Michael started his career in corporate (Finance @ American Express, consulting @ PwC/KPMG) before he worked at two of the largest Australian marketplaces MadPaws, a marketplace for pet sitters, and Expert360, a marketplace for independent consultants. After taking Expert360 through a 14m Series B he joined Startmate, Australia’s most ambitious accelerator, as Head of Operations then CEO for 8 years.

Now Batko is cofounder of Hourglass AI that implements AI into businesses.

Every People leader has sat through the AI 101.

This isn't that.

Michael builds AI systems for real businesses at Hourglass AI, and he'll show you what a CPO should actually have running by year-end:

• which workflows to automate first
• why making AI understand your company matters more than picking tools, and
• how to roll out with one team instead of a company-wide pilot that dies quietly.

You'll leave with the exact plays separating the CPOs using AI from the ones still talking about it.

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What you'll leave with:

1. A year-end checklist of the People workflows to automate first: candidate screening, onboarding, employee Q&A and comms drafting, sequenced boring-first so each win funds the next.
2. Why most HR AI pilots stall: the tools aren't the problem, the company isn't AI-readable. How to package your policies, playbooks and tone of voice so any AI you buy actually works.
3. The rollout play: start with the one team screaming loudest, prove ROI, create internal champions, then scale. Not a company-wide licence nobody uses.