E14 LUCAS COELHO | Building AI powered startups with RYFT Venture Studio

Lucas Coelho is a design leader & product innovator. As the Co-founder and GP at Ryft Ventures, Lucas invests in cutting-edge AI-driven companies that solve complex challenges for SMBs. He’s also the Co-founder of Colab Cohorts, a top product management program that empowers practitioners across Australia & New Zealand.With a career spanning roles like Chief Transformation Officer at Basis and CXO at Roam Digital, Lucas has led large-scale digital transformations, restructured engineering teams for peak efficiency, and expanded Roam Digital across three APAC countries — culminating in its acquisition by Amdocs.From building early-stage startups to scaling high-impact teams, Lucas is passionate about harnessing technology, design, and leadership to drive meaningful change. If you are a designer, product enthusiast or tech entrepreneur this episode is for you.Moments:(0:00) - 🟣 Intro(2:27) - 😍 Falling in love with design & technology(5:15) - 👾 How can I stop my son from playing video games?(6:40) - 🏴‍☠️ Pirated Software & Games(9:11) - 💽 Learning to code, fixing computers, entrepreneurship(14:31) - 🇳🇿 Do you want to come to New Zealand? - Someone on LinkedIn(15:06) - 🍥 Joining ROAM Digital & shaping their offering(16:48) - 💸 Selling ROAM, Why?(21:34) - 🤖 RYFT (Venture Studio & Fund)(24:28) - 💭 An example of how it works - HEYJANE.AI(30:18) - ☑️ Picking the right AI model for the right task(34:25) - 🪲 We got a slap from Apple. There was a bug(36:40) - 🧧 Validation & Funding for HEYJANE.AI(38:13) - 🆚 Venture Studio vs Accelerators vs Incubators(42:46) - 🧪 Experimentation, Validation, AI @ RYFT(45:22) - ⚽️ The power of SMALL teams(49:57) - ⛔️ Building a Figma prototype is a waste of my time(52:19) - 🖲️ Source of  is (54:21) - 👀 Industries prompt to be disrupted by AI tech.(58:53) - Isn’t this crazy? Why are we doing this?(59:34) - 🙌 YES, I did buy that bottle because of the Design. ANEW(1:01:19) - 🧾 TABLERO - Another AI product we created(1:04:39) - 🔥 Front burner vs Back burner Sprints(1:05:29) - 🦾 Race for AI(1:09:45) - 🥽 AR & VR(1:15:08) - 🔮 The Future of RYFT(1:18:18) - 📢 Advice for Product Designers & UI/UX Designers(1:22:50) - 📢 Advice for Entrepreneurs(1:25:25) - 🎛️ THE SOUNDBOARD(1:30:40) - 👋 CHATGPT, Ask Lucas a question.(1:32:03) - 🏃‍♂️ Biohacking(1:36:47) - 👕 A present - The UNDENIABLE Tee(1:38:17) - 💧🏋️‍♂️✌🏾ABOUT THE MELDING MUSE PODCAST 🟣Melding art & design, music, film, entrepreneurship, fashion, sports, gaming and whatever is in between. We exist to showcase extraordinary people to inspire the next generation of creatives & leaders. These are stories that motivate us to continually challenge ourselves, push boundaries and ultimately reinvent ourselves time and time again.Streaming from the land of the long white cloud - Aotearoa, New Zealand 🇳🇿🎟️ MERCH OFFICIAL STORE & SITE:🔗⁠⁠⁠ https://themeldingmuse.co⁠⁠⁠Like this content? 🔴 ⁠⁠⁠SUBSCRIBE⁠⁠⁠Follow us on:⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ | T⁠⁠⁠iktok⁠⁠⁠🎵 Music: Intro [High Ball from Pterror Dak Trill by Nick Maclaren] | Outro [Trippin' feat. Leroy by Unda]A project powered by:🟩 ⁠⁠⁠NEZIAK⁠⁠⁠Supported by:🇲🇽 🌽 ⁠⁠⁠Salsaroha Group⁠⁠⁠▪️ ⁠⁠⁠NZK Creative Collective⁠