Elon Musk Just Built a $1.25 TRILLION AI-Space Empire | AI News in 5

📢 Trillion-Dollar Mergers, Software Selloffs & the UK's First AI TownAnthropic drops Opus 4.6 and triggers a stock selloff, Microsoft's Copilot faces a user crisis, Musk merges SpaceX with xAI in a $1.25 trillion deal, and the UK government turns Barnsley into a tech town. 4 major AI stories in under 5 minutes.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:0:00 - Intro0:15 - Anthropic Launches Claude Opus 4.61:15 - Microsoft Copilot Loses Ground to ChatGPT2:15 - Musk Merges SpaceX & xAI in $1.25T Deal3:25 - UK Names Barnsley Its First Tech Town4:30 - Wrap-up📰 SOURCES & ARTICLES:Anthropic Claude Opus 4.6: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-6Microsoft Copilot Challenges: https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/microsofts-pivotal-ai-product-is-running-into-big-problems-ce235b28SpaceX-xAI Merger: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/03/musk-xai-spacex-biggest-merger-ever.htmlBarnsley Tech Town: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/barnsley-becomes-uks-first-government-backed-tech-town💡 ABOUT THIS CHANNEL:AI News in 5 breaks down the week's most important AI developments in under 5 minutes. No hype, no fear-mongering—just clear analysis of what's actually happening and why it matters to you.🎙️ THE AI REPORT PODCASTWeekly deep-dive conversations with AI operators building the future.Subscribe for full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@the-AI-report-with-liam-lawson/featured📬 STAY CONNECTEDNewsletter: https://newsletter.theaireport.ai/subscribeEnterprise Training: https://www.upscaile.com#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #OpenAI #Anthropic #Microsoft #Copilot #SpaceX #xAI #ElonMusk #TechNews #AINews #FutureOfWork #ChatGPT #Claude #WeeklyAI #TechTrends2026 #Barnsley #TechTown #UKTech

Louis Shulman on Building a 15-Person Newsletter Agency, Taking 300 Sales Calls in One Year, and Why Email Marketing Is the Most Overlooked Growth Channel. Louis Shulman, founder of Orbit Marketing, returns to the show to reveal how he built a newsletter agency from scratch, scaled to 15 team members, and took over 300 sales calls in a single year. In this candid conversation, Louis shares why most B2B businesses are leaving massive opportunities on the table by ignoring email marketing.From running paid ads directly to newsletters to building full-funnel lead generation systems, Louis breaks down the exact playbook his agency uses to generate qualified meetings for clients. He also discusses the mindset shift from chasing revenue to obsessing over client results—and why that change transformed his business.Key Topics Covered:- Why email marketing remains the most overlooked channel for B2B businesses- The newsletter funnel strategy: running Facebook and Instagram ads to newsletter opt-ins- How to use surveys and Go High Level to qualify leads automatically- Transitioning from commodity service provider to fractional CMO- The difference between "founder growth hires" and "clone hires" when scaling- Why vanilla content gets ignored and opinionated writing drives responses- Building systems and playbooks that make agency work scalable- Using AI to overcome entrepreneurial fears and mental blockers- The shift from chasing client count to producing case studies- How Orbit Flows software was built as an internal tool then monetized- Why incentive alignment is the key to delivering client resultsEpisode Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction and catching up with Louis Shulman01:17 - What Orbit Marketing does and how the business evolved03:51 - Why every B2B business should have an email presence05:13 - Converting sales call rejections into future clients07:23 - Training writers to create opinionated, high-converting content08:47 - B2B vs DTC clients and strategic positioning11:16 - The "sawdust" strategy: monetizing byproducts of your business12:28 - Becoming a full-service marketing agency vs staying specialized16:35 - Finding intrinsic motivation beyond revenue growth20:32 - Is the agency model actually scalable?24:46 - Using AI to overcome fears and mental blockers27:06 - Hiring strategies: patience vs startup chaos mode30:31 - Orbit Flows: building software from internal toolsAbout Louis Shulman:Louis Shulman is the founder of Orbit Marketing, a newsletter agency that helps B2B companies generate qualified leads through email marketing and paid newsletter funnels. He also runs Orbit Metrics, a data and analytics consultancy for e-commerce brands spending $2M+ annually on ads, and Orbit Flows, a content creation and project management software built for newsletter teams.About Orbit Marketing:Orbit Marketing is a full-service newsletter agency specializing in B2B lead generation. The company writes and manages newsletters for dozens of clients, runs paid acquisition campaigns to newsletter opt-ins, and builds complete funnel systems using tools like Go High Level. With a team of 15, Orbit Marketing has written several hundred newsletter issues for clients across industries including finance, e-commerce, and professional services.Resources Mentioned:- Orbit Flows (content creation software)- Go High Level (funnel and CRM platform)- Facebook Ads Manager- Kai Bax (agency scaling strategies)- Alex Hormozi (business growth frameworks)Partner Links:Book Enterprise Training — https://www.upscaile.com/Subscribe to our free newsletter — https://www.theaireport.ai/subscribe-theaireport-youtube#NewsletterMarketing #EmailMarketing #B2BLeadGeneration #AgencyGrowth #LouisShulman #OrbitMarketing #NewsletterAgency #PaidAds #ContentStrategy #Entrepreneurship #MarketingStrategy #FractionalCMO #StartupGrowth #AIinBusiness #EmailFunnels

This week in AI and tech: Google removes medical AI overviews after controversy, Anthropic launches Claude for Healthcare, Slackbot becomes a full AI agent, OpenAI signs a $10 billion deal with Cerebras, and Trump announces 25% tariffs on AI chips.⏱️ TIMESTAMPS00:00 Intro00:30 Story #1: Google Pulls Medical AI Overviews04:15 Story #2: Anthropic Launches Claude for Healthcare08:45 Story #3: Slackbot Becomes AI Agent13:20 Story #4: OpenAI's $10B Cerebras Deal18:00 Story #5: Trump's 25% AI Chip Tariff22:30 Final Thoughts📰 STORY BREAKDOWN🔴 GOOGLE PULLS MEDICAL AI OVERVIEWSFollowing a Guardian investigation revealing misleading health advice, Google has removed AI Overviews from certain medical queries. The move raises questions about AI reliability in healthcare information and the challenges of deploying generative AI for health-related searches.🏥 ANTHROPIC LAUNCHES CLAUDE FOR HEALTHCAREAnthropic announced Claude for Healthcare, targeting administrative burden reduction in medical settings. The specialized version of Claude aims to help with clinical documentation, patient communication, and workflow optimization while maintaining HIPAA compliance.💬 SLACKBOT BECOMES AI AGENTSalesforce announces general availability of the new AI-powered Slackbot, transforming it from a simple bot into a personal AI agent for work. The upgraded Slackbot can handle complex tasks, answer questions using company knowledge, and automate workflows across Slack channels.💻 OPENAI'S $10B CEREBRAS DEALOpenAI partners with Cerebras Systems in a deal worth over $10 billion to leverage their wafer-scale AI chips. This massive partnership could make ChatGPT exponentially faster by utilizing Cerebras's revolutionary chip architecture, which houses millions of cores on a single wafer.🇺🇸 TRUMP'S 25% AI CHIP TARIFFPresident Trump imposes 25% tariffs on certain advanced AI chip imports while simultaneously clearing the way for Nvidia H200 sales to China. The policy creates a complex landscape for semiconductor trade with significant implications for AI development and US-China tech relations.📚 SOURCES & LINKSStory #1: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/05/google-ai-overviews-misleading-health-adviceStory #2: https://www.anthropic.com/news/healthcare-life-sciencesStory #3: https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/slackbot-personal-agent-work/Story #4: https://openai.com/index/cerebras-partnership/Story #5: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/14/trump-nvidia-h200-china-ai-chips.html🔔 SUBSCRIBE for weekly AI and tech news coverage💬 What story surprised you most? Comment below!#AI #TechNews #Google #OpenAI #Anthropic #Salesforce #Slack #Trump #Tariffs #ArtificialIntelligence #ChatGPT #Claude #MachineLearning #Technology #WeeklyNews

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health, Amazon takes Alexa+ to the web, and Google reinvents your inbox—6 game-changing AI updates for operators in under 5 minutes.📰 THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES• Plaud NotePin S: New $179 AI notetaker + Mac desktop app• Amazon Alexa+: Web experience now live at Alexa.com• UMG & NVIDIA: "Responsible AI" partnership for music discovery• OpenAI ChatGPT Health: Dedicated health space with medical record integration• Google Gmail AI Inbox: AI-generated summaries replace email lists• Plus: CES 2026 highlights from Las Vegas⏱️ TIMESTAMPS0:00 - Intro0:05 - Plaud NotePin S: AI notetaker goes desktop1:09 - Amazon Alexa+: Leaving the living room for the web2:23 - UMG & NVIDIA: AI music partnership3:35 - OpenAI ChatGPT Health: Medical records meet AI4:39 - Google Gmail AI Inbox: Your email, reimagined5:40 - Wrap-up🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES• Plaud NotePin S: https://www.plaud.ai• Amazon Alexa+: https://alexa.com• NVIDIA Music Flamingo: https://www.nvidia.com• OpenAI ChatGPT Health: https://chat.openai.com/health• Google Gmail AI Inbox: https://gmail.com🎙️ THE AI REPORT PODCASTWeekly deep-dive conversations with AI operators building the future.Subscribe for full episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@the-AI-report-with-liam-lawson/featured📬 STAY CONNECTEDNewsletter: https://newsletter.theaireport.ai/subscribeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/not-the-f1-driver-liam-lawson/Enterprise Training: https://www.upscaile.com/---#AINews #CES2026 #OpenAI #AmazonAlexa #GoogleGmail #WeeklyAI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIOperators #ChatGPT #TechNewsAI Weekly in 5 is a rapid news brief covering the most important AI developments for operators and professionals. Every week, get curated insights without information overload—just what matters for your work.

How Eric Jorgenson Thinks 30 Years Ahead to Build Companies That Matter in the Age of AIEric Jorgenson, CEO of Scribe Media and venture investor, reveals how thinking on a 20-30 year timeline fundamentally changes investment decisions, company building, and personal leverage in an AI-accelerated world. From investing in asteroid mining startups to understanding why most people get the AI revolution wrong, Eric breaks down how to build leverage, develop judgment, and position yourself for the civilization-level changes ahead.The conversation explores why short-term thinking creates mediocrity while long-term vision enables breakthrough innovation. Eric shares his framework for evaluating startups, explains why energy and consciousness are the real currencies of the future, and demonstrates how AI tools amplify leverage for those who understand fundamental skills. The discussion challenges conventional wisdom about education, productivity, and what it means to contribute meaningfully to human progress.Key Topics Covered:The 20-30 year investment framework and why most opportunities fail this filterWhy Eric invested in an asteroid mining startup when others called it crazyHow AI accelerates discovery in physics, biology, and material science beyond information workThe widening gap between AI adopters and non-adopters in every industryWhy judgment and taste matter more than technical skills in the AI eraHow to train the next generation when AI can do the execution workThe difference between learning fundamental skills versus using AI as a crutchApplying leverage principles through delegation, automation, and recorded processesWhy equal opportunity matters more than equal outcomes for civilizationViewing consciousness as humanity's core responsibility in the universeEpisode Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction and Eric's 2025 operating lens01:41 - The 20-30 year timeframe for investing and life decisions03:30 - Asteroid mining investment thesis and long-term vision06:26 - How Eric cultivated the long-term thinking mindset10:22 - AI as a force multiplier across all technologies13:54 - How the smartest people are adopting AI differently17:06 - The thought experiment: training an intern for maximum impact25:46 - The crisis in education and what students are missing31:32 - How leverage has evolved and become more accessible42:11 - Eric's highest leverage activities and what he should be doing more46:23 - The divergent paths of resourceful versus passive people50:36 - Why Eric does what he does and his view on consciousnessAbout Eric Jorgenson:Eric Jorgenson is the CEO of Scribe Media, a publishing company that helps entrepreneurs and thought leaders write, publish, and market their books. He also runs a pre-seed and seed venture fund investing in long-term technology companies. Eric is best known as the author of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, a curated collection of Naval's wisdom on wealth and happiness that has reached millions of readers worldwide and been translated into dozens of languages. The book distills years of Naval's tweets, podcast appearances, and essays into a comprehensive guide on building wealth, finding happiness, and living a meaningful life. Eric's deep understanding of leverage and long-term thinking stems directly from his work synthesizing Naval's philosophy.About Scribe Media:Scribe Media is a publisher specializing in helping entrepreneurs, executives, and experts transform their knowledge into professionally published books. The company handles the complete book creation process from writing to publishing to marketing, enabling busy professionals to share their ideas without the traditional barriers of book publishing.

How Shopify Is Building The Future of AI Commerce with Andrew McNamaraShopify's Director of Applied ML, Andrew McNamara, reveals how the new Sidekick Pulse and SimGym features are revolutionizing e-commerce for merchants of all sizes. With 15 years of experience building AI assistants—dating back to pre-Siri days—Andrew breaks down how Shopify is using "LLM as a judge" to ensure quality and why "vibe entrepreneurship" is the future of business.Andrew explains how Sidekick has evolved from a simple chatbot into a proactive "AI Co-founder" that can democratize data for small business owners. He shares behind-the-scenes details on Sidekick Pulse, which performs deep research to surface actionable insights (like finding shipping errors that cost sales), and Simgym, a powerful simulator that uses AI shoppers to A/B test store changes before they go live.We also dive into the technical side of how Shopify evaluates these models using statistical rigor and why the ability for merchants to build admin apps with a single prompt is a game-changer for productivity.---Topics Covered- The 15-year evolution of AI assistants from rule-based systems to LLMs- How Sidekick Pulse proactively finds and fixes business-critical errors- Simgym: Using AI shoppers to simulate A/B tests without risking live traffic- The "LLM as a Judge" framework Shopify uses for product quality control- "Vibe Entrepreneurship" and reducing technical barriers for founders- Building custom Admin Apps in seconds using natural language prompts- Real-world examples from Andrew's own maple syrup store- The difference between general chatbots (Copilot) and specialized agents (Sidekick)- How "App Gen" allows merchants to create custom workflows instantlyEpisode Timestamps00:03 - Introduction to Andrew McNamara and his 15-year history with AI01:01 - Comparing early AI assistants (BlackBerry/Samsung) to modern LLMs06:45 - How Sidekick democratizes data analytics for small merchants11:25 - Deep Dive: Sidekick Pulse and proactive business research15:43 - Using "LLM as a Judge" to replace human evaluation at scale18:41 - Generating custom Admin Apps with a single prompt ("App Gen")21:58 - Andrew's personal experience running a Shopify store25:31 - The concept of "Vibe Entrepreneurship" as a North Star26:30 - Using AI to edit online store themes and layouts in real-time37:39 - Simgym: Simulating buyer behavior to predict experiment results42:06 - Why simulation is critical for both small and large enterprise merchants48:04 - The culture of technical depth and passion at Shopify51:34 - Why Andrew has dedicated his entire career to building assistants---## About Andrew McNamaraAndrew McNamara is the Director of Applied Machine Learning at Shopify, where he leads the development of Sidekick and other intelligent merchant features. Previously the Director of the Montreal Research Lab at Microsoft and a key contributor to Bing Chat (Copilot), Andrew has over 15 years of experience building and deploying AI assistants at scale.Shopify is the leading global commerce company, providing trusted tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business of any size. It powers millions of businesses in more than 175 countries and offers a unified platform for physical and digital commerce.Resources Mentioned- Shopify Sidekick (AI Commerce Assistant)- Sidekick Pulse (Proactive Research Agent)- Simgym (AI Shopper Simulator)- Microsoft Copilot & Bing Chat- "LLM as a Judge" Evaluation Framework---Partner Links- Book Enterprise Training — https://www.upscaile.com/- Subscribe to our free newsletter — https://www.theaireport.ai/subscribe-theaireport-youtube

Jason Eubanks on Building Oracel: Raising $30M in 28 Hours to Disrupt the $236B Go-To-Market Tooling Market with AI-Native Sales AutomationJason Eubanks, CEO and Co-founder of Oracel, discusses how the company raised $30 million in just 28 hours—oversubscribed at $40 million—by solving a critical problem in the go-to-market industry. With a $236 billion market opportunity and only a "desert of innovation" since the late 1990s, Aurasell is building an AI-native platform to intelligently automate sales workflows and consolidate the 12-15 fragmented tools that plague modern sales teams. Jason shares how his experience scaling revenue from $1M to $100M+ across five startups—including Twilio (IPO), Meraki (acquired by Cisco for $1.2B), and Harness—directly informed the founding vision of AurasellEpisode Timestamps- 00:00 - Introduction and Jason Eubanks joins the podcast- 00:26 - Why Oracel raised $30M in 28 hours despite initial $40M oversubscription- 01:24 - The "desert of innovation" in go-to-market tooling since the late 90s- 01:42 - History of CRM evolution from mainframe to cloud to niche products- 03:12 - Founding vision: One intelligent GTM sales platform to replace them all- 03:39 - How pain as a CRO across five startups led to Oracel's creation- 05:58 - The X-Ray productivity assessment revealing tool sprawl inefficiencies- 07:59 - Sellers spending 28% of time selling and 70% on manual tasks- 09:03 - First principles AI-native approach with whiteboards in the kitchen- 09:29 - Five key personas: SDR, seller, IC manager, executive, ops team- 12:18 - AI-native architecture: multimodal interface, lakehouse, and 10,000 agents- 14:39 - Unified data model importance for contextualized AI automation- 15:45 - Current hat wearing: product focus and 50% building go-to-market engine- 18:43 - Platform features and customer experience design philosophy- 19:05 - Three wow moments per persona as success metric- 20:39 - Onboarding experience: automatic territory building and customer choice- 21:40 - 10,000 agents discovering ICP, personas, and competitors automatically- 24:07 - Automated account research and value hypothesis creation- 25:34 - Outbound prospecting content generation with propensity scoring- 26:32 - Outbound sequencer integration and email platform plugins- 27:00 - AI voice dialer coming in three weeks with closed-loop automation- 28:47 - What's missing: deep marketing and customer success automation- 30:49 - Ideal customer profiles: startups and enterprises with tool sprawl- 31:30 - Solution for heavily customized legacy systems coming in December- 34:24 - Dynamic change detection layer solving technical debt- 36:23 - Jason's career arc from BMC Software through Harness- 37:09 - Why: helping go-to-market operators solve problems he experienced- 39:55 - Meraki's disruptive cloud-managed network architecture- 41:51 - Three constants: great product builders, important problems, massive markets- 43:22 - Intrinsic motivation as foundation for hiring and culture- 45:31 - Hiring from first job onward to assess character and values- 51:24 - Understanding why someone wanted to work at 14 years old- 53:21 - Importance of formative years for work ethic and intelligence- 55:46 - AI adoption culture: using own product and building agents internally- 56:36 - All employees use AI daily across PMs, engineers, and operations- 59:25 - Ask AI features: analytics dashboards, data enrichment, natural language-

Discover how Anton, one of the most experienced AI and machine learning experts in the industry, discusses his evolution from building matching algorithms at Bright.com to navigating today's AI landscape. With over a decade of experience in large-scale recommendation systems and data processing, Anton reveals how the fundamentals of big data and embarrassingly parallel computing shaped modern AI applications, and why human-centered design is now more critical than ever in building AI-powered products.Episode Timestamps:- 00:00 - Introduction and welcome- 00:47 - Anton's experience at Bright.com and the recruitment matching problem- 03:23 - The big data era, Hadoop, and Spark in the web 2.0 world- 05:00 - Embarrassingly parallel computing and large-scale data processing- 10:00 - How recommendation algorithms work at scale in recruitment- 20:00 - Evolution of the data scientist role over time- 30:00 - Building intelligent matching systems- 40:00 - Understanding user needs and organizational workflows- 50:00 - The shift toward human-centered AI design- 57:30 - Providing pre-filled content and personalization- 58:02 - Anton's vision for the future and human values- 01:01:46 - Closing thoughts on humanity and technologyAbout Anton:Anton is a veteran machine learning and AI engineer with over a decade of experience building large-scale recommendation and matching systems. He played a key role at Bright.com, a two-sided recruitment platform that pioneered transparent scoring algorithms for candidate-job matching. His expertise spans big data infrastructure, recommendation systems, user experience optimization, and the human-centered approach to AI product development.Resources Mentioned:- Hadoop and Spark (big data processing frameworks)- Big data infrastructure and cloud computing platforms- Two-sided marketplace architectures- Recommendation algorithms and matching systems- User workflow analysis toolsPartner Links:- Book Enterprise Training — https://www.upscaile.com/- Subscribe to our free newsletter — https://www.theaireport.ai/subscribe-theaireport-youtubeHashtags:#AIAgents #MachineLearningSystems #RecruitmentTechnology #BigData #DataScience #RecommendationAlgorithms #HadoopSpark #AIProductDesign #HumanCenteredAI #LargeScaleML #CloudComputing #AIStrategy #FutureOfWork #TechLeadership #CareerDevelopment

Building Teams in the Age of AI: How Slack CMO Ryan Gavin is Reshaping the Future of WorkIn this episode, Ryan Gavin, Chief Marketing Officer at Slack, reveals how self-awareness in leadership and the convergence of marketing and product strategy are creating unprecedented opportunities in the agentic era. Learn why employee productivity through AI orchestration is poised to become the fastest accelerator for top line business growth companies have ever seen, and how Slack is positioning itself as the conversational work platform for this transformation.The conversation explores the critical shift from employees as doers to orchestrators, where every team member—from day-one interns to seasoned executives—will manage digital coworkers and AI agents. Discover the product principles driving Slack's approach to agent integration, the social dynamics of working alongside AI teammates, and why the traditional career ladder is being replaced by immediate access to capabilities across development, creative, analytics, and more. The discussion also covers practical frameworks for building exceptional teams, reducing AI adoption anxiety, and why picking the "right" career path matters less than crushing the job you're in.Ryan delivers actionable insights on leadership development through self-awareness, understanding how team members receive feedback and recognition differently, and connecting business opportunities with talent growth. You'll also hear his compelling argument for why marketing must sit between product and sales as a strategic amplifier, not just a message distributor, and what marketers need to do to earn their seat at product strategy and sales planning meetings.Key Topics Covered:Self-awareness as the foundation of effective leadership and team developmentWhy marketing is product and product is marketing in modern B2B organizationsThe shift from doers to orchestrators in the age of AI agents and digital coworkersHow every employee will manage AI teammates from day one across finance, HR, creative, and developmentEmployee productivity as the most underutilized growth lever for businessesSlack's product principles for agent integration: don't make me think and be a great hostReducing AI adoption fear by showcasing capability expansion rather than job displacementSocial dynamics of agent interaction in channels and preserving psychological safetyWhy there is no "right" career path and how to multiply opportunities by crushing your current roleThe changing consumer patterns of information seeking and their impact on business workflowsEpisode Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction and setting the stage02:16 - Knowing thyself: Ryan's journey to leadership self-awareness through family and life experience05:19 - What makes an amazing marketer in 2026 and bridging the marketing-product divide08:43 - From doers to orchestrators: how AI agents give every employee a team from day one11:24 - Designing agents to work like teammates: Slack's approach to intuitive AI integration14:55 - Addressing AI fear: why productivity gains lead to higher expectations rather than job loss18:03 - Advice for the next generation entering an AI-transformed workforce21:49 - Career lesson from delivering papers in 110-degree Chicago heat24:30 - Final question: why Ryan does what he does and the importance of lasting market impact

Nick Johnston is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at Salesforce, where he leads strategic relationships with major technology companies including OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, Google, IBM, and Workday. In this conversation recorded during Dreamforce 2025, Nick shares how Salesforce closed 12,500 Agentforce deals and navigated the complexities of announcing major partnerships like the expanded OpenAI integration that brings Salesforce's Agentforce 360 directly into ChatGPT. He reveals his unique approach to building win-win partnerships grounded in customer demand rather than competitive positioning.Key Topics Covered:How Salesforce builds customer-driven partnerships with tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, and GoogleThe three core hiring values that create high-performing partnership teams: low ego, high curiosity, and gritWhy uncomfortable conversations are essential for building trust and creating impactful partnershipsUsing AI tools to position partnership proposals and draft joint press releases with strategic clarityThe Dreamforce partnership strategy and how compelling events drive deal executionCareer lessons from coaching varsity football wide receivers and celebrating team achievement over personal winsLiving in Buenos Aires for six months and the value of full cultural immersion for partnership workWhy getting customer-facing experience early in your career is the best foundation for any roleThe interview question that reveals hero culture versus team players in partnership rolesBalancing partnership work across multiple departments including product, marketing, operations, and salesHow human experience will become the ultimate competitive moat as AI automates routine tasksThe "be great" daily philosophy and applying the same standards to yourself that you set for your teamEpisode Timestamps:03:07 - From college football to coaching varsity wide receivers at Torrey Pines High School in 200605:47 - The vibes and trust mentality: lessons from undersized teams that outperform expectations07:26 - Three core hiring values: low ego, high curiosity, and grit in partnership teams09:15 - Six months in Buenos Aires learning Spanish through full immersion with Spencer Stuart12:49 - Customer-driven partnership strategy: building frameworks from market demand to product integration16:15 - The customer-centric approach at Dreamforce and delivering the Agentforce agenda with partners18:04 - Using AI to write joint press releases, position partnerships, and create mutually beneficial proposals21:27 - Career advice for new graduates: get as close to the customer as possible in sales or customer success roles24:56 - Why human experience and the arts will be the ultimate differentiator as AI automates work28:02 - Parenting lessons and the "be great" daily motto for building confidence and pushing through challenges29:06 - Why do you do what you do: achieving hard things in team settings and making family proudAbout Nick JohnstonNick Johnston is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Business Development at Salesforce, where he has spent over 12 years advancing from Customer Success Director to leading strategic technology partnerships. He holds an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a BA with honors in International Relations from UC Davis, where he also played college football. Nick has been instrumental in establishing major partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, Google, IBM, Workday, and other leading technology companies to deliver integrated customer experiences through Salesforce's Agentforce 360 platform.ransformation and agentic AI.Partner Links:Book Enterprise Training — **https://www.upscaile.com/**Subscribe to our free newsletter — **https://www.theaireport.ai/subscribe-theaireport-youtube**