Shows / The Tech Trek
The Tech Trek
The Tech Trek is a podcast about how founders, operators, and technology leaders build and scale technology companies. Each episode explores the decisions behind building products, teams, and technical organizations, with conversations spanning engineering, AI, data, product, hiring, leadership, and growth. Guests share what they are building, what they are learning, and how they are navigating the challenges that come with turning technology into a successful company.
Episodes
The Tech TrekEnterprise AI Adoption in 2025: What Actually Works
Matt McLarty, CTO at Boomi, joins the show to break down what enterprise AI adoption really looks like in 2025. From navigating the hype cycle to identifying…
The Tech TrekWhy Data Quality Is So Hard to Get Right
Vipin Kumar, Head of CUSO IB Data Strategy and Analytics at Deutsche Bank, joins me to unpack one of the toughest problems in financial services: managing data…
The Tech TrekHistory Always Repeats in Tech
Marty Ringlein, co-founder and CEO of Agree.com, joins Amir to unpack why history always repeats itself in technology and what that means for the AI era. From…
The Tech TrekHow Engineers Can Build Influence Without a Leadership Title
Simon Lam, VP of Engineering at M1, joins the show to unpack one of the trickiest topics in tech careers: how engineers can build influence without a formal…
The Tech TrekThe Future of Autonomous Trucking
CJ King, CTO at Torc Robotics, joins the show to talk about the future of autonomous trucking at scale. Instead of asking “can we build one self-driving…
The Tech TrekAI Labs Are Reinventing Science Forever
Joseph Krause, co-founder and CEO of Radical AI, joins the show to break down how scientific discovery is being reinvented. From the limitations of the…
The Tech TrekThe Hardest Part of Tech Leadership
John Fiedler, SVP of Engineering and CISO at Ironclad, joins the show to unpack the real challenges of technology leadership. From managing nonstop context…
The Tech TrekFrom POC to Production: Enterprise Agents Explained
Alex Salazar, co-founder and CEO of Arcade.dev, joins the show to unpack the realities of building enterprise agents. Conceptually simple but technically hard…
The Tech TrekThe Future of Voice AI
Russ d’Sa, founder and CEO of LiveKit, joins the show to unpack the rise of voice AI and what it means for how we interact with technology. From the shift away…
The Tech TrekFrom Prototype to Production
Sumit Arora, VP of Advanced Technology at Ascend Learning, joins the show to unpack the real challenges of turning AI prototypes into production-ready systems…
The Tech TrekFrom Sales Leader to Startup CEO
Sean McCarthy, co-founder and CEO of BackOps, shares how a career in sales prepared him to build an AI-driven logistics company from the ground up. In this…
The Tech TrekAI Is a Journey, Not a Destination
Dmitri Sedov, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Allvue, joins to explore why transformation isn’t a destination but an ongoing journey. He shares how…
The Tech TrekCan Tech Make Work Feel Less Like Work?
What if the key to real work-life balance isn’t about escaping work, but transforming it into your outlet for curiosity and passion? In this episode, Hassaan…
The Tech TrekEvolving as a Founder
Dane Atkinson, CEO and founder of Odeko, joins the show to unpack the reality of evolving as a founder. He shares why the first idea you start with rarely…
The Tech TrekA Day in the Life of a Startup CTO
What does a day in the life of a startup CTO really look like? Mo El Mahallawy, CTO and co-founder of Shepherd, shares the unfiltered journey from being…
The Tech TrekScaling Without a Roadmap in Fast-Moving Markets
What does it take to build a startup in a space where the ground shifts every 90 days? Rahul Sonwalkar, founder and CEO of Julius AI, joins the show to share…
The Tech TrekHow Tech Is Transforming Elderly Care
Matt Lynch, CTO and co-founder of Sage, joins the show to share how his team is using modern technology to transform elderly care. From rethinking outdated…
The Tech TrekShould Startups Stay in Stealth?
What does it really mean to build in stealth—and when does it help or hurt? In this episode, Amir sits down with Yoni Michael, co-founder of Typedef, an AI…
The Tech TrekWhere Software Meets Hardware
Simone Kalmakis, VP of Engineering at Viam, joins the show to share what it takes to lead teams that bridge hardware and software in the robotics space. With a…
The Tech TrekWhat “Data-Driven” Really Means
What does it really mean to be data-driven? Mark Gergess, VP of Data and BI at DoubleVerify, joins the show to unpack how data teams can go beyond dashboards…
The Tech TrekHow Gen Z Leaders Think Differently
Teddy Solomon, co-founder and CEO of Fizz, joins the show to share his journey from Stanford dropout to leading one of the fastest-growing Gen Z social…
The Tech TrekAI vs Human Nature: The Security Dilemma
Desiree Lee, one of the Business CTOs at Armis, joins Amir to unpack one of the toughest realities in cybersecurity: the biggest risks aren’t always technical…
The Tech TrekThe New Rules of Mobile Development
Chris Ghanbarzadeh, Senior Director of Engineering at Game Changer, joins the show to unpack the shifting landscape of mobile development. From balancing…
The Tech TrekWhy Legacy Security Can’t Protect AI
Moinul Khan, co-founder and CEO of Aurascape, joins the show to unpack what it takes to build a cybersecurity startup in the age of AI. With decades of…
The Tech TrekReal Lessons on Moving Up in Tech Leadership
Cat Miller, CTPO of Talkiatry, shares her unconventional path from coding to leadership, including a detour into acting before rising into executive roles. She…
The Tech TrekThe Founder’s Path Is Never Straight
What does it take to reimagine how hardware products are built in a world moving at the speed of AI? Michael Corr, founder and CEO of Duro, shares how he…
The Tech TrekThe Future of Money: AI Economics Explained
Sean Neville, co-founder and CEO of Catena Labs (and co-founder of Circle), joins the show to explore the rise of AI economics and what it means for the future…
The Tech TrekWhy This Ex-Wall Street Banker Left It All to Build an AI Startup
Sara Wyman, founder and CEO of Stackpack, joins me to share her journey from investment banking and a Wharton MBA to launching a company that’s redefining how…
The Tech TrekThe Startup Tackling Healthcare’s Hardest Problem
Troy Astorino, co-founder and CTO at PicnicHealth, joins Amir to unpack one of healthcare’s most stubborn problems: fragmented medical records. Troy shares how…
The Tech TrekWill AI Replace Knowledge Workers?
Pritesh Patel, Director of AI at Fisher Phillips, joins The Tech Trek to unpack how AI is reshaping knowledge-based businesses and what that means for…
The Tech TrekOutputs vs Outcomes in Tech Leadership
Udhay Durai, Executive Director of Data Platform and Engineering at Evolus, joins the show to unpack his journey from consulting to leading enterprise data…
The Tech TrekAI Is Changing How Engineers Work
Allan Leinwand, CTO at Webflow, joins me to explore how AI is reshaping engineering workflows, from code generation to team structure. We dig into how AI tools…
The Tech TrekInference: AI’s Hidden Engine
Nikola Borisov, CEO and co-founder of Deep Infra, joins the show to unpack the rapid evolution of AI inference, the hardware race powering it, and how startups…
The Tech TrekAI Dev Tools Change Everything
Zach Lloyd, CEO and founder of Warp, joins The Tech Trek to unpack what it really takes to build tools that transform the developer experience. From rethinking…
The Tech TrekWhy Most Edge AI Fails to Ship
Sek Chai, CTO and cofounder of Latent AI, joins The Tech Trek to talk about what it actually takes to get AI running on the edge. We explore the real-world…
The Tech TrekWhy This Ex-Google Exec Became a First-Time Founder
Berit Hoffmann, CEO and co-founder of Korl, joins The Tech Trek to share her candid journey from big tech leader to late-stage startup founder. With a resume…
The Tech TrekHow to Build a World Class Analytics Team
What does it take to lead analytics at a truly global scale? In this episode, Amir sits down with Anant Veeravalli, Global Chief Data and Analytics Officer at…
The Tech TrekYour Phone Doesn’t Need Your Data
What if your phone didn’t need to hold your data at all? In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Jared Shepard, CEO of Hypori, to explore how…
The Tech TrekThe Security Gap No One’s Talking About
Feross Aboukhadijeh, founder and CEO of Socket, joins The Tech Trek to pull back the curtain on software supply chain security, why legacy tools are failing…
The Tech TrekThe Hidden Key to Innovation: Timing
What does it take to deliver innovation at just the right moment? In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Eric Hoffert, CTO at Kargo and former…
The Tech TrekHow AI Actually Helps DevOps
What if your infrastructure could predict demand before it happens? In this episode, Nilo Rahmani, CEO and co-founder of Thoras AI, breaks down how predictive…
The Tech TrekAI-First UX Is Coming—Are You Ready?
What happens when UX design collides with generative AI? In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Mickey Alon, CEO and co-founder of Eucera, to…
The Tech TrekCode Faster, Review Smarter
How do we ship code faster without sacrificing quality or accountability? Greg Foster, co-founder and CTO at Graphite, joins the show to unpack how AI is…
The Tech TrekHow a Serial Founder Builds Enduring Companies
What does it take to build startups that last and come back for more? In this episode, Amir sits down with Russ Fradin, serial founder, longtime investor, and…
The Tech TrekWhy the Boring Business Wins
What do founders get wrong when trying to build a startup? Jeff Gibson, CTO and co-founder at Kintsugi, joins the show to break down how he approaches building…
The Tech TrekHow Great Engineering Leaders Show Impact
Ashok Srinivasan, SVP of Engineering at Aledade, joins The Tech Trek to break down what it really means to have impact as an engineering leader. With…
The Tech TrekLeft Facebook at 41 to Start From Zero
Vijaye Raji, CEO and founder of Statsig, left two decades of success at Microsoft and Facebook to start from scratch—at age 41. In this episode of The Tech…
The Tech TrekWhy Most Data Teams Fail
What if your data science team could drive business outcomes across products, not just models? In this episode, Hicham El-Hassani shares a tested blueprint for…
The Tech TrekAI Isn’t the Threat. It’s the Upgrade
What does the “long tail” of AI really look like in a highly regulated industry? In this episode, Dave Wollenberg, VP of Enterprise Data & Analytics at Scan…
The Tech TrekUnsexy Industry. Big Upside.
What happens when you bring Silicon Valley tech thinking into an “unsexy” industry? Alex Jekowsky, Co-founder and CEO of Cents, shares how his vertically…
The Tech TrekTurning GenAI Hype Into Enterprise Action
How do you turn GenAI excitement into real enterprise value—without leaving people behind? In this episode, Amir talks with Mike Urban, Chief Technology…
The Tech TrekHow an AI Council Actually Drives Adoption
What does it take to build and scale AI responsibly inside a major media organization? In this episode, Amir sits down with Arvind Thinagarajan, formerly Head…
The Tech TrekHow to Future-Proof Your AI Stack
What does it take to build AI systems that are private by design—and ready for tomorrow’s regulations? In this episode, I’m joined by Rishabh Poddar, CTO and…
The Tech TrekLeaving Big Tech to Solve a Bigger Problem
What happens when a data-driven founder leaves Big Tech to tackle a broken healthcare system? In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Tim Edgar…
The Tech TrekBuilding a Startup Engineering Team from Scratch
In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Davy Li, Head of Engineering at Mesa, a startup redefining how homeowners earn rewards on everyday home…
The Tech TrekLeading with Curiosity: What Makes a Great Tech CEO
In this candid conversation, Bryan Mahoney unpacks his journey from CTO to CEO, exploring what it really takes to evolve beyond the engineering org into…
The Tech TrekThis Is How Founders Actually Build Culture
What does it really take to build company culture from the ground up—especially when you’ve done it more than once? In this episode, Amir sits down with Darren…
The Tech TrekAI Is Reinventing the Car Buying Experience
In this episode, Amir sits down with Jay Vijayan, Founder and CEO of Tekion, to explore how digital transformation and AI are modernizing the automotive retail…
The Tech TrekAre Your Apps Ready for AI Agents?
In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Reed McGinley-Stempel, co-founder and CEO of Stytch, to explore what it means for applications to be…
The Tech TrekWhat Is Growth Engineering? Here's How It Really Works
In this episode, Amir chats with Jason Fellin, Head of Growth Engineering at OnX Maps, to unpack what makes growth engineering unique. Jason shares how his…