Transcript: Tim Haines at Tech Week Grand Rapids 2026

0:01Josh: Awesome. Welcome, Tim.

0:03Tim Haines: Thank you, Josh. [laughter]

0:05Josh: And how are you?

0:07Tim Haines: Tired, excited, and ready.

0:09Josh: Yeah. Have you been to other tech events in the past?

0:12Tim Haines: This is my first year going to anything at Tech Week, which I feel a little bit sad about.

0:17Josh: Oh, yeah. Okay. Because I think you've been in the tech space for a while. I know you know Chris on my team and a couple other team members. So you've been around.

0:28Tim Haines: I like to think so.

0:31Josh: So what have you been up to? What have you been working on these days?

0:36Tim Haines: I have been working in two lanes, building at Unicorn Flames. One has been recruiting and headhunting for marketers. And then the second has been doing custom training and also rollouts for AI deployments for SMBs, small enterprise. Both of those combined, the idea is to multiply the team, or the impact that the existing team has.

1:05Josh: Sure. So, Unicorn Flames, you're helping find marketers, right? So, tell me more about that. How did that get started, and where are you currently at today?

1:17Tim Haines: I once had a marketing agency, and my favorite part of that was hiring people, much to the chagrin sometimes of my leadership team, who was tasked with worrying about financials. Ideally, I would have hired someone every 30 days. So, this is just kind of a continuation of that. And the space is just so wild right now. It really is difficult to work within. Marketers and communicators and creatives alike, they're all very deeply impacted, of course, for better and for worse, by AI.

1:50Josh: Yep. So what's your differentiator with Unicorn Flames? How do you find those people, especially in this AI-driven world?

1:59Tim Haines: Existing network, existing test projects, people that I'm either actively working with or that I've worked with in the past, and/or matchmaking. Because I think one of the most exciting things about the current market is a business can really have their unicorn.

2:22Josh: Sure. What are the big challenges with that, trying to find...

2:27Tim Haines: Vetting talent, and figuring out what talent is actually needed, is much more challenging than finding talent. Most of the organizations that I talk to or work with, you know, they'll post something on LinkedIn and they'll have 300 applications.

2:45Josh: Yeah, that's a lot.

2:46Tim Haines: And AI is a part of that, right? Because in the same way that employers are leveraging AI, talent is also farming some of their work out to AI. I experimented with this myself about two years ago. I used one of these, you know, AI application processes, and I applied for 250 jobs in a month, and got a few interviews off of it. But that was at the beginning. Now the space is saturated with AI applications. It's just kind of a chaotic mess for both sides.

3:18Josh: Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I look on social media and there's so many people that are frustrated on the job seeker side, right? Because they're submitting, and they're qualified, and they're up against all these people that are just inundating these companies' inboxes. [clears throat] How do they rise above the noise? Because there's a lot of frustration, it seems like.

3:41Tim Haines: Absolutely. I think we have, as humans, exceeded our capacity for change. And as a former marketer, I operate from the belief that the nervous system is the thing that we should be most cognizant of in all of our efforts these days. People are just overwhelmed, and rightfully or incorrectly, a lot of that energy and frustration goes towards technology itself, which is certainly valid. However, we can't stop what's happening, you know, so I'm trying to focus on the pieces that I can actually impact.

4:18Josh: Yeah. What are those pieces that you're looking to impact? And how can people on either side embrace these changes, or figure out how to live in this world that's AI everything, right, especially in the hiring process?

4:34Tim Haines: I believe that relationships are more valuable than they've ever been before, right? So where there's AI slop, and where I can automate this or that, none of that replaces relationships. And if anything, I think it makes them even more useful, more valuable, more meaningful, right? Like, we're all tired of talking to AI. We're all getting kind of tired, I think, of talking about AI. And human connection is still quite magical when it happens. So although it's certainly always easy for the person who's in the recruiting role to tell others, you know, do A, do B, do C, and I think a lot of that advice is oversimplified at best, I do think there's an underlying truth, which is: go have coffee with people.

5:27Josh: Yeah. In real life.

5:29Tim Haines: Look them in the eye. Maybe even, like, shift your fist towards their fist and make a human connection.

5:35Josh: Yes. Yeah, it's surprising how many people don't do that, right?

5:42Tim Haines: 100%. And it's surprising, but also understandable, right? Like, COVID, AI, people need naps right now. And not everybody has the social energy to go make friends, which then becomes kind of its own conundrum. If you're looking for work, and you're trying to pay your bills, and you're tired, now you're being asked to go be an extrovert. But maybe you're actually a creative, and you're actually very introvert wired. So, it kind of becomes, I think, a loop. The shift to a fractional and freelance market has made it very challenging, too. I like working with entrepreneurs, and I think some of the most overlooked entrepreneurs are the freelancers and the solo entrepreneurs that might not even identify with the word entrepreneur. But if you're billing as a 1099 on a fractional team, you are an entrepreneur.

6:32Josh: Yeah, it's very true. It's very true. Where do you see the future? Like, if you fast forward 5 to 10 years, the hiring from a marketing and a creative standpoint, what does that look like, in your opinion?

6:47Tim Haines: I think that the culture shift that has to happen is that freelancers, part-time marketers, what have you, they have to be treated as an invaluable part of the team. And so the organizations that are going to, in my opinion, win, the shift they're making is a cultural one, right? Just because Lisa works 15 hours a week instead of 40, she's still doing design work. And maybe that team actually is really benefiting from the fact that she only wants 15 hours a week, right? That could be really good for their setup, their financials, etc. But if they're treating her transactionally, she's not going to stay. So to me, that's kind of the exciting part. I think it has the potential to create equity if it's treated the correct way.

7:50Josh: Yeah. So, a lot of people think of this dystopian future when you start going down the road of AI. So, where does that fit into the equation, in your opinion?

8:06Tim Haines: Yeah, it's hard to know how to cut through the noise. I like to have a glass of wine and doom scroll through Reddit as much as anybody else. And, you know, some of these recent posts from Anthropic employees that are leaving, and so forth. It's hard really to know what to think of it. The one I come back to over and over again is, I've been working with AI for two and a half years, and can it do wildly impressive things at times? Absolutely. Do I think that it has the capacity and capability to take over the world and create a Terminator event? I'm skeptical. I'm skeptical. Yes, it's wild, the intelligence in moments, and the Hugging Face hacks and some of these other things are deeply concerning. But I don't think it's always as smart as we want to believe it is. I spend most of my time just writing in all caps, you know: No, Claude. No.

9:10Josh: So, you're going to be the first one they knock on the door of, when it...

9:15Tim Haines: I am. I am 100% convinced I will be disposed of immediately once it...

9:19Josh: You didn't say thank you.

9:22Tim Haines: No. Well, I try to alternate, you know. I go both to thank you and all caps, depending on the moment.

9:29Josh: So, what about thank you in all caps?

9:31Tim Haines: Oh, yes. Absolutely. And also, like, a please remember me when the time comes, you know. Of course it doesn't, because the context window resets, which is the whole... it's like, oh yeah, what were you...

9:48Josh: Yeah, 100%. So, what events are you going to do? Do you have an event at this Tech Week? Is that right? I thought I saw you on the schedule.

9:57Tim Haines: Do I have an event? I'm not sure. I don't remember. [laughter] No. The events that I'm most excited about right now, there are two. There's an open coworking session happening every other Wednesday, starting next Wednesday, at Bamboo in Grand Rapids. Free, even if you're not a member. Pretty big deal. Free coffee made by me, and maybe the espresso machine. And then for marketers, I also do an ongoing event called the Midwest Marketing Meetup. More importantly, they're opportunities for people to actually look at each other and talk.

10:34Josh: Yeah. Make real human connection. Well, that's good. You're practicing what you preach.

10:43Tim Haines: As much as I am able.

10:47Josh: Yeah. What about this week? Are there any tech events that you're excited about, besides this podcast? I mean, this is probably the most exciting thing.

10:54Tim Haines: Yeah, I would have to say this podcast is the one I am most excited about. [laughter]

10:58Josh: There you go.

11:00Tim Haines: I'm excited about the conversations happening around AI. I'm looking forward to hearing the different perspectives and the different takes on those. I'm also really hoping that the hallway is where the best stuff continues to happen, you know, in between one event and the other. Again, that human connection.

11:23Josh: Yeah. Nice. So, the thing that's fascinating you most and captivating your attention is AI, from what I'm hearing.

11:30Tim Haines: I would frame it slightly differently, although that's very valid. I would say the thing that's most captivating me is the change, and how to meet people in a safe space where they're at. Because innovation does have a cost, and as someone who loves the startup space and has spent most of my life in it, I think it's easy for us all to forget that, right? It does have a cost. And people are already tired. So, how are we going to meet them where they're at? Change is what interests me the most. Latent potential specifically, you know, that marketer or that creative on your team that just needs a two-hour coaching session and permission to tell you that you're wrong, and all of a sudden your whole trajectory might shift.

12:28Josh: Yeah. And that's the other thing that you're working on, right? You mentioned you've got Unicorn Flames, and you have consulting, right? Tell me about that.

12:37Tim Haines: Yeah. The consulting is still under Unicorn Flames, but it's really just a chance to work with any organization that has more custom needs. I've been working in tech for so long that I'm really good at those conversations that start with, let's do this, and then they actually end up at, but why are we doing this? And I think, bias of self aside, those are the more interesting consulting conversations to have right now, right? Like, if you're bringing someone in and they're just agreeing with you: Yeah, you're right, we should roll out Claude for the whole organization immediately. And yeah, you're right, we should redo our website with A, B, C and D immediately. I mean, that can be fun. But I'm much more intrigued by the underlying question of why. Just because I can doesn't mean that I should.

13:29Josh: Yeah. Tell me about that. Not specific organizations, but what have you seen within organizations, where people are adopting things but they're not asking that why question?

13:42Tim Haines: Well, you've got CEOs who are being told by their CEO friends that AI is critical. And in many ways, it kind of reminds me of SEO, right? 10 years ago, when I had an agency, with SEO the trend was, hey, we need the SEO. Redo A, B, C, D, E, F and G, because we need the SEO. And yeah, sure, SEO is and was and will continue to be a valuable part of any marketing strategy. However, sometimes the question that really needed to be asked was, but why? Right? Like, you need more organic traffic, but you have three salespeople. Why are they not closing deals? It's probably not because they're bad salespeople, right? They're probably quite talented. Maybe there's a process problem or a positioning problem. I think AI is a great thing for us to all attach all of our anger, frustration, hopes and dreams to, right? It's like a magnet. But more often than not, it doesn't actually have anything to do with what's happening.

14:44Josh: Right. There's core issues that AI can't solve.

14:48Tim Haines: Correct. Correct. Correct.

14:50Josh: Interesting. Well, what do you hope to get out of this week, as you enter into Tech Week? Are there things where you'd like to find connections and help people? Are there things that people can help you with? What does that look like?

15:06Tim Haines: I'm looking to get one conversation with an organization that I believe in that is trying to multiply their team, whether that's through AI or whether that's through headhunting a new marketer. And more likely than not, they may not know the answer to that yet, which I think is where the fun part is for me.

15:24Josh: Yeah, that leads to an interesting question. So if people are looking to engage Unicorn Flames, what is the trigger point where they're like, you know, I have this problem, I should call Unicorn Flames?

15:37Tim Haines: Fun question. I believe the trigger point is really: hey, we don't know how to navigate what we feel like this change requires of us. And maybe we think that means we need to hire someone. Maybe we think we need to train someone. Maybe we think we need to deploy, you know, Claude for organizations, and go spend a bunch of money on that. Ideally it's before that decision is made, because I really do have a general lack of bias. I'm not really that worried about how you get to where you're going. I'm worried about helping you get to where you're going.

16:15Josh: Last question here, a fun one, as we close out this past year, 2026. What has been a fun technology, or a technology you use often, that you're like, this is amazing? But you can't say Claude or ChatGPT. So, I'll give you an example. The last person I talked to said the Chick-fil-A app. So it could be anything. Another way to look at it: if you went to your phone, what are the most used apps besides those?

16:50Tim Haines: Hmm. I think that my most used app is the scan PDF app. I think it's called Swift Scan. It OCRs things.

16:57Josh: That's sweet. Okay, good one. I like it.

17:01Tim Haines: Well, thanks for having us. It's really been a fun time to talk.

17:08Josh: That was a great Tech Week conversation. Thank you for being part of it. We'll need to start taking the headsets off, kissing the mic goodbye, and exiting stage left. The next podcast is about to start.