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PODCAST

The Tech Trek

The Tech Trek explores the intersection of People, Impact, and Technology — how engineering leaders build high-performing teams, deliver real outcomes, and shape the future of innovation. Hosted by Amir Bormand, founder of Elevano, the show features CTOs, VPs of Engineering, and technical leaders sharing candid insights on leadership, scaling, and building technology organizations that last. Each episode uncovers the decisions, lessons, and mindsets that separate good teams from great ones — and

technology

All Episodes

00:19:19

Hiring for Potential, Not Just Pedigree

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/29

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Brendan Grove, CTO and co-founder at PrizeOut, shares how his non-traditional background shaped his leadership style and hiring philosophy. Brendan dives into how being curious, humble, and pattern-aware has helped him scale teams and solve complex problems. He also unpacks how hiring for core traits like learning velocity and ownership can outperform chasing resumes full of surface-level skills. We also discuss tech debt, decision-making frameworks, and the role of

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00:24:08

Navigating Leadership at Every Stage

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/28

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Ronak Vyas, Co-Founder and CTO of Lead Bank, to explore how leadership principles remain constant even as the problems — and companies — change. Ronak shares lessons from leading at Yahoo, Square, and now founding a fintech bank, reflecting on how to adjust to new environments, make high-stakes decisions, and transition from engineering leader to startup founder. If you’re a technology professional considering leadership or even starting your own

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00:20:46

Scaling with Purpose: Building the Future of Green...

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/25

In this episode, Marty Neese, CEO of Verdagy, joins Amir to unpack what it takes to scale a company in one of the most innovative and high-stakes industries—green hydrogen. From managing a purpose-driven culture to embracing failures as a strategic advantage, Marty shares insights on leading ambitious climate tech initiatives while staying grounded in economic reality. Whether you're in tech, energy, or just love solving complex problems, this one's for you.🔑 Key TakeawaysPurpose as a North

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00:24:16

Engineering Culture in an AI-First World

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/24

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir chats with Rob Williams, co-founder and CTO at Read AI, about what it truly means to be an AI-native company. Rob shares how Read AI uses its own tools internally, how his small but mighty engineering team balances speed and structure, and the evolving role of AI in productivity workflows. Whether you're building AI products or trying to adopt them effectively, this conversation offers a unique peek behind the curtain of a startup navigating the future of

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00:24:00

Building Culture Through Unreasonable Hospitality

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/23

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Abhi Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of Relyance AI, to unpack the philosophy of "unreasonable hospitality"—a framework for building unforgettable customer and team experiences. From small gestures like a humidifier in the interview room to culture-embedded rituals, Abhi reveals how this principle fuels trust, retention, and performance at every level. If you're building teams or scaling a company, this one is packed with actionable

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00:27:17

Find Your Edge in a Crowded Market

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/22

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Sasha Gainullin, CEO of Battleface, to explore how focusing on a small, underserved niche in the travel insurance industry unlocked global opportunity. Sasha shares how Battleface used in-house technology to revolutionize the outdated travel insurance model, expanding from serving adventure travelers to powering major partners through their service platform, Robin Assist. This is a conversation about focus, customer empathy, and tech-driven

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00:23:20

Behind the Uptime: How AI Keeps the Internet Running

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/21

In this episode, Amir Bormand sits down with Tony Speller, Division SVP of Technical Operations and Engineering at Comcast, to explore how AI is quietly but powerfully transforming the customer and employee experience at one of the world’s largest media and technology companies. From self-healing network devices to predictive outage detection, Tony walks us through Comcast’s internal innovation playbook—blending in-house AI solutions with strategic partnerships. Whether you’re a technologist,

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00:28:18

Building AI Agents with Purpose

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/18

In this episode, Amir sits down with Nirman Dave, co-founder and CEO of Zams, an enterprise AI platform built to help businesses design and deploy AI agents with ease. They dive into Nirman's founding story—launching during the pandemic, navigating the evolution of the AI ecosystem, and the unique challenges of maintaining customer focus amid shifting trends and rising competition. Nirman also shares lessons from pitching investors, building trust with customers, and the art of product

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00:24:56

Building Emotionally Intelligent AI

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/17

In this episode of The Tech Trek, I sit down with Artem Rodichev, Founder & CEO of Ex-Human, to explore the emerging world of empathetic generative AI. We discuss how today’s LLMs fall short on emotional intelligence and how Ex-Human is building AI that can emotionally connect with users. Artem shares the vision behind their product Botify AI, its real-world applications—from gaming and education to mental health—and the crucial role of guardrails in ensuring safe, ethical AI development.🔑 Key

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00:24:53

Finding the Good: Building Product Teams with Intent

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/16

What does it mean to find out what your team is actually good at—and how do you use that insight to grow, scale, and lead effectively?In this episode, Amir sits down with Pallavi Pal, Head of Product at Grata, to unpack the nuanced art of identifying strengths within product teams. From hiring with purpose to fostering technical and soft skills, Pallavi shares how she built her team from the ground up and established a culture of collaboration and excellence. Whether you’re a product leader,

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00:22:13

From Spy Dreams to Startup CEO: A Founder’s Journey

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/15

In this episode, Amir sits down with Zach Barney, Co-founder and CEO of Mobly, the system of record for event marketers. Zach’s story takes us from his early ambitions of joining the NSA to a career-altering injury, a serendipitous fall into sales, and eventually the founding of Mobly. This episode explores not only the career pivots that led Zach to entrepreneurship, but also the mental, financial, and strategic challenges he faced along the way.If you’ve ever thought about switching paths or

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00:21:48

Engineering Leadership: Driving Business Outcomes...

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/10

Join us in this insightful conversation with Eric Valasek as we explore the crucial relationship between CEOs, product teams, and engineering leaders. Eric shares his expertise on managing prioritization, strategic tech debt, and ensuring engineering teams stay focused and insulated amidst business dynamics.Key Takeaways:Balance is Crucial: A company's success depends heavily on balancing business goals, product demands, and engineering capabilities.Strategic Tech Debt: Not all tech debt is

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00:29:28

Exploring Open Source AI

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/09

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir Bormand sits down with Shang Wang, Co-founder and CTO of CentML, to explore the dynamic landscape of open source AI technologies and how enterprises are rapidly adapting to this growing ecosystem. Shang offers expert insights into why open source solutions are becoming essential in AI development, the advantages in security and privacy, and how CentML strategically contributes to this evolution.🌟 Key Takeaways:Open Source Dominance in AI: Open-source

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00:24:05

Unlocking Sales Productivity with Agentic AI

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/08

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Andrew Levy, CEO and Co-founder of AirCover.ai, to explore how agentic AI is transforming the sales landscape. Andrew shares how AirCover builds real-time digital assistants that empower sales teams, the role of humans in AI-driven workflows, and how enterprises—both nimble and traditional—are adopting these tools to leap ahead. From change management to trust-building and the rise of “little language models,” this conversation unpacks what it

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00:24:44

Improving & Automating Healthcare Data Quality

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/04

Guest: Viraj Narayanan, CEO of Cornerstone AI🔑 Key TakeawaysHealthcare data is messy by default. It's generated by countless sources with different standards—think EMRs, Apple Watches, and pharmacy systems—making research data fragmented and hard to use.AI can clean up the mess. Cornerstone AI applies automation to standardize and improve the fidelity of clinical research data, significantly cutting down manual effort.Productivity > Replacement. Rather than replacing jobs, AI is helping PhDs

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00:23:18

Startup Playbook: Building Product-First Teams with...

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/03

On this episode of The Tech Trek, we're diving deep into the intersection of engineering, product, and business thinking with Vineet Goel — Co-Founder and Chief Product & Technology Officer at Parafin, a fast-growing fintech startup powering small businesses on platforms like DoorDash, Amazon, and Walmart.We unpack what it really means to build a company where engineers are product thinkers, why bringing in product managers too early can backfire, and how AI is reshaping what it means to

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00:22:59

How to Build an Effective Onboarding Plan

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/02

In this episode, Amir sits down with Meg Henry, Head of People & Talent at Companyon Ventures, to unpack a critical—yet often overlooked—aspect of growing technical teams: onboarding.Engineering leaders spend weeks hiring top talent, only to fumble the first 90 days. Meg shares a tactical, startup-friendly approach to onboarding that actually helps new hires ramp faster, become productive sooner, and stick around longer. If you’ve ever onboarded a dev by tossing them a laptop and saying

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00:21:59

Data Culture: Building the Data Engine Driving WHOOP

The Tech Trek ·

2025/04/01

In this episode, Carlos Peralta returns to The Tech Trek to dive deep into data culture in the wearable tech space, sharing how WHOOP turns petabytes of real-time biometric data into personalized, actionable insights. We explore the technical complexities behind data ingestion, transformation, and delivery, and how the mission-driven nature of WHOOP influences both their engineering decisions and company culture.🔑 Key TakeawaysWearable tech = real-time big data: WHOOP processes petabytes of

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00:25:35

Founder’s Playbook: Startup Lessons for the Long Game

The Tech Trek ·

2025/03/31

In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir Bormand sits down with Max Mergenthaler-Canseco, CEO and co-founder of Nixla, to explore the nuanced reality behind startup success. A multi-time founder with experience as both CEO and CTO, Max shares hard-earned lessons from his entrepreneurial journey—including why theoretical knowledge often clashes with real-world execution, how to build a resilient startup team, and the underestimated danger of survivorship bias in startup lore.From balancing optimism

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00:25:02

Building a Cybersecurity Startup with NSA Tech

The Tech Trek ·

2025/03/28

In this episode, I sit down with Jason Rogers, CEO & Co-Founder of Invary, to explore an unconventional approach to building a cybersecurity startup—leveraging a tech transfer agreement with the NSA. Jason shares his journey of launching a company around licensed technology, the benefits and challenges that come with it, and why runtime system integrity is becoming a crucial factor in modern security strategies.We also dive into how AI is changing the cybersecurity landscape, the importance of

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