Podcasts about docusign

Don’t Fade and Die in AI Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ Matt Yanchyshyn, VP AWS Marketplace, Rekha Thangelapalita, Elastic GSI Leaders; Allison McFadden, Accenture AWS Leader; and James Kang of Nvidia join Ultimate Partner. In this panel discussion, leaders from Elastic, Accenture, Nvidia, and AWS dissect the urgent shifts in the ecosystem, emphasizing that partners must adapt to AI and agentic co-selling or risk fading away completely. The conversation explores the necessity of deep co-engineering, the power of multi-product solutions in the AWS marketplace, and how automated agents are now replacing traditional human sales pipeline progression. By embracing data readiness and strategic collaboration, organizations can survive the “token maxing” era, effectively scale their enterprise opportunities, and align with NVIDIA’s five-layer strategy to dominate the new cloud landscape. https://youtu.be/zUkL4Wqsa68 Key Takeaways AI agents will automate the majority of AWS partner co-selling attachments and opportunity progressions this year. Partners who fail to embrace agentic workflows and automated governance face the existential risk of fading into obsolescence. Successful multi-product offerings require a “blood to all organs” approach that benefits the client, the ISV, the GSI, and the hyperscaler simultaneously. Nvidia’s “five-layer cake” model emphasizes that successful outcomes at the application layer automatically drive growth for all underlying infrastructure. The “token maxing” phenomenon is forcing enterprises to seek cost-effective, open-model alternatives to scale their generative AI securely. Integrating GSIs and ISVs on the AWS marketplace significantly increases enterprise deal sizes and long-term customer renewal rates. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags strategic collaboration agreement, data readiness engine, agentic co-sell, semantic layer, token maxing, five layer cake, accelerated computing platform, open models, cloud consumption, multi-product solutions, partner central agents, propensity data, automated opportunity progression, generative AI governance Transcript Matt Y and Panel Audio Podcast [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to Agen Co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:00:11] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:22] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi. Own your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:44] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because [00:00:46] Vince Menzione: being in the room changes everything. Let’s start. [00:00:51] Vince Menzione: We’ve got some amazing leaders joining us. So I think probably for a little bit of context, maybe just start with Rika. You can introduce yourself, your role and, uh, what, what you’ve been doing at Elastic. Yeah. [00:01:03] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, sounds great. [00:01:04] Rekha Thangellapalli: Hi everyone. I’m Reka and I lead GSI Alliances at Elastic. Um, for the past 14 years, I’ve had the pleasure of building different kinds of partner ecosystems across companies such as SAP. MuleSoft, Salesforce, Coupa, and now Elastic. Um, I wanna thank Ultimate partner and Vince for having us here today. Thank you and the panel of these incredible speakers for joining me on stage. [00:01:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, very excited for the conversation today. [00:01:33] Vince Menzione: We love Elastic, and you’ve had some of your other leaders on stage at other events. As such, the quality of your leadership team is amazing. Thank you. [00:01:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: I wholeheartedly agree. [00:01:45] Allison McFadden: Excellent. Um, hello everyone. Allison McFadden. I lead our North America AWS practice at Accenture. [00:01:52] Allison McFadden: Uh, I’ve been there for five years, and truth be told, it was my first partnership role, my first formal partnership role. Uh, so I can take some tips from all of you in the room here today. Prior to that, I was 21 years with IBM, and I got into partnerships because my last role at IBM was actually trying to build. [00:02:14] Allison McFadden: Linux business on the mainframe, and I had to have partners. I had to have partners to help me with workloads to run there. So I kind of learned, uh, trial by fire. But I’m excited for the conversation today. Excited to be in this room and excited to talk about what we’re doing with, uh, elastic. Thank you. [00:02:34] James Kang: Uh, my name is James Kang. Nice to see and meet everyone here. Vince, thank you for the opportunity. Thank you [00:02:38] Vince Menzione: for being here. [00:02:39] James Kang: Um, I’m with Nvidia, so I help manage the AWS partnership at Nvidia all up. Um, I guess fun fact, I’m former AWS and so I see a lot of very familiar faces here in the front row. Uh, former colleagues and then current friends. [00:02:56] James Kang: And so, uh, looking forward to the conversation. [00:02:59] Vince Menzione: Great. Well, we’ll start with an easy tia. Matt. This is not directed to you, directed to the others. So what does a successful AWS partnership look like from your C? So we’ll start with Eureka. [00:03:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. So from an ISV perspective, I think we really are looking at three things. [00:03:15] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, mutual investment building together. And scaling together. So when we talk about mutual investment, elastic recently signed a five-year SCA or strategic collaboration agreement with AWS. And while that is a significant milestone in our partnership, for us, what matters more is what it represents, and that is really a long-term commitment from both companies. [00:03:39] Rekha Thangellapalli: Towards product engineering, um, and joint go to market initiatives to deliver value to customers over time. And that’s what we see is that the best partnerships really compound and they build upon each other every year. Um, they don’t necessarily kind of reset every year. Um, next we talk about building together. [00:03:59] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, um. When we talk about joint solutions, we want to deliver solutions that are better together and the customers have to see us that way. And so whether it’s search, observability, or security, we’re looking at taking to market solutions that we can’t or necessarily don’t wanna take on our own. And finally we talk about scaling together. [00:04:22] Rekha Thangellapalli: And this is where marketplace, for instance, plays a big role, um, when customers can draw down on their cloud commitments, transact online and go from, you know, pilot to enterprise scale adoption in hours, not days. Um, this is when really everyone wins. Um, and this is also where partners like Accenture play a critical role. [00:04:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, you know, the incredible amount of expertise that they bring, uh, the managed services capabilities and, um, their data assets actually play a huge role in having our customers realize that value faster. And, um, like Vince mentioned, at the end of the day, best partnerships are all all about creating kind of that. [00:05:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Self-sustaining flywheel. And so it starts with investing together, building something unique, and having the customers realize that success faster because that success is really the only thing that’s gonna keep that flywheel going for everyone involved. I [00:05:26] Vince Menzione: absolutely. [00:05:26] Allison McFadden: Okay, amazing. I’m gonna riff off a few things Ika said, but from a GSI perspective. [00:05:32] Allison McFadden: A relationship with a WSA successful relationship with AWS looks slightly different. Um, so I think the first thing that we think of in the GSI Community common thread is that the client outcome and delivering value for clients is what we, what we’re striving for. Um, and so the partnership with AWS in that case, um, um, it has to, it has to. [00:06:01] Allison McFadden: Look like one team in front of our clients. So we have to show up indistinguishable, and that’s with AWS and with an ISV partner, it has to look like one solution in front of the client, especially moments that matter. So board meetings, um, you know, the time we’re gonna sign a deal, like we have to look like one team, uh, and keep our our client outcome, um, first and foremost in mind. [00:06:24] Allison McFadden: The second thing, and this is I think where the magic of all the people in this room comes into play. We can have as many discussions at a CEO level as we want. And if our client teams on the ground are not working together, it falls apart. Falls apart directly in front of the client. Yes. And that is a really hard thing to do. [00:06:45] Allison McFadden: So I’m passionate about the alliance work because that that work is what makes it happen at the corporate level. [00:06:53] James Kang: Cool. Um. I’ll start here. So in Nvidia is a accelerated computing platform company. Um, if you asked. Anyone on the, on the street about a year ago, what is ai? A lot of times they would say AI is, is open ai, or it’s philanthropic. [00:07:12] James Kang: Um, Jensen and I’ll, I’ll reference Jensen a lot today, um, because he is our leader, um, but he also sets the strategy in the direction for Nvidia. He talks a lot about AI in the metaphor of a five layer cake. And in terms of the five layer cake, you start off with the foundational bottom layer being power and energy, which sustains. [00:07:32] James Kang: All of our data centers, you move up the stack in terms of chips. So things think of Foxconn, think of TSMC. Next you have the infrastructure layer. So obvious choice is AWS, and then you get to the models where you do have the philanthropics and the open ais. But finally in at the precipice, you have the application layer. [00:07:53] James Kang: Ultimately, the reason why I mentioned all different stacks of the layers, the five layer cake, is the fact that the application layer is the most important. And so when you think about. Partners like Elastic or ServiceNow Trend, ai, CrowdStrike. Every time you pull from the application layer and you see a success, it pulls all five different components of that layer up. [00:08:13] James Kang: And so ultimately, as I think about success, it’s it’s being able to develop these co-sell wins at the application layer and really demonstrating that through extreme co-engineering and co-design with all the different application. Infrastructure, power and energy layers in mind. Um, Jensen also likes to think of himself not only as the CEO and founder, but also as the, the chief Marketing Officer. [00:08:35] James Kang: We are a very event driven company, and so at our big events like GTC or at big industry events like CES or Computex, he likes to show up on the biggest stage, biggest stages and showcase the partnerships with not only ISVs and GSIs, but also with end customers. And so that’s what I think about when I think of SA success. [00:08:56] Vince Menzione: That’s a really good point. You talked about, Allison, you talked about having an alliance strategy, or at least you teed it up, so I thought maybe we would go there for a second. Right? Like, what does a great alliance strategy look like and why is it important to the success of the partnership? [00:09:11] Allison McFadden: Man, I, uh, I have so many opinions on this. [00:09:13] Allison McFadden: We could probably be up here all day. That’s [00:09:15] Vince Menzione: okay. [00:09:16] Allison McFadden: Um, no, I think. Uh, there, there are a couple things, and the first one that comes to mind is focus. We cannot be all things to all people. Um, so when it comes to think about some of the, the work we’re doing with Elastic, we have a very, very clear point of view on what client problem we’re solving, what clients we want to talk to. [00:09:38] Allison McFadden: It helps if, um, from an ISV perspective, if there’s a very clear fit in. The Accenture portfolio or whatever, you know, SI consulting partner. You’re working with a very clear fit in the portfolio and we know what we’re not gonna go after, what we’re not gonna spend our time on because we have, we have this tendency, there’s millions of people. [00:10:00] Allison McFadden: The ecosystem chart that, you know, Vince, you showed up there, there’s so many connections. There’s probably more connections there than there are atoms in the universe, right? So, um. Defining what we do together and what we don’t do together is the first thing that pops to my mind. [00:10:19] Vince Menzione: Reka, do you have a perspective on it since we’re gonna, we’re gonna talk next about what you’ve done together, but, and I also wanna get mass perspective as a hyperscaler partner here as well. [00:10:29] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, I mean from my perspective, I, I’m gonna, you know, kinda echo what Allison said is to be just maniacally focused. Yep. Um, because, especially from my perspective, so Elastic has three different solutions, right? We’ve got search, we’ve got observability, we’ve got security that map to completely different business units within Accenture. [00:10:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: And of course Accenture does a lot of things. And so, you know, when we first came together it was like. Okay, what are we gonna focus on? What industries are we gonna go after? Which segments are we gonna go after? Which customers, you know, um, outcomes are we trying to solve? And I think that sort of maniacal focus is the number one contributing factor to, to the fact that I’m like, up here on stage today. [00:11:12] Rekha Thangellapalli: Great. [00:11:14] Vince Menzione: Matt? Perspective? [00:11:16] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I, I guess I was trying to. To add something, uh, additional from an AWS perspective, uh, when it comes to, you know, what does a great alliance look like? Uh, AWS is obsessed with data, you know, in data we trust. And, and so the best, um, and, and this goes sales business problem, and it’s not just the engineering teams. [00:11:34] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so, uh, you know, Accenture does a good job of this elastic, definitely. And if you can come to the table with, um, quantifiable proof of the value of customer outcomes and partnerships. Um, you’ll win all the time and it’ll be a durable relationship with AWS ’cause we really are this data obsessed company and, and even the most senior sales leaders. [00:11:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Uh, and so what I mean by that specifically is like if you, if you can show like your a RR to land an a RR conversion ratio, like in in numerical format, it’ll light up our sales leaders and, and they’ll be all, and they will co-sell with you all day long. If you can show the, I mentioned this earlier, like the AWS service, uh, whether you’re consulting company or, um, elastic and, and how the shape of customer accounts change positively when we work together. [00:12:15] Matt Yanchyshyn: That type of sort of quantifiable data works particularly well from an alliance perspective. With AWS as a partner, we, we really are like this data in sort of results out company. Um, so I, yeah, that’s just adding to the great points that were already made. I would say specific to AWS that that’s key. [00:12:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. And I’m gonna bring up one more thing. I want to dive in on the, the joint value proposition, but you mentioned something that made a lot of sense and resonated to me about the organizations once you get out of partner, the partner world that we all know and love. Mm-hmm. Once you get down into a field organization or account management organization. [00:12:49] Matt Yanchyshyn: Not as much understanding and really organizations do a bad job here, honestly, in terms of enabling the field organizations. Do you agree? [00:12:58] Allison McFadden: I agree because I, I agree. And, um, you know, I think that’s one of the things, and, and I, I, when I joined Accenture, what we had was a lot of wicked smart architects delivering programs to clients in the field. [00:13:15] Allison McFadden: Very smart, very deep in AWS knowledge. Um, and that was awesome for the 10 clients they were staffed on and to get that understanding of how AWS works and I dream about lar, right? Like, this is a good, you know, but that takes real effort and real work. Yeah. And it’s, it’s um, almost like being a language translator. [00:13:37] Allison McFadden: Yes. For me. Yeah. So, you know, I had to deeply learn AWS so that I could. [00:13:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: Sure. [00:13:42] Allison McFadden: Teach my account teams. My account teams are really smart. They know who they’re selling to. They know their customers. They know what their customers need. They do not know what AWS has to offer always because they’ve got 20 partners lining up to try to tell their stories. [00:13:57] Allison McFadden: Um, they don’t know how to ask of the AWS team or the elastic team or the Nvidia team. Yeah. What they need [00:14:02] Vince Menzione: this co-selling piece. Yeah. [00:14:04] Allison McFadden: And so that is where, um. We had to build that muscle even around our AWS practice, which was a huge practice at Accenture, but we didn’t necessarily surround it with that kind of enablement and um, almost deal coaching layer. [00:14:21] Vince Menzione: So Elastic and Accenture came together. I dunno which one of you wants to lead this part of the conversation, but you will, right? Yeah. So tell us about the genesis of this and why. And a lot of people dunno what Elastic does, but you do some really incredible work. Like I, somebody told me one day was like, oh, you know, Uber, like, that’s elastic, powering all that. [00:14:41] Vince Menzione: Like, we don’t think about that. That the engines that you have and the, the backend to the customers, huge customers. [00:14:48] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so when AWS launched this feature last, um, reinvent where basically it allowed, you know, channel partners such as Accenture to be able to bundle up their services, their data assets with an ISV solution and put it on marketplace, um, you know, Accenture and Elastic immediately saw an opportunity. [00:15:09] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, at the time most customers were doing gen ai. But they were running into the same challenge, which was that their data just was not ready. And by the way, this is a problem we were solving. Outside of marketplace. I think the, the feature that you guys launched just gave us a way to package it up and to be able to create this repeatable solution, which we call data readiness engine for gen ai and put it on marketplace. [00:15:40] Rekha Thangellapalli: And, um, this to me was a success because. Each company had a clear reason to invest. Um, so for Accenture, they were able to, you know, create a very differentiated services led offering. Uh, for Elastic, we were able to expand on our AI story. And for AWS, um, you know, it drives marketplace adoption, increases cloud consumption, all of that great stuff. [00:16:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: And customers, of course get. A solution to a very real problem that, that they were having. Um, and you know, the surprising part for me going through that journey was that, um. The pitching, the idea, getting the budget, getting the executive sponsorship was actually the easy part. The hard part was getting all three companies to come together, uh, to go from idea to launch in a very ambitious timeline of six weeks. [00:16:37] Rekha Thangellapalli: Nice. And so, you know, this was very much like. Doesn’t matter your title. We’re rolling up our sleeves and we are on this outcome together. Um, and so we literally built a RACI matrix, a project plan, and you know, we had daily standup calls for six weeks where literally. At least one person from each three of these companies called in, you know, got rid of any blockers and we made sure we were on target for that timeline. [00:17:07] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, and you know, at the end we had a successful launch. But I think my favorite part about the story is the impact that we’re having and, um. My favorite story comes from a global pharmaceutical company that, you know, had basically nine petabytes of data spread across six different continents. Wow. And by working with Accenture and Elastic, they were able to build that trusted foundation that their AI and their agents can, you know, kind of safely tap into and be accessible at scale. [00:17:41] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so that’s my version. Allison. [00:17:44] Allison McFadden: Yeah. Well, I don’t have a lot to add. I just, I would say this is a good example of a couple of principles, right? One is having a forcing function is never a bad idea. Sign up for a big event, sign up. I’m like, I’m here with my, you know, Nvidia guys saying, sign up for the event. [00:17:58] Allison McFadden: It’ll make you move quick, right? [00:18:00] Audience Member: Yes. [00:18:00] Allison McFadden: Um, so that is one, but two, one of my mentors once told me, when you’re designing any kind of, you know, offering go to market motion, it has to get blood to all organs. If it does not get blood to all organs, it does not go [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: nice. [00:18:14] Allison McFadden: Um, [00:18:14] Vince Menzione: I love that analogy. [00:18:15] Allison McFadden: Oh, I love it. And I can talk all day. [00:18:17] Allison McFadden: That guy was brilliant. I love him. But, um, no, and, and so Elastic did a really nice job of bringing the tech to the table. Um, our team has to trust in that technology and its ability to scale, right? Um, because at Accenture we have to be able to deploy across 700,000 consultants. Um. And yeah, so I think those are the two, two things that really worked well here is we had, uh, trust in the technology solved a customer need. [00:18:50] Allison McFadden: Um, it drives, we don’t even talk about, like, yes, it drives marketplace revenue, but it unlocks work that we do that drives even more revenue to our AWS Friends. Right. So this is a, this is a, um, product that’s getting your data ready for AG agentic. It’s a messy problem that everyone’s dealing with, and it removes blockers for clients and it unlocks more, you know, ag agentic work on top of that. [00:19:15] Allison McFadden: So, blood to all organs. [00:19:17] Vince Menzione: So, was that the proposal going forward to say we need to have, we need to have trust in the solution. We need to drive significant revenue. It needs to be something all of our, you know, seven, 700,000 people. Can be a part of and help drive? Is that how you think about? [00:19:32] Allison McFadden: Yeah, and for us right now, um, it’s an interesting time for Accenture. [00:19:36] Allison McFadden: Our clients are asking a lot of us, and what it does is it having some of these accelerators helps us deliver cheaper, better, faster to our clients, which is what they’re demanding of us right now. Um, so it’s an accelerator to client outcomes. [00:19:55] Vince Menzione: James, what is NVIDIA’s role and how do, how do you enter the equation here? [00:20:00] James Kang: Yeah, it’s, um, it’s a good question. Um, I, I would say that Nvidia is probably one of the most misunderstood organizations in the world. Um, despite the, uh, the market capitalization in the valuation of the company, we have a very tiny organization. Um, what I mean by that is, um, if you think about. [00:20:20] James Kang: Salesforces and field sales organizations. Um, we’ll take Salesforce as the account or the customer. As an example, we have one account manager at NVIDIA that no, not only covers and is responsible for the relationship with Salesforce, um, but also manages. Automation Anywhere as well as DocuSign. Whereas at AWS, in contrast, like there are full armies and teams Yeah. [00:20:45] James Kang: That are supporting the Salesforce relationship. And so as you think about partnering and working with Nvidia, the focus has to be on really. Extreme co-design, but also being very prescriptive in terms of what are the very specific customer outcomes that we are solving for. And the guidance that I would give is bring in Nvidia into that equation and that conversation as early as possible because that [00:21:10] James Kang: co-engineering and co-design needs to be part of the foundational building blocks in order for you to come out with a end solution that checks all those different requirements. [00:21:20] James Kang: And so I think. Again, like going back to Nvidia, um, we like to talk about two different types of brains. A brain one and a brain two. Uh, brain One you think about the next quarter and making sure that you’re hitting the revenue targets for the next quarter. Brain two, you think about a long-term goals and potentials looking around corners and being very strategic. [00:21:41] James Kang: The saying internally is without Brain one, there is no oxygen, but without brain two, there is no future. And everyone at NVIDIA is trained to think in that brain two mentality. [00:21:52] Vince Menzione: Wow, Matt. [00:21:54] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, I, I was just thinking I love the blood doll organs. Uh, and so just on, on that note, um, and, and, you know, the multi-product solutions that, that you, you built together, uh, that is a really good example of blood do organs because like we all know, that’s how customers buy. [00:22:07] Matt Yanchyshyn: They, they buy solutions and increasingly they’re looking for combinations of ISV, sometimes multiple products from multiple ISVs with services. Uh, often they’re buying it through a resell motion. You know, and they, and, and so that from a customer perspective, they want a single place to go. And so that’s the multi-product solution. [00:22:24] Matt Yanchyshyn: They wanna find everything they need, they need Accenture, they need Elastic to solve a specific solution. And I think where that’s headed is even more specific listings, like with AI powered listing experience, like, you know, elastic Plus Accenture for, I’ll make something up like a manufacturing workload. [00:22:37] Matt Yanchyshyn: And so this solution based. Uh, sort of buying is, is very customer centric. It’s what customers want. We all know that. But that’s, that’s the customer sort of organ, I guess. Um, but then, you know, you all have SCAs and those SCAs have marketplace commits. It helps if that gets transacted through marketplace helps the AWS relationship, you know that that’s an organ. [00:22:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: It’s the relationship. It’s, it’s the commercial construct and that you have, uh, that that’s another organ. You’re marketing people. They, that’s another organ. They don’t wanna land, uh, leads on a static marketing page. They wanna land a lead on a, a storefront with a multi-product solution that can actually convert and that you can actually buy it through that. [00:23:12] Matt Yanchyshyn: So the marketing person’s happy because they, they have less churn. Uh, and then, you know, our reps are happy ’cause guess how they get paid? They retire quota when they sell Marketplace. And they, we also, Jay McMain will tell you, that’s another organ called Jay or on, on you now. Um, [00:23:27] Matt Yanchyshyn: he’ll like that. I’ll call him up and tell him that. [00:23:29] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah, [00:23:30] Matt Yanchyshyn: but he, he’ll tell you, you know, don’t believe me. Obviously, never believe Matt, believe, believe the, the data and, and his data shows that. Those deals will close faster and larger if you use marketplace. So that’s, that’s a lot of organs. That’s the whole body. Um, but you know, when you have your customer happy ’cause that’s how they wanna buy your field happy. [00:23:45] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and, you know, the relationship happy and you know, your marketing team happy. Uh, and, and Jay happy. Um, and, and you know, I think that multi-product construct and, and the way you kind of use it to model a partnership and the way buyers ultimately wanna buy is, is really powerful. And so I, I think it’s, you know, it’s really a manifestation of how. [00:24:04] Matt Yanchyshyn: We kind of intend and to go to market anyway. Uh, so I think, you know, and thanks for leading the way, by the way. You’re, you’re amongst the very first, so that’s great to see. [00:24:11] Matt Yanchyshyn: So these storefronts are really helping this drive, drive this. Well, [00:24:13] Matt Yanchyshyn: that’s the next evolution. Like we’re talking about the multiproduct solution. [00:24:16] Allison McFadden: I’m JJ Accenture storefront. [00:24:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Oh, there you go. I mean, j and j Accenture storefront. [00:24:20] Allison McFadden: We’re gonna talk about that. [00:24:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. I mean, [00:24:21] Matt Yanchyshyn: Accenture also leading the way yet again with storefronts. And so I think the combination of. You know, again, I was talking a lot about conversion. Yeah. And you know, buyers know sometimes they know what they wanna buy and, but if you really wanna convert that lead, you wanna land them again, something that combines, you know, elastic Accenture’s services plus software, but in a storefront that is, you know, surrounding with just the solutions they want so they don’t need to kind of go searching. [00:24:42] Matt Yanchyshyn: So, you know, ultimately reducing that time to close, I guess, really ’cause meeting the customer where they are with what they need. [00:24:51] Matt Yanchyshyn: So we talk about co-selling a little bit. We, Jay and I talk about this all the time. We gotta keep looping Jay in here, even though he is not even in town this week, but Reko, um, what does co-sell look like inside Elastic? [00:25:02] Matt Yanchyshyn: You’ve got, we talked about an incredible leadership team. I’ve gotten meet some of your leaders. Seems like you drive, you do a good job internally driving that. Let’s talk a little bit about it. [00:25:11] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah, and this is something I’m, I’m personally very passionate about. Um, co-sell is. Very much a journey, not a destination. [00:25:20] Rekha Thangellapalli: And I think step one for us is recognizing the different partner types that we have. Because at Elastic we work with, you know, OEMs, MSPs, resale distributors, GSIs, um, and they all bring something very unique. To the customer lifecycle and they all contribute very differently within, you know, our own sales cycle and sales process. [00:25:45] Rekha Thangellapalli: And so, you know, figuring out what is the unique benefit they bring, how do we enable them? So training and enablement is a huge piece of it, and so is making sure we’ve got the right metrics to measure success. Um, I know a lot of companies look at partner sourced as the north star, and that’s great, right? [00:26:06] Rekha Thangellapalli: Because that is undeniable. You can say, Hey, that would not exist if it wasn’t for my partner team. Um, but we’ve also noticed that when we bring in GSIs, it actually increases renewal rates. It significantly increases. Um, a RR over time. Um, it expands deal sizes and so these are very real metrics that we can point to, um, beyond just the co-sell and the partner sourced number. [00:26:32] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, so for us it’s looking at it from a very holistic perspective, but also catering it towards that unique partner and making sure we’re doing everything we can to set them up for success and setting up the partnership for success. [00:26:47] Vince Menzione: So clo close win ratios, deal size and renewal rates? [00:26:52] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yes. For specifically for geos size. [00:26:54] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. [00:26:55] Vince Menzione: Very interesting. Allison, uh, what had to change internally to produce these co-selling? We talked a little bit about the field organization and enabling a, a group of, and, you know, account sellers that are very customer focused and enabling them on the co-sell side. What had to change internally to drive that? [00:27:13] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:27:14] Allison McFadden: I, I might have already alluded to this a little bit in a previous answer, but, um, creating the capacity to develop, build, and sell these solutions, um, inside of a large GSI, where billable hours is kind of the number one metric on the table. Um. Is part of the investment that we had to make within Accenture to get this done? [00:27:36] Audience Member: Yeah, [00:27:36] Allison McFadden: so expert technology time. So we have technologists that understand the elastic technology. We do similar with Nvidia, by the way, we. We released some of their time to go co-develop the solution because it has to hold technical water, right? It can’t just be a marketing pitch. It can’t just be, it has to be a real, um, what’s the there, there. [00:27:59] Allison McFadden: So in order to actually do proper co-sell, we had to release some of that time. Um, to invest in those partnerships. Um, we’ve also done similar with some industry aligned business development leaders recently, so we have freed their time up to go. Uh. Open new conversations, educate client, account teams, go to clients, have conversations. [00:28:26] Allison McFadden: Um, so that, that’s a new motion that we, uh, have just kind of recently made, um, to allow them, I love this brain one, brain two also, right? So to allow them to focus on brain two, because a lot of our time. Typically spent delivery issues, you know, getting my hours, where am I charging my time? And so just freeing up a little of that capacity to do this work, um, helps get us in this brain two mode where we’re not just living to survive. [00:28:56] Vince Menzione: I. So, Matt, you’ve removed a lot. I mean, one of the things I admire, I admire AWS for being first to market and removing the most friction in marketplace of any of the vendors. Really, truly that. You talked about some of the announcements. How does some of, how does some of this tie PC central agents propensity sales plays, MCP, how does some of this tie to how, how you’re thinking about the future? [00:29:18] Vince Menzione: And how to enable more motions like this. [00:29:20] Matt Yanchyshyn: Yeah. Well, I, I think if you know my boss, UBA Borno, uh, you’ll know that she has a maniacal focus on automation. Yeah. Um, and, uh, co-sell is increasingly automated. You know, you were asking earlier about propensity data. You can get that propensity data in addition to sales plays and, uh, opportunity scores through the partner central agents. [00:29:38] Matt Yanchyshyn: So things that used to require multiple calls to A PDM, if you’re lucky to have one. Yeah. Or a p sm. Uh, you, you can now get through, through these agents, you know, uh, tech Systems, TGS, they, they manage what, over 5,500 customer opportunities with agents that they built on top of our partner Central APIs. [00:29:55] Matt Yanchyshyn: Um, and work Span has built a whole product and business that’s right on leveraging, uh, our APIs, our capabilities to sort of tie into your CRM. So, majority of all opportunities will be progressed and managed by agents. This year at AWS, we already have a majority of all customer opportunities, all app have a partner attached and I, I took a personal goal for a majority of those partner attachments, not to happen from a human. [00:30:22] Matt Yanchyshyn: But from our solution matching engine. And how do you get recommended by that solution? Matching engine, having a healthy ACE pipeline, thanks to partner central agents and the integrations you’re doing. And in addition to being the specializations and doing things like multi-product solutions and ultimately closing opportunities, you dream of LAR and so LAR will help that. [00:30:40] Allison McFadden: It’s more like a nightmare. [00:30:41] Vince Menzione: And so, you know, [00:30:42] Allison McFadden: it’s more like a nightmare, but [00:30:44] Vince Menzione: nightmare. Well, it’s, it’s, yeah. Nightmare of Laura and, and. Nice dreams of PRM, but the, um, but that’s the loop, right? I, I think, uh, increasingly co-sell for us, and in my mind, is largely a hundred percent automated. Yeah. Except for what matters most, those most largest, most strategic, most complex deals. [00:31:01] Vince Menzione: Where our highly paid and very skilled salespeople are most effectively used. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:05] Vince Menzione: You know, the days of, you know, this person with 20 years experience selling, clicking, progressing opportunities through a pipeline, uh, should be over. Uh, and, and we need those people out, out selling and, and co-selling. And so that for me. [00:31:19] Vince Menzione: Yeah. That, you know, we talk a lot about co-sell, but I, I’m obsessed with automating as much of the co-sell as possible. [00:31:24] Vince Menzione: I remember going back to the ex Excel spreadsheets and, and that, that seems to be be Viva became spreadsheet jockeys. [00:31:31] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:31:32] Vince Menzione: And, and they stopped selling. They forgot how to sell. [00:31:34] Vince Menzione: Yeah. And people spend all this time doing lunch and learns and things like that. [00:31:36] Vince Menzione: And then, you know. Then the salespeople rotate out after 18 months and, and it, that’s, that’s the old days. Uh, you know, the new days are, are AI powered matching algorithms, uh, ag agentic co-sell, using the partner essential agents to get your data and, and putting that data to use automatically and, and what sounded like magic. [00:31:51] Vince Menzione: 12 months ago is being done, you know, by partners at massive scale across thousands of opportunities. You can do it today. And you know, I, there’s a guy named another Mike, right? Mike another Mike who they have, there’s like a guy who’s doing all this and I’m picking on Mike ’cause I, I know their system really well and I know the guy Mike grew easily built it for them. [00:32:08] Vince Menzione: Um, but, you know, I think, yeah, again, in the days of having 10 people sort of doing lunch and learn could be replaced by one or two people, building agents, uh, managing a massive pipeline. And, and that’s the future. [00:32:18] Vince Menzione: Exactly. James, your perspective on what breaks with co-selling? [00:32:22] James Kang: Oh, what breaks co-sell? Um, I would say. [00:32:25] James Kang: It, it starts and finishes with just misalignment and a loss of trust with the customer, especially when you have multiple partners or stakeholders involved. If you’re trying to do a three-way deal with a end customer and you’re not on the same page, you’re not gonna get to a successful outcome on, on the backend. [00:32:44] James Kang: Uh, the fix is a much more complicated story. I would say that to take a step back, um. We’ve talked about the five layer cake. We’ve talked about where NVIDIA kind of fits within the equation. We are invested in the ecosystem and so as different players and application organizations win and see these outcomes for end customers, we celebrate that success. [00:33:07] James Kang: Um, and as part of that kind of ethos of where NVIDIA fits within the ecosystem, we wanna make sure that not only. Our customers, but our partners like ISVs and GSIs are set up for success. Um, we do not as Nvidia sell hardware or GPUs directly to customers We use. Hyperscalers like AWS as kind of our force multiplier. [00:33:31] James Kang: And similarly we think of ISVs and GSIs as the force multipliers in terms of our extensions of how we, we kind of leverage the relationships and build the trust with our end customers. And so going back to kind of the question, Vince, I would say that it all comes back to trust and being able to build that mutual trust. [00:33:48] James Kang: Um, a lot of what we do when we co-sell with AWS is really on the software layer. Um, we actually have more software engineers at NVIDIA than we have hardware engineers, which is a weird thing to say, um, because everyone knows us for our GPUs. But because of that fact, we are heavily invested in Cuda and making sure that Cuda becomes the foundational layer for how not only our ISVs and GSIs, but also our end customers are building. [00:34:12] Vince Menzione: Very cool. So Reiki, you and James together on this production. Versus pilot with the Gentech ai. Tell us a little bit more about that. Where, where are you in the process? [00:34:24] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. So I mean, in general, what we’re seeing out in the market in, in relation to sort of AI and, and customer’s journeys is that, um, at least from an elastic perspective, um, we’re seeing people very much in production when it comes to, you know, kind of AI assistant co-pilot use cases. [00:34:42] Rekha Thangellapalli: So, you know, things like, um, software development, customer support is a big one. Um, any sort of employee productivity use cases where there’s. Still a human in the loop somewhere. Um, and there’s a very like, clear path to value. And so we see the customers being in production excelling there. Um, no problem. [00:35:01] Rekha Thangellapalli: Where we’re seeing people still kind of in the pilot phase is those fully autonomous workflows where there is no human involved. The agent is reasoning on its own. Um, accessing multiple systems and taking an action on the user’s behalf. And what we’re seeing is that it’s not the intelligence of the agent that’s holding it back. [00:35:26] Rekha Thangellapalli: It’s more about giving the right context to the agent and having the right. Security kind of governance controls in place for the company to feel comfortable in putting these fully autonomous workflows into production. And that’s really the conversation we’re having is all right, what are the controls you need in place? [00:35:47] Rekha Thangellapalli: For you to release this to your business unit. Um, and what is the context that the agent is needed before we can comfortably let the agent make the decision on the user’s behalf? Um, James, I’d be interested to hear what you’re, what you’re seeing in the market [00:36:03] James Kang: plus one on all things context. I, I would even go so far as to say, um. [00:36:09] James Kang: H how many folks in the audience have heard of token maxing? Like this new term? [00:36:13] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:14] James Kang: Um, I’ll, I’ll give a very specific example of, of Uber that went public. With the example of Claude, like they allowed all of their employees to use as many tokens as possible, and within the span of four months, they exhausted their full budget for the year, and so they had to pull back, and now there’s a cap on every employee. [00:36:33] James Kang: I think the number that’s circulating is $1,500 per month per employee, and so I think that is at least. In this multi-phase evolution of where we’re going to be and where we’re today, cost has become kind of the prohibitive force in terms of agentic AI at scale. Um, I think we are working on some very creative solutions in-house and Nvidia. [00:36:55] James Kang: Um. And we saw some really dynamic announcements this week when it comes to all things agent core, um, where we want to focus on very nimble ways for customers to be able to execute and go to market. And one extreme example of that is our investment within our open model strategy. So Nvidia, not only, again, providing GPUs, we actually offer our own op open models, which we call our Nitron models. [00:37:21] James Kang: And through our Nitron models, we are allowing customers to really develop and fine tune their own proprietary models in a cost effective manner. So right alongside the frontier models like OpenAI and Anthropic. It’s not a if then, it’s not an either or statement. It’s a, it’s a permutation, it’s an and So we’re giving you a cost effective alternative to not only bring your AgTech applications at scale by training on Nibo tron, which is open source, but then once you’ve kind of finished and fine tuned that specific training job to be able to. [00:37:53] James Kang: Go ahead and utilize your frontier models, whether it be OpenAI or Claude. And I know there’s other partners here that are providing those kind of different model capabilities. And so I think for us it’s, it’s a matter of choice. We know that this market is dynamic. It’s gonna be evolving over the next coming months as well as the next coming years. [00:38:10] James Kang: Uh, but we believe that we are positioned for a really unique dynamic expansion of AgTech use cases over the, at least the next three to six months. [00:38:20] Vince Menzione: Allison, for the partners in the room who are glazed over right now going, what do I, what do I do over the next 12 months? [00:38:26] Allison McFadden: Should I wake everybody up by saying, yeah, please. [00:38:27] Allison McFadden: Say go hurricanes. [00:38:28] Vince Menzione: Yes. [00:38:29] Allison McFadden: Is there anyone, anybody? Everyone’s like, boo. I get to leave the parade today to go home to parade. I live in Raleigh, so we’ve got our parade on Saturday. Nice. [00:38:39] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:38:40] Allison McFadden: All right. Wake up. Um, all right. So for the $50 million partners in the room, um. $50 million is not small. You have something that works. [00:38:50] Allison McFadden: Right. This is great. What I would be thinking about is, you know, we’ve talked about focus before, but really doubling down on, you know, what is, what is your industry, what is your client like, ideal client that you serve. And build, um, almost that kind of community. You know, the, the clients we have move from firm to firm to firm. [00:39:17] Allison McFadden: And if you’ve done good work at one, you’re gonna follow ’em to the next. Um, so build that client demand in a specific place or specific client profile that is just like really knocking it out out of the park for you. Um. Scale with marketplace, right? So if you, I, I love some of the data that you were sharing in your talk earlier, um, because it’s like no overhead scaling mechanism. [00:39:45] Allison McFadden: I mean, it’s, it’s fantastic. Um, Accenture, other GSIs like us, we are investing in marketplace. So we’re investing in resources, um, to help us. Use marketplace more with our clients and we’re gonna capture, right, those storefronts. And if you’re present on marketplace, you’re gonna be able to catch, uh, yourself in that wheel. [00:40:09] Allison McFadden: So I think those are the, the kind of couple of things I would say is focus, focus, focus to drive that client demand and use scaling mechanisms like marketplace to really kind of, uh, accelerate. [00:40:24] Vince Menzione: Matt, anything to add there on the. [00:40:26] Vince Menzione: Well just, you know, Ja, James, you, I love the token maxing reference in Uber and it reminds me, you remember when cloud came out and everyone was like, oh, all these people are, are gonna use the cloud and costs are outta control and. [00:40:39] Vince Menzione: Um, a lot of people pulled back from the cloud and, and a lot of those companies no longer exist. And it’s similar with, with, uh, token maxing, like, oh, these agents are outta control. You have a choice. You can embrace them and figure it out and get governance and, and make your data available. Um, use the partner, central agent, move to agent to co-sell, or you can fade and die. [00:40:58] Vince Menzione: And, and that’s, that’s where we’re at. Uh, is, is the, the companies sitting here today embraced the cloud years ago and won. Uh, and and there’s a set of companies here today who are gonna embrace agents in the, for both buyers and sellers, and will win. And there are those who won’t and they won’t win. And so for me, it’s like we’re, we’re at a, we’re at a crossroads. [00:41:18] Vince Menzione: And, and if you’re gonna win, you gotta leap into that, you know? I love it. And, uh, and, and, and it’s, it means the cost of experimentation is so much lower now. Development and, and even business development or software development is, is agent enabled. And so you can take risks, you can experiment and, and you have to, it’s, it’s an existential moment. [00:41:37] Vince Menzione: Agreed. We’ve got a couple minutes left over for any questions. What do you think? Sure. Are there any here. I think there are a couple. Yeah, we’ve got, we’ve got a co-sell question I’m sure coming up here. [00:41:51] Audience Member: Um, I’m Cassandra, I’m the CEO of Partner Tap. And one of the questions I had was, I think, you know, the co-selling between the sellers is where things get. Really, really hard when you’re multi-partner. And so when I was listening, um, with, you know, the Accenture and Elastic together, you talked about how you had, you, you had to get these BD business development people. [00:42:22] Audience Member: Um, is this a new team that is over the client team? And how do these teams interact like with the elastic sellers? Are you doing a lot of coaching to the field and then with if AWS sellers are, are involved, like what is that whole picture? What does look like, [00:42:43] Allison McFadden: like [00:42:44] Audience Member: on the ground? I mean, that is the hardest part, I think, and that’s what we hear. [00:42:48] Allison McFadden: It’s so, it’s so, it’s so tough. Um, and I will, I’ll just say, so our business development leaders that we now have kind of. Expanded their capacity. They have always been, they have always been there. Um, but they have not been well resourced. They haven’t, they haven’t had very clear kind of job description. [00:43:12] Allison McFadden: I’m gonna say I, in the past they have been kind of focused on partner relationship. And so like more like an alliance manager and maybe working on some of the data. Right? So when I say I have nightmares about Lars, because we’re always trying to increase the LAR for Accenture and, and they were focused like in those detailed weeds of like trying to pass ACE and trying to call the PDM and all this stuff. [00:43:39] Allison McFadden: What we are doing is really pivoting them to be proper sales, business development focused on client outcomes and focused on. Technical skills to be able to describe what this solution is to the field. So, um, and because we need, I have many, many questions about, I gotta get agents to work with Eurogen co-sell so that that part somehow goes away. [00:44:05] Allison McFadden: So that’s a, that’s the thing we gotta solve still, but, um, so we’re pivoting them to be kind of driving. More of that co-sell enablement with the field, um, and taking that message to the field rather than being there, waiting for questions to come in from the field, waiting for like our field teams to discover, oh, I saw something that we’re doing with Elastic, like on a press release on LinkedIn. [00:44:30] Allison McFadden: Right. So we’re kind of trying to pivot them to be more proactive. [00:44:33] Vince Menzione: Very cool. [00:44:34] Rekha Thangellapalli: Yeah. And uh, Cassandra, that’s an excellent question because I think. Multi-party, you know, sort of tri-party offerings. The hardest part is operationalizing it at scale, right? Yeah. And so for this particular offering, we are basically having three routes to market. [00:44:51] Rekha Thangellapalli: So one is seeing how this offering fits into our existing elastic go to market. And so I am constantly enabling our field sellers to say, okay, within our three field sales place, here’s exactly where this fits in. Here are, you know, uh. Keywords that you hear in customer conversations where you bring up this offering and here’s a process of how it works. [00:45:14] Rekha Thangellapalli: Um, exactly At what sales stage do I bring in Accenture, how, you know, what are the roles and expectations? Right? So that’s on the elastic side. We’re doing the same thing on the Accenture side. So we’re doing a ton of training enablement and lunch and learns, and we’re also looking at how do we fit into. [00:45:31] Rekha Thangellapalli: Uh, Accenture’s AI transformation projects, we are the semantic layer, right, of their enterprise brain. And so it’s a whole different sales motion, um, and, you know, having the right assets, having the right process again to make sure that that goes smoothly. And then finally, we’re going directly to the customer. [00:45:49] Rekha Thangellapalli: So we are launching multiple external campaigns where, you know, if the customer raises their hand. We will, we will line up immediately. Right. Um, and so, [00:46:01] Allison McFadden: I mean, I can’t, I can’t, I can’t say how important that third leg of the stool is. ’cause the second part, she talked about getting into our catalog is the first thing. [00:46:09] Allison McFadden: ’cause my BU business development leaders have the catalog. Right. And that’s what they’re selling. So what Elastic has done has gotten into one of those offerings and then. If we have a customer that asks for it, that is the fastest way to alignment. That is like the number one thing that we respond to [00:46:26] Vince Menzione: customer at the center. [00:46:27] Vince Menzione: This is great. Well, I think we’re up to time. This was a great session. I want to thank you. This is what a great, what a great group. [00:46:34] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. Subscribe where [00:46:43] Vince Menzione: you listen, and head over to the ultimate partner.com. [00:46:47] Vince Menzione: For show notes related content and the resources for this episode. And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything [00:47:09] I.

The following article of the Tech industry is: 'Trust: The Key to Latin America's Digital Future' by Christiano Lucena, Vice President and General Manager Latin America, DocuSign. 

In this episode of the HR business marketing podcast, A Better HR Business, Ben and his guest, John Barron, Co-Founder & CEO of GoChallenge, explore how a gamified movement platform is helping teams boost wellbeing, deepen engagement, and build stronger company cultures. GoChallenge is a science-backed HR tech platform that uses team-based movement challenges to improve employee wellbeing, prevent burnout, and strengthen workplace culture. It helps HR and People & Culture leaders increase engagement and build more connected hybrid teams through simple daily physical activity that fits into the workday. Unlike traditional fitness apps, GoChallenge is designed specifically for organisations - requiring no gym, equipment, or extra time outside work routines. Trusted by organisations such as Tirlan, DocuSign, Gartner, Red Hat, and Three Ireland, GoChallenge delivers measurable impact across wellbeing, performance, and retention. Users report reduced stress and improved productivity, while companies see stronger cross-team connections and alignment with ESG and CSR goals. The platform is easy to deploy at scale and is built on behavioural science to make workplace wellbeing both effective and engaging. You'll hear practical strategies for how to attract HR consulting clients, running a workplace consulting business, and business growth strategies for consultants. Whether you identify as HR, workplace, L&D, OD, recruitment, or people & culture, you'll discover real stories and actionable advice to attract clients, win contracts, and grow sustainably. What You'll Learn in This Episode: Insights on the power of movement-based challenges to build workplace connection and engagement How to use inclusive wellbeing programs to appeal to HR and people & culture leaders Lessons from GoChallenge's growth - scaling through values-led marketing, partnerships, and proven client results Episode highlights: The inspiration behind GoChallenge and the real obstacles to regular exercise. Building movement, motivation, support, and accountability into workplace initiatives. The role of meaningful workplace connection - why it's essential for wellbeing and performance. Employee stories: From workplace rivalry to authentic relationships through team challenges. How GoChallenge works for employers: challenge formats, inclusivity, and rewards. Creating a level playing field to boost engagement across all abilities. Bringing company values to life and examples of running challenges globally. Marketing and business development: blending conferences, LinkedIn, partnerships, and charity tie-ins. Outbound selling and value-driven messaging to busy HR professionals. Practical challenges of scaling, integrating with existing platforms, and keeping things simple for buyers. The role of internal comms teams and having a plug-and-play “playbook” for successful implementation. Marketing and Business Growth: John outlines a two-pronged approach to growing GoChallenge: attending conferences and events for traditional networking and lead generation, alongside leveraging the visibility of successful client challenges on LinkedIn, often with video content and charity partnerships. The GoChallenge team uses targeted outbound email, focusing on company values and pain points. They emphasize the importance of being easy to work with and integrating seamlessly with existing HR and comms tech stacks. Plans for further growth include partnering with benefits providers and health insurers for wider distribution. Resources & Links Mentioned: Company's website: www.gochallenge.com John's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/johnrbarron Thanks, John! Check out this B2B podcast launch service. About The A Better HR Business Podcast The A Better HR Business shares strategies, tactics, success stories, and more about marketing for HR consultancies and marketing for HR tech companies, and how to get more clients. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you don't miss future episodes. For show notes and to see details of our previous guests, check out the podcast page here: www.GetMoreHRClients.com/Podcast HR BUSINESS GROWTH RESOURCES Get the new book - Grow A Successful HR Business Your Way Launch your own business podcast: B2B Podcast Agency VISIT GET MORE HR CLIENTS Want more clients for your HR-related consultancy or HR Tech business? Visit the Get More HR Clients website for articles, newsletters, podcasts, videos, resources, and more at www.getmorehrclients.com.

What if one of the biggest obstacles to digital transformation isn't your technology stack, but the agreements connecting it all together? Recorded live at Docusign Momentum in London, this episode continues my conversations from the show floor by looking at one of the most overlooked challenges facing modern organisations. Companies have spent years investing in CRM platforms, ERP systems, HR software and cloud infrastructure, yet many of the agreements linking those systems together still rely on manual processes, email chains and static documents. Joining me is Stéphane Barberet, President of EMEA at Docusign. Having spent more than three decades helping organisations across Europe use technology to improve the way they work, Stéphane shares why he believes agreements have become one of the biggest blind spots in enterprise transformation and how AI is beginning to change that. We discuss why organisations are starting to view agreements as business intelligence rather than administrative paperwork, where businesses unknowingly lose value after contracts have been signed, and why removing friction from everyday workflows often delivers greater returns than simply introducing another AI tool. Stéphane also explains why organisations across financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and many other industries are all asking the same questions about AI, how leaders should approach adoption without trying to automate everything at once, and why measurable business outcomes matter far more than launching ambitious AI programmes. Throughout our conversation, we also explore how executives should measure success, what separates organisations making genuine progress from those still experimenting, and why the future of AI may be one where the technology becomes almost invisible, quietly improving the way businesses operate every day. After spending the day speaking with customers, executives and attendees at Momentum, one message kept coming back to me. The organisations creating the greatest value from AI aren't chasing the latest trend. They're solving meaningful business problems, building trust and helping their people spend more time on work that truly matters. Where do you see the biggest opportunities to remove friction from the way your organisation works? I'd love to hear your thoughts after listening and continue the conversation.  

What if the most valuable business intelligence in your organisation has been hiding inside your contracts all along? Recorded live at Docusign Momentum in London, this episode explores why enterprise AI is at an inflection point. After years of focusing on what AI can create, the conversation is shifting towards how AI can help organisations understand the information they already have, remove friction from everyday work, and make better business decisions. Joining me is Allan Thygesen, CEO of Docusign. While many people still associate Docusign with electronic signatures, Allan explains why the company's vision has expanded far beyond that single moment in the agreement process.  Every business runs on agreements, from customer contracts and supplier relationships to employee onboarding and partnerships. The real opportunity, he argues, is transforming those agreements from static documents into business intelligence that helps organisations improve performance, reduce risk and uncover value that has often remained hidden for years. We discuss why decades of historical agreements are becoming increasingly valuable in the age of AI, how organisations are using agreement intelligence to shorten sales cycles from days to hours, and why understanding the context behind agreements can be just as important as the agreements themselves. Allan also shares his perspective on the rise of agentic AI, explaining why trust, governance and compliance will ultimately determine how quickly organisations allow AI to take on greater responsibility. Rather than viewing AI as another standalone tool, he explains why the future lies in connecting trusted data and workflows across the systems businesses already use every day. Throughout our conversation, we also explore why Docusign continues to build an open ecosystem through partnerships with companies including Anthropic, Harvey, Legora, OpenAI, Google, Salesforce, SAP and Thomson Reuters, enabling organisations to work with agreement intelligence wherever work already happens. After spending the day at Momentum hearing from customers like Harvey, Legora, Experian and AON, executives and attendees, one theme kept emerging. The organisations creating the greatest value from AI are not necessarily adopting the most AI. They're using it to remove friction, improve decisions and help people focus on work that genuinely benefits the business. Does your organisation still think of contracts as administrative files, or are they becoming a strategic source of business intelligence? I'd love to hear your thoughts after listening and continue the conversation.  

In this episode of the CPQ Podcast, Frank Sohn speaks with Tiffany Devlin-Drye, Head of Solution Architecture at Roadrunner.ai, about Roadrunner's view of the CPQ market and its AI-native approach to quoting, approvals, and revenue operations. Tiffany shares her background as a Salesforce CPQ developer, solution architect, and former system integrator before joining Roadrunner.ai. She explains why Roadrunner describes its platform as PQA — Prompt, Quote, Approve — and why the company believes traditional CPQ is being challenged by a new generation of AI-native quote automation platforms. The conversation covers Roadrunner's standalone platform, its Salesforce managed package, and its out-of-the-box connectors for systems such as Ironclad, DocuSign, NetSuite, Zuora, and Slack. Tiffany also discusses how prompt-based quoting can support complex scenarios, usage-based pricing, multi-year deal structures, real-time calculations, and approval workflows. A key topic is Roadrunner's implementation model. Tiffany explains why the company currently does not rely on system integrator partners and instead provides implementation teams directly as part of the first-year license. She also describes how Roadrunner uses AI to analyze existing CPQ implementations, requirements documents, and configuration logic to accelerate project delivery. This episode also explores the difference between AI-native and AI bolt-on approaches, the role of deterministic rules in preventing hallucinations in quoting, and why early Roadrunner customers include large SaaS and AI companies with complex pricing and approval requirements. For anyone evaluating the future of CPQ, Salesforce CPQ alternatives, AI-native quoting, quote-to-cash automation, or usage-based pricing, this episode provides a timely look at one of the newer entrants trying to redefine the category.

Technology should make accounting firms more efficient, but many firms have accumulated layers of disconnected tools that create complexity rather than clarity. In this discussion, Heather Smith is joined by Tyler Caskey from The Bean Counters and John Munden from Cloud Office to explore how firms can simplify their technology stack, improve workflow visibility, reduce manual work and make better technology decisions. Key Discussion Points Tyler Caskey shares why firms often accumulate too many disconnected tools and how visualising workflows can reveal inefficiencies. John Munden explains how standardised workflows help reduce bottlenecks, improve onboarding and create consistency across teams. The panel discusses common technology traps including decision fatigue, duplicated processes and underutilised software. Practical advice is shared on auditing a tech stack, identifying manual processes and prioritising integrations. The conversation explores leadership, change management, client communication challenges and the future role of automation and API-driven workflows. The key takeaway is that firms do not need more technology. They need better connected technology, clearer workflows and a structured approach to change. By focusing on visibility, automation and process consistency, accounting firms can reduce overwhelm and create scalable systems that support long-term growth. Episode resources and links:   Tyler Caskey : https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylercaskey/ John Munden :  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jmunden/ Cloudoffis : https://cloudoffis.com.au/ Apps & Tools Mentioned Xero, SharePoint, APS, Excel, Microsoft Lists, HandiSoft, BGL, NowInfinity, FYI Docs, Xero Practice Manager, Content Snare, Annature, Adobe Sign, DocuSign, Employment Hero, MYOB, QuickBooks, Stripe, Pinch Payments, Macquarie Bank Feeds, Mayday, Seamless If this episode helped you, the best way to support the show is to leave a review somewhere as it helps more people find us. And if you want to continue the conversation, come find me Heather Smith | Accountant and Storyteller on:   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/HeatherSmithAU/ Accounting Apps newsletter: http://accountingapps.io/ Accounting Apps Mastermind: https://www.facebook.com/groups/XeroMasterMind YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/ANISEConsulting X: https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU

In this episode of ‘From the Editor's Desk,' Tom Fox visits with Compliance Week editor-in-chief Aaron Nicodemus to discuss highlights from Compliance Week in June, review the Inside the Mind Survey results, and take a look at what is coming down the pike in July in Compliance Week. We review major recent coverage and Inside the Mind survey findings. Nicodemus highlights an exclusive story about a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that DocuSign moved customer data from on-site servers to Microsoft Azure in 2023 without informing major banking clients, raising contract, regulatory, and SEC disclosure concerns after 10-K reviews found no mention of it until later. They discuss a Compliance Week–coordinated retaliation survey (328 respondents), finding 70% experienced retaliation during their careers, over one-third were uncomfortable reporting it, and reported retaliation often led to no investigation or discipline, with social punishments being most common. From the “Inside the Mind of the CCO” survey, they cover limited DEI program changes despite federal pressure; widespread AI use (90%+) but one in eight lacking governance; salary results skewed by more senior CCO respondents; and law degrees correlating with higher pay but not advancement. They also note expanded EU/UK regulatory coverage and upcoming reporting on sanctions, export controls, tariffs, and third-party risk disruptions. Resources: Aaron Nicodemus on LinkedIn Compliance Week

The story was always there. It just took the right storytellers to find it. That's the central lesson of Formula 1: Drive to Survive, and it's the same one B2B marketers keep missing. Michael Londgren, CMO at Responsive, joins us to unpack why Drive to Survive is one of the best modern case studies in brand building, and what it teaches us about storytelling, category creation, and why the best product doesn't always win. Together, we dig into why optimizing for serendipity beats optimizing for control, why nobody actually cares about your product features, and why treating marketing as a favor to your team might be the most expensive executive mistake of all. About our guest, Michael Londgren Michael Londgren is CMO at Responsive, the category leader in strategic response management - helping companies win more business with faster, trusted responses to RFPs, security questionnaires, and due diligence requests. He joined the company when it was still known as RFPIO and helped lead its rebrand and category creation strategy. Before that, he held senior marketing roles at DocuSign and Ariba. He's also a committed McLaren fan and a reluctant F1 convert who has since gone fully down the rabbit hole. What B2B Marketers Can Learn From Formula 1: Drive to Survive The story was always there — your job is to find it. F1 racing existed for decades before Drive to Survive. The rivalries, the drama, the characters - none of it was invented. What changed was that someone decided to actually tell the story. Ian's point is direct: "In B2B, we do the same exact thing where we just make excuses for ourselves about how boring we are. It's not boring to the people whose life's work it is." Michael connects it to the 15,000 SaaS solutions all competing for a slot in a company's stack of roughly 30: "If you're a standard B2B marketer doing the standard B2B things in a sea of 15,000 competitors, you're not gonna win." The brands that break through aren't the ones with the best features - they're the ones who found a human story worth telling. Don't brief your way to authenticity. Go find the story. Optimize for serendipity, not control. When Drive to Survive's producers started filming, they didn't know what the show would look like. They didn't know if teams would open up. They didn't know what rivalries would emerge. Season 1 was imperfect, messy, and completely riveting. Ian draws the line to B2B: "What people do is they don't do that, because they want to optimize for control. Whereas optimizing for serendipity is a far better strategy." B2B marketing teams script every word, engineer every answer, and then wonder why nobody engages. Michael connects it to something he learned from Keith Krach, co-founder of Ariba: "Luck is when opportunity meets preparation." The grind is still required — you just can't design the outcome. Sometimes the thing that makes the show is the character you didn't plan on finding. Nobody cares about your product. They care about value. Michael puts it plainly: "Let's be honest, nobody cares about the product. They don't." Drive to Survive runs eight seasons and barely covers how the cars actually work. The engineering matters enormously. But it's not the story. The story is the drivers, the rivalries, the decisions, and what it costs to win. Michael connects it directly to Responsive's rebrand from RFPIO: "RFPIO is very product focused. Responsive is a higher value, more interesting concept. Everyone wants to be responsive. That's an aspiration." The lesson for any B2B brand: lead with what the value unlocks, back it with customer voices, and let the product prove itself rather than trying to prove it upfront. Marketing is a strategic imperative, not a favor. Ian heard something on a recent shoot that stuck with him: a senior executive said, "Anything to help marketing." It sounds generous. It's actually the wrong frame entirely. "You're not helping marketing," Ian says. "You're doing the thing that is strategically imperative for our business." He identifies three people any audience most wants to hear from: the CEO (who sets the vision), customers (who validate the value), and anyone inside the organization who happens to be genuinely interesting. Michael adds the Responsive example - a team member who started small-group Coffee Chats with customers, grew them to hundreds of regulars, and became a mini-celebrity in their community: "Identifying who really resonates and putting investment behind that person. That's it." "The future of marketing is customer success — how customers are getting value — and bringing that to life authentically. Back to Drive to Survive: authentic human storytelling within the context of high-stakes racing. That combination is a winning combination." — Michael Londgren Time Stamps [1:33] Meet Michael Londgren, CMO at Responsive [2:25] Why Formula 1: Drive to Survive? [4:15] What Is Drive to Survive, and How Did It Change F1? [6:45] Were You an F1 Fan Before the Show? [8:19] Favorite Team and Driver: McLaren and Lando Norris [11:49] Start With the Easiest Path Into a Story [18:49] Marketing Lesson #1: Without Characters, Your Story Is Already Dead [19:15] Reframing "RFP Teams" as Strategic Response Management [22:00] Marketing Lesson #2: Optimize for Serendipity, Not Control [25:41] Luck Is When Opportunity Meets Preparation [38:19] Brand Story, Product Story, Customer Story — They're Not the Same [29:28] Marketing Lesson #3: Nobody Cares About Your Product [32:37] The Mistakes Drive to Survive Made in Season 1 [34:16] Stop Obsessing Over Launches - Build for the Long Haul [40:37] How to Win in a Sea of 15,000 SaaS Competitors [40:54] Win as a Team, Not Just the Driver [42:26] Marketing Lesson #4: Marketing Is a Strategic Imperative, Not a Favor [47:45] The Three People Your Audience Always Wants to Hear From [49:38] Finding Your Internal Stars: The Coffee Chats Story [50:43] Final Thoughts + Responsive.io Links Connect with Michael on LinkedIn Learn more about Responsive About Remarkable! Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both nonfiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com. In today's episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios) and Meredith Gooderham (Head of Production). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith Gooderham, edited by Jon Goldberg, and our theme song is "Solomon" by FALAK. Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Daily Compliance News. Each day, Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, brings you compliance-related stories to start your day. Sit back, enjoy a cup of morning coffee, and listen in to the Daily Compliance News. All, from the Compliance Podcast Network. Each day, we consider four stories from the business world, compliance, ethics, risk management, leadership, or general interest for the compliance professional. Top stories include: Docusign whistleblower claims the company has acted in bad faith. (Compliance Week) FERC seeks to limit consumer rights over data centers. (NYT) CME sues CFTC to stop Kalshi. (WSJ) Apparently, under the Trump Administration, slavery never happened. (Reuters) To learn about the intersection of Sherlock Holmes and the modern compliance professional, check out Tom's latest book, The Game is Afoot-What Sherlock Holmes Teaches About Risk, Ethics and Investigations on Amazon.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

High-achieving women often wear exhaustion as a badge of honor, pushing through until the warning signs become impossible to ignore. For Molly Rosen, co-founder and co-CEO of Project Next Leadership, that moment came while driving between obligations, fantasizing not about a vacation, but about simply being allowed to stop. That recognition led to a sabbatical that stretched from one year to six, a journey that ultimately gave her the perspective, resilience, and clarity to build the leadership coaching company she runs today. In this episode, Melissa Joy, CFP®, sits down with Molly to explore the realities of burnout for senior women leaders, the under acknowledged impact of perimenopause on career performance, and what it actually takes to build a life and career that is, as Molly puts it, human-sized. Drawing on more than two decades of coaching executives at companies like Pixar, Airbnb, DocuSign, and Samsung, Molly shares the patterns she sees most often in high-performing women, and the strategies that help them find their way back to themselves. What You'll Learn Why working harder stops working at the executive level, and what actually drives advancement How burnout differs from a bad week, and why the body often signals it before the mind does The underreported career cost of perimenopause and menopause for high-achieving women What it means to ask "What is it that only I can do?" and how that question changes everything How to strategically step back from the workforce and return with greater clarity and purpose Why women leaders consistently rate themselves lower than others rate them, and how to close that gap The role of peer networks and cohorts in sustaining women at the top Website: https://www.projectnextleadership.com The previous presentation by PEARL PLANNING was intended for general information purposes only.  No portion of the presentation serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from PEARL PLANNING or any other investment professional of your choosing. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and it should not be assumed that future performance of any specific investment or investment strategy, or any non-investment related or planning services, discussion or content, will be profitable, be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful. Neither PEARL PLANNING's investment adviser registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. PEARL PLANNING is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice. No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he/she will experience a certain level of results if PEARL PLANNING is engaged, or continues to be engaged, to provide investment advisory services. A copy of PEARL PLANNING's current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at https...

In this episode of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin opens the new TEN Capital Connect event focused on applying AI to investing, bringing investors together to share tools, get feedback, and hear pitches while highlighting TEN Capital's work since 2009 connecting startups and investors, supporting fundraising strategy, and running multiple monthly events (https://tencapital.group/events) alongside expansion into the MENA region and the launch of the "TEN Capital Connect" Substack newsletter on AI in startup investing and funding. Hall then introduces investors in the room including entrepreneur Andy Fogarasi, Incisive Ventures managing partner Martin Tobias (a B2B software pre-seed investor and early DocuSign backer), and other early-stage investors and operators. The first company pitch features Pete Ferrari of Healthy For Life presenting Joka (Allulose) as a sugar alternative with claimed metabolic benefits, early traction including repeat purchase and subscription growth, a distribution network, AI-driven demand capture, and a pending patent for cleaner manufacturing, while raising $5M in equity at a $20M pre-money valuation, followed by investor Q&A on defensibility, clinical trials, and go-to-market execution. ________________________________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ For eGuides check out: https:/_/tencapital.group/education/ For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.

Tyler Foreman, the Vice President of AI at Rocket Lawyer, joins the show to discuss the intersection of artificial intelligence and the legal industry. Foreman shares his untraditional legal tech career path, spanning engineering at Intel, drone data analytics, and ultimately making the move to legal via contract lifecycle management (CLM) at DocuSign, before diving into his current work at Rocket Lawyer helping to provide legal resources for small-to-medium businesses and individuals. The conversation focuses on how modern generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) act as a legal operating system to simplify contract reviews, document drafting, and client intake, while maintaining essential connections to human attorneys.

Show Notes: Lana Newishy, founder of Hey Intake, explains that Hey Intake is one of several startups she has founded, which focuses on improving the client experience in the initial stages of a project. The Client Intake Process Lana  highlights common issues in the client intake process, such as disorganized communication, missing information, and inefficient discovery calls. She emphasizes the loss of opportunities due to inefficient intake processes and the need for a structured system. Lead Qualification and Filtering Issues Lana discusses the broken lead qualification process, where consultants often react to discovery calls without proper filtering. She points out information asymmetry, where clients don't know what to share, and consultants don't ask the right questions consistently.  Streamlining the Intake Process Lana mentions the fragmentation of tools, such as emails, documents, CRM systems, and file sharing, which are not connected in a single flow. She introduces the idea of a single, structured flow from first contact to service completion to streamline the intake process. A Demonstration of Hey Intake Lana shares her screen to demonstrate the Hey Intake dashboard, which includes tabs for dashboard, submissions, contacts, form builder, email templates, automations, analytics, team settings, and support. Dashboard Lana explains the AI-driven suggestions on the dashboard, which prioritize tasks based on the current stage of the intake process. Submissions Window She demonstrates the submissions window, which categorizes submissions into lead phase, intake phase, and service phase, and provides AI scores for prioritization. Lana continues to explain the submissions window, showing how submissions are scored and prioritized based on AI analysis.    Submissions Drawer She demonstrates the submission drawer, which allows users to update the phase of a contact, request documents, and send e-signatures. Lana mentions the form builder, which allows users to create custom forms with various templates and fields. She explains the flexibility of adding fields, customizing inputs, and setting AI scoring weights to prioritize requests. Integrating with CRM Systems Lana discusses the ability to integrate Hey Intake with existing CRM systems and legal project management tools. She explains that some clients prefer to keep their existing systems and connect them with Hey Intake for a seamless process.    Form Builder When asked about the form builder,  Lana demonstrates how to create and customize forms, including adding fields, customizing branding, and setting up automations. She highlights the importance of keeping forms simple and quick to fill out to avoid discouraging potential clients.  Email Templates Library Email Templates Library Lana demonstrates the email templates library, which includes pre-built templates and the ability to edit them manually or with AI. She emphasizes the flexibility of the system to meet the specific needs of different clients and businesses.  Automations Tab Lana introduces the automations tab, which shows the flows for various actions, such as sending emails, requesting documents, and following up on actions. She explains how to set up custom automations and toggle them on and off. The Vendor Setup System Lana explains how Hey Intake helps with vendor setup, including requesting documents, managing client portals, and handling e-signatures.   Uploading Documents She demonstrates the process of uploading documents for e-signatures and integrating with services like DocuSign and SignWell. Lana highlights the native storage options and the ability to connect with clients' private storage facilities. She emphasizes the importance of streamlining the onboarding process to save time and reduce administrative burdens. Hey Intake Customer Base Lana discusses the current customer base, which includes law firms, accountants, photographers, home renovators, and B2B consultants. She mentions the potential to focus on specific verticals in the future based on data collection and user feedback. The conversation turns to the development process, and Lana explains that she has a development team based in Canada that helps build B2B AI-based solutions. Lana highlights the structured validation process and the importance of a framework for successful development and launch. Hey Intake Pricing Lana provides information about the pricing of Hey Intake, which starts at $16 per month for the annual plan and $19.40 per month for the monthly plan. She mentions the availability of an enterprise tier for custom solutions. Timestamps: 05:07: Demonstration of Hey Intake Dashboard  12:50: Detailed Walkthrough of Submissions and Form Builder  22:33: Integration and Customization of Hey Intake 22:57: Automations and Email Templates  26:20: Vendor Setup and Document Management 31:02: Customer Base and Future Plans  35:29: Pricing and Contact Information  Links: Website: https://heyintake.com/ This episode on Umbrex: https://umbrex.com/unleashed/episode-648-lana-newishy-founder-of-hey-intake/ Unleashed is produced by Umbrex, which has a mission of connecting independent management consultants with one another, creating opportunities for members to meet, build relationships, and share lessons learned. Learn more at www.umbrex.com. *AI generated timestamps and show notes.  

In this special compilation episode, I am joined by a powerhouse lineup of legal innovators, practitioners, and tech leaders who are actively reshaping the industry:Zack Shapiro, founder of an AI-native law firm, Rains LLP. Alexander, Co-lead of AI Research at Thomson Reuters.Sandy MacDonald, the Senior Director and Head of Legal Operations at DocuSign.Dharshi Harindra, a tech lawyer, Assistant General Counsel, and Executive Coach.We talk about the profound shift toward agentic AI in the legal sector and how mastering detailed prompting, continuous feedback, and custom workflows creates an unassailable competitive advantage for forward-thinking lawyers. You'll hear perspectives on overcoming the legal trust gap, avoiding "AI slop," and leveraging entrepreneurial mindsets that most traditional law firms are completely missing.We dive into:The Tech-Lawyer Trust Gap: Why legal tech companies miss the mark by pitching software features rather than understanding the granular, day-to-day challenges and cultural mindsets of practicing lawyers. The Blueprint for Custom AI "Skills": How to move past simple one-line prompts and instead use an essay-length context or voice rants to build hyper-specific digital assistants that compound in value through continuous feedback. The Breaking Leverage Model: Why traditional firms relying on bloated billable hours face an existential threat from lean, entrepreneurial, AI-native practitioners. The "Half-Lawyer, Half-AI" Evolution: How junior lawyers and trainees can create massive, unprecedented value by stepping up as the bridge between pure computer science and legal practice. AI Slop vs. Human Judgment: The critical importance of keeping your brain turned on, verifying citations, and using AI for heavy cognitive lifts rather than as an excuse for lazy output. Compliance and Regulation Blind Spots: Why rushing into technology without understanding data protection boundaries - like using WhatsApp groups for firm operations - creates massive regulatory red flags. ---Each week I take what I'm hearing in conversations with legal leaders.I analyze the market and track emerging trends in this AI era.In my newsletter called The Future Lawyer Market Intel for the AI eraI'm focused on:What AI is exposingThe opportunitiesThe blind spotsAnd the shifts shaping the next five years.This is how you see the chessboard before everyone else does:https://hollycope.my.canva.site/thefuturelawyer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

S&P Global says it won't change its rules to allow SpaceX and other mega IPOs to enter the index early. Then the CEO of Docusign on results and why the stock is moving lower despite upbeat guidance. Plus, New York Giants linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux teaming up with JPMorgan to help college athletes navigate NIL deals and the money that comes with it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Werbung | Exklusives Angebot für unsere Hörer: Testet Handelsblatt Premium 4 Wochen für 1 € und bleibt zu den Entwicklungen an den Finanz- und Aktienmärkten informiert. Mehr zum Vorteilsangebot der Handelsblatt-Fachmedien erfahrt ihr unter: www.handelsblatt.com/mehraktien Die Wall Street bleibt zwischen robuster Konjunktur und nachlassender KI-Euphorie gefangen. Der US-Arbeitsmarktbericht fiel deutlich stärker aus als erwartet. Damit nimmt der Druck auf die Fed zu. Das Risiko einer Zinsanhebung vor Dezember steigt von 45 Prozent auf 62 Prozent. Bei den Einzelwerten setzt sich die Schwäche im KI- und Halbleiterkomplex fort, während Anleger stärker in Finanzwerte, Healthcare und ausgewählte Softwaretitel rotieren. DocuSign, Rubrik und Samsara meldeten zwar solide bis starke Zahlen, tendieren aber alle schwächer. Lululemon enttäuschte mit schwächeren Margen und einer stark gesenkten Jahresprognose. Zusätzlich sorgt Anthropic für Aufmerksamkeit. Das Unternehmen warnt, dass KI-Systeme bald in der Lage sein könnten, eigene Nachfolgemodelle zu entwickeln, was das Risiko erhöht, dass Menschen die Kontrolle über solche Systeme verlieren. In der kommenden Woche richten sich die Blicke auf die US-Inflationsdaten, die EZB-Zinsentscheidung, Oracle, Adobe und Lennar sowie Apples Entwicklerkonferenz. Zusätzlich bleibt der geplante Börsengang von SpaceX ein wichtiger Stimmungstest für die Aufnahmefähigkeit des Marktes gegenüber der nächsten Welle großer KI- und Tech-Emissionen. Ein Podcast - featured by Handelsblatt. ► Entdecke den exklusiven NordVPN Deal! Jetzt risikofrei testen mit einer 30-Tage-Geld-zurück-Garantie: https://nordvpn.com/wallstreet * ► Erhalte einen exklusiven 15% Rabatt auf Saily eSIM Datentarife! Lade die Saily-App herunter und benutze den Code wallstreet beim Bezahlen: https://saily.com/wallstreet * +++ Alle Rabattcodes und Infos zu unseren Werbepartnern findet ihr hier: https://linktr.ee/wallstreet_podcast +++ Impressum: https://www.360wallstreet.de/impressum *Werbung

Move over Nasdaq … it is the Dow that surged to a new record high today. We drill down on that massive move with Partners Group's Anastasia Amoroso, Solus' Dan Greenhaus and Sofi's Liz Thomas. Plus, SpaceX kicked off its roadshow – targeting an eye-popping $1.8T valuation. The Dean of Valuation Aswath Damodaran weighs in on this blockbuster IPO. And, we break down what to watch from Lululemon and Docusign when those names report in Overtime. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An informed source to Al Arabiya said the agreement on the release of frozen Iranian funds in its final stages, but the search continues for a mechanism on frozen funds. However, US President Trump informed the mediators of his refusal to release funds to Iran before signing the agreement.Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire in US-brokered talks, with the ceasefire contingent on Hezbollah's evacuation from the Litani. Despite this, there have been reports of continuing attacks in Southern Lebanon.US equities mixed as disappointing AVGO and CRWD earnings weigh on NQ and ES. Fixed income benchmarks gain by a handful of ticks ahead of Friday's NFP.DXY softened; JPY saw fleeting strength following hawkish BoJ reports, CHF firmer despite softer CPI data.Crude slips as efforts for a US-Iran deal continue.Looking ahead, highlights include Jobless Claims (May/30), Revelio PLS (May), Chicago Fed Labor Market Indicators Final (May), Speakers include BoE's Bailey, Fed's Daly, Bowman & Barkin, Earnings from Docusign, lululemon & Ciena.Read the full report covering Equities, Forex, Fixed Income, Commodites and more on Newsquawk

US President Trump said they have been hitting Iran pretty hard and Iran negotiations are going well, while he suggested a deal could happen over the weekend. Though noted that it could go another two or three weeks, Brent Aug'26 -0.7%.Talks between Iran and the US were reportedly still ongoing, and no final decision had been made, according to Fars, citing a member of Tehran's negotiating team.An Iranian negotiating delegation media team member outlined a four-stage proposal for a deal with the US. 1) Ending the war, 2) tangible measures re. the Strait, 3) sanctions and nuclear issues, 4) the establishment of a supervisory committee.APAC stocks traded lower following a negative handover from the US; European bourses are indicative of a softer open.G10s are mostly slightly firmer against the USD; JPY gains slightly on reports that the BoJ is to mull a hike this month, with another possible this year.Looking ahead, highlights include Swedish CPIF (May), Swiss CPI (May), EU Retail Sales (Apr), US Challenger Layoffs (May), Jobless Claims (May/30), Revelio PLS (May), and Chicago Fed Labor Market Indicators Final (May). Supply from Spain & France. Earnings from Docusign, lululemon & Ciena.Speakers include BoE's Bailey, ECB's Lagarde, Fed's Daly, Bowman & Barkin.Read the full report covering Equities, Forex, Fixed Income, Commodites and more on Newsquawk

At Docusign's 2026 annual meeting, the company faced a shareholder proposal from Inspire Investing over the use of non-fiduciary metrics in executive compensation. Listen to Inspire's presentation from director of corporate engagement Tim Schwarzenberger, urging the company to prioritize executive clarity and business performance over diversity incentives. "The reputational risks of ESG and DEI elements in executive compensation are well-demonstrated — and the rapidly evolving legal & regulatory landscape around such elements is an additional point in favor of fiduciary duty above all else. We are asking Docusign to defend, and fully commit, to its most critical form of inclusion: including every employee, shareholder, and customer as part of its mission of a growing company and a healthier world. Learn more about Inspire at inspireinvesting.com. Follow Tim at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timschwarzenbergercfa/.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode is a rebroadcast of Auren's appearance on the GTMnow podcast ---------------------------------------------------Auren Hoffman (Flex Capital) joins the GTMnow podcast to share some of the most contrarian takes in tech today, from why AI moats are gone, to why your next VC meeting will be with a bot, to why AI is secretly going to trigger a baby boom.In this episode:Why Auren runs 500+ AI agents to source deals, and what that means for founders raising capitalThe "agent-to-agent" meeting prediction: by end of 2026, first VC conversations will be fully automatedWhy every software moat has been "blown up" and what Salesforce, LinkedIn & DocuSign need to do to surviveThe OpenAI x The Hustle acquisition breakdown: why it's the smartest (and cheapest) distribution play in AIWhy missing a great deal is 10x more painful than making a bad one, Auren's honest VC mistake frameworkThe baby boom thesis: why AI, IVF, self-driving cars & cheaper energy could reverse the fertility declineWhy companies won't sign yearly SaaS contracts anymore, and what that means for every B2B founderAuren Hoffman is the founder of NQB8, Flex Capital, SafeGraph, and LiveRamp. He's an early backer of Replit, Perplexity, Rippling, Vercel, Coinbase, Chime, and AppLovin.Max's socials: https://x.com/hackitmaxhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/maxaltschuler/Auren's socials:https://x.com/aurenhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/auren/https://auren.substack.com/GTMnow: https://gtmnow.com

What does leadership look like when the world is changing faster than ever before?In this episode of the Leaning Into Leadership podcast, Dr. Darrin Peppard sits down with Molly Rosen, Co-CEO of ProjectNext Leadership, for a powerful conversation about leadership transitions, succession development, organizational agility, and the growing impact of AI on leadership and workplace culture.Molly works with leaders across industries including tech, biotech, and entertainment, helping organizations prepare leaders for critical next-level roles. Together, Darrin and Molly explore why the skills that make someone successful in one role often do not transfer automatically into leadership — and why emotional intelligence, communication, humility, and adaptability matter now more than ever.The conversation dives into:The transition from “player” to “coach” leadershipWhy many leaders struggle to let go of their previous roleThe dangers of over-relying on technical expertiseSuccession development and building leadership pipelinesHow AI is reshaping organizations and leadership expectationsThe importance of organizational agilityWhy leaders must communicate vision without pretending to have all the answers“Sketch-based advocacy” and collaborative leadershipThe role of empathy and emotional intelligence during uncertainty and changeWhy leadership today is more about building teams than directing themMolly also shares her own leadership growth journey and the importance of prioritization and sequencing ideas as a leader.This episode is a must-listen for school leaders, organizational leaders, and anyone navigating leadership in rapidly changing environments.About Molly RosenMolly Rosen is Co-CEO of ProjectNext Leadership. She has worked with leaders in tech, entertainment, and biotech for over 20 years as an executive coach, facilitator, and consultant developing innovative talent systems.Her clients have included organizations such as Pixar, Airbnb, DocuSign, and Samsung, where she has helped leaders prepare for critical transitions and organizational change.Molly previously held leadership roles with BlessingWhite and Ninth House Network and holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson and a BA from UC Berkeley.Connect with Molly RosenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollyrosen/Website: https://www.projectnextleadership.com/Sponsor Spotlight:This episode is sponsored by HeyTutor.HeyTutor partners with schools and districts nationwide to provide evidence-based high-dosage tutoring support in Math and ELA while helping schools remain intentional about staff capacity and student support systems.Learn more here: HeyTutor.com

A Special Industry Update with Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond A replay of part one of a two-part series, Jason and Mindy Diamond unpack the real advisor transition playbook—from due diligence and culture fit to portability, enterprise value, and the evolving landscape of advisor choice. In Summary Why do advisors really consider changing firms or models—and what separates thoughtful due diligence from reactive decision-making? In a replay of the first of this special two-part Industry Update, Jason and Mindy Diamond unpack what actually drives advisor transitions, the misconceptions that derail decision-making, and the questions sophisticated teams should be asking long before they're ready to act. The conversation also explores how the industry landscape has evolved around independence, portability, enterprise value, and advisor optionality—drawing context from Diamond's role in the landmark OpenArc breakaway from Merrill and much more. The Storyline Most advisors assume transitions are primarily driven by recruiting economics. Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond suggest that recruiting economics may get the headlines, but advisor transitions are usually driven by a far more layered set of considerations. What tends to happen instead is more gradual: a growing disconnect between how advisors want to serve clients and the constraints of the environment around them. Sometimes it's bureaucracy. Sometimes it's limitations around growth, marketing, technology, or flexibility. Sometimes it's simply the realization that the industry landscape has evolved while their assumptions about it have not. This conversation examines what actually happens between the moment curiosity begins and the moment a move becomes real. Rather than treating transitions as transactional events, Jason and Mindy frame due diligence as a strategic process of self-assessment—clarifying what matters, identifying trade-offs, evaluating long-term optionality, and pressure-testing assumptions before making consequential decisions. The discussion also offers a rare look inside the mechanics of advisor movement itself: how teams evaluate culture, how portability is assessed, why some advisors choose ownership over upfront monetization, and what sophisticated client communication really looks like during a transition. The backdrop throughout the episode is Diamond's role in facilitating the historic OpenArc breakaway from Merrill—a move that challenged longstanding assumptions about scale, independence, and what even the industry's largest teams are now willing to reconsider. Topics Covered Advisor transition due diligence Wirehouse limitations and advisor frustration Independence versus traditional firm models Enterprise value and long-term ownership Advisor portability and client transition strategy Boutique and regional firm recruiting trends Culture evaluation during due diligence Reverse due diligence and evaluating firm stability Transition economics and recruiting deals The OpenArc Merrill breakaway story Advisor optionality and industry evolution How technology and AI are changing transitions   > Download a transcript of this episode… Listen and Learn Highlights for Advisors Why do advisors actually decide to leave firms? (06:20) Mindy explains why most transitions are driven less by economics and more—by mounting limitations around growth, flexibility, client service, and long-term alignment. What is the biggest mistake advisors make when beginning due diligence? (18:12) The conversation explores why many advisors evaluate firms before gaining clarity around what they truly want to improve—often creating confusion instead of insight. How should advisors evaluate culture beyond a firm's sales pitch? (32:41) Jason and Mindy discuss the importance of speaking directly with advisors who have already made similar moves—and how to pressure-test what firms promise. When should transition economics matter most? (47:03) The episode breaks down the difference between short-term monetization and long-term enterprise value creation—and why many elite teams are increasingly prioritizing ownership and optionality. Why are more advisors reconsidering independence? (56:48) Using the OpenArc transition as context, the discussion explores how today's independent landscape has evolved far beyond the traditional “build it yourself” model. How long does a real due diligence process take? (1:06:10) Jason and Mindy explain why thoughtful transitions often unfold over many months—and why some advisors remain in exploratory conversations for years before acting. How should advisors think about portability and client communication? (1:16:20) The conversation details how sophisticated teams assess portability risk—and why the client-facing rationale for a move matters more than recruiting economics. Have advisor transitions become easier over time? (1:24:12) Mindy explains how technology, legal infrastructure, and industry specialization have improved the process—while emphasizing that transitions still require risk tolerance, effort, and patience. Key Takeaways Most advisors do not move primarily because of recruiting deals. The larger driver is usually a growing disconnect between what they want to build and what their current environment allows. Due diligence tends to fail when advisors begin by evaluating firms before clarifying what they actually want for their business, clients, and long-term future. The industry landscape has evolved dramatically over the last decade, particularly around independent and supported-independent models, creating far more customization and optionality than many advisors realize. Transition economics matter — but sophisticated advisors increasingly view upfront monetization as only one component of a much larger enterprise value equation. The ability to articulate a compelling client-facing value proposition is one of the strongest tests of whether a transition opportunity is truly viable. Conversations with advisors who have already made similar moves remain one of the most valuable forms of real-world due diligence. Even the industry's largest teams are reassessing assumptions around independence, ownership, control, and scalability. Quotable Moments “The biggest mistake advisors make is beginning due diligence before they've gotten clear about what they actually want.” “A recruiting deal can't be the first thing you consider. But it would be foolish not to consider it at all.” “The landscape looks entirely different than it did five or ten years ago. If you haven't gotten educated, you're doing yourself a disservice.” “The real question is not whether you can move. It's whether you can clearly explain to clients why the move makes their experience better.” FAQs Why do advisors typically begin exploring a move? In many cases, the process begins gradually. Advisors may still feel successful and reasonably satisfied, but start questioning whether their current environment fully supports how they want to grow, serve clients, or build long term. Often, curiosity precedes dissatisfaction. Is advisor movement mostly driven by recruiting deals? Not usually. While economics are an important consideration, the episode explains that most sophisticated advisors weigh a much broader set of factors, including flexibility, culture, client experience, growth limitations, ownership opportunities, and long-term enterprise value. How long does a typical due diligence process take? There is no universal timeline. Some advisors move relatively quickly once they decide change is necessary, while others spend months – or even years – getting educated and evaluating options before acting. For many teams, a thoughtful due diligence process unfolds over roughly six months. What is the biggest mistake advisors make during due diligence? The episode suggests the biggest mistake is evaluating firms before gaining clarity around personal and business priorities. Without understanding what they actually want to improve, advisors often become overwhelmed by options, recruiting pitches, and conflicting information. How can advisors really assess a firm's culture? One of the most valuable approaches is speaking directly with advisors who have already made similar moves. Jason and Mindy discuss why real-world perspective – particularly from advisors with comparable client bases or business structures – is often far more revealing than formal presentations or recruiting materials. How should advisors think about independence versus traditional firms? The conversation frames the decision less as “right versus wrong” and more as a question of alignment. Some advisors prioritize ownership, control, and long-term enterprise value. Others value infrastructure, brand recognition, or operational support. The industry landscape has evolved enough that advisors now have far more flexibility to design around the trade-offs that matter most to them. In many cases, the process begins gradually. Advisors may still feel successful and reasonably satisfied, but start questioning whether their current environment fully supports how they want to grow, serve clients, or build long term. Often, curiosity precedes dissatisfaction. Not usually. While economics are an important consideration, the episode explains that most sophisticated advisors weigh a much broader set of factors, including flexibility, culture, client experience, growth limitations, ownership opportunities, and long-term enterprise value. There is no universal timeline. Some advisors move relatively quickly once they decide change is necessary, while others spend months – or even years – getting educated and evaluating options before acting. For many teams, a thoughtful due diligence process unfolds over roughly six months. The episode suggests the biggest mistake is evaluating firms before gaining clarity around personal and business priorities. Without understanding what they actually want to improve, advisors often become overwhelmed by options, recruiting pitches, and conflicting information. One of the most valuable approaches is speaking directly with advisors who have already made similar moves. Jason and Mindy discuss why real-world perspective – particularly from advisors with comparable client bases or business structures – is often far more revealing than formal presentations or recruiting materials. The conversation frames the decision less as “right versus wrong” and more as a question of alignment. Some advisors prioritize ownership, control, and long-term enterprise value. Others value infrastructure, brand recognition, or operational support. The industry landscape has evolved enough that advisors now have far more flexibility to design around the trade-offs that matter most to them. Related Resources The Advisor Transition Playbook: The Latest on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between – Part 2Jason and Mindy Diamond revisit the transition playbook, this time focused on how advisor priorities are shifting. From AI and enterprise value to stability and flexibility, they unpack what's changing in due diligence and what it means for advisors evaluating their next move.  The $129B Blockbuster Move: Shirl Penney on Why This Transition Marks a New Era for the IndustryThe $129B OpenArc breakaway marks a watershed moment for wealth management. In this Rapid Reaction episode, Louis Diamond and Shirl Penney unpack what it means for the RIA model, advisors, and the future of industry competition. The Missing Narrative of the $129B Merrill Breakaway StoryThe largest (and quite possibly most significant) advisor breakaway in industry history made news this week. Yet instead of leading with the scale or significance of the move, headlines centered on Merrill's lawsuit alleging corporate raiding. NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Diamond Consultants. Neither Diamond Consultants nor the guests on this podcast are compensated in any way for their participation. View the transcript of this episode… The Advisor Transition Playbook: Inside Baseball on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between A Special Industry Update with Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond. Jason Diamond: Welcome to a replay of one of the most popular episodes from our podcast series for financial advisors, The Advisor Transition Playbook: Inside Baseball on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between. It's Part 1 of a 2-Part Industry Update with Mindy Diamond. I’m Jason Diamond and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more, who change firms, are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at (908) 879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms, and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Jason Diamond: Everything about a transition can seem incredibly overwhelming. From understanding the whys of a move, then conducting due diligence, and onto aligning the right models and selecting the best firms, it might seem like a fairly linear process. And for some, it can be. But for others, the layers of minutia can be daunting. Essentially, it comes down to the adage, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” So the goal of this episode is to share some inside baseball in how to get from here to there. I asked Mindy Diamond to join me to help draw from decades of experience in helping advisors through their transitions. We’ve dived into the misconceptions, the common traps, the aware of a big check and much more. Essentially, it’s a download of what you need to know when considering a move. There’s a lot to discuss, so let’s get to it. Mindy, so excited to have you join me for this topic. Mindy Diamond: Yeah, I’m really happy to be here. And I’m just thinking to myself, “Yikes, decades of experience,” you’ve said, and yes it is, decades of experience. Jason Diamond: It most certainly is, 30 years in the business. So the seeding for this topic was, “You’ve been in this business now for 30 years, how many hundreds of thousands of conversations with advisors is that?” Some who moved, plenty who certainly did not. But ultimately, what we thought would be useful because it’s a question we get most commonly from advisors that we speak with is, “Tell me what I don’t know. What are the questions I should be asking?” So I’m going to just pepper you with some of the most common questions we get, and I would love to share the benefit of your wisdom and experience with our audience. That sound good? Mindy Diamond: It sounds great. I just want to say that we are recording this two days after one of the largest deals probably in the history of the industry broke that I am gratified to say we facilitated the OpenArc team who left Merrill with 129 billion in assets under management, broke a couple days ago to go independent. I’m hoping we have the opportunity to talk about some of their best practices and things we discovered along the way because I think it’s relevant. And a deal like this gets a lot of attention, people always want to know what they do and what went wrong. Jason Diamond: It’s a good point. I’m glad you bring it up. First of all, it’s so timely, but I think you can almost use it as a case study a little bit to answer some of these questions. So let’s dive in with that. I want to start with the big picture, “Why?” Because that’s the number one thing I think people want to know is, “Why do advisors move?” And I think there’s an assumption that 95% of transitions happen because of a big check or because of economics. I’m certain you’re going to touch on that to some extent, but give me your sense of what are the main triggers of advisor movement. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. Look, are there some advisors that move because they need to recapitalize or they want the money? Sure. But the absolute vast majority are moving because they come to a place where one of two things is true, and oftentimes both. One, the pain of staying is great enough. Meaning there’s enough frustrations or limitations that they’ve gotten to a point where despite efforts to the contrary to make it better, despite gutting it out and saying, “On par, it’s good enough,” they come to a point where there’s limitations in how they can serve their clients, how they can grow the business, and that’s just untenable for them. Hopefully, simultaneously, they are equally excited and have identified an opportunity that they believe is needle-moving enough, it’s worth the hassle, the disruption, the everything to make this move. I’ve never done a move where it doesn’t fall into one of those two or, hopefully, both of those categories. Jason Diamond: Let’s go a little deeper there. You mentioned limitations. Give me an example either using this recent deal or even just any recent advisors that you’ve worked with about, “What are some limitations that people experience at,” let’s say, “the wirehouses that potentially would be a catalyst for a move?” Mindy Diamond: Generally speaking, the biggest limitations have to do with how they’re able to grow their business and serve their clients. So anything to do with excess bureaucracy, anything to do with an incongruence, if you will, between the advisors or the team’s goals for how they want to serve clients or grow the business and what the firm is allowing them to do. Using this enormous deal as an example, you’ve got a team that was doing extraordinarily well. Oh, my god. They were the biggest team at Merrill, so talk about having a batphone to the top and the attention of senior leadership. If anyone was going to be able to break through the red tape or get things done, or eschew the limitations, it was them. And for a long time, they did. But they were sort of increasingly unhappy, let’s say, over a decade. Despite their size, every year, they became a little bit more frustrated. And after probably six or seven years of saying, “We’re just too big to move,” they came to a point of saying, “We can’t ignore this anymore. We’ve got a tiger by its tail. We have this extraordinary business that is growing exponentially. We’ve got clients that are complaining to us. And more importantly, we’ve got team members that are feeling stifled.” And that’s where it comes from, where there’s problems you just can’t ignore even if you want to. Jason Diamond: It almost feels like one of those things where advisors know they’re limited, they can just feel it. But if you’re fighting against the firm, and instead of with it. I’ll give you one other one that comes to mind as we’re talking here, that seems to come up a lot in advisor conversations, which is freedom of marketing. And that might seem like a fairly minor limitation, but I can’t tell you how many times, certainly myself, I’m sure you too, get call from an advisor who is heated. They’re angry because they were trying to send some timely market commentary and the firm took two weeks to approve it. Does that fall under the same category of limitations, in your mind? Mindy Diamond: Oh, without a doubt. And it’s funny you say that because in this world of social media where the news is consumed or can be consumed within seconds of an event happening, there’s nothing more frustrating for an advisor than wanting to write a newsletter to update their clients with scale as opposed to having to make one phone call at a time and not being able to do so. It absolutely puts them on a back foot. And then, I think it’s the lack of freedom to differentiate themselves. Most advisors that work for big firms have a firm website that is templated, the same sort of structure of the website and the picture of the team and the same basic wordings, and that’s hard to deal with. Jason Diamond: Well, you bring up an interesting point, which is sometimes… For example, advisors might say or wirehouse advisors might say, “Oh, the marketing is good enough.” But a lot of times, and we’ve had advisors on this podcast who talk about exactly this, they don’t realize how limited the sandbox they were playing in is or was until after a transition. And that’s when their eyes open and they realize, “Oh, my god. I was basically playing with one arm tied behind my back.” We’ve heard advisors use that metaphor. Let me ask you this then, and this is a tough question, what do you think advisors get wrong? What is the number one misconception that advisors have prior to approaching due diligence and thinking about a move? And maybe it’s something as simple as like, “Eh, it’s the same everywhere,” but tell me what you think you hear most commonly. Mindy Diamond: There’s certainly those myths, the assumptions or presumptions that it’s the same everywhere or there’s nothing that’s going to change anyway, for sure. But I think the biggest and most fundamental thing they get wrong is a lack of clarity around, “What it is they’re trying to accomplish, and why?” I’d like to say that I think one of the things, the thing, we do better than most, I’m not going to say everyone else but better than most, and something we’re really good at, is helping advisors to answer the really tough questions, the smartest questions, to get a sense of what it is they’re looking to accomplish, what it is they want to improve and why, “What does success look like?” Because if you don’t do that, then a lot of folks do it backwards. They get a phone call from a manager at Morgan Stanley or from somebody at Schwab or somebody at Dynasty, or whatever it may be, and they say, “I’ll take a lunch, why not?” And of course, the job of the manager from Morgan or the sales rep from Dynasty, or whatever it is, is to tell you all the good things about independence or about Morgan Stanley. But if I, as the advisor, am not really clear about what it is I’m looking to accomplish and why, it’s going to all sound good and I’m going to wind up more overwhelmed than when I started. And that is probably the number one thing that we see advisors getting wrong. It makes the due diligence process, if you choose to enter it, exceedingly inefficient. Jason Diamond: I totally agree. So I’m an advisor, I want to start due diligence in earnest. I know in my head, things are suboptimal. I’m not going to go so far as to say,” I definitively want to move.” But I’m a wirehouse advisor and I’m thinking for the first time in my career, “I’ve built a nice business, but it’s time for me to start getting educated.” So what do I do? Do I just say, “Hey, John at Morgan Stanley, what’s your recruiting deal look like these days?” Tell me, for an advisor who’s never thought about this before, what are the ABCs of this process look like? Mindy Diamond: Yeah. It’s definitely not, the first step, calling Morgan Stanley, even if you’re pretty sure Morgan Stanley is where you want to go. I’d suggest that’s probably one of the last steps, and I’ll tell you why. The first thing is to give yourself permission to say, “Even if I’m not 100% certain that a move is in my future or that I know I’m unhappy enough to go through the hassle and disruption of making a move,” to give yourself permission to get educated. The world, the industry landscape, the ecosystem, the everything looks entirely different than it did five and 10 years ago. And if it’s been five or 10 years, or even three to five years, since you last got educated, asked the questions, looked under the hood to get a sense of, “Is there or could there be something that’s better than where I am?”, you’re doing yourself and your team a disservice. Yeah, it takes time and it’s annoying and it’s overwhelming, and it’s all of it, but that’s honestly why people like us have a job. We don’t approach this that we think people should only come to us when they’re sure they’re going to make a move. In fact, it’s the opposite. We love the calls we get when somebody says, “I’m really happy here. I’ve been here 40 years. I’ve been here 30 years, it’s really good enough, it’s working well for me.” “But all of a sudden, I’m beginning to be curious. Or all of a sudden, I feel X, Y and Z. Tell me what I don’t know.” Those are the best calls. Those are the smartest calls. That’s the best thing an advisor can do. Jason Diamond: Yeah, I agree with that. Are there things you think an advisor needs to ask for during the diligence… I guess what I’m getting at is, do you trust the process that if you go through this process with, let’s say, three to five strategically picked firms… So you work within a recruiter or, a shameless plug, however you approach this, and you end up with your short list of contenders. Do you trust that, by going through the due diligence process, these firms are going to give you the building blocks that you need to do proper due diligence? Or are there things you, as an advisor, need to ask for? I’ll give you one example that comes to mind, which is… There’s obviously been some firms that have had financial troubles recently. So do you think an advisor, for example, needs to ask for financial statements from a firm they’re potentially considering due diligence on? I’m curious what your thoughts are. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. Particularly, if you’re looking at sort of in this new world order, if we think about the landscape as a continuum and the newer boutique multifamily offices on the right side, absolutely. Conducting what we call reverse due diligence and getting to see the financials of the firms you’re considering, to make sure that they’re sound and solid and that the equity valuation is exactly as advertised, of course, yes, that’s true. So the answer is, in part, you trust the process. You trust that if you’ve asked the right questions, if you’ve gotten clarity around what’s important to you, and as a result, you’ve crafted the right questions, and therefore, the manager or the representative from the firm or options you’re considering has put together the right due diligence plan, you can trust that at least 90% of what needs to be gotten right has gotten right. But there are always things around the margins that aren’t addressed. One is you can’t just outsource the due diligence process. You need to be paying attention. And much like people who trust their doctor and presume the doctor just always has it right, you need to be your own advocate. I would say, the same thing here. That as the process unfolds, there will be additional questions, additional sort of gaps and holes, and you shouldn’t stop until you’ve gotten all of your questions answered. That’s really the best advice I can give. Jason Diamond: You are talking to John from XYZ firm and Jim from ABC firm, and they’re going to tell you what’s great about their firms. So how do you know that you’re not just buying a false bill of goods, it’s just a glossy kind of sales pitch? I’ll give you my answer first. Part of it is, I think, you test drive the systems. I think another step I suggest a lot is calls with advisors on the platform. So an advisor who left UBS to go to Morgan Stanley, probably the best possible person to ask about Morgan Stanley. Any other additional thoughts on that one? Mindy Diamond: You took the words right out of my mouth. Absolutely, that is the number one way to do it, is that you ask for an opportunity, and you can do it in a name-blind way without identifying yourself, to talk with advisors that have made the move that are two things, that either came from the firm you’re coming from, so you get a similar perspective, but it’s equally important to talk to advisors that have similar business mix. It doesn’t matter what firm they came from, even if it’s not the same as yours, but, “How does someone that services international clients, how are they better able to serve those international clients at this new firm or new model than they were where you are?” We’re talking about it as if it’s wirehouse-to-wirehouse. But very often in today’s world order, especially looking at this giant move from this week, it’s about wirehouse to some version of independence. So there’s so much more due diligence, so many more questions that are required. It is even more important in that world to really get an understanding of what it’s like from the perspective of somebody that’s walking in those shoes. I will tell you, Jason, and you know this, that literally the number one reason I started this podcast more than a decade ago, and why we continue to do the podcast and the feedback we get, is because the feedback from advisors that have joined a platform already is the very best feedback, the best way, in a discreet confidential manner, to hear the truth from somebody who doesn’t have a horse in the race who’s just sharing their perspective with you. And that’s the feedback we continue to get. In a couple of weeks, I’m interviewing, as an example, Neil Rubinstein. Neil’s an advisor in Texas that came from Merrill that we moved to Rockefeller. A perfect example. So many advisors that are considering a move if they’ve got high net worth clients are going to look at Rockefeller. Well, what better way to understand what Rockefeller is about than to hear it from an advisor that’s walked in the shoes, not only of a Merrill advisor, but services high net worth clients and then have information or perspective similar to Neil. What do you think about that? Do you agree with that? Jason Diamond: 1000%. First of all, the podcast, I will say, a little bit of a sales pitch, has one thing going for it that a call with an advisor doesn’t, which is complete discretion and confidentiality. I will say, I think we’ve done a good job of doing facilitating name-blind calls between advisors. We continue to harp on this point even though it sounds somewhat minor, because it really is the very… You can talk to people like me and people like the recruiters from the firms until you’re blue in the face. But the right way, the best possible way to learn the, “Is this guy selling me? How does the technology compare to Merrill? How does the day-to-day compare? What’s it like working for this manager?”, all those types of questions, I think are best answered by another advisor. So completely agree with you. Mindy Diamond: Yeah, and I’ll take it one step further. Somewhere in the process, you take advantage of the opportunity to either listen to a podcast and hear somebody’s perspective of what the move was like, and how it’s bettered their life and where the pitfalls are, and/or you take the opportunity to talk with other advisors that have made the move, so you can ask your own specific questions. But after you’ve had the opportunity to do that, then it’s really important, and this is the part that why you can’t entirely outsource or let the due diligence process just go on autopilot, to take some of that perspective and the manager that you’re interviewing with, hold his or her feet to the fire. What do I mean by that? So I talked to an advisor that talked about the fact that the number one concern about Rockefeller, I’m making this up, is that they’re going to be the next Merrill, or that they just added a fee that now is going to have to be passed on to clients. While this advisor said it doesn’t bother them and they had a lot of good reason of why it’s not an issue, I’d love for you to tell me why it could be an issue. What are some of the things you’ve gotten wrong? When someone doesn’t join Rockefeller, why is it? I’m making that up- Jason Diamond: Yeah, smart. Same thing. Even let go, this advisor mentioned that technology is a step back from the firm I’m coming from. And I’m not asking you to argue with me, but perhaps the manager might be able to say something like, “We’re investing substantially in the platform, and we have these rollouts coming in the next several months that are going to close that gap.” So I completely agree. That’s a really smart- Mindy Diamond: And a follow-up question to that example, Jason, which is a great one, is, “How can I trust, how can I get a sense of security, if I join here in the next couple of months that in fact that investment is going to be made? And how that investment in technology will actually impact thing?” So again, it’s constantly being your own advocate, constantly paying attention, and constantly questions beget more questions. Jason Diamond: I agree we. Haven’t talked at all about the dollars and cents of this, and I think we need to because it’s important. Right? You can have the best platform on the planet, but the reality is a move comes with risk, a move comes with hassle, and there is a market for advisors’ books of businesses. That’s one of, I think, the major kind of paradigm shifts we’ve seen in the last, call it, decade is advisors know their books are assets, their book is a business, and that business is worth something substantial. At any firm, even at their current firm via retire and place deals, the book is worth something substantial. So if you had to put a percentage to it, I’m an advisor making a decision, 100% waiting, how much percent waiting do I put on the economics and how much waiting do I put on culture, platform, everything else? Mindy Diamond: The answer is, absolutely, it’s an inside job, personal, and it depends upon the advisor. There are some advisors, they’re wrong, but they will put all the weight on personal economics. They’re making a big mistake, if that’s the case. And most advisors will put much more weight on getting it right, meaning, “What’s life going to be like afterwards? And will I have a better ability to serve clients and grow the business?” But here’s what I would say, they’re both equally important. So no advisor who’s got a decent enough runway ahead of him or her and who’s looking to really grow the business and who cares about their clients can’t be unconcerned about the culture of where they’re going and what life is going to be like and what are the limitations, all of the questions we’ve been talking about. But an advisor who’s built a great business would be a fool not to consider their own personal economics. It just can’t be the first thing they consider. And in the book I wrote, Should I Stay or Should I Go?, I wrote that 100 times that it’s all about, “Lead with what’s important to the business and important to clients, do the right thing, but you can’t ignore personal financial gain.” Let’s talk about this move of OpenArc, this $129-billion Merrill team. You can only imagine the number of zeros at the end of a check that this team was offered by every major firm on the street. And in the span of a decade, they got those offers. Independence, making this enormous leap, was not the first thing they looked at, was not necessarily their first choice. But as they began, in their case, to really consider how limited they felt on the things they wanted to be able to do for clients… By the way, I don’t want to steal anybody’s thunder because we’re going to be launching a podcast specifically talking about this deal and this move, so I’ll save that for… Louis Diamond, our partner, and Shirl Penney, the CEO and founder of Dynasty, are going to be talking about it and they’ll cover all of that. But I just want to give the example that as this team began to realize, certainly in the last five years, how much things had changed at Merrill and how incongruent they felt between their goals, the goals for the business, the goals for serving clients, and what the firm was asking of them since Bank of America came to town, it became impossible to just say, “Holy cow, we can get a check with a lot of zeros at the end of it.” They couldn’t not see the benefits of everything else, the benefits that creating their own independent entity could bring them. Jason Diamond: I agree with that. I will play devil’s advocate a little bit here and say, “I think what you’re really talking about is the trade-off.” They’re not martyrs, they’re not altruistic and said, “We don’t want your hundreds of millions of dollars.” I think what you’re talking about is the trade-off between near-term upfront recruiting deals, which is the primary means by which the wirehouses, the regionals, the boutique firms recruit. Right? The traditional forgivable loan structure is all about a short term de-risking of the move, a monetization event in the near term where they’re paying you some percentage of revenue, 350%, 400% of revenue, tied to a forgivable loan. But that’s your bite of the apple in that example. With the example of a move to independence, you’ll lose, in some cases, all of that upfront monetization. So this example you’re talking about is a good example where they got no upfront transition dollars because they launched an RIA. But, and this is a very important caveat, they know they are building equity and ownership in something that is going to, at the current rate, be worth a preposterous multiple if and when they decide to sell it. So I assume that has to be part of this conversation around independence is, it’s not that you don’t care about monetizing the business, it’s that you plan to monetize the business in a different and probably more significant way. Fair? Mindy Diamond: Beyond fair. 1000%, that’s absolutely correct. Again, not only making it about this example, but it’s a good example. So again, the possibility of getting a check with a lot of zeros on it, and by the way, also tapping into an already established well-familiar, well-run infrastructure. Think about how much easier the move would’ve been, to jump from Merrill Lynch to Morgan Stanley, and not probably was their first choice, if they were going to go the traditional route. Think about how much easier the due diligence process… how much less heavy the lift would’ve been in terms of due diligence, but certainly from a short-term upfront perspective. And that’s really the key, is that not everyone has the appetite to bet on the long term. To me, that’s the beauty of the industry landscape as it’s evolved and the waterfall of possibilities today. If you’re a great team, and there are so many great teams, you’re growing, you’ve got a multi-generational bench of advisors, you’ve got a succession plan, you’ve got sticky clients, you don’t have 5,000 clients but you have 100 or 200 relationships, you’ve got a great business that you’ve got options for it, there’s no right or wrong. It’s, “What do I want to be when I grow up?”, and, “How do I want to live my business life?” And if you query 10 of those great teams, five of them will wind up moving to the traditional space. That doesn’t make it wrong, it’s just, “That’s what’s right for them.” But the other five will have entrepreneurial drive, will value the long term, and willing to forego the short-term upside in order to bet on themselves for the long term. And holy cow, again, we’ll save that for the episode that Shirl and Louis do to talk about what those multiples could look like, but I don’t think there’s enough zeros on the calculator to begin to think about what that business… OpenArc’s business will be worth even as little as five years from now. Jason Diamond: I agree with that. I think the one point I would probably make in defense of people who go the traditional firm route… Actually, two points. Number one, I don’t think it’s only about, “I am not willing to bet on myself, and I don’t want to delay the monetization event.” I think for some people, the idea of being independent and putting the toner in the copy machine and the little K-cups, that’s just not appealing. I like going into a branch and they have everything, my desk is all set up. So that’s one caveat I’d make that some people just prefer the traditional firm world. The other caveat I’d make is there are advisors who, rightly or wrongly, believe in the brand name of the firm mattering. So there are some advisors who say, “Look, I am a good advisor, but my ability to land and grow business is tied very closely to XYZ firm/brand, Morgan Stanley.” I think, a lot of times, we find that’s not always the case as much as advisors believe. But I’m just trying to think of a couple scenarios where there are advisors who genuinely prefer or need or want the stability, big brand, resources of the biggest firms on the planet. Mindy Diamond: I totally agree. Actually, thank you for bringing those two caveats up because, I’d say, there’s a third caveat. Someone can’t go independent, they don’t have a next gen. They don’t have someone that could do the heavy lifting, if they’re not capable of doing it on their own, to build an independent firm. They don’t have entrepreneurial spirit. They’re three years from retirement, and they don’t have the kind of time that it takes to really build the value of an independent practice. And we have great respect for those people. But again, the cool thing about the industry landscape is that as it’s evolved, there’s something for everyone. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the only choice is stay put or go to UBS. Jason Diamond: Agree. In fact, there’s probably even versions of independence. For example, if you don’t have a successor, well, there are versions of independence that might work where there’s a monetization event on the backend where somebody can buy and inherit your book. So that is probably the coolest or most interesting thing, the most exciting thing anyway, about the industry landscape in the last, really call it, five years anyway, probably even a little sooner than that is, especially in the independent side of things, there are options that check just about every box. You as the advisor choose what elements… And this gets back to your begin with the end in mind. Choose what elements of the business you like, and want to maintain control over. Choose what elements of the business you don’t, and there is probably a solution out there that works to check those boxes. Mindy Diamond: And then, that goes back to what we were saying. Even if you are 90% satisfied and 99% certain you would never make a move, if you haven’t gotten educated, in some capacity, whether it be listening to a podcast, reading articles, talking to a recruiter, talking to other firms, talking to friends and colleagues at other firms, or some combination of all of the above, in the last five years, I think you’re doing yourself a disservice. And again, not because in any way we’re trying to sell you on making a move, but because we believe knowledge is power and it looks different than it did. So make sure that you’re challenging your own assumptions, and that you’re really crystal-clear that what you believe or what you believe five years ago is still true today. Jason Diamond: This is a little bit of a gear shift, but I think there’s a tie in here. If you are an advisor now, or a point in their career, they’re wise to at least get educated, pick their heads up, understand what’s out there. But then, there’s the question of, “When is due diligence done?” But I’m going to frame this through a different lens here, which is, “Now, I’m an advisor, I’ve done due diligence, I’ve talked to maybe three to five strategic firms.” Is there typically an aha moment when an advisor says, “Oh, my god. It’s RBC, and I need to go that way and I know I need to move”? Or is it more process driven than that? What are your thoughts? Because I think a lot of advisors struggle with that. And I often find myself telling advisors, “Trust the process here and you’ll know when… You don’t have to know right away in the first inning of due diligence which firm or which model you’re meeting, or even if you’re going to make a move.” But curious what your thoughts are on this one. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. In fact, we hope you don’t. We hope that you don’t go into this process with preconceived notions, we hope that you don’t make a decision after one meeting, because we do think that there’s value in the process. And people get to that aha moment at different times. You and I are working with a team, right now, that is 22 meetings in. And that’s not to say every process takes 22 meetings, but the team is sort of taking it slowly. They started out looking at five or six firms. They’ve narrowed it down now to three. The goal is to get to two or one, then to get to a home office visit to the one that’s their first choice. They’re absolutely getting closer. And I’m probably exaggerating at 22 meetings, but I’m making a point, that even at this point in the game, which is probably a good, would you say, five months into the due diligence process, I don’t know that they’ve had an aha moment. They have an aha moment that they know they don’t want another wirehouse. They don’t want to be independent because the senior member of the team is exactly that person we just described, that he doesn’t have the kind of time in the business in order to make independence worthwhile- Jason Diamond: Or drive. They just don’t want independence. Mindy Diamond: Right, and the next generation doesn’t really want it. So at this point of the game, the aha moment is think we want a regional firm or a boutique firm. But it’s not an aha moment yet that it’s going to be this firm, and that’s I think a good point. A lot of times, the aha moment is the model, first, and then the firm. Jason Diamond: Sometimes, deal can be the type like, “Okay. I know I love the regional firms, but one is offering a deal that’s 100% better,” and that’s often when we actually will counsel advisors, “It’s okay to consider the deal.” The deal is a factor, as you said earlier. Mindy Diamond: If I can, that’s actually a great point. That’s the perfect example of where, “Always consider the deal, just don’t make it your primary or first consideration.” Jason Diamond: Right. Mindy Diamond: So if you’ve done all the right due diligence and two firms or two opportunities stack up next to each other perfectly, they both will allow you to move the needle significantly enough. If they both will allow you to do better for clients and grow faster, and do everything else that’s important to you, then it’s absolutely time to make deal the tiebreaker. Jason Diamond: So you threw out five months and talking about 22 meetings, let’s table that. An advisor calls you, Mindy, this morning and says, “Not unhappy, but I’m getting that itch.” Give me the average time it takes them from that first call this morning to the moment they resigned from their firm, and then give me the quickest they could do it if they needed to. Mindy Diamond: Yeah. Let me start out by saying that those calls we get from advisors come in two different categories. One is, “Yeah, getting the itch. The straw that broke the camel’s back happened yesterday when X happened.” But the other call, the one we mentioned earlier, which is, “I am 90% happy. I am growing exponentially. I get time to coach my kids’ soccer game. I have great quality of life. I have a great team. I’ve been here 30 or 40 years, and life is good. I’m watching more of my colleagues go or I’m feeling more pain,” fill in the blank for whatever that is. “Even though I’m 90% happy and I’m 100% convinced I don’t want to move, that moving is a hassle, I can’t not see the handwriting on the wall and I at least need to get educated.” So let’s assume that we get one of those calls. The reason I am calling out the difference between the two is because the time it takes to do the due diligence is usually different. If someone is already at the point where they know that they’re unhappy and likely to move, the due diligence process usually runs quicker. The due diligence process for somebody that’s mostly happy and just beginning to get curious, sort of the latter example, might take a little longer. Jason Diamond: Give me some real parameters to it. Mindy Diamond: Well, I’d love to hear what you think. What’s swirling in my head, it’s all over the map, but I’m going to say typically six months. Jason Diamond: Six months was the number I was about to throw out as well. And I think the quickest you want to do this is three months. Anything beyond that starts to be basically a fire drill. We’ve done deals quicker than that obviously, an advisor’s going to or has been terminated. But I think six months in earnest is a good, healthy timeline. Especially, by the way, because a lot of firms are busy, we’re hearing this from a lot of the firm side of things these days. Depending upon what firm you’re moving to, you need to make sure that the firm can handle you. You want to get their A team upon your breakaway and your transition, no matter what firm that is. Mindy Diamond: Do you think, Jason, that it’s six months from, “Gee, I’m a little curious. I want to start to look. I want to begin to do due diligence. What does that look like?”, to, “My butt is in a new seat”? Jason Diamond: No. Because I think in the example where you’re just like, “Eh, I’m a little unhappy,” those early innings conversations typically play out slowly because the guy who’s 90% happy is in no rush to say, “Set me up with a bunch of firms, and let’s talk about it.” In those instances, it could take a year and a half because I think what happens really there is then there’s a catalyst event that takes them from your category two to category one. Right? They went from a little unhappy, just curious, to the straw that broke the camel’s back. And that’s when then they shift into the more… or they say the firm has… A good example, UBS, upset a lot of advisors with the compensation plan. They recently walked back a lot of those changes. I’m certain there will be some advisors who say, “This is a nod to attrition. I’ve seen from management what I need to see, and I’m going to stay put.” Equally, probably plenty of advisors who say, “It’s too little too late.” Mindy Diamond: Let me say something, and again, not to make this episode at all about this team in Atlanta, but that was a ten-year conversation for us. Literally, 10 years ago, maybe even 12 years ago, but let’s say 10, one of the senior partners on the team had called to say, “Curious, really happy, doing incredibly well. Zero chance we are moving in the next year or two or five.” But look, what don’t we know? And every year, we would then have a conversation about what the landscape looked like. But I’m going to say it was six years ago when the conversation shifted from, “Really happy, convinced we’re staying,” to, “starting to think we might leave at some point,” but another six years until this really happened. Now, that’s a good example because they were going independent. The transition itself probably took a year, year and a half. Jason Diamond: And the size and complexity of the team, by the way, probably amplifies that as well. Mindy Diamond: Well, there are outliers on either side, and that’s the point I wanted to make. Correct. Jason Diamond: Very fair. I’m glad you bring that up because there’s no cookie-cutter answer. It totally depends on the makeup of the business, where you’re going, how you’re going, when you’re going. I think we have time for two more questions, and I want to make sure we get to this because we’ve talked about this through the lens of the advisor and the advisor’s team. We haven’t talked much about the client experience, and that is clearly self-portability, in general, is something that gives advisors anxiety rightfully so. I think if you could tell a lot of advisors with 100% certainty that their book would move, I think many more would be interested in moving. I think concerns about portability, a lot of times, would keep advisors in seats. I guess what I’m getting at is because that initial client conversation is so important, is there anything you coach advisors to think about or to say to clients or potential clients as they consider a change, a transition? Mindy Diamond: Well, you have to be mindful certainly of your own employment agreement and legal considerations of pre-soliciting- Jason Diamond: Important point. Mindy Diamond: No way are any of us advocating for pre-solicitation. But you do have to have a pretty good sense in your mind without asking the client specifically, who is likely to come and who not. And the determination, the sort of hypothesis or the supposition, of who will come and who will not has everything to do with where you’re going and the value proposition, “Will I be able to make a compelling enough point? Will I have compelling enough reasons where it’s not about me, the advisor, it’s about you, the clients, about how I will better be able to service them? And if I’m able to say to a client, ‘If I make a move or I’m making this move and I’m now going to be able to do X, Y, and Z for you,’ I’m much more confident that they will be able to come?” In the case of this OpenArc deal, the Atlanta team, they did a lot of retirement plan business, so they had to be really concerned about how they were going to position this move and the new brand separating from Merrill brand, how they were going to convince their Fortune 500 clients that this was the right move. So it always has to start with what’s best for clients and how will I pitch it, if you will. Jason Diamond: I love how you answered that because it’s like two different answers to me. Part one is handicapping the portability, and that’s pre-transition during the due diligence process. Honestly, if you’re an advisor, you could do that now, right? If I were to make a move, “Here’s my client who I know with 100% certainty would follow me. Here’s the maybes, here’s the no,” you come up with a weighted average portability metric. I totally agree with you on that. And then the second piece of it is you have to be constantly thinking this option might sound the best to you, but remember, and I agree, not pre-solicit, but post-transition, you’re going to have to sell it to your clients. So you need to be thinking about every conversation you have with every firm through that lens. Do you agree with that? Meaning I’m going to move my business from UBS to Morgan Stanley. You get paid a big check, but can you articulate the clients- Mindy Diamond: Yeah, 1000%. It’s such a good point because, and we’re going to give you some inside baseball here, the number one question that any advisor who is in traffic with any firm or any model needs to ask is, put words in my mouth, “If we were fast forwarding to the day I made a move and joined your firm or joined your model, help me to understand what would the pitch to my clients sound like.” And then, you need to sort of absorb that pitch from the perspective of your clients. Put yourself in the shoes of your oldest clients, of your youngest clients, of your most important clients, of your middle-of-the-road clients, of your middle net worth clients, of the institutional clients, fill in the blank, “Does that value proposition fit?” That is one of the best ways to assess whether a firm or an opportunity is better enough or good enough for you. Jason Diamond: It’s such a good answer, and I love the inside baseball look there. Also, by the way, it has this side benefit of you’re forcing the managers or the recruiters to articulate almost like a succinct value prop on their firm. Right? Tell me, hypothetically, what would I say to clients about, and you’re just picking on Morgan, “Why is Morgan Stanley better than my current firm?” And that answer ought to be compelling. In closing, I want to wrap this up with a question around the difficulty of a move. You’ve been in this business now 30 years, I think it’s almost exactly 30 years. Has it gotten easier logistically to transition? And do you see that trend continuing, let’s say, because of partially things like AI, DocuSign and the like? What are your thoughts on the nuts and bolts of transitioning? Mindy Diamond: There’s no question it’s gotten easier. There’s no question that, from a legal perspective, the advent of broker protocol certainly makes it less scary or less risky to make a move. But there are plenty of moves that are made as a non-protocol move, and that’s not always the case. And the ecosystem, I should say, has gotten better to support the advisor in transition. Legal counsel, all they do all day long is facilitate these moves. Third-party consultancies, people like us that have been at it 30 years and have seen it all, and all the mistakes have already been made, we know how to do it. But with that said, moving is a hassle. No matter how much better the support system has gotten, no matter how many times a manager or a firm has transitioned advisors, it is a hassle to move. It is disruptive. It is a lot. And again, this statement is not going to win me a place in the headhunter hall of fame, but you should absolutely not consider a move unless you have the appetite for some risk, for some breakage, meaning some loss of clients, and you’re willing to shrink to grow, and you’ve got an appetite for some hassle factor to work perhaps harder for a short period of time than you have in a while. If you don’t have that, then no matter how unhappy you are, you really need to seriously consider whether moving is the best way to solve your problems. Jason Diamond: Yeah. It’s a really great way to tie a bow on this episode. It was a lot of fun. I’m excited. I think that would be 2037 based on your 12-year timeline. So the next $129-billion team, we’ll have to schedule that episode out for 10 or 12 years from now. But Mindy, thank you so much for sharing your years of wisdom and expertise with us. This was a fantastic episode. I had a lot of fun. Mindy Diamond: Yeah, I loved it too. Thank you, my pleasure. Jason Diamond: Thank you for joining us. We'll be back with a new episode next week, so be sure to listen in. Mindy Diamond: As a financial advisor, you hold yourself to the highest standards of integrity, honesty, and credibility. You are successful because you take your professional responsibility seriously and are dedicated to your clients. But are you living your best business life? Are your goals aligned with your firms, or could a better option exist? Should I Stay or Should I Go? is a book written with you in mind. It’s a self-guided journey that walks you through the key steps that we take with our advisor clients. This strategic thought process and road map to professional self-discovery is designed to help you ask the right questions and think critically and objectively, whether you’re considering change or not. Learn how to get your copy at diamond-consultants.com/thebook.     The Advisor Transition Playbook: Inside Baseball on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between A Special Industry Update with Jason Diamond and Mindy Diamond. Jason Diamond: Welcome to a replay of one of the most popular episodes from our podcast series for financial advisors, The Advisor Transition Playbook: Inside Baseball on Due Diligence, the Move, and Everything In Between. It's Part 1 of a 2-Part Industry Update with Mindy Diamond. I’m Jason Diamond and this is the Diamond Podcast for Financial Advisors. Mindy Diamond: At Diamond Consultants, we help elite advisors identify the right environment for their businesses to thrive, whether that’s at a wirehouse, boutique, or independent firm. With nearly three decades of experience, we’ve guided thousands of advisors and represented more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in assets transitioned. And each year, one in four advisors managing a billion dollars or more, who change firms, are our clients. Our process is education driven and based on building relationships, starting as your strategic partner well before you’re even thinking of a move. To schedule a confidential conversation, call us at (908) 879-1002. Wondering why advisors change firms, and where they’re headed? Are transition deals going up or down? Those very questions and more inspired us to create our annual Advisor Transition Report. It’s the award-winning data-driven resource designed for advisors that connects the dots between the motivations around movement and the firm’s appetite for top talent. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make smart decisions. Download your copy at diamond-consultants.com/transitionreport. Jason Diamond: Everything about a transition can seem incredibly overwhelming. From understanding the whys of a move, then conducting due diligence, and onto aligning the right models and selecting the best firms, it might seem like a fairly linear process. And for some, it can be. But for others, the layers of minutia can be daunting. Essentially, it comes down to the adage, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” So the goal of this episode is to share some inside baseball in how to get from here to there. I asked Mindy Diamond to join me to help draw from decades of experience in helping advisors through their transitions. We’ve dived into the misconceptions, the common

Episode 300: AI's extremes are on full display in our 300th episode. Anthropic's Mythos model reportedly uncovered more than 10,000 security flaws in a month, accelerating vulnerability discovery for major partners. Yet the same “AI efficiency” falls apart in the real world, as seen in Starbucks' failed AI inventory rollout that miscounted products and mislabeled items. That contrast sets up the core question of the hour: when is AI a powerful tool, and when is it just expensive theater?We also dig into the rising stakes around biometric privacy, from Disney's facial‑scan lawsuit to stadium and theme‑park “optional” recognition systems that don't feel optional when the alternative line barely moves. Add in real phishing examples hitting DocuSign, Microsoft 365, and fake IRS notices, plus a case where an AI court summarizer caused a wrongful arrest, and the theme becomes clear: trust is getting harder to earn. We close with tech nostalgia, a blunt whiskey review, Waymo's robotaxi recall, and Elon Musk's failed lawsuit against OpenAI all coming up on TechTime Radio, with a little whiskey on the side.-- Full Episode Details:AI is getting dangerously good at the things we want and embarrassingly bad at the things we assumed were easy. We kick off our 300th show with a perfect contrast: Anthropic's Mythos model reportedly uncovers 10,000+ security flaws in a month, boosting vulnerability discovery across major partners, yet the same “automation magic” falls flat when Starbucks tries AI inventory counting and ends up with mislabeled products and missed items. That tension drives the big question we keep circling: when is AI a genuine tool, and when is it just expensive theater? From there we get into facial recognition privacy and consent, sparked by Disney's lawsuit over facial scanning at Disneyland. We compare it to Universal and stadium biometric entry, talk about what “optional” really means when the non-scan line is the long one, and why public tolerance shifts once AI becomes part of the story. If you care about digital identity, biometric data retention, and surveillance creep, this segment lands hard. We also bring the practical stuff: real phishing email examples that mimic DocuSign and Microsoft 365 quarantine notices, plus a fake “IRS statement” that screams malware. Then Mike's AI Guy segment hits a gut-punch case where an AI court summarizer mashed files together and an innocent man got arrested. We round it out with tech nostalgia (Apple Newton), a brutally honest whiskey review, Waymo's robotaxi flood fiasco and recall, and a quick hit on Elon Musk losing his lawsuit against OpenAI. Subscribe for weekly tech news with zero political agenda, share the episode with a friend who clicks too fast, and leave a review so more people can find the show.Send us Fan MailSupport the show

Most careers don't follow a straight line. But few require starting over in full view of the public.This week, Halle sits down with Lance Armstrong to discuss how he rebuilt his life and career after multiple turning points, including surviving advanced cancer, and how those experiences shaped his perspective on health, performance, and reinvention. Now, through his venture firm Next Ventures, he backs companies focused on what they call “whole person health” — spanning prevention, wellness, diagnostics, longevity, and healthcare outside the traditional system.We cover:Why he chose to become a VC, and what he likes (and dislikes) about the jobHow his experience as a patient shapes how he evaluates companiesWhy preventive care is growing outside the traditional healthcare systemWhat he looks for in founders building across the care continuumWhat it takes to rebuild trust and start overAbout our guest:Lance Armstrong is a former professional cyclist, entrepreneur, and investor. After surviving advanced testicular cancer, he founded Livestrong, helping raise more than $500 million to support cancer patients and survivors worldwide. In 2019, he co-founded Next Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on health, wellness, and consumer brands, with investments including Oura, Cofertility, Pair Team, and SteadyMD. Prior to Next Ventures, he was an active angel investor in companies such as Uber, DocuSign, and Athletic Brewing.—

In this episode of Business Brain, we kick off Casual Friday AI with Dave’s pitch to learn Markdown — the plain-text format that every AI engine now prefers. Skip it, and you’re burning tokens (and cash) every time the robots have to wade through bloated Word docs. Then Shannon drops the move that’ll change your week: connect Claude to Slack and let it pull weekly summaries of wins, blockers, and who’s actually carrying the team. It’s the kind of leverage that turns a flood of channels and DMs into one tidy report waiting on your desk every Friday. From there,We dig into Markdown for AI, connecting Claude to Slack, Claude for Small Business, and xAI voice cloning results. we dig into Claude for Small Business, the new Claude Cowork layer that plugs straight into QuickBooks, HubSpot, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Canva, DocuSign, and PayPal — your small business operating system, basically. Toggle one workflow on, fix one pain point, repeat. We also revisit Shannon’s xAI voice clone experiment (verdict: too old, too audiobook, needs another pass), and land on the big takeaway driving the Charmed Life right now — connect, connect, connect. The AI tools you already pay for get exponentially more powerful the moment you wire them into the platforms you actually live in. 00:00:00 Business Brain – The Entrepreneurs' Podcast #755 for Casual FridAI, May 22, 2026 May 22nd: Bitcoin Pizza Day 00:01:39 Learn Markdown! 00:05:18 Connect Claude to Slack Weekly summaries Context Whatever you want! 00:07:14 SPONSOR: Whatnot is the largest dedicated live shopping platform. Download the Whatnot app today and get free shipping on your first order. Just search Whatnot in the app store and start scoring amazing deals 00:08:44 SPONSOR: Bitdefender. Keep your small business safe with Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security. Save 30% when you go to https://bitdefender.com/BRAIN 00:10:00 Claude for Small Business is your new business operating system AI Fluency for Small Businesses 00:13:52 X.ai Voice Cloning 00:16:29 This Episode's Big Takeaway: Connect AI tools to your existing platforms Business Brain 755 Outtro Check out Business Brain Blueprints Tell Your Friends! Business Blueprints Review Business Brain Subscribe to the show feedback@businessbrain.show Call/Text: (567) 274-6977 X/Twitter: @ShannonJean & @DaveHamilton, & @BizBrainShow LinkedIn: Shannon Jean, Dave Hamilton, & Business Brain Facebook: Dave Hamilton, Shannon Jean, & Business Brain The post FridAI – Voice, Slack & Markdown – Business Brain 755 appeared first on Business Brain - The Entrepreneurs' Podcast.

What does the generative AI conversation actually sound like inside a boardroom? Is the board ready to govern it? And what do board members wish CISOs understood about how they make decisions? Let's find out with our guest, Vanessa Pegueros, former CISO at Docusign and U.S. Bank, and current board member at LivePerson and BECU. Your hosts are Kip Boyle, CISO with Cyber Risk Opportunities, and Jake Bernstein, Partner with K&L Gates. LinkedIn profile – https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessapegueros Website – https://vanessapegueros.com

Carolyn Woodard covers two recent AI product updates and a thought-provoking question about what it means to use AI tools more personally: a new Claude for Small Business plugin that connects AI to the tools your nonprofit already uses, a ChatGPT model update that changes the default experience for anyone on your staff using the free tier, and an article from nonprofit AI trainer Tim Lockie that may challenge how you think about sharing context with AI.Anthropic launched Claude for Small Business as a plugin inside Claude Cowork, their agentic work environment. The plugin connects Claude directly to tools like QuickBooks, PayPal, HubSpot, Canva, DocuSign, Google Workspace, and Microsoft 365 through pre-built workflows for tasks like payroll, month-end close, and invoicing. Every action requires human approval before it executes. Nonprofits with a paid Claude plan already have access but need to make the connections in Cowork. The Claude for Nonprofits discount brings the Teams plan to $8 per user per month for qualifying 501(c)(3) organizations. A free AI Fluency for Small Business course is also included.OpenAI updated ChatGPT's default model to GPT-5.5 Instant in early May, rolling it out to all users including the free tier. The big change: the model now draws on past conversations, uploaded files, and connected accounts like Gmail to personalize responses. If your staff are using the free version of ChatGPT, their default experience just changed, and that matters for what your organization's data governance policy says about which tools and tiers are appropriate.Carolyn closes with Tim Lockie's recent piece "Humans Are The Loop," about building a private Claude project he uses as a personal thinking partner. He fed it his neuropsych evaluation, DISC profile, and StrengthsFinder results, and uses it to surface the patterns he is most likely to miss under pressure. This approach is in genuine tension with the data caution that guides most of our AI governance guidance, and Carolyn is still sitting with it. Worth a few minutes of your own reflection.Resources Mentioned:Claude for Small Business announcement — Anthropic — https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-for-small-businessClaude for Nonprofits pricing — Anthropic — https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12893767-getting-started-with-claude-for-nonprofitsGPT-5.5 Instant announcement — OpenAI — https://openai.com/index/gpt-5-5-instant/Humans Are The Loop — Tim Lockie / The Human Stack — https://thehumanstack.com/timlockie/humans_are_the_loopAI for Anyone course — The Human Stack — https://thehumanstack.com/academy/aiforanyoneElon Musk Loses Landmark Lawsuit Against Open AI — WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/musk-v-altman-jury-verdict/New every Tuesday. _______________________________Start a conversation :)Register to attend a webinar in real time, and find all past transcripts at https://communityit.com/webinars/email Carolyn at cwoodard@communityit.comon LinkedIn on reddit/r/nonprofitITmanagementon the Community IT websiteThanks for listening. 

Unser heutiger Gast verbindet zwei Welten, die auf den ersten Blick wenig miteinander zu tun haben und die doch erstaunlich viele Gemeinsamkeiten haben: Hochseesegeln und Führung in der digitalen Wirtschaft. Er war Teil des deutschen Nationalteams im olympischen Segeln, in der 470er Klasse, und Mitglied der Sportfördergruppe der Bundeswehr. Eine Zeit, die geprägt ist von Präzision, Teamarbeit und der Fähigkeit, sich ständig auf verändernde Bedingungen einzustellen. Diese Prinzipien ziehen sich bis heute durch seinen beruflichen Weg. Er hat über viele Jahre bei SAP gearbeitet, zuletzt als Senior Vice President und Leiter des Vertriebs für Customer Experience in Mittel- und Osteuropa, mit Verantwortung für große Teams und signifikante Umsatzvolumina. Seit Anfang 2025 ist er Managing Director für die DACH-Region bei Docusign. In dieser Rolle verantwortet er die strategische Weiterentwicklung des Geschäfts und begleitet Unternehmen dabei, ihre Vertragsprozesse zu digitalisieren – und weiterzudenken. Denn es geht längst nicht mehr nur um elektronische Signaturen, sondern um die Frage, wie Vertragsmanagement durch KI intelligenter, effizienter und integrierter wird, ein Thema, das tief in die Arbeitsrealität vieler Unternehmen eingreift. Parallel dazu engagiert er sich im Hauptvorstand von Bitkom und bringt sich aktiv in die Gestaltung der digitalen Zukunft ein. Seit neun Jahren beschäftigen wir uns in diesem Podcast mit der Frage, wie Arbeit den Menschen stärkt, statt ihn zu schwächen. Wir haben in mehr als 550 Episoden mit über 700 Persönlichkeiten darüber gesprochen, was sich für sie verändert hat und was weiter ändern wird und muss. Was können Führungskräfte aus dem Hochleistungssport lernen, gerade im Umgang mit Unsicherheit, Druck und permanentem Wandel? Was bedeutet digitale Transformation heute wirklich – jenseits von Buzzwords und Technologieversprechen? Und wie verändert KI ganz konkret die Art, wie Unternehmen zusammenarbeiten, entscheiden und Verträge gestalten? Fest steht: Für die Lösung unserer aktuellen Herausforderungen brauchen wir neue Impulse. Daher suchen wir weiter nach Methoden, Vorbildern, Erfahrungen, Tools und Ideen, die uns dem Kern von New Work näherbringen. Darüber hinaus beschäftigt uns von Anfang an die Frage, ob wirklich alle Menschen das finden und leben können, was sie im Innersten wirklich, wirklich wollen. Ihr seid bei On the Way to New Work, heute mit Kai Stübane. [Hier](https://linktr.ee/onthewaytonewwork) findet ihr alle Links zum Podcast und unseren aktuellen Werbepartnern

The smallest AI update that'll change your work? ChatGPT's new Codex remote control update.

Jim Shaughnessy, Chief Legal Officer at DocuSign, joins Scott Brown to share lessons from more than 20 years operating at the top of global legal teams.In this episode of Lessons I Learned in Law, Jim reflects on his role leading legal at DocuSign, a business best known for e-signature and now expanding into intelligent agreement management. He explains how DocuSign is helping businesses move beyond signing documents into managing agreements more intelligently, using AI, automation and better contract visibility.Jim's first lesson is that an in-house legal career is not always about the law. For senior lawyers, influence is everything: being in the room when important decisions are made, being sought out when the issue is broader than pure legal advice, and helping the business get important things done.His second lesson is a reminder that influence only works if it is underpinned by technical excellence. Lawyers may contribute to strategy, policy and commercial decision-making, but when the issue is legal, they need to be precise, trusted and properly prepared.Finally, Jim discusses the importance of professional identity. At every stage of a legal career, lawyers need to understand what success looks like in their role, which relationships matter most, and how to build credibility for the next step. He also shares his perspective on AI, why legal teams should embrace change, and how junior lawyers can create real impact by experimenting with new tools.This episode is brought to you in partnership with Wordsmith AI — the legal AI platform built specifically for in-house teams.Guest RecommendationsSong: Talk of the Town – The Pretenders Resources & Links Mentioned in This EpisodeRegister your interest in joining The Lodge In-house Legal Community: https://bit.ly/TheLodgebyHB Heriot Brown: https://heriotbrown.com/ Wordsmith AI: https://www.wordsmith.ai/ Legal Engineering Project Application form: https://wordsmith.fillout.com/legalengproject Listen to the Podcast Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/4 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/Connect with Heriot Brownhttps://heriotbrown.com/ About Heriot Brown: At Heriot Brown, we help lawyers find fulfilment in their careers. Beyond recruitment, we foster a thriving community of in-house legal professionals who share insights, experiences, and growth opportunities.Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to Lessons I Learned in Law, leave a review, and share it with someone building their career in legal leadership.Chapters:00:00 Intro – Jim Shaughnessy & DocuSign 03:12 Beyond e-signature – DocuSign IAM 10:52 Lesson 1 – Influence matters most 18:06 Building influence as a junior lawyer 24:38 AI leadership & visibility in legal teams 29:28 Using influence at the right time 36:58 Lesson 2 – Be an excellent lawyer first 44:54 One-way vs two-way door decisions 48:43 Lesson 3 – Professional identity matters 01:01:44 Hot or Not, AI & closing thoughts  

Michelle Li, founder of Clever Carbon and Women in Climate, joins Jennifer and Kati to talk about making carbon literacy accessible, engaging, and even joyful.Michelle started her career in Silicon Valley with stints at Salesforce and DocuSign. In 2020, frustrated by the boring, acronym-heavy content she encountered while trying to learn about carbon footprints, she launched Clever Carbon to demystify emissions using the power of numbers. (Think: Nutrition labels, but for carbon.)We also talk about Women in Climate, her nonprofit that has grown to include 35,000 LinkedIn followers, 7,000 members in its global Slack community, and more than 1,200 climate professionals in its speaker database. And we can't forget the Carbon Newbie Summit, which is an annual highlight of New York Climate Week!Have a question for us? Email us today at engagingesg@gmail.com.Learn more about us at https://bit.ly/EngagingESGpod. Show Links Learn more about Michelle Li. Learn more about Clever Carbon. Join Women in Climate. Learn more about the Carbon Newbie Summit. Read Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Watch 3 Body Problem. Watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.  Our theme music is "Lost in Translation" by Wendy Marcini and Elvin Vangard. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Health Innovation Summit ICYMI episode, features a panel on Rural Health Transformation, moderated by Avery Muse, following a DocuSign/Microsoft “Medicare Connect” demo showing verified digital ID, secure record access, consent signing, appointments, claims status, and transportation support. Panelists from HHS, CMS, cybersecurity, and DocuSign discuss rural challenges: 20% of the U.S. is rural, staffing can be 60% or less, 180+ rural hospital closures since 2010, and one-third of rural patients drive 25+ miles for care, with rural areas leading in chronic disease. They explain the $50B CMS-managed program, state applications and allocations, CMS oversight via a PMO, spending guardrails across 11 categories, and clawback authority. Voyagers Program | ACT-IAC A Hell of a Regiment: To Gettysburg and Beyond with the Twentieth Maine | ACT-IAC Summary - A Hole in One with ACT-IACSubscribe on your favorite podcast platform to never miss an episode! For more from ACT-IAC, follow us on LinkedIn or visit http://www.actiac.org.Learn more about membership at https://www.actiac.org/join.Donate to ACT-IAC at https://actiac.org/donate. Intro/Outro Music: See a Brighter Day/Gloria TellsCourtesy of Epidemic Sound(Episodes 1-159: Intro/Outro Music: Focal Point/Young CommunityCourtesy of Epidemic Sound)

In this hard-hitting episode, Joe dives deep into the growing global conversation surrounding the Great Replacement a cultural and demographic shift affecting Western nations from Australia and Europe to right here in America. From courts favoring immigrants over citizens in the name of “inclusivity,” to the collapse of public education where children are taught Critical Race Theory instead of reading and writing, Joe exposes how everyday Americans are being pushed to the back of the line in their own homeland. Powerful on-the-ground clips, including a Philadelphia teen facing expulsion for exposing illiteracy in his classroom and disturbing examples of normalized anti-white harassment, paint a raw picture of a society many no longer recognize.The fight against systemic failure continues with returning guests Mike Morris and Steve Smith, who share their exhausting 13-year legal odyssey in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. What began as a simple slander lawsuit and Chapter 11 bankruptcy to protect their property spiraled into trustee overreach, disputed settlement funds, a forged email scandal, and even detention by the U.S. Marshals without a warrant. Despite a jury victory in May 2025, they're still battling to recover damages and hold accountable those who they say manipulated the bankruptcy system against them. Their story is a sobering look at how the courts and trustees can turn justice into a weapon.Finally, Sherry McGann joins the show to recount her devastating battle in paradise. After investing over $1.5 million into her dream eco-tourism mushroom farm on Maui, Sherry says she was betrayed by business partners with alleged China connections, locked out of her own property through forged DocuSign documents. Her ongoing bankruptcy and legal fight expose shocking allegations of partnership deception and institutional stonewalling.Don't miss this compelling episode packed with real stories of Americans fighting back against a system that feels stacked against them.

Guest Bio: Michelle Wagner is Vice President and Head of Internal Audit at DocuSign, where she leads global audit strategy and helps the organization strengthen governance, risk management, and internal controls while supporting a culture of integrity and accountability. With more than 25 years of experience across consulting and industry, Michelle has held leadership roles at Deloitte, Costco, and SAP, where she led large audit portfolios, built high-performing teams, and drove governance and risk transformation initiatives across complex global organizations. Michelle is known for her practical, people-centered approach to risk leadership and for translating complex risk insights into clear, actionable guidance. She is passionate about mentoring emerging leaders and helping organizations move from reactive risk management to proactive, insight-driven decision-making. Show Notes: Risk is often framed as technical work, but at its core, it is deeply human. In this episode of Great Women in Compliance, Dr. Hemma Lomax sits down with Michelle Wagner, Head of Internal Audit at DocuSign, to explore how curiosity, empathy, and partnership help organizations manage risk more effectively and build stronger ethical cultures. Michelle shares insights from a career spanning consulting and global leadership roles, reflecting on the moments that shaped her leadership philosophy and the lessons she has learned about influencing without authority, building trust, and helping teams see risks as opportunities to improve rather than problems to avoid. Together, they discuss the evolving role of internal audit, the importance of collaboration across risk functions, and how emerging technologies such as AI can help leaders identify patterns and generate insights while reinforcing the need for human judgment. This conversation is a reminder that great risk leaders don't just protect organizations — they help them succeed. Episode highlights: Why risk management is fundamentally a leadership discipline Lessons from moving from consulting to executive leadership roles What makes an internal audit function truly valuable How audit, compliance, and business teams can partner effectively The role of curiosity and psychological safety in surfacing risks Michelle's perspective on AI and the future of risk management Leadership lessons from mentoring and building teams

How do you find your first customers? It's a question first-time founders are often flummoxed by. But Keith Krach has developed a tried-and-true strategy—starting during his days at Ariba (which sold for billions), and extending into his current time as chairman of Docusign. In this special live edition of Problem Solvers, taped at Entrepreneur Live in 2018, Keith explains how to turn a company's first customers into valuable ambassadors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Avanish and Rob discuss: Canva's two-step mission — grow as large as possible in order to do as much good as possible, including giving away over $1 billion in software annually and serving 100+ million students worldwide The cupcake framework for platform architecture — the "cake" is the core product for everyone; "frosting and sprinkles" are the enterprise-specific features, keeping the product intuitive across all customer segments From PLG to enterprise — how Canva is making the shift from buyer-led growth to a seller-led motion, and why that requires sales, enterprise marketing, and a deliberate partner ecosystem Building the "most pluggable platform" — Canva's ecosystem philosophy: agency partners, integration partners (including OpenAI and Anthropic/Claude), and strategic partners like Deloitte and EY each play distinct, purpose-built roles AI as infrastructure, not a feature — with 28 billion AI interactions in the product, Rob explains why Canva thinks of itself as an AI platform that does great design, and how new features like Magic Layers were built by starting with the customer problem, not the technology Show Description This season features conversations with key decision-makers who have shaped the evolution of today's leading technology platforms and ecosystems. We talk to C-suite executives, board members, investors, and others who must be brought into the platform journey. In this episode, Avanish and Rob discuss how Canva is scaling from a beloved consumer product to a global enterprise platform—and the frameworks, partner strategies, and customer-first principles guiding that evolution. About Rob Giglio: Rob Giglio is Chief Customer Officer at Canva, where he leads the company's go-to-market, enterprise, and ecosystem strategy as Canva scales from a beloved consumer product to a global business platform. Rob brings a rare cross-industry perspective to platform building, having spent the early part of his career at world-class consumer brands including Procter & Gamble, Clorox, Gap, and Williams-Sonoma before moving into tech. He served in senior leadership roles at Adobe, DocuSign, and HubSpot before joining Canva. That consumer-first lens—centered on brand clarity, customer orientation, and ease of use—shapes how he thinks about product, partnerships, and growth. At Canva, Rob is focused on helping businesses of all sizes realize the value of design and communication as a platform capability, while building an ecosystem that is, in his team's words, "as easy to integrate with as Canva is to use." About Canva Canva is a global visual communication platform used by more than 260 million people every month. Founded in Australia, Canva makes design accessible to everyone—from students and solo creators to the world's largest enterprises. The company recently crossed $4 billion in ARR and gives away over $1 billion in software annually through its education programs, serving more than 100 million students worldwide. Canva's platform includes AI-powered design tools, an open API ecosystem, and integrations with leading platforms including OpenAI and Anthropic. Learn more at canva.com. Host Avanish Sahai Avanish Sahai is a Tidemark Fellow and served as a Board Member of Hubspot from 2018 to 2023; he currently serves on the boards of Birdie.ai, Flywl.com and Meta.com.br as well as a few non-profits and educational boards. Previously, Avanish served as the vice president, ISV and Apps partner ecosystem of Google from 2019 until 2021. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the global vice president, ISV and Technology alliances at ServiceNow.  From 2014 to 2015, he was the senior vice president and chief product officer at Demandbase.  Prior to Demandbase, Avanish built and led the Appexchange platform ecosystem team at Salesforce, and was an executive at Oracle and McKinsey & Company, as well as various early to mid-stage startups in Silicon Valley. About Tidemark Tidemark is a venture capital firm, foundation, and community built to serve category-leading technology companies as they scale.  Tidemark was founded in 2021 by David Yuan, who has been investing, advising, and building technology companies for over 20 years.  Learn more at www.tidemarkcap.com. Links Follow our host, Avanish Sahai Learn more about Tidemark

Hiring an executive assistant in real estate changed everything about how I run my business. Out of 100 emails, I only see 5.Most agents who are scaling past 50 deals a year make the same mistake: they hire someone and then hand her the wrong things. They turn a high-level executive assistant into a glorified errand runner and then wonder why they are still doing everything that matters. This conversation breaks down exactly how to structure the role so your assistant actually creates leverage instead of just filling a desk.Here is what we get into:✅ The exact division between hiring an executive assistant in real estate and what your transaction coordinator should handle, these are two completely different jobs and mixing them up costs you money✅ Why her phone number goes into the MLS and yours does not, this is the foundation of a working real estate leverage system that protects your time without your clients feeling neglected✅ How to structure real estate assistant onboarding from day one so she is filtering emails, preparing CMAs before listing appointments, sending DocuSign, and taking every inbound call between 8 and 5✅ The real estate transaction coordinator vs assistant decision, when to keep your TC on a per-transaction basis versus when it makes financial sense to bring that role in-house✅ How to build real estate team systems and SOPs using screen recordings so your processes are documented and duplicatable before you actually need them✅ A probate lead follow up breakdown, what to say when a seller keeps telling you it is not a good time, and why polite pushback beats passive patience every single time✅ The real estate admin assistant duties that belong in your EA role from week one versus the ones that can wait until volume demands it✅ How to delegate in real estate the right way so your clients always feel like you are present and involved even when you are not on the call

In this episode, I'm talking with Sandy MacDonald, Senior Director and Head of Legal Operations at DocuSign. Sandy is recognised for building an "ahead of the curve" team that treats AI not just as a tool, but as a collaborative digital assistant embedded into the very fabric of their workflow.We talk about the cultural shift of AI adoption and how focusing on individual "pain points". You'll hear perspectives on "human-in-the-loop" governance and why the most successful legal teams are moving away from "AI slop" toward high-value, verified automation that lawyers actually trust.Overcoming the Fear of Replacement: Sandy explains that the primary cultural hurdle is fear; however, she emphasises that AI won't replace lawyers, but lawyers who use AI will replace those who do not.The "Foot in the Door" Strategy: Instead of massive overhauls, the team focuses on "narrow use cases" such as using Gemini to generate images for presentations - to build curiosity and comfort."Human-in-the-Loop" Governance: DocuSign implements a strict governance model where humans remain responsible for validating every piece of AI-generated output.Peer-to-Peer Learning Over Formal Training: Sandy shares why monthly "AI wins" segments in Town Halls are more contagious and effective than top-down mandates or formal one-hour training sessions.Criteria for AI Adoption: How to identify the best starting points for automation by looking for tasks that are high-volume but low-risk, such as processing customer questionnaires.The Evolution of Legal Ops: The shift in the Legal Ops role from being CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management) experts to becoming "AI evangelists" and builders who design their own custom workflows.--------Each week I take what I'm hearing in conversations with legal leaders.I analyze the market and track emerging trends in this AI era.In my newsletter called The Future Lawyer Market Intel for the AI eraI'm focused on:What AI is exposingThe opportunitiesThe blind spotsAnd the shifts shaping the next five years.This is how you see the chessboard before everyone else does:https://hollycope.my.canva.site/thefuturelawyer Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alan Perry is joined by Gary Beyer, Owner of Tesseract Computers to cover the latest in tech, including Apple iOS 26.4.1 bug-fix updates, scam alerts (parking ticket texts, fake Shaw emails, CRA and DocuSign scams, and bank fraud calls), Apple app update changes, satellite-to-mobile expansion, AI developments, telecom deals, and more. Kathryn Abbott discusses the University of Calgary setting a Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people dressed as dinosaurs. All this and more.

What happens when a coworking operator gets completely fed up with their tech stack… and decides to build their own solution? That's exactly what Dan Wesson and Chelle Peterson did. Dan and Chelle are the co-founders of The Post Workspace and CoLevel, and I've known them since they went through Coworking Startup School back in 2018. It has been so fun to watch their journey from launching their space in Tucson to building a platform that's now helping operators all over the world. They didn't set out to create software. They just wanted to run a better coworking space. But after juggling Calendly, DocuSign, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, social schedulers, answering services… and still missing leads, still feeling overwhelmed, still wondering what was falling through the cracks… they hit a breaking point. So they fixed it. We talk about: – What they were actually dealing with behind the scenes before building CoLevel – The moment they realized their tech stack was holding them back – Why speed to lead is one of the biggest missed opportunities in coworking – How automation can increase hospitality (not replace it) – What it looks like to compete with larger operators without a big team If you've ever felt like your tech stack is running you instead of the other way around… this one will hit home. Resources Mentioned in this Podcast: Daniel Wesson on LinkedIn Chelle Peterson on LinkedIn CoLevel What Every Coworking Operator Needs to Know About Lease Renewals Everything Coworking Featured Resources: Masterclass: 3 Behind-the-Scenes Secrets to Opening a Coworking Space Coworking Startup School Community Manager University Follow Us on YouTube

Within his first 90 days at Docusign, Blake Grayson recognized the company needed to make difficult efficiency decisions following a post-COVID slowdown. Acting quickly, he partnered with leadership to address the issue, noting that “making the hard decision faster is way better than waiting,” Grayson tells us. That moment set the tone for how he approaches finance leadership—decisive, data-driven, and focused on forward momentum.That same mindset now shapes how he views Docusign's evolution. Long known as the “default eSignature business,” Grayson tells us, the company serves over 1.8 million customers worldwide. Yet he emphasizes that the real opportunity lies beyond the signature itself. “There's so much more to an agreement than just the act of the signature,” he tells us, pointing to missed renewal clauses and buried pricing terms as examples of untapped value.This realization underpins Docusign's push into intelligent agreement management. Early results suggest traction: the platform reached more than $350 million in annualized recurring revenue within 18 months, Grayson tells us, contributing to a broader milestone of over $1 billion in both billings and free cash flow. Still, he remains measured, describing the progress as “early validation” while acknowledging the company is “in the early innings,” he tells us.Across these moments, a consistent theme emerges. Whether evaluating operational efficiency or unlocking customer value, Grayson's approach centers on acting with clarity and speed—using finance not as a constraint, but as a catalyst for disciplined growth.

Story of the Week (DR):Elon Musk's SpaceX set to go public in $1 trillion share listingElon Musk's rocket and satellite company SpaceX has confidentially filed for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange CommissionThe firm could seek a valuation of $1.75 trillion with a public listing around June.A confidential filing means that SpaceX will submit its financials to the SEC before revealing them to the public, which must occur at least 15 days before the IPO roadshow.Musk owns 42% of the SpaceX now, according to Pitchbook, though that figure will change with the IPO when new owners are issued shares.Among current SpaceX owners is Donald Trump Jr, the president's oldest son. He owns a shares through 1789 Capital. That venture capital firm made him a partner shortly after his father won the presidency for a second time and has been buying up federal contractors seeking to win taxpayer money ever since.The White House and Trump himself have repeatedly denied there are any conflicts of interest between his role as president and his family's businesses.Public investors may get low-vote shares, while insiders could hold super-voting stock with roughly 10 to 20 votes per share, if the reported structure is adopted.Reports suggest SpaceX has been adding board members as it prepares for the IPO process.The company's board has historically included Elon Musk, Gwynne Shotwell, Antonio Gracias, Luke Nosek, Steve Jurvetson, and Donald Harrison in reporting about its governance.Gwynne Shotwell is widely reported as president and COO, and Bret Johnsen as CFOBig Banks Seeking a Piece of SpaceX's I.P.O. Must Subscribe to Elon Musk'sMusk is requiring Wall Street firms to purchase subscriptions to his A.I. chatbot if they want to advise on one of the largest initial public offerings in history.Air Canada CEO will retire this year after his English-only crash message was criticizedMichael Rousseau is stepping down following a massive public outcry after he delivered a condolence video almost entirely in English regarding a fatal plane crash that killed a French-speaking pilot.Critics and politicians, including Quebec's Premier, were outraged that Rousseau failed to fulfill a high-profile 2021 promise to learn French, viewing his English-only response to a tragedy as a sign of deep cultural disrespect.Air Canada's board has launched a global search for a successor and explicitly stated that fluency in both English and French is now a non-negotiable requirement for the next CEO.The company clarified that while a "comprehensive internal development program" has been in place for two years, the recent controversy accelerated the timeline for his departure.Rousseau will officially retire at the end of the third quarter (September 30, 2026), staying on until then to ensure a "seamless transition" and assist the board during the handover.Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau initially stated he did not intend to step down following backlash over an English-only video regarding a runway incidentElon Musk called the decision “crazy” and suggested “it is not reciprocal.”“There are many one-sided laws in Canada that mandate French at the expense of English,” he posted to X, along with a Grok answering his request to provide a list of Canada's French language laws and explain “how this is hypocritical compared to no English mandate laws.”“Extremely hypocritical and unfair!”Oracle fired up to 30,000 workers via email after a 95% profit surge. Tech companies are cutting almost 1,000 jobs/day DROracle Corp.'s mass layoffs on Tuesday were part of the company's cost-cutting measures as it continues to build out expensive data centers for powering artificial intelligence.But one aspect of the mass layoffs — which were estimated to be as many as 30,000 people — was alerting workers over email at 6 a.m. Eastern that Tuesday would be their last day.The terse message, sent to workers in multiple regions and time zones, carried no executive name and was instead signed off simply as 'Oracle Leadership.'“We are sharing some difficult news regarding your position.After careful consideration of Oracle's current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change. As a result, today is your last working day.We are grateful for your dedication, hard work, and the impact you have made during your time with us.After signing your termination paperwork, you will be eligible to receive a severance package subject to the terms and conditions of the severance plan. You will receive an email from DocuSign to your Oracle email address with details on your severance and termination date.Immediate Action RequiredTo receive important follow-up information, including FAQs and separation documents to help you through this transition, you must provide a personal email address.Please click here to submit a personal email address immediately. If you make a submission error, please re-submit a new form. Please Note: The personal email address will only be used for correspondence regarding separation-related information and severance agreements.Access to your computer, email, voicemail, and files will be deactivated soon, and you will be unable to log into your computer. As a reminder, you are prohibited from downloading, copying or retaining (including emailing yourself) any Oracle confidential information.Thank you for your contributions to our organization. If you have additional questions, please reach out to the HR team via the Ask HR page or at (888) 404-2494.Oracle Leadership”“After careful consideration of Oracle's current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role,” an email to one affected employee, obtained by MarketWatch, read.Survivors of the cuts were allegedly told by senior management that they would need to 'ramp up efficiency' and 'stretch' to cover the workload left by departed colleagues, a suggestion that many are resisting.Allegations that automated tools influenced redundancy decisions have become a central issue in the fallout.Iran Claims Oracle Strike in UAE as Dubai Attack Fears EscalateAnti-DEI crusade:Trump ousts Pam Bondi as attorney generalTrump Tells Karoline Leavitt She's 'Doing a Terrible Job,' Asks 'Should We Keep Her?'Is Kash Patel Getting Fired? FBI Director Might Be Next After Pam Bondi OustingHegseth ousts top Army generalArmy Chief of State Gen. Randy George.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Army's chief of staff had recently clashed over promotions, leading to his eventual ouster.Hegseth reportedly told Gen. Randy George to pull the names of four Army officers from a list of promotions to the rank of one-star general. The list consisted of about three dozen officers, most of whom were white men. However, two of them were Black and two were women, and those were the names Hegseth wanted removed.According to The New York Times, George refused, citing the officers' history of exemplary service. George reportedly asked Hegseth to meet two weeks ago to discuss the matter, but Hegseth declined. The defense secretary then struck the officers' names from the promotion list, even though it's not clear he has the authority to do so, per The Times.Hegseth has repeatedly taken steps to block or delay the promotions of Black and female senior officers in all four branches of the military.Secretary of the ArmyLabor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemerArmy Secretary Daniel Driscoll (26th Secretary of the Army)2004–2007 Student (B.S. Business Administration)2007–2011 Military service: Officer2011 Investment Banking Associate2011–2014 JDCandidateYale Law School2014–2015 Judicial Clerk2016–2019 Venture Capital Executive Winston-Salem, NC2020Congressional Candidate (NC-11)US House of Representatives (Campaign)2021–2023 Chief Operating Officer (COO) Flex Capital Management LLC2023–2024 Chief Strategy Officer On Call Physician StaffingJ.D. Vance / Senior Advisor 2024 Senior Advisor Donald Trump Presidential Campaign2025–26th Secretary of the ArmyChristine Wormuth (25th Secretary of the Army)1995–1996 Presidential Management Intern Department of Defense1996–2002 Policy Officer / French Desk Officer Office of the Secretary of Defense2002–2006 Principal (Consulting) DFI Government Services2007–2008 Staff Director (Jones Commission) Independent Commission on Iraq Security Forces2008–2009 Senior Fellow Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS)2009–2010 Prin. Dep. Asst. Secretary (Homeland Defense) US Department of Defense2010–2012 Special Asst. to the President / Senior Director National Security Council (White House)2012–2014 Dep. Under Secretary (Strategy, Plans, Forces) US Department of Defense2014–2016 Under Secretary of Defense for Policy US Department of Defense2017–2021 Director, International Defense & Security Center RAND Corporation2021–2025 25th Secretary of the Army Goodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: Judge rules Trump order eliminating NPR, PBS funding is unconstitutionalDR: United Airlines and flight attendants reached a tentative deal with $740 million in bonusesMM: Amazon to add 3.5% fuel and logistics surcharge for sellers as Iran war drives up energy pricesGO TO A LOCAL STORE!Assholiest of the Week (MM):Lying-iestChevron and Microsoft Team Up for Giant Texas Gas Power PlantTeam includes Chevron, Microsoft, and ENGINE NO 1Microsoft pledged to be carbon NEGATIVE by 2050Since they keep doing things like building gas plants, they're relying on carbon credits through reforestation to hit their targetSo they went out to buy the credits and picked a company called Mombak, a startup that has signed massive reforestation deals for Amazon reforestation but has yet to actually produce a carbon credit yet, has only started in theory, and the company admits there's still little information on how to quantify the carbon absorption in restoration projects.Despite that, Microsoft and Google both made massive investments to look green as they build out data farms for AI no one asked forEngine No 1, meanwhile, after its climate-darling turn at Exxon 5 years ago, has taken its all white male executive team AND board with climate investment banking and VC/PE expertise to partner with Chevron, who celebrated the Big Bullshit BIll that rolled back renewables and decided to happily take Venezuelan oil at the behest of TrumpInvestor-iestFirst, the results from investors at Starbucks:Average 95.7% approve of the boardMarissa Mayer, the new and highly interlocked director, got a team high 99% approvalResults were more correlated with drink disclosures by directors than performance metricsDespite campaigns by New York State, NYC, Mercyside, Trillium, and others to target Beth Ford and Jorgen Knudstorp, as well as advice from ISS to target just Beth Ford (absurd), given labor issues, Andy Campion instead had the lowest vote total at 87% for reasons that are unclearAnd of course…Then, the reason why there was a campaign to vote out directors in the first place:Starbucks to offer baristas up to $1,200 a year in bonusesWith this nugget:Baristas at unionized locations are unlikely to see the bonus program right away. At approximately five percent of its U.S. locations where employees have union representation, Starbucks acknowledged that federal labor law requires the bonus program to go through the collective bargaining process before it can take effect. According to CNBC, the two sides have not made meaningful progress at the bargaining table in over a yearAI-iestJack Dorsey says he wants 6,000 Block employees reporting straight to himThey already do asshat, you have dual class controlSam Altman says he 'miscalibrated' the mood of distrust toward AI and the government in the Pentagon dealNvidia CEO Jensen Huang's advice to workers scared of AI: You're just confusing your job with the tools you use to do itLarry Ellison Says AI Now Does Oracle's Coding Amid Mass Layoffs—3 Strategic Moves for Tech Workers (Oracle Fires 30,000 With a Cold 6 a.m. Email: Here's What It Said That Devastated Teams)Marc Andreessen says AI layoffs are a farce: Companies are 75% overstaffed, and AI is the ‘silver bullet excuse' to clean house DR“Essentially, every large company is overstaffed,” he said. “It's at least overstaffed by 25%. I think most large companies are overstaffed by 50%. I think a lot of them are overstaffed by 75%.” He added, “Now they all have the silver bullet excuse: Ah, it's AI.”So despite record profits every single year, increasing CEO pay, companies are OVERSTAFFED? They get paid less than inflation, and they have TOO MANY people? Some populist math:Assume “every large company” is companies with market cap > $20bn (~415 companies)Total employment as of last year: 27,795,346Total estimated employed people in US: 162,900,000 (62% labor participation)“Every large company” is 17% of all US employmentCurrently, 7,239,000 unemployed in USAndreessens mid point - “most large companies are overstaffed by 50%” - means he thinks they'll blame AI but that they “overemployed” by 13,897,717He is suggesting they are ALL FIREABLE because they are OVERSTAFFEDEmployment goes from 162,900,000 to 149,002,283, unemployment goes to 21,136,717, and the unemployment rate goes to 12% overnight - a 3x increase on the 4% it's at nowBecause Marc Andreessen thinks we're overstaffed… I wonder why…Studies historically have shown that the few days after layoffs stocks are down - but it depends on the reason for the layoff. Proactive layoffs (not a result of down financials, for instance) are rewardedRecent studies show that layoffs actually push stocks UP as time goes one - up to 22% cumulative return over normal 30 days out, and 5% 10 days out. Let's assume a 5% bump for all the proactive AI job cut assholes - the Block and Oracles of the world Other studies show that CEO pay goes up after layoffs if performance improves - so cutting staff for AI pushes stock up, stock up is better performance, CEO pay goes up Using the CEO pay ratio, the “cost savings” of cutting 14m employees is ~$1.4 TRILLION dollars (that's $1.4tn no longer in the hands of people who would be buying stuff like food and houses and gas and rubber chickens and inflatable pool floats)The cuts would add $3tn to market cap of all companies, save $1.4tn in employee costs - the average CEO pay ratio would go from 306 to 319, and the average CEO would make $22m moreThis isn't about overstaffing or AI - this is about CEOs getting paidHeadliniest of the WeekDR: CEO of Epic Games apologizes after laying off employee with terminal brain cancerDR: BlackRock CEO admits 'woke' era went too farDR: Raising Cane's CEO says he doesn't care for this one menu item, but had to sell it anyway: he always substitutes coleslaw for an extra piece of toastMM: New lawsuit alleges DraftKings and FanDuel are digital heroinMM: Scientists Say Half the World Could Be Nearsighted by 2050, and It's Not Just Screens. This Indoor Habit May Be WhySITTING IN THE DARK. This is where we're at as a society.Jamie Dimon Says…Jamie Dimon's warning: More geopolitical risk for America than since WWIIJamie Dimon blasts remote work as JPMorgan staff revolts over office mandateJamie Dimon says JPMorgan could do prediction markets — with big guardrailsJamie Dimon says the American Dream is ‘slipping out of reach'—and JPMorgan is spending billions to fix itJPMorgan's Jamie Dimon predicts AI will cut the working week to 3.5 days, cure cancers, and free up time for hobbiesWho Won the Week?DR: Angry French people in QuebecMM: Headhunting firms who suddenly can expect as much as 75% of large company employees to be calling them to find them workPredictionsDR: Air Canada hires a woman who speaks 845 languages who continually apologies for something she never didMM: Jamie Dimon says speaking French is stupid

What 50 years in insurance teaches about relationships, change, and why the basics still matter.In Episode 1 of The Long Game, Mitch Long sits down with Wes Connor to talk about how he got into insurance, what kept him in it, and what 50 years in the business has taught him.They get into family business, remote selling, hiring challenges, commercial and personal lines, and why life insurance still stands apart from products people are required to buy. It's a grounded look at what still matters in the business, what has changed, and why the basics still win.WHAT WE TALK ABOUTHow Wes Connor got into insurance in 1975From kitchen table sales to DocuSign and video callsWhy relationships still matter in a more digital businessWorking with family across generationsHiring challenges in today's insurance marketCommercial versus personal lines in a changing marketWhy life insurance feels different from mandatory coverageDisability, long-term care, and planning before it's too lateCHAPTERS00:20 – Mitch welcomes Wes Connor00:41 – How Wes got into the insurance business03:15 – Starting out and falling in love with the work05:21 – How selling insurance has changed over the years08:00 – Podcasts, technology, and the next generation in the business11:00 – Working with family and building an agency over time12:00 – Hiring challenges and the shortage of new agents16:23 – Disability insurance, income protection, and planning gaps16:52 – Wes breaks down his agency's commercial and personal lines mix19:19 – Why selling life insurance is more satisfying21:00 – Real examples of how life insurance changes outcomes for families23:29 – Long-term care, aging, and staying healthyConnect with Mitch Long: LinkedIn | KazInsurance | Read: Pagers & PayphonesConnect with Wes Connor: LinkedIn | Website | InstagramMore from the KazSource NetworkThe Real ROI of Podcasting — KazCMWhat Happened to CFB Bowl Games — SportsEpreneurRemote Work in Today's Financial Advisory Industry —Entrepreneur PerspectivesAbout This Podcast and SeriesThe Long Game is a series under Entrepreneur Perspectives. Produced by QuietLoud Studios — a modern media network and a KazSource brand.Get in touch with Eric Kasimov:X | LinkedInCredits:Music by Jess & Ricky — SoundCloud

If you're leading a $10M–$25M, multi-location, operations-heavy business, you likely have a strong team but still feel like too many decisions come back to you.In this episode, Alex sits down with Court Lorenzini, Founder & CEO of FounderNexus and a serial entrepreneur behind companies like DocuSign, who has raised over $300M and built multiple startups across decades.The conversation goes beyond startup success and into a problem every operator CEO faces: how your own leadership habits can quietly reduce ownership on your team.Court breaks down how even high-performing CEOs unintentionally limit proactivity by solving too quickly, optimizing too early, or stepping in before their leaders fully think things through.In this episode, you'll learn:Why “being the smartest problem-solver in the room” reduces team ownershipHow to identify your leadership superpower and its hidden downsideA simple mental pause that increases team contribution and initiativeHow to structure roles around strengths to drive better executionWhy the right community accelerates better decisions (and reduces costly mistakes)This is for you if:You still feel like the final decision-maker on too many issuesYour leaders bring problems, but not fully thought-out solutionsExecution slows down because everything routes back through youIf you want a team that thinks, owns, and executes without constant oversight, this episode will show you where to start.Listen now and share this with another CEO who's ready to step out of the bottleneck and build a team that runs faster without them.Take the free Executive Leadership Diagnostic here: www.gpsleadership.org/diagnostic

Top of the hour: President Trump waiving a U.S. shipping law for 60 days to steady oil markets... but not helping prices or markets in the early trade. Carl Quintanilla, David Faber, and Michael Santoli broke down the news before turning to longtime market veteran and Evercore strategist Julian Emanuel - along with Goldman's Co-Head of Global Commodities Research - with more on what could come next. Plus: a new era at Disney as new CEO Josh D'Amaro takes the reins... Former executive, of 15 years and onetime TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer weighed in on challenges ahead.    Also in focus: a fresh read on whether AI disruption fears should be believed when it comes to software - with the CEO of Docusign, fresh off earnings from the company... and a look at Washington State's first ever income tax - which includes a hitch for married couples.    Squawk on the Street Disclaimer Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this special segment of The Full Ratchet, the following Investors are featured: Ethan Austin of Outside VC Arianna Simpson of Andreessen Horowitz Navin Chaddha of Mayfield Each investor highlights a situation where they decided not to invest, why they passed, and how it played out. The host of The Full Ratchet is Nick Moran of New Stack Ventures, a venture capital firm committed to investing in founders outside of the Bay Area. We're proud to partner with Ramp, the modern finance automation platform. Book a demo and get $150—no strings attached.   Want to keep up to date with The Full Ratchet? Follow us on social. You can learn more about New Stack Ventures by visiting our LinkedIn and Twitter.

Today, I'm talking with Allan Thygesen, who is the CEO of Docusign. You know Docusign, it's the platform that lets you sign stuff online. It turns out 7,000 people work there, which is one of those facts floating around that's always felt like perfect Decoder bait. What are all those people doing? And what kind of product roadmap does a company like Docusign even need? Alan has only been CEO of Docusign for three years, so he has some interesting perspective on where the company was, the changes he wanted to make, and where he thinks this is all going. Hint: it involves AI.  Links:  Docusign's AI will help you understand what you're signing | Fast Company Docusign on ‘transformational journey,' CEO Says | Bloomberg How Docusign Is modernizing the age-old business contract | Barron's Docusign unveils next-gen eSignature with AI | Docusign Docusign brings its contract AI to ChatGPT | Docusign Interview with Docusign CEO Allan Thygesen | Motley Fool (Podcast) Subscribe to The Verge to access the ad-free version of Decoder! Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Decoder is produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and edited by Ursa Wright. Our editorial director is Kevin McShane.  The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices