Agentic AI's Least Obvious Takeover Yet | James McCann | Everhaze [EP. 322]

James McCann, CEO and founder of Everhaze, joins Pete Townsend to talk about the 80/20 problem breaking PR agency economics, how an agentic layer turns hundreds of daily regulatory mentions into a 10-minute digest for a fintech client, where the human side of PR (the trust, the intros, the relationships) still does the heavy lifting, and why VC skepticism about AI-wrapped software didn't stop him from closing his round.Connect with James:X: https://x.com/JimmyMcCann01LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmccann862/ Learn more about Everhaze: https://everhaze.com/ X: https://x.com/everhaze LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/everhaze/Email: [email protected]: sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people, in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures.moneyneversleeps.ie LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/Email: [email protected] #AgenticAI #AI #PRTech #Startups

Elaine Deehan is back on MoneyNeverSleeps for her third appearance, and this one has been a long time coming. As Ireland Country Manager of Monzo Bank Europe, Elaine is doing what she's always done: building something that makes banking feel genuinely human, and genuinely Irish.Download the Monzo app and open your account at: https://monzo.com/ieMonzo went fully live in Ireland on April 14th with 100,000 people on the waitlist. But getting there wasn't a lift-and-shift from the UK. It meant walking the streets, talking to customers, and solving for the things that frustrate Irish people most about their banks. Elaine also talks about what the Irish playbook means for every market Monzo enters next.Connect with Elaine:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainedeehan/Monzo Ireland: https://monzo.com/ieSubscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moneyneversleeps1814Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/moneyneversleeps/id1455819294Connect with Pete:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/MoneyNeverSleeps: https://moneyneversleeps.ieEmail: [email protected]

Sheila Lynch has been in the room for three of the biggest financial shocks of the last five years — COVID at CQS, the Russian invasion of Ukraine at BlackRock with live Eastern European assets in the funds, and the SVB collapse. When systems go under stress, what's actually there gets revealed. Culture, training, processes — either they hold or they don't.This episode is about what founders consistently get wrong before those moments arrive. Treasury after a raise, legal as a checkbox, wind-down plans that sit on a shelf and are never tested, equity structures that aren't optimised until it's too late. Sheila shares the story of a GC who called a law firm partner the day after closing a $50 million round to ask where to put the money. The room went silent. It's that kind of episode.Sheila Lynch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheila-lynch-27264726/Partners for Growth: https://www.pfgrowth.com/Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTndChapters00:00 Cold open00:21 Intro01:02 Three systemic shocks, one pattern04:13 The $50 million question07:26 Legal as a checkbox, and what it actually costs09:45 Building the right governance from day one12:51 What every founder should know before signing a term sheet13:37 Where to find SheilaMoneyNeverSleeps. Sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend. moneyneversleeps.iePete on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/Pete on X: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVPete on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/Email: [email protected]

How can you use the world's most powerful AI models without ever exposing your sensitive data? Rami Akeela has spent twenty years building privacy and cryptographic infrastructure that most people didn't know they needed yet, and now, as founder of Nera Systems, he's solving the conundrum that's about to define enterprise AI — the more valuable your data, the less you can use it. We dig into what zero-knowledge proofs taught him about the wall enterprise AI is hitting today, the use cases hiding in plain sight across banking, healthcare, accounting and private equity, and what's kept him building through the grind underneath it all.Rami Akeela: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ramiakeela/Nera Systems: https://nera.systems/Chapters00:00 Cold open00:42 What zero-knowledge proofs taught Rami about AI02:05 Why it doesn't have to be a paradox02:50 The biggest use cases: banking, healthcare, accounting, PE06:40 Training for this problem his whole career07:53 What's kept him building through the grind10:13 Where to find Rami and Nera SystemsMoneyNeverSleeps. Sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people.moneyneversleeps.ieLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/X/Twitter: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/Email: [email protected]

Citi Institute's "Tokenization 2030: Wall Street OnChain" puts a number on it: $5.5 trillion in tokenized assets by 2030. Alejandro Gutierrez, who leads Solana Superteam Ireland and returns for another appearance on the show, joins me to stress-test that forecast — what Citi gets right with DTCC, NYSE and Nasdaq embedding tokenization into core infrastructure, and what we think it misses, including the stablecoin-treasury flywheel, the pressure native issuers like Ondo and Superstate are putting on incumbents, Ireland and Luxembourg's combined funds industry as an underrated jurisdictional play, and why 24/7 markets are really built for AI agents, not retail traders.Read the full report, "Tokenization 2030: Wall Street Onchain," Citi Institute, June 2026: https://www.citigroup.com/global/insights/tokenization-2030Castle DAO, the Solana builder residency at Slane Castle: https://tally.so/r/ODJv1kFollow Alejandro on X and LinkedIn: https://x.com/A_gutierrohttps://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-gutierrez-98979b43/Follow Superteam Ireland on X: https://x.com/SuperteamIEhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/superteam-ireland/CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open — for the agents00:37 Introduction01:18 Citi's stated case: three drivers behind $5.5 trillion02:19 Is public equities at $3.6 trillion an aggressive number?03:25 Public permissionless vs. private permissioned chains04:30 The flywheel Citi missed: stablecoins, treasuries and collateral06:28 24/7 isn't for retail — it's for the agents08:50 Ondo, Superstate and the pressure on incumbents10:53 Ireland, Luxembourg and the €12.5 trillion opportunity12:02 The wrapper problem: tokenized funds without tokenized holdings12:41 Castle DAO at Slane CastleMoneyNeverSleeps — sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people, in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures, sitting at the intersection of crypto, fintech, AI and onchain finance.Website: moneyneversleeps.ieLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/X/Twitter: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/Email: [email protected]

Martin Watkins is CEO of Montis Group, which is building a blockchain-native central securities depository — the settlement and issuance layer that makes tokenized assets work as real financial products. With 30 years inside Euroclear, AtosEuronext and EY, Martin chose to build the infrastructure the market was missing rather than keep advising on the existing system. We get into what a digital CSD unlocks for collateral mobility, why the ECB's DLT eligibility confirmation matters, and what Luxembourg's Blockchain Law IV could mean for Ireland's €5 trillion funds industry.Find Martin at [email protected] or visit montis.digitalSubscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTndCHAPTERS00:00 The doom loop that tokenization solves00:27 Introduction01:13 Martin Watkins welcome01:18 30 years inside the plumbing of capital markets03:50 What a blockchain-native CSD does differently05:48 The Friday afternoon collateral problem06:22 The 24/7 problem in tokenized funds07:46 The Irish question: settlement finality and €5 trillion in fund assets09:27 Legal certainty, portfolio managers and the velocity of capital10:39 Why the market infrastructure isn't there yet — but nearly is11:20 How to reach Martin and MontisMoneyNeverSleeps: Sharp riffs, big ideas and real insights from smart people — all in under 15 minutes. Hosted by early-stage investor Pete Townsend with the people rebuilding money, markets, and the internet from the ground up.moneyneversleeps.ieLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/X/Twitter: https://x.com/PeteTownsendNVInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/petetownsend353/Email: [email protected]

Pete Townsend is joined by Eric Ries, author of the New York Times bestseller The Lean Startup and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange, for a conversation about the invisible structural forces that corrupt even the most mission-driven companies, and what founders can do about it before it's too late.Eric's new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Companies Stay Great, is out now. Get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Incorruptible-Good-Companies-Great-Stay/dp/B0FWZZBPZBEric spent 15 years teaching a generation how to build fast and learn faster. Incorruptible asks the harder question: how do you protect what you built from the forces that will eventually try to take it from you?In this special double-length episode, he walks through the concept of financial gravity, the structural tools that the world's most durable companies have used for over a century, and why good intentions are never enough.Topics covered:– Why corporate corruption is a structural failure, not an ethical one– What financial gravity is and why it's invisible until it's too late– The Anthropic Long-Term Benefit Trust and what it was designed to protect against– How Novo Nordisk built a structure 100 years ago that protected $500 billion in shareholder value– Why Silicon Valley Bank's mission statement was worthless– The one two-page filing most founders never makeCHAPTERS00:00 The More Golden the Goose00:23 Welcome Eric Ries01:06 The Founder's Wake05:08 What Did The Lean Startup Miss?08:09 What is Financial Gravity?12:50 The Right Architecture13:11 Anthropic and the Long-Term Benefit Trust14:59 The Novo Nordisk Story18:18 Are You Smarter Than a Nobel Laureate?19:28 The Vatican Panel20:46 The Public Benefit Corporation22:41 Is LTSE Incorruptible?23:39 The Guardian of the Company's SoulConnect with Eric:X: https://x.com/ericriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/Incorruptible (book): https://incorruptible.coInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericriesactual/Newsletter: https://news.theleanstartup.com/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshowPodcast: https://www.ericriesshow.co Buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Incorruptible-Good-Companies-Great-Stay/dp/B0FWZZBPZBConnect with Pete:X: @PeteTownsendNVLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/Norio Ventures: https://norioventures.comMoneyNeverSleeps: https://moneyneversleeps.ie#incorruptible #leanstartup #founders #startups

Pete Townsend is joined by Sal Ternullo, CEO of SVRN and Managing Partner at A100x Ventures, for a conversation about how to tell the difference between a token that represents ownership of the value-creating thing and one that's an accelerant bolted onto something else.Sal has been underwriting these decisions at A100x at the pre-seed and seed stage. He walks through what's actually changed in the market, what a defensible answer on value accrual sounds like in a pitch meeting, and why the race-to-TGE game that defined the last cycle is largely over.Topics covered:– Why the era of tolerating tokens with no claim on cash flows is ending– How to tell whether a founder has real conviction on decentralization or is bolting a token onto an equity business– The cap-table tensions between SAFEs, token warrants, and Series A investors who can't touch tokens– Why building the product before designing the token is the new discipline– The question Sal wishes more founders walked in with an answer toCHAPTERS:00:00 Bad Tokens Ruin Good Projects00:30 Welcome Sal Ternullo01:10 What Changed in Token Value Accrual03:00 Equity vs. Token: Where Does Value Accrue04:55 Signs a Founder Has Real Conviction06:15 Ownership or Loyalty Points08:30 Tokens After 18 Months: Pump.fun and the Lag10:00 The Race to TGE Game is Over11:30 The Cap Table Reality13:00 The Question Founders Should AskConnect with Sal:X: @sal_ternulloEmail: [email protected]: https://svrn.netA100x Ventures: https://a100x.vcConnect with Pete:X: @PeteTownsendNVLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/Norio Ventures: https://norioventures.comMoneyNeverSleeps: https://moneyneversleeps.ie#crypto #venturecapital #tokens

You Can't Code Your Way Out | Amor Sexton, BlockdaemonIn the last few weeks, Drift and Kelp lost $577 million between them. Neither one was a code exploit. Both were operational and governance failures.Amor Sexton, Chief Operating Officer at Blockdaemon, was last on MoneyNeverSleeps in October 2022 (EP 193) talking about how institutional client expectations of resilient processes would drive blockchain adoption. Three and a half years later, the industry just got an extremely expensive lesson in exactly that thesis.In this episode, Pete and Amor get into:- Why "this isn't a hack, it's a governance failure" is the conversation the industry isn't having- How compliance is a subset of risk — and why DeFi keeps confusing the two- The Web2/human layer compromise that exploits a legitimate Web3 feature- Pluto on Castle Island: "Everything that TradFi has built in terms of circuit breakers, we're just speed running relearning those things in crypto"- The Kelp configuration was a known vulnerability — and 47% of operators chose it anyway- The two or three governance questions every DeFi protocol and LP should be asking right now- Why it always comes back to people, not codeChapters:00:00 Cold open00:24 Welcome back to MoneyNeverSleeps00:55 $577M, 18 days, no code exploit02:00 Compliance is a subset of risk03:15 Guardrails and governance04:30 The Web2 layer compromise05:45 Speedrunning what TradFi already built07:30 Why 47% chose the risky configuration09:00 Three governance questions every protocol should answer12:30 It always comes back to people13:30 Sign offConnect with Amor:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amor-sexton/Blockdaemon: https://www.blockdaemon.com/About MoneyNeverSleeps:MoneyNeverSleeps is hosted by Pete Townsend, GP at Norio Ventures. Sharp riffs, big ideas, and real insights from smart people in crypto, fintech, AI, and onchain finance.Connect with Pete:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petetownsendnv/X: @petetownsendnvNorio Ventures: https://www.norioventures.comSubscribe to MoneyNeverSleeps wherever you get your podcasts:YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moneyneversleeps1814Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4F8uOLxiscYVWVGEfNxTndApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/moneyneversleeps/id1455819294#MoneyNeverSleeps #Blockdaemon #DeFi #Crypto #AmorSexton #Governance #RiskManagement

Dan Gold is founder and CEO of Stratiphy, and as far as anyone knows, the only platform offering tax-efficient crypto exposure to UK retail investors right now.The path got narrow fast. The FCA lifted the retail crypto ETN ban in October 2025. HMRC then closed the stocks-and-shares ISA route at the start of this tax year, leaving crypto ETNs eligible only for Innovative Finance ISAs, which no mainstream platform offered. Stratiphy re-opened the door, partnering with 21Shares to offer bitcoin, ether, and the new BOLD bitcoin/gold hybrid inside an ISA wrapper.We get into the regulatory maze, whether Bitcoin is a lottery ticket or a real line item, and what launching into a 35% drawdown tells you about who your customers actually are. Plus: why the IFAs will come around whether they like it or not.Follow Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-gold-5186091b2/Learn more about Stratiphy: https://www.stratiphy.ioCHAPTERS:00:00 Tax-Efficient Crypto in the UK: The Short Story00:25 The Regulatory Sequence03:00 IFAs and the Education Gap04:00 Portfolio Construction or a Punt?05:30 Bitcoin: Lottery Ticket or Asset Allocation?08:00 Launching Into a Down Market09:30 Where Stratiphy Goes Next11:30 Sign-Off🌐 https://www.moneyneversleeps.ie/#MoneyNeverSleeps #Crypto #Bitcoin #ISA #UKInvesting #ETN #Fintech #21Shares #Stratiphy