Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

thoughtbot

4.8 (88)
TECHNOLOGY
UPDATED WEEKLY

A podcast about the design, development, and business of great software. Each week thoughtbot is joined by the people who build and nurture the products we love.

5D AGO

570: Rolling for Initiative with Chad, Will and Sami

Chad, Will and Sami discuss life outside of thoughtbot and the hobbies that occupy them in their down time. Sami talks about taking the cold plunge, Will about his recent efforts with running, before Chad takes his co-hosts down the rabbit hole that is Dungeons and Dragons. — Watch the trailer for Chad’s upcoming production Thresher, a collaboration between his production company 12 Sided Studios and Critical Role! Check Out Sami’s Running Shoes You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel and Sami through his website. You can also connect with the trio via their LinkedIn pages - Chad - Will - Sami. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

50 min
APR 10

569: Automation is king with Karen King

Chad talks with Karen King, Found of Gold Star Pro, and her drive to help small business owners reach their full potential. Karen talks about the all-inclusive space Gold Star Pro offers for solopreneurs, the automation behind it all, as well as balancing a life of world travel with running a successful business. — Want to take a step up in your small business and ditch plethora of different platforms you use? See what Gold Star Pro can offer you. Still not sure, try out their 5 day challenge to see how you could benefit! If you’d like to chat with Karen further about Gold Star Pro, you can connect with her on LinkedIn.. Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

33 min
APR 3

568: What does Carbon even mean? With Polly and Otto from True

Sami goes back to school as he asks Otto Terrell and Polly Gupta, head of sustainability and sustainability strategist at True, the key questions around the environmental buzz words of 2025. Sami finds out the differences between carbon neutral and net zero, why the big corporations have been so slow to adopt a sustainable model, and how true is working with companies to forge a clear path for everyone to net zero. — Interested in working with true to reduce your business’ energy costs and work towards net zero? Get in touch with the team, or check out their LinkedIn Page Learn more about the impact your ChatGPT conversations have on the environment by reading the article Sami mentions in this episode. If you’re interested in contributing to the work Otto and Polly do with true, they can also be found over on LinkedIn Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

43 min
MAR 27

567: The Future of Digital Health: Where Are We Headed with Steven Wardell

Sami talks with Steven Wardell, managing partner of Wardell Advisors LLC, about the lacking tech developments within the healthcare sector. Together they assess why digital health products have failed to maintain the same pace as other consumer technology, the difficulties and regulations involved when develop technology for the health sector and whether AI could finally bridge the gap to play a larger role in medical assessments and data management. — You can email Steven directly at steven@wardelladvisors.llc.com or connect with him over on LinkedIn. If you’ve enjoyed listening to Steven talk and would like more, check out his podcast here over on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

35 min
MAR 20

566: Staying Grounded and Product Innovation with Tanu Chellam

Sami chats with Tanu Chellam, Senior Vice President of Product at Seldon and Chairperson of the Board at Atlas Rosetta, about her journey and career in the world of products. Tanu covers her journey from start to finish, from building websites as a teenager and her dreams of travelling, all the way through to her time at AutoDesk where she was instrumental in scaling one of their largest product’s installation time from 8 hours, to 8 minutes. Learn how Tanu learnt to balance her working life and downtime, and how her definition of success and relationship to work has changed over the course of her career. — You can connect with Tanu over on LinkedIn, where she would be happy to discuss anything mentioned in this episode in greater detail. Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

42 min
MAR 13

565: Coding Journeys with Will and Sami

Ever wondered how our Giant Robots hosts got into programming in the first place? In today’s episode Sami and Will take some time to dive into their coding journeys and the lessons they learnt along the way. Hear about their ambitions growing up and where they thought they were headed, the motivation, drive and hurdles they overcame to get to where they are today and how impostor syndrome isn’t just a “new job” problem. — Hear more about Sami and Will’s kids in their previous episode together! Check out the Dunning-Kruger graph. Your hosts for this episode have been Will Larry and Sami Birnbaum. You can find Sami through his website, or you can connect with them both via their LinkedIn pages - Will - Sami. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

44 min
MAR 6

564: Making humans more valuable, not less with Andrei Oprisan

Chad talks with Andrei Oprisan, head of engineering at Agent.AI, about his new approach to making AI tools and agents accessible to everyone. Hear how the community are helping to shape and build on Agent.AI in ways the team never thought of, the road blocks of developing such an accessible market place, and the desire to make every AI agent as easy to use for as many people as possible. — Explore Agent.AI’s catalogue of tools to see if it can help enhance your workflow for free! If you find the resource useful, consider joining the AI builders community and get even more involved with AI tools! You can email Andrei at andrei@mail.agent.ai, or connect with him via LinkedIn If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

38 min
FEB 27

563: Next-Gen Aging: The Venture Capital Perspective with James Hueston

Sami is joined by James Hueston, venture investor at Primetime Partners, as they discuss technology’s failure to connect with the older generation. James explains how technology aimed at older people is often not fit for purpose, how the investment process for new startups is currently swamped with the same AI ideas, and Sami explores the idea of how AI can help improve loneliness in our modern world. — If you’d like to hear more about the importance of keeping accessibility at the forefront every project, check out Episode 559. If you’re an entrepreneur in the early stages of developing something in age tech, why not reach out to James at Primetime Partners to see if he can help! james@primetimepartners.com Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots

43 min

See All (25)

4.8

out of 5

88 Ratings

The human side

03/24/2020

Anuj Adhiya

Lindsey is a great host. She keeps the entire conversation moving and ensures that the discussions lead to thought starters for listeners, even when the topics being discussed might be highly technical. You're guaranteed to get something out of every interview. Lindsey's also wickedly funny so you'll never be bored. Give this show a go.
Hit or miss, trending towards miss.

09/29/2023

Nick8090908

This dude really just claimed that his company has artificial general intelligence. Ok.
Worse over time

04/12/2020

Travel Adventurers

I can’t say I’m a fan of the more recent podcast episodes. It’s gone from discussing interesting technical problems to business to solely interviews with clients who hired ThoughtBot. High quality audio, low quality filler content.
Entertaining, insightful and actionable! 🔥

03/13/2020

obacker19

Whether you’re well established as someone who can translate creative energy into the impact you want to have on the world, or just getting started as a catalyst for change - this is a must-listen podcast for you! Chad and Lindsey do an incredible job leading conversations that cover a huge breadth of topics related to the ins and outs of building a thriving career and life you can be proud of as a creator - from leaders who’ve actually walked the path. Highly recommend listening and subscribing!

A podcast about the design, development, and business of great software. Each week thoughtbot is joined by the people who build and nurture the products we love.