Snehal Antani is an entrepreneur, technologist, and investor. He is the CEO and Co-founder of Horizon3, a cybersecurity company using AI to deliver Red Teaming and Penetration Testing as a Service. He also serves as a Highly Qualified Expert for the U.S. Department of Defense, supporting digital transformation and data initiatives for Special Operations. Previously, he was CTO and SVP at Splunk, held CIO roles at GE Capital, and began his career as a software engineer at IBM. Snehal holds a master’s in computer science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a bachelor’s from Purdue University, and he is the inventor on 16 patents.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Snehal Antani’s path from software engineer to CEO, and how his father's quiet example of grit and passion continues to shape his leadership style.
• How a “LEGO blocks” approach to building skills prepared Snehal to lead, and why he believes leadership must be earned through experience.
• Why Horizon3 identifies as a data company, and how running more pen tests than the Big Four creates a powerful AI advantage.
• What “cyber-enabled economic warfare” looks like in practice, and how a small disruption in a supply chain can create massive global impact.
• How Horizon3 built an AI engine that hacked a bank in under 60 seconds, showing what's possible when algorithms replace manual testing.
• What the future of work looks like in the AI era, with a growing divide between those with specialized expertise and trade skills and those without.

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Connect with Snehal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/snehalantani/
• AI fun fact article: https://venturebeat.com/security/ai-vs-endpoint-attacks-what-security-leaders-must-know-to-stay-ahead/
• On the New Definition of Work: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dr-john-boudreau-future-of-work-pioneer-and/id1476885647?i=1000633854079

Gou Rao is a serial entrepreneur and the co-founder of NeuBird, where he's building Hawkeye—an AI-powered site reliability engineer designed to identify, diagnose, and resolve IT infrastructure issues. He previously co-founded Portworx, which was acquired by Pure Storage for $370 million in 2020. In 2024, NeuBird raised a $22.5 million seed extension from M12, Microsoft’s venture arm, following a $22 million seed round led by Mayfield, Stepstone Group, and Prosperity7 Ventures. Gou holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Bangalore University and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Gou Rao’s journey from late-night support calls to co-founding NeuBird and building Hawkeye, an AI-powered site reliability engineer.
• Why diagnosing IT issues is 99% of the problem—and how Hawkeye helps SREs move from noise to actionable insight in minutes.
• The shift from chatbots to agentic systems—and why reasoning, not just automation, is the next frontier for enterprise AI.
• How AI can reduce burnout by eliminating repetitive incident response tasks, freeing teams to focus on creativity and automation.
• The importance of transparency, explainability, and human oversight in deploying AI systems with agency.
• Gou’s reflections on entrepreneurship, including why “mistakes are an asset” and how jumping into the unknown can lead to your biggest breakthroughs.

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Connect with Gou on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gouthamrao/
• AI fun fact article: https://www.hrdive.com/news/anthropic-report-AI-software-engineers-automation-augmentation/739833/
• On becoming an investor and discovering amazing companies: https://www.buzzsprout.com/520474/episodes/7446373

Ravi Malick is the Global CIO at Box, where he leads IT strategy, compliance, and customer advocacy for the enterprise content management platform. Before joining Box, he served as SVP & CIO at Vistra Corp., where he oversaw the integration of three major acquisitions that more than doubled the company’s size. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles at Energy Future Holdings, including VP of Business Technology at TXU Energy. Ravi earned a BA in Political Science from Brown University and remains active in philanthropic efforts outside of work.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• Ravi Malick’s nonlinear path from investment banking and consulting to becoming Global CIO at Box—and how each chapter shaped his leadership style.
• What makes Box’s “people-first” culture stand out in Silicon Valley and why Ravi believes authenticity and inclusion are key to long-term success.
• The challenges of leading IT at a company with 3,000 tech-savvy employees—and how Ravi balances innovation with governance.
• How he’s approaching AI adoption internally, from quick wins to long-term strategy, while keeping a sharp focus on business outcomes.
• What the “agentic workforce” could mean for scalability, productivity, and the structure of tomorrow’s teams.
• How Ravi sees the future of work: multi-role careers, voice-first workflows, and AI-powered teams built around passion and outcomes.

Resources:

• Subscribe to the AI & The Future of Work Newsletter: https://aiandwork.beehiiv.com/subscribe
• Connect with Ravi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravimalick/
• AI fun fact article: https://www.engineering.com/rip-saas-long-live-ai-as-a-service/
• On how AI supports thousands of employees at a rapidly growing global company: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/parul-saini-ubers-global-head-of-enterprise-apps/id1476885647?i=1000599377300