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© 2026 Just Curious: Applied AI for Value Creation
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Just Curious is the podcast of Pluris, a platform connecting investors and operators with the world’s leading applied AI experts. Each episode turns AI from buzzword to bottom line through sharp case studies and practical conversations. We explore how AI is used to grow revenue, expand margins, improve operations, and create measurable value inside real businesses.
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21 Episodes
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Justin Massa and Jason Rubinstein are the co-founders of Remix Partners, an AI strategy consultancy that has now run 32+ kickstarts with small and medium-sized businesses across sectors and geographies. Their perspective is grounded in what actually works — not what looks good in a slide deck — and this conversation is full of practical frameworks for PE investors and operators trying to move AI from an experiment into the business. You'll Learn: Why executive engagement is the single non-neg...
Kris Krisco, Co-founder of Synopsis, is building AI-native data infrastructure designed specifically for the middle market. After scaling and selling a company under private equity, he saw firsthand why most AI initiatives fail — not because of ambition, but because of broken data foundations. In this episode, he explains how to move from fragmented systems and unreliable dashboards to real-time, operational AI that actually drives EBITDA. You’ll Learn Why 97% of middle-market AI projects f...
Mollie Amkraut Mueller, Founder of Watch Me AI and former strategist at IDEO and EY, helps non-technical leaders turn AI into a chief of staff, analyst, and revenue engine. In this episode, she breaks down a practical, business-first approach to AI adoption—showing how one recorded meeting can become 10 high-value assets. If you lead a team or operate in the middle market, this is a tactical blueprint for saving time, increasing output, and unlocking ROI without hiring a dev shop. You’ll Lea...
Ryan Kurt, CEO & Founder of The AI Lab, advises middle-market CEOs on how to turn AI from hype into measurable operational advantage. A 13-year veteran of generative AI, he’s helped leaders move beyond “AI strategy decks” to real workflow transformation — including a healthcare network that used computer vision to improve care quality and performance-based pay with 99% accuracy. His perspective is clear: the technology isn’t the hard part — leadership ownership is. You’ll Learn • Why mo...
Adam Schwartz, Co-founder and CEO of Parable, explains why most enterprise AI initiatives fail before they ever touch the P&L. Drawing on firsthand work with Fortune 500 and private equity–backed companies, he breaks down how hidden operational inefficiencies block real transformation—and what leaders must measure to unlock durable AI-driven value. You’ll Learn Why executives consistently misjudge how teams actually spend their time—and how that blind spot derails AI strategyHow “keep-the...
Arman Hezarkhani is the Co-founder & Managing Partner of Tenex, an AI transformation firm helping middle-market and growth companies turn AI from hype into real P&L impact. Drawing from experience scaling Google’s cloud AI tools and building venture-backed startups, Arman breaks down how leaders can actually operationalize AI — not just talk about it. This episode is a practical guide for investors and operators who want measurable results, fast. You’ll Learn Why AI adoption is easy...
Evan Glaser, Founder & CEO of Alongside AI, joins Just Curious to break down how middle-market companies can actually deploy AI, without blowing up risk, compliance, or trust. Drawing on a decade of Fortune 100 experience, Evan explains why governance isn’t a blocker to AI value creation, but the accelerator most operators are missing. You’ll Learn Why AI governance is the fastest way to unlock real productivity—not slow it down How to design practical AI guardrails that let teams inno...
Alex Gruebele and Chandler Gonzalez, co-founders of Tau9 Labs, build custom AI systems that solve the messy, high-value problems generic manufacturing software can’t touch. With roots in robotics, hyperscale software, and logistics, they focus on the workflows where context matters most—quoting, downtime, document analysis, and technician knowledge. Their work shows how applied AI can transform mid-market industrial operations in months, not years, by fitting the way factories actually run. ...
Felix Rösner, Co-founder of Marble AI, builds AI-driven workflow “clones” that reveal what really happens inside complex enterprise operations. His team helps private equity operators and middle-market leaders uncover hidden inefficiencies, quantify real ROI, and automate with precision instead of guesswork. In this episode, Felix shares why deep context—not tools—is the final moat in AI-enabled organizations. You’ll Learn How capturing keystrokes and screen activity uncovers the real workf...
Jack Weissenberger, Co-founder & CTO of Ciridae, shares how his team rebuilds core systems and deploys AI agents that remove bottlenecks across finance, operations, and project management. Ciridae works with private-equity-backed companies to identify the real constraints inside a business and replace slow, manual workflows with AI-native software built in days, not months. Jack’s perspective matters because he’s led AI teams at Apple and Salesforce-acquired 10X and now drives full-stack ...
Jordan Gurrieri, Co-founder & CEO of BlueLabel, explains how mid-market and enterprise operators can finally escape pilot purgatory and deploy AI systems that scale reliably. Drawing on two decades of automation experience and hundreds of shipped products, he breaks down why AI initiatives fail, how to design for workflow fit from day one, and what it takes to turn tribal knowledge and inconsistent pilots into production-grade, agentic workflows. You’ll Learn: Why AI pilots break when mo...
Greg Shove, CEO of Section, breaks down why enterprise AI adoption remains stuck in low single digits—and what leaders must do to unlock meaningful productivity gains. With experience building six companies and training global workforces in applied AI, Greg explains how culture, workflows, and leadership behavior—not tools—determine whether AI becomes a competitive advantage. You'll Learn: Why only ~9% of knowledge workers are truly AI-proficient and how to move teams from anxious to confid...
Jay Singh, Co-founder & CEO of Casper Studios, breaks down how real organizations—hedge funds, PE-backed companies, and growth-stage startups—are actually deploying AI that gets used. Drawing on deep experience building modular, production-grade systems, he explains why small, workflow-anchored wins consistently outperform AI moonshots and how companies can integrate AI without chaos, panic, or overreach. You’ll Learn: Why modular, workflow-specific automation beats monolithic “AI platfo...
Chris Taylor, Co-founder & CEO of Fractional AI, explains how private equity–backed companies are using applied AI to drive measurable operational impact—not experiments. Drawing from deep experience building AI-native services and deploying production systems across dozens of portcos, Chris breaks down how incumbents can move fast, automate real workflows, and turn AI into cost savings, productivity, and defensibility. You’ll Learn: How to identify the workflows where AI can actually de...
Csongor Barabasi, CEO of Bonsai Labs, helps private equity–backed B2B software companies ship AI products that generate real EBITDA impact. Working with top global PE funds, his team has repeatedly taken companies from idea to paying customers in as little as a few weeks—often unlocking new ARR and defending market share against AI-native competitors. He explains why most AI efforts stall, how to validate use cases fast, and what it takes to turn domain knowledge into production-grade AI work...
Osman Ghandour, Co-founder & CEO of Soal Labs, helps private equity and private credit firms turn chaotic, spreadsheet-driven processes into unified, AI-powered workflows. Working with middle-market teams drowning in SIMs, fragmented systems, and delayed reporting, he shows how well-designed data foundations and targeted automation can unlock 50% more deal capacity without adding headcount. In this conversation, he breaks down what actually drives time-to-value and why AI only works when ...
Brandon Gell, Head of Studio at Every, shares how companies move from AI experimentation to true adoption by creating the “magic moments” that make AI indispensable. Drawing from his experience building and selling companies, shipping AI-native products, and advising leadership teams, Brandon breaks down the practical steps operators and investors can use to turn AI into leverage, productivity, and cultural transformation. You’ll Learn: How to uncover high-value workflows by interviewing tea...
Ross Hale, CEO of Artium, and Mike McCormick, Artium’s CTO, share how leading organizations are moving from AI experimentation to real production-grade systems. They explain what it takes to build reliable, high-impact AI software in environments where accuracy, governance, and scale truly matter. Their perspective is grounded in deep hands-on work with enterprise and mid-market teams navigating AI adoption today. You'll Learn: How enterprises move from AI proofs-of-concept to production reli...
Amrit Saxena, CEO of SaxeCap, shares how he and his team have led more than 100 AI transformations and advised over 40 private equity funds on using AI to expand margins, accelerate growth, and reshape value creation. His perspective matters because SaxeCap has pioneered AI-levered buyouts and proven repeatable frameworks for turning workflow inefficiencies and data assets into enterprise value. In this episode, he breaks down what actually drives returns—and what doesn’t—when applying AI ins...
Justin Massa, Partner & Co-Founder of Remix Partners, helps SMB and mid-market teams translate rapidly evolving AI capabilities into practical workflows that unlock real business value. His perspective matters because he has spent a decade guiding leaders through emerging technology waves and building repeatable frameworks that help organizations identify, experiment with, and operationalize AI in ways that drive competitive differentiation. In this episode, he explains why most executive...
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