alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

• #123 - From Nokia to AI-IoT: Engineering the Physical World with Bernd Groß // CEO @ Cumulocity

  The physical world is becoming digital—and it requires fundamentally different technical architecture than traditional IT systems. Bernd Groß leads technical leaders through the evolution from enterprise software to industrial IoT, where real-time data from 30,000 wind turbines and millisecond-level decision-making define system requirements. As co-founder and CEO of Cumulocity, Bernd has navigated one of tech's most complex domains: connecting industrial hardware through standardized platforms. His journey from Nokia's early cloud computing initiatives to building Germany's leading IoT platform offers unique insights on technical leadership in physical-digital convergence. Technical leaders will gain valuable perspectives on: • 🏗️ Architecting speed-layer systems that handle 50TB monthly data flows while maintaining real-time responsiveness • 🔄 Managing technical debt across hundreds of industrial protocols while modernizing from monoliths to microservices • 🤖 Implementing "AI-IoT" strategies that bridge machine learning models with operational technology deployments • ⚡ Building edge-cloud hybrid architectures for regulated environments and latency-critical applications • 🛠️ Engineering platforms that scale from device management to data operationalization across industrial verticals

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• #122 - Grid Control in Milliseconds: Engineering Energy Systems with Barbara Wittenberg // CTO @ 1KOMMA5°

  Behind the renewable energy revolution lies complex technical infrastructure that CTOs across industries can learn from. Barbara Wittenberg leads a 250-person tech team at 1KOMMA5° that manages real-time data from 40,000+ connected energy assets while coordinating post-merger integration across 80+ companies in 7 countries. This episode unveils the technical architecture powering virtual power plants, where millisecond-level responsiveness can prevent grid failures and optimize energy usage. Barbara's journey from electrical engineering to Oracle and Google, then back to energy tech, provides unique insights on combining domain expertise with cutting-edge technology. Technical leaders will appreciate: - 🔄 How to manage distributed systems requiring real-time synchronization across numerous endpoints - 🧩 Strategies for standardizing operations while respecting existing successful processes after acquisitions - 🛠️ Practical applications of AI for automating complex technical explanations to customers - 🌐 Navigating complex regulatory environments that differ by country, region, and technical standards - 🚀 Building technical platforms that unite previously disconnected systems and data flows

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• #121 - Canva's Playbook: Scaling Teams, Tech, and AI with Adam Schuck // Senior Engineering Director @ Canva

  In this episode, Tobi chats with Adam Schuck, Senior Engineering Director at Canva, a company that has scaled to over 5,000 employees, 2,000+ engineers, and 230 million MAUs while remaining profitable. Adam shares his journey through startups (including acquisitions by Twitter and Canva) and large tech companies like Google, leading to his current role managing 220 engineers at Canva. They dive deep into the challenges and strategies behind Canva's hypergrowth, including: 📈 Scaling engineering teams from 150 to over 2000. 🏗️ Implementing a career framework (Growth & Development Framework) relatively late at 1000+ engineers, moving beyond "minimum viable structure." 🤖 Canva's approach to AI: Viewing it as a tailwind, fostering experimentation ("AI Impact"), providing broad access to tools (Cursor, Copilot, LLMs), and emphasizing human responsibility ("humans as shepherds"). 💻 The core technology decisions enabling Canva's success, particularly the operational transformation logic for real-time concurrent editing and the strategic shift to a unified web-based mobile experience (WebX). ⚙️ Maintaining a startup culture of adaptability despite massive scale. 📅 Adam's personal productivity hacks for leaders, focusing on ruthless calendar management and clear goal setting.

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• #120 - AI's Singularity & Commoditization: Navigating Hype vs. Reality with Georg Zoeller // Co-Founder @ C4AIL

  In this episode, Tobi talks with Georg Zoeller, Co-Founder of the Centre for AI Leadership and mercenaries.ai, about the turbulent landscape of AI. Georg, with his background at Meta and deep expertise in AI strategy, cuts through the hype surrounding AI's capabilities and economic impact. They discuss the 'singularity' we're already in, driven by rapid, open-source AI development, and why this makes future predictions impossible. Georg argues that software engineering is being commoditized due to the vast amount of training data available (Stack Overflow, GitHub), making AI adept at code generation but raising profound security concerns like prompt injection. Explore: - Why Georg believes blindly adopting AI early is a 'terrible mistake' for most companies. - The fundamental security flaws in LLMs (prompt injection) and why they're currently unsolvable for open input spaces. - The questionable economics of AI: high costs, self-cannibalizing business models, and the reliance on performative fundraising. - How AI tools impact engineer productivity, shifting the bottleneck to decision-making and validation. - The geopolitical risks and diminishing trust associated with Big Tech's AI dominance. - Actionable advice for CTOs: Invest in understanding, focus on governance beyond the tech team, and consider the strategic value of local/open-source alternatives.

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• #119 - Navigating Ambiguity and AI's Impact on Engineering feat. Ivan Kusalic // CTO @ Enpal

  In this episode, Tobi talks with Ivan Kusalic, CTO of Enpal, who leads a team of 250 engineers at one of Germany's leading solar energy companies. Ivan shares insights from his extensive technical leadership journey and his recent return to coding after seven years due to his excitement about AI. Ivan discusses how he navigates complexity and ambiguity in the renewable energy sector, where Enpal builds systems to help households manage solar panels, batteries, EV chargers, and heat pumps as integrated energy solutions. He explains the challenges of coordinating with Germany's fragmented energy grid infrastructure and how Enpal's Virtual Power Plant stabilizes the grid by coordinating household energy consumption in real-time. Discover: - 🧠 How Ivan uses intuition as a leadership tool while managing complex technical organizations - 🌞 The technical challenges of building integrated renewable energy systems for households - ⚡ How Enpal's Virtual Power Plant (VPP) helps stabilize the energy grid through coordinated home energy management - 📱 Ivan's personal productivity system and thought management techniques - 🤖 Insights on AI's impact on engineering productivity and the future of coding - 🚀 Practical tips for managing complexity and making decisions in ambiguous environments

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