Episode Overview

Podcast: The Digital Executive
Episode Title: Ken Gavranovic on Leveraging AI to Transform Customer Experience and Drive Business Growth
Air Date: May 18, 2025
Host: Brian Thomas, Coruzant Technologies
Guest: Ken Gavranovic, CEO of Product Genius

This episode features seasoned technology executive Ken Gavranovic, recognized for his expertise in guiding brick-and-mortar businesses through digital transformations, particularly leveraging AI to improve customer experience and operational efficiency. The conversation centers around actionable insights for AI adoption, identifying transformative tech trends, and the organizational mindset required for successful business growth.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Indicators of Business Readiness for Growth and Exits (02:00–03:25)

• Core Patterns for Successful Exits: Ken outlines two main criteria:
  • Cycle Position: “You want to have the trend to be your friend. You want to have the right people and then the capital to execute.” (Ken, 02:11)
  • Vision and Motivation: The importance of a ‘crisp vision’ that’s a must, not a should: “Most people go from vision to how. What I’ve seen is when people go from vision to why and it’s a must, like that vision of where they want to go, they know why and it’s a must, not a should. Then the hows come automatically…” (Ken, 02:32)
  • Case Study: Bill Gurley's investment in Zillow for its unified, experienced team, highlighting the importance of alignment to vision and why.

2. Transforming Customer Experience with AI in Practice (04:09–06:28)

• AI’s New Business Role: Ken discusses that traditional business reporting often results in non-actionable KPIs; AI changes the game by making data actionable in real time.
• Practical Example – Product Genius:
  • Real-Time Feedback via QR codes: “We’ve installed QR codes in retail establishments that allow customers to instantly give feedback… even if they’re on the website, so they can go and say, hey, what’s the special? …basically capture a lot of those interactions that otherwise would never be captured.” (Ken, 04:52)
  • Operational Insight: Weekly reports flag trends like staffing issues at specific times, helping owners respond quickly: “What we’re seeing is instead of learning it in three, four, five or maybe even two months, weeks, they get to see it instantly.” (Ken, 05:48)
• Business Impact: Real-time actionable data allows businesses—especially SMBs—to make prompt improvements to both customer service and operations.

3. Distinguishing Transformative Tech Trends from Hype (07:00–08:23)

• Evaluative Criteria:
  • Potential Value: Assess the real business value and efficiency gains from a technology.
  • Market Adoption: “I think when you see that there’s clear traction, that makes a lot of sense.” (Ken, 07:55)
• Historical Example: Early adoption of the internet—“It was clear…[it] was going to totally change the way we attract customers, the way we inform customers.” (Ken, 07:36)
• AI’s Unprecedented Growth: “This is the fastest growing adoption of a technology trend in the history of man. I think AI is going to be more transformative to every single aspect, both good and bad ways across the board.” (Ken, 08:10)

4. Making AI Truly Actionable for Measurable ROI (08:56–10:50)

• Implementation Approach:
  • Leverage Internal Talent: “Get somebody in your organization who really loves AI, understands AI, have a leadership meeting, bring that person in and explain… the power of AI.” (Ken, 09:08)
  • Cross-Functional Leadership Tasking: Form an ‘AI working group’—leadership explores and tests AI use cases across business departments.
  • Experiment, Measure, Improve: Encourage continuous improvement; “You’re going to have some wins, you may have some misses, but that continuous improvement… that’s what I’ve seen just move really, really well…”
• Tactical Wins:
  • Software Engineering: “If you implement AI correctly, for every three developers you actually get another developer free. We’re seeing 30 to 40% code output quality.” (Ken, 10:14)
  • Sales/Contracts: “We’ve seen a lot of benefits in there… contracts, sales contracts, those are huge areas.”
  • Customer Service: “Anything that’s repeatable, where somebody has to do step A, B, C, D, E, F, G, that’s where AI can… revolutionize it.” (Ken, 10:39)
• Amplification Effect: Early, demonstrable wins with AI build organizational confidence and momentum.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Trend be your friend. Hire the right people and obviously leveraging that capital.” — Brian Thomas paraphrasing Ken’s strategy (03:25)
• “Most people go from vision to how. What I’ve seen is when people go from vision to why and it’s a must. Like that vision of where they want to go, they know why…and it’s a must, not a should. Then the hows come automatically and you’ll keep pivoting…” — Ken Gavranovic (02:32)
• “We’ve all been in business meetings where there’s this report that has a bunch of KPIs. None of them are actionable and just kind of a waste of everybody’s time. What I believe with AI is AI is going to allow us to capture various aspects of our business that before either we couldn’t capture or was not actionable.” — Ken Gavranovic (04:13)
• “If you implement AI correctly, for every three developers you actually get another developer free.” — Ken Gavranovic (10:14)
• “This is the fastest growing adoption of a technology trend in the history of man. I think AI is going to be more transformative to every single aspect, both good and bad ways across the board.” — Ken Gavranovic (08:10)

Key Segment Timestamps

• [02:00] – Evaluating readiness for exits and IPOs
• [04:09] – Practical AI applications at Product Genius
• [07:00] – Discerning transformative trends vs. hype
• [08:56] – Making AI actionable and generating ROI

Tone & Style

Ken Gavranovic communicates with clarity, blending big-picture strategic thinking with concrete, operational examples. The host keeps the conversation focused and engaging, making complex AI and digital transformation concepts relatable for a broad leadership audience.

Summary Takeaway

This episode offers a concise, actionable playbook for modern executives looking to leverage AI’s transformative potential. Ken’s insights underscore the unmatched speed of AI adoption, the need for strong internal leadership around AI, and the potential of real-time data to meaningfully improve both customer experience and operational efficiency. His practical advice and memorable frameworks—vision-to-why, finding internal AI champions, and forming cross-functional AI working groups—make it a must-listen for business leaders navigating rapid technological change.