Time to rap about AI for this 1/26/2026

Sa. Good morning, LinkedIn friends, Value First Nation. Welcome to another episode of Value First AI Daily. Your collaborative intelligence report is Monday, January 26, 2026. Good morning, George and Nico. How we doing? Staying warm, I hope.

Yeah, doing well. Another regular day over here. Yeah.

Well, I wouldn't call it. I don't know. I'm looking outside right now. I don't know if I would call it anywhere near regular here. We have white stuff on the ground. The road outside of my house is. Well, let's just call it a skating rink right now. But we still have power, and we still have heat, and we still have food and beverages in the house. So all in all, we are doing good. I did see some pictures of, like, Nashville, Tennessee, which. Holy crap. So to all of you out there, if you have been hit by the storm, praying for you, thinking of you. Hopefully you all are doing well. It looks like it. Just barely. We got maybe the tip of whatever everybody else was getting.

Yeah. I know. I live in a different part of the country, especially coming from the north. Yep. When. When I'm in Houston and it's a cold warning.

Yeah.

In effect, like, that's it. That's not like. And it's not anybody else. Like, that's the official. It's just a cold morning. Right. Like, not a winter weather.

No, it's cold.

Yeah.

It's a.

It's a.

Hey, put your jacket on.

We don't get. We never got warnings like that in. In Michigan, so.

No, it's always cold in Michigan.

Yeah. But, yeah, we've been going through some. Some commitments related to Value First AI over the past couple days. Today is number three, so I'm gonna hit that real quick. And then we'll. We'll. We'll get into our. Our conversation. We got. We will build AI that connects, not separates. We believe AI should strengthen human relationships. We will create systems that enable meaningful connection rather than placing technological barriers between people and. Gentlemen, I'm just gonna. Let's go back a couple on hand. Only a year and a half now. We were at inbound 2024.

Yeah.

Doing the late night with George B. Thomas.

Yeah.

And they had just launched all the agents, I think, for the first time, customer agent and prospecting agent. And I felt like I was the only one saying things like this. Where humans. We inherently know the. The importance of the first contact, the first impression that we make on each other. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yet we're gonna work our asses off to create a. An outreach system to where the first impression is not Coming from the human sounds not like, doesn't sound like the best plan there.

Yeah, but I don't know, I think, I think there's a, it's, It's a catch 22 for me because it prohibits scale if you put human in front of that. Right. So I think it's really a matter of how do you, how do you rescale what you're after so that you're not going beyond human reach in the first place. Right. So instead of like, so I know that sounds kind of confusing. What I'm getting at is most GTM strategies try to shotgun as much reach out there as possible and bring that back using some type of AI methodology filter. Whether that's a chat bot, whether it's automated messaging, whatever it might be. And to your point, I can understand basically turning the lens around and saying, okay, well instead of just doing that, we'll just hyper target our actual customers and that way we can just have one on one discussions with them directly as opposed to having to shoot for people that we don't really know. And that way we have to qualify them before we can actually talk to them.

Getting warmer.

Hmm.

I'm pretty sure George is picking up what I'm putting down.

Well, I don't know if I am or not, but I can tell you where my brain is at and I can tell you where I feel like I've actually been trying to go the entire time from a content perspective. And now I can feel myself as I talk to clients, trying to teach them how to do this in a go to market or prospecting or a sales motion. And I use that, I use that term lightly, sales motion. Because for me, sales is all about service and it's all about value. When I get on in real life. First conversation, let me explain. I, I think we're quickly entering a world where all of these things aren't this or me. And I didn't say this or that, I said this or me. There's a great movie that has a great character, the great and powerful odds, and he's behind this mask and like, you know, this thing is happening. Let me take you back a while. And the first time that I used a HubSpot feature inside of Gmail towards a potential prospect that was suggested times and all it did was put boxes on the Gmail screen so that they could pick a time to schedule. And you would have thought I was the wizard of wizards. And literally they were like, if you can teach us how to do that and more like we want to sign with you. I'm kidding. You not. And I was like, wow. Really was like, suggesting a time like the thing that pushed them over the edge of, like, wow, I want to be able to do that in my business. And I'm sure there were more things than that. That's not even AI, that's just a simple, like, here's how you use a tool to augment a human to build a process that feels wow. So where am I going with this whole great and powerful OZ thing? I think we're quickly getting to a place where it can just simply be, not this and me or that and me, but it can be the great Empire feature. And what I mean by that is, when you think about customer agent, quit stopping to think about it as customer agent. When you stop and think about it as a prospecting agent, stop thinking of it as the prospecting agent. When you think of it as your clone or your GPT or your Claude or your perplexity or if you're paying attention to the Internet, Internet lately, Claude bot not spelled the same way. If you haven't been researching that. Holy crap. But if you start to get into this world of an extension of you. So is the first thing that they interact with, if it's the prospect bot, but I've taken time to make it be me, is it really me or is it the prospecting bot? If the first thing they interact with is my HubSpot customer agent or my Delphi clone, and I've taken it time to feel, act, talk like me, are they really acting or interacting with AI, or are they interacting with me or an extension of me? Like, too many times I feel like we put this just like, it's that it's me now. This is where my brain is. And Chris, I have no clue if this is where you thought I was going or where you were trying to get us. But at this point, I feel like I've said enough and I'll just shut up.

Well, I think you're on level three there.

Is level three good? Like, is it up levels or down levels?

I mean, level three in terms of like. Like level one being the easiest, and then we, like, increase maybe difficulty and. And value.

Okay, gotcha.

Gotcha. Right? Because level one, I think Nico started to touch on this is like. Like, do you need to scale? Like, the thing that you're trying to scale? Do you even need that? And I think a proof positive of that is all the SEO traffic stuff that went on with HubSpot, like 80% less traffic and like, oh, look, all the traffic that is coming here is higher convert? Like, no. And are we like, did we ever really need to spend time, do we ever need to spend time to try and get that 80% that's always been low quality right on the. And meanwhile, the thing that's enabling us right now is like signal recognition talked. I've talked about this in so many shows, just because when you think about, like focusing on where they are in their, in their journey, who they are, what they care about, we've never had more data available to us. And one thing we, we've always struggled with, and I'd argue HubSpot's one of the best systems for this, is visibility. And if you're not asking or trying to create that visibility and instead just like pushing your message out there because it's a volume game, like, you're completely missing that opportunity. And if you could create that visibility to where now you can be inbound in a way that doesn't create, doesn't cost as much as what George is describing. As far as at level three, where it takes a bunch of content, a bunch of effort to really get AI and your data right for one to be you, to be an extension of you, but also know your audience and how you help them well enough to be able to send a message that is relevant and timely right at the same time. And that's where what we see, albeit AI, is getting better every day at this. Like, there's a clear difference between the LinkedIn messages that I'm getting where you can tell people are on the old. There's the old way where it's like, hey, insert headline. We really, like, you've been doing some awesome stuff. We want to connect. Would you like some more leads? Okay, I guess you missed the part in my, in my, in my headline that like, no, I don't want any more. Like, did you just read the headline? Like, you'd be clear. Right? But then there's others that are getting, you know, more contextual, more relevant. It's still coming out of left field, though. Yeah, right. And so that's where if you're not even like, if you can't get out of the volume game, like, mindset, you can't look at AI this way. Like, you just don't allow yourself to say, oh, maybe we could use AI. And this is like the extension of George part. Like, if there's, let's say there's a customer agent on the site. But the first thing that got them to talk about, talk to the customer agent was a video with your face on it. That is the first impression still. And it's still you, the human. And we don't make videos because we're spending so much time on all this other stuff that AI could be doing, you know, for us. Right?

Yeah. Hang on, hang on, hang on. You said that as if it were us. You need to say that as if it's them. You are not making videos to make a first great impression because you're doing all the other crap that AI could be assisting you with.

Yeah, yeah. And like this social listening that's available and a lot of stuff, you know, Nico's doing over at Smoke Signals, like the data that everybody has always wanted, right. Is, is now available. But you don't just get to like, all right, I'm going to put the bucket out and we're just gonna, just gonna use it and then we're gonna apply some AI, throw in some emails and maybe some social connections and, and it's just gonna, it's just gonna work out like. No, it's not, it's not gonna work out. Like, you gotta put the effort in. But now if you do, like, it's. Yeah. I remember when I was first interacting with, you know, HubSpot sales reps, talking about sequences, right. And how their sequence set up was just emails and calls. Right. And you would talk to them directly. And because the KPIs didn't include things like LinkedIn messages, they literally, like they had to go out of their way to build LinkedIn into their process. Right. And that's the kind of thing, whether it be the Google Ads of old or email automationable. If you take any percentage of time and effort away from those things and apply it in these other areas, there's value there.

Can I drop in here for a hot second before you skirt, skirt away from sequences? Not that this is the HubSpot show. I should probably wait and do this in about, I don't know, 14 minutes. But there'll be no context to it. If you go into your HubSpot portal, if you're a HubSpot portal user and you look at your sequences and your sequences don't have any tasks. Reconstruct your sequences anyway. I'll shut up now.

I mean, are you guys seeing this click? Nico, with the clients you're working with.

It'S a little bit different from, from our end. And I, I say that only because I, I suppose I represent the dark side of this conversation, which, wow, I'm ever so happy to Do. Wow. I say that only because I, I take a tremendous amount of pride and joy and the formulaic methods and, and things that I put together in order to put together Outbound. That does sound extremely genuine and very, very, very much like it either came from you, somebody, you know, anything. It doesn't really matter who the person is. In general odds that I can replicate that voice or 100%. So it's a, it's a real different approach that we take. But the reason that we take it is because we work with companies who don't have the scale. Right. So there's a different story. Like we, you know, we're not working with enterprise level companies who have the staff, but their staff just aren't good. We're working with companies that don't have the staff, but they need, they need the bandwidth. Right. They need the throughput, but they just don't have. They only have like one or two reps, which in this day and age is totally fine. So that's where we sort of what we do at that point. And I feel it still stays in line with what you're talking about because essentially what I'm doing is, is instead of creating cold outbound that sounds like it's coming from no one, what I do instead is I echo your voice. All I do is I build, essentially, I say all I do. I'm boiling it down tremendously. I build a digital replica of you and I have it talk until it sounds exactly like you. And then as soon as it sounds exactly like you, I let you go out and do more conversations with people elsewhere. And that way when they come back and talk to you and it is legitimately you, there is zero transition friction. There is zero anything. It just sounds. They will be talking, you'll be responding to them in the exact same way that you would have responded otherwise. And it becomes a nice fluid transition. So it's, it's definitely not a matter of like, we're not doing the shotgun approach. It might sound like that, but it really isn't because even the people that we're talking to are not the people that this sales team wouldn't talk to. We're not trying to net ideal people we wish we could get after. If only we had magic spoon and you know, company size, that and that other thing we are going after. Oh, these people actually are looking for this. Are actually looking for this solution. Have actually said that they want to buy this. Have actually said they show interest in this. Right?

Yeah. No, I think the intention and purpose of what you built is everything. Like, you really are creating a system that enables meaningful connection, right? And the difference is, like, this. That's a whole system. It breaks, could break anywhere. Like, you can create that system. But if. If you didn't have the other half ready, like, you could see all the people that ready to buy and, like, could get value. But then it came into this place where it's like, oh, let me go look at some scores, and maybe I'll get to it tomorrow, right? That's the barrier that's just completely inconsistent, where I'm like, oh, man, this is the place I gotta go. I see this video, right? I definitely want to work with George. And then I try to work with George. This is not how at all it works in practice, by the way, just using an example.

Thank you. Thank you for the caveat there.

Before you headed, you know, you gotta wait any amount of time and even like five or ten minutes at this point, right? Like, response time is everything. And you focus so much on, like, the volume game, right? We think we need more of that scale instead of the scaling ourselves part, which I think both of you are describing in. In various ways.

Well, I think so. Here's what's funny, because I'm literally having, like, a educational moment. Like, I'm. I'm learning right now. And let me explain. I historically have been, and I say this humbly, but historically, I've been really good at inbound. I have added value, I've created content. People have come back, they've become clients. And so the inbound engine is like, it's on point. Like, otherwise, I wouldn't be in business, wouldn't have been able to start a business at some point. What I have always really sucked at is the outbound motion. And so to hear Nico talk about this outbound, and I love the phrase the echo, by the way, because by the way, echo scales.

Echo, echo, echo, echo, echo.

It goes far past where you thought it was going to go. It even keeps going when you can't hear it anymore. Anyway, like, I have historically sucked it outbound. And I'm. I'm sitting here going, oh, what if I plugged in what Nico is talking about to the thing that I actually have been really good at? And could I become even mediocre at the second to amplify the first in ways that I haven't even thought of yet? And so again, another scenario where I think many of us end up in this camp of this or that. And I'm sitting here going, okay, so in 20, 26. How do I do this and that? How do I actually put something like that in place? That is the echo of GBT when they get into the process. Because, by the way, I do take a lot of like, yeah, let's get on a call, like, and some of them end up being great. And some of them are like, ooh, I probably could have had a process to that human out before.

And I think got on the call, you know, Justin Champion made a post recently alluding to what he's about to be working on and like, AEO and all this stuff. And he mentioned presence, which I've been talking to Rob Jones about, for. For a little bit. And it's like, that's why I. Inbound. We've seen it over the past couple years. Inbound, outbound, all bound, surround bound. Like, can you be present, like, with the audience that you are trying to reach? And that's where AI, like, can put. You can help you be present in ways that were not possible before. But it can't be like, it's gotta be you, right? It's gotta be that echo. It's gotta be an extension. Right? There's no tricks. Like, if you get in front of that person, it's just like, you know, human to human at the trade show, like when you've got a marketing person at the booth and then the subject matter expert at the booth and the subject matter expert, like, goes away for lunch or whatever, and I come in and I talk to the marketing person. Yep. Different conversation being had there. Yeah, right. And so many companies, they just. Sometimes they just send their marketing people and that's it. Right? That's the definition of investing and spending time and effort and then not being present. You're ready for the signal, but then you are not there to receive the signal and react, man. Bond with value.

I'm trying to right now, Chris. I'm trying to figure out if you're talking about business or if you're talking about life. Just let me just hang on with me for a second. You know, if you're watching this, listening to this and, and yes, this is an AI show, but just in general, are you present? Are you checked out? Like, are you just trying to survive? Are you actually flourishing? Like, and, and the reason I'm bringing this up is because, Chris, so many times I think the things that we talk about, because we talk about it at a business perspective, like, if you harness this even for your personal life, AI is what I'm talking about. Like, the difference in being able to show up differently now. Stop there. That's a different podcast.

It's about to be everything, if it's not already everything. Like, that's what I'm. I'm having a blast thinking about a world where I don't have to think into the future, like, at all. Like, it's just that's. And that's what I'm building right now, and I'm feeling it. And, like, when I can be honest, when I can get ready for a call, I don't have to think about the call until 30 minutes before the call. And knowing that I'll be able to add value, like, it's just. It's a different world. And, like, that's something where, you know, I've always been hard on myself about, like, doing more preparation or more planning or more project management or all these things that it's like, maybe I don't need to focus on weaknesses anymore and I can focus on strengths and be present. And, like, if anybody is interested, like, go check out my founder page on the value first team.com website. I'd lay it all out there. Like, how basically last year, I'm like, all right, I'm done trying to fix all of these things that ADHD and other and maybe some other reasons are not going to get fixed. They're just not right. So what can we do about that? And that's where AI can be, man. Can be just about whatever you want it to be in terms of helping you be who you want to be right now. And if you can be that person, that's why we're going there, right? If you can allow yourself to be that person, guess what's easier now? Showing up with value for everybody else around you. Right.

Yeah.

When people are. When you're doing these echoes for people, Nico, are they like. Is that like, there's got to be a moment where they're like, oh, my God, I didn't even think I could ever do anything like this. No, no.

I don't want to play your game.

No, tell me more.

Well, like, I mean, we talk about. We. We talk a lot about, like, the. The different sides and stuff that people were on with things. So, like, for me, like, you guys know, it's a little bit different where, if I can. If I can think it, I'm going to do it. Right? So the, the limitations are really only the software at this point. It's not me. Right. So when it. When it first started, I think we. We talked about it either at Inbound or before inbound I can't quite remember, but we had talked about the concept of mirrors. And mirrors was something that I'm sure if it doesn't exist already, it will very soon, was a concept that I had where you would do almost what it sounds like. You would just build digital replicas of everyone, of customers, prospects, didn't matter. But these digital replicas, even though it sounds like, well, we have records in a CRM, what's the big deal? Yeah, so your records in CRM are populated with nothing but garbage. All they have is stupid little bits of quantifiable data that look like tiny little specks of granular sand. And maybe you have some bricks here and there and slapped some paint on a few places with some notes. It's awesome. What I like to do is I basically create the greatest deductive reasoning engine you could possibly come up with and then take all of that data on top of other actual sets of data that mimic that data, and then we start to find patterns between your customers and real people. And then we start to synthesize data that doesn't exist. Like qualifiable data. Right? And now all of a sudden, I start to know customer habits, and I start to know, like, habits of a particular account. Even if one new one walks through the door, all of a sudden it lights up bells that are very different from like Profile or what is it, the health customer score. Customer health score and all that kind of stuff. You know, scoring points on quantifiable things like that. It makes sense, right? On firmographics, like, at least I know what industry they're in. At least I know this about them. That doesn't tell you the type of person they are. It doesn't. It just tells you the type of business avatar that they are. The type of person is way well beneath that. And I know this sounds like I'm going to touch on something for five seconds and then I know we gotta go. All I can say is, like, one of the biggest inspirations behind this was the movie Sneakers. There's a particular scene towards the third quarter into that movie where they happen to pick up a bag of trash from one of the people that they're looking at. And someone says, wow, trash. Why would you pick up somebody's trash? And the guy says, you have no idea what we can learn about somebody from the things that they throw away.

It's okay. I know we gotta go, but we'll be there.

We'll be there in a few minutes.

Casey.

Yeah, I. I know it's time for us to go. But what I just heard is I'm looking for a procrastinator who has buried themselves in work who makes over a million dollars a year. That is really bad at this. But good at this. Hey happens. They stay up till midnight, they wake up at five o', clock, they're burnout the candle at both ends. When somebody like that enters my CRM, which is not measurable data at all. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. George, you have a new potential client in your portal.

Like it hasn't been measurable. Right, right, right. And I think that's where what Nico's describing. If I can just build the bridge and then we do got go like signal. When I say things like signal recognition. Right. Recognizing what those signals are is the difference between I just need some quantifiable data for their business avatar versus I want to know who they are, where they are, what they care about. Right. And this is where all of business basically gets this part wrong where every human wants you to know those things. Right. So you can create this system now. And, and even though you're not going to get to the mirror right away, if you treat your unified customer view like that, like it's supposed to tell you that whether you're 10%, 50%, 80% there now you get to create more signals and understanding around this, that starts to build that process profile for you.

Chris.

Right?

Chris, are you saying your CRM should be able to see the whole ass human?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. So keep it here folks. If you want to learn how to do that. It's. It's probably a pretty good plan for you. Remember, we're connecting humans, not not separating them. Everybody have a great Monday. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks guys.

See you guys.