Ep 11: Are Employment Contracts Officially Over?

What if I told you your job, your business model, and your most trusted advisor might all be obsolete in five years?

In this episode, I sit down with Suresh Shankar, founder of Crayon and one of the sharpest minds I know, to unpack what happens when intelligence becomes as cheap and available as electricity.

We talk about why trust will matter more than IP, why employment contracts might be on their way out, and why the next big businesses will feel a lot more like friends than corporations.

Also: what Sam Altman told Suresh in a closed-door session that made all of us raise our eyebrows.

This one’s for anyone building in a world where the old playbooks just don’t work anymore!

IN THIS EPISODE

(00:40) Who Do You Trust When AI Knows Everything?

(00:55) From Mad Men to Math Nerds: A Founder’s Shift

(03:52) The First Time AI Blew My Mind

(04:45) How AI Quietly Took Over Your Life

(07:26) What If Intelligence Was Just a Utility?

(13:31) The Next Big Thing in Business Isn’t Tech

(22:08) The Death of the Job Contract?

(24:46) What Are You Really Charging For Now?

(25:33) Free Life Coaches in Your Pocket?

(30:33) Will AI Kill Consulting Firms?

(32:57) Why Real-World Experiences Just Got Priceless

(37:00) You Still Paying for Information? Seriously?

(41:43) AI, Power, and the New World Order

(45:47) So… What Should Founders Build Now?

Suresh V Shankar

2nd-time entrepreneur, an evangelist of AI, big data and analytics, podcaster..

Corporate life: Intrapreneur for 15 years, pioneered use of direct marketing in adverting with Citibank and JWT in the 90s, launched the media buying revolution with Unilever and JWT Fulcrum (forerunner of Mindshare)

Start-up #1: RedPill, 2000, Singapore, pioneered the Analytics revolution in Asia and ME, exited to IBM in 2009

Stupidity Gene #2: Crayon Data, go bolder, pioneered AI and big data platform revolution in 2013 with maya.ai.

Host of podcast, Slaves to the Algo. 

You can listen and subscribe now on:

Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/SlavesToTheAlgoApple 

Spotify: http://bit.ly/SlavesToTheAlgoSpotify 

Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/SlavesToTheAlgoGoogle 

Our Host

Peng is venture building defensible AI-powered companies that will change how we live. He is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of VC firm Monk’s Hill Ventures, operating out of Southeast Asia. Prior to Monk’s Hill Ventures, he was a Venture Partner at GSR Ventures in China.

As an entrepreneur, Peng co-founded a series of successful companies including Match.com, Interwoven and Encentuate, whose products even today combined generate over USD$1 billion in revenues annually.

https://sg.linkedin.com/in/pengtong 

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About the Embracing Singularity Podcast

What happens when technology rewrites the rules of work, wealth, and meaning?

In this series, investor Peng T. Ong and tech founder Wei Qing Jen sit down with technology trailblazers to explore the future we’re hurtling toward—one shaped by AI, zero marginal cost, and radical shifts in how society functions. Get ready for bold ideas, deep insights, and the urgent questions we all need to ask before the future arrives!