Jonathan Goodman shares his entrepreneur origin story and current focus as an AI leader across consulting, e-commerce, and social impact.

• Who he is
  • A 30+ year tech veteran and lifelong entrepreneur who describes himself as a visionary, technologist, and futurist.
  • Education spans Graphic Design/Photography (B.A.), Computer Science (M.S.), and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies, shaping a multidisciplinary approach.
• What he’s building now
  • Halyard Consulting: AI implementation and enablement for small businesses/startups (typically <50 employees), starting engagements with an AI Readiness Survey to assess needs and maturity.
  • Trigonal Gallery: pivoted from a physical gallery into an AI-driven e-commerce brand producing AI-generated art products for retail (fashion/home decor).
  • Trigonal Foundation (planned): a nonprofit initiative to teach AI to underserved youth and incarcerated individuals.
• Career arc and credibility
  • Early internet-era work (e.g., EarthWeb in the 90s) and experience through the dot-com crash, followed by corporate e-commerce leadership, where he “fixed what wasn’t working” and scaled revenue.
  • He emphasizes that he no longer codes day-to-day—he uses AI to analyze and rewrite code when needed and outsources execution.
• Core belief about the market
  • He argues that AI will increasingly replace traditional search behavior (“AI will defeat Google”), because it produces direct answers rather than forcing users to sift through websites.
• How he uses ChatGPT strategically
  • His “#1 tool” is ChatGPT, but the differentiator is the use of personas/custom instructions (e.g., grant-writer persona, business development persona).
  • He uses it to accelerate outcomes such as grant responses, logo/design ideation, and business development, turning LinkedIn touchpoints into tailored, human-edited follow-ups that route prospects into his AI Readiness Survey funnel.
• Advice to entrepreneurs (his “three things”)
  1. Believe in yourself deeply enough to persist.
  2. Network locally and consistently—relationships create momentum.
  3. Know funding exists (grants, city/state programs, support budgets) and proactively pursue it, especially through local government and small business ecosystems.