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No Hacks: The Mindset Behind Digital Optimization and Growth
Welcome to No Hacks, the podcast where expertise meets creativity to revolutionize digital experiences. Hosted by industry veteran Slobodan (Sani) Manić, this engaging series tackles marketing, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and user experience (UX) without relying on gimmicks or shortcuts.
In each episode, join Slobodan as he engages in candid conversations with top leaders and innovators from tech, business, and design fields. Discover real stories, lessons learned, and breakthrough moments that highlight how to create impactful and transformative online experiences.
No Hacks goes beyond traditional best practices, challenging the status quo by exploring the psychology behind what truly works. Delve into real-world case studies and explore innovative strategies that push the limits of possibility in the digital landscape.
If you are a developer, designer, marketer, or a digital enthusiast, No Hacks provides smart, thoughtful strategies for long-term success. Learn to think differently, innovate creatively, and build meaningful digital experiences.
No shortcuts, just expert insights and genuine solutions. Subscribe now to join us one episode at a time as we unravel the true elements of designing transformative digital experiences.
Two Formats, One Mission:
🎙️ No Hacks Podcast (long-form interviews) – In these seasonal episodes, I sit down with top experts in marketing, tech, and business to discuss the principles and stories behind successful optimization. We go beyond the surface to explore what really works—and why, on Wednesdays.
🍪 No Hacks Snacks (short-form insights) – Need quick, actionable advice? These under-10-minute episodes deliver practical tips and insights from a wide range of guests, on Mondays and Fridays.
Subscribe and join No Hacks on this journey to make the internet a better, more thoughtful place, one episode at a time.
No Hacks: The Mindset Behind Digital Optimization and Growth
[S03E11] No Juniors, No Google, No Chill: Survival Tips for the AI Shake-Up with Erin Weigel and Lukas Vermeer
What does life look like when search engines, junior tech jobs, and even human therapists start losing ground to generative AI? In this lightning-charged round-table, host Sani sits down with experimentation legends Erin Weigel and Lukas Vermeer to test-drive a future that’s already creeping into the present.
In this episode you’ll hear:
- “RIP Google SERPs?”. Lukas explains why he’s stopped opening SERPs and lets ChatGPT do the leg-work instead, and what that means for SEO as a profession.
- Therapy by chatbot. A frank debate on the ethics of replacing licensed counselors with LLMs, complete with Erin’s tale of an AI that literally narrated its own fake empathy.
- The vanishing ladder. Why companies are skipping junior hires, how that starves tomorrow’s seniors, and whether YouTube “mentors” can fill the gap.
- Layoffs, wage pressure & the fourth AI hype-cycle. Erin argues that generative tools are becoming the C-suite’s favorite excuse to “do more with less,” accelerating job insecurity across tech.
- Blackout reality check. Sani recounts a one-day power failure that froze an entire city, highlighting just how thin our digital safety net really is.
- Off-grid plans & doom-prep kits. From Raspberry Pi LLMs to a solar-powered farmhouse in France, the crew swaps tongue-in-cheek tips for surviving an AI-augmented apocalypse.
About the guests
- Erin Weigel is the former principal designer at Booking.com, now charting the blurry boundary between human-centered design and AI-generated “V-Zero” mock-ups.
- Lukas Vermeer is the ex-director of experimentation at Booking.com and Vista; known for turning data questions into live product experiments. Both Erin and Lukas started the same day at Booking.com, one of many shared origin stories they unpack.
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