The AI-Native Company
Keynote · 40 min
Brian Onorio
( Keynote ) From spare room to boardroom.
01 Ex-Google, AI-focused executive
02 Exited founder
03 Speaker — tech & design stages
I'm Brian 
— an ex-Googler and AI-focused executive, a founder, and a speaker on the stages where technology and design collide. I started my first company at 24 in a spare room and grew it onto the Inc. 5000 ×3 three years running. Then I built a second company, and sold it. Today I lead product engineering at Capital One, building the systems that keep customers, and I help leaders turn AI from a demo into an operating advantage.
( Act I — The record )
Two companies built. Exited founder. Ex-Google. One obsession with what's next.
The best talks come from people who've done the work.
0×
Inc. 5000 honoree
2016 · 2017 · 2018
0
Company founded,
scaled & sold
0
Age when I started
my first company
0+
Years leading
as CEO
-
2025 — Now
Capital One — Senior Director of Engineering
Leads product engineering focused on keeping customers and reducing churn. Runs end-to-end engineering operations for Secured Card and manages the marketing platforms behind 2 billion credit decisions a day.
Current -
2022 — 2025
Google — Engineering leadership, Google Meet
An engineering leader on Google Meet, the video meetings product at the heart of Google Workspace.
Ex-Google -
Exit · 2021
Proposa — Founder & CEO
AcquiredReplaced PDF and slide-deck proposals with beautiful, secure proposal websites: reusable content, team collaboration and real-time insight into who viewed what. Sold it in 2021.
-
Founded at 24
Walk West — Founder & CEO
Inc. 5000 ×3Started a digital-first agency in a spare room at 24 and led it as CEO for more than a decade, growing it to eight figures and onto the Inc. 5000 three years straight. We created “Don’t Say Velcro” for the VELCRO® Brand, from concept to launch, and it went viral: 1.2 billion media impressions and a spot on The RidicuList, Anderson Cooper’s segment on CNN.
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Advisory
Growth & fractional leadership
Has counseled agency and company leaders on growth, staffing, vendor selection and the decisions that shape a business for years. Open to select advisory and board roles.
Open -
Class of 2004
NC State University — Computer Science
John T. Caldwell Fellow. Now serves on the Department of Computer Science's Strategic Advisory Board.
Board
( Act II — On stage )
Founder instincts. Enterprise scale. Stories worth the stage.
Keynotes, firesides and workshops for technology, design and leadership audiences.
Book a talk →
LiveTaste Is the Last Moat
Design · 30 min
From Spare Room to Boardroom
Founder story · 45 min
Leading When Software Writes Itself
Leadership · 40 min
Q&ABuilding to Sell, Selling to Build
Fireside · 30 min
Agents, Not Apps
Workshop · 90 min
( Formats )
- Keynote
- Fireside chat
- Panel & moderator
- Executive workshop
- Podcast guest
( Built for these rooms )
- Engineering & product leadership offsites
- Design and UX conferences
- Founder and startup events
- Fintech and enterprise AI summits
- Agency and marketing conferences
- University and alumni programs
( What organizers get )
- 01
A talk built for your audience, not a stock deck.
- 02
A prep call with your team to land the brief.
- 03
Headshots, bio and an abstract, ready to promote.
- 04
Room for real Q&A, and a follow-up post for attendees.
( Where the stories come from )
- Capital One
- Inc. 5000 ×3
- VELCRO® Brand
- CNN · The RidicuList
- NC State
( Act III — Point of view )
Less hype. More of what actually ships.
- 01
AI is an operating model, not a feature.
The winners rebuild how work gets done. They don't just bolt a chatbot onto the old workflow.
- 02
Taste is the moat.
When anyone can generate anything, judgment, craft and design decide who wins.
- 03
Build small. Sell clearly.
Lean teams with sharp positioning beat bloated ones. That's how I built two companies.
- 04
Design is how strategy shows up.
If customers can't see your strategy, you don't have one yet.
- 05
Leave with Monday's to-do list.
Every talk should end with something the audience can actually do next week.
( Off stage )
When the house lights come up.
01 — Reading
Every president, in order.
One biography per president, in order. Ron Chernow's Washington got me started. Teddy Roosevelt needed three volumes, which feels about right for Teddy.
Now reading · No. 26 · Theodore Roosevelt
NC Mapped
Data graphics about North Carolina's history, food and culture, with the sources on every page. Yes, there's a barbecue map. Of course there's a barbecue map.
ncmapped.com ↗Braisery
I love to cook, and I'd spent years telling engineers to ship. So I shipped something: Braisery, a personal recipe library for iPhone, iPad and Mac.
App Store ↗Father of four. Woodworker when time allows.
Most of my time off belongs to my wife and four kids. When there's an hour to spare, I'm turning good lumber into sawdust.
( Press kit )
Event organizers and editors are welcome to use these high-resolution headshots.
( Speaker bio )
Brian Onorio is a Senior Director of Engineering at Capital One, an ex-Googler and an exited founder. He started his first company in a spare room at 24 and took it onto the Inc. 5000 three years running. Off stage, he’s a husband and a dad of four.
Brian Onorio is a Senior Director of Engineering at Capital One, where he leads product engineering focused on keeping customers and reducing churn. Before that, he was an engineering leader on Google Meet. He started his first company, Walk West, in a spare room at 24 and grew it to eight figures and onto the Inc. 5000 three years straight, along the way creating “Don’t Say Velcro,” a viral campaign with 1.2 billion media impressions. He later founded Proposa and sold it in 2021. Brian speaks on AI, engineering leadership, design and building companies, usually with more laughs than you’d expect.
Brian Onorio grew up in a trailer with no money and no credit, and started his first company anyway. Today he’s a Senior Director of Engineering at Capital One, where he leads product engineering focused on keeping customers and reducing churn. Before that, he was an engineering leader on Google Meet.
He founded Walk West in a spare room at 24 and grew it to eight figures and onto the Inc. 5000 three years straight, along the way creating “Don’t Say Velcro,” a viral campaign with 1.2 billion media impressions and a spot on CNN’s The RidicuList. He later founded Proposa and sold it in 2021. A Computer Science graduate of NC State and a John T. Caldwell Fellow, he serves on the university’s Computer Science Strategic Advisory Board.
Brian speaks on AI, engineering leadership, design and building companies, usually with more laughs than you’d expect. Off stage, he’s reading a biography of every U.S. president in order (currently three volumes deep into Teddy Roosevelt), mapping North Carolina at NCMapped.com, cooking from Braisery, the recipe app he built, and turning good lumber into sawdust, with his wife and four kids keeping him humble.