BOSS-it

Thom Dennis is well known for his expertise in creating transformational change and is a sought-after advisor on a spectrum of leadership, diversity, inclusion and justice issues. Over the last 30 years he has been a coach and confidant to executives of many organisations, facilitated pivotal meetings setting strategy, purpose and vision, and devised and led culture change programs bringing lasting value. He has developed the skills of senior management in leadership, conflict resolution, communication and customer service and enabled change in many corporations in the US, South America, Europe, Africa, India and the Far East.Thom is the CEO of Serenity in Leadership Ltd, the premier culture remodelling, change and leadership specialists. He is an international speaker, voice over actor and Amazon #1 published author and has been featured on both BBC TV News and radio and as a thought leader in over 100 articles in industry leading publications in just the last year alone.  With over 30 years' experience as an Executive Coach, Facilitator, Change Maker and Leadership Developer, he has been hired by global banking, pharmaceutical, energy and engineering brands such as Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Conoco Phillips, Shell, BP, and ABB Automation to name just a few. He holds an MSc in Change Agent Skills and Strategies, is a Certified Facilitator accredited by the CQ® Center, a certified NLP Master Practitioner, a member of the International Association of Facilitators and a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Thom served 17 years as an officer in the Royal Marines, has lived and worked in many countries and is the proud father of two and grandfather of five. His extensive travels for both work and pleasure have informed his understanding of different cultures, and he is working on a third book. When relaxing, he can be found delving into his library or combining his love for Nature and wild places with his curiosity in photography.

Pete Sena is a creative entrepreneur and forward-obsessed business builder. He partners with founders and business leaders to 10x their growth through marketing innovation, branding, and digital-experience design and create what's next.Specialties: Branding, Marketing Innovation, Strategy, Web3, Digital Transformation, Creative Leadership.As founder of Digital Surgeons, a forward-obsessed brand experience consultancy, Pete designs results-driving strategies that unlock new possibilities and growth for ambitious brands and businesses. For nearly 20 years, he has built and led cross-functional teams that have delivered innovative, bottom-line boosting activations and multi-channel programs, ranging in scale from venture-backed startups to Fortune 500 organizations. As a human-centered problem solver, Pete focuses on the behaviors and systems that drive people, products, and experiences. He designs demand by relentlessly exploring the interplay of connection, curiosity, and creativity to help companies of all shapes, sizes, and business life stages optimize their potential. 

Mark talks to Zach Rattner,  the author of is his first book. Zach shows us the lessons he learned in his journey from an employee to a founder mindset. The lessons he learned are universal amongst entrepreneurs, but Zach gives us a unique spin, as his start-up is in one of the fastest growing areas in the business world - AI.https://growupfastbook.com

In this episode of the "Boss It" podcast, join host Mark Edwards as he engages in a compelling conversation with Philip Hall, a distinguished UK inventor deeply committed to advancing technology that could play a pivotal role in addressing the global climate change challenge.Rarely in one's lifetime does the opportunity arise to encounter a game-changer with even half the transformative potential that UltraClean brings to the table. However, the sheer enormity of UltraClean's impact can often prove perplexing for many, leaving them grappling with the full extent of its implications, or even wondering if it's too good to be true.Tune in as Mark peels back the layers of Philip's remarkable background, offering listeners a profound understanding of the groundbreaking innovation that is UltraClean. Join us for this enlightening conversation that sheds light on the future of climate change solutions.

In the 16th episode of the third season of the BOSS-it podcast, Mark Edwards delves into a discussion with Alan Schulman about the importance of creativity in digital software communicationAlan Schulman's background: Alan is widely recognised as an expert in digital creativity and content within the industry. He has held executive roles in both big four consulting firms and creative departments of holding companies. During his tenure as the Managing Director of Deloitte Digital, he became the company's first Chief Creative Officer and led their content supply chain practice. Alan has also held the position of Chief Creative Officer at Sapient and worked at McCann and FCB. Additionally, he is a board member of the American Marketing Association (AMA), an instructor for the Cannes Lions Academy, and a voting member of The Recording Academy - the institution responsible for the Grammy Awards.

In episode 15 of season 3 of the BOSS-it podcast, Professor Alexiei Dingle discusses with Mark Edwards the impact of AI on the software industry. They explore the key benefits that AI will provide, as well as the considerations that the industry needs to make in order to benefit from this emerging technology. Professor Alexiei Dingli Background: Alexiei is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with over two decades of experience in conducting research and working in the field of AI, aiding various companies in implementing AI solutions. Alexiei's work has been rated as World Class by international experts, and he has received several local and international awards, including those from the European Space Agency, the World Intellectual Property Organisation, and the United Nations. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications.  

Dr. Ulrich Kampffmeyer was an early pioneer in enterprise content management who pivoted to machine learning and AI. Dr. Kampffmeyer firmly believes that AI will redefine work. In this 54-minute podcast, Mark and Ulrich discuss many topics related to AI and the software industry.

Join Mark Edwards as he has an entertaining and informative chat with Bob Hoffman a very outspoken speaker on the subject of advertising. He has been CEO of three advertising agencies and since leaving that role has been unfetttered or hindered about his learnings from several decades. An Amazon #1 best-selling author Bob is happy to take on advertising delusions and layout some startling facts. The Ad-Contrarian http://adcontrarian.blogspot.com/

Hear what Danel learned about scaling businesses from analysing the cut-throat US election cycle, his AI prediction for the next 20 years, and finally what his favourite business book ever is (after reading hundreds of them). Contact Daniel Priestley here: www.linkedin.com/in/danielpriestley Buy Daniel's latest book for £0.99 here: Scorecard Marketing: The four-step playbook for getting better leads and bigger profits: Amazon.co.uk: Priestley, Daniel, Carlson, Glen: 9781781337196: Books 

Ethical Hacker on the security flaws of software companies - with Ted HarringtonHear about the rapidly evolving techniques criminal hackers want to use to bring down your software company, and also, how to protect yourself against them.Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker, Mark Edwards. Contact Ted here: www.tedharrington.com

How to do business process automation the right way - with Nick Gradwell Part 2Hear from one of the industry's top experts about how he reduces his clients' runnings costs and maximises their efficiency which drives revenue and cost savings. Plus, discover the number one pitfall software companies make when trying to automate their processes.

How to do business process automation the right way - with Nick Gradwell Part 1Hear from one of the industry's top experts about how he reduces his clients' runnings costs and maximises their efficiency which drives revenue and cost savings. Plus, discover the number one pitfall software companies make when trying to automate their processes.

"Blockchain tech insights for software execs - with Dr Christian de Vartavan Hear from an advisor to the UK government about the surprising ways software companies can use Blockchain technology to their benefit, also how companies who don't use it are being left behind, and finally, hear Christian's expert prediction for Blockchain going forwards (and how it'll affect your software business). Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker, Mark Edwards.Contact Christian here: https://projectis.co.uk/ "

Ransomware attacks, innovation mistakes, & cyber security - with Leon KupermanHear Leon's personal story about the ransomware attack that struck when they were making between $750k-1m sales a day, the unorthodox ways he keeps his engineers happy, and the one innovation mistake that's so common in the software industry. Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker Mark Edwards. Contact Leon here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itexecutivecto/ & www.Cast.ai

Hear about the one thing about AI that our industry needs to urgently address, future areas he believes are worth investing resources into, and about the big machine learning study he did while working as a senior scientist at Xerox. Listen to this BOSS-it episode now hosted by top M&A deal maker Mark Edwards.Contact Luca here: www.sparkd.ai

For the last episode of Season 2, Mark was delighted to host Steve Hoffman, CEO of Founders Space and author of three startup-related books (links below).The conversation between the two CEOs is far-ranging, lively and entertaining - Steve's energy and enthusiasm for what he does are infectious.From early ambitions to be an architect, filmmaker or games designer, Steve admits he never expected to end up being a venture capitalist, entrepreneur and writer.Founders Space - the Platform for StartupsSteve's platform - Founders Space - is a startup accelerator, focusing primarily on software startups.The goal is to help promising tech startups raise funding and connect with strategic partners, marketing people, lawyers etc. – whatever they need to grow their business.Steve's Four Rules for StartupsGo out into the market and look for unmet needs - Don't just think of an idea and fall in love with it. Then, later on, find that nobody cares about it.Find your "A-Team" - Don't try to go it alone or be a solopreneur. Nobody builds a billion-dollar company by themselvesWhen presenting to potential investors, keep it visual - Slides should have no more than 6 words but better still, create a video. Investors don't want to read. Just like everybody else, they want to be entertained.Never tell an investor you're going to sell via partners - This is the "Kiss of Death". If you're relying on partners to sell your product, your investor is gone.On a Mission to Help StartupsFounders Space is an early-stage investor whose mission is to help startups progress into the venture funnel, where they can seek additional funding from investors on the Founders Edge platform. Startups also have access to a huge network of business mentors, across marketing, legal etc. They can work with experienced mentors over a period of weeks, rather than paying to have these skills in-house full-time.Founders Edge is currently working with around 100 companies in the US and overseas - with 5 locations in China.Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/foundersspace/  https://www.foundersedge.com/First Book: Make Elephants Flyhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Make-Elephants-Fly-Process-Innovation/dp/0349418837Second Book: Surviving a Startuphttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Surviving-Startup-Practical-Strategies-Overcoming-ebook/dp/B08BYZXWDYLatest Book: The 5 Forces that change everythinghttps://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9781953295040?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=CjwKCAiAlfqOBhAeEiwAYi43FzQiFbvRWrOic7oAxLz5exuJPBD3HXUMJ4ziMSFFLpyjx3msA3skJBoCTHUQAvD_BwE

In this episode of BOSS-it, Mark Edwards talks with Uli Erxleben, Co-founder and Managing Director of Hypatos. The conversation ranges widely over topics including IDP (Intelligent Document Processing), Neural Networks, Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) but ultimately, it's all about the humans who use the tech.Hypatos - Unusual OriginsMark shares a joke with Uli about the origin of the company name, Hypatos, which is not what he had thought. You'll need to listen to the podcast to understand more :)With studies in business administration, a Masters in Accounting & Finance as well as a PhD in Finance & Statistics, Uli explains his background is in business rather than tech. He goes on to explain Hypatos' offering, which harnesses visual pattern recognition, language understanding and artificial neural networks to make repetitive tasks, such as invoice processing, quicker and easier - and operatives more productive.A Focus on Semi-Structured DataHypatos focuses on high-volume use cases, where companies have many semi-structured documents -  Finance, purchase to pay, order to cash, travel expense reports, insurance claims, loan applications etcUli believes it's important that the software is fully integrated into companies' data workflows and also that it's human-centric - Made to assist human beings in their daily work, not to replace them.The Software Needs to Work in "Real-Life" ScenariosHe says it's critical the software is created for human beings, not just for "nerdy machine learning engineers" - believing that, just because something works in model format, doesn't necessarily mean it will work and add value in an organisation.  Links:https://www.hypatos.ai/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ulierxleben/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/ https://www.bossequity.com/

In this last episode of Season 2 BOSS-it podcast, Mark Edwards has a warm and engaging conversation with Sean Si, CEO & Founder of SEO Hacker.Early BeginningsSean Si introduces himself as a born-again Christian from the Philippines. He runs a 50 people digital marketing agency, one of the most-trusted and leading SEO companies in the Philippines.He founded SEO Hacker at just 21 years old with only about (1300 pesos) $65 capital and it's now grown, through grit, prayer, mentorship, book reading and podcast listening (including BOSS-it), to a $1 million company.From Failure to SuccessSean's route to setting up a business was anything but traditional. Having, in his words, "failed" at college, Sean was nonetheless able to land a job with HP.He stayed at HP only 5 short months because his 'side hustle' - SEO Hacker - was already earning him 8-10 times what his day job paid and, as Sean puts it, he "had to resign and jump on this opportunity before the train left."Evolution of Growing a Business‘Mom and pop' startups often remain as ‘mom and pop startups' for years, because change is difficult; it takes you out of your comfort zone and it also requires money.Many changes are required along the way, to ensure your company makes it through the first 5 years and beyond.SEO Hacker had no backers and has grown organically, meaning that, as founder, Sean has had to wear many hats along the way - even assuming all janitorial duties in his first office because he couldn't afford to hire people to do it. Humility - You have to have a lot of humility as a CEO. In his book, "How the Mighty Fall”, Jim Collins (link below) explains how hubris & ego are the main reasons companies fail. You have to make sacrifices in order to succeed and be humble enough to do whatever it takes.Sean believes everything has “Divine Appointment” - You have a purpose, desire and reason for living. You have a burning “Why” in your heart. To find out what it is, you have to have faith.A jovial, friendly character, Sean's closing observation gives great insight into his positive attitude to life's ups and downs and where they may lead - "Almost getting kicked out of college, quitting my job - How lucky can a guy be..?!"Great to meet you, Sean Si!Links:https://sean.si/ https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/the-leadership-stack-podcast/id1470219705 https://www.linkedin.com/in/seansi/https://www.linkedin.com/in/seansi/?originalSubdomain=phhttps://www.instagram.com/sean.si/?hl=enhttps://www.facebook.com/seansi.speakshttps://seo-hacker.com/Jim Collins' book - How the Mighty Fall

In this podcast, Mark has an illuminating conversation with John Taylor of Action.ai, a company that offers the world's most advanced natural language technology, conceived by the best computational linguistics.Never one to shy away from a controversial question, Mark's opening question, “Does AI really exist?”, doesn't disappoint. Taking this in his stride, John says it does exist but the term is much misused. He agrees that "AI" is an extraordinarily broad term that has, unfortunately, been attached to just about everything in any context you can imagine.However, the current buzz is justified as the sector is at an extraordinary flexion point, where computational power and algorithms can be applied to use the tech in really useful ways - in healthcare, customer service etc.John notes that knowledge is building really rapidly - and its origins are in academia.Early Foray into EntrepreneurshipJohn started his entreprenuerial career early, setting up a small software company with a friend to pay university fees.That friend was Richard Tolcher, now Action-ai's CTO. Richard was brilliant technology-wise but also had a strong commercial awareness - an unusual combination. Their aim was to do something really pioneering - to create "Delightful Automation".The Vision: "Delightful Automation" John and Richard knew that the Big Tech companies - Facebook, Microsoft and Google - were going to launch automated customer communication with chatbots, and although this had potential, it wasn't really going to work, in terms of the “Delightful Automation” John and Richard were seeking to achieve.It was going to make an impact but it wasn't going to change behaviours and the way people interact.Their vision has remained constant since the early days but everything else has evolved over time and the business now looks radically different from Day 1.Most Important Things Learned from Running a Business John believes the most important element of the business is its people. And they need to be exceptional. Compromising on the people you hire is a poor economy. In the early days, when funds are limited, if you can find a way to hire those 4 or 5 great people, the difference to the business can be immeasurable.His approach was to try to run a capital-efficient business, understanding that if you want large, flashy offices, you will need to raise huge amounts of venture funding.  John acknowledges that it's harder to run a capital-efficient business but when funding does arrive, it's a lot easier as you're not sitting in offices where your overheads are huge, you haven't made promises you can't keep, lost track of consultants etc etc.He notes that there is a caveat though, as you can't be so cautious that you can't move quickly. You need to assess how much money you need to spend to get to market quickly - but it's also about balancing spending as little money as possible in the first couple of years.Another critical ingredient is that you need to own your own IP and be able to prove that you do. It's simple enough to achieve but you need to be aware of the need to do this from the beginning.Getting smart people into the business sets the culture for the business. It's important you have a culture of integrity and aim to build long-term relationships.Thanks for your time and a fascinating conversation, John.Links and Contact:Email John: john@action.aihttps://action.ai/https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjamestaylor/?originalSubdomain=ukmedwards@bossequity.comhttps://www.bossequity.com/

BOSS-it host, Mark Edwards has a wide-ranging chat with CTO and author, Mark Herschberg, who, it turns out, has been a guest on 180 podcasts. No pressure there then for our host to ask some decent questions :-)Brief Bio for Mark HerschbergBack in the 90s, during the .com era, Mark was a software developer. At the same time, he recognised the skills required to be successful were leadership, communication and networking. These were skills that were not taught in college, so he ended up teaching them at MIT - for the past 20 years.Mark has followed these two careers in parallel and is still a CTO.Best Lessons LearnedMark says the best lessons he has learned came from a book called "Peopleware", by Tom de Marco & Timothy Lister – The essence of the book is that most software projects fail not because of technological (software) issues but for sociological reasons – In other words, because your team didn't talk to each other and plan and communicate well, they messed up the project.  He outlines the most important things to do to avoid this scenario:1) Set the overarching goal – What are we trying to achieve? – Not just what it is but how it's positioned.2) Have a clear process - How are we going to work together? Have a clear idea for what happens when there's an issue? – How do you raise that to your teammate? Where do we use Slack, versus an email or a meeting? Don't leave this to chance.3) Agree the definition of “Done”? – You need a common definition so that everybody knows when a job is actually complete.Links:The Career Toolkit – Mark A Herschberghttps://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/Download the career development kit: https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com/authorPeopleware by Tom de Marco & Timothy Listerhttps://menloinnovations.com/The BOSS-it Podcast:https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcastsmedwards@bossequity.comhttps://www.bossequity.com/

Mark Edwards talks with Martha Amram of Glynt.ai.Revisiting their previous conversation,Mark and Martha have an in-depth conversation, spanning exciting innovations in AI and Machine Learning, no-code platforms, the increasing demand for carbon emissions data and how companies can now make money from their data.BackgroundWith a PhD from MIT, Martha's background is in economics & finance. From there, she moved into the energy sector and for the last 8 years, she has been running Glynt, which captures energy data and turns it into a useful product.Right now, there's a pressing need to record emissions in order that they can be reduced. Glynt.aiGlynt is the market-leading producer using AI of carbon emissions. They are at the forefront of not only change (reducing emissions) but also of making profit from that change. So, AI and data are absolutely critical.There's now a big market in carbon credits - selling them directly, selling them as options and futures and embedding them into green loans - Sort of the Fintech of carbon emissions.Two Major Pivots for GlyntRealising that building templates didn't scale, they built a ML (Machine Learning) system to eliminate the need for templates, but also to avoid using expensive ML specialists. They created a system that could be operated by no-code users.Doing this, significantly reduced costs to the business and was an important strategic pivot for Glynt.Glynt's second pivot was coming out of Covid - in late Spring 2021 - Everybody was exhausted after 20 very difficult months and nobody had time to think - It could be called an "Enterprise Attention Deficit Economy", where people just wanted easy solutions to their problems. So, to address this attention deficit economy, Glynt simply configured their existing AI solution to focus on carbon emissions. The Future for GlyntThere's now an underlying, new demand for carbon emissions data and the ability to make money from it.Glynt's extensible solution can produce Scope 2 & 3 emissions data. Having combined those two things and being an emissions data producer, they are simultaneously connecting everything to the financial market.Supplying data is Part A of contributing to climate change solutions, Part B is showing people how to profit from their own data - And this is where Glynt is poised to make a huge difference in accelerating the cycle of change.Currently, every CEO has an issue with reporting emissions data. Clearly this is a risk management challenge for them, and this is fuelling a huge demand for for carbon emissions data and for Glynt's services.Regardless of the size of the enterprise, the pressure is now on to have really accurate data today and to be able to report reductions tomorrow. Climate tech is now a huge market - with $40 billion a year spent on solar, wind and building in efficiencies.That complete market needs data to drive down next year's data, next year's reported emissions. Biggest Business Lessons LearntMartha's  approach is:"Get ready to be lucky" - What can I do now to be prepared to take that random call that's gonna be the game-changer..? Where are my gaps?Take the big mission and break it down - Deliver your message so your team can take it forward, build a very tightly run organisation, particularly as everybody is working from home - Clear communication from the top and setting the culture is a ‘must have'. Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/martha-schary-amram-b9164328/ https://glynt.ai/

Mark Edwards talks to Salt Lake City-based Joseph Wilkins of FunnySalesVideos.com, about how his company uses humorous videos to connect with audiences and drive massive sales. Background..In 2000, Joseph Wilkins founded ProCreative Studios, which produced infomercials for television & marketing videos for clients, including Google, Linkedin, McDonalds, Goldman Sachs, Chevrolet & Home Depot.As viewing habits shifted away from television, Joseph launched FunnySalesVideos.com where, after several evolutions, he now creates attention-grabbing "viral style" sales videos that get millions of views, converting cold traffic into sales.With 20 years' experience, hundreds of millions of views and over $250 MILLION in career sales, Joseph enjoys sharing 8 steps anyone can follow to drive sales on his podcast "How To Make A Video Go Viral."Switch to Humorous Video Proved a Huge SuccessMaking the switch to video was hugely successful - Joseph explains that the biggest video success they'd ever had online, using straightforward sales pitch videos was 100,000 views. Yet, when they launched their new brand - funnysalesvideos.com - their very first video campaign hit 7 million views. Fast forward to today and their campaigns are now hitting 100 million viewers and millions of dollars in directly tracked sales.So, the business has come full circle, surpassing its former huge levels of success, but this time using social media and harnessing the power of humour.When is a Sales Video Not Appropriate...?Joseph says he's never yet seen a situation where video is inappropriate - Even videos created for funeral service companies.The questions to ask are: Did it do justice to the story and to the audience? It's got to be funny without being offensive to the audience.Comedy makes the risky safe - Because you're using humour you can discuss things that you'd not normally talk about.And Finally…Reinvention is Key You always have to be evolving - You can never stay still. This is true across all industries and in particular in the software sector. You need to learn to look at the trends and see where things are going. Ten years ago, people were fast-forwarding through commercials on tv. If Joseph hadn't reinvented the company the ongoing changes would have killed it. Links:Joseph Wilkins:Harmon Bros University: https://harmonbrothersuniversity.com/start-homehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/wilkinsjoseph/ https://funnysalesvideos.com/joseph@funnysalesvideos.comFree ebook: How to make a funny sales video without hiring ushttps://funnysalesvideos.com/ebook/How to make a video go viralMark Edwards:https://www.bossequity.com/resources/podcasts https://www.linkedin.com/in/markledwards/https://www.bossequity.com/

This week, Mark Edwards talks to former Royal Marines Commando, Ben Williams.From taking drugs to being pinned down under Taliban fire, Ben took some hard knocks in his teenage years, which prompted him to decide that a life of crime wasn't for him - So, he joined the Marines to find out if he was part of the 0.1% who would make it through training.After a tour in Afghanistan at the height of the conflict, Ben returned to the UK and trained new recruits for 3 years, before being given a medical discharge.Having enjoyed the coaching aspect of military life, Ben set about utilising his experiences as a Marine to help those in the corporate world. Ben has also written a book - Commando Mindset - in which he writes about the "ARA model" of coping in adversity, explaining that it's based on principles he learned with the Marines, as follows:A - Accept: Think with clarityR - Remove: Remove unwanted emotionA - Adapt: What's changed? What do we do now? How can we now take the fight to the enemy?The ARA model is designed to help people think with clarity in a crisis situation, so they don't freeze but instead, make calm, coherent decisions and take positive action.This ability to think rationally in a crisis, clearly has immense benefits in the corporate world - particularly in the current situation of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is causing global economic chaos. Ben's business was one of the many casualties and he has since pivoted to create Loopin, an app that monitors and takes care of employees' mental health.The Loopin support team includes a psychologist, whilst the app includes well-being interventions, hints & tips. It's really helpful for HR to see if a team is under stress - but, for employyees' peace of mind, they can't access the team data. It remains confidential within the team on the app. Loopin can highlight to HR if teams are exhausted and even indicate how that is likely to play out in the future, so they can take action to mitigate. A highly entertaining listen, with many real-world anecdotes, both from Ben's military career and corporate experience. Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-williams-vgs/https://medium.com/@ben_82245Book: Commando Mindsethttps://www.letsloopin.com/Podcasts:The Infinite Monkey Cage Brian Cox & Robin IncSecret Leaders Dan Murray-SertaSquiggly Careers Helen & Sarah

Mark Edwards Talks with Gordon Ho, founder and Head Rainmaker at Rainmakerdots.The main problems Gordon sees with lead generation are lack of time and consistencyHe says, sales prospecting never sleeps – so therefore, you have to commit the time and be consistent with it – Otherwise the pipeline will fall off.Nobody likes to do prospecting but it has to be done.https://www.rainmakerdots.com/

In this highly entertaining, both serious and amusing podcast, David Angel talks to Mark Edwards about the gratitude he now has for his life. Starting life as a chef and 'accidentally' falling into sales, David went from door-to-door sales to in-office calling - 300 calls a day. As a saleman and manager of sales teams, his drink and substance abuse gradually increased to a point where he lost everything and found himself living in his car. From this rock bottom, David gradually rebuilt his life to the point that he became a sales coach and helped others work on their selling skills as well as their mindset. David describes his persistent anxiety as like living with a pet tiger. When the tiger behaves, he enjoys laser-like focus, drive and determination; when the tiger misbehaves, it's a totally different story. But David has now learned different, more positive coping mechanisms. Amongst the seriousness, David and Mark swap anecdotes of some hilarious - and not so hilarious - situations selling door to door landed them in: being chased by German Shepherd dogs and bombarded with missiles by 10-year olds at houses where sales people weren't welcome, people dressed as pirates with parrots on their shoulders. As David says, such episodes gave him a rhino skin but also taught him never to pre-judge people. An easy-listening podcast, as entertaining as it is informative. Links:The Sales Network platform - send a DM and talk to David direct Instagram: The Sales Angelhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/davidangeltsn/?originalSubdomain=ukhttps://www.tethr.men/

Warning to Salespeople: This might hurt - just a bitIn this week's podcast, Mark Edwards talks to Ari Galper, the World No1 authority on "trust-based selling". Some 20 years ago, Ari was a sales manager in a software company, selling an innovative tracking solution. It was after an hour-long, online demo - which Ari describes as a "Lovefest on the phone" - that Ari had an epiphany that changed the way he saw and approached selling from that moment forward.After that demo, Ari realised that somewhere over the years, it had become socially acceptable to lie to salespeople; he realised that you need to remove pressure from sales conversations and replace it with trust or you'll never get to the truth of what they need - And you'll be forever chasing 'ghosts'.Ari explains the importance and the subtle nuances of the language you use - with a list of phrases and words to avoid. He also explains when and how the sale is lost - and it's not when and how you may think...Links:linkedin.com/in/australiatrustsalestraininghttps://unlockthegame.comBook: Unlock the Game

Simon Grosse, CEO at "Great Place to Work", award-winning company, Foundation-SP, talks to Mark Edwards. We learn how his company has evolved from a services model to being a provider of Pulse 360 software that assists organisations in managing their employee culture, communications, expectations and well-being.Simon explains how he and his colleagues have fostered a very direct & open culture of communicating the things that are going well as well as things that aren't. He goes on to describe how this two-way communication is invaluable for enterprises in gauging employee engagement & satisfaction and how his organisation strives to make work a place where people are 'in flow' and where they are empowered to do their best work.Links:https://www.pulse360.io/https://foundation-sp.com/linkedin.com/in/simon-grosse-7324b61simon.grosse@foundation-sp.com

With a background as an M&A lawyer in Israel, and several successful start ups to his name, Dan Ziv is now CEO of TouchNote. Dan describes TouchNote as a creative platform for personal communication, where people upload their own images and send them as postcards, greetings cards etc. TouchNote's primary differentiator is that they are a “Mobile first” platform, optimised for ease of use, with a particular focus on personalisation.Amongst a range of topics, Dan explains how they have pivoted to rapidly scale the business by offering memberships.Links:@Danzivdan@touchnote.com

Simon Grosse, CEO at "Great Place to Work", award-winning company, Foundation-SP, talks to Mark Edwards. We learn how his company has evolved from a services model to being a provider of Pulse 360 software that assists organisations in managing their employee culture, communications, expectations and well-being.Simon explains how he and his colleagues have fostered a very direct & open culture of communicating the things that are going well as well as things that aren't. He goes on to describe how this two-way communication is invaluable for enterprises in gauging employee engagement & satisfaction and how his organisation strives to make work a place where people are 'in flow' and where they are empowered to do their best work.Links:https://www.pulse360.io/https://foundation-sp.com/linkedin.com/in/simon-grosse-7324b61simon.grosse@foundation-sp.com

A New Way to Succeed as a Software Tech EntrepreneurIn this episode of Boss-it, Uruguayan immigrant, Sandra Shpilberg tells her fascinating story, from landing in New York, aged just 16, with her family, through educating herself, to finding a mission to do work that would make an impact.Sandra is an author, tech entrepreneur as well as Top 40 Healthcare Transformer. She founded, built & sold Seeker Health, a digital platform that connects seriously ill patients with clinical trials.Sandra explains her practical approach to setting up a tech business in Silicon Valley – going against established mores – and gives actionable tips. Her book is both an inspiration and something of a route map for aspiring tech entrepreneurs who may feel they don’t quite fit the Silicon Valley mould.https://www.sandrashpilberg.com/Sandra's new book New Start Up Mindset

B2B software sales veteran and Social Media marketing expert, Neil Schaffer, shares invaluable & easy to implement, marketing tips. He also discusses his new book, The Age of Influence with Mark Edwards.During his early sales career based in Asia, Neil ‘wore many hats’ and also learned to speak Japanese, Mandarin & Chinese along the way. It was on returning to the US during the 2008 crash, that he began to network via LinkedIn to find work. This proved so successful for him that he wrote his first book about it. His take on the current state of Social Media: The power is still there – It’s just how you use it.Links:https://www.amazon.com/Age-Influence-Power-Influencers-Elevate/dp/1400216362https://nealschaffer.com/

Amongst plenty of joshing and generally giving each other a hard time, Mark & Michael catch up on what they have each been doing over the past 18 months.Michael announces his forthcoming book: “Nobody Knows You” – How do you fix your business so it scales. To be published September 2020.They discuss humour, Ricky Gervais, how to change entrenched mindset and how to make your content work really hard for you.Links:Michael HumbletThe Experience Economy - James H Gilmore

Mark Littlewood from BoS (Business of Software) talks to Mark about how he took on the mantle of running the Business of Software events both in the US and European - He explains how he and his team had to rapidly change tack from putting on an in-person event to hosting a 2-Day, online event for senior software sector executives & entreprenuers. And howe the online version was a resounding success.Each presenter speaks for approximately one hour on all aspects of the software sector.Mark believes, if you get the right people on stage you have no problem holding people's attention. He shares his criteria for choosing the speakers at his events, which may surprise you.. Links:www.businessofsoftware.orgwww.businessofsoftware.euhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/marklittlewood/

Former CEO & founder of Everteam and ECM veteran, Béchara Wakim, recently sold his company to Japanese firm, Kyocera. Here, he talks to Mark Edwards about his background and subsequent career in the Document Management and Content Management space, 'the death of AI', machine learning, compliance and information governance.Originally a University professor of IT and Document Management, Béchara founded Everteam in 1990. Everteam started life focusing on Document Management tech tools and processes and over time, evolved to include Content Management.Now Everteam is a major player, integrating artificial intelligence into Document Management and Content Management processes and tools. They have thier own, in-house R&D team which combines expertise and technological innovation with artificial intelligence and automatic natural language processing (NLP). Links:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bechara-wakim-327263/https://www.everteam.com/en/

In this episode, Mark Edwards talks to healthcare industry veteran, Steve Wightman. Currently Sales Director at Servelec, Steve discusses innovation in global healthcare and how hospital Trusts were trying to manage their exisiting paper records while making the transition to digital records.Steve offers insights on latest developments within the sector.

Software entrepreneurs often work too hard. And, just like anything in life, there needs to be a balance.But how do you find that balance?In this episode, Mark Edwards interviews experienced psychologist, Nicola Bird, who shares with you the answer to that question.Nicola also shares insights about overcoming the fear of delegation.How to deal with uncertainty.And, what an entrepreneur should do if s/he is overworked and has too many tasks to complete each day.Links:www.alittlepeaceofmind.co.uk

This week, Mark Edwards talks to experienced software salesman, Michael Veenswyk, whose previous experience includes senior roles at IBM as well as running his own software companies. Michael offers sound advice, based on several decades of experience ‘at the coal face’.With his in-depth software sector knowledge Michael is well-placed to share many insights that will help you on your journey towards growing a more successful software business.