183: How The Future Of Work Will Look By 2035 (And It’s Closer Than You Think) | Thiago Da Costa

Everyone’s talking about AI—but few are actually using it well.

In this episode, Damon Lembi sits down with Thiago Da Costa, AI visionary and founder of Datagrid, to unpack the real impact AI is having on work today. From replacing repetitive tasks to redesigning how companies hire, execute, and scale—Thiago shares how forward-thinking leaders can harness AI to reclaim time, unlock efficiency, and build the future of work.

From building physics engines for movies like Avatar to selling his startup to Autodesk and now leading Datagrid, Thiago offers both technical insight and human wisdom for anyone navigating the AI revolution.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

- Why Thiago says AI is underhyped—and what most leaders are missing

- The shift from hiring humans to hiring intelligent agents

- How AI is changing product, content, customer success, and hiring

- Why “agent architects” will be the next critical role inside every company

- What great AI implementation looks like at non-tech companies

- How to use AI as your “auto-complete for thinking”

- What to look for in talent in the age of AI

- How leaders can free up 5+ hours a day through agentic design

- Why grit and energy beat credentials in AI-native hiring

- What the world could look like by 2035—and how to start now

Timestamps:

00:00 – Why every junior is now a senior with AI

01:30 – AI is underhyped: usage is far behind potential

03:00 – Infrastructure gaps: what’s holding mass adoption back

04:00 – Voice, video, and the next interface shift

06:00 – Replacing work with intelligence: what it means

07:30 – Thiago’s origin: Brazil, physics, and Avatar

09:00 – Starting a company and learning the hard way

10:30 – The one person who believed in him

12:00 – Building a CAD platform in the browser

14:00 – What it felt like to be acquired by Autodesk

16:00 – Driving cloud transformation inside a legacy org

18:00 – What inefficiency really looks like at scale

20:00 – How Datagrid replaces repetitive ops with agents

22:00 – Why "agent architect" is the next must-hire

24:00 – Grit + curiosity = your most valuable employee

26:00 – Why small teams can now outpace the giants

28:00 – Where leaders should start with AI today

30:00 – Content, SEO, and how to really use LLMs

32:00 – Real example: AI agent handling shipping and tracking

34:00 – The three-year vision: free up 5+ hours/day

36:00 – What the world could look like in 2035

38:00 – One lesson for every founder: aim higher

40:00 – Damon’s challenge: share this with a future founder

About Thiago:

Thiago Da Costa is a serial entrepreneur, product visionary, and AI futurist. After launching and selling his first startup to Autodesk—where he helped lead the company’s transition to the cloud—Thiago founded Datagrid, an AI platform that turns operational work into intelligent agents. A self-taught technologist with a background in physics and computer graphics, Thiago is pioneering the future of work—where software doesn't just support humans, it works like one.

Resources & Mentions:

Thiago Da Costa on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thiagocosta2/

Datagrid: Intelligent Agents for Work: https://www.datagrid.com

Delegate to Scale Your Impact – Learnit Course: https://www.learnit.com/courses/delegate-to-scale-your-impact

Podcast Episode with Benjamin Bargetzi: https://www.learnit.com/podcast/177-the-future-belongs-to-fast-learners-ben-bargetzi

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