Podcasts about Customer development

After a serious spinal injury left him temporarily paralyzed, Ty had to navigate the healthcare system to find the right specialists, without reliable online information to guide those critical choices. On this episode of the Predictable Revenue Podcast, Ty Allen, founder of SocialClimb, shared the deeply personal story behind his company's origin. Highlights include: Finding a Gap in the Market (07:10), Validating the Market Gap (11:24), How Not To Screw Up Pricing (14:34), Customer Development and First Clients (20:30), And more… Stay updated with our podcast and the latest insights in Outbound Sales and Go-to-Market Strategies!

1978. Two years out of the Air Force, serendipity (which would be my lifelong form of career planning) found me in Silicon Valley working for my first company: ESL. If you're an entrepreneur, ESL is the most important company you've never heard of. If you are a practitioner of Customer Development, ESL was doing it before most us were born. If you think the Cold War turned out the right side up (i.e. Communism being a bad science experiment) ESL's founder Bill Perry was moving the chess pieces. And no one who really knew could tell you.

Are you struggling to find customers for your business? In this insightful episode, Scherrie L. Prince interviews Collin Stewart, entrepreneur, sales expert, and co-founder of Predictable Revenue, who reveals the critical mistake most founders make when scaling their business. Collin shares his candid journey from building a CRM system nobody wanted to bootstrapping a company that went from zero to $1 million in just three months. He emphasizes why entrepreneurs must "prove it before you scale it" and explains his practical two-part framework for achieving predictable revenue: consistent top-of-funnel leads and consistent sales processes. You'll learn why premature scaling kills startups, how to conduct effective customer development interviews, and practical ways to find your first 20-50 customers through strategic referrals. Whether you're a solopreneur or small business owner wondering where your next clients will come from, Collin's pragmatic advice from his upcoming book "The Terrifying Art of Finding Customers" will help you build sustainable growth and play big faster.

Perché così tante startup falliscono? E come puoi evitarlo? In questo episodio, ti portiamo dietro le quinte del successo imprenditoriale, svelando gratuitamente alcuni dei primi passi fondamentali del nostro percorso di incubazione Startup Builder.  Scoprirai come fare interviste di validazione efficaci, utilizzare smoke test e sviluppare un MVP per mettere alla prova la tua idea di business prima ancora di iniziare. Ascolta questo episodio e prendi appunti per fare tue strategie pratiche che possono fare la differenza tra successo e fallimento durante il lancio della tua startup. -------------

Tyler and Hans wrap up the Customer Development series by bringing on Jason Young from Agrovision Solutions LLC. out of Missouri as they tackle the challenge of customer loyalty. How do we recognize when we have loyal customers? And what did we do to create loyal customers?Andy Pace, Region Manager, Joins us again to give his thoughts and share his learnings from all four episodes along with Tyler and Hans. To provide feedback, please email us at: smartereveryseason@precisionplanting.com

Meet the Professor Who's CHANGING the Way We Think About BUSINESS (B-Side)   Prepare for an insightful conversation with Bill Bellows, a serial entrepreneur from the DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia)! Bill's impressive journey includes founding and partnering in various successful ventures like Copithorne & Bellows, Simplexity.com, Red Creek Communications, and Veritect. With a background in Silicon Valley and Northern Virginia, he co-founded a renowned consulting firm catering to Fortune 500 companies and tech startups, later acquired by Omnicom Group.    Transitioning from the corporate world, Bill now shares his expertise as a College professor at the University of Maryland and American University. His focus on innovation and entrepreneurship is evident through pioneering classes in Design Thinking, Customer Development, and Business Model disciplines. Join us to uncover Bill's entrepreneurial spirit, the challenges of business inception, and the inspiration behind his teaching endeavors.

Meet the Professor Who's CHANGING the Way We Think About BUSINESS (B-Side)   Prepare for an insightful conversation with Bill Bellows, a serial entrepreneur from the DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia)! Bill's impressive journey includes founding and partnering in various successful ventures like Copithorne & Bellows, Simplexity.com, Red Creek Communications, and Veritect. With a background in Silicon Valley and Northern Virginia, he co-founded a renowned consulting firm catering to Fortune 500 companies and tech startups, later acquired by Omnicom Group.    Transitioning from the corporate world, Bill now shares his expertise as a College professor at the University of Maryland and American University. His focus on innovation and entrepreneurship is evident through pioneering classes in Design Thinking, Customer Development, and Business Model disciplines. Join us to uncover Bill's entrepreneurial spirit, the challenges of business inception, and the inspiration behind his teaching endeavors.

Today we talk through the three types of problems that deserve a solution. We start off with a few higher level thoughts about problems and startups - specifically around achievement incentives and how some bad early decisions usually can't be salvaged by good decisions later on. Then we talk through Hole Problems, Teleporter Problems, and Status Level Jump Problems. Tacklebox Customer Interview WorkshopGetting God at the Wrong Thing 00:40 The Types of Problems Customers Will Solve01:00 Manhattan in 200705:48 Achievement Incentives06:30 Be Careful What You're Getting Good At07:37 Nat Eliason - Getting Too Good at the Wrong Thing08:21 Bad Early Decisions James Clear09:53 Tacklebox10:54 Problem Archetype 1: Hole Problems14:23 Baby Quip17:04 Problem Archetype 2: Teleporter Problems19:19 Problem Archetype 3: Status Level Jump

Tyler and Hans, back again with Part 3 of our Customer Development series. This episode takes a look at, how do we provide value after the sale is completed? Tyler and Hans welcome Nathan Rogers with Legacy Ag as he explains his approach to continuing to provide value after the sale and delivery of products is completed.Also joining Tyler and Hans by phone is Region Manager, Andy Pace gives his outlook on the interview with Nathan and how he coaches dealers to continue that value after the sale.

Meet the Professor Who's CHANGING the Way We Think About BUSINESS (A-Side)   Prepare for an insightful conversation with Bill Bellows, a serial entrepreneur from the DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia)! Bill's impressive journey includes founding and partnering in various successful ventures like Copithorne & Bellows, Simplexity.com, Red Creek Communications, and Veritect. With a background in Silicon Valley and Northern Virginia, he co-founded a renowned consulting firm catering to Fortune 500 companies and tech startups, later acquired by Omnicom Group.    Transitioning from the corporate world, Bill now shares his expertise as a College professor at the University of Maryland and American University. His focus on innovation and entrepreneurship is evident through pioneering classes in Design Thinking, Customer Development, and Business Model disciplines. Join us to uncover Bill's entrepreneurial spirit, the challenges of business inception, and the inspiration behind his teaching endeavors.

Meet the Professor Who's CHANGING the Way We Think About BUSINESS (A-Side)   Prepare for an insightful conversation with Bill Bellows, a serial entrepreneur from the DMV (Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia)! Bill's impressive journey includes founding and partnering in various successful ventures like Copithorne & Bellows, Simplexity.com, Red Creek Communications, and Veritect. With a background in Silicon Valley and Northern Virginia, he co-founded a renowned consulting firm catering to Fortune 500 companies and tech startups, later acquired by Omnicom Group.    Transitioning from the corporate world, Bill now shares his expertise as a College professor at the University of Maryland and American University. His focus on innovation and entrepreneurship is evident through pioneering classes in Design Thinking, Customer Development, and Business Model disciplines. Join us to uncover Bill's entrepreneurial spirit, the challenges of business inception, and the inspiration behind his teaching endeavors.

Tyler and Hans continue our series of customer development by inviting Mike Frakes to talk about he shows value in the product before the sale. Whether that's putting a reveal unit on one row and letting the customer run it, or using Panorama to show real area specific data on how a specific product has impacted other operations outcomes. Following the interview, they are joined once again by Region Manager, Andy Pace, as he gives his thoughts and recap to the interview with Mike.

Today is Part 2 of starting a startup live on the pod. We focus on finding and engaging potential customers through Brute Force Customer Acquisition and dig in on value creation using the Delta 4 framework. The entrepreneur we're helping experiences an epiphany about what his doctor customers truly need, challenging his initial assumptions and forcing him to pivot his approach. TackleboxBylddIdea to Startup NewsletterDelta Four 00:30 Intro - Last Week's Episode04:18 Brute Force Customer Acquisition + The Five Startup Steps09:37 The best brute force acquisition I've seen10:49 Doctor Customer Acquisition12:44 Hunting Delta 416:00 The Hunch

Exciting times for Smarter Every Season as we launch our first series. Kicking it off with Tyler and Hans is Steve Zeiset as he talks about his initial contact with customers with a few seasons under his belt. After talking with Steve, Tyler talks with Region Manager, Andy Pace, as he gives insight into the interview with Steve and what he likes as well as some things he sees as an RM that are beneficial in building awareness within your own business.

In this episode, Ryan and Rory Clark discuss the importance of customer intimacy in sales and marketing. They emphasize the need to genuinely connect with customers, ask the right questions, and listen actively. Rory shares his expertise in customer development and highlights the three key phases: customer attraction, customer creation, and customer satisfaction. He also explains the power of video in creating a high-touch customer experience. The conversation provides valuable insights for entrepreneurs and creatives looking to improve their sales strategies. Key Takeaways Customer intimacy is a powerful strategy that beats AI and technology-driven approaches. To connect with customers, genuinely listen to them and ask the right questions. The three key phases of customer development are customer attraction, customer creation, and customer satisfaction. Video is a highly effective tool for creating a high-touch customer experience. Focus on customer intimacy and provide a personalized and exceptional customer experience. About Rory J. Clark Rory J. Clark is the creator and innovator of FOCUS SELLING®, a breakthrough performance  system which has helped countless executives around the world to exceed performance  expectations. He inspires excellence in leadership, teamwork, and performance through the renovation of individual mindsets.  For more than four decades, executives in over two hundred organizations, on six continents, and in over thirty countries, have learned from Rory. In addition, they have taught Rory how to turn FOCUS SELLING® into a competitive weapon. Rory's experience includes leadership positions in marketing, sales, recruiting, and training in organizations such as CBS and ABC Radio, Wilson Learning Corporation, and the Dale Carnegie Institute. He is an expert in selling, in instruction, and in curriculum design. In This Episode [00:00] Welcome to the show! [03:50] Meet Rory Clark [05:28] Building a StoryBrand [09:28] A Sale From Start to Finish [11:09] Adjusting to Social Styles [11:29] Connecting Intentionally [11:57] Uncovering [35:54] Phases of Customer Development [40:39] Connect with Rory [41:40] Outro Quotes “In 1984, which is 40 years ago – probably when I got my AOL address – there was a book called Megatrends. And the author of the book said… the more high tech we get, the more high touch will be required. Well, now that's on steroids, right?” – Rory Clark “If you're great at customer intimacy, that beats AI hands down because people are sick of interacting with it. They're sick of not getting to talk to a person.” - Rory “Be creative in your craft, but find a system that works for you when it comes to selling and marketing and all those things.” - Ryan Koral Guest Links Find Rory Clark and Focus Selling online Email Rory Clark: roryjclark@aol.com Links Find out more about the Onward Summit  FREE Workshop Available "How to Consistently Earn Over $100k Per Year in Video Production While Working Less Than 40 Hours Per Week" Join the Grow Your Video Business Facebook Group  Follow Ryan Koral on Instagram Follow Grow Your Video Business on Instagram Check out the full show notes

Stepping into the world of customer development can be daunting, especially when you're unsure what to ask or how to approach potential users without a finished product.  However, Cindy Alvarez, author of "Lean Customer Development" and Director of UX for PowerPoint, believes embracing these uncertainties is the key to successful product development.  In this episode, Cindy explains why this initial discomfort is normal and essential for innovation. Highlights include: Why People Hesitate to Do Customer Development Interviews? (01:40), How to Design Your Interview Process (25:57), And more… Are you looking to create repeatable, scalable, and predictable revenue? We can help! ► https://predictable.fm/get-growth

The Startup Owner's Manual guides you, step-by-step, as you put the Customer Development process to work. This method was created by renowned Silicon Valley startup expert Steve Blank, co-creator with Eric Ries of the "Lean Startup" movement, and tested and refined by him for more than a decade. Support the Show.

Lean practitioners often discuss the importance of delivering value to customers and understanding their needs. However, Danny Nathan takes this to a new level with his unique approach to lean customer development. His business is a testament to this. Intrigued by his methods, I invited him to join me on a journey to the Edges of Lean, where he shared his insights and practices.    Danny Nathan:   Danny is a versatile entrepreneur who has made a name for himself by helping companies create and launch new products and ventures. With a background in various fields like product design, marketing, and strategy, Danny is known for his ability to solve complex business challenges. As the founder of Apollo 21, a company that combines business consultancy, product design, and venture studio, Danny helps companies foster innovation, drive growth, and overcome obstacles to scaling by developing cutting-edge technology. KEY TOPICS IN THIS PODCAST: 00:02:59 - Transition from Acting to Technology 00:04:14 - Types of Products Developed by Apollo 21 00:10:42 - Challenges with Misunderstanding MVP 00:12:02 - Lean Customer Development Explained 00:13:14 - Importance of Validating Customer Needs 00:18:13 - Learning from Customer Development 00:20:04 - Identifying Ideal Customer Groups 00:21:34 - Process of Customer Interviews 00:26:24 - Creating Conviction Through Learning 00:27:00 - Differentiating Apollo 21's Approach 00:29:13 - Ensuring Against Post-Launch Failure 00:30:37 - Customer Observation Techniques 00:39:06 - Handling Multiple Stakeholders 00:40:17 - Heuristic vs. Data-Driven Processes KEY TAKEAWAYS:    Lean customer development is about discovering the purest pain point and validating the need, potential solution, and willingness of customers to pay for it before building anything. The focus should be on delivering value to the customer and understanding their needs.  Lean customer development helps streamline the process of bridging the gap between discovery and minimum viable product (MVP). The concept of an MVP has evolved and can be interpreted differently by different organizations. The goal of an MVP is to learn as quickly as possible, mitigate risk, and minimize cost and time expenditure. Innovation is great, but it is crucial to innovate something that is valuable to the customer and that they are willing to buy. Lean Startup provides a clear-cut series of actions to move towards creating something new, but it is vital to adapt and customize the methodology to fit specific needs. Lean customer development involves talking to customers, asking the right questions, and gaining a clear understanding of their pain points and needs.  The process starts with defining the problem space and then talking to a wide range of people to discover pain points and potential solutions.      Memorable Quotes From Danny Nathan::   “Fall in love with the problem and not the solution.”     CONNECT WITH Danny Nathan::        LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amongmany/  Website: https://apollo21.io    

Alexandra Zatarain is the co-founder and VP of brand and marketing of Eight Sleep, the world's first sleep fitness company. A marketer and brand-builder, Zatarain has built the Eight Sleep brand and scaled the company's revenue from $0 to current state. Eight Sleep was named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2018 and was recognized two years in a row as a TIME Best Invention of the Year. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Zatarain digs deep into the process of finding product-market fit, using examples from Eight Sleep's struggles and successes.

Maria Barrera, a Stanford-educated engineer, is the founder and CEO of Clayful, a platform dedicated to providing essential mental health support for the TikTok generation. Today, Barrera's company creates accessible resources for K-12 students and has already made a profound impact on thousands of students nationwide. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Barrera shares her journey to founding a mental health startup and how she incorporates strategies for mental wellbeing in her life and on her team. This talk includes references to trauma and suicide. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. To speak with a trained listener, call 988. Visit 988lifeline.org for crisis chat services or for more information. The Crisis Text Line is a texting service for emotional crisis support. To text with a trained helper, text SAVE to 741741. It is free, available 24/7, and confidential.

David Allemann co-leads the Swiss sports company On, one of the fastest-growing global sports brands. He puts a special focus on product, design, marketing, and the direct-to-consumer business of On. Previously, Allemann worked at the intersection of business and creativity at McKinsey & Company, as managing director of the advertising agency Young & Rubicam, and as CMO of design brand Vitra. In this presentation, Allemann shares how he and his co-founders built their shoe company on a spirit of exploration, innovation, and positivity, and what aspiring entrepreneurs can learn from their experience.

Ali Ghodsi is the CEO and co-founder of Databricks, a leader in data and AI. He pioneered the data intelligence platform built on a lakehouse architecture, revolutionizing analytics and AI for global organizations. Prior to becoming CEO, he served as the VP of engineering and product management. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Ghodsi Shares lessons he's learned from being one of seven co-founders at Databricks and leading a company that began with open-source software.

In this episode, we're joined by Joe Sullivan, co-founder of Gorilla 76, a seasoned expert in the B2B industrial sector.  Joe sheds light on balancing educational outreach with sales tactics and how to position your brand as a thought leader in your industry. Highlights include: Why get in front of your audience before they're ready to buy? (01:04), Do You Break it Down in Segments? Personas? How to Build the List? (07:04), How to Curate Your LinkedIn Feed? (16:07), Email Newsletters for Customer Development (24:19), And more… Are you looking to create repeatable, scalable, and predictable revenue? We can help! ► https://bit.ly/predictablerevenuecoaching

God's Laws for Business Audiobook: empowering you to be a financially stable entrepreneur! We are confident that if you apply all 12 Biblically based laws that you will become financially stable and find success for you and your family!

God's Laws for Business Audiobook: empowering you to be a financially stable entrepreneur! We are confident that if you apply all 12 Biblically based laws that you will become financially stable and find success for you and your family!

Bio Brant Cooper is The New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Entrepreneur and his new popular book Disruption Proof. He is the CEO and founder of Moves the Needle. He is a trusted adviser to startups and large enterprises around the world. With more than 25 years of expertise in changing industrial age mindset into digital age opportunity, he blends agile, human-centered design, and lean methodologies to ignite entrepreneurial action from the front lines to the C-suite.  As a sought-after keynote speaker, startup mentor, and executive advisor, he travels the globe sharing his vision for reimagining 21st century organizations. Bringing agility, digital transformation, and a focus on creating value for customers, he helps leaders navigate the uncertainty brought on by increased complexity and endless disruption.   Interview Highlights 01:30 Background 03:40 First startup 05:30 Learning from failure 06:50 The Lean Entrepreneur 07:30 Empowering employees 15:40 Learning through observation 19:00 Disruptions 22:00 Output vs Outcome 30:45 Working in teams 35:30 Aligning priorities 41:00 Disruption Proof 52:00 Take risks   Social Media ·         LinkedIn:  Brant Cooper ·         X/Twitter: @brantcooper ·         Email: brant@brantcooper.com ·         Website: www.brantcooper.com ·         Website: www.movestheneedle.com ·         YouTube: Brant Cooper   Books & Resources ·         Disruption Proof: Empower People, Create Value, Drive Change, Brant Cooper ·         The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Brant Cooper  ·          The Lean Entrepreneur: How Visionaries Create Products, Innovate with New Ventures, and Disrupt Markets, Brant Cooper, Patrick Vlaskovits, Eric Ries ·         The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development: A cheat sheet to The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Brant Cooper, Patrick Vlaskovits ·         Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts, Brené Brown, Brené Brown ·         Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, General Stanley McChrystal   Episode Transcript Intro: Hello and welcome to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. I'm Ula Ojiaku. On this podcast I speak with world-class leaders and doers about themselves and a variety of topics spanning Agile, Lean Innovation, Business, Leadership and much more – with actionable takeaways for you the listener. Ula Ojiaku So I have with me Brant Cooper, who is the author of the books Lean Entrepreneur and his latest one, Disruption Proof: Empower People, Create Value, Drive Change. He also is the CEO and Founder of Moves the Needle. Brant, it is a pleasure and an honour to have you as my guest on the Agile Innovation Leaders Podcast. Brant Cooper Thank you so much for having me. I'm glad to be here. Ula Ojiaku Now Brant, as I start with all my guests, we want to know a bit more about you. So could you tell us about yourself growing up, your background, are there any experiences that have made a great impact on you that have led to you becoming the Brant we see today? Brant Cooper Yeah, so born and mostly raised in California, which seems to be somewhat unique these days, but also did travel around a bit. My dad was a Navy man. I don't know, I guess I was always a little bit different. I think a lot of us describe ourselves that way, but when I went away to school for college, most people were focusing on one major or maybe two majors because that was sort of the state of the world. It's kind of, this is a little while ago, but supposedly what you needed to do is go and get narrow expertise and then that was what was going to launch your career. But to me, that was boring. And so I wanted to take a little bit of everything. So chemistry and calculus and sociology and psychology and history and creative writing and literature. So I was sort of all over the map and I guess it's kind of funny, you can look back on your life and find these little threads that weave through everything. When I left college and got my first job, I remember specifically, I was in Washington, D. C. and I was sitting on the stoop of the house that I was living in and I was all like, really, is this it? Is this the rest of my life, is it working 9 to 5 doing, you know, what people are telling me to do. Wow. That doesn't seem like the bargain I thought it was. So I actually dropped out and wrote a novel, which was very sophomoric, because unless you're a genius, most 20-something year olds really don't know that much about the world. But anyway, it was sort of a, this empowering moment when I just sort of had faith in myself that I would always be able to take care of myself and figure things out. And so it's really one of these moments where the moment you feel like you can just leave a job, you get a tremendous amount of power from that. Most people go through their lives feeling like they have to do what their boss says and they have to live that life and it becomes, your choices obviously become quite limited. So I ended up crossing the country back to California, moved up to the Bay Area, worked in a few jobs there, tried unsuccessfully to sell my book, and then I joined my first startup. So this is the, you know, dot com era, the nineties, and it was really there at this startup that I caught wind of the fact that there were actually these jobs where you weren't supposed to just do what you're told, that your responsibility was to figure things out, to exercise your own creativity and your own intelligence, and nobody was going to sit there over your shoulder, that you were going to be held accountable to what you were doing or what you weren't doing. But you are literally sort of on your own and that was, again, sort of the second moment of feeling the sense of empowerment. And it's funny, because up to that point, I really, maybe I wasn't an A player as the startup likes to talk about the startup myths, you know, you have to go hire all those A players. Maybe I just wasn't an A player, but I used to be passed around like a hot potato between all of these managers because nobody really wanted to manage me because I really didn't do what they said. I did what I thought was best. But anyway, so the startup sort of launched this new type of, so then even in the startups, I worked at a bunch of different jobs. So instead of again, specialising, I was in IT, and then I ran the professional services group and then I went into product management and then I took over marketing, you know, sort of helping out salespeople. So I, again, I sort of traverse the whole, all of the different functions inside the company. And I guess I think that that was also a big learning moment for me, and so I lived through that, you know, tried a couple of my own companies that failed and others that succeeded crazily and others that, you know, ramped up their sales, but then they tailed off and I was on the management team trying to figure things out. And it's funny, because I used to, you always learn more from failures, and I think that the last one, the way I talk about it is that the sort of the company strategy was dictated every week by whoever was the best arguer. Like, so it was just like a management team free for all. And whoever won, that would set the strategy. And so I sort of won for, you know, a year and a year and a half, and we grew like crazy and I had, you know, allies on the team and then they kind of changed their mind and got rid of me and got rid of my allies. And then they went back and did whatever they wanted to do, the founders. So it was all again, it's sort of this learning moment where maybe that's not the best way to make decisions, but so the dot com bust happened and I was actually writing and blogging about, well, what makes successful startups better, what makes them successful compared to all of the ones that fail and what is it about, you know, sort of this idea of learning and empowering people to learn rather than just execute. And so I was blogging about that stuff and got turned on to Steve Blank and to Eric Ries and I ended up writing the first book that talked about lean startup and product market fit. And then that kind of launched this whole other career where at first we're focused on startups, but eventually, I wrote The Lean Entrepreneur and formed Moves the Needle to start taking some of these principles to large enterprises over the world. So around the last 10 years we've been helping some of the biggest brands in the world try to adopt some of these principles of exploration, so learning mode and, yeah, that sort of takes us to where we are today. I am still doing that work in addition to some other things, but primarily it's focused on empowering employees to exercise their creativity and their inspiration and to drive impact. And then, you know, helping the leadership understand that they get more out of their people if they enable that, and take a step back, and then they get to be more proactive and more strategic in their own world, and it's sort of empowering to them as well. And I think really, post pandemic, we've sort of seen this shift where that's happening more once people are remote workers, you know, workers being burned out and frustrated with work is when they don't get to do that sort of work. So yeah, it's sort of an interesting time and really the rise of, you know, sort of Agile reaching the next level and Design Thinking reaching the next level and Product Management and all of these things happening because the world is turning digital, makes this a pretty exciting time to apply a lot of these principles. Ula Ojiaku You have a fascinating background, Brant, and there are some things that you said about your background that had me nodding, because I identify with it and maybe in terms of, I love variety. And yes, I studied Engineering, but I also kind of liked to know a bit more about economics, psychology, you know, the other subjects outside my normal domain and someone I was having a conversation with someone I can't remember his name again, I think it was Dr. Steve Morlidge at a conference and he was saying life is all integral really, it's just us as human beings trying to make sense of the different aspects. We've created the disciplines, but in the truest sense, there aren't any distinctive lines, and it's all integral, and it helps, I've noticed, you know, at least for me personally, just knowing a bit about other subjects outside my core area just helps me to be more well-rounded and more strategic, if I, for lack of a better word, in how I approach issues. Brant Cooper I agree with that. It provides a larger context, right? I mean, so if you can understand what the colleagues are doing in the other function, you can also see the bigger picture, which makes a lot of sense. Ula Ojiaku Yeah, yeah. And you mentioned something about not liking to be told what to do. Is that the definition of an entrepreneur or could there be something else? Brant Cooper Well, I mean, I think it is, yes, I think it probably is similar to most early stage entrepreneurs, but, you know, you won't succeed as an entrepreneur if that's the only way you are. And so, you know, we all kind of grew up a little bit and we, you know, we have to mature in a way that we can still hold on to our creativity and all of these, our instinct or whatever it is, but we also have to be able to listen to others and to recognise when ideas are better than ours and change our minds based upon new indications. And so there's a flexibility that has to be built into there as well. It can't just be that you're going to stick to your guns. And as a matter of fact, I get a lot of entrepreneurs saying like, oh, well, it's all about the conviction of your idea. And I go, sure, if you want to fail, that's great. But you know, if you really want to change the world, as opposed to focus on a particular idea, then you have to be flexible. And I think that it's a, you know, people always point to Steve Jobs and his genius and I'm all like, yep, it took him a long time to get out, you know, the product that really was putting a computer in everybody's pocket, which is kind of what his dream was in the beginning. It took him a long time to get to the iPhone, and that what was revolutionary about the iPhone actually was opening up the app store to third party developers because that turned the phone into a platform and yet he opposed it even with all of his advisors telling him he had to do that, he didn't allow it the first year and so it wasn't until the second year when he changed his mind that things really took off and so I think it ends up being Steve Jobs is a great example, but not for the reason you think. Ula Ojiaku We could go into that but I think we would be going off tangent a bit. So what makes a lean entrepreneur? Because one of your books is titled, The Lean Entrepreneur, how visionaries create products, innovate new ventures and disrupt markets. Brant Cooper So I think fundamentally, it's somebody that can admit when they're wrong or when they don't know. I mean, so the lean part of lean entrepreneur is about reducing waste. It's not about being small or not spending money. It's about not wasting money and not wasting time and resources and even your own passion and your own inspiration. And so how can we work to understand our customers more deeply? How can we work to understand the market better? How can we run experiments that bust through our assumptions? How do we even identify assumptions? And then how do we cut through our own biases and all of these things that are very human but could be holding back the success of what we want to build or what we want to bring to the world. And so to me, that's the lean entrepreneur, is you have to be able to admit when you're wrong, admit when you don't know, and go out there and learn and hustle and explore and figure things out before you spend the time and money and resources executing on a particular idea. Ula Ojiaku So what I've heard you says is being willing to change your mind when you are faced with, you know, some evidence that your original assumptions are wrong, and also being mindful about how you use your resources. You're not wasteful, you're using it to learn and discover and learn what your customers want so that you're better able to provide that to them. Brant Cooper That's correct. Yep. And so if you're, you know, if you sit down and you build a product for six months, and then the product's wrong, or even, you know, just a lot wrong, you know, then there's a lot of waste that went into that. And when you're understanding customers, that doesn't mean ask your customers what they want and do what they say. It means understanding why are they saying what they're saying and what is their environment and what are their aspirations and what are their real needs. It's up to you as the, you know, sort of as the product person or the solution provider, to come up with what is the best way for me to address those needs, but the only way you can really truly understand those needs is to dive as deeply as possible in understanding the customer and their environment. Ula Ojiaku Are there any, like, specific examples of how as a lean entrepreneur, I can dive more into knowing what the customer does or needs? Brant Cooper Sure, I mean, I think that, you know, Steve Blank's customer development stuff was always really about understanding customers more. I think it was like, in my opinion, a little bit shallow compared to some of the techniques that are used in human centred design or design thinking, where you're getting down to emotional levels and you're getting down to, you know, empathy and really understanding, and you're kind of zooming in and zooming out. You can zoom in and interview, that's fine, but you can also zoom out in trying to figure out, well, what does it, what would this mean to them if they were successfully doing what they wanted to do? Would they be able to take their family to Italy in the summertime? Is that what they aspire to? Do they want to be a better mother? Do they, like, what is actually driving individuals to make the decisions that they're making? You know, observation is a great way to learn about that. That's, you know, often used in human centred design when you're even in, you know, business to business, business type of solutions, is you go watch people do the work that they're doing in their environment and you can start picking up on all sorts of issues that they're constantly having to overcome or, you know, conflicts or, you know, things don't work in a particular environment or IT does not allow this, you know, I mean, there's all sorts of things that can educate you about what you're trying to, the needs that you're trying to address. Ula Ojiaku Yeah, I completely agree. And for you, would you say that, you know, being a lean entrepreneur, is it just for individuals who set up their own startups or early growth companies? Can it also apply within a large established organisation with, say, thousands of employees already? Brant Cooper Yeah, no, I think that it's a good question. I think that the example that I give is if you look back to Henry Ford's Model T, right? You build a factory and then you build a whole company around this highly optimised, efficient assembly line that can produce the same vehicle, you know, he sort of famously say, you can have a Model T in any colour you want, as long as it's black, right? That's the only thing that he's going to produce. And so he optimises the flow of resources through the manufacturing, and then he builds the rest of the company based upon functions, this whole linear fashion, everybody do what we've already proven needs to be done. Then you can produce a car that the middle class could buy, which was a new thing and opened up this crazy new market. So that's very well understood. Everything is really, there's not a lot of uncertainty, but if you look, fast forward to the digital age, there's tons of uncertainty, right? All of the products and services that are produced have multiple models and multiple options on each model and hundreds of colours. And there's a lot of choices for consumers to choose one over the other. So consumers don't have the same brand loyalty that they used to. They can change their minds overnight. And again, this is true in the business world, not just consumers. But so there's so much uncertainty there, that you actually have to then understand the niche desires of all of these different market segments out there. Well, the only way to do that, so if you imagine that organisation that is only allowed to do what you're told to do based upon how it used to work, then you're the one that's going to miss out on all those opportunities based upon creating exactly the model or the options that the customer wants. How do you know what it is that those customers want. Well, you have to be out and interact with them. So even the biggest companies in the world have to figure out how they're going to start learning from the environment that they're in. So that's number one. Big companies have to do it and they are doing it more and more. Design and product management and all of these things are, these practices are emerging in these companies to do that exactly. And I think that the other point is, is that the world is so interconnected now, and this, again, has been brought upon by the digital revolution, and so what that causes is that all of these disruptions that we've just, you know, experienced here in the last four or five years, things like the pandemic, inflation, supply chain shocks, reverberations from the war, you know, just on and on. All of these things sort of ripple across our economies. They used to be, they could be isolated in different pockets of the world without affecting the rest of the world. Now everything affects everything. It's like the, you know, the butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon or something like this. You know, it creates this chaos. And so what that means is, is that things, disruptions, not as bad as the pandemic, but disruptions like ransomware attacks that cause disruptions, or again, supply chain issues, all of these things ripple across the economy and they actually change the market. So if you worked on your marketing plan and your selling plan the day after the pandemic hit, you're not in execution, you're just flailing. You have to actually be able to readdress, what is our situation currently based upon the current environment? How do we change our work in order to adapt to this new environment? And that is just a skill that everybody needs and everybody has to develop. And those are, startups do it naturally, big companies need to try to figure out how they're going to build that in and this is sort of the, the rise of Agile, right? I mean, so I think that the way I describe Agile, or the way I picture it for people without getting into all of the jargon is like a meerkat. So, a tribe of meerkats, every once in a while, come out of their hole and they pick their heads up and they look around and they take in new information and they're going to decide what to do based upon that new information. So, if you're a big corporation, you need to pause your work, which would be like a Agile sprint. You look up from the work. What has changed? Are we making the right progress? Right? Check within our customers. We check with our stakeholders. How do we improve our work as a team so that our output is better? So you take that moment to pause regularly, you can make your Sprint lengths anything that you want, I really don't care, it depends on the type of business that you're in, but you're pausing the work, you're re-evaluating, you're taking in new information, and maybe the answer is you don't have to change your work at all, you can just go back, but there's likely, sometimes, changes that have to be made so that you're getting to the desired outcome more efficiently, so we can't be like the assembly line, you know, Ford's assembly line, where output was a proxy for outcome, i.e we're going to be successful if we can produce the car at this cost. Now, it's like, we have to focus on efficiency of outcome and not efficiency of output and that means that it's actually more efficient to pause and make changes during the course rather than only after failing at the very end. Ula Ojiaku There's a question, you know, lots of things you've said that I resonate with, and one of my favourite questions to previous guests and you would be the next one I'm asking this, is what would you define as outputs versus outcome? So, what's an output to you versus what's an outcome? Brant Cooper Yeah, so like the Henry Ford example is the easiest. Output is the car is being done, is being produced. So the car has been manufactured. That's output, and for decades, even still today, businesses and economists using old antiquated models like Larry Summers does, are focused on the efficiency of output and what those are serving to do is being proxies for outcome. So if you, outcome would be, we've successfully sold those cars to happy customers, so they're going to buy again from us, and maybe they're going to get service from us, and maybe they're going to get financing from us, right? So, we want to keep them satisfied, and also we get to generate income and we pay our workers and we actually pay our shareholders. So, everybody gets sort of these outcomes or these desired results from successfully selling the car, which is dependent upon the sufficient production of output. But now, again, today, if you buy all of what else I've said, you can't, output is not a proxy of outcome. So output is, still could be the number of cars that are produced, but if they're not sold and the customers aren't happy, then you're not going to be able to pay your shareholders and you're not going to keep loyal customers, and you're not going to pay your workers, and so we have to now look at the efficiency of outcomes because the world is so complex. So that applies to, I think, any product. Obviously, when you go into the nuances of a corporate hierarchy, not everybody is focused on the final outcome, and so they actually have to have their own outcomes. But even in that regard, you know, outcome is increased user satisfaction. Output is, you've built X by a certain date. Outcome is, you know, a thousand people have opened your newsletter, you know, 75 percent of people opened your newsletter, output is we sent the out the newsletter to 10,000 people. So, the output is very focused on ourselves and the tasks that we're doing, usually over time period. outcome is, what are we getting out of those tasks? And it's best to measure that actually from who the beneficiary's experience. So if I'm producing a, you know, just a super simple example, if I'm producing this newsletter and people are opening it and spending time reading it, then that is a desired outcome. If nobody opens it, then that's sort of a, you know, there's a variety of issues that might be involved there, but you haven't achieved the outcome despite your output. Ula Ojiaku Thanks for that explanation. And somebody else said something that stuck with me as well, which is that, you know, outcome would signify some sort of change in behaviour, or in noticeable behaviour from the perspective of whoever the customer is, or who's consuming the results of your work. Brant Cooper Totally agree with that, and way more succinct than what I said. And the focus really is, it's on, that's what I sort of refer to as the beneficiary, because sort of inside of an organisation, your beneficiary of the work that you're doing are maybe internal people, not directly to the customer. So customer, sort of in scare quotes. But I love the fact that they, that person mentioned behaviour, because that's what actually allows us to measure it. And so even in The Lean Entrepreneur book, there's a section called the value stream discovery, which is focused on, what is the behaviour that I'm trying to get from my customer for everything that I'm doing as a business, and how do I measure that that behaviour is happening? And one of the benefits, of course, of the digital world is that you can measure a lot of that stuff. And so if you're trying to measure whether people are satisfied with your product, one proxy for that might be not just running surveys, but how often are they using the product? What are they actually doing with the product? It's not that they downloaded the app, it's that they downloaded the app, they installed it, they create an account, and they come in and they look at, you know, these different screens and interact with them four times every week. Okay, that's what a satisfied customer looks like. How many do we have? What's the growth of satisfied customers year over year or month over month? So it gives us all of this way of starting to measure what the behaviour side is, that becomes very powerful whenever we're doing our work. Ula Ojiaku And it's all about evidence based, it helps with evidence-based decisions, so that helps you because back to your explanation or, well, I say your talk about Agile and how it should help with, you know, organisations and leaders with just periodically you do a bit of work in a Sprint, but you look up and look around and know, okay, what we're doing, is it really moving us? Is it moving the needle? No pun intended. Is it moving the needle or is it pushing us closer to where we want? Are we likely to achieve those outcomes instead of focusing on how many widgets or gadgets we've produced within a Sprint? So based on that, what are the things, can you give examples of, you know, challenges you've observed, maybe in organisations or startups with being able to apply this sort of iterative development mindset, and still managing it with the needs to plan in, you know, longer time, across longer time horizons, because some organisations, especially if you're, for example, publicly traded, you still have to have a long term, you know, mid-term and short term view. So how can you, what are the challenges you've experienced with them, balancing all these? Brant Cooper I think that, yeah, I think it's, you're planning outcomes and so I think that the difficulty is that when people look at the outcomes, like, well, we need to grow 5%, you know, quarter over quarter, or something like that, the difficulty ends up being when they have to translate those outcomes into what is the work that people need to do. And so we, at some point in that progression from the top leadership down to the to the ground floor, those outcomes get translated into output. And so we lose this connection between, is what we're working on actually going to achieve the desired outcomes? And this is what causes all the reorganisations that happen every couple of years, because they don't, they don't match up, and then the Board or the C-Suite needs to do a reorganisation because it's sort of their admission, their tacit admission that they failed in organising the output to match the outcome. And so they get to have a reset. And so they fire a bunch of people and they reorganise and then they go do it again. So, I think the biggest challenge is that it's really a ground up type of change that has to happen. And so a lot of the, I'm sure you're very familiar with a lot of the, you know, the corporate implementations of Agile tend to be very process-heavy and very, you must do it this way, and you've lost all of the Agile principles and the ethos that got you to want to do it in the first place. And instead it has to be very ground up and it's really around, in my opinion, putting people on teams, so I don't think there's any individual inside of a company that should not be on a team. The team sort of will hold people socially accountable to their work. And if not, then there's still HR that can deal with it, but rather than have managers kind of leaning over and trying to get everybody to figure it out, you know, sort of the, the classic Agile self-organised team, where those teams have to be held accountable to the outcomes, but are empowered to figure out the work in order to achieve those outcomes. And then you practice that behaviour. That behaviour has to be practiced. It's not about, like, giving an order that now you have to work self organised, you actually have to practice that behaviour and you build in some of these other empathy techniques as well as running experimentation and you create an environment where, like, as a leader, you admit when you don't know, and when you've made a mistake, so you're kind of demonstrating vulnerability and that we're actually living in this complex, uncertain world so that you are empowering individuals to also behave the same way. And so you're starting to create this learning exploration balanced with execution type of organisation, and I think inevitably you start seeing impact of that type of work, and that's really, I think, how you can start driving the longer term change that has to happen. It's really by taking pockets of the organisation, teaching the behaviour and practicing it. And then it's teaching and practicing leaders how to manage people that are working that way, which is different as well. I sort of view it as perhaps a little bit idealistically or even utopian is, it's sort of cascading missions. And so the very top mission statements are around those things that you're promising Wall Street. Here's what our growth is going to be, here's what we're going to achieve next quarter and two quarters from that. And then in order to achieve that, here's the different things that our business unit must achieve, the outcomes. And that drips all the way down in terms of outcomes, to the point that you're assigning teams, here is your outcome and you know how to do the work or we'll help you figure out to do the work or you could figure it out yourself. I mean, depends on kind of the quality and the nature of those teams, but it's a way of organising work where I think, in the end, the company doesn't necessarily look that differently than it does now, but it's just not built sort of arbitrarily on function like it is now. And so, by building sort of this mission-oriented way, whenever there's uncertainty, you can put people on that mission that can help overcome the uncertainty. And so you get sort of the cross functional and interdisciplinary nature, when it's required. If it's not required, that's fine. You know, all manufacturers, they're working on that team. That's great. They know what their outcome is and they're going to produce that outcome. But if it's uncertainty, how are we going to go into this new market? Okay, well, there's a lot of things that we know, but we should test those things that we don't know. It's a different, it's a different makeup of that team. Whereas now, if you're trying to do exploration work, when the teams are organised by function, you have to sort of force that cross functionality, and it's very difficult and it doesn't last long. If you don't keep the pressure on, everything kind of falls back into whatever their functional role is, as opposed to continuing to adopt and apply missions to these teams, then they get the resources that they need in order to accomplish a particular mission and then that should rise up to the level of whatever the company objectives are. Ula Ojiaku It's really interesting, and it seems like you're a mind reader because you did say initially, you know, it has to start from the ground up. And I was going to ask you if there was any place at all for, you know, the bigger North Star vision mission to trickle down and influence what they, the people on the shop floor are doing in the coalface, as some people would use the term. And you've kind of answered it. So it's more of trickling down the mission such that it gets, once it gets down to the teams actually doing the work, they understand what they're doing and how it's helping in their own way, how they're helping to achieve the bigger objective of the organisation. Brant Cooper Yeah, exactly. And I think that that's what, again, going back to sort of the big quit and workers being burned out, I think that a lot of them, like whatever survey I've seen, even those produced by the big consultant firms, pretty much say that workers don't feel aligned. They don't feel aligned with what the priorities are, like they don't even know what they are, and they don't feel like they're driving an impact, and then that makes human beings feel like they're not making an impact in their own life, and it starts this downward spiral, whereas we can create a fortuitous spiral if we actually allow these people to see the impact that they are making. Ula Ojiaku And the benefit of working in an Agile manner. Now, I do have my reservations about some people who have peddled Agile as you know, like an elixir, you have a headache, Agile will cure it, or you have a tummy ache, Agile will cure it. Actually, it has its purpose, it has its remit and it has, just like you'd have multiple tools in a toolbox, Agile is really about, you know, you sense, you respond, you know, you build, you put it out there, you get feedback, quick feedback, and then you make adjustments as required, and then move, you know, take the next step. So, from that perspective, taking an Agile approach to, will I say developing or building on, or implementing strategy. How can, do you have any thoughts on how organisations can be more effective at it? I know you've talked about the ideal of cascading missions and then building up. But what else do you think organisations or leaders and organisations can take into account? Brant Cooper Yeah, I think that the, I agree with you, it's not, it's just, you know, one view into it. And so I think that there's, I'm sure there's other ways of tackling it. I think that, I guess I think that it's this idea of teams, like, I think that there's everybody could start forming a team now, and it doesn't have to be permanent. Like, if there's a bunch of things that need to be done, find one part of uncertainty and form a team and give them the responsibility of solving that uncertainty. And so I think that it's, it ends up then being well, they don't need to necessarily learn Agile or Design Thinking. I really think that if we measured the right things, human beings sort of know how to optimise what they're being measured for. And so I think that if you were to sit down with a group of your people, and you were to say, listen, this is some, here's a business challenge that we have, I would really like you four or five people to go figure it out, I'm here to give you whatever help you need along the way, I'm here to mentor you, give you my own advice, do whatever. But I need you all to try to figure this out. And here's what the outcome is that we want to get from that, what do you think? And, you know, maybe there's a little bit back and forth, but I think that that's actually more important than any of the frameworks that, you know, even I talk about a lot, and so I think Agile was originally developed sort of around that concept, just very specifically for software development teams. And so I think that it's thinking about the principles that can apply pretty much anywhere as opposed to the actual practices. I just also happen to think that there's a bunch of practices that can be beneficial. Things like the idea of what is the length of time you're going to put your head down versus, you know, when you look up or how you're going to share your work or all of those type of things. But I think that it's essentially if we just gave a group of people a business, a challenge, and said, I'd really like you to help me figure this out, that you would see them rally around that idea. And I think that that's kind of the nugget of what we're trying to create here, and then hopefully spread because it makes those people happier, and when they solve something, that's impact that can be shared with other people. And I think that you see in companies that really have been successfully innovative are those that actually have inspired that to the point that the core business is then, you know, want some of that energy, like, we want that here, because we know that we have to be faster and move quicker and adapt and all of those type of things. We know we have to be truly customer centric and not just, you know, sitting around a conference room table, imagining we're the customer, so it's really kind of really more about finding that and it also may vary, you know, based upon company culture, even positive company cultures. And it's like, what is that little nugget that actually empowers people to, as a team, let's work together and figure something out. Ula Ojiaku Thanks for that very, very insightful response, and there's something you said about uncertainty. You know, it's really about trying to make sense of the unknown, and this brings me to your book, your latest book, Disruption Proof, full title Disruption Proof: Empower People, Create Value, Drive Change. What led you to writing that book and what is it all about? Brant Cooper Yeah, so I think it really is, it's really all about what we've just been talking about the last few minutes, where it really is sort of looking at how the organisation can structure people and work, such that the natural output of it is  more, it's actually the way I put it is more efficient execution based upon exploration work, and so how do you build that into the organisation, so it doesn't feel like it's a cannibalisation, you know, sort of the whole old school Clayton Christensen stuff. I know everybody's going to be like, what do you mean old school, but it's like, it's not about disrupting yourself, it's not about this other organisation is going to come in and disrupt you. It's not that you actually have to eat your own tail as a snake. It's about finding this emerging behaviour that then will sort of flower from within and takes over the organisation because that's what the circumstances require. And so I think that the, I don't know, I guess I think that the book was trying to show examples of businesses that have done that, either large scale, or pockets within these organisations that have brought people together, cross-functional where necessary, interdisciplinary. Hey, this is a new opportunity, how do we actually engage the business units as opposed to, to me what that old school way of doing it is like, here's your little innovations, you know, silo over here, you guys go figure out what's going to happen in 10 years. I think that's like, largely failed. And I think that what we need to do, is figure out how there's, from the beginning there's buy-in from these other parts of the organisation. So that's really what the last book is about, really all of these things that we've been talking about. Ula Ojiaku And I believe it's available on Amazon and other major book sellers. Brant Cooper Anywhere you can buy a book. Ula Ojiaku Awesome. Well, I haven't read it yet, but I have made a note, it's on my reading list, definitely. Brant Cooper Well, thank you for that. Ula Ojiaku Definitely. No, my pleasure, I look forward to digging into it to learn a bit more about the concepts you've just shared and the insights as well as the examples with organisations that might have failed or succeeded in some aspects of the concepts. Brant Cooper Yeah, that kind of describes everybody to a certain level. Ula Ojiaku Do you have anyone you could share at this point? You know, maybe an example from your book? You don't have to name names. Is there anyone that comes to mind? Brant Cooper Well, I think in terms of, I guess what I would call lean innovation transformation, I think ING is a really good example, the bank in Europe, they did a full on Agile transformation as well, like organising the whole company based upon really more like based upon missions than functions, and I think that that always has its challenges, but I think that what, in the end, they kind of brought these two different endeavours together. One being this Agile transformation and this other being what we call lean innovation. And so they really started practicing the empathy and the exploration work and the experiments. And those things ended up sort of combining. And I think it's always interesting when, you can theorise about this stuff, but when do you actually get to see the results? And so a lot of this, most of this work was all done pre-pandemic. And then some of the stories that came out of different pockets of the organisation during the pandemic were really quite extraordinary in ways that they were able to adapt to, you know, finding yourself suddenly in this world, that they could point back to these lean innovation practices, being the, you know, being the impetus for being able to change like that. So I love those stories where you're actually able to see that, okay, we applied all of this. Here's like this major, you know, environmental change brought on by the pandemic, how did the company respond. And so that's a, I wrote a couple of stories about that stuff in the book Disruption Proof. And so there's a couple of other examples in there, but that's the one that really comes to mind because they just committed to it at a larger level than I've seen other organisations do. Ula Ojiaku Sounds awesome. So in addition to your books, The Lean Entrepreneur, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development, Disruption Proof, what other books have you found yourself recommending to people who want to know more about, you know, Lean Innovation, Agile, or maybe it doesn't have to be on the subject of Lean Innovation or Agile, but just generally because you felt they were impactful to your life. What other books have you recommended to people and why? Brant Cooper Yeah. So I think that, you know, people have recognised change in the world quite a bit over the last, you know, 10 years or so, or five or six years, pandemic is making me lose all track of time. But, so the ones that I keep coming back to are not specifically Agile or lean innovation. So I would say Brené Brown's Dare to Lead, and I think that this is a just an example of what we mean by empathy, you know, you don't really have to go hug your customers, you don't have to hug your employees. It's not, you know, but it's understanding how you apply those principles in a business environment and the ability, like I mentioned earlier, for leaders to demonstrate vulnerability by admitting when they don't know and when they're wrong, that this is really important in changing. The other thing I'll throw out there that I love that Brené Brown talks about is this idea of rumbling. Again, we're not talking about some, you know, kind of kumbaya moment here. It's really around bringing evidence to the table and having forceful discussions about what is actually happening and what you need to do next, but it's based upon this evidence and I kind of call it respectful rumbling, because rather than like my startup example I gave in the beginning of just arguing, it's really around, you know, as a team of leaders even, it's great to respect each other, but we also have to be direct and honest and have real conversations and not just sort of let everything go hunky dory and then go back to your office and whine about stuff. So it's, I think that there's this, I don't know, I sort of enjoy this ability to sit around with people and, you know, kind of debate ideas and really try to get to the crux of things. And I think that we need that, and Brené Brown writes about that in Dare to Lead. I think that the other one, it's General McChrystal Team of Teams. And I think that, I'm not sure he ever realised it, but I think he was writing about Agile. But what he describes, of course, is the US military in Iraq, and the difference between facing a traditional force versus a, you know, sort of this ad hoc network, new, modern military force and Al Qaeda, and the changes that he then needed to do to the military to be able to respond to that. And I think that it's really quite extraordinary in the sense that, you know, unfortunately, in my opinion, the military is often the first thing for an organisation to learn about all of these things happening in the world. But it is a result of the digital revolution that now what you have are this interconnectedness that never existed before that allow little ad hoc network entities to pop up everywhere. And this is the same thing that's happening in business, and it's the same thing that happens in the market and Agile actually is a response to that, and so then we have to go back to how do we implement Agile so that that's actually part of the organisation. It's this interconnectedness and this ad hoc nature of forming teams and missions to accomplish goals, whether they're long term or short term. And so it's really super, an interesting analogy to, I think, what business requires. Ula Ojiaku So you've mentioned two books, Dare to Lead by Brené Brown and Team of Teams by General McChrystal. Okay, well, thank you. Brant Cooper They almost seem like polar opposites, but it's sort of interesting. Ula Ojiaku Well, they are interesting. I haven't read Brené Brown's Dare to Lead, but I have listened to the audio version of Team of Teams, and I do agree there are some interesting insights, which one can, basically, something that you said about principles, again, that principles, you know, you can draw from General McChrystal's narration of their experience in Iraq and how they had to adapt and all that, which you can apply to the commercial world or, yeah, so I completely agree was a very interesting book for me. So can the audience engage with you, and if so, how? Brant Cooper Yeah, so I'm Brant Cooper on all social media, really, but, you know, maybe primarily LinkedIn and I encourage people to reach out. I'm brant@brantcooper.com is my email and I respond to, you know, I respond to everybody. My company's website is movestheneedle.com and we're launching some online courses that hopefully make learning some of these new behaviours a little bit more scalable. So I invite people to check that out, but yeah, you know, happy to engage with any of your listeners. Ula Ojiaku Sounds great. Well, thank you for sharing those, and this would also be in the show notes. And would you have any final words for the audience, any ask? Brant Cooper I don't really have, I don't think any ask. I think that, I don't know, I guess one other little story that that summarises part of my life was this idea that I forget every once in a while that change happens because you as an individual decides to make a change. And I think that, like, some people, I think that just comes naturally to it and they live their whole life that way. I'm not that way, I'll sit back for a while and kind of look around and go like, well, who's going to fix this? And then I realise, oh, well, you have to do it. And so I encourage other people to maybe actually look at themselves in that way, and sort of that own self awareness goes like, oh, well, guess it's me. And, you know, I think that it's easy to be scared of the risks supposedly, but I also think that generally the risk is in doing nothing. And so you might as well go for it. Ula Ojiaku  Go for it, take risks. Thank you for those words. Brant Cooper Based upon evidence. Ula Ojiaku Okay, go for it, take evidence-based, calculated risks. How does that sound? Kind of made it very clinical. I think I've rephrased it in a way that takes off the oomph, but thank you so much, Brant. It's been a pleasure meeting you and recording this episode with you. So thank you again for your time. Brant Cooper Thanks for having me. Fun, fun discussion. Thank you. Ula Ojiaku That's all we have for now. Thanks for listening. If you liked this show, do subscribe at www.agileinnovationleaders.com or your favourite podcast provider. Also share with friends and do leave a review on iTunes. This would help others find this show. I'd also love to hear from you, so please drop me an email at ula@agileinnovationleaders.com Take care and God bless!   

Dan and Ian discuss the different phases of bootstrapping a business and the common challenges that arise at each stage. They walk through three phases: Zero to $250k “Mindset”; $250k to 1 million "We're seeking a reliable/repeatable source of new customers"; and $1 million + "We need to hire, fire, improve/change team members more effectively”. They explore everything from adjusting the offer to the marketplace and developing a strong customer base to making a rule that the founder should be responsible for growth up to $5M. They also explore the crucial role that team composition plays in the professionalization of the company. Finally, they discuss the decision between maximizing profitability and scaling the business. Dan & Ian's Stuff: Our book: Before the Exit (https://www.amazon.com/Before-Exit-Thought-Experiments-Entrepreneurs/dp/1980628823/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3E5PMCCM0TDZ0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.GnIb36rltn6NgcjHBCs8zg.waeKvE3zKoAbCt6Adoo5o5vv7M4PDyOj9pMXE7dM82A&dib_tag=se&keywords=before+the+exit+dan+andrews&qid=1711510466&s=books&sprefix=before+the+exit+dan+andrews%2Cstripbooks%2C101&sr=1-1) The Newsletter (https://tropicalmba.com/subscribe) “The DC” (https://dynamitecircle.com/join-dc/) DC Black (https://dynamitecircle.com/dc-black) Global events (https://dynamitecircle.com/events) Hire remote talent (https://remotefirstrecruiting.com/) Find a remote job (https://dynamitejobs.com/) Listen on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@OfficialTropicalMBA) Follow on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/tropicalmba/) @TropicalMBA (https://twitter.com/TropicalMBA) @AnythingIan (https://twitter.com/AnythingIan) Chapters ● (00:00:43) Introduction and Era Change ● (00:04:28) Mindset for Early Stage Bootstrapping ● (00:08:35) Running a Shit Ton of Experiments ● (00:19:34) Customer Development and Adjusting the Offer ● (00:23:37) Founder's Responsibility for Growth ● (00:24:28) Founder's Role in Growth Until $5 Million ● (00:25:29) Following Strategies That Work for the Majority ● (00:26:41) Celebrating the Achievement of $1 Million in Revenue ● (00:29:18) Transitioning from $1 Million to $5 Million ● (00:34:07) The Importance of Team Composition ● (00:34:22) Shifting Focus to Managing a Team ● (00:39:19) Maximizing Profitability vs. Scaling Links: Simple Numbers by Greg Crabtree (https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Numbers-Straight-Talk-Profits/dp/1608320561) Exploitative Play in Live Poker (https://www.amazon.com/Exploitative-Play-Live-Poker-Manipulate/dp/1909457922) Past guests on TMBA include Cal Newport, David Heinemeier Hannson, Seth Godin, Ricardo Semler, Noah Kagan, Rob Walling, Jay Clouse, Einar Vollset, Sam Dogan, Gino Wickam, James Clear, Jodie Cook, Mark Webster, Steph Smith, Taylor Pearson, Tommy Griffith, Justin Tan, Matt Gartland, Travis Jamison, Ayman Al-Abdullah, Tynan, Lucy Bella Simkins, Brian Balfour, Nick Huber, Mike Michalowicz, Greg Crabtree, Jordan Gal Additional episodes you might enjoy: Quiet Crypto, The Demand Question, and Difficult Decisions ft. Jordan Gal (https://tropicalmba.com/episodes/quiet-crypto-difficult-decisions) “3 Million in Revenue is a Death Zone" - Financial Strategy with Greg Crabtree (https://tropicalmba.com/episodes/3-million-death-zone) A Podcast About Shiny Object Syndrome (https://tropicalmba.com/episodes/shiny-object-syndrome)

Sales Velocity TV and Radio is sponsored by PipelinePRO, the Ultimate “All-In-One” Sales Pipeline Management & Marketing Automation Platform that makes ALL others obsolete. And we can prove it! Take a tour at: www.GoPipelinePRO.infoIN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL DISCOVER:Attention Parents!In this episode of Sales Velocity TV, Andrew and Aaron began the conversation about "Customer Development" processes and then found themselves discussing the power of creating "Child Development" processes and winning environments as Parents. If you're a parent, this will be of huge value for you to get your kids to focus, thrive, and be better equipped to take on mental challenges. Enjoy!We will be right back on the Customer Development conversation in the next Episode!Follow Sales Velocity TV on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube#SalesShow #NewEpisode #SalesVelocity #Podcast #SalesVelocityTV #Aaron #Andrew #AndrewJCass

Collin Stewart hosted the entrepreneurial mind of Sri Ganesan, the visionary behind Rocketlane. Our conversation revealed not just the thrilling early growth journey of Rocketlane but also Sri's masterful play in category creation and sales strategy, reshaping how startups scale.  Highlights include: Category Creation: Why is It Important in Sales? (01:07),  Marketing Efforts for Founders that Keep Paying Out! (33:42), Customer Development and Product Launches (14:38), Leveraging Content for Start-Ups (26:56), And more… Are you looking to create repeatable, scalable, and predictable revenue? We can help! ► https://bit.ly/predictablerevenuecoaching

Chapter 1 What's The Startup Owners Manual Book by Steve BlankThe Startup Owner's Manual is a comprehensive guidebook written by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf. It provides step-by-step instructions and advice for building successful startups. The book offers practical insights and tools for every stage of the startup process, from idea development to customer acquisition and scaling.Steve Blank, a renowned entrepreneur and educator, is known for developing the Lean Startup methodology, which focuses on building and iterating quickly using customer feedback. The Startup Owner's Manual incorporates this methodology and features numerous case studies, templates, and checklists to help entrepreneurs reduce the risk and uncertainty associated with starting a new business.The book is divided into two parts: "The Startup Owner's Manual Strategy Guide" and "The Startup Owner's Manual Tactical Guide." The Strategy Guide focuses on developing a customer-centric business model and verifying it through customer discovery and validation. The Tactical Guide provides guidance on executing the business model, including customer creation, channel building, and hiring.Whether you are a first-time entrepreneur or an experienced startup founder, The Startup Owner's Manual serves as a comprehensive resource to guide you through the startup journey.Chapter 2 Is The Startup Owners Manual Book A Good BookThe Startup Owner's Manual by Steve Blank is widely regarded as a valuable resource for entrepreneurs. It is considered a good book because it provides practical guidance and insights on starting and scaling a startup. The book covers various topics such as customer development, business model canvas, and lean startup methodologies. It also includes real-world examples and case studies to illustrate key concepts. Many entrepreneurs and experts in the startup ecosystem recommend this book for its comprehensive approach to building a successful startup.Chapter 3 The Startup Owners Manual Book by Steve Blank Summary"The Startup Owner's Manual" by Steve Blank is a comprehensive guide for entrepreneurs looking to start and grow a successful startup. The book provides practical advice and actionable steps to help entrepreneurs understand their customers, validate their ideas, and build a scalable business.The main premise of the book is the concept of "customer development," which emphasizes the importance of understanding customers' needs and feedback throughout the startup journey. Blank introduces the Customer Development process, which consists of four steps: customer discovery, customer validation, customer creation, and company building.In the first step, customer discovery, entrepreneurs aim to identify their target customer segment and gain deep insights into their problems, preferences, and behaviors. The book emphasizes the importance of talking to potential customers early and frequently to validate assumptions and iterate on ideas.Once entrepreneurs gain a clear understanding of their customers and their needs, they move to the second step, customer validation. This involves testing and validating the business hypothesis by getting customers to commit to purchase or use the product or service. Blank emphasizes the importance of building minimum viable products (MVPs) and conducting experiments to gather data and feedback that can inform product development decisions.In the third step, customer creation, entrepreneurs focus on scaling and acquiring customers. Blank introduces various marketing and sales strategies to help startups effectively reach and convert their target customers. The book also discusses the importance of building a minimum viable channel, which involves finding the

Unlock the secrets to customer loyalty with Ali, the brain behind "Keep Your Customers," who joins us to spill the beans on her proven retention strategies. Our chat traverses the landscape of Alignment Growth Strategies, where Allie's wisdom takes center stage, bringing to light how the internal process of a company can dramatically affect the service delivered to its customers. The conversation stretches from the influence of every single employee, regardless of their role, to Todd's view of the uniquely pivotal positions of flight attendants and pilots in shaping brand perception. It's an eye-opener that will change how you view every interaction within your business.With customer celebration as the linchpin of connection, we dissect how personal touches, akin to those of Chewy's masterful approach, can make waves in the digital realm. The episode is a wake-up call that nudges businesses to break free from the acquisition addiction, focusing instead on the gold mine of nurturing existing relationships. High churn rates? We tackle this head-on by showing the hidden advantages of a retention-centered approach, providing a roadmap to not only prevent customer loss but also to boost sales and solidify your customer base. Finally, we address the art of niche marketing and its role in cutting through the noise of a crowded marketplace. By sharing actionable steps from Allie's book, we equip you with a scalpel to define and reach your ideal customer, ensuring your business messages hit home and your growth strategies stay aligned with your customer-centric vision. We round off with an invitation to dive deeper into the strategies that will craft a riveting customer journey, urging listeners to connect on LinkedIn for an ongoing exchange of insights. Whether you're a fledgling startup or a seasoned enterprise, this episode offers a blueprint for brand and business growth that resonates with every listener's desire for success.Support the showTo learn more about my 12-week plan to Balance the 5 Pillars of Wellness message me or sign up for a free consult at the Calendly link below. You can sign up directly at my Calendly link here: https://calendly.com/toddtalksllc/initialconsult You can reach me anytime at email: tandrewsen.monat@gmail.comInstagram @toddtalks_igMerchandise store -https://www.liveyouradventure.netShopify Store: https://toddtalksllc.myshopify.com/Merchandise available based on these talks!

Join the ranks of savvy SaaS entrepreneurs in this episode of SaaS Fuel as Jeff Mains is joined by LaSean Smith – investor and founder of CAGR.COM and author of the book “Value-Based Business Design.” LeSean talks about his unique journey, blending his love for coding and creating media with his current SaaS and business turnaround projects. He offers a candid look at how both small and large companies approach product development, market penetration, and the agility required to stay ahead in today's tech landscape. A seasoned veteran with impactful roles at Amazon and Microsoft, LeSean shares his invaluable experiences in scaling SaaS businesses, managing investments, and ensuring sustainable growth while maintaining founder autonomy. His principle "know thyself, make things, have fun" resonates as a beacon for any founder aiming to thrive while preserving the essence of entrepreneurship.Key Takeaways[00:05:50] - The Importance of Operationalizing Customer Development[00:19:03] - Finding Buyers, Going Public Challenges[00:23:51] - Incentivize Sales Teams to Sell Product[00:27:25] - Customer Development and Market Validation in SaaS[00:31:42] - Building a Solopreneur Super App[00:38:35] - Autonomous Processes in Different Industries[00:43:14] - The Importance of Values in Business[00:46:14] - SaaS Company Values and Product StrategyTweetable Quotes“A lot of the things that I say I won't do again are not, it's bad. It's like, if that's not core to your strategy, don't stumble your way or accidentally find your way in that room. You need to walk into that door on purpose.” - 00:17:44 LeSean Smith“But if you aren't writing down your process like you can't point me to a document that other people on the team have, and that says, this is no, not just like this is how we onboard a customer, or this is how we do customer support.” - 00:20:26 LeSean Smith“I'm just saying if you don't do it and you can't quickly show me how you take customer signals and turn it into a product and do it in a measurable, demonstrable manner, I just feel like you're playing with fire.” - 00:21:22 LeSean Smith“I think in that case, you got to go back to your investors and any of your advisors and just have really honest conversations. Not a total reset, but it's like, if you let that get too far away from you, you're playing with fire.” - 00:28:13 LeSean Smith“You need somebody to go do sales and marketing. You need somebody to do investor relations, and then you need somebody to go make the thing. And when I see someone who's like, well, I do all three of those, and I'm like, man, you're creating a very stressful life.” - 00:33:43 LeSean Smith“And I found that the more I lean into things that keep my autonomy, I structure my businesses where we can go where we want to go.” - 00:55:57 LeSean SmithSaaS Leadership Lessons1. Know Thyself and Your Venture: Cultivate self-awareness by recognizing your strengths, weaknesses, and the distinctive value that your SaaS venture offers to the market. Stay aligned with your 'North Star'—your fundamental mission and values—to steer your choices and uphold authenticity.2. Agility vs. Structure: While big companies have established channels and resources, they often lack the agility of startups. Conversely, startups may be nimble but lack channel strength. Find the sweet spot between leveraging the structure and resources

Initiate effective discussions on automation in healthcare by strategically navigating the decision-making process. In this episode, A.J. Hanna, Senior Director of Customer Development at Element Blue, shares insights about the growing need for automation in healthcare and the challenges organizations face in adopting this technology. He highlights the importance of advising clients on the right places to look for automation opportunities and identifying the metrics to consider when deciding what processes to automate. A.J. also emphasizes the importance of focusing on the right business processes for automation to drive immediate value.  Join us as we explore the potential of robotic process automation in healthcare and learn how organizations can start their automation journey on the right foot. Resources:  Connect and Follow AJ Hanna on LinkedIn here. Stay in touch with AJ Hanna via email here.   Visit the Element Blue Website here for more information.

Kathleen Eisenhardt is the Stanford W. Ascherman M.D. Professor in the Stanford School of Engineering. She is also a faculty member with STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, and the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Among the most widely cited entrepreneurship scholars in the world, Eisenhardt is the author of over 100 articles and several books, most recently (with Don Sull), “Simple Rules: How to Survive in a Complex World.” In this presentation, Eisenhardt shares strategies for founders of new companies in new and disrupted markets, providing case studies from her extensive research.

Tom Logan is the Co-founder and CEO of Cohley, a content generation and testing platform that helps brands create content for social ads, email marketing, websites, and more. Tom is also a member of Founders Pledge, an initiative enabling philanthropy among founders and investors. Before founding Cohley, Tom was the Director of Customer Development at Piqora and a Client Success Manager for Wildfire by Google. In this episode… According to digital studies, 70% of in-store purchases occur from online product research. With this integration of retail and digital commerce, consumers desire authentic, interactive content. How can you optimize your product detail pages to emphasize the voice of the shopper? As consumer shopping habits expand to both online and in-store channels, content tester Tom Logan says you must diversify content to target shoppers on their chosen platforms. Product reviews are one of the most reliable conversion drivers, so curating and emphasizing positive reviews on your PDPs is critical. You can generate authoritative content from reviews by launching product unboxing and testing videos on multiple social channels. While many brands leverage influencers to create these videos, Tom recommends using loyal customers to shift the focus from brand awareness to the voice of the shopper.  Join Aaron Conant in today's episode of The Digital Deep Dive as he welcomes the Co-founder and CEO of Cohley, Tom Logan, back to the show to discuss optimizing content for the shopper. Tom shares how brands can leverage authentic UGC content, how to optimize reviews to drive purchasing decisions, and considerations for generating creative content for retail media.

Exploring the Intersection of Sales Leadership and Founder Dynamics: Join us in this captivating podcast episode as Collin Stewart and Dean Yim delve into the fascinating realm where sales leadership, salespeople, and founders converge. Gain valuable insights into outbound strategies, customer development, and innovative HR tools like Loop.  Don't miss out on unlocking the secrets of sales leadership and the challenges salespeople and founders face. Are you looking to create repeatable, scalable, and predictable revenue? We can help! ► https://bit.ly/predictablerevenuecoaching

Get out of the building! If you've never heard this advice before as a founder… wait, what am I saying, of course you have. Today, we welcome a true titan of the startup world, the man who coined "GOOB" and pioneered the Customer Development methodology, which has been instrumental in shaping the Lean Startup movement.Steve Blank is not only a serial entrepreneur with 8 ventures and 4 IPOs under his belt, but he is also an accomplished author, having penned four influential books, including "The Four Steps to the Epiphany" and "Startup Owner's Manual." Also an adjunct professor and co-founder of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford, it's safe to say that Steve has made a lasting impact on the entrepreneurial landscape. The masterclass you're about to listen to was originally a private session for the Latitud Community that was too good not to share with the world. Hosted by my co-founder and Latitud CTO Yuri Danilchenko, this chat covers:How the Customer Development methodology came about and evolved over the yearsCommon misconceptions and pitfalls about doing customer discovery and building MVPsThe impact of AI and other emerging technologies on entrepreneurshipAnd Steve's biggest lessons from past failuresBuilding good sh*t in Latin America?Find out how to pen your startup the right wayRequest early access to the Meridian international business account Or simply sign up for our newsletter for more content on navigating the LatAm startup ecosystemFollow us on Linkedin / Twitter / Instagram / Spotify.

Julia Collins is the founder and CEO of Planet FWD, which is empowering the next generation of sustainable consumer companies with its climate management platform. Planet FWD is focused on decarbonizing global supply chains with the belief that all organizations can achieve Net Zero. The platform is inspired by Planet FWD's own snack brand, Moonshot, which launched in 2020 as the first climate-friendly snack brand. In this conversation with Mo-Yun Lei Fong, executive director of STVP, the Stanford Engineering Entrepreneurship Center, Collins explains the growing climate tech market — especially the areas of decarbonization and climate accounting — and shares advice for founders based on her experience as a serial entrepreneur.

Karabo Morule is the founder of Capital Art, which is an art fintech and the first art collection management service that is focused on collectors of modern and contemporary African art. Morule is also a non-executive director at TymeBank, South Africa's first bank to have its core banking system in the cloud. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Vimbayi Kajese, Morule discusses the African art market, including the ways it's been shaped by injustice and the opportunities it presents for cultural preservation and celebrating marginalized artists. Through her company's technology, she is creating a more inclusive African art ecosystem by encouraging people of many income levels to view themselves as collectors.

For more prospecting and sales development tips, join 2'009 SDRs getting the newsletter here: https://sdrgame.substack.com/ ---- In this episode, I talk with Michael Tuso, Co-Founder and CEO of Callypso We talk about the new Sales Development Representative: The CDR (Customer Development Representative) or also called ADR (Account Development Representative) at some companies. Why this role will be important in 2023, how to prospect customers, how to prioritize your accounts and your prospects within an account, and do account mapping. Michael also answers questions about do you prioritize upselling first or cross-selling within an account. Follow Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeltuso — Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elriclegloire/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sdrgame/message

Austin Russell is the founder and CEO of Luminar, the 27 year old global leader in automotive lidar hardware and software technology. Under Russell's leadership, Luminar has developed the first lidar and software technology capable of power producing autonomous vehicles, has amassed over 50 commercial partners including the majority of the world's largest automakers, and went public on the Nasdaq in December 2020 with a current market valuation of approximately $7 billion. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Russell explains how he put his company on the path to enormous success through unconventional choices and a strong core mission.

Tom Logan is the Co-founder and CEO of Cohley, a content generation and testing platform that helps brands create content for social ads, email marketing, websites, and more. Tom is also a member of Founders Pledge, an initiative enabling philanthropy among founders and investors. Before founding Cohley, Tom was the Director of Customer Development at Piqora and a Client Success Manager for Wildfire by Google. In this episode… As content creation grows more expensive, brands are beginning to reduce their budgets. But this introduces risks since content is essential for channel diversification, audience reach, and in-ad optimization. So how can you enhance your content budget to maximize growth? When developing content to boost brand performance and visibility, Tom Logan emphasizes the value of testing and learning. With the rise of new digital channels, you have to leverage various approaches to position your brand and determine the appropriate channels to allocate spending. It's also beneficial to analyze KPIs and advertising data so you can guide strategies and refine content. User-generated, short-form videos on Instagram and TikTok effectively generate engagement and results.  In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant welcomes Tom Logan, Co-founder and CEO of Cohley, back to the show to talk about why brands shouldn't cut content budgets. Tom discusses how brands can optimize content budgets, the key factors influencing brands' decision-making, and the importance of developing an R&D budget for testing and learning.

Episode Topic: Kinship On and Off the CourtAs the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women's basketball team, Coach Niele Ivey is responsible not only for leading her team on the court during games and practices, but also off the court and oftentimes behind the scenes. Join us for this conversation between Chris Stevens, Co-Founding Director of ILI and Coach Niele Ivey, where we will hear more from Coach about her impressive career to date and how our understanding of “kinship” (not serving the other, but being one with the other) can be manifested through the deep and powerful relationships forged both on and off the court.Featured Speakers:Chris Stevens '74, Assistant Teaching Professor in the Mendoza College of Business, Founding Co-Director of the Inspired Leadership Initiative; Founder of CS 74 Ventures, LLC: Retired Vice President Corporate Relations and Customer Development; Keurig Green Mountain Niele Ivey, Karen & Kevin Keyes Family Head Coach, Women's BasketballRead this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: go.nd.edu/3c262d.This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled Kinship. Thanks for listening! The ThinkND Podcast is brought to you by ThinkND, the University of Notre Dame's online learning community. We connect you with videos, podcasts, articles, courses, and other resources to inspire minds and spark conversations on topics that matter to you — everything from faith and politics, to science, technology, and your career. Learn more about ThinkND and register for upcoming live events at think.nd.edu. Join our LinkedIn community for updates, episode clips, and more.

INSPIRATION | Die Findung des eigenen Nordsterns - und wie wir unsere Produkte entwickelt haben. Produkte in Plural, weil digitalkompakt nur so vor Ideen sprudelt. Diese unter ein kohärentes Dach zu bekommen ist schon ein Geniestreich schlechthin, der ohne unseren Beirat so nicht funktioniert hätte. Wie wir unser Produkt ganz um die Themen Design, Product Market Fit oder den richtigen Einsatz eines Beirates präzisiert haben, erzählt Joel in diesem Update von Movers & Shakers. Du erfährst... …wie wir unseren Nordstern definiert haben …wie uns unsere Beirät:innen dabei halfen …welche Ideen von ihnen kamen …wie wir über unsere Zielgruppe zum Selbstverständnis kamen …wie Fragetechniken beim Product Market Fit helfen …wie wir unsere Marke überarbeiten …wie digitalkompakt seinen Value Proposition definiert …was nächsten Freitag kommt Diese Episode dreht sich schwerpunktmäßig um Selbstoptimierung: Als Macher von digital kompakt hat Joel Kaczmarek das Privileg, regelmäßig interessante, kompetente und innovative Menschen zu treffen. Was er von diesen über die (Digital-)Wirtschaft, Unternehmensführung und Persönlichkeitsoptimierung lernt, teilt er in Folgen wie dieser. __________________________ ||||| PERSONEN |||||

Как проводить кастдев на американском рынке? Где искать респондентов для исследования? Почему термин Customer Development (CustDev) не используется? Что использовать вместо этого при общении с американцами (User Research, User Interview, Product discovery)? Про платформы для поиска респондентов в США (Userinterviews.com, Respondent.io). Ошибки в скриннинг анкете. Как написать хорошее объявление? Почему американцы не пользуются Telegram & WhatsApp и чем пользуются? И почему надо платить и сколько? Видео https://youtu.be/l4Unc58VQwM Поддержать канал Boosty https://boosty.to/prodcast Patreon https://www.patreon.com/ProdcastNaumova

Our guests this week are Cara Keating, Chief Customer Officer, Frito Lay-North America and Chad Matthews, Chief Commercial Officer, Pepsico Beverages-North America. In a fast-paced conversation recorded live at the National Association of Convenience Stores' annual conference in Las Vegas. we dig into what makes Pepsico unique on both the food and beverage side before delving into how customer-centric innovation is brought to life using tools like Pepviz. We also learn how the convenience channel is evolving, how the lines are blurring, and how Pepsi thinks about its own direct-to-consumer efforts. We also discover how both Cara and Chad's groups work with their retail partners to drive collaborative value, before wrapping up with a discussion of Pepsi's social impact efforts.But first we dissect the week's most important retail news, kicking off with Lowe's decision to "pull a Target" and bail on the Canadian market. Then we move on to some big picture news, including the National Retail Federation's holiday forecast and profit warnings from brands like Canada Goose and Under Armour. We also revisit the "wobbly unicorn corner," unpacking what to make of dismal quarterly earnings reports from Peloton and Wayfair, before sharing some uncharacteristically good news as AdoreMe gets scooped up by Victoria's Secret for a cool $400 million. We close with news from Steve's field trip to JC Penney's new inclusive beauty concept. About CaraCara Keating, an 18-year PepsiCo veteran, is the Chief Customer Officer for Frito Lay North America. Since joining PepsiCo in 2004, Cara's ability to consistently deliver results has led to progressively senior roles in general management, customer development and field leadership across Canada.Cara began her PepsiCo career in the Western Canada market with Frito Lay Canada (FLC). She then moved to Toronto with PepsiCo Foods Canada (PFC) in 2010 for sales roles with both FLC and Quaker responsibilities including leading the national convenience & gas business, large grocery customers, and foodservice sales. In 2014, Cara was promoted to Senior Director of Sales Strategy, Planning, and Insights. After her promotion to Ontario Area Vice President in 2015, Cara led the team to back-to-back Pingel Award wins in 2015 and 2016 for the top-performing FLC region. In 2016, Cara was promoted to Vice President Customer Development, where she led PFC's national sales team to deliver against PepsiCo's promise of providing world-class service to our customers and innovative programs to our consumers. Most recently, Cara was President of PFC, a role she held for three years. In this role Cara navigated the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to many other transformational changes, all while delivering sustained growth for the company and its customers.Cara is a talented people leader and passionate supporter of PepsiCo's Diversity, Engagement & Inclusion agenda. As a former lead and recent executive sponsor for the Women's Inclusion Network (WIN), her efforts to expand WIN across PepsiCo Canada were recognized with the prestigious PepsiCo Global Harvey Russell award for her contributions to diversity and women's development across PepsiCo.Cara has also helped to position PepsiCo Canada as an industry leader in advancing women through her involvement on the Board of Directors for the annual Forward Together women's development conference. In recognition of these efforts, Cara was honoured with a 2017 Star Women in Grocery award from Canadian Grocer Magazine.Cara is also very active in the food industry and sits on the Board of Directors for the Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP), the FHCP Industry Affairs Management Committee, the Golden Pencil Committee and was a former Advisory Council Member to the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG).Prior to PepsiCo, Cara worked at Procter & Gamble for four years in Account Management. Cara holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from the University of Saskatchewan. She is an avid traveler and enjoys experiencing new destinations, cuisines and adventures with her husband, Eddie.About ChadChad Matthews is Chief Commercial Officer of PepsiCo Beverages North America. He assumed this role February 2022 and is a 24-year veteran of PepsiCo with strong leadership across the company's North America food and beverage businesses.In his current role leading the commercial function, Chad is responsible for enterprise customer development, commercialization, revenue growth management, our allied partner development, national go-to-market, and industry relations.Previously, Chad served as Senior Vice President and General Manager leading overall business and performance management for PepsiCo's beverage business in 13 states across the Central United States.Since joining PepsiCo in 1998, Chad has held several leadership roles, including Senior Vice President of Frito Lay's national accounts, Vice President of Frito-Lay's commercial organization and Vice President of Frito Lay North America's Mountain Region.Chad has deep experience and a proven track record of delivering strong business and people results, holding numerous roles across sales, operations, commercial, customer marketing, transformation, and go-to-market.About UsSteve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,      The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext!  You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

In this episode we answer questions submitted by founders just like you, including:How do you motivate your team around your vision?What's the difference between Customer Development and Sales?When do you need Generalists or Specialists on your team?You can submit questions for us to answer on our website https://www.thestartuphelpdesk.com/ or on Twitter @thestartuphd - we'd love to hear from you!Episode NotesReminder: this is not legal advice or investment advice.Q1: How do you motivate your team around your vision?Capture “proof” everywhere you can – document it – and share it with the team:Proof is your fuel to acquire new customers, hire, and motivateProof = earning new customers, testimonials, existing customers asking for more, case studiesCollect proof each week and share it across the companyNic records a weekly status update video to share with the team!Ash suggests not to share every metric, as that can be distracting from the key ones – instead, focus on one (or a select few) KPIs and share those wins with the teamYou will need to pitch all the time – practice your public speakingBuild the "well of good will"Involve the team in company principles workshops and directionQ2: What's the difference between Customer Development and Sales?Customer Development happens before you find Product/Market Fit. It's the process of interviewing potential customers, learning from them and testing ideas. CD is all about iteration and learning.Consider Customer Development to be your compass: Who your customers areWhat specific problem they need solvedHow to solve itHow to reach and sell to themSales starts after you have clear signal and can start to build a process around selling the product. Sales is about process, reproducibility and optimization. Thus, sales is the engine or fuel: once you know who your customer is and are ready to grow revenue, you can add more fuel to the fire with sales.Too many companies confuse the two, and start trying to sell the first MVP of their product instead of learning from the market. It's not about growth until you have a foundation to grow.Q3: When do you need Generalists or Specialists on your team?Once you start to grow quickly, you need specialists. Generalists deal well with uncertainty and when you need to do something for the first time. Once you have a playbook that someone can pick up, you want specialists who can make it better. However, hiring specialists before you have a solid process is a common cause of startup death, since specialists often struggle to go from zero to one. So, let's talk about signals that you need more specialists vs. generalists. If you're tracking goals honestly, it should be obvious over a 90 day period. If you observe:Generalists missing key goals with steadily less warning and steadily less good ideas to solveInternal team friction from their direct reportsNoticeably distracted by other goals and/or ignoring constructive feedback on how to improveThis can be a sign that you need specialists for roles.Where to put great generalists as you scale?On the firesThey usually want to have an impact and are adaptable. Very helpful when dealing with a crisis or serious issue.Don't be afraid to ask people what they want.As you scale, there are always new areas that need to be developed and built. Generalists can move among those opportunities and be the ones who are trailblazing the next function, area or process.

Rob Fitzpatrick is the author of The Mom Test, and he'll help you fight the good fight to bring your ideas into the world.-----You can also read this episode here.Sign up here to get upcoming audio essays emailed to youFollow the MTTM journey on Twitter or LinkedIn!If you haven't already would you do me a favor and take ~40 seconds to rate/review the show on Apple Podcasts ? It really helps. (Scroll to bottom of page for rate/review links.)Links & resources mentionedSend episode feedback on Twitter @askotzko , or via emailRob Fitzpatrick - Twitter, websiteBooks:The Mom TestThe Workshop Survival GuideWrite Useful BooksNonfiction Author's CommunityRelated episodes#56 Ash Maurya: The Innovator's Gift#54 David Kadavy: Creative Self-ActualizationPeople & orgsSherry WallingBooksThe Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t TogetherRocket FuelPartnering: Forge the Deep Connections That Make Great Things HappenFour Thousand Weeks: Time Management for MortalsMind Management, Not Time ManagementOther resources mentionedThe shape of an idea - Rob FitzpatrickEffectuationTrends.vcThe new biz model for indie creators? Gluing it all together with an Outcome-Oriented Community.

Alfred Lin is a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he focuses on consumer and enterprise investments and co-leads Sequoia's early-stage investment business in the United States and Europe. In this conversation with Stanford adjunct lecturer Ravi Belani, Lin offers advice for aspiring entrepreneurs and early-stage founders who want to identify worthwhile ideas and seed excellence in their startups.--------------------Stanford eCorner content is produced by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. At STVP, we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to become global citizens who create and scale responsible innovations.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/ECorner LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stanfordtechnologyventuresprogram/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StanfordTechnologyVenturesProgram/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ecorner LEARN MOREeCorner Website: https://ecorner.stanford.edu/STVP Website: https://stvp.stanford.edu/Support our mission of providing students and educators around the world with free access to Stanford University's network of entrepreneurial thought leaders: https://ecorner.stanford.edu/give.

BIO: Ash Maurya is the author of two bestselling books, “Running Lean” and “Scaling Lean,” and is also the creator of the top-rated one-page business modeling tool “Lean Canvas.” STORY: Ash had this social networking idea that he thought was unique, so he kept it to himself as he built on it. He never tested the market until he launched, and the network was a flop. Ash kept building the network in isolation until seven years later when he realized he was supposed to be building a customer base, not the perfect product. LEARNING: Take at least 90 days to test a new idea before launching it. You need customers for your business to survive.   “You can actually sell before you build.”Ash Maurya  Guest profilehttps://amzn.to/3wQSHle (Ash Maurya) is the author of two bestselling books, “https://amzn.to/3wQSHle (Running Lean)” and “https://amzn.to/3wQSHle (Scaling Lean),” and is also the creator of the top-rated one-page business modeling tool “https://amzn.to/3wQSHle (Lean Canvas).” Ash is praised for offering some of the best and most practical advice for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs worldwide. Driven by the search for better and faster ways for building successful products, Ash has developed a continuous innovation framework that synthesizes concepts from Lean Startup, business model design, jobs-to-be-done, and design thinking. Ash is also a leading business blogger, and his posts and advice have been featured in Inc. Magazine, Forbes, and Fortune. He regularly hosts sold-out workshops worldwide and serves as a mentor to several accelerators, including TechStars, MaRS, Capital Factory, and guest lecturers at several universities, including MIT, Harvard, and UT Austin. Ash serves on the advisory board of several startups and has consulted with new and established companies. Worst investment everIn 2011, Ash came up with a social networking idea that he believed was so good that he couldn't tell anyone. The friends he told, he swore them into secrecy. They all convinced him that this would be a perfect idea. Ash took all the money he had, got a small team together, and spent a year building the network. He never talked to anyone about his idea during the building period. Nine months into that journey, he heard about Friendster, the first social network launched. Someone had beat him to it. However, Ash was still convinced his idea was unique, so he continued to build on it. Ash finally launched his network and spent another year trying to get everything right, but it didn't work. Then he took a hard pivot and had a lucky break when another company that liked the technology he was using licensed it for a little while. But it was still not Ash's big outcome story. His co-founders lost interest in the network and walked away. Ash kept plugging along and bootstrapped until the five-year mark, building his product. After about seven years, Ash realized that he had been looking at all his ideas from the inside out. He concentrated on building a product for himself instead of creating a customer base first. Lessons learnedWhen building a business, focus more on purpose and meaning. Ask yourself if you're creating what the customers needs. Give yourself 90 days to test the market and demonstrate traction if you have a new idea. If your customers aren't paying attention to your idea, building a product will not make a difference. Andrew's takeawaysTo turn great ideas into great products, the people around you should always be confident that you can implement them. Decide the minimum number of customers you need to stay in business and when. Be as specific as possible. Actionable adviceSet a goal and a deadline or a timeline. Then ask yourself what's the smallest outcome that would deem this project a success. No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsAsh's goal for the next 12 months is to get from 1 million people on his platform to 10 million or at least within the next three years. Parting words  “Look...