Brave New Digital World – Details, episodes & analysis

In this premiere episode, Andy sits down with Ekim Dinc, Head of Customer Engagement at Amazon. With a background in logistics, Ekim shares how systems thinking shaped his unconventional path into marketing — and what it takes to drive engagement at Amazon scale.

We explore how AI is transforming growth, the end of siloed teams, and why “human-induced latency” is the biggest blocker to innovation today.

Resources recommended by Ekim:

• “Attention Is All You Need” – Google Research Paper

• Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

• All Things Distributed – Blog by Werner Vogels, CTO of Amazon

• LinkedIn posts from Yann LeCun (Meta AI Chief Scientist)

• Counterintuitive by Matt Wood (former Amazon VP of AI)

In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Andy Carvell sits down with Dyan Khor -- growth marketing leader, ex-Cash App, and advisor to scaling startups -- for a deep dive into modern growth strategy.

Dyan shares how she built Cash App’s marketing engine from scratch, managed over $500M in ad spend, and why she believes proactive hiring beats traditional recruiting. The conversation spans the evolution of measurement post-iOS 14, media mix modeling, and why the line between brand and performance marketing is fading fast.

We also explore the rising challenges of AI-fueled competition, the importance of creative novelty, and Dyan’s perspective on when not to spend a dollar. Whether you’re scaling a startup or optimizing at enterprise level, this episode is packed with honest insights, bold predictions, and practical frameworks.

Links & Resources:

• Uber ad fraud story: https://www.marketingtodaypodcast.com/194-historic-ad-fraud-at-uber-with-kevin-frisch/
• John Egan's blog: https://jwegan.com/
• Dyan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dyankhor/
• Dyan's website: https://dyankhor.com

MMM / Incrementality solutions Dyan recommended:

• Recast - https://getrecast.com/
• Paramark - https://paramark.com/
• Analytic Partners - https://analyticpartners.com/

Chapters:

(00:00) - Intro

(00:41) - Introducing Dyan and Her Background

(08:11) - Lessons from working at gaming companies

(11:02) - Applying learnings from large-scale companies to early-stage startups

(14:06) - Measurement past iOS 14

(19:15) - MMM infrastructure: Build or buy?

(23:13) - The (controversial) role of fingerprinting today

(25:52) - Performance vs. Brand Marketing is a false dichotomy

(29:27) - AI is leading to more competition, there's a need for novelty to be successful

(31:45) - What's Wired, Tired, or Expired in Digital Marketing?

(36:46) - If you had no limits to your ambition...

(38:59) - Resource recommendations

(41:33) - One thing companies need to stop doing.

(44:37) - Outro

In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Andy sits down with Roi Nam, CEO and founder of Airbridge and AB180, to unpack seismic shifts in mobile marketing, measurement, and AI-powered growth. Roi shares how leading teams are flipping the script — launching products after testing UA performance, scaling AI-generated creatives by the millions, and navigating the post-ATT iOS landscape with modeled conversions and web-to-app strategies. It’s a fast-paced, insight-rich conversation for marketers ready to embrace the brave new world of growth.

Resouces recommended:

• Book: The Challenger Sale, by Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson
• Roi Nam on LinkedIn

Chapters

(00:00) Introduction and Roi's Background

(02:15) The Future Is Already Here: Roi on William Gibson’s Quote

(04:11) What a Dating App Taught Roi About Performance Marketing

(06:03) Why Subscription Apps Lead in UA

(07:49) Post-ATT Landscape: Complexity as the New Normal

(09:28) iOS Marketing: No More Silver Bullets

(10:53) UA-Driven Product Development

(13:02) Beyond Soft Launch: Building Multiple MVPs Concurrently

(15:57) ASO First, App Second

(16:32) AI Coding and the Rise of "Vibe Coding"

(18:25) The Future of iOS Measurement: Web-to-App and Modeled Conversions

(23:24) Advice for CMOs Entering Mobile: Start with ASO and Web-to-App

(26:06) AI-Generated Creatives at Scale

(29:49) By 2025: Live Ops and Monetization Fully AI-Driven in Gaming

(31:49) Hyper-Personalization vs. Shared Experience

(33:17) If Budget Were No Limit: Becoming an AI-Native Organization

(35:30) Getting Comfortable with AI: Talk to It Like a Human

(37:26) Roi’s Favorite Book

(38:33) One Thing to Stop Doing: Manual Note Taking

(39:27) Closing Thoughts

In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Andy Carvell sits down with Thierry Sequeira, CEO of Massive Rocket, for a deep and honest conversation about the future of digital marketing. Thierry shares why the traditional agency model is outdated, how modern CRM goes far beyond email, and why brands need to focus on first-party data and marketing automation before chasing AI hype.

Find Thierry and his company Massive Rocket on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/thierrysequeira/

Rresource recommendations

• The Book of Joy, by The Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
• The Wright Brothers, by David McCullough

Chapters

(00:00) Intro

(01:15) Thierry's backgorund

(02:03) The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed

(04:07) Career shaping moments

(06:24) Trends in Customer Engagement

(08:07) Crawl, walk, run

(09:22) CRM is not just email

(10:35) Papa John’s & the future of loyalty

(12:59) Challenges in marketing today: Focus and prioritization

(17:03) The expiration of the traditional agency model

(19:49) Dystopia, AI & doing cool stuff now

(21:14) AI & the future of content and copy

(22:37) Breaking geographic boundaries at work

(25:00) Book recommendations from Thierry

(27:30) What companies should stop doing now

In this lightning-round live episode recorded at MAU Vegas, Andy Carvell sits down with Jeff Roberto, SVP of Marketing at Splice, to explore the evolving intersection of AI, creativity, and growth marketing. With a career that spans Napster, Shazam, PicsArt, and now Splice, Jeff shares powerful insights on how teams can move faster, do more with less, and bridge the long-standing gap between brand and performance.

Resource Recommendations

Book: Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon (by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr)

Chapters

(00:00) Welcome & Podcast Intro

(01:04) Meet Jeff Roberto

(03:46) Creativity Meets AI

(05:52) The Gibson Quote: “The Future is Already Here…”

(07:25) Apple vs. Epic – What It Means for Splice

(10:03) Brandformance

(12:53) Measuring the Impact of Brand Spend

(13:42) Avoiding Brand-Performance Silos

(15:14) Wired, Tired, Expired

(17:19) Final Reflections + Book Recommendation

(20:22) Building AI-Ready Teams

(24:21) Wrap-Up & Outro

What happens when you combine a Stanford math brain, TikTok addiction, and an obsession with creative performance? You get Hamza Alsamraee, CEO of Newform, and this week’s guest on Brave New Digital World.

Hamza and Andy talk about:

• How he bootstrapped a paid social agency while still in college
• Why most AI-generated ads aren’t worth testing
• What “dropshipping for software” means (and why it’s very real)
• The future of media buying, UGC fatigue, and fake podcasts

Plus: why tracking actually matters, and how most marketers are still winging it.

Whether you’re scaling spend, building creative workflows, or just trying to keep up with the algorithm, this one’s worth your time.

Find Hamza online:

• @hamzaalsamraee on X
• Hamza on LinkedIn

Resources Hamza recommended:

• The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus

In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Sharon Romang — VP of Creative at Front Row and former Smartly.io lead — joins Andy Carvell to explore how today’s most effective marketers blend storytelling, performance, and tech. From building agency-owned tools to navigating AI rollouts (and Duolingo’s recent misstep), Sharon shares battle-tested insights on where creative work is headed — and why the future belongs to the data-fluent.

Find and connect with Sharon on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonromang/

Resources Sharon recommends:

• Christine Göös on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinegoos/

• House of Content podcast: Spotify
• Emily Sundberg: https://www.emilyemilyemilyemily.com/hello
• Feed Me on Substack: https://www.readfeedme.com/
• Julian Cole, Strategy Finishing School: https://strategyfinishingschool.com/
• Ashwinn (@shwinnabego) on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@shwinnabego

Chapters

(00:00) Intro

(00:51) Introducing Sharon Romang: Creative Strategist with a Performance Edge

(01:53) The Future Is Already Here—Just Not Evenly Distributed

(05:09) Scalable Creative: From Smartly’s Image Templates to Figma Buzz

(09:19) Should Agencies Be Building Their Own Tech?

(13:03) Sharon’s Shift to Data-Driven Design

(17:27) Why Creatives Must Learn to Speak Performance

(19:44) AI Integration: How to Do It Without Losing the Human Touch

(22:59) The Duolingo Case: When “AI-First” Backfires

(24:05) Figma’s AI Rollout: A Masterclass in User-Centric Innovation

(26:22) Why Agencies Must Stay Ahead of Their Clients in AI

(27:22) What’s Expired: One-Channel Thinking and Creative Overproduction

(30:55) What’s Wired: Commerce, Creators & the Future of Shopping

(32:44) Behavioral Convergence Across Generations and Markets

(35:28) Sharon’s Dream: A Unified Creative Intelligence Stack

(38:33) Sharon’s Recommendations for Resources

In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Andy Carvell sits down with Michael Grierson, Senior Global ASO Lead at Canva, to explore how app marketing is evolving from static store listings to dynamic, content-driven discovery.

Michael shares lessons from his journey through Skyscanner and Canva — from embracing failure as a growth engine to scaling creative production through AI. The conversation dives into the seismic shift towards a more holistic approach to “App Store Marketing,” where promotional content, in-app events, and high-velocity creative testing define success. Expect sharp insights on experimentation cadence, creative fatigue, trend-jacking, and why maintaining craft mastery matters in the age of AI.

Find Michael on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgrierson/

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Mindset by Carol Dweck

In this mini episode, Andy sits down with Ekaterina Gamsriegler, the Head of Marketing and Growth at MyGroove, to discuss her journey from SEO to mobile app marketing. They explore the evolving challenges that growth and marketing teams face, particularly for apps in an increasingly crowded app market.

In this episode of Brave New Digital World, Andy Carvell sits down with Alexander Beresford, Chief Growth Officer at Taxfix, to talk about what happens when traditional marketing fundamentals collide with generative AI.

Alex shares lessons learned moving from PayPal to early-stage startups, focusing on brand momentum, building infrastructure, and the shift from scale to zero-to-one. The discussion highlights the growing gap between teams using contextual bandits and generative AI and those still relying on legacy systems.

They explore what growth teams might be overlooking today. Positioning and messaging remain crucial, even as performance metrics take center stage. Marketing will soon need to influence not just people, but also software agents making decisions for them. It’s important to move quickly with AI experimentation, but not to treat AI as a cure-all.

The discussion covers curiosity, speed of experimentation, machine-readable data, and why core marketing principles still matter in an AI-driven world.

Find Alex on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderberesford/

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Poor Charlie’s Almanack by Charlie Munger