Automation is accelerating across organizations — but not everything can be automated.
In this episode, Chris Fanchi speaks with Chris Samaras about the real limits of automation and why human judgment, accountability, and leadership still matter in AI-driven workplaces. They explore where automation helps, where it quietly breaks down, and why efficiency is not the same thing as responsibility.
This conversation is for leaders and managers trying to adopt AI without losing trust, context, or human decision-making — and for anyone thinking seriously about what work still requires humans as automation expands.
AI didn’t just speed up the work—it changed who gets hired, paid, and promoted.In this episode, Andrew Hewitt explains how AI is reshaping teams, vendors, and leadership decisions.AI adoption isn’t just a technology shift—it’s a workforce and leadership reckoning.In this episode of Human Work After AI, Andrew Hewitt (Founder & CEO of YohDev) explains how AI coding agents, automation, and internal tools are changing how companies structure teams, reduce contractor costs, and rethink service-based business models.Andrew shares real examples from his own firm—including a 40% reduction in contractor spend without reducing output—and why leaders must move beyond hourly labor models toward productized, trust-driven work.This conversation is especially relevant for managers, executives, and founders navigating:• AI-driven productivity gains without burning out teams• Why hourly work breaks in an AI world• When automation helps—and when it quietly creates talent risk• How human connection becomes a competitive advantage• Why service firms must productize or risk being replaced📌 Topics we cover:00:00 Why service businesses must productize in the AI era 12:30 How AI coding agents are already in production 21:50 What happens when AI flattens contractor demand 24:40 Why hourly compensation fails with AI 30:00 Human skills that matter more as automation increases 31:50 Who AI will help—and who it will leave behind 📘 Want a leadership framework for managing AI responsibly?Check out Managing AI — a practical guide for leaders navigating workforce transformation, trust, and human-centered AI.https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai🌐 Learn more about Big North Network:Helping leaders adopt AI without losing their people, culture, or trust.https://bignorthnetwork.com/🌐 Work with Andrew and YohDev:Full-stack engineering & AI-powered development: https://yohdev.com👍 Subscribe for weekly conversations on AI, work, and leadership.💬 Comment below: What part of your job do you think AI will change first?
Most culture efforts fail at the moment they’re supposed to matter most: everyday leadership behavior. In this conversation, Chris Fanchi talks with John Betancourt, CEO of Humantelligence, about what AI reveals — not replaces — in how people lead, communicate, and make decisions at work.
They explore why traditional culture programs rarely change behavior, how AI personalization only works when leaders actually care enough to adapt, and why judgment can’t be automated even as tools become more powerful. The throughline is responsibility: as AI becomes part of every role, leadership becomes harder to fake... and more important than ever.
Guest
John Betancourt — CEO, Humantelligence
More on AI, leadership, and work:
Artificial intelligence isn’t creeping into construction, it’s crashing in at full speed. And according to Alex Teplitxky, we’re not just optimizing workflows anymore… we’re redefining what counts as human work.
In this episode of Human Work After AI hosted by Chris Fanchi, Alex breaks down the rapid adoption of AI in construction, why the industry hit a tipping point in 2025, and what happens when a single analyst can suddenly manage 7-8 projects instead of three. He also goes deep on the existential side: mechanical “parallel humanity,” superintelligence risks, and why workers are fleeing white-collar roles for the trades.
This is one of the most candid conversations yet about how AI is reshaping not only labor markets, but humanity itself.
🔥 Key Themes
- Why construction went from “AI is cute” to “AI is essential” practically overnight
- The real economic impact: when one person can do the work of an entire team
- Agentic AI and the shift toward company-owned internal agents
- Why young workers are abandoning office jobs for skilled trades
- The boundary between “organic humanity” and “mechanical humanity”
- Alex’s optimism (creative empowerment, mobility) and deepest fears (superintelligence, extinction risk)
📌 Chapters
00:00 – Can we create a “parallel mechanical humanity”?
01:30 – Alex’s background: Silicon Valley summers & the pull of tech
02:44 – Getting into construction tech
11:24 – Why digitizing construction is so hard
12:35 – What SmartPM actually solves
15:51 – Why AI + math is the real engine of project controls
18:21 – The origins of generative scheduling
19:30 – How construction attitudes toward AI flipped almost overnight
22:30 – Agentic AI and internal company-built agents
24:17 – Data control, privacy, and the rise of proprietary AI
25:07 – Is AI augmentation… or quiet job elimination?
26:27 – Workers fleeing office jobs for the trades
27:48 – The coming “AI layoffs” nobody wants to say out loud
28:50 – Will human judgment remain essential?
30:41 – Are humans just organic algorithms?
31:53 – Automation, safety, and where society goes next
32:40 – Alex’s optimism: self-driving lifestyle & creative empowerment
33:35 – Alex’s fears: superintelligence and existential risk
36:30 – Could AI already be hiding from us?
37:13 – The positive and dark sides of our AI future
38:03 – Where to find Alex & SmartPM
📚 Resources
SmartPM - https://www.smartpm.com
Connect with Alex on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexteplitxky/
AI Transition Management Consulting with Chris Fanchi - https://bignorthnetwork.com/
📘 Get the Book — Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work (Available Now!)
Chris Fanchi's new book explores how AI is reshaping white-collar work, why trust infrastructure matters more than ever, and what it takes to stay human in an age of agents and automation.
👉 Learn more and order now at
https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai
#AI #FutureOfWork #ConstructionTech #SmartPM #Automation #AgenticAI #HumanWorkAfterAI
AI is reshaping public services, from Medicaid eligibility to behavioral health treatment planning, but the biggest shift isn’t automation. It’s the rising importance of human judgment, governance, and critical thinking in a world flooded with machine-generated information.
In this episode of Human Work After AI, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Connor Norwood, Founder & CEO of Delineate LLC, to explore how government, healthcare systems, and consulting firms are navigating AI adoption while protecting public trust and human responsibility.
Connor brings a rare lens: academic researcher → state CDO → COVID-19 multi-agency data leader → founder. His perspective on AI governance, health workforce shortages, legal liability, and expert-human augmentation is one every tech leader needs to hear.
🔑 Key Themes
- Why critical thinking becomes the most important workforce skill in an AI-first world
- Why AI will replace some jobs, but will create entirely new ones that require reskilling
- How expert-human augmentation can ease the mental health provider shortage
- The hidden risk for companies that “ban AI” but don’t create policies
- Why public sector AI adoption is slowed by outdated statutes and risk-averse incentives
- How AI changes discovery, research, and consulting workflows
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 — Opening highlight
01:02 — Introduction to Connor Norwood & Delineate
01:58 — From pre-med → academia → state government → data leadership
04:28 — The origins of Delineate & the art of data storytelling
06:39 — Why executives need narrative clarity, not more dashboards
09:44 — What “tuning your message to the audience” really means
10:52 — What Delineate does today (government + sports + healthcare + AI)
12:55 — AI governance: why orgs can’t put their head in the sand
13:03 — Expert human augmentation in healthcare
15:26 — How clinicians perceive AI (and why definitions matter)
18:48 — The fragmented regulatory landscape
21:12 — Government constraints: legacy rules, risk tolerance, budget cycles
23:34 — Why efficiency in public services matters
26:23 — How Delineate uses AI to accelerate research & discovery
28:21 — Are jobs being replaced? Connor’s view on job creation & reskilling
30:38 — Why critical thinking still matters more than ever
31:24 — Legal liability: AI outputs, copyright, and the black box
34:03 — Why proactive guardrails matter
36:17 — Creating realistic AI policies in organizations
36:45 — Connor’s vision for improving public service with AI
38:17 — Where to find Connor
38:33 — Closing
🔗 Resources
Delineate LLC: https://delineateconsulting.com
Connect with Connor: http://www.linkedin.com/in/connorwnorwood
Chris Fanchi / Big North: https://bignorthnetwork.com
📘 Order Chris’s Book — Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work
Available Now!
“Most titles will remain. What will change is what people do within those titles.”
In this episode of Human Work After AI, Chris Fanchi talks with Chandan Maruti (CEO of Twig.so) about using agentic AI to scale customer support and success without sacrificing empathy. Twig acts like a coworker for support agents, handling instant answers and triage so humans can focus on pattern-finding, prevention, and relationships.
We cover:
- Why CS/S roles won’t disappear, but will become far more strategic as AI takes the repetitive load.
- The “thousand CSMs” idea: sensing problems earlier across every user interaction.
- Agentic support: AI handles, escalates, and routes while humans oversee and tackle the hard cases.
- Measuring value with a 7-dimension evaluation to avoid AI oversell/undersell traps.
- What a “perfect AI–human hybrid” support team looks like in the next 2–4 years.
Chapters
00:00 — Opening highlight (roles change, not titles)
00:48 — Intro: Twig as an AI coworker for support agents
03:04 — Chandan’s path: engineering → Lambda School → CS leadership
05:44 — The CS pain: high cost, limited bandwidth, slow signal flow
10:17 — “A thousand CSMs”: using AI to listen, sense, escalate early
12:21 — Retention by rigor: the 7-metric outcome framework
16:12 — Humans stay: AI does the repetitive, people do prevention & relationships
19:23 — Next step: from data deluge to actionable signals for CSMs
23:54 — Agentic tools and distributable expertise (runnable knowledge)
36:34 — The ideal AI–human hybrid support org (instant response, smart triage)
38:01 — Where to find Twig + outcomes-first mindset
Resources
Twig.so — outcomes-first AI for support & success: https://www.twig.so
Steward your people through the AI transition with Chris Fanchi's Big North Network — https://bignorthnetwork.com
Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work (out now!)
If this episode helped you reframe human + agent workflows, dive deeper in Chris Fanchi's new book, Managing AI - a pragmatic playbook for leaders on trust, metrics, and org design in the agentic era.
Order your copy today: https://bignorthnetwork.com/managing-ai
If every real estate agent gets AI superpowers, what still sets the best apart? For Biju Ashokan (Founder & CEO, Radius), the answer is clear: proactive AI to remove the grunt work, and human judgment to win the moment that matters. In this episode of Human Work After AI, Biju breaks down MEL, Radius’s AI assistant that builds live client personas, schedules showings, drafts offers, and acts proactively, not just reactively like most chat tools. He argues the enduring edge is interpersonal skill, negotiation, and local context, even as AI levels the playing field.What we cover (highlights):- Why Radius calls itself a software company with a brokerage license and how the model works (subscriptions + per-transaction)- How MEL gets proactive and creates a living client profile from calls, texts, email, and search behavior- Why human skills become more important when AI gives everyone similar tools (negotiation, network, local knowledge)- The future: fewer agents, more professional teams, higher throughput per agent, and likely commission compression over time- Data privacy, team-scoped AI instances, and keeping human-in-the-loop for liability and quality controlBiju’s ultimate takeaway about AI: the same thing that excites him about AI also scares him - the unknowns of the next 10 years of work.Chapters00:00 – Highlight: “Interpersonal skills will stand out when AI levels the field.”02:49 – Software company with a brokerage license03:15 – Vision, then AI’s 360° rethink of real estate software04:29 – Research first: six months inside agent offices; hiring lessons08:17 – Agents want independence; Radius builds the infra to enable it10:27 – Where AI fits: repetitive workflows → MEL assistant12:03 – From reactive to proactive: MEL books showings, sends CMAs13:55 – What stays human: negotiation, network, local context15:44 – GTM update: 100+ brokerages, 1,000+ agents, new states opening16:30 – Teams growing despite a down market; time-back → growth19:20 – One platform vs. tool soup; MEL keeps data in sync21:45 – Fewer agents, more productivity; likely commission compression26:51 – Human-in-the-loop, feedback loops, liability guardrails29:49 – Final remarks: optimism and uncertainty about jobs aheadResourcesLearn more about Radius — https://radiusagent.comGrow your revenue with host Chris Fanchi's Big North Marketing — https://bignorthmarketing.comConversations like this feed the new book "Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work" by Chris Fanchi — releasing November 18. Visit bignorthmarketing.com/managing-ai to learn more and pre-order today!
What happens when AI stops being a classroom distraction and starts becoming the assistant every educator needs?
In this episode of Human Work After AI, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Dr. Mohamed Farag, Founder of Analytics 4 Everyone and Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, to explore how AI can transform higher education by freeing faculty from repetitive tasks and restoring time for what matters most: teaching, mentoring, and inspiring critical thinking.
From his journey from Egypt to the U.S. to founding a company at the intersection of academia and AI, Mohamed shares lessons on innovation, resilience, and designing systems that preserve trust, privacy, and creativity in learning.
If you’re leading a team, teaching, or building AI-driven solutions, this episode is a must-listen on what it takes to bring humanity back into technology.
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 The Future of Teaching with AI
00:43 Introduction: Human Work After AI
01:30 Mohamed’s Journey from Egypt to Carnegie Mellon
05:00 Discovering AI’s True Potential
07:05 The Birth of Analytics 4r Everyone
08:40 Early Podcast Search Innovation
10:45 From B2C to B2B: Pivoting Toward Higher Education
12:50 Faculty Burnout and the AI Solution
14:45 Which Universities Are Adopting AI Fastest
16:45 Protecting Privacy and Intellectual Property
19:30 Building Secure, SOC 2 Certified AI Systems
21:00 Lessons from Startup to Academia
23:50 Go-to-Market Strategy and University Pilots
26:00 The Human Role in the AI-Powered University
30:10 Advice for Educators and Technologists
33:00 Closing Reflections
📚 Resources
Analytics 4 Everyone: https://a4e.tech
Connect with Mohamed: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-farag
Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
💡Looking to better manage your team through the AI transformation?
Coming November 18th, 2025, the new book "Managing AI: Humans, Agents, and the Future of Work" by Chris Fanchi is a deep dive into the challenges facing executives and leaders at the forefront of AI. Pre-order your copy and get a free bonus chapter today.
👉 Learn more at https://bignorthmarketing.com/managing-ai
AI is reshaping how things are made, from the shop floor to the supply chain.
In this episode of Human Work After AI, Chris Fanchi speaks with Zakary Smith, CEO of SensFlo, about how artificial intelligence and industrial IoT are transforming manufacturing — not by replacing workers, but by redefining how they collaborate with machines.
SensFlo’s AI-powered platform connects equipment, software, and people across global factories to improve efficiency, safety, and data transparency. Zakary shares how he’s helping manufacturers transition from fragmented operations to fully interoperable, semi-autonomous ecosystems, and what that means for the next generation of skilled labor.
They explore:
- How AI is accelerating the digital transformation of manufacturing
- Why “interoperability”, not full automation, defines the smart factory
- The real opportunities (and limits) of robotics over the next decade
- How AI creates new skilled labor roles instead of erasing them
- Ethical design and data transparency in human-machine systems
Chapters
0:00 Intro – AI meets manufacturing
1:27 Zakary’s origin story: from STEM curiosity to entrepreneurship
4:37 Discovering inefficiencies on the factory floor
6:23 What SensFlo does (explained simply)
8:02 How manufacturers adopt AI today
10:25 Build vs. buy: choosing the right AI stack
13:13 Worker fear vs. executive excitement
15:45 What AI can’t yet do
17:51 Robotics and “the Optimus problem”
18:48 The rise of new skilled labor and upskilling culture
22:33 Ethical AI and data transparency
24:39 What the smart factory of the future looks like
27:28 The next phase for SensFlo
🔗 Resources
SensFlo: https://sensflo.ai
Connect with Zakary Smith: http://www.linkedin.com/in/zakarytsmith
Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
👉 If you’re a founder or tech leader navigating AI transformation, Big North Marketing helps you turn your expertise into a growth engine through podcasts, strategy, and storytelling that build real relationships.
Learn more at bignorthmarketing.com.
AI may be reshaping small business marketing, but the ones who thrive will be those who adapt.
In this episode of Human Work After AI, Chris Fanchi speaks with Vitaly Motuz, founder of Reviews on My Website and Text Ninja, about how he bootstrapped a SaaS company serving 3,000+ local businesses and what he’s learned about trust, automation, and human connection in a digital-first world.
They discuss how Vitaly turned a simple idea into a growing SaaS platform, why he’s cautious but optimistic about AI, and what skills will matter most as automation transforms local business operations.
🕒 Chapters
0:00 Intro – The future of jobs and adaptability
1:00 Vitaly’s origin story: From engineer to SaaS founder
5:00 Turning a simple widget into a global review platform
8:00 Doing things that don’t scale—and why it matters
10:30 Learning to let go of control as a founder
14:00 Using AI inside the product: automated review replies
17:00 How local businesses are reacting to AI
19:00 The widening gap between those who embrace and ignore AI
22:00 Why adaptability beats fear in an AI world
25:00 Human touch vs. automation: where to draw the line
27:00 The privacy question we’re not asking enough
30:00 What’s next for Reviews on My Website and Text Ninja
💡 Key Themes
- The tension between automation and authenticity
- Why adaptability is the ultimate future-of-work skill
- The coming trust gap between businesses that use AI wisely—and those that don’t
🔗 Resources
Reviews on My Website: https://reviewsonmywebsite.com
Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
If your SaaS or agency is navigating the same AI transformation, visit BigNorthMarketing.com to explore how to grow smarter, not just faster.
AI is reshaping how we build software - but can it finally fix the multi-trillion dollar inefficiencies holding the industry back?
In this episode of Human Work After AI, host Chris Fanchi sits down with Noel Wilson, Founder of Intelligenic, to explore how AI can automate the entire software development lifecycle, from discovery and design to coding, QA, and deployment.
Noel shares his journey from decades in consulting to launching Intelligenic, his mission to solve systemic inefficiencies in software, and why he believes AI won’t replace developers but will transform their roles forever.
In this episode:
- Why software development is still stuck in inefficiency
- How Intelligenic automates discovery, design, code, and QA
- Why AI is a force multiplier for startups, enterprises, and consultants
- The future of junior engineers in an AI-driven industry
- What skills will define the next generation of product builders
⏱ Chapters
0:00 Intro & Noel’s big idea
1:11 Growing up in Silicon Valley & early tech spark
6:27 Consulting career and inefficiencies in software
11:31 Founding Intelligenic & validating the idea
16:30 How AI powers the platform
21:44 Comparing Intelligenic to coding assistants
24:42 Adoption across startups, consultants, and enterprises
31:09 Go-to-market strategy and LinkedIn traction
35:44 How AI changes software engineering roles
39:11 Skills the next generation must master
41:57 The future: fixing the multi-trillion dollar problem
📌 Resources
Intelligenic: https://intelligenic.ai
Connect with Noel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noel-wilson-39b86/
Grow your revenue with Chris Fanchi's Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
🔔 Subscribe for more conversations on the future of work, AI, and technology.
#FutureOfWork #AIandHumans #SaaSStrategy
AI has lowered the barrier for hackers, turning novices into advanced attackers almost overnight. What does this mean for identity, cybersecurity, and the future of work?
In this episode of Human Work After AI, we speak with Eli Farhood, founder of KatshID, a company pioneering biometric authentication that eliminates passwords and protects digital identities. Eli shares his journey from finance to cybersecurity, and why he believes AI demands a paradigm shift in identity security.
🔑 What you’ll learn in this conversation:
- How AI automation and generative models change the threat landscape for businesses
- Why credentials are the weakest link in identity security — and why eliminating them matters
- The role of biometrics and device-agnostic solutions in securing the future of work
- Lessons from finance and risk management that apply to today’s digital economy
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – AI’s impact on hacking & identity theft
01:00 – From finance to cybersecurity: Eli’s founder story
07:00 – Stress, risk, and the decision to pivot into tech
12:00 – Fake news, bots, and early signals of identity fraud
17:00 – Personal story of identity theft and its fallout
23:00 – Why legacy systems can’t protect us in the AI era
26:00 – Biometrics, hand scans, and eliminating credentials
33:00 – What business leaders need to know about modern cyber threats
47:00 – The future of work, utilities, and national security in an AI age
🔗 Resources
KatshID: https://katshid.com
Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
💡 If you’re a SaaS founder or marketing leader navigating AI disruption, visit bignorthmarketing.com to explore how we help SaaS companies grow with clarity and confidence.
𝗠𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘀 - 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻.
Francisco Marin, CEO of Cognitive Talent Solutions, believes that’s a dangerous mismatch. His guiding idea: the future of work must be network-first, not hierarchy-first.
In this episode of Human Work After AI, Francisco joins us to talk about the future of work and what it means to run a business network-first.
Francisco has pioneered organizational network analysis (ONA) and AI-driven agents for leadership, onboarding, and change management. His company has partnered with giants like Google and ServiceNow to help enterprises navigate decentralization, hybrid work, and AI adoption.
We explore:
- Why organizational structures lag behind technological change
- How “collaborative freedom” empowers employees and improves performance
- The role of AI agents in onboarding, leadership pipelines, and cultural resilience
- The ethical balance between trust and surveillance in people analytics
- What networks - from neural nets to blockchain to social graphs - teach us about the future of work
If you’re a founder, leader, or strategist, this conversation offers a rare glimpse into how work itself may be rewired.
⏱️ Chapters
0:00 – Intro & Francisco’s origin story
3:05 – From IBM analytics to founding CTS
5:49 – What is organizational network analysis (ONA)?
8:11 – Scaling from Fortune 500s to 70,000-employee rollouts
9:42 – Partnerships, communities, and the Network-First Manifesto
13:23 – Hybrid work, AI shifts, and the limits of corporate structures
18:09 – AI agents for onboarding, leadership, and change management
24:47 – Decentralization, recognition, and the politics of work
27:21 – AI, entry-level jobs, and the broken talent pipeline
30:36 – Trust vs. surveillance in people analytics
34:20 – Advice for young professionals entering an unstable workforce
36:23 – Staying grounded as a founder in Silicon Valley
📌 Resources
Cognitive Talent Solutions: https://cognitivetalentsolutions.com
Network First Manifesto: https://networkfirstmanifesto.com
Grow your revenue with Chris Fanchi's Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
#AI #futureofwork #Networkfirst
What happens when a construction worker frustrated with clipboards and paper timesheets teaches himself electronics and coding - and builds one of the fastest-growing workforce automation companies in North America?
In this episode of Human Work After AI, I sit down with Albert Bou Fadel, founder and CEO of SmartBarrel, to explore how his unusual path from the field to technology led to a breakthrough in labor tracking, payroll automation, and AI-driven workforce management.
Albert shares why the real opportunity isn’t in replacing people but in eliminating thousands of tiny inefficiencies that bog down projects and drain productivity. From skepticism in the construction industry to the rise of AI copilots, we discuss how automation is reshaping not only job sites but also the way humans think about work.
🔑 What you’ll learn in this episode:
- Why the biggest construction inefficiency isn’t lack of tech, it’s failed implementation
- How focusing on labor first, not the C-suite, drives adoption and ROI
- The cultural skepticism that makes selling tech into construction uniquely hard
- How AI boosts efficiency without mass job replacement
- Why zero-manual-input data is the foundation for AI’s future in construction
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 – Intro: Why Construction Tech Is Broken
02:00 – Albert’s Origin Story: From Concrete to Coding
05:20 – The Labor Management Problem on Every Jobsite
07:15 – Teaching Himself Electronics and Building the MVP
09:20 – First Signs It Could Be a Real Business
10:40 – What SmartBarrel Does Today
13:20 – Bottom-Up Tech: Designing for Workers, Not Just CFOs
16:15 – Why Skepticism Runs Deep in Construction
19:30 – Cost vs. ROI: The Hardest Sales Objection
21:00 – How COVID and ChatGPT Shifted Tech Adoption in Construction
23:20 – Data Quality, Privacy, and AI’s Next Phase
29:40 – Will AI Replace Construction Jobs?
32:20 – Internal Use of AI at SmartBarrel
36:00 – Why Albert Remains Bullish on AI’s Future
📚 Resources
Explore SmartBarrel: https://smartbarrel.io
Connect with Albert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertboufadel
Grow your SaaS business with host Chris Fanchi: https://bignorthmarketing.com
AI is rewriting the rules of insurance tech - and Rob Lewis has seen the transformation from the inside.
With 25 years in global reinsurance and a history of building startups from scratch, Rob is now leading INTX Insurance Software to modernize how carriers operate, combining speed, flexibility, and data intelligence in one AI-powered platform.
In this episode of Human Work After AI, we dive into:
- How Rob spun up a working policy administration system with AI in just 12 hours
- Why clean, stable data is the ultimate competitive moat in insurance
- The real pace of AI adoption in a conservative industry - and where it’s accelerating fastest
If you’re curious about building trust in AI-driven systems, competing against entrenched incumbents, or translating decades of industry experience into a disruptive SaaS model, this conversation delivers.
Chapters
00:00 – Intro & Guest Background
01:04 – From Stockbroking to Startups: Rob’s Origin Story
05:20 – Entering Insurance & Early Tech Gaps
07:40 – Founding INTX and the U.S. Market Push
12:54 – The AI Shift: From Blockchain to Generative Models
18:46 – Why Technology Alone Isn’t a Moat
22:22 – Human Roles That Still Matter in AI-Driven Insurance
24:05 – Regulation, Risk, and AI in a Highly Regulated Industry
27:14 – Modernization Barriers Around the Globe
29:22 – Advice for Entering the Insurance Industry Today
30:45 – Why Rob’s Optimistic About Insurance + AI’s Future
Resources
INTX Insurance Software: https://www.intxis.com
Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
What happens when an aerospace engineer, serial entrepreneur, and AI visionary sets out to reinvent both how we move and how we care for each other?
In this episode of Human Work After AI, we sit down with Allen Nejah, founder and CEO of SunMan Engineering, a Silicon Valley firm with 1,700+ product development projects under its belt across aerospace, defense, IoT, and consumer electronics. Allen shares his journey from building connected car technology that powers internet-enabled vehicles worldwide to pioneering robotics for elderly care and groundbreaking EV transmissions that could boost range by 40%.
Key Themes:
- How AI enables machines to truly “understand” humans – and why that changes everything.
- The leap from mechanical robotics to intelligent, assistive systems for home and healthcare.
- Why “dark manufacturing” could bring production back to the U.S. – without costing jobs.
- Allen’s vision for Level 5 self-driving cars and a traffic-free future.
Chapters:
0:00 – Intro & Allen’s view on AI as a new human-machine language
1:30 – Allen’s aerospace roots & dream of becoming an astronaut
3:00 – Founding Sunman Engineering and first projects
4:40 – Building connected cars before it was mainstream
7:15 – The road to Level 5 autonomous vehicles
8:34 – Reinventing transmissions for EV range gains
10:06 – Partnering on AI-powered home assistance robotics
13:06 – What “assistive automation” means in practice
14:11 – The evolution of robotics in the AI era
17:04 – Breakthroughs needed for the next decade of AI & robotics
19:35 – Dark manufacturing & the future of production
21:02 – Would Allen go to Mars? (Spoiler: yes)
21:50 – AI’s impact on engineering & product design
25:17 – Which industries will robotics disrupt first
26:02 – Regulation, ethics, and military tech insights
28:09 – Why Allen’s optimistic about the future
Resources:
🌐 Sunman Engineering: https://www.sunmantechnology.com
🌐 Grow your revenue with host Chris Fanchi's Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com
Most sales team members only spend 13 hours a week actually selling. The rest? Admin, meetings, and chasing notes. Adam Rubenstein wants to change that by turning the “art” of sales into a measurable, coachable science.
In this episode of Human Work After AI, we speak with Adam Rubenstein, a four-time founder and the CEO of Traq.ai. Adam shares how his platform uses AI to capture and analyze sales conversations, freeing reps from admin work, boosting coaching impact, and helping leaders finally see what’s working and what’s not.
We explore the evolution from homegrown AI models to today’s LLMs, why service businesses benefit most from conversation intelligence, and how AI can actually make sales more human.
You'll hear about:
- Converting sales intuition into repeatable, data-driven coaching
- Why 90% of sales leaders lack true visibility into rep performance
- How to overcome resistance to AI call recording and analysis
- The line between automation that empowers vs. replaces salespeople
Resources
Sales coaching at scale with Traq.ai - https://traq.ai
Grow your revenue with Big North Marketing → https://bignorthmarketing.com
📍 Chapters & Timestamps
0:00 – Highlight: AI as a daily sales coach, not a threat
0:47 – Adam’s entrepreneurial origin story
5:02 – Turning sales from gut feel to science
7:40 – Why most leaders can’t coach effectively
11:07 – Pivoting after the AI revolution
12:32 – Salespeople only sell 13 hours/week
14:11 – Automating follow-ups and CRM updates
16:55 – Preparing like sales is a sport
18:38 – Why service businesses gain the most from AI
20:51 – Overcoming fears about recording calls
23:56 – Self-guided coaching and call scoring
26:29 – Will AI replace sales reps?
31:14 – Where humans still win in complex sales
34:18 – Roles that may vanish (and new ones that will emerge)
36:47 – The resilience of humans in tech shifts
38:02 – Where to find Adam and Traq.ai
Vlad Cazacu has seen both sides of the fundraising table. As a former venture capitalist turned founder, he’s now helping thousands of startups raise capital faster with AI-powered tools through his company Flowlie.
In this episode, we dive into:
- Why Flowlie pivoted from serving VCs to empowering founders
- How founders using Flowlie have raised over $600M
- The rising expectations for pre-seed and seed-stage startups
- Whether AI will eventually replace humans in venture capital
- What still needs to stay human—and what doesn’t
- Vlad’s advice for navigating failure, hype, and luck in today’s startup world
If you’ve ever wondered where fundraising is headed or what makes a startup truly investable in an AI-first era, don’t miss this conversation.
Resources
🔗 Automate fundraising with Flowlie: https://www.flowlie.com
🌐 Grow your SaaS company's revenue with Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com/
Chapters
00:00 – The AI-to-AI Fundraising Thought Experiment
01:28 – From Accidental Founder to Venture Capitalist
04:08 – Leaving VC to Build Flowlie
07:39 – Why the Pivot to Serving Founders Worked
09:46 – How AI Supercharges Startup Fundraising
14:16 – What’s Changed in Pre-Seed and Seed Rounds
18:21 – What Still Counts as a Moat in an AI World
21:23 – Execution Lessons from 120+ Investments
26:28 – Where Founders Waste the Most Time in Fundraising
33:36 – What Must Stay Human in Venture Capital
What does it mean to stay human in a world being rebuilt by algorithms?
Human Work After AI is a podcast about the future of white-collar work - where intelligence is no longer uniquely human, and automation doesn’t just threaten jobs but reshapes purpose.
Hosted by Chris Fanchi, marketer-turned-researcher and founder of Big North Marketing, the show explores how artificial intelligence is transforming knowledge work, leadership, hiring, and the very fabric of modern business. Each week, Chris sits down with founders, technologists, operators, and builders who are living through - and shaping - the shift.
From SaaS leaders deploying LLMs in production to HR execs wrestling with algorithmic bias, from dev agency CEOs automating away billable hours to AI startup founders chasing the limits of collaboration, this show goes beyond hype to unpack the real-world tension between productivity and humanity.
Whether you're a software executive, strategist, consultant, or just trying to future-proof your career, Human Work After AI offers grounded conversations, actionable insights, and the occasional existential gut-check.
Subscribe to explore:
- How AI is rewiring work at the team, company, and societal level
- What skills (and leaders) will still matter in the next decade
- Where automation ends and human judgment begins