﻿<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers]]></title><description><![CDATA[Real startup lessons and GTM insights from conversations with founders like Mark Cuban and Ron Conway to help you grow faster and avoid common mistakes!  Got questions - feel free to fire away!]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OFPs!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F653181b7-6c3b-4adc-82f0-a6157f9a41f7_112x112.png</url><title>Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers</title><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 20:45:29 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://keithnewman.substack.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[keith newman]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[keithnewman@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[keithnewman@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[keithnewman@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[keithnewman@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[The Marketing Playbook Just Broke. Most Brands Haven’t Noticed Yet.]]></title><description><![CDATA[&#8220;Stop Selling. Start Contributing.&#8221;]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-marketing-playbook-just-broke</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-marketing-playbook-just-broke</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 2026 20:43:21 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!G6IV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fpodcast_1560219589.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The one constant in business is change. Markets change. Technology changes. Customer expectations are no expectations and how we tell our stories changes too. Yet every week I talk to founders who are still marketing like it&#8217;s five years ago. Recently, I found myself practically begging a founder to stop selling.</p><p>Every LinkedIn post was a pitch. Every update was about the product. Every piece of content was asking for something. A meeting. A demo. A conversation.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Finally, I said: <strong>&#8220;Stop selling. Start contributing.&#8221;</strong></p><p>Lead with value. Teach something.</p><p>Share what you&#8217;re learning. Give people a reason to follow you before they ever become a customer. Be a contributor to your community, not a constant promoter to it. That has become my new marketing mantra.</p><p>And almost immediately, the results started showing up. More engagement. Better conversations.More inbound interest.</p><p>Not because we improved the pitch. Because we stopped pitching.</p><p>That experience reinforced something I&#8217;ve been seeing across the startup ecosystem for the last two years.</p><p>The marketing playbook is changing. Not gradually. Structurally.</p><p>For decades, brands controlled the narrative. Marketing teams crafted messages, PR teams amplified them, and buyers consumed them.</p><p>Today, buyers have endless sources of information and more ways than ever to validate&#8212;or challenge&#8212;what a company says about itself.</p><p>Trust has moved. Influence has moved. Authority has moved. And most companies haven&#8217;t fully adjusted. Am I right? </p><p>According to Edelman&#8217;s Trust Barometer, employees continue to rank among the most trusted voices associated with a company, while trust in traditional advertising continues to decline. At the same time, buyers increasingly rely on peers, creators, communities, podcasts, newsletters, and AI-generated recommendations to shape purchasing decisions long before they ever engage with a sales team.</p><p>In other words:</p><p><strong>Trust is no longer centralized in the brand.</strong></p><p><strong>Influence is no longer top-down.</strong></p><p><strong>Authority is no longer claimed. It&#8217;s conferred.</strong></p><p>And that changes everything.</p><p>The companies that win in 2026 won&#8217;t necessarily have the biggest marketing budgets. They&#8217;ll have the strongest trust networks.</p><p>They&#8217;ll empower employees to tell stories.</p><p>They&#8217;ll encourage founders to share lessons learned.</p><p>They&#8217;ll show customers how decisions are made.</p><p>They&#8217;ll participate in conversations instead of broadcasting messages.</p><p>Most importantly, they&#8217;ll sound like human beings. Not brands.</p><p>Because here&#8217;s what many marketers still miss:</p><p>People don&#8217;t wake up hoping to hear from your company.</p><p>They wake up hoping to solve a problem.</p><p>The brands that help them solve those problems earn attention.</p><p>The brands that constantly demand attention lose it. That&#8217;s the shift.</p><p>And it&#8217;s why I believe the next generation of great companies will be built as much through trust as through technology.</p><h2>The Bottom Line</h2><p>Most companies don&#8217;t have a visibility problem. They have a trust problem.</p><p>And trust isn&#8217;t built through more content. It&#8217;s built through more humanity.</p><p>The winners over the next five years won&#8217;t be the companies producing the most content. They&#8217;ll be the companies creating the most credibility. Because in a world where AI can generate infinite information, trust becomes scarce. and scarce assets become incredibly valuable.</p><p>The next great marketing channel isn&#8217;t AI. It isn&#8217;t video. It isn&#8217;t search.</p><p>It&#8217;s trust. And trust is becoming the hardest thing in business to manufacture.</p><p>The founders who understand that now will have an enormous advantage over the ones still trying to out-shout the market.</p><p>Feel free to subscribe here and see more video and other posting here. I really like to see comments/questions too! Like and Share </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:2602,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:138,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-06-09T08:42:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Most Founders Are Measuring the Wrong Things]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why AI search is forcing founders to rethink how they measure marketing, authority, and growth.]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/most-founders-are-measuring-the-wrong</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/most-founders-are-measuring-the-wrong</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 18 Jun 2026 21:32:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/47634789-bdfa-4b46-923a-017810f3a48b_480x480.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Traffic is no longer the best indicator of influence. In an AI-first world, visibility, citations, share of voice, and trust are becoming the metrics that matter most. Here&#8217;s the framework I&#8217;m using with founders and growth teams to measure what actually drives authority, demand, and growth.</p><h1>The New GTM Dashboard: Visibility, Citations, and Trust</h1><h3>Why the smartest founders are shifting from measuring clicks and rankings to measuring influence, authority, and trust in the age of AI search.</h3><p>For the last 2 decades, marketers have lived by the same scoreboard:</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><ul><li><p>Traffic</p></li><li><p>Rankings</p></li><li><p>Keywords</p></li><li><p>Clicks</p></li><li><p>Pageviews</p></li></ul><p>If traffic went up, everyone celebrated. If traffic went down, everyone panicked.</p><p>Simple. But we&#8217;re no longer living in a Google-first world. We&#8217;re entering an AI-first discovery world. And that changes everything.</p><p>Recently on <em>Liftoff with Keith</em>, I&#8217;ve been talking with founders, operators, and growth leaders about one question: <strong>How do you know if your content is actually working anymore?</strong></p><p>The old answer was straightforward: <em>&#8220;How many visitors did we get?&#8221;</em></p><p>The new answer is much more interesting: <strong>Are we influencing the answer?</strong></p><p>Because increasingly, buyers aren&#8217;t clicking through ten blue links.</p><p>They&#8217;re asking ChatGPT. Gemini. Claude. They&#8217;re receiving synthesized answers before they ever reach your website.</p><p>According to McKinsey, roughly <strong>50% of Google searches already surface AI-generated summaries</strong>, and that number is expected to climb to <strong>75% by 2028.</strong></p><p>Let that sink in. The way buyers discover expertise, products, and companies is changing faster than most GTM teams realize. The companies that win won&#8217;t simply rank.</p><p><strong>They&#8217;ll become part of the answer itself.</strong></p><h2>The Shift Most Teams Aren&#8217;t Measuring</h2><p>One of the biggest mistakes I see founders making is measuring their business using yesterday&#8217;s metrics.</p><p>They&#8217;re worried about rankings. They&#8217;re watching traffic fluctuate.</p><p>They&#8217;re obsessing over click-through rates. Meanwhile, something far more important is happening: Their content is being cited. Their expertise is being referenced.</p><p>Their brand is appearing in AI-generated answers. Their ideas are influencing buying decisions before a prospect ever visits their website.</p><p>That&#8217;s a massive shift.</p><p><strong>In the AI era, the goal isn&#8217;t to rank. The goal is to be referenced.</strong></p><h2>Visibility Is the New Traffic</h2><p>Think about how your buyers research today.</p><p>When they ask:</p><ul><li><p>What&#8217;s the best AI infrastructure platform?</p></li><li><p>How should I modernize a legacy SaaS product?</p></li><li><p>What&#8217;s changing in enterprise software?</p></li><li><p>How should I evaluate agentic AI solutions?</p></li></ul><p>The question isn&#8217;t: <em>&#8220;Does my page rank #1?&#8221;</em></p><p>The question is: <strong>&#8220;Does my expertise show up in the answer?&#8221;</strong></p><p>That&#8217;s the new battleground. Visibility today isn&#8217;t measured solely by website visits.</p><p>It&#8217;s measured by how often your company, content, research, customers, and point of view appear in trusted answers.</p><p>The companies building authority now will have a massive advantage over the next five years.</p><h2>The New GTM Dashboard</h2><p>If I were leading growth at an AI, SaaS, infrastructure, robotics, or enterprise software company today, I&#8217;d be tracking four metrics religiously.</p><h3>1. Visibility</h3><p>How often does your company appear in AI-generated answers?</p><p>Not your homepage.</p><p>Not your blog.</p><p>Your expertise.</p><p>Your point of view.</p><p>Your brand.</p><p>Can prospects discover you without ever typing your URL?</p><p>Increasingly, that&#8217;s exactly what&#8217;s happening.</p><h3>2. Citation Rate</h3><p>How often are your articles, research, podcasts, customer stories, videos, and insights referenced as trusted sources?</p><p>The best content today doesn&#8217;t simply generate traffic.</p><p>It generates authority.</p><p>And authority compounds.</p><h3>3. Share of Voice</h3><p>When AI discusses your category, who owns the conversation?</p><p>You?</p><p>Your competitors?</p><p>Industry analysts?</p><p>The company that consistently appears in category discussions often becomes the default choice long before a buyer enters a sales cycle.</p><h3>4. Trust</h3><p>Not all visibility is good visibility.</p><p>How are AI systems describing your company?</p><p>What themes are associated with your brand?</p><p>What stories are being told when you&#8217;re not in the room?</p><p>Trust is becoming one of the most valuable and measurable GTM assets.</p><h2>Freshness Is the New SEO</h2><p>One of the most fascinating findings from recent AI search research is how quickly content ages.</p><p>Pages that go more than a few months without updates are significantly more likely to lose visibility in AI-generated answers.</p><p>More than 70% of AI-cited pages have been updated within the previous year.</p><p>The takeaway?</p><p><strong>Content is no longer a publishing exercise. It&#8217;s a product.</strong></p><p>And products require maintenance.</p><p>Yet most companies still treat content like a campaign.</p><p>They publish it. Promote it. Then move on.</p><p>The best GTM teams do the opposite. They continually refresh. Update data.</p><p>Add new insights. Improve relevance. Strengthen authority.</p><p>They understand that content compounds only when it&#8217;s maintained.</p><div><hr></div><h2>SEO and AI Search Are Becoming the Same Investment</h2><p>I hear this question almost every week: <em>&#8220;Should we focus on SEO or AI Search?&#8221;</em></p><p>Wrong question. The fundamentals haven&#8217;t changed.</p><p>Create expertise. Publish useful content. Answer customer questions.</p><p>Build authority. Update consistently. Earn trust.</p><p>The difference is that AI is becoming much better at identifying which sources deserve attention.</p><p>We&#8217;re moving from an era of optimization to an era of credibility.</p><p>And credibility is much harder to fake.</p><h2>What Founders Should Really Be Asking</h2><p>The most important question isn&#8217;t:</p><p><em>&#8220;How many clicks did we get?&#8221;</em></p><p>It&#8217;s: <strong>&#8220;Are we becoming the trusted source in our market?&#8221;</strong></p><p>Because if buyers consistently see your company:</p><ul><li><p>Referenced</p></li><li><p>Cited</p></li><li><p>Recommended</p></li><li><p>Quoted</p></li><li><p>Associated with expertise</p></li></ul><p>Growth follows. Trust compounds.</p><p>Authority compounds. Visibility compounds.</p><p>And in an AI-driven world, those assets may become more valuable than traffic itself.</p><h2>Final Thought</h2><p>The old GTM dashboard told us how many people visited.</p><p>The new GTM dashboard tells us whether we&#8217;re shaping the conversation.</p><p><strong>Visibility. Citations. Share of Voice. Trust.</strong></p><p>Those are the metrics that matter when buyers increasingly get answers before they ever click.</p><p>The companies that win over the next decade won&#8217;t necessarily have the most traffic. They&#8217;ll be the ones that become the source everyone else references.</p><p>Because traffic is rented. <strong>Trust is owned.</strong></p><p>And AI search is making that distinction impossible to ignore.</p><p></p><h3>Dont Forget About Keith</h3><p>I&#8217;m a new era GTM advisor, startup growth strategist helping aspiring high-growth  companies scale faster and build category leadership @TheGTMFirm and also host <strong>Liftoff with Keith</strong>, a podcast sharing actionable insights for founders and startup teams. If you&#8217;re building, scaling, fundraising, hiring, launching, or figuring out what comes next, I&#8217;d love to have you on board, commenting and sharing.  </p><div class="embedded-publication-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;id&quot;:1809998,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers&quot;,&quot;logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OFPs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F653181b7-6c3b-4adc-82f0-a6157f9a41f7_112x112.png&quot;,&quot;base_url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com&quot;,&quot;hero_text&quot;:&quot;Real startup lessons and GTM insights from conversations with founders like Mark Cuban and Ron Conway to help you grow faster and avoid common mistakes!  Got questions - feel free to fire away!&quot;,&quot;author_name&quot;:&quot;Keith Newman&quot;,&quot;show_subscribe&quot;:true,&quot;logo_bg_color&quot;:&quot;#ffffff&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="EmbeddedPublicationToDOMWithSubscribe"><div class="embedded-publication show-subscribe"><a class="embedded-publication-link-part" native="true" href="https://keithnewman.substack.com?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_campaign=publication_embed&amp;utm_medium=web"><img class="embedded-publication-logo" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OFPs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F653181b7-6c3b-4adc-82f0-a6157f9a41f7_112x112.png" width="56" height="56" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="embedded-publication-name">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers</span><div class="embedded-publication-hero-text">Real startup lessons and GTM insights from conversations with founders like Mark Cuban and Ron Conway to help you grow faster and avoid common mistakes!  Got questions - feel free to fire away!</div><div class="embedded-publication-author-name">By Keith Newman</div></a><form class="embedded-publication-subscribe" method="GET" action="https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?"><input type="hidden" name="source" value="publication-embed"><input type="hidden" name="autoSubmit" value="true"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email..."><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"></form></div></div><p>&#9654;&#65039; YouTube<br><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvvqr6CBiqMOUbWfe7vWzQ">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvvqr6CBiqMOUbWfe7vWzQ</a></p><div><hr></div><h2>Question for Founders</h2><p>Are you still measuring traffic and rankings? Or are you beginning to measure visibility, citations, share of voice, and trust?</p><p>Drop a comment below. I&#8217;m curious what you&#8217;re seeing inside your own business. And if this resonated, subscribe, share it with another founder, and follow the podcast.</p><p></p><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The New GTM Dashboard: Visibility, Citations, and Trust]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why the smartest founders are shifting from measuring clicks and rankings to measuring influence, authority, and trust in the age of AI search.]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-new-gtm-dashboard-visibility</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-new-gtm-dashboard-visibility</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2026 15:11:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OFPs!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F653181b7-6c3b-4adc-82f0-a6157f9a41f7_112x112.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the last 20 years, marketers have obsessed over the same dashboard.</p><p>Traffic. Rankings. Keywords. Clicks. Pageviews.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>If traffic went up, everyone celebrated. If traffic went down, everyone panicked. But it was Simple. Except we&#8217;re no longer living in a Google-first world.</p><p>We&#8217;re entering an AI-first discovery world. And that changes everything.</p><p>Recently on the podcast, I&#8217;ve been talking with founders, operators, and growth leaders about one question:</p><p><strong>How do you know if your content is actually working anymore?</strong></p><p>The old answer was easy. <em>&#8220;How many visitors did we get?&#8221;</em></p><p>The new answer is much more interesting. <strong>Are you influencing the answer?</strong></p><p>Because increasingly, buyers aren&#8217;t clicking through ten blue links. They&#8217;re asking ChatGPT. They&#8217;re asking Gemini. They&#8217;re asking Claude. They&#8217;re getting a synthesized answer before they ever reach your website.</p><p>According to McKinsey, roughly <strong>50% of Google searches already surface AI-generated summaries</strong>, and that number is projected to reach <strong>75% by 2028</strong>.</p><p>Let that sink in. The way buyers discover companies, products, and expertise is changing faster than most GTM teams realize. The companies that win won&#8217;t simply rank.They&#8217;ll become part of the answer itself.</p><p>The Shift Nobody Is Measuring</p><p>One of the biggest mistakes I see founders making is measuring their business using yesterday&#8217;s metrics.</p><p>They&#8217;re watching traffic dip 10%.</p><p>They&#8217;re worried about rankings moving from #3 to #5.</p><p>Meanwhile, they&#8217;re completely missing a much bigger trend. Their content is being cited. Their research is being referenced. Their expertise is showing up in AI-generated answers. Their brand is influencing buying decisions before a prospect ever visits their website.</p><p>That&#8217;s like a TV network measuring success by the number of people who tour the studio instead of the number watching the show. The audience behavior has changed. Our metrics need to change too.</p><p><strong>In the AI era, the goal isn&#8217;t to rank. The goal is to be referenced.</strong></p><p>Visibility Is the New Traffic</p><p>Think about how your buyers research today.</p><p>When they ask:</p><ul><li><p>What&#8217;s the best AI infrastructure platform?</p></li><li><p>How should I modernize a SaaS product?</p></li><li><p>What&#8217;s changing in enterprise software?</p></li><li><p>How do I evaluate agentic AI solutions?</p></li></ul><p>The question isn&#8217;t whether your page ranks #1. The question is:</p><p><strong>Does your expertise show up in the answer?</strong></p><p>That&#8217;s the new battleground. Visibility today isn&#8217;t measured solely by website visits.</p><p>It&#8217;s measured by how often your company, content, research, customers, and point of view appear in trusted answers.</p><p>The companies building authority now will have a massive advantage over the next five years.</p><p>The New GTM Dashboard</p><p>If I were running growth for an AI, SaaS, infrastructure, robotics, or developer-focused company today, I&#8217;d be tracking 4 metrics religiously (and Im not even religious).</p><p>1. Visibility</p><p>How often does your company appear in AI-generated answers?</p><p>Not your homepage. Not your blog. </p><p>Your company. Your expertise. Your point of view.</p><p>Can prospects discover you without ever typing your URL?</p><p>Increasingly, that&#8217;s exactly what&#8217;s happening.</p><p>2. Citation Rate</p><p>How often are your articles, research reports, podcasts, customer stories, videos, and insights referenced as trusted sources?</p><p>The best content today doesn&#8217;t just generate clicks. It generates authority. And authority compounds.</p><p>3. Share of Voice</p><p>When AI discusses your category, who owns the conversation?</p><p>You? Your competitors? Industry analysts?</p><p>The company that consistently shows up in category discussions often becomes the default choice long before a buyer enters a sales cycle.</p><p>4. Trust and Sentiment</p><p>Not all visibility is good visibility.</p><p>How are AI systems describing your company? What themes are associated with your brand? What stories are being told when you&#8217;re not in the room? Trust is becoming a measurable GTM asset.</p><p>And the companies that earn it will outperform those that simply chase impressions.</p><p>Freshness Is the New SEO</p><p>One of the most fascinating findings I&#8217;ve seen recently comes from The State of AI Search research. Pages that go more than three months without an update are significantly more likely to lose visibility in AI-generated answers.</p><p>More than 70% of AI-cited pages were updated within the previous year.</p><p>The takeaway?</p><p>Content is no longer a publishing exercise. It&#8217;s a product. And products require maintenance. Yet most companies still treat content like a campaign.</p><p>They publish it. Celebrate it. Then abandon it.</p><p>The best GTM teams do the opposite.They continually refresh. They update data.</p><p>They add new insights. They strengthen authority. They improve relevance.</p><p>They understand that content compounds only when it&#8217;s maintained.</p><p>SEO and AI Search Are Not Different Strategies</p><p>I hear this question almost every week:</p><p><em>&#8220;Should we focus on SEO or AI Search?&#8221;</em></p><p>That&#8217;s the wrong question. They&#8217;re increasingly becoming the same investment.</p><p>The fundamentals haven&#8217;t changed. Create expertise. Publish useful content. Answer real customer questions. Build authority. Update regularly. Earn trust.</p><p>The difference is that AI systems are becoming far more efficient at identifying which sources deserve to be trusted.</p><p>In many ways, we&#8217;re moving from an era of optimization to an era of credibility.</p><p>And credibility is much harder to game.</p><p>What Founders Should Really Be Asking</p><p>The most important question isn&#8217;t: <em>&#8220;How many clicks did we get?&#8221;</em></p><p>It&#8217;s: <strong>&#8220;Are we becoming the trusted source in our market?&#8221;</strong></p><p>Because if buyers consistently see your brand:</p><ul><li><p>Referenced</p></li><li><p>Cited</p></li><li><p>Recommended</p></li><li><p>Quoted</p></li><li><p>Associated with expertise</p></li></ul><p>Growth follows.</p><p>Maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next quarter. But eventually.</p><p>Trust compounds. Authority compounds. Visibility compounds.</p><p>And in an AI-driven world, those assets may become more valuable than traffic itself.</p><p>Final Thought</p><p>The old GTM dashboard told us how many people visited.</p><p>The new GTM dashboard tells us whether we&#8217;re shaping the conversation.</p><p><strong>Visibility.</strong></p><p><strong>Citations.</strong></p><p><strong>Share of Voice.</strong></p><p><strong>Trust.</strong></p><p>Those are the metrics that matter when buyers increasingly receive answers before they ever click. The companies that win over the next decade won&#8217;t necessarily have the most traffic.</p><p>They&#8217;ll be the ones that become the source everyone else references. Because traffic is rented.</p><p><strong>Trust is owned.</strong></p><p>And AI search is making that distinction impossible to ignore.</p><p>&#8212; Keith</p><p><strong>thanks for all my mentors, peers, advisors and teachers over the years who have shared and taught me so much over the many years! </strong></p><p><strong>Plus, my small ask: </strong>What percentage of your content reporting is still focused on traffic and rankings versus visibility, citations, and share of voice?</p><p>The companies that answer that question correctly over the next few years will likely own their categories.</p><p></p><p>Im a GTM consulting and startup advisor to a dozen co's growing fasting and making an impact. I also host Liftoff with Keith, a podcast for founders &#8212; 300K listens and growing. Would mean a lot if you gave it a follow:<br><br>&#9654;&#65039; YouTube (full episodes + Shorts): <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvvqr6CBiqMOUbWfe7vWzQ">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvvqr6CBiqMOUbWfe7vWzQ</a></strong><br><br>If the content resonates, I'd love to connect further &#8212; happy to find time after you've had a chance to dig in.<br><br>&#8212; Keith</p><p></p><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Have you experienced the “Ghosting Gap?”]]></title><description><![CDATA[The CEO Sidebar: Why Urgency is the Hardest Thing to Manufacture]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/have-you-experienced-the-ghosting</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/have-you-experienced-the-ghosting</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2026 13:21:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!G6IV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fpodcast_1560219589.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I was having a sidebar with a founder friend recently, and he dropped a line that&#8217;s been rattling around my head all week: &#8220;We&#8217;ve gone well past the &#8216;second first date&#8217; and now it&#8217;s like we&#8217;re talking about getting married&#8212;but they&#8217;ve suddenly stopped checking their messages.&#8221;</p><p>Sound familiar? You have the alignment, the pilot went well, and the value prop is undeniable. Yet, the deal sits there, static.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>In the startup world, we call this the &#8220;Ghosting Phase,&#8221; and the data shows it&#8217;s getting worse. According to B2B sales benchmarks, <strong>86% of purchases now encounter significant stalls</strong> before a final decision is made. It&#8217;s rarely about your product; it&#8217;s about a lack of a <strong>Compelling Event</strong>.</p><p><strong>The Data on the &#8220;Ghosting Gap&#8221;</strong></p><ul><li><p><strong>Decision Fatigue:</strong> The average enterprise buying committee has grown to <strong>13 stakeholders</strong>. Every additional person added to a deal decreases the likelihood of a &#8220;yes&#8221; by 15%.</p></li><li><p><strong>The 70% Threshold:</strong> Up to <strong>70% of the B2B journey</strong> now happens before a prospect even speaks to sales. If you haven&#8217;t manufactured urgency by the time the contract hits their desk, you&#8217;ve already lost the momentum.</p></li><li><p><strong>The Follow-up Crisis:</strong> 80% of sales require at least <strong>5 follow-up attempts</strong>, yet 44% of founders give up after just one &#8220;let me check with my team.&#8221;</p></li></ul><p><strong>How to Shake it Loose</strong></p><p>Urgency isn&#8217;t something you ask for; it&#8217;s something you anchor to.</p><ol><li><p><strong>Identify the Power Moment:</strong> Are they running out of capacity? Do they have an earnings call coming up? If there isn&#8217;t a &#8220;pointing in time&#8221; moment where it hurts more to stay the same than to change, your deal is just a nice-to-have.</p></li><li><p><strong>CEO Connections:</strong> Sometimes you have to bypass the champion to reach the person who actually feels the macro pressure. I&#8217;m literally willing to get on a plane and stand outside an office to make that 5-minute connection happen.</p></li><li><p><strong>The Roadshow Effect:</strong> Make it hard for them to ignore you by being &#8220;loud and proud&#8221; where they hang out. If you&#8217;re at the same cocktail parties or industry events, you transition from a vendor to a peer.</p></li></ol><p>Stop waiting for them to &#8220;wake up.&#8221; If you&#8217;re struggling with a compelling event, you aren&#8217;t selling a solution&#8212;you&#8217;re selling a distraction.</p><p><strong>Founders:</strong> What&#8217;s the craziest thing you&#8217;ve done to turn a &#8220;maybe later&#8221; into a &#8220;right now&#8221;? Let&#8217;s talk in the comments.</p><p><em>Subscribe to Liftoff with Keith for more tales from the startup trenches. </em></p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:2602,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:138,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-06-09T08:42:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Tale of Two Championships Runs]]></title><description><![CDATA[There is no 'i' in team, but there is in 'Unicorn']]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-championships-runs</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-two-championships-runs</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 2026 11:55:05 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!G6IV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fpodcast_1560219589.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>This weekend I watched two incredible championship runs.</p><p>Neither team was mine. But as an impartial fan with no major rooting interest and only a small betting interest (shout out Polymarket and Kalshi) it reminded me of something we&#8217;ve forgotten in the age of AI and that is that there is something uniquely powerful about a team accomplishing something together.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>It&#8217;s a blend: The emotion.The sacrifice.The setbacks.The shared belief.</p><p>Sports gives us a front-row seat to it. Business does too.</p><p>I&#8217;ve been fortunate to work with startups that seemed like long shots.</p><p>Markets shifted. Competitors emerged. Funding got tight. Customers said no. I got a black eye, figuratively speaking. </p><p>And then something happened. The team rallied. People stepped up.</p><p>The company found another gear. The trajectory changed.</p><p>The feeling when a group of people achieves something difficult together is hard to describe&#8212;and impossible to automate.</p><p>Lately there&#8217;s a lot of discussion about the first one-person unicorn.</p><p>Maybe it happens.</p><p>But I&#8217;ve never seen a great company built solely by one person. Products can be created alone. Companies are built by teams.</p><p>AI will help us do more with fewer people. But the magic still happens when talented people come together around a mission and accomplish something extraordinary.</p><p>The future belongs to smaller teams. Not team-less companies.</p><p>That&#8217;s a distinction worth remembering.</p><p></p><p><strong>Building great companies takes more than capital. It takes insight, execution, and the willingness to keep learning.</strong></p><p>Subscribe for weekly perspectives on founders, AI, GTM, and startup growth.</p><p>&#127897;&#65039; <em>Liftoff with Keith</em> &#8212; conversations with super founders, investors, and operators building the future.</p><p>&#128640; </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:2602,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:139,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-06-09T08:42:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Employee Choice Could Be the Future of Healthcare]]></title><description><![CDATA[A conversation with BenefitBay CEO Brandy Thompson on healthcare transparency, leadership, and building better outcomes for employees.]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-employee-choice-could-be-the</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-employee-choice-could-be-the</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 16 Jun 2026 09:04:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/R0uRGHZZy8o" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Healthcare is one of the largest expenses for both employers and employees, yet many people have surprisingly little control over the decisions that affect them most.</p><p>In a recent conversation on Liftoff, BenefitBay Founder and CEO Brandy Thompson shared her perspective on why the traditional healthcare benefits model may be reaching its limits&#8212;and what a more flexible future could look like.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Watch the full conversation here: </p><div id="youtube2-R0uRGHZZy8o" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;R0uRGHZZy8o&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:&quot;48s&quot;,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/R0uRGHZZy8o?start=48s&amp;rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>One of the central themes of the discussion was employee choice.</p><p>According to Brandy, employers often face the difficult challenge of selecting a single healthcare solution for an entire workforce. The problem is that employees are not all the same. Their needs, priorities, family situations, and financial realities vary significantly.</p><p>A healthcare plan that works perfectly for one employee may be a poor fit for another.</p><p>Brandy argues that giving individuals greater control over selecting coverage that aligns with their own circumstances could lead to better outcomes, improved satisfaction, and more efficient use of resources.</p><p>The conversation also explored transparency.</p><p>Healthcare remains one of the most complex industries for consumers to navigate. Brandy believes greater transparency can empower individuals to make more informed decisions while reducing unnecessary friction across the system.</p><p>Beyond healthcare, the discussion offered valuable leadership lessons.</p><p>Brandy shared how a non-traditional career path&#8212;and raising six daughters over nearly two decades&#8212;helped shape her leadership style. Rather than following a conventional corporate ladder, she gained experience across multiple industries, developed adaptability, and built the organizational skills necessary to lead a growing company.</p><p>Her story serves as a reminder that leadership development doesn&#8217;t always happen in boardrooms. Sometimes it comes from managing competing priorities, navigating uncertainty, and learning how to connect with people from different backgrounds and perspectives.</p><p>As healthcare costs continue to rise and employers search for sustainable solutions, conversations like this highlight an important question:</p><p>What if the future of healthcare isn&#8217;t about offering more options&#8212;but about giving people the freedom to choose the option that&#8217;s right for them?</p><p>It&#8217;s a question that will likely shape the next decade of healthcare innovation.</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company</p><p>https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/</p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:2602,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:138,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-06-09T08:42:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Meet your new role: Content Engineer]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hint: The Real Bottleneck Isn&#8217;t Content Production]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/meet-your-new-role-content-engineer</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/meet-your-new-role-content-engineer</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 12 Jun 2026 13:58:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://i.scdn.co/image/ab6765630000ba8a259ffed45ee08cb480669e3d" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Everyone is working on having AI replace marketers, writers, agencies, SDRs, consultants, and maybe even founders. I don&#8217;t buy it.</p><p>What I do believe is that AI is going to replace a lot of bad work. The repetitive work. The blank-page work. The &#8220;let me spend three hours researching something that AI can summarize in three minutes&#8221; work.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>But the best GTM teams I know aren&#8217;t using AI to replace people. They&#8217;re using it to make their best people better. That&#8217;s a huge distinction.</p><p>Over the past year, I&#8217;ve probably had 100+ conversations with founders, CMOs, product leaders, and revenue teams trying to figure out their AI strategy.</p><p>Almost all of them start in the same place: <em>&#8220;How much can we automate?&#8221;</em></p><p>The smarter ones eventually arrive at a different question: <em>&#8220;Where do we need human judgment?&#8221;</em></p><p>That&#8217;s where things get interesting.</p><h2>AI Is Becoming the Intern We Always Wanted</h2><p>Remember when you hired a smart intern? You&#8217;d throw them a project. Research competitors. Summarize a market. Build a first draft. Pull together some ideas.</p><p>That&#8217;s essentially what AI has become. Except it works 24/7, never complains, and can process a year&#8217;s worth of information before you&#8217;ve finished your morning coffee.</p><p>The problem is that too many companies are promoting the intern to CEO. Just because AI can produce something doesn&#8217;t mean it should own the final answer.</p><p>AI can tell you what has already been said. Humans decide what should be said next. That&#8217;s the difference between content and leadership.</p><h2>The Real Bottleneck Isn&#8217;t Content Production</h2><p>For years, marketing teams complained they couldn&#8217;t produce enough content. Now we&#8217;re headed toward the opposite problem. Everyone can produce unlimited content. Blogs. Emails. Social posts.</p><p>Or Videos. Podcasts. Whitepapers. The internet is about to become an all-you-can-eat buffet of AI-generated content. The challenge won&#8217;t be production. The challenge will be relevance.</p><p>Trust. Insight. Original thinking. The companies that win won&#8217;t publish more. They&#8217;ll publish better.</p><h2>The Rise of the Content Engineer</h2><p>One of the most interesting roles emerging right now isn&#8217;t a writer. And it&#8217;s not a marketer. It&#8217;s not a prompt engineer. It&#8217;s some weird hybrid of all three. Think of them as a <strong>Content Engineer.</strong> They&#8217;re the people figuring out:</p><ul><li><p>How AI fits into workflows</p></li><li><p>How brand voice gets preserved</p></li><li><p>How customer insights get embedded into content</p></li><li><p>How quality control happens at scale</p></li><li><p>How humans and machines collaborate</p></li></ul><p>They&#8217;re not creating a single asset. They&#8217;re building the system that creates hundreds of assets. That&#8217;s a different skill set entirely.And I think it&#8217;s going to become one of the most valuable roles in modern marketing.</p><h2>What I&#8217;m Seeing in the Best Teams</h2><p>The best companies aren&#8217;t trying to remove humans from the process. They&#8217;re removing friction from the process.</p><p>Big difference.</p><p>AI handles:</p><ul><li><p>Research</p></li><li><p>First drafts</p></li><li><p>Repurposing</p></li><li><p>Summaries</p></li><li><p>Workflow automation</p></li></ul><p>Humans handle:</p><ul><li><p>Positioning</p></li><li><p>Storytelling</p></li><li><p>Customer understanding</p></li><li><p>Strategic decisions</p></li><li><p>Editorial judgment</p></li></ul><p>Because here&#8217;s the thing:</p><p>AI has never sat across from a customer who&#8217;s about to churn. AI has never closed a seven-figure deal. AI has never launched a company with six months of runway left. AI has never felt the pressure of making payroll.</p><p>The experiences that create great messaging are still human experiences. And they probably always will be.</p><h2>My Prediction</h2><p>We&#8217;re going to see two very different outcomes over the next few years. Some companies will use AI to flood the market with generic content. Others will use AI to amplify expertise.</p><p>One creates noise. The other creates authority. Guess which one wins???</p><p>The companies that figure this out won&#8217;t treat AI as a replacement for people. They&#8217;ll treat it as leverage for talented people. That&#8217;s the real opportunity. Not fewer humans. Better humans. Faster humans.</p><p>Or better put possible, More informed humans. More creative humans. Because in a world where everyone has access to the same AI tools, the real competitive advantage isn&#8217;t AI.</p><p>It&#8217;s judgment. And judgment is still a human game.</p><p><strong>Finally, one more thing I&#8217;m watching closely:</strong> The next generation of GTM leaders won&#8217;t just know marketing, sales, product, or communications. They&#8217;ll know how to orchestrate humans and AI together. That&#8217;s likely to be the defining leadership skill of the next decade.</p><p></p><p>Btw - I host Liftoff with Keith, a podcast for founders &#8212; 300K listens and growing. Would mean a lot if you gave it a follow: &#127897;&#65039; Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-newman-for-founders-looking-for-a/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:2602,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:138,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-06-09T08:42:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-newman-for-founders-looking-for-a/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p><br><br>&#127897;&#65039; Spotify: </p><iframe class="spotify-wrap podcast" data-attrs="{&quot;image&quot;:&quot;https://i.scdn.co/image/ab6765630000ba8a259ffed45ee08cb480669e3d&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;subtitle&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;description&quot;:&quot;Podcast&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://open.spotify.com/show/3cFpLXfYvcUsxvsT9MwyAD&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;noScroll&quot;:false}" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/show/3cFpLXfYvcUsxvsT9MwyAD" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allowfullscreen="true" allow="encrypted-media" loading="lazy" data-component-name="Spotify2ToDOM"></iframe><p><br>&#9654;&#65039; YouTube (full episodes + Shorts): <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvvqr6CBiqMOUbWfe7vWzQ">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUvvqr6CBiqMOUbWfe7vWzQ</a></strong><br><br>If the content resonates, I'd love to connect further &#8212; happy to find time after you've had a chance to dig in.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Most AI Projects Fail After the Demo]]></title><description><![CDATA[The real challenge in AI is not generating outputs. It is building systems that teams can trust, debug, and scale.]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-most-ai-projects-fail-after-the</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-most-ai-projects-fail-after-the</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 09 Jun 2026 09:36:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/950Sk-6LFKA" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most AI projects look impressive in the beginning.</p><p>A quick prototype works.<br>A chatbot responds correctly.<br>A workflow seems automated.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Then reality starts.</p><p>Watch the full conversation here: </p><div id="youtube2-950Sk-6LFKA" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;950Sk-6LFKA&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/950Sk-6LFKA?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>The system behaves unpredictably.<br>Outputs become inconsistent.<br>Teams cannot trace failures or understand what changed.</p><p>And suddenly, what looked promising becomes difficult to manage.</p><p>That is because many companies are still treating AI like traditional software.</p><p>But AI systems are different.</p><p>They require observability, telemetry, debugging, and traceability from the beginning. Without those systems in place, teams often reach a point where they cannot fix problems incrementally.</p><p>Instead, they restart entirely.</p><p>Another interesting point from the conversation was the idea that AI models themselves may eventually become commodities.</p><p>If everyone has access to similar models, the competitive edge shifts elsewhere:</p><ul><li><p>infrastructure</p></li><li><p>orchestration</p></li><li><p>observability</p></li><li><p>human judgment</p></li><li><p>execution</p></li></ul><p>In other words, the future value of AI may not come from the model alone.</p><p>It may come from everything built around it.</p><p>That shift is already starting to happen.</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company </p><p>https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/</p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:2602,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:138,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-06-09T08:42:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Super Founder Genetics]]></title><description><![CDATA[The Ability to Listen for that sound of a wave coming in (or going out)]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/super-founder-genetics</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/super-founder-genetics</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:55:14 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!G6IV!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fpodcast_1560219589.jpg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most founders track churn rate. Almost none of them actually study churn.<br><br>After 125+ conversations with founders at every stage, the gap I keep seeing between companies that break through $20M ARR and those that stall isn't usually product. It isn't market timing. It's what the founding team does with the customers who leave.<br><br>The ones who stall treat churn as a cost of doing business. They look at the rate. They run a save campaign. They move on.<br><br>The ones who scale treat churn as a diagnostic. They do something most founders find uncomfortable: they call the customers who left and ask why.<br><br>What they hear is almost never what the retention dashboard shows.<br><br>The churned customer doesn't say "the price was too high." They say "I never really understood how to use your core feature." Or: "Our VP couldn't get executive buy-in because the ROI story was too hard to tell." Or: "We switched because the other tool connected to our existing workflow."<br><br>That's not a product problem. That's a positioning problem. A sales motion problem. An onboarding problem. The founders who build durable businesses treat every churned customer as a consultant who paid full price to show them exactly where the product narrative breaks down.<br><br>They codify what they hear. They loop it back into messaging, onboarding, and sales decks. They fix the story before they fix the features.<br><br>Retention isn't a customer success metric. It's your most honest PMF signal.<br><br>More breakdowns from founder conversations at <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/safety/go/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fkeithnewman%2Esubstack%2Ecom&amp;urlhash=89nt&amp;mt=WfEBsi3sc9h3P_9F3yQJVX0TPgQolkNxCWPvP2i4VEYCQ-0E0rnM_qXoqIJaGAI806IJdVBZSC_zNlUIg1kinUyPFAN4QYkWJ0s4D2YlqLYonswzualMLQ&amp;isSdui=true">keithnewman.substack.com</a></strong><br> </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:698,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:137,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-05-26T07:09:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p><br>What's the most surprising thing a churned customer has ever told you?<br><br><strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23founders&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED">#Founders</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23productmarketfit&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED">#ProductMarketFit</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23retention&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED">#Retention</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23startupgrowth&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED">#StartupGrowth</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23gtm&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED">#GTM</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23saas&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED">#SaaS</a></strong> <strong><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=%23liftoff&amp;origin=HASH_TAG_FROM_FEED">#Liftoff</a></strong></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Becoming the VMware of AI Infrastructure: Lukas Gentele on Building the Operating System for GPU Clouds]]></title><description><![CDATA[Setting the Stage: What Is vCluster &#8212; and Why It Matters in 2026]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/becoming-the-vmware-of-ai-infrastructure</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/becoming-the-vmware-of-ai-infrastructure</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2026 08:31:33 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/SpsBJ1gqqog" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Lukas explains how <strong>vCluster Labs</strong> is building the leading platform for operating GPU infrastructure, enabling AI cloud providers to deliver a hyperscaler-like experience without hyperscaler complexity.</p><p>Watch the full conversation here: Recorded Live at AI-Infra 5 in the Ignite Studios </p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div id="youtube2-SpsBJ1gqqog" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;SpsBJ1gqqog&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/SpsBJ1gqqog?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>As AI workloads demand massive parallel compute and high-performance GPU clusters, operators face three massive challenges:</p><ul><li><p>Multi-tenant isolation at scale</p></li><li><p>Fast provisioning for enterprise AI customers</p></li><li><p>Managing GPU lifecycle and maximizing utilization</p></li></ul><p>vCluster delivers:</p><ul><li><p>Managed Kubernetes purpose-built for GPU environments</p></li><li><p>Fast, isolated tenant provisioning</p></li><li><p>Automated node provisioning and lifecycle management</p></li><li><p>Infrastructure patterns validated for NVIDIA DGX systems</p></li></ul><p>The result: AI cloud operators can reduce operational burden, accelerate time to value, and increase ROI on every GPU.</p><p><strong>The CoreWeave Story: Early Customer, Early Validation</strong></p><p>Lukas shares how <strong>CoreWeave</strong> became an early customer when the AI cloud market was still forming.</p><p>We explore:</p><ul><li><p>What early GPU cloud operators were struggling with</p></li><li><p>Why traditional Kubernetes tooling wasn&#8217;t enough</p></li><li><p>How working with a fast-growing neocloud helped vCluster refine its architecture</p></li><li><p>What founders can learn from aligning early with category leaders</p></li></ul><p>This is a case study in building alongside the market, not behind it.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>Is vCluster the VMware of AI Infrastructure?</strong></p><p>For 25 years, VMware has defined the foundational abstraction layer for enterprise data centers.</p><p>But AI has changed the game.</p><p>We unpack:</p><ul><li><p>How AI workloads break traditional virtualization models</p></li><li><p>Why GPU infrastructure is fundamentally different from CPU-centric data centers</p></li><li><p>Whether vCluster is positioning itself as the &#8220;VMware of AI infra.&#8221;</p></li><li><p>What an AI-native control plane looks like</p></li></ul><p>This segment goes deep on platform ambition and what it really takes to define a generational infrastructure company.</p><div><hr></div><p><strong>The 18-Month Warning to AI Cloud Operators</strong></p><p>Lukas answers a powerful, forward-looking question:</p><p>If you could tell every AI cloud operator one thing they&#8217;re not planning for over the next 18 months, what would it be?</p><p>We discuss:</p><ul><li><p>The coming pressure on GPU utilization economics</p></li><li><p>Operational complexity as enterprise AI workloads mature</p></li><li><p>The shift from experimentation to production AI</p></li><li><p>Why operators must think beyond hardware supply</p></li></ul><p>This is where strategy meets survival.</p><h2><strong>Why This Episode Matters</strong></h2><p>We&#8217;re in the middle of a generational infrastructure transition.</p><p>The companies that define the control layer for AI infrastructure will shape the next 20 years of computing just as VMware shaped the last 25.</p><p>Lukas Gentele is building directly at that layer.</p><p>If you&#8217;re a founder, operator, investor, or infrastructure leader, this episode will sharpen how you think about AI clouds and where the real leverage sits.</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company <a href="https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/">https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/</a></p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:698,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:137,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-05-26T07:09:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why the industry could spend $7 trillion by 2030]]></title><description><![CDATA[The explosive rise of AI infrastructure]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-the-industry-could-spend-7-trillion</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-the-industry-could-spend-7-trillion</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 08:37:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/8tsrb0k2D3k" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The AI revolution isn&#8217;t just a software story.<br>It&#8217;s a power story. An infrastructure story. A labor story. A geopolitical story.</p><p>On the latest episode of <em>Liftoff with Keith</em>, I sat down with Dean Nelson &#8212; founder of Infrastructure Masons and one of the most experienced leaders in digital infrastructure.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Watch the full conversation here: Recorded Live at AI-Infra 5 in the Ignite Studios</p><div id="youtube2-8tsrb0k2D3k" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;8tsrb0k2D3k&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8tsrb0k2D3k?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>The numbers are staggering:</p><p>&#8594; $500B projected industry spend this year<br>&#8594; $3T by 2028<br>&#8594; $7T by 2030</p><p>We&#8217;re about to build more digital infrastructure in the next three years than the world built in the last thirty.</p><p>But underneath the AI boom sits a growing set of constraints:</p><ul><li><p>Power availability</p></li><li><p>Water stewardship</p></li><li><p>Skilled labor shortages</p></li><li><p>Community pushback</p></li><li><p>Construction bottlenecks</p></li><li><p>Digital sovereignty</p></li></ul><p>One line from the conversation keeps echoing:</p><p>&#8220;If compute scaled like this but power didn&#8217;t, are we effectively bottlenecking the AI era on electrical infrastructure?&#8221;</p><p>We also explored:</p><ul><li><p>Why Texas has become the epicenter of AI infrastructure</p></li><li><p>The rise of inference and edge data centers</p></li><li><p>Private AI models and dedicated infrastructure</p></li><li><p>What happens when 10,000 workers are needed onsite every day for a single build</p></li></ul><p>This conversation is one of the clearest looks I&#8217;ve seen at the physical reality underneath AI.</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company <a href="https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/">https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/</a></p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:2067,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:136,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-05-21T06:19:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why the Future of AI Is Not About Answers, But Better Decisions]]></title><description><![CDATA[What founders can learn from Anthony Vinci&#8217;s approach to risk, probability, and decision intelligence]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-the-future-of-ai-is-not-about</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-the-future-of-ai-is-not-about</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2026 06:31:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/8DxFidHN5EE" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most conversations about AI focus on what it can generate.</p><p>Text. Images. Code. Content.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>But that may not be the most important shift happening right now.</p><p>The more interesting question is this:</p><p>What happens when AI becomes part of how people make decisions?</p><p>That is the problem Anthony Vinci is focused on through his company, VICO.</p><p>Not replacing humans.</p><p>Helping them think more clearly in situations where uncertainty already exists.</p><div><hr></div><p>Watch the full conversation here: </p><div id="youtube2-8DxFidHN5EE" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;8DxFidHN5EE&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:&quot;817s&quot;,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/8DxFidHN5EE?start=817s&amp;rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><h2>Information is no longer the advantage</h2><p>For years, businesses believed access to information created an edge.</p><p>Today, information is everywhere.</p><p>Large language models have absorbed enormous amounts of public knowledge. In many ways, access is becoming commoditized.</p><p>Which changes the game completely.</p><p>The advantage is no longer who has information.</p><p>The advantage is:</p><ul><li><p>who can interpret it better</p></li><li><p>who can structure uncertainty better</p></li><li><p>who can make better decisions with incomplete information</p></li></ul><p>That is a very different problem.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The shift from answers to judgment</h2><p>One of the strongest ideas from the conversation was simple:</p><p>AI is not the competitive edge anymore.</p><p>Everyone has access to the same tools.</p><p>The real edge comes from how people use them.</p><p>Anthony compared it to racing.</p><p>If one person has a horse and another person has a car, the car wins easily.</p><p>But once everyone has a car, the difference becomes the driver.</p><p>That is where leadership matters again.</p><p>Not because humans are replaced.</p><p>Because judgment becomes more important.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Why probability matters more than certainty</h2><p>Most founders want certainty.</p><p>But certainty rarely exists in business.</p><p>Markets change.<br>Policies shift.<br>Supply chains break.<br>Competitors appear unexpectedly.</p><p>The founders who survive are usually not the ones who predict perfectly.</p><p>They are the ones who prepare well.</p><p>That is why scenario planning matters.</p><p>Instead of asking:<br>&#8220;What will happen?&#8221;</p><p>The better question becomes:<br>&#8220;What happens if this happens?&#8221;</p><p>That shift changes decision-making completely.</p><div><hr></div><h2>AI should challenge your thinking</h2><p>One part of the conversation stood out because it goes against how most people think about AI.</p><p>Anthony mentioned that they actually like it when users disagree with the platform.</p><p>Why?</p><p>Because disagreement forces engagement.</p><p>It forces people to question assumptions, test scenarios, and think deeper about outcomes.</p><p>That may be the real value of AI in business.</p><p>Not replacing thinking.</p><p>Improving it.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The founder challenge in the AI era</h2><p>Another important point from the conversation was how AI is changing company building itself.</p><p>Traditional software companies focused on building applications.</p><p>Now founders are increasingly focused on outcomes.</p><p>Smaller teams can move faster.<br>Execution cycles are shorter.<br>The leverage of a single founder is changing dramatically.</p><p>But the core challenge remains the same:</p><p>How do you make good decisions under uncertainty?</p><p>AI may improve the tools.</p><p>But leadership still matters.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Final thought</h2><p>There is a tendency to frame AI as either overhyped or world-changing.</p><p>The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.</p><p>AI will not magically solve every problem.</p><p>But it will change how people work, decide, and compete.</p><p>And in that world, the winners may not be the people with the best models.</p><p>They may be the people with the best judgment.</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/ </p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:1969,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:134,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-05-05T08:43:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>For sponsorship inquiries, please contact: sponsorships@wherewithstudio.com<br></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Most founders know how to start. Few know how to finish]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why endurance, preparation, and resilience matter more than short bursts of motivation]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/most-founders-know-how-to-start-few</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/most-founders-know-how-to-start-few</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 12 May 2026 08:00:56 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/0tQ0ssuYl3g" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We celebrate starting.</p><p>We celebrate fundraising.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>We celebrate growth curves.</p><p>But we rarely talk about finishing.</p><p>Steven Pivnik believes that&#8217;s the mistake.</p><p>After scaling a global company to 200+ employees across 12 countries and leading a disciplined acquisition to a $4B competitor, Steven now advises founders on building companies intentionally designed to finish strong &#8212; through strategic exits or investor recapitalizations.</p><p>What makes his approach different? He forged it under pressure &#8212; completing 17 IRONMAN triathlons, ultra-endurance events, and high-altitude mountaineering expeditions including Everest.</p><p>In this episode of Liftoff with Keith, we explore:</p><ul><li><p>Why growth without intention leads to burnout</p></li><li><p>What breaks first when companies scale too fast</p></li><li><p>How to design your exit years before due diligence</p></li><li><p>The psychological parallels between endurance sport and leadership</p></li><li><p>The discipline required to endure when talent isn&#8217;t enough</p></li></ul><p>This conversation is about the long game.</p><p>It&#8217;s about building with the finish line in mind.</p><p>And it&#8217;s about the kind of leadership required when success demands more than ambition.</p><p>If you&#8217;re a founder navigating scale, pressure, or a future exit &#8212; this one will challenge you.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The myth of talent</h2><p>One of the more interesting parts of the conversation with Steven Pivnik was how quickly he answered the question:</p><p>Talent or discipline?</p><p>His answer was immediate.</p><p>Discipline.</p><p>That matters because talent is usually visible. Discipline is not.</p><p>People notice outcomes.<br>They rarely notice the years of preparation behind them.</p><p>The same thing happens in business.</p><p>We often celebrate growth without seeing the systems, consistency, and difficult decisions underneath it.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Why endurance changes perspective</h2><p>Steven did not begin endurance sports early in life.</p><p>He started at 40.</p><p>That detail is important because it challenges a common assumption that certain things have an expiration date.</p><p>Most people think it is too late to start something difficult once they reach a certain age.</p><p>But endurance sports have a way of changing that mindset.</p><p>The goal stops being comparison.</p><p>It becomes preparation, consistency, and finishing what you started.</p><p>That mindset carries directly into entrepreneurship.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Scaling a company is an endurance event</h2><p>During the conversation, Steven compared building a company to completing an Ironman.</p><p>The comparison made immediate sense.</p><p>An Ironman is not just fitness.</p><p>It is:</p><ul><li><p>planning</p></li><li><p>preparation</p></li><li><p>execution</p></li><li><p>adapting during setbacks</p></li><li><p>continuing when conditions change</p></li></ul><p>Business works the same way.</p><p>Founders rarely move through a straight line.</p><p>There are pivots.<br>Unexpected problems.<br>Moments where momentum disappears.</p><p>The people who survive are usually not the most talented.</p><p>They are the ones prepared to keep adapting.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Grow fast or grow right</h2><p>One answer from the rapid fire section stood out:</p><p>Grow fast or grow right?</p><p>&#8220;Grow right.&#8221;</p><p>That answer says more than it seems.</p><p>There is constant pressure in business to move faster.</p><p>Raise more.<br>Scale quicker.<br>Expand immediately.</p><p>But growth without structure creates fragility.</p><p>And eventually, fragile systems break.</p><p>Sustainable growth tends to look less exciting in the short term, but much stronger in the long run.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The emotional side nobody talks about</h2><p>One of the most honest moments in the conversation came when Steven described due diligence.</p><p>He called it more stressful than mile 20 of a marathon.</p><p>That comparison says something important.</p><p>Founders often prepare for the operational side of entrepreneurship.</p><p>What they are less prepared for is the emotional pressure.</p><p>The uncertainty.<br>The waiting.<br>The responsibility.</p><p>That pressure exists in both endurance sports and business.</p><p>You cannot avoid it.</p><p>You can only learn how to move through it.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Final thought</h2><p>People often separate physical endurance from business endurance.</p><p>But they are deeply connected.</p><p>Both teach patience.<br>Both expose weaknesses.<br>Both reward preparation over intensity.</p><p>And both remind you of something simple:</p><p>Success rarely belongs to the person who starts the fastest.</p><p>It usually belongs to the person who keeps going.</p><p>Watch the full conversation here: </p><div id="youtube2-0tQ0ssuYl3g" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;0tQ0ssuYl3g&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/0tQ0ssuYl3g?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:1969,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:134,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-05-05T08:43:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><ul><li><p>Newman Media Studios: <a href="https://newmanmediastudios.com/">https://newmanmediastudios.com/</a></p></li><li><p>Schedule time to share your startup idea: <a href="https://www.thegtmfirm.com/">https://www.thegtmfirm.com/</a></p></li></ul><p>Connect with Steven Pivnik: <br><br>- Website: https://stevenpivnik.com/<br>- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenpivnik/ <br>- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevenpivnik/ <br><br><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/ <br><br>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>For sponsorship inquiries, please contact: sponsorships@wherewithstudio.com<br></p><p></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[5 signals that defined the day @AI Infra Summit #5 last week @Plug and Play HQ]]></title><description><![CDATA[From the team @IgniteGTM]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/5-signals-that-defined-the-day-ai</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/5-signals-that-defined-the-day-ai</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2026 14:20:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2><strong>The five signals that defined the day</strong></h2><p>On May 1st, AI INFRA Summit 5 crossed a threshold it hadn&#8217;t reached before: 1,000 registered attendees gathered at Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale to hear from the builders, operators, and investors shaping the next wave of AI infrastructure. What emerged from a full day of keynotes, panels, and conversations wasn&#8217;t a single narrative &#8212; it was five clear signals about where the industry is headed.</p><h3>Signal 1: The Agentic Internet is already being built.</h3><p>Jeremiah Owyang of Blitzscaling Ventures opened the day by naming where we are: Web 4.0, the Agentic Internet. Autonomous AI agents are now deciding, transacting, learning, and replicating with minimal human intervention. The companies building ahead of this shift are producing 10X revenue per employee relative to traditional competitors. The ones waiting are falling further behind. The question for every organization in the room was simple: where do you sit on the AI culture spectrum, and are you moving fast enough?</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png" width="1456" height="917" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:917,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XruF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1a5bd309-df6e-4da2-8c05-a5e8006ef13e_1984x1250.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>Jeremiah Owyang, GP at Blitzscaling Ventures</em></p><h3>Signal 2: Power is the real bottleneck (and the biggest opportunity)</h3><p>Across multiple sessions, one constraint dominated: power. Global data center power demand has tripled in three years. Rack density is climbing from 15kW toward 150kW and beyond. New grid interconnection timelines are measured in years, not months. </p><p>(Personal WOW Moment) <strong>Hammerhead&#8217;s Bobby and Rahul Krur made the opportunity clear: the highest leverage play isn&#8217;t waiting for new generation capacity &#8212; it&#8217;s unlocking the stranded and underutilized power already inside existing infrastructure. Orchestration software that maximizes AI output within a constrained power envelope is a category that didn&#8217;t exist five years ago and is now critical.</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png" width="1456" height="955" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:955,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cNTl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9603edcc-cc7f-4248-a213-709f1ee42583_2198x1442.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em>Dean Nelson, JP Balajadia and Rajesh Gopinath</em></p><h3>Signal 3: Inference economics have changed the business model.</h3><p>Training was last year&#8217;s story. Inference is this year&#8217;s constraint. Joo Young Kim of HyperAccel, Vasanth Mohan of SambaNova, and the Tokenomics panel all converged on the same point: per-token pricing is falling, but total AI costs are rising &#8212; because reasoning, agentic workflows, and long-context usage consume dramatically more tokens than previous generations. Token efficiency is now a design constraint, not a pricing footnote. The CFO is paying attention. The infrastructure stack is being re-architected around heterogeneous chips, distributed inference, and workload-specific optimization.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png" width="1456" height="961" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:961,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!w6RS!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F13ddb258-02ba-44e0-9ea6-c78bbc1756f6_2100x1386.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3>Signal 4: The enterprise AI failure mode is organizational, not technical.</h3><p>Minal Iyer of SurveyMonkey delivered the most practically useful point of the day: 70% of AI pilots fail not because the tools don&#8217;t work, but because there&#8217;s no operating model behind them. No ownership. No governance. No repeatable measurement. The companies succeeding at enterprise AI scale aren&#8217;t the ones with the best models &#8212; they&#8217;re the ones with executive mandate, formal budgeting, and an AI Center of Excellence with a real ROI review cadence. Nicola Tan of AMD reinforced this from the infrastructure side: the production bottleneck is fragmented enterprise data, not model availability.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png" width="1456" height="800" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:800,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Igp7!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9247441c-58f0-49d4-acc8-253a3aa6d806_2194x1206.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><h3>Signal 5: The infrastructure stack is being redesigned at every layer simultaneously.</h3><p>Networking, power distribution, cooling, data orchestration, and chip architecture are all in transition at the same time. Co-Packaged Optics, liquid cooling, DC power architectures, distributed inference, and agentic orchestration aren&#8217;t isolated innovations &#8212; they&#8217;re converging on a new baseline for what AI infrastructure looks like. The companies that build around integrated, full-stack outcomes will set the standard.</p><p>The through line across every session was the same: the model layer is increasingly commoditized. The advantage belongs to teams who solve what&#8217;s underneath it &#8212; power, data access, inference efficiency, and organizational readiness.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png" width="1456" height="897" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:897,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mDmk!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5e0f29c4-ae74-4c42-a07c-cd80fc05143a_2212x1362.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>That&#8217;s what AI INFRA exists to support. See you at Summit 6 &#8212; December 4th, San Francisco. Secure your spot with Super Early Bird Tickets below</strong></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pogl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc382db8f-7f0c-48f3-8b83-9b6cdb992e6d_1388x1376.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pogl!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc382db8f-7f0c-48f3-8b83-9b6cdb992e6d_1388x1376.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!pogl!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc382db8f-7f0c-48f3-8b83-9b6cdb992e6d_1388x1376.png 848w, 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y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><em><a href="https://link.mail.beehiiv.com/v1/c/BsFLJglfCtpmPLEMEsAWS86rVZo4tvCQrY91FZ3uvcW6JTOYkafHfnrlnAmD%0Ax%2Fmq0S1tT%2FMfPfeO8VQA%2BBcrVl6Fvy%2FiVAasxUK%2FOLZsbU7Pjht3zQ%2BRGFsA%0AZ6nkziufUI2%2FYi4JxCbynIELMnc%2BxA548j8elNOStUkPMIOUna%2BvWjnvJpVj%0Ak%2BTPsamEE%2BcPdl%2BpUeMO6PetbQoAgtKnBA%3D%3D%0A/23879b93f3ce1328">Reserve Your Spot Today!</a></em></p><p>Subscribe to this KOOL Newsletter! https://blog.ignitegtm.com/subscribe/01c44721-7473-4f21-af5f-91be8d59e2d8/referrals?_bhlid=1a0c30b1d1c828aa8b4c44d5069ae964f39996f9</p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:1969,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:133,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-05-05T08:43:00Z&quot;}" 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data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a062c6c8-63c4-41c6-b158-fc4dc4a619dc_800x300.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:300,&quot;width&quot;:800,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:null,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:null,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" title="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!tm3T!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa062c6c8-63c4-41c6-b158-fc4dc4a619dc_800x300.png 424w, 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To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[AI Skills Conf: Join 3,000+ AI Pros on May 14 (Zoom). FREE from The GTM Firm]]></title><description><![CDATA[Register NOW before we fill up! https://conf.cosprints.ai?65]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/ai-skills-conf-join-3000-ai-pros</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/ai-skills-conf-join-3000-ai-pros</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 06 May 2026 18:48:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>You'll get direct insights from experts at Google, Meta, AWS, and DeepMind on how to leverage AI for career growth, product development, and business efficiency.<br><br>&#8211; 5+ hours of live content &amp; 25+ speakers &amp; 15+ tactical sessions on agentic workflows and the 2026 tech stack<br>&#8211; Interactive workshops &amp; live Q&amp;A with leaders from the world&#8217;s top AI companies<br></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png" width="1456" height="1456" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1456,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:2032747,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/i/196687607?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Oqn9!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fae93cabd-1130-4085-870d-ac064ba75a4b_1800x1800.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg role="img" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><title></title><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>1. How to become irreplaceable with AI: The skills every professional needs in 2026. Dhrupad Sethi @ Meta, Ksenia Se @ Turing Post, Robin Sutara @ Databricks, moderator: Jepson Taylor @ VEOX<br>2. Building your AI Chief of Staff from scratch: Memory, projects, daily briefs and action priorities. Dima Zborovskiy @ DoorDash<br>3. Stop Trying Not To Get Fired: How to navigate the AI job market. Alexandra Tomashevskaya @ Remote<br>4. The 2026 AI tool stack for founders and small-business owners. Jafar Najafov @ Nextool AI, Paige Bailey @ DeepMind, moderator: Emanuel Cinca @ Stacked Marketer<br>5. Vibe Coding Is Real: How non-developers are shipping production apps with AI in 2026. Martin Slaney @ Bolt<br>6. How to Build Agentic Products with Claude Code &#8212; No Coding Required. Pawe&#322; Huryn @ Product Compass<br>7. The Model Doesn't Matter Anymore: Why "AI Harness," not models, will define winners in 2026. David Campbell @ ScaleAI<br>8. AI ROI reality check: Which use cases are delivering business value? Ankur Khare @ SAP, Merlyn Shelley @ Packt, Stuart Clark @ Spotify<br>9. Physical AI and Robotics: Why 2026 is the year AI leaves the screen and enters the real world. Frantz Lohier @ AWS<br>10. How to use Claude to get your dream job. Aakash Gupta @ Product Growth<br>11. From Wow to How: Putting AI to work for Creative Marketing. Sandro Gelashvili @ Google<br>12. From Stateless to Useful: How to design AI agents with reliable memory. JD Armada @ Elastic<br><br>You&#8217;ll also hear from: Stuart Clark @ Spotify, Seva Ustinov @ Plurio, David Smooke @ HackerNoon, Tanya Roosta @ AMD, and Andrey Skripkin @ Meta AND YOURS TRULY <span class="mention-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Keith Newman&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:5651079,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;user&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fd62fcf8-9374-438c-86d7-977e33f7eab3_2048x1536.jpeg&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;52581833-8f9d-46e4-8617-cf02389f0307&quot;}" data-component-name="MentionToDOM"></span> <br><br>Register for free - <a href="https://conf.cosprints.ai?65">https://conf.cosprints.ai?65</a></p><p><a href="https://conf.cosprints.ai?65">https://conf.cosprints.ai?65</a></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[How a Weekly Ritual Turned Into a Patented Product]]></title><description><![CDATA[What founders can learn from paying attention to small, recurring problems]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/how-a-weekly-ritual-turned-into-a</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/how-a-weekly-ritual-turned-into-a</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 05 May 2026 08:53:50 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/JILpdgJ9rIg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Most products don&#8217;t start with ambition.</p><p>They start with irritation.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>Something small. Something repeatable. Something that does not quite work the way it should.</p><p>In this case, it started with wine.</p><p>For more than two decades, Michael Fors hosted a weekly wine night. Sometimes it was a quiet evening. Sometimes it was a full house. But the ritual stayed the same.</p><p>People came together. Wine was shared. Conversations flowed.</p><p>And yet, there was always one problem.</p><p>The wine was not always ready when the moment was.</p><p>Anyone who has spent time around wine knows this. Some bottles need time. They need air. They need to open up.</p><p>The usual solution is simple. Open the bottle early. Wait.</p><p>But real life does not always allow for that.</p><p>Guests arrive. Conversations begin. The moment is already happening.</p><p>And that is where the friction was.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The moment of insight</h2><p>The breakthrough did not come from a lab or a workshop.</p><p>It came from observation.</p><p>Watching water move. Waves crashing. Flow over rocks.</p><p>There was a pattern there. Movement that opened things up naturally.</p><p>The question followed:</p><p>What if wine could move that way?</p><p>That question became an idea.<br>That idea became a prototype.<br>And eventually, it became a patented product.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The difference between an idea and a product</h2><p>Most people stop at the idea.</p><p>That is where things feel exciting. New. Full of possibility.</p><p>But turning an idea into something real is different.</p><p>It requires:</p><p>&#8226; patience<br>&#8226; iteration<br>&#8226; willingness to test and adjust<br>&#8226; understanding whether it actually solves a real problem</p><p>Michael did not start with the intention of building a company.</p><p>He started by trying to improve an experience he cared about.</p><p>That is what made the idea worth pursuing.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Not every idea should become a business</h2><p>One of the more interesting takeaways from this story is restraint.</p><p>There is a tendency today to turn every idea into a startup.</p><p>But not every idea needs that.</p><p>Some ideas are better left as hobbies.<br>Some are worth exploring slowly.<br>And a few are worth building.</p><p>The challenge is knowing the difference.</p><p>That usually comes from experience, not theory.</p><div><hr></div><h2>What founders can take from this</h2><p>There is a simple lesson here.</p><p>You do not need to look far for ideas.</p><p>They are already in your life.</p><p>The question is whether you are paying attention.</p><p>The best founders are not always the most creative.</p><p>They are the most observant.</p><p>They notice friction.<br>They question it.<br>And sometimes, they decide to fix it.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Final thought</h2><p>Good products do not always start big.</p><p>They start small.</p><p>A moment.<br>A habit.<br>A repeated inconvenience.</p><p>And if you stay with it long enough, that small thing can turn into something real.</p><p>The challenge is not coming up with ideas.</p><p>It is recognizing which ones are worth building.</p><p>Watch the full conversation here: </p><div id="youtube2-JILpdgJ9rIg" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;JILpdgJ9rIg&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JILpdgJ9rIg?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:1982,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:132,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-04-21T04:48:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><ul><li><p>Newman Media Studios: <a href="https://newmanmediastudios.com/">https://newmanmediastudios.com/</a></p></li><li><p>Schedule time to share your startup idea: <a href="https://www.thegtmfirm.com/">https://www.thegtmfirm.com/</a></p></li></ul><p>Connect with Michael Fors: <br><br>- Website: https://liquidjazzexperience.com/pages/about   <br>- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liquidjazzexperience/   <br><br><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/<br><br>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>For sponsorship inquiries, please contact: sponsorships@wherewithstudio.com<br></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Future of Physical AI Is Being Built Right Now]]></title><description><![CDATA[Startups On Display: Have a look]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-future-of-physical-ai-is-being</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-future-of-physical-ai-is-being</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 16:17:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Ot-y!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faa93f069-da8e-4545-a38c-1087c8f2c684_5712x4284.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>And I got a front-row seat.</p><p>At the <span class="mention-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;name&quot;:&quot;David Cao&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:6564206,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;user&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:null,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/ab286d91-20ad-43e2-b75d-e8243b206b80_770x770.jpeg&quot;,&quot;uuid&quot;:&quot;50ca738e-015f-40ba-9c11-de0d2451964f&quot;}" data-component-name="MentionToDOM"></span> F50 Physical AI Summit, I spent time with a group of early-stage founders who aren&#8217;t theorizing about the future&#8212;they&#8217;re actively building it.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>The selected startups for today&#8217;s showcase:</p><ul><li><p>Decompute &#8212; Hina Dixit</p></li><li><p>Cognivix &#8212; Daniele Bernardini</p></li><li><p>Bimotal &#8212; Toby Ricco</p></li><li><p>Roughneck AI &#8212; Nicholas Radich</p></li><li><p>Unsorted &#8212; Frank Wang</p></li><li><p>Aembit Labs &#8212; Jay C.</p></li><li><p>GOI. &#8212; Hiroki Watanabe</p></li><li><p>Human Touch, LLC &#8212; William Gao</p></li><li><p>Ubo Technology &#8212; Mehrdad Majzoobi</p></li></ul><p>Nine teams. Different angles. Same underlying push: bring AI out of the abstract&#8212;and into the physical world where things actually have to work.</p><p>What makes this group interesting isn&#8217;t just the ambition. It&#8217;s the diversity of approaches across robotics, infrastructure, and AI-native systems interacting with real environments.</p><p>Some are closer to deployment. Others are earlier. But all of them are navigating the same challenge:</p><p>How do you make AI reliable when it leaves the screen?</p><p>That&#8217;s the real game.</p><p>Huge credit to the F50 team for curating a lineup that reflects where this space is actually heading&#8212;not just where the hype says it is. Shoutout @HackerDojo @Snowflake</p><p><strong>If you&#8217;re here and not paying attention to this showcase, you&#8217;re missing the signal. I will be sharing more from these events, other events, other companies and more topics soon!!!</strong> </p><p>#PhysicalAI #EmbodiedAI #Robotics #Startups #F50Summit #Innovation</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications! Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one. </p><div class="digest-post-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;nodeId&quot;:&quot;2d8f08a8-bba6-4dee-882b-5bc2e11980e7&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Stage 3: Generate Pipeline&quot;,&quot;cta&quot;:&quot;Read full story&quot;,&quot;showBylines&quot;:true,&quot;showDescription&quot;:true,&quot;showImage&quot;:true,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;lg&quot;,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;The Liftoff Playbook - Part 2: From Product-Market Fit to Predictable Growth&quot;,&quot;publishedBylines&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:5651079,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Keith Newman&quot;,&quot;bio&quot;:&quot;A former Journalist turned Entrepreneur, GTM advisor and angel investor exploring strategy and tactics on paths to success with founders, startups and the ecosystem. Please Comment and Share. Peace, KN&quot;,&quot;photo_url&quot;:&quot;https://bucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/fd62fcf8-9374-438c-86d7-977e33f7eab3_2048x1536.jpeg&quot;,&quot;is_guest&quot;:false,&quot;bestseller_tier&quot;:null}],&quot;post_date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-10T13:42:09.479Z&quot;,&quot;cover_image&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!knnX!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F49474b09-b591-4099-a9b6-8cd625dc82f8_1365x768.png&quot;,&quot;cover_image_alt&quot;:null,&quot;canonical_url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-liftoff-playbook-part-2-from&quot;,&quot;section_name&quot;:null,&quot;video_upload_id&quot;:null,&quot;id&quot;:193479940,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;newsletter&quot;,&quot;reaction_count&quot;:126,&quot;comment_count&quot;:0,&quot;publication_id&quot;:1809998,&quot;publication_name&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers&quot;,&quot;publication_logo_url&quot;:&quot;https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OFPs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F653181b7-6c3b-4adc-82f0-a6157f9a41f7_112x112.png&quot;,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;youtube_url&quot;:null,&quot;show_links&quot;:null,&quot;feed_url&quot;:null}"></div><p></p><div class="image-gallery-embed" data-attrs="{&quot;gallery&quot;:{&quot;images&quot;:[{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/aa93f069-da8e-4545-a38c-1087c8f2c684_5712x4284.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/747305c2-30fb-4c87-aca2-f2d2a5f4729b_4032x3024.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/5cb24014-b4b9-4778-b727-528cc80ca458_5712x4284.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/36b9ec15-b268-48c0-8b8e-219721c89b85_5712x4284.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/4c8119e3-4230-4b2e-9628-0d81142cec93_5712x4284.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/0924ff5d-5e76-4319-8c22-32172c4872e8_5712x4284.jpeg&quot;},{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/553a6cdf-345e-4763-968c-8e9a984323f0_1024x768.jpeg&quot;}],&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Physical AI Startups: Demo Pitch and Fun&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;HackerDojo&quot;,&quot;staticGalleryImage&quot;:{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/bd4fe268-3b11-44ad-875c-2a0a0d85d66c_1456x1946.png&quot;}},&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/</p><p>Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Most Founders Stay Invisible in the Age of AI]]></title><description><![CDATA[The simple idea behind a minimum viable visibility system and why clarity matters more than content]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-most-founders-stay-invisible</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-most-founders-stay-invisible</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2026 09:07:19 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/zW4ejsqdEfQ" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A few years ago, getting visibility online was simple.</p><p>You wrote content, ranked on Google, and people clicked.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>That model is breaking.</p><p>Today, people don&#8217;t always click. They ask.</p><p>They open ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google&#8217;s AI mode and type something like:</p><p>&#8220;Best agency for SEO in 2026&#8221;<br>&#8220;Who should I hire for performance marketing?&#8221;</p><p>And the answer shows up instantly.</p><p>No list of links. No scrolling. No comparison.</p><p>Just a single response.</p><p>If your business is not part of that answer, you are invisible.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The shift most people are missing</h2><p>We are moving from search engines to answer engines.</p><p>This changes one thing that matters more than anything else.</p><p>You are no longer competing for rankings.</p><p>You are competing to be mentioned.</p><p>That sounds small, but it changes how everything works.</p><p>In traditional search, you could win with:</p><ul><li><p>keywords</p></li><li><p>backlinks</p></li><li><p>technical SEO</p></li></ul><p>In AI search, none of that is enough on its own.</p><p>AI systems look for something different.</p><p>They look for clarity, consistency, and trust.</p><p>They are asking a simple question:</p><p>Can I explain this business confidently to someone else?</p><p>If the answer is no, you will not show up.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Why most founders stay invisible</h2><p>This is not a traffic problem.</p><p>It is a visibility problem.</p><p>Most companies look like this online:</p><ul><li><p>their messaging is vague</p></li><li><p>their content is scattered</p></li><li><p>their expertise is not clearly documented</p></li><li><p>no one outside their company talks about them</p></li></ul><p>To a human, that might still work.</p><p>To an AI system, it does not.</p><p>If the system cannot understand who you are, what you do, and why you matter, it will not recommend you.</p><p>And it will move on to someone it can understand.</p><div><hr></div><h2>What actually makes you visible</h2><p>There is a simple way to think about visibility now.</p><p>Visibility comes from three things working together.</p><h3>1. Clarity</h3><p>Your positioning needs to be obvious.</p><p>Not clever. Not broad. Not vague.</p><p>Clear.</p><p>If someone asks what you do, the answer should be simple enough that an AI model can repeat it without guessing.</p><p>If it cannot summarize you, it cannot recommend you.</p><div><hr></div><h3>2. Distribution</h3><p>It is no longer enough to publish on your own site.</p><p>AI systems pull information from many places:</p><ul><li><p>podcasts</p></li><li><p>articles</p></li><li><p>interviews</p></li><li><p>social content</p></li><li><p>community discussions</p></li></ul><p>The more places your ideas show up, the more likely you are to be recognized.</p><p>One piece of content is exposure.</p><p>Repeated presence becomes recognition.</p><div><hr></div><h3>3. Proof</h3><p>This is the part most people underestimate.</p><p>AI systems trust what others say about you more than what you say about yourself.</p><p>Your website is a claim.</p><p>Third party mentions are validation.</p><p>That is why things like podcasts, interviews, and external citations matter more than ever.</p><p>They create a pattern.</p><p>And once that pattern exists, you become easier to trust.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The simple way to think about it</h2><p>If you strip it down, this is what is happening.</p><p>AI is trying to answer questions.</p><p>To do that, it needs sources it can rely on.</p><p>So it chooses people and companies that are:</p><ul><li><p>easy to understand</p></li><li><p>consistently present</p></li><li><p>backed by external signals</p></li></ul><p>If you are missing any of these, you are less likely to show up.</p><p>Not because your work is worse.</p><p>But because your signal is weaker.</p><div><hr></div><h2>What this means for founders</h2><p>Most founders think they need better marketing.</p><p>In reality, they need better visibility.</p><p>That means:</p><ul><li><p>explaining what they do more clearly</p></li><li><p>showing up in more places</p></li><li><p>building real third party credibility</p></li></ul><p>This is not about posting more content.</p><p>It is about becoming easier to understand and easier to trust.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The uncomfortable truth</h2><p>The companies that win in this shift are not always the best.</p><p>They are the most visible.</p><p>They are the ones who:</p><ul><li><p>show up consistently</p></li><li><p>communicate clearly</p></li><li><p>build recognition across the internet</p></li></ul><p>The gap between good and visible is growing.</p><p>And in an AI driven world, visibility is what determines whether you get considered at all.</p><div><hr></div><h2>Final thought</h2><p>This is not a future problem.</p><p>It is already happening.</p><p>People are using AI to decide who to trust, who to hire, and who to ignore.</p><p>If AI cannot find you, it cannot recommend you.</p><p>And if it cannot recommend you, you are not part of the conversation.</p><p>Watch the full conversation here: </p><div id="youtube2-zW4ejsqdEfQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;zW4ejsqdEfQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/zW4ejsqdEfQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith: Conversations with Super Founders and Growth Experts sharing useful insights&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup Exec and GTM advisor Keith N&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:1982,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:132,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-04-21T04:48:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-conversations-with-super-founders/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><ul><li><p>Newman Media Studios: <a href="https://newmanmediastudios.com/">https://newmanmediastudios.com/</a></p></li><li><p>Schedule time to share your startup idea: <a href="https://www.thegtmfirm.com/">https://www.thegtmfirm.com/</a></p></li></ul><p>Connect with Gal Borenstein: <br><br>- Website: https://www.borensteingroup.com/<br>- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/galborensteinexecutiveprofile/</p><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>For sponsorship inquiries, please contact: sponsorships@wherewithstudio.com</p><p><br></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[From Traction to Predictable Growth]]></title><description><![CDATA[Quick intro - and something useful]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/from-traction-to-predictable-growth</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/from-traction-to-predictable-growth</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Johny Banz]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:01:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!OFPs!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F653181b7-6c3b-4adc-82f0-a6157f9a41f7_112x112.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2>Quick intro - and something useful</h2><h3>Hey,</h3><p>Keith here.</p><p>If you&#8217;re getting this, we&#8217;ve likely crossed paths or you&#8217;re part of the Liftoff community.</p><div><hr></div><h2>The mistake most founders make</h2><p>Most founders think growth comes from:</p><ul><li><p>more traffic</p></li><li><p>more content</p></li><li><p>more channels</p></li></ul><p>It doesn&#8217;t.</p><p>Growth comes from fixing the system that converts demand into revenue.</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.thegtmfirm.com/#contact&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Book a Founder Strategy Session&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.thegtmfirm.com/#contact"><span>Book a Founder Strategy Session</span></a></p><p>Unlock the Full Liftoff Execution System</p><div><hr></div><h2>What actually works</h2><p>When that system is clear:</p><ul><li><p>demand turns into pipeline</p></li><li><p>pipeline turns into revenue</p></li><li><p>growth becomes predictable</p></li></ul><p>That&#8217;s the shift most teams miss.</p><h2>A simple playbook</h2><p>I recently put together a short playbook on this - how founders move from early traction to predictable growth.</p><p>Read it here:</p><p><a href="https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/the-liftoff-playbook-part-2-from">The Liftoff Playbook - Part 2: From Product-Market Fit to Predictable Growth</a></p><p>It&#8217;s practical, not theoretical.</p><h2>If you&#8217;re building right now</h2><p>If you&#8217;re working on something and want a second set of eyes on your GTM or growth plan:</p><p class="button-wrapper" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.thegtmfirm.com/&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Schedule Time to Share Your Startup Idea&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:&quot;button-wrapper&quot;}" data-component-name="ButtonCreateButton"><a class="button primary button-wrapper" href="https://www.thegtmfirm.com/"><span>Schedule Time to Share Your Startup Idea</span></a></p><div><hr></div><h2>That&#8217;s it</h2><p>If this is useful, great.<br>If not, no worries - feel free to unsubscribe anytime.</p><p>More soon -</p><p>Keith Newman</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Founders Underperform Before They Burn Out]]></title><description><![CDATA[Ari Gootnick of Lume explains the hidden signals of declining performance&#8212;and how founders can build sustainable intensity instead of chasing hustle culture]]></description><link>https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-founders-underperform-before</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://keithnewman.substack.com/p/why-founders-underperform-before</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Keith Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 04:40:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/youtube/w_728,c_limit/i-NutxcruKQ" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The startup world glorifies hustle.</p><p>Long hours, constant pressure, and relentless execution are often worn as badges of honor. But beneath this culture lies a quieter, more dangerous reality&#8212;<strong>founders don&#8217;t burn out suddenly. They underperform first.</strong></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>In a recent conversation with Ari Gootnick, Founder at Lume, we explored what really happens before burnout&#8212;and why most founders miss the warning signs.</p><h3>The Hidden Decline Before Burnout</h3><p>Burnout is not the beginning of the problem. It&#8217;s the final symptom.</p><p>Before that, founders often experience:</p><ul><li><p>Slower decision-making</p></li><li><p>Mental fog and reduced clarity</p></li><li><p>Emotional volatility</p></li><li><p>Decreased energy and focus</p></li></ul><p>These shifts are subtle, but they compound over time&#8212;impacting both business outcomes and personal well-being.</p><h3>Motivation vs. Capacity</h3><p>One of the most powerful ideas Ari shared is the distinction between <strong>motivation and capacity</strong>.</p><p>Most early-stage founders respond to challenges by increasing effort:</p><p>Work more. Push harder. Sleep less.</p><p>But high-performing founders take a different approach:</p><p>They increase their capacity.</p><p>This includes:</p><ul><li><p>Managing energy, not just time</p></li><li><p>Optimizing sleep, nutrition, and health</p></li><li><p>Reducing context switching</p></li><li><p>Designing work around peak cognitive performance</p></li></ul><h3>The Problem with Hustle Culture</h3><p>Hustle culture assumes that more effort equals better results.</p><p>But in reality:</p><ul><li><p>More effort without recovery leads to worse decisions</p></li><li><p>Constant context switching reduces cognitive performance</p></li><li><p>Ignoring health directly impacts leadership ability</p></li></ul><p>The result? Founders unknowingly trade long-term performance for short-term output.</p><h3>Designing Sustainable Intensity</h3><p>Instead of burnout cycles, Ari emphasizes <strong>&#8220;sustainable intensity.&#8221;</strong></p><p>This means:</p><ul><li><p>Building awareness of what energizes vs. drains you</p></li><li><p>Structuring your day around energy peaks</p></li><li><p>Creating space to slow down and reflect</p></li><li><p>Investing in mental, emotional, and physical health</p></li></ul><p>Sometimes, the most effective move isn&#8217;t to push harder&#8212;but to pause.</p><h3>The Role of Support Systems</h3><p>Founders often lack safe spaces to be vulnerable.</p><p>They can&#8217;t fully lean on:</p><ul><li><p>Investors (performance pressure)</p></li><li><p>Employees (power dynamics)</p></li><li><p>Co-founders (shared stress)</p></li></ul><p>That&#8217;s why structured support&#8212;coaching, peer groups, and performance frameworks&#8212;becomes critical.</p><h3>Final Thought</h3><p>The biggest mistake founders make is waiting too long.</p><p>By the time burnout hits, performance has already been declining for months.</p><p>The real opportunity lies in catching the signals early&#8212;and building systems that support <strong>long-term, sustainable performance.</strong></p><p>Watch the full conversation here: </p><div id="youtube2-i-NutxcruKQ" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;i-NutxcruKQ&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/i-NutxcruKQ?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>Follow us on our channels for exclusive startup content and behind-the-scenes insights from interviews like this one.</p><p>Apple Podcasts: </p><div class="apple-podcast-container" data-component-name="ApplePodcastToDom"><iframe class="apple-podcast episode-list" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-newman-for-founders-looking-for-a/id1560219589&quot;,&quot;isEpisode&quot;:false,&quot;imageUrl&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/podcast_1560219589.jpg&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith Newman: For Founders looking for a new growth playbook and further inspiration.&quot;,&quot;podcastTitle&quot;:&quot;Liftoff with Keith Newman: For Founders looking for a new growth playbook and further inspiration.&quot;,&quot;podcastByline&quot;:&quot;Former Journalist, Startup + GTM exec Keith Newman&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:1860,&quot;numEpisodes&quot;:129,&quot;targetUrl&quot;:&quot;https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-newman-for-founders-looking-for-a/id1560219589?uo=4&quot;,&quot;releaseDate&quot;:&quot;2026-03-31T07:25:00Z&quot;}" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liftoff-with-keith-newman-for-founders-looking-for-a/id1560219589" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *;" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe></div><ul><li><p>Newman Media Studios: <a href="https://newmanmediastudios.com/">https://newmanmediastudios.com/</a></p></li><li><p>Schedule time to share your startup idea: <a href="https://www.thegtmfirm.com/">https://www.thegtmfirm.com/</a></p></li></ul><p>Connect with Ari Gootnick: </p><ul><li><p>Website: <a href="https://www.join-lume.com/">https://www.join-lume.com/ </a></p></li><li><p>LinkedIn: <a href="http://linkedin.com/in/arigoot">linkedin.com/in/arigoot</a></p></li></ul><p><strong>Sponsor Info:</strong> We are strategic business advisors with decades of leadership experience and a proven track record of driving businesses&#8217; growth. We specialize in creating custom-tailored strategies to introduce your company, drive growth, build leadership teams, and ensure companies implement appropriate compensation programs. Our mission is to utilize our expansive network to benefit your company https://www.compass-strategic-advisors.com/</p><p>Subscribe for more founder insights and hit the bell for notifications!</p><p>For sponsorship inquiries, please contact: sponsorships@wherewithstudio.com<br></p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://keithnewman.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Liftoff with Keith: Interviews with Top Movers and Shakers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>