Erkang Zheng is the Founder and CEO of Ariso, where he is building AI to help individuals and organizations unlock their full potential through personalized insights and collaboration. A repeat founder, he previously started JupiterOne, a cybersecurity unicorn.
Guided by his #KnowMoreFearLess philosophy—making decisions based on facts, not fear—Erkang brings a deep background in AI, cyber, and data engineering, with prior leadership roles at Fidelity Investments, IBM, and Cisco. He holds five patents, multiple industry certifications, and has been recognized as Triangle Business Journal’s 2022 “CEO of the Year,” among other national cybersecurity leadership awards.
Outside of building companies, he serves on several boards, including NC State University’s Computer Science Strategic Advisory Board, and is an active speaker and mentor in the entrepreneurial community. (Editor’s note: Erkang is a multi-time Grep-a-Palooza speaker as well, most appearing in a fireside chat at the 2026 conference.)
1.) What is in your pockets?
No cash, that’s for sure. Usually, I have just my phone and ID. Lately, I’ve also been carrying around a physical recorder for meeting notes so I can get in-person meetings transcribed.
If our AI note-taker isn’t in a meeting, I feel like something is missing. This is where things are headed, even if some people are still getting comfortable with it.
2.) What exciting thing has happened recently for you or your organization?
Ariso is my second startup. It is a contextual data platform for knowledge: both organizational and individual.
There are really two use cases. One is capturing knowledge so people can always come back to it for insights, reports, status updates, performance reviews, and other needs. The other is serving as a chief-of-staff layer that proactively helps people in the context of their own work, their teams, and their organizations.
The most exciting part is this idea that everyone is a manager now. AI is taking over more of the production work, but people still must manage what gets produced. They still need to prep, report, track, and coordinate. That human layer is becoming the bottleneck, and that is what we are trying to make more efficient.
I recently got a place in Austin, so I will be splitting time between Raleigh and Austin. There is a huge community there that I am excited to tap into.
3.) What is your favorite coffee spot?
Fount Coffee + Kitchen near RTP is one of my go-to spots. It is central, has good coffee and sandwiches, and it works well for people coming from Raleigh or Durham.
I also like Morning Times in Raleigh. That is one of my regular spots where I can catch up with friends and colleagues.
4.) What is your favorite restaurant or happy hour spot?
I do not really have one go-to restaurant or happy-hour spot. I have spent a lot of time in downtown Raleigh, so places like Whiskey Kitchen come to mind.
There are several Asian restaurants in Cary and Durham that are especially good.
5.) What keeps you up at night?
The noise around AI.
With any major technology shift, many people jump on the bandwagon. We saw it with mobile apps. Suddenly, there were thousands of apps, and it became noisy and overwhelming.
It is the same with AI right now. The barrier to entry is lower, so more people can build software. That means there is also a lot more noise. It becomes harder to know what is useful.
What I really worry about is digital burnout or AI burnout. Inside organizations, AI pushes us to produce more and do more. Externally, there is more noise because everyone is using AI to build. At some point, people can become overwhelmed.
The exciting part is that AI gives people superpowers. But if someone suddenly goes from juggling 3 balls to 12, they may not be equipped for that. Something is going to fall. We are trying to build a system that helps people manage those 12 balls.
6.) What is next for you or your organization?
We are still early, so the focus is on driving adoption and awareness. The problem we are working on applies to everyone and every organization. The challenge is helping people realize they need it.
Right now, many people are focused on adding more balls to juggle. They had 3, now they have 10, and they want to get to 20. But the bottleneck is not adding more balls. The bottleneck is that you only have two hands.
So, next is creating a new category and helping people see a new way of working. It is not just about Ariso. It is about helping organizations identify the real challenges and bottlenecks within their teams.
Next for me is my upcoming book, Everyone Is a Manager Now. The full manuscript is complete, and the book is currently in the publishing process. It expands on the idea that as AI takes on more of the production work, each of us must increasingly manage the output.
Learn more about Ariso in this GrepBeat feature.
