<![CDATA[AI Voices of Reason]]>About the Show

AI Voices of Reason brings together the Chairman of EverQuote, the CEO of LendingTree, and the CEO of EverQuote — alongside the Founder of Symphony42 (AI Voice & Avatar Agents for Customer Acquisition) — for honest, operator-driven conversations about Voice AI in insurance and lending. This isn't hype. These are the people deploying AI voice agents at scale, navigating the regulatory landscape in real time, and deciding what "consumer-first" actually looks like when a machine is on the other end of the call.

Our Mission

The mission of AI Voices of Reason is to define what consumer-first actually means in Voice AI—so the market can tell who's living it and building it and who's just saying it.

In an industry flooded with buzzwords and marketing claims, we cut through the noise.

Why This Podcast

There's no shortage of podcasts about AI's future. Dave Blundin co-hosts Moonshots with Peter Diamandis, covering broad AI breakthroughs and exponential technology. AI Voices of Reason is different: it's sector-specific, operator-driven, and consumer-focused. Two public-company CEOs and a veteran AI investor talk about what's actually happening — right now — in insurance and lending. Not what's theoretically possible. What's deployed, what's working, what's breaking, and what consumers actually experience when AI picks up the phone.

Honoring the Founders

This podcast was originally conceived by Dave Blundin and Doug Lebda, founder and CEO of LendingTree, in mid-2025. Doug passed away unexpectedly in October 2025. Scott Peyree, who succeeded Doug as CEO, carries forward LendingTree's vision for this project.

EverQuote's story carries a parallel: founder and CEO Seth Birnbaum passed away unexpectedly in November 2020. Jayme Mendal, who Seth had mentored and promoted to President, succeeded him as CEO.

Both Scott and Jayme lead companies built by founders who left too soon. AI Voices of Reason honors Doug Lebda and Seth Birnbaum — their entrepreneurial vision, their commitment to consumers, and the teams they built that carry their work forward.

Why Listen?

  • Learn from leaders who have built industry-defining companies
  • Understand what separates genuine consumer-first AI from hype
  • Get insights into the future of Voice AI in financial services
  • Access slide decks and resources from each episode
]]>https://www.voicesofreason.aiRiverside.fm (https://riverside.com)Sat, 30 May 2026 07:03:19 GMTThu, 19 Mar 2026 19:24:37 GMT60Sean Fenlon<h1><b>About the Show</b></h1><p>AI Voices of Reason brings together the Chairman of EverQuote, the CEO of LendingTree, and the CEO of EverQuote — alongside the Founder of Symphony42 (AI Voice &amp; Avatar Agents for Customer Acquisition) — for honest, operator-driven conversations about Voice AI in insurance and lending. This isn't hype. These are the people deploying AI voice agents at scale, navigating the regulatory landscape in real time, and deciding what "consumer-first" actually looks like when a machine is on the other end of the call.</p><h2><b>Our Mission</b></h2><p>The mission of AI Voices of Reason is to define what consumer-first actually means in Voice AI—so the market can tell who's living it and building it and who's just saying it.</p><p>In an industry flooded with buzzwords and marketing claims, we cut through the noise.</p><h2><b>Why This Podcast</b></h2><p>There's no shortage of podcasts about AI's future. Dave Blundin co-hosts Moonshots with Peter Diamandis, covering broad AI breakthroughs and exponential technology. AI Voices of Reason is different: it's sector-specific, operator-driven, and consumer-focused. Two public-company CEOs and a veteran AI investor talk about what's actually happening — right now — in insurance and lending. Not what's theoretically possible. What's deployed, what's working, what's breaking, and what consumers actually experience when AI picks up the phone.<br /><br /><b>Honoring the Founders</b></p><p>This podcast was originally conceived by Dave Blundin and Doug Lebda, founder and CEO of LendingTree, in mid-2025. Doug passed away unexpectedly in October 2025. Scott Peyree, who succeeded Doug as CEO, carries forward LendingTree's vision for this project.</p><p>EverQuote's story carries a parallel: founder and CEO Seth Birnbaum passed away unexpectedly in November 2020. Jayme Mendal, who Seth had mentored and promoted to President, succeeded him as CEO.</p><p>Both Scott and Jayme lead companies built by founders who left too soon. AI Voices of Reason honors Doug Lebda and Seth Birnbaum — their entrepreneurial vision, their commitment to consumers, and the teams they built that carry their work forward.</p><h2><b>Why Listen?</b></h2><ul><li>Learn from leaders who have built industry-defining companies</li><li>Understand what separates genuine consumer-first AI from hype</li><li>Get insights into the future of Voice AI in financial services</li><li>Access slide decks and resources from each episode</li></ul>episodicSean Fenlonsean@symphony42.comno<![CDATA[AI Voices of Reason -- Episode 2 | Grok vs. ChatGPT AI Voice Battle]]>A Stanford study quantifies AI sycophancy. Sean coins "Open Assist" to name what's missing from the canonical Agent Assist stack. And Dave drops a stat that should be on every board deck this week: total enterprise AI adoption is smaller than Ozempic.

Plus: ChatGPT and Grok battle for Sean's moderator chair in the cold open. Scott unpacks LendingTree's Q1 — 37% revenue growth, 51% in insurance, a six-year EBITDA high — and the middle-of-funnel observation that AI guides but cannot complete. Jayme reflects on Daniel Schreiber's Lemonade earnings call and the integration-as-moat thesis arriving from two adjacent industries in the same week. The panel debates jobs in the AI trough, token maxing vs. value per token, and whether Avoca's billion-dollar home services raise is the unregulated greenfield template.

Lightning round: what each panelist will wish they'd said louder one month from today.

Recorded May 1, 2026.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold Open: Three Teasers

2:09 AI Battle Royale: ChatGPT vs. Grok for the Chair

11:15 Why AI Humor Is Almost There

14:49 LendingTree Q1: AI Guides, But Cannot Complete

20:20 Predicting the Stock Reaction

22:27 Lemonade's Moat: Schreiber on Integrations

25:37 Stanford Quantifies Sycophancy

32:09 Open Assist vs. Agent Assist

40:13 Jobs in the AI Trough

47:55 Token Maxing and Value Per Token

50:42 "Smaller Than Ozempic"

1:00:28 Avoca and the Unregulated Greenfield

1:07:19 AI Voice Evolution: From Pipeline to Real-Time

1:17:23 Celebrity Voices: Kathy Ireland to Taylor Swift

1:25:57 Lightning Round: One Month from Today

PANEL

Dave Blundin — Chairman, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER); GP, Link Ventures

Scott Peyree — CEO, LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE)

Jayme Mendal — CEO, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER)

Sean Fenlon — Moderator; Founder/CEO, Symphony42

REFERENCES

Stanford sycophancy study — Cheng & Jurafsky, Science (March 2026)

LendingTree Q1 2026 earnings call

Lemonade Q1 2026 earnings call (Daniel Schreiber)

Avoca AI — $125M raise (General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins)

voicesofreason.ai

]]>9cf1688f-7032-43fb-8cfd-14573dc5dfc0Thu, 07 May 2026 02:19:53 GMT<p>A Stanford study quantifies AI sycophancy. Sean coins "Open Assist" to name what's missing from the canonical Agent Assist stack. And Dave drops a stat that should be on every board deck this week: total enterprise AI adoption is smaller than Ozempic.</p><p>Plus: ChatGPT and Grok battle for Sean's moderator chair in the cold open. Scott unpacks LendingTree's Q1 — 37% revenue growth, 51% in insurance, a six-year EBITDA high — and the middle-of-funnel observation that AI guides but cannot complete. Jayme reflects on Daniel Schreiber's Lemonade earnings call and the integration-as-moat thesis arriving from two adjacent industries in the same week. The panel debates jobs in the AI trough, token maxing vs. value per token, and whether Avoca's billion-dollar home services raise is the unregulated greenfield template.</p><p>Lightning round: what each panelist will wish they'd said louder one month from today.</p><p>Recorded May 1, 2026.</p><p>CHAPTERS</p><p>0:00 Cold Open: Three Teasers</p><p>2:09 AI Battle Royale: ChatGPT vs. Grok for the Chair</p><p>11:15 Why AI Humor Is Almost There</p><p>14:49 LendingTree Q1: AI Guides, But Cannot Complete</p><p>20:20 Predicting the Stock Reaction</p><p>22:27 Lemonade's Moat: Schreiber on Integrations</p><p>25:37 Stanford Quantifies Sycophancy</p><p>32:09 Open Assist vs. Agent Assist</p><p>40:13 Jobs in the AI Trough</p><p>47:55 Token Maxing and Value Per Token</p><p>50:42 "Smaller Than Ozempic"</p><p>1:00:28 Avoca and the Unregulated Greenfield</p><p>1:07:19 AI Voice Evolution: From Pipeline to Real-Time</p><p>1:17:23 Celebrity Voices: Kathy Ireland to Taylor Swift</p><p>1:25:57 Lightning Round: One Month from Today</p><p>PANEL</p><p>Dave Blundin — Chairman, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER); GP, Link Ventures</p><p>Scott Peyree — CEO, LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE)</p><p>Jayme Mendal — CEO, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER)</p><p>Sean Fenlon — Moderator; Founder/CEO, Symphony42</p><p>REFERENCES</p><p>Stanford sycophancy study — Cheng &amp; Jurafsky, Science (March 2026)</p><p>LendingTree Q1 2026 earnings call</p><p>Lemonade Q1 2026 earnings call (Daniel Schreiber)</p><p>Avoca AI — $125M raise (General Catalyst, Kleiner Perkins)</p><p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://voicesofreason.ai" target="_blank">voicesofreason.ai</a></p>no01:26:402AI Voices of Reason -- Episode 2 | Grok vs. ChatGPT AI Voice Battlefull<![CDATA[AI Voices of Reason Podcast Episode #1]]>CEOs reveal what's really happening with Voice AI in insurance and lending — no scripts, no PR, just courtside seats.

Dave Blundin (Chairman, EverQuote), Scott Peyree (CEO, LendingTree), and Jayme Mendal (CEO, EverQuote) join Sean Fenlon (CEO, Symphony42) for the inaugural episode of the AI Voices of Reason Podcast.

OpenAI killed Sora. Consumer trust in AI jumped from 34% to 80%. LendingTree's AI voice agents drove $10M+ in quarterly revenue. $150 billion in insurance commissions is at risk. And Blitzy just set the #1 record on SWE-Bench Pro. We cover all of it.

🔗 Subscribe & Show Notes: https://voicesofreason.ai

🔗 Follow on X: https://x.com/VoicesReasonAI

0:00 Cold Open & 30-second Intro

1:06 Welcome to the AI Voices of Reason Podcast

9:14 Opening Question: What Is Consumer-First AI?

11:58 Jayme: Removing Friction in Insurance Shopping

14:04 Scott: Why Consumers Prefer Voice Over Chat

17:26 OpenAI Killed Sora — Enterprise AI Eats Consumer AI

20:59 Claude Code: The Ferrari Nobody Wants to Give Back

27:50 Consumer Trust Jumps from 34% to 80% in One Year

29:54 Jayme's "Juan" Story — When AI Gets It Wrong

32:21 The Handoff: When Should AI Stop and a Human Start?

41:21 Scott's $10M: AI Voice Driving Revenue Growth

43:44 Jayme: Conversational Wrappers vs. AI-Native

46:28 BofA: $15 Billion in Insurance Commissions at Risk

50:34 Dave's NFL Analogy — Putting $150B in Context

54:10 The Conversational AI Paradox

1:00:51 Blitzy Sets the SWE-Bench Pro Record at 66.5%

1:04:04 OpenClaw and the Rise of Consumer AI Agents

1:06:06 Dave: The 2026–2030 Window for AI Commerce

1:12:38 Lightning Round: AI Voices of Reason Exists Because...

1:15:54 Closing & Outro


PANELISTS:

Dave Blundin — Chairman, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER) | Head of Link Ventures | Co-founder, Symphony42

→ https://linkedin.com/in/daveblundin

Scott Peyree — CEO, LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) | Founder, QuoteWizard

→ https://linkedin.com/in/scottpeyree

Jayme Mendal — CEO, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER)

→ https://linkedin.com/in/jaymemendal

Sean Fenlon — Founder & CEO, Symphony42 | Moderator

→ https://linkedin.com/in/seanfenlon


LINKS:

VoicesOfReason.ai — https://voicesofreason.ai

EverQuote — https://everquote.com

LendingTree — https://lendingtree.com

Link Ventures — https://linkventures.com

Symphony42 — https://symphony42.com

]]>a23efcf4-6d67-4b53-bae9-45893cf1350bTue, 31 Mar 2026 08:59:55 GMT<p>CEOs reveal what's really happening with Voice AI in insurance and lending — no scripts, no PR, just courtside seats.<br /></p><p>Dave Blundin (Chairman, EverQuote), Scott Peyree (CEO, LendingTree), and Jayme Mendal (CEO, EverQuote) join Sean Fenlon (CEO, Symphony42) for the inaugural episode of the AI Voices of Reason Podcast.<br /></p><p>OpenAI killed Sora. Consumer trust in AI jumped from 34% to 80%. LendingTree's AI voice agents drove $10M+ in quarterly revenue. $150 billion in insurance commissions is at risk. And Blitzy just set the #1 record on SWE-Bench Pro. We cover all of it.<br /></p><p>🔗 Subscribe &amp; Show Notes: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://voicesofreason.ai" target="_blank">https://voicesofreason.ai</a></p><p>🔗 Follow on X: <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://x.com/VoicesReasonAI" target="_blank">https://x.com/VoicesReasonAI</a><br /></p><p>0:00 Cold Open &amp; 30-second Intro</p><p>1:06 Welcome to the AI Voices of Reason Podcast</p><p>9:14 Opening Question: What Is Consumer-First AI?</p><p>11:58 Jayme: Removing Friction in Insurance Shopping</p><p>14:04 Scott: Why Consumers Prefer Voice Over Chat</p><p>17:26 OpenAI Killed Sora — Enterprise AI Eats Consumer AI</p><p>20:59 Claude Code: The Ferrari Nobody Wants to Give Back</p><p>27:50 Consumer Trust Jumps from 34% to 80% in One Year</p><p>29:54 Jayme's "Juan" Story — When AI Gets It Wrong</p><p>32:21 The Handoff: When Should AI Stop and a Human Start?</p><p>41:21 Scott's $10M: AI Voice Driving Revenue Growth</p><p>43:44 Jayme: Conversational Wrappers vs. AI-Native</p><p>46:28 BofA: $15 Billion in Insurance Commissions at Risk</p><p>50:34 Dave's NFL Analogy — Putting $150B in Context</p><p>54:10 The Conversational AI Paradox</p><p>1:00:51 Blitzy Sets the SWE-Bench Pro Record at 66.5%</p><p>1:04:04 OpenClaw and the Rise of Consumer AI Agents</p><p>1:06:06 Dave: The 2026–2030 Window for AI Commerce</p><p>1:12:38 Lightning Round: AI Voices of Reason Exists Because...</p><p>1:15:54 Closing &amp; Outro</p><p><br />PANELISTS:</p><p>Dave Blundin — Chairman, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER) | Head of Link Ventures | Co-founder, Symphony42</p><p>→ <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://linkedin.com/in/daveblundin" target="_blank">https://linkedin.com/in/daveblundin</a></p><p>Scott Peyree — CEO, LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) | Founder, QuoteWizard</p><p>→ <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://linkedin.com/in/scottpeyree" target="_blank">https://linkedin.com/in/scottpeyree</a></p><p>Jayme Mendal — CEO, EverQuote (NASDAQ: EVER)</p><p>→ <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://linkedin.com/in/jaymemendal" target="_blank">https://linkedin.com/in/jaymemendal</a></p><p>Sean Fenlon — Founder &amp; CEO, Symphony42 | Moderator</p><p>→ <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://linkedin.com/in/seanfenlon" target="_blank">https://linkedin.com/in/seanfenlon</a></p><p><br />LINKS:</p><p><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="http://VoicesOfReason.ai" target="_blank">VoicesOfReason.ai</a> — <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://voicesofreason.ai" target="_blank">https://voicesofreason.ai</a></p><p>EverQuote — <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://everquote.com" target="_blank">https://everquote.com</a></p><p>LendingTree — <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://lendingtree.com" target="_blank">https://lendingtree.com</a></p><p>Link Ventures — <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://linkventures.com" target="_blank">https://linkventures.com</a></p><p>Symphony42 — <a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://symphony42.com" target="_blank">https://symphony42.com</a></p>no01:16:4911AI Voices of Reason Podcast Episode #1full