​AI is compressing the cost of execution. Small, AI-native teams can now move with the speed and output that used to require a full department, creating a new competitive landscape for startups and incumbents alike.

​In this session, Alec Coughlin breaks down where AI-native teams create outsized leverage across the business, and what founders can do to respond strategically. This isn't a theory session. We'll get into the specific workflows, tooling decisions and operating model choices that determine whether a small team actually outperforms or just moves fast, in the wrong direction.

​You'll walk away with:

• ​A practical model for where AI-native teams create outsized leverage, including how to standardize workflows so your team can move at that pace and where defensibility actually lives when execution is cheaper and faster

• ​Where enterprise AI adoption breaks down and creates real openings for startups, drawn from patterns across F1000 organizations

• ​The specific strategic choices that separate AI-native winners from everyone else: focus, differentiation, distribution, and data foundations

​Best for: Seed to Series A founders and early operators (also useful for later-stage teams modernizing their operating model).

​Speaker

​Alec Coughlin

​Alec Coughlin is a Principal at BairesDev and Founder of AI with Alec. BairesDev is one of the world's fastest growing dev shops with 4,000+ senior engineers based in LATAM, helping larger enterprises become more AI-first and startups scale faster. AI with Alec is a multi-platform thought leadership brand focused on Enterprise AI with 15,000+ followers and subscribers across LinkedIn, Twitter, Newsletter and Podcast.

​Deeply technical in AI (non-engineer), Alec's AI journey began in 2016 and includes deep work at LivePerson, Publicis Sapient and RelationalAI. He's spent his career on both sides of the equation this session tackles: launching and growing startups (AdGenesis, CropUp, Gemini Sports Analytics), driving high-growth results (helped drive Endeavor's (WME) consulting division revenue from $1.7M to $7.1M in 18 months) and helping enterprises navigate digital and now their AI-first transformation.

​His philosophy: Humans + Machines, not Humans vs Machines.

​Location

​American Underground — Upstairs

​324 Blackwell Street, Durham, NC 27701

​Parking

​Free parking is available at the American Tobacco Campus North Deck, courtesy of CBC Real Estate.

• ​Map to: 305 W Pettigrew St, Durham, NC 27701

• ​Use the 2nd floor and above. (Please do not park on first floor.)

​Questions?

​This session is part of Raleigh-Durham Startup Week. Click here to learn more about the event, plus get answers to your FAQs.

​Track Supporter

​​​Thank you to Narrasoft for supporting the Strategy Track at #RDSW26!