TechBullion had the opportunity to sit down with Michael Koch — four four-time exited tech founder, WSJ best-selling author, and the CEO of HubKonnect — the company redefining how AI powers hyperlocal marketing, customer engagement, and real-time decision-making for multi-unit brands.
Koch has built some of the most complex technical platforms in retail, pioneered AI applications, and is known for merging elite cognitive performance protocols with world-class business execution. HubKonnect is his boldest venture yet — an AI-driven “Hyperlocal Brain” that’s already transforming how the world’s largest brands operate at the local level.
Michael, you’ve built multiple successful companies. Why is HubKonnect your most ambitious project yet?
Because it’s not just a product — it’s an infrastructure and intelligent ecosystem for how retail brands will think, act, and win in the next decade, where it matters most. At the individual location.
In the past, I built companies that solved very important problems, but HubKonnect is solving the most complex problem in retail: how to make national brands operate with Hyperlocal Intelligence with data precision and local cultural data. We’ve built an AI Brain that understands every signal — from weather to traffic patterns data to social sentiment — and turns that into hyperlocal strategies that can be deployed instantly at the store level.
This is about creating the central nervous system for how enterprises engage with the communities they serve.
What’s the core problem you’re solving for brands?
Intelligence at scale.
Most large brands lose their local touch because scaling demands consistency. The result? National campaigns that feel tone-deaf locally.
HubKonnect eliminates that trade-off. Our AI platform personalizes strategy for each location in real time — while staying on brand. Imagine a QSR chain where every store is running marketing, offers, and operations decisions tuned to the exact neighborhood, weather, competitor activity, and cultural pulse that day. That’s what we build and deliver every day.
We call it “Hyperlocal Intelligence” — the ability for every location to act like the smartest, most connected local business in town.
How is your AI different from other marketing automation platforms?
Most platforms are reactive. They wait for data to accumulate, then suggest what you should have done.
Our AI is predictive and prescriptive. It knows what’s coming and executes in real time. We’ve built proprietary models that integrate first-party sales data, external environmental factors, and brand-level playbooks into a single “Hyperlocal Brain.”
It doesn’t just suggest — it deploys.
We’re essentially a foundational platform in a marketing tech stack, the operational tech stack, and the AI decision layer into one living data model.
You’ve called HubKonnect the ‘operating system for local brand execution.’ Can you unpack that?
Think of HubKonnect as the OS that runs every store’s decision-making — marketing, community engagement, even operational adjustments — all driven by a single intelligence layer.
Below that OS is a data infrastructure: point-of-sale integrations, competitive monitoring, environmental sensors, and social listening feeds.
Above it are the users: CMOs, franchise owners, local managers — all working in sync with the same Brand Centric AI brain. The result is speed, alignment, and execution that feels both brand-perfect and locally relevant.
You’re leading in a category you essentially created — Hyperlocal Intelligence. Why now?
Because the market finally caught up to the vision.
Five years ago, brands weren’t ready to embrace AI, make the investments to centralize data, and rely on decision-making from AI. Now, with the explosion of multi-unit data streams and the pressure for same-store sales growth, they have no choice, and I was five steps ahead for our clients to reap the benefits of AI innovation.
HubKonnect is the category leader because we architected for this exact moment. We didn’t retrofit old marketing automation. We built from scratch for predictive hyperlocal execution at scale. This technology and category never existed before HubKonnect.
You’ve worked with some of the largest brands in the world. What’s the most common challenge they face when going local?
Fragmentation.
The corporate team has data and strategy, but the field teams have the local insight. Historically, those two worlds barely spoke the same language.
HubKonnect is the translator. It takes brand priorities, fuses them with local conditions, and turns that into action — instantly, at scale, without losing authenticity.
There have been rumblings on Wall Street of a public offering in HubKonnect’s Future. What does HubKonnect look like at IPO?
There are a lot of paths HubKonnect can take. I don’t want to expound on possibilities; I focus on what we need to do today for our clients. Let’s just say these are very exciting times. We are laser-focused on HubKonnect continuing to be the AI decision layer for every major multi-unit brand in North America — with global expansion underway in EMEA.
Where will we be? It’s more about where we are now. Our ARR is well north of eight figures, our EBITDA margins will reflect the efficiency of an AI-first company, and our brand will be synonymous with local market dominance. Remember, while never taking a single dollar of VC Money and being 100% independent. We focus on building a company that delivers real results, not AI hype.
Whatever path we choose. I would bet on HubKonnect to be a global success.
You’re known for fusing elite monk-like discipline with leadership. How does that influence HubKonnect’s culture?
Discipline is the bridge between goals and outcomes.
Following daily my cognitive protocol or building a billion-dollar company— the principles are the same: passion, laser focus, clarity of vision, just the right amount of crazy, precision in execution, and relentless iteration. At HubKonnect, we don’t move fast or loud — we move intelligently and in silence. Every decision has to drive measurable impact. We also know that all the work that matters is in the dark, quiet work. While others talk, we build.
The reason for my “monk-like” discipline is simple. I know I need to be at my best to create opportunities for others. That is why I live the Spartan, humble, quiet life I do, so I can solely focus on innovation and our clients.
You’ve been called one of the most charismatic and strategic CEOs in tech. What’s your leadership philosophy?
I have? Well, thank you. I don’t think about that very much. I am all passion. I lead from the front, and love rolling up my sleeves and doing the hard work alongside the team that other CEO’s wouldn’t do. I would never ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t do.
I take great pride in building the next generation of entrepreneurs. This means a lot to me. A great leader must empower teams, while pushing the team to think and dream bigger, and keeping the company obsessed with the customer’s success.
The CEO’s job isn’t just to inspire — it’s to create an environment where the best idea always wins and set a tempo and passion that builds a culture of success.
If you want to see the future of hyperlocal brand execution, watch HubKonnect. Michael Koch isn’t just building a company he’s building a new category of AI.
