AI isn’t coming—it’s already built. Hosted by Tina Yazdi, this is the podcast where you meet the ones who did it first. No panel chatter, no posturing—just sharp strategy, fast builds, and the people reshaping products, ops, and industries with AI.
How Revolut's Metric Obsession Accidentally Built a Founder Factory (46+ Alumni Startups)
He bought Amazon gift cards out of his own pocket to hit his KPIs. That's what metric obsession looks like at Revolut.
Pierre Cahuzac is a product leader at Europe's most valuable fintech—and explains why their alumni start companies at ridiculous rates. It's not the dashboards. It's the ownership model.
You'll walk away with Revolut's framework for organizing teams around metrics instead of code, the P50 vs P10 methodology for identifying human vs machine performance gaps, and why artificial deadlines create throwaway work.
Six years at Revolut. Multiple product rescues. One core insight: when you own KPIs instead of features, you start thinking like a founder.
Pierre breaks down the "minimum path to value" framework, how to push back on impossible targets from executives, and why their country expansion machine beats custom local builds.
Plus: the real reason Revolut produces so many entrepreneur alumni, and what "onion layer thinking" means for cross-functional leadership.
🤝 Connect with Pierre
Pierre Cahuzac (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierre-cahuzac-242504b9/)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1INVEjqo3M (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1INVEjqo3M)
Ep. 37 Getting It Done: RB5 and the future of business finance (https://open.spotify.com/episode/46kttV7rTMhDIRmmwpAxuf)
Revolut Business 5 (https://www.revolut.com/business/rb5/?utm_source=social_media&utm_medium=linkedin&id=rb5&utm_term=not_paid)
⏱ Episode Chapters
(00:00) From film director to Revolut: The unconventional path(06:14) Why film financing was too slow for innovation(10:27) How Revolut’s metric obsession works in practice(15:08) Building products with global vision, local execution(17:49) When ambitious targets almost broke the team(26:00) The Revolut Mafia: Alumni and entrepreneurship(29:07) Patterns in fintech founders(31:33) Future predictions and final thoughts
#AIFirstBusiness #ProductManagement #Revolut #FinTech #StartupFounders #MetricsDriven #ProductStrategy
12 Sept 2025
From Bedroom Coding to VC Bidding War: The Small AI Models Thesis That Broke Silicon Valley
He bet against trillion-parameter models when every VC said he was insane—now NVIDIA is publishing papers proving him right.
Sudarshan from Smallest.ai cracked enterprise voice AI by ignoring Silicon Valley's foundation model obsession. While competitors chased infinite compute, his autonomous vehicle background revealed the truth: compact models handling life-or-death navigation decisions outperform bloated systems requiring massive resources.
The contrarian thesis almost killed fundraising until one viral launch changed everything. World's fastest text-to-speech hits millions of views, multiple term sheets arrive the same day, $8M seed closes in two weeks. But thousands of curious developers meant zero revenue.
The real breakthrough wasn't technical—it was understanding enterprise buyers. Companies don't want your API documentation. They want consultants who solve problems using AI, not AI companies hunting for use cases. The transformation from model provider to solution consultant unlocked Fortune 500 deals.
You'll discover the playbook for contrarian deep tech bets, why enterprise AI adoption is messier than anyone admits
🤝 Connect with Sudarshan
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudarshankamath/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sudarshankamath/)
https://www.linkedin.com/company/smallest/ (https://www.linkedin.com/company/smallest/)
https://smallest.ai (https://smallest.ai)
https://www.youtube.com/@smallest_ai (https://www.youtube.com/@smallest_ai)
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2025/04/28/how-business-leaders-are-unlocking-ais-full-potential/ (https://www.forbes.com/sites/brentgleeson/2025/04/28/how-business-leaders-are-unlocking-ais-full-potential/)
19 Aug 2025
Voice AI for Insurance: The Technology Finally Ready for Prime Time
Investment banking taught him speed, but Amir Prodensky needed something bigger to build.
Fresh from Revolut's hyper-growth chaos, Amir saw the massive gap in financial services customer experience. Insurance customers were stuck with phone queues and paper processes while expecting Amazon-level service.
So he built Strada: AI agents that handle every customer interaction across phone, text, email, and chat while maintaining perfect context. These aren't simple chatbots—they connect to core insurance systems and take real actions like generating certificates and processing claims.
Amir's framework for AI adoption moves through five stages: from co-pilot tools to fully autonomous agents. The companies moving fastest through these stages are creating unbeatable competitive advantages.
His prediction: customer expectations will shift permanently once they experience resolution at AI-speed. Traditional service will feel broken in comparison.
🤝 Connect with Amir
https://www.linkedin.com/company/getstrada/ (https://www.linkedin.com/company/getstrada/)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprodensky/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprodensky/)
https://www.getstrada.com/ (https://www.getstrada.com/)
⏱ Episode Chapters
(00:00) From Bay Street to insurance AI agents(01:46) Career pivots: Banking to Revolut's US expansion(05:16) Big bets at Revolut: What worked and what didn't(14:24) Finding Strada: From horizontal automation to insurance-focused AI(21:17) AI-native product development without designers(25:06) Rapid fire: AI tools and expensive experiments that worked
🔥 Enjoyed the episode?Drop a like, subscribe, and share it with someone building fast.🎙 **The AI-First Business Podcast**Sharp strategy. Fast builds. Real AI.No panel chatter. No fluff. Just the moves that scale.📺 **Want more?**Search *AI-First Business Podcast* on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.📲 **Follow us:**Instagram / TikTok / LinkedIn → @aifirstbusinessAll links: [feedlink.link/aifirstbusiness](https://feedlink.link/aifirstbusiness)⚠️ **Disclaimer:** Views are personal and not reflective of any organization. For informational purposes only.
#AIInsurance #InsurTech #FinTechFounders #CustomerServiceAI #AIAgents #StartupJourney #InsuranceInnovation #VoiceAI #FinTech #TechFounders
Who has been a guest on The AI-First Business Podcast
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Tyler Sosin
Michael Beck
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