Building Enterprise AI With Startup Velocity—Microsoft’s Taylor Black

AI has moved from pilot projects to boardroom priorities across large organizations. How do teams turn AI work into real business results instead of stalled experiments?

This week’s VentureFuel Visionary is Taylor Black, Director of AI & Venture Ecosystems in Microsoft’s Office of the CTO. He works at the intersection of AI strategy, venture ecosystems, and internal venture building. 

In this episode, we unpack how AI takes impossible problems and makes them merely difficult, how this growth mindset of hyper-abundance is paired with the enterprise rigor and the internal velocity needed to scale. 

Tune in as Taylor brings a rare dual perspective: enterprise AI leadership inside one of the world’s largest technology companies combined with firsthand startup-building experience!

Episode Highlights

• AI Starts With the Right Problem – Taylor explores why AI is not a single solution but a thinking tool, and why enterprises fail when they apply it without clearly defined, high-impact problems.
• Escaping AI Pilot Purgatory – He talks about how many AI initiatives get stuck in pilot mode, and what needs to change for experiments to turn into real, scaled business outcomes.
• Balancing Speed and Control – Taylor explains how large organizations can balance startup-level speed with enterprise-level security, governance, and operational rigor.
• Build, Buy, or Partner: It’s About the Experiment – He breaks down the build vs. buy vs. partner decision for AI, framing each option as a different way to experiment and reduce risk.
• Growth Beats Efficiency – The conversation delves into why the biggest AI wins come from growth and new possibilities, not just efficiency gains, and how leaders should rethink what success looks like.