Ryan Bartley

Consider a seasoned strategist in the startup ecosystem—much like a "PK," the mastermind who orchestrates triumphs for others but grapples with solitude in independent pursuits. When this individual collaborates with teams or guides founders, the results are transformative: products ignite markets, revenues accelerate, and bold visions materialize. The track record? Impeccably strong. Yet, in solo endeavours? The narrative shifts dramatically. Millions poured in, countless iterations through sleepless nights, and ultimately... silence. No momentum, no breakthroughs. A poignant reminder of vulnerability. 😔 The analogy resonates deeply: In politics, parties harness a PK's genius to amplify their campaigns. But when that PK ventures alone, the landscape changes—no alliances, no amplified resources, just a solitary voice echoing in the fray. The takeaway for this strategist? Independent paths demand more than ingenuity; - they require robust networks, - shared ecosystems, and - collective drive. - and a shoulder to fall back on Bridging the Gap: Human-Scale Steps to Tame the "Solo Curse" - Journal one "solo pain point" weekly/fortnightly - Test with "accountability twos"—->pair with one peer for bi-weekly check-ins. - Ritualise Reciprocity--> Give first, then ask for help - Measure the Unseen: Track not just KPIs, but "human metrics"—mood post-interaction.

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Software vendors are cutting prices before most enterprises have deployed AI agents at scale. This defies the normal sequence where widespread adoption precedes pricing pressure. But software markets are repricing now because buyers can credibly threaten replacement, even if they haven't executed it yet. Enterprise software purchasing teams understand that routine tasks—data entry, report generation, basic analysis—will soon cost pennies per hour instead of thousands per seat. This shifts negotiating leverage immediately, driven by the credible threat of substitution rather than actual substitution. The repricing wave hits different software categories with varying intensity. Some absorb massive damage while others prove surprisingly resilient. The pattern isn't random—it follows specific economic logic about which functions agents can replicate and which they cannot. But knowing that repricing runs ahead of deployment doesn't tell you which software companies face existential pressure versus temporary margin compression. It doesn't reveal which categories offer defensive moats or how quickly pricing recovers in resilient segments. Link in comments 👇

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Potential 2026 positives: 1) Improved capacity position drives AWS acceleration; 2) improving AI positioning due to mgmt. changes and 1P tech improvements; 3) incremental Retail margin expansion drives profit growth above peers; 4) Multiple positive Retail segment drivers including grocery, agentic AI, & Prime offering/fee increases; and 5) attractive valuation (vs history) leaves room for multiple expansion.

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Failure serves as our greatest teacher, offering invaluable lessons that can lead to building a better company. While some failures are massive in scope, others may be smaller and less catastrophic, yet each provides critical insights. The Jawbone story stands out as one of the most significant failure narratives, rich with lessons that can be applied to future endeavors. Here's my latest substack.... https://lnkd.in/gp5-dgv9

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If you are working on Agentic AI, you will find this panel interesting. Let's create some dialog about this even if you disagree with some of the statements in the podcast.

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Enjoy my latest musings on how the application software industry is forever changing at the speed of AI. In this piece, I dig deeper into what I see as the eventual end of the $750B wasted annually by customers who are just trying to inject their own business context into the software applications they use. And perhaps, horizontal software isn't dead after all.

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🚀 Built to Ship – Hosted by Tyler Postle, Co-Founder of Voker (YC S24) 🎙️ 🎧 Featuring Kumar Priyavrat Sinha, Founding Member & Chief Product Officer of 360 World, Inc 360 World is building the Presence Economy, turning individual presence into a monetizable asset. Kumar shares how their Google background shaped the product and why agentic AI is key to scaling securely. In this episode, we dive into how 360 World uses AI agents to manage safety, compliance, and task execution autonomously—whether coordinating people for B2B projects or enabling peer-to-peer services. Kumar explains how their AI detects abuse, negotiates rates, and dispatches the right people, all while keeping interactions private. If you’re curious about AI agents doing real work—making presence and availability actionable—this episode is a must-listen.

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2,000,000+ hours (and accelerating) of research and analysis automated by Cresta 𝐀𝐈 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐭. In just 9 months since launch. Our customers are uncovering deeper insights about their customers, operations, products, and emerging incidents than ever before. Cresta runs AI deep research across every omni-channel interaction, from calls center to chat to email and beyond. 𝐉𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐱 in full force: most of these hours didn't exist before. This isn't automation replacing analysts. AI Analyst gives our customers the research capacity and frictionless access they simply didn't have before.

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In today’s episode, I’m speaking with Navin Chaddha, Managing Partner at Mayfield. The Trillion-Dollar AI Hardware Opportunity Navin Chaddha has spent three decades at the forefront of innovation—first as a founder, and now as managing partner at Mayfield, one of Silicon Valley’s oldest venture firms. A 17-time member of Forbes’ Midas List, Navin has guided generations of entrepreneurs through waves of technological change, from the dot-com boom to the AI era. At Mayfield, he champions a philosophy rooted in the firm’s founding ethos: investing in people, not markets. That approach has shaped his perspective on what it takes to build enduring companies. In this conversation, Navin shares why $1 trillion in infrastructure spending is fueling a new hardware renaissance, how stealth startups are going from zero to billions in a year, and what it means for the future of innovation. Listen now: • YouTube: https://lnkd.in/ebst5sB8 • Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eWaw62FY • Apple: https://lnkd.in/e9vnqMtP A big thank you to the incredible sponsors that make the podcast possible: ✨ GoFundMe Giving Funds – One Account. Zero Hassle: https://lnkd.in/epgdNTEK   ✨ Auth0 – Secure access for everyone. But not just anyone: https://a0.to/mario    ✨ Tezi – The AI agent for recruiting high-quality candidates quickly: https://tezi.ai/mario   We explore: → How "vibe coding" is democratizing technology creation through conversational, collaborative, and cognitive interfaces → Why Navin believes the "vibe economy" will transform how we work, live, and play → How Mayfield's 56-year focus on "backing the jockey, not the racetrack" shapes its investment approach → The massive opportunity in AI hardware infrastructure → How stealth AI hardware startups are going from zero to billions in under a year → How India's tech ecosystem has evolved and where the real opportunities are today → How cricket taught Navin crucial lessons about company building

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Excited to share a snippet of my interview with Aaron Sekhri Sekhri, Founder and CEO of Le Walk. We discussed his vision for creating something unique in the world that currently doesn't exist. Aaron's insights on innovation and the drive to fill gaps in the market are truly inspiring. Looking forward to seeing how Le Walk evolves and impacts the industry.

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New podcast episode up thanks to Kevin Werbach on AI + healthcare and much more. Here are a bunch of my lessons learned from building products + getting things done (that work) in gov https://lnkd.in/gswPbXwQ

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The old SaaS pricing playbook doesn’t work for AI. Madhavan Ramanujam and I partnered with Emergence Capital and Jake Saper to write a new one—built for where AI is going, not just where it is today. We lay out what state-of-the-art AI pricing looks like now—and what it will look like: ✅ Hybrid pricing (seats + usage) is the current best practice 🎯 Outcome-based models are the future—pricing tied directly to impact 💰 The best AI companies already capture 25–50% of the value they create As autonomy and attribution improve, outcome pricing will go from rare to expected. Founders who move early will win. Full read here 👉 https://lnkd.in/gwp6tDtp

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This was a great panel. From Harness Engineering to System-3 thinking for coding agents, to ASI for specific areas arriving before AGI, we covered a lot of ground.

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Marketplaces can leverage AI to enhance the supply-side experience. Here's a slide from our workshop on AI fundamentals for marketplaces where Vijay Raghavan helped walk us through a few examples for this:

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While technologies have changed dramatically every year, there are some key mindsets, behaviors and capabilities that effective leaders and organizations consistently exhibit. That’s what we write about in MIT Sloan Management Review. The article summarizes what we found after five years of in-depth research on how to successfully lead in the digital era. Our research continues with a talented team from the HBS Leadership Initiative at Harvard Business School. Linda Hill Ann Le Cam Karina Grazina Lydia Begag Melissa Velez Liz K. Emily Tedards Letty Garcia

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When I first met Kevin Surace, I immediately understood why his reputation precedes him across Silicon Valley. He’s been building at the frontier of technology for decades and is deeply respected by people across the industry. Kevin was working in AI long before the world caught up to it—pioneering early voice AI technology, building multiple companies, and consistently seeing around corners before the market arrives. He also ‘grew up’ in Silicon Valley with my former co-CEOs, Ben and Marc, from Andreessen Horowitz which made the world feel very small very quickly in the best possible way. 🌎🚀 I was introduced to Kevin by David P Bovenzi at Grand Oaks Capital when I was asked to help bring Token— a company that has spent more than a decade building cryptographic biometric identity assurance technology— into the market in a whole new way… In one conversation I knew I wanted to work with him— and Token, where Kevin is Chairman and CEO. AI has fundamentally changed the identity landscape. Attackers no longer need to “hack in.” They log in—using AI-generated phishing, deepfakes, and automated attacks at global scale and unprecedented speed. AI attacks will continue to be faster and cheaper than anything enterprises and governments have had to defend against before. In Gov and highly regulated industries, identity failure means more than compromised accounts… It’s ransomware attacks on hospitals, critical infrastructure disruption, supply chain shutdowns, financial system compromise, and nation-state intrusion. Identity assurance has become a defining infrastructure challenge of the AI era (Gartner is tracking this emerging category closely). Since joining Token’s mission earlier this year, we’ve relaunched the brand, launched the TokenCore product line, rebuilt the GTM engine, assembled a world-class team, and are bringing a twelve-year innovation into the hands of enterprises, the U.S. government, and allied global organizations who need it most. And I’ve had the privilege of working alongside Kevin every day. In just a few short months I’ve learned an incredible amount from him as a leader, inventor, and operator. As investors we talk about how the biggest breakout companies happen when the technology, the market timing, and the right team all come together at once. That’s what this mission feels like. 🚀 A great read on Kevin’s journey through the early days of AI, finding joy in the process, and lessons on leadership from decades in the trenches: https://lnkd.in/e-iy5iWY Dianne Liu Albert Yanez Khamvong Thammasouk Dan Van Ostrand Paul Wazowicz Christopher DeBaggis Johnny Lam Marcus Yanez Jack Jackson Michael Okland Kortney C. Steve Hunt Ann-Marie Klein FCMA, MBA Ever Wonder The Juno Group Elevate Talent Ventures Torrell F. Elevated Value Partners Monique Shivanandan Robert C.

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AI is changing what “scale” actually means. In CTech by Calcalist’s 2026 VC Survey, Haim Bachar and Lee Ben-Gal share how we’re seeing the scaling metric shift - from headcount growth to output per person. This isn’t about doing more with less. It’s about building companies differently from day one - and rethinking how success is measured. See the full article below 👇

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What a joy to speak with this brilliant cohort of innovators in the The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) ENTICE (Energy Transitions Innovation Challenge) 2.0 program and taking on their sharp questions at the investor bootcamp. 80% of global GHG emission reduction goals for 2050 can be met through energy system decarbonization, efficiency and electrification. This represents a US $100 trillion opportunity according to the IEA.     A stronger, more stable grid is at the heart of building a #resilient #energy future. This year’s program challenges innovators to tackle:  1) Behind-the-meter digital twins: #AI tools to analyse consumption and create appliance-level insights  2) Industrial flexibility at scale: AI solutions using smart meter data to identify flexible assets and operational inefficiencies    Kudos to the entrepreneurs and the GEAPP team for curating and executing such a thoughtful program.     Looking forward to seeing how these #innovations scale #impact.  Synapses Dalberg Media Vaishali (Vish) Mishra Anukul Tripathi (He/Him) Jayant Sinha Saurabh Kumar

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Episode 7 of The Ravi Padaki Nexus Podcast: The Trust Curve: Designing AI-Native GCCs with Srinivas Sampath. I had a deeply engaging conversation with Srinivas Sampath, Vice President R&D and Site Leader at Upland Software—and it left me thinking long after we wrapped up. This episode is not just about leadership. It’s about how leadership itself is being redefined in an AI-shaped world. Srinivas brings a grounded, experience-rich perspective on how Global Capability Centers are evolving—from cost efficiency engines to true innovation hubs. But what stood out to me even more was his clarity on how leaders need to show up differently in this shift. We explored: • The real journey of GCCs and what it takes to unlock their full potential • Building trust and autonomy in remote and distributed teams • Leadership in AI-augmented workplaces (hint: it’s not what you think) • Engaging and inspiring Gen Z talent meaningfully • A powerful framework for trust and influence in global teams Some frameworks you’ll want to steal: 1. Trust as a Maturity Curve 2. Leadership Traits for AI-Augmented Work 3. Building AI-Native Teams If you’re leading teams across geographies, navigating AI transformation, or simply rethinking your leadership style—this one will resonate. More importantly, it might challenge a few assumptions you didn’t know you were holding. We also spoke about which #Himalayan #trek we must try in our lifetime. 🎙️ Watch / Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gziM7U2B Would love to hear what your biggest takeaway is. My personal thanks to Srinivas for taking the time and sharing his thoughtful perspectives! It was an absolute pleasure. #Leadership #AI #GCC #FutureOfWork #ProductLeadership #GenZ #AITransformation #TheRaviPadakiNexusPodcast

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