Leaders of B2B Podcast - Interviews on Business Leadership, B2B Sales, B2B Marketing and Revenue Growth

Scott Britton, Co-Founder of Troops, talks about his startup and his approach to B2B software use. Instead of us conforming to the software, it should work for us. His startup brings this to fruition by working with collaboration and messaging applications. Applications like Slack or Teams are widely used, especially by sales professionals. On the other end of the spectrum, these professionals struggle with CRMs. Britton uses software to bring them together, saving time and creating valuable data streams.Britton also talks about how people need to be data stewards to avoid alert fatigue. Too much data bombarding you all at once isn’t helpful. The tools need to be designed around what makes sense to the end-user. Britton thinks that embarking on your startup should be a balance. It’s best to go into it prepared, so starting off with corporate experience helps. But set a timeline or you could never lift off and leave that comfort zone. When you’re ready, don’t be frustrated by multiple iterations of your product. Tailor it to your market size and it’s imperative to keep a pulse on your go-to-market strategy. Britton shares the mindset and methodology that enabled the creation of human-led software. Startup founders looking for inspiration on their product journey and their go-to-market strategy will find the discussion extremely valuable. Podcast - Built By Humans - https://troops.podbean.com/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jscottbritton/Email - [email protected] This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.comThis episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere on the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for three months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Norman Crowley, Founder of CoolPlanet and AVA shares some great insights on running an innovative company set on saving the planet. CoolPlanet aims to reduce carbon emissions by helping companies calculate and account for carbon expenses. Crowley’s approach is straightforward — his platform quantifies and translates carbon into expenses. With governments now putting a price on carbon, it is now in the best interests of businesses to cut this cost. The software connects cost with carbon and motivates businesses to act.Climate change is oftentimes a heated topic that results in blame and negativity. Crowley wants to focus on the positives instead, as he thinks pointing fingers doesn’t really inspire change. One of the approaches he has is to make the brand and concept cool. Using marketing, great presentations, and most importantly, a great team, they are making this happen. When it comes to working on the team, he talks about identifying the right fit immediately. If it isn’t right both ways, it’s best to part ways early on. He also talks about developing his people technically, and spiritually. The latter is aimed at better mental wellbeing and an emphasis on work-life balance.Crowley says that every founder is different in their ways, though he continues to be the top sales guy and visionary. He envisions a not-so-distant future with almost free energy, efficient and cheap transportation, and affordable food — all of which do not affect the planet. If you are fascinated with technology and innovation enabling amazing accomplishments, this discussion will surely inspire you. Find out how to build a startup into something that can make a positive impact.Rethinking Humanitycoolplanet.iostudioava.comTwitter - @NormanCrowley1 This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.comThis episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for three months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Matthew Fornaciari, Co-Founder and CTO at Gremlin Inc., shares his startup journey along with nuggets of information he picked up along the way. Forni has built a company that proactively improves reliability through chaos engineering.Chaos engineering injects controlled chaos into an environment to test it. It looks at the four signals of uptime to keep it going: latency, error rate, availability, and saturation. It’s the practical, software version of failing fast and learning from mistakes — only before it happens.Forni thinks that tech founders shouldn’t focus just on the product. There are so many various aspects in the business that need to be tight for it to succeed. Sales, marketing, and operations are other functions that need focus for the entire company to succeed. He also recommends that founders find high-caliber executives and leaders as soon as possible. He acknowledges that nothing can replace experience, and a founder can save so much time when they have top-notch talent.Forni talks about the importance of establishing culture from the start. Their foremost core culture is customer focus, and the entire Gremlin team lives and breathes this. Forni thinks you should align your product after the customer’s experience. It’s essential not to stop until the customer is feeling great about your product and their experience with it. Forni shares every phase of his tech startup and dishes out some amazing lessons. Founders who take heed can accelerate their startup with what they learn in this episode. Website - https://www.gremlin.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattforni/Github - https://github.com/mattforniHiring Page - https://www.gremlin.com/careers This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Amanda Rabideau, CEO and Founder, Arch Collective, Inc. shares insights on freelancing and using fractional executive positions to help startups.Rabideau shares how freelancing is now more relevant than ever. With acquiring great talent becoming increasingly difficult companies need to consider the contractor model. Hiring freelancers provide the flexibility to handle functions your business may not be ready to fully invest in. Startups, for instance, will need a CMO to strategize early on but will need more tactical doers to execute.With remote work it has become easier for talent to explore freelancing. Being able to work for yourself and doing what you love are among the advantages. However, a freelancer will soon turn into an entrepreneur with the need to close deals, manage finances, and set up their brand. This is where a collective can bring them value. They get to do what they love, have work autonomy, and still maintain stability.Rabideau thinks that for marketers it is essential to listen to the voice of the client. She argues that this is the most powerful weapon in their arsenal. Doing so allows marketers to know the market, tweak their messaging, and what to focus on with their product. Business leaders looking to maximize their funding and runway will find this model to be extremely appealing. Getting valuable output at a fraction of the cost can go a long way for a startup. Website - https://www.arch-collective.com/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandarabideau/Twitter - @ProMandaRabs This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Daniel Cunningham, Founder and CEO at Leonardo247, talks about his startup journey: Bringing a software platform to a traditional market. Leonardo247 simplifies property management and maintenance for multi-family residences. Cunningham talks about the challenges he’s had in using lean bootstrap methodology. It would have been much easier if he’d had a technical cofounder. He was able to overcome those challenges by starting with a smaller circle of customers before scaling up.Bootstrapping carries a lot of risks as you cut things close. Cunningham thinks it was worth the pressure as he grew. Strategically, businesses will have to raise funding at a certain point. This comes when your product reaches maturity and you’ve made waves in the market. You have a limited time to sell quickly before competition or other factors change. He argues that keeping funding to a later time will allow you to keep more value for yourself as a founder later on.Another great takeaway is the importance of your go-to-market strategy. Even the most innovative product will not succeed if you approach your market in the wrong way. In Cunningham’s case, the residential property management market is quite traditional. So he used trade shows and hired a salesperson with deep roots in the industry. This enabled them to make inroads and leverage personal relationships to sell and grow. Startup founders looking for the right funding option will find this show educational. Cunningham also shares great insight on finding the right go-to-market strategy.Apartment Academy Podcast - https://apartmentacademy.com/podcasts/Website - https://leonardo247.com/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Jonathan Aizen, Founder and CEO of Amitree, joins the show to talk about entrepreneurship and user-researched product design.Aizen’s solution aims at enhancing an antiquated technology we have relied on for so long: electronic mail. He talks about the product cycle he took with Folio. In its current iteration, Folio intelligently goes into emails and helps identify project milestones, events, and sorts through attachments. This saves a ton of time for professionals, especially those in the heavily-documented real estate sector.Aizen initially embarked on an intelligent product that would take over functions from real estate agents. Instead, he pivoted and focused on the human side. His epiphany was to place his customers as the heroes and have a tool that would make their abilities come through. He focused the AI to look at the barriers that got in the way of professionals instead of replacing the professionals.Aizen attributes this shift to accommodating customer feedback. Most of us have wondered how to take valid, valuable feedback and filter out the noise. User research, a methodology that veers away from leading questions or focus groups, is what he used to help navigate this route. Taking the approach of design-based thinking, he was able to gain the flexibility to deliver the product that Amitree features today. Product-focused business leaders looking for guidance and insight on development will love Aizen’s approach to user research and design-based thinking. Website - amitree.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonaizen/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Chris Mele, Managing Partner of Software Pricing Partners, shares his insight and expertise on monetization for software companies. Monetization is an entire discipline that includes pricing, packaging, and licensing.Mele shares how challenging it can be to think about monetization at the last moment before selling a product. Software companies need to develop the discipline of monetization as early as the product design. This allows the inclusion of features, customization, and an overall valuation on each part of the product. This is essential as customers, especially in B2B, tend to have different demands or needs from a product.Mele argues that pricing should be transparent. Software companies should be ready to share the methodology behind their pricing when customers ask. It’s also essential to have competitive intelligence — and being aware of how your competitors are pricing in the marketplace can serve as a baseline for yourself. It’s not good practice to offer drastically different discounts to customers who have not purchased a different product or volume. Having a structured monetization strategy that includes disciplined pricing is beneficial on many levels. Your salespeople will have autonomy when pricing customers who want different options. This allows for deal velocity and not having to step away from the meeting thus diminishing the likelihood of closing. This also allows clearer transparency that translates into better long-term relationships with customers. Every business leader in software knows the importance of monetization, yet not all of us have fully wrapped ourselves around it. This podcast with a monetization expert such as Mele helps frame things into perspective and maximize your growth and revenue. Website - softwarepricing.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christophermele/Book - Different: Escaping the Competitive HerdThis episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.comThis episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney, Professor of Consulting at Cardiff University, shares his expertise in the consulting industry. O’Mahoney goes in-depth to talk about setting up consultancy firms in a sustainable manner.He has done research on how many great consultants have decided to start their own firm and fail at it. He’s observed that the reason for this is that, most of the time, great consultants don’t make great startup founders. He has noticed that these struggles often come from selling their services, pricing correctly, and developing systems and processes.O’Mahoney advises consultancy founders to outsource their marketing strategy while keeping the content organic. For sales, he suggests that founders train this internally and in scale. This relieves the burden of selling from the founder to across the team. This also allows the founder to focus on what they love and are good at, and to target niches they can specialize in. Pricing is a real struggle for consultancy founders. They should do their research, he says, including asking clients what they would pay for particular services. Consultants tend to default to value-based pricing, but O’Mahoney sees opportunity in this. He thinks that if the proper change control process is established and deliverables are defined, a fixed price could benefit the business. Finally, he talks about the proper way to build your processes and systems. He thinks that this has to be thought of early on so consultancy founders can exit properly. These would be considered as assets and this would increase the valuation of their firm exponentially. It can also mean having the firm continue post-retirement, ensuring a steady stream even afterward.Prof. O’Mahoney’s in-depth research and educational approach will benefit not only consultancy founders but business owners, too. His approach and outlook on founding, scaling, and exiting in a sustainable manner are fantastic pieces of information for business leaders. Website - https://joeomahoney.com/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeomahoney/This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world.If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe.Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Brandon Fluharty, VP of Strategic Account Solutions at LivePerson, shares a treasure of insight on the show. Fluharty talks about personal development revolving around mindset transformation.Fluharty has brought enormous success in B2B sales to LivePerson, bringing in 7-figure revenue. He admits that he once thought that being an introvert would be a disadvantage for him as a salesperson. Instead, with the right environment, aligning target accounts, a shift in mindset, and the ability to execute, he has transformed that into an advantage.Fluharty believes the current model of using playbooks and a standardized approach doesn’t help your salespeople become successful. Sales leaders should focus on providing them with mental models to establish a framework, rather than a playbook. These equip them with the tools to succeed but allow them to still be human and sell naturally. Fluharty talks about achieving more without having to subscribe to “hustle culture.” He believes success can be achieved through a combination of better rest, focus on high-value tasks or deep work, and ensuring you end your workday at a certain hard stop. All this improves your mood, your capacity to think better, and your ability to succeed. He follows the Pomodoro technique to accomplish this time management.Business leaders looking for transformation that will develop both themselves and their team will find Fluharty’s insight extremely helpful.LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonfluharty/Website and E-Book in February - https://brandonfluharty.comThis episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Sonciary Pérez, Co-Founder of Quala.io, shares her startup journey on this show. Her startup journey is a mixture of building a product and solving problems in an area she is passionate about.Pérez talks about customer success for B2B SaaS companies. In a highly competitive environment, it all boils down to cost and features. Customer success is the lifeline that ensures the SaaS company is in touch with its customers. They use this opportunity to help them make the most of features to justify their clients’ spending. These interactions are human-centered and have a lot of variation among them. Pérez uses her experience to find out which areas to automate and use tech in.The experience that led to the use of technology for customer success was actually a stressful one. In her previous role at Promoboxx, they churned their largest customer. With reflection and retrospect, Pérez identified this as not having the right warning signals ahead of time — something the solution she has since built could have helped avoid.Pérez wraps up the discussion on an encouraging note. As a veteran startup founder, she knows the rigors and difficulties of the journey. Choose something you are passionate about to embark on. Focus on your grit and intensity, and the rewards will be well worth it at the end of that journey. Listeners who love technology and are looking to boost their value with customers can gain a lot of inspiration and insight from this episode. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonciary/Website - quala.ioEmail - [email protected] episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

David Kindlon, CEO and Co-Founder of Eppione, joins the show to talk about an extremely relevant topic in business today: human resource management.Several companies have adapted to the pandemic through a remote work setup. Once something only tech companies did, it has now become the rule rather than the exception. This trend has also opened up the resource pool for companies. They now hire workers who are fit for the role yet based in different countries. This gain comes with the complication of managing different benefits and legal rules — roadblocks companies must navigate.With 2020’s Great Reshuffle, companies need to step up their game as far as engagement is concerned. Companies spend heavily on benefits, but Kindlon feels like they aren’t communicating this enough. Having the value of transparency and communication both ways will benefit in deepening the trust between employer and employee.Kindlon also believes that as companies scale and grow, the importance of data-driven decisions becomes imperative. This is even more relevant in human resources, where companies are heavily invested in and need to leverage technology as much as possible.Business leaders know that the formula for success lies in people. This podcast will help you understand and enhance your human capital management approach.Website - eppione.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkindlon/This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Oliver Nutt, Vice President, Marketing and External Communications at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), shares insights about the importance of branding, leading large organizations, and navigating change.Most of our guests here on Leaders of B2B are usually startup founders overseeing smaller teams. So hearing from a leader of a large organization is extremely insightful.Nutt talks about the importance of branding in enterprise organizations. This marketing responsibility is critical, serving both internal and external purposes. In the case of GDIT, it was essential, following a merger. It was a means of projecting unity, rallying behind a new culture, and placing them on the map.Nutt talks about the dynamics of leadership as it scales. The approach shifts when you’re leading a team, multiple teams, and an entire organization. With a constant number of hours in a day, it’s essential to build a culture of trust and empowerment. Nutt explains how the spirit of entrepreneurship can also work in a corporate environment. The same feeling of embracing change, even if it is uncomfortable, also holds true. The move from General Dynamics in the UK to the US was a huge step. Nutt thought he’d never be ready to take on this daunting task but found that it was great for his career.Business leaders can gain great lessons from large organization leaders like Oliver Nutt. See how you can take some of these and apply them to your own startups. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-nutt/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Esben Friis-Jensen, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Userflow, joins Noah on the show to talk about the value of product-led growth to fuel your startup. He also talks about how he was able to improve his startup journey on the next round as a founder.Friis-Jensen shares how essential onboarding is for every SaaS company. It sets the tone and trend for customer retention by promoting use of any SaaS solution. Providing a self-service option reduces cost and is a great fit for B2B, where customers want to learn and customize the solution on their own.Friis-Jensen took the plunge from an established startup because, as an entrepreneur, he believed in the value of building his own destiny. In Userflow, he follows a bootstrap model that provides more capability to map their own destiny without the pressure of a VC dictating growth trajectories.Friiis-Jensen is a proponent of product-led growth. A strong product with constantly updated features will sell itself and attract customers. This can be combined with automated onboarding and campaigns to dramatically reduce CAC. He calls for balance and thinks people still fuel the growth — it cannot rely on full automation or you will risk detaching from your customers.Business leaders looking to implement a product-led growth strategy will love the ideas Friis-Jensen throws out there. His take on keeping customers connected while automating smartly provides great outlook for any SaaS company.Twitter - @esbenfjWebsite - userflow.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/esbenfriisjensen/This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Slater Victoroff, Founder and CTO of Indico, joins Noah to talk about his startup journey and the next level of AI. His company Indico Data works on unstructured data. They use analytics with AI to create tools that arm the users and subject matter experts. One of the values Victoroff learned early on and abides by through his journey is humility and self-realization. After being proven wrong on his outlook that deep learning has reached its peak, he pivoted and founded Indico. This value is important towards constant improvement — both for yourself and for your business.Being in an industry that is often misunderstood, Victoroff sees the value in engaging in valuable conversations. He makes it a point to use this value to help educate prospects, clients, and peers. The end result is not only being able to sell his solution better but also spread a better perspective on AI.Victoroff thinks we are still at the cusp of AI’s potential. A lot of AI is centered around structured data, so many companies are still using manual processes in unstructured data. There is still much room for improvement in the entire industry and Victoroff takes pride at leading the charge with his company. Business leaders looking to upgrade their outlook and skills on the latest AI trends will love this discussion.Twitter - @sl8rvWebsite - slater.websiteQuora - https://www.quora.com/profile/Slater-Ryan-VictoroffCompany Website - indicodata.aiThis episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Garrett Mehrguth, CEO of Directive, joins Ledge to share his expertise in marketing and his insights as a successful business leader. Directive Consulting has been providing customer generation for software companies for the last eight years.Mehrguth shares that account-based marketing isn’t the right way to go. Citing limited market potential and disjointed KPIs, the spend on impressions and MQL doesn’t translate into deals. He thinks the focus should be geared more towards sales qualified leads. He also shares that targeting users is more effective than focusing on decision-makers. So many marketers have made the mistake of targeting the C-level, who don’t necessarily understand the full value of your product. Mehrguth goes on to discuss his approach to personal development that’s also applicable to organizations. Be humble enough to realize you aren’t good at something, strive to learn it, then develop consistent actions to practice and improve. Mehrguth doesn’t target perfection but expertise, which allows him to take on more skills to develop and learn. Mehrguth also shares that as a business leader, we should hire for talent over experience. Being able to communicate and share forward-looking ideas and a path to execution will attract great talent — people who want to execute and make a difference to your vision. Business leaders looking to up their game in developing themselves and their organizations will love this discussion. They’ll find ways to generate more customer demand through Mehrguth’s approach.Website - directiveconsulting.comCommunity - https://directiveconsulting.com/join-society/This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Eric Stockton, VP of Demand Generation at Constant Contact, shares his career journey that has led to his expertise in revenue generation. He also talks about the timeless tug-of-war between sales and marketing. It’s essential for any business leader to steer both toward revenue for the company. Marketing should be solid in determining the ideal customer profiles and driving meetings toward sales. It’s also essential that sales is given materials and support that relate and speak the target customer language.Stockton also shares that the best marketing ideas come from conversations had directly with customers. It’s vital to listen to those conversations and interact with customers to know about the market — it will help you know what messaging to put together.Stockton is a huge advocate of sales and marketing working symbiotically toward success. He thinks that sales teams shouldn’t be pressured to be too pushy and force a close. Finding a customer with the right problems to solve with your solution is imperative. He thinks marketing should be able to provide a large enough pool and the right messaging to find this.Listen to this 40-minute episode, which feels like a full postgraduate crash course in marketing. The insights from this conversation are simply amazing.LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericstockton/This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Stephen King, Founder and CEO of GrowthForce, joins today’s podcast with some great insight for business leaders. Accounting is a key business function, providing data to help you manage your strategy. Smaller businesses and startups need to deal with the added cost of this function, which often comes even before they have the revenue to cover it.King explains that outsourcing this function is the solution to this conundrum. Outsourcing gives businesses the expertise at a fraction of the cost. Companies that provide this service have developed efficient processes that match the scale. He states this approach can be replicated in other business functions that are outside your core expertise, too. King expounds on efficiency further with his view on automation. He talks about how several business functions can be repeated and replicated by software. Breaking them down into processes can allow more efficient operations. He also argues against the notion that automation takes away jobs. Automation will increase the quality of the workforce and give them better jobs as the business shifts upward.Another key discussion is around business finances. King talks about how businesses seem to be obsessed with the amount of money they raise or sell. He argues that what matters is what is kept, and businesses need to focus on profits first. By setting profit goals, a company can plot their cost and determine how much they need to sell. This results in a healthier, sustainable business that benefits owners, investors, employees, and customers.Business leaders looking to enhance their perspective into business fundamentals like finance will find this episode full of insight.Email - [email protected] - growthforce.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenkingcpa/Twitter - skinggforceThis episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Alexis Chiagouris, director of global marketing communications and brand at Ensono, shares insights in marketing specific to the IT space. As the IT industry has grown, so has the saturation of providers in the space. Creating brand awareness through a marketing communications plan is essential to success.Chiagouris talks about her take on content strategy. She disagrees with the approach to gate content in exchange for gathering people’s information or forcing them to opt-in. She sees so many different ways to get this information. Having a meaningful message will attract potential customers.Chiagouris also thinks that having thought leaders, case studies, and customer testimonials are huge in terms of building brand awareness. Marketers need to work with sales reps or account managers to leverage their relationship with the customer and get testimonials. Clashing with sales over control is pointless because both sides have the same goal, which is to increase revenue.Wearing her futurist hat, she thinks the basics will still prevail as far as MarCom is concerned. Videos and podcasts are effective, especially with people constantly crunched for time. She thinks they can be done effectively even without spending a lot on a full production. Focusing on the message and the brand in the medium is what matters. Leaders looking to expand their sales through brand awareness in the digital space will find this discussion educational and helpful. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexischiagouris/This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

James Ontra, CEO of Shufflrr, shares how powerful the story of your business can be in closing deals. He argues that presentations, an integral part of any business, are often done inefficiently and ineffectively. Experiencing this business problem first-hand inspired Ontra to found Shufflrr, a presentation management solution.Ontra thinks presentations are powerful because they drive the sales conversation. If a sales meeting were a movie, the presentation would be the set and effects. A product’s value can be highlighted more effectively with proof, case studies, metrics, and graphics — items a presentation can deliver.Ontra talks about how he was able to steer a concept through changing technologies. Starting off from CD-ROMs and a heavy consulting model, he was able to iterate and transform it into an enterprise product. The key takeaway is that a solid concept is constant even if the technology changes.Ontra discusses the advantages of working with enterprise customers. Enterprise deals may take longer to close but once they do, they bring high value deals. Volatility is lessened as enterprise customers work with their suppliers when problems arise. One key aspect is to have a solution that can be scaled effectively and enterprise applications. Business leaders seeking to refine or adjust their products will find several takeaways from Ontra’s experience and vision.Website - shufflrr.com - - - - This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

This special episode of Leaders of B2B features Noah Tetzner. Noah will be the show’s new co-host along with Ledge and Jake. Noah works with Content Allies on the sourcing, engagement, and scheduling of guests for the company’s impressive roster of podcasts. He brings an impressive background in organizing and hosting podcasts. In 2018, he started a historical podcast called The History of Vikings which got 50,000 downloads per month.Noah chats with Ledge about the significance of podcasts in today’s business world and in marketing. Podcasts can forge lasting relationships. Podcasts allow the interaction and exchange of ideas between the subject matter experts. They also generate a lot of great exposure and publicity on account of the shared information and expertise.Noah looks toward the learning experience in the Leaders of B2B podcasts. He likens every session to attending a masterclass—a benefit not only reaped by the host but the audience as well. Noah also aims to pick the brains of guests about future trends in the current and post-pandemic business world.Get a glimpse of the show’s newest co-host and his approach to making an already robust learning experience even more enriching. - - - - This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Asher Ismail, co-founder at Uncapped, discusses a very important topic for founders and business leaders: raising capital. Ismail shares how his experience with two prior startups made him realize a vital business problem. With bootstrapping or funding your own business, there are only two ways to raise capital: debt or equity. The former can be risky and expensive. The latter can dilute your ownership and leave founders at the short end after so many sacrifices.Ismail urges founders to think about their motivation, strategy, and approach when raising capital. Some founders seek to raise at all costs, considering this the metric of success. Ismail argues that the true measure of success is driving profitability in the business, with raising capital only the first step in a long journey. The use of capital should be maximized towards growth and having a runway.Ismail thinks that the evolution of new capital-raising products is the way of the future. The British Business Bank conducted a study that showed 73% of entrepreneurs chose to forego growth because they felt they would be unable to repay borrowing for capital. He also thinks e-commerce will continue on its trend, with 40% of all commercial activities except groceries now on the internet.Gain some great insight on raising capital and maximizing your efforts so you can focus on business growth. Listeners can also unlock a special promotion from Uncapped that Ismail shares at the end of the episode.LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/asherismail/Email - [email protected] This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Pieter Krynauw, CEO at ThruWave Inc., shares valuable insight on innovation, as well as preparing yourself for a journey in entrepreneurship. Krynauw’s startup helps improve supply chain efficiency by enhancing millimeter wave technology with software.Krynauw talks more in-depth about automation. He sees automation as the execution of the concept of simplification. A company should have the capability to break down complex problems into repetitive tasks and real problem solving. The former can be automated with process and technology while the latter will use the human resources allocated to it. Krynauw imparts his belief on what can make a company wildly successful. They can accomplish this by doing more than the core value proposition. It’s always about what can be done better. Being 10 steps ahead after achieving a milestone. He believes that the adoption of automation will be key to this.This outlook is also applicable on a personal level. Krynauw shares how taking roles abroad while he was in corporate helped him become an entrepreneur. Being thrust out of your comfort zone, away from core resources, plus the need to immerse in a new work culture, all developed him. One mustn’t be afraid to expand, move sideways or diagonally, even out of your specialization — especially if it leads to learning more. Business leaders finding ways to expand their innovation and delve into automation will find Krynauw’s outlook especially beneficial. Website - thruwave.com This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Mackenzie Farone, manager of marketing communications at Carmeuse Americas, shares her expertise and insights on marketing, particularly in marcom.Farone shares how marcom is essential in helping sales teams close the deal. They provide the right messaging to the ideal customer profile, which helps close the sale even before the appointment happens. Farone also expounds on this to share her outlook on selling a product in the marketplace. She believes that lowering price or brute force selling doesn’t fully maximize your resources. Having a more surgically targeted message of a product’s features hits the very core of why you sell. It’s about offering a solution to a business problem.Farone shares her leadership insights as far as employee recruitment and retention are concerned. She thinks companies need to treat hiring like finding a customer. Paint a persona of the people in the position you are looking to fill. Then get creative to perform actions that appeal to that demographic. An example she shares would be towards maximizing your company’s appeal to attracting more women professionals. Offering childcare support, onsite daycare, or flexible working schedules to accommodate children staying at home due to Covid would make a company get top talent and retain the ones they have engaged. The episode provides a full, well-rounded insight on marketing as marcom becomes even more significant in the digital age. Farone has thought-provoking ideas that will tickle the intelligence of business leaders. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenziefaronemba/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Laura Hoffman, head of marketing and communications at ThruWave Inc, has a great exchange of ideas with host Ledge about podcasting. She shares her outlook on its importance to marketing, current trends, and its future.Hoffman, who built a strong career working at large companies’ marketing departments, felt burnt out and broken. She took a sabbatical and listened to podcasts. Aside from developing her acumen, she also discovered their potential in marketing. Podcasting draws a captured and engaged audience. Hoffman has studied how several companies use the platform as a digital broadcast channel. Marketing departments are willing to pay significant money per episode to feature their leaders or products on the podcasts.Ledge and Hoffman also discuss how podcasting promotes thought leadership. Podcasting can deliver content that’s not only consistent but truly engaging. Highlighting other people’s expertise allows the promotion of both parties in a mutually beneficial arrangement.Hoffman believes that podcasting is already close to surpassing early adoption and is ripe for mainstream. Some aspects include multiple applications supporting the medium. Technologies that comb through audio and display searchable content on podcasts have also helped bolster its popularity. In the marketing realm and looking at ways to bolster your campaigns? Tune in to an expert marketer who discusses the validity of podcasting and why podcasting matters in the coming years. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurahoffman/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Scott Sehon, owner of Mod 4 Finance, talks about his leap into entrepreneurship along with the importance of his business model. In 2017, Sehon took on his experience as capital and embarked on providing fractional CFO work for startups.Sehon shares how he had to cast away his comfort zone to become an entrepreneur. He decided to go for it after seeing a dominant business problem in startups. Companies needed the strategic direction of a CFO but couldn’t afford to take one on full-time yet. His model is analogous to how SaaS works, but it uses expertise instead of software.Sehon shares some of the top concerns when he takes on a startup client. Not being aware of the company’s cash position in the present or future is one of them. The other is the absence of a tighter rigor around the formulation or adherence to a budget. Budgets are not just spreadsheets that contain financial numbers — they are a roadmap for the business direction. Sehon explains that the budget should involve every leader in the business. It should also include flexibility to pivot towards an expense, but will have to be adjusted so it remains in balance.Business leaders who tune into this episode will gain key insight into startup financials and how to plan their business roadmap with Sohen’s expertise.Website - mod4.financeEmail - [email protected] This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Filippa Noghani, Head of Marketing BFS and Strategic Accounts at Virtusa, shares her insights on working at both startups and large companies. She also shares her experience sitting on the Board and being Marketing Chair of NYC Fintech for Women, an organization that helps level the playing field for female business leaders in Fintech. She threshes out comparisons from her marketing experience. In addition, she lends her perspective as a female business leader in the workplace.Noghani takes a deep dive into the differences between startup marketing and traditional marketing. In startups, the marketing team needs to be involved with every department: Product, R&D, Sales, Customer Experience. All are heavily involved in helping make the company successful. More traditional marketing is about creating the copy and continuing with brand promotion.It’s important to make sure that marketing is seen as a partner in generating revenue, rather than being the role of the sales team alone. Running market research and understanding your customer base are essentials for successfully selling your product and growing your company. Noghani talks about striking a balance at the workplace. As a woman, she has experience of having to continually work on messaging while standing her ground on ideas. She advises a firm but diplomatic path. And working for someone who values your insight—that’s more precious than pay and should be cherished.Senior business leaders must be mindful of taking care of their employees. Demonstrating to employees that you are emotionally invested in them goes a long way. They spend a lot of their time at work, so investment beyond the financial level is crucial.Business leaders wanting to expand their marketing reach will find this educational. There’s also some great insight on diversity and workplace culture that can be picked up on this episode.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fnoghani/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Yin Wu, the founder of Pulley, discusses how her solution tackles the core of every startup: equity capitalization. The cap table is vital to a startup because it reflects the company’s value. This means that every performance indicator leads to this.Wu states that equity is the single asset that can multiply 1,000 times. This makes it a very powerful asset. Despite this, she has seen many founders not utilizing this to its full potential. Some issues include not planning the equity distribution correctly. This includes releasing too many stocks early on while still diluted. Wu emphasizes that knowing your value at various points is essential for success in leveraging equity. Equity is also a great way to draw immense talent to a startup. Startups don’t have deep pockets. But they make up for this by affording employees the chance of entering a future skyscraper on the ground floor. Having full command of your equity situation can allow you to build your company with the best people.Wu also talks about taking risks and balancing family life with founding a startup. She stresses the importance of opportunity cost as a risk-mitigating factor. Take risks but realize when to pivot when it isn’t working. Staying too long is more damaging as you lose other opportunities you could jump on. Get captivating insight on leveraging and maximizing your cap table. Learn when to use this for funding, hiring, or bootstrapping, by listening in to one of the brightest startup stars. Y Combinator - https://www.ycombCooley - https://www.cooley.com/Clerkie - https://www.clerkie.io/Stripe Atlas - https://stripe.com/atlasTwitter - @YinYinWuWebsite - https://pulley.com/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

David Ciccarelli, co-founder and CEO of Voices.com, shares how his startup in 2005 has ended up being the largest marketplace for voice talent. With over one million members spanning 160 countries, the platform generates 5,000 jobs a month.He shares the four pillars to the success of a marketplace: 1) having a healthy number of participants, balanced on the supply and demand side, 2) making sure high-quality information is shared, 3) the exchange of products needs to be encouraged to stay within the marketplace, and 4) there has to be an established and reliable currency for the exchange. Ciccarelli’s strategy of focusing on voice talent has been a key part of the company’s success. With a global annual spend of four to five billion dollars, this niche was definitely worth concentrating on. He explains that discipline on the vision is essential. However, if you see patterns and consistent demands from customers, you need to think of iterating your product.Keeping all participants happy via a transparent, shared success culture is essential. The company uses Gross Services Value as its indicator of marketplace health. This means that clients and suppliers are not going off-platform. They are returning based on Voices.com’s value, trust, price, and quality of talent. Email - [email protected] - voices.comThis episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Jeffrey Hull, Founder of Savvy Financial, shares his startup journey with Ledge. As most startup founders can relate to, the path he has taken is laden with adjustments and iterations. SavvyFi empowers families to save for college and pay off student debt with the help of gifts from friends and family and cashback rewards.Hull talks about the importance of being flexible with your product. It’s important to be able to adapt to how the market responds. It’s always best practice to pre-solve on paper. But no matter how good it looks, you will never be able to solve everything ahead of time. Be prepared to solve the challenges that come up.His next key learning is especially valuable: No matter how tempting it is to solve the problem yourself, get someone in who has solved that problem before. The amount of money you pay for the experience and time saved is a worthwhile investment. Find people who are motivated to solve problems; they are the best culture fit for it.Hull wraps up the podcast by reiterating the importance of looking after your mental health as a founder. He opts to choose his attitude and gain strength from his family. Burning off energy at the gym or finding a way to accomplish a win early in the day will prepare you for the challenges that lay ahead. Founders will find they are not alone in dealing with the rigors of a startup. Listening to successful journeys like Hull’s can deliver that much-needed motivational kick.LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/savvyfi/Website - savvyfi.coEmail - [email protected] episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.comThis episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere in the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.Disclosure:Savvy Financial, Inc. (“SavvyFi”) is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Nothing in this presentation should be construed as investment, legal, tax, regulatory or accounting advice. Prospective investors should consult with their own legal, regulatory, tax, business, investment, financial and accounting advisers.All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of money you invest, and past performance does not guarantee future performance. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections discussed are provided for informational and illustrative purposes, and may not reflect actual future performance. For more information, visit https://savvyfi.co.

Dave Zohrob, co-founder & CEO of Chartable, joins Jake Jorgovan to talk about his startup journey. Chartable helps podcast producers and advertisers with analytics and attribution which provide valuable insight on views, campaign results, and reach. Zohrob shares that the company’s value lies with the product. Zohrob started podcasting after leaving his job. This allowed him to understand the business problems faced by podcasters. His pedigree in engineering, along with his co-founder, made it possible to make an efficient and effective product. He was able to make Chartable agnostic for any industry and audience.Being customers of their own product allowed them to remain engaged with their customer base. Customer feedback has been a contributor to some of their most valuable features. One of their best features, the lead feeder which shows which companies listened to the podcast, was actually brought up by customer feedback. Zohrob’s outlook on podcasting as a marketing tool is extremely bullish. Even though this channel has been around for about 15 years, he sees it peaking more than ever now. This prompts him to talk about the right timing even for the best of ideas. The environment, technology, and people’s outlook all play into its success.Having a great product that is aligned with customer needs has made the product their best salesperson. Founders interested in podcasting as a channel will find the discussion extremely interesting. Startups that have a great idea but want to see traction on it will also draw inspiration from this episode.Website - chartable.com This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere on the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

François Boissel, CEO and Co-Founder at Novadiscovery & Frederic Cogny, CTO, join Ledge in today’s podcast which is filled with double the learning. This co-founding duo established a company that enables simulations of clinical trials. Their approach ensures better accuracy, quicker approval, and more affordable trials. The pair talk about their startup journey, one which involves pivoting from a consulting to a professional services approach. Both approaches carry value to clients, but consulting tends to be costly and impractical in the long-run. Professional services like setting up a SaaS platform can provide sustainable solutions to business problems. Boissel attributes their successful transformation to hiring a COO who went through the same exercise.Cogny talks about bringing in varied experts to work together. On one hand there are the developers who build the models and platform; on the other, biotech experts who provide the content. There are challenges as far as making them communicate and work together, but this can be overcome by hiring the right people and keeping them aligned to the same vision.Both guests share how the company would not have come about if not for a period of crisis. Boissel and Cogny both came from Lehman Brothers, where they experienced the turbulent financial crisis and opted to found the company based on Boissel’s father’s vision. They emphasize that moments of setbacks can actually become the catalyst for change and trigger the right timing. Founders and business leaders will find this discussion very enriching. Linkedin - François Boissel - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fran%C3%A7ois-henri-boissel-54785717/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-cogny-4200aa1/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Remote.Remote working is now becoming the standard of great employment in today’s world. If you want to embark on this transformation but don’t know how, Remote can help you. Remote offers the best HR solutions like benefits and payroll anywhere on the globe. Get 50% off Remote’s full suite of global business solutions for your first employee for 3 months. Visit remote.com/leaders and use the promo code LEADERS.

Kevin Walkup, CEO at Harmonate talks about bringing technology and change to a very traditional industry. His company works with the funding industry. It is an industry that is very risk-averse and extremely careful about handling the finances of its investors.Regulatory pressure and the demand for transparency are factors on the horizon that are fueling the changes in the industry. Walkup says that this makes it the right time to implement technology and automation. Their initial client was able to reduce process times from two weeks to 24 hours. In an industry where 99% accuracy still isn’t enough, this greatly relieves financial pressures.Walkup shares his startup journey and is a big proponent of working as a team. He attributes their success to hiring the right people. On the other end, he also insists that maintaining the right relationships is crucial to success. He cites an example where a previous client became the company that helped get his startup off the ground. Walkup also shares that as long as you have the fundamental business principles right, then you can succeed in any industry. These principles are doing things in the right order; hiring the right team; having discipline and rigor around corporate mechanisms; and having values such as transparency. Startup founders looking to change traditional industries will find this discussion very inspiring. Email - [email protected] - https://harmonate.com This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Paul Cowan, Chief Marketing Officer at FreshBooks joins the podcast. The startup recently achieved unicorn status after obtaining $130 million in funding.Cowan shares that the product must be aligned with the customer experience. He thinks marketing should be more actively involved in this. Being able to connect the customer insights with the product ensures a better experience. It also allows you to stay the course to develop raving fans.On a personal note, Cowan shares his career journey. Moving from employee to founder and exploring startups and enterprises was the path he took. Whilst not setting out to do so, he has expanded his skills by going through this cycle. He recommends that you choose a company that you feel passionate about because that can fuel you to go further. It makes it seem less like work and more like doing what you love. Cowan believes that sales and marketing should work together on telling the story of the company and the product. Sales delivers the story while marketing helps create that story. He talks about the case study of the Dollar Shave Club in a market where product innovation is practically absent. With tight pricing, the differentiator was ads that spoke to the audience in a way they could identify with. Gain a clearer understanding of the importance of marketing and a marketing career from a unicorn marketing leader’s perspective.This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Sri Ayyeppen, CRO at Argano shares his vision of facilitating the age of digital customization for customers across multiple industries on today’s podcast. Ayyeppen describes today’s business landscape as customers wanting the simplest solution on the side facing them. This necessitates a complex back-end that contains infinite loops of customer journeys. His company helps provide the expertise to solve the complexities behind that.Several elements are needed for this. Hiring the right people is the first thing that comes to mind for Ayyeppen. Reflecting culture-fit as much as skill-fit, he hires people who enjoy solving complicated problems.The next element is being able to understand the customer’s products and their business. Understanding their business problems more than they do is vital. This positions you as a trusted advisor, which brings immense value to your customer.Ayyeppen views revenue growth holistically. Keeping the focus on customers sustains the revenue through long-term relationships and expanded value. This allows you to expand your capabilities and sell to more customers as well. Ayyeppen also shares his vision of a future post-pandemic business world. He thinks that flexibility is now a business necessity. Companies will need to prepare agile systems and processes. Helping provide expertise to accomplish this will be imperative.Business leaders looking at maximizing their revenue and focusing on their customers will gain a lot from Ayyeppen’s insightful comments.LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriayyeppen/Twitter - https://twitter.com/SriAyyeppen This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Keith Algozzine, Founder and CEO at UCM Digital Health joins co-host Ledge for an insightful discussion on starting your business. UCM Digital Health is a revolutionary player in transforming healthcare. It does this by taking the burden off the ER and into the digital space.Healthcare is a complex sector. Regulatory, legal, and technological issues all contribute to this, as well as the stress of impacting actual human lives. Algozzine sees the business problems from these complexities as great opportunities. This is what inspired him, as a healthcare professional, to proactively find a solution.He shares the importance of leveraging your expertise and experience when founding your company. In the case of UCM, Algozzine saw that his team’s strength was in their expertise in ER and patient care, so they focused heavily on these areas. This allowed them to create a minimum viable product that was technologically bare-boned but carried a lot of value in terms of patient value. One very important lesson from UCM’s startup journey was its heavy focus on bootstrap methodology. The company took an extremely conservative approach, using revenue as its capital. Founders who use this method place immense value on their customers and their products. Algozzine thinks this is a key differentiator for them; He only devoted his full-time energy after hitting the $1 million run rate milestone in year three. Startup founders can gain an immense understanding of the importance of bootstrapping and how to pull it off from this episode. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-algozzine-4a5996a7/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucmdigitalhealth/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Khalil Stultz, Growth Strategist, joins Ledge to share his insights around using strategy to accomplish more. He also talks about development and mindset to take your business to the next level.Stultz is an advocate of finding the simplest changes and improving on them. This allows businesses to improve without the need to invest more. This approach can emanate from any area, such as the sales process, operations, or customer success. One example of this strategic focus is in business growth. It can be done through getting more customers, increasing the transaction size, or increasing what the client currently buys from you. Most businesses go for the first option. This requires additional investment not only on the sales side but also on post-sales. Stultz argues that focusing on maximizing current clients or increasing transaction sizes can be more efficient while achieving the same results.This strategic approach also depends heavily on development. Focus on habits that compound into rewards over time. This covers both personal and business-wide development. Stultz also recommends that you provide value and help others first before seeking something in return. This establishes your capability and your authority. It can be the foundation for future customers as those you help will seek you out. Stultz shares an extremely insightful approach that business leaders may overlook as they get busy with execution. Gaining this perspective can allow you to earn a significant gain without the need to spend much.LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/khalilstultz/Email - [email protected] episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Cindy Jordan, CEO at Pyx Health, shows us how passion and purpose are equally as important as funding when starting up a company. She founded Pyx Health to help identify and intervene for loneliness. Loneliness is an indicator of depression, an illness that has led to the loss of many young lives.Jordan shares her thought process on building the product. The application, while built on technology, has built its foundation on human interaction. The technology part is powered by algorithms built to detect patterns or application behaviors that signify loneliness. Human specialists then swoop in to intervene and check on the user. This shows that even if your end-result requires high human interactions, technology can amplify your effectiveness. Jordan emphasizes her passion towards helping people with loneliness with her people hiring and leadership style. Pyx Health prioritizes hiring based on culture fit and objectives. They find it important to be transparent with their beliefs and vision, and this leads to behaviors that are consistent with the company’s values.Another of this episode’s key takeaways is the use of assessment tools to determine your work style and approach. Jordan is a big fan of the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument, or HBDI. It helps colleagues know team members’ approach to stress, thinking style, and motivational keys. Knowing the strengths and opportunities of your team can help you strategize how to best allocate resources towards the goal.Gain great insight on working together as a team and with technology to solve insurmountable goals. Email - [email protected] Assessment Tool - Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Justin Nassiri, Founder & CEO at Captivate.ai, joins co-host Ledge for a great discussion on startups. Nassiri, a veteran, podcaster, and serial entrepreneur, has founded several startups and shares valuable lessons he has picked up along the way.Startups don’t need to be an instant unicorn. Many founders have become enamored with the concept of raising millions based on a great idea. In reality, taking more deliberate steps can lead to more sustainable gains.This more deliberate approach begins even before your startup. Nassiri talks about the importance of learning corporate organization and processes during your career. While employed, absorb and reflect on processes like human resources, technology, operations, and others. Learning these areas will save you time and money in your future startup.Nassiri is also a proponent of bootstrapping. Product acceleration through customer discovery is one thing a founder should focus on. It takes the same amount of energy as raising capital but has more advantages. Aside from not owing investors, it permits more independence for your company to align with your vision.Another key benefit of a sustainable approach is with scaling people, and Nassiri shares the benefit of hiring contractors. Documenting processes allows you to onboard people who can wear some of the hats you are wearing. And if managed well by a project management tool like Monday.com or hired on a platform like Upwork, contractors will bring expertise without sucking up too much of your time. Existing and aspiring founders will find this episode inspiring. Taking a different, deliberate but sustainable approach will guarantee your startup’s long-term success.Website - captivate.aiEmail - [email protected] - https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinnassiri/Book - Jarvis, P. (2020). Company of One: Why staying small is the next big thing for business. Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Marie E Lamont, President / COO at Inteliquet shares how leading people and leveraging technology can help cure cancer. Inteliquet drastically cuts the extra cost and time for cancer centers looking to use clinical trials on their patients. It does this by using AI and NLP to accelerate the application of trials.Lamont gives several valuable insights on leadership. Leadership is recognizing your capabilities and gaps. Then quickly fill these gaps with capable, skilled people who can help you. Aside from their skills, the use of assessment tools to gauge their communication and work styles is a great best practice. It helps team members work more effectively by understanding each other better.Lamont also talks about the importance of documenting proof to accelerate your startup. A great idea or product isn’t enough to gain adoption. It’s essential to get case studies underway. Startups should consider getting customers to be part of this early on, either through favorable pricing or leveraging relationships.A key personal learning for her is being selective. This can also apply to your startup as well as an individual. Being selective with the opportunities gives you more time to focus on them. They have to fit into your roadmap and your specialization. It’s equally important to outline what you don’t want to do as well as what you want to do. This ensures that the time spent on an endeavor is quality time that makes you happy.Tune in to expand your leadership style. Learn about how you can make different team members work together more effectively. Accelerate your startup’s market adoption by learning how to leverage your gains.Email - [email protected] - https://inteliquet.com/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Alec Zopf, CTO and Cofounder of Wellth Inc. shares lessons in his startup journey. His company helps drive better and cost-effective outcomes in healthcare. It does this by motivating patients to develop healthier choices and habits.The company’s approach to driving behavioral habit formation can be applied in any area. This is relevant in change management or personal development. When the reward is only visible after some time, Wellth finds ways to bring the reward forward. Following healthy options results in real-world rewards with a gamified tracking system. It’s something companies can also emulate for employee engagement or customer experience.Zopf chose healthcare as his startup area because it is such a large sector. The potential for growth is really astounding in several categories. Despite the sector’s large footprint, there are still large areas for improvement on digital transformation. These business problems of inefficiencies have motivated Zopf to innovate using data and technology.Zopf also talks about how founders and business leaders need to recharge and prioritize their mental state. Founders usually find themselves bearing the brunt of stressful situations. This can come in the form of not making payroll or the near-death of their company. He reminds us to do what we love in between the stressful situations. And not to worry about failure because there is always the capacity to start again with better learning.Gain insights on motivation, mental well-being, and technology in healthcare. Founders can apply these to their company and watch it progress further.Email - [email protected] - @aleczopfThis episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Harshit Jain, Founder and CEO at Doceree, joins Ledge to share his experience starting up a digital business in unproven territory. Doceree provides a programmatic marketing platform targeted specifically for physicians. It allows pharmaceutical companies and medical services providers to market their products directly to physicians through a digital platform.Jain’s background helped inspire the creation of his product. Being both a physician and an advertiser allowed him to see a business problem, which was engaging with physicians on digital transparently and measurably. Jain believes a key takeaway for startup founders is finding opportunity in every problem. Problems should not be seen as obstacles that stop your momentum. Instead, they exhibit a product need that visionary founders can fill. He shares the latest pandemic and being stuck in India as another problem with an opportunity. Using the time there, he was able to consolidate his team and gather enough data points to remotely bring to other markets. His startup strategy combines a balance of risk and calculation. He launched the platform across two international markets, which were two representations of the global pharma markets. By working smartly even with stretched resources, he was able to gather enough data to further innovate the product. Jain closes off by emphasizing the importance of empowering your people. Hire the right people and get out of their way so they can succeed. He also believes in the power of building your network. Having different perspectives on the same idea can help progress it further into a solution.Startup founders looking to take their idea to the next level can up their game by listening to Jain’s startup journey. Website - https://doceree.com/LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/harshitjain/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Gerry Hogue, President & Founder at VieCure, is joining the fight against cancer. His company is doing it by providing a unified AI-based platform that supports cancer treatment centers. VieCure takes all the data, treatments, and operational logistics involved and puts them together into a single platform. This macro approach ensures treatments are targeted, efficient, and also more economical by saving a lot of time.Creating a product that helps cure cancer is not an easy task. Hogue says that their approach was not just targeted towards aiding physicians. The platform helps every aspect of the cancer treatment center. The platform supports tracking treatments and medicine, nursing care, physicians, and even operations management of the center. Focusing on every aspect has helped bolster the value of the platform.More on product development, Hogue shares some key takeaways on this. Founders need to be humble enough to know that their original product isn’t the final one to go for. It’s essential to perform a lot of customer discovery. AI needs a lot of organized data input to get it off the ground. With cancer treatment centers extremely busy, every second counts. Hogue shares how part of their solution was to create ways for data points to be gathered discreetly. They were able to do this by spending time on the ground to understand the entire workflow process as it unfolds.A key part of every startup is refining an idea and turning it into a product. Following Hogue’s approach to building a product that helps cure cancer can be a great application to your startup.Email - [email protected] episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Ted Gutierrez, CEO at SecurityGate.io, joins the show on a great discussion about product creation and pricing strategies that match the market. Gutierrez carries extensive experience in securing critical infrastructure. His startup takes security audits and compliance measures to the next level through a SaaS platform. Sharing key points from his startup journey, Gutierrez and Ledge talk about the importance of pricing in market strategy. It’s essential to study the market and ensure the perfect timing is in place. You can’t raise prices too high, even with a premium product, or you won’t be competitive. You can’t price too low either as it will affect fundraising later in the game. Gutierrez also shares the importance of customer discovery consistently through the life cycle of your startup. Having a thorough discussion with your customers can help determine the roadmap for your product features. One hack he shares is getting customers who really need particular features to sponsor the update. This can come in the form of a price increase or contract extension.Another key insight from the podcast is the approach to raising capital. Gutierrez, an advocate of lean startup, emphasizes the need to bootstrap and rely on revenue. Raising capital on an idea can be risky, but relying on revenue keeps you committed. He stresses the importance of flexibility to adjust to changing scenarios and environments. ResourcesEmail - [email protected] - 1.713.344.6351This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Gareth Genner, Co-founder and CEO at Trust Stamp, joins this episode to discuss how empowering people to run with ideas leads to innovation. He also talks about how he was able to find amazing talent by giving opportunities and training to people from various geographies.Trust Stamp is a company that has found significance in today’s digital world. They provide a secure means of identifying individuals. Their differentiator is how they use various means to identify without keeping any biometric information on their end.Genner, who is also an educator, talks about the power of letting an idea run independently across brilliant minds. His initial idea has gone through brilliant minds with doctorates and engineering degrees to evolve into their innovative product. A great lesson when so many founders are tempted to take control of every detail. Allowing a highly talented workforce to create the product following a vision produces the best results. One startup lesson he shares is taking a chance on people and geographies. He utilizes proper education and training to bring out their potential. This strategy has worked well for Trust Stamp as he has built teams in Poland, Malta, and Rwanda. This has given him access to some very talented people, given an opportunity to the community, and has kept his costs in check. Learn about successfully bringing an innovative idea to market using a talented workforce across multiple geographies. Expand your startup insight with the lessons from this episode. Website - truststamp.comThis episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com This episode is brought to you by Chili Piper: Start turning leads into meetings today, with Chili Piper. Visit chilipiper.com/leaders to learn more.

Sagi Eliyahu, Co-Founder and CEO at Tonkean, joins Ledge to talk about his startup epiphany, particularly on the product side. His successful career in engineering and R&D opened his eyes to the business problems that various operational departments are burdened with. This holds especially true when they work with each other.Eliyahu observes that the problem with software procurement is that they are siloed. Especially true in enterprises, departments purchase software based on their needs, and the moment different departments have to work together, the communication link breaks down. This fuels reactions that are inefficient. The company may end up buying more software that solves that particular communication problem. They may also allocate their technology department’s resources to building their own solution from the ground up. Or they may end up doing things manually. These reactions cost a lot, and result in change management, training, additional man-hours, and lost opportunities. Eliyahu stresses the importance of gauging personal ROI in business, and all of these things run counter to that.Eliyahu foresees the evolution toward composable software, an optimal medium between cumbersome built-to-spec enterprise solutions and one-size fits-all SaaS that are usually purchased just for one feature. Tonkean’s no-code customization approach follows this cadence, and their success affirms Eliyahu’s vision.Website - https://tonkean.com/Maker Community - https://tonkean.com/adaptivops/ This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships & grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Bob Bickel, Founder at GiveSignup and RunSignup joins co-host Ledge to share how he converted his passion into a great startup company. Bickel has been a passionate runner since his collegiate athletic days. He built RunSignup to help race organizers like nonprofits efficiently raise the supporter experience.Bickel cautions new founders who go all-in with their vision, convinced that their product is the new unicorn. Bickel urges founders to be cautious but not in a paralyzing way. Ensure that the product is a fit for the market before getting too ambitious. Constant testing and data-driven decisions are needed before huge capital decisions. Bickel’s approach is consistent with how he grew RunSignup and the incubation of GiveSignup. He methodically studies the market share and determines the right customer profile. He found a need for a solution—race organizers didn’t get what they needed from various software platforms. He then studied the feasibility of it in the market. With limited growth and the market capping at about a billion dollars annually, it was still worth it as he saw the capacity to capture a big chunk of this market share. This same limited growth is what has fueled Bickel’s companies to be hyper-focused on customer success. The average revenue per customer is $300 in the first year, but that grows exponentially to $3000 in the tenth year. Great customer experience tied into their success has enabled them to have great relationships with customers. Startup founders will benefit from the wealth of experience Bickel brings to the table and shares on this episode. His deliberate, analytical approach combined with his passion for customer success will provide great insight for your business.Website - bobbickel.comEmail - [email protected] episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Erik Kostelnik, Founder/CEO at Postal.io, talks about the impact and effect of offline marketing campaigns. Offline marketing campaigns refer to direct mail, handwritten notes, gifts, or corporate swag. With marketing efforts pivoting to digital due to its reach and convenience, Kostelnik argues that offline is now even more significant. His case studies have shown a 20% increase in conversion through effective use of offline campaigns.He identifies this opportunity and solves the business problem of logistical inefficiencies when mounting these campaigns. With corporate offline spend amounting to about $125B a year, his platform gives corporations bang for their marketing buck through automations and seamless communication across channels.Kostelnik goes on to share key learnings from his startup journeys. A major learning point is to find people who aren’t like you. It’s important to find people who bring different skills and ideas to the table. Kostelnik reinforces setting up the right vision, so even with different backgrounds you are all still aligned.Another important point is to trust the people you hire and not micromanage them. Allow them to fail with little fires, but support them and direct the right resources to fight the bigger fires. If fires continue to erupt around the same areas, then it’s not a people problem, but rather a process issue that may be related to the core product of the business.Finally, Kostelnik emphasizes the need to commit and stake your claim to your startup idea. A founder needs to think long and hard about what they will be doing in the next five to ten years, bounce their ideas off their network or mentors, then invest into it.Startup founders and business leaders will learn a ton of leadership insights from this episode. From product strategy to people leadership to growth hacking, the episode is full of great lessons.https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikkostelnik/This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

In this episode of Leaders of B2B podcast, Michael Cheng, CEO and Co-Founder of Lumen5, shares what he learned on his entrepreneurial journey leading to the development of Lumen5. He emphasizes simplifying the alignment of people with the small company’s vision, mission, and unique differentiating proposition. The company now has 40+ staff on the books. Lumen5 is a SaaS business; a video creation platform that’s helped 1000s of people who have never created videos before to be able to create their own professional-looking videos for marketing and communications purposes.In this discussion, you can expect to hear about:The transition from running an agency to starting a tech company, and the lessons learned.Lumen5’s journey, and building the first minimum viable product.The financial approach taken.Hiring a marketing team and what they look for in candidates. Since Michael’s background is marketing, he knows there must be a good balance between logic and magic; if the team is too far on the logic end, you end up with projects that are more targeted at revenue or engagement or funnel optimizations. If it's too far on the magic side, you’ll get crazy creative campaigns.The company’s hiring process, and how they use a “skill and will” model: do they have the skill to do the work? And do they have the will to do the work? Both are necessary.The framework they use to align team members to the company’s vision and mission.What Michael would do differently if he could go back to the start of his entrepreneurial journey, and how he would practice discipline, patience, and focus.Resources Mentioned:Woody CookieSniplyWixSquarespaceRedditAdobe Premiere After EffectsPowerPointCanvaInstagramDesign PickleEOS framework from the book Traction by Gino Wickman.People AnalyzerThis episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Vinod Varma, Co-Founder & CEO at Creator.co, joins us to talk about how he is making digital marketing much easier for brands and content providers to meet and collaborate. Influencer marketing using creator influencers is a great way to build a company’s digital marketing footprint. First, it provides an organic way to firm up content that features your products. Second, it provides endorsements to your brand from an online authority figure. And third, it creates a lasting impression of your brand in a creative way.Creator influencers consider working with brands a win, too. First, there’s the sponsorship and monetization from the engagement. Second, it boosts their portfolio with an additional client that trusts them. Third, it expands their followers with the brand’s natural audience also tuning in to them.Varma’s ecosystem provides a solution to the inefficient way of finding each other. The ecosystem allows creators to find the brands they want to work with. Finding brands that fit into an influencer’s strategy is very important, and this ensures that brands get creators who really want to work with them.Creator.co also provides valuable data through their dashboard and automation features. This allows companies to see how the creators they are working with are reaching the intended audience. This is extremely useful for AB testing campaigns using the user-generated content. One other differentiator that Creator.co brings to the table is leveraging micro-influencers on their ecosystem. Micro-influencers with upwards of 1,000 followers provide brands with a higher chance of success as they reach a varied audience. A brand is more likely to find a perfect match for their campaigns instead of competing head-on against celebrity influencers.Finally Varma shares an exclusive insight on the launch of an exciting new affiliate program for brands to join. They are launching this next month and it will be a great opportunity to use their ecosystem and earn money promoting it.Learn more about the startup journey of this fantastic ecosystem and using influencers in digital marketing by tuning in to this episode. Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinod-varma/[email protected] This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com

Jim Brusstar, President and Co-Founder at Treasury Prime joins Ledge in a podcast about innovation in a traditional institution. Treasury Prime aims to connect visionary FinTechs with innovative banks. It plans to do this by taking legacy technology and making it easier for developers to integrate through APIs. Banking and finance are always at the top of any list of the most traditional industries. Their stricter regulatory policies, audit scrutiny, and sensitivity to the impact of financial transactions mean that modernization is a challenge. These waters are what Treasury Prime looks at navigating, by using the right technology with banks that are open to some form of innovation.Brusstar aims to solve this larger business problem by helping developers connect and integrate with banks through the use of Treasury Prime´s solutions. He plans to take advantage of cloud-based platforms. Moving to the cloud presents multiple advantages since it allows FinTech to become more cost-effective. This allows smaller banks to invest in it. It also provides a better experience for customers through a product standard. Brusstar talks about the challenges he faces regarding the difference in the culture of banks as opposed to startups. He says that being on both sides of the fence as a differentiator has given him an advantage in understanding each side. He also stresses the importance of business leaders tailoring their product to every aspect of their customers´ spectrum.Startup founders can learn how to push innovation when faced with traditional resistance in this episode. Find great ways to understand your market and your partners to create that innovative product.Resources mentioned:Email - [email protected] This episode is brought to you by Content Allies.Content Allies helps B2B tech companies launch revenue-generating podcasts. Build relationships that drive revenue through podcast networking. We schedule interviews with your ideal prospects and strategic partners so that you can build relationships and grow your business. You show up and have conversations, we handle everything else. Learn more at ContentAllies.com.