In this kickoff to a new series, AI After Dark, Alex Gras (VC @ Mercury Fund) talks with Canisius Rozario (CTO @ Collide) about how he built a top-tier AI team in oil & gas without any industry background. It’s a sharp, candid look at hiring, learning fast, and building AI-first systems, packed with practical takeaways for founders, CTOs, and early builders working in high-stakes, data-heavy industries.

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Click here to view the episode transcript.

0:00 Introduction and series kickoff
1:50 Canisius career background and journey through tech
9:30 Joining Collide and the decision to go AI-native
20:00 First 90 days as CTO and the "sniff test"
33:00 Why senior engineers beat junior hires in AI builds
37:00 Incorporating oil and gas experts into AI model training
41:45 The Forward Deploy Engineer model and how it works
46:00 Prioritization process for POCs and customer feedback
52:50 What to look for in the next generation of AI CTOs
56:30 What does "AI native" actually mean and audience Q&A

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