When AI Makes Development Faster, What Should You Build with Ciaran Cosgrave

When building gets easier, choosing what to build becomes even more important.

Ciaran Cosgrave is CEO of Nearform, a global AI-native engineering company for the enterprise. Before moving into entrepreneurship and technology, he spent the first decade of his career running refugee camps across Africa and Central America. Those experiences shaped how he thinks about resilience, problem-solving, and building teams.

In our conversation, we explore why Ciaran focuses on problems before technology, how AI software development is compressing months of prototyping into days and weeks, and why faster experimentation makes judgment even more important. We also get into the new challenge leaders face when teams can generate more ideas and prototypes than organizations can realistically absorb.

• Start with the problem, not the technology: Understanding the underlying problem and speaking with the people experiencing it creates a stronger foundation than chasing technology or quick financial returns.
• Knowing what to build remains difficult: AI can change how software gets built, but leaders still need judgment to determine which problems matter and what is worth creating.
• Faster prototypes can improve judgment: Moving from idea to prototype in days or weeks gives teams more opportunities to explore alternatives and test assumptions before committing to large investments.
• More experimentation requires better filtering: As testing ideas becomes faster and cheaper, leaders need mechanisms for deciding which prototypes deserve to move forward.
• Growth is becoming less dependent on headcount: AI is challenging the traditional services model where growing a business was closely tied to adding more people.

• Resilience can come from unexpected experiences: Ciaran credits his years working in refugee camps with teaching him perseverance and giving him perspective when facing rejection and uncertainty.
• Great teams still matter: Ciaran emphasizes finding good people, helping them work together, and building strong teams around difficult problems.
• Luck belongs in the entrepreneurship story: Timing, advice, unexpected opportunities, and good fortune can play an important role even when successful founders later describe a more deliberate strategy.
• Nearform was built around open source and small, senior teams: The company was built on a belief in open technology and in smaller groups of experienced people creating greater impact.
• The transformation experts are being disrupted too: After helping companies navigate mobile, cloud, and ecommerce, Nearform now finds its own services business directly affected by AI.

Episode Highlights

00:00 – Solve Problems Before Chasing Money

Ciaran explains why he has always been more interested in solving meaningful problems than pursuing technology or quick financial returns.

02:32 – Guest Introduction: Ciaran Cosgrave

Meet Ciaran Cosgrave, CEO of Nearform, whose unconventional career began with a decade spent running refugee camps before moving into entrepreneurship and technology.

03:52 – From Refugee Camps to Technology

Ciaran shares how he spent the first ten years of his career working in refugee camps before entering technology.

05:46 – Giving His Early Career to Others

A teenage encounter with a technology entrepreneur inspired Ciaran to spend the early years of his career serving others and tackling difficult problems.

08:18 – Becoming an Entrepreneur by Accident

After struggling to enter traditional corporate roles, Ciaran found an opportunity in financial services and started building technology businesses.

11:45 – Focus on Problems, People, and a Little Luck

Ciaran explains why understanding the problem, finding great people, and acknowledging luck have shaped how he builds businesses.

15:43 – What Drew Ciaran to Nearform

Ciaran describes Nearform’s origins and its early belief in open-source technology, small senior teams, and software as a force for good.

21:03 – When the Transformation Experts Get Disrupted

After years of helping companies navigate digital transformation, Nearform now finds its own industry being reshaped by AI.

25:45 – Knowing What to Build Is Still Hard

Ciaran argues that judgment about what to build remains one of the biggest challenges for organizations using AI.

29:38 – From Months of Prototyping to Days and Weeks

AI-assisted development allows teams to move from ideas to prototypes much faster and examine more alternatives before committing.

33:20 – Making More Bets With Greater Optionality

Barry explores how cheaper experimentation allows teams to test multiple possibilities instead of placing one large bet.

36:06 – When Innovation Becomes the Bottleneck

Ciaran explains why organizations need stronger filtering mechanisms as teams generate and prototype more ideas.

39:18 – Turning AI’s Potential Into Reality

Ciaran shares his optimism about putting AI into production and using it to build new services and tackle difficult problems.

• Ciaran Cosgrave on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ciarancosgrave/
• Nearform Website - https://www.nearform.com/
• Nearform on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/nearform/
• Artificial Organizations – https://geni.us/artificialorgs
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