Intro
Hello everyone and welcome to another insightful conversation on Elevate Your AIQ! Today I’m joined by serial entrepreneur, market researcher and technologist, Marshall Kirkpatrick.
From his days at TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb to founding influencer marketing platform Little Bird (which was acquired by Sprinklr) and diving deep into AI-powered market monitoring, Marshall has always been ahead of the curve.
Marshall and I go way back to the early days of social media and social analytics, and I learn a lot from him each time we catch up. This conversation brought back a flood of memories, made clear that some of those innovative concepts are as relevant today as ever, and sparked a bunch of new ideas. We talk about everything from synthetic personas and social capital to quality of hire and AI-enhanced team building.
I genuinely enjoyed this thought-provoking conversation — and I know you will too. Thanks, as always, for listening to the show!
Summary
In this lively and thought-provoking episode of Elevate Your AIQ, Bob Pulver reconnects with longtime friend and pioneering technologist Marshall Kirkpatrick. From their early work intersecting social data and influence to Marshall's latest AI-driven workflows, the conversation explores how human insight and machine intelligence are converging. Marshall shares real-world examples of using synthetic personas, market monitoring systems, and creative prompting strategies to uncover early signals, amplify strategic decisions, and reimagine everything from talent acquisition to environmental policy tracking. It's a conversation that balances nostalgia with the frontier of AI innovation.
Keywords
AI-powered market monitoring, synthetic personas, talent acquisition, influencer marketing, social analytics, Claude, Perplexity, scenario planning, digital twins, quality of hire, Obsidian notes, strategic planning, generative AI, Delphi method, social capital
Takeaways
Marshall’s Journey: From TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb to founding Little Bird and working with Sprinklr, Marshall has spent his career identifying experts and building tools to surface valuable insights from social data.
Synthetic Personas in Action: Marshall uses tools like Claude to create synthetic expert panels that evaluate documents, surface perspectives, and even challenge his own thinking.
AI-Augmented Talent Scenarios: The conversation dives into using AI to simulate team compositions, evaluate candidates’ social behaviors, and even model potential collaboration outcomes.
Monitoring the Market with AI: Marshall outlines how he builds systems that detect early signals in markets — including environmental policy — using a mix of RSS, generative AI, and good old-fashioned curiosity.
Digital Twins and Ownership: The discussion explores who owns the knowledge embedded in a “digital twin” of an employee — and how organizations might leverage them responsibly.
Strategic Planning Reimagined: Using AI to model outcomes based on actions and strategies offers new ways to engage in scenario planning — not just in workforce contexts, but in grantmaking and innovation networks.
Counterargument Workflows: Marshall shares his custom-built browser tool that generates counterarguments to online content using ChatGPT, promoting critical thinking and cognitive diversity.
Top Quotes
“I try to eat my own dog food — or drink my own champagne — when it comes to market monitoring.”
“There’s gold in that data. We just have to figure out how to mine it responsibly and effectively.”
“Synthetic personas are fast, cheap, and good enough to get the conversation started.”
“What’s the strategy, what’s the output — and what’s the outcome? That’s where AI can help us model the messy middle.”
“You can’t just look at someone’s codebase or resume — you need context, behavior, and communication patterns.”
“I built a ‘counterargument bookmarklet’ to challenge the assumptions in what I’m reading online.”
Chapters
00:00 – Welcome & Reconnection: Marshall’s Background and Journey
03:12 – AI Systems for Market Monitoring and Early Signal Detection
10:58 – The Evolution of Social Analytics and Social Capital
16:39 – Talent Acquisition, AI, and the Value of Social Footprints
24:57 – Scenario Planning with Synthetic Personas
32:05 – Driving Innovation through Grant Monitoring and Project Pairing
40:41 – From Digital Twins to Ethical Implications of AI in the Workforce
50:15 – Counterargument Workflows and Critical Thinking with AI
58:21 – Closing Thoughts: Responsible AI, Community, and the Road Ahead
Marshall Kirkpatrick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshallkirkpatrick
Earth Catalyst: https://www.earthcatalyst.co/
For advisory work and marketing inquiries:
Bob Pulver: https://linkedin.com/in/bobpulver
Elevate Your AIQ: https://elevateyouraiq.com
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