In Episode 01 of The Decision Room — the Utopia Club podcast for software founders scaling in the US — Hisham Juneidi, founder of⁨ ⁨‪@Quotix-ThePricingLayer‬, explains the architecture mistake almost every AI startup is making, and the system he built to fix it.The Decision Room is hosted by Gina Kimiza, founder of Utopia Club, a private network for software founders building or entering the US market. Every episode is one founder, one decision, one pivot — told by the founder who made it.In this conversation, we go deep on AI hallucination, LLM math accuracy, and why building B2B products entirely inside AI creates a "black box" customers won't tolerate. Hisham splits AI from the calculation engine — and explains why every software founder building with LLMs should be making the same call.Quotix is an AI-powered quoting and pricing engine for B2B service businesses, currently in early deployment with HVAC and property management companies.

What we cover:→ Why AI hallucinates on math (and what's happening under the hood)→ The dual-engine architecture: AI for reasoning, separate engine for calculations→ Why "black box" AI is unsellable to B2B businesses→ The 2-year agency detour (Edge Node) that led to Quotix→ How Hisham found his ICP — and why agencies, not end customers, are the right wedge→ The 70-80% of HVAC businesses he'll never sell to→ Solo founder uncertainty and how he runs without a fixed schedule→ What he'd do differently if he started over tomorrow

The Decision Room is a podcast for software founders building in the US, non-US founders crossing into the US market, B2B operators, investors tracking deal flow, and partners in the GTM, EOR, and founder-network space.

Chapters:00:00 — Cold open: "AI should not touch the math"00:45 — Who Hisham is and what Quotix does03:20 — The architecture decision: splitting AI from calculations08:15 — Why "black box" AI doesn't work for business products12:40 — Edge Node: the 2-year detour to Quotix17:30 — Finding the ICP: from generic agency to HVAC pricing22:10 — Why he targets agencies, not end customers26:00 — Solo founder uncertainty29:15 — What he'd do differently31:30 — Kim's close

About Utopia Club:Utopia Club is a private network for software founders building or entering the US market. Members get curated peer access, monthly decision pods, and a closed community of 200+ software founders. Founded by Gina Kimiza.→ Apply: utopia-club.comAbout The Decision Room:The Decision Room is the Utopia Club podcast. One founder. One decision. One pivot in the US market — told by the founder who made it. Hosted by Gina Kimiza.→ Decision Room newsletter: fuacollective.substack.comAbout the guest:Hisham Juneidi is the founder of Quotix, an AI-powered quoting and pricing platform for B2B service businesses. CS at Virginia Tech, Data Science at Fairfield University. Previously ran Edge Node, an AI automation agency. Based in Connecticut.

→ Follow Hisham on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/hisham-juneidi-590828170→ Follow Kim on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ginakimiza