Podcasts about blox

En este episodio te comparto mi experiencia en The Blox, un programa de televisión en USA/ competencia para emprendedores que me llevó al límite. Fui a "aprender"… pero terminé eligiéndome. Si alguna vez has sentido que competir te aleja de tu paz, este episodio es para ti. No siempre se trata de ganar. A veces, lo más valiente es saber cuándo parar.Les amo, Andy

The Paranormal Heart Podcast welcomes Lily McNamara Host: Kat Ward Date: May 13th, 2025 Segment: 33 Topic: Smores and Spirits About The Guest: Lily McNamara is a renowned psychic spiritual advisor to top performers, including multimillionaires, pro athletes, and best-selling authors. As the founder of Lily of the Light, she has helped thousands align intuitive wisdom with business success. A dynamic speaker and thought leader, Lily has delivered keynotes at national summits, created over 40 transformational programs, and hosted one of the most inclusive spiritual events in the U.S.—the Samhain Symposium. She's the Season 9 winner of The Blox, and a recipient of multiple industry honors, including Best in Holistic Medicine and Lavender Magazine's Under 40. Featured in NY Weekly and dozens of top podcasts, Lily continues to elevate conscious leadership worldwide. Lily's Website: www.lilyofthelight.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJfzYJleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHrvvvSBCtkGv4PX_nUQXPREveIdoarQYgj805u2s6YvEESDViEspzH_YQDDD_aem_XLGdUa0RybhpQdSg0vRD-Q

About Michael ColeMichael's entrepreneurial success has earned him national recognition, both as a contestant and judge on The Blox, the first reality show dedicated to entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, Next Level Technician has experienced rapid growth, securing back-to-back placements on Charlotte Business Journal's Fast 50 in 2023 and 2024, and ranking #572 on the Inc. 5000 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies in America in 2024. His dedication to innovation and industry excellence has also led to his nomination for Entrepreneur of the Year in 2024, solidifying his impact as a leader in both business and workforce development. With his background in sales and entrepreneurship, Michael can share insights on how he leveraged industry knowledge to create and grow Next Level Technician into one of the fastest-growing private companies in America.https://www.nextleveltechnician.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/next-level-technician---------------------------------About Denise BrownArmed with candor and wit, Dr. Denise Brown - a Stanford-trained physician, executive, and mom - is the Fairy God Doctor. With her 25+ years of experience caring for and mentoring thousands of badass women around the globe, Dr. Denise represents a manual for working women to create life on their own terms.https://thefairygoddoctor.com/----------------------------------When It Worked Podcasthttps://getoffthedamnphone.com/podcast

This week, we were all over the place with a bunch of different designs and experiments. After last week's analysis of the TLV320DAC3100, we made some updates to the design and re-booked prototype PCBs. We also designed a triple-matrix bonnet: with our latest work on getting HUB75 RGB matrices working on the Raspberry Pi 5, we can now do matrix control on the latest Pi 5 chip. But we're limited by the RP1 chip, so to get big displays going, we'll need multiple strands—these don't use significantly more bandwidth because half of the pins are shared. Finally, we ended the week by getting another older prototype working: the SAM-M8Q is an entry-level all-in-one GPS from u-blox. It comes with both UART and I2C interfaces, plus a built-in antenna, so it's ready to go out of the box. The NMEA interface is trivial, but we also wanted to try out the UBX interface, and thankfully, Claude 3.7 was able to vibe-code it for us in a jiffy.

Having worked on some u-blox GNSS prototypes this week, we decided to figure out what module to check out next. Let's see which u-blox GNSS modules are available that are fast to work with—specifically, those with built-in patch antennas so you can pop them on and start receiving immediately. We'll also take a look at some other options for those willing to connect an external antenna. Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ -----------------------------------------

Episode 128: Grab the Ultimate Ad Script right HERE - https://join.digitaltrailblazer.com/ultimate-ad-scriptCreating and validating a business idea can be very intensive and time-consuming, taking months of development and testing to create a “minimum viable product”, testing it in the market, getting feedback from different audiences, gathering the data, analyzing the results, etc.But now, with the right AI tools, you can get all of this done within minutes for free.In this episode Alex Golimbievsky reveals how he uses AI to find and validate profitable business ideas and offers. He goes into detail about what information you need to feed into the AI, what questions to ask to get a meaningful response, how to prevent the AI from giving you bad answers, and more.About Alex Golimbievsky: Alex is a passionate serial entrepreneur and investor who founded and led five technology companies, two of which resulted in 7- and 8-figure acquisitions. He has coached hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owners with revenues ranging from $100k to $10mm. His insights and coaching landed him as a repeat coach & judge on The Blox, an entrepreneurial reality TV show that streams on Prime Video.Alex specializes in helping companies achieve precise product-market fit, drive revenue growth, and scale effectively. He leverages AI to create scalable, efficient growth strategies—making cutting-edge technology approachable and turning complex challenges into clear, actionable solutions.In his imaginary spare time, Alex travels with his wife, fathers two young entrepreneurs, reads an irresponsible amount of sci-fi books, eats ugly food, and plans his eventual colonization of Mars.Register for Alex's Upcoming AI Workshop: https://masterclass.alexg.consulting/ai-workshop-marchConnect with Alex: https://www.alexg.consulting/ https://www.facebook.com/alex.golimbievsky/ https://www.instagram.com/golimbievsky/ https://x.com/AlexGolim https://www.tiktok.com/@businesscoachalex https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexgolimbievsky/Grab the Ultimate Ad Script right HERE - https://join.digitaltrailblazer.com/ultimate-ad-script✅ Connect With Us:Website - https://DigitalTrailblazer.comFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/digitaltrailblazerTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@digitaltrailblazerTwitter: https://twitter.com/DgtlTrailblazerInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/DigitalTrailblazer

In this Electropages podcast, host Robin Mitchell talks with Sabrina Bochen, Director of Product Planning and Marketing at u-blox, about their latest innovations in IoT connectivity. Sabrina introduces the new SARA-S528NM10 module, designed for IoT Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) to enable seamless connectivity through satellite and LTE. They discuss how this technology is revolutionising asset tracking, renewable energy monitoring, and industrial IoT applications by providing dynamic, low-power, satellite-to-cellular switching. Learn how u-blox is pushing the boundaries of IoT with advanced satellite solutions.

Confira nossas condições especiais da nossa Black Friday aqui: https://lvnt.app/ud2tyt 19/11: Bolsa 0,30%, Dólar R$ 5,76, VAMO3 +4% e EMBR3 -3% Olá, seja bem-vindo a mais um Fechamento de Mercado, comigo Flávio Conde e sem o Ricardo que emendou os feriados, hoje é 3ª. feira, 19 de novembro, e o programa é dedicado ao ucl, Gilson, Nicoletti, Antonia, Robson, Daniel, Dr. Ronaldo, Alexandre novo cliente Vision que ganhou R$ 5 mil em Blox da Levante) e Dr. Nelson que emendou os dois feriados com a esposa. Vc que já assistiu compartilhe o link nos seus grupos de whatsapp e quem não assistiu ainda vá agora. ObrigadoO Ibovespa estava em leve alta de 0,30%, aos 128.170 pontos, às 17h45, com volume fraco de R$ 19 bi, R$ 6 bi abaixo da média de R$ 25 bi das terças de mercado em alta.Por que a Bolsa performou assim? 1º. A bolsa abriu estranhamente caindo até às 10h30 a 127,3 mil contrariando o Ibovespa futuro que subia em torno de 0,20% no pré market, mas se recuperou e zerou às 10h50 e, a partir daí, operou no positivo atingindo um máximo de quase 128,6 mil para depois recuar um pouco e fechar a 128.170 pontos. Os mercados brasileiros tiveram um comportamento meio estranho que foram as três principais classes de ativos subindo: dólar +0,30%, bolsa +0,30% e juros futuros +0,03% (Será que é uma premunição e será Brasil 0 x 3 Uruguai? Tomará que não). Eu chamo estranho porque a bolsa costuma andar na direção oposta de dólar e juros, que viraram quase irmãos siameses, ou seja, sempre juntos e contra a bolsa. Entretanto, com foram variações muitos pequenas, pois considero abaixo de -/+ 1% baixo, podemos dizer que foi um dia de mercados de lado. No próximo parágrafo, vamos ao que mais interessa: como andaram as ações, principalmente, aquelas que recomendamos aos clientes da Levante.Na B3, as ações da Vale lideraram as altas com o minério subindo 1,8% ao mesmo tempo que ações de bancos (Itaú, BB e Bradesco) e utilities (Eletrobras, Sabesp e Equatorial) que tinham registrado bons resultados no 3T24 e vinham caindo com a fraqueza da bolsa foram compradas por investidores em busca de ações de cias. sólidas e lucros crescentes a preços (cotações) atrativas como as citadas. Já nas quedas apenas Petrobras que tinham subido ontem bem como PRIO além de JBS em levíssima baixa.2º. Na B3, 11 ações subiram entre as 15 ações mais negociadas com destaques para: VALE3 0,4% R$ 57,35 seguindo a alta do minério, BBAS3 0,6% R$ 25,87, ITUB4 1% R$ 34,86, BBDC4 0,9% R$ 13,80 e SBSP3 2,4% R$ 98,23.3º. Apenas 4 ações caíram entre as mais negociadas com destaques para: PETR4 -1% R$ 37,80 porque tinham subido ontem com os potenciais dividendos supostamente preservados no novo Plano Estratégico 2025-29, PRIO3 -1% R$ 39,80 com o petróleo de lado hoje mesmo com uma possível escalada da guerra entre Ucrânia e Rússia, EMBR3 -2,5% R$ 54,30 com banco estrangeiro rebaixando as ações para Venda porque a cotação embutiria um otimismo exagerado com os resultados da cia., e JBSS3 -0,20% R$ 34,83. 4º. O preço do petróleo oscilou perto da estabilidade para fechar no mesmo nível de ontem de US$ 73,3, no centro do limite da volatilidade diária de -/+2%, com investidores atentos durante o dia a uma possível escalada da guerra entre Ucrânia e Rússia.5º. O minério de ferro subiu 1,90% a US$ 107,1 de US$ 105,1, ontem, num movimento de compra por parte de traders e seguindo o petróleo. Conheça a Levante Investimentos: Conheça nossas *Séries de Investimentos*: https://lvnt.app/4q3u3b Acompanhe nosso Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/levante.investimentos/ Fique ligado nas principais notícas do mercado no nosso canal no Telegram: https://lvnt.app/zuntm0

Welcome to the Personal Development Trailblazers Podcast! In this episode, we'll unpack the "why" behind what we eat and explore practical tips for navigating food-related challenges. Samantha Brior is the founder of Safe Sam's, a product line geared towards helping individuals recover, as well as empower them through their eating disorder recoveries. Not breaking into the field of eating disorders through the traditional route, she never stopped pushing for what she believed in. This upcoming Spring, she will get to showcase her talents by competing on the Amazon Prime show, "The Blox" as well competing in "The Greatest Baker" competition hosted by cake boss's Buddy Velastro. She is the host of the "Let's Talk Healing" Podcast where she talks with others through their healing journey in life to break the stigma of mental health and help others feel less alone.  Connect with Samantha here:  Let's Talk Healing Podcast-https://open.spotify.com/show/0VMHB6T42VuyCzYs4GI0tt?si=LTAyxaoeS3G3XS2BMSAWog&nd=1&dlsi=014905e80a2a421b TikTok-https://www.tiktok.com/@safesams1 Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/safesams1/# Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/SafeSamsBars?mibextid=LQQJ4d Website-safesams.com Grab the freebie here:https://open.spotify.com/show/0VMHB6T42VuyCzYs4GI0tt?si=LTAyxaoeS3G3XS2BMSAWog&nd=1&dlsi=014905e80a2a421b =================================== If you enjoyed this episode, remember to hit the like button and subscribe. Then share this episode with your friends. Thanks for watching the Personal Development Trailblazers Podcast. This podcast is part of the Digital Trailblazer family of podcasts. To learn more about Digital Trailblazer and what we do to help entrepreneurs, go to DigitalTrailblazer.com. Are you a coach, consultant, expert, or online course creator? Then we'd love to invite you to our FREE Facebook Group where you can learn the best strategies to land more high-ticket clients and customers.  Request to join here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators QUICK LINKS:  APPLY TO BE FEATURED: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/podcast-guest-application GET MORE CLIENTS: https://app.digitaltrailblazer.com/client-acquisition-accelerator-pdf DIGITAL TRAILBLAZER: https://digitaltrailblazer.com/ JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP: https://www.facebook.com/groups/profitablecoursecreators

Taylor Fleisher is a the epitome of an entrepreneur. By owning EIGHT businesses by the age of 30, Taylor is setting himself up for a wildly successful ride. If have a business or are interested in how starting a business looks, you will really enjoy this conversation. A big shout out to Taylor and PMI Upstate for letting me use their conference room to record this episode. Taylor was also on a TV show call The Blocks, you can find it below:The Bloxhttps://www.betablox.com/season/season-13Interested learning more about Taylor's companies? Visit two of them below: https://www.yellowtailsolutions.com/https://www.greenvillepropertymanagementinc.com/aboutWant to support my show?Order our LOW ACID COFFEE "THE BROADCAST BREW" : Link to coffee: https://www.coolbeanscoffeemi.com/product-page/broadcast-brew-low-acid-blendThank you to Cool Beans Coffee Brewery for your partnership!#TheDillonEnglandShowABOUT THE DILLON ENGLAND SHOW: Our mission is to provide our listeners with authentic conversation with interesting people, covering a wide range of topics from personal growth, entrepreneurship and lifestyle improvement, all while keeping it entertaining and informative. ____________________________________________________Connect with Dillon:https://twitter.com/dillonmenglandhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dillonmengland/https://www.facebook.com/dillon.england.5Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-dillon-england-show--6370921/support.

I have a special place in my heart for students and youth that struggle, especially in the education system.My guest, Loni Lebanoff, helps foster youth, special needs students and adults excel through innovating life skills and critical thinking programs.Loni is the CEO of CogniTutor, a transformative company recognized for revolutionizing education across 21 states.Their methods achieve remarkable success with a 90% improvement rate in even the most challenging cases.Loni is passionate about helping each person realize that anything is possible for them, and through her system, she gets to the root of their problems, helps them develop their confidence and excel in their personal life and in their academics. Recently, her dynamic leadership earned CogniTutor the "Most Investable" title on the business reality show "The Blox". CONNECT WITH LONIhttps://www.cognitutor.com/https://www.instagram.com/cognitutor_/https://www.facebook.com/CogniTutorhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/cognitutor-llc CONNECT WITH DEBIDo you feel stuck?  Do you sense it's time for a change but unsure where to start or how to move forward?  Schedule a clarity call!Free Clarity Call: https://calendly.com/debironca/free-clarity-callWebsite – https://www.debironca.comInstagram - @debironcaEmail – info@debironca.comCheck out my online course!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Your Story's Changing, finding Purpose in Life's Transitionshttps://course.sequoiatransitioncoaching.com/8-week-programThe Family Letter by Debi Ronca – International Best Seller

Andreessen Horowitz heeft hun jaarlijkse “State of Crypto”-rapport uitgebracht, waarin ze de stand van zaken in de cryptowereld samenvatten. Hoewel de invloedrijke investeerders erkennen dat de sector groeit en steeds belangrijker wordt, zien ze ook dat er nog veel uitdagingen zijn. In de VS, bijvoorbeeld, is crypto een politiek geladen onderwerp geworden, wat invloed heeft op de manier waarop regelgeving zich ontwikkelt. Dit maakt de toekomst voor bedrijven en investeerders minder voorspelbaar. Een opvallende conclusie uit het rapport is dat de crypto-activiteit op een 'all time high' staat. Volgens Andreessen Horowitz komt dit door een aantal grote projecten die de sector blijven aandrijven, ondanks de politieke en economische tegenwind. Stablecoins spelen hierbij een cruciale rol, vooral in regio's waar het financiële systeem minder ontwikkeld is. Terwijl Nederland misschien geen behoefte heeft aan stablecoins door het goed functionerende betaalsysteem, winnen deze munten aan populariteit in landen waar stabiliteit van de lokale valuta een probleem is. Daarnaast lijkt DeFi - decentralized finance - ook weer aan momentum te winnen, ondanks eerdere signalen dat deze tak van de cryptowereld wat aan het inzakken was. Andreessen Horowitz wijst erop dat DeFi nog steeds een belangrijke rol speelt in de innovatie van financiële diensten. Ook koppelen ze de groei van crypto aan andere opkomende technologieën, zoals AI en gaming, waarmee ze een nieuwe dynamiek in de markt zien ontstaan. Bitcoin stond afgelopen week weer volop in de belangstelling met een piek tot 69.500 dollar, al is die prijs inmiddels wat gedaald. Toch blijft de stemming in de markt positief. Met name op sociale media zoals X wordt gesproken over een 'golden cross', een technische indicator die duidt op een positieve marktbeweging.  In Nederland is er ondertussen volop beweging in de cryptosector, met Coinmerce die wederom een overname doet, ditmaal van BLOX. Eerder nam het bedrijf de klantbestanden van BUX en de Nederlandse tak van Binance over. Deze consolidatie kan deels worden toegeschreven aan de nieuwe Europese cryptowet Micar, die ervoor zorgt dat kleinere platforms het moeilijker krijgen om zelfstandig te blijven opereren. Bl3P, het handelsplatform van Bitonic, dat per 20 december stopt door de striktere Micar-regels. Bitonic blijft wel actief met andere diensten. De druk van internationale concurrentie blijft groot voor Nederlandse spelers, ondanks de mogelijkheid om vanaf 2025 met één licentie in heel Europa te opereren. Co-host is Bart Mol. Gasten Bart Mol Links State of Crypto door A16Z  Coinmerce neemt BLOX over Host Daniël Mol Redactie Daniël MolSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of The Small Business Surgeon, I'm back with a Friday Fire after a long break! I share what I've been up to—competing on The Blox, launching a skincare brand, and expanding my business. I dive into the crucial lesson that "nothing works unless you do," breaking down what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. Tune in to learn how to get out of your own way, find your market, and make things happen.Looking to level up your business game? Join The Clinic on Skool, where you'll connect with other driven entrepreneurs, access valuable resources, and gain the insights you need to succeed. Join us today at followsam.live and start building your best business!

Oh snap!!! Another unicorn present coming in hot! Forbes featured seven-figure earner Nicole Cherie Hesse is bringing on another badass guest to help you level up fast and crush your unicorn goals…You may be asking who the F Dr. Lauren McClain is and why the F you should listen to them… Well, that is the first question Nicole is going to ask them. So push play and buckle up because it's about to get bumpy!You can connect with Dr. Lauren McClain, Co-owner, CEO, and Principal Consultant of Grantibly here 

Send us a Text Message.In this episode, I sit down with Jonas Mitchell, a seasoned professional at Scribble, a pioneering homebuyer education company, whom I met on The Blox.Jonas shares his expertise in guiding clients through the Homeownership Hero's Journey, focusing on credit, debt management, and mortgage readiness. He discusses how his work empowers potential homebuyers to navigate the stringent requirements of mortgage loans, turning their dreams of homeownership into reality.We delve into the importance of credit health, strategic financial planning, and building robust partnerships with real estate professionals and loan officers.Join us as Jonas offers practical tips for prospective homebuyers, unique stories from the field, and expert advice on overcoming financial barriers to achieve property ownership.Tune in for an insightful conversation on the transformative impact of becoming a homeowner and how to effectively manage your financial journey towards it.Connect With Jonas:Website: www.thisisscribble.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/originaljonasbrother/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsScribbleLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/thisisjonasmitchellSupport the Show.HOW TO SUPPORT THE WALK 2 WEALTH PODCAST: 1. Subscribe, Rate, & Review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. 2. Share Episodes with your family, friends, and co-workers.3. Get Instant Access To My List of Top 10 ChatGPT Prompts To Save You Time, Energy, & Money: HTTPS://WWW.STOPANDSTARE.MEDIA/AI

Send us a Text Message.In this episode, I chat with Andrea Furtick, an Atlanta-based author, artist, and the founder and CEO of AGC Toys Inc., whom I met on The Blox.Andrea shares her journey of transforming her creative visions into tangible products, focusing on her "Afro Goddess Warrior (IP) Collection." This innovative collection aims to bring emotional intelligence lessons to women of color, guiding them "from Girl to Goddess."We discuss what it truly takes to turn a thought into a thing, from the mental mindset to the practical mechanics. Andrea provides insights into her expansive visions, detailed executions, and mentorship style that have earned her recognition in the toy and entertainment licensing industries.Join us as we explore Andrea's success in independent production, her strategies for licensing, and the lessons she's learned along the way.Tune in for an inspiring conversation about creativity, entrepreneurship, and bringing big ideas to life.Connect With Andrea:Get The Afro Goddess Tarat Arcanas: https://a.co/d/f77tF6iWebsite: https://www.agctoysinc.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afrogoddesswarriordolls/Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/p/AGC-Toys-Inc-100088723680072/YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@afrogoddesswarriorsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@afrogoddesswarriordollsLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreafurtick/Support the Show.HOW TO SUPPORT THE WALK 2 WEALTH PODCAST: 1. Subscribe, Rate, & Review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. 2. Share Episodes with your family, friends, and co-workers.3. Get Instant Access To My List of Top 10 ChatGPT Prompts To Save You Time, Energy, & Money: HTTPS://WWW.STOPANDSTARE.MEDIA/AI

De cryptomarkt heeft het zwaar. Ondanks de snelle stijging naar bijna 73.000 dollar, als gevolg van de enorm succesvolle ETF-lancering, lijkt het sentiment nu gedraaid te zijn. Reden: de vrijgekomen munten van Mt. Gox, die samen met munten van de Duitse overheid op de markt dreigen te komen. Dreigen is hier wel het sleutelwoord, want het is nog hoogst onzeker of iedere voormalig Mt. Gox klant zijn munten direct van de hand wil doen. Het antwoord is waarschijnlijk nee, maar toch lijkt de markt zich in een angstige staat te begeven. Waar deze, voorlopig kortstondige, dalende trend lijkt te keren is nog niet duidelijk. Al is de kans heel erg klein dat de bullmarkt hiermee definitief voorbij is. Ondertussen heeft Circle afgelopen week een licentie in de EU weten te bemachtigen. De stablecoin-uitgever kan daarmee legaal opereren in de Europese Unie. Frankrijk is het land dat de licentie verleent. En dat roept natuurlijk direct vragen op rond de grote concurrent Tether (USDT). De CEO van Tether lijkt ook weinig te voelen voor een Europese licentie, want de regels op ons continent staan hem niet aan. Stablecoins in Europa moeten bijvoorbeeld voldoen aan een informatieplicht, een gedetailleerd reddingsplan hebben en zich houden aan bepaalde eisen rond het stallen van hun geld. Sony neemt een flinke stap richting de cryptomarkt. De Japanse elektronicareus neemt de beurs Whalefin over en hernoemt die direct naar S.Blox. De miljoen klanten van de exchange gaan mee. Ook Taiwan Mobile en Deutsche Telekom lijken in crypto te willen stappen. Dat zullen volgend jaar niet gigantische projecten zijn, maar het is wel een signaal dat crypto steeds serieuzer wordt genomen. Co-hosts zijn Bert Slagter en Daniël Mol.  Gasten Bert Slagter Daniël Mol Links Circle sleept licentie in Europa binnen Sony begint crypto-exchange Host Herbert Blankesteijn Redactie Daniël MolSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Youtube  https://youtu.be/IzWNdJgQbrY https://boldandbrightacademy.com Born and raised on the East Coast, Bethany Johnson earned a BFA in Dance and spent a decade teaching dance while performing professionally. Her journey took a significant turn when she relocated to Las Vegas, transitioning from dance to elementary education. This shift was driven by a desire to impact young lives through education. However, the reality of the classroom revealed systemic flaws—outdated curriculums and teaching methods that she felt were stifling children's natural curiosity and self-esteem. In pursuit of this vision, she founded Bold and Bright Academy, a preschool operated from her garage, tailored for 3-5-year-olds. This initiative was grounded in a play-based, developmentally appropriate approach, allowing her to make a meaningful difference in her students' early educational experiences. Her commitment to expanding her impact while maintaining personalized learning environments led to the launch of Bold and Bright Academy Online. This platform offers hundreds of on-demand classes for 2-6-year-olds, taught by a team of 16 educators. It includes interactive resources such as printable curriculum, educational games, parent support, and live socialization opportunities through Zoom classes. Her innovative approach to early childhood education was recognized when she received Nevada's 2023 Early Childhood Educator of the Year award and was nominated for America's Favorite Teacher. Her recent participation as a contestant on “The Blox,” a major reality show for entrepreneurs, highlights her ongoing commitment to redefining educational paradigms. Her teaching philosophy centers on the belief that all children can learn with the right tools, accommodations, and support, fostering a classroom environment where resilience and kindness are key values. 

De Ether-ETF's lijken met vertraging te worden gelanceerd. Analisten waren het er wel over eens dat deze week in het teken zou staan van de lancering, maar dat blijkt niet te kloppen. De SEC heeft de aanvragers, waaronder BlackRock en Fidelity, gevraagd om extra huiswerk in te leveren. Volgende week vermoedelijk meer nieuws. Stablecoinuitgever Circle kan ook in Europa zijn populaire dollar stablecoin USDC blijven uitgeven. De Europese cryptowet MICAR legt munten als Tether (USDT) en dus ook USDC  onder het vergrootglas. Circle heeft een licentie weten te krijgen in Frankrijk, waardoor zij dus officieel toegang krijgen tot de Europese markt. Dat heeft mogelijk gevolgen voor de concurrentiestrijd tussen de twee belangrijkste dollar stablecoins. Voorlopig valt die nog (behoorlijk) in het voordeel uit van USDT, die 70% van het totale marktaandeel van stablecoins in handen heeft. Verder deze week een opvallende beweging van Sony. De Japanners kopen een eigen cryptobeurs met de naam Whalefin. Het bedrijf komt van oorsprong uit Singapore en zal door Sony S.Blox worden genoemd. Wat Sony precies hoopt te bereiken met deze aankoop is niet helemaal duidelijk. Eerder stak het elektronicabedrijf al wel een teen in het water rond crypto: het werkte al samen met een blockchainbedrijf en overweegt NFT's te introduceren in hun videogames. Tot slot heeft Real Bedford een langdurige sponsor aan zich weten te binden. De enige echte Bitcoin-voetbalclub werd de afgelopen seizoenen al gesponsord door cryptobeurs Gemini, maar de broertjes Winklevoss zullen de komende vijf seizoenen ook op het shirt van Bedford pronkne. In April werd de steenrijke tweeling al mede-eigenaar van de club.  Deze week in de CryptocastDecentrale Autonome Organisaties, of DAO's. Een DAO is een soort online cryptobedrijf zonder kantoor en zonder traditionele leiding. Mogelijk geworden door smart contracts, computerprogramma's die op een blockchain leven. Olivier Rikken is een maand geleden gepromoveerd op DAO's aan de TU Delft en mijn co-host Krijn Soeteman heeft er zelf een gebouwd om van te leren. Het gaat over vragen als: wat is een DAO, wat kan een DAO, hoe maak je een DAO, en ook wat zijn de risico's, want het is nog redelijk braakliggend terrein. Maar juist daarom smullen voor wie graag grenzen verlegt.  Met Herbert Blankesteijn bespreken we elke week de toestand van de crypto. Luister live donderdagochtend rond 8:50 in De Ochtendspits, of wanneer je wilt via bnr.nl/podcast/cryptocast    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back to the Crypto Trends Podcast! Join Robert Croak and Armando Pantoji as they dive into the latest developments in the crypto world, including Sony's game-changing entry with S.BLOX and bullish signals from Bitcoin and Ethereum. Discover how these moves are set to transform the best strategies every Wednesday. Follow along , take notes, and take action to make the most of this exciting time in crypto!

Send us a Text Message.In this episode, I chat with Rose Caiazzo, also known as Jackson Hole Rose®, whom I met on the TV show "The Blox."Rose shares her inspiring journey from leaving the corporate world in 2007 to opening two successful businesses in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.We discuss her expertise in social media and her unique vision of blending her talents as a voice-over artist and social media coach to teach live streaming.Rose explains why live streaming is essential for proving authenticity in the age of AI and how it can help build genuine connections and loyal followings.Join us as we explore Rose's insights on leveraging live streaming to enhance your social media strategy and stand out as a real, trustworthy presence online.Tune in for a motivating conversation about innovation, entrepreneurship, and the power of live streaming in the digital world.Connect With Rose:Website: http://livestreamingssecretscircle.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacksonholeroseFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacksonHoleRoseTikTok: https://tiktok.com/jacksonholeroseTwitter: https://twitter.com/JacksonHoleRoseYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jacksonholeroseLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonholeroseSupport the Show.HOW TO SUPPORT THE WALK 2 WEALTH PODCAST: 1. Subscribe, Rate, & Review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. 2. Share Episodes with your family, friends, and co-workers.3. Get Instant Access To My List of Top 10 ChatGPT Prompts To Save You Time, Energy, & Money: HTTPS://WWW.STOPANDSTARE.MEDIA/AI

EP 108- Nina Kaczorowski, Don't Work With Everyone Who Comes Your Way We all know what will happen when we take on a client who isn't a good fit for us or our team. Inevitably it will lead to wasted time and energy and eventually burnout. If we are trying to get a return for the effort we put forth, we need to put that same effort into choosing with whom we will work. Venturing through film and fashion, Nina Kaczorowski is more than just a radiant presence on screen and runway. Her diverse roles, paired with her emergence as an influential producer, highlight her profound artistic passion and a deep-rooted connection with Hollywood's elite.Nina is also an entrepreneur and partner with Sam Smith where they fix and flip businesses. Nina always likes to have multiple irons in the fire to keep herself busy and on the move to keep from becoming stagnant.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: Why Nina got banned from Facebook and had to start over with her pageHow Nina went behind her parents back and submitted pictures  and ended up being a modelWhy Nina is not afraid to ask questions and why she feels like that's a skill more of us should haveHow Nina ended up on The Blox which highlights entrepreneurs on their journeyNina's tips for aspiring actors/actresses trying to memorize their lines and really get into the characterHow Sam has influenced Nina to put herself out there more in the acting world even though her role in the industry is changingFAVORITE QUOTE: “ People pleaser. That's my problem.”   Nina KaczorowskiCONNECT WITH NINAFollowNina.comNinaKaczorowski.comHOW TO GET INVOLVED: Lori Jewett Unscripted is a podcast that uncovers the transformative power of unearthing your inner superpowers.  We're here to explore the incredible benefits that come from digging deep within ourselves.  Uncover hidden strengths and untapped abilities that lie within each and every one of us.  Whether you're seeking personal growth or looking to make a lasting impact on the world, this podcast is your guide to unleashing your inner superhero.  Be sure to catch this and other profound episodes of Lori Jewett Unscripted in Apple Podcasts.

In Blox Fruits erlebt ihr Abenteuer auf hoher See, erkundet Inseln oder kämpft gegen andere Spielerinnen und Spieler. Jeder Vorteil ist dabei willkommen. Glücklicherweise erhaltet ihr mit Codes gratis Boni wie Geld, EXP, Titel oder Stat Resets. In diesem Artikel fassen wir alle funktionierenden Codes für euch zusammen.

JP 3E Holdings, Inc. (OTC: SPZI), formerly known as Spooz, Inc., is excited to announce the signing of an agreement to acquire a majority ownership interest in Bloxcross, Inc. ("BLOX"). Bloxcross is a trailblazing digital assets innovation company, recognized for its groundbreaking platform that revolutionizes global bilateral trade, cross-border payments, and financial applications through advanced blockchain technologies. Shadow & The Thrill's Tony Cardenas-Montana , who also happens to be CTO of VNUE, Inc., will release his newest single, "Bleeding Out", slated to be released via VNUE's new Artist Services Division, in association with CEO Zach Bair's RockHouse Records for the very first time. For more information, please visit StockDayMedia.com

Send us a Text Message.In this episode, I chat with Jill Pavlov, a wordsmith extraordinaire and owner of Your Creative Concierge, a psychology-driven copywriting agency.Jill shares her journey from a lifelong love of words to crafting compelling copy that captures attention and elevates brands. We met on "The Blox," a show hosted by reality TV legend Wes Bergmann, where Jill's creativity and flair for out-of-the-box ideas truly stood out.We dive into strategies for making your voice heard in a crowded digital landscape, drawing on Jill's 15 years of experience in marketing and promotions.Jill's background in theater and comedy also adds a unique twist to her approach, ensuring that her copy is not only effective but also engaging and memorable.Join us as we discuss the art of standout copywriting, the power of creativity, and how to make your content shine in a competitive world.Tune in for insightful tips and inspiration to help your content rise above the noise and connect with your audience.Support the Show.HOW TO SUPPORT THE WALK 2 WEALTH PODCAST: 1. Subscribe, Rate, & Review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favorite podcast platform. 2. Share Episodes with your family, friends, and co-workers.3. LEARN HOW TO CREATE A YEAR'S WORTH OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR WITH CHATGPT: HTTPS://WWW.STOPANDSTARE.MEDIA/CHATGPT

Send us a Text Message.Join Amber as she jumps into the world of Blox Fruit solo. Lets see what crazy adventure finds her!The Gaming BlenderCould you design a video game?Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the Show.

There's nothing like a sunny May 1st. Today we talk about Ford's new AI driven Dealer training tool. We also review the fastest and slowest moving inventory, as well as the newly launched ability for Roblox users to purchase real life Walmart items in-game. Ford is introducing "Ford University," a cutting-edge AI-powered training platform aimed at enhancing dealership staff effectiveness and customer interactionsThe platform, designed with cinematic storytelling, covers Ford's history and detailed technical breakdowns of vehicle features.Ford University utilizes AI to analyze dealership employees' performance, offering personalized feedback and "missions" that simulate customer interactions.AI feedback focuses on speech nuances, use of filler words, and the accuracy of vehicle descriptions against competitors.Launched in U.S. dealerships, the system will expand content to include technical staff by year's end.Some wheels take off faster than a teenager after curfew. Others linger awkwardly like guests at a party long after the music has stopped. As the latest study from iSeeCars shows, when it comes to clearing out inventory, not all cars are created equal. See the list hereFast Movers —Hybrids lead the charge: The Toyota Highlander Hybrid is the fastest-selling new car at 14.2 days on market.Top used cars: Lexus RX 350h tops the list at 12.3 days on market, followed closely by other Lexus models.Sluggish Sellers —EVs lag behind: New electric vehicles are the slowest in the new car market, taking 70.6 days on average to sell.Used car slow sellers: Maserati and other premium brands dominate the list of slowest-selling used cars.Slow to go: All of the slowest-selling used cars are taking 90 or more days to sell, with the top-ranked Jeep Cherokee taking more than three times the 54-day average, at 169.7 days.Seemingly at the top of their game Walmart and Roblox are first-in to pioneer accessible virtual e-commerce, launching a collaborative platform where users can purchase real-life items and have them shipped to their home through an immersive Roblox experience.The partnership introduces "Walmart Discovered" on Roblox, allowing users to buy physical products from a virtual store that mirrors Walmart's online shopping experience.Users can try virtual versions of products on their avatars before purchasing, with all transactions securely handled via a Walmart API.The initiative targets users 13 and older in the U.S., featuring products designed in collaboration with Roblox creators like Sarabxlla and MD17_RBLX.The pilot, running through May, serves as a test to evaluate the potential for Roblox to facilitate physical goods sales without taking a revenue share during this period.Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle MountsierGet the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email

DC Blox is just the latest example of a data center provider expanding to do much more as hyperscaler growth provides a catalyst for new dark fiber routes and connectivity services. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tune in for a conversation with Bill Thompson, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at DC BLOX, a vertically integrated digital infrastructure provider specializing in the Southeast U.S. Bill shares his fascinating career journey, from his early days at AT&T commercializing the internet to his current role at DC BLOX. The conversation delves into DC BLOX's evolution from a traditional data center operator to a company offering a wide range of services, including cable landing stations, dark fiber networks, and high-capacity compute infrastructure. Bill also discusses the importance of relationships in the industry, the company's ability to innovate and adapt to rapidly changing technologies, and how DC BLOX is positioned to support the growing demand for AI, machine learning, and other high-density applications in the Southeast.

Please Like, Subscribe, and Watch on our YouTube channel BK Kidz TV ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/BKKidzTV-Youtube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Join us on Discord  https://discord.gg/ucMDJHmunH Want to be heard on an episode? Send a voice message and ask us a question. Use this link: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/adam-cabral/message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ My podcast will stay free but if you want to support me please subscribe. This will help me make more episodes and get new games to play for the podcast. Subscribe here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://anchor.fm/adam-cabral/subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bensons Roblox name is BensonsRobloxPodcast or BKKidzTV. Friend or follow him to join his games. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/adam-cabral/message

Nicole is sneaking a Dina Colada out of "The Blox" in her purse. Unfortuantely there is only one of her but since Nicole is generous, she decided to share with you on today's episode. Nicole and Dina have tons in common - from bartending and exquisite taste in food to entrepreneurship! As a former Dating Coach, Dina knows that if you're going to do anything... you gotta do things that set you apart. The things that make it so people remember who you TF are. And that is exactly why her AI-driven recipe generator & wine pairing app is making waves in her industry. So if you want to know more about Dina and get some behind the scenes on "The Blox"... then take off your pants and press that MF play button! NO SPOILERS THOUGH!!! Psst... if one sip isn't enough, you can get a bigger serving of Dina on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Tiktok. For even more money-making strategies, hop on over to the Facebook group! Ready to attract unicorn clients!? Book a call with the Wonder Team!And as always, for more trouble go to Real Unicorns Don't Wear Pants!

I was recently cast in an Amazon Prime Video TV show called The Blox, an entrepreneurial bootcamp filmed at a casino in Tulsa OK. I was known as 'The Rogue' as I didn't play by their rules I found to be kinda boring, no disrespect. I had a great experience and truly met some amazing coaches and entrepreneurs. I give my unfiltered thoughts in this podcast! Enjoy!  Make sure you Like, Comment, and Subscribe to Darryn's YouTube channel! Here's the direct LINK to Subscribe to The DYS YouTube: https://cutt.ly/rOpNXsC Darryn's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thedarrynyatesshow Darryn's IG: https://www.instagram.com/thedarrynyatesshow Darryn's Podcast Hub: https://darrynyates.podbean.com  Darryn's Main Website:  https://www.darrynyates.com  FREE PDF Darryn Is Offering "10 Reasons to Build Your Own F'n Thing" https://revealyourrockstar.com/ 

It's only March but 2024 has already been a wild year!Don't get me wrong, it started off kind of great. In the first few days of January, I got great news. There was interest in my podcasting program from The Boys and Girls Club, and I was accepted into The Blox, The Largest Competition TV Show On The Planet For Startups! These were great accomplishments that gave me hope for my future. I thought, "If 2024 is already starting off like this, what the hell does the rest of the year have in store?!" Well, January was far from over, and I was getting ready to find out.My birthday is in January and for the past few years I've had some kind of dope celebration with my loved ones. I had planned for this year to be the same, but you know what they say about making plans. For some reason, nothing was working out for me. The places I wanted to go either didn't have my date available, cost too much, or was further than I wanted to travel. So I gave in to the flow and played it safe: one dinner with some of my girls and a separate dinner with my partner. It seemed simple enough.The day before my birthday, my partner got a call, or should I say, the call. His grandmother's health was declining and it was time to say goodbye. So, I immediately canceled my birthday plans, and we made our way to her. She passed away on January 21st, my birthday, and I received the gift if grief. Three weeks later my partner the other call. This time it was about his grandfather. He passed away on February 7th. His mother's mother and his father's father.In this episode of Podcasting Is the New Kink! I talk about this experience. I share the highs and lows that we went through in this short time. And, I discuss the 3 lessons I learned:Celebrate yourselfStay groundedDon't wait until tomorrowI also talk about the future of Pink Lady Productions and Podcasting Is the New Kink!, and what you can expect this year.Click here to support! Podcasting Is the New Kink! is a Black-owned, woman-owned podcast, and we support other Black, Indigenous, Women of Color-owned podcasts and businesses. We aim to educate and inspire. If that resonates with you, then become contributor now! Check us out for more info on how you can support. -> https://plus.acast.com/s/podcastingisthenewkink. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Heather Hubbard returns to the show to talk with us about the entrepreneurial webseries, The Blox, that she was chosen to be on, and how it has helped her restructure her business, A Heathen's Touch. Heather also discovered that she has the ability to access the Akashic Records of other universes, and what happened when she was listening to Jonathan's owl story. If you are unfamiliar with the Akashic Records, go back and listen to episode #6 with Emily Jean Blatt where we deep dive into what the records are and how we can all access them.   Connect with Heather: https://www.facebook.com/aheathenstouch/ Our Website- https://seekerandskepticpodcast.com Listen to the Podcast on YouTube-  https://youtube.com/@seekerandskeptic?si=UypaOZm9fQFC5WD1  Follow us on: Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/theseekerandtheskeptic/ Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100095293164654 Twitter- https://www.twitter.com/seekernskeptic  Linktree- www.linktr.ee/seekerandskeptic   MERCH Shop! Help us out by purchasing cool stuff! https://my-store-ea043e.creator-spring.com/ Follow the Seeker! Website- www.phasesofgrowth.org Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094557498818 Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/brittanyroseauthor/  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/strange-stories-with-the-/support

We are joined by one of the Judges from Season 10 of The Blox, Owner of K-9 Lifeline and Master of all things Dog Training.Let's welcome Heather Beck!You can find her on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok and her Website.Follow Sam!Small Business Surgeon - Join The Clinic | Facebook

We are joined by a contestant from Season 12 of the reality competition show, The Blox and the owner of the entertainment/ DJ solutions company, Royal Beats.Let's welcome Stephanie Rivkin, aka DJ Stardust.You can find her on the website, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.Follow Sam!Small Business Surgeon - Join The Clinic | Facebook

We are joined by a certified Life Coach who specializes in working with neurodivergent families; as well as a contestant who appeared on the entrepreneural reality competition show, "The Blox", Season 11. Let's welcome Theresa Minnoch. You can find her on the website, Facebook or on any major podcast platform with her podcast: "The Neuro Tribe". Follow Sam!Small Business Surgeon - Join The Clinic | Facebook

We are joined by the founder of Oppuous, a company that navigates business technology, so you don't have to; as well as a friend who appeared on the Entrepreneural reality competition show, "The Blox", Season 7. Let's welcome Dante White. You can find him on the website or Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.Follow Sam!Small Business Surgeon - Join The Clinic | Facebook

Fuck what TLC said… wanna go chase some waterfalls? Niagara Nick, or Nick Hurd outside of Wonder World, is the badass CEO of Niagara Falls Adventures. Today on the podcast, we're getting a behind-the-waterfall look at how he's revitalizing the tour guide game for one of the world's greatest natural attractions with his badass marketing and team building skills.That's right… the Falls are going up, with an amazing team of impassioned guides who want you to have the best experience possible. Even getting down to the little details like waterproof phone cases… Niagara Nick thinks of it all so you don't have to. Ready to brave the falls with us? Grab your life-jacket, take off your pants, and click that motherfucking play button! P.S. Nick is a former contestant on The Blox the reality TV show Nicole will be a contestant on soon. So make sure to check him out there and while you're at it, click here to learn more about Niagara Falls Adventures, if you're up for chasing waterfalls too.  For even more money-making strategies, hop on over to the Facebook group! Ready to attract unicorn clients!? Book a call with the Wonder Team!And as always, for more trouble go to Real Unicorns Don't Wear Pants!

We are joined by the founder of Whiskermen, a premium beard and mustache line; host of the "Beards and Business" Podcast; as well as a friend who appeared on the entrepreneural reality competition show, "The Blox". Let's welcome John Mateki. You can find him on Facebook or his Website.Follow Sam!Small Business Surgeon - Join The Clinic | Facebook

Today we play blox fruits

We had a Special guess this morning, Josie from Glow Flow Denver!! Josie was in Oklahoma for a week filming Season 12 of "The Blox". The Blox is a competition show about entrepreneurship. Businesses from across the country were chosen to compete in a week-long intensive bootcamp designed to take their companies to the next level. Josie shared what she could without giving out any "spoilers" for the show which could air sometime this Summer. It was a very informative and a fun time. Tomorrow is our BIG 1,000 Show, so make it a point to tune in and join the Party!!! Have a GREAT Day and we'll save a seat for you!! Later Gators!!   The Old Man's Podcast is a 2023 Award Winning Podcast: “Overlord Indie Podcast Award Winner - Live Podcaster of the Year 2023 – The Old Man's Podcast” “Listed on FeedSpot's TOP 100 Family Friendly Podcasts” https://blog.feedspot.com/family_friendly_podcasts/   Get everything you need to start your own successful podcast on Podbean here: https://www.podbean.com/tomspodcastPBFree   Visit our webpage where you can catch up on Current / Past Episodes: www.theoldmanspodcast.com     Contact us at: theoldmanspodcast@gmail.com   Visit and Support Our Partners: Podcast Overlord: https://overlordshop.com/store Glow Flow Denver: https://www.glowflowdenver.com/ Whole-E Shift: https://www.wholeeshift.com/   Roaming the Road (of Life): https://www.shondasinclair.com/   Follow us on: Facebook: The Old Man's Podcast @TheOldManOnPodbean Twitter: The Old Man's Podcast. @TheOldMansPodc1   The Old Man's Podcast is presented in Association with Lagoonanaut Media Holdings.   Intro and closing Music is “Biff” by “The Huntertones” from their CD Titled “ENGINE CO.” Check out this and their other CD's available on their webpage www.huntertones.com , These Cats can play!!!!

That's it for 2023! Get ready for Robloxing 2024 at a whole new level!

Join Matt Watson and Ken Cox, President of Hostirian and PPGS.Global, as they delve into the realm of AI for security and privacy. Ken shares insights from his experience on the Blox incubator TV show, shedding light on how his company utilizes AI and a large language model to assess and elucidate various companies' privacy policies. Get the lowdown on SOC audits, the significance of comprehending privacy policies, harnessing AI and LLMs, and the pivotal role timing plays in achieving success.   Find Startup Hustle Everywhere: https://gigb.co/l/YEh5   This episode is sponsored by Full Scale: https://fullscale.io   Learn more about Hostirian: https://www.hostirian.com   Learn more about PPGS.Global: https://ppgs.global  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscriber-only episodeCan Mason and Taryn Survive Natural Disaster Survival?Listen in and see if Mason and Taryn are equipped to survive the most lethal of natural disasters. Are there sand storms? Yes! Are there blizzards!? You betcha! What about tornadoes?!?! Always! Can our friends survive the worst disasters that mother nature can unleash? Tune in and find out!Reminder that our YouTube Channel is LIVE!

Introducing thoughtbot's ongoing maintenance service. Need reliable support and maintenance for your software? Look no further. Our expert team handles upgrades, bug fixes, UI adjustments, and new feature development. And the best part? Our maintenance packages start at just 5k per month for companies of all sizes. From Ruby on Rails to Node, React, and, yes, even PHP, we've got you covered. Trust thoughtbot for top-notch support and optimized performance. To receive a custom quote, contact sales@thoughtbot.com. __ Simon Ritchie, the founder and CEO of Blox, discusses his background and journey leading up to starting the company. He began his career in finance but discovered his passion for technology and finance systems. He worked at Anaplan, a successful finance planning and analysis software company, but saw the limitations of rigid systems when COVID-19 hit. He realized there was a need for a more flexible and accessible financial modeling and planning tool, especially for small businesses and charities. Blox aims to fill this gap by providing a powerful yet easy-to-use modeling, calculation, and planning engine that sits between spreadsheets and complex enterprise software. The company is about a year old, has raised venture funding, and launched a free tier of its product. They prioritize building a compelling product, iterating quickly, and engaging with users to understand their needs. Simon acknowledges that building the product has been enjoyable, leveraging his background in product management. However, sales, marketing, and customer traction have proven challenging. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic about Blox's progress and is committed to providing a valuable solution to help businesses make informed decisions and achieve their financial goals. Blox (https://www.blox.so/) Follow Blox on Twitter (https://twitter.com/blox_is_awesome), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/blox.for.planning), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/blox-plan/), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/bloxisawesome/), or TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@bravewithblox/) Follow Simon Ritchie on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/siritchie/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: VICTORIA: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Victoria Guido. WILL: And I'm your other host, Will Larry. And with me today is Simon Ritchie, Founder and CEO of Blox, which provides pre-built planning models to help business leaders escape the tyranny of complex, clunky, and error-prone spreadsheets, giving you visibility into and confidence in the reality of your business. Simon, thank you for joining us. How are you doing today? SIMON: Hey, guys. Yeah, I'm very good today. VICTORIA: So, Simon, where are you joining us from today? SIMON: So, I'm joining from the UK. I live in a city called Brighton on the South Coast of the UK, where it's a lovely day today. It's nice and sunny. VICTORIA: Oh, that's where our thoughtbot summit has been the last two years, in Brighton, actually. SIMON: Fantastic. Yeah, it's a wonderful place. VICTORIA: And a great place to be in the summer right now, right? Do you get out in the water very often? SIMON: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Like many others, we have a paddle board. So, I go out with my family. I have four kids, so we go out and have fun at the beach. Brighton's got a stony beach. So we are, as Brightoners, we're very proud of the stones. You know, if you have sand, you get sand everywhere, stones are...it's much cleaner. [laughter] It does hurt your feet, though. There you go. [laughter] WILL: Yeah, that was the first time I've ever seen that, and I was like, that's very interesting. SIMON: Yeah. [laughs] WILL: I probably will like it because I don't like the sand getting everywhere, so... SIMON: Yeah, absolutely. WILL: So, yeah, I probably could trade that in. [laughs] SIMON: Yeah, yeah. You just have to wear shoes if you want to go run around. We're proud. We're proud of it. VICTORIA: I didn't think about that either. It makes a lot more sense. I don't really like the sand [laughter]. Rocks make more sense. But in California here, we're surfing, so having too many rocks on the beach would be a problem [laughs] for those of us who can't control ourselves. [laughter] SIMON: Yes. Yeah, Victoria, I thought you lived in Wales when I first looked at your profile -- VICTORIA: Oh, right. SIMON: On LinkedIn. And I thought, oh -- VICTORIA: That's...yeah. SIMON: A Welsh girl. That's -- VICTORIA: My family is actually Welsh on my mother's side. SIMON: Oh really? VICTORIA: Yeah. SIMON: Okay. VICTORIA: And Cardiff...California is named after Cardiff, Wales. SIMON: Okay, oh. VICTORIA: But yeah, so that's where it came from. So, I thought that was very cute, too. SIMON: [laughs] Very cool. VICTORIA: But, you know, Cardiff-by-the Sea is its own little beach town here. SIMON: It's not Wales. [laughs] VICTORIA: Not Wales. [laughs] Pretty different. But I do hear Wales is beautiful. SIMON: Oh, it is. Yeah, absolutely. VICTORIA: Awesome. Well, let's talk about Blox a little bit. So, why don't you tell us maybe a little bit about your background and how you came around to starting it? SIMON: Yeah, great. So, and just in terms of me and my background, so I started my career in finance, actually. I didn't really know what to go and study, so I thought, you know, studying numbers was probably a good thing. So, I did an accounting finance degree. And I got into the world of work in finance roles very quickly realized that finance wasn't for me. I just didn't really want to be a CFO. I just didn't feel the passion for it. But I was the techie guy always in the finance team. I was the guy people turned to and originally for, you know, Excel and spreadsheet modeling. And behind Excel, you've got VBA. So, you've got this little, you know, it was my first exposure to programming and some, you know, and what coding was. And so, I sort of just realized, actually, I love the technology side. And so, I followed my passion more into the finance systems arena. And my passion has always been...the focus of my career has been helping leaders understand what's going on in the business by getting hold of those numbers, the data that they have, and analyzing it, summarizing it, trying to draw insights from it so they can make decisions. And so, in the early days, it was lots of Excel spreadsheet modeling. And, in some businesses, there's still tons of spreadsheet modeling going on. And then the next phase of my career was actually working in...there are a number of software options that help you with planning, modeling, reporting, et cetera. So, I joined...well, I did some consulting for a while and then joined a company called Anaplan. And was an early employee, the company was still very early in their journey. They were just launching a European office, so I joined as one of the early European employees. And Anaplan went on, over the course of nearly eight years that I was there, to be [inaudible 04:31], absolute rocket ship, grew up to 2,000 people, and we floated on the New York Stock Exchange and then IPO in 2018. It was acquired last year for a very big number. So really fantastic time there. But to just talk about Blox, so I left Anaplan two years ago. The observations that I made that led to Blox ultimately were there were sort of three main aspects. Like, when COVID happened, the world changed radically. And what I saw...I was working in Anaplan. For anyone who doesn't know, Anaplan they focus on selling to large enterprise. So, you may not be familiar with the company if you're not a CFO or a finance person in a very large company. And they sell very expensive product. It's very, very powerful modeling, calculation, FP&A, finance planning, and analysis software. And so, companies...we were working with companies like Procter & Gamble, HP, Cisco, Google, and others. What I observed was when COVID kicked in, the FP&A system was too rigid. So, Anaplan, you know, these models that people had built up, spent a lot of time and energy building up, it was too rigid. The world changed so much that they couldn't really use their typical budgeting systems or these FP&A solutions. They couldn't use Anaplan. So, everybody just jumped back into a spreadsheet to figure out, you know, do I still have a business? How am I going to survive this if I just had to shut all my retail stores or if I had to send everybody home? You know, so everyone was using spreadsheets, basically. And so my observation there was that the tools that are available at that point are still way too hard to use. They're not flexible enough. You can't mold them quickly enough to really handle some of those scenarios that you want to throw at it as a leader. So, when you're trying to make big decisions about new revenue streams, new offices that you would want to launch, restructuring your team, investing in more people, those things they're really hard to model in the tools that are available. You need real specialist experience and expertise. That's very expensive, et cetera. So that was one part. And then the other thing that happened was I've worked most of my career in larger companies. And I'd worked in, yeah, in finance, in businesses. And also, I'm a chartered management accountant. It's all about helping with managing a business with your numbers. And I hadn't really worked with many very small companies. I ended up volunteering. When the lockdowns were happening, there were lots of people that were sheltering in place and they were staying at home. And so, a local charity had organized to put together food parcels, and then they found drivers to drive them around. And so I had volunteered through a friend of a friend, and somewhere my name got put in. So, I ended up driving these food deliveries around for the summer, and I loved it. Every Thursday, I'd take a couple of hours to just drive around and drop some food on people's doorsteps and then maybe have a quick conversation with them from a distance. I got connected with the charity. It is a local charity that runs on the South Coast in England here. And they found out I was an accountant, and I worked in software technology. They were like, [gasps], please, you can be our new best friend. We need some help. So, I ended up helping them a bit in their back office with some of the reporting that they do. And to cut a long story short, they're a charity. They live on grant funding that they get. So, they apply for grants, and then the grant providers want them to report back on the progress that they've made, the services that they've offered, the people they've helped. So, I went and helped them, and they needed these reports and some plans for grants that they were trying to get. What seemed really easy to me, like, they were showing me that they had to download this data from a system. And they needed to filter it and then count how many people they had been helping. And they basically were just, you know, with different needs and in different categories and cohorts. So, they would basically download the data, open it in a spreadsheet, put a filter on, select some filters, and then they would count the number of rows that had that criteria. And then, they would type the number into an email. And I just showed them some very simple things, like, when you do a filter or if you select the cells, you can see a countdown at the bottom-right in Excel, and I showed them that. And they almost fell off their chair because [laughs] they were like, "Oh, you know, why did we not see that sooner?" But I suppose through that, and, you know, through the various times that I helped them...and I just helped them with initially some spreadsheets and just some help with that. But it just showed me that there are a lot of businesses, a lot of charities in this case, but a lot of businesses where the leaders are not finance savvy, and they are not accountants. They're not MBAs, but they still need help running their business. They need to do reporting. They need to do planning, you know, manage their business, control the finances. So, I just thought, you know, just started thinking a lot more about what does a small business need? What does a leader in a business need to make great decisions, run the business? And how could we get them a tool or some software that doesn't cost hundreds of grand every year but is accessible, a nice, low price point, and really easy for them to use? And that's the problem that I thought about for a long time. And ultimately, that's what we're trying to work on with Blox. WILL: That's amazing. I used to work at a nonprofit. And I remember those days of, like, because I wasn't an MBA, like you said, MBA finance and just trying to figure out numbers. I don't even remember the software we used. SIMON: [laughs] WILL: But it was old and very hard to maneuver. [laughter] SIMON: Oh yeah. WILL: It was harder to maneuver than spreadsheets. And I was like, ahh, this is a nightmare. So, this is amazing that you're doing that. Can you tell us more about how Blox solves that issue? Because it sounds like it is a tween of big software that's for enterprise companies and spreadsheets. So, it's kind of in the middle; it sounds like. SIMON: So, spreadsheets are great. They're really easy. They're easy to start with. You'll often find that your spreadsheet will just kind of reach its natural end. It becomes too complex. And that normally happens when you've got, like, you're planning for lots of people, or lots of products, or lots of different projects. And so, you end up sort of having to figure out how to scale the model, you know, across lots of different columns or rows, or you start copying. And how you'll have three identical tabs or ten identical tabs. And, at that point, you've basically outgrown Excel, and trying to keep that spreadsheet running and working it becomes a real nightmare. And so, that's the point where Blox comes in. You could use Blox right from the very beginning. We've started with a focus on making really nice, simple models that you can just pick up and use. So, our earliest customers are startups doing a financial model for a brand-new idea. So, you can use Blox from the beginning, but you could probably use a spreadsheet, too. Where you would want to use Blox is where it becomes more complex, and you've got a lot more going on. You might have lots of different months, and you've got loads of time. You might want to connect it to your actual accounting system or a CRM system. And so, when you want to pull in actual data and do some reporting and maybe have different scenarios, different versions of a plan or of a report, that's where you've basically outgrown a spreadsheet, and it just becomes complex and unwieldy. And that's where you would want to move into a system. That's what we're building with Blox is basically a powerful modeling calculation planning engine that scales really easily. So, you can build up your dimensions, products, countries, time, et cetera, and you can build up those dimensions. You can build up your logic. You can add your own KPIs. You can add your own projection logic, et cetera. You can build out a model. We've got lots of template models that you can start with because you shouldn't have to start from scratch every time. You can get going. You can load up your own data very quickly at the beginning. For a lot of models, it's just assumptions. You're just trying to work out, okay, like, we've got some service businesses that use Blox. To get a basic model together, what you need to know is how many people do you have roughly? How much do you pay them? And then, how many people do you plan to hire at certain times? And how long does it take to ramp a new hire? Because, normally, there's some sort of ramp time. And if it's a service business and you're selling time, then you kind of have an average number of hours billable or often called utilization. So, with a few quick assumptions, you could throw them in. You could build out a multi-year plan for your business. And you could use that to think about, okay, how can I grow this business? I kind of talk about it as a financial roadmap that you could create. So, you know, often in the product world, we talk about product roadmaps. I like to talk about, you know, a business roadmap or financial roadmap. And that's really what we are working on; Blox and Blox will help you with this financial roadmap that you can build out. You know, I'd like to get my business to this point to, you know, 2 million in revenue, or 10 million in revenue, or maybe there are some financial or non-financial goals that you're trying to get to. And, with a model, you can help try and kind of work out what the assumptions and drivers and what those things need to look like. And then, as a manager of the business, you can start working on, okay, how do I increase my headcount? Or how do I decrease this particular cost per unit or various things like that? So yeah, that's a very high level on what we're doing with Blox. VICTORIA: Thank you for that. And I certainly can relate to that, having worked for several different consulting services companies and how difficult it can be to get software [laughs] to project that -- SIMON: [laughs] VICTORIA: Far into the future, like, to think about how you're going to hire, all the things that go into it. So, I'm curious about your own plan for Blox. Like, how would you describe where you are in your plan for the company? SIMON: We are a year old, actually just celebrated our one-year anniversary. In the last year, we've formed, hired an early team. We've fundraised successfully. So, we raised venture finance to fund the business. It's a complex product to build. We're trying to replace a spreadsheet, which has got tons and tons of features. They've been developing that for a long time. So, for someone to come across, it needs to be a relatively mature product. So, we raised venture funds from investors. We're busy investing that to build up the product and take that to market. It's been a fantastic year. And this is my first time as a founder. I've worked in leadership roles in technology businesses, in customer success, and in product as well. Yeah, I definitely would say working as a founder in a brand-new startup is very different to working in product, in a scale-up. You know, some of the lessons that I learned back there have been useful. You know, you learn how to juggle chaos, how to juggle...how to spin lots of plates. But yeah, I'm really delighted with our progress so far. We've fundraised. We ran a beta of our product last year with some early customers. We graduated from that. Our approach has always been to try and get the product out, so really embrace agile. It's kind of you don't see it so often in enterprise software. What you see is companies that like to just put "Book a demo" on the website. And they don't like to show their software until they've already kind of sold the value, and they've pitched, you know, positioned their pricing, and qualified their leads, et cetera. Our approach has always been let's build a fantastic product. Let's build something which is super compelling, super easy to use. Let's get people into the product as quickly as possible so they can experience it, see if it's going to be valuable for them. We launched a free tier of our product, the first sort of MVP, as a free tier, so not paid, not with some of the features that we plan to add to the product. And so, we've got that out there, and it's been fantastic. We've got users from all over the world using it in all sorts of different ways. And that's the other thing that is really great for us. Because it's such a flexible product, it can be used in lots of places. So, we've got all sorts of different applications being used by it. People jump in; they use it. They can try different templates that we've got. And then, if they need something different...every business is slightly different. So, if they need something slightly different, they can just chat to us in the product. We absolutely love chatting to people. And then, you know, we'll often spin up a custom template for them. And when we've done a few of those, then we'll build a standard template for a new industry. That's a little bit about where we're at. We're a small team based between here and India, where most of our developers are. It's good fun. Some of the learning...so I would say maybe it's just because of my background. So, I moved into product, and I was a product manager and then product leader for the last six years. So, for me, I've found building the product has been the easier part, probably because it's my background and that's where my passion is. So, I absolutely love anytime I get to spend in the product and spend with the team. The original founding team is myself as founder and CEO. And I don't get too much time on the product. I have a product manager and a designer. And so, that was the first...the early team, the founding team. And then we've added marketing and some other roles and software development. And so that's the team. I've found building the product has been really fun, and that's been a bit easier. Trying to work out how to do fundraising was a real challenge, so that took a lot of energy. We've been pretty successful so far in that. Still, always more to go, always more fundraising needed definitely. The really hard thing, especially in the market that we're in right now, it's hard, you know, getting early customer traction and selling. And that's really hard trying to get your name out there, build a brand, find early customers. That's really hard. So yeah, that's definitely an observation for me that the product has been really fun and a bit easier than I thought. But yeah, trying to do sales, marketing, figure that out...and probably as well because it's not my background or my kind of natural area of interest, so I've been learning. That's always tough, isn't it? Mid-Roll Ad: VICTORIA: Introducing thoughtbot's ongoing maintenance service. Need reliable support and maintenance for your software? Look no further. Our expert team handles upgrades, bug fixes, UI adjustments, and new feature development. And the best part? Our maintenance packages start at just 5K per month for companies of all sizes. From Ruby on Rails to Node, React, and, yes, even PHP, we've got you covered. Trust thoughtbot for top-notch support and optimized performance. To receive a custom quote, contact sales@thoughtbot.com. VICTORIA: And with me here, I have Richard Newman, who is the Development Director on our Boost Team, to talk to me a little bit more about what maintenance actually looks like once you've built your software application, right? RICHARD: Hi, Victoria. VICTORIA: Hi, Richard. You have experience building applications. I wonder if you could describe to a founder who's considering to build an application, like, what should they consider for their long-term maintenance? RICHARD: Well, like you said earlier, part of what you're going for with that long-term maintenance is making sure the health of your project, of your application, is always there. And you don't want to be surprised as you're continuing to work with your users and so forth. And so, a number of things that we pay attention to in maintenance are, we're paying attention to keeping the application secure, providing security updates. We want to make sure that the ecosystem, basically, all of the tools and third-party services that are tied to your application that, we're responding to those sorts of changes as we go along. And then part of it is, occasionally, you're going to find some smaller issues or bugs or so forth as your user group continues to grow or as needs continue to change. You want to be able to respond to those quickly as well. And so, a lot of what goes into maintenance is making sure that you're paying attention and you're ahead of those things before they surprise you. VICTORIA: Because what can happen? Like, what are the consequences if you don't do that ongoing maintenance? RICHARD: Well, the security updates those happen across gems and in the platform sort of tools that are there. And so, if you're not keeping those up to date, your exposure, your vulnerability to being hacked, or having a bad actor come into your application start growing on you if you're not doing the maintenance. The other ones that can come up is there's new interfaces that these third-party services...they may be updating their APIs. They may be updating how you're supposed to work with their tool. And so, those can occasionally break if you're not paying attention to what's going on or you're suddenly surprised by an upgrade that you have to make. And then, finally, there's this long-term sort of code change that just builds up over time if you're not keeping it refactored for the changes that are upcoming in a language or the gems that you work with. And then, suddenly, after a while, it suddenly gets to the point where you have a lot of work that you might have to do to rehabilitate the application to take on some of the newer features that are being released. And so, that makes it that much more difficult, that much more friction about being able to deliver updates for your users or to be able to respond to changes that are happening out there in your application. VICTORIA: Right. So, if you don't have that ongoing maintenance, you could run into a situation where, suddenly, you need to make a very large investment and fixing whatever is broken. RICHARD: Absolutely. It's going to be very tough to plan for if you weren't keeping up all the way along and, yes, absolutely ends up being much slower if you have to remediate it. VICTORIA: That makes sense. I wonder if you have any examples of a project you've walked into and said, "Wow, I wish we had been doing a little bit more maintenance." [laughs] And maybe you can share some details. RICHARD: Yeah. We had a fairly large application that involved a number of clinic services. So, we had an application that users were going in every day and counting on our fast response. And, over time, we've got surprised by a database upgrade that had to happen. Basically, the database was going to be changed by our third-party hosting service, and that hadn't been tested. There hadn't been procedures in place when we discovered this need. And there was a very hard date that that change had to be done or else the entire application was going to go down. And it came at a very inconvenient time, at the end of the year around Christmas, that we had to respond to all of that. And had we been in front of it and just updated it every quarter and staying current with it, it wouldn't have been nearly the lift that it turned out to be. We were facing a pretty hard deadline [laughs] there to keep things going. It was very, very stressful and disruptive for the team and potentially for the clinics. VICTORIA: Right. And it always happens around a big holiday or something like that, right? When it all comes to a head. So... [laughter] RICHARD: Absolutely. You want to be in control of the timeframe and not have the timeframe be in control of you. VICTORIA: Right. And if you have a team like thoughtbot supporting you, you can go on your vacation with a little bit more knowledge that if something breaks, there's someone there who can respond and fix things, and you don't have to interrupt your very valuable time off. So... RICHARD: [chuckles] Absolutely. VICTORIA: Yeah. Well, thank you so much, Richard, for joining me today. I appreciate you coming here to talk with us. And we'll talk to you again soon. RICHARD: Yeah, it was a pleasure. Thank you. WILL: You mentioned getting your product out there how challenging it can be. So, what has been some other wins and some challenges that you've had as a first-time founder? SIMON: So, my approach to things as a leader is I basically like to bring silliness and games to help motivate and energize the team. So, as a human, I have quite a lot of energy. I roll around with lots of energy. And I take loads of photos of what I'm doing, and I share those. So, we have a Friday wrap-up with the team, and so I'll often share a lot of the pictures of, you know, what I've been up to this week. So, yeah, there's been some really fantastic moments launching a product. We launched our MVP in three months. So, we basically set off...I actually funded the first season of the business, a couple of software developers, a couple of early employees. I funded the first season. We hadn't raised money. And I just spoke to my wife, and I said, "Look, now's the time. I really want to do this." You know, I've been saving up if you like, I had this, like, one day I'll do a startup fund. Some people would probably call that their long-term savings or like, you know, some...and I kind of called it my one day I'll do a startup fund. So, I'd been building up this fund because I knew that at some point, I'll probably go do this. The timing was way earlier than I thought. I thought I'd still do another four or five years in a career in a corporate role to try and get a few more notches in my belts to make fundraising easier, et cetera. The timing came. The team was perfect. And everything just felt right, so we went for it. But yeah, we basically set out. We didn't know where we were going to get funding from. The market was in a real state, so this was middle of 2022. The Ukraine war had kicked in; valuations had dropped by 90% for a lot of tech companies. The post-COVID bubble had burst. It was hard. So, we sat down, and we were like, okay, we could spend all of our runway trying to fundraise now, or we could crack on and try and build the first MVP. But we'd already done a lot of the market research, the user testing, early prototypes, et cetera. And that's a bit of a long story. But we had done that in the company that the founding team had worked at, and then we were actually a spin-out. So that happened. And we were sitting here thinking, okay, you know, we could spend all of our runway fundraising, or we could just crack on and build a product as quick as we can in the next three months. And so, we had this really hard conversation where we descoped so much stuff. And we just figured out what's the core piece that will really show the value of what we're trying to build, that we'd give to a user, that we could give to an early customer that they could use and get value from? And so, we came up with that scope. And we cracked on, and we built it. Within two and a half months, we had a working version. We played with it. Within three months, we kind of launched into this beta and got early users onto. So that was, you know, fantastic. So, we did that in the first three months, and then off the success of having an MVP, and just being able to show the product, and start getting some early user feedback, initial feedback was, you know, we took into account very quickly and improved. And just having that, you know, you basically start building momentum. Every step is still really hard, but you do build momentum. So, we got this product. We launched it. We went to a couple of events, and we talked about that, and then we did some fundraising. And we landed some funding, so that was fantastic. And then, you know, and then we've just gone sort of step by step from there. So, it's really fantastic what we've been able to achieve so far. The challenges there's been loads of them, especially when you're building a startup. It's really exciting. So, you can get people excited quite easily about the future potential. And you can kind of talk about what this can be. I've got a printed picture of a unicorn on my whiteboard in my office right here as a sort of a statement of, you know, where we're going. It's really hard as a founder or a leader trying to persuade people to leave a stable job, take a pay cut, and come and work with you and give them some equity, which you hope will be worth a ton, and you kind of paint the picture. But also, you don't know how long you can keep them because you're on runway. You're on runway. You haven't got infinite cash if it's not a profitable business. So, you know, there are some real challenges. And, as a founder, you go through ups and downs. Ben Horowitz talks about it in his great book, The Hard Things About Hard Things, as the struggle. I definitely understand that a lot more now because there is an up and down to this. You do build momentum, but you also...you're creating the momentum, you know, one hard push at a time. So that's that early customers come on. You kind of pitch the dream of what the product will do, and then it will fall over as soon as they touch it. But I absolutely love it. What I love is the chance to create and how quickly you can move in the early days of a startup or a new product, where you don't have masses of technical debt. You don't have hundreds of customers. You don't have all this, you know, you don't have a massive team where everyone's got their point of view on what you should do. So, you can move really fast, and that's fantastic [inaudible 30:14] creative season. So yeah, lots of ups and downs, but it's really fun. VICTORIA: That's so interesting and particularly interesting that you're trying to make something that's easier to use than Excel. So, I'm curious how you're testing to make sure that it's actually easy. And what might be...I'm sure there's some interesting feedback you got about that. SIMON: Yeah, so we're making Blox easier than Excel. But it's got to be powerful enough to be able to handle the data and the modeling that you need for a business. If you're doing projections for multiple years if you've got lots of products or teams, then it can be complex, so it needs to be powerful enough to handle that. It needs to be flexible enough because you can take a template, but every business has got its own unique quirks. So, it needs to be flexible enough that it can be tailored easy for a unique business. And then, crucially, and this is also important, it needs to be easy enough to use so that the person who understands the business can change the model to kind of suit their business. That's the bit that most of the other players, you know, the enterprise software that's available today, just that they haven't figured out how to make it easy enough so that a businessperson that, you know, doesn't have database experience, can't write SQL, not going to write Python, you know, doesn't do complex scripting or any of this stuff. It's got to be easy enough that they can, you know, tailor, reflect the way that their business works, the way that they make money, the way that their cost structure works, so they can figure out what drives the business. And so, if they're projecting revenue, they can work out the costs associated. So, one of our founding team is a UX designer, a really, really fantastic designer, very experienced. He's been in the game for 25 years since, way before it was called UX. And started doing graphic design, and then has done lots of branding and branding for some really fantastic, large companies, did lots of consulting. And then got into UX and how, you know, the art of wireframing and helping to make products easily usable. I call him my secret weapon. I've worked with some fantastic designers in the past, so, as a founder, I think I appreciate and understand the value of a really good design and a really good UX designer. So, Mike, our UX designer, has just been fantastic at that. He's very good at wireframing and very good at testing. And he's not a finance planning expert. That's why I call him my secret weapon because, you know, I understand planning really well, but sometimes I understand it too well. When I describe what a user is trying to do or, you know, what I expect a screen will look like, I'm just probably subconsciously replacing or recreating something that I've seen or used before, whereas he's coming at it brand new. He's not worked in planning or data modeling, or many of these things. He's worked in lots of different businesses. So, he comes at it with a mobile-first perspective. Normally, he's thinking about, okay, how could this be used by a busy leader on their phone and they're running around? And so, he's been really fantastic at helping to keep it simple and easy and to rethink and to create a product, which is just so different to what other tools in the space are doing. And that's some of the feedback we get. It looks so different. It works so different. But yeah, the hard thing is that spreadsheets are the most sticky tool, I think. They're just so useful for, you know, for everything where you need to get a list of things. You just start throwing it into a spreadsheet, and then you can, you know, organize it and improve structure over time. But yeah, it's a really sticky tool. And we train people how to use spreadsheets from early days from school. My 12-year-old daughter she already has been taught how to use a spreadsheet in school. So, what we're trying to do is create something which is easier. But there's also, you know, you want there to be some familiarity in there so that people will...to avoid some of the friction of the people who have it. No one really signs up to learn a new tool if they can avoid it. We're lazy. [laughs] VICTORIA: It makes sense that design would be a big priority for your product because that was your intention from the beginning, right? Is to make something that's easy to use, so you prioritize that as an investment. SIMON: That's right. That's absolutely right. Yeah. VICTORIA: What's on the horizon? What are you the most excited about for Blox in the coming months? SIMON: So, yeah, we've got some really exciting elements of our roadmap coming. So, yeah, really excited to see these things come to life. Like anyone working in building products, whether you're designing, doing product, sort of overseeing, or actually developing, it's so great to see these things come to life. You spend a long time thinking and chatting about them, imagining, ideating about how they could look. The thing that I'm just most excited about is—and that's probably why I love product—is, you know, you're building a product, and then you can...then you're talking to somebody about how they would use this. Or before that, you're talking about their day-to-day right now and what their problems are, and how you could help them save time, save money, et cetera. And so, you know, I absolutely love chatting to more and more different types of companies, leaders in different parts of the business. And, you know, especially in our space, it's mostly about, okay, how can I help? You know, how could we improve this planning process that we've got, whether it's, you know, planning for the cost of running a big project or trying to figure out how can I scale my business to reach my objectives? So, I just love chatting to lots of different leaders globally. So, I love going to events, chatting to people, fact-finding about how they run their business, how they think about finances, et cetera. In terms of the product roadmap, we're working on some exciting new scenario capabilities, so you can easily look at different scenarios around a decision. So, you might be trying to decide, you know, should I be aggressive with my investments and hiring, or should I be pessimistic? Or is there a middle ground? So, we're adding, like, scenario capabilities where you can build out different versions of that, and then easily compare and contrast, and then decide which one to do. We're working on some really...really enjoying working on some intelligent capabilities. So, again, in the search of making it really easy to use for a busy leader, for a busy businessperson, or a busy finance person, making it really easy to use. So, we've invested a lot in AI technology and been designing, developing POCs around how AI could help to onboard customers faster, how we could help to personalize models for businesses automagically. So, as soon as we understand the website of a user, what sort of industry they're in, we can automagically personalize the template for them, add their own KPIs, like, industry-specific KPIs, into the model, and throw in benchmark data and all these things. So, we've got some fantastic AI capabilities coming through the pipe and some data integrations. As we get out more and more, we're connecting to different data sources. So, yeah, exciting times ahead for the roadmap. And as we add more features, then we'll add different pricing tiers, you know, so we can try and offer a nice, affordable entry-level offering for Blox, but then we will, you know, as you get more and more different features, you'll pay at the appropriate level. So that's a little bit about what our future looks like. WILL: That's neat some of the things you have coming up. You mentioned AI and how you're kind of embracing that. Can you expound on that? Like, kind of I know you said some data models automagically is going to do it. But, like, where can you see the benefit for a customer to use that? Because I know AI can be scary and stuff like that. But, like, just kind of taking the fear out of it and talking about how beneficial it can be. SIMON: Yeah. So, there's lots of different places where AI can help. So, the typical model today for finance planning is you'd have a leader who's responsible for the business, and they're responsible for an advertising budget. You know, they just intuitively know, you know, where should I spend money, what's good return on my investment, what's, you know, what works. But when it comes to actually trying to model that, so how to put that into a financial model or some other model that you can understand the relationships between these things, put in the KPIs, have the formulas, calculating things in the right way at the right level, what you often find is that the leader is not the system's expert. So, you'll often have, especially in bigger businesses, you've got this expert data analyst or FP&A finance planning person that will do the modeling. So, we really believe that AI can be like a digital business coach to digitize that business advisory piece. So, the leader can be sitting down. They can be looking to try and improve some part of their business or understand some part of their spend and trying to work out, like, what would life look like if I increased my spend on this particular channel by X? And so, you know, we are looking at AI to help with lots of different areas around this. Initially, it's helping a new user to get onboarded with Blox. So, it's taking a template and helping to personalize it for their business. What we basically try and do is fetch as much data about a new user and a new company as possible. So, if their team is on their website, then we'll pull in their team. If their products are listed on their website, we'll pull in a list of their products and try and throw that into the model and take out a lot of the friction that you have. As a user in the new system, you have to type in everything normally. If you're trying to model a business, you used to type it all in or copy and paste it from a spreadsheet. So, we're looking at lots of options to help onboard new users. That has a good value add for us because we can increase the speed of adoption and help get users to value faster, which is great for us. And also, users are, you know, they're busy. They're impatient, and they want to understand what value they're going to get before they spend lots more of their time. So that's going to be useful for us and them. And yeah, helping to interpret the data. So, they'll connect us to their source systems. We'll be able to interpret what's going on, help them to understand different options and scenarios about how things might play out in the future. Basically, AI will help us to draw our insights that we can present to the user, will help explain what the user is looking at when they're looking at the model, so we can summarize some of the key insights so that they can use that. We're expecting to have all sorts of users, but we're really focusing on really busy leaders who may have a good understanding of spreadsheets and data, but they're just too busy, and so they don't have time. So, they want something which is quick and easy. Or leaders who don't have that expertise, so those are the ones that we really cater for. We try and keep it really simple and help guide them through the process, et cetera. So that's where AI is going to be, like, that digital business AI...We kind of kind of talk about this AI business coach concept. And, over time, we'll build up more and more elements to that coach capability. We call him Anton in our team when we talk. We'll add more and more capabilities to him. But we've built a number of different POCs. And we've launched a couple of those with some customers. We've been out to events and showing off these new capabilities to basically test them out, understand what's working, what's not. What more do we need to think about to productionize this proof of concept? So that's, yeah, it's a very exciting time to be working on those things. VICTORIA: I love hearing about that. That's super interesting to see where it's going to go. So, my last question for you today is, is there anything else that you would like to promote? SIMON: I think I would just say, yeah, if you're a leader running a business or maybe it's a service business, and you're trying to think about, you know, when hiring business planning, financial planning, anything like that, then I'd love for you to come over to Blox, and you can jump straight into the product from our website. You can sign up. I absolutely love chatting to people about their businesses and what they're trying to do with their finances. So, if you want to do that, you can sign up. You can chat to us. I actually take a lot of time to respond to people in there, so yeah, if you want to do that. Or, if you can, also find me on LinkedIn. You can search me there. Just strike up a conversation and say, "Hey, Simon, I'd love to chat about financial roadmapping or finance planning." Yeah, I absolutely just love to speak to different leaders that work right across the business in different roles and see how we can help them to build a business that really unlock the potential that they have in their business through a great understanding of finances. So, yeah, if I can be of help, I would love that. VICTORIA: Wonderful. And we'll have all those links in the show notes so our audience can go and take a look. WILL: You can subscribe to the show and find notes along with a complete transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. You can find me on Twitter @will23larry. VICTORIA: And you can find me on Twitter @victori_ousg. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening. See you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot, your expert strategy, design, development, and product management partner. We bring digital products from idea to success and teach you how because we care. Learn more at thoughtbot.com. Special Guest: Simon Ritchie.

Thanks to u‑blox for sending us some samples of their new ultra-tiny RTK module https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real-time_kinematic_positioning - this NEO-F9P https://www.u-blox.com/en/product/neo-f9p-module is about half the size of the F9P's https://www.digikey.com/short/rqjf3092 we've worked with so far. tiny enough it could probably fit onto a QT Py board, or maybe a Feather? more soon.... #adafruit #electronics #ublox @ublox Visit the Adafruit shop online - http://www.adafruit.com ----------------------------------------- LIVE CHAT IS HERE! http://adafru.it/discord Adafruit on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adafruit Subscribe to Adafruit on YouTube: http://adafru.it/subscribe New tutorials on the Adafruit Learning System: http://learn.adafruit.com/ -----------------------------------------

Natalie Guzman's story is one of inspiration, perseverance, and success. As the founder of NG Virtual Assistants and NG Marketing Group, Natalie has built a reputation as a funnel expert, helping businesses to generate leads, increase sales, and create successful course content. In this episode, Natalie shares her journey from being a foster kid to building a six-figure Virtual Assistant Agency in just four months. She talks about the value of dedication, hard work, and determination in achieving success, as well as the importance of testing and creating successful funnels in growing a business. Natalie also discusses her experience competing on "The Blox," an entrepreneur competition show by MTV's "The Real World: Austin" and "The Challenge," and her appearances on several podcasts and speaking events across the country. Listeners will gain valuable insights into building successful funnels, overcoming challenges, and achieving success as an entrepreneur, no matter their background or circumstances.

We went down to D.C. and did our cherry blossom thing as we led a run through the pouring rain on Saturday and raced a windy route on Sunday. We recap that whole thing, we talk about Tetris, we check in on our own running, and we tell you how to hang with us in Boston. Thanks for everyone who showed up this past weekend, can't wait to see a bunch of y'all in less than two weeks. Check out and RSVP for our Boston meet-ups: https://believeintherun.com/events/boston-marathon-weekend/ This episode is sponsored by Lagoon pillows, we've been using them for a year and they're amazing. Save 15% on your order with code BELIEVE: https://lagoonsleep.com/pages/lagoon-believe-in-the-run