The AI Strategy Gap

The AI Strategy Gap

From Tacos and Tech Podcast by Neal Bloom

April 14, 2026 · 58 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges businesses face in implementing AI strategies and the importance of change management over technology.

In this weeks episode, I sit down with Grayson LaFrenz and Chad Lohrli, two of the co-founders of Cadre AI, the San Diego-based AI strategy and integration firm helping mid-market companies turn AI hype into P&L impact. They get into why 99 out of 100 business leaders still can’t point to measurable ROI from AI, how Cadre’s pod model mirrors the playbook Grayson used to build Power Digital into a record-setting exit, and why change management - not technology - is the real bottleneck. The taco question made an appearance. Key Topics * Why most companies have no real AI strategy * Grayson’s path from Power Digital’s PE exit to Cadre AI * Chad’s journey from hackathons and SDX to co-founding Cadre * How Cadre’s pod system verticalizes AI delivery * The maturity index that exposes C-suite blind spots * Why services businesses lose operating leverage at scale * Building reusable AI blocks across clients * Turning call recordings into an autonomous client intelligence system * Why change management is harder than the technology Links & Resources * Cadre AI * SDx Community * Power Digital Connect on LinkedIn * Grayson LaFrenz * Chad Lohrli * Neal Bloom This is a public episode. If…

People in this episode

Host: Neal Bloom

Guests: Grayson LaFrenz, Chad Lohrli

Topics covered

  • AI strategy
  • business ROI
  • change management
  • mid-market companies
  • AI integration
  • technology bottlenecks

Keywords

  • AI hype
  • P&L impact
  • business leaders
  • operating leverage
  • autonomous client intelligence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Cadre AI, Power Digital, SDx Community

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