In the Spotlight

Jeff Yoshimura's post titled "How long should you stay at a startup or company?" (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jeff-yoshimura-4055_i-often-get-askedhow-long-should-you-stay-activity-7378435960004456448-bDvM/?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAAAAJAUB7UXr3TcmPskytqq7PzU6ZBVJpaY) went viral because it offered real, pragmatic advice on, well, how long to stay at a startup or a company. Jeff was an early employee at Salesforce, Zuora and later Elastic and has hired thousands of people over his career. Listen in for pragmatic career advice! 

In this week's episode of "In the Spotlight," Kirk Harper joins me to discuss his viral post (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kirk-harper-08b0184_aitransformation-employeefirst-changemanagement-activity-7378333970570125312-q1vp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q) about the paradox of some systems integrators failing to upskill their own employees for the AI economy, yet they're advising companies on how to upskill their own workforce. How can both be true? Do you push, pull or drag reluctant employees into the age of AI? 

Rohit's post about moving his family from the Bay Area to Barcelona went viral on LinkedIn, and the picture of him in the post (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rohit-garewal_ive-spent-20-years-telling-clients-to-do-activity-7359252642994249730-b935?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q) reminded me that he's the most buff person I know. In this episode we talk about maintaining work / life / home / gym balance, supplements + aids, his workout routine, workout logging/tracking, fitness technology and more. 

Veteran IDC analyst Heather Hershey explains something that you can't un-see once you notice it - AI's over use (and abuse) of antithesis. Her viral LinkedIn post on this subject (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7363884089625464834/) was a great insight — it wasn't just a post, it was a wake-up call to all of us.

In this week's In the Spotlight podcast, Christophe Barre explains why we've entered the "fast fashion" era of SaaS due to AI. In the most viral post we've covered to date, Christophe breaks it down. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/barrechristophe_sam-altman-ending-the-fast-fashion-era-activity-7359584242663632897-EIQQ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q

The one and only Rick Watson joined to discuss Shopify's agentic commerce strategy. The viral post we discussed is: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ecommercestrategyconsulting_shopify-q2-earnings-says-f-u-to-your-activity-7359190668163915776-8eYB?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q. 

Most of the world uses fixed fee pricing for B2B transactions. The road in front of your house was built by a contractor offering up a fixed price bid. Why, 30 years after the invention of the web, why are agencies still charging on a time & materials basis? Anshey Bhatia's viral post on this subject (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ansheybhatia_ecommerce-shopifyplus-digitalagency-activity-7355937751537471489-KAE6?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q) explains the problem with time & materials, explains why it's still (unfortunately) the default, and offers up an alternative. 

What does Jamie's grandmother have to tell us about the death of the web as we know it? Well, it turns out a lot actually. In the most viral post yet (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/notrab_my-78-year-old-grandmother-just-explained-activity-7345501838579802113-L5mn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q), Jamie breaks it all down for us.

Did AI kill the em dash? Adam Sturrock believes it has and his LinkedIn post on this subject went viral with polarizing views on both sides of this debate. Is it the most important topic to discuss in 2025? No. But it makes for a great 15 minute debate with an old friend. 

The one and only Kiri Masters joins me to discuss Retail Media Networks. Why are they so controversial? Do they contribute to the enshittification of the shopping experience? What role do these networks play when orders are being captured via AI? All, as usual, in 15 minutes or less. 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/kiri-masters_this-just-in-im-happy-to-admit-this-activity-7340790148667789312-2TBW?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q is the post we discussed.

Talon.One just raised $135m, which in this market is nothing short of remarkable. Founder/CEO Christoph Gerber explains what Talon.One does and why they're winning, how merchants are changing their approach to discounting, and his approach to fundraising in this episode of "In the Spotlight"

Dylan Whitman's seminal blog post on the future of AI + commerce went viral because of how directly it lays out the deep structural issues with how vendors build their products and why real agentic commerce will be hard for us all to truly adopt. Check out his blog post at https://www.ag3ntic.ai/p/ai-commerce-and-transformation

How ridiculous is it that many tech CEOs can't demo their own products? Alex joins to explain his viral LinkedIn post on this topic: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aatzberger_ai-dxp-experimentation-activity-7329099417536401408-2xzQ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAABIk90BajMmOMdE1FcLgzdxuG_mXl3CM0Q