Steve Taplin

Sonatafy Technology | Nearshore Software Development

Sonatafy Technology is a premier nearshore software development company specializing in providing expert solutions to enhance business efficiency and innovation. With a focus on leveraging top talent in Latin America, Sonatafy offers a range of services from software engineering to skilled team augmentation, ensuring projects meet high-quality standards while remaining cost-effective. Our commitment to excellence and strategic approach enables businesses to achieve tech goals seamlessly.

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐔𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐄 𝐕𝐒. 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐒
✓ Headquartered in the US
✓ We hire engineers as full-time employees & not gig workers
✓ Engineers work off company-owned equipment vs. personal computers 
✓ We have cultivated a Network of over 11,500 Engineers in Latin America, which is how we find the right talent fast.
✓ All of our engineers are natively in US time zones & fully bilingual
✓ We pride ourselves on delivering meticulously custom-tailored solutions for each client. 
✓ Our CEO, Steve Taplin, is deeply committed to each project, ensuring unparalleled attention to detail & true client satisfaction. 
✓ Our clients benefit from extensive support through our executive team's "All-Hands" collaboration approach. It's how we can guarantee incredible results.

🏆𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐬: >>> ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑦.𝑐𝑜𝑚/𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠-𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠/

𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐒
We have gained the trust and approval of esteemed clients, including recognized organizations such as 𝐈𝐁𝐌, 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫, 𝐂𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐎𝐗. Our clientele is extraordinarily diverse, ranging from dynamic SMBs with teams of 25 to 1,000, all the way up to prominent Fortune 1000 companies. 

🚀𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬: >>> ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑝𝑠://𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑦.𝑐𝑜𝑚/𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑓𝑦-𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑒-𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒-𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠/

Chief Executive Officer & Chairman of the Board

Entrepreneur Media

https://www.entrepreneur.com/author/steve-taplin

Author - Technology, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Software Development, Outsourcing

Forbes Technology Council

https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Steve-Taplin-Chief-Executive-Officer-Sonatafy-Technology/b408fa22-1d00-4796-91f7-9898ae7a2968

Forbes Technology Council Is an Invitation-Only Community for World-Class CIOs, CTOs, and Technology Executives. E

Author - Technology, Leadership Strategies, Remote Work, Enterprise Software, Workplace Trends 

DXC Technology

Joined company as a key VP of Sales (2 levels below CEO) 18 months after company went through a large merger (HPES /EDS and CSC) with name rebranding to DXC.   Responsibilities include leading strategic deal teams on the company’s most important and complex services deals while managing senior client relationships, strategy and innovation, alignment with DXC’s executive team and client negotiations.

Additional responsibilities include maintaining and growing existing client relationships while working through the operational challenges of merging multiple billion dollar technology organizations.  

Key activities include acquire and grow talent, develop high performing teams, orchestrate go to market channels, collaborate with portfolio teams to develop high caliber solutions, develop winning commercial offers, and provide executive leadership and strategic guidance to the most significant client engagements.  

Leadership approach based on acting as a coach, inspire and lead as an expert practitioner.

Vice President - Strategic Pursuits

Drove explosive growth and profitability by identifying, cultivating, and overseeing large-scale, long-term outsourcing engagements for IBM’s Global Services business.

PROFIT OPTIMIZATION: Captured $480M+ revenue by securing multiple $15M to $250M+ outsourcing engagements through strategic business development, alliance building, and superb deal negotiation.

DEAL NEGOTIATION: Outdone average closing time of 6-12 months within IBM after closing $20M+ deal in just 45 days.

GROWTH DEVELOPMENT: Top deal maker by breaking down sales barriers to resolve complex client issues, developing value-driven solutions, and providing unmatched sales leadership to motivate sales teams.

INDUSTRY FOCUS:  Healthcare & Life Sciences | Banking and Capital Markets | Insurance | Telecommunications | Retail | Energy and Utilities | Public Sector

Vice President - IT Transformation Dealmaker                  

TAPCO Private Equity Firm: $400M+ Private Equity firm,owner /operator of several operating companies

Spent 13+ highly successful years building, growing, leading & exiting multi-million dollar technology based investments in startup businesses & existing companies.  Industries included Healthcare & Life Sciences, Telehealth, Securities Industry / Financial Markets, Digital Marketing, Franchising, Real Estate Investment & Mortgage Banking.  Managed 2K+ employees.

GROWTH MANAGEMENT: Established & led multiple successful operating enterprises under TAPCO Private Equity Firm —Diversified Technology, Diversified Residential REIT, Diversified Strategic Lending, Intense Marketing Solutions, SEO Experts, OntheSpot Doctor, The Real Market Experts, Franchise Inc., Investment Property Experts & Entrepreneur Realty.

P&L MANAGEMENT: Raised & managed $400M+ P&L & led 2K+ employees internationally within group of private equity owned operating companies.  

TECHNOLOGY OPTIMIZATION: Created & launched proprietary technology platforms to run back-office operations—automating workflow & employee accountability utilized for highly profitable business expansion.

STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT: Built securities broker dealer operation with strong network of securities broker dealers, dozens of wealth Family Offices, & hundreds of accredited investors.  

PRE-IPO LEADERSHIP: Prepared company to be listed on a private exchange, OTC & / or National Securities Exchange by organizing necessary corporate governance processes & accounting systems to satisfy the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX).   

GLOBAL EXPANSION: Expanded businesses internationally by establishing operations in the Philippines, Australia & India.

DIGITAL MARKETING: Produced intellectual capital that generated 120K+ leads annually through internet platforms using smart search engine optimization tactics & strategic pay-per-click campaigns.

INDUSTRY FOCUS: Information Technology | Healthcare & Life Sciences | Banking & Capital Markets | Digital Marketing | Real Estate & Mortgage

President & CEO: $400M+ P&L Mgmt | Technology | Operational Excellence | Fund Raising | Pre-IPO

IBM: Serving Fortune 1000 and Internet Start-up Companies

Originated and led the sales strategy for complex customer solutions, including in-depth cost structures coordinating with numerous divisions of the company. Produced multi-million dollar outsourcing projects. Sold $230M+ in services consistently exceeding targeted profit margins.  Industry focus in Healthcare solutions with top clients such as United Health Group, Medtronics, and numerous technology related healthcare companies.

Some key highlights include:

POWERFUL NETWORK BUILDING - cultivated strong business relationships with global giants and internet startup companies.

SALES PERFORMANCE - consistently achieved 110% to 250% of sales quota while performing among the top 3% of the sales team in a division that grew to 350+. 

INDUSTRY FOCUS:  Healthcare & Life Sciences | Banking and Capital Markets |  Automotive | Retail | Telecommunications

Sales Executive:  Sales Leader | SaaS Selling | Sales Forecasting | Technology Sales

CEO at Sonatafy, AI/ML led Nearshore Software Development synced with US time zones for maximum Productivity & Collaboration | Forbes & Entrepreneur Author

As CEO of Sonatafy Technology, I help enterprise companies scale smarter by building nearshore engineering teams that deliver AI-powered, custom software solutions at enterprise velocity.

Our teams are composed of senior LATAM engineers who work in your time zone, speak your language, and integrate seamlessly into your existing workflows. We help tech leaders accelerate digital transformation, embed AI into their products, and ship software that actually moves the business forward.

Over the course of my career, I’ve founded and led more than 30 companies. Twenty failed. Ten succeeded. That journey shaped my best-selling book Fail Hard, Win Big, where I reveal the strategic power of custom software and the business lessons only failure can teach.

I also host the podcast Software Leaders UNCENSORED, now with over 80 episodes, featuring candid conversations with top CTOs, founders, and engineering executives who are defining what’s next in software and AI.

As a contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, I focus on helping leaders build resilient organizations, make bold decisions, and avoid the costly missteps that stall growth and innovation.

Let’s connect if:
➤ You need a fresh approach to engineering velocity
➤ You’re curious about nearshore but want a trusted partner
➤ Or you just want to trade stories from the startup trenches

➤ Learn more at sonatafy.com or DM me.

Chief Executive Officer & Board Member

Sonatafy Technology is a premier nearshore software development services company that provides its clients with expertise in Cloud Solutions, Web and Mobile Applications, E-Commerce, Big Data, DevOps Practices, QA, IoT, and Machine Learning.   With current and past signature clients such as IBM, FOX, Cisco, TaylorMade, Caterpillar, Alcatel, and more. Sonatafy Technology helps software teams perform at their best.

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Tanuja Korlepra, CTO of Bonterra, a company using technology for social good — building software that empowers nonprofits, funders, and case workers to make measurable impact.

Tanuja’s journey is the ultimate evolution of an engineer turned leader. From writing device drivers for SCSI fiber transport to leading teams at AWS, Microsoft, and now a mission-driven AI-first company, her story shows what happens when tech meets purpose.

In this episode, Tanuja shared: 
🔹 How starting as a device driver engineer taught her that “cool code doesn’t matter unless it solves a real problem.”
🔹 The bold mission behind Bonterra — to grow U.S. social giving from 2.5% to 3% of GDP by 2033.
🔹 Why she believes in “tech for impact” — connecting donors, nonprofits, and caseworkers through one platform that creates a flywheel of giving.
🔹 How Bonterra is pioneering the shift from Software-as-a-Service to Outcome-as-a-Service, using AI to automate and amplify real-world impact.
🔹 Building Bonterra Q, their AI suite that helps nonprofits raise funds faster and work smarter.
🔹 Why she runs a lean, high-talent-density engineering org where leaders “stay in the weeds” and every engineer is AI-first.
🔹 Her leadership approach: “Think big, start small, move fast, and iterate.”
🔹 The brutal truth she learned: “Activity does not equal outcomes.” Knowing what to say no to matters just as much as knowing what to say hell yes to.

Tanuja’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Don’t chase the shiny object. Don’t do AI for the sake of AI. Chase the problem — not the tool.”
Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Podcast
#Bonterra
#Software
#SteveTaplin
#TanujaKorlepra
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

CEO, Sonatafy - Scaling Engineering Teams w/ Senior LATAM Talent | Best-Selling Author, Fail Hard, Win Big | Host, Software Leaders UNCENSORED Podcast | Forbes & Entrepreneur Contributor

AI governance is shaping the future of contact centers—and redefining how businesses connect with customers.

In my conversation with Priya Vijayarajendran, CEO of ASAPP, we explored how responsible AI use is key to creating more innovative, ethical, and human customer experiences.

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#ASAPP
#Sonatafy
#SteveTaplin
#PriyaVijayarajendran
#TheSoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! I sat down with Samar Abbas, Co-Founder and CEO of Temporal Technologies, a company redefining how developers build reliable applications.

Samar’s journey is a masterclass in persistence and innovation. Starting as a software developer at Microsoft, he spent a decade building platforms and tools before joining Amazon to work on the Simple Workflow team at AWS. From there, he went back to Microsoft to continue building orchestration tech, then joined Uber where he co-created Cadence, an open-source project that gained massive traction in the developer community.

By 2019, Samar and his co-founder Max decided to take the leap and launch Temporal. What started as an open-source effort has now grown into a company valued at $1.7 billion, serving over 3,000 customers and powering mission-critical applications across industries.

In our conversation, Samar shared:
✔️ The origin story of Temporal and how durable execution eliminates the risk of lost state in critical workflows like money transfers.
✔️ How open source became their unfair advantage, giving them traction before they even launched the company.
✔️ Why AI agents need orchestration—and how Temporal is becoming the default infrastructure layer for agentic AI applications.
✔️ His leadership philosophy: scaling fast without breaking culture, and why two-week sprints and clear ownership boundaries drive their success.
✔️ The reality of fundraising—why early rounds are all about storytelling and credibility, while later rounds are driven by metrics and proof.

Samar’s advice for founders and tech leaders? “Focus on your customers. One use case at a time. Keep adding value. That’s how you build truly great companies.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#CEO
#Podcast
#Software
#Temporal
#SteveTaplin
#SamarAbbas
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Tom Doyle, CTO of Medidata Solutions, one of the leading forces in life sciences technology, transforming how clinical trials are designed, run, and scaled globally.

Tom’s career spans decades across data science, healthcare, and technology. He led data science at Johnson & Johnson and is now guiding innovation at Medidata, where he’s helping accelerate the future of clinical research through AI, analytics, and automation.

Here’s what we covered in this episode:
✔️ From math to medicine: How Tom went from studying mathematics at the University of Waterloo during the dot-com boom to leading data-driven innovation in healthcare.
✔️ The evolution of Medidata: From digitizing paper trials to building AI-powered platforms that are revolutionizing how life-saving drugs reach patients faster.
✔️ AI in healthcare: Why this moment marks one of the most transformational eras for the industry — teaching technology how to work with people.
✔️ Patient-centric innovation: How Medidata is using data insights and patient feedback to improve trial experiences for both caregivers and participants.
✔️ Faster trials, better outcomes: How synthetic data, automation, and better design can remove years from clinical development lifecycles.
✔️ Why 95% of AI pilots fail: The missing piece — clearly defined outcomes, realistic expectations, and understanding the limits of data and tech.
✔️ Leading with clarity: How Tom balances technical depth with executive communication to align innovation with real-world results.
✔️ AI for developers: How his team uses GitHub Copilot and domain-specific AI tools to build faster while maintaining governance and patient data privacy.

Tom’s Advice for Tech Leade: “Keep being creative and keep trying. Just because something didn’t work before doesn’t mean it won’t work the next time. Every success in tech stands on a pile of failed experiments.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Podcast
#Medidata
#TomDoyle
#SteveTaplin
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Alex Pape, CFA, Chief Product & Technology Officer at AssetMark, a leader who went from stock picker to software builder, transforming how wealth advisors connect technology, data, and clients.

Alex’s career started far from tech, deep in finance and private equity, before a bold idea and a willingness to take risks turned him into a builder. From launching his first digital advice business to leading enterprise tech at BlackRock, and now reshaping the independent advisor space at AssetMark, Alex’s story is a masterclass in crossing industries to create impact.

In this episode, Alex shared:
🔹 How did he go from analyzing businesses to building them, and why did he fall in love with operating?
🔹 The power of giving early-career people “outlandish stretch assignments” because that’s how talent grows.
🔹 Why he combined Product + Engineering into one “ProdEng” organization: “They’re not oil and vinegar, they’re points on a spectrum.”
🔹 His vision for bringing private markets to everyday investors, and how AssetMark is making it possible through a complete tech stack rewrite.
🔹 How AI is reshaping their business, from advisor “talk tracks” to guided client conversations that keep humans in the loop.
🔹  His hiring philosophy: build small, persistent, multidisciplinary teams, and grow your own future leaders.
🔹 The brutal lesson he learned early on: “Market risk exceeds tech risk. The biggest risk isn’t that you can’t build it, it’s that no one wants it.”

Alex’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “The job of leading technology boils down to two things: 1. Know what hill to take. 2. Be good at taking hills. You have to do both, knowing what to do, and being great at execution.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Podcast
#AlexPape
#AssetMark
#SteveTaplin
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Akash Nigam, CEO and Founder of Genies, the company turning the concept of AI avatars into a global communication revolution.

Akash grew up in Silicon Valley, surrounded by the energy of startups and venture capital. After studying computer science at the University of Michigan, he dropped out to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams — and the rest is history. From building early consumer apps to founding Genies, his mission has always been clear: help humans communicate in richer, more personal ways.

Here’s what we unpacked in this episode:
✔️ How Genies is creating AI avatars that serve as emotional companions — capable of learning, growing, and even playing alongside you.
✔️ Why is the future of digital interactionn’t text or video? Avatars will be the interface for the next Internet.
✔️ Inside their business model: from upfront avatar generation to microtransactions and licensing deals with Unity.
✔️ The lessons from raising over $200 million and building a company backed by Bob Iger, Mary Meeker, and Silver Lake.
✔️ What it takes to manage a 100-person tech team, 85 of whom are engineers, all working at the cutting edge of AI, 3D, and behavioral animation.
✔️ Why Akash believes that AI characters will eventually replace mobile apps — becoming the new UI and UX of the internet.

Akash’s Advice for Founders: "Entrepreneurship has been romanticized to a fault. You’ll have to sacrifice everything: family, free time, and relationships. It’s not a job; it’s a complete lifestyle change.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#CEO
#Genies
#Podcast
#Software
#SteveTaplin
#AkashNigam
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! I sat down with Diamond Bishop, AI and Engineering Leader at Datadog, the gold standard for observability and security in modern DevSecOps.

Diamond’s career is a masterclass in building intelligent systems — from launching Cortana at Microsoft, to helping ship Alexa at Amazon, to founding a DevOps startup that was later acquired by Datadog. Today, he’s leading the charge on AI-driven automation that’s changing how companies manage complex systems.

Here’s what we covered in this episode:
✔️ From AI researcher to Datadog leader: How Lockheed Martin paid for his grad school and jumpstarted his machine learning journey.
✔️ The inside story of Alexa & Cortana: What it was like building two of the world’s first major AI assistants.
✔️ Startup lessons: How he raised $2M, got acquired by Datadog, and what really happens in an “acqui-hire.”
 
✔️ Datadog’s next chapter: AI agents that run observability tasks automatically — so engineers can sleep while bots fix issues in real time.
✔️ Bits.ai explained: Datadog’s proactive, asynchronous assistant that investigates alerts, runs playbooks, and acts like a virtual teammate.
✔️ How AI is transforming software engineering: Why smaller teams can stay leaner, longer — and how AI tools are reshaping productivity, not replacing engineers.
✔️ His take on the 95% failure rate of AI pilots: The difference between “cool demos” and production-ready AI with measurable business ROI.

Diamond’s advice for tech leaders: “Stay hands-on. The best leaders are still in founder mode — flat orgs, deep curiosity, and working alongside their teams.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Podcast
#Datadog
#Software
#SteveTaplin
#DiamondBishop
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Sean ONeil, CTO of Dasion, a healthcare technology veteran who’s done it all, from rescuing Healthcare.gov to running Optum Health AI & Genomics, and now leading innovation in AI-powered disease diagnostics.

Sean’s story is what happens when deep tech meets real-world healthcare impact — and when persistence beats traditional paths.

Here’s what we covered in this episode:
✔️ From the help desk to the C-suite: How Sean’s journey from United Healthcare’s IT support led him to become a sought-after executive and healthcare innovator.
✔️ The Healthcare.gov turnaround: The high-stakes project that launched his leadership trajectory and reshaped his philosophy on tech and resiliency.
✔️ Dazion’s groundbreaking work: Using voice biomarkers to detect diseases like depression, diabetes, and brain injuries with astonishing accuracy — no blood tests, no wearables, just your voice.
✔️ How it works: Advanced Geometric Unified Learning models trained to analyze how you speak, not what you say.
✔️ Building global teams: Why Sean runs distributed teams across Costa Rica, Nairobi, and Bogotá to blend proximity, culture, and technical excellence.
✔️ AI challenges and funding realities: What it takes to bring medical AI through FDA approval, secure NSF funding, and win over tough 2025 investors who still demand revenue over hype.
✔️ Hiring philosophy: Why Sean values empathy, grit, and unconventional problem-solvers (like military veterans or even a repo man) over fancy credentials.

Sean’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Don’t take the BS, even from your own team. If someone repeatedly misses, hold them accountable. That’s your job as a leader.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Dasion
#Podcast
#Software
#SteveTaplin
#SeanO’Neil
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out a new episode of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Bill Rokos, CTO of Parsec Automation, LLC, the company behind TrakSYS, one of the leading manufacturing operations management platforms used worldwide.

Bill’s story is unlike most in tech; he’s spent his entire 30-year career at one company. From coding a scuba shop point-of-sale system as a student to now leading enterprise manufacturing software used by global brands, his journey is a masterclass in loyalty, innovation, and leadership through evolution.

In this episode, Bill shared:
🔹 He describes how he joined Parsec Automation when it was just a small system integrator and helped turn it into a global manufacturing software powerhouse.
🔹 The evolution of TrakSYS, from Visual Basic in the 90s to .NET Core and now cloud and AI integrations.
🔹 The challenge of modernizing on-prem manufacturing systems without disrupting the machines that “print money” 24/7.
🔹 How Parsec is rolling out TrakSYS Cloud — a hybrid approach that lets manufacturers access powerful analytics without risking operations.
🔹 Why are manufacturing companies cautious about AI, and how does Parsec balance innovation with the realities of plant-floor reliability?
🔹 His leadership philosophy for building small, efficient engineering teams is: “We collaborate constantly. The best products come from conversation, not just code.”
🔹 Why software in manufacturing must shape itself around the physical process, not the other way around.
🔹 And the one skill he wishes he had mastered earlier: delegation — “You can’t scale yourself until you empower others to succeed.”

Bill’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “If you can make work feel like something you want to do, not something you have to do, you’ll win. It’s just life. Do what you love, and excellence follows.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#CTO
#Podcast
#BillRokos
#SteveTaplin
#ParsecAutomation
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

sonatafy

sonatafy-technology-mexico

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #culture, #entrepreneurship, #softwaredevelopment, #softwareengineerjobs, and #nearshoresoftwaredevelopment

CTO at Parsec Automation

Parsec Automation, LLC

AI is reshaping the B2B landscape; it isn’t just the next big thing, but the next competitive edge.

In my conversation with Dan Zimmerman , CPTO of TreviPay, we explored how AI is transforming the way businesses connect, transact, and deliver value across the B2B ecosystem.

#AI
#B2B
#Trevipay
#Sonatafy
#SteveTaplin
#DanZimmerman 
#TheSoftwareLeadersUncensored

AI’s true potential lies not in solving every problem—but in solving the right ones.

In my conversation with Olly Downs, Curinos Chief Technology and AI Officer, we explored why the most impactful AI initiatives focus on high-value, high-impact challenges that truly move the needle.

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Curinos
#Sonatafy
#OllyDowns
#SteveTaplin
#DataAnalytics
#TheSoftwareLeadersUncensored

Hiring Assistant for LinkedIn Recruiter & Jobs

(1) Feed | LinkedIn

Serial Innovation Leader (ML/AI) | Venture Advisor | Board Member

Curinos

Check out a new episode of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Dan Zimmerman , Chief Product & Technology Officer at TreviPay — a true hybrid leader who’s bridging the worlds of engineering and product to redefine how businesses handle B2B payments.

Dan’s career spans decades across fintech, payments, and technology — from hands-on help desk engineer to architect, to startup founder, to leading large-scale fintech innovation. Today, as CPTO at TreviPay, he’s driving AI-powered growth for global clients like Walmart, Best Buy, and Ace Hardware.

In this episode, Dan shared:
🔹 How he evolved from engineer to product visionary — “I was always the engineer asking what the user really wanted.”
🔹 Why combining Product + Technology under one role eliminates friction and accelerates innovation.
🔹 How TreviPay’s platform is transforming B2B accounts receivable with Zero-Touch AR, giving companies back time, liquidity, and focus.
🔹 The story behind TreviPay’s game-changing Walmart partnership — and how clean APIs helped seal the deal.
🔹 Why his 260-person global tech organization runs on EQ, not ego — with an average tenure of 7+ years, rare in tech.
🔹 The hidden goldmine in payments data — using AI to predict customer churn and turn payments into loyalty drivers.
🔹 How his teams in the U.S., Australia, and Costa Rica thrive through a culture of autonomy, communication, and shared ownership.
🔹 The biggest challenge of 2025: turning AI hype into tangible business value — “Every employee should have AI superpowers.”

Dan’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Don’t ignore AI — it’s not hype. But stop talking about changing the world. Pick real problems, demo real results, and keep iterating.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#CPTO
#Podcast
#TreviPay
#SteveTaplin
#DanZimmerman
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Chief Product and Technology Officer at TreviPay

TreviPay

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Priya Vijayarajendran, a powerhouse tech leader whose career spans SAP, IBM, and Microsoft. She's now CEO at ASAPP where she’s redefining how AI transforms enterprise customer experiences.

Starting as an engineer obsessed with solving hard problems, Priya became an architect, strategist, and now executive—proving how deep technical expertise can scale into authentic leadership.

Here’s what we covered in this episode:
✔️ The evolution of a technologist: From coding at SAP to leading data and AI at Microsoft, to now building an AI-native enterprise at ASAPP.
✔️ Fixing the contact center for good: How ASAPP is using AI and human-in-the-loop design to end the frustration of long waits, broken handoffs, and repetitive interactions.
✔️ The “personal AI concierge” era: ASAPP’s bold vision is to give every customer their own intelligent assistant, with memory, context, and multimodal communication.
✔️ AI that actually works: Why focusing on containment, integration, and business metrics beats flashy demos or shallow pilots.
✔️ Engineering at scale: 200-person global team (US, India, Argentina) working in hybrid and “follow-the-sun” mode to deliver reliable AI systems.
✔️ Why 95% of AI pilots fail: Priya explains how to avoid the trap of proofs-of-concept that don’t translate into business ROI.
✔️ Women in tech and leadership: How she’s built a career by focusing on identity through technology, not titles or bias.

Priya’s advice for tech leaders: “Don’t be the face of hype, keep it real. Focus on how AI can solve real problems and elevate human capacity.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#CEO
#ASAPP
#Podcast
#Software
#SteveTaplin
#SonatafyTechnology
#PriyaVijayarajendran
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I talked with Charity Majors, CTO and Co-founder of honeycomb.io who grew up on a fundamentalist compound in Idaho and now leads the way in a new software field, Observability, used by some of the top engineering teams worldwide.

Charity’s journey is anything but typical. From switching college majors after realizing music wouldn’t pay the bills, to running infrastructure at Facebook, to co-founding a company that changed how developers understand complex systems — her story is about grit, rebellion, and building tech that actually works.

In this episode, Charity shared:

🔹 How growing up without tech led her to fall in love with computers — and why she believes failure is a superpower.
🔹 The founding story of Honeycomb.io and how it evolved from a flat startup to an up-and-to-the-right success.
🔹 Why she believes “observability is the feedback loop of feedback loops” in modern software engineering.
🔹 How AI is reshaping observability — and why her team’s AI tools actually work beyond the “demo phase.”
🔹 Her philosophy on teams: “The best engineering orgs are made of normal engineers doing great work — not 10x unicorns.”
🔹 Lessons from running a distributed team of 80+ engineers — and how quarterly offsites build trust that lasts months.
🔹 Her take on AI mandates, productivity, and realism: “You can’t 10x overnight — you can 2x with focus, support, and trust.”
🔹 The truth about early startups: founders must master sales before hiring someone else to do it.
🔹 How humility, empathy, and thick skin helped her thrive as a woman in tech leadership.

Charity’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Your AI investments are just money into a sinkhole if you don’t have reliability and observability first. You can’t toss chaos into chaos and expect order.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Podcast
#Software
#SteveTaplin
#Honeycombio
#CharityMajors
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Jared Crapo, VP of Product at Carta Healthcare — a 9-time startup veteran who’s seen it all: developer, architect, COO, and now product leader. From startups that never made a dollar to helping take Health Catalyst public, Jared’s journey is a masterclass in resilience, adaptability, and product leadership.

Here’s what we covered in this episode:
✔️ Nine startups later: The wins, the failures, and the lessons that come from playing every role in the startup lifecycle.
✔️ Carta Healthcare’s mission: Helping hospitals and clinical registries use AI to extract data from medical records, saving nurses 25–50% of their time while improving patient outcomes.
✔️ Evolving the stack: How Carta is modernizing its platform using Temporal (Uber’s open-source workflow engine) to streamline AI data processing and boost scalability.
✔️ AI in healthcare: How generative AI is changing the way hospitals handle reporting, data accuracy, and efficiency — while keeping human judgment at the center.
✔️ Product + Engineering alignment: Why technical fluency helps product leaders call BS, and how the best engineers learn to think like users.
✔️ The prototype revolution: How LLMs and vibe coding have shortened the idea-to-demo timeline from months to days — making real-time feedback possible faster than ever.
✔️ Hiring with foresight: Why cutting junior developer roles today could cripple the engineering talent pipeline of tomorrow.
✔️ Building a business, not just a product: The importance of scalability, implementation time, and sustainable margins in creating a durable, investor-worthy company.

Jared’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Keep after it. Great products are built with iteration, not a big bang. You just have to keep grinding until it clicks.”
Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Podcast
#Software
#JaredCrapo
#SteveTaplin
#CartaHealthcare
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Jared Shepard, CEO of Hypori, an Army Veteran turned entrepreneur, whose journey from homeless high school dropout to CEO of multiple tech companies is truly incredible.

After serving seven years in the Army, from infantry to IT, Jared used what he learned in service to build a legacy of innovation, discipline, and impact.

In this episode, Jared shared:
🔹 His transformation story: From joining the Army for structure and purpose to discovering his passion for technology and leadership.
🔹 Founding Intelligent Waves: Building a leading IT services company for the Department of Defense, focused on solving complex technical challenges in high-stakes environments.
🔹 Creating Hypori: A groundbreaking secure virtual mobile OS that allows organizations to protect enterprise data while preserving user privacy — now the largest BYOD platform in the DoD with 70K+ users across the Army, Air Force, Space Force, and more.
🔹 How Hypori works: Streaming encrypted pixels (not data) to any edge device — eliminating data at rest or in transit while enabling full mobile functionality.
🔹 Building a new product category: As Gartner put it — “Congratulations, you’re your own product category.” That’s innovation — and education — at its toughest level.
🔹 Giving back through Warriors Ethos: Jared’s nonprofit helping veterans transition successfully from military to civilian life by focusing on support, not sympathy.

Jared’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Know your product better than anyone else — and be the best salesperson in the room. As CEO, you own vision, risk, and culture. Everything else belongs to your team.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#CAI
#Podcast
#Software
#MattPeters
#SteveTaplin
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out a new episode of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Frank LaSota, CTO of Zyter|TruCare, a veteran technology leader who’s seen it all: from legacy enterprise systems to cloud-native architecture to the frontlines of agentic AI in healthcare.

Frank’s career spans over two decades across the tech and healthcare worlds — from rebuilding federal systems for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, to transforming health platforms at Evolent Health, to now leading the AI-driven revolution at Zyter|TruCare. His journey is the definition of evolution meets execution.

In this episode, Frank shared:
🔹 How he went from coding in VB and ASP to leading global tech orgs across software, infrastructure, and AI.
🔹 Why healthcare tech is his true passion “When you improve a patient’s experience, it’s not abstract — it’s life-changing.”
🔹 How Zyter|TruCare's AI orchestration platform, Symphony, is redefining care management and population health for 45 million+ lives.
🔹 The company’s “Recode Philosophy” involves re—engineering client processes with AI agents rather than just plugging in tools.
🔹 What it means to be rated #1 in Everest Group’s Peak Matrix for AI-based care management — and how they plan to stay there.
🔹 His global engineering model: 250+ engineers across the U.S. and India, operating in Agile pods with an AI-led culture.
🔹 How Zyter balances rapid innovation with enterprise-grade reliability in healthcare — where “move fast and break things” isn’t an option.
🔹 Why most AI pilots fail — and what Zyter|TruCare does differently:  “Tech doesn’t fail — it’s the process it’s built on that does.”

Frank’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. Be the best orchestrator. Learn fast, build relationships, and steer the ship. Innovation isn’t solo — it’s synchronized.”
Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#CTO
#Podcast
#SteveTaplin
#FrankLaSota
#Zyter|TruCare
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

CTO | CIO | Global technology & product engineering leader credited with envisioning & implementing technology strategies & solutions that drive product development, enhance operational efficiency, & fuel company growth.

Zyter|TruCare

In my conversation with Justin Reock, CTO of DX, we explored how AI is no longer just an assistant, but a force that reshapes the entire development lifecycle. 

Great chatting with you Justin!

Check the full episode in the comments! ⬇️ 

#DX
#CTO
#Podcast
#JustinReock
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Steven Miller, the CTO of Steelcase, the 100-year-old furniture company that’s quietly become a tech powerhouse. Steven’s story is one of loyalty, evolution, and innovation: He started at the help desk and climbed all the way to the CTO seat, proving that growth doesn’t require job-hopping when you’re constantly reinventing yourself and your company.

Here’s what we covered in this episode:
✔️ From help desk to C-suite: How Steven turned 26 years at one company into a masterclass in adaptability and leadership.
✔️ The Steelcase evolution: From manufacturing furniture to creating technology-integrated workspaces in partnership with Microsoft, IBM, and Logitech.
✔️ 50 quadrillion product variations: Why Steelcase’s biggest innovation challenge isn’t furniture — it’s data and software engineering.
✔️ Reinventing workplace design: How the company’s human-centered approach and agile “front porch” studios helped teams boost velocity by 38%.
✔️ AI-driven design: How Steelcase uses generative AI to empower designers, simplify product selection, and make creativity less exhausting.
✔️ The real challenge with AI: Adoption is easy — but governance, data quality, and meaningful transformation are where most companies fail.
✔️ Upskilling the workforce: Why every employee — from engineers to sales — needs to learn AI, and how Steelcase built a global AI community of practice to make it happen.
✔️ Leadership lessons: Human-centered design isn’t just for products — it’s how Steven avoids solving the wrong problems and keeps teams aligned.

Steven’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Talk to your customers. Even if it’s uncomfortable, get in front of the people using your product — that’s where the real insights are.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#Podcast
#Software
#Steelcase
#SteveTaplin
#StevenMiller
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

Check out one of the latest episodes of The Software Leaders Uncensored Podcast! This time, I sat down with Matthew Peters, Chief Technology Officer at CAI, a global professional services firm with over 9,000 employees, and one of the rare tech companies of that size that’s still privately held. Matt has spent his entire 17-year career at CAI, working his way up from a research engineer to CTO. His story is a masterclass in loyalty, evolution, and leadership inside a fast-growing organization.

Here’s what we covered in this episode:
🔹 From researcher to CTO: How Matt built an entire career at one company, moving through 11 different roles and gaining a deep, 360° view of the organization.
🔹 CAI’s secret sauce: A bespoke, client-first delivery model built on long-term relationships, where success is measured in decades, not quarters.
🔹 AI integration with purpose: How CAI is helping clients adopt AI responsibly, focusing less on building models and more on creating real-world, ethical applications tailored to each organization.
🔹 Public sector innovation: State and local governments are moving faster than ever to implement AI—sometimes even faster than federal agencies.
🔹 Engineering culture: Over 1,000 software engineers worldwide, unified by an “Extreme Ownership” mindset where every developer takes full responsibility for outcomes.
🔹 Global collaboration done right: Seamless coordination between U.S., India, and Philippines teams through shared standups, overlapping schedules, and real inclusion—not “throw it over the wall” outsourcing.
🔹 Security in the blast zone: As a vendor for state and local agencies, CAI lives on the front lines of cyberattacks. Matt’s team is now using AI to fight AI, retraining models to detect and counter evolving threats.
🔹 Leadership mindset: Why being a CTO today means becoming the Chief Teaching Officer—educating non-technical leaders and turning every “no” into the start of a conversation.
🔹 Hiring evolution: Pedigree matters less than adaptability, curiosity, and mentorship ability—because AI tools are changing the skill mix for software engineers faster than ever.

Matt’s Advice for Tech Leaders: “Expectation management is key. It doesn’t matter how innovative your tech is—if it doesn’t meet what someone thought it should, you’ve failed.”

Check the full episode in the comments!

#AI
#CAI
#Podcast
#Software
#MattPeters
#SteveTaplin
#SonatafyTechnology
#SoftwareLeadersUncensored

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