Most organisations are asking which AI model they should use. Patrick McQuaid thinks that is the wrong conversation.

Patrick is Group Head of Data, Analytics & AI at NGM Group. He joins James MacDonald to explain how leaders can build practical AI capability without getting trapped by hype, vendor lock-in or an endless cycle of new tools.

They discuss how NGM approaches AI inside a regulated banking environment, where privacy, risk and customer trust make it impossible to turn a weekend prototype straight into production. Patrick explains why teams need both strong foundations and useful short-term wins, why the people closest to the work should own their technology costs, and where generative AI should not be used for decision-making.

The conversation also explores what AI means for technical careers. Patrick shares why he hires for attitude, curiosity and problem-solving ability, rather than waiting for candidates with years of experience in technology that has only just emerged. He and James discuss the continuing value of junior engineers, the rise of AI enablement and orchestration roles, and the human skills that remain difficult to automate.

If you are responsible for introducing AI into an established organisation, hiring a technical team or preparing your own career for the next wave of change, this episode offers a grounded alternative to the fear and hype.

• 0:00 — Stop arguing about AI models
• 0:46 — What this episode covers
• 1:15 — Meet Patrick McQuaid
• 1:38 — Leading experts without being the deepest technical expert
• 4:37 — Deployment, flexibility and avoiding model lock-in
• 6:45 — Vibe coding versus production inside a regulated bank
• 8:30 — Shadow AI and choosing enterprise tools
• 10:10 — Junior engineers and hiring for attitude
• 16:15 — Who should own AI and token costs?
• 19:34 — Building, buying or partnering for AI capability
• 21:21 — Where generative AI does not belong
• 25:41 — Joining NGM during a major data transformation
• 30:17 — Building foundations and delivering quick wins
• 34:20 — Planning in a fast-moving AI market
• 35:45 — Agentic tools and the value of staying flexible
• 37:04 — Can specialist software companies defend their advantage?
• 39:18 — What organisations should and should not build themselves
• 41:33 — Technology's role in a human business
• 49:44 — The human skills AI cannot replace
• 52:33 — What AI could mean for the next generation
• 54:33 — Remote work, relationships and learning together
• 58:35 — Cutting through AI FOMO and LinkedIn hype
• 1:00:27 — The AI advantage for smaller organisations
• 1:01:24 — Managing legal, financial and reputational risk
• 1:06:43 — AI sycophancy and why chatbots agree with you
• 1:07:57 — The skills technology professionals should build now
• 1:09:26 — AI enablement and orchestration roles
• 1:12:46 — James's key takeaway

Patrick McQuaid GAICD is Group Head of Data, Analytics & AI at NGM Group, one of Australia's largest customer-owned banking groups. NGM Group operates the Greater Bank and Newcastle Permanent brands.

• Patrick McQuaid — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-mcquaid/
• NGM Group: https://www.ngmgroup.com.au/
• National AI Centre: https://www.industry.gov.au/science-technology-and-innovation/technology/artificial-intelligence/national-ai-centre
• James MacDonald — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-macdonald-au/ · NTP Talent: https://ntptalent.com.au/
• Day One: https://dayone.fm/

Hosted by James MacDonald, Managing Director of NTP Talent.

Building Tech Teams is produced by Day One®, trusted partners in the technology space and the production partner behind Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts. Sister shows include First Cheque, Oversubscribed and In The Blink of AI. Episodes are cross-promoted across the network.

The first hire used to be an engineer. Michael Batko thinks that's now backwards — and that's just the start of how AI is rewiring the way you build a tech team.

In the first episode of Building Tech Teams, James MacDonald sits down with Michael Batko — who spent eight years as CEO of Startmate backing 240+ startups, and now runs the AI-native venture batko.ai. They get into what actually changes when the cost of building drops to near zero: why go-to-market now comes before engineering, why the 10x engineer is finally real, what "AI-native" means for a person and for a company, and how to lead a team through it without torching your culture.

It's a practitioner-to-practitioner conversation with real opinions and real scar tissue — hiring for attitude over skill, the rise of the AI chief of staff, the squeeze on middle management, and why your hard-won experience is the one moat AI can't copy.

• 0:46 — Why James launched the show, and why Batko is guest #1
• 2:00 — The first hire has flipped: go-to-market before engineers
• 3:49 — Where real software engineers still matter (and the "vibe-coding" ceiling)
• 9:01 — What "AI-native" actually means — building your personal, then company, "brain"
• 12:06 — Agent hierarchies: one agent / one job, and the AI chief of staff
• 14:50 — Getting AI into a traditional business: permission to play + an AI policy (and the IP-leak risk)
• 17:25 — Quick wins: process-mapping by voice, and the dictation tool that changes the game
• 20:54 — Your first 5–10 hires: attitude over skill, hungry over proven, junior over senior
• 25:58 — Team size, layoffs, "AI-washing", and the shrinking PM-to-engineer ratio
• 34:55 — The one skill AI can't replace: people management
• 48:07 — Why you still want humans in the room: inspiration, fresh eyes, first-principles
• 51:40 — Facing the fear: lean in, automate yourself out, take the skills with you
• 58:33 — Taste, authenticity, and experience as your real moat
• 63:54 — Batko's playbook for any company starting now

Michael Batko spent eight years as CEO of Startmate, where he backed 240+ early-stage companies, and now builds AI-native tools for founders and businesses at batko.ai.

• Michael Batko — batko.ai · LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/batkomichael
• James MacDonald — LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-macdonald-au · NTP Talent: https://ntptalent.com.au

Hosted by James MacDonald, Managing Director of NTP Talent.

Building Tech Teams is produced by Day One®, trusted partners in the technology space and the production partner behind Blackbird Ventures' Wild Hearts. Sister shows include First Cheque, Oversubscribed and In The Blink of AI. Episodes are cross-promoted across the network.

From a childhood without electricity to co-founding a listed betting company, Oliver Shanahan’s story is a masterclass in technical grit and commercial pivots. As the Group Head of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure at BetMakers Technology Group, Oliver traces his path from wiring up early ISPs and mining ERPs to building TopBetta from a two-person LAMP stack into an ASX-listed business.

In this episode of Tech Execs, James MacDonald sits down with Oliver as he unpacks the high-stakes realities of bookmaking, the decision to pivot from B2C to B2B through acquisitions like Dynamic Odds, Global Betting Services, and Sportech, and why they rebuilt a legacy monolith into a cloud-native, multi-tenant platform that now powers 35+ sportsbooks. We also dig into ISO 27001 in practice, due diligence on tech debt, and how to use AI without leaking your IP. A candid, deeply technical blueprint for founders and engineering leaders navigating scale, regulation, and replatforming you won’t want to miss.

In this episode of Tech Execs, James MacDonald heads to Melbourne to sit down with Matt Vitale, former co-founder of Australia’s largest equity crowdfunding platform and now Executive Director at New Dialogue. Matt traces his winding path from nightlife promoter and sugarcane juice tinkerer to financial services lawyer, then startup pioneer, where he helped more than 300 companies raise over $250M. He shares the breakout Sheba Rideshare campaign, why storytelling and community trump slick code, and how a $300K LaunchVic grant sparked a hardware-focused angel network that became their most successful to date.

Tune in to hear Matt break down how enterprises can safely adopt AI by deploying open-source large language models inside their own secure environments—model-agnostic, auditable, and up in days, not months. He makes the case for bottom-up experimentation, rapid pilots, and why compliance-by-design will be the real moat as regulation catches up. Alongside the professional achievements, Matt also shares the daily practices (think meditation, breath work, and long works) that helped him reset following burnout. A must listen for those working in the rapidly evolving AI space.

Victoria Aspden, Executive General Manager - Digital & Transformation at Ampcontrol has had an unconventional career journey. Initially choosing technology for its earning potential, she managed to work her way through the field when recruiters valued her relationship-building skills over pure technical credentials. This pattern of people taking chances on her became a defining theme throughout her career.

In this episode of NTP’s Tech Exec podcast series, Victoria sits down with James MacDonald to discuss her diverse career and her core management frameworks, including ‘problem before solution’, ‘people, process, tech, data’ and their interconnectedness, and the ‘cone of uncertainty’. Victoria advocates for hiring people smarter than yourself and creating environments where vulnerability and honest communication are valued over technical expertise alone. Tune in to hear Victoria’s advice for leaning into your weird, and how challenging traditional gender roles in her family has allowed her career success.

On the first episode of NTP’s Tech Exec podcast series, James MacDonald sits down with Andrew Cresp to talk about his journey through financial services technology leadership, from early days in the insurance industry, moving through major roles in banking, before landing as CIO at NGM Group. Having grown up in country South Australia, Andrew reveals his passion for making regional businesses world-class.

The conversation explores Andrew’s philosophy that technology strategy cannot exist independently, only business strategy enabled by technology, and the current implementations he’s seeing of AI in contact centres where systems provide real-time prompts to agents while automatically summarising calls. You don’t want to miss hearing Andrew’s approach to tackling the hardest projects others avoid, building resilience through marathon-like persistence, and finding mentors across all organisational levels. Tune in to gain practical advice on building a career in tech and hear about the importance of aligned teams for business success.

Ever wondered what it's like to transition from finance to IT, and from Sweden to Australia? On this episode of the NewyTechPeople podcast, Linda Apostolidis sits down with Margareta Bogatir Studdert, who brings her unique global experience to Newcastle. You'll hear about her fascinating career evolution and the surprising differences (and similarities!) of working cultures across continents.

Margareta explains her exciting work at NGM Group, where she merged two distinct IT support teams and is now leading a major strategic project. Margareta also sheds light on Sweden's progressive policies for working families and women returning to the workforce, which truly set them apart. She'll offer invaluable leadership lessons on cultural adaptability, delegation, and empowering teams to learn from mistakes. Plus, don't miss her thoughts on cutting-edge trends like AI for predictive health and automation, and how NGM is championing women in tech by collaborating with initiatives like Hunter WiSE. Tune in for an inspiring story of career growth, leadership, and the power of embracing challenges!

In this episode of the NewyTechPeople podcast, James sits down with Adam Ingles, a fractional CFO and Director at Quick:Ratio, who works with technology startups. Adam shares his experience in the tech industry and explains the benefits of fractional CFO roles for early-stage startups. He breaks down when companies should bring in finance expertise, the current fundraising landscape, and the key elements of a strong pitch deck.

Adam also offers advice on funding options, the challenges faced by Newcastle-based startups, and what he looks for when choosing to work with a company. Plus, he covers work-life balance in fractional roles, essential hires for growing startups, and the best resources for founders.

Whether you’re a tech professional, a startup founder, or simply interested in the financial side of scaling a tech company, this episode is packed with valuable insights.