In this edition of the Bright Founders Talk at Temy, we’re joined by Brendan Collins, Senior Director of Solutions Engineering at Rohirrim. With a rich background in startups and a deep passion for emerging technologies, Brendan brings invaluable insights into the evolution of AI in enterprise settings. 

Rohirrim, a company named with a nod to The Lord of the Rings, is pioneering a unique generative AI platform designed for large, security-conscious organizations. In our conversation, Brendan shares how their platform, Rohan, transforms the way enterprises respond to bids, tenders, and solicitations. He opens up about his journey from infrastructure support to AI-driven innovation, and what led him to join Rohirrim. 

Beyond the tech, Brendan highlights the role of mentorship and company culture in shaping his career and vision. From the early days of machine learning to today’s large language models, his perspective captures the scale and significance of this technological revolution. Join us as we explore the intersections of AI, enterprise needs, and personal growth with a true enthusiast in the field.

From Startups to Rohan: Brendan’s Journey Through the AI Frontier

Brendan Collins isn’t your average tech exec—he’s a startup veteran who’s seen AI grow from buzzword to backbone. Having jumped into five different startups, mostly at the scrappy Series A stage, Brendan has made a career out of chasing the cutting edge. When generative AI started shaking up the industry, he wasn’t watching from the sidelines—he was already deep in the game. At Rohirrim, he helps large organizations navigate the tricky waters of solicitation response using powerful, secure AI platforms. “We’re not just playing with cool tech,” Brendan says, “we’re solving real, messy problems with massive data.” His role? Making sure customers not only understand the tech but see how it fits into their high-stakes, high-security workflows.

But let’s rewind a bit. Brendan’s fascination with tech didn’t begin with ChatGPT or even machine learning. It started with virtualization and containerization—the kind of stuff most people outside of IT barely notice, but that quietly revolutionized infrastructure. “That shift got me hooked,” he explains. From there, his path veered into AI, where he saw something big on the horizon. He compares the rise of large language models to the invention of the steam engine or the first airplane flight. That’s how monumental he believes this moment is. And if you think that sounds dramatic, consider this: he’s spent nearly a decade riding that wave, positioning himself at the forefront of every major shift.

And yet, beneath all the tech talk, there’s a more human thread running through Brendan’s journey—mentorship. He credits a “right place, right time” mentor early in his career for sparking his love of startups and shaping his mindset. That connection, rooted in a shared alma mater and a lot of startup hustle, helped him see just how exciting—and chaotic—early-stage companies could be. Since then, Brendan’s made a point of seeking out mentors, knowing how pivotal the right advice at the right time can be. His story is a mix of curiosity, timing, and a relentless drive to stay close to the tech that’s reshaping our world.

Warm Intros, Real Talk, and the Art of Translating AI

You wouldn’t guess it, but Brendan Collins—the guy who spends his days deep in AI and high-stakes enterprise conversations—is an introvert. “Networking doesn’t come naturally to me,” he admits, but that hasn’t stopped him from recognizing its value. For Brendan, warm introductions are pure gold. Whether it’s landing a customer, hiring a top engineer, or getting an investor’s ear, that human connection makes all the difference. “A warm intro takes you 70% further than a cold one,” he says. He’s lived the hustle of startup life, where relationships often move the needle faster than a pitch deck ever could.

Those early startup days also gave Brendan something else: the ability to hold his own in boardrooms full of execs from 100,000+ employee enterprises—without flinching. When you’re constantly selling to giants from a team of 30, you stop getting starstruck and start getting strategic. He explains how working in those intense, often underdog situations taught him to treat even the biggest client meetings like just another Tuesday. “You don’t psych yourself up for them,” he says. “You just show up, prepared and present.” That grounded energy helps put clients at ease—and makes a major impact when navigating complex AI conversations.

And speaking of AI, Brendan’s approach to explaining it is refreshingly human. Rather than dive into the weeds of neural nets and tokenization, he meets clients where they are—with analogies, stories, and above all, listening. His morning routine includes skimming Medium articles before even getting out of bed, not for tech specs, but to study how others make the complex simple. “Your real focus,” he says, “is to help people understand how tech solves their problems.” In a world where every CEO wants AI but few know what that actually means, Brendan’s mix of empathy, clarity, and obsession with security is what sets him apart.

Forget Jarvis—Real AI Progress Is Happening Somewhere Else

If you think enterprise AI is all hype and Hollywood-level robots, Brendan Collins is here to gently burst that bubble—and then rebuild it with something much more exciting. While some clients still show up with wish lists longer than a holiday catalog, Brendan isn’t surprised. “Unrealistic expectations aren’t unique to AI,” he says, “they show up with every kind of tech.” But he’s quick to point out that AI’s media buzz has supercharged those expectations. What’s more interesting to him isn’t chasing sci-fi fantasies like Jarvis from Iron Man, but rather building AI that actually does something useful—today. Like a system smart enough to answer a question by pulling your private cloud data, running predictive models, and making it all look effortless. It’s not general AI. But it’s close. And it’s coming.

Brendan lights up when he talks about AI agents—not the kind that take your job, but the kind that help you do your job. He envisions bank tellers chatting with software like they would with a coworker, asking it to retrieve a record, calculate an estimate, or adjust a form—all in plain English. “That’s super powerful,” he says. “It gives non-technical people the ability to command systems in real time.” And unlike the overpromised tech that ends in eye rolls, this flavor of AI is already creeping into workflows in small but mighty ways. It's not flashy, but it quietly revolutionizes the way people interact with data and tools.

So what’s holding companies back? It's not the technology—it’s understanding what to do with it. Brendan sees too many teams chasing the latest buzzword without thinking through the actual workflow. They want AI, but can’t explain the problem they’re trying to solve. The solution? Listen first, hype later. His north star is all about aligning capability with need, and helping stakeholders shift from sci-fi expectations to practical wins. And with AI agents, adaptive platforms, and secure integrations just around the corner, Brendan believes we’re on the cusp of something big—just not the kind of big most people are expecting.

Breaking the Workflow: Brendan Collins on Real-World AI, Change, and Vision

Ask Brendan Collins what the biggest challenge with AI adoption is, and you won’t hear about prompting techniques or model accuracy. Instead, he’ll talk about change management. Swapping out entire workflows for AI? Not realistic. Replacing a few steps in an existing seven-part process? That’s where the magic happens. “It’s not about doing everything in AI,” Brendan says, “it’s about knowing which parts make sense to automate.” At Rohirrim, he’s seen firsthand how guiding clients through that puzzle—step by step, tool by tool—is what makes adoption stick. And it’s not a matter of teaching people how to talk to AI; it’s about helping organizations rethink where AI fits in the first place.

But even with smart integration strategies, dreaming big doesn’t come easy—especially when costs and tech limits crash the party. Brendan’s learned to balance visionary thinking with cold, hard feasibility. “Sometimes you have to say, ‘I’d love to build that... but not for $10 million,’” he jokes. It’s a delicate dance between what’s possible now and what could be possible next quarter. Luckily, he thrives in that tension. With Rohirrim’s founder Steve Aberley pushing big ideas and Brendan keeping an eye on enterprise needs, their team finds innovative ways to bend reality—without breaking the budget.

So what’s on the horizon? Brendan’s bets are on AI revolutionizing content-heavy tasks—think contracts, presentations, documents. But instead of replacing people, he sees AI handing them back time to focus on what really matters. “You’ll get the thing in 20 minutes,” he says, “but the human part—what you do with it—that’s where the impact is.” AI won’t hold a negotiation or build trust with a client. But it will free you up to walk into that meeting prepared, confident, and focused. For Brendan, that’s the sweet spot: not a future where AI replaces us, but one where it finally lets us do more of the work only humans can.