Spark of Ages

Why are management layers thinning?  How does AI change hiring signals? And how can senior leaders break into the hidden market for unposted executive roles? Andy Mowat shares practical playbooks for proof-of-work interviews, CEO diligence, and building a data-first GTM engine that actually ships.

• management ranks thinning and the rise of builders
• proof-of-work interviews and AI used well
• unposted VP and C-le...

We explore how removing immigration friction and backing immigrant founders at day zero can produce outsized innovation, through the lens of a VC platform and a biotech founder reprogramming tumors with mRNA and AI. The conversation blends policy, venture economics, and a bold oncology thesis with practical advice and personal stories.

• immigrant advantage as resilience, clarity, and risk appetite
• Unshackled’s Day Z...

We confront the collision between AI’s soaring compute needs and a grid unready for 50% peak expansions, then map a practical path to build clean, firm power fast without losing sight of affordability. Dan shares candid insights on markets, permitting, contracts, and how 3Degrees tackles Scope 3 at scale.

• AI demand growth outpacing efficiency gains
• Wartime mobilization mindset for energy buildout
• All-the-abov...

We weigh the promise and peril of the AI agent economy, pressing into how overprovisioned non-human identities, shadow AI, and SaaS integrations expand risk while go-to-market teams push for speed. A CMO and a CFO align on governance-first pilots, PLG trials, buyer groups, and the adoption metrics that sustain value beyond the sale.

• AI adoption surge matched by adversary AI
• Overprovisioned agents and shadow AI in S...

Australia needs control over its intelligence layer, not just its data. We explore SCX’s sovereign AI cloud, Project Magpie’s cultural reasoning, and why inference economics and time-to-market beat hype-driven buildouts.

• sovereign AI as control and context, not just security
• SCX’s inference cloud and partnership with SambaNova
• Project Magpie fine-tuning the reasoning layer for Australia
• training vs infe...

We sit down with Jeff Perry, CRO at Carta, to explore how growth leaders redefine success when capital tightens, buyers get smarter, and AI reshapes cost structures.  We unpack how growth has changed, why IPO-ready now means post-IPO durable, and how Carta scaled from a cap table tool to an ERP-like platform for private capital while staying efficient and customer-first. Jeff shares concrete tactics for moving upmarket, using AI wi...

We map the data, policy, and funding failures that created the women’s health gap and lay out a California-led plan to fix it with research built for women, agile AI governance, and voter-backed capital. The goal: better outcomes, lower costs, and a template to repair healthcare at large.

• two percent venture funding and underpowered trials
• AI amplifying bias without sex-specific datasets
• misdiagnosis, adverse...

The B2B SaaS market is experiencing a significant slowdown with growth rates dropping, while traditional marketing channels deliver diminishing returns in an increasingly saturated landscape.

• Marketing benchmarks show companies growing faster than 20% spend 10-15% of revenue on marketing, while slower-growing firms spend only 7-9%
• Digital channels like SEO (search engine optimization), PPC (pay per click), and emai...

We explore the monumental shift from SEO to GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) as AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity become the new front doors to the internet, fundamentally changing how customers discover businesses online.

• Traffic patterns are transforming as users get answers directly from AI without clicking through to websites
• Content optimized for AI interpretation requires different approaches than ...

Position Squared introduces StudioX, an innovative 3D rendering platform designed specifically for marketers in consumer electronics, computing, and automotive industries who need high-quality product visualizations without technical expertise or lengthy production cycles.

• Purpose-built to address the speed, accuracy, and consistency demands of product marketers
• Democratizes 3D rendering by consolidating complex wo...

Brad Stroh, co-CEO and co-founder of Achieve, shares how he's built one of the most impactful fintech companies by taking a completely different path from the typical Silicon Valley playbook. Through bootstrapping rather than chasing venture capital, Brad and his co-founder have created a mission-driven business that has served over 1.5 million people and resolved $18 billion in debt since 2002.

• Understanding the in...

Mandy Dhaliwal, CMO at Nutanix, shares her journey transforming a technical infrastructure company into a leader in hybrid multi-cloud solutions, driving market value from $5 billion to $20 billion through strategic marketing and positioning.

• Simplifying complex technology messaging from "hybrid multi-cloud" to the customer-friendly "run anything anywhere"
• Implementing agentic AI on the Nutanix ...

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Bill Macaitis shares his expertise on Product-Led Growth (PLG), revealing insights from his time as CMO at Slack, Zendesk, and SVP of Marketing at Salesforce where he helped drive remarkable growth through customer-centric strategies.<...

Indy Sen, ecosystem marketing lead at Canva, shares his journey through tech giants like Salesforce, Box, MuleSoft, Google, and now Canva, where he's applying his unique "messaging as an API" philosophy to build an ecosystem that serves as a powerful multiplier for the entire company.

• Canva's mission of empowering the world to design has evolved from consumer beginnings to enterprise solutions
• T...

Matt Bigge, partner at Crosslink Capital and former 10th Mountain Division infantry officer,  shares his unique perspective as a venture capitalist, military veteran, and deep tech investor on the revolution happening in defense technology & how modern defense technologies are evolving to meet today's security challenges. His MIR framework—modular, interoperable, responsive—offers a blueprint for effective military innovat...

In this eye-opening conversation, join host Rajiv Parikh as he unveils Arena AI – their revolutionary platform that's transforming how marketing campaigns are planned, executed, and optimized. Sajjan Kanukolanu (VP of Global Operations) and Vikrant V.(CTO) walk us through how their team has embedded 20 years of marketing expertise into a system that combines project management, unified analytics, and AI agents that execute rea...

Chandar Pattabhiram, marketing maestro and Chief Go-to-Market Officer at Workato, shares his expertise on the agentic economy and the revolutionary impact of AI on go-to-market strategies.

• The rise of AI agents brings productivity without pause, enabling organizations to shift from reactive to proactive approaches
• Current AI implementation remains largely experimental and edge-focused rather than addressing core bu...

Marc Hustvedt shares insights from helping to scale Mr. Beast to 350 million YouTube subscribers and building a global creator brand, revealing the unique combination of traits that separates extraordinary creators from everyone else.  Check out Contrarian Thinking and Codie Sanchez to learn more about Marc's current work helping people buy and grow small businesses.

• Creator-led businesses eliminate the power imbala...

Sandeep Parikh shares his journey of resilience after being displaced by the LA wildfires, discussing how the disaster tested his strength as a father, husband, and creator while inspiring new approaches to filmmaking and community building.

• Surviving the devastating LA wildfires that destroyed over 9,000 structures and left countless homes uninhabitable due to toxic contamination
• Co-founding Eaton Fire Residents U...