In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Ronak Vyas, Co-Founder and CTO of Lead Bank, to explore how leadership principles remain constant even as the problems — and companies — change. Ronak shares lessons from leading at Yahoo, Square, and now founding a fintech bank, reflecting on how to adjust to new environments, make high-stakes decisions, and transition from engineering leader to startup founder. If you’re a technology professional considering leadership or even starting your own venture, this episode is packed with real-world insights on navigating change, making smart decisions, and staying close to your craft.🔥 Key Takeaways:Leadership tools stay constant, but their application must adapt to different company cultures, industries, and scales.Prioritize understanding the business context before forming strong technical opinions.Speed of decision-making beats perfection — collect real-world data fast, iterate, and adjust.As a founder, decision-making carries broader consequences, making a deep business understanding essential beyond technical leadership.Retaining technical depth is critical as you move into higher leadership roles, especially when founding or joining small companies.🕰️ Timestamped Highlights:(00:42) – What Lead Bank does: Combining fintech innovation with banking infrastructure.(02:20) – How to adjust to new company cultures and identify first-order problems.(05:47) – Why leadership skills are constants — and how applying them evolves.(09:11) – Balancing gathering information with moving fast: an art, not a science.(13:39) – Why fast, iterative decision-making often beats chasing perfection.(15:12) – How decision-making changes when you're a co-founder vs an executive.(17:28) – Staying technically sharp: the importance of retaining depth as you grow.(21:18) – What Ronak wishes he had more exposure to before becoming a founder.💬 Memorable Quote:"Most often, it's better to make a good decision and iterate quickly than to wait for the perfect decision — real-world feedback is your best guide."
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24:08
Scaling with Purpose: Building the Future of Green Hydrogen
In this episode, Marty Neese, CEO of Verdagy, joins Amir to unpack what it takes to scale a company in one of the most innovative and high-stakes industries—green hydrogen. From managing a purpose-driven culture to embracing failures as a strategic advantage, Marty shares insights on leading ambitious climate tech initiatives while staying grounded in economic reality. Whether you're in tech, energy, or just love solving complex problems, this one's for you.🔑 Key TakeawaysPurpose as a North Star: Verdagy’s mission—delivering the power of nature—is more than a slogan. It shapes the company’s decision-making, from high-level strategy down to subcomponent cost roadmaps.Problems Are Treasures: Marty champions a culture where failures are embraced as learning opportunities, inspired by the Toyota Production System.Motivation Through Impact: When the going gets tough, Verdagy employees reconnect with their impact—literally watching hydrogen being created in real time—to reignite their passion.CEO Doesn't Mean Solo: Marty opens up about his reliance on investor and customer feedback as his mentorship circle, busting the myth of the lone visionary at the top.🕒 Timestamped Highlights[00:40] – What Verdagy does: splitting water to create hydrogen and oxygen.[01:55] – Why purpose matters more than just a mission statement.[03:54] – “Problems are treasures”: embracing failure as an asset.[06:53] – Knowing when a problem isn’t worth solving.[08:38] – Staying motivated when outcomes are uncertain.[11:41] – Breaking down purpose into measurable missions.[14:03] – A look into Verdagy’s quarterly cost roadmap methodology.[16:29] – Marty’s unexpected mentors: customers and investors.[18:52] – The future of green hydrogen and fossil parity.💬 Quote of the Episode“Every time you encounter a problem, there's treasure to be mined. That mental polarity shift—from failure to learning—is how real innovation happens.” — Marty Neese
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20:46
Engineering Culture in an AI-First World
In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir chats with Rob Williams, co-founder and CTO at Read AI, about what it truly means to be an AI-native company. Rob shares how Read AI uses its own tools internally, how his small but mighty engineering team balances speed and structure, and the evolving role of AI in productivity workflows. Whether you're building AI products or trying to adopt them effectively, this conversation offers a unique peek behind the curtain of a startup navigating the future of work.💡 Key Takeaways:AI adoption without intentionality fails. Many companies are experimenting with AI tools, but without clear goals, adoption is often aimless.“Tech debt” is outdated. Rob prefers specific discussions around scalability, readability, and maintenance over the vague term “tech debt.”Internal AI usage drives efficiency. Read AI uses its own product to streamline workflows like onboarding, reducing repetitive knowledge transfer.Small teams thrive on focus. Being a smaller company is an advantage when it comes to agility, focus, and avoiding bureaucracy—especially in AI.⏱ Timestamped Highlights:00:35 – What Read AI is and how it differs from big platform players.02:19 – Why intentionality matters in successful AI adoption.04:41 – How building AI-native products changes the cost/benefit mindset.06:28 – Rob’s hot take on the term “tech debt” and why he avoids it.09:45 – How they divide engineering time between R&D, product, and internal needs.12:19 – Using AI to eliminate repetitive tasks like onboarding and documentation.15:34 – How startup culture encourages practical AI tool adoption.18:08 – Closing the gap between engineers and customer feedback.20:45 – Competing with tech giants by focusing narrowly and moving efficiently.🧠 Quote of the Episode:“If we know something will serve our customers well for the next three to six months, we do it. Anything beyond that is just as likely to be wrong as it is right.” – Rob WilliamsIf you'd like to see Read AI in action, this link will take you to the transcript their AI produced of the episode: https://app.read.ai/analytics/meetings/01JPJXY1SFAXE509NJ4S5P0W5X?utm_source=Share_CopyLink
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24:16
Building Culture Through Unreasonable Hospitality
In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Abhi Sharma, CEO and Co-Founder of Relyance AI, to unpack the philosophy of "unreasonable hospitality"—a framework for building unforgettable customer and team experiences. From small gestures like a humidifier in the interview room to culture-embedded rituals, Abhi reveals how this principle fuels trust, retention, and performance at every level. If you're building teams or scaling a company, this one is packed with actionable insights.🔑 Key Takeaways:Unreasonable hospitality = memorable + maximizing + mentionable. It’s not about going the extra mile—it’s about doing the unexpected in personal, meaningful ways.Small gestures can drive huge impact. Whether winning deals or recruiting talent, personalized touches create emotional connections that close the loop.Culture is built through consistent rituals. From Slack channels to awards like “Golden Lion,” Reliance AI embeds their values in routines.Founders must lead from the front. Embodying cultural values in visible, everyday ways—like flying out for a candidate interview—sets the tone company-wide.⏱️ Timestamped Highlights:[01:21] — Defining “unreasonable hospitality” with the 3 M’s: maximizing, memorable, mentionable.[05:19] — A personalized video tip wins a competitive deal.[07:40] — A $30 humidifier makes an outsized impact in the interview process.[09:45] — The 4-part framework to embed hospitality into company culture: Rituals, Empowerment, Feedback, Storytelling.[14:15] — Balancing perfectionism and personalization in culture values.[18:27] — Recruiting a new dad: flying in instead of flying him out shows care and commitment.[21:00] — Why the small stuff carries culture and why consistency matters as a company grows.💬 Quote to Share:“If everything gets commoditized and we’re living in the fancy AI world... then the only thing that’s actually going to matter is the element of service—the human touch.” — Abhi Sharma
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24:00
Find Your Edge in a Crowded Market
In this episode of The Tech Trek, Amir sits down with Sasha Gainullin, CEO of Battleface, to explore how focusing on a small, underserved niche in the travel insurance industry unlocked global opportunity. Sasha shares how Battleface used in-house technology to revolutionize the outdated travel insurance model, expanding from serving adventure travelers to powering major partners through their service platform, Robin Assist. This is a conversation about focus, customer empathy, and tech-driven disruption—valuable for any founder or product leader.🔑 Key TakeawaysStart Small, Win Big: Battleface began by solving a single problem for niche adventure travelers. That focused approach laid the foundation for global scale.Tech as a Differentiator: Building the entire platform in-house enabled real-time risk pricing, scalable customization, and operational agility.Customer Connection Wins: Even as CEO, Sasha remains hands-on with customer service to ensure product relevance—an often-missing link in insurance innovation.From Product to Platform: The launch of Robin Assist extended Battleface’s reach, now powering services for other travel insurance providers worldwide.⏱️ Timestamped Highlights00:49 – What is Battleface? A travel insurance company that customizes micro-products using tech.02:23 – Why they focused on one underserved segment: journalists, surfers, adventure travelers.05:35 – The pricing problem solved with real-time tech under Lloyd’s of London guidance.09:48 – How building in-house tech enabled flexibility, scalability, and global compliance.12:08 – Competitive advantage: fast iteration, informed by decades of industry experience.14:33 – GenAI isn't a threat—it's a tool. The focus is on solving customer problems, not chasing trends.18:54 – How the pandemic revealed broader market applicability and led to Robin Assist.24:05 – Distribution cost challenges and exposing why traditional insurance often fails customers.26:07 – Partner insights: why offering relevant, flexible insurance products is the future.💬 Quote Worth Sharing"Technology is just a feature. If you lose that touch with the customer, you’ll stumble—and that’s what’s happening in travel insurance today." — Sasha Gainullin
The Tech Trek brings together technology leaders and innovators to share insights on software, data, AI, DevOps, and more. Hosted by Amir Bormand, the podcast explores scaling tech, building high-performing teams, and navigating leadership. Through candid conversations with top CEOs, CTOs, and engineering and product leaders, The Tech Trek provides actionable takeaways and real-world experiences to help you grow in the tech space. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or aspiring technologist, join us to explore the future of technology.
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