In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Craig Foldes, Founder & CEO at ChatWalrus. Craig learned the hard way that AI adoption is not about collecting more AI tools, it's about changing how people actually work.

• After leading 50 AI pilots at Crocs, Craig concluded that forcing teams into 18 different tools creates more friction than value.

• ChatWalrus grew out of live AI training for founders, including a few six-figure months during Craig’s paternity leave.

• The biggest adoption unlock is closing the “imagination gap” by showing operators what good AI use looks like in their own jobs.

• Craig argues the whole organization should learn the tools, while executives prioritize the few projects that actually matter.

• Senior expertise still compounds: the strongest operators use AI to move faster because they already know what good work looks like.

• His test for AI ROI is blunt: “What is the ROI of your laptop? What is the ROI of electricity?”

👥 Meet the guest

Craig Foldes, Founder & CEO, ChatWalrus

🎙 Hosted by

Aaron Schwartz, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Orita.ai

🎧 Chapters

[00:00:00] Craig Foldes Enters the Chat

[00:02:00] From Jibbitz to Crocs AI

[00:04:00] Why 50 AI Pilots Failed

[00:07:00] AI Becomes the Operating System

[00:11:00] Closing the Imagination Gap

[00:15:00] How ChatWalrus Became a Business

[00:19:00] Ignore the AI Tool Avalanche

[00:22:00] Who Actually Owns AI Adoption

[00:25:00] Deterministic Workflows Beat AI Theater

[00:29:00] AI Is a Tool Like Excel

[00:35:00] Expertise Still Creates the Edge

[00:41:00] The AI Slop Problem

[00:47:00] This Is the Worst AI Gets

[00:50:00] Stop Asking for AI ROI

🌐 Check out Orita.ai for more episodes of The Orita Podcast, where we sit down with the most interesting operators, marketers, and founders in e-commerce to talk about what’s working right now. Hosted by the Orita team. Orita uses machine learning to help brands send smarter, more profitable marketing, by figuring out who actually wants to hear from you and when.

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