Cloud Currents

In this episode, Matt sits down with Artur Kiulian, founder and CEO of Principle, an AI-powered strategic simulation company, to unpack his journey from Ukrainian entrepreneur to building strategic simulation technology for high-stakes decision-making. They dig into the real gap between AI hype and business value, why prediction and simulation are fundamentally different tools, and how Artur's work coordinating pandemic and wartime response shaped his approach to high-stakes decision making. Artur shares hard-won lessons on preparing for low-probability events, avoiding sycophantic AI feedback loops, and treating AI as a thought partner rather than an oracle. The conversation closes with a candid look at where the AI market is headed and what business leaders should actually be worried about.

In this episode, Matt sits down with Ali Dasdan, Chief Technology Officer at Dropbox, to trace his winding path from early neural network research to leading engineering at one of the world's largest storage and collaboration platforms. Ali shares how Dropbox is embedding AI into nearly every part of the business, from an internal tool that helped one engineer complete 900 migrations in two weeks to Dash AI, a system built to surface work context across scattered data sources. The conversation digs into how Dropbox evaluates new AI tools, measures engineering impact through frameworks like DX Core metrics, and balances speed with security and customer trust. Ali closes with candid predictions on where AI is headed next and a simple piece of leadership advice: stop overthinking and just start.

In this episode, Matt sits down with Rick Mischka, Senior Director of Education and Enablement at Avant Communications and a recently minted PhD in cyberpsychology, to unpack the human side of cybersecurity. They dig into what's really driving burnout and talent shortages in security teams, why mental resiliency training can extend a professional's career by nearly a decade, and how leaders can spot the early warning signs before it's too late. Rick also shares practical strategies for using AI to ease alert fatigue without losing sight of the human vulnerabilities attackers still exploit. Whether you're building a security team from scratch or trying to keep your current one from burning out, this conversation is packed with hard-won insight from Rick's unusual path through special forces, firefighting, coaching, and cyber.

In this episode, Matt sits down with Kunal Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of Unravel Data, to unpack the often-overlooked costs lurking beneath the surface of enterprise AI investments. Kunal breaks down why the real story isn't the model costs everyone talks about, but the pipeline inefficiencies, zombie jobs, and idle compute that quietly drain budgets. The conversation digs into the critical difference between cost cutting and cost optimization, and why getting that distinction right is what separates companies that innovate sustainably from those that stall out. Kunal also shares practical advice for leaders on how to build AI-ready teams, govern AI spend responsibly, and frame these investments in a way that earns board confidence.

In this episode, Matt sits down with Gary Dowdy, Chief Technology Officer at Trinity Logistics, one of North America's leading freight brokerage firms. Gary shares his fascinating career journey through warehouse automation, mobile banking, and seven years helping build the JB Hunt 360 digital freight marketplace before landing at Trinity. Together, they explore how Trinity is leveraging cloud infrastructure, agentic AI, and voice automation to transform freight operations — handling over 80,000 minutes of AI carrier conversations in a single month. Gary also offers candid insights on governing AI adoption, keeping data ready for what's next, and why strong leadership and human connection remain the most important ingredients in an increasingly automated industry.