About this talk

In the midst of the AI revolution, one truth stands out: no one has this all figured out. Not the biggest tech companies, not the hottest startups, not even the people training the models themselves. And that’s exactly where your opportunity lies.

In this keynote, Zach shares how best-in-class AI teams are succeeding not by having all the answers, but by moving fast, iterating honestly, and designing for what’s barely possible.

You’ll hear real examples from AI-driven product development, including automating back-office workflows, scaling human impact, and rethinking what teams are capable of when tedium is no longer the bottleneck.

This talk is a call to action for designers, technologists, and product leaders: you don’t need certainty to lead. You need curiosity, momentum, and a willingness to act before the roadmap is clear. In a time where the ground is shifting under everyone’s feet, your ability to move with purpose through ambiguity is what sets you apart.

About Zach

Zach is the CTO & Co-Founder of Yembo, author of Grow Up Fast: Lessons from an AI Startup, and an international keynote speaker.

He’s a software engineer with over 15 years of experience. He has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Virginia Tech. His company is the leader in AI-powered virtual surveys with over 5 million videos inspected and customers in over 20 countries.

Zach’s previous projects include building a flashcard studying tool that scaled to over a million users and serving as the software lead for Qualcomm’s internal innovation program, Qualcomm ImpaQt.

He’s a Top A.I. contributor on LinkedIn, in the top 2% of contributors on Stack Overflow and has been granted 25 US patents with several more pending.

He has three children and lives in California with his wife Lindsay.