Today is a special episode. This is our 250th episode!

To celebrate, Laura and Kevin sit down with Dikshant Dave, a three-time founder and current CEO of Zigment, to explore the next frontier in AI, Agentic AI. Dikshant breaks down what sets Zigment apart in the crowded marketing tech world and explains how Agentic AI systems do more than just automate, they learn, adapt, and make decisions on the fly.

The conversation touches on his journey through multiple startups, the challenges of balancing innovation with privacy, and the industries where AI is just getting started. Dikshant shares sharp takes on job displacement, the ethics of extracting personal data, and what transparency in AI really looks like. He also dives into a big question: Can empathy be automated? And should it be? Plus, hear what kind of startup he’d build next, and who he’d begrudgingly? choose to be stuck in an elevator with.

It’s a thoughtful, funny, and wide-ranging conversation with someone who’s not just building tech, but rethinking how it fits into the real world.

Dikshant Dave is the CEO of Zigment, a marketing automation platform built around Agentic AI—intelligent systems that go beyond automation to actively learn, adapt, and make decisions across every customer touchpoint. With Zigment, he’s redefining how businesses engage with customers by combining proactive AI with human insight to drive measurable impact: higher lead conversion, smarter workflows, and stronger ROI. A three-time founder with a background in startups like CureJoy and Funstar, Dikshant has made a career out of pushing the boundaries of what tech can do. His latest work focuses on the rise of AI agents, the future of personalization at scale, and how businesses can tap into AI without losing the human touch. He's also passionate about using AI for good, most recently through Zigment’s nonprofit partnership with Give.org.

On this episode of That Tech Pod, Laura and Kevin chat with Alex Heublein, President of Culture and Innovation at Netsurit, about what it actually takes for small and midsize businesses to modernize their tech without getting overwhelmed. Alex has spent time at major companies like IBM and Oracle, but he makes it clear why working with SMBs is often more rewarding: they’re nimble, adaptable, and ready to try new things, as long as those things make sense.

They dig into Netsurit’s approach to “Innovate as a Service,” a subscription-style model built around co-innovation, outcomes, and a mindset shift from traditional consulting. Alex also shares his framework for helping clients navigate the noise around AI, how to pick the right use cases, and why some businesses are better off waiting before diving in.

The conversation touches on everything from AI ethics and return on investment to why culture and tech have to evolve together. Plus, there’s a lighthearted trivia round on the inventors behind the internet, some talk about the future of augmented reality glasses, and a few laughs along the way. If you’ve ever wondered how to actually apply AI without just chasing trends, or what makes an IT partner worth working with, this one’s worth a listen.

Alex Heublein is the President of Culture and Innovation at Netsurit, where he focuses on helping small and midsize businesses navigate digital transformation, cybersecurity, and operational growth through practical, forward-thinking technology solutions. With a strong background in both business strategy and technical leadership, Alex has held senior executive roles at major tech companies including IBM, HP, Oracle, and Red Hat. His experience spans innovation strategy, IT modernization, cloud services, and organizational culture development. At Netsurit, he leads efforts to blend culture with technology, ensuring that companies not only adopt new tools but also build the internal mindset and processes to make them work.

In this episode, Laura and Kevin sit down with Bob Bodily, founder of Odin.fun, to talk about the wild ride of memecoins, Bitcoin's evolving role in the crypto ecosystem, and what the future might hold for decentralized tech. Bob breaks down how Odin.fun is rethinking the Bitcoin experience, from instant token creation to a gasless, wallet-agnostic interface that’s pulling in tens of thousands of users.

We discuss the growing risks in crypto including wallet drains, scams, and design flaws, and ask what platforms can do to protect users without killing the fun. Bob shares his thoughts on whether the rise of meme-driven platforms is a cultural shift or just another hype cycle, and weighs in on Bitcoin’s potential to support more complex applications without abandoning its core stability.

There’s also plenty of banter: Laura's optimism, Kevin’s crypto skepticism, and Bob’s grounded take on what’s real, what’s broken, and what could be next. Whether you’re a degenerate trader or just crypto-curious, this one gives you a smart, honest look at what’s going on under the hood.

Bob Bodily is the founder of Odin.fun, which pioneered instant memecoin creation and trading on Bitcoin and offers 2-second finality.

With Odin.fun, Bob has shown what’s possible with Bitcoin and helped silence the narrative that the network isn’t fast enough. After the first two months of operation, the platform amassed more than 60K users, 3000+ BTC in trading volume, and 15k+ tokens created, with 150+ hitting bonded status. Unlike Solana’s model, Odin.fun offers a gasless experience through chain abstraction tech, enables logins with any Bitcoin wallet, and uses a single-canister system to streamline operations. It’s a fresh take on Bitcoin’s capabilities, hinting at the broader potential for programmability on the network, which Bob can highlight to underscore the capabilities of the Bitcoin-native Layer 0 interoperability protocol.