In this episode of the MovingFast Tech Podcast, host Anke Corbin sits down with Jiri Petvaldsky, CTO, and Jakub Spryngl, CRO, of Cruxo—a fast-growing omnichannel retail media platform that helps retailers and brands boost revenue and profitability through smart brand advertising.

In this podcast, we explore how emerging technologies like AI, automation, and advanced data analytics are transforming retail, and what it takes for both technology and business teams to collaborate effectively in this rapidly evolving space. 

Jiri shares insights on the biggest software development challenges for 2025, the promise and limits of AI in understanding customers, and the technology stack needed to unlock actionable insights. 

Jakub dives into the future of retail monetization, how large retailers can diversify revenue streams beyond transactions, and the industry’s readiness for what’s coming next.

From balancing innovation with privacy concerns, to building trust and alignment across teams, to staying ahead of the curve in a volatile market, this candid conversation offers valuable takeaways for tech leaders, retailers, and innovators alike.

The MovingFast Tech Podcast is powered by profiq—an international firm specializing in software development and QA services for innovative and agile technology companies.

In today's rapidly evolving tech landscape, staying ahead requires continuous learning and adaptation. The MovingFast Tech Podcast brings you insights from those at the forefront of innovation, and this episode features an extraordinary tech leader with a unique journey.

Meet Maher Hanafi: From WOW Player to VP of Engineering

Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, joins co-host Anke Corbin to share his journey from passionate World of Warcraft gamer to engineering leadership. Betterworks provides cutting-edge performance management software that enhances employee experience and drives business results through AI integration and data analytics.

This engaging conversation explores:

• Gaming to Leadership: How Maher's passion for gaming and skills developed there  influenced his engineering career path

• Staying Current: Strategies for keeping ahead in rapidly changing tech environments

• Implementing Gen AI: Practical approaches to introducing new technologies through leadership by example

• ROI Calculation: Methods for aligning stakeholders on AI initiatives while managing expectations

• Future Challenges: Predictions for software development in 2025 and AI's impact on developers

• Knowledge Resources: Valuable podcasts and reading recommendations for engineering leaders

Each MovingFast Tech Podcast powered by profiq.com features industry leaders discussing strategies to stay ahead, disruptive technologies, and challenges related to fast-moving technology. Topics include progressive programming languages, deployment techniques, AI and machine learning, and more.

Listen to the full conversation with Maher Hanafi to discover how passion, immersion, and continuous learning can transform your engineering leadership journey.

Andrew Ng AI Blog

MLOps Community

AI Maker Space 

The MovingFast Tech Podcast is brought to you by profiq.com – An international leader in software development specializing in Software Development, AI, and QA Services For Innovative and Agile Technology Companies.

Meet Maher Hanafi: From WOW Player to VP of EngineeringWhat You'll Discover in This EpisodeThe MovingFast Tech PodcastReady to Level Up Your Tech Leadership?

The mission of Quantum Metric is to assist organizations in understanding their customers by harnessing the power of data analytics to drive meaningful action. Their product not only focuses on quantifying the ‘what’ but also ‘why’ a consumer experience went the way it did - helping organizations create a seamless experience for the future.

In this episode of the Moving Fast Tech Podcast Anke Corbin talks with Eric Irwin, Senior Director of Engineering at Quantum Metric and leader of their Platform Delivery team. Together they discuss how AI and data are shaping the future of software development, the challenges of managing vast amounts of information, and how Quantum Metric is leading the charge in making data actionable.

What’s Inside?

How Quantum Metric helps organizations process massive datasets into real-time insights.

The role of AI in reducing friction and accelerating insights

Why AI isn’t replacing developers - but enhancing efficiency

How Quantum Metric “drinks its own champagne” to improve its platform

Top engineering challenges in handling large-scale data

Eric’s go-to resources for staying ahead in the fast-moving tech landscape.

Each MovingFast Tech Podcast powered by profiq.com features industry leaders in the trenches talking about what they are working on to stay ahead, the most disruptive new technologies, and their biggest challenges related to fast moving technology. Topics we discuss include progressive programming languages, deployment techniques, AI and machine learning, and more. 

If you go to a gym you have likely interacted with PushPress - a fast-growing fitness tech startup focused on helping fitness businesses streamline their growth, transactions, and operations to optimize user experience. Sophisticated recruitment tech solutions have been critical to their successful scaling and expansion.

In this MovingFast Tech podcast, Arjun Shah, the SVP of Engineering at PushPress answers in-depth questions about engineering-led business expansion, including:

• What is the difference between a sales and marketing led company and an engineering led company?

• How does this impact the engineering organization?

• What was it like to build out a rapidly growing engineering practice?

• What are your early metrics for fit and future success for recruiting qualified engineers?

• What tools and approaches have helped you most with scaling your business effectively?

• How do you see LLMs and GenAI impacting your software development?

• What are your thoughts about AI replacing software developers in the near future?

How PushPress Integrates AI into Software Development

Lenny’s Newsletter

Each MovingFast Tech Podcast powered by profiq.com features industry leaders in the trenches talking about what they are working on to stay ahead, the most disruptive new technologies, and their biggest challenges related to fast moving technology. Topics we discuss include progressive programming languages, deployment techniques, AI and machine learning, and more.

Are you a technology leader looking to boost your customer satisfaction rates? Before you jump in with a solution, consider active listening. Engaging with customers to truly understand their needs and issues can offer a broader perspective and lead you to better solutions and products. 

We spoke with Dr. Erica Noll Webb, the senior research manager at Docker. Docker is a leading platform designed to help developers build, share, and run modern applications.

Dr. Webb shared her perspective on the importance of customer-centric innovation and other timely topics related to her work, including: 

- How early-stage startups can use UX and research to gain insights affordably and quick

- How to personalize the user journey

- How AI is affecting UX

Resources: 

⁠Erika’s LinkedIn⁠

⁠Erika’s Website⁠

⁠Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Research Methods (Interactive Technologies)⁠

⁠Measuring U⁠

⁠What Customers Want

Each MovingFast Tech Podcast, powered by profiq, features industry leaders from the trenches talking about staying ahead of the competition, the most disruptive new technologies, and their biggest challenges related to fast-moving technology. Topics we discuss include progressive programming languages, deployment techniques, AI and machine learning, and more.

Tech startups can use APIs in a variety of ways to expand their reach, improve their products and services, and increase their revenue. APIs enable startups to leverage the capabilities of other systems, services, and platforms to improve their own products and services, increase their distribution and revenue, and expand their ecosystem.

In this Moving Fast podcast, we interviewed Jason Harmon, the CTO from Stoplight.io. Stoplight is a fast-growing software company focused on helping companies Design, Document & Build APIs Faster and develop quality APIs with collaborative API-first design.

Jason answered in-depth questions about how APIs can be a boon for software startups, including:

• Can an early startup benefit from platforms and tooling for design and development of APIs?
• What are the benefits (short term and long term) that a startup could expect from applying API platforms and toolsets?
• What are some of the top trends specific to APIs and software development that you’re seeing?

Jason has spent the last decade focused on APIs and solving API problems,  As the CTO at Stoplight, he leads a talented team that's specially equipped to develop tools to solve the software industry's API design problems.

MovingFast Tech Podcast #10: What’s working in DevOps and the latest tools and trends? Guest – Martin Prokes, VP Engineering at profiq.com
Martin Prokes, VP Engineering at profiq.com - a premiere software services company clients including Forge Rock, Divvy, Avast, and others - shares his experience with what’s working in DevOps and the latest tools and trends that are being used by small startups and large companies alike to help developers set up, develop, quality control, update and deliver software faster and more efficiently.

Evan Harris, CTO at TermScout, gives us a reality check on what’s happening with machine learning and AI. Many companies are talking about developing ML and AI - but what is the reality? What do tech leaders need to know to integrate AI and machine learning into workflows and software products - and what are the strengths - and the limitations of this technology today? 

Evan’s background implementing AI and machine learning as a CTO informs his perspective and provides listeners with interesting insights.

How do you create an effective, data-driven organization? Should startups start tracking engineering metrics early while the company is small? How do engineers respond to tracking metrics? What are the key metrics to monitor? To answer these questions and more, we spoke with Dan Lines. Dan is the former vice president of engineering and current co-founder and COO of Linear B, a platform focused on making engineering teams more productive. Dan is also the host of a great podcast and community called Dev Interrupted. Dan’s first-hand experience helps us fully understand the issues at hand when we are discussing efficiency and productivity in engineering. MovingFast Tech Podcasts are brought to you by profiq.com.

Listen Now!

Typically the CEO leads investor relations, but what is the CTOs role during a funding exercise? How can they best be prepared for their role in meetings and during due diligence? To delve into this important matter, we had the opportunity to speak with Natty Zola. Natty is a partner in Matchstick Ventures - an early-stage technology investor. Natty was the Managing Director for 6 Techstars Accelerators, has invested in over 80 companies and has mentorship experience with over 200 companies. Natty was also a startup founder who sold his company to AOL. His vast experience provides a very interesting perspective for our podcast discussion on how CTOs can best prepare and contribute to investor meetings. These MovingFast Tech Podcasts are brought to you by profiq.com.

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This MovingFast Tech episode features Chris Driscol, VP of Engineering at Commercial Tribe, delving into a topic that impacts everyone working in software development: tech debt.

Mr. Driscol, a computer scientist with a background in full-stack development, has been leading product development teams for the past 6 years. He explains the specifics of technical debt, using financial debt as a jumping-off point to help explain the concept of technical debt. He also covers the 4 types of tech debt, innovative practices when it comes to developing features vs. dealing with tech debt, navigating difficult tech debt conversations effectively with management, and more.

MovingFast Tech Podcasts, Meetups, and Round Tables are powered by profiq.com