The Economics Have Fundamentally Changed

The traditional formula—double revenue, double headcount—is breaking down. AI-native startups now average $3.48 million in revenue per employee compared to traditional SaaS companies at $610,000. Even excluding outliers, AI-enabled companies average $2.47 million per employee—over four times conventional benchmarks.

Palantir demonstrates what’s possible: $1.14 million revenue per employee in 2025 while growing revenue 56% and adding just 5% headcount. Their CEO’s declaration captures the shift: ‘We will grow 10x with fewer employees than we have today.’ This isn’t aspiration—it’s operational reality backed by an industry-leading 114% Rule of 40 score.

The driver is agentic AI—systems that don’t just automate tasks but execute entire workflows autonomously. McKinsey reports 88% of organizations now use AI in at least one business function, with 23% actively scaling agentic systems. The agentic AI market is projected to explode from $12-15 billion in 2025 to $80-100 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate exceeding 40%.

What Leading Companies Are Actually Achieving

The performance data validates both the opportunity and urgency. Salesforce realized $50 million in cost savings in 2025 by reassigning 500 customer service workers to higher-value roles, achieving productivity gains exceeding 30% in engineering teams. Marc Benioff announced the company will hire ‘no more software engineers in 2025’ due to AI productivity gains—unthinkable three years ago.

ServiceNow is saving $100 million in staffing costs through internal AI deployment. Their CEO envisions ‘a company that could still operate if every employee called in sick on the same day.’ HubSpot maintained flat headcount in customer support while growing revenue 19% in Q2 2025, with AI automating prospecting, engagement, and content creation.

Customer success platforms show 80% of routine inquiries now handled by AI, delivering $3.50 return for every dollar invested while achieving 25% cost reductions and 45% satisfaction increases. Teams that previously managed 1,000 accounts can now effectively serve 5,000, with account managers focusing exclusively on complex strategic relationships.

Strategic Imperatives for Leadership

Rethink Talent Allocation, Not Headcount

The question isn’t how many people to hire—it’s where human judgment creates irreplaceable value. ChurnZero’s 2026 research confirms ‘CS roles are evolving faster than job descriptions. Leaders will hire less for task execution and more for decision-making under pressure.’ Automate administrative work and shift that capacity into deeper customer conversations, strategic planning, and complex problem-solving.

Establish AI Governance Now

Gartner estimates 70% of enterprises will implement AI governance frameworks by 2026, driven partly by regulations like the EU AI Act. Only 22% had visible strategies in 2025—creating significant competitive advantage for early movers who demonstrate their automation operates ethically, transparently, and with continuous risk monitoring.

Centralize Through AI Studios

Leading organizations are adopting enterprise-wide AI strategies through centralized ‘AI studios’ that bring together reusable tech components, frameworks for assessing use cases, testing sandboxes, deployment protocols, and skilled people. This structure links business goals to AI capabilities while maintaining governance and surfacing high-ROI opportunities.

Prepare for Pricing Evolution

Traditional subscription models are giving way to hybrid approaches. Gartner predicts over 30% of enterprise SaaS solutions will incorporate outcome-based components by end of 2025. Salesforce pioneered ‘Agent Engagement Licensing Agreements’—flat fees providing budget predictability while encouraging AI adoption. Customers increasingly pay for results delivered rather than seats occupied.

The Widening Gap

The divergence between automation-first companies and traditional models is accelerating. Competitors operating at $1+ million revenue per employee don’t just have better margins—they have fundamentally different cost structures, pricing flexibility, and strategic options. They can undercut on price to capture market share, maintain premium pricing for superior margins, or over-invest in product development. Traditional players built on linear headcount-to-revenue assumptions lack these degrees of freedom. They’re structurally disadvantaged.

With 88% of organizations already using AI and 76% of SaaS companies actively exploring AI for operations, the competitive baseline rises monthly. Companies treating automation as a 2027 priority are already behind. The executive skill set required is notably different: automation-driven scaling rewards leaders who identify high-leverage opportunities, redesign processes around AI capabilities, and manage lean organizations doing complex work. The CEO who built a 3,000-person company might struggle to build an equally successful 300-person company in this paradigm.

The question facing leadership teams is whether you’re architecting this transformation deliberately or reacting to competitors who are. The former creates defensible competitive advantages. The latter creates obsolescence. Based on current adoption curves, the window for deliberate action is narrower than most boards realize. The mathematics of scale have fundamentally changed. The only question is whether your strategy has changed with them.

Q4: 2026-02-18 Earnings Summary

EPS of $0.10 beats by $0.00

 | Revenue of $43.77M beats by $4.35M

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If your outbound calls are showing up as “Spam Risk” or “Scam Likely,” it can feel maddening when you have already done the “right” thing and implemented STIR/SHAKEN.

Here is the reality. STIR/SHAKEN is about caller ID authentication, not caller reputation. It helps carriers confirm whether a call is likely spoofed, but carriers still use reputation analytics and user feedback to decide whether a call should be labeled or blocked. Even platform providers like Twilio explicitly note that SHAKEN/STIR will not remove nuisance labeling.

This is why many teams reduce their dependence on cold outbound calling and shift more first contact to messaging. Tools like Meera, for example, can engage leads via SMS in a compliant way, qualify intent, and pass only serious prospects to your team, which reduces the call patterns that often trigger spam labels.

In this guide, we will break down what STIR/SHAKEN does, why calls still get flagged, and what you can do to fix labeling across carriers.

What STIR/SHAKEN Actually Solves and What It Does Not?

STIR/SHAKEN is a technology specifically designed to digitally authenticate calls as they pass through carrier networks and eliminate the risk of illegal robocalls and caller ID spoofing.

However, it is important to note that it doesn’t guarantee deliverability, answer rates, or a clean reputation score because carriers and call protection systems can still label and filter calls using their own analytics. AT&T, for example, explicitly distinguishes between “verified” indicators and calls marked as spam or fraud risk, and notes that spam risk calls may not receive verification indicators.

So if you are asking, “We have STIR/SHAKEN, why are we still being labeled?”, the most logical answer is that although you have authentication, your traffic still looks suspicious to carrier analytics, which causes it to be labeled.

What are the Most Common Reasons Legitimate Calls Still Get Labeled?

Carrier labeling systems do not rely on just one factor, but a mix of behavioral patterns, to determine whether a call appears trustworthy. This could be identity consistency, historical reputation, or even user feedback.

Businesses can follow all standard protocols, but still get flagged if the carrier system’s analytics pick up on any of these factors, and their calling activity unintentionally indicates spam-like behavior, which is why, before you look into technical solutions for this problem, it is important to understand what is the reason you’re getting labeled.

Here are some underlying issues you can address to resolve the problem:

Your calls have partial or weak attestation

Even in a STIR/SHAKEN world, calls can be signed with different attestation levels, commonly described as A, B, or C.

An A-level means the provider knows the customer and the caller ID is authorized, while lower levels indicate less certainty. If your traffic is frequently signed at B or C, carriers may still treat the calls as higher risk, especially when combined with other suspicious signals.

Your call patterns match spam behavior

Spam detection is heavily pattern-based. High call volume from one number in a short period, short call durations, and low answer rates can all look like robocall behavior, even when you are a legitimate business. This is especially common when teams use power dialers and rapidly cycle through lists.

Your number has a poor history or a lost reputation after porting

If your number was previously abused, or if it is newly activated with no history, it can get flagged more easily. Porting can also disrupt reputation signals between ecosystems and temporarily increase labeling risk.

Caller ID data is inconsistent or incomplete

Carrier analytics do not only look at signatures. They also look at whether the caller ID looks consistent and trustworthy. Mismatched caller name data and inconsistent presentation can contribute to suspicion.

End users and call protection apps are reporting you

User feedback matters. When recipients mark your calls as spam, it can influence your reputation, and many consumer protection products use network analytics and machine learning to identify spam patterns.

How to Diagnose the Real Cause of Labelling?

Here are some steps you need to follow to diagnose the real cause of labelling:

1. Treat this like a funnel problem, not a telecom mystery.
2. Look at what changed in the last 30 to 60 days. Did you increase calling volume too quickly? Did you start using new numbers? Did you port numbers? Did you change your outbound provider?
3. Look at the signals carriers care about.
4. Check your answer rate and average call duration. If a large portion of calls are going unanswered and the average duration is very short, your traffic can resemble nuisance calling.
5. Verify your STIR/SHAKEN attestation level. If you are not consistently getting strong attestation, you may have an upstream configuration or identity problem.

What Actually Fixes “Spam Risk” Labeling?

There are various approaches to fix the “Spam Risk” labelling issue, and we have mentioned some of the most effective solutions below:

Improve identity consistency and attestation quality

Work with your voice provider to increase the likelihood of A-level attestation where possible and ensure caller ID data is consistent. The attestation levels exist specifically to express how confidently the caller ID can be trusted.

Adjust call patterns so they look human, not robotic

If you spin up a new number and immediately push heavy outbound volume, you often get flagged. Some providers explicitly recommend warming numbers and ramping volume gradually.

You also want to reduce behaviors that carriers interpret as nuisance calling, like repeated short-duration calls.

Monitor and remediate reputation, not just authentication

STIR/SHAKEN helps prove calls are not spoofed, but analytics and reputation still drive labeling decisions. This is a widely discussed issue in the industry, including by reputation-focused providers who stress that authentication alone does not solve labeling.

If your business relies heavily on outbound calls, proactive monitoring and remediation should be part of operations, not a one-time setup.

Consider branded calling and richer identity signals

Some carriers and industry discussions point to branded calling and richer caller identity data as an additional trust layer beyond basic authentication.

Best Tools to Reduce Cold Calling Reliance and Keep Leads Warm

A practical way to reduce spam labeling risk is to lower the volume of repeated outbound attempts and move early-stage qualification to channels that feel less intrusive.

Meera

If your team is calling lots of leads just to figure out who is serious, an SMS-first qualification layer can remove a huge amount of outbound call pressure. Meera is an AI texting platform that can respond instantly, qualify intent through two-way SMS conversations, and route warm prospects to your team when they are ready.

HubSpot workflows with messaging integrations

If your pipeline lives in a CRM like HubSpot, workflow automation combined with messaging integrations can help you respond quickly and keep follow-ups consistent, without requiring your team to personally manage every thread.

Twilio for custom messaging and call flows

If you want full control, Twilio provides programmable building blocks for SMS and calling. Twilio also notes that SHAKEN/STIR does not remove nuisance labels, which is a helpful reminder that deliverability requires more than authentication alone.

Plivo for Custom Messaging and Call Flows

If you want full control over your voice and messaging infrastructure, Plivo offers programmable APIs for SMS and outbound calling. It allows teams to build customized call flows, manage caller ID configuration, and integrate directly with internal systems. Like other programmable voice providers, it is important to remember that STIR/SHAKEN authentication does not automatically prevent spam labeling, since carrier analytics and reputation signals still influence call treatment.

Wrapping It Up

STIR/SHAKEN is necessary, but it is not a guarantee that carriers will stop labeling your calls. Carrier analytics, reputation signals, calling patterns, and user feedback still determine whether a call gets marked as Spam Risk.

The fix is usually a combination of stronger identity consistency, healthier call patterns, and reputation monitoring. And for many teams, the fastest relief comes from shifting early qualification to SMS so outbound calling is focused on warmer prospects instead of brute-force dialing.

Audit season has a reputation for being one of the most stressful periods in any finance team’s year. The weeks leading up to it tend to involve late nights, frantic email chains, and a growing pile of documents that should have been organised months ago.

For many businesses, the experience feels like cramming for an exam they knew was coming but never quite prepared for.

The thing is, most of that stress is avoidable. It doesn’t come from the audit itself. It comes from the systems and processes sitting underneath it, the ones that were never really set up with audit readiness in mind.

The real source of audit stress

When auditors arrive, they need a clear trail of evidence. They want to see how financial decisions were made, who approved what, whether purchases were properly authorised, and whether the numbers in the accounts match the supporting documentation. That’s the job. And when everything is well organised and accessible, audits move quickly and cost less.

The problem is that in many small and mid-sized businesses, that evidence is scattered across inboxes, spreadsheets, shared drives, and sometimes the memory of the person who handled the transaction. Approval records might exist as a forwarded email from six months ago. Purchase orders might have been verbally agreed. Expense claims might have been signed off on paper and then filed in a drawer that nobody has opened since.

Research from Ardent Partners found that organisations without automated processes take an average of 17.4 days to process a single invoice from receipt to payment. When you multiply that kind of lag across hundreds of transactions, you start to see how the documentation trail can become fragmented well before audit season even begins.

Your tech stack is either helping or creating extra work

Most businesses have some form of accounting software in place. That’s a given. But the accounting system itself only tells part of the story. It records transactions after they’ve happened. What it doesn’t always capture is the decision-making process that led to those transactions – who requested the spend, who reviewed it, who gave the go-ahead, and whether it fell within budget.

This is where the broader tech stack matters. The tools that sit around your accounting system, handling approvals, managing purchase orders, routing invoices for review, and capturing supporting documentation, are what determine whether your audit preparation takes days or weeks.

When those tools work well together, the audit trail builds itself as part of everyday operations. Every invoice that gets approved, every purchase order that gets signed off, every expense that gets reviewed leaves behind a clear, searchable record. When audit time comes, you’re not reconstructing the story from fragments. You’re simply sharing what’s already there.

What auditors actually want to see

It helps to think about this from the auditor’s perspective. They’re not trying to catch you out. They’re trying to verify that your financial records are accurate, complete, and supported by proper controls. The easier you make that for them, the faster the audit goes, the fewer follow-up questions come back, and the lower the overall cost.

There are a few things that consistently make auditors’ lives easier:

• A clear record of who approved each financial transaction and when
• Evidence that purchase orders were raised before invoices were paid, not after
• Documentation showing that spending stayed within approved budgets
• An accessible trail of comments, notes, and supporting documents attached to each transaction

None of this is revolutionary. But producing it reliably and consistently is where most businesses struggle, especially when the process for capturing it is manual or informal.

Building audit readiness into daily operations

The most audit-ready businesses aren’t the ones that scramble to prepare in the weeks before auditors arrive. They’re the ones where preparation happens automatically as part of how the business runs day to day.

This is the shift that makes the biggest difference. Instead of treating audit readiness as an annual project, it becomes a byproduct of good financial processes. When your accounts payable automation captures every step from invoice receipt to approval to payment, and when your approval workflows log every decision with timestamps, comments, and the identity of each approver, you’re building your audit file continuously without anyone having to think about it.

The UK’s accounting and auditing industry is valued at £8.8 billion as of 2024, and audit fees have been rising steadily. For SMEs, where every pound spent on professional services matters, reducing the time your auditors need to spend requesting and verifying information can have a direct and meaningful impact on the final bill. Auditors typically price by time, so anything that reduces the hours they spend chasing documentation is money back in your pocket.

The controls gap that catches businesses out

Beyond documentation, auditors also look at internal controls. They want to understand whether your business has proper checks in place to prevent errors and fraud. This is where businesses that rely on informal processes tend to get caught out.

If a single person can raise a purchase order, approve the invoice, and process the payment without any oversight, that’s a control weakness. If there’s no systematic way to check whether an invoice matches the original order, that’s another one. These gaps don’t just create audit findings – they create real financial risk for the business.

Building strong financial controls into your tech stack means that these checks happen automatically. Purchase orders route to the right approver based on value and department. Invoices get matched against the original PO before they can be paid. Budget limits trigger alerts before they’re exceeded rather than showing up as a surprise at month end. And all of it gets logged in a central audit trail that’s ready for review at any time.

The human side of audit readiness

There’s a people element here that’s worth acknowledging. Finance teams that spend weeks preparing for audits are finance teams that aren’t doing higher-value work during that time. They’re not analysing trends, managing cash flow, or supporting business decisions. They’re digging through filing cabinets and chasing colleagues for documentation.

That’s a poor use of skilled people’s time, and over the long term it contributes to burnout, frustration, and turnover in finance roles. A tech stack that handles the documentation and controls automatically gives those people their time back, not just during audit season but throughout the year.

Final word

If audit season still feels like a fire drill in your business, the issue probably isn’t your finance team’s effort or your auditor’s expectations. It’s the gap between how your daily financial processes run and what your auditors need to see at year end.

Here’s what to check right now. First, look at whether your current systems capture a complete approval trail for every invoice, purchase order, and expense claim, or whether you’re relying on emails and verbal sign-offs that will be difficult to produce later. Second, review whether your internal controls are built into your systems or whether they depend on individuals remembering to follow the right steps. Third, ask your team how much time they spent preparing for the last audit and where the biggest delays came from.

Those answers will tell you exactly where your tech stack is working for you and where it’s creating extra work. Closing that gap is one of the most practical things any business owner can do to reduce audit stress, lower audit costs, and give their finance team the space to focus on what actually matters.

Hatu Sheikh is a Web3 entrepreneur and serial founder, who has worked with some of the most exciting and fastest growing companies and businesses in Web3.

In a world where crypto projects rise and fall overnight, few figures have demonstrated the kind of consistent, long-term vision that Hatu Sheikh has brought to the Web3 industry.

From his early days researching crowdfunding economics at Stony Brook University to co-founding DAO Maker and building CoinTerminal from the ground up, Sheikh has always had an appetite for digital growth.

The Strong Holder Offering at DAO Maker, the open-access model at CoinTerminal, and his advisory work across some of Web3’s most recognised projects are all expressions of Hatu Sheikh’s same core belief: that decentralised finance should be genuinely decentralised.

Innovation, Foresight And Logic: The Hatu Sheikh Way

Hatu Sheikh’s decision to base his work in Dubai predates the city’s recent rise as a Web3 hub. He has continued to invest in Dubai too, with Hatu Sheikh leading the initiative on the development of Dubai Fintech District, a large project in Dubai, establishing financial innovation and infrastructure in the world-leading hub that is Dubai.

The appeal was primarily practical; access to a young, multilingual talent pool, clearer regulatory frameworks and early engagement from public institutions made the region attractive for long-term building.

Since his days in education, Sheikh has maintained a high degree of logic, efficiency and strategicness that serves him and his ventures to this day. These are traits which have positioned him as a trusted and respected authority in Web3, crypto and business.

When Did Hatu Sheikh First Get Involved in Crypto?

The journey of Hatu Sheikh into the world of crypto did not happen overnight. His path into the industry was shaped by years of academic research and a growing fascination with how capital moves on the internet, and, more importantly, who benefits from it.

It wasn’t until 2018 that Hatu Sheikh made his move into the blockchain and crypto industry. His initial involvement centred on helping projects improve their brand representation and token economies, as well as bootstrapping funds through private sales and ICOs.

However, the foundations for this transition were laid much earlier. For more than a decade, Hatu’s thinking had been shaped by a consistent question: how does capital move on the internet, and who ultimately benefits from that movement?

That question first emerged through Sheikh’s academic research into crowdfunding, where he examined how early contributors often carried significant risk without sharing proportionally in the value created later.

The Impressive Educational Background Of Hatu Sheikh

Hassan Hatu Sheikh completed his studies at Stony Brook University, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, Economics, and Business. In 2017, he received the award for “Most Outstanding Student in Finance.” His scholarly work on crowdfunding optimisation pinpointed the empirical data points that enhance startup marketing expenditures.

Hassan Hatu Sheikh co-founded DAO Maker in 2018, which is an on-chain fundraising platform boasting more than 315,000 users verified through KYC. The platform was the first to introduce the Strong Holder Offering framework, which rewards long-term commitment based on on-chain behaviour rather than first-come-first-served mechanics that favour bots and insiders, as designed by Hassan Hatu Sheikh himself.

Which Crypto Projects Has Hatu Sheikh Advised?

Hatu Sheikh, a well-known personality within the blockchain industry and one of the founders of DAO Maker, has provided guidance to numerous crypto initiatives, with an emphasis on tokenisation tactics, marketing efforts, and growth of launchpads.

Hatu Sheikh has advised or held leadership roles in the following projects:

• Polkastarter: Acted as a marketing advisor, offering strategic counsel on initial market positioning and financial viability.
• Inspect (NFT Inspect): Took on the role of Strategic Advisor to help with tokenisation strategies and expansion in the AI/NFT data analytics sector.
• GameFi: Served as an advisor on product strategy and token design to assist with platform growth and link his network to the gaming aggregator.

Hatu Sheikh And The Journey To Success

Hatu Sheikh is one of the most recognised and influential figures in the Web3 industry.

From co-founding one of crypto’s most successful launchpads to building a platform that is redefining how retail investors access early-stage projects, Hatu’s journey is one of commitment to making decentralised finance fairer, more accessible and more trusted for everyone.

Established Experience in Web3

Hatu Sheikh has been active in Web3 since 2017, advising dozens of teams and seed-investing in over 100 projects. He is also a trusted advisor to numerous projects and his experience, track record and expertise are coveted and required by a number of companies operating in Web3, crypto and further afield.

Co-Founder Of DAO Maker: Hatu Sheikh’s Innovation

Hatu Sheikh co-founded DAO Maker, the leader in governance technology, data-supported startup funding and institutional on-chain products. It is this knowledge and experience, in part, that Sheikh carries forward and helps other founders and entrepreneurs as well as businesses with.

To date, DAO Maker has registered over $90 million in total amount raised, with more than $2 billion in total FDV, catering to 315,000 KYCed users and serving 1.1 million wallets.

Founder Of CoinTerminal

Hatu Sheikh is the founder of CoinTerminal, a platform that positions itself as Web3’s most liquid primary market. A crypto launchpad and IDO platform, CoinTerminal offers opportunities to buy in pre-sales alongside investors like Binance Labs, Samsung NEXT and Arthur Hayes.

It is large and established companies in the Web3 and crypto spaces like these, who trust Hatu Sheikh with core parts of their growth. It is with trustworthiness and efficiency that Shaikh continues to operate in his field.

What Makes CoinTerminal Different?

CoinTerminal, founded by Hatu Sheikh, became the first truly open-access launchpad in the industry, eliminating token staking requirements that had previously gated participation.

Users could participate without holding native tokens and were only charged when they generated profit. This is something very important to Hatu, who has built multiple relationships within the Web3 and crypto spaces over the years which remain to this day.

How Hatu Sheikh Has Influenced the Crypto Launchpad Industry

Hatu Sheikh has had a profound and lasting impact on the crypto launchpad industry, consistently pushing it toward fairer, more sustainable and more accessible models. At DAO Maker, his Strong Holder Offering framework emphasised commitment over speculation and went on to influence how later launchpads approached fundraising design, a concept that was novel at the time and that many platforms have since sought to replicate.

When the 2022 bear market hit, and approximately 60% of launchpads from that era either shut down entirely or became inactive zombie platforms, the financial discipline and frameworks Sheikh had developed and pivoted, helping DAO Maker survive while competitors collapsed.

Hatu Sheikh’s influence reached even further with the founding of CoinTerminal, the world’s only free-access cryptocurrency launchpad. Hatu has grown this venture to over 620,000 users and facilitated over $80 million in token distribution by removing token gating, eliminating staking requirements and introducing refundable sales, fundamentally changing what retail investors could expect from a launchpad.

Newly released documents from Epstein’s estate and congressional records reveal extensive communications between bestselling author and wellness advocate Deepak Chopra and the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, showing a friendship that continued for years after Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.

The files, part of more than 3 million pages unsealed in late January 2026 under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, include hundreds of emails and text messages between Chopra and Epstein from 2016 through 2019. A CNN review published Feb. 23 highlighted the depth of their relationship, describing frequent contact via email, text and in-person meetings, even as Epstein faced renewed scrutiny for sex-trafficking allegations.

Chopra, an Indian-American author of more than 90 books on spirituality, alternative medicine and mindfulness, initially distanced himself from Epstein following the financier’s 2019 arrest and death. In a February statement on social media, Chopra described any contact as “limited” and said he was “deeply saddened by the suffering of the victims in this case.” He added that some exchanges reflected “poor judgment in tone” but denied any involvement in criminal or exploitative activities.

The correspondence paints a picture of a casual yet intimate rapport. In one February 2017 email, Chopra invited Epstein to join him on a trip to Israel, writing, “Come to Israel with us. Relax and have fun with interesting people. [If] you want use a fake name. Bring your girls. It will be fun to have you. Love.” The invitation came nearly a decade after Epstein’s guilty plea in Florida.

Other messages show discussions on philosophical topics like consciousness, God and human biology — with Chopra once declaring “God is a construct” and “cute girls are real” — interspersed with more mundane exchanges about finances, social events and travel. Epstein sought Chopra’s input on various matters, and Chopra reportedly followed Epstein’s legal developments closely, responding positively when charges were dropped in some cases.

In additional exchanges detailed in reports from Voice of San Diego and other outlets, Epstein offered to send “two girls” to one of Chopra’s events, an offer Chopra accepted. Another message from Epstein reportedly praised Chopra for “zero[ing] in on your prey.” The documents also link Chopra to Epstein’s funding of research at the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Brain and Cognition, where Epstein routed $25,000 through his Gratitude America foundation following an introduction from Chopra.

The revelations have drawn renewed attention to Epstein’s ability to maintain connections with prominent figures in entertainment, academia and wellness circles long after his initial conviction. Epstein cultivated relationships with intellectuals, scientists and celebrities, often using his wealth and access to broker introductions and opportunities.

Chopra, who has positioned himself as a leading voice in holistic health and meditation, has faced backlash from some followers and critics. Social media posts and articles have expressed disappointment, with one Instagram user describing feeling “betrayed” by the associations. Chopra has not issued further public comments beyond his initial statement as of Feb. 23.

The Justice Department’s massive document release, which began in late January, has exposed links involving dozens of high-profile individuals across politics, business and culture. While many names appear in passing or in non-incriminating contexts, the volume of material has fueled ongoing public interest and calls for accountability. No new criminal charges have stemmed directly from the files for most mentioned figures, including Chopra, whose communications do not allege participation in Epstein’s crimes.

Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of related offenses and is serving a 20-year sentence.

Analysts say the files underscore how Epstein rebuilt his social network post-conviction, leveraging personal relationships to sustain influence. For Chopra, the disclosures complicate his public image as a spiritual guide promoting transcendence and well-being. The wellness industry, including brands associated with Chopra such as Augustinus Bader cosmetics, has seen some reputational fallout, with reports noting potential impacts on partnerships.

As scrutiny continues, experts emphasize that appearing in the Epstein files does not equate to wrongdoing. Many contacts were professional or social, and redactions in the documents protect sensitive information. Chopra has expressed willingness to cooperate with authorities if needed, stating he hopes “all of the truth comes out after ongoing and proper investigations.”

The release continues to ripple through public discourse, with media outlets combing through the trove for additional insights into Epstein’s network. For now, the detailed portrait of Chopra’s interactions stands as one of the more prominent examples from the latest batch of unsealed records.

Most of the people who become building inspectors don’t do it for the applause. The job is, for the most part, quiet, technical, and even thankless. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t put in the work to stand out, since the consequences of doing it well, or even badly, ripple outwards for decades.

And while you want every job you do to be based on safety, trust, and long-term value, you also want to understand what it takes to grow in this field. Here’s what you should know about that.

What Does the Career Progression Look Like?

One of the most vital pieces of information you will need to help you grow in this career is what the journey looks like. This way, you can trace where you are on the map and forge the best path to where you want to be. In most cases, growing in this career requires you to balance between taking your building inspector Continuing Education (CE) course and gaining hands-on experience.

Here’s a closer look at what the journey looks like.

• Junior Building Inspector (0-2 yrs): At this level, you should aim to learn as much as you can about site safety, code enforcement, and blueprint reading. It’s best to work under supervision so that you can get guidance and assistance when needed.
• Building Inspector (2-5 yrs): Working as a building inspector means you are coordinating with contractors and architects, ensuring compliance with regulations, taking responsibility for project inspections, and also working on your communication and problem-solving skills.
• Senior Building Inspector (5-8 yrs): When you get to this level, you will be responsible for leading complex inspections, handling quality assurance and risk management tasks, and mentoring junior inspectors. Expect to manage multiple projects at the same time.
• Lead or Principal Building Inspector (8+ years): Rising to this level is a great achievement in your career. It, however, comes with more challenging responsibilities, such as shaping inspection program strategies, promoting organisational adherence to updated safety codes, and creating policies. With this title, you can easily pivot into different roles, such as Quality Control or Construction Manager.

Depending on your interests and external factors like demand, you can also focus a lot more on specialisations and lateral moves. A good example of this is pursuing inspections focused on plumbing, electrical, structural, or environmental fields. This way, you can always transition into fields like code enforcement, plan review, or consulting roles.

Quick Tips for Continuous Growth

It’s quite easy to progress in the building inspection field, as long as you apply deliberate effort. Here are some tips to help you with that.

1. Invest in Continuing Education (CE)

Even though continuing education isn’t always enjoyable or easy to complete, especially with a busy schedule, it goes a long way in helping you learn more about the latest building codes and inspection techniques. In addition to state-mandated CE courses, you should also take certifications from reputable organisations like the International Code Council (ICC) to boost your chances of qualifying for advanced positions.

2. Seek Mentorship

Your textbooks and courses will certainly provide valuable knowledge and best practices, but none of it will ever get close to the practical skills and career advice that you can get from established building inspectors. So, make sure that you have mentors who help you navigate challenges and open doors within the industry.

3. Network As Much As You Can

This is one of the industries where your network really determines your worth. So, make sure to connect with industry professionals by attending conferences and joining associations like the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors or the ICC. Such groups will give you even greater access to top conferences, specialised workforces, and high-value job leads that will significantly optimise your career trajectory.

4. Specialise

This tip isn’t mentioned enough, but it works great if you want to advance in this industry. Focusing on niche areas like code enforcement or commercial property inspections gives you the power you need to differentiate yourself. When you specialise, you can easily handle more complex assignments and position yourself as an expert in the highly sought-after areas.

Join the Winning Team Today

Becoming a building inspector offers you amazing job stability in an industry that’s constantly in demand. You, however, are the one to choose what your trajectory will be like. By investing in inputs that help you grow, you can take advantage of an even greater demand and a more rewarding market.

So, what is it going to be? Will you head over to rocketcert.com today to boost your knowledge as the first step, or will you keep procrastinating until the competition is uncomfortably high?