Podcasts about CRO

Mastering Conversion Rate Optimization is crucial for e-commerce success. By dispelling misconceptions and understanding the true essence of CRO, you can implement strategies that improve your website's conversion rate and overall performance. With the guidance of industry experts like Chase Clymer, you can take your e-commerce brand to new heights.

Podcast Episode 147 of the Make Each Click Count Podcast features Shaun Brandt, the co-founder of Oddit. Oddit provides simple, to-the-point CRO audits for e-commerce brands wanting to optimize their conversion rate & strengthen brand loyalty.Learn from Shaun as he shares how companies prioritize spending significant amounts of money on advertising platforms and why they focus on website optimization instead. Find out what Shaun thinks is the biggest quick win on how companies could improve their conversion rates.Listen to Andy and Shaun as they discuss how AI is being effectively used in their businesses. Find out why an Oddit report is valuable in building a better customer journey.Episode Action Items:To find more information about Shaun, go to:Oddit@brandtifyABOUT THE HOST:Andy Splichal is the World's Foremost Expert on Ecommerce Growth Strategies. He is the acclaimed author of the Make Each Click Count Book Series, the Founder & Managing Partner of True Online Presence, and the Founder of Make Each Click Count University. Andy was named to The Best of Los Angeles Award's Most Fascinating 100 List in both 2020 and 2021.New episodes of the Make Each Click Count Podcast, are released each Friday and can be found on Apple Podcast, iHeart Radio, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts and www.makeeachclickcount.com.

Jordan Slover is the Founder of Neon Ambition, an inbound marketing agency that helps companies grow using the latest online marketing strategies. Before Neon Ambition, he was the Online Marketing Sales Manager at The Web Showroom, responsible for hiring, training, and managing the online marketing consultants team. Jordan also worked for Google and has considerable experience in CRO, SEO, web design, Google AdWords, and Google Analytics.   In this episode… Do you want to understand your buyers' journey better to reach your ideal consumers or get more clients? The business world is constantly evolving — and to differentiate yourself from competitors and flourish, your marketing strategies also need to be top-notch. Jordan Slover recommends hiring a marketing agency, experts who understand the market to help you maneuver successfully. Having been in the marketing agencies for years, he discovered that many full-service digital agencies out there are not delivering on their promises. Jordan shares his journey of starting and running his agency to help ambitious business owners and marketers grow their companies and achieve their business growth goals. Listen to this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast with Dr. Jeremy Weisz as he welcomes Jordan Slover, Founder of Neon Ambition. Jordan talks about Neon Ambition, the questions to ask when hiring a marketing agency, what to look for when hiring an account manager, and his thoughts on niching down as an agency.

Welcome to the podcast episode where we explore the world of ecommerce and the critical role Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) plays in driving online sales. Today, we're joined by Shaun Brandt, the Co-Founder of Oddit, an ecommerce design agency, to get his expert insights on CRO, website design, and the evolving ecommerce landscape.Shaun breaks down the concept of CRO, explaining why it's so important for ecommerce brands to get it right. He also shares his experience on how CRO techniques and website design are evolving to keep up with changing consumer behaviors and expectations.During our conversation, I ask Shaun some tough questions, probing him to reveal industry secrets and insights that will be valuable for anyone looking to optimize their website for conversions. We also dive into the nitty-gritty of website design, exploring how small tweaks can make a significant difference in driving online sales.If you're an ecommerce business owner looking to optimize your website for conversions, you won't want to miss this episode. Tune in to hear Shaun's golden tips and expert advice on how to get the most out of your ecommerce website. Get show alerts and playbooks by signing up on the EcomGold website: www.ecom.goldClaim an extended free trial as a show listener.EcomGold is brought to you by:‍Rewind Shopify App.Back up your Shopify store because not doing so is absolute lunacy!As a listener of the show, you can claim a no strings attached free month with this link: https://rewind.com/ecommercegold/Triple Whale.‍Triple Whale brings the metrics that matter most into one easy-to-use dashboard, giving you the real-time insights you need to grow your brand.https://www.triplewhale.com/TapCart.Customer retention is so important. Push notifications are free money levers. TapCart can create a native mobile app available on Apple Store and Android play in less than 2 weeks. They will even design and launch it for you. It a true no brainer for small and large stores. Get your app demo here: https://www.tapcart.com/Follow Finn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/finn_radford

Will Sellenraad is the Founder of Collector Chassis, a community for enthusiasts, hobbyists, and collectors to showcase, spectate, buy, and sell vintage, classic and special interest vehicles. Will is an entrepreneur in the IT services industry. He has held a variety of executive management positions including CRO, Co-Founder, and President. His experience includes growing startup companies to over $25 million in revenue. His car addiction began at a very young age building model cars and from that it grew into fixing up real cars, auto crossing, attending car events, and buying enthusiast cars.

In the Transform Sales Podcast #53, host Amir Reiter is joined by Chris Rack, CRO of Demand Science, to discuss the common mistakes buyers make when hiring Sales Agencies. Chris emphasizes the importance of recognizing the time investment in marketing and lead generation, prioritizing integrity and authenticity in business relationships, and creating high-quality content that resonates with your Ideal Customer Profile. RESOURCES & LINKS: Want To Find the Right Agencies For Your Sales Team Quickly? Learn How You Can Use The CloudTask Marketplace here: https://www.cloudtask.com/find-agencies #TransformSales #leadgenerationcompanies #cloudtask

欢迎收听雪球和喜马拉雅联合出品的财经有深度，雪球，国内领先的集投资交流交易一体的综合财富管理平台，聪明的投资者都在这里。听众朋友们大家好，我是主播匪石-34，今天分享的内容叫谁将成为AI一哥，来自远川投资评论。随着一季报披露完毕，公募基金们在AI战场上的路线也逐渐展现出来。AI主线一来，敏锐的人又嗅到了一战成名的机会。不过，买入AI容易，投好AI却很难。作为信息技术的集大成者，AI产业链可谓包罗万象，诸多领域都可以与AI搭上关系，这种大产业下，机会未必是平均分布的。回想2021年的医药行情，在2月份医药生物指数见顶之后，CRO板块却继续上扬，一直到8个月以后的10月份，才最终开启下跌之旅。或许只有解答了姜诚的一系列问题，并成功在AI产业链中抓到类似「医药行业中的CRO」级别的细分领域，才有望从一众同行中脱颖而出，成为「AI一哥」。面对这道考题，基金经理们交出了两份不一样的答卷，一份调仓算力，押注上游硬件，一份布局软件，博弈下游应用。算力：AI卖水人在4月1日的华为第20届全球分析师大会上，华为轮值董事长孟晚舟公开发声：预计到2030年，AI计算能力将增长500倍。能不能增长500倍暂时无法确定，但毫无疑问的是，算力作为AI卖水人的地位不可撼动，而芯片和服务器作为算力的底层基石和核心载体，在AI时代迎来了新的产业机遇。其中，芯片行业本身正处于周期低点，有景气度上行的预期，算力芯片的需求激增无疑是为行业的整体复苏添了一把火，再加上估值经历了一年多的连续回落，所以，很多基金开始调仓芯片。受益最多的是原本就重仓芯片的基金经理——说的就是「半导体一哥」蔡嵩松王者归来，直接在基民的评论区里又从「菜狗」变回了「蔡皇」。在A股的上市公司中，核心的算力芯片厂商主要有两家，分别是海光信息和寒武纪，其中，海光信息的深算一号可以运行AI大模型，包括模型的训练和推理过程，虽然产品性能只相当于英伟达2014-15年发布的P100，但已经是国产第一梯队；而寒武纪最好的产品是思元590，虽然只能运行大模型的推理过程，但是性能直追英伟达的A100，初步看已经能够达到A100算力的70%以上。所以在ChatGPT带火了算力之后，两家公司都获得了市场的广泛关注。对此，蔡嵩松只是通过诺安和鑫灵活配置，买入了82万股约合1.5亿的寒武纪。反观曾与蔡嵩松齐名，甚至被基民打包戏称为芯片投资「卧龙凤雏」的郑巍山，这一次却成了寒武纪上涨的最大推手，一季度通过银河创新成长直接建仓了650万股寒武纪，成功进入十大股东之列，并且还加仓了海光信息，两大算力芯片供应商分别成为了郑巍山第九和第十大持仓。单纯比较对算力的信仰程度，郑巍山显然要更强烈一些。而除了芯片以外，AI服务器作为算力的核心载体，需求也是水涨船高。浪潮信息作为AI服务器行业龙头，全球市占率超过30%，自然是绕不开的关注点。这一次，浪潮信息的股价表现出了很强的韧性，并在4月份创出了年内新高，其中，招商基金应该是浪潮信息的最大力挺者，不仅是翟相栋管理的招商优势企业买入了640万股浪潮信息，贾成东更是有多只产品建仓，在持股浪潮信息的前十大基金名单里，两人合计占据了6席。值得一提的是，3月3日在浪潮信息因为母公司被制裁而一字跌停后，拥有全球生产制造基地以供应链的服务器ODM龙头工业富联接过了上涨的接力棒，成为许多资金的配置。一季报过后，工业富联也新进了「交银三剑客」之一何帅的前十大。虽然现在的重仓股在医药行业，但TMT却是何帅的核心能力圈之一。在基金一季报中，何帅明确表达了对AI行业的看重，尤其是「在中国可能首先还是从强大的制造业体系中选择优秀的公司。」应用：降本增效尽管算力是AI的基础，但ChatGPT这类生成型AI的最大作用，还是在于赋能下游应用。一方面，在生产力工具，AIGC能够降低内容创作成本，它不仅能干很多人的工作，甚至干得比人快；另一方面，在交互体验上，显著提升的大模型，也会给智能设备带来更人性化的体验改善。再加上国内经过第二次游戏版号暂停发放之后，核心游戏公司从去年4月份开始陆续获得版号，今年一季度正是密集上线期，游戏板块本身有估值修复的预期，所以，AI+游戏方向率先受到了资金抢筹。其中最激进的，可能要属海富通的吕越超。2019年时，吕越超也曾因重仓半导体，而与「卧龙凤雏」一起被合称为「诺安银河海公公」，不过相比于蔡嵩松和郑巍山，吕越超更擅长的应该是风格轮动，所以并没有一直固守半导体，而是在21年之后转战新能源。在具体的方向选择上，吕越超这一次与「卧龙凤雏」分道扬镳，除了「寒武纪」以外，建仓的更多还是游戏、办公等AIGC下游应用，尤其是游戏股昆仑万维成为了第一大持仓。而在提升智能设备的交互体验上，安防是市场上讨论较多的一个应用场景。通过AIGC技术的应用，安防产品可以实现更高效的数据处理和管理，大幅提升安防系统的反应速度和处理能力，从而在成本端实现降本增效，并在需求端通过快速渗透推广带来持续的需求增长[3]。所以，安防领域的两大白马海康威视和大华股份，也受到了众多明星基金经理的关注，不过具体在两者之间如何抉择，基金经理们却有着各自的不同。兴全基金的谢治宇和景顺长城的刘彦春明显更看好龙头海康威视，其中，谢治宇管理的两大主力基金兴全合润和兴全趋势，一季度合计加仓海康威视2368万股。而上投摩根的杜猛和宏利基金的王鹏则更青睐大华股份，尤其是杜猛，在其管理的规模前五大的基金产品中，大华股份都冲上了前十大持仓。算力还是应用，押对方向非常重要，但仅仅是押对方向，还远远不够。成为一哥，首先要和行业绑定很深，但许多时候又跑不过行业本身。因此，无论谁成为「AI一哥」，或许仍然免不了一样的灵魂拷问：我要真信，那直接买ETF，不香吗？

In this episode we discuss grace periods for renewal of RO certification, the Level 2 (CRO) seminar, denial of participation at your match, the NROI RO Discipline policy in depth, Steel Challenge RO and International NROI seminars, and a new NROI Tips video for SCSA coming soon.

Guest: Tom Hale, CEO of OuraWhen he was growing up, Tom Hale's family had pretty ordinary dinner-table conversations: What happened today, how was school, etc. But every day after dinner, Tom and his father would play backgammon, an experience that indirectly taught him a lot about business. Now the CEO of wearable health company Oura, he recalls that the game helped him understand risk-taking, strategy, pattern recognition, and more. Tom's father also insisted they play for money: “If I could win 20 bucks, I could go down to the store and get something. But when I lost, I felt the sting of it. That's the best teacher, because you're learning the preciousness of the decisions you make.”In this episode, Tom and Joubin discuss Tom's radio voice, games of chance and skill, vacation rentals pre- and post-Airbnb, “irritant” service fees, health tracking, the psychology of rebranding, the consumerization of healthcare, personalized medicine, the myth of the founder-hero, rowing machines, and the meaning of work.In this episode, we cover: Returning to the office (00:50) John Doerr and Macromedia (05:15) Post-dinner backgammon (08:01) Tom's past jobs and HomeAway (11:31) Competing against private startups (16:09) How Airbnb captured demand (18:55) Being acquired by Expedia (24:26) What Oura's smart rings do (26:13) Rebranding SurveyMonkey to Momentive (29:55) Leaving Momentive for Oura (31:54) Making the case for himself (34:59) The future of public health, data, and wearables (37:10) “Sleep is strategic” (42:32) Why Oura is an AI company (44:48) The health impact of a taxing job (47:16) Being a non-founder CEO (49:39) Working with people (53:38) What would be in a “working with Tom” doc? (54:52) Managing the psychology of a 10-year-old startup (56:48) Being there for family & colleagues (59:18) Who Oura is hiring, and what “grit” means to Tom (01:02:54) Links: Connect with Tom Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Come and listen while Host Candace Gish interviews a variety of extraordinary women, whom are working to make the world a better place! #DivasThatCare Yanna-Torry Aspraki is a deliverability specialist and CRO of EmailConsul. As an award-winning thought leader and deliverability specialist in the email industry, she uses her expertise to train companies of all sizes to improve their deliverability and sender reputation. She has one mission: simplifying and democratizing deliverability. YT's strategic thinking and analysis of performance data have led to a track record of successfully increasing email inboxing rates, sender reputation, and maximizing outreach. As a member of EmailConsul's executive team, she drives the company's mission to make deliverability tools more accessible and reliable. yannatorry.com emailconsul.com

Sam Blond is a Partner at Founders Fund, a top Venture Capital firm founded by Peter Thiel and other Co-Founders of PayPal. Founders Fund's total assets under management are around $11 Billion (according to TechCrunch 2022), and their portfolio includes SpaceX, Palantir, Stripe, Facebook, Airbnb, and Spotify, among others. Before joining Founders Fund, Sam was the former Chief Revenue Officer at Brex, overseeing revenue growth from less than $1M to several hundred million dollars of annualized revenue. Sam joined the company before its official launch, and when he left four years later, the company was valued at $12.5B. Before Brex, Sam was the VP of Sales at Zenefits, overseeing revenue growth from less than $1M to $70M of ARR in two years. He joined the company pre-Series A as employee number 18. When he left, the business was over 1500 employees and was valued at $4.5B.    You can learn more about:  Strategies for accelerating revenue growth in your startup Building a robust network and honing your skills as a sales leader Identifying and investing in the next wave of top-tier SaaS companies ===================== YouTube: @GraceGongCEO Newsletter: @SmartVenture LinkedIn: @GraceGong TikTok: @GraceGongCEO IG: @GraceGongCEO Twitter: @GraceGongGG =====================

On this Cannacurio episode, Ed Keating is joined by Michael Piermont, President & CRO of Leaf Trade, to discuss how Leaf Trade is leading the wholesale cannabis marketplace and digital payment infrastructure within the cannabis industry, the merger with Sweed, the state of the current market, and more!

I sat down with Julie Hansen, CRO & US CEO at Babbel, to discuss the growth of e-learning platforms and how technology like Babbel is empowering people to create greater connections, as well as the many different benefits of learning new languages. To learn more about Babbel's offerings, go to: https://www.babbel.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this episode of the Cybersecurity Startup Revenue podcast, we talk with Colin Jones the CRO of Wiz, about their incredible journey as the fastest company to reach $100 million in ARR within 18 months.We explore what has been happening behind the scenes at Wiz, particularly within the sales team. Including the mentality of learning and figuring things out quickly,  the importance of being equitable, and the loyalty and resiliency created among employees.  Additionally, we delve into creating company values and hiring the right people to contribute to growing the business successfully through customers. We also touch on the importance of communication in a hypergrowth environment and the negative consequences of neglecting it. [00:08:32] Leadership Challenges in Corporate Acquisition Success[00:12:16] "Inflection Point Reached: Reflecting on Career Goals"[00:16:05] "Leaving Duo Cisco with a Winning Mentality"[00:18:17] "Customer Feedback at Wiz: The True Value of Products"[00:22:10] "Success through People, Not Numbers: Hiring Strategies"[00:24:07] "Creating Fair and Loyal Workplace Culture"[00:25:40] "The Importance of Effective Communication in Hypergrowth"[00:29:24] "Palo's Prisma Suite Sets Foundation for Cloud Security"[00:32:36] "Aligning Vision and Customer Needs for Success"[00:38:37] "Team-led exercise: The Origin of Our Values"Colin Jones on LinkedInWiz websiteSupport the show

Krista Hollingsworth is the Chief Revenue Officer at Consilien, a managed services security solutions provider helping organizations protect their data from cyber attackers. In her role, she creates a security awareness culture through an integrated approach to cybersecurity awareness training for employees. Krista is also the CEO of Boutique Marketing Group, a digital marketing company providing mid-size B2B businesses with content, strategy, and lead-generating sales funnels. In this episode… Traditionally, organizations have relied on cyber insurance to protect against attacks. But as marketing and technology have become more elaborate, ransomware has intensified, leading to a 79% increase in cyber premiums. How can you develop a calculated security approach that addresses compliance and risks? As Krista Hollingsworth observes, cybercriminals are skilled marketers, with 82% of attacks involving human elements. Additionally, Krista predicts that the emergence of AI chatbots will lead to sophisticated voice phishing attacks, so businesses should implement two-factor authentication and other verification systems for maximum protection. Managed security service providers such as Consilien help businesses create and manage cybersecurity programs. In today's episode of She Said Privacy/He Said Security, Jodi and Justin Daniels invite CRO of Consilien, Krista Hollingsworth, to speak about the role of managed security services providers in developing cyber programs. Krista shares how the cyber sales cycle has evolved since the rise of ransomware, how AI could lead to voice phishing attacks, and advice for strengthening your passwords.

Welcome to No Hacks Show, a weekly podcast where your hosts - Sani and Cath - are joined by smart guests to discuss many different ways you can optimize your online presence. In this episode, we discussed cognitive biases with Kenda Macdonald, CEO of Automation Ninjas. Check out the episode if you want to learn how to spot and combat cognitive biases before they kill your conversions.This episode was done in partnership with Experimentation Elite - The UK's only conference & awards dedicated to CRO & Experimentation.Experimentation Elite will be held in London, on June 28th, you can find more information about the event at experimentationelite.com. So go to experimentationelite.com, be blown away by the incredible list of speakers they've put together, and sign up for the event.Links:Kenda on LinkedInAutomation NinjasExperimentation Elite

Dr. Claire Muselman is the Principal of CM Advising, bringing passion-filled purpose & energy with a dose of glitter & sparkles to risk management through fragmented CRO work. Dr. Claire's prior experience includes almost two decades in insurance, being a game-changer & thought leader in workers' compensation. She created the first-ever Workers' Recovery Unit, designed the first Workers' Compensation Center of Excellence, co-hosted ADJUSTED - a claims podcast, co-founded The Transitions, & is a weekly contributor for Featured News on WorkersCompensation.com, a monthly editorialist for The Experts View on WorkersCompensation.com, & a monthly contributor Captive.com. Dr. Claire has her own column with WorkCompCollege, Claire's Corner; her own column with BLOOM, Coffee & Conversations, where she shines light into sparkly parts of life twice per month; & is Editor-in-Chief Extraordinaire of the BLOOM hard copy magazine. In her free time, she can be found pouring into students as an Adjunct Professor at Drake University with a focus in Management, Leadership, Business Strategy & Public Speaking.By combining a solid business foundation with her passion for creating a better experience through emotional intelligence, empathy, & customer-centricity, Dr. Claire inspires others to ultimately make good things happen for people. Dr. Claire also believes it is her duty & responsibility to add seats to any table she is invited to participate. She is an Ambassador for the Alliance of Women in Workers' Compensation, Board Member for Kids Chance of Iowa, Advisory Board Member for WorkCompBlitz, Advisory Board Member for WorkCompCentral, Board Member for the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM) – Workers' Compensation Advisory Board; Dean of Workers Compensation for CLM's Claims College, Faculty for Work Comp College, & Advisory Board Member for the Paramedics Program at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC).Dr. Claire speaks nationally on a variety of topics: leadership, self-development, workers compensation, & risk looking to change the industry one professional at a time. “Those with whom we are empowering today will be the decision-makers tomorrow. Advocacy is not enough, we need empathic, emotionally intelligent leaders who understand the bigger picture of helping employees feel seen, heard, acknowledged, & valued; returning injured humans to functional, contributing members of society; & more importantly, making sure our colleagues are able to return to their families & lives. The ripple effect matters.”linkedin.com/in/glitterandsparkleswww.drclairemuselman.comBuzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showRebel HR is a podcast for HR professionals and leaders of people who are ready to make some disruption in the world of work. Please connect to continue the conversation! https://twitter.com/rebelhrguyhttps://www.facebook.com/rebelhrpodcasthttp://www.kyleroed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-roed/

If you are interested in conversion rate optimization, this is the episode for you. Khalid Saleh is the founder and CEO of CRO agency Invesp. He has worked with brands like eBay, 3M, and the Discovery Channel. In this conversation, he shares what is a reasonable budget for CRO, why he avoids looking at homepages when first evaluating a site, what you should focus on to get quick wins when it comes to increasing conversions, and more.You will also discover:a reasonable budget for CRO testing and what that includesWhy Google Universal Analytics is sunsettingwhat you should focus on to get quick wins when it comes to CROListen to the Innovators Can Laugh Podcast HERE ---> https://www.innovatorscanlaugh.com/

This week our host, Brandi Starr, is joined by Matt Green, CRO at Sales Assembly.   Matt has led sales and operations for multiple hyper-growth, venture backed tech companies. In these roles, he oversaw personnel management, strategic planning, and sales leadership in multiple markets across the U.S.   Earlier in his career, Matt served in leadership roles in both Fortune level and boutique investment banks where he led business development teams and served as Interim Head of Sales for multiple portfolio companies.   Matt now helps run the first and only Scale-as-a-Service platform for the country's most exciting B2B tech companies.   In this week's episode of Revenue Rehab, on the couch Brandi and Matt will tackle: Transactions to Trust: The Role of Relationship Sales.   Links: Get in touch with Matt Green on: LinkedIn Sales Assembly Subscribe, listen, and rate/review Revenue Rehab Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts , Amazon Music, or iHeart Radio and find more episodes on our website RevenueRehab.live

In this episode, David and Gary interview Linda Beneze, CRO extraordinaire and mentor to all of the greats! They discuss how to create a company culture of growth and inclusion while supporting the strategy of the whole.Links:Linda Beneze LinkedInRespiratory Motion Inc.___________________________________ Submit Your Questions to: hello@thebigpixel.net OR comment on our YouTube videos! - Big Pixel, LLC - YouTube Our Hosts David Baxter - CEO of Big Pixel Gary Voigt - Creative Director at Big Pixel The Podcast David Baxter has been designing, building, and advising startups and businesses for over ten years. His passion, knowledge, and brutal honesty have helped dozens of companies get their start. In Biz/Dev, David and award-winning Creative Director Gary Voigt talk about current events and how they affect the world of startups, entrepreneurship, software development, and culture. Contact Us hello@thebigpixel.net 919-275-0646 www.thebigpixel.net FB | IG | LI | TW | TT : @bigpixelNC Big Pixel 1772 Heritage Center Dr Suite 201 Wake Forest, NC 27587 Music by: BLXRR

Guest: Rachel Pike, COO at Modern TreasuryPayment operations startup Modern Treasury is not afraid to do things in “our own weird way,” says COO Rachel Pike. Its values statement is a 150 word essay, it has gone viral by writing about nerdy ACH payments minutiae, and it has an unusual rule for quarterly internal reviews: No slides. Instead, departments have to write one to two page essay, which are packaged together and then shared company-wide, and with the board. In previous jobs, Rachel laments, she and her coworkers would waste time “pushing pixels” around 50-slide decks. “It [the essay] actually takes more thinking and less hours to put together a summary of, ‘where have we been?'” she says.In this episode, Rachel and Joubin discuss the state of San Francisco, the value of tradition, hunger to learn, the Draper Fisher Jurvetson split, the opportunity cost of staying put, HIPAA and startups, two-entrepreneur households, career transition coaching, “try before you buy” hiring, learning to be remote, the downside of grasping, and fixing inequalities in compensation.In this episode, we cover: Why Rachel doesn't like talking about herself (01:20) Job-hopping and the Bay Area (02:38) Early adopters vs. brilliant innovators (05:16) Why Rachel left academia (07:44) “I got a phD in startups” (10:24) The “nights and weekends” gig at AngelList (14:05) Describing startups to aliens (16:50) Four years at Grand Rounds (18:28) What makes Modern Treasury “modern” (21:51) How she got hired as employee #1 (24:16) Advice for wannabe early-stage startup workers (30:18) “Wonder is contagious” (32:00) “Do it right the first time” (35:09) Hacker News and other growth levers (38:20) The excitement of scaling (40:49) Advisors and quarterly planning essays (44:02) Forced prioritization (49:20) Hard feedback (51:50) The working with Rachel doc (54:19) How Modern Treasury does comp and bonuses (57:21) What's past is prologue (59:43) Who Modern Treasury is hiring and what “Grit” means to Rachel (01:02:00) Links: Connect with Rachel Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

On this episode of The Association Podcast, we welcome Dave Caruso, Co-Founder, President, and CRO of HighRoad Solution, to hear about his background and the evolution of HighRoad from an email marketing provider to their current focus on marketing automation strategy and integrations. We discuss the importance of channel strategy, building integrations and partnerships with other companies in the industry, and the need for companies to stay up-to-date with the latest technology and trends to provide the best possible experience for their customers. We also touch on the concerns surrounding the rapid adoption of AI and the importance of human intervention in its use.

In this week's episode of Scale Your Sales podcast, My guest is Sara Brooks. Sara is the Chief revenue officer of ZOA. Her company empowers the energy transition through brilliant consumer experiences, they believe that energy companies need to work hand-in-hand with consumers to stop climate change.    Sara is a commercial leader with 16 years of leadership experience from building and growing commercial teams through hypergrowth in B2B Saas & Fintech across Nordics, Europe, North America.    Sara is a fierce feminist and ambassador of women in sales and technology, Iranian born; She grew up in Sweden, and now live in London with husband and two daughters.    In this week's episode We talked about powering the energy transition through brilliant customer experiences, how energy companies need to work hand in hand with consumers to stop climate change, recruitment in sales, customer centricity and many more.   Welcome to Scale Your Sales podcast, Sara Brooks.    Timestamps:    02:25 – Process of entering a new work position    06:30 – Thoughts on the company's seniority level    09:10 – Accumulate experience, knowledge, and skills    14:35 – Being hands-on in a business is a must    17:00 – The process of optimizing people    21:48 – CRO's first move    https://www.linkedin.com/in/saradbrooks/   Janice B Gordon is the award-winning Customer Growth Expert and Scale Your Sales Framework founder. She is by LinkedIn Sales 15 Innovating Sales Influencers to Follow 2021, the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Customer Experience Nov 2020 and 150 Women B2B Thought Leaders You Should Follow in 2021. Janice helps companies worldwide to reimagine revenue growth through customer experience and sales.   Book Janice to speak virtually at your next event https://janicebgordon.com       LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janice-b-gordon/    Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaniceBGordon     Scale Your Sales Podcast: https://scaleyoursales.co.uk/podcast     More on the blog https://scaleyoursales.co.uk/blog      Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janicebgordon     Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScaleYourSalesJBG  

My guest today is CRO, Rachel Bates.  Customer Conversations Link In todays episode we discuss - The power of customer focus and strong employer branding. Lessons on building and managing international sales teams from industry experts How to balance enterprise Sales and product led growth. How to execute innovative approaches to employee retention. Sharpening the company's narrative and vision through the process of presenting to investors. All that and more on today's episode.  https://thegoatsofgrowth.com/ 

Contracts… Intimidating, long, confusing, complicated, often put together by multiple people or departments over a substantial amount of time. These multiple hands are trying to keep track of each change that happens along the way, but outdated processes often lead to communication breakdowns making the contract generation process a black hole.Former VP of Global Revenue at Contractbook, and now CRO at Vi Engage, Yoav Susz sees beyond the messiness and is here to talk with Amy about streamlining, simplifying, and modernizing the process through automation, whether it involves working with an inside legal counsel or not. This ensures the right contract can be generated easily by using the right template, clauses, entities, and sign-off saving time and expenses along the way.Connect with Yoav Connect with Amy at Selling School

In this episode of the Revenue Insights Podcast, host Lee Bierton speaks with Loren Brockhouse, CRO at BigHand. BigHand gives organizations the tools and data to enhance key productivity metrics and create value for the business, its employees, and clients. Loren shares insights into the four levers companies can use to drive deal velocity while optimizing expenses across sales and marketing. He also shares strategies for change management at sales-led organizations to pivot toward revenue management. Loren also touches on the importance of building relationships of depth and width with clients and shares strategies for doing more with less in the current challenging environment. Loren has over thirty years of experience in sales, marketing, and revenue operations. He mentions that his goal is to build the most respected consultative revenue team in the Legal Tech space by incorporating processes & strategies built around Empathy, Social Selling, Why Statements, and Strength Finders. Loren's key skills pivot around building an exceptional culture that attracts & retains the best talent while motivating them to get better each day.

Stevan Mirkovich is the CRO and Owner of Planted Expo, a trade show, platform, and network to connect Canadians to local vegan and plant-based businesses offering new, innovative, and inspiring products, services, and practices. The Planted website is a great educational resource offering online courses and make sure to check out their chats section where you will find the latest from leading voices in the plant-based movement. Be sure to head along to one of their upcoming trade shows where you will find over 200 vegan edible and lifestyle businesses and a great lineup of leading plant-based speakers from around the world. Trade show dates : Toronto: April 29 - 30 Vancouver: May 27 - 28

Join John Bonczek, CRO of 1547 Critical Systems Realty, and Windstream Wholesale CRO, Joe Scattareggia, as they discuss network expansion and the invaluable benefits of a partnership. John enlightens on the economical and geographical advantages of connection into the Orangeburg market, WW's recent long haul network expansion into their 1 Ramland Rd. facility, and the rationale behind the two companies' strategic connections, expansions, and investments.  

Healthcare technology has frequently been lambasted as being behind the times. The reason is because hospitals and healthcare providers are operating on lagging networks and with outdated technology. Derek Grimes, the SVP of Operations at Frontage Clinical Services explains what it will take to get our healthcare systems to work better for all patients, and he gives us some insights into the ways technology is currently being used to improve our experiences. Tune in to learn:Understanding the need for CROs (2:45)The technological landscape needed to operate clinical trials (5:10)How are healthcare systems improving? (12:15)What is stopping us from demanding more from healthcare providers? (18:30)Solving the Interoperability problem in healthcare (30:00)Advice for practitioners on where to modernize right now (37:45)--Zayo's future-ready network and tailored connectivity solutions enable some of the world's most innovative companies to connect what's next for their business. Exceptional end-user experiences and better business outcomes demand one thing – a strong, healthy network. How's your network health? There's one way to find out – take Zayo's Network Health Check now. https://zayo.is/3ztMpIuMission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

The Modern Selling Podcast Episode #234 featuring Mike Cabot, CRO at Moogsoft. Sales Leadership: Inspiring Teams and Driving Results. Critical leadership success expectations and sales culture best practices for sales or revenue enablement organizations

Guest: Ashley Kramer, CMO & CSO of GitLabOne day, when Ashley Kramer was an SVP at Alteryx, one of her direct reports hit her with a dose of reality: “She said, ‘I think you are trying to put me on a path to be you, and to have your job. I don't want any of that.'” Now the CMO and CSO of GitLab, Kramer — who has been a perfectionist since childhood — used to hold her team to the same high bar. But as she's learned over time, “Not everybody's gonna have your same ambition. Not everybody's gonna work as hard as you. It doesn't mean they're not good at their job. It just means different things are important to them.”In this episode, Ashley and Joubin discuss what companies get wrong in CEO interviews, “the three P's” of company values, loosely held disasters, thinking about the future, “everybody does not want to be like me”, how GitLab does meetings, pre-speech nervousness, context switching, skip-level meetings, credibility with the customer, setting the bar too high, and Naval Ravikant.In this episode, we cover: People, Passion, and Product (04:36) Joining companies right after they IPO (07:16) Scaling questions (10:28) Job-hoppers and ambition (12:06) Parents and dinner-table conversations (16:35) Coping with perfectionism (19:17) Coaching and demotivators (21:36) Confident public speaking (26:21) How Ashley got out of engineering (32:08) Being CPO and CMO of Sisense at the same time (35:49) Representing “two constituencies” (38:54) Why Ashley has two titles again (44:59) The radical transparency of GitLab (47:20) Growing pains and becoming interim CTO (51:28) Working with founder-CEOs (56:08) Tough feedback (58:20) Personal and professional OKRs (01:01:15) Work-life balance (01:03:33) How to network (01:06:10) Who GitLab is hiring and the meaning of “Grit” (01:08:58) Links: Connect with Ashley Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

In this episode of the Life Science Success podcast, my guest is Bremer Louw.  Bremer is the vice president of operations at Bioforum, a data focused CRO. He has been in the clinical research industry for over 15 years and has extensive experience in data management and biostatistics programming.   Bremer Louw, VP of Operations at Bioform, discusses the company's focus on meeting customer needs and building solutions for complex problems. He also expresses concerns about the pace of innovation and the ethical and regulatory implications of machine learning and artificial intelligence in the life sciences industry. Louw emphasizes the importance of small successes and momentum in achieving larger goals. Bioform is a smaller, more nimble organization with a different culture than larger companies like IQVIA. Bioform is attentive to customers' needs and works to meet them on an individual basis. Bremer Louw, the VP of Operations at Bioform, is responsible for overseeing operational metrics, professional services, quality, business development, and innovation. Bioform works with both drug and diagnostic companies. Louw is concerned about the pace of innovation in the industry and the ethical and regulatory implications of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Louw emphasizes the importance of small successes and momentum in achieving larger goals.

Sales cycles are getting shorter, and with that comes more strain to get more leads in the pipeline. Referrals and professional introductions are one of the best ways to do this, and can make the difference between closing the deal and an unread email. Today's guest, David Rush, is here to talk about his referral engine SmallWorld and how nurturing your professional relationships makes all the difference. This week, episode 178 of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast is about building a software-empowered referral engine!Watch our new recorded video training: Relationship-Driven New Business At-ScaleIn this episode of The Digital Agency Growth Podcast, David Rush shares the importance of building trust in business relationships and actionable steps you can take right now to start making introductions and connections for stronger lead generation.David Rush is the founder and CEO of SmallWorld, a relationship activation platform that fuels the entire relationship life cycle to unlock more successful introductions and referrals. An experienced entrepreneur and SaaS go-to-market leader, David has built and led growth teams to successful exits multiple times throughout his career. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of Earshot, a social media listening platform for major enterprise brands. David also served as CRO of DialogTech where he led a team of 80+ sales, customer success, channel, and service professionals to drive commercial growth and retention.In this episode, Dan and David discuss the following:The compression of the sales cycle and what that means for an agency's selling approach.Streamlining and organizing the referrals and relationships in a company's network.How SmallWorld adapts to your comfort level of sharing professional contacts.What you should prepare when asking someone else to make an introduction for you.Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!Learn more about The Digitial Agency Growth Podcast at https://www.salesschema.com/podcast/CONNECT WITH DAVID RUSHLinkedInSmallWorld.aiCONNECT WITH DAN ENGLANDER:LinkedInSales Schema

We're sitting down for a fireside chat with Mike Wolber, CRO at Rent Dynamics and host of the “Modern Multifamily” podcast. He and Daniel talk about picking your battles wisely, surrounding yourself with a variety of different mentors, and short-form vs. long-form content. Plus, find out why Mike has the need for speed when it comes to marketing. Follow Mike: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikewolber/Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/modern-multifamily/id1550224543 Follow Daniel: Twitter: twitter.com/Dmurr68LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: www.workweek.com

When patients face the diagnosis of a rare disease, they face a costly, uphill battle to develop a treatment for their condition… that is, if they ever do.   Dr. Stanley Crooke is aiming to change that. As the CEO of n-Lorem Foundation, his mission is to provide personalized treatments to ultra-rare disease patients for free as long as they live, no questions asked. Thanks to his humility, coupled with the generosity of other individuals and companies, ultra-rare disease patients have a renewed hope to get the treatments others may not be able to provide.   Join Dr. Crooke as he reflects on his humble beginnings at Ionis, the approach n-Lorem takes to developing drugs for ultra-rare diseases, and what the future holds for research in this area.Show Notes  n-lorem Foundation  Charles River - Rare Disease  Vital Science S4, E01 Project ALS: Fueled by Love  2021 Rare Disease Trailblazers  BioSpace: n-Lorem Foundation Preps First Doses to Treat Ultra-Rate Disease Patients for Free  Ionis Pharmaceuticals  Nature Medicine: Antisense oligonucleotide silencing of FUS expression as a therapeutic approach in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis  

On today's episode, Kunle is joined by Nirav Sheth, Founder & CEO of Anatta, an eCommerce agency that partners with DTC brands with a focus on UX design, research, and optimization to maximize a brand's growth potential. Nirav Sheth sees Anatta as anti-agency. While agencies provide the only people needed by a company, Anatta goes all-out by providing their whole team. While other agencies may not know it but billing by hours sometimes shifts the focus of the agency from providing quality service to mere revenue. Anatta works with top brands like Athletic Greens, Rothy's, True Botanicals, M.Gemi, and a lot more. The secret to the success of Anatta is no secret at all – quality consumer experience. Anatta's work on the flow of the design and speed of a brand's website is just a foretaste of what else they could help with a brand. It's an insightful episode as you'd hear Kunle and Nirav talk more about different points of growth potential using design, the efficiency, and effectivity of storytelling and authenticity in marketing a brand and understanding human psychology in relation to UX design planning and creation.----------- SPONSORS: This episode is brought to you by:  Recharge This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants. Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships. Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge. Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x. Tidio This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration. With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

Have you found yourself wondering how to take that next step into an executive-level career? Then this is the episode for you! Mike Wolber, CRO of Rent Dynamics, a CRM solution designed for apartment owners and managers, is here to discuss how education, networking, and mentorship are the best ways to advance to that C-level job you've always dreamed of. He and Daniel also chat about the importance of aligning marketing and sales goals and whether success should be defined by a number or a gut feeling. Plus, learn why speed is a marketer's best friend and why Mike takes joy in knowing that everyone is really just making things up as they go along.Keep up to date with the latest news from The Marketing Millennials: Follow Mike: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikewolber/Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/modern-multifamily/id1550224543 Follow Daniel: Twitter: twitter.com/Dmurr68LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: www.workweek.com0:00 Intro1:56 Marketing and Revenue3:08 Influence of Sales on Marketing6:08 Team Structure and Alignment10:08 Go-to-Market Goals13:34 Making the Jump to a CRO19:35 Scaling with Technology24:24 A Marketing Hill to Die On28:46 Words of Advice31:17 Contact Us

Who wants to know the secrets of sales enablement success? It all starts with grit, grind, and a learners mindset.Doug Grigg, CRO of Showpad, has 15 years of experience in sales leadership and knows exactly how to transform sales processes and maximize ROI through the power of sales enablement. Doug Grigg had a long career in the tech world and saw first-hand how the industry had changed. People were no longer looking for technology advantages, but for solutions that could provide real business value.In this episode, he shares what it takes to be a successful salesperson, how organizations can maximize the return on their investments in sales and marketing, how to effectively move the needle in a sales pitch, and more.Resources: McKinsey Article

This is a must listen episode for anyone who relies on their website to convert business! AJ Davis joins the show to enlighten us on the power of great website research, conversion rate optimization (CRO), and the importance of understanding consumer behavior. AJ is a CRO specialist and founder of Experiment Zone, a company dedicated to helping online businesses grow their revenue by improving website user experience through scientifically proven methods. Before starting Experiment Zone in 2017 AJ led optimization strategy for multiple Fortune 500 companies during her tenure at Clearhead, including CVS, Steve Madden, and Lululemon. Prior to her time at Clearhead, AJ was the lead UX researcher for Google Optimize and was on the team from ideation at a sprint week to product launch. AJ is a Wellesley College alumnae and has a masters in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley University. Currently AJ is in the process of developing the Experiment Zone Podcast where she will be interviewing CMOs & industry experts on a variety of topics including CRO strategy, A/B testing and implementation, and most importantly, how businesses can increase their revenue from website traffic. In this chat, AJ shares a few CRO tips and tricks and pulls examples from her real world experience to illustrate some of the best practices and basic principles that all businesses should be applying to their online presence.   Connect with AJ:   Website: https://experimentzone.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/experimentzone/ Experiment Zone Podcast: Coming Soon!    Connect with Mike: https://linktr.ee/mikedicioccio   Produced by Social Chameleon: https://www.socialchameleon.us   Interview Recorded via Riverside.fm: https://riverside.fm/homepage?utm_campaign=campaign_1&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=rewardful&via=mike-dicioccio   Mike'D Up! Merch: https://mikedupmerch.com

Ron Richardson and Joe Lynch discuss last mile delivery grows up. Ron is the Chief Revenue Officer at OneRail, an Orlando-based omnichannel fulfillment solution providing shippers across all verticals with Amazon-level dependability and speed to keep their delivery promise. About Ron Richardson  Ron Richardson is a highly experienced Chief Revenue Officer with a strong background in logistics and transportation. He currently works at OneRail, an Orlando-based last mile transportation visibility solution providing shippers with Amazon-level dependability and speed. Prior to joining OneRail, Ron was the CRO at Turvo, a TMS solution provider that offers end-to-end communication and analytics solutions for freight brokers, 3PLs, shippers, and carriers. Ron has also played a key role in the success of FourKites, a logistics technology company. Throughout his career, Ron has worked with many Fortune 2,000 shippers, retailers, and 3PLs, helping them to optimize their logistics operations using real-time visibility, predictive analytics, and global control tower capabilities. Ron's sales leadership experience spans more than 20 years, and he has worked for major companies such as Infor, Microsoft, and OpenText. Ron holds a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University. He is also a regular speaker at leading supply chain universities, including the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton Supply Chain College. About OneRail OneRail  is an Orlando-based omnichannel fulfillment solution providing shippers across all verticals with Amazon-level dependability and speed to keep their delivery promise. With a real-time connected network of 12 million drivers, OneRail finds the right vehicle for the right delivery so shippers gain low prices and greater capacity to rapidly scale their businesses. Across retail, CPG, distribution, construction, healthcare and more, OneRail offers an exceptional last mile delivery experience with an on-time delivery rate north of 98.6%, while keeping brands front and center. To learn more about OneRail, visit OneRail.com. Key Takeaways: Last Mile Delivery Grows Up Ron Richardson is the Chief Revenue Officer at Onereail, Orlando-based omnichannel fulfillment solution providing shippers across all verticals with Amazon-level dependability and speed to keep their delivery promise. OneRail is a last mile delivery logistics solution company that helps businesses remove friction in fulfillment. The company provides a cloud-based platform that enables retailers, carriers, and delivery providers to optimize their delivery operations. OneRail's platform offers real-time visibility, predictive analytics, and global control tower capabilities to its customers. The company works with a range of businesses, including retailers, e-commerce companies, and healthcare providers. The company's platform can integrate with a variety of systems, including ecommerce platforms, warehouse management systems, and transportation management systems. OneRail offers multiple delivery options, including same-day, next-day, and two-day delivery. The company provides customers with a branded tracking page that allows them to monitor their deliveries in real-time. OneRail's solution is designed to help businesses reduce delivery costs, improve customer satisfaction, and increase operational efficiency. Learn More About Last Mile Delivery Grows Up Ron on LinkedIn OneRail on LinkedIn OneRail Building World Class Tech for Final Mile with Eddie Misicka Retail Delivery Trends with Matt Schultz Inventory is Everything with Jeff Flowers The OneRail Story with Bill Cantania Modern Courier Delivery Compliance Considerations: Understanding SOX and SOC Compliance Snapshot of Current Landscape from 2022 Gartner® Market Guide for Last Mile Delivery Technology Solutions Sponsor: Tusk Logistics Tusk Logistics is a national network of the best regional parcel carriers that puts Shippers first, with lower costs, reliable service, and proactive support. Tusk save Shippers 40% or more on small parcel shipping. Tusk's technology connects your parcel operation to a national network of vetted regional carriers, all with pre-negotiated rates and reliable, predictable service. Integrating to your existing software takes minutes, and Tusk has your back with proactive shipper support on each parcel, in real time. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast If you enjoy the podcast, please leave a positive review, subscribe, and share it with your friends and colleagues. The Logistics of Logistics Podcast: Google, Apple, Castbox, Spotify, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Tunein, Podbean, Owltail, Libsyn, Overcast Check out The Logistics of Logistics on Youtube

Guest: Jen Vescio, Chief Business Development Officer at Uber and founder of Awestruck VenturesIf you were to look at Jen Vescio's calendar, it might look like a pack of Skittles: Every single one of her meetings is color-coded according to the Insights Color Focus system, which assigns the colors red, blue, yellow, and green based on what methods they emphasize in their work. As the chief business development officer of Uber, Jen has to work with people across that spectrum, and preps for each meeting accordingly.In this episode, Jen and Joubin discuss the pros and cons of media training, Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers, “semi-pro” soccer, how to ruin your Uber rating, the “fluorescent light” journey, working at “it” companies before they were disrupted, the art and science of business development, self-awareness vs. understanding others, Sean Bratches, what is your motive?, side letter PTSD, “speed and silence are your two worst enemies,” forced time off, getting buy-in, and why “Uber is wired for trauma.”In this episode, we cover: “Dancing in the moment” (00:54) The Olympic Development Program (03:22) Jen's parents (08:15) DJing and music in Ubers (10:40) Talking to Uber drivers (12:48) Retiring from soccer (15:04) “The big transition” (17:22) The dotcom boom and Jen's first jobs (20:04) Innovation and disruption (22:15) Buy, build, or partner (27:24) Understanding the “color” of others (35:27) How to talk to a “double red” (38:38) Insights Color Focus and the color of companies (41:16) The Trust Quotient (46:45) The biggest deal Jen has brokered (50:17) The pressure of big deals (51:46) The $350 million deal she botched (55:14) Getting burned out on corporate jobs (58:22) Big, shiny brands like Uber (01:00:38) Mental contracts and taking time off (01:05:07) Tough feedback (01:08:24) Developing trust internally vs. externally (01:09:48) How COVID impacted Uber (01:13:08) Where Uber is hiring and what Jen thinks of when she hears the word “Grit” (01:18:16)  Links: Connect with Jen Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

Kako se umjetna inteligencija već koristi u hrvatskom zdravstvu? Uz pomoć aplikacije koja pretvara govor u tekst, a specijalizirana je za hrvatski jezik i medicinsku terminologiju liječnici već danas diktiraju nalaze, umjesto da ih kuckaju s dva prsta. Digitalna asistentica Megi pacijentima koji boluju od povišenog krvnog tlaka pomaže prikupljati informacije kako bi liječnicima omogućila da vrijeme koje bi inače potrošili na to posvete pacijentu.Sve su to primjeri iz trenutne prakse, a još više takvim primjena dobit će priliku kroz javno-privatni konzorcij "AI4Heatkg Cro" koji okuplja tehnološke kompanije, javne i privatne zdravstvene ustanove, akademsku zajednicu, stručne udruge i inovacijske centre, a sve kako bi tehnološkim inovatorima i startupima olakšali razvoj i testiranje njihovih proizvoda. Koordinator projekta je Institur Ruđer Bošković, a s Anjom Barešić, koordinatoricom za partnere s IRB-a, razgovarali smo o:00:00 Što je AI4Health.Cro i kako pomaže inovatorima da njihove ideje zažive u hrvatskim ambulantama i bolnicama05:32 Uzletu healthtecha u Hrvatskoj07:42 Može li algoritam zamijeniti liječnika11:37 Digitalizacija hrvatskog zdravstva14:27 Primjeri korištenja AI-ja u hrvatskom zdravstvu19:23 Regulativa i sigurnost pri dijeljenju i korištenju osjetljivih zdravstvenih podataka 22:46 Može li blockchain riješiti dio problema pristanka i prikupljanja podataka24:47 Digitalno zdravstvo nije budućnost, već sadašnjost_______________

After leading another great startup to scale and become profitable as their CRO, Alan Chang has raised tens of millions of dollars to take on what is perhaps the largest and most impactful industry on the planet. His startup, Tesseract, has attracted funding from top-tier investors like Woorton, Accel, Balderton Capital, and LeadBlock Partners.

In this episode of Molecule to Market, you'll go inside the outsourcing space of the global drug development sector with Oren Beske, Amalgamator of Business and Biology at ATUM. Your host, Raman Sehgal, discusses the pharmaceutical and biotechnology supply chain with Oren, covering: How he ended up at Atum with one of the most peculiar job titles in the industry... The balance (and conflict) of combining a world-class science offering with the economic need of needing to monetise a business The journey from transactional, smaller deals in the pre-clinical space to powering outsourcing for biotechs The realities of drug development capability sharing in return for a slice of the profit pie, and its upsides when it comes to a CRO vendor and drug sponsor model Dr. Oren Beske joined ATUM in 2019 and brings over 20 years of industry experience to the team. After receiving his Ph.D. in Cell Biology at UCSF, he led a biology team at an automated microscopy start-up that was developing solutions for the high throughput, high content screening industry. Having spent over five years there he moved from product development to the services industry and joined Aragen Bioscience. Whilst joining early in the building of the company as the director of laboratory services, he moved up through the VP level and into various C-Suite roles over nearly 11 years and led the company through the acquisition by GVK Bio. Following a short stint as the president of ImmunoPrecise Antibodies, he most recently served as the founding CEO of Alloy Therapeutics, Inc. serving to set up the company, in-license its seminal discovery platform, and get the first customers on board. Please subscribe, tell your industry colleagues and join us in celebrating and promoting the value and importance of the global life science outsourcing space. We'd also appreciate a positive rating! Molecule to Market is sponsored and funded by ramarketing. An international content, design and digital agency that helps companies in life sciences, get noticed.

Etienne de Bruin is Founder of 7CTOs and Author of CTO Excellence in 100 Days. Victoria talks to Etienne about his book, founding 7CTOs, and keeping your technology sustainable by inspiring and motivating technology teams and people to work together and build complex systems. CTO Excellence in 100 Days (https://www.amazon.com/CTO-Excellence-100-Days-Becoming-ebook/dp/B0BV8P7K3S/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14TM3PTHA16UA&keywords=cto+excellence+in+100+days&qid=1680643461&sprefix=CTO+Excellence+in+100+Days%2Caps%2C110&sr=8-1) 7CTOs (https://7ctos.com/) Follow 7CTOs on Twitter (https://twitter.com/7ctos), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/7ctos/), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/7CTOs) or YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/7ctos). Follow Etienne de Bruin on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/etdebruin/) or Twitter (https://twitter.com/etdebruin). 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. And with me today is Etienne de Bruin, Founder of 7CTOs and Author of CTO Excellence in 100 Days. Etienne, thank you for joining me. ETIENNE: My pleasure, Victoria. Thanks for having me. VICTORIA: You're welcome. I'm excited to talk with you today. I hear that you recently published your book. Is it today actually the day it came out? ETIENNE: Today is the day. The book was finished about; I would say, three months ago. So I have had great anticipation now for many, many months. And you caught me on the day, so I feel like today is my birthday. VICTORIA: [laughs] Well, I feel honored that you chose us as your first stop [laughs] in your marketing push for your book. So tell me, what in your experience led you to begin writing this? ETIENNE: Well, as you mentioned, I founded 7CTOs. I think it's about ten years ago now. I myself am a CTO type. I've had a career of basically being born to code in South Africa, which took me to Stellenbosch University in South Africa. I then joined a startup that took me to Germany and then landed in the U.S. in San Diego. And my whole journey has been a progression from individual contributor and really having great coding skills through the messiness and the intricacies of building startups, contributing to startups, and ultimately being in the role of CTO in startups. And what led me to founding 7CTOs was just a realization that I didn't have the support I needed. I felt like I was going to many meetups, which was mostly oriented towards coding and sort of different new technology stacks and frameworks, or I was going to cocktail hours with vendors who were trying to sell you something. And I really felt the need to just be with my people so that I could, in a safe, and consistent, and accountable way, share the challenges that I was experiencing. It was really from this place of founding 7CTOs, talking to hundreds of...I've probably spoken to thousands of CTOs by now. I've also placed people. I've connected people. I've seen people join companies because of connections I've made. And one of the things I saw that really bothered me was finding a great company in search of a CTO reaching out to me, talking to me about the role, me finding or through my network connecting them with a great CTO, only to find that a few months later either the relationship fizzles or even worse, the person did not succeed at the new company. And I just felt like you can have two people, a great founder, and great CTO, individually wonderful people, ostensibly well-suited to work with each other, but then make some basic mistakes that then lead towards not the desired outcome. And so I was really torn whether I should put some thoughts into a book or into some blog posts about what I think the first 100 days should look like in a fledgling relationship. And that's ultimately how the book was born. So long, long, long, long answer, Victoria. But that's where it all started. VICTORIA: No, that's great. I try to ask deep questions that get full answers back. [laughs] ETIENNE: You nailed it. VICTORIA: So I appreciate that context, yeah. So you talk about how to be successful in those first 100 days, which is critical to joining a new leadership team. What are some common mistakes that you mention that a CTO might make? And on the reverse side, what are some wins you could do early on to build trust? ETIENNE: I think a common mistake that I see is a bit of an identity issue. The CTO joins an organization and is eager to deliver value, and I think that that value is oftentimes misplaced. And what I mean by that is you hit the ground running thinking that there's all this stuff that you have to deliver in order to prove that you can make an impact, to prove that you were the right choice. And I think there's an innate desire to impress your new employer, which I don't think is limited to the role of CTO. But I think for the CTO, this looks like some technical achievements and impact, problem-solving. And I think what I like to see is the first 100 days being used to slow down a little bit, to listen, to be curious, to be open to building relationships, to have a longer view on what exactly is the system that you're joining. And I think to a fault; sometimes people will ignore the system they're joining and just start delivering value. And I think that that can often be misinterpreted or misunderstood. And then, if that is misunderstood in the first few months, then that really sets a tone for the rest of the tenure that I think puts the CTO on the back foot to deliver at a pace that maybe is unsustainable, so... VICTORIA: I love that you said staying curious because I think what you can see is a tendency for, I don't know, what I've seen; maybe you've seen this too. [chuckle] But some people have a problem that they solved in a past situation, and they think that that is now the solution to every problem that they come into in a new organization, and maybe it is. But I think dealing in complex systems, having curiosity as to why decisions were made in a certain way can lead you to a better understanding of the business if that resonates with you at all. ETIENNE: Yeah, I love that you said that. I'm a huge fan and student of complex systems. And so you just spoke my love language. VICTORIA: [laughs] ETIENNE: But that's exactly what happens. And I think that sometimes the debilitater of powerful and impactful people is the problem that you observe is maybe tainted by what you saw in the past. It might be a similar challenge, a similar problem. But what you solved in the past was part of a completely different system, different entities, different relationships. And I think that by nature because the CTO is used to solving thousands and thousands of problems, there may be a bit of complacency around what is it exactly that I'm observing is the challenge here? Why exactly was I hired? What exactly does success look like for them, for the people that hired me, for the system that I've come into? And I think the tendency is to ignore all of those questions and focus on how do I feed my own need to feel valued and start solving problems in sort of a whack-a-mole style? And I have found, even in my own experience, that there are some seriously unintended consequences that can arise from solving people's problems for them in ways that they are not used to, or they don't understand, or in some places just fully disagree with. And I think if you are not patient and take sort of 100 full days to just chill out and really enjoy learning about the system that you're joining, I think you're setting yourself up to fail or to at least be very unhappy. VICTORIA: Right, setting yourself up for some fun conflicts [laughs] to solve if you come out right out the gate. And I think maybe, too, the first 100 days the chilling out and learning, you also have time to build empathy and build trust with people so that when you do bring up suggestions, they're maybe a little more willing to listen, right? ETIENNE: Yes. And I think it's not uncommon to say, "Oh, well, I'm going to onboard myself. It's going to take some time before I show value." And I think there is a general sense that when the executive joins a company that, it's going to take some time. But I think that the temptation to jump into fiery situations is great, great in a bad way. It's a great temptation. And my book and my approach suggests that you take a step back and focus on a completely different area of the company, which is its people and its systems, and what success looks like for those people before you start jumping in and asserting your way of doing things. VICTORIA: And you mentioned a question that I was going to ask, like, what does success look like? Or say you're a CEO, and you're trying to hire a CTO; what does success look like? What kind of value do you think people should expect from someone in a CTO role? ETIENNE: Fundamentally, I think I might not be swimming in the mainstream on this topic. I don't believe that the CTO is a technical role first. I believe that the CTO is the Chief Technology Officer but is primarily a business role. And by that, I mean being a member of the C-suite, you are tasked, just like all the other members of the C-suite, to grow a company in a sustainable way. And whatever that middle letter is, is your domain and your expertise, and that's cool. But that T is surrounded by a C and an O, which in most cases has a fiduciary responsibility to the organization. But also, first and foremost, you are a first-class member of the C-suite. And so my book talks about this, but you are there to join in with the executive leadership team and to help that team towards success. And so what that looks like for me is you are wrestling on what the targets are for the company. You participate fully in that. You then allocate a budget. In other words, you allocate cost towards how you can achieve those revenue goals. And then, with that budget as CTO, you then are budgeting towards a team that you believe can get the technology implemented that will ultimately produce the revenue. So think about revenue target, technology budget, technology people. Now, these are all in the C-suite. These are just entries on a P&L. These are entries on the balance sheet. These are things that ultimately are abstracted towards company growth and company success. So with that, the CTO then turns into someone who wrestles with the tech teams, like, what are we going to implement? What ideas are consistent with our company principles and our vision? What does innovation look like? How do we inspire people to join our organization to do so? That, to me, is a fundamental role for the CTO, to inspire people to join the organization but also to be someone who implements and ideates on that journey. So I think a CTO succeeds when there is revenue growth, and that is due to budget being spent in an effective way to attract amazing people to ultimately build technology that is sustainable that then feeds into tech revenue that ultimately helps the company achieve its goals. VICTORIA: That's great. Yeah, I like that you said sustainable and the importance of people and how that relates to keeping your technology sustainable. And I'm curious if you could share more about what practices a CTO could bring to a new organization to facilitate that inspiration and to really motivate technology teams and people to work together and build these systems. ETIENNE: I think that speaks to my earlier answer, which is the investment in people and investment in understanding the systems that exist. So whether you are a CTO, that is the first time a company ever scales and grows into having that role being created, which, you know, most tech startups these days will have the role of CTO allocated and available. The important thing to understand for you as someone stepping into that role is that your teams have a construct. They have an impression. They have an image, either of your predecessor at that company or their experiences with leadership and technology at their previous companies. And I think it's extremely important to understand how you're being seen as a leader in the company and as CTO and that that vision of what people have of you is not necessarily based on your actions, your reputation, your good mornings in the mornings and your good evenings in the evenings. It really is based on people's constructs about what their experience has been of a CTO in their career, or like I said, the previous CTO, your predecessor. And so I think that it's critical as you step into this role that you take the time to bring that change to show people your ways, to show people what is important to you in a way that's not a bull in a china shop. But when you break stuff, and you come in, and you announce your presence, and you assert the new way of doing things, I think that that is met with suspicion and concern most of the time. And so I think if you can show people in the little things that you care about them, you're listening to them, you're curious about the system they're operating inside of, I think that that sets you up to then come in with the big ideas later on. But again, the emphasis being later on, past the 100 days. I talk about this in the book where introducing your tech strategy, introducing your way of doing things really comes a lot later in the 100 days than is maybe the preconceived notion. VICTORIA: And you also mentioned a few times what the CTO should be doing and a lot of great questions that you ask, like, what does success look like? How do we build this together? And finding ways to maybe generate more ideas than just what you would come up with with your team, you're more powerful. ETIENNE: Yes. And I think tag teaming on to that is a lot of times...and this is actually really a confounding thing that I've come across, which is the C-suite won't always understand what the role of CTO actually is. And teams won't always fully understand what the role of CTO is. When you talk about a CMO, or a CRO, or a CFO, I think you can generally understand what they're supposed to be doing. That isn't always clear for the CTO. And it's amazing how many times I have gotten the question, well, we knew we needed someone to help us with the tech, but we don't really know what it is that you do, or what you should be doing, or what success looks like. I think not making the assumption that people know what you're there to do is a form of showing some respect and humility. And this is why always when I'm in executive meetings, when I'm in stand-ups, or I'm in some sort of an architecture meeting, I will almost without fail I will say, "As the role of CTO, this is what I bring to the meeting," or "This is what the role of CTO would be looking for as an outcome of this conversation." Or "As the role of CTO, it is my job to ensure that our development capacity increases," to just never assume that people know what it is that you're there to do but to show them, I think, the respect and the courtesy that the role of CTO has a certain place in whatever meeting or brainstorm session is going on. VICTORIA: I think that makes sense, too, because I could see, you know, especially you mentioned with people who maybe have had past experiences with CTOs that are not the most positive. If you bring up an idea in a meeting, everyone thinks, well, that's the solution. That's what the CTO wants. And it might not. Everyone might not feel comfortable, like, without you caveating; this is why I'm bringing this up. You know, we're here to brainstorm and not for me to just tell you what to do. [laughs] ETIENNE: Yes, yes. And that's why I will often...honestly, this might be a real tip for people listening. But I will actively divorce who I am from the role that I'm in. And it enables me to have difficult conversations. It enables me to assert leadership without dominance. And that is to just say, "Hey, Sandra, in my role as CTO, this is what I am looking for in your growth or in your career path." Versus, "Hey, Sandra, I want you to..." or "I need you to..." And I think the subtle difference there is to just assure someone that you're operating in a capacity that the company expects from you versus somehow having your identity wrapped in the outcome of a conversation. And that really has been a very powerful tool for me as I integrate into new companies or as I need to navigate tricky conversations. VICTORIA: I appreciate you sharing that. I think hopefully that will be a great point for someone who's maybe struggling with something similar at this time. And maybe there are other common questions or themes that come up when you're talking to all these CTOs in organizations that you can share. ETIENNE: By the way, if your name is Sandra and you're listening to this conversation, I totally made up the name Sandra, so I'm not referring to you, Sandra. VICTORIA: [laughs] ETIENNE: Okay. I think an interesting thing that I've noticed is given the stage of my company, have I addressed all the things that I need to by now? And I think that is such an indication of the times that we live in. Technology is always changing. Expectations are always changing. Clearly, if you're in a technology innovation company, things are rapidly changing. It's funny because some things just stay the same, i.e., people problems and all that. But as far as technology landscape goes, I think that there is a little bit of a daunting feeling that, hey, I'm CTO in this company, but I don't know if I am where I need to be at compared to what other successful companies let's say, for instance, a series A company is doing. And as CTO, am I applying, am I showing up in the way that great CTOs of other series A companies are showing up? And so I would say that's problem number one is, am I operating at the level that I should be that my company is expecting of me? That's a real challenge that CTOs have. And I think level-setting expectations communicating where we should be at is a skill that I think is missing from a lot of people who are in that role. And I think it's because we get to the roles of CTO by being people who rapidly solve problems or speedily deliver on technology. And we start associating speed with being good at our jobs, and I really think that that is wrong; that is just wrong. When you're in an executive role, patience and spending the extra day or the extra week fighting for the extra month, I think, is actually a very important role that the CTO plays in the C-suite. And so if you have an underdeveloped sense of your own leadership style, an underdeveloped sense of your being and your essence and what it is you actually bring to the table, I think you end up just being sort of a knee-jerk tech person that just implements what other people want you to so that you could be valued for what it is that you do. Versus having that solid executive presence inside of a company that really influences and can shape the vision of the organization. VICTORIA: Yeah, I think that's super interesting how common that question is. And I wonder if it gets to sometimes creating a shared understanding between the executive team about the technology and why certain things are important or not important. I wonder if you could talk about any maybe major trends that you see executive teams trying to take advantage of that are either positive or negative. ETIENNE: The thing I've seen the most, which has had the greatest impact on, I think, executive teams, at least from my vantage point, is the desire to adopt some sort of business playbook or a business operating system. I think one of the most popular ones is the EOS model, Entrepreneurs Operating System. Gino Wickman, I think, wrote the book "Traction." And so it's caused a big trend with companies to try and streamline their operations by following the EOS model. And I do think that that might be the wrong solution to the right problem for many companies. What I mean by that is, again, we're talking about blueprints. What works for one company isn't necessarily going to work for the next company. The way you set goals, the way you set your so-called rocks, or the way you set your quarterly goals, or even working by quarter if you think about a quarter, it's such an interesting...it's really a Wall Street concept. It's three months. It's really so arbitrary. And I think that I see C-suites trying to adopt a business operating system that other companies are doing without really the necessary work being done as to, hey, what compels us through our culture, who we are, how we like to do things, what it is that works for us? And I will see some C-suites sort of spin their wheels a little bit on trying to adopt other systems when really all it takes is for them to do their own work to see what is the value stream? What does it look like inside of their company? I actually encourage, and I think I talk about this in this book; in days 60 to 70, I talk about learning to improvise. And I think this is where I look to the CTO to use their spidey senses and their logical deduction skills, their deconstruction skills to observe what is actually happening inside of the C-suite and to facilitate conversations around what is it that people need? How do we improvise on systems that we already have? Or how do we deal with missed expectations? And I do think that the CTO can play a wonderful role inside of the C-suite to facilitate those conversations. But I see inside of C-suites, the role of CTO being relegated to the IT person or just the tech person. And I think that victimization goes both ways. But the C-suite, where the CTO is actually facilitating hard conversations and able to do the decomposition of a complex system or the deconstruction of an often repeated problem or challenge that the company is experiencing, could really push the C-suite into a different track of thinking that could be super beneficial to unblocking some stodgy issues they've been facing. VICTORIA: That makes sense. And it reminds me of trying to adopt agile right when it was first becoming popular and committing so hard to a framework that you don't look at what works for your team [laughs] and works for the specific technology and tools that you have. So it makes sense to me that the CTO could bring an experience like that into applying frameworks to how the business operates. ETIENNE: Absolutely. And I think that's really when dogmatism could be your enemy. And, again, CTO joins a company, knows a certain set of skills in order to accomplish things, dogmatically tries to apply that because they are the so-called expert. And then they fail, or they're unhappy, or there's misunderstanding because we had these high expectations for you. Your interviewing was brilliant, and you said all the right things. But then, when you walked into the organization, your desire for acceptance and delivering value trumps your opportunity to be the new person and be curious about what is actually happening and what is actually going on. This should be so obvious, but when you walk into a C-suite, there are obviously existing relationships between all the different members of the C-suite. And I advocate for being a student of those relationships. Understand the history that exists between the CEO and the CFO. And these could be very great newbie conversations to have with these various members of the C-suite. "Hey, so when did you join the company? Hey, why did you join the company? Hey, wait, which company did you come from? What drew you to this company? Where did you used to live? Why did you move?" I think these are such incredible nodes in a complex relational hierarchy that can give you some very sound ideas as to, oh, well, why does the CEO constantly challenge what the COO is saying? Or why does the COO seem surpassed all the time? You, as CTO you, would do very well. I mean, as any C-suite member, any leader would do well to seek some insight and perception into what is going on for people. VICTORIA: That makes sense, right? If you're going to have influence, you have to kind of understand what are all the connections and energy that's going around in the team? ETIENNE: Absolutely. Mid-Roll Ad: As life moves online, bricks-and-mortar businesses are having to adapt to survive. With over 18 years of experience building reliable web products and services, thoughtbot is the technology partner you can trust. We provide the technical expertise to enable your business to adapt and thrive in a changing environment. We start by understanding what's important to your customers to help you transition to intuitive digital services your customers will trust. We take the time to understand what makes your business great and work fast yet thoroughly to build, test, and validate ideas, helping you discover new customers. Take your business online with design‑driven digital acceleration. Find out more at tbot.io/acceleration or click the link in the show notes for this episode. VICTORIA: And maybe you can tell me more about 7CTOs and what that community can mean for someone who's growing in this role. ETIENNE: 7CTOs, like I said earlier, I founded it...I almost said 100 days ago. I founded it ten years ago. And it was as I mentioned, the genesis of the story, which is important, is I co-founded a company with two people. I wrote the first lines of code for our product. In fact, I wrote the whole version 1 myself. And as the company grew and as the company grew beyond what it was that the three of us were comfortable with, I noticed that my CEO joined an organization a peer group organization. My COO joined a peer group organization. And I just saw this transformation in them that I really admired. I was actually really envious when they were able to start taking what they've learned from their peer groups and bring them into our company to start operating more efficiently. And so, it was just natural that I would look for something for CTOs, and I couldn't find anything. I actually tried to join sort of more generic business leadership groups like Vestige or EO even. And I found that I wasn't really with my people. I wanted to feel like I was with the geeks who could talk all day about tech and development and probably watch the same movies and read the same books or inspired or laugh at the same jokes. I wanted to find my people who were facing the same problems and challenges that I was, i.e., scaling companies beyond the things that we knew, beyond the things that we were comfortable with. And I wanted to have deep conversations with those people. So I wanted to be able to share my insecurities or the politics that I was facing, or the anger that I was feeling, or not feeling seen or heard. I wanted to have deep, meaningful conversations with my true peers in a regular meeting setup that was confidential and fun. And I couldn't find that. So I decided to host a few meetups. My first meetup was actually in Old Town, San Diego, at my buddy's restaurant. And I hosted the first 10 or 12 CTOs and realized that people had a real need for that kind of interaction. And I then ended up hosting 30 different meetings in three different cities. And everywhere I went, there was the same expression that people wanted what I wanted. And then I tried to host a few more meaningful, smaller conversations and people...quite frankly, it was a disaster. I don't think it was the right container for people to respect each other and have empathy for each other's decisions. And instead, it just became a pissing contest for who made the right decision about what situation. And that's when I realized I'm not going to be able to create a meaningful, open the kimono style conversation without some rules. And those rules I put in place, i.e., you must attend the meetings. You need to have some skin in the game. And that's how 7CTOs was born. And to this day, it is a vetted peer group organization. We know we have some skin in the game. There's a membership fee. There's a time commitment. And there is a commitment to yourself to grow, to have empathy, to show up for your people, to be accountable to your people, to learn the stuff that you like to learn about and to learn the stuff that you don't want to learn about. And that is where we are today. So anybody who's listening to this who has a CTO who feels cold and lonely, come join us. VICTORIA: I appreciate the hustle, that many meetups in that many cities. I would have gotten tired. [laughs] Like, that's too much. But it seems like there was a demand, and it created something that's really meaningful for people. ETIENNE: Yes. And I was surprised. So from San Diego, I went to Austin. And then, I also started investing in Portland. And I was really amazed how we were in different cities, but each tech scene had this group of people called CTOs who they knew how to talk about technology, and they knew how to geek out of trends and all that. But they were lacking solely in team composition, budget management, C-suite executive presence, handling disagreements with the CEO, maybe knowing when to leave, how to find new positions, to carefully consider the arc of their own careers, to just manage your LinkedIn page. I mean, it was really shocking in the early 2010s how much of that was going on. I will say I was reluctant to actually start something. You know, 7CTOs is very much a membership organization filled with people. Not the most intuitive move for me. I thought I would be building more and more and more tech companies, SaaS products. I do that as an interim or a fractional CTO now, but I don't have my own startup right now in the tech space. But I love 7CTOs. We have a new CEO. Her name is Beth Rehberg. We have our head of coaching. Her name is Brittany Cotton. And we have about 200-plus companies that have enrolled their CTOs in our organization. And the journey is remarkable, truly a remarkable journey to see how people are just blossoming into the full essence and the full impact that they can have in other companies. VICTORIA: That's wonderful. And I wonder, if you could go back in time and give yourself some advice back when you started it knowing what you know now, what advice would you tell yourself? ETIENNE: I grossly underestimated how many White guys I would be attracting. I think about three or four years into the organization; it took someone else to bring it to my attention that there were no women. There were no underrepresented minorities in this group. And so I think from day one, I would have made that a key focal point for myself to really invest in the diversity of the group. We've come a very long way. Our numbers are growing pretty quickly in terms of women joining us and people from various communities joining us. I think that's actually becoming a hallmark of 7CTOs. And I'm very proud of it today. But, boy, back in the day, I would have made that a key prime directive. VICTORIA: Well, that's a really honest take, and I appreciate you offering that to us. And I think that's an important thing to focus on always going forward. [laughs] But I like that, and now it's become a focus for you and creating that space that, you know, hindsight is 2020. [laughs] Well, great. Is there anything else that you'd like to leave as a takeaway for our listeners? ETIENNE: No. I think, of course, I would love some book purchases. Apparently, the first couple of weeks are vital for any new book. So please go over to Amazon and get "CTO Excellence." I also have a website: ctoexcellence.com. So really, anybody who has an inclination towards leadership in the tech space, I'm super passionate about those people. The opportunity to influence in a creative and confident way is just limitless. And I want to help unearth that for fledgling leaders, existing leaders, some leaders who might feel stuck. Please reach out to me. I'd love to get you connected, either through 7CTOs or even I do some coaching as well. So I consider it my life's mission to expand this ecosystem because so many people are impacted by the way we show up. And there's a great opportunity as CTOs to be transformational in our organizations. And this is what I exist to do. VICTORIA: Well, thank you so much for joining us today. And I really appreciate you sharing what you did, and I enjoyed our conversation. 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. And you can find me on Twitter @victori_ousg. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thank you 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: Etienne de Bruin.