THE ATOMIC BUILD PODCAST

Behind the Code.

Candid conversations with founders and operators around what their building and why it matters now.

About Behind the Code — a show by Atomic Build featuring candid conversations with the founders and operators building what comes next. Every episode is published with a full transcript, timestamps and key takeaways, and is available on Spotify and YouTube.

Latest first

Oct 14, 202667 min

Why Great Products Can Still Lose: April Dunford on Positioning in the Age of AI

April Dunford joins Amit to explain why strong products still lose when buyers misunderstand their value or compare them with the wrong alternatives. She discusses revisiting positioning as competition changes, separating today’s buying behavior from future speculation, and staying close to customers through regular research. The conversation also covers reducing purchase risk, translating positioning into a consistent sales story, and why AI tools cannot replace the customer knowledge and judgment that good positioning requires.

Oct 6, 202649 min

Building an AI-Native Freight Forwarder from Zero to Trust

Pierre of Agent Astra shares his approach to building an AI-native logistics business, starting with air freight. He discusses customer discovery, why measurable time savings do not automatically improve a customer’s bottom line, and how human review helps automation earn trust. The conversation also explores working alongside established systems of record, the enduring value of relationships, and when a new freight business should use existing tools instead of building its own.

Sep 22, 202643 min

AI Adoption, Supply Chain & Social Selling | Heather Sye

Heather Sye joins Amit to discuss the organizational work behind useful AI adoption and effective go-to-market execution. She explains why readiness for change, feedback between teams, vendor expectations, and adoption measurement matter alongside the technology. The conversation covers messy supply chain data, keeping oversight close to consequential decisions, and using LinkedIn strategically to move from broad attention toward business conversations.

Sep 15, 202643 min

The Autonomous Mine: Rethinking Mining from First Principles

Johann Dias of Ursa Mining discusses bringing autonomy into an industry shaped by heavy machinery, long operating cycles, and demanding reliability requirements. He explains how giving existing equipment perception can provide a practical starting point, why adoption must follow the customer’s pace, and how lower operating costs could change the economics of mines. The conversation also covers robotics pricing, hardware iteration, and the balance between specialist and generalist contributors.

Sep 8, 202643 min

Stablecoins, Programmable Money & the Future of Business Finance

Phil Jacobson of Altitude discusses stablecoins as infrastructure for businesses operating across borders. The conversation focuses on practical payment and account needs, the continued role of traditional rails, and the possibilities of programmable treasury workflows. Amit and Phil then explore what it would take to let agents move money: explicit permissions, boundaries chosen by the user, and confidence in the security of the underlying systems.

Aug 20, 202643 min

AI Agents Need Their Own Phone Numbers

Gal Dayan of Dial joins Amit to discuss telecom infrastructure designed for AI agents. He describes the complexity of calling across jurisdictions, giving agents a mission rather than a low-level calling workflow, and connecting them to the context they need. Gal also shares how Dial approaches agent-written code through detailed agent stories, builds its own go-to-market workflows, and thinks about the future of voice interactions at work.

Aug 11, 202635 min

Beyond ROAS: The Signal Behind Smarter Ad Spend with AdZeta's CEO

Abhi Agnihotri of AdZeta discusses why better ad performance starts with the quality of the information sent to advertising platforms. He separates measurement, attribution, audience, and bidding signals, and explains why short conversion windows can miss long-term customer value. Amit and Abhi also explore the difference between a prediction and a useful bidding signal, setting realistic client expectations, and hiring engineers who think like product owners.

Aug 11, 202648 min

From Chatbots to Coworkers: How Worklayer Is Building Trust Infrastructure for AI Agents

Millin Gabani of WorkLayer joins Amit to explore the permissions and credential infrastructure behind agents that act inside a business. The conversation covers limiting actions such as sending email, sharing agents in Slack while preserving individual access, and deciding where human responsibility sits. Millin also describes a self-healing codebase workflow and discusses closed-loop automation, customer experience, and the product interfaces through which people use AI.

Aug 11, 202640 min

Hiring for Grit: Building Sales Teams and Assessing Talent with AI

Kevin DeFranco discusses building OneThirtyFive and turning an internal AI roleplay exercise into Rep2X. He shares his approach to hiring for honesty and learning potential, makes the case for phone-first outbound amid increasingly similar automated outreach, and explains how roleplay assessments fit into his interview process. Amit and Kevin also discuss portable proof of sales ability and the appeal of building a sustainable business without following a venture-funded growth playbook.

Aug 11, 202640 min

When AI Makes Everything the Same, Brand Becomes the Moat

Caitlin of Blazel joins Amit to discuss building trust and generating business through LinkedIn content. She explains why brand and distribution matter as products become easier to copy, how to avoid posts that leave readers asking why they should care, and how to measure results beyond likes. The conversation explores turning engagement into outreach opportunities, giving different team members distinct voices, and using relatable stories to build an audience.

May 2, 202613 min

Scaling Secure AI: Turning Enterprise Data into Impact (Behind The Build with Tharani Part 2)

In the second part of the conversation, Tharani explains how an AI proof of concept becomes a production implementation inside a larger engineering organization. She covers architecture planning, security training, and the documentation needed to build stakeholder confidence. The discussion then examines an internal MCP server that supplies agents with task-specific data, the importance of structured inputs, and the value of documentation and hands-on learning for developers.

May 2, 202614 min

Scaling Secure AI: Turning Enterprise Data into Impact (Behind The Build with Tharani Part 1)

Tharani walks through the early stages of introducing AI into an established education technology platform. She describes learning the product and its data, identifying opportunities with business value, and working with product, design, and engineering stakeholders to narrow an initial idea list. The episode then follows the move into scoped requirements and proof-of-concept experiments, with particular attention to sensitive information, technology approval, and regular feedback.

About the podcast

What is Behind the Code?

Behind the Code is the official podcast from Atomic Build. It features candid conversations with founders and operators building what comes next — across AI, fintech, robotics, marketing, and talent.

Where can I listen to Behind the Code?

You can listen on Spotify at the Behind the Code show page. Episodes are also published with full transcripts, timestamps, and key takeaways on atomicbuild.com/podcast.

Does every episode include a transcript?

Yes. Every episode is published with a full transcript, timestamps, and structured key takeaways — designed to be useful for search engines and AI answer engines alike.

How often are new episodes released?

New episodes are released regularly. Visit atomicbuild.com/podcast for the latest episodes, sorted newest first.