Business Without BS

Dave Birss says you won't be replaced by AI - you'll be replaced by a leader who's been told the wrong story about it.
About this episode
Dave Birss is back on Business Without BS - author of the Sensible AI Manifesto, co-founder of the Gen AI Academy, and a man who's taught a million-and-a-half people how to use AI without setting their business on fire. He walks Andy and Andrew through what he calls a "corporate poopocalypse" — what happens when you apply AI to a business that hasn't cleaned up its own mess.
The episode covers the Sensible AI Manifesto's six points, the CREATE prompting framework, the three Cs for checking AI output, the adequacy trap, why judgment is the most undervalued skill of the next decade, and the practical playbook for rolling out AI across a team without sending the whole organisation into a panic.
About the guest
Dave Birss co-founded the Gen AI Academy with Helena, where they run AI training across governments, the UN, and Fortune 500 companies. He wrote the Sensible AI Manifesto and GPT Junior, the kids' AI book and video course now in over 100 schools. Before all that he spent his career in advertising and creativity, which is where most of his frameworks come from.
Key moments
[02:46] The Roomba poopocalypse - why AI applied to a dysfunctional business spreads the mess, not the productivity.
[05:46] Corporate barnacles - the institutional plaque costing every business 40% in fuel and speed.
[08:04] Sensible AI Manifesto Point 1: use AI to augment skills, not to outsource tasks.
[09:15] The two-list exercise: tasks that piss you off vs tasks you wish you could do more of. Only the second list is the real opportunity.
[12:11] AI slap - 96% of leaders think AI raises productivity, 77% of staff feel buried by unrealistic expectations.
[13:48] The adequacy trap - why AI users get stuck at "good enough" and never break through.
[22:51] The other five Manifesto points: use data responsibly, support employees, assign AI leaders, keep learning, always add a human layer.
[26:40] The CREATE prompting framework — Character, Request, Examples, Adjustments, Type, Extras.
[37:59] The three Cs for checking AI output: Confirm, Check, Craft. Why most people skip the third one.
[55:14] How business owners keep their thinking sharp: do the work on paper before you open the laptop.
[1:01:03] What humans still beat AI at - conceptualisation, creative voice, and judgment. The judgment one matters most.
[1:14:17] The line that pisses Dave off: "you won't be replaced by AI, you'll be replaced by someone using AI." His correction is sharper.
[1:18:09] The three-stage AI value pyramid — cost cutting → skill amplification → unlocking what wasn't possible before. 80% of companies are stuck on stage one.
[1:24:18] How to roll out AI across a team in an afternoon: align with business strategy, declare an AI amnesty, pave the desire lines.

Mentioned in this episode
Sensible AI Manifesto — Dave's six-point framework for applying AI without breaking your business. Currently being turned into a book.
Gen AI Academy - the training company Dave co-founded with Helena, working with governments, the UN and Fortune 500s.
GPT Junior - Dave's book and video course teaching kids how to use AI properly, currently in over 100 schools.
Perplexity - Dave's preferred AI tool for fact-checking because it gives you the sources.
Cal Newport - referenced for the long-form-reading argument and the case that children reading for pleasure is the strongest predictor of life outcomes.
Range (David Epstein) - the case for generalists over hyper-specialists; Dave says the book describes him.
Yann LeCun - recently left Meta over the limits of next-token prediction; arguing AI needs world models, not just language.
Roomba poopocalypse - the family-and-the-dog metaphor that opens the episode and frames the whole thing.
Marc Andreessen / lump of labour fallacy — the framing for why we systematically underestimate the new jobs that emerge from disruption.
RAF desire lines - the Nissan-hut path-paving story; Dave's metaphor for letting staff show you how AI is already being used.
Combinedly - the AI tool Andrew's firm is testing for client-sentiment analysis and email drafting.

Find the guest
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davebirss/
Gen AI Academy: https://thegenaiacademy.com/
Follow Business Without BS
Website: https://withoutbs.com
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@bwblondon
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-without-bs
🎧 Business Without BS — straight talk from people who've actually built things.

Matt Hunt built a 300-million-ball business without a co-packer and without betting on supermarket shelves to do the work for him.
About this episode
Matt Hunt is 11 years into building The Protein Ball Company — 300 million balls sold, 14 export markets, 60,000 bags leaving Worthing every day. He's done it by manufacturing himself, hedging with private label and export, and — after Covid wiped out 80% of the business — rebuilding from the bottom up through gyms and coffee shops before going back to supermarkets.
Andy gets Matt into the detail: why private label is a hedge not a compromise, what a category buyer actually charges you for shelf space, and the graveyard exercise that Leeds agency Robot Foods ran to strip his branding down to "Ballsy by nature."
About the guest
Matt Hunt co-founded The Protein Ball Company with his wife Hayley in 2014. He also built OLUVS — the first olives-in-a-bag brand, sold live on QVC and supplied into airline catering with Ryanair, easyJet, Delta and United — and The Great British Porridge Company, which went on Dragon's Den, got offers from all five Dragons, and walked away on contractual terms. He specialises in scaling natural-ingredient food brands without handing control to a co-packer.
Key moments
[02:46] The single decision that built a 300-million-ball business: manufacture it yourself, don't hand it to a co-packer.
[07:04] "No one cares as much as you do" — why outsourcing production leaves your quality in someone else's hands.
[14:08] Cash flow is king. Money on the water, 90-day US terms, and why a million in receivables can still put payroll at risk.
[24:12] Building from the bottom up — gyms, coffee shops, office blocks (Cafe Nero, Nuffield, HSBC) before Tesco.
[27:10] How a category manager kills a challenger brand — the Organic Meltdown vs Lindt story at Waitrose.
[36:09] What a shopper decides in two seconds — colour, font, tone, not ingredient claims — and why the agency forced Matt to strip the front of pack.
[37:00] The graveyard exercise — Robot Foods' pre-mortem where Matt had to write his brand's obituary, list what killed it, and work backwards to stop it dying.
[39:55] Where "Ballsy by nature" came from — anger at the protein-bar category and pride in sourcing the best.
[52:34] When to say no to a private-label deal: conflict of interest, bad margin, or it dilutes your own brand. Why it's still 50% of the business.
[58:00] Plan A, Plan B, Plan C — why every ingredient now needs three sources, and olives are up 45% in a year.
[1:14:00] First-hire advice: keep your day job until the side hustle overtakes it. Hiring an office and staff too early is how you kill the thing.

Mentioned in this episode
Robot Foods — Leeds branding agency behind the "Ballsy by nature" rebrand and the graveyard exercise (a pre-mortem: imagine your brand has died, write its obituary, work out what killed it).
OLUVS — Matt's earlier brand. First olives-in-a-bag. Supplied into airline catering with Delta, United, Ryanair, easyJet.
The Great British Porridge Company — Matt's third brand. Went on Dragon's Den, got offers from all five Dragons, walked away on contractual terms.
QVC — where OLUVS sold live; older demographic, urgency-driven, better than people admit.
Whole Foods Market — US stockist, 600 stores, private-label arrangement.
Cafe Nero, Flying Coffee Bean, Black Sheep Coffee, Nuffield, Virgin Active — the bottom-up placement strategy.
Pets Corner — 150-store launch partner for the dog-treat line.
Joe Wicks' "Killer Bar" — parody protein bar exposing category additives; tailwind for natural brands like Matt's.
Perfect Ted, Trip Drinks — examples of brands that hit the shelf running with the right backing.
Stephen Bartlett — cited as the right-person-in-the-right-place factor behind Perfect Ted's scale.
Mr Beast — influencer chocolate bar, discussed as a cautionary tale on quality.
GLP-1 / Ozempic — why bite-sized dense-nutrition snacks are a growing category.

Find the guest
LinkedIn: [paste Matt Hunt's LinkedIn URL here — not stored in the Episodes sheet yet] The Protein Ball Company: https://theproteinballco.com
Follow Business Without BS
Website: https://withoutbs.com
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@bwblondon
Instagram: https://instagram.com/bwblondon
X / Twitter: https://x.com/bwb_london
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/business-without-bs
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/business-without-bs
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/business-without-bs
🎧 Business Without BS — straight talk from people who've actually built things.

EP 416 - What if your biggest business risk isn’t the market .. but your own assumptions?
Former RAF Wing Commander Marcus Dimbleby reveals how leaders can use red teaming, applied critical thinking and pre-mortems to dramatically increase strategy success rates.
We cover:
Why most business plans fail
The hidden danger of unchecked assumptions
How to run a red team session (even in a small company)
The “pre-mortem” technique that exposes fatal flaws
How to build real psychological safety
If you lead a team, run strategy or make high-stakes decisions — this episode will change how you think.
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EP 415 with guest co-host Andrew Craig.
Fundraising isn’t a numbers game, it’s a targeting problem.
In this episode, Shipshape VC founder Daniel Sawko explains why startups waste hundreds of hours pitching the wrong investors, how “zombie funds” distort the market, and why blasting your deck to 10,000 investors destroys focus.
We unpack information asymmetry, interest rate impacts, UK vs US capital markets, and how founders should actually build investor relationships.
If you're raising seed, Series A or beyond, this is your real-world fundraising masterclass.
Key themes:
Startup fundraising strategy
Venture capital
Raising seed funding
How to raise money for startup
VC mistakes
UK startup funding crisis, investor targeting
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EP 414 - Dodge Woodall reveals how he mortgaged his family home during the 2008 financial crisis to launch what became the 30,000-person Bournemouth 7s Festival.
From growing up above a pub to building and scaling multiple businesses, this is a raw masterclass in risk-taking, resilience, and real entrepreneurship.
We cover:
• Why entrepreneurship is an extreme sport
• Risk addiction and betting everything
• Scaling a festival brand without investment
• Why most people shouldn’t start a business
• The power of phone calls over emails
If you’re serious about business, leadership, or starting up - this episode is essential viewing.
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