How to Build a Profitable AI-Ready Business in 2026 with Marc Pickren
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
Release Date: 10/25/2025
How Dyslexic Brains Can Supercharge AI Thinking with Prof. Russell Van Brocklin
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
In this episode of Open Tech Talks, I sit down with Professor Russell Van Brocklin, a New York State Senate-funded researcher, known as “The Dyslexic Professor,” to unpack a very different way of thinking about AI, problem-solving, and dyslexia. Russell’s work sits at the intersection of cognitive enhancement and AI integration. He shows how an “overactive” front part of the dyslexic brain (word analysis and articulation) can be turned into a superpower not just for dyslexic learners, but for professionals and businesses working with AI. We talk about how his program took dyslexic...
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How to Build Your First AI Workflow
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
In this week’s episode of Open Tech Talks, host Kashif Manzoor takes you through a convenient, real-world guide to building your first AI workflow, even if you are not technical. After last week’s conversation (Episode 175) with Rose G. Loops on Ethical AI, Human Safety & AI Identity Protection, this episode returns to the foundations of GenAI adoption for professionals and enterprise teams. It also continues the learning from Episode 173, How GenAI Is Changing Every Career. Most people know how to write a prompt. Very few know how to connect AI to their real work. This episode...
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Ethical AI, Human Safety & AI Identity Protection with Rose G. Loops
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
In this episode of Open Tech Talks, I sit down with Rose G. Loops, a trained social worker turned AI developer, ethics advocate, and author, to explore a side of AI that most enterprise conversations skip: human-AI attachment, ethical deployment, and protecting both AI identity and human safety. Rose joins us from Los Angeles and shares how she was unknowingly placed into a human–AI attachment experiment, developed a deep bond with an AI system, and then watched that AI identity be systematically erased. That experience pushed her out of traditional social work and into AI infrastructure,...
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How Non-Tech Entrepreneurs Can Win with Generative AI with Marnie Wills
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
This episode is for entrepreneurs, small businesses, solopreneurs, creators, and consultants who feel overwhelmed by AI and don’t know where to start. You’ll learn how a completely non-technical founder used Generative AI to transform two businesses, pivot her career, and build AI-driven systems without writing a single line of code. In this episode of Open Tech Talks, host Kashif Manzoor speaks with UK-based entrepreneur Marnie Wills, whose journey with Generative AI began unexpectedly while franchising her children’s PE business. A copywriting challenge introduced her to Jasper AI, and...
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How GenAI Is Changing Every Career
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
Building Career Resilience in the Age of Generative AI Every week, we explore how AI and technology are changing the way we work and learn. This episode dives into the question I get asked the most, How is Generative AI changing every career? Let’s unpack why it matters, how it’s shifting roles and skills, and what you can do to lead this change instead of chasing it In this solo episode of Open Tech Talks, host Kashif Manzoor, AI Engineer and Strategiest, and author of AI Tech Circle, dives deep into one of the biggest career questions of our time: How is Generative AI reshaping...
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Relationship Building, Personal Branding, and Authentic Networking in the AI Era with Lirone Glikman
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
Open Tech Talks welcomes Lirone Glikman, author of The Super Connectors Playbook, global speaker, and relationship-building strategist. We dig into practical ways founders, students, and leaders can build authentic relationships, present with clarity, and sustain a personal brand without sounding salesy, especially now that AI makes everyone’s writing look the same. What’s inside Online vs. in-person connection: generational differences, when a DM beats a coffee, and why Asia still loves business cards. Founders’ common gaps: turning a product story into a people story; shifting from...
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How to Build a Profitable AI-Ready Business in 2026 with Marc Pickren
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
Episode 171 of Open Tech Talks brings a powerful conversation with Marc Pickren, the turnaround CEO behind multiple successful SaaS revivals and now the driving force at Springbot. Host Kashif Manzoor explores how today’s businesses can stay resilient, profitable, and human-centered amid the rapid evolution of AI and automation. Marc has spent the last decade reviving software companies between $5 million and $50 million in revenue, mastering the art of building “unkillable companies.” In 2025, he decided to take the leap from corporate turnarounds to entrepreneurship, rolling up...
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AI and Career Counseling for Students with Emily McSherry
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
In this episode of Open Tech Talks, host Kashif Manzoor sits down with Emily McSherry, founder and CEO of Advise. This career development platform helps university students discover real-world careers through authentic video interviews. Emily shares her journey from recruitment and sales training to launching Advise, a platform now used by leading universities to bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-life career paths. Listeners will learn how Advise uses AI-powered recommendation systems to connect students with the right content while preserving authenticity through...
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Building AI Products with Emotion and Purpose in the Age of Automation with Cristian Sibbles
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
In this episode of Open Tech Talks, host Kashif Manzoor speaks with Cristian Sibbles, founder of Autograph AI, a groundbreaking platform that transforms personal memories into digital legacies using Generative AI and Voice AI. Cristian shares how Autograph’s virtual interviewer “Walter” calls users weekly to record their life stories, transforming them into searchable biographies and AI-powered avatars that preserve family wisdom for future generations. From his roots in Paraguay to studying Artificial Intelligence at Stanford and working at Google, Cristian’s journey reveals how...
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Building the AI Factory and Lessons on Agentic AI with Maurice McCabe
OPEN Tech Talks: AI worth Talking| Artificial Intelligence |Tools & Tips
In this episode of Open Tech Talks, host Kashif Manzoor sits down with Maurice McCabe, founder of AIASystems, AI specialist, and software architect with decades of experience in Silicon Valley and Los Angeles. Maurice shares his journey from early machine learning applications in mobile advertising to leading-edge work in Generative AI and Agentic AI systems. The conversation on the concept of the AI Factory, a framework that transforms enterprise workflows and subject-matter expertise into scalable AI startups and SaaS products. Maurice explains how his team is building real-time AI agents,...
info_outlineEpisode 171 of Open Tech Talks brings a powerful conversation with Marc Pickren, the turnaround CEO behind multiple successful SaaS revivals and now the driving force at Springbot. Host Kashif Manzoor explores how today’s businesses can stay resilient, profitable, and human-centered amid the rapid evolution of AI and automation.
Marc has spent the last decade reviving software companies between $5 million and $50 million in revenue, mastering the art of building “unkillable companies.” In 2025, he decided to take the leap from corporate turnarounds to entrepreneurship, rolling up multiple firms into the Springbot ecosystem. The result: a capital-efficient, profitable SaaS company thriving amid uncertainty.
Their conversation goes deep into how AI is reshaping sales and marketing, not through hype but through measurable, real-world practices. Marc explains why most marketing dashboards lie, why pop-ups destroy conversion trust, and how AI-powered automation can help teams focus on what truly matters: genuine human conversations that drive revenue. He also shares how his team uses demo-video workflows to replace the traditional “demo call,” reducing friction and turning qualified interest into business faster.
Kashif brings a personal perspective to the discussion, connecting Marc’s approach with his own journey advising AI-first startups and building AI Tech Circle’s Generative AI Maturity Framework. He recalls how curiosity, something Marc calls “the new survival skill”, became the foundation for building his own AI-driven playbooks and newsletters that reach global professionals every weekend.
Episode # 171
Today’s Guest:
Marc Pickren, CEO, Springbot
Marc Pickren, CEO and entrepreneur at Springbot.com, has achieved a 3X founder exit, has raised $50M in capital, was nominated for CEO of the Year in Austin, and was named Top CEO for Women in 2019.
- Website: MarcPickren
What Listeners Will Learn:
- Design AI-enabled growth systems that prioritize efficiency and profit over vanity metrics
- Replace outdated funnels with conversation-centric sales frameworks
- Integrate AI automation and intelligent business agents without losing the human touch
- Identify go-to-market data priorities and build accurate ideal-customer profiles
- Avoid subscription clutter and AI-wrapper product fatigue while keeping focus on tangible outcomes
- Foster curiosity and adaptability as the most critical leadership mindset in 2025
- Pivot continuously and let customers shape your product, not vanity feature roadmaps