Raw Data with Rob Collie breaks down the complex world of AI into practical actions for modern business leaders. With co-host Justin Mannhardt and expert guests, the show uses real stories to deliver clarity and confidence to turn your data into real business value. Catering especially to mid-market leaders who know their size isn't a limitation but a competitive advantage, Raw Data cuts through the hype with straight talk from people who've actually built, deployed, and lived with these systems in high-stakes environments. Whether you're a business leader drowning in AI noise or a data practitioner ready to get off the starting line, you'll get accessible breakdowns of technology that drives actual impact, confidence-building roadmaps for modernizing data analytics, and practical wins you can apply immediately. This isn't theoretical frameworks or jargon wallpaper; it's honest guidance from leaders who've been in your shoes and figured out what actually works, so you can too.
We just rebuilt our entire website in five weeks. Rob figures getting the same result the old way would have cost at least a million dollars. No, AI didn't replace the marketing department. Nobody got fired. And nobody found a magical button labeled "Make Website." We just did something that would have been completely out of reach for us a year ago.
Our old website had been hanging around since 2019, which is a long time for any website and an eternity for a company that's changed as much as we have. We'd looked at replacing it. We even priced out a $300,000 rebuild and decided against it. Spending that much money, investing months of our own time, and still potentially ending up with something we'd have to talk ourselves into liking? We'd already played that game. We weren't eager for a rematch.
Then five weeks ago, our CTO started building. What happened next reminded Rob of something he figured out about BI more than a decade ago, except this time the implications go a whole lot further. In this solo episode of Raw Data, he walks through where the million dollar figure comes from and why the most interesting thing about our new website has very little to do with websites. If your company has been putting something off because the old way of doing it is too painful, press play.
29 Sept 2026
AI and the Art of Building Backwards
There are two ways to build backwards. One starts with the answer you actually want and works its way toward the plumbing. The other starts with the plumbing and hopes the answer is in there somewhere. Consulting has historically been awfully fond of option two.
AI makes that harder to defend. When you can get something working in front of the business early, there's no particularly good reason to disappear into the infrastructure for six months first. Give people something they can see. Something they can use. Something they can tell you is wrong. Then fix it while fixing it is still easy. Better yet, let what you learn change what you build next.
Rob and Justin start with AI and eventually wander into the hazards of building in the dark, the value of building in plain sight, and a particularly useful new term: "Byzantine Consulting." It's a conversation about working backward from the answer instead of forward from the infrastructure. Because if nobody can react to what you've built yet, there's a decent chance you haven't built the important part.
Also in this Episode:
Rob's Substack
22 Sept 2026
AI and the Rule Nobody Wrote
Rob Collie and Justin explore how AI's knowledge synthesis uncovers unwritten rules and familiar BI challenges, offering a practical solution for data management.
Who has been a guest on Raw Data with Rob Collie
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Tim Rodman
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Pedro Rossello
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