Megashift - New Trends in Business

Megashift sits down with Sunny Israni, co-founder and CTO of Light Switch, to talk about one of the biggest untapped opportunities in AI: the consumer packaged goods industry. While many in the tech world obsess over full autonomy, lots of food and beverage brands are still running on clipboards and manual processes. Sunny is building the agentic software to change that, and shares why the real opportunity isn't replacing humans, it's building AI that works with them.

Vicki Diez, Director of Brand Partnerships at Highsnobiety, joins Megashift to break down how brands earn real cultural relevance: not by chasing trends, but by investing in them. Vicki shares how Highsnobiety operates as a media publisher, brand, and agency all at once, and what it takes to help non-endemic brands like finance and tech companies show up authentically in culture. She also walks through her work with Apple Music at Miami Art Week: one of the standout brand partnership moments of the year.What we cover:- How Highsnobiety identifies and reaches the "cultural pioneer" consumer- What makes a brand partnership culturally meaningful vs. just a logo placement- The difference between chasing lightning in a bottle and building long-term cultural equity- How to measure experiential activations when the ROI is partly just vibes- Why mission-driven partnerships are the ones that actually last🎯 For marketers, brand strategists, and anyone trying to understand how culture and commerce are colliding right now.

Brian Douglas, co-founder of The Paper Compute Company and once GitHub's first developer advocate, joins Megashift to talk about the messy, exciting reality of AI agents in 2025.Brian breaks down what agents actually are (beyond the buzzwords), why giving them unchecked access to your systems is like handing a toddler a Sharpie, and what his team is building to make agents safer and more manageable. His products Tapes (open source telemetry for agents) and Stereos (an operating system for agents) aim to give platform teams the control and visibility they need as AI takes on more autonomous work.The conversation also covers Brian's journey from career switcher to GitHub developer advocate to open source founder (acquired by the Linux Foundation), and how he's using Claude and AI tools in his own workflow, from generating requests for comments to skilling up on distributed systems. Brian shares practical advice for developers feeling overwhelmed by the pace of AI: develop taste by reading code, build things to learn (not just to sell), and don't let the hype drown out the fundamentals.Topics covered:> What AI agents really are and why they need guardrails> The Paper Compute Company's approach to agent infrastructure> How developer workflows are shifting with AI-assisted coding> Brian's path from Netlify to GitHub to founding OpenSauced (acquired by Linux Foundation)> Why "if you're a bad engineer, AI's gonna make you a worse engineer"> The case for reading algorithms books and building side projects to learn

Our chat with Erica Hanson, a global developer relations and community leader who spent over 17 years at Google before leading DevRel at Flutter Flow. Erica shares how she grew Google's developer community programs to reach 3 million developers and students annually across 110+ countries.We discussed how to validate the demand for your product community using data, the feedback loop between community insights and product teams, and building cross-functional partnerships to drive real impact. Erica also shares her framework for selecting great volunteer leaders, the shift toward in-person communities in the AI age, and a story about her father's 43-year tech community involvement that exemplifies lasting community. If you're interested in community-led growth, DevRel strategy, or scaling developer education programs, this conversation is for you!

Maybe you own hundreds of vinyl records but keep playing the same five. Streaming algorithms push new music. E-commerce nudges the next purchase. Everything is optimized for acquisition these days but what about the stuff we already have? Ash Ryan Arnwine thinks there's a shift happening: away from accumulation, toward appreciation. Tech that doesn't compete for your attention, but helps you go deeper with what you already own. Is this a tech-enabled walk down memory lane we actually need? Ash Ryan Arnwine built Collxn to explore that question. The app syncs with your Music catalog and sends you one daily email: a random record from your own shelves, plus vibe-matched recommendations and recent artist news. The goal isn't to keep you in the app. It's to get you back to your turntable.After years leading DevRel at Adobe Creative Cloud and Nylas, Ash went solo. Now he's building from Kyoto, Japan, using AI coding agents to ship a product for vinyl collectors who want to rediscover what they already own.🔑 WHAT WE COVER:- The Collxn concept: Daily "drops" that help vinyl collectors fall in love with their collection again- Building products that value your time, not pull you in for more- The shift from accumulation to appreciation: Creating value from what people already own- Why people collect things: Audiophiles, diggers, traders, nostalgia seekers—it's not one thing- AI coding agents: The double-edged sword of speed vs. depth when building a company as a solo fouder🎯 FOR: Solo founders, DevRel professionals, collectors of anything, and builders interested in the shift from "get more" to "go deeper."🔗 CONNECT:Collxn: https://www.collxn.comSubscribe to Megashift for more cool looks on on technology and business transformation#VinylCollecting #Collxn #SoloFounder #DevRel #AIcodingAgents #Rediscovery #Megashift

In this episode of Megashift, Rob Kleiman sits down with Sarah Greisdorf, who leads the community team at Squarespace representing its Circle program: a community of over 100,000 web designers, freelancers, and developers building Squarespace websites for clients.Sarah shares the origin story of the Circle program, which launched nearly 10 years ago around a shared passion for the Squarespace platform. From those humble beginnings, the community has evolved into a strategic growth engine for Squarespace, complete with a monthly talk show, an annual conference (Circle Day), educational courses, and a vibrant online gathering space where members teach and support each other.We dive into how Sarah's team measures impact of this community program through website subscriptions and revenue, the power of network effects (one designer can mean 100+ websites), and how they're leveraging AI tools to synthesize insights from hundreds of partners across their ecosystem.The conversation wraps with Sarah's and Rob chat about resurgence of in-person community experiences and why lightweight, creative gatherings may be the key to driving lasting loyalty in an age of content commoditization.

For businesses using Slack to engage customers and ambassadors, Slack-based communities aren't just side channels anymore. Zach Hawtof, CEO & Co-founder of TightKnit.ai, explains how his platform creates searchable microsites synced with Slack and turns all those buried slack threads into accessible knowledge teams can actually act on.Rob Kleiman and Zach Hawtof discuss why AI-native companies like Clay, Gamma, Lindy, and Beehive are building community-first GTM motions, why legacy giants are following suit, and what bots still can't replace: trust and connection built through authentic human conversation.Online communities have become core infrastructure for B2B customer support, product feedback, and retention. The question is: how do you unlock value of all the noisy conversations within them - and how do you scale it?🔑 WHAT WE COVER:- The shift from archival forums to real-time community infrastructure- What is TightKnit: Public-facing microsites synced with Slack- Why DevRel teams hopped from Discord back to Slack...and why it matters- What it means when AI bots surface contextual knowledge about a customer's painpoints- The community metric that actually matters🎯 FOR: Community managers, DevRel leaders, B2B SaaS founders, and business leaders turning customer communities into growth engines.🔗 TightKnit.ai: https://tightknit.aiSubscribe to Megashift for more on AI, community, and business transformation.#SlackCommunity #B2BCommunity #TightKnit #CommunityBuilding #DevRel #CustomerSuccess #SaaS #Megashift

In an era where algorithms decide what you might hear next, Arielle Nissenblatt built something different: a community-powered podcast recommendation engine rooted in taste AND data.Since 2017, she's run Earbuds.Audio—a weekly curated newsletter where real people pick real episodes around a theme. No machine learning. Just the network effect of good taste. Now at Pinwheel, she helps creators and brands use podcasts strategically to reach audiences and build sustainable businesses.Rob Kleiman sits down with this Brooklyn-based podcast industry veteran to explore why curation is becoming a service, how discovery is evolving, and what it means that the very definition of what makes a "podcast" a podcast has shifted.🔑 WHAT WE COVER:- Podcast Curation as a Service: the case for human taste over algorithmic feeds- The "vibes-based surveying" origin story behind Earbuds.Audio- Video podcasts: existential threat or rising tide that lifts all boats?- Working with The Podcast Academy and the "Oscars of audio" podacsts communuty- The network effect of taste: your 5 favorites + my 5 = discovery gold= Why creators shouldn't feel forced to add video to their workflow🎯 FOR: Podcast creators, audio producers, content strategists, media operators, and anyone navigating discovery in the creator economy.🔗 CONNECT:Earbuds.Audio: https://earbuds.audioPinwheel: https://www.pinwheel.comThe Podcast Academy: https://thepodcastacademy.comSubscribe to Megashift for more on media, technology, and business transformation.#PodcastCuration #PodcastDiscovery #EarbudsAudio #CreatorEconomy #Pinwheel #ThePodcastAcademy #AudioCreators #CurationAsAService #Megashift

Kevin Clancy, an HR industry leader shares insights on modernizing HR in tech: from AI-powered recruiting tools to creating empathetic employee experiences. He discusses navigating crucial conversations, avoiding AI over-reliance, and building learning programs that retain top talent.