From Learning Disabilities to AI Leadership: Jeremy Jakubowicz’s Unconventional Career Journey | Ep034

Episode Information

Show Notes

Episode SummaryJeremy Jakubowicz’s path to becoming president of multiple AI companies is far from conventional. After struggling with learning disabilities throughout his education, Jeremy carved out a unique career trajectory through film, education, casino promotions, and tech software before landing in his current role. His story demonstrates how challenges can become stepping stones and how following the “natural path” can lead to unexpected success.

In This EpisodeJeremy shares how his reading and writing disabilities shaped his approach to career development, emphasizing experiential learning and relationship building. From working as a pizza delivery driver to teaching film production, from MC’ing casino events to transitioning into software sales, Jeremy’s journey showcases the power of turning every experience into an opportunity.

His decision to move to Las Vegas for $20,000 less than a competing offer exemplifies his philosophy of betting on long-term vision over immediate gain. Jeremy breaks down how he recognized cultural mismatches in his career transitions and eventually found his home at VizExplorer for seven years before moving into AI.

Key Takeaways– Alternative Learning Paths: How Jeremy compensated for reading/writing challenges by becoming hands-on and experiential– Network as Currency: Building genuine relationships opened doors across industries– The Expiration Date Philosophy: Knowing when to pivot based on growth opportunity, cultural fit, or new challenges– Value-Add Mindset: Continuously bringing past experiences to enhance current roles– Cultural Fit > Money: Learning to evaluate opportunities beyond compensation– Natural Path Theory: Why forcing opportunities often leads to resistance

Notable Quotes“Don’t overthink things. No matter if it doesn’t work out, you’ll gain valuable takeaways from that experience regardless of its failure or success.”“Everything in life has an expiration date. The thing you need to figure out for yourself is when is that expiration date?”“I always found my path through relationships and building friendships that help open those doors.”

Jeremy’s Career TimelineEducational Foundation: Struggled with learning disabilities; found alternative learning methodsFirst Steps: Pizza delivery, film school graduateTeaching Years: Film production teacher with side videography businessCasino Industry: MC, promotions coordinator, progression to managementThe Vegas Gamble: Took pay cut for better opportunity in Las VegasTech Transition: Software sales for casino player tracking systemsVizExplorer Era: Customer success role that lasted 7.5 yearsAI Leadership: Current role as president of multiple AI companies

Connect With Jeremyhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-jj-jakubowicz-9848a431/

Listen & SubscribeAvailable on all major podcast platforms. Subscribe to Career Downloads for weekly conversations with professionals who’ve navigated unique career paths.

Episode Length: 1 hour 4 minutesRelease Date: May 6, 2025

Transcription

Manuel: Welcome everyone, my name is Manuel Martinez and this is another episode of Career Downloads, where each episode I basically hit the refresh button, bring on a different guest, to really learn how they navigated their career over time, with the intention to really help uncover any actionable advice that you can use as you’re managing your own career. So for today’s episode, I have with me Jeremy Jakubowicz. We connected, we had a couple conversations and he shared a little bit with me about his journey, you know, the different triumphs and struggles that he’s dealt with. And I thought that was really interesting. So decided to ask him to come on and share his story with everybody. So with that, I’ll go ahead and let Jeremy introduce himself. So welcome Jeremy.

Jeremy: Yes, good morning, thank you for having me.

Manuel: I appreciate you coming on and being willing to kind of share your experiences. And, you know, we talked about them, so I don’t want to reveal too much, but if you just go ahead and kind of give us a synopsis of, you know, kind of what you’re currently doing, you know, and just a little quick summary of, you know, your career over time.

Jeremy: Yeah, no, absolutely. Like I said, thanks so much again for having me on the show. So currently right now I’m the president of a handful of small AI driven companies. Started this about six months ago. And yeah, it’s, I’ll never look back, frankly. So yeah, it’s been fantastic. You know, it’s been a, it’s been an interesting journey to get to the point where I have gotten myself today, starting off as just through grade school, if you will, you know, and getting to a point where I find success and, you know, being able to in my