Daniel Mishler, Head of Automation at Deepgram. Deepgram is Voice AI platform for enterprise use cases – speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and speech-to-speech APIs for developers.
Episode Highlights:
- Daniel pivoted from naval architecture in the Coast Guard to business through an MBA, then jumped into tech by working on synthetic aperture radar satellites—despite knowing nothing about them at first. His curiosity and growth mindset drove his success.
- Daniel reframes automation as augmentation, emphasizing AI should empower people, not replace them. His goal at Deepgram as Head of Automation is to make the company the most productive and efficient using AI tools, while being realistic about the cultural and technical challenges.
- Daniel credits tools like Cursor and Windsurf with changing his life. Despite no formal coding background and 10 kids at home, he used AI agents to start building. He stresses the importance of starting with a clear PRD and iterating through conversation-first workflows—a process he calls Vibe Coding.
- He built a VS Code extension called Vibe Coder that lets users talk through their ideas, automatically generate a PRD, and then dictate code using Deepgram's transcription tech. He sees this as a glimpse of the future—voice-driven development in AR, smartwatches, and beyond.
- Daniel recommends applying a VC-style portfolio strategy to AI automation: invest in many small, fast experiments, learn from each, and double down on what works. This mindset helps overcome fear, gain buy-in, and keep pace with the breakneck speed of AI innovation.
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Connect with Daniel Mishler:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-mishler/
https://deepgram.com/
Connect with Demetrios:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpbrinkm/
Connect with Deepgram:
https://deepgram.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/deepgram
https://twitter.com/deepgramai
https://www.facebook.com/deepgram/
Join the Deepgram Discord Server!
https://discord.com/invite/xWRaCDBtW4
What is AIMinds?
Welcome to the AI Minds podcast, where we explore how the companies of tomorrow are built with an AI-first approach.
This series of episodes are brought to you by Deepgram the number one Speech to Text, Text to Speech, and voice API on the internet trusted by the world’s top Enterprises, Conversational AI Leaders, & Startups like Spotify, Twilio, NASA and Citi Bank.