In this Valentine’s Day episode of That Tech Pod, Kevin and Laura talk with fertility specialist Gabriela Rosa about how having a baby has quietly become a technology story. From IVF and genetic testing to telehealth and wearable data, modern fertility is increasingly shaped by algorithms, platforms, and private equity–backed clinics. What most people picture as love and biology is now deeply intertwined with data and systems most patients barely see.

The conversation starts with privacy and data ownership. Fertility and genetic data may be some of the most sensitive information a person can share, and once it’s collected, it often lives on indefinitely. We debate insurance risks, data monetization, and whether patients truly understand what they’re consenting to when they download an app or join a study. Gabriela explains that while ethical safeguards exist, there are no absolute guarantees in a world where data itself is an asset. Perhaps the biggest mic drop moment: IVF, widely seen as the gold standard, has a failure rate north of 90% per cycle started. Gabriela argues that technology should support the body, not bypass it, and that root causes like infections, lifestyle factors, and overlooked health issues are often ignored before patients are fast-tracked into expensive treatments. Her book, Fertility Breakthrough, expands on this approach and is available here: https://www.fertilitybreakthrough.com/

Gabriela Rosa is a Harvard-trained and awarded fertility specialist, founder and CEO of The Rosa Institute, and a global leader in integrative fertility care. For more than 20 years, she has helped individuals and couples around the world overcome infertility, miscarriage, and failed treatments by combining rigorous clinical research with personalized, root-cause medicine. Her work has been studied at Harvard and published in scientific forums, with research showing a 78.8% live birth rate among patients in her signature program. Gabriela holds graduate degrees in reproductive medicine, human genetics, and public health, is currently completing her Doctor of Public Health at Harvard, and leads one of the world’s first telehealth-based fertility clinics, serving patients across more than 100 countries.

On his episode of That Tech Pod, Kevin and Laura sit down with Ray Biederman, CEO and Co-Founder of Proteus Discovery Group, to talk about what actually happens when legal theory, technology, and human behavior collide. Ray walks through his unusual path from music education to law to legal tech, and how that background shaped the way he thinks about systems, judgment, and risk. Rather than chasing hype, he explains why Proteus focuses on defensible outcomes and practical decision-making in a crowded eDiscovery market.

The conversation gets into lessons Ray has learned by wearing every hat, product builder, services leader, and still-practicing attorney. He shares what courtroom experience teaches that product teams often miss until something breaks, especially around context, intent, and how small mistakes compound once data starts moving. Ray also offers a measured take on AI-driven review, warning against the industry’s tendency to overcorrect by trying to remove human judgment entirely, and highlights the ethical tensions that surface when AI reveals patterns no one anticipated. The episode closes with a forward-looking discussion on deepfake evidence, verification challenges, and the growing risk posed by data traveling across too many systems without enough accountability.

Ray Biederman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Proteus Discovery Group, LLC, has worked in every phase of electronic discovery for more than two decades. He is a Super Lawyer in the area of eDiscovery, has been cited in multiple court opinions as an expert witness, and is adjunct faculty for eDiscovery at the IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing. He consults on Information Governance policies and procedures related to cybersecurity and its intersection with government regulation and industry-specific best practices. Outside of his eDiscovery experience, Ray is an active litigator representing clients in product liability work, business valuation disputes, and contract disputes. He is also a founding partner in Mattingly Burke Cohen & Biederman. He was previously an associate at Barnes & Thornburg, LLP. He holds a B.M. in Music Education from Butler University and a J.D from Indiana University, the Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

This week Laura Milstein and Kevin Albert are joined by Nick Schutt, entrepreneur, executive leader, and host of Robots and Red Tape, for a candid conversation that starts with hiring and quickly widens into how tech is reshaping work and society. Nick breaks down why even highly qualified candidates are struggling in today’s government and contracting job market, pointing to market saturation, contract cuts, and shifting priorities across federal and consulting spaces.

The conversation moves into how AI is showing up in resumes and interviews, and why that often misses the point. Nick shares his approach to hiring people rather than skill sets, arguing that personality, judgment, and cultural fit matter far more than perfectly polished, AI-assisted answers. Laura and Kevin add their own experiences managing teams and navigating the risks of overselling versus honest capability. The episode closes by zooming out to the broader impact of technology on human connection, especially for younger generations. From online-only communication to AI companions and education, the group wrestles with where tech genuinely helps and where it quietly erodes essential social skills. The takeaway is clear: AI can be a powerful tool, but it can’t replace human relationships, accountability, or lived experience.

Nick Schutt is a serial entrepreneur and executive leader who has built and scaled multiple organizations serving both government and commercial clients since founding his first company in 2016. He currently serves as President of Artemis Human Capital Management and Executive Vice President at EVLG Solutions, where he leads IT modernization, infrastructure, and advanced technology initiatives for federal, state, and local agencies. Nick is also the co-founder of Collabulations and the host of Robots and Red Tape, a podcast focused on practical, experience-driven conversations about AI, policy, and governance. The show cuts through hype to explore how AI is actually being built and used today, the real-world consequences that come with it, and the government’s evolving role as both regulator and major customer of emerging technology.

On this episode of That Tech Pod, we talk with Logan Lawler, Senior Director at Dell Technologies, about what it takes to make AI actually work in the real world. Logan shares his 16-year journey at Dell and why his focus today is less on hype and more on practical infrastructure choices that enable AI at scale.

We break down Edge AI versus Cloud AI with clear, concrete examples, including how GPU-accelerated desktops, workstations, and hybrid cloud setups can turn “that’s impossible” AI problems into manageable ones. Logan also highlights why storage, not compute, is often the biggest bottleneck, and the common mistakes organizations make when data can’t keep up with GPUs. The conversation gets into energy and sustainability, from the environmental cost of massive data centers to what it means when nuclear power and AI collide. We also explore the human side of AI: whether instant answers are making us lazier, why struggle is still essential for learning, and how that idea shows up in parenting, education, and work. We close with real-world edge AI success stories, a few cautionary tales, and some lighter moments, making this a grounded discussion on AI, infrastructure, and the tradeoffs we rarely talk about.

Logan Lawler works at Dell Technologies, where he leads strategy for Dell Pro Precision AI Solutions. Over his 16-year career at Dell, he’s worked across sales, marketing, and e-commerce, and now helps enterprises and creative studios leverage high-performance AI workstations and hybrid cloud infrastructure. A frequent speaker and media guest, Logan explains how GPU-accelerated PCs and storage solutions are transforming industries from film and animation to healthcare research. Logan was raised in Missouri and is a graduate of the University of Missouri. He now lives in Texas with his family.

This week on That Tech Pod, Laura and Kevin sit down with Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to talk about the power structures hiding in plain sight across the internet, money, surveillance, and AI. Cindy breaks down what EFF actually does and why access to the internet is not just an infrastructure problem, but a civil liberties issue that shapes who gets heard, who gets tracked, and who gets left out.

We get into how mass surveillance quietly became normal, from license plate readers to cell phone tracking, and why most people would be genuinely shocked if they saw the full picture. We also look ahead at financial surveillance, using Europe’s move toward a Digital Euro as a case study, and ask where legitimate oversight ends and control begins. On the AI front, Cindy pushes back on the idea that privacy is already lost, and explains why treating opaque systems as inevitable only benefits the most powerful actors. Cindy makes a clear case that defending digital rights does not require being a technologist or a lawyer. It starts with staying skeptical, asking hard questions, and refusing to accept tools we are not allowed to understand or challenge. That is exactly why this conversation mattered, and why we were so glad to have her on.

Cindy Cohn is the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and previously served as EFF’s Legal Director and General Counsel from 2000 to 2015. She has been involved with EFF since 1993, when she served as lead outside counsel in the landmark Bernstein v. U.S. Department of Justice case, a successful First Amendment challenge to U.S. export restrictions on cryptography. Her work has been widely recognized, with honors from Forbes, The National Law Journal, and The NonProfit Times for her influence in technology, law, and civil liberties. She is also the co-host of EFF’s podcast, How to Fix the Internet, and the author of Privacy’s Defender, published by MIT Press. More information about the book can be found at https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051248/privacys-defender/

Today Kevin and Laura chat with Bala Muthiah, Director of Engineering at Lyft, to talk about what leadership looks like when your product moves real people through the real world. Bala shares his path from immigrating to the U.S. to leading teams responsible for systems that make time-sensitive decisions at massive scale, and how those experiences shaped his views on power, responsibility, and trust in technology.

We talk about what privacy and safety actually mean at scale, where data is not abstract and mistakes have real consequences. Bala is candid about where rideshare platforms have improved, where industries such as these still struggle, and how leaders decide where to draw hard lines around data use even when the tech makes it more possible. The conversation also gets into the human side of engineering. How do you push for speed and performance while building teams that care about ethics, psychological safety, and consent? Bala shares how AI can be used to surface collaboration risks, why that can feel uncomfortable, and how transparency and boundaries matter just as much as capability.

Bala Muthiah leads teams that power real‑time decision systems for millions of users. An immigrant from India turned Silicon Valley leader, he’s also a startup advisor, nonprofit board member, and mentor across multiple platforms. Bala blends technical expertise with people‑first leadership and community impact—showing how to scale teams, startups, and even personal growth with empathy, innovation, and AI.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this conversation are personal and do not represent the views of his current or former employers or affiliated organizations.

This week, we sit down with Al Pascual, CEO and founder of Scamnetic, to talk about fraud from the inside out. Al didn’t come up through product or engineering. He started his career chasing real fraud cases, shaped early on by parents who were cops and a first job in a bank fraud department. That hands-on experience is what pushed him from treating fraud as “just a job” to seeing it as his lane.

We get into the scam patterns that worry him most right now, including pig butchering and sextortion schemes that still aren’t getting enough mainstream attention. Al makes a clear case that fraud isn’t primarily a data or tooling problem. It’s a human one. Psychology, pressure, shame, and timing matter more than most defenses want to admit. When a big fraud story hits the news, he explains how coverage often misses the point by focusing on the tech and ignoring the manipulation. Al shares one of the strangest cases he’s worked, and what it taught him about how creative and absurd fraudsters can be. We also tackle the reality of AI-enabled scams, including voice cloning. How common is it really, and who’s actually at risk? Kevin is skeptical he’d fall for it, while Laura shares a story about a friend losing $500 to a gift card scam, a reminder that real people get caught all the time. This one is a grounded, sometimes funny, and occasionally unsettling look at how fraud really works, and why understanding people matters as much as understanding systems.

A recognized expert on cybercrime, Al Pascual is the CEO and Founder of Scamnetic. Scamnetic is a software solution for scam detection and protection that uses AI to analyze incoming communications in real time and flag or score risk before someone falls for a scam. A successful technology entrepreneur and a former managing executive of Javelin Strategy & Research, Al has spent his career laser-focused on protecting consumers and organizations from financially motivated crimes. His past research on consumer identity theft has been cited by hundreds of media outlets and presented at conferences around the world. Al cut his teeth fighting fraudsters at HSBC, Goldman Sachs, and FIS, where during his time as an investigator, his work resulted in the arrest of more than four hundred suspects.

This week on That Tech Pod, Laura and Kevin chat with Richa Kaul, founder and CEO of Complyance, for a blunt conversation about what governance, risk, and compliance actually are, and why so many companies pretend it’s something else.

Richa walks us through how she really landed in GRC, including the moment she realized compliance isn’t about forms or frameworks. It’s about power, incentives, and who takes the fall when systems fail. Drawing on her time in legal tech, enterprise systems, and AI, she makes the case that much of today’s compliance model is quietly broken, and that organizations know it, even if they won’t admit it. We dig into why GRC has such a credibility problem, the comforting lies companies tell themselves about being “compliant,” and whether compliance should be about control or trust, and why so many leaders default to the wrong one. Richa also weighs in on whether “move fast and break things” is actually gone, or just better disguised in the age of AI. We close with a forward-looking conversation on AI risk, including the uncomfortable questions boards avoid, why training alone won’t fix reckless AI use, and what organizations should be paying attention to next if they want governance that actually works.

Richa Kaul is the founder and CEO of Complyance, an AI-powered GRC platform helping enterprises navigate governance, risk, and compliance with ease. She previously held leadership roles in legal and compliance technology, including helping scale global solutions at ContractPodAI. Richa focuses on how companies can move beyond checkbox compliance to build systems that actually support better decisions, accountability, and trust as AI becomes more embedded in the enterprise. She is passionate about the future of compliance, the role of AI in governance, and the challenges of scaling a company in enterprise tech. Her innovative approach combines deep technical expertise with strategic business acumen, making her a sought-after thought leader in the GRC space.