AJ Bruno doesn’t mince words:
“Every company in the world that’s software has to be AI-first by the end of next year or you will die.”
As a two-time founder and CEO of QuotaPath, AJ has built and scaled go-to-market engines from scratch. He took TrendKite from idea to a $225 million acquisition, and now he’s building again, while flying planes, investing in startups, and leading with radical transparency. AJ embodies the modern CEO: part builder, part operator, part pilot.
The Pilot’s Checklist for CEOs
When I asked AJ what metric he checks most often, his answer wasn’t financial. It was relational.
“The thing I look at the most are all the Slack channels with customer communication… Intercom, NPS, sales call summaries. It’s my gateway to customers.”
He treats this flow of customer signals the way a pilot treats engine instruments, always listening for what’s not being said. CEOs, he argues, must hear the hum of the business, not just the noise of dashboards.
Checklists Create Calm in Turbulence
AJ loves turbulence, both in the air and in business. When things get rough, he relies on checklists.
“In aviation, you use checklists habitually. You read them out loud. It’s about discipline.”
He applies that same rigor to leadership: daily, weekly, and quarterly checklists that keep him proactive instead of reactive. Writing goals by hand, not typing them, reinforces focus and clarity. “It’s not just for my team,” he says. “It’s for me to see what I’m doing.”
When Pressure Turns Physical
In 2023, AJ faced more than business turbulence, he ended up in the hospital with a heart condition.
“I had just raised our Series B, the market was collapsing, we had to do two RIFs. It sucked. There’s no other word for it.”
That crisis forced him to slow down. “I had to become more patient,” he says. “We asked, what can we actually control?” The result: a reset, a smaller but stronger team, and a new mindset that was measured, focused, and sustainable.
Trust Is the Ultimate Growth Lever
When AJ took two weeks off to travel to Japan, QuotaPath didn’t miss a beat.
“That’s the sign of a real management team,” he told me. “If you trust them, let them run. My job is to set the vision and get out of the way.”
Delegation isn’t weakness. It’s maturity. CEOs who cling to control never escape firefighting.
Writing Is a CEO Superpower
One of AJ’s lost-art skills is memo writing.
“Writing creates clarity of thought,” he said. “It helps you communicate expectations consistently.”
In a world of Slack threads and AI-generated blurbs, deliberate writing forces coherence. It’s also how AJ prevents mixed messages from cascading through his org.
The AI Declaration
At QuotaPath’s company kickoff, AJ made a bold announcement:
“QuotaPath will be an AI-first company by the end of the year. Everything you do on a daily basis has to involve AI.”
That wasn’t a slogan. It became a mandate across three dimensions: operations, development, and product.
- Operations: AI now drives workflow automation and revenue efficiency. “We turned RevOps into AI Ops,” AJ said.
- Development: Engineers use AI coding assistants to speed QA and documentation.
- Product: The team built an AI model that helps customers design smarter compensation plans using context from financial data.
Within one week, they had a working prototype. Within one quarter, they shipped it.
Hands on the Keyboard
AJ rejects the idea that CEOs should merely “orchestrate” AI.
“CEOs need to be hands-on keyboard,” he insists. “You can’t delegate understanding.”
He now hosts “Vibe Coding Fridays,” where even non-technical team members build small AI projects. “Everyone in the company is a builder,” he says. That mindset has made QuotaPath faster, more inventive, and more united.
Final Takeaway
AJ Bruno’s story is a blueprint for every modern CEO: write clearly, listen deeply, stay patient under pressure and make AI a core part of how your company thinks, builds, and sells. The age of AI-optional leadership is over.
I’m Glenn Gow. I coach CEOs who want to scale by making AI their competitive advantage. On my podcast, I reveal the strategies top leaders use to grow bigger, faster, and future-proof their companies.
Listen to the full episode of The Scaling CEO with AJ Bruno for lessons on resilience, focus, and how to make AI the engine of your company’s growth.
