Originally aired on May 20th, 2025
In this episode of The Tech Chef Podcast, Skip Kimpel welcomes Chris Herd, co-founder and CEO of Olive, the AI-powered platform that’s redefining how businesses approach vendor selection, RFPs, and strategic sourcing. Chris shares his journey from tech sales to entrepreneurship, the pain points that inspired Olive’s creation, and why the traditional RFP process is fundamentally broken.
Together, they explore how Olive eliminates bias, accelerates decisions, and empowers consultants, operators, and vendors to collaborate more effectively. Whether you’re tired of bloated spreadsheets or questioning the future of your consulting model, this conversation offers a refreshing, forward-thinking take on how to evaluate and adopt technology in a smarter way.
Key Takeaways:
-
The RFP Is Broken:
Traditional RFPs are slow, manual, and often biased. Olive offers a collaborative, agile alternative powered by AI. -
AI as an Assistant, Not a Replacement:
Rather than replacing consultants, Olive empowers them to work more efficiently, scale faster, and deliver more value by automating tedious tasks. -
Vendor Fairness & Objectivity:
Olive doesn’t accept vendor payments, reducing bias and ensuring a level playing field in the selection process. -
Smarter, Faster Decisions:
From consolidating stakeholder input to auto-analyzing vendor responses, Olive dramatically shortens timelines and improves project outcomes. -
Beyond Hospitality:
While widely used in restaurants and hotels, Olive’s platform is industry-agnostic and scalable across enterprise sectors. -
The Future of RFPs?
According to Chris, the term “RFP” might be obsolete in five years. Instead, decision-making platforms will lead the way
How To Contact Me
- Website
- https://SkipKimpel.com (all archived shows and show notes will be posted here)
- https://magicgate.com
- Instagram:
- X (Twitter):
- Facebook:
- LinkedIn:
- Youtube:
You can always email me at skip@magicgate.com
XR Bootcamp for Business Professionals!
Magicgate will be launching an XR Bootcamp for Business Professionals. This is a low tech / no tech approach to guide you, as business leaders with knowledgeable information to take new ideas to your company and your team member and be able to talk intelligently around the subject matter. This is a 5 week course (plus a bonus week!) that will get you caught up on terminology, discuss business strategies, uncover devices and services to help you down your XR path as well as how to manage this type of project. Most importantly, you will given research and tools to help you make a business case for including this in your technology strategy and roadmap. For more information and to sign up, go to bootcamp.magicgate.com. LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE!
