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
