His company pulled the plug to go all in on AI

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Mind the Machine

Cheryl K. Goodman

29 episodes

1 week ago

Welcome to Mind the Machine, the podcast that uncovers the rapidly advancing world of technology and its profound connections with human kind. Hosted by Cheryl Goodman, author of How to Win Friends & Influence Robots

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His company pulled the plug to go all in on AI

Mind the Machine

33 minutes 41 seconds

1 month ago

His company pulled the plug to go all in on AI

Today we’re talking with Ryan Fox, CTO of Super.com, about what it really looks like to rebuild a company around AI. Ryan walks through why they literally shut down their old systems, why AI is both opportunity and constraint, and what leaders get wrong about adoption. He also breaks down how Super.com scaled from hotel booking to a financial super-app serving everyday Americans.We cover the shift to AI-first thinking, change management inside large teams, credit-building opportunities for underserved users, and why many AI pilots fail. Ryan also shares his personal journey from Google SRE to CTO, and why he eventually wants to bring AI back into the medical world.Follow Mind the Machine:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindthemachinepodcastTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mindthemachinepodcastWebsite: https://findgood.tech/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/findgood-tech/⸻TIMESTAMPS00:00 AI mindset shift and breaking old habits00:16 Today’s guest: Ryan Fox, CTO of Super.com00:50 How Super.com started as a hotel chatbot01:19 The early NLP era and why it was too soon02:11 Pivoting into a full super-app03:03 Revisiting old tech after the 2022 AI explosion03:40 Why they shut down their old systems entirely05:01 Building an “AI-first” product workflow06:08 Rethinking designers, engineers, and team workflows07:41 Solopreneurs, MVPs, and why scaling is different09:11 Why AI lets them execute more of their backlog10:49 What makes Super.com’s membership valuable12:02 The shocking debit-card discovery13:06 Credit access, demographics, and opportunity14:06 Financial literacy plus opportunity15:38 Bespoke financial coaching with AI16:57 How they use AI in pricing and backend systems17:44 “Spot”: an AI savings agent concept18:51 Macro AI trends Ryan is watching19:21 Shifting to an AI-first mindset across a company20:54 Training non-technical staff to use AI tools22:26 Fear, indifference, and adoption challenges23:47 AI failures, hype, and real timelines24:40 Why many orgs aren’t data-ready26:21 Legacy leaders misreading AI signals27:06 The reality: most experiments won’t work (and that’s OK)28:36 Ryan’s personal journey: engineering, Google, startups30:18 Growing with Super.com from early days to CTO31:03 Why the journey matters more than the destination31:41 Future hopes: bringing AI into medical fields32:50 Closing reflections and thanks