Welcome to GroundTruth by Dogpatch Advisors, a podcast about company builders, leadership, and how operators use data to build the future of sales. To learn more, check out www.groundtruthpod.com for other Ground Truth episodes and a deeper dive into each story.

In this episode, we talk to Ash Fontana, technology investor and author of the book The AI-First Company. Growing up in Australia, Ash began his path studying law and finance, then quickly turned into the tech space in Silicon Valley. His learnings from investing, building and selling his own startup and being early at Angelist, are distilled into his practical book The AI-First Company. In this book, Ash presents a completely new form of competitive advantage through AI for any kind of business. Learn all about Ash’s book, his inspiration, the process behind it, and what he foresees for companies who adopt the AI-First model.

Podcast Summary:

01:01 -  Who is Ash Fontana? Growing up in Australia with Jesuit education and public speaking as his foundation.

03:15 - Ash’s first tech companies: What he learned about handling data and how he went from law to full-time AI.

07:52 - The inspiration behind the book: How to put a completely new form of competitive advantage into actionable words, checklists, frameworks, and illustrations.

15:41 -  Data Leaning Effects and how to observe things at scale: Is there a potential for impactful dailies in this business model?

22:23 - Involving different experts in the process: How to build a culture and a feedback loop around the AI-First Model.

30:17 - What Ash hopes the book brings to people: Giving people the power of competitive advantage + Ash’s next book.

Episode Resource:

Find Ash on Twitter and LinkedIn

The AI-First Company

The AI-First Company by Ash Fontana

Credits

GroundTruth is a production of Dogpatch Advisors. This episode was written by Jack Buehrer from Campfire Labs, sound engineering and studio space provided by TJ Bonaventura and Julian Lewis from StudioPod, editing and mixing by Nodalab, and video production by Nick Shaheen from Above Treeline Studios.