In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Michael Terry, a seasoned software engineer and co-founder of Sanctuary Software Studio. They discuss Michael's extensive journey in software development, the evolution of his company, and the challenges faced in the current tech landscape, including talent management, onboarding, and the impact of AI on business models. Michael shares insights on maintaining a hybrid work model, the importance of continuous learning, and strategies for integrating new tools and workflows into their processes. The conversation concludes with Michael's advice for tech leaders navigating these changing times.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with William Steenbergen, co-founder and CTO of Federato, about the transformative role of AI in the insurance industry. They discuss the challenges of underwriting, the importance of addressing the coverage gap, and how Federato's platform is revolutionizing the insurance lifecycle. William shares insights on team dynamics, the impact of rapid growth, and the significance of fostering a collaborative culture through initiatives like demo days. He concludes with valuable advice for tech leaders navigating the complexities of scaling their businesses.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Matt Ryan, founder and CTO of Kythera Labs, about his journey from the corporate world to the startup landscape. They discuss the evolution of Kythera Labs, innovations in healthcare data solutions, the challenges of managing remote engineering teams, and the importance of clarity in technical communication. Matt shares insights on leveraging AI in healthcare, lessons learned from AI implementation, and the future goals for Kythera Labs as they aim to scale their offerings in 2026.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin interviews Nathan Miller, CEO of Rentec Direct, discussing the evolution of property management software, the integration of AI, challenges in the rental industry, and the impact of changing algorithms on customer acquisition. Nathan shares insights on fraud prevention, the importance of market testing ideas, and the dynamics of building a cohesive software engineering team. He emphasizes the need for tech leaders to adapt to new challenges and offers advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Matt DeBergalis, CEO and co-founder of Apollo GraphQL. They discuss the evolution of Apollo, the impact of AI on software development, the importance of APIs, and the challenges of hiring in a rapidly changing tech landscape. Matt shares insights on building a culture of accountability, navigating the hype around AI, and the future of AI in enterprises. He emphasizes the need for continuous shipping and adapting to change as key strategies for tech leaders.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Herb Hogue, CTO of Myriad360, about the evolving landscape of AI infrastructure, the challenges of talent acquisition in tech, and the rapid changes in technology. Herb shares insights from his extensive career, discussing the importance of adaptability, the complexities of data center planning, and the future implications of quantum computing. The conversation emphasizes the need for tech leaders to remain grounded amidst the hype surrounding AI and to focus on building effective teams and infrastructures.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Michael Campbell, CEO of Fusion Risk Management, about the importance of operational resilience in today's unpredictable business environment. They discuss Michael's journey to his current role, the innovative projects at Fusion, and the impact of AI on software development. Michael emphasizes the need for ruthless prioritization in tech leadership and shares valuable advice for navigating the rapidly changing landscape of technology.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Ken Johnson, CTO and co-founder of Dry Run Security. They discuss Ken's journey into the tech world, the innovations in software security that Dry Run is implementing, and the challenges faced by engineering teams in a rapidly evolving landscape. The conversation also touches on the impact of AI on software development, the importance of communication within teams, and strategies for engaging non-technical stakeholders. Ken shares valuable insights and advice for tech leaders navigating the complexities of modern software development.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, Steve Taplin sits down with Edward Calvesbert, VP of Product Management for IBM WatsonX, to discuss what’s real, what’s hype, and what’s breaking inside enterprise AI today. Edward explains how Watson evolved into WatsonX, why 95% of enterprise AI projects are failing, and why strong data foundations and semantic layers matter more than the model itself. He breaks down the difference between demos and production AI, the emerging reality of agentic voice systems, and how text-to-SQL and conversational BI are the current innovation frontier. Edward also shares candid insights on governance, legacy data, vendor lock-in, productivity with GenAI coding tools, and what it really takes to go from prototype to enterprise-ready at global scale.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin sits down with Peter Horadan, CEO of Vouched, and one of the few tech leaders who has helped scale multiple “boring” backend automation companies into multi-billion-dollar giants. Peter walks through his journey from Microsoft in the pre-internet era to leading engineering at Concur, Avalara, and launching Lockstep before its acquisition by Sage. He reveals why digital identity is on the verge of a massive transformation, how mobile driver’s licenses and cryptographic IDs will replace today’s broken verification, and why AI agents logging in as humans is the next huge security nightmare. Peter also shares candid lessons on remote culture, AI coding limits, leadership, and why anyone with the itch to found a company should stop waiting and start building.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, Steve Taplin talks with Behnam Bastani, CEO and co-founder of OpenInfer, and former AI executive at Meta, Roblox, Google, HP, and Kodak. Behnam breaks down why the future of AI will live at the edge—not the cloud—and how his team is building a fully integrated hardware–software ecosystem that delivers low-cost, private, on-device AI inference. He explains OpenInfer’s breakthrough “Mementos” technology that lets engineers move between Claude, Copilot, Gemini, and other tools without losing context or history. Behnam also discusses Bay Area culture, talent retention, global instability, hardware regulations, AI adoption failures, and why innovation requires embracing chaos instead of fearing it.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin talks with Jimi Li, CTO of ALM, whose career spans startups, GE, L’Oreal, Coach, News Corp, consulting, and now leading a fully digital legal-industry intelligence company. Jimi shares how he evolved from a two-person startup engineer to global technology leader, and why transformation is 80% psychology and communication—not architecture. He breaks down AI’s real value, the productivity leakage problem, the rise of human-in-the-loop systems, and why every tech leader must build an AI-powered second brain. Jimi also explains how ALM moved from publishing to data and intelligence, how to lead globally distributed engineering teams, and why asking the right questions will matter more than knowledge itself.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Tanner Hackett, CEO of Counterpart, about his entrepreneurial journey, the pivot to insurance technology, and the innovative approach of agentic insurance. They discuss the challenges of tech adoption in the insurance industry, the importance of building a remote engineering team, and insights on fundraising and capital efficiency. Tanner shares his thoughts on maximizing team utility, leveraging AI, and the value of learning from failures, as well as advice for tech leaders navigating a rapidly changing landscape.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin talks with Mathias Herzog, CEO of Korn Ferry Digital Business and President of Global Technology Industries at Korn Ferry. Mathias shares his journey from consulting in San Francisco to executive roles at Salesforce, Automation Anywhere, and now leading a $400M SaaS division inside a $3B global firm. He breaks down the challenge of unifying IP, data, and tech stacks from 20 acquisitions, and explains how Korn Ferry is productizing decades of talent science into a unified platform. Mathias also discusses agentic AI, the future of talent development, the difficulty of vetting AI-assisted candidates, and why leaders must focus, listen first, and avoid shiny-object distractions.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, Steve Taplin interviews Jim Sullivan, Founder & CEO of eDiscovery AI, whose rare background as both a technologist and an attorney gives him a unique advantage in transforming the legal industry. Jim shares how AI now outperforms humans in document classification, why 40,000 doc-review attorney roles are at risk, and how blurry scans, handwriting, foreign languages, and spreadsheets are no longer barriers for machine intelligence. He breaks down the hiring crisis caused by AI-assisted interviews, the rising cost of SOC 2 compliance, and the security pressures forcing his engineering team back into an office. Jim also explains why most AI pilots fail, why fun is the real founder superpower, and how embracing failure—not avoiding it—is the fastest path to breakthrough innovation.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, Steve Taplin sits down with Corey Ercanbrack, Chief Product & Technology Officer at Vasion, to unpack his 30-year journey from Intel → Landesk → InsideSales → Vasion. Corey explains how he scaled Vasion from 3 engineers to 150+, transitioned from on-prem to a cloud-native SaaS platform, and unified product + engineering under the CPTO role. He breaks down the realities of remote-first engineering, why nearshore LATAM talent is a game changer, and how AI agents will redefine print automation, document workflows, and the future of UI. Corey also shares candid lessons on acquisitions, leadership, engineering culture, and the race to upskill teams for the AI era.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, Steve Taplin sits down with Jose D. Perez-Diaz, VP of Engineering at Vetspire, to trace his journey from algebra teacher → software developer → CTO → tech leader in veterinary medicine. Jose shares how Vetspire is redefining veterinary EMRs with AI-native features like patient summarization and agentic scribing that let doctors make eye contact again instead of typing notes for hours. He breaks down how universities shape market dominance, why UX must follow human intention (not clicks), and how distributed teams require written-first cultures to avoid apathy and isolation. Jose also gets brutally honest about leadership: documentation over meetings, removing antagonists fast, and telling stories that align teams around a shared destination.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Justin Farris, VP of Product at Read.AI. They discuss Justin's unique career journey from film to tech, the importance of networking, and the innovative AI solutions being developed at Read AI. Justin shares insights on aligning product and engineering teams, the evolving role of product management, and the challenges of implementing generative AI in large organizations. The conversation emphasizes the need for clear communication, rapid prototyping, and learning from failures in the tech industry.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Jameel Al-Aziz, CTO of Bastion, about his career journey from self-taught coder in Kuwait to leading a startup focused on stablecoin issuance. They discuss the challenges of building a robust engineering team, the importance of practical security measures, and the evolving landscape of crypto and AI in engineering. Jameel shares valuable lessons learned throughout his career and offers advice for tech leaders navigating the complexities of the industry.
In this episode of Software Leaders Uncensored, host Steve Taplin speaks with Chris Dean, CEO and founder of Treasury Prime, about his unconventional journey from academia to the tech startup world. Chris shares insights on the importance of embracing failure, the dynamics of building effective teams, and the challenges of leading in the fast-paced tech landscape. They discuss the impact of AI on software development and FinTech, the complexities of legacy banking systems, and the significance of maintaining a sustainable work culture. Chris emphasizes the value of choosing the right people and problems in tech leadership, offering practical advice for navigating the evolving industry.