Taylor Black on AI, Startups, Microsoft, and Building a Life Through Foster Care and Adoption

In this episode of The Jason Cavness Experience, Jason sits down with Taylor Black for a wide-ranging conversation that spans AI, startups, big tech, and family life. Taylor shares his experience working at Microsoft, where he's been close to how AI is being built, adopted, and misunderstood inside large organizations. He talks about how startups and founders should think about AI realistically not as hype, but as a tool that rewards clarity, discipline, and execution.

Beyond tech, Taylor opens up about his family's journey through fostering and adoption, what it's taught him about responsibility, patience, and long-term thinking, and how building a family reshapes how you approach work and leadership.

He reflects on balancing ambition with presence, and why success isn't just about what you build professionally, but what you commit to personally. This is an honest conversation about building companies, adopting new technology responsibly, and choosing to show up fully at work and at home.

Topics Discussed

• Taylor's role at Microsoft and exposure to AI at scale

• How large companies actually adopt AI

• The gap between AI hype and real-world execution

• How startups should think about using AI

• Discipline and clarity as advantages in tech and business

• Lessons from working inside a major tech company

• Fostering and adopting children and what it teaches about leadership

• Balancing startup ambition with family responsibility

• Long-term thinking in both business and life

• Redefining success beyond career milestones

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