Summary
Everyone’s racing to bolt AI onto everything, but Foreko co-founders Homero Ruiz and Alexis Rodas found the biggest opportunity in something almost boring: 76% of procurement teams are still running on spreadsheets.
In this episode, they break down why they deliberately avoided fully automating decisions with AI, how a food truck’s stock-out problem turned into a company, and why they think the real Silicon Valley advantage is knowing which advice to ignore.
Chapters
0:59 – Welcome & Meet the Founders
1:32 – What Is Foreko? The AI Operating System for Procurement
2:11 – The Founders’ Journeys: From Red Bull and Pepsi to Foreko
4:11 – Turning Experience Into Expertise
5:49 – Starting With Restaurants: Seeing the Problem First
6:52 – The Pivot to CPG and Why It Made Sense
8:29 – The Food Truck Story Behind It All
9:12 – Why They Said No to Full AI Automation
10:49 – Built at the University of Arkansas
13:59 – Growing Up in the Northwest Arkansas Startup Scene
16:05 – The Silicon Valley Reality Check
18:15 – From Idea to Paying Customers
19:58 – The AI Bubble, Patience, and the Tortoise-and-Hare Mindset
21:58 – The Five-Year Vision and Where to Find Foreko
Connect
Foreko’s Website: https://www.foreko.app/en
Connect with Homero: https://www.linkedin.com/in/homero-ruiz/
Connect with Alexis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisrodas/
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