Liam Boogar-Azoulay was running a 16-person org in Paris — 32 hours of weekly meetings — when ChatGPT came out. His conclusion: for the same output, he didn't need 75% of the team. Because AI doesn't become your manager. It deletes the need for one.
Liam is the co-founder of Waypoint AI, the managed agentic automation platform working with Volvo, ClickHouse and Kpler, backed by a $3.1M pre-seed led by 42CAP with Berkeley SkyDeck. Before that, he founded the Rude Baguette (France's startup blog), built brand at Algolia, and was Chief Revenue Officer at Scaleway. He grew up in Menlo Park, spent 15 years in France, and just moved back to the Bay.
We discuss:
1. "What the hell is the job of a director?" — why AI makes middle management unnecessary
2. Above the API or below the API — and now: are you above the AI or below the AI?
3. AI coaches instead of managers, and why you can't lie to an LLM
4. Why Volvo, Peugeot and Siemens can't vibe-code their way into AI
5. The 20x mantra: why one AE should now carry twice the pipeline
6. Insight as currency: "$1M in ARR bought us three months of market edge"
7. The final boss isn't agents — it's Androids ($350 humanoids)
8. Contrarian corner: AI as a short-term economic destroyer, the SpaceX take, and why France ends up owning 15-30% of Mistral
9. The $6M Volvo board slide — they asked if he could save them $6M; he said no; they flew him to Sweden anyway
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Where to find Liam:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liamboogar
- Waypoint AI: https://mywaypoint.ai
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Where to find François de Fitte:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francoisdefitte/
- Pancake: https://getpancake.ai
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Cold open
(01:33) What Waypoint AI does: agentic automation for Volvo and ClickHouse
(02:56) Why Volvo, Peugeot and Siemens can't vibe-code their way into AI
(04:16) Does n8n have a future? SF as the multiverse of futures
(07:26) The directly responsible individual: you still need someone to fire
(08:38) The 20x mantra, entry-level jobs and the coming polarization
(11:03) Above the AI or below the AI?
(11:41) "What the hell is the job of a director?"
(13:34) 16 direct reports, 32 hours of weeklies — then ChatGPT
(15:27) AI coaches, not managers: "you can't lie to an LLM"
(19:26) The best time to be a founder — "you're first for an hour"
(20:51) Insight is the currency: losing the Rude Baguette, knowing who wins
(24:26) SkyDeck, landing Volvo, and moving back to the Bay
(28:30) A family business: his dad, the 70-year-old GTM engineer
(29:29) His ChatGPT moment at Scaleway
(31:41) The final boss is an Android, not an agent
(36:43) Contrarian corner: net destroyer short-term, SpaceX, Mistral
(44:16) The $6M Volvo slide: empathy as go-to-market
(45:58) Outro
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