The Build Podcast: Field Notes for AI-Native Teams
Over twenty episodes in, The Build has become Tom Spencer’s lab notebook for how modern builders use AI to ship product, activate go-to-market loops, and lead resilient teams. These are the through-lines we keep hearing from founders, operators, and design engineers who sit down with Tom each week.
Why The Build Exists
The show explores the messy middle between shipping product and telling the story that gets that product into customers’ hands. Every conversation looks at one simple question: how do teams get leverage from AI without losing the human context that makes work meaningful?
- Spotlight the rituals that make teams feel fast, not frantic.
- Share experiments that move needles in GTM, product, and customer success.
- Translate technical breakthroughs into language executives, sales teams, and designers can rally around.
Core Themes We Keep Hearing
AI-Accelerated GTM Loops
- AI copilots compress feedback loops between outbound, demos, onboarding, and customer success.
- Winning teams automate the busywork but keep humans front-and-centre for narrative and relationship-building.
- Shared dashboards translate AI insights into plain language so every function can act on the signal.
Builder Operating Cadence
- Weekly shipping rituals anchor culture: qualitative customer notes + quantitative metrics in every retro.
- Leaders broadcast the experiments they’re running, even when they flop, to normalise iteration.
- Instrumented “show & tell” sessions help non-technical teammates understand what shipped and why it matters.
Human-Centered Automation
- Teams onboard agents with brand guidelines, tone scripts, and “what not to say” guardrails.
- Automation handles high-volume questions so humans can focus on complex storytelling moments.
- Leaders schedule recurring reviews to ensure agents still align with the company’s evolving point of view.
Takeaways to Implement This Week
- Make feedback visible within 24 hours. Pipe prospect notes, win/loss insights, and support escalations into a shared, human-readable channel.
- Run a ritual inventory. Map every recurring meeting; if it doesn’t drive a decision or experiment, repurpose it.
- Assign an AI editor. Nominate someone to review agent transcripts weekly to ensure tone and context stay on-brand.
- Narrate experiments publicly. Document what you tried, the signal you saw, and the next iteration in a two-paragraph Loom or memo.
“Shipping cadence is the heartbeat of culture. If you stop instrumenting it, you stop leading it.” — Tom Spencer, The Build
Episode Recommendations
- GTM Ops in the AI Era — How to wire copilots into outbound while keeping sellers focused on narrative craft.
- Design Engineering with Agents — Bringing design engineers and data scientists into a shared build loop.
- Leadership Under Uncertainty — Rituals for staying grounded when markets and models shift weekly.
From The Build Podcast
- Subscribe on YouTube for new episodes every week.
- Continue with Operating Cadence for AI Builders.
- Explore the Human-Centered Automation Playbook.