Most AI founders try to sell to everyone. Chris Carter said no to more than 90% of the software enterprise market - and built two successful enterprise companies from that single decision.

Chris Carter (Chairman & CEO of Approyo, Founder of Mugatu AI) has started 11 companies, sold several, and managed a bankruptcy. In this episode, he breaks down how AI founders should pick their enterprise niche and ecosystem, how to be successful in Enterprise, and which Scotch to pick for your first closed Enterprise AI deal.

Timestamps
01:02 What Chris saw in SAP HANA in 2013 that everyone else missed
02:58 Why he said no to 90% of the market
04:59 Which platforms should you embed into before it's obvious?
05:34 Mugatu AI: Why he's building an AI security layer for enterprises
11:56 How to validate startup ideas using AI (Gemini as your thought partner)
15:23 Several exits, one bankruptcy: The failure that shaped everything
18:26 His 20% Rule: Never let one client exceed 20% of your revenue
20:10 Train first, find the champion, sell top-down: The enterprise implementation framework
22:25 How to find and cultivate an internal champion before your pilot starts
23:43 The biggest gap AI founders have when building for enterprise
25:42 How to instantly build credibility in an enterprise room (Chris's top 4 list)
29:19 Behind closed doors: The most broken SAP implementation Chris ever inherited
33:25 Why AI pilots die in procurement
36:10 Managing the tension between your internal champion and the C-suite
36:56 The middle management trap

44:07 SAP in 5 years
45:48 Scotch pick for your first enterprise deal closed

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Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Read Johannes' Newsletter "Inside Enterprise AI": https://johannesdeubener.substack.com/

Follow Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-carter-885159/

Check out Approyo: https://approyo.com/

Check Out Mugatu AI: https://mugatuai.com/

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More about AI To Go: I Real Talk on Enterprise AI

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Podcast Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/

Most AI demos never reach production. Here's why - and what to do differently.

Tim Daines, Dubai-based founder of Synaptix Solutions and a 22-year expert of AI, data, and enterprise transformation, breaks down the hard truths founders and enterprise leaders refuse to hear: the real reason AI ROI keeps vanishing, why your data strategy is the actual bottleneck, and shares the strategic lessons that only come from being inside the room when enterprise AI succeeds and when it spectacularly fails.

Whether you're an AI founder trying to crack enterprise sales, an executive navigating AI transformation, or a VC watching portfolio companies struggle to demonstrate ROI - this episode will fundamentally change how you think about AI in production.

0:00 Intro
1:15 The Sacrifice Behind Building a Business in Dubai
3:08 Enterprise Maturity in the Gulf
5:30 Dubai as an AI Hub
7:57 Why Relationships Beat a Killer Deck in Dubai
8:55 Why VC AI Portfolio Companies Are Struggling to Demonstrate ROI
9:08 The "Peloton Problem": Why AI Demos Don't Survive Contact With Reality
12:15 What Winning Founders Do Differently
17:42 Minimum Viable Data - The Non-Negotiable Before Any AI Build
19:57 Stop Conflating POC, Pilot & MVP
22:36 The Institutional Knowledge Crisis
26:23 Fast Strategy - Why Traditional Strategy Cycles Are Dangerous in an AI World
32:16 The CFO as the "Adult" in the Room
37:54 Security, Sovereignty & Why IT Must Be in Every AI Room
38:16 Why The Intelligence Integration Layer Is Next
41:22 Where to Find Tim

--------------------------------------------------------------

Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Read Johannes' Newsletter "Inside Enterprise AI": https://johannesdeubener.substack.com/

Follow Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-daines/

Read Tim's Substack: https://productagent.substack.com/

"Fast Strategy" Book: https://www.abebooks.com/9780273712442/Fast-Strategy-Strategic-Agility-Will-0273712446/plp

--------------------------------------------------------------

More about AI To Go: I Real Talk on Enterprise AI

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Podcast Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/

In this conversation, host Johannes Deubener sits down with serial founder Russ Fradin, CEO of Larridin (backed by Andreessen Horowitz). He shares what 30 years of building enterprise companies teaches you about AI adoption, vendor survival, and long-term customer relationships.

We cover the real #1 driver of enterprise churn, why 85% of leaders fear falling behind in the next 18 months, what shadow AI really signals about enterprise adoption, and why teams that build with AI dramatically outperform teams that only summarize.

We go deep on what it actually takes to win in the enterprise - not just to get in the door, but to be one of the AI vendors still standing when the inevitable AI vendor consolidation hits.

Chapters
00:41 - Russ Fradin intro
02:28 - The repeat founder trap
06:01 - The $5M ARR pivot
09:25 - 30 years of enterprise lessons: what AI founders need to know right now
09:30 - The #1 driver of enterprise churn
13:07 - Radical honesty as your competitive moat
15:45 - First-time founder playbook
16:02 - Why free pilots fail - and how to create the right friction from day one
19:09 - How to close the gap from pilot to production
22:53 - The 2026 Enterprise AI Report
26:28 - The coming AI vendor culling
29:30 - What the AI leaders do differently
31:54 - Why IT teams get 10x more from AI
32:11 - The global knowledge workforce retraining experiment
35:27 - Shadow AI: 45% of AI adoption happens outside procurement
38:54 - When tool sprawl becomes organizational waste
41:05 - The power user gap
44:03 - Why HR needs to own AI enablement - not just IT
48:10 - What Larridin actually does: measuring AI productivity across the enterprise
54:27 - "Software eating labor": is AI substituting or augmenting work?
54:42 - Why AI will create more jobs
59:06 - Where to find Russ
59:29 - Outro

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Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Follow Russ: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfradin/

Check out Larridin: https://larridin.com/

Read the 2026 Enterprise AI Report: https://larridin.com/state-of-enterprise-ai

--------------------------------------------------------------

More about AI To Go: I Real Talk on Enterprise AI

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/

Larissa Schneider, Co-Founder & COO of Unframe AI, is building one of Europe's boldest enterprise AI platforms - and she's doing it with outcome-based pricing. No per-seat fees. No token meters. Just measurable business outcomes.

In this episode, host Johannes Deubener sits down with Larissa to unpack why seat-based pricing is killing enterprise AI adoption, how Unframe deploys production-ready AI in under a week using a modular "Lego block" platform, and what it actually takes to tie your revenue to client results.

Larissa shares the real story behind outcome-based pricing - from internal debates to live customer examples - including how they helped one of the world's oldest newspapers cut proofreader onboarding from 2-3 years to nearly instant. She also drops a bold prediction: citizen development and quick DIY AI will die at the enterprise level.

Whether you're an AI founder figuring out your pricing model, an enterprise leader stuck in pilot purgatory, or a CIO evaluating build vs. buy - this episode is packed with practical frameworks you can use today.

⏱️ Chapters:

00:57 - International Background & Leading Global AI Teams

02:17 - Building Company DNA in a Remote-First Culture

02:55 - From Farm Kid to AI Founder

06:49 - What Technologists Miss About AI Adoption

08:37 - The Real Root Cause of Pilot Purgatory

10:10 - Build vs. Buy

12:59 - The Honest AI Strategy Conversation with a CEO

15:33 - Unframe Explained: The Lego Box Analogy

19:29 - Customer Story: Oldest Newspaper in the World Goes AI

21:50 - IP, Blueprints & How Custom AI Solutions Work

23:35 - Pricing: Why Seats & Tokens Are Broken

25:41 - Tying Revenue to Client Results

31:14 - Pricing a Chatbot by Outcomes - A Real Example

33:22 - Preventing Adoption Failure & the Free POC Model

35:01 - How Outcome-Based Pricing Changes Product Development

36:13 - Advice for Founders on Outcome-Based Pricing

38:16 - Outcome-Based Pricing as a Competitive Moat

40:26 - Redesigning Enterprise AI Procurement from Scratch

41:44 - Larissa's Bold Prediction

42:11 - Will AI Make Organizations More Human?

43:01 - Larissa's #1 Advice for Enterprise AI Success

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Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Follow Larissa: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schneiderlarissa/

Check out Unframe AI: https://www.unframe.ai/

--------------------------------------------------------------

More about AI To Go: I Real Talk on Enterprise AI

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/

If you’re an enterprise AI founder, you’ve seen the same pattern: pilots everywhere, ROI nowhere, governance used as a brake, and leaders asking for “hard numbers by next quarter.”

In this episode, Johannes Deubener sits down with Rajuta Singh, Founder & CEO of Solved Together, to unpack why transformation fails (hint: it’s rarely the tech) and how CEOs can break the “AI anxiety loop” with structured experimentation, cross-functional squads, and outcome-first execution. They unpack real boardroom fears around AI - from stalled pilots and 7-figure “science projects” to data roadmaps, legacy systems, and middle managers secretly blocking change.

If you are an AI founder selling into enterprises or an enterprise leader trying to turn AI hype into business outcomes, this conversation gives a 90-day path you can start using immediately.

• 00:04 Welcome + guest intro: Rujuta Singh
• 00:57 Why people dynamics decide outcomes
• 02:06 Every company has the same collaboration problem
• 04:14 Collaboration brain hacks
• 08:26 Neuroscience of meetings
• 12:29 “Transformation Reality TV”

• 16:11 AI as #1 priority for 2026
• 18:43 Ruthless prioritization: which pilots to kill vs scale
• 20:23 CFO vs AI team: ROI now vs “compounding later”
• 23:16 Integrate AI into business strategy
• 24:35 The Talent Dilemma
• 27:04 Upskilling Challenge
• 32:35 Silent sabotage: how to unblock middle managers
• 37:22 The “AI strategy” all-hands
• 41:06 Data governance vs speed
• 43:20 Legacy systems
• 46:49 First 90 days
• 49:48 What CEOs miss

• 55:45 Don’t try to keep up
• 58:04 The Top Leadership Skill
• 1:00:32 Where to find Rajuta

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Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Follow Rujuta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rujutasingh/

Check out Solved Together - AI Accelerator: https://www.solvedtogether.co.uk/ai-accelerator

--------------------------------------------------------------

More about AI To Go: I Real Talk on Enterprise AI

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/

Ted Shelton has seen the AI wave from every angle - partner at Bain, COO at Inflection AI, now founder of adaptability.com and builder of the Personal Agent aalpi.ai. In this episode, Ted and host Johannes Deubener discuss what happens when AI compute becomes a new form of capital that no longer needs human labor.

Ted explains why owners of compute will capture value faster than overall economic growth, how this breaks the 250-year-old relationship between capital and labor, and why “abundance” does not automatically mean broad participation. On individual level, we explore the human skills that actually compound and how you can practice adaptability in this fast-paced world.

Chapters

00:04 Introduction to Ted Shelton

00:56 Public Skepticism Towards Autonomous Vehicles

04:32 The Future of AI Interaction

08:18 Reflections on AI's Evolution

11:59 Transitioning from Pilot to Execution at Scale

14:17 Rebuilding Inflection AI: Insights and Challenges

16:39 The Importance of Data Ownership in AI

19:31 Achieving ROI from AI Initiatives

23:26 Turing trap - Balancing Automation and Augmentation

25:25 AI as a Coordination Mechanism

31:12 Building Adaptability in a Rapidly Changing World

34:19 How to Teach Adaptability as a Meta Skill

36:13 Navigating the Rapid Pace of Technological Change

39:14 The Importance of Human Skills in an AI-Driven World

40:35 Redesigning Work for the Future

43:30 The Economic Bitter Lesson and AI Inequality

47:15 Collective Action and the Need for Adaptability

50:19 Compute Capital: A New Form of Value

53:37 Winners and Losers in the AI Economy

57:32 Rethinking Wealth Distribution in an AI World

01:01:27 Optimism for Future Generations in a Changing World

--------------------------------------------------------------

Don't be shy and come say hi:

Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Follow Ted: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tshelton/

Subscribe to his Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/infinite-future-6980527547914534913/

Check out his privacy-first AI Agent Aalpi: https://aalpi.ai/

Check out his Adaptability learning platform: https://www.adaptability.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------

More about AI To Go:

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/

Why sales playbooks fail and how AI-powered behavioral nudges are doubling win rates at companies like HP, SonicWall, and Versa Networks.

Sanchit Garg, CEO and Co-Founder of Zime AI, joins host Johannes Deubener to reveal why traditional sales playbooks have become shelfware - and how combining generative AI with behavioral science is transforming sales enablement.

With a background in behavioral science, Sanchit now helps enterprise sales teams unlock their winning behaviors using AI that actually understands their GTM, products, and competition.

This conversation will change how you think about sales coaching, AI-driven enablement, and the future of B2B selling.

Chapters

00:00 - Intro Sanchit Garg
00:40 - Meditation as a founder resilience tool
01:08 - From $100M startup to behavioral science
02:30 - Nudge theory explained
04:25 - Why generic AI fails sales teams
06:22 - Sales playbooks: the graveyard of unused materials
09:21 - How Zime builds living AI playbooks in 7 days
12:43 - Behavioral nudges in the sales workflow
18:32 - Doubling win rates: Versa Networks and SonicWall results
23:27 - Top behaviors that separate winning sales reps
27:42 - The AI-native CRO: future of sales leadership
29:06 - How AI resolves sales vs. marketing tensions
33:10 - AI agents vs. human sellers in the funnel
35:23 - The collapse of CRMs and the sales tech stack

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Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Follow Sanchit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanchitg/

Check out Zime: https://zime.ai/

--------------------------------------------------------------

More about AI To Go: I Real Talk on Enterprise AI

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/

Most AI teams are flying blind - they can show you how many people used their AI, but not whether it actually worked.

In this conversation, host Johannes Deubener sits down with Julien Roux, CRO and co-founder of Nebuly (the “Google Analytics for AI”) to unpack what relevant AI Analytics look like.

They explore why treating AI like traditional software (“build it, ship it, forget it”) is a fundamental mistake, and why AI needs to be managed as a living product: launched, observed, and continuously improved based on how people actually use it. Julien explains how most companies still rely on shallow metrics - logins, number of prompts, session duration - and why those can be dangerously misleading. In conversational AI, more usage can mean more frustration, not more value.

Chapters

00:05 Meet Julien Roux
02:23 From Mechanical Engineering to Finance
05:26 What “AI-Powered" Toothbrushes Mean
08:11 AI "Launch-and-Learn" Explained
10:50 From Investor to AI Founder: Why Julien Bet on AI Analytics
13:03 Executives’ Fantasy vs. Employee Reality in AI
16:57 Rocky Waters: Careers, Juniors, and the Future of Work
21:18 Pareto in Practice: Focus on the 10–15% of AI Use Cases That Drive 80% of Value
24:00 Why Traditional Analytics Fail for AI Assistants
29:21 “Google Analytics for AI”: What Nebuly Actually Measures
32:11 Explicit vs. Implicit Feedback in AI Conversations
36:18 100x More Actionable Feedback: The Iveco Case Study
38:50 Fixing AI Quality: Knowledge Bases, RAG, and the 80% Non-Technical Problems
41:16 Mining Business Signals from Customer-Facing AI (Churn, Upsell, Demand)
47:16 From Black Box to ROI: Turning Time Saved into Dollars
51:43 What CFOs Will Ask AI Teams in 2026
56:00 The Future of AI Analytics, Skills, and Infrastructure

--------------------------------------------------------------

Don't be shy and come say hi:

Connect with Johannes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannesdeubener/

Follow Julien: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julienroux92/

Check out Nebuly: https://www.nebuly.com/

--------------------------------------------------------------

More about AI To Go:

✨ Watch more Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiL3_cC9nmXALQiaqlYs2Kw
✨ Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ai-to-go-podcast/id1866997458

✨ Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5X9XgIv1qtCYtExziNMyXK
✨ Receive all Updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ai-to-go-podcast/