What We Learned This Week | 8-17-25
Hope you are enjoying summer. Its almost over. Below are some of the articles and podcasts which caught my attention past week. As always, welcome your feedback and ideas.
Articles
AI or Die | Ravi Gupta (Sequoia) | Whatever industry you are in, the weather is changing. And when the rain comes, there’s going to be a lot of passing going on.
Beyond the hype: Why agentic AI is closer than you think | Accenture | Why Agentic AI is now at an inflection point.
The State of AI 2025 | BVP | Three years after the AI Big Bang early galaxies are forming in the Cloud AI universe, with plenty of “dark matter” still swirling.
Agentic AI in Action | Chatbase | At Chatbase, they only 15 people but 20+ AI agents running the show.
How Ambitious Entrepreneurs Can Use AI to Scale Their Startups | HBR | Ambitious entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to AI to drive growth, innovation, and efficiency.
Podcasts/Videos
Demis Hassabis on shipping momentum, better evals and world models | Google | Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, about the evolution from game-playing AI to today's thinking models.
AI CEO: How To Make A $10M Business With AI Employees | Big Deal | Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, on the transformative potential of AI in the tech industry, how AI can revolutionize business, the future of AI talent, and why Amjad believes the United States remains the best place for entrepreneurship.
ARK AI Agents Research 2025 Mid-Year Review | ARK | ARK's Frank Downing shares a mid-year update on the state of AI agents, expanding on our research published in “Big Ideas 2025.”
Ravi Gupta - AI or Die | Invest like the Best | Why we're entering an era where the constraints that historically limited small teams are dissolving, creating unprecedented opportunities for those willing to embrace change aggressively, why traditional metrics of corporate success like headcount and process adherence may become liabilities.
Future of Work is Agentic | McKinsey | Think about your org chart. Now imagine it features both your current colleagues—humans, if you’re like most of us—and AI agents. That’s not science fiction; it’s happening. And it’s happening relatively quickly.
A Book We are Reading in August
Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication | Andrew Brodsky | The essential guide for when (and how best) to use virtual communication tools, from video to instant messaging and everything in between.
A Quote We Are Pondering This Week
"The person who cares the most beats the person who's just doing their job”
Upcoming Interesting Data & AI Conferences
Northeast Utilities Credit and Collections | 9/10 - 9/12 | Atlantic City, NJ
T&D World | 9/23=9/25 | Phoenix, AZ
Boston AI Week 2025 | 9/29 - 10/3 | Boston
UA Week 2025 | 10/28-10/30 | Austin
AWS re:invent 2025 | 12/1-12/5 | Vegas
#LetsGrowTogether