What does it really take to build profitable technology companies without outside funding, and why does that mindset matter even more as AI reshapes every industry?

In this episode of Business Tech Perspectives, I sat down with James Benham, a lifelong technologist, serial founder, and unapologetic bootstrapper who has spent more than two decades building enterprise software businesses on his own terms. Broadcasting from Texas, with stories that stretch from Louisiana to Argentina to the UK, James brings a rare mix of candor, humor, and hard-earned perspective on what it means to survive and grow in technology when there is no safety net.

James shares his journey from writing code as a teenager to running an early dial-up internet service provider, before going on to co-found JBKnowledge and later launching Terra, a modern core system transforming workers’ compensation and insurance operations. We talk openly about why he chose bootstrapping over venture capital, how that decision shaped his leadership style, and why cash discipline still separates companies that endure from those that quietly disappear.

The conversation also explores why insurance, often dismissed as dull from the outside, becomes endlessly fascinating once you understand how deeply it touches everyday life. James explains how risk, data, and claims connect everything from football matches to flight safety, and how working inside the industry fundamentally changes how you see the world around you. It is a reminder that some of the most meaningful innovation happens in places that do not shout for attention.

We spend time unpacking lessons from his book, Be Your Own VC, including why survival matters more than growth headlines and how many founders underestimate the emotional toll of building companies over decades. James does not shy away from discussing the hard days, the moments of doubt, or the reality that technology leaders are always one misstep away from trouble.

As expected, AI enters the discussion, not as a buzzword but as a genuine shift in how fast software can be built and how quickly businesses can fall behind. James offers a clear-eyed view on why speed to market, trust, and execution now matter more than ever, especially in regulated industries like insurance where legacy processes still dominate.

We close on a deeply human note, talking about creativity, music, flying, and the role of art in staying grounded while leading global teams. It is a reminder that the best business leaders rarely draw their energy from work alone.

So as automation accelerates and building software becomes easier than ever, how do you design a career and a company that can still last for decades, and what would you do differently if you truly had to bet on yourself?

Useful links

• James Benham’s personal site
• JBKnowledge:
• Terra Workers’ Compensation Platform:
• Be Your Own VC book:
• InsureTech Geek Podcast:
• James Benham on LinkedIn:

Thanks to our sponsors, Alcor, for supporting the show.

What if the biggest barrier holding entrepreneurs back was never a lack of ideas, but the friction created by tools, platforms, and infrastructure that were never designed for speed?

In this episode of Business Technology Perspectives, I sit down with Sachin Puri, CEO of Bluehost, to explore how AI-native platforms are reshaping what is possible for entrepreneurs and small businesses. Sachin brings a long-term view from the heart of the web, sharing how the shift toward AI-assisted creation is lowering barriers, accelerating experimentation, and enabling a new wave of solo-scale founders to build brands, storefronts, and full customer journeys in days rather than months.

Our conversation looks beyond AI hype and focuses on where real value is showing up. Sachin explains how customer expectations are evolving in an AI-driven marketplace, where instant performance, personalization, and seamless experiences are no longer differentiators but baseline expectations. We also discuss why infrastructure alone is no longer the advantage it once was, and why speed of innovation, adaptability, and integrated experiences now determine which businesses scale and which struggle to keep up.

We also dig into an important milestone for an open, AI-ready web, with Sachin sharing why collaboration across the ecosystem matters. From Bluehost’s work with Yoast on brand insights and generative engine optimization to broader partnerships with companies like Microsoft, this episode highlights how the next phase of the web will be shaped by platforms that help entrepreneurs get discovered not just by search engines, but by AI systems as well.

Sachin offers practical insight into what happens when success arrives faster than expected, why virality can become a crisis without the right foundations, and why hosting has quietly evolved into a strategic performance layer rather than a background utility. As we look toward 2026, we explore the rise of intelligent, living websites, the return of owned web real estate, and why the future belongs to builders who move quickly while staying grounded in reliability, security, and trust.

If AI is giving entrepreneurs access to capabilities once reserved for the biggest players, how will you use that advantage to build something that lasts?

Useful Links

Connect with Sachin Puri

Learn more about Bluehost AI features

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How do you transform an industry that most people still assume runs on clipboards, manual checks, and fragmented updates? And what happens when reality capture and AI finally combine to give construction teams a clear and measurable picture of progress on every site? In this episode of Business Tech Perspectives, I sit down with Chaitanya NK, the co-founder and CEO of Track3D, to explore how reality intelligence is reshaping the way major projects are built and managed.

NK shares how three founders with no construction background stepped into one of the most complex environments in the world and uncovered a problem that had been hiding in plain sight. Field data was inconsistent, incomplete, and nearly impossible to verify at scale. The result was delays, rework, and avoidable cost overruns. Track3D tackles this head-on by unifying drones, 360 cameras, scanners, mobile devices, and even robots into one clear view of what has been installed, when it happened, and whether it meets the plan. Through practical examples, NK explains how automated measurement brings immediate clarity, how deviations are caught early before they snowball, and how objective data changes coordination across trades, schedules, and budgets.

This is a conversation for anyone interested in the real business value of AI in physical environments. NK talks openly about trust, data governance, security, and the balance between automated insight and human judgment. He also shares his vision for 2026, where AI agents act as partners to schedulers, coordinators, and field teams. If you want to understand how technology is reshaping one of the world’s largest and most demanding industries, you will find real insight here.

Listeners who want to learn more about Track3D or connect with the team can visit track3d.ai or reach out on LinkedIn at Track3D. Where would you like to explore this conversation further in your own work?

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What does it take to lead one of the fastest growing regions in enterprise security while spending your year hopping between Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, and London? At IGEL’s Now & Next event in Frankfurt, I caught up with Darren Fields, Senior Vice President for UK and Asia Pacific, to find out.

From rebuilding the partner ecosystem across continents to forging new alliances with industry giants like Lenovo, Palo Alto Networks, and CrowdStrike, Darren has been at the center of IGEL’s global expansion. He shared how regional differences shape technology adoption, why prevention first security is resonating with customers everywhere, and how business continuity has shifted from being a safety net to a core design principle for modern IT.

In our conversation, Darren explained how the endpoint has become the new control point for everything from zero trust to AI driven automation, and why so many organizations are rethinking old assumptions about bring your own strategies. He also opened up about the mindset shift he’s witnessing among IT leaders, one that moves from reacting to threats toward proactively preventing them.

We also discussed how cultural differences influence the pace of digital transformation, with regions like Japan preferring careful evaluation, while Australia and New Zealand have embraced rapid innovation. Darren’s global perspective highlighted how security maturity looks different around the world, yet the ultimate goal remains the same: empowering organizations to build trust, resilience, and operational continuity.

As we approach another year defined by AI, cybersecurity, and digital resilience, Darren’s reflections offer a rare window into how global teams are turning complexity into simplicity and scaling trust in every region. What does a truly prevention first future look like, and how can enterprises across the world prepare for it?

Useful Links

• Connect with Darren Fields, on LinkedIn
  • Learn more about IGEL
  • Follow on LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube

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Sales enablement has come a long way from slide decks and one-size-fits-all training. In this episode of Business Technology Perspectives, I’m joined by Bill Dwoinen, Chief Revenue Officer at Mural, to explore how AI and visual collaboration are changing the way teams sell, learn, and align around outcomes.

Bill brings a wealth of experience from Salesforce and LinkedIn, but what makes this conversation special is how openly he shares the lessons Mural has learned from its own transformation. Once known purely as a visual collaboration tool, Mural is now evolving into a platform that helps organizations accelerate deal velocity, strengthen customer retention, and align teams through what he calls “collaborative selling.” For Bill, the goal is simple: help people spend less time managing tools and more time solving real customer problems.

He talks about the growing disconnect between sales strategy and enablement, explaining that many teams today have lost touch with foundational skills such as discovery and negotiation. The solution, he says, lies in a three-part framework of training, enablement, and execution, each powered by technology and reinforced through timing and alignment with the business strategy. This isn’t about piling on new software but understanding what problem each tool actually solves and how it supports human performance.

We also explore how AI is reshaping the sales process in ways that are both practical and profound. From generating account insights in minutes to surfacing hidden “Trojan horse” contacts, AI is helping sales teams work smarter without replacing the human element. Bill shares how simple AI prompts have turned Mural’s own teams into experts on their target accounts, driving consistency, efficiency, and confidence across the field.

Our discussion also touches on the cultural side of enablement, breaking down silos, moving back to more synchronous communication, and bringing inclusivity into decision-making. As Bill puts it, great enablement mirrors great product design: if you build it without the user’s feedback, it doesn’t matter how good it looks.

By the end of this episode, it’s clear that Mural’s next chapter isn’t about whiteboards or sticky notes. It’s about empowering teams to think together, act faster, and use AI to bring clarity to the chaos of modern sales.

Listen now to hear how Bill and his team are redefining enablement in an AI-driven world and why sometimes, the smartest sales strategy starts with asking better questions.

AI conversations often center on coders, designers, and office-based teams, but what about the people who keep goods moving, shelves stocked, patients cared for, and factories running? They make up almost 80 percent of the global workforce, yet much of the technology talk overlooks them. In this episode of Business Technology Perspectives, I sit down with Tom Bianculli, Chief Technology Officer at Zebra Technologies, to explore how AI is being designed for the shop floor, the warehouse aisle, and the hospital corridor.

Tom outlines Zebra’s long-standing mission to “deliver productivity at the point of activity,” and explains how AI fits into that vision. The company’s approach is not about replacing people but augmenting their capabilities, reducing repetitive tasks, and enabling faster, more accurate decision-making. We discuss Zebra Companion, the company’s AI-powered assistant for frontline teams, which features four dedicated agents for knowledge, sales, merchandising, and device support. Early pilots have shown strong adoption, with workers reporting greater empowerment and employers seeing reduced attrition.

We also dive into the role of machine vision, 3D scanning, and RFID in driving efficiency across retail, logistics, and manufacturing. Tom shares examples ranging from automated shelf checks to high-speed industrial inspection, and from wearable cameras that guide item picking to omniscient store concepts that combine real-time inventory awareness with operational intelligence.

The conversation goes beyond features and functions to focus on human-centered automation — the belief that AI works best when it collaborates with people, adapts to their experience level, and integrates seamlessly into their daily tools. For business leaders seeking ROI, we talk about where AI delivers measurable impact today, the infrastructure needed to support it, and the opportunities on the horizon for physical workplaces.

If you’ve been wondering what AI can really do for the teams who keep everything moving, this episode offers a clear and practical perspective.

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This week, I sat down with Craig Burnham, Vice President of Product Marketing for Cisco’s Collaboration business, to go beyond the headlines and unpack what Cisco’s AI evolution actually means for business leaders.

Recorded live at Cisco Live, this episode dives into how Cisco is unifying employee and customer experiences across voice, video, and virtual agents, while keeping humans in the loop where it matters most.

Craig and I explore:

• The rise of Webex AI Agent and Webex AI Assistant, and how they’re reducing agent burnout, shortening call resolution times, and delivering truly autonomous voice and text experiences
• Why Cisco is uniquely positioned to bring cloud-based AI to on-prem environments and hybrid deployments without forcing disruptive migrations
• How Control Hub is evolving into a single pane of glass for AI visibility, governance, and ROI tracking
• What the move toward agentic AI means for IT leaders, and why the long-term impact may be greater than we expect
• How Cisco’s cinematic camera tech and AI-powered meeting features are quietly redefining hybrid work, one room at a time

We also discuss the shifting expectations around AI, from productivity hype to measurable business value, and how Cisco’s platform-first approach enables it to scale new features across contact center, meetings, calling, and more.

For more than 160 years, the Red Cross emblem has protected humanitarian organizations in times of war. But as conflict increasingly moves into cyberspace, new protections are needed for digital infrastructure.

In this episode of Business Technology Perspectives, I speak with Samit D'Cunha, legal advisor at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), about the groundbreaking Digital Emblem Project.

Samit explains how this modern emblem uses cryptographic certificates and DNS protocols to designate digital assets as protected under international humanitarian law. We explore the rise in cyberattacks on hospitals and humanitarian networks during armed conflict, and why creating a recognized, trustworthy signal of digital neutrality is now a moral and legal imperative.

We discuss:

• How the Digital Emblem mirrors the protections of its physical counterpart
• The technical infrastructure behind the project and how it ensures global applicability
• Legal, political, and diplomatic challenges in gaining global adoption
• The need for collaboration across governments, tech companies, and humanitarian actors
• What comes next as cyberwarfare becomes a greater threat to humanitarian operations

As the nature of conflict evolves, so too must the symbols that protect those who help others. This conversation is essential listening for anyone working at the intersection of cybersecurity, ethics, and international law.