Speaking · 2026 / 2027
The talk most founders refuse to give.. and the ones nobody else can.
I'll talk about AI agents and autonomous orgs all day. I'll walk a room through how a single operator runs an agent-native portfolio. I'll sit on a panel about the future of work and earn my keep.
But the talk I am building a life around is the one most founders refuse to give.. about fear, shame, identity, and the cost of standing alone long enough to build something true. The talk for the people in the room who are tired of pretending. If your audience is one of those rooms, we should talk.
I am the talk people remember a year later.
Go deep on any of these
Every signature talk has its own page with the full abstract, audience fit, and what your room walks out with. The intensive formats and podcast page are below.
Signature talks
Nine talks I have been working on my whole life.
These are the rooms I show up for. Pick the one closest to your audience.. I tailor every talk to the room. Click any title to read the full page for that talk.
- 01
Multiply Yourself
The talk I have been giving for years. The things holding you back are the compass to your leverage, and pain is the fuel. Built and tested in 15-, 45-, and 90-minute versions for schools, companies, and founder rooms.
- For
- Schools · Companies · Founder workshops · Leadership programs
- Formats
- 15-min keynote · 45-min keynote · 90-min workshop
- 02
The Cost of Standing Alone
Fear, shame, identity, and the part of the founder journey nobody is willing to say out loud.
- For
- Founder retreats · Leadership programs · Faith communities
- Formats
- Keynote (60m) · Intimate room (50–150) · Retreat headliner
- 03
The Autonomous Org
What it looks like to run dozens of companies as one operator with AI agents as the execution layer.. and what agents become when you treat them as employees, not features.
- For
- Founder summits · AI conferences · Operator off-sites
- Formats
- Keynote (45m) · Fireside (30m) · Workshop (half-day)
- 04
An Immigrant's Ambition
A different kind of fuel. The one that does not get tired in the same places other ambitions do.. and what carries forward when you come from people who arrived with nothing and refused to leave it that way. A story before it is a strategy.
- For
- Cultural orgs · DEI summits · Founder communities · Universities
- Formats
- Keynote (45m) · Storytelling format · Q&A panel
- 05
Love as a Structural Force
What if love is not sentiment but structure.. the actual physics of how things bind into greater wholes? An essay turned into a talk for people willing to think out loud.
- For
- Conscious-business gatherings · Retreats · Philosophical circles
- Formats
- Keynote (60m) · Workshop · Long-form conversation
- 06
Truth Over Comfort
What three million in debt at 2 AM taught me about decision-making.. and why decisions made on false foundations always collapse louder than the truth would have.
- For
- Executive teams · Boards · Operator masterminds
- Formats
- Keynote · Closed-door session · Workshop
- 07
All Paths Lead Home
The Santana Principle.. sufficient awareness guarantees return. My ongoing work on the Collatz Conjecture as both mathematics and philosophy, and what a 90-year-old problem in number theory has to do with the cost of getting lost.
- For
- Philosophy & AI ethics circles · Conscious-business gatherings · Universities · Long-form podcasts
- Formats
- Keynote (60m) · Workshop · Three-hour conversation
- 08
Best Expression
On becoming the truest version of yourself, refusing the borrowed life, and what it means to live deliberately enough to deserve the time. (Retreat headliner.. request only.)
- For
- Retreats · Private gatherings · Inner-circle events
- Formats
- Retreat keynote · Multi-day workshop · Private intensive
- 09
The Growth Operator
The full stack of how growth actually happens.. learned by running it, not by writing about it. The companies I have helped have generated more than $100M in revenue across software, fintech, non-profits, and home services. The talk for rooms that want to skip the theory and watch the playbook.
- For
- Founder summits · Growth teams · B2B SaaS · Service-business operators · Non-profit leadership
- Formats
- Keynote (45m) · Half-day workshop · Two-day operator intensive
Beyond a keynote
When the room needs a day. Or three.
A keynote moves a room for an hour. A day moves it for a year. A three-day summit moves it permanently. Two paths below.
One-day intensive
A day. A room. The actual work.
Three formats: Executive Team, Founder Room, or Open Enrollment. Each calibrated to a different room and a different ambition.
See the day →
Leadership summit · 2-3 days
Twelve to thirty people. The work nobody else will make them do.
Small-group residential format. The room I am building my speaking life around. Private to your company or hosted across a curated network.
See the summit →
Formats
How the talk lands.
I optimize for the room, not the format. Tell me about your audience and I will tell you which of these gets you the most out of the hour.
Keynote
30–60 minutes. Main stage. The story, the framework, the call to act.
Fireside chat
Interview format with a great host. My favorite if the host is sharp.
Workshop
Half-day or full-day. Smaller rooms. Frameworks made operational.
Retreat headliner
Multi-day, intimate. The format I am building my speaking life around.
Closed-door session
Executive teams, boards, founder masterminds. NDA-friendly.
Podcast / long-form
I will go three hours with the right interviewer. Long-form is my favorite format and I am actively building toward more of it.
Bio & press
Take what you need.
Primary headshot. Las Vegas, denim, available for print and web.
Headshot · primary
Short bio · 60 words
Tiago Santana is the Brazilian-American founder of Gray Group International, a portfolio of 60+ companies across home services, AI infrastructure, media, and SDG commerce. He operates The Cooling Company in Las Vegas, builds Elysium and the gardenpatch studio of AI-agent-native apps, and writes long-form essays on consciousness, identity, and what it costs to build something true.
Long bio · introduction-ready
On stage & on air
Recent appearances.
Documenting this section in 2026. If you have hosted me and I haven't listed you yet, send me the link.
Coming soon.. past keynotes, podcast appearances, fireside chats, and videos. In the meantime, my essays at graygroupintl.com/blog are the closest thing to hearing me think out loud.
Book a talk
Tell me about the room.
Send the event, the date, the audience, the topic you have in mind, and the budget range. I read every inquiry personally and reply within 48 hours.