Modern CTO

47:59

Inside the Tech Stack Behind the Modern Store with...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/27

In the future, self-checkout will come right to you.Today, we're talking to Yev Tsirulnik and Naresh Keswani of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions. We discuss why the next decade of retail is about digitizing the physical store rather than the website, how loyalty data is quietly turning into a trust score that decides whether your store forgives you at self checkout, and what it actually takes to move agentic AI from a flashy experiment to something a thousand stores can run. All of this right

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51:14

Hunting for Alien Technology with Avi Loeb, Harvard...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/23

If scientists are being entirely honest, is non-human technology already on earth?Today, we're talking to Avi Loeb, Harvard astrophysicist and head of the government's new UAP Science Advisory Council. We discuss why the hunt for alien life is shifting from waiting for a radio call to checking the mailbox for a package, how a so-called "dark comet" turned out to be a lost Soviet spacecraft, and why the loudest skeptics and the truest believers are making the exact same mistake. All of this right

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41:44

Is the Specialist Executive Dead? with Mahesh...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/20

We were told to specialize endlessly…now, AI is here. Today, we're talking to Mahesh Guruswamy, COO of Kajabi. We discuss why the specialist executive is becoming extinct as tech gets commoditized, how "AI fatigue" is really grief over eroding craft rather than exhaustion, and why the biggest threat to the AI boom might be economics, not technology. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! To learn more about Mahesh's course, check it out here.

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16:12

Tech Titans: Go From Burnt Out to Fired Up with...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/16

If you’re feeling burnt out, it’s not the work you’re doing. It’s the mission you’re on. Today, we're talking to Justin Fanelli, Chief Technology Officer of the Department of the Navy. We discuss why direct communication is fuel rather than friction, how the most driven government workers are often the ones who've already "made it" elsewhere, and why burnout has almost nothing to do with hours worked and everything to do with whether you feel connected to something bigger. All of this right here,

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38:29

Can this Company Fix America’s Broken Food System?...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/13

Why did a smear campaign almost take out this anti-food waste company? Today, we're talking to Luiz Beling, CEO at Apeel, about how a company that captured 60% of the U.S. avocado market can lose it almost overnight to a coordinated smear campaign. We discuss why narrative security now matters as much as cybersecurity, how a childhood kidnapping in Brazil quietly shaped his approach to crisis leadership, and why the real fix for food waste isn't more supply. All of this right here, right now, on

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56:22

Confronting Plummeting Birth Rates & Banning...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/09

He’s 31, and nobody he knows is having kids. Tech is to blame, but what’s the solution? Today, we're talking to Connor Leahy, US Director at ControlAI. We discuss why plummeting birth rates look eerily similar to what happens when zoo animals stop breeding, how ideas can spread and cause real harm the same way diseases do, and why the safest path with superintelligence might be to ban it outright rather than pretend we already understand it. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO

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56:23

Are Engineers Redundant Now? with Hrishi Dixit,...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/06

Developers, how confident are you in the future of your job? Today, we're catching up with Hrishi Dixit, cofounder and CTO of Autonomy Finance, about what actually happens when you hand the keys to AI in a regulated industry — why the first pass of AI-generated code is never shippable, how a commingled client data hallucination can end a company overnight, and why the engineers who survive the AI wave won't be the ones who write the most code, but the ones who know exactly when the machine is about

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47:14

Where Do We Draw the Line on Letting AI Build? With...

Modern CTO ·

2026/07/02

What happens when the worst among us get their hands on the most powerful tools? Today, we're talking to Zach Goldberg, CEO at Gruntwork, about the messy edges of AI adoption. We discuss why "vibe coding" has created a new category of disposable, single-purpose software that never would have existed before, why the line between AI you can trust to read data and AI you can trust to write to production may be the most important distinction in enterprise tech right now, and why the real bottleneck on

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46:34

Why do 81% of Mature AI Programs Get Rolled Back?...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/29

Confidence and readiness are actually NOT the same thing. Today, we're talking to Daniel Morris, CPO at Sinch, about why 81% of mature companies roll back their AI programs even as 89% of leaders claim they're fully prepared, how the shift from SMS to rich messaging is rewriting the rules for how brands connect with customers, and why the next evolution of authentication might mean your phone silently proves who you are without you ever seeing a prompt. All of this right here, right now, on the

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28:27

How Snapchat is Evolving in the Age of AI with Saral...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/25

This is how Snapchat sets itself apart in the social media space: they’re not a social media company. Today, we're talking to Saral Jain, SVP and Head of Engineering at Snapchat, about how one of tech's most underestimated companies is quietly outpacing giants. We discuss why Snapchat has always refused to call itself a social media company and what that distinction means for every product decision they make, how AI is actually changing the day-to-day reality of software engineering through

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52:15

Why Kubernetes Still Feels So Hard & What to Do About...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/22

What if you didn’t have to solve problems? You can just remove them entirely. Today, we're talking to Steve Francis, CEO at Sidero Labs, about why the most dangerous thing running in your infrastructure might be the operating system itself. We discuss how eliminating features rather than adding them is the real path to security, why the promise of multi-cloud portability turned out to be a lesson in what customers actually care about, and why "extreme ownership" remains the most empowering

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54:04

Why Does AI Momentum Stall in Large Organizations?...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/18

Understanding these key points is what actually moves the needle on AI gains.Today, we're talking to Kyle Lagunas, analyst and founder at Kyle & Co, and Allyn Bailey, senior director of communications at SmartRecruiters, about why AI momentum in HR is stalling and what's actually moving the needle. We discuss why the organizations leading on AI aren't doing anything flashy, how the most boring red-tape work turns out to be the biggest unlock, why HR's instinct for risk avoidance is exactly the

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52:33

Are Apps Going to Get Axed by Conversational AI? with...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/15

We’re putting more and more trust into AI. Will it all blend into one app?Today, we're talking to Jacques Klick, Director of Market Strategy & Product Marketing at Sinch. We discuss why the app store era is quietly ending and what replaces it, how a 62% enterprise AI adoption rate is hiding a 74% rollback problem, and what RCS actually is and why it might be the most underutilized channel in marketing right now. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! To learn more about

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49:32

When Will Robots Live With Us? Inside 1X's NEO with...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/11

Would you live with a humanoid robot? Could you beat one in a fight? Today, we're talking to Dar Sleeper, VP of Design, Product, and Marketing at 1X, the company building Neo, a humanoid robot designed to live and work alongside humans in the home. We discuss why the home is actually the most strategic beachhead in humanoid robotics, how world models are collapsing the gap between robots that follow instructions and robots that genuinely learn, why consumer adoption may be the unlock that

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47:29

The 5 Levels of AI Coding & the Collapse of...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/08

His company policy is: there will be absolutely no human-written code.Today, we're talking to Trevor Hinesley, Cofounder and CTO at Soundstripe. We discuss the five levels of AI-written code and what it actually looks like to operate at the highest ones, why Trevor's team has a strict policy of zero human-written code, how the "dark factory" concept is reshaping what engineers actually do, and why a company built on AI-powered development still bets everything on human-made music. All of this

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48:39

Marty Cagan on Product Management Theater in the Age...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/04

Product managers are FORGETTING that they’re problem solvers.Today, we're talking to Marty Cagan, product management author and founder of the Silicon Valley Product Group. We discuss why most tech companies are unknowingly running a model that almost guarantees shipping things that don't matter, how AI is simultaneously exposing and accelerating that problem, why the real bottleneck was never your engineers, and how large language models might finally solve the product coaching gap that's held

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52:29

From Mammoths to Humans: The Case for Gene Editing...

Modern CTO ·

2026/06/01

Can today’s technology really prevent tomorrow’s diseases?Today, we're talking to Eriona Hysolli, biologist and co-founder of Manhattan Genomics. We discuss why preventing genetic disease before birth is a more powerful idea than treating it in adulthood, how the UK quietly pioneered a procedure that most of the world still considers off-limits, why the loudest opposition to gene editing often comes from bioethicists rather than the public, and what it would actually take to engineer traits — from

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42:19

Why Your AI Has No Idea What's Happening in the World...

Modern CTO ·

2026/05/28

Understanding the real world is the biggest potential advantage of AI. Today, we're talking to Campbell Brown, CEO and cofounder of PredictHQ, about the layer of real-world intelligence that AI models are still missing. We discuss why 65% of unexplained demand spikes come down to something most businesses completely ignore, how a New Zealand car rental company became the data backbone for Uber and Expedia, why the era of reading API documentation is effectively over, and what it actually means to

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59:38

Are Our Brains Wired Together? The Power of the Mind...

Modern CTO ·

2026/05/25

If you understand this about your brain, you’ll be unstoppable.Today, we're talking to Moran Cerf, neuroscientist and professor, about why the hidden signals shaping human behavior have more in common with ants and fish than we'd like to admit, how smell — not vision — may be the most underestimated force behind the decisions we make, why brains in the same room quietly synchronize whether their owners agree or not, and what it actually means when an alien looking down from the moon asks what the

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35:10

Why Being the Best at Your Job Is Holding You Back...

Modern CTO ·

2026/05/21

If you’re trying to get ahead and you’re the best at your job, then we have bad news for you.Today, we're talking to executive coach Bill Tingle. We discuss why being the best at your job is actually holding you back, how executive presence goes far deeper than confidence or gravitas, and why building the right relationships matters more than any result you'll ever deliver. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast! To learn more about Bill's coaching, check out his website

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