Seattle Fireside Chat: The Future of AI

This fireside chat brought together thought leaders, technical experts, venture capitalists, and enterprise executives to discuss the most pressing macroeconomic and technical trends shaping AI today. With the space evolving faster than ever, these conversations sparked grounded, strategic dialogue on what it means to lead through this transformation. 

The event, which was hosted by Edge Delta and moderated by Edge Delta Founder & CEO Ozan Unlu, took place on July 22, 2025, in downtown Seattle. 

Panel 1

AI Market & Macro Trends: Where AI Macro is Going: Business, Capital, and Global Impact  

• Bob Muglia – Former Microsoft President and CEO at Snowflake 
• Tim Porter – Managing Director, Madrona; formerly at Microsoft
• Tim Tully – Partner, Menlo Ventures; former CTO at Splunk 
• Ken Exner – CPO, Elastic; formerly at Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Panel 2 

Technical AI Trends: What’s Happening Under the Hood in AI

• Rohan Deshpande – MD & Fellow, Goldman Sachs
• Ece Kamar – Distinguished Scientist, VP, MD, Microsoft 
• Jordan Tigani – Founder & CEO, MotherDuck
• Karthik Bharathy – General Manager, Amazon Web Services (AWS) 
• Kit Merker – CEO, Plainsight; formerly at Google, Microsoft, JFrog