What does it look like when a 100‑person development team shrinks to ten human overseers plus a fleet of AI agents that do the heavy lifting? How can a healthcare system finally unlock the value hidden in its massive data stores? And can the same technology we use to write code also help clean up a polluted bay? In this power‑packed episode of Mix & Matchbox, host Brent Feldman sits down with Kevin Dean, President & CEO of Manobyte, to explore the fast‑emerging world of AI‑agents and how they’re already reshaping businesses, industries, and even our planet. If you’re a founder, senior leader, or data‑enthusiast curious about turning raw data into actionable intelligence, this conversation is a must‑listen.

Kevin walks us through his eclectic educational background—from WGU, Villanova, Harvard, and MIT—to his early fascination with AI and data science. He explains why the healthcare sector, despite sitting on enormous data reserves, still struggles to turn that data into value, sharing the story of the Prometheus project that used AI to score risk, automate claims and strip away unnecessary policy clauses. From there, Kevin reveals how Manobyte has spent the past 18 months building AI agents for other businesses, making it one of the few true “AI‑agent‑building” firms on the market.

A central theme of the episode is the AI‑first mindset: start by designing what an AI agent can do before you think about hiring people. Kevin stresses the importance of a data‑readiness checklist—knowing what data you have, where it lives, and evaluating its quality in terms of completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and duplication. Without clean, unique data, AI delivers no value. He also argues that deep domain expertise now outweighs generic AI knowledge—“the riches are in the niches.” Companies that combine specialized industry insight with AI agents will create real competitive advantage.

The conversation ties classic Lean, Six‑Sigma, and Kaizen principles to AI, describing how “currents” of financial, operational, human, and internal perspectives must align while AI models evolve on three‑month sprint cycles. Rather than flashy demos, Kevin’s approach is to solve a concrete business problem within 30 days, then scale. Typical quick wins start with customer‑service automation or closing internal knowledge gaps.

Kevin gives vivid examples of AI‑driven workforce transformation: a 100‑developer shop is projected to shrink to ten human managers who oversee a fleet of AI agents, and HR leader Workday has already rolled out an “Agent of Record” to automate onboarding and role provisioning. These stories demonstrate how AI agents are becoming a new layer of the employee hierarchy, complete with job descriptions, access controls, and training—just like any human employee.

On the personal side, Kevin shares how he’s using AI to research and implement bay‑clean‑up techniques in Tampa, showing that AI can empower everyday people to take concrete, planet‑positive actions.

⏱️ Timestamped Highlights

Time Topic

0:00 Intro – Meet Kevin Dean, the tech‑junkie‑turned‑AI‑agent pioneer

1:30 Education & early AI curiosity (WGU, Villanova, Harvard, MIT)

3:45 Healthcare’s data paradox & the Prometheus AI risk‑scoring project

6:15 Birth of Manobyte’s AI‑agent practice – 18 months of building agents

9:05 Why every company needs an AI‑First strategy

11:30 “Riches are in the niches” – the power of deep industry expertise

13:45 Data‑Readiness Checklist – what, where, quality

16:20 Lean, Six‑Sigma, Kaizen applied to AI “currents”

19:00 Moving beyond demos: solving a real problem in 30 days

21:15 AI‑driven workforce transformation – developers to agents

24:00 Workday’s “Agent of Record” – AI for HR onboarding

26:10 Personal conservation mission: AI‑powered bay cleanup

28:00 Call to Action – join the “Swimming with Sharks” boat‑podcast & explore Manobyte.com

29:30 Closing thoughts & thanks

📌 Quick Action Steps

Audit your data using the 3‑point checklist (what‑where‑quality).

Identify a 30‑day win (e.g., automate ticket triage, knowledge‑gap bridging).

Reach out to a specialist—Manobyte is one of the few companies that actually builds AI agents for other businesses.

Stay Lean – adopt short AI sprint cycles and keep improving (Kaizen).

🔗 Useful Links

Manobyte – AI Agent Solutions: https://manobyte.com

Kevin Dean on “Swimming with Sharks” (boat‑based AI podcast): [Link]

Subscribe for more AI‑powered conversations: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwbrfJt_APT669I4GLDclRg

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