Kicking off Season 2 of The PowerTalk Show, Navin Shetty sits down with Chris Carter — four-time best-selling author, founder of Approyo, Mugatu AI, and Charging Bunny, and a fixture in the SAP and cloud ecosystem since 1989. From a Commodore VIC-20 to generative AI, Chris has watched enterprise technology evolve for nearly four decades. In this conversation he breaks down the SAP-versus-Oracle AI race, why AI exploded on speed rather than novelty, how a backyard doodle became a solar EV-charging company, and the leadership lessons that only 30-plus years in the trenches can teach.
Key Takeaways
- SAP and Oracle have already built AI into the core of their platforms — Chris cites SAP’s Joule with 400+ templates and 5,000+ pre-built use cases ingrained in BTP to support RISE transformations
- AI didn’t explode because of new technology but because of speed and consumption — processing organizational data in milliseconds or nanoseconds, not the novelty of LLMs or cloud
- The SAP partner ecosystem is a double-edged sword: SAP has mandated more partners, but many bring strong AI or cloud skills without genuine SAP depth — implementation expertise still matters
- Charging Bunny is a solar-first EV charger that never pulls from the grid; it feeds excess power back at 11:59:59 PM nightly, earning carbon credits and offsets, and is being adapted for Gulf conditions with sandstorm-resistant mesh seals
- Chris’s leadership lessons: hire faster (he regrets hiring his CIO, COO, and CFO too late), help others up the ladder even when they leave, and “fail fast, just do it”
The Behemoths Awaken — SAP Joule vs Oracle
For organizations on legacy systems, the leap to AI can feel like a mountain. Chris’s point is that the “Big Two” have already done the heavy lifting. SAP’s Joule is ingrained across its BTP platform — 400-plus templates and over 5,000 pre-built use cases — to support the RISE transformation, while Oracle has been building on the virtual-iron backbone it acquired more than a decade ago.
"It's not just about asking a chatbot a question. It's about taking your organizational data and leveraging it at the speed of a snap of a finger."
He’s candid that he came out of retirement for it — he’s currently working on an SAP project using Joule and BTP to validate what organizations need before they move to RISE.
Why Now? The Speed of Consumption
Cloud, machine learning, and LLMs all existed for years, so why did AI suddenly become the word on every board member’s lips? Chris’s answer is speed. The shift from processing data in seconds to milliseconds and nanoseconds is what unlocked real-time decision-making — and the value depends on the persona of the customer, whether retail, CPG, or banking.
"Once you get those prompts proper, it's amazing. It's taking the data you have in your organization and leveraging it at the speed of a snap of a finger."
The Partner Ecosystem — A Double-Edged Sword
Having been in the SAP ecosystem since 1989, Chris has watched it grow as SAP mandates more partners and more specialisation. But he’s blunt about the downside: some partners arrive strong in AI or cloud yet lack real SAP depth, and the move from a legacy ECC environment to a cloud-only RISE environment changes everything — applications, AI, and cloud all at once. Knowing that difference, he argues, is what separates genuine success stories from partners who can’t “spell AI if you gave them the A first.”
Charging Bunny — A Single-Direction Solar Revolution
Innovation doesn’t stop at software. Chris shared the origin of Charging Bunny — born from a backyard doodle after he bought a Tesla and started measuring the car to see how much solar he could fit above it. Most chargers pull heavily from a strained grid; Charging Bunny flips that. Large solar panels charge battery backups, the system runs single-direction rather than bidirectional, and excess stored power is fed back to the grid at 11:59:59 PM each night with a data stamp recording the contribution. It earns carbon credits and offsets, and Chris singles out Dubai and Saudi Arabia as ahead of the curve, with sandstorm-resistant mesh seals adapting the panels to Gulf conditions.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction — Chris Carter and his entrepreneurial journey
03:40 The evolution of AI and legacy ERP systems
09:54 Charging Bunny — innovation in sustainable energy
14:17 Lessons from entrepreneurship
17:15 Future aspirations and knowledge sharing
19:21 Final thoughts — “Just Do It”
Leadership — Hire Faster, Help Others Up, and Just Do It
Despite the accolades, Chris is open about his mistakes. His biggest regret is hiring late — believing he could do it all himself before bringing in a CIO, COO, and CFO.
"I thought I could do it all myself. I wish I'd hired my CIO, COO, and CFO 20 years ago rather than 15 — I'd probably have more hair now."
His broader philosophy is to help others up the ladder, even when that means writing the recommendation letter that sends a star employee to a Big Four firm. And his advice to the 2026 generation comes from an old Nike line his mentor gave him: fail fast, learn from small failures rather than system-crashing ones, and just do it.
About the Guest
Chris Carter is a four-time best-selling Amazon author and the founder of Approyo, an SAP technology and managed-services company, alongside Mugatu AI and the solar EV-charging venture Charging Bunny. A serial entrepreneur in the SAP and cloud ecosystem since 1989 — and recognised as a leading US industry influencer by Mirror Review — he advises retail, CPG, banking, and enterprise clients on AI and RISE transformations, and speaks regularly at universities and industry events around the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the SAP vs Oracle “AI war” Chris Carter describes?
A: Chris Carter explains that both SAP and Oracle have embedded AI deep into their platforms rather than treating it as an add-on. SAP’s Joule offers 400-plus templates and over 5,000 pre-built use cases inside its BTP platform to support RISE transformations, while Oracle has built on the virtualisation backbone it acquired more than a decade ago. Both, he says, are racing to help organisations work faster with AI-driven enterprise technology.
Q: Why did AI suddenly become so popular when LLMs and cloud already existed?
A: According to Chris Carter, the breakthrough wasn’t new technology but speed and consumption. AI systems can now process large volumes of organisational data in milliseconds or even nanoseconds, enabling real-time decision-making. That leap in speed, rather than the novelty of machine learning or cloud, is what turned AI into a mainstream business priority.
Q: What is Charging Bunny and how does it work?
A: Charging Bunny is Chris Carter’s solar-first EV-charging company. Large solar panels positioned above a parked car charge battery backups, and the system never draws from the power grid. Instead, it sends excess stored power back to the grid at 11:59:59 PM each night, earning carbon credits and offsets. Its sandstorm-resistant mesh seals make it well suited to Gulf environments like Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Q: What does Chris Carter say is the biggest mistake he made as a leader?
A: Chris Carter’s biggest regret is hiring senior leaders too late. He believed he could handle everything himself and waited too long to bring in a CIO, COO, and CFO. His advice to founders is to hire faster for the roles you need, because there are only so many hours in a day and you cannot scale a company alone.
Q: What is Chris Carter’s advice to new entrepreneurs?
A: Chris Carter’s core advice is to “fail fast and just do it.” He encourages young entrepreneurs without settled roots to experiment, travel, and learn, treating every failure as a lesson. He stresses keeping failures small and educational rather than catastrophic, staying curious, and using free AI tools and trade shows to become the best version of themselves.
