From modeling political polarization on early Twitter to publishing in Nature on labor flows predicting S&P 500 changes, Mike Conover has spent 15+ years building AI that matters. He then helped launch Dolly at Databricks, proving open-source LLMs could deliver ChatGPT-like behaviors at a fraction of cost—and now he’s building Brightwave, where AI agents turn sprawling research into reliable deliverables for investment teams. Brandon and Mike break down the difference between “chat” and “agents,” what it takes to survive enterprise scrutiny (citation, auditability, controls), and where AI is genuinely superhuman. For builders and investors alike, this is a rare, practical blueprint for taking AI from lab demo to P&L.