Libsyn Directory

Building Agentic Apps With Craft: Field Stories from Austin Vance, CEO, Co-Founder of Focused

Release Date: 05/01/2025

Best of Convergence: Building Customer-Centric Teams: Josh Seiden on OKRs and Agile

Convergence.fm

In this episode, Ashok sits down with , to explore key insights from Josh's latest book, "Who Does What by How Much." The conversation centers around using OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to align teams and improve organizational outcomes. They examine the challenges many teams face when implementing frameworks like OKRs or Agile and emphasize the importance of understanding the "why" behind these systems. Josh also reflects on his early work, such as developing the Kensington Turbo Mouse and collaborating with Alan Cooper, widely known as the "Father of Visual Basic." Unlock the full...

Best of Convergence: How Generative AI and DORA Metrics Transform Software Development Teams with Derek Ferguson

Convergence.fm

Derek Ferguson from The Fitch Group returns to share how his team of 600+ developers leverages generative AI tools like Amazon’s CodeWhisperer and implements DORA metrics to boost productivity and team health. In this second part of the conversation, he delves into the transformative impact of these tools and the innovative strategies driving adoption and success at scale. Listen to Derek’s experiences in introducing cutting-edge tools to a large organization, his lessons in fostering experimentation, and the surprising parallels between today’s AI adoption and the internet boom. From...

Best Of Convergence: Crafting "Surprisingly Great" Developer Experiences with Kenneth Auchenberg

Convergence.fm

Great developer experience isn’t just about clean docs or helpful error messages—it’s about intentionally delighting your user at every step. In this episode of Convergence.fm, host Ashok Sivanand is joined by Kenneth Auchenberg—former product leader at Microsoft and Stripe—for a masterclass on what it really takes to design and scale developer-centric platforms. The Convergence.fm podcast team is taking a break in the month of August, but we’ll be back with new episodes in the fall. Until then, Ashok wants to share one of his favorite episodes. We’ll be back in September with a...

Best Of Convergence: How To Drive Product Development and Market Expansion with Ben Foster, Prodify

Convergence.fm

As former Chief Product Officer at Whoop, Ben Foster had a front-row seat to one of the boldest product decisions in wearables: selling hardware as a subscription. In this encore episode, Ashok and Ben explore what it takes to align hardware, firmware, and software teams to create a seamless membership experience—and how that strategy set the stage for Whoop’s continued success, including the recent release of the Whoop 5. The Convergence.fm podcast team is taking a break in the month of August, but we’ll be back with new episodes in the fall. Until then, Ashok wants to share one of his...

Q&A: No One Understands Your Demo? Here’s WHY | TDD Isn’t Just for CODE — Use It Everywhere!

Convergence.fm

If you’ve ever wondered how to make test-driven development more than a coding technique, this episode is for you. Ashok Sivanand and producer Doug Branson answer listener and Reddit-sourced questions about building better product teams—covering everything from mindset shifts to hard truths about performance reviews and strategic alignment. Ashok connects TDD to the principles of Essentialism by Greg McKeown, revealing how teams can define success before they begin and cut through the noise of Slack and OKRs. Hear practical advice for first-time founders struggling to articulate value...

The Dangers of Vibe Coding Addiction and Single Points of Failure - Your Product Team Questions Answered!

Convergence.fm

What happens when your lead engineer leaves and takes the product knowledge with them? In this episode, Ashok Sivanand tackles some of the most pressing product and engineering questions straight from the community—including how to prevent panic-inducing knowledge loss, when founders should or shouldn’t vibe code, and how to choose between building full-service or self-serve platforms. Ashok is joined by producer Doug Branson for a first-ever audience Q&A format that covers real problems from real teams. From unit test-driven documentation to AI-assisted code exploration, this episode...

The Missing Link in Hybrid Teams? A Sense of Belonging.Why It’s More Strategic Than DEI

Convergence.fm

Dan Berger led Social Tables through a $100M exit and now he’s focused on something even harder to build: belonging. In this vulnerable conversation, he shares what most leaders miss about culture, how his board almost ousted him due to a toxic exec hire, and why belonging should be treated as a leadership choice — not an HR initiative. He also unpacks why rituals matter, why alcohol doesn’t belong in team settings, and what founders can learn from AA meetings about structure, vulnerability, and connection. We also get into his latest venture, Assemble Hospitality Group, a new asset...

Authenticity by Design: Building Mental Health Tools That Actually Work with Seth Micarelli of Volo Health

Convergence.fm

AI can make therapy more accessible—but only if it's done right. In this episode, ex-Google and Amazon product leader Seth shares his journey from panic attacks to building Volo Health, an AI-powered tool for anxiety, depression, and addiction. He breaks down how most therapy tools get it wrong, what makes human-centered AI actually safe, and how product teams can reconnect with the humans they serve—even at scale. Seth opens up about leaving Silicon Valley, his personal journey with emotional healing, and the limits of traditional therapy. Along the way, we explore the ethics of AI in...

Startups Are Nailing Agentic Workflows — And Why Enterprises Aren’t

Convergence.fm

Karthik Suresh has seen the software industry from all sides — high-frequency trading, Meta’s product teams, early-stage startup trenches, and now the frontier of AI agents. As co-founder of Double-O, he’s building a platform that helps non-technical teams automate complex business processes using AI agents described in plain English. In this episode, Karthik shares hard-won lessons about what it really takes to make agentic workflows work in production — and why most companies are still getting it wrong. We talk about the structural failures hiding inside most AI proof-of-concepts,...

Scaling Intelligently: What Intrapreneurs Can Teach Startup CEOs and Investors with Scott Jones, Realeyes

Convergence.fm

Some of the biggest product breakthroughs didn’t come from startups — they came from intrapreneurs. In this episode, we speak with Scott Jones, a career intrapreneur who has launched new lines of business at Lenovo, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Realeyes, a computer vision AI company serving some of the world’s most influential platforms. Scott shares a detailed, experience-backed look at what it takes to make innovation work inside companies that weren’t built for speed. He breaks down the mindset, team dynamics, and cultural rituals that allow new bets to thrive — and provides...

More Episodes

What does it actually take to build agentic AI applications that hold up in the real world? In this episode, Ashok sits down with Austin, founder of Focused, to share field stories and hard-won lessons from building AI systems that go beyond flashy demos. From legal assistants to government transparency tools, Austin breaks down the concrete criteria for identifying where AI makes sense — and where it doesn’t.

They unpack how to find the right starting point for your first agentic app, why integration with legacy systems is the real hurdle, and the engineering must-haves that keep AI behavior safe and reliable. You’ll hear practical guidance on designing eval frameworks, using abstraction layers like LangChain, and how observability can shape your development roadmap just like in traditional software. Whether you’re a product leader or a CTO, this conversation will help you distinguish hype from real opportunity in AI.

Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge.

Inside the episode...

A practical checklist for identifying your first AI-powered app
The hidden cost of "AI for AI’s sake" and where traditional software is better
Why repetitive knowledge work is prime territory for automation
How Focused helped Hamlet build an AI for parsing government meeting data
Where read-only data access gives you a safe starting point
Why integration is often more complex than the AI itself
The importance of eval frameworks and test-driven LLM development
How to use observability to continuously improve AI agent behavior
Speed vs. believability: surprising lessons from Groq-powered inference
Using multiple models in one system and LLMs to QA each other

Mentioned in this episode

Hamlet (government transparency startup) - https://www.myhamlet.com/?convergence
LangChain - https://www.langchain.com/?convergence
Groq - https://groq.com/?convergence
Claude (Anthropic) - https://claud.ai/?convergence
Dspy Prompting framework - https://dspy.ai/?convergence
Shopify AI memo (referenced) - https://convergence.fm/episode/shopifys-leaked-ai-mandate-explained-6-takeaways-for-your-product-team?convergence
Amazon Bedrock / SageMaker - https://aws.amazon.com/bedrock/?convergence

Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts including video episodes to get updated on the other crucial conversations that we'll post on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast

Learn something? Give us a 5 star review and like the podcast on YouTube. It's how we grow.

Follow the Pod

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/convergence-podcast/

X: https://twitter.com/podconvergence

Instagram: @podconvergence

TOPICS