034 - Scaling AI with Less Hardware: Pivoting to Infrastructure Efficiency with Todd Smith, CEO, TAHO

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Pitch, Build, Scale - Startup Founder Stories in the Age of AI

Chris Fanchi

52 episodes

3 days ago

That spark of innovation? It's just waiting for the perfect combination of tools and talent to bring it to life. This is "Pitch, Build, Scale": Each episode, we connect with the builders, the visionaries, and the problem-solvers who are redefining what's possible with today's technology - and pioneering the websites, apps, and software products of tomorrow. These are the conversations that transform how we build, how we sell, and how we scale technology businesses in a world where the tech evolves by the minute. Ready to stay ahead of the curve? This is "Pitch, Build, Scale".

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034 - Scaling AI with Less Hardware: Pivoting to Infrastructure Efficiency with Todd Smith, CEO, TAHO

Pitch, Build, Scale - Startup Founder Stories in the Age of AI

54 minutes 38 seconds

3 months ago

034 - Scaling AI with Less Hardware: Pivoting to Infrastructure Efficiency with Todd Smith, CEO, TAHO

What happens when your AI product isn't the real product?

Todd Smith, CEO of TAHO (Formerly Opnbook), shares how a year into building a business intelligence tool for AI usage tracking, his team stumbled into something bigger - a game-changing infrastructure optimization layer that boosts high-performance computing across AI, gaming, crypto, and more.

In this episode, Todd walks us through:

- The original idea behind Opnbook and why they shelved it

- How pivoting to their infrastructure layer (TAHO) opened a massive market opportunity

- Why AI-era startups can run leaner, faster, and cheaper than ever before

- What most VCs get wrong about true innovation

- Why the next generation of enterprise wins will be powered by software efficiency

From pre-IPO tours at Facebook, Snapchat, and Docker to rolling the dice on his own venture, Todd brings decades of hard-earned infrastructure insight and startup humility to the table.

🧠 If you’re building in AI, high-performance compute, or B2B SaaS — this one’s essential listening.

⛓️ Resources

Learn more about TAHO: https://www.taho.is/

Grow your revenue with Big North Marketing: https://bignorthmarketing.com

🕒 Chapters (Timestamps)

00:00 – Todd’s path from DJ gear to Silicon Valley IT

03:40 – What big tech teaches you about scale

07:15 – Founding Opnbook and the first AI productivity tool

13:20 – Pivoting into infrastructure: the TAHO origin story

17:45 – What Nvidia’s backlog says about the real market gap

23:10 – How Opnbook’s tech slashes compute time and energy use

29:45 – Fundraising frustrations in a risk-averse VC climate

35:20 – Why most VCs can’t spot game-changing tech

43:00 – The next 12 months: landing a flagship enterprise customer

47:30 – The real bottlenecks: admin drag and scaling operations