestling with the same questions. Subscribe for weekly conversations on building real AI in real companies. --- 🔗 Links and Resources RADACAD Academy: https://radacad.com [https://radacad.com] Reza on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rezarad/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rezarad/] Reza's books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QOdC4I [https://amzn.to/3QOdC4I] Power BI and Fabric Summit: https://globalpowerbisummit.com/ [https://globalpowerbisummit.com/] Think AI Podcast: https://bit.ly/ThinkAIPodcast [https://bit.ly/ThinkAIPodcast] #PowerBI #MicrosoftFabric #DataAndAI #Copilot #RADACAD

Compliance, Music & AI | Ep. 6 with Nilesh Maheshwari (Yuktra AI)

What do music and regulated manufacturing AI have in common? More than you'd think. Nilesh Maheshwari, founder of Emorphis, Emorphis Health, and Yuktra AI, joins Dave Goyal to unpack why the hardest places to deploy AI (pharma, healthcare, regulated plants) demand faithfulness over cleverness — and why structure and freedom aren't opposites. In this episode: 00:00 Why a "knowledge thread" beats a database on the shop floor 04:17 The real pain signal that built Yuktra (hint: it wasn't "we want AI") 07:08 Guardrails for regulated AI — why clever LLMs are dangerous 10:34 The plant-worker pushback that killed fancy AI answers 13:23 Music, discipline, and how structure creates freedom 18:54 What most US founders get wrong building with India teams 21:07 Why there's no such thing as a "best product" 29:22 Curious, enthusiast, or skeptic? Nilesh's take on AI If you lead a plant, hospital, lab, or any regulated environment and you're wondering where AI actually fits — this one's for you. 👉 Subscribe for more conversations on Data, AI, and the humans behind the systems. 💬 Drop a comment: Are you AI curious, enthusiast, or skeptic? --- 🔗 Links & Resources - Yuktra AI: https://yuktra.ai [https://yuktra.ai] - Emorphis Health: https://emorphis.health [https://emorphis.health/] - Nilesh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nileshmaheshwari/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nileshmaheshwari/] - Dave on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegoyal/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/davegoyal/] #ThinkAIPodcast #RegulatedAI #ManufacturingAI #PharmaAI #FounderConversations

Data Before AI | Ep. 5 with Alex Ryals (MicroAge)

What happens when a cybersecurity leader who has sat on every side of the tech table — customer, reseller, distributor, and vendor — decides the future belongs to AI? Alex Ryals, CISO and SVP at MicroAge (celebrating 50 years!), breaks down why most companies are getting AI security dangerously wrong, and what to do before you flip the switch on Copilot or any AI tool. In this episode: 00:05 — Intro: Alex's rare career journey across all four sides of the tech channel 03:47 — Why Alex traded global scale at TD SYNNEX for a smaller, more impactful role 10:53 — As a CISO, how do you balance "move fast" with "stay safe"? 14:02 — Shadow AI: the silent risk happening in your company right now 18:46 — Building a Copilot sales assistant and using AI avatars on YouTube 22:34 — Humanoid robotics, skills marketplaces, and where IT partners fit in 25:51 — MicroAge at 50: bankruptcy, reinvention, and lessons for every tech company 29:53 — Octum.ai [http://Octum.ai]: why data hygiene comes before any AI investment 33:30 — First move for leaders who don't know where to start with AI If you're a business leader sitting on the fence about AI, this episode will either push you off or hand you a map. Like, subscribe, and drop your biggest AI security question in the comments. 🔗 Links & Resources [MicroAge YouTube Channel] — Search "MicroAge" on YouTube [Cybersecurity Deciphered] — Alex's personal channel: youtube.com/CybersecurityDecyphered [http://youtube.com/CybersecurityDecyphered] [Think AI Consulting] — thinkaicorp.com [http://thinkaicorp.com] Dave Goyal - davegoyal.com [http://davegoyal.com] [Add additional links here] AIGOVERNANCE #CYBERSECURITYAI #MICROAGE #THINKAIPODCAST #AILEADERSHIP