Great software doesn’t build itself. Behind every breakthrough product is a team making the right calls—on architecture, hiring, and the trade-offs that shape what gets pushed to prod.
The Commit & Push podcast is where technology meets the human side of software development. I’m your host Damien Filiatrault, Founder and CEO of Scalable Path, and in this podcast we’ll go beneath the surface to explore the strategies, decisions, and hard-earned lessons that drive successful digital products. From hiring top developers to embracing emerging tech without losing the human touch, we cut through the noise and focus on what works.
Whether you’re a CTO, engineering leader, or hands-on developer, you’ll get real-world insights from industry veterans, deep dives into emerging technologies, and a no-BS look at what it takes to build and scale great software.
The Hidden Waste Behind AI Compute with Justin Gelinas
Damien Filiatrault talks with Justin Gelinas, Chief Business Officer at TAHO Labs, about the hidden inefficiencies driving up the cost and energy demands of AI infrastructure. They explore how better workload distribution, improved hardware utilization, and more efficient compute could help companies get more from existing resources while unlocking new opportunities for AI and software development.
19 May 2026
Eric Ries on The Lean Startup, Incorruptible, and Building Companies That Last
Eric Ries joins Damian Filiatrault to discuss the evolution of startup thinking from The Lean Startup to his new book, Incorruptible. The conversation explores how founders can test ideas ethically, why growth is not the same as validated learning, and how companies often lose trust when short-term financial pressure takes over. Eric also explains why governance, mission, and ownership structure matter much earlier than most founders think—and how builders can create organizations that are not only successful, but worth protecting.
25 Mar 2026
AI Agents, RAG, and the Gap Between Hype and Execution
Damien Filiatrault talks with Micah Johnson, co-founder of Biggest Goal, about what AI agents actually are, how they differ from basic chatbots, and where they can create real value for businesses today. The episode covers practical use cases like data analysis, internal knowledge retrieval through RAG, and event-driven automations, along with why tools like N8N and Raggy have made agentic workflows much more accessible. It also looks at why so many AI projects fall short: not because the technology is weak, but because companies often adopt it without the systems, training, and strategy needed to make it work.
12 Feb 2026
Zero-Click Commerce and the Rise of Buying Agents: A conversation with Kevin Williams
In this episode, host Damien Filiatrault talks with Kevin Williams, founder of Ascend AI, about what “agentic commerce” actually means as shopping and discovery start shifting into ChatGPT- and Gemini-style interfaces. They break down the path from today’s LLM-assisted recommendations to “zero-click” transactions that happen entirely inside an AI chat, without users ever visiting a traditional checkout flow. Kevin explains why brands are seeing meaningful declines in organic traffic, why being discoverable now requires a mix of AEO (answer engine optimization) and GEO (generative engine optimization), and how those strategies extend beyond your website into reviews, sentiment, and the broader web. They also dig into the messy reality of emerging standards (product feeds, schema, and competing protocols) and what builders may actually need to implement to make products legible and purchasable by agents. If you’re building for e-commerce, marketing, or the next web experience, this episode offers a practical look at what’s changing, what’s still unsettled, and how to prepare before “zero-click” becomes the default.
14 Jan 2026
Collaborating with AI on Infrastructure, Safely: A conversation with Brit Myers
In this episode, host Damien Filiatrault talks with Brit Myers, VP of Engineering at System Initiative, about rethinking infrastructure automation for a world of legacy systems, real-time fixes, and AI collaboration. They explore why traditional Terraform and GitOps assumptions break down in practice, how System Initiative’s “digital twin” model keeps intent, state, and change tightly coupled, and why simulations matter before anything touches production. Brit explains how programmable TypeScript functions and change sets make it safer to work with AI agents—letting them propose and iterate on infrastructure changes without handing over full control. If you’re navigating cloud complexity, drift, or experimenting with AI in DevOps, this episode offers a grounded look at how teams can move faster with more confidence and a lot less “merge and pray.”
11 Dec 2025
Building Smarter Dev Environments for Humans and AI: A conversation with Rob Whiteley
In this episode, host Damien Filiatrault sits down with Coder CEO Rob Whiteley to explore how AI agents are changing the way software gets built, from cloud-based dev environments to long-running “software intern” workflows. They unpack how Coder provisions secure, centralized workspaces for both humans and agents, why Anthropic’s Claude Code became so effective once it could read its own Terraform-defined context, and how MCP-powered toolbelts turn a basic agent into a capable teammate. Rob breaks down why code completion alone is yesterday’s story, how senior engineers orchestrate multiple agents like a conductor, and why startups often stick to cursor-style assistance while enterprises layer in Bedrock, governance, and stricter controls. If you care about developer productivity, you’ll come away with a realistic view of where agents help today, what it takes to trust them with real projects, and why “English as the new programming language” opens the door for many more people to build software.
12 Nov 2025
Beyond the Happy Path: Josh Clark & Veronika Kindred on “Sentient Design”
In this episode, host Damien Filiatrault talks with Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred of Big Medium about “Sentient Design”—interfaces that adapt to context and intent without ceding user control. You’ll hear a cross-generational take on rethinking UX best practices, from bespoke UIs that assemble trusted design-system components on the fly to the NPC pattern where AI participates alongside humans. They dig into defensive design—guardrails, reversibility, explainability, and graceful degradation—plus a practical split: let LLMs interpret intent, not act as the source of truth. If you’re building with AI, expect concrete patterns for smarter, safer products that keep suggestions deferential and users firmly in the driver’s seat.
9 Oct 2025
Unicorn Lessons from RapidAPI’s Founder: A Conversation with Iddo Gino
Founder Iddo Gino tells host Damien Filiatrault how a GitHub repo called “Awesome APIs” became RapidAPI, a global marketplace later acquired by Nokia, and what sky-high valuations actually change credibility and hiring more than outcomes. He argues that instead of chasing new standards like MCP, teams should fix the REST/GraphQL APIs they already have with accurate specs and living docs. Gino then explains Datawizz, his new platform that routes requests to tiny, task-specific models and falls back to large LLMs only when needed, often cutting costs by 85–95% while improving latency and reliability. He details an OpenAI-compatible router, when volume justifies specialization, and how edge/on-device options, Cloudflare AI Workers, iOS’s built-in models with adapters, and Chrome’s Gemini Nano, unlock faster, cheaper, and more private inference.
11 Sept 2025
Bootstrap, Ship, Repeat: Lessons From Polypane Creator Killian Valkhof
Developer and founder Killian Valkhof tells host Damien Filiatrault how a homemade tool that made his work 60 percent faster became Polypane, a dedicated browser for web professionals. He outlines Polypane’s core features—side-by-side responsive views, built-in accessibility and performance audits, and instant social-media previews—and shares the tactics that keep his one-person, bootstrapped SaaS both profitable and user-driven. Valkhof explains his open feedback channels, no-credit-card trial, and ROI calculator for team budgets, describes spin-off utilities like Superposition and FixA11y, and reflects on why he is holding off on AI features in favor of polished fundamentals.
7 Aug 2025
Software Rot & the Economics of Code: A Conversation with Robin Hanson
Economist and ex-AI researcher Robin Hanson joins host Damien Filiatrault to explain why large codebases inevitably “rot,” how AI could make developers richer by expanding demand for software, and why looming population decline might stall innovation and hollow out today’s tech stack. Along the way they compare rot to technical debt, debate refactoring vs. rewriting, and ask whether non-software systems—from languages to corporations—face the same fate.
10 Jul 2025
Don't Hire the Brilliant Jerk: A CTO’s Playbook for Building Real Teams
Most software sucks. Most performance reviews are broken. And most new CTOs are flying blind.
In this episode of Commit & Push, Damien sits down with Zach Goldberg—CTO of Gruntwork and author of The Startup CTO’s Handbook—to unpack the real challenges of building and scaling a dev team.
From metrics that actually matter to avoiding productivity traps, Zach shares pragmatic strategies every tech leader should know.
Whether you're running a growing team or just trying to avoid the usual mistakes, this episode cuts through the fluff and gives you the straight-up roadmap to doing it better.
5 Jun 2025
Why 80% of AI Projects Fail - and How to Make Yours Work
"Most AI projects fail - and not for the reasons you think.”
In this episode of Commit & Push, Damien sits down with Dan Saffer, Associate Director at CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, to unpack why so many AI initiatives crash and burn before they ever ship.
From busted data pipelines to overengineered use cases, Dan breaks down the five common traps behind failed AI efforts—and what it actually takes to build something useful. They also dig into explainability myths, the limits of chatbot UX, and how AI is accelerating the enshittification of your favorite platforms.
If you’re working with AI—or even thinking about it—this one’s a reality check worth hearing.
3 Jun 2025
Commit & Push Trailer
Welcome to Commit & Push, where we talk about how great software really gets built. I'm Damian Filiatro, your host and founder of Scalable Path. Each episode, we'll explore the decisions, tradeoffs, and strategies that shape successful digital products. You'll hear from developers, founders, and tech leaders about the challenges they've faced, the solutions they've found, and the insights they've gained. Ready to explore what makes digital products thrive? Let's get into it.
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