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Imagine that it’s time to file expenses. Instead of logging into a portal, uploading photos of your crumpled receipts, filling out 10 information fields, and then waiting a week for your manager to sign off, you simply answer a text with a photo of a receipt and a short note about what it’s for.Done.That is, to me, the golden experience, says Diego Zaks, VP of design at Ramp, the $22.5 billion fintech company that’s reinventing the business expense landscape.Ramp as a platform is in the business of simplifying. It consolidates corporate cards, expense management, bill payments, and accounting automation into a single system, making it easier for companies to track expenses and keep their finances in order. In the era of AI, Zaks believes the company can do even more to simplify the software for the people who use it. He envisions a world where Ramp’s customers can accomplish any task with the push of a single button. And his ultimate goal? Someday youll forget altogether that youre using Ramp.I don’t want anyone using Rampbecause every minute that you’re on Ramp, it’s a minute that you’re dealing with expenses and not actually doing the job that you’re hired to do, he explains. We actually measure engagement and time spent on Ramp going down as the signal that we are trying to get.A better AI agentIn July, Ramp introduced Ramp Agents, an autonomous, AI-driven system built atop OpenAI’s latest reasoning models. Ramp Agents work behind the scenes to review expenses, enforce company spend policies, and even suggest improvements to those policieswithout users needing to intervene or monitor every transaction manually.Instead of relying on rigid rules or requiring employees to learn new workflows, these agents reason through real business context, handling approvals, flagging anomalies, filling forms, and learning from every bit of feedback. They don’t require a prompt to do things; instead, they do everything on their own, so people interact as little as possible, if at all.[Image: Ramp]People didnt come to Ramp to engage with AIthey come to do a specific job, and we have AI in the background doing 90% of that job or as much of that job as we possibly can and just displaying the outcome, Zaks says. We skip 17 steps and we just got [managers] to the last moment of Does this look good? And they can just say yes, and it’s done.The agents are part of Ramps larger ecosystem. When companies sign up for Ramp, they receive corporate charge cards with preconfigured spending policies and limits. Employee transactions trigger receipt capture through email integrations, mobile apps, or merchant partnerships with Amazon Business, Lyft, and Uber. The system categorizes expenses, enforces policies in real time, and flags violations automatically.Zaks believes that when deployed smartly, agents will be able to eliminate nearly all of the grunt work that once fell to humans. The agents currently approve 85% of expenses without human review, and early customers report 99% accuracy in expense approvals. The AI doesn’t just process receiptsit cross-references calendar data, checks policy nuances, and delivers outcomes that make sense to human managers.Zaks says this vision is most clearly exemplified by the SMS example. After using his Ramp card, Zaks receives a text asking what the expense was for. The system checks his calendar, sees a scheduled one-on-one meeting, and when he confirms it was for that meeting, the entire expense process completes automatically. No apps to open, no forms to fill, no categories to select.Managers no longer see dashboards filled with every transaction. Instead, they find two categories: expenses that look good to go with a single approval button, and transactions that need attention with focused context about why. Each flagged item includes a summary in 15 to 20 words, the full policy context highlighted on demand, and a feedback mechanism that improves the system’s accuracy.It’s not an AI view. It’s like a transaction view. You have the receipt, all the information you need, Zaks says. And there’s a module at the top that just says a recommended outcome for the manager to take and the reasoning why.From left: Ramp founders Karim Atiyeh, Eric Glyman, and Gene Lee [Photo: Ramp]Why Ramp existsRamp’s move toward the near-total elimination of UX is logical, given the companys mission. Ramp’s founders, Eric Glyman, Karim Atiyeh, and Gene Lee, all worked in Capital One’s credit card division in the late 2010s. They joined after Capital One acquired their company Paribus, a price-tracking app that secured refunds for 10 million users when online purchase prices dropped.At Capital One, they realized there was a fundamental tension in the business model: Credit card companies incentivized spending, while businesses desperately wanted to save money. In early 2019, they left the bank to start Ramp.Ramps core premise flipped the script. Instead of rewards programs that encourage more spending, the company built a financial operations platform that actively helps companies spend less while automating the tedious work that consumes finance teams.For accounts payable, invoices are processed through customizable approval workflows and payments are scheduled automatically. All transactions sync to business management software in real time. Ramp generates revenue primarily through interchange fees earned on every card transaction (typically 1.5% to 2.5% of the purchase value shared among Visa, the issuing bank, and Ramp). Ramp is now one of the hottest tech unicorns, with a valuation of $22.5 billion after capturing les than 2% of the U.S. corporate card market. The company claims that its customers save an average of 5% on spending, close their books 75% faster, and have collectively saved more than $10 billion and 27.5 million hours of work. [Image: Ramp]Building an invisible interfaceSo much of Ramps success hinges on the idea that the best AI is the AI you cant see. Zaks calls this background AI, and its what will power the next generation of Ramps zero-interface ambitions.Right now, every time a human makes a decision on Ramp’s platform that information is used to create a better experience. When a manager disagrees with an agent’s decision, for example, their explanation is fodder for better policies. The agents can alert teams to suspicious receipts and invoices, uncover trends that signal fraud or careless spending, answer employee questions about spend policy, and suggest edits to company expense policies based on usage patterns.The experience data aggregates into policy suggestions for finance teams. Zaks explains that the system basically says, Hey, your policy could be a little clearer about these five things on the work-from-home stipend, for example. If the finance team agrees, they can approve policy updates with one click.Eventually, Ramp will be so optimized that its UI will disappear in the future. Thats Zakss objective: He wants most users to forget Ramp even exists. My approach has been to just pretend like we’re already in 2030 and that AI is just standard, nobody cares, it’s just always in the background, he says. Kind of like how software now is in the cloud. We don’t make a big deal out of that. It just is.
Category:
E-Commerce
I still remember the first time I tried on Google Glass. I was 12, and a friend of my parents had just gotten oneI was completely mesmerized. It felt like a glimpse of the future. More than a decade later, that future never arrived. Instead, were surrounded by a graveyard of clever wearables that never quite stuck. So whats actually missing? Today, a new generation of AI-enabled wearables is emerging with devices that promise to embed intelligence directly into the objects we carry and wear every day. And yet, most of what were seeing still feels like déj vu from the early smartwatch era: a mic, a board, and a vague promise of productivity. The focus is on what the device does, not how it lives in the world. Minimalism Isnt Enough Apples clean, brushed-aluminum aesthetic dominates tech for a reason. And yes, it even works in wearables. The Apple Watch proved that minimalism can cross over when its paired with personal expression. It wasnt just a mini-iPhone on your wrist; it came with metal, leather, and fabric straps, Herms collaborations, and countless ways to signal identity. In other words, it worked because it became part of peoples personal style, not in spite of it. The moment you ask someone to wear something, the rules change. It stops being a tool and becomes a reflection. Youre not just shipping a product, youre asking someone to let the world see them differently. The Adoption Equation The winning AI wearable solves two problems simultaneously: Functional utilitymaking life meaningfully easier Social acceptanceblending seamlessly into the world so it stops being a gadget and starts being part of you Most devices today are designed for tech reviewers and hackathons, not actual people. Theyre clunky, obvious, and force users to justify their presence. Adoption dies the moment someone has to explain a device to everyone around them. If we look at the Oura Ring, it doesnt just track sleep, it fits into peoples jewelry stacks. It passes the real test: Would you still wear it if it ran out of battery? Most gadgets fail that test. Cultural objects dont. Why This Moment Matters Apples September event will unveil the iPhone 17, Watch Series 11, and Watch Ultra 3. Early reporting suggests new AI-driven health features. But as powerful as these may be, the form remains rugged, utilitarian, and unmistakably tech. That opens space for new entrants to redefine the categorynot as gadgets, but as personal objects of meaning. At the same time, Gen Z is leading a wave of hyper-personal style, curating every detail of their aesthetic to signal identity. Fashion-tech in 2025 is becoming more human and more automated, blending physical expression with digital layers. If wearables are going to matter, they must live at this intersection of culture and intelligence. The Missed Opportunity Marshall McLuhan once wrote that that media and tools are extensions of ourselves. Glasses extend our vision. Clothing extends our skin. Cars extend our legs. In that sense, a truly personal AI wearable extends memory, attention, and presence. Invisible AI isnt about stealth, its about blending into life seamlessly. Thats not an afterthought; thats the goal. AI wearables could be the most personal consumer tech ever. Devices that know your context, understand preferences, and anticipate needs in real time. Most of todays devices miss that opportunity. Theyre function-first, culture-last. They have to exist where people already express themselves: in clothing, jewelry, glasses, and watches . . . objects that have meaning before they have circuitry. The Real Challenge For those of us building in this space, the goal isnt just better features or faster chips. Were being asked to design something that people are willing to wear, which means it has to reflect who they are, not just what the tech can do. Thats the real test for an AI wearable: would someone still wear it even if it ran out of battery?
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E-Commerce
In 1827, in the small Tuscan town of Sansepolcro, Italy, Giulia Buitonia mother and home cookbecame so well known for her starchy noodles that she decided to launch a pasta business. She didn’t have much money, so she traded her most valuable necklace for a pasta machine. The trade was well worth it. Buitoni pasta was an instant success in Italy, and within the century, the company was selling its pasta around the world. Giulia’s children went on to build high-tech pasta-making factories that could churn out hundreds of tons of pasta a day. Today, Buitoni is the second-largest fresh pasta brand in the U.S. It’s dozens of productsincluding four cheese ravioli and Italian sausage tortelliniare sold in grocery stores across the country. But Buitoni is about to embark on a new chapter. Joe Faro [Photo: Tuscan Brands] Joseph Faro, a serial entrepreneur from New Hampshire, purchased the company last year, and is transforming it for the modern American market. Faro believes that the key to Buitoni’s continued success in the U.S. is to focus on returning to the artisanal flavors that first made the product successful, from ultra-fine milled flour to chunky fillings for ravioli to aged Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy. “Americans are more discerning now than they were in the past,” says Faro. “The way that we can stand out is by focusing on quality.” As a sign of Buitoni’s new era, Faro has given the brand a facelift. The next time you pick up some pasta at the grocery store, you’ll notice that the logo has changed from its previous cursive font to a new bold, all-caps serif font. The aesthetic is more in line with retro art deco posters than with today’s branding trends. But that’s the point. Faro was inspired by version of the Buitoni logo that was used when it landed in New York in 1941 at the Buitoni’s Time Square Spaghetti Bar. [Image: Buitoni] An Italian empire For Faro, acquiring Buitoni was a full circle moment. Faro, much like Guilia Buitoni, is a pasta innovator. In 2006, he sold his first companyJoseph’s Gourmet Pastato Buitoni’s parent company, Nestlé. In the following decades, using the money from that sale, Faro became a prolific entrepreneur, launching a portfolio of Italian restaurants, factories, a hotel, and a retail development. But last year, Buitoni came back on the market. In the midst of the pandemic, Nestlé decided to sell Buitoni to focus on its higher performing brands, like Lean Cuisine and Stouffer’s, and sold it to the private equity firm Brynwood Partners. When Faro heard it was for sale, he was intrigued, and decided to acquire it for an undisclosed sum. [Image: Buitoni] Over the past year, Faro and his team of chefs have completely reformulated Buitoni’s products to improve the quality of ingredients, including ultra-fine milled flour and Parmigiano Reggiano imported from Italy. They’ve also shifted their production to Faro’s own factories in Massachusetts and Virginia, which are focused on making artisanal food products, including stone hearth baked bread and sauces. Thanks to more sophisticated machinery, they can now create ravioli fillings that are chunkier, and more like hand-made pasta. Faro is betting that Buitoni will beat out the competition by focusing on quality and craftsmanship. And so far, the strategy seems to be working: Buitoni became cash positive within four months of the acquisition. Now, the goal is to gain more market share. [Photo: Tuscan Brands] An Accidental Pasta Machine Designer In the late ’80s, Faro was failing out of the University of New Hampshire to the disappointment of his parents, who had immigrated to the U.S. from Sicily several decades earlier. In a last-ditch effort to get his degree, he begged his dean to let him switch from the liberal arts college to the business school. And in his senior project, he came up with a business plan to transform a shoe factory into a pasta factory. It was so comprehensive, it came in second place in a business school contest. “My professor saw that this wasn’t just a school project, it was something that could really work,” Faro says. “He spent hundreds of hours with me that summer helping me execute the plan.” In 1991, with a $950,000 loan from the Small Business Administration, and $50,000 fro friends and family, Faro bought a shoe factory in Massachusetts and retrofitted it with pasta-making equipment. He launched Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta with the goal of manufacturing at scale the kind of hand-made pasta that his grandmother would make. There was one big problem. When you make ravioli by hand, you can incorporate chunkier fillings, like pieces of beef or lobster. But, at the time, pasta machines could only pipe soft fillings into the ravioli; meat would need to be mashed to a thick, creamy consistency to be squeezed in. Without the money to design a custom machine, Faro took apart the machines he had to see if he could improve them. Faro borrowed piping bags from a nearby bakery to find one that could squeeze out thicker fillings. He also changed the process of making the ravioli. Rather than squeezing the filling into premade shells, he creating a moving table full of slices of flat pasta, filled them, then put another pasta piece on top before the machine squeezed the edges together. “This is much more like the way you make ravioli by hand,” Faro explains. “It always happens on a flat table. We just automated it.” This innovation proved to be game-changing. Restaurants lined up to buy the pasta. Specialty shops and groceries stocked their fridges with it. By 2006, Joseph’s Pasta was a $50 million business. And that’s when Buitoni, which was then owned by Nestlé, came knocking with a nine figure offer. They wanted to buy Faro’s companybut more importantly, they wanted access to Faro’s innovative manufacturing process. [Photo: Tuscan Brands] Full Circle Moment Faro sold the company reluctantly. After spending three years at Nestlé helping to run Buitoni and Joseph’s, Faro left altogether. “I admit I was terrible at being at a big corporation,” he says. “I was used to being in charge of every detail of how the pasta came out, and this didn’t work within the corporate structure.” Over the next 17 years, Faro became a serial entrepreneur. He launched Tuscan Kitchen restaurants all over New England, followed by Tuscan Market, a more casual eatery. Then, in 2015, he purchased an old horse racing track in New Hampshire called Rockingham Park and transformed it into a mixed-used development called Tuscan Village, anchored by his restaurants and a hotel. Now, his portfolio of brands hires more than 3,000 employees and generates more than $315 million in annual revenue. Both of Faro’s sons now have leadership roles at the company. [Photo: Tuscan Brands] In 2020, during the pandemic, when his restaurants were forced to shutter, he poured his energy into a new venture, the Artisan Chef Manufacturing Company, which opened factories in Virginia and Massachusetts. The idea was to manufacture Tuscan Kitchen breads and frozen pizzas and pastas for customers to buy at grocery stores and make at home during lockdown. When Buitoni cameup for sale last year, Faro believed he had the infrastructure not only to manufacture Buitoni pastas, but innovate on the products. [Photo: Buitoni] Creating a Better Pasta Now, much like with Joseph’s, Faro is focused on the nuts and bolts of making high-quality pasta. For one thing, he’s reformulating the pasta with better quality ingredients. It now uses “00” flour, which is an Italian classification of flour that is extremely finely milled, to create a lighter and more delicate dough that has a higher gluten development, which results in chewier dough (what Guilia Buitoni was famous for). It also sources Denominazione di Origine Protetta (DOP) Parmigiano Reggiano which comes from Italian provinces that follow strict traditional methods. Even though these ingredients cost more, Buitoni is not raising the price. Instead, the company is pouring millions of dollars into automating more of the process, using custom machinery, which reduces the cost of labor. [Photo: Buitoni] Once again, Faro is interested in tweaking the machinery to improve the pasta. His new factory makes shapes of ravioli and tortellini that are more similar to handmade pasta, including the thumbprint texture around the edges to close the pasta. And importantly, the equipment ensures fillings are chunky rather than creamy. As a result, you can taste chunks of diced mushroom, butternut squash, or large sausage crumbles, much like you would in pastas that are hand-made on a kitchen counter. Soon, the factory will have the technology to put a full meatball inside a ravioli, which hasn’t been done before by machine. Faro is also thining about expanding Buitoni’s product selection, since his factories are already equipped to make other products. He’s contemplating making frozen pizzas, calzones, or other prepared meals under the Buitoni name. In a sign of how committed Faro is to Buitoni, he recently purchased the Buitoni family villa in the town of Sansepolcro, Italy, where Guilia first launched the company. It was previously owned by Nestlé, which had turned it into a food research center and cooking school. Faro is currently renovating it, and hopes to transform it into a culinary destination for visitors, where they can take cooking lessons and sample the local cuisine. “For much of Buitoni’s history, it was a family business, not part of a larger corporation,” says Faro. “I want to turn it back into a family business.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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