Cosmin Rusu

Transforming Visions into AI MVPs & Products | Founder @Duty Ventures | Ex {Google, Apple and Amazon}

Hi, I’m Cosmin, the Founder and Lead Engineer of Duty Ventures. 

After some experience as a software developer in companies such as Google, Apple, and Amazon, I decided to launch my project.

With several former colleagues and college friends, we launched our own startup specializing in software development for entrepreneurs and customers needing software development services. 

Duty Ventures is all about developing software products from start to finish, thanks to the experiences we have all acquired in the past years.

One of our most successful services is aimed at entrepreneurs and early-stage founders, for whom we provide an MVP-builder service getting their product from 0 to 1 within weeks!

However, our services are not limited to that. The teams we create do much more than just create MVPs and are able to adapt to the different technologies requested, all of this in an agile way.

Our most recurrent services are the following:
- MVP creation
- Custom Software Development
- Blockchain Development
- Mobile Development
- Checkout pages
- E-Commerce

And our most used technologies are:
- Ruby on Rails
- React
- React Native
- Java
- NodeJS


If you want to learn more about how we can help you, head over to: https://dutyventures.com


Phone: (+1) 669 200 9568 / (+40) 754 973 314
Email: cosmin@dutyventures.com

Founder & Lead software engineer

I'm leading a software development agency focused on fast iterations. Most of our clients are shipping more features, responding faster to support tickets, and have accelerated growth because of us.

We focused on HealthCare a lot lately due to the accelerated digitalization in this industry. I am a strong believer that we can make healthcare more technically advanced via pure software. 

In terms of technologies, our previous projects involved Ruby on Rails, React, React Native, Scala, Java, Kubernetes, GCP, AWS (ECS, RDS, AKS), Stripe Connect, HIPAA compliance.

Some of our previous clients: 
- Spotify
- Colgate
- Go4Ellis (incl. HIPAA compliance)
- KindBody (+1 HIPAA)
- NXT Sports
- Noom (Healthcare)
- Mochila Fulfillment
- 3Step
- Mylk Guys (YCombinator)
- NLV Productions
- SH Technologies
- One Step Software (Techstars)
- Ergodic Labs
- Med Prep
- Testing Psych
- Abundance Digital
- Tookitaki

Everyone is cutting juniors.

AI writes code. AI reviews code. AI tests code.
So why would anyone hire a junior developer in 2026?

I'll tell you why. Because I do it. Every quarter.

Here's what the "AI replaces juniors" crowd doesn't understand:

AI doesn't build culture.
AI doesn't grow into your next team lead.
AI doesn't challenge your senior engineers with fresh perspectives.
AI doesn't stay loyal for 5 years because you gave them their first real shot.

The data says junior positions dropped 20-30% in some regions.
The industry says "juniors are obsolete."

I say that's short-sighted and dangerous.

If we stop training juniors today, who leads your engineering team in 2030?

We'll face a competence gap worse than any talent shortage.
A generation of engineers who never learned to think... because a machine did it for them.

At Duty Ventures, we pair every junior with a senior + AI tools.
They learn faster. Ship sooner. And they bring something no LLM ever will:

Hunger.

The companies cutting all junior roles to save money?
They're eating their seed corn.

Cosmin Ionut

AI-forward engineers. Embedded fast. Delivering from day one. | Founder @Duty Ventures | Ex {Google, Apple and Amazon}

Anthropic just played the smartest marketing move in AI.

While OpenAI announced ads are coming to ChatGPT, Anthropic did the opposite - they ran a Super Bowl ad saying Claude will stay ad-free.

But that's not even the best part.

They started sponsoring Google search results for developer error messages and stack traces that return zero results.

Think about it: you're debugging at 2 AM, you paste an error into Google, nothing comes up - and right there is Claude offering to help.

That's not advertising. That's solving a real problem at the exact moment of frustration.

The marketing lesson here is massive:

Don't interrupt people. Show up where they already need you.

Most companies spend millions trying to grab attention from people who don't care. Anthropic spent it reaching developers at their most desperate moment - when no other solution exists.

This is the difference between push marketing and pull marketing done right.

What's the smartest developer-targeted ad you've seen?

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Stop paying for ngrok. There's a better alternative.

Meet zrok - an open-source tunneling tool built on zero-trust networking principles.

Why I switched:

1. Free subdomains - no paying for stable URLs
2. Open source - self-host it or use their free SaaS tier
3. Built on OpenZiti - actual zero-trust security, not just marketing buzzwords
4. Supports public AND private shares
5. Auto HTTPS/TLS out of the box
6. Custom domains supported

If you're a developer who regularly needs to expose local services (demos, webhooks, testing) - ngrok's free tier feels increasingly restrictive.

zrok gives you what you actually need without hitting a paywall every 5 minutes.

The setup is straightforward. The docs are solid. And because it's open source, you can inspect every line of code handling your traffic.

In a world where we're tunneling more and more traffic for dev and testing, having a free and secure option matters.

Check it out:

zrok.io

Home - zrok by NetFoundry

Unpopular opinion: most people using AI to build apps have no business deploying anything to production.

A 20-year sysadmin just quit his job this week. Not burnout. Not pay. His company offered bonuses for the best "vibe coded" app and got a tsunami of shadow IT - unsecured apps, unvetted AI agents on corporate machines, and a team of THREE sysadmins drowning under "innovation" built by people who can't explain what their own code does. When he raised security concerns? Debated. Overruled. Approved anyway. Because a VP saw a demo and got excited.

Copying ChatGPT output into production doesn't make someone an engineer. It makes them a liability with a deployment pipeline. A CTO in the thread admitted his marketing team had secretly built 11 apps - one storing customer data in a public S3 bucket. Eleven apps. Zero reviews. This is where we are now.

The predictable response: "That's just gatekeeping. Engineers are afraid AI will replace them." No. Good engineers use AI daily. The difference is they can read it, debug it, secure it, and explain it to an auditor. AI didn't lower the barrier to building software. It lowered the barrier to building dangerous software. Most organizations can't tell the difference until something breaks, leaks, or lands on a regulator's desk.

That sysadmin isn't the problem. He's the canary. Companies will keep ignoring people like him until they're explaining to a regulator why customer data ended up on the open internet because Dave from accounting "had a great idea for an app."

Stop handing out innovation awards. Start asking who's going to maintain it, secure it, and answer for it when it fails.

Open article: From the sysadmin community on Reddit by reddit.com

A friend of mine had his first meeting with a potential client in Germany.

He didn't prepare a pitch deck. Didn't try to "understand the project." Didn't walk through his company's services.

Instead, he asked one question:

"If I fly from Romania to Germany on Friday, can we meet face to face?"

They said yes instantly.

That was 5 years ago. They're still working together.

Here's what most agencies get wrong: they lead with capabilities. "We do React, we do mobile, we do cloud."

Nobody cares.

What founders actually want to know is: will this person show up when it matters?

The best business relationships I've seen didn't start with a scope of work. They started with someone proving they gave a damn before the contract was signed.

If you're choosing between a partner with a perfect proposal and one who'll get on a plane for you — pick the plane.

Hot take on vibe coding:

If frontend is mostly about calling APIs, and those APIs should be secure by default - does vibe coding make the most sense on the frontend?

Think about it. The frontend is essentially a curl wrapper. A UI layer. Less security risk.

Here's where I think things are heading:

Senior engineers will migrate towards building secure backends. Modular, composable backend "components" that can easily interact with each other.

Open-source microservices you can plug and play.

Need auth? Spin up your own Auth0-like instance. Need user-generated content? Spin up a UGC microservice - posts, comments, likes, replies, threads. The same patterns we use on LinkedIn, Facebook, X.

You reuse what exists. Then you generate your own microservice for what's specific to your product.

And once you become big enough? You open source it.

The frontend becomes the place where AI can truly shine - generating UIs, connecting to secure APIs, iterating on design fast.

The backend stays the domain of engineers who understand security, data, and system design.

Vibe coding isn't replacing developers. It's splitting the role in two.

For years, I thought the best way to create more value for clients was to charge less.

Lower rate = more value for their money. Simple math, right?

Wrong.

Here's what actually happened when I charged less:

→ Clients treated the work as disposable
→ My team felt undervalued, so they gave B-level effort
→ I attracted price-shoppers who churned the fastest
→ We couldn't invest in better processes, tooling, or talent

The moment I started charging what the work was actually worth, everything changed.

Clients were more engaged. More committed. More respectful of timelines.

My team felt ownership because the stakes matched the effort.

And the clients who stayed? They became long-term partners, not one-off projects.

If you're a founder evaluating dev partners and your main filter is "who's cheapest" — you're optimizing for the wrong thing.

The most expensive mistake isn't paying too much. It's paying too little for a team that doesn't care enough to get it right.

Stop hiring 10 developers when 2 + Claudes can do the same job.

I know. Controversial. Especially coming from someone who runs a dev agency.

But here's what nobody in outsourcing wants to say out loud:

The old model is dying.

1. Junior positions in outsourcing dropped 20-30% last year
2. Clients are asking: "Why pay for 8 devs when 1 senior + AI does 80% of the work?"
3. McKinsey predicts a 20-30% reduction in the global outsourcing market by 2030

And yet... most agencies are still selling headcount.
Still billing by the hour.
Still pretending nothing changed.

Here's the uncomfortable truth from someone who runs an agency:

If your only value proposition is "cheap developers" - you're already dead.
You just don't know it yet.

At Duty Ventures, we made a decision 2 years ago:
Stop being a code factory. Start being a product partner.

Don't sell hours. Sell shipped features.
Don't sell headcount. Sell outcomes.

The agencies that survive 2026 won't be the cheapest.
They'll be the ones who embraced AI, specialized in complex domains, and aligned incentives with their clients.

The rest? They'll be replaced by prompts...

Heroku just entered "maintenance mode."

Except this time, it's not your app - it's the entire platform.

Salesforce announced Heroku is transitioning to a "sustaining engineering model." Translation: no new features, no new enterprise contracts, just keeping the lights on.

If you've been a developer long enough, you know what this means. Standing still in tech is the same as moving backward.

Here's the thing though - Heroku's ideas won.

Every git push deploy. Every platform that "just works." Vercel, Render, Railway, Fly - they all carry Heroku's DNA.

The lesson for anyone building software products:

Your product can pioneer a category and still lose if the parent company stops investing. Innovation without sustained commitment is just a head start for your competitors.

If you're still running on Heroku - your apps are fine for now. But start planning your next move.

The platform that taught us what great developer experience looks like deserved better stewardship.

"We spend $XX,XXX/month on LLMs" is the new "we hired 200 people in 6 months."

Both sound impressive until the board asks: what did we actually get for it?

The smartest teams I see aren't spending more on AI. They're spending less, and ACTUALLY shipping more.

Marc Andreessen on how to get people to join your 3-person startup:

You have exactly 2 tools - stock options and vision.

Stock options they'll tell you aren't worth anything. So it really comes down to vision.

The best founders can explain how the world is going to look in a way that's so compelling, people leave Google and Microsoft to build it with them.

It's essentially sales. Selling to employees.

But here's the part most founders miss:

Hiring is also a self-selection process. The best companies are polarizing on purpose. They give a stark picture of what they are and what they aren't.

"We work 18-hour days - if that's not you, don't come."
"We go home at 5 every day - if that frustrates you, don't come."
"We do yoga as a company - if that's weird to you, don't come."

The founders who try to be everything to everyone end up hiring people who leave in 3 months.

The ones who are radically honest about their culture? They attract true believers.

Running a staff augmentation agency, I see this daily. The clients who know exactly what culture they're building find the right talent 10x faster.

Hot take: If your outsourcing partner can't deliver the same result with fewer people... they're the WRONG partner.

Let me explain.

I've been on both sides of this.

As a founder of a dev agency, I've seen clients pay for:
- 6 developers sitting in standups for 3 hours/day
- 4 QA engineers manually testing what AI can do in minutes
- A project manager whose only job was "translating" between client and devs

That's not a team. That's a payroll.

The smartest clients I work with in 2026 don't ask:
"How many developers will you assign?"

They ask:
"How fast can you ship this feature, and what does it cost?"

That's the shift:

OLD MODEL: Pay per seat. Vendor profits when project takes longer.
NEW MODEL: Pay per outcome. Vendor profits when they ship faster.

We moved to milestone-based pricing at Duty Ventures years ago.
Result? Our incentives match the client's: ship fast, ship right, move on.

When AI makes a 3-person team as productive as a 10-person team was in 2023 - the billing model has to change.

If your vendor is still charging you by the hour in 2026, ask yourself:

Whose interest are they serving - yours or theirs?

The outsourcing industry is worth $618 billion.
Most of it is still billed by the hour.
That's a $618 billion misalignment of incentives.

So I guess Claude is OOO today

https://status.claude.com/

So if AI will write code, and we treat that as a commodity, and as a pure blackbox inputs / outputs type of thing - what's next? Maybe we fully automate QA? Maybe we fully automate a simulation on how that code would interact with actual users? So we "simulate" a real world usage of an app / a website over time to find bugs / issues? Then, what next?

There are two types of early-stage technical decisions:

Type A: Decisions that get your product in front of users.
Type B: Decisions that prepare for users you don't have yet.

Most founding teams spend 80% of their time on Type B.

Kubernetes, microservices, auto-scaling, blue-green deployments... all Type B.

A $10 VPS with your app deployed on it? Type A.

And here's the uncomfortable math:

3,000 users paying $30/mo = $1M ARR.

A single server handles that without breaking a sweat.

Every week you spend on Type B before you have paying users is a week you're not learning whether anyone even wants what you're building.

Ship boring infrastructure.
Build interesting products.

Someone replicated Monday.com's core features in 60 minutes using AI.

Cost: $15.

Monday's stock took a hit. People panicked.

But here's the thing nobody's talking about:

Code has been getting cheaper for 20 years. AI just made the trend impossible to ignore.

If your entire business defensibility is "we built an app," you were already vulnerable. AI just made it obvious.

The real moat was never the code. It's:

→ Deep understanding of a specific customer problem
→ Product decisions that reflect real usage, not assumptions
→ An architecture that actually scales when users show up
→ A team that iterates based on data, not vibes

I see founders still spending months planning features that an AI tool could scaffold in an afternoon. And I see Silicon Valley founders shipping AI-generated MVPs that fall apart the moment real users touch them.

Both are missing the point.

The winners will be the ones who combine fast tooling with sharp product thinking.

Code is a commodity. Product judgment is not.

monday.com

monday.com | Outpace everyone with the best AI work platform

Helen Yu

CEO @Tigon Advisory Corp. | Host of CXO Spice | Board Director |Top 50 Women in Tech | AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech, Insurance, Industry40, Growth Acceleration

I'm passionate about human-AI amplification rather than replacement.



As the founder & CEO of Tigon Advisory, I help tech companies multiply growth through responsible AI, cybersecurity, IoT, supply chain, and CX strategies. Offering CXO-as-a-service in digital transformation, risk management, GTM, and thought leadership. Clients include NVIDIA, Salesforce, Microsoft, Cisco and innovative startups in Cybersecurity, SaaS, Fintech, etc. Also serve as board director and VC advisor on ethical tech and governance. 



Credentials include cybersecurity certification from MIT Sloan, MBA from Loyola University Chicago, WSJ/Amazon bestselling author ("Ascend Your Start-Up"), keynote speaker, and host of CXO Spice podcast where I explore leadership in emerging tech.



On LinkedIn, my daily posts (300+ in 2025, 136k+ reactions, 38k+ comments) share practical insights on ethical AI scaling, voice agents, bias mitigation, and building trust in human-AI teams.



I'm passionate about mentoring the next generation, especially women and underrepresented leaders in tech.

If you're shaping responsible AI strategies, navigating cyber risks in AI, or debating amplification vs. automation, let's connect. Comment below, share your take, or reach out. Excited to amplify together.



#ResponsibleAI #HumanAI #AIEthics #Cybersecurity #DigitalTransformation

Director Board of Directors

CEC is a security service integrator with focus markets in manufacturing, healthcare, SLED and Corporate Campus.  Customers with complicated organizations and physical plants rely on CEC as extensions of their teams in making strategic investment and management decisions related to their technology and infrastructure. I serve as Culture and Compensation Committee Chair. 

What would the world look like if we truly accelerated action for women?

Right now, full gender parity won't arrive until 2158 according to the World Economic Forum.

That’s 132 years away.

We have the power to move that date forward.

In this special #IWD2026 newsletter edition, I reflect on the progress we’ve made, highlight the women who inspire me, and share actions we can take to accelerate change.

Inside you’ll find:
✅ Highlights from a powerful Women in Technology panel at the Acumatica Summit
✅ Books and podcasts that expand perspective
✅ Simple actions anyone can take to move the needle

Over the past year, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to learn from many inspiring women leaders across technology, financial services, manufacturing and communications.

Now I want to hear from you 👇
Tag one woman who inspired you and tell us why.

Let's amplify women’s voices together. 
Happy International Women’s Day 🌸

#IWD2026 #AccelerateAction #WomenInLeadership #GenderEquity

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation,
Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
or 👉 #CXOSpiceYouTube here https://lnkd.in/gnMc-Vpj

Bridging Responsible AI Innovation | Advisor to Tech Leaders | Host, CXO Spice | Human-AI Amplification Advocate

Every March 8th, the world pauses to honor the achievements, resilience, and brilliance of women. But this year’s theme, Accelerate Action, reminds us

Open article: Accelerating Change: Celebrating Women and the Work Still Ahead by Helen Yu • 4 min read

Accelerating Change: Celebrating Women and the Work Still Ahead

What lights you up about the work you do?

For me, it's this.
Fresh off Conga Connect in Orlando and straight into Enterprise Connect in Vegas, I hosted "Hot Takes & Cold Drinks" with two women who are redefining what leadership looks like in communications and technology.
⭐️ Millicent McIntyre, MSOB — 2026 Spotlight Award Winner, Senior Director, Buyer Services IAA
⭐️ Lori Wodrich — 2025 Winner & this year's judge, Senior Systems Engineer Amerisure Insurance

What resonated with me most was HOW they got there.
🔥Millie started in a contact center after cosmetology school.
No title. No roadmap.
She became the person everyone came to through curiosity, consistency, and caring deeply about people.
"Culture is the foundation of everything we do."
She meant every word.

🔥Lori's defining moment was A hackathon.
Surrounded by engineers far more technical than her, she almost changed her answer to fit in.
She didn't.
She held her ground. Shared her reasoning. And the entire panel shifted to her choice.
That's confidence backed by data.

Lori's Three S's I'm taking with me:
✅ Speak Up
✅ Say Yes — to growth, not every task
✅ Share Results

And here is Millie's closing wisdom:
Don't try to be like every other leader.
Be authentically, unapologetically YOU.

These are two women who didn't wait for a title to lead.
They showed up. Over-delivered. Built trust.
And the title eventually followed.

My biggest takeaway: Leadership is earned, not assigned.
Here is my personal hot take:
Sometimes you need to put down your to-do list and focus on your to-be list.
Who do you want to BE? Let that guide everything else.

Thank you, Millie and Lori, for being so open, so real, and so generous with your stories. You reminded all of us of what's possible. 🙌

And a heartfelt thank you to Erica Marois and Cheryl Kahan-Radhuber at Informa and Enterprise Connect for creating this space for women in communications. This is exactly the kind of platform our community needs. 💜

▶️ Watch the full 15-minute conversation below!

#EnterpriseConnect #WomenInTech #Leadership #EC2026 #Communications 

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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What did I learn from the OECD - OCDE Responsible AI Due Diligence Guidance?

Responsible AI is shifting from principles to accountability; clarifying who is responsible, at what point, and across the value chain.

👉 The real shift is from “Do we use AI responsibly?” to “Can we prove it — continuously?”

AI governance is becoming a core business capability rather than a compliance exercise.

I’ve broken down the insights that stood out to me me most in the carousel including where responsibility escalates, when scrutiny should be deeper, and why disengagement is sometimes the responsible choice.

Let me know what stood out to you 👇

#ResponsibleAI #AIGovernance #RiskManagement #BoardDirectors #CEOs

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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CEO of Tigon Advisory Corp. | Host of CXO Spice | Board Director |Top 50 Women in Tech | AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech, Insurance, Industry40, Growth Acceleration

5 Key Learnings from OECD Responsible AI Due Diligence

Are you modernizing your systems fast and wondering if you’re doing it securely?

In this short CXO Spice trailer, John Picinich and I touch on the real tension leaders are facing right now; moving quickly to innovate while making sure security, risk, and trust don’t fall behind. It’s a conversation about what works in the real world.

This builds on the themes from the #CXOSpice newsletter I shared three weeks ago on breaking down data silos in financial services, where we explored why governance, secure data movement, and a strong foundation are essential before layering on automation and AI.

I had the chance to host John Picinich at Progress Software to unpack:
✅ Where most organizations misjudge modernization risk
✅ How security teams can become enablers, not blockers
✅ What “secure by design” looks like in practice

🎥 Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gPq8B8Tg

And stay tuned. I’ll be hosting Progress Software’ Chief AI Officer Ed Keisling on agent orchestration soon.

#FinancialServices #AI #Agents

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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What the #WomenInTech stage taught me at Acumatica Summit?

Have you ever walked into a room and felt momentum happening in real time?
Speaking at Acumatica Summit this year was one of those moments.

I left thinking less about the stage and more about the people. Leaders choosing courage over comfort. Learning out loud. Lifting each other higher.

A few lessons that stayed with me
✨ Confidence starts with the story we tell ourselves
✨ Preparation creates clarity when pressure rises
✨ Leadership means sending the ladder down

I shared a few deeper reflections in my latest newsletter. Check out the full story: https://lnkd.in/e2Ad_BXf

What is one lesson that has changed how you show up this year?

#WomenInTech #Leadership #Technology #Innovation

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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A FIRST TIMER’S PERSPECTIVE I didn’t know what to expect walking into my first Acumatica Summit. I knew the event was significant, and I felt honored 

Open article: What the Women in Tech Stage at Acumatica Summit Taught Me? by Helen Yu • 7 min read

What the Women in Tech Stage at Acumatica Summit Taught Me?

What does success look like twelve months in if you go all in on a frictionless Commerce Chain?

I asked Lisa Martin, CRO of Conga during our interview at Conga Connect.
Her answer was precise.

Deal velocity accelerates. Deal volume grows. Revenue leakage stops hiding in quarterly post-mortems.

Most organizations look at discounting retrospectively. A scattergram tells you where you bled. Commerce Chain stops the bleeding.

A connected Commerce Chain changes the equation. You see where margin is slipping in the moment. You catch at-risk customers before renewal. You act on upsell signals the data was always telling you.

And when agentic AI matures inside that chain, it executes the insight.
Faster deals. Protected margin. Smarter renewals.

👉 Read the full story in CXO Spice Newsletter 
👉 Watch the conversation: https://lnkd.in/gpdCFhkS

#CommerceChain #CRO #CongaConnect #CongaPartner

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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“It’s not growth at all costs anymore. It’s growth, but profitable growth , and the thing getting inspected is how easy we are to do business with.” —

Open article: Commerce Chain Is the Revenue Operating System Your Business Has Been Missing by Helen Yu • 5 min read

Commerce Chain Is the Revenue Operating System Your Business Has Been Missing

What does every business leader need to understand about the agentic era?

Here are 5 things I took away from Jensen Huang’s keynote at NVIDIA GTC:

1️⃣ Tokens are the new oil
Jensen redefined what a data center is.
Data centers are no longer places where we store files.
They are factories producing tokens.
Power goes in.
Data goes in.
Intelligence comes out.
Every watt of power you have is either generating revenue or wasting it.
The next metric CEOs may start tracking alongside EBITDA: tokens per watt.

2️⃣ The inference inflection
For years AI was a training story about who had the biggest models and the most parameters.
That era is over.
AI now must think, reason, and act in real time.
That requires inference at massive scale.
Compute demand has grown roughly 1,000,000× in two years.
That’s not hype.
That’s infrastructure reality.

3️⃣ Every SaaS company will become an AaaS company
Just as every company eventually needed:
• an HTTP strategy
• a cloud strategy
• a Kubernetes strategy
Every company now needs an agent strategy.
The question is no longer if.
It’s how fast.

4️⃣ The security model just changed
Agentic systems can:
• access sensitive data
• execute code
• communicate externally
Jensen said that out loud. Slowly.
Let that sink in.
The opportunity is enormous.
So is the risk.
In the agentic era, security and governance are the foundation.
The companies that get this right will win.

5️⃣ Synthetic data will unlock robotics
Real-world data will never be sufficient to train robots for every scenario.
Simulation closes the gap.
Synthetic data allows robots to learn faster than the real world can generate experience.
The GPT moment for autonomous systems may already be happening.
BYD, Hyundai, Nissan, and Geely just joined the platform, representing 18M vehicles per year.

The closing scene of the keynote said everything.
Robots and humans sitting around a campfire in a forest.
Playing music together.
The caption:
“The future’s here. Won’t you come and see.”
Not a warning.
An invitation.

Two stops worth making on the show floor today:
✅ Cisco Booth #1421 - The agentic era needs a secure foundation. I’ll be interviewing Kevin Wollenweber, SVP & GM of Data Center at Cisco, on what Secure AI Factory means at enterprise scale.
✅ Elastic Booth #3200 - Jensen said 90% of the world’s data is unstructured and largely inaccessible. Elastic is building the retrieval layer to unlock it. Don’t miss their sessions on eliminating the data bottleneck and how NVIDIA itself is using it.

The token factory is only as powerful as its security, networking, and data retrieval layers.

That’s the story continuing on the show floor.

#NVIDIAGTC #NVIDIAPartner #CiscoPartner

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What Boards and Security Leaders Must Know about AI-Driven Threats?

Last week, I hosted Mike Riemer, Field CISO at Ivanti on a webinar secure by design: prevent weaponized AI attacks with Kernel security strategies.

Mike put the stakes in sharp focus from the start:

Threat actors can reverse engineer a patch and weaponize it within 72 hours.
In some cases, attacks begin within 90 seconds of code being published.

Let that sink in.

This is not a technology problem you can delegate to your CISO.
It is a governance issue, and boards have a fiduciary duty to act.

In my latest newsletter, I cover:

✅ Why traditional perimeter defenses are failing
✅ What Secure by Design means  and how to hold vendors accountable
✅ Why kernel-level security is the new line of defense
✅ The questions every board and audit committee must be asking now

Knowledge without action leaves your organization exposed.

As AI-driven threats accelerate, kernel-level security has become the new line of defense.

Are you ready for it?

Watch the full conversation with Mike here:
https://lnkd.in/gP4hnwGT

Join us for the upcoming #LinkedInLive where we'll be continuing this critical conversation. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gF8YcTqf

#CyberSecurity #BoardGovernance #KernelSecurity #AIThreats #CISO #RiskManagement #IvantiPartner

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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“Threat actors can reverse engineer a patch and weaponize it within 72 hours — and we’ve seen attacks begin within 90 seconds of vulnerable code being

Open article: What Boards and Security Leaders Must Know About AI-Driven Threats and Kernel-Level Defense by Helen Yu • 6 min read

What Boards and Security Leaders Must Know About AI-Driven Threats and Kernel-Level Defense

Why are companies still using 8 platforms to move money?

I just saw a CFO’s finance stack:
Stripe. Wise. Ramp. Mercury. Chargebee.
Plus 3 international bank accounts.
Eight logins. Eight reconciliations.
And they’re still losing 4–6% on every international transaction.

Here’s the hidden tax 👇
You get paid €100K → converted to USD (≈3% gone)
You pay a European supplier → USD back to EUR (≈3% gone)
That’s 6% lost moving the same money in a circle.
On a $10M business? $600K/year.

This is why Airwallex exists.
One platform to:
✅ Accept global payments
✅ Hold 20+ currencies (no forced FX)
✅ Pay suppliers same-day
✅ Issue cards globally (zero FX fees)
✅ Open accounts in minutes
One integration. One dashboard.
Companies doing $10M+ internationally save $400K–$600K/year just by consolidating.

Airwallex just opened their second HQ in San Francisco. They're bringing global-first infrastructure to companies tired of fragmented stacks and hidden fees.

So Why are you still using 8 platforms to move money?

#AirwallexPartner #CFOs

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How do you prepare for the next frontier of transformation?

AI is reshaping how we build, decide, and serve customers; and getting ready means learning, experimenting, and connecting with others who are doing the same.

You’ll find a mix of business leaders and builders at the #MicrosoftAITour. 
People like me, are focused on turning AI ideas into real impact. What I love about this experience is how hands-on it is. You not only hear about the technology, but also get to explore it, build with it, and learn directly from Microsoft engineers and the community. From secure apps to agents and solutions using tools like Foundry and Copilot, you walk away inspired and ready to apply what you’ve learned.

This 20-second clip is a throwback to my favorite moments from the Chicago tour last September 🎥

I’m excited for the upcoming U.S. stops:
📍 Washington, DC on March 10 - Register here 👉 hhttps://lnkd.in/ebyjqCQb
📍 Atlanta on April 29 (I will be there in person)- Register here 👉 https://lnkd.in/ey83fdKc
📍 Houston on May 28 - Register here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eKVZVvE9

If you’re looking to prepare your organization for this frontier transformation, join a tour near you and start turning possibilities into action.

#MicrosoftAITour #FrontierTransformation #AILeadership #MicrosoftAmbassador Microsoft in Business

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉#CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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When was the last time a support call made you feel heard?

After 2.3 million miles in the air and more support calls than I can count, I've come to believe we've been measuring customer experience all wrong.
We track resolution time. Handle time. CSAT scores. But nobody measures how it felt to be spoken to.

I've been hung up on agents who said all the right things and still left me feeling dismissed. And I've had problems go unresolved by agents who somehow made me feel taken care of anyway. The difference was never the script. It was tone. Pacing. The small human signals that say I hear you before a single solution is offered.

As executives, we've optimized everything we can see on a dashboard. But the felt experience of a conversation, that's been the blind spot.

That's what made me pay attention when I came across ElevenLabs' emotional voice agent. Because it points at something I've believed for years: conversational quality is product quality. And we're finally at the point where AI can deliver it at scale.

The leaders who get ahead of this won't just have faster support. They'll have support that people remember for the right reasons.

See it in action: https://lnkd.in/eDtV-aGs

#VoiceAgent #ConversationalAI #CX #CustomerOperations #ElevenLabsPartner

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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How many of your #security alerts matter?

Last quarter, my team reviewed 14,000 alerts. Only eleven led to investigation.
That's not a security program. That's noise with a compliance checkbox on it.

As a Board Director, the question I keep bringing back to leadership is simple: would we catch it before it happens?

Most organizations can't answer that with confidence. Not because they lack tools. But because they're measuring the wrong things. Volume of alerts. Hours logged. Endpoints covered. 

None of it tells you what the board needs to know: where is the human risk, and is it escalating?

The shift I've been advocating for is moving from reactive reporting to predictive intelligence. Not just flagging what already happened, but understanding behavioral patterns early enough to intervene before damage is done.

When I look at what predictive risk scoring is doing now, platforms like Teramind being able to detect behavioral shifts weeks before an incident occurs, that's the kind of intelligence that belongs in a board briefing.

Rule-based systems catch what you anticipated. Behavioral AI catches what you didn't. In insider risk, what you didn't anticipate is almost always what gets you.

Stop counting alerts. Start asking: what does this pattern mean?

#PredictiveIntelligence #Workforce #AIGovernance #TeramindPartner

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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What happens when AI stops living in the cloud and starts living in the world?

That's the question at the center of NVIDIA GTC.  That’s the premier global AI conference where developers, researchers, and business leaders come together to explore the next wave of AI innovation.

From physical AI and AI factories to agentic AI and inference, this is where the breakthroughs shaping every industry get unveiled. With 500+ sessions, labs, and workshops, there's no better place to go deep on real-world AI use cases and connect with the people building the future.

Last year's GTC drew 27K in-person attendees and 40M+ keynote views. I can't wait to see what 2026 has in store.

Register now and explore the session catalog: https://nvda.ws/4kfWXS8

#GTC25 #NVIDIAPartner #AI #PhysicalAI #GenerativeAI

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What does a connected, intelligent Commerce Chain look like in action?

At Conga’s 5th Annual Inspire Awards, we celebrated real, measurable business impact with CRO Lisa Martin.

When pricing, quoting, contracting, and revenue operate as one connected system, companies move faster, price smarter, and scale growth.

Here’s what that looked like this year:
✅ Commercial Excellence — IBM
Unified quoting and renewals for 3,000+ sellers and partners worldwide, accelerating deal cycles while improving seller productivity and global customer experience.
 
✅ Future of Commerce — Electronics Digikey
2× market outperformance in 2025 by unifying e-commerce with customer-specific pricing through neural networks and real-time pricing execution.
 
✅ Momentum Leader — Pediatrics Plus
Automated ~50% of monthly billing and reduced DSO from 84 → 54 days.
 
✅ Buyer Experience — Jack Henry 
Eliminated manual pricing errors, unified siloed sales processes, and accelerated time-to-revenue for financial institutions nationwide.
 
✅ Judges’ Choice — Southwest Airlines
Reduced contract creation time to just 5 minutes, delivering enterprise-grade governance with startup speed.
 
✅ Community Champion — Natalie Myers
Amplified peer voices and strengthened knowledge sharing across the entire Conga community.

A connected Commerce Chain unlocks measurable revenue performance across the entire lifecycle.

Stay tuned for my conversation with Conga CRO Lisa Martin with a deeper dive into what the Commerce Chain means for the future of revenue leadership.

#CongaConnect #InspireAwards #CommerceChain #CustomerSuccess #CongaPartner

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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What does it take to turn B2B influencer content into qualified pipeline?

I recently had a great conversation with Heather Barnett about this challenge and it’s clear this topic is rising on many B2B leaders’ agendas.

There’s a smarter way to approach it.

The Insight Collective and Custom Influence have put together an ebook that breaks it all down, featuring insights from leading B2B voices.

If you’re focused on making influencer marketing deliver measurable impact, this is worth your time.

https://lnkd.in/epkRekqz

#B2B #Influencer #Marketing 

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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When was the last time an AI investment delivered what it promised?

I've sat in enough boardrooms to know that question lands differently depending on who's in the room.

For most enterprises, the pattern is the same; a promising pilot, a growing consulting retainer, and a strategy deck that never quite becomes a production system.

That's the cycle Klika Tech built VELOCITY™ to break.

It's a 16-month, fixed-price program that takes organizations from AI uncertainty to a fully operational, self-sustaining AI capability. One contract. Five structured phases. And your team owns everything they build including the models, the infrastructure and the IP.

Team don't get paid for hours. They get paid for outcomes.

ROI validation begins at Month 8 so you get proof mid-journey
If AI is on your roadmap this year, reach out to see what it looks like in practice.

Drop a “Yes” comment if you want to learn more. 👇

#AI #EnterpriseAI #KlikaTech #VELOCITY #DigitalTransformation

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Ready to launch your #career in #AI in 2026? 

LinkedIn just released its Skills on the Rise 2026 list and the signal is clear: AI is reshaping every role, not just technical ones. 

Here are the fastest-growing skills: Prompt Engineering, RAG, LangChain, Vector Databases, and Model Fine-Tuning along people skills like Stakeholder Management and Leadership Communication. Employers want professionals who can build and lead with AI.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 20% growth in computer and information research roles between 2024 and 2034. The opportunity is real.

I've consolidated what I learned from Coursera and U.S. Bureau of Labor and put together a table of 9 high-demand AI roles with required skills, salary ranges, and core responsibilities to help you find your best fit.

Which role excites you most? Drop it in the comments 👇

#SkillsOnTheRise #FutureOfWork #ArtificialIntelligence #TechCareers
#AI #Jobs #MachineLearning #DataScience #WomenInTech

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation, Subscribe to 👉#CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg 
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9 AI Jobs to Consider in 2026

What are the two things that define a world-class data center?

Here's what I learned from Equinix team at last year's NVIDIA GTC 
(watch the 1-minute clip below)
→ Environment - power, space, and cooling
→ Interconnectivity - dense access to public clouds and GPU-as-a-service

Equinix operates 280 data centers across 77 global markets. The London facility Aaron showcased was built with his in mind: 170,000 sq ft, 100% renewable energy, 99.999% availability, and 200+ cloud interconnection points all water-cooled.

Equinix also announced they'll be the first to offer the NVIDIA Instant AI Factory; fully provisioned AI infrastructure powered by DGX GB300 and B300 systems, across 45 global markets.

This year, I'm going deeper on the #sustainability side of all of this.
I look forward to speaking with Christopher Wellise, Global VP of Sustainability at Equinix to talk about what it takes to build and operate AI infrastructure responsibly; from closing the gap between pledges and results, to whether the industry is measuring the right things.

Tune in to our upcoming CXO Spice from #NVIDAGTC. What would YOU ask Chris? Drop it below 👇

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation,
Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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Where are the real conversations about the future of revenue lifecycle happening right now?

At Conga Connect.

Just arrived at the venue and the energy is already building. This quick clip gives a glimpse of the space and a great catch-up with Amy Williams from the Conga team as things get underway.

Looking ahead to a packed agenda for Day 1:
✅ The future of commerce keynote from David Osborne CEO of Conga
✅ Accelerating Innovation across the commerce chain from Rohit Chhabra, CPO
✅ My 1:1 with Lisa Martin, CRO, diving into Commerce Chain
✅ Tonight’s customer panel and awards
✅ And wrapping the evening with the VIP dinner with Conga executives, select customers and fellow analysts Shelly DeMotte Kramer, Roy Atkinson, Eric Kavanagh.

Events like this are where product vision, customer experience, and strategy come together. I’m interested in hearing how organizations are approaching revenue lifecycle transformation and connected commerce.

Let's connect if you're here at Conga Connect. Or follow #CXOSpice to get the latest updates.

#CongaConnect #RevenueLifecycle #CPQ #CommerceChain #Analysts #CongaPartner

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What does responsible AI governance look like when the infrastructure at stake is an entire city?

It's a question that I'm proud to have helped answer along with an exceptional group of experts in collaboration with AI & Partners.

In this whitepaper, Digital Public Services: Governance Challenges in AI-Enabled Smart Cities, we explore how we can build trustworthy, interoperable urban infrastructure as AI becomes central to transport, energy, health, and public administration.

Key takeaways:
✅ Interconnected systems create cascading risks - resilience must be built in by design
✅ Interoperability and open standards are governance tools rather than just technical ones
✅ Privacy-by-design is essential as sensor networks and data fusion expand across cities
✅ The EU AI Act creates real obligations for municipalities deploying high-risk AI

Thank you to my fellow contributors for making this such a rigorous and timely piece of work:
Sean Musch, Michael Charles Borrelli, Dr. Don Liyanage, Dr. Benedikt Kohn, Harvey Castro, Lisa Ventura MBE FCIIS MBCS, Mariia Shcherbakova, Patrick Orsos, Shreyas Karanjkar, Edward Cole, Mitko Karushkov, Vibhav Mithal, FHCA, Mateo Jarrin Cuvi, Michael Boevink, Ina Schöne, Richard Chiumento, and Carolyn Harrison.

If you work in urban policy, AI regulation, or digital public services, this one is for you. 

#SmartCities #AIGovernance #EUAIAct #DigitalTransformation #AI

To stay current with the latest trends in #Technology and #Innovation,
Subscribe to 👉 #CXOSpiceNewsletter here https://lnkd.in/gy2RJ9xg
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taplio

The Battle

Cosmin Rusu

Helen Yu

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taplio

The Battle

Cosmin Rusu

Helen Yu

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Cosmin Rusu's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreCosmin Rusu's LinkedIn Performance