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📌 Expert Deep Dives

Fresh, actionable insights from our latest expert interviews—distilled into practical steps you can implement today.

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🎙 Amrit Saxena – Founder & CEO, SaxeCap

The New AI Playbook for Private Equity

Amrit breaks down how private equity firms drive rapid EBITDA growth using targeted AI interventions, lessons directly relevant to SMB leaders focused on profit growth.

• Drive EBITDA Within 60 Days: Identify and execute quick, measurable AI wins that immediately demonstrate financial impact, building internal momentum for broader transformations.

• Smarter Automation in Private Equity: Amrit explains why validating and optimizing core business processes before automating is essential to achieving real margin expansion.

• Spotting Hidden AI Opportunities: How to identify overlooked, data-driven opportunities for AI-driven revenue growth or cost reduction in diligence, creating a clear roadmap for value creation.

👉 Watch the full interview → 

🎙 Jozef Petro – CEO & Co-founder, Sudolabs

AI at Work: How One Company Drastically Reduced Downtime and Saved Millions

Jozef details how his team helped a wind power client significantly cut downtime and boost profits using AI-driven field maintenance solutions.

• Diagnose and Predict Failures in Real-Time: Implement predictive analytics and IoT data integrations to preempt costly downtime, transforming reactive maintenance into proactive repairs.

• Equip Teams to Solve Problems Onsite: How Jozef’s team built AI-powered mobile tools that enabled maintenance crews to instantly access manuals, diagnose issues, and ensure they had correct replacement parts, saving hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

• Rapid ROI: Learn how Sudolabs executed the AI solution in just three months, providing clear, measurable returns within the first quarter.

👉 Watch the full interview →

🎙 Robert Hatta – SMB Consultant, Ten-X Talent

Beyond Technology: Why AI Adoption Starts with People and Mindsets

Robert reveals the critical talent shifts needed for SMBs and professional services firms to successfully integrate AI and capture real business value.

• Why Product Managers are the AI Secret Weapon: Robert emphasizes hiring or developing strong product management capabilities to drive strategic AI adoption across the business.

• Create a Cross-Functional AI Culture: How to shift team mindsets from task execution to innovative problem-solving, enabling your organization to identify impactful AI use cases proactively.

• Start Small, Build Confidence: Robert explains how low-risk, quick-to-deploy AI experiments empower teams, allowing SMB leaders to rapidly measure success and build momentum internally.

👉 Watch the full interview →

🛠️ AI Strategy & Actions

This week’s actionable AI insights come directly from our conversations with Amrit Saxena, Jozef Petro, Mio Suzuki, Robert Hatta, and Kaj Van De Loo.

🚀 Key Lessons

1. AI-First Approach Enables "Five-Person Unicorns."
   Rather than simply augmenting existing workflows, entirely rethink processes from an AI-first perspective, enabling small teams to deliver massive results.
    – Kaj Van De Loo, Founder, CA1 Team
   
   

2. Predictive Analytics Dramatically Reduce Costly Downtime.
   Real-time data and predictive maintenance solutions significantly decrease downtime, translating directly into substantial savings.
    – Jozef Petro, CEO & Co-founder, Sudolabs
   
   

3. Private Equity’s AI Advantage: Rapid EBITDA Impact.
   SMBs and private equity firms achieve significant and rapid EBITDA growth by strategically deploying targeted AI use-cases during diligence and post-investment.
    – Amrit Saxena, CEO, SaxeCap
   
   

4. Technical Feasibility Must Guide AI Initiatives.
   Rigorously test feasibility using lightweight experiments before committing to full AI deployments, ensuring clear alignment with business value and practical execution.
    – Mio Suzuki, Founder, MoD+M
   
   

5. AI Adoption Success Requires Internal Champions.
   Early identification and empowerment of internal advocates dramatically accelerate AI adoption, driving project success and organizational buy-in.
    – Robert Hatta, Consultant, Ten-X Talent

🎯 Recommended Actions

1. Rethink Roles for 10x AI Value.
   Instead of incremental automation, challenge existing roles entirely and reorganize work around AI-first solutions for substantial productivity gains.
    – Kaj Van De Loo, Founder, CA1 Team
   
   

2. Deploy Simple, Predictive AI for Real-Time Diagnostics.
   Implement straightforward predictive analytics and diagnostic tools to proactively identify and resolve operational issues, dramatically reducing maintenance costs.
    – Jozef Petro, CEO & Co-founder, Sudolabs
   
   

3. Prioritize AI Opportunities Based on Clear ROI Scores.
   Score each potential AI use-case by urgency, data readiness, and ease of execution, then prioritize highest-impact opportunities first.
    – Mio Suzuki, Founder, Founder, MoD+M
   
   

4. Run Quick, High-Impact AI Experiments First.
   Rapidly validate AI concepts through small, low-risk experiments to quickly demonstrate value and gain organizational momentum.
    – Robert Hatta, Consultant, Ten-X Talent
   
   

5. Identify Underleveraged Data to Uncover New AI Opportunities.
   Conduct a systematic inventory of proprietary or overlooked data sources to unlock new, strategically valuable AI applications.
    – Amrit Saxena, CEO, SaxeCap

🔍 My Favorite Things Last Week

The Woman That Makes Millionaires: They're Lying About Work Life Balance! I Built SKIMS Without Fashion Knowledge! featuring Emma Grede on The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett

Baller. 

Things that struck me:

1. There’s No Shortcut to Extraordinary Success: Emma pushes back on the myth of balance at the highest levels. Building something transformative often requires unglamorous, relentless work, and that's okay.

2. You Don’t Need Domain Expertise to Win. You Need Insight: Emma didn’t have a fashion background when she co-founded SKIMS and Good American. What she had was clarity on the customer, a bias toward action, and a relentless focus on brand execution. 

3. You Build Big by Thinking Small (Then Scaling Fast): Emma constantly listens to customer feedback, iterates fast, and prioritizes momentum over perfection. Whether you're launching an AI product or rethinking your org’s operating model, this approach—small experiments, clear outcomes—echoes what works in AI adoption too.

👉 Check out the episode →

Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham, co-founders of Union Square Ventures on The Slow Hunch with Nick Grossman.

Ballers. 

Things that struck me:

1. The Best Bets Come From “Slow Hunches” Not Hype: Fred and Brad built Union Square Ventures by backing ideas that felt inevitable, even if they weren’t obvious. Similarly, here, for SMBs, AI adoption doesn’t require chasing headlines, just consistent curiosity and small, patient experiments that build conviction over time.

2. Hold to Your Core Beliefs While Adapting Fast: USV evolved its thesis as new technologies emerged, but never lost sight of core values like user agency and network-driven growth. Stay anchored in your mission, but be willing to evolve how you execute it.

3. Technological Shifts Create New Market Dynamics—If You’re Paying Attention: The founders were early in crypto, marketplaces, and social platforms because they engaged with unfamiliar tech early. You have the same opportunity with AI! Those who lean in, ask hard questions, and explore use cases early will spot the next big tailwinds.