In conversations around technology, people often act like they have to pick a side. Either automation changes everything and humans step aside, or human judgment remains untouchable and the technology itself is overhyped. In conversation with ITProfiles, Matt Kurleto, Founder and CEO of Neoteric, doesn’t seem particularly interested in joining either camp.
What stands out in Matt’s perspective is how little fascination there is with extremes. He talks less about tools and more about behavior, how people think, learn, make decisions, and occasionally overcomplicate things for themselves. For him, the real challenge is not whether technology becomes more capable. It is whether people continue using their own judgment while learning how to work alongside it.
The Difference Between a Tool and a Partner
Cheap subscriptions make it easy to believe that the hard part is already solved. Matt Kurleto doesn’t really buy into that idea. In his view, paying for software was never a difficult decision. The difficult part starts later, when a business has to turn scattered ideas into something that actually moves the needle.
“Let’s be honest: a $20 subscription is a toy to play with, not a strategy to scale an enterprise.” The point isn’t that affordable tools are useless. Many are genuinely helpful. But buying access to something and knowing what to do with it are two very different things.
Matt says most clients don’t walk in with a neat, complete roadmap. They usually arrive carrying a mix of rough sketches, half-formed ideas, and expectations that occasionally fight with reality. At Neoteric, the first step is rarely jumping straight into building. It starts with stepping back and figuring out what problem actually needs solving.
“We don’t start by building what people think they need. We take a step back to uncover the core business logic.” Because at the end of the day, businesses are not paying for software alone. They’re paying for people who can untangle complexity, make smart decisions, and turn ideas into something that lasts.
When Expectations Run Ahead of Reality
Matt shares this one with a bit of a smile because, from his perspective, the problem wasn’t really technical at all. Sometimes projects fall apart long before the work even begins.
“We had a customer, let’s call him John because he wasn’t John.” The idea sounded simple enough: create visuals in a specific style. The catch was that building something like that needed a large number of examples to learn from.
“They knew we needed at least a couple of hundreds of examples for training. They gave us maybe 20.” The disappointment came later, but the outcome was almost predictable from the start.
At Neoteric, Matt sees situations like this as expectation problems more than technology problems. People sometimes assume the gap between an idea and a finished result is smaller than it really is. But good work still needs raw material, direction, and enough room to build something properly. And honestly, even the smartest systems in the world still can’t pull a rabbit out of an empty hat.
Trust Lives Between the Words
Matt gives an answer here that pushes back against the usual assumption. Most people immediately say empathy belongs entirely to humans, but he sees the situation as more complicated than that.
“It can, sometimes better than a human.” His point is not that people suddenly become unnecessary. In fact, he argues that many humans struggle to understand their own emotions, let alone someone else’s. Following emotional patterns or responding with the right words is something systems are becoming increasingly good at.
But Matt believes the bigger story begins where language ends. “Words carry a minority of how we communicate.” A difficult client conversation is rarely just about what is said. It is also the eye contact during a meeting, the pause before a response, the laugh that breaks tension, the body language that quietly says, “we’ve got this.”
At Neoteric, that human layer still matters because trust is built from dozens of small signals people barely notice while they are happening. And honestly, anyone who has ever read a message saying “I completely understand how you feel” knows that the same sentence can feel either comforting or strangely empty depending on who is saying it.
Human-Only Is Becoming a Label
Matt thinks the “100% human” idea is definitely turning into a category of its own. Not necessarily because people suddenly rejected technology, but because markets have a habit of turning almost everything into a signal of identity.
“I think it’s getting hipster and creating a new category.” It is not hard to imagine where he is going with that. Businesses already have labels around sustainability, ethical sourcing, and countless other markers that communicate values. A “human-only” badge could easily become another one of those signals.
But Matt draws a line between a label and actual quality. Just because something is built entirely by people does not automatically make it better. “AI is great if you know how to use it and primarily why to use it.” In his view, tools are leverage, they amplify whatever already exists underneath.
That also works in reverse. Strong thinking can become stronger. Weak thinking simply becomes faster at making mistakes. And honestly, that is probably the uncomfortable part many people would rather skip: technology does not magically improve bad decisions. It just helps you arrive at them with impressive efficiency.
Staying Curious on Purpose
When asked about the one human skill worth doubling down on, Matt doesn’t reach for creativity, leadership, or even strategy. His answer is much simpler: “Learning.”
For him, the challenge is not keeping up with one new tool or trend. It is staying open enough to constantly rethink how work gets done. The rules are shifting quickly, and yesterday’s expertise can become tomorrow’s comfort zone if nobody questions it.
“AI creates potential, we are here to use it.” That means adapting not only skills but also mindsets. At Neoteric, learning seems less like an occasional activity and more like part of the job itself, testing ideas, challenging assumptions, and getting comfortable with not having all the answers immediately.
And honestly, that may be the most underrated skill of all. People often treat expertise as arriving at certainty, while real learning usually begins the moment you realise you might be wrong.
Simple Still WinsAt Neoteric, the first step is rarely jumping straight into building
Matt’s answer here feels almost like a small rebellion against the way communication is slowly evolving. While many brands are trying to sound more polished, more sophisticated, and more perfectly structured, he seems to think the opposite problem is quietly showing up.
“You see the pattern?” A message gets polished, expanded, softened, and made more professional. Then someone on the other side shortens it back into the original point because they are busy. Somewhere in the middle, the actual conversation starts getting buried under layers of formatting and unnecessary decoration.
At Neoteric, the goal does not seem to be avoiding technology. Matt openly uses it himself. The difference is that he treats it like a tool for refinement rather than a substitute for having something to say in the first place.
“So I try to be direct. simple. With no bullshit.” There is a little irony in that because simplicity is probably becoming harder than complexity now. Everyone can make things longer. Fewer people know how to make them clearer.
Thinking Is Still Part of the Job
Matt’s concern is not really about technology becoming smarter. It is about people becoming passive. Somewhere along the way, there is a risk of handing over not just execution, but the thinking itself.
“There are studies that show that people who use AI instantly for a problem without breaking it down themselves… have lower cognitive skills.” The point he makes is less about avoiding technology and more about avoiding intellectual autopilot. When people stop wrestling with problems themselves, they also stop building the muscles that help them solve the next one.
At Neoteric, the belief seems to be that tools work best when they enter the process after the thinking starts, not before it. Breaking problems apart, asking uncomfortable questions, and creating direction still matters because otherwise people end up accepting answers before understanding the problem itself.
“AI is like another team member. Not a one-for-all.” And honestly, that comparison probably lands because nobody hires a brilliant employee and then immediately leaves the office expecting them to run the entire company alone.
Sometimes Instinct Spots What Data Misses
Matt doesn’t dismiss data, but he also doesn’t think every meaningful decision begins inside a spreadsheet. Some things still come from experience, observation, and that slightly irrational feeling founders occasionally learn to trust.
“Starbucks spends millions to predict where to open the coffee shop while Martha and Abhishek open a small store on a street they’d never think of and have queues all day.” It is a funny comparison, but there is something real sitting underneath it. Large systems are incredibly good at spotting patterns. Smaller founders sometimes succeed because they notice something that doesn’t look like a pattern yet.
At Neoteric, instinct does not seem to replace logic; it fills the gaps where logic becomes too neat. People on the ground notice strange behaviors, local habits, and opportunities that often do not show up in historical data. Sometimes a decision simply feels right before anyone can properly explain why.
Of course, intuition can be wrong too. But honestly, business has always carried a bit of educated guesswork hidden behind serious-looking presentations. The difference is that experienced founders occasionally learn which instincts deserve attention and which ones should probably stay inside their heads.
The Premium Is Really About Certainty
Matt looks at the conversation less as a debate around cost and more as a question of confidence. Businesses are surrounded by tools that almost solve the problem, almost fit the need, and almost deliver the outcome they want. The trouble is that “almost” can become expensive surprisingly quickly.
“There are free tools that almost do what they almost need and this mix almost wins.” There is a little humor in that observation, but it hits a familiar reality. Many companies end up stitching together multiple solutions hoping the pieces somehow create the bigger picture on their own.
At Neoteric, the value seems to come from reducing uncertainty rather than simply increasing output. “A proven framework brings clarity, security, predictability and clear ROI.” Because once budgets become serious, conversations usually shift away from features and toward results.
And honestly, every project eventually lands on the same uncomfortable question: do you want the cheapest route available, or do you want the confidence of knowing where the road actually leads?
We Adapt Faster Than We Admit
Matt does not really believe in a dramatic “back to humans” movement where everyone suddenly abandons technology and runs back to old ways of working. He sees human behavior as more complicated than that. People crave connection, but they also have an incredible ability to adapt.
“Well, we need more than a video. We need smell, we need touch, we need warmth.” His point is that communication has always been much bigger than words on a screen. Real-world interaction carries all sorts of small things people barely notice, eye contact, presence, body language, even the comfort of simply being in the same room.
At the same time, Matt doesn’t think this automatically slows down technological progress. He believes there will be an adjustment period, maybe some resistance, and then people will gradually make room for new habits in everyday life.
“Like people in San Francisco got used to Waymo.” Strange things eventually stop feeling strange. And honestly, humans have a long history of first saying, “that’s weird,” before casually living with it a few years later.
