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John Raffaele is the Director of Educational Services at the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP), with over 40 years of experience in the human services field. Throughout his career, John has focused on direct support, social work, professional education, and workforce development. He has made significant contributions to training and mentoring thousands of direct support professionals across North America. John is recognized for elevating the professional identity and voice of direct support professionals, helping shape a respected workforce committed to dignity, inclusion, and ethical practice.Episode Summary:In this episode of DSP Talk, host Asheley Blaise and guest John Raffaele discuss the timely evolution and integral revisions of the NADSP Code of Ethics. Amidst changing societal dynamics and post-COVID-19 realizations, the conversation delves into why this ethical framework needed to adapt. John, a veteran in human services, highlights the transition from a primarily custodial focus to a recognition of direct support as a specialized, essential profession. This transformation aligns with broader themes such as person-centered support, cultural humility, technology, justice, and equity, which are increasingly central to the field of direct support.As the episode unfolds, the discussion emphasizes the need for ethics that adapt with the times, fostering not just skills but a culture of respect, inclusion, and professional growth among direct support professionals. John underscores how the revised code embodies these modern issues, including increasing professional recognition and self-care importance for DSPs. This commitment to evolving best practices ensures that direct support professionals continue to enrich the lives of those they serve, fostering a supportive, self-directed, and dignified environment for individuals with disabilities.Key Takeaways:The NADSP Code of Ethics has been updated to reflect contemporary challenges and priorities, particularly in the wake of COVID-19, highlighting the profound role of DSPs.Core values such as person-centered support, respect, and dignity remain central, emphasizing the nuanced, complex nature of direct support work.Modern elements like technology, social media, and cultural humility are included in the revised code to ensure relevance and efficacy in DSP practices.The new Code stresses professionalism, integrity, and self-care, imparting that DSPs must bring their best selves to their roles to support others effectively.Notable Quotes:"We need to help guide direct support professionals with more than just mandatory health and safety training; we have to contribute an ethical code." — John Raffaele"The revised Code of Ethics speaks directly to DSPs, elevating their role and acknowledging their professional contributions." — John Raffaele"Being person-centered means my loyalty, my allegiance, the reason I'm employed, is based on that person." — John Raffaele"Ethics are not just something we hang on a wall; they're something we live in every conversation and choice." — Ashley BlaiseResources:National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals (NADSP) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“This my first time doing a sit down situation so you can say I beat the streets” ~ Jose Guapo In this exclusive interview conducted by Lalaa Shepard, Jose Guapo opens up about recently coming home from jail, sobriety, beating his cases, personal growth, and entering a healthier space mentally, physically, and spiritually. Guapo speaks honestly about serving time, jail conditions, being treated like a regular person while incarcerated, and people taking photos of him while he was locked up. Jose Guapo also reflects on losing his father and brother and explains how those losses changed his outlook on life. He shares why he is now more focused on accountability, discipline, peace, health, and building his legacy moving forward. During the conversation, Guapo discusses the Rich Kidz era impact, Atlanta music culture, the impact of “Take Me Thru Dere,” and the influence of the “A Futuristic Summa” and “FILA25” projects. He also reveals that rapper Breskii, who appears on “Take Me Thru Dere,” is his real-life blood sister. Guapo also discusses upcoming music, why a lot of his catalog is currently unavailable on DSPs, and his upcoming project “Son Of A Giant: Forever B-Shot.” In addition, Jose Guapo speaks on his relationship with T.I. and how T.I. stepped up for him following the passing of his father. He also shares thoughts on the Gucci Mane and Pooh Shiesty situation, and Hoodrich Pablo Juan's Welcome Home concert. The Atlanta rapper also reflects on the lives and legacies of Young Scooter, Trouble, Rich Homie Quan, and Takeoff while discussing the responsibility of carrying the torch for Atlanta culture. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joseguapo_backup/ https://www.instagram.com/lalaashep/ https://www.instagram.com/theprogressreport101/ https://www.instagram.com/tprmediagroup1/ Website: https://TPRMediaGroup.com Listen to us on Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-progress-report-podcast/id1494070183 Listen to us on Spotify Podcasts https://open.spotify.com/show/5sBgF6wWa7NmHraP2QuBEv?si=a0f5f19b8a494fb5 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Episode 327, the hosts welcome Brian Frost, a Salt Lake City-based/nationally working sound engineer specializing in executive keynotes, product launches, press events, and conferences, to discuss front of house vs streaming mixes, why corporate events today end up needing so many mixes to run smoothly, and much more. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.A recent contributor to Live Sound International magazine/ProSoundWeb, Brian has been sharing some killer insights into the world of high-end corporate audio on his blog and the magazine lately, and, along with Sean and Andy, he dug into those topics in this conversation. Particularly if you work corporate events of any scale, this is an episode not to miss — there's so much great, hard-learned info that Brian has to share!Episode Links:Brian Frost's Blog“The Quiet Signs: A Look At How To Determine When It's Time To Upgrade Your Console,” by Brian FrostEpisode 327 TranscriptNOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has released a new album — Hang The Moon: Part One — available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to the vinyl release or allow them to purchase digitally. And, Mike is hitting the road with Whitney Tai for “The Record Store Tour” starting May 23 in New Orleans. Find out more here.Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we'd love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there.
Discover how the future of TV advertising is shifting toward outcome-based measurement and AI-driven optimization coming out of the 2026 upfronts . iSpot CEO Sean Muller joins the show to break down their fundamental "Creative + Audience = Outcome" equation, the integration of their new AI platform Sage, and why the industry must prioritize trusted, neutral data over ongoing currency debates. Key Highlights
Today you will hear my conversation with the buzzy LA indie rock trio Kid Sistr, who join me to discuss their brand new EP 'American Teenage Prophecy,' writing odes to sapphic love, and filming "the first pregnancy by strap" for the title track's music video. It was, as you can imagine, a very unserious convo, and the most fun I've had talking to a band, probably ever. ✨ MORE ABOUT KID SISTR ✨Kid Sistr is a Los Angeles-based trio known for their blustering indie rock anthems about the most fun parts of being queer, with catchy new wave pop hooks. Their brand new EP, 'American Teenage Prophecy,' is out now. on all DSPs. ✨ KEEP UP TO DATE WITH KID SISTR ✨Instagram: instagram.com/kid_sistr/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kidsistrbandFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/kidsistrband/YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCeezaL2QtHFDEaE_R7m43yASpotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7ysZTe2PbCTqmC2tE1dpCkApple Music: music.apple.com/us/artist/kid-sistr/1506324271✨ CONNECT WITH IZZY ✨Blog: https://agrrrlstwosoundcents.comYouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCv6SBgiYCpYbx9BOYNefkIgInstagram: instagram.com/agrrrlstwosoundcents/Twitter: twitter.com/grrrlsoundcents
VII123 - Sean Tyas - Chrome (Will Rees Remix) Release: April 17th 2026 One of our most popular releases, with streams in the millions across all DSPs, Sean Tyas's Chrome was certainly a Crew favourite when it was originally released back in 2020. An iconic an instantly recognisable riff this was one of those tracks you could get a big crowd reaction from as soon as they heard the first teases of that oh so familiar melody. Now Welsh tech trance rising star Will Rees steps up tot he plate to deliver a slamming new remix that has all the power and punch of his recent masterpiece of a remix for John Askew's Recalibrate that we released last year. This is a perfect remix and a perfect tribute to one of our favs form the back catalogue.
In this episode of the Programmatic Digest, Hélène Parker and Assetou Kone dive into the evolving role of AI in programmatic advertising and campaign optimization. The conversation explores how media buyers and traders can use tools like ChatGPT and Claude to streamline workflows, analyze campaign data more efficiently, and uncover deeper optimization insights. Hélène opens the session by reframing optimization as more than simple "bid up, bid down" tactics. Instead, she explains how successful optimization requires hypothesis testing, strategic thinking, and understanding how DSP algorithms redistribute spend based on performance signals. Using practical examples, she demonstrates how removing underperforming inventory can improve overall campaign efficiency by reallocating budget toward higher-performing placements. Assetou walks through the fundamentals traders need before introducing AI into their workflows, emphasizing the importance of understanding campaign objectives across awareness, consideration, conversion, and loyalty stages. She explains how campaign goals directly influence which metrics traders should prioritize and optimize toward. The heart of the workshop focuses on prompt engineering and practical AI usage. Assetou demonstrates how traders can use AI to analyze site lists, identify inefficient domains, generate allow/block lists, surface top-performing inventory, and extract geo-level insights tied to real-world audience behavior. She also highlights how combining AI-generated insights with industry knowledge creates stronger strategic recommendations for clients. Throughout the discussion, Hélène and Assetou address common fears around AI and job security, explaining why traders who learn how to leverage AI tools will become more valuable — not less. They close by discussing the future of agentic AI within DSPs and how automation can help traders spend less time buried in spreadsheets and more time focusing on strategy and insight generation.
Episode 312 - IceMan ComethFirst lookout for #OFFTHEDOME: What's your dream “Best of Both Worlds” tour?
In Episode 326, guest co-host Aram Piligian returns to join Andy for the second half of their conversation with Chris Lapp, developer of the new Open Fabric Studio AV network management software and senior specialist solutions engineer at Cisco and ask all about “anything and everything” AV networking. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.Chris Lapp leads the design and delivery of mission-critical media and data center infrastructure at the intersection of broadcast, IP networking, and AI. With a background that spans live production, large-scale data center architectures, and modern software-defined systems, he helps organizations build platforms that are performant, resilient, and ready for what's next. Chris's work focuses on translating complex technical requirements into practical, scalable solutions that support real-time media workflows and high-stakes operations.In addition to his work with Cisco and developing Open Fabric Studio, Chris also serves as the vice president of Membership for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).Episode Links:STN Episode 325 (Chris Lapp Part 1)Open Fabric Studiojetfx (Personal Audio DSP + Guitar NAM)More About Chris LappEpisode 326 TranscriptNOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has released a new album — Hang The Moon: Part One — available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to the vinyl release or allow them to purchase digitally. And, Mike is hitting the road with Whitney Tai for “The Record Store Tour” starting May 23 in New Orleans. Find out more here.Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we'd love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there.
Episode 312 - IceMan ComethFirst lookout for #OFFTHEDOME: What's your dream “Best of Both Worlds” tour?
Today you will hear my conversation with NYC indie pop singer/songwriter Sabrina Song. We discuss her brand new EP, 'Big Trick,' inner conflicts that rarely resolve on their own, womanhood, and complex relationship dynamics. ✨ MORE SABRINA SONG ✨Sabrina Song is a an indie pop singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist known for her captivating lyrical prose and inventive melodies. As an active writer/producer in New York, she has collaborated with the likes of Merce Henderson, Pom Pom Squad, and NYC mainstay Sofia D'Angelo. Her new EP 'Big Trick,' is out tomorrow on all DSPs. ✨ KEEP UP TO DATE WITH SABRINA SONG ✨Web: https://www.sabrinasongmusic.comInstagram: instagram.com/iamsabrinasong/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sab_songYouTube: youtube.com/channel/UC2IlLw10fTPSTNNKI6ckb5wApple Music: music.apple.com/us/artist/sabrina-song/1086272715Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7JXdTCq0awJfHZMJJkG0AS✨ CONNECT WITH IZZY ✨Blog: https://agrrrlstwosoundcents.comYouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCv6SBgiYCpYbx9BOYNefkIgInstagram: instagram.com/agrrrlstwosoundcents/Twitter: twitter.com/grrrlsoundcents
In Episode 325, guest co-host Aram Piligian joins Andy to sit down with Chris Lapp, developer of the new Open Fabric Studio AV network management software and senior specialist solutions engineer at Cisco and ask all about anything and everything AV networking! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.This is the first of a two-part conversation where everything from switch configurations, the differences between Dante, AES67, and AVB/Milan, managed versus unmanaged switches, whether or not to use DHCP, and more was on the table.Chris Lapp leads the design and delivery of mission-critical media and data center infrastructure at the intersection of broadcast, IP networking, and AI. With a background that spans live production, large-scale data center architectures, and modern software-defined systems, he helps organizations build platforms that are performant, resilient, and ready for what's next. Chris's work focuses on translating complex technical requirements into practical, scalable approaches that support real-time media workflows and high-stakes operations. In addition to his work with Cisco and developing Open Fabric Studio, Chris also serves as the vice president of membership for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE).Episode Links:About Chris LappOpen Fabric Studiojetfx (Personal Audio DSP + Guitar NAM)Episode 325 TranscriptNOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has released a new album — Hang The Moon: Part One — available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to the vinyl release or allow them to purchase digitally. And, Mike is hitting the road with Whitney Tai for “The Record Store Tour” starting May 23 in New Orleans. Find out more here.Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we'd love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there.
In a week where:King Charles III visits the US.The US Supreme Court limits the Voting Rights Act, a Civil Rights-era law intended to protect minority voting power.Nigel Farage was given undisclosed £5m by crypto billionaire in 2024.A report UK stole 25m years of life and labour through slavery in Barbados alone.Elections throughout the UK will go down tomorrow.In Politics: (11:22) Palestine Action in Germany are getting similar treatment they got in the UK, setting the stage for a landmark trial that'll set a precedent for free speech in Germany. (Article By Hanno Hauenstein)In Environment: (25:41) The Indigenous peoples continue to live in the outskirts. But the Climate Crisis doesn't discriminate and it's punishing the Indigenous hard with little to no monetary support. (Article By Anita Hofschneider)In Music: (37:52) Gatekeeping in the arts is a perpetual battle that will go on forever. But with the control that DSPs and labels have, gatekeeping has changed significantly and deserves a fresh eye on the argument. (Article By Jon Tanners)Lastly, in Life: (54:03) Archiving is typically seen as a past-tense concept, which is correct of course, but it should also be seen as a Futurist concept. (Article By Amahra Spence)Thank you for listening! If you want to contribute to the show, whether it be sending me questions or voicing your opinion in any way, peep the contact links below and I'll respond accordingly. Let me know "What's Good?"Rate & ReviewE-Mail: the5thelelmentpub@gmail.comTwitter & IG: @The5thElementUKWebsite: https://the5thelement.co.ukPhotography: https://www.crt.photographyIntro Music - "Too Much" By VanillaInterlude - "Charismatic" By NappyHighChillHop MusicOther Podcasts Under The 5EPN:Diggin' In The Digits5EPN RadioBlack Women Watch...In Search of SauceThe Beauty Of Independence
The boys are back. Vinnie and Brendan are back for a weekend of boxing you can't afford to sleep on. Before they get into the fights, there's no shortage of news — from a massive heavyweight announcement that's been a long time coming, to promotional shake-ups and signings that are quietly reshaping the landscape.Then it's fight time. Two pound-for-pound monsters. Two cards that demand your attention. Inoue vs. Nakatani and Benavidez vs. Ramirez get the full breakdown — the styles, the stakes, the odds, and where each guy stands heading into the biggest weekend of the year. Predictions are locked in. Pop the Trunk streaming on YouTube, all DSPs and your favorite podcast app. @popthetrunk.pod
This week, Ari Paparo sits down with Andrew Casale, CEO of Index Exchange, for a detailed look at the company's latest push into cloud containerization. The discussion explores how deploying DSPs and data applications directly inside Index's cloud infrastructure could reframe economic and technical dynamics across programmatic advertising. Key themes include maturing industry standards (ARTF), how the move impacts privacy, data security, and efficiency, and the wider implications for buyers and partners. Ari and Andrew break down technical trade-offs, the economic upside, and what shifting core infrastructure into exchange clouds could mean for the future of bidding, measurement, and AI-driven performance. The episode also delivers a recap of the Possible event and analyzes current trends: ad tech consolidation, the expanding footprint of CTV and commerce media, identity solution shifts, and ongoing investment in AI and cloud from major platforms. If you want a practical take on current ad tech developments and where things are headed, this conversation is worth your time. Guests: Ari Paparo, Andrew Casale Chapters 00:00 Possible event recap and industry themes 02:00 Ad tech maturity and consolidation trends 05:00 AI, measurement, and optimism in the market 07:10 Episode format and upcoming interview preview 10:28 Big Tech earnings overview begins 10:43 Meta performance and AI driven growth 15:44 Google, Microsoft, and Amazon cloud surge 18:28 Key announcements from Possible 18:58 Pinterest data expands into CTV 19:54 PayPal launches deterministic Ad ID 21:12 TTD and commerce media integrations 23:03 Walmart pushes into CTV and SMB market 24:19 Magnite introduces agentic AI tools 26:03 HighTouch funding and CDP evolution 27:53 Universal Commerce Protocol adoption 29:45 Interview with Andrew Casale begins 30:47 Index Exchange containerization explained 33:16 Cost and speed advantages of edge compute 35:16 Agentic frameworks and future potential 39:03 DSP orchestration challenges 41:11 Privacy and data control benefits 44:29 Future of bidding and exchange infrastructure Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Asheley Blaise explores the intersection of AI and human services, focusing on its impact on Direct Support Professionals (DSPs). The episode navigates concerns about AI replacing DSPs, emphasizing AI's role in eliminating repetitive tasks and enhancing support quality. Key insights include the need for DSP involvement in tech development and the importance of human judgment and empathy. Ethical considerations regarding AI's data use and the significance of preserving human connection in support services are also discussed, stressing the need for DSPs to shape AI's future use in their field.Key Takeaways:AI should be viewed as a tool to enhance DSP work, not as a replacement.DSPs should be integral in AI technology development to ensure practical application.Technology can organize and identify patterns, but human judgment is vital for understanding person-centered care.Ethical considerations are crucial when implementing AI, as data can harbor biases and miss important cultural context.DSPs hold the crucial of maintaining human-centric support in the evolving landscape of AI advancements.Resources:· NY Alliance AI ToolkitTo explore these insightful discussions further, tune into this episode and stay updated with the latest conversations from DSP Chat, where Asheley continues to shed light on the evolving dynamics within the world of direct support professionals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of GAHHDcast, we sit down with legendary hip-hop group Natural Elements for Part 1 of an in-depth conversation centered around their brand new project Alignment, officially dropping April 17.The Lost Episodes is a special YouTube-exclusive series from the GAHHDcast vault. These are previously unreleased video episodes that were originally only available on digital streaming platforms (DSPs). Now, for the first time, we're bringing these classic convos, debates, and interviews to YouTube. Consider this the director's cut of GAHHD history—raw, unfiltered, and still relevant.This is the 1st installment of the Natural Elements interview series.In Part 1, Natural Elements break down everything that led up to Alignment, from the creative spark behind the project to how the album was structured and brought to life. The group dives into the producers involved, the sonic direction of the album, and how their sound continues to evolve while staying true to their roots.We also discuss the visual side of the project, including their latest music videos and how visuals play a role in storytelling today. The conversation expands into their distribution partnership with Fat Beats, giving insight into how the deal came together and what it means for the release.To wrap it up, the group walks us through the rollout strategy behind Alignment, giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at how a veteran act approaches releasing music in today's landscape.This is only Part 1—tap in.Natural Elements Alignment interview, Natural Elements new album 2026, Alignment Fat Beats release, Natural Elements Gahhdcast, underground hip hop interviews, boom bap 2026, Fat Beats distribution deal, hip hop album rollout strategy, independent hip hop artists 2026, NYC rap groups interview#NaturalElements #Alignment #GAHHDcast #HipHopInterview #UndergroundHipHop #BoomBap #FatBeats #NYCHipHop #IndependentArtists #HipHopCulture
How do you turn a niche product into an 8-figure Amazon brand? The founders of Naoki Matcha share the branding, keyword, and supply chain decisions that helped them scale worldwide. :moneybag: Get Helium 10 with a special discount to start or scale your e-commerce business here: https://h10.me/h10 ► Watch The Podcasts On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helium10SeriousSellersPodcast?sub_confirmation=1 ► Instagram: instagram.com/serioussellerspodcast ► Free Amazon Seller Chrome Extension: https://h10.me/extension ► Sign Up For Helium 10: https://h10.me/signup (Use SSP10 To Save 10% For Life) ► Learn How To Sell on Amazon: https://h10.me/ft What does it look like when two childhood friends turn a side hustle into an eight-figure global brand? In this episode, Bradley Sutton sits down with Samuel Loo and Singchuen Chiam, the co-founders of Naoki Matcha, to unpack how they went from selling generic glass teapots to building one of the most recognizable matcha brands on Amazon. Their story starts in Singapore, stretches into Japan's tea-producing regions, and becomes a masterclass in patience, product-market fit, and long-term brand building. Sam and Sing did not stumble into success overnight. Their first products were fragile, generic, and easy to copy, forcing them to rethink the kind of business they really wanted to build. That search led them to matcha, a category with higher barriers to entry and far greater complexity than a typical private-label product. Instead of sourcing from a marketplace and calling it a day, they had to knock on digital doors, travel to Japan, build supplier relationships, refine taste profiles, and learn how to create a product customers would come back for again and again. Their growth was slow at first, but their commitment to quality and feedback gave them a durable edge. As the brand grew, so did its sophistication. They expanded from Amazon into other marketplaces, built teams across Singapore and Japan, invested heavily in in-house creative, and began thinking beyond Amazon PPC into upper-funnel channels like Meta, DSPs, and TikTok. They also shared how Naoki Matcha navigated the recent matcha shortage without major price hikes, using strong supplier relationships and careful supply chain planning to stay in stock while competitors struggled. It is a reminder that real brand power is not just built through ads and listings, but through trust, consistency, and operational depth. This episode is a powerful example of what can happen when founders play the long game. Sam and Sing did not chase shortcuts. They built slowly, learned deeply, and stayed obsessed with product quality as they scaled into an eight-figure business. For sellers who want to move beyond quick wins and build something that lasts, this conversation shows that the biggest advantage is not speed. It is discipline, vision, and the willingness to keep improving long after the first sale. In episode 743 of the Serious Sellers Podcast, Bradley, Sam, and Sing discuss: 00:00 - Introduction 01:05 - Meet The Founders Of Naoki Matcha 03:25 - Their First Amazon Product Before Matcha 04:28 - Why They Chose Matcha As The Long-Term Play 07:18 - Slow Early Growth And The Mindset That Kept Them Going 08:40 - Finding Japanese Suppliers Through “Digital Door Knocking” 10:23 - Expanding From Amazon USA To Other Marketplaces 12:30 - Why TikTok And Brand.com Are The Next Growth Channels 14:42 - The In-House Creative Strategy Behind The Brand 16:31 - How They Navigated The Matcha Supply Shortage 21:20 - Upper Funnel Marketing And Growing Branded Search 35:04 - Supply Chain Control, Factory Relationships, And Future Growth Enjoy this episode? Be sure to check out our previous episodes for even more content to propel you to Amazon FBA Seller success! And don't forget to “Like” our Facebook page and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever you listen to our podcast. Get snippets from all episodes by following us on Instagram at @SeriousSellersPodcast Want to absolutely start crushing it on Amazon? Here are few carefully curated resources to get you started: Freedom Ticket: Taught by Amazon thought leader Kevin King, get A-Z Amazon strategies and techniques for establishing and solidifying your business. Helium 10: 30+ software tools to boost your entire sales pipeline from product research to customer communication and Amazon refund automation. Make running a successful Amazon or Walmart business easier with better data and insights. See what our customers have to say. Helium 10 Chrome Extension: Verify your Amazon product idea and validate how lucrative it can be with over a dozen data metrics and profitability estimation. SellerTrademarks.com: Trademarks are vital for protecting your Amazon brand from hijackers, and sellertrademarks.com provides a streamlined process for helping you get one.
In this episode, we explore how a proposed city council bill in New York could disrupt Amazon's entire last-mile delivery network. The legislation effectively targets the use of subcontractors, which could force independent delivery service providers to shut down or convert their independent contractors into full employees. Next, we head out on the water, where CMA CGM and its Ocean Alliance partners have launched a new direct container service from Asia to the Port of Jacksonville. This strategic expansion provides shippers with a vital alternative to congested West Coast ports and enhances supply chain diversification for the Southeast. Finally, we unpack the high-stakes boardroom drama at the fleet payments giant WEX, which is currently facing a significant proxy battle from an institutional shareholder. The outcome of this struggle could trigger substantial changes in leadership and impact how operational expenses are handled across the broader trucking industry. Follow the FreightWaves NOW Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, we explore how a proposed city council bill in New York could disrupt Amazon's entire last-mile delivery network. The legislation effectively targets the use of subcontractors, which could force independent delivery service providers to shut down or convert their independent contractors into full employees. Next, we head out on the water, where CMA CGM and its Ocean Alliance partners have launched a new direct container service from Asia to the Port of Jacksonville. This strategic expansion provides shippers with a vital alternative to congested West Coast ports and enhances supply chain diversification for the Southeast. Finally, we unpack the high-stakes boardroom drama at the fleet payments giant WEX, which is currently facing a significant proxy battle from an institutional shareholder. The outcome of this struggle could trigger substantial changes in leadership and impact how operational expenses are handled across the broader trucking industry. Follow the FreightWaves NOW Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Over the past week, everyone has had launches on the brain – thanks largely to the Artemis II rocket and its ongoing lunar flyby mission. However, there are a couple of health-related launches that are the focus of this week's episode. First up is the launch of HayloARC, a health-focused demand-side platform – better known as a DSP. HayloARC is available for use by advertisers and medical marketing agencies seeking to better interface with HCPs and patients. To accomplish this, HayloARC utilizes first-party HCP data derived from 30-plus medical publications owned by Haymarket Media, the parent company of MM+M. For the feature conversation, editor-at-large Steve Madden sits down with Louis Naimoli, VP of programmatic business development and strategy at Haymarket, about what HayloARC is, how it's differentiated from other DSPs and what it offers programmatic buyers in medical marketing. Then, during our Trends segment, we're talking about how the fight for GLP-1 supremacy between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly has shifted to the oral obesity pill battlefield. We discuss Novo rolling out a multimonth subscription program for Wegovy and the FDA's approval of Lilly's daily oral weight loss drug Foundayo. Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Check us out at: mmm-online.com Follow us: YouTube: @MMM-onlineTikTok: @MMMnewsInstagram: @MMMnewsonlineTwitter/X: @MMMnewsLinkedIn: MM+M To read more of the most timely, balanced and original reporting in medical marketing, subscribe here.Music: “Deep Reflection” by DP and Triple Scoop Music. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Doug Golub is a seasoned thought leader in the healthcare technology and human services sector with over 20 years of pioneering experience. As a founding member of Microsoft Health Solutions Group, Doug has been pivotal in promoting person-centered practices, Medicaid transformation, and data-driven solutions. Currently, he leads Data Potato LLC, focusing on responsible technology and data utilization, while serving on the AI Committee for Access and as a board member of the Anchor Foundation.Episode Summary:In this insightful episode of DSP Talk, host Asheley Blaise delves into the transformative landscape of AI in human services with esteemed guest Doug Golub. The discussion centers around how AI is reshaping the future of the direct support workforce with a strong emphasis on person-centered care and technological innovation. Doug Golub, drawing from his vast experience, shares invaluable insights on the inclusion of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) in AI dialogues, highlighting the importance of integrating their hands-on experience for developing effective AI tools.With a focus on the potential of AI in enhancing rather than displacing the workforce, Doug outlines practical applications of AI in human services. The conversation reflects on the transformation of administrative and documentation tasks through AI to facilitate more meaningful support relationships. This episode offers a balanced exploration of AI's possibilities, alongside ethical and practical considerations, underscoring the critical role of DSPs in shaping AI advancements.Key Takeaways:The potential of AI lies in its ability to assist, not replace, DSPs by automating documentation and administrative tasks, allowing more time for direct support.DSPs' inclusion in AI development discussions is essential to ensure technology reflects real-world support and avoids biases.Training for DSPs should extend beyond utilizing tools to encompass understanding biases, ethical use, and empowering them to question AI's outputs.AI tools can help identify trends and provide valuable insights, but they must be interpreted and mediated by humans to maintain effective support.Notable Quotes:"If we understand how the software works, we call it software. If we don't understand how it works and we think it's magic, we call it AI." – Doug Golub"The tools that are emerging have to help make it more fulfilling, more opportunity, more robust to be able to make that difference in people's lives." – Doug Golub"These tools are changing the way that we work, they are changing the way that agencies are operating." – Doug Golub"What makes it better is when we actually involve the people that know what they're talking about, which are the frontline staff." – Doug GolubResources:Data Potato LLCThe New York Alliance AI CommunityAnchor FoundationListen to the full episode to dive deeper into a conversation intertwined with innovation and empathy, and to better understand how AI can partner with human expertise to transform the future of human services. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this month's episode, Emma and Danny Hoffman (Senior Director, Global Retail Strategy) break down three commerce topics brands should have on their radar right now: what Joybuy's launch in Europe could mean for competition and for brands, why more advertising dollars may keep moving toward retailer DSPs instead of other media environments, and how AI is starting to change the way shoppers discover products and how brands show up.
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/AnalyticJoin The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here: https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0KAnalytic Dreamz dives deep into Kanye West's (Ye) highly anticipated 2026 solo album Bully. Born in 1977 in Chicago, Ye began his career as a producer at Roc-A-Fella Records, contributing major work to The Blueprint before launching his own legendary run. His artistic evolution spans soul-sampled classics like 2004's The College Dropout, the Auto-Tune innovation of 2008's 808s & Heartbreak, and the industrial experimentation of 2013's Yeezus. With 24 Grammy Awards, Ye is celebrated for constant reinvention and polarizing creative shifts. Bully arrived on March 28, 2026, via YZY / Gamma as an 18-track project. The sound returns to heavy soul sampling with influences from Sam Cooke and The Supremes. Development included an early V1 version with AI-generated vocals in 2025, multiple delays from an original June 2025 target, and final re-recording with human vocals. The title draws from a comment by Ye's son and references to the Larry Clark film. Release featured listening parties and pre-save campaigns. Critical reception is mixed: production earns praise for its strongest soul chops and stadium hooks in years, yet many reviews describe the album as lifeless with weak lyricism and a lack of fresh artistic reset. Pitchfork scored it 3.4/10, with an Album of the Year critic average around 51/100. Commercially, Bully opened with approximately 117,000 first-week units for a Billboard 200 debut at #2, behind ARIRANG. It marks Ye's first solo album not reaching #1 since 2004 and the lowest opening of his career, though it extends his streak of 14 consecutive Top 2 albums. Streaming dominated with an estimated 50 million Spotify streams on day one, securing the biggest hip-hop streaming debut of 2026 and global #1 album status. Pure sales landed at a career-low ~20,000 units, reflecting the independent model with minimal traditional marketing and heavy reliance on fanbase and DSPs. Physical bundles sold via Yeezy.com. This segment explores the AI vocal controversy, the shift to streaming-first strategy, the production-versus-content divide, and what Bully reveals about Ye's ongoing career trajectory in 2026. Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Rob Emrich, Founder and Executive Chairman of Infillion, joins to talk about the Catalina acquisition, why retail data matters, and how his company is building a full-stack ad tech platform through acquisitions and integration. The conversation touches on DSP strategy, data advantages, and how the industry is shifting toward outcomes-driven advertising. Takeaways Catalina evolved from coupon printing into a powerful retail data asset SKU-level purchase data is a key differentiator in advertising Infillion's strategy is to integrate data, media, and tech into one platform DSPs are increasingly defined by proprietary data and a unique supply Acquisition strategy matters more than just collecting assets Retail media is a continuation of older data-driven advertising models Financial vs strategic ownership can shape how companies evolve Chapters 00:00 Intro & Guest Tease 01:20 April Fool's Day Banter 04:15 Guest Introduction Rob Emrich 05:36 Catalina Acquisition Explained 07:09 Evolution from Coupons to Data Business 09:06 SKU Level Data & Its Value 11:14 How the Deal Happened 13:46 Infilion Strategy DSP and Data 15:35 Rob's Background & Company Origins 19:46 Acquisition Strategy 22:18 The Factory Model of Ad Tech 26:05 Customer Profile & Verticals 31:07 Amazon Ads Tops Forrester Wave 38:47 New DSP Tools & Market Expansion 44:27 OpenAI Massive Fundraise Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How can the ad tech industry create impact without precision targeting? What is the credibility of LLM visibility tools, and what are the barriers and accuracy of data? How likely is agent-to-agent buying in the future?In this mailbag episode of The MadTech Podcast, ExchangeWire editor Aimee Newell Tarín is joined by CEO Rachel Smith and COO Lindsay Rowntree to answer our listeners' biggest questions about ad tech and media. They discuss the need to prove advertising value, the rise of generative engine optimisation, and how SSPs and DSPs are adapting for an AI agent-led environment.Thank you to Generation Media's Lauren Whyman, eight&four's Chloe Singleton, and Responsible Marketing Advisory's Emily Roberts for this month's questions! Got a burning question for the ExchangeWire team? Drop your questions over to us and we'll answer in our next monthly mailbag special... https://forms.zohopublic.com/lindsay11/form/MadTechPodcastYourQuestionsAnswered/formperma/xpD2uD_a2V5POYx47TrUnf3ZCERYN28c1w6aS5RsuEE0:00 Introduction1:00 How can the industry create impact without precise, laser focused targeting?2:26 Ciaran's chutney moment3:22 Back on schedule14:14 What is the credibility of tools that showcase LLM visibility information?33:02 How likely is agent to agent buying? What does the future of the ad tech industry look like?
Today you will hear my conversation with Indonesian punk trio Grrrl Gang, who were kind enough to meet up with me during their downtime at SXSW! We discuss their personal most memorable showcases in Austin, touring, and using your platform to combat harassment and hate in local music scenes. ✨ MORE ABOUT GRRRL GANG ✨Hailing from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Grrrl Gang is an indie power trio known for their high-energy live shows, and songs that traverse the anxieties of growing up in the dystopian digital landscape of the 2020s. Their new maxi-single, "Online 24/7," is out now on all DSPs. ✨ KEEP UP TO DATE WITH GRRRL GANG ✨Instagram: instagram.com/grrrlgang/Facebook: facebook.com/grrrlgangbandX: https://x.com/grrrlgangbandYouTube: youtube.com/c/GrrrlGangSpotify: open.spotify.com/artist/4GgA61hzcYno3GYTrjhZ6A?si=6riJx1GXS-aU7t3x7ZgoowApple Music: music.apple.com/us/artist/grrrl-gang/1260154814✨ CONNECT WITH IZZY ✨Blog: https://agrrrlstwosoundcents.comYouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCv6SBgiYCpYbx9BOYNefkIgInstagram: instagram.com/agrrrlstwosoundcents/Twitter: twitter.com/grrrlsoundcents
Legendary musician, producer and songwriter, Dave Stewart, joins Gaby to share in the joy of music and art and using your imagination. They talk about his time in Eurythmics, how he and Annie came up with the melody for 'Sweet Dreams', playing to 3 people on New Year's Eve and why he wants young musicians to forget about algorithms and DSPs and just go out and play live. Dave also tells Gaby about his new venture 'Rare' - and also about the show he's written for young kids, to inspire them.
The best marketers in 2026 aren't doubling down on search and social. They're expanding into TV. Daniel sits down with Matt Giannetti, Senior Director and Head of Platform at Tatari, to break down how modern TV actually works and why more Performance Marketers are starting to shift budget there in 2026. From why streaming alone is not enough, to why DSPs are not the same as a true TV platform, Matt unpacks the biggest myths that still keep marketers from using TV the right way. They also dive into how brands should think about TV at different growth stages, why free media credits are not always a win, and what brands need to test first before making TV a real part of their media mix. If you're a Marketer trying to understand where smart brands are actually moving budget (and how to make TV measurable, efficient, and performance-driven) this is the episode for YOU. Tatari helps brands run TV like a modern performance channel. Unlike most platforms that focus only on programmatic CTV, Tatari gives marketers access to all of TV - linear, streaming, programmatic CTV, and direct publisher inventory - in one platform. By combining premium inventory with transparent reporting and outcome-based measurement, Tatari lets growth teams evaluate TV the same way they evaluate paid search or paid social. The result: more control, better reach, and TV spend that can actually be tied back to business results. Learn more at http://bit.ly/40kwEAQ Follow Matt: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgiannetti/ Follow Daniel: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing/ Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: www.workweek.com/brand/the-marketing-millennials Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: www.workweek.com
Most marketers think of Roku as just another ad platform, but the real opportunity is understanding how streaming is changing the entire media mix. In this episode, Nik sits down with Jeff Katz from Roku to break down what's actually happening inside one of the biggest platforms in media, how connected TV has evolved, and why more performance brands should be paying attention. Jeff gets into how TV buying has changed from big creative bets and slow measurement cycles to a more flexible, measurable, self-serve world. Nik and Jeff unpack what DSPs actually do, how streaming fits alongside search and social, and what kinds of products tend to win on the biggest screen in the house. If you've ever wondered when TV should enter the mix, how Roku actually works, or what the next layer of growth looks like after Meta and Google, this episode is for you. --- Roku pioneered streaming on TV. We connect users to the content they love, enable content publishers to build and monetize large audiences, and provide advertisers with unique capabilities to engage consumers. Learn more at advertising.roku.com/limitedsupply. --- Want more DTC advice? Check out the Limited Supply YouTube page for more insider tips. Check out the Nik's DTC newsletter: https://bit.ly/3mOUJMJ And if you're looking for an instant stream of on-demand DTC gold, check out the Limited Supply Slack Channel for Nik's most unfiltered, uncensored thoughts. Follow Nik: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrsharma
In this episode, Emma and Patrick break down three pressure points every brand should be watching. First, they tackle the performance vs. transparency tradeoff in media buying. What's the balance between log‑level data and control, chasing opaque performance, and using transparency to actually change how and where you buy?Then they unpack The Trade Desk's latest earnings and what its slowdown (and supply‑side growth elsewhere) signal about where spend is shifting across DSPs, CTV, and the open internet.Finally, they dig into the rush of vendors promising “LLM performance” measurement, covering how pricing is already collapsing, how little real differentiation there is, and how brands should approach contracts, trust, and experimentation in this new category.
Fees, fees, fees. The Trade Desk is facing market pressure in all directions: from rival DSPs offering lower fee structures, SSPs and agencies clashing over its OpenPath product and bearish investors disappointed with growth. Guest Sarah Caputo, founder of consultancy Fraction Method, tells us why The Trade Desk should reduce its margin and make its fees more transparent.
In Episode 318, audio engineering veterans Robert Scovill and Geoff McKinnon of EAW join the hosts to . discuss the evolution of adaptive sound systems, the unique aspects of EAW loudspeakers like Anya, and the real-world applications of adaptive technology in live sound. The conversation also touches on the challenges and misconceptions surrounding adaptive audio and the importance of technology training and education in the industry.McKinnon is the senior director of engineering at EAW. With 10 patents spanning acoustics and system design, he has been a primary driver behind the company's ADAPTive line and the new NTX and NT series. Leading the engineering team out of EAW's new headquarters in Franklin, MA, he's at the forefront of the use of DSP and physical design to solve some of the hardest problems in pro audio—basically making sure the signal is “perfect” before it leaves the box.Scovill, who serves as senior live sound market specialist for EAW, is a 45-plus year veteran of professional concert sound and recording and has mixed over 4000 live events of every scale imaginable over the course of his storied career. His engineering and production talents have been enlisted by a “Who's Who” of music Hall of Fame acts including Kenny Chesney, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Matchbox Twenty, Jackson Browne, Rush, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Prince and numerous others.Scovill's body of live sound and recording work has garnered numerous industry accolades, including six TEC Awards, three PLSN Parnelli Awards, and multiple nominations for the CMA touring award, winning his first in 2022. He's also been a multi-year nominee for Mobile Production's “Top Dog” Award along with being an inaugural nominee for the Pensado Award for live sound excellence. In 2018 Robert was awarded the Lindenman Award for excellence in audio presentations at the Norwegian Sound Symposium. Since 2019, he's served as a first call FOH mixer for television events such as THON, The Latin Grammy's POTY, The MTV Video Music Awards and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions, in which he received his first Emmy nomination in 2023.Episode Links:The ADAPTive Advantage: How It Works, Why It Wins WebinarRobert Scovill Talks ADAPTive Driver DensityEAW Adaptive Series SystemsEpisode 318 TranscriptNOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to pre-order the vinyl release, or allow them to purchase singles individually.Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.
In this episode of Next in Media, I sit down live at the Kochava Summit in Sandpoint, Idaho, with Charles Manning, founder and CEO of Kochava. We go deep on one of the most pressing questions facing the industry right now: how profound is the shift to agentic advertising and AI-driven workflows? Charles argues it is not a decade-long evolution like programmatic was. It is breathtakingly faster, and the companies that understand how to use their first-party data as a competitive kernel, rather than leaking it to the walled gardens, are the ones that will come out ahead. He draws a compelling analogy: if programmatic changed the auction, AI is about to change the workflow.We also dig into Kochava's CTV journey, from its mobile app roots to building measurement tools adopted by LG, Samsung, Vizio, and Roku, and how the view-and-do combo between the TV screen and the mobile device is creating powerful new outcome-based measurement opportunities for brands. Charles breaks down what holding companies should fear (and fix), why the ad tech supply chain is due for serious consolidation, and why he predicts a wave of take-privates and roll-ups followed by a bonanza of public offerings over the next two years. He also introduces Station One, Kochava's integrative AI hub that acts like a Slack for AI workflows, designed to help teams transform how they work without giving up control of their data. Key Highlights:⚡ AI vs. Programmatic: Charles explains why the shift to agentic advertising is moving breathtakingly faster than programmatic did. While programmatic took over a decade to fully reshape the auction, AI is set to transform the entire workflow within the next 16 months.
OverviewThe promise of digital advertising was precision: right message, right person, right time. No waste. But here's the uncomfortable truth, while we've been obsessing over hyper-targeting, consumer behaviour has already shifted without us. 90% of Canadians now consume CTV. Less than 50% still have cable. And 60% of their time is spent on the open web, not walled gardens.The question isn't whether CTV matters. It's whether we're measuring it correctly, or optimizing ourselves into invisibility.About Vince is the Head of DSP Sales at Yahoo Canada, where he works closely with the country's top agencies and brands to achieve their marketing goals through Yahoo's advanced programmatic advertising platform. A 25+ year advertising veteran, Vince has deep expertise in programmatic, CTV, and data-driven media. He previously launched AdTheorent in the Canadian market and is an active voice in the Canadian digital advertising community through IAB Canada.LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vincesimoneTimestamps00:00 - Intro - The unification challenge for marketers01:25 - Guest intro - Vince Simone, Yahoo02:32 - What's different about this moment in CTV04:05 - The evolution of CTV data - from freebie to foundational06:04 - TV is now just "video" - the pipe goes everywhere08:01 - Programmatic as the unifier - Samba partnership10:01 - The cost waterfall problem - fraud, duplication, inefficiency12:17 - What people misunderstand about DSPs (it's decisioning, not bidding)13:37 - Buzzword that needs to die: "Hyper-target"15:22 - The promise of digital vs. the reality of reach17:05 - Reverse engineering the customer journey18:52 - Is CTV actually about scale, not precision?20:21 - The persona trap - seeing people as fractions of themselves24:23 - Suppression lists vs. over-engineered targeting29:07 - Consistency as the multiplier across linear, CTV, digital31:18 - Dynamic creative optimization vs. many cuts34:00 - The 60/40 split - CTV in no man's land37:15 - The one metric to stop obsessing about: Last click39:07 - How the best marketers layer MMMs, lift studies, and last click42:10 - The "remove the logo" test for distinctiveness44:22 - Over-optimizing before campaigns settle46:00 - Dashboard updates vs. business data timing46:56 - What excites Vince: AI agents, Netflix inventory, unified systems49:20 - Where to find VinceShow LinksSleeping Barber Podcast: 8 Fundamentals of Effective Marketing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJVEd9YXag&list=PL8Dcu1vikGN38ABGV4iuRQV1GmaAMvUSQ&index=1Yahoo DSP: https://www.yahooinc.com/our-solutionsIAB Data Label: https://iabtechlab.com/press-releases/iab-tech-lab-finalizes-data-transparency-standard-compliance-program-to-advance-data-collection-best-practicesANA Programmatic Transparency Benchmark https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/pr-2025-08-programmatictrans
Chris Swanson is the co-founder of Secretly Group, the influential independent music company behind labels including Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar, Dead Oceans, and The Numero Group. Since co-founding Secretly Canadian in 1996, Chris has helped shape the modern indie label ecosystem and built Secretly Distribution into a global force for independent artists. He's worked with groundbreaking acts like Bon Iver and has spent nearly three decades helping artists balance creativity, commerce, and long-term career sustainability in a rapidly evolving music industry.In this episode, Chris breaks down how independent artists can navigate record labels, digital distribution, AI, and self-promotion—without losing their creativity or community.Key Takeaways:Learn why major label advances come with high expectations—and how indie labels can offer stronger long-term career development.Discover how DSPs have democratized music, what that means for independent music growth, and how to approach self-promotion strategically.Understand how to manage expectations, avoid “radical doubt,” and use AI as a tool without losing artistic identity.---→ Learn more about Chris Swanson and his work at: ckswanson.com.Book an Artist Breakthrough Session with the Modern Musician team: https://apply.modernmusician.me/podcast
In Episode 317, Sean and Andy go back to the mailbox for more listener questions, picking up where they left off in Episode 309. This time, the focus is on the business side of freelancing — rates, non-competes/NDAs, W2 vs 1099 work, unions, taxes… Plus some thoughts on choosing which compromises to make when time is short on a load-in, and much more! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.Episode Links:Episode 309 – Listener Q&A, Part 1Episode 317 TranscriptNOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to pre-order the vinyl release, or allow them to purchase singles individually. Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we'd love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there
Today you will hear my conversation with Irish singer/songwriter Ailbhe Reddy, who joins me for a chat about her brand new album 'Kiss Big,' an ode to heartbreak, letting go, and the messy in-between of trying to figure out who you are on your own. We also geek out about our favorite rom-coms, traveling, and Leonard Cohen. ✨ MORE ABOUT AILBHE REDDY ✨Ailbhe Reddy is a London-based singer/songwriter hailing from Dublin, Ireland. Her confessional indie folk combines diaristic lyrics with soft-spoken intensity and emotional gravity reminiscent of Julia Jacklin and Angel Olsen. Her brand new album, 'Kiss Big' is out now on all DSPs. ✨ KEEP UP TO DATE WITH AILBHE REDDY ✨Instagram: instagram.com/ailbhereddyFacebook: facebook.com/AilbheReddy/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ailbhereddySpotify: open.spotify.com/artist/1YQiMR5M12HJ28hkJz7qnn?si=jWaQDnbGSquv2WW3zPU45wApple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ailbhe-reddy/947186338✨ CONNECT WITH IZZY ✨Blog: https://agrrrlstwosoundcents.comYouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCv6SBgiYCpYbx9BOYNefkIgInstagram: instagram.com/agrrrlstwosoundcents/Twitter: twitter.com/grrrlsoundcents
Konrad Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Quantcast, explains the shift from rule-based “expert systems” to goal-driven, autonomous AI, the evolution of DSPs, the hidden limits of “AI-washed” platforms, and why measurement—not targeting—is the biggest bottleneck holding marketing back. Drawing on three decades of experience in neural networks, machine learning, and programmatic advertising, he shares where he thinks digital advertising is going next. For Further Reading:Konrad Feldman on AI Trends: https://marketech-apac.com/expert-up-close-quantcast-ceo-konrad-feldman-on-ai-trends-and-how-marketers-can-leverage-them-for-success/Why the CEO of Quantcast is Betting on Personalized AI: https://bigthink.com/business/how-ai-will-impact-marketing/More about Konrad: https://www.linkedin.com/in/konrad-feldman-555132/ Listen on your favorite podcast app: https://pod.link/1715735755
On this episode of Embracing Erosion, Devon sits down with Alena Morris, Vice President of Product Marketing at Kargo. With over 15 years in ad tech and media — including leadership roles at PubMatic and Quantcast — Alena has seen the industry evolve from managed services to programmatic, and now to an AI-driven future.In this conversation, they explore how the lines between SSPs, DSPs, and retail media are blurring; how AI is shifting from creative production to creative intelligence; and what it takes to lead teams through periods of rapid change. Alena also shares lessons from her first six months at Kargo — from rebuilding trust across teams to shaping the company's transition from a creative-first business to a tech-powered platform.Enjoy the conversation!
In Episode 316, it's time for a post-NAMM recap of all the cool people, places, and things Sean and Andy got to catch up with and check out at the 2026 NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Center. Loudspeakers big and small, useful gadgets, new mixers, earplugs, new IEM models… there was something for everybody this year, and we're here to tell you all about it! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.Episode Links:TT+ AUDIO GTX 7CDark Matter Audio Labs DMA7 BA 7Violet Audio dMix 128Yamaha RIVAGE PM V7Adamson USB Milan BridgeNeumann Virtual Immersive Studio (VIS)d&b audiotechnik U SeriesDe-FeedbackYamaha MGX SeriesMeyer Sound TIGRA & LFC-1800Adamson MS 8.2D'Addario IR Mic MuteDark Matter Audio Labs Hearing ProjectionEpisode 316 TranscriptNOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to pre-order the vinyl release, or allow them to purchase singles individually.Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we'd love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a
My guest today is Lucy Markowitz, SVP and General Manager of the US Marketplace at Vistar Media. Lucy oversees it all: Sales, client services, analytics, DSP, and supply partnerships. She leads teams that power the connective tissue between agencies, brands, publishers and DSPs. Her leadership is the reason Vistar's marketplace hums, ensuring every relationship and every impression delivers value.Before joining Vistar, Lucy led hedge fund and investment bank sales at Data Miner, giving her a front row seat to how information and timing move markets. Lucy holds a BS in International Finance and Marketing from the University of Miami and has been with Vistar since 2014 through the company's acquisition by T-Mobile earlier this year.
In Episode 315, Sean and Andy get the lowdown on a relatively new live audio tool that took both NAMM and the online live audio community by storm over the last year as they talk with Devin Sheets, founder and owner of Alpha Labs, to learn all about De-Feedback. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.A much-talked-about plugin in live audio of 2025, there are lots of myths and misunderstandings, rave reviews and reticence about this new tool for fighting feedback, handling overly reverberant rooms, and dealing with noise in live reinforcement and broadcast environments, so we get it all straight from Devin, including a live demo of exactly what De-Feedback is capable of.Devin Sheets, founder and owner of Alpha Labs, grew up in Salem, Oregon. His father Duane founded and owns Alpha Sound, a regional live audio production company, so Devin grew up in the busy environment of one of the largest PA rental and installation companies in the Pacific Northwest during the 1990s and 2000s.After graduating from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in music, he and Duane turned the focus of the family business toward high-end corporate and house of worship work. Devin had his industry standard bag of tricks for fighting feedback in these environments, but felt that “the answer” had not yet arrived. After years of unfruitful communication with many leading audio manufacturers about the issue, he decided to try his hand at a custom approach involving AI software. After paying large amounts of his personal money to various coders around the world in an attempt to make something work, the team finally struck gold in mid 2024 with a novel AI model of their own making, using training data largely produced by Devin himself, on a computer they built in-house. He used the beta version throughout the year for his own shows and events, and installed it in several churches in the area.By late 2024 there was pressure to begin selling the algorithm to the public, and so Alpha Labs was formed as a software partner company to Alpha Sound, a website launched, and sales of De-Feedback V1 began November 11 of that year. Within days, the plugin was being used on some of the biggest tours and events of the Christmas season. The software continues to be adopted by many of the world's top engineers and venues, while Devin and his team concentrate most of their time and energy developing newer, better versions.We've also upload a clip of Devin's demo of De-Feedback without our usual dynamics chain, for folks who want to listen to it as raw as possible, which you can download here: https://bit.ly/s2n-de-feedback (as a bonus, that clip is g-rated in terms of language, as well)SPECIAL OFFER: As a limited time bonus for Signal to Noise listeners, Alpha Labs is offering 10% off purchases with coupon code “SIGNALTONOISE”, valid through Feb 6, 2026! Just enter the code at license checkout, and the discount will be applied to all products in your order!Episode Links:Alpha Labs De-FeedbackDe-Feedback Official User GroupThinking Out Loud w/Friends of SoundBroker, Devin SheetsAlpha SoundEpisode 315 TranscriptNOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenm
Rima Mattok is the Director of Demand Generation at Taboola, where she leads the global acquisition and engagement strategy of Realize, a performance advertising platform focused on driving measurable results for brands. With a background in user engagement, Rima brings a deep understanding of audience behavior and conversion optimization—experience that shapes her approach to helping marketers scale efficiently across channels. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Intro[01:09] Getting to know the new product, Realize [02:33] Facing rising ad costs across platforms[04:22] Launching before peak season to save costs[07:10] Questioning the myth that more budget wins[09:31] Challenging the idea that AI replaces strategy[11:30] Callouts[11:40] Unlocking incremental growth on the open web[14:16] Testing new channels with wise budgets[15:17] Running quarterly moonshot experimentsResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubePerformance beyond search and social taboola.com/The performance built for advertisers realize.com/Follow Rima Sherman Mattok linkedin.com/in/rima-sherman-mattok-93282739/If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
In this episode of Soundcentric, host Adam Dash sits down with Gabe P, the founder of On The Radar, to break down how one freestyle platform grew into a global cultural force. Gabe dives into the importance of freestyles as hip-hop education, how artists are actually discovered and selected, and what separates those who capitalize on their moment from those who waste it. The conversation explores the business behind viral freestyles, the role of the internet and memes in breaking artists, and how On The Radar built trust with artists while expanding worldwide. A must-listen for rap fans, creators, and anyone curious about how culture, creativity, and strategy intersect in today's music industry. Twitter: https://twitter.com/soundcentricmus Instagram:https://https://www.instagram.com/soundcentricmusic/ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@soundcentricmusic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoundCentricmusic Website: https://soundcentricmusic.com Podcast: https://www.soundcentricmusic.com 00:00:00 - intro 00:02:15 - How Gabe feels having made a new cultural landmark within hip-hop 00:04:45 - Using the color green in all OTR branding and other people copying it 00:05:45 - How Gabe decided to format OTR to differentiate from Sway, Funk Flex, and other freestyle shows 00:07:45 - Some of the hardest OTR's to record 00:09:20 - The importance of freestyles for hip-hop 00:16:00 - Do people pay to get on OTR? 00:17:45 - Why Gabe decided to release the freestyles on DSPs? 00:21:00 - Why Gabe has more than just rap artists and American artists on OTR 00:23:00 - How artists can capitalize on their moment after appearing on OTR 00:29:45 - Does OTR allow artists to rap on famous beats 00:31:20 - The OTR X Kai Cenat linkup 00:38:00 - How artists get on OTR and the importance of artists being visible online 00:42:40 - Tips for artists 00:45:00 - Gabe's dream freestyle cypher 00:49:00 -How Gabe has time to listen to new artists 00:52:00 - Who we are listening to right now 00:54:00 - Closing thoughts
Rich Kahn, CEO and Co-Founder of Anura, is driven by a mission to help businesses grow by eliminating digital ad fraud that silently siphons marketing budgets. A lifelong entrepreneur and developer, Rich is passionate about ensuring that advertising dollars reach real users—not bots, malware, or human fraud. We explore Rich's journey from launching an early digital advertising platform to uncovering widespread fraud that threatened his own business—and how building an internal solution eventually led to Anura. Rich breaks down his Ad Optimization Framework—Minimize Fraud, Optimize Conversion, Refresh Content—and explains why fraud must be addressed before any meaningful optimization can occur. He also shares how ad fraud impacts ROI, why lifetime value matters more than cost-per-click, and the conviction required to build and scale a SaaS company in a crowded market. — Improve Traffic Quality by 25% Overnight with Rich Kahn Good day, dear listeners. My name is Steve Preda, the Founder of the Summit OS Group, and the creator of the Summit OS Business Operating System. And today, my guest isa Rich Kahn, the CEO and Co-founder of Anura, an ad fraud solution that monitors traffic to identify real users versus bots, malware, and human fraud. Rich, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me today. Well, it’s super interesting business you have and the entrepreneurial journey. So let’s start with my favorite question. What is your personal ‘Why’, and how are you manifesting it in Anura? My personal ‘Why’ has always been to help people. Fraud is a huge problem. And it’s no longer a question of if you have fraud, it’s a question of how much fraud you have. And I’m watching people spend millions and millions of dollars on digital marketing and getting it siphoned out by fraudsters with bogus traffic. So the ‘Why’ is that, in all the businesses that I've done, I've wanted to help people grow their business. I want to help people grow their staff. I wanted to help people grow, just in general.Share on X And in this case, with the Anura, I’m able to help them identify, wasted spend, eliminate that so they can grow their marketing campaigns and grow their company. And if they grow their company, then they have to grow their staff, and it’s a good thing for everybody. Yeah, definitely. And until we talked, I was not aware that fraud is rampant, especially in ad spend. It didn't occur to me. And I kind of wonder why this is happening. But tell me how you found this problem, and why do you want to solve this, and how did you get to this point to launch a company about it? Well, in 2003, my wife and I launched a digital marketing firm. Think of Google, but really small. So it’s text-based ads you can target by keyword, bid price, geography, audience, like it had all these targeting criteria. We launched it in 2003. By 2004, we had a nice, stable list of clients, but we started getting some complaints about the traffic quality. Something wasn’t right. And I’m a developer, so I started looking at the code and realizing, looking at all the analytics and the data, and realized that it was bad traffic, it was fraudulent traffic. So I figured, you know what? I don't want to solve fraud. I want to go out, buy a fraud solution, bolt it onto my platform, and just continue doing my business.Share on X Kind of like buying McAfee for your laptop. You just buy and let it scan and do its thing. But in 2004, it didn't exist any fraud solutions. In fact, the first commercial available fraud solution didn’t start selling until 2008 or '09. So I was a developer, and I said, we're going to lose our business if I don't do something. So I figured it out I'd build it myself, and we did. I wrote the software. It worked great. We had to continue evolving it as fraud evolved. And it got to the point where we started having clients ask—if not beg—to use our software outside of our network. And that’s when we kind of got the idea that this might be a good tool to sell by itself, as opposed to baked into our platform. And that's where we launched it, in 2017. We ended up launching a Anura as a standalone solution. Wow. I mean, it's definitely, if this is a big problem, it's going to affect everyone who advertises. So it could be hundreds of millions of people. How can someone even make money with fraudulent traffic? How does it help them to make money? Well, what happens is internet advertising fraud is not illegal. There’s no law that says you can’t do it. So if you do find somebody that’s doing it, it’s really difficult to prosecute them in the U.S. But a lot of it happens overseas, so it’s even worse. There’s a lot of countries that allow all kinds of stuff. So basically, what we focus on is that their job is to try to make money. And I read an article one time from another company that was doing stats on fraud detection. They said the average fraudster—and this is why they do it—makes $5 million a year. But how? There’s a lot of different ways. It depends if they're buying from Google, Facebook, DSPs, or affiliate marketing. But I’ll give you a simple example. One example, which is affiliate marketing. A lot of companies use affiliate marketing. I think it's a $20 or $30 billion industry at this point. It's a big market. So what happens is, right now, you or I can go to Amazon and sign up for their affiliate program, and every time we send them a new client, they'll give us 5% of what they spend. So I'm getting paid on the spend, right? So what if I sent fake users there? I’m not going to get paid for anything because they're not spending money. But what if I’m the fraudster? I use stolen credit cards to make those purchases. So if the purchase gets made and shipped, I get 5%. Affiliates usually get paid net 7. So I get paid net 7, somewhere across that month, maybe the next month, the person whose credit card was stolen says, “Hey, wait a second, I recognize charges that don't belong to me.” And then the investigation starts and takes months before it comes back to Amazon and says, “Oh, you shipped out a product to a fraudulent credit card. You're not getting paid for this. We're taking the money back.” But by then, they've already shipped the product, so they're out the hard cost of the product. They've already paid out the affiliate. The affiliate has already been paid. The affiliate can continue to do that for weeks, knowing that it’s going to take months for them to get caught. Once they get caught, they just set up another account. And what they're doing is making those affiliate margins. So if they spend a hundred dollars, they make five. If they create dozens and dozens of accounts, you can quickly see how they can make a lot of money in a short period of time. That’s just one example. Yeah. That’s very interesting. Very interesting. So, okay, that’s really cool. So you basically help people not have the fake traffic. So whatever traffic they have, it’s real. So they pay real prices for real value. That’s got to be a significant improvement in advertising efficiency. What is the kind of improvement that you see on average happening for people? On average, it’s 25% improvement. So 25% of the marketing dollars that they’re spending is fraudulent. Now, if they buy from like Google and Facebook, it's probably around 10%—they're on the lower side. If you buy from the programmatic space, like The Trade Desk and things like that, it’s upwards of 50%, and then everything else falls in between. All the digital types of marketing. If you're doing influencer advertising, if you're doing affiliate advertising, each one has different levels of fraud that we’ve found. But on the high side is programmatic, and on the low side is probably search and social. Okay, so this seems like a big part of optimizing an ad, and making it perform better. So what I’d like you to share with us—and we'd talked about this in the pre-call is that you have a framework for generally optimizing digital ads. So what would that look like? And one element is fraud, but what are the other elements, and how do you go about optimizing your advertisement? Sure. Like the heaviest hitter, in my opinion, is fraud. So you start with fraud, you look at where fraud is, and you minimize that, right? The next thing you want to focus on is conversion value. Every campaign has some level of conversion. It could be as simple as a click. It could be as simple as watching a video. It could be purchasing a product. It could be generating a lead for, let’s say, Hey, save money on my car insurance, and you fill out a lead. So what you want to do is look at where that conversion takes place. First off, you want to analyze the conversions because not all conversions are real conversions. You’ll get conversions like credit cards, fake credit cards being used, or fake information being used in fill in forms, and that’s where the fraud comes in. Once you eliminate that, now you can rely on the data that you see in your conversion value, and you start optimizing your campaigns around that conversion value. So as long as hey, this source is generating me a 20% conversion, this source is generating me 10%. Guess what? I want to stop spending on the 10%, spend more than the 20% just optimizing for the conversion value. And that's what's going to get your campaign to perform at its highest level.Share on X So what are ways to optimize conversion beyond the fraud piece? Yeah, so once fraud’s out of the game, we’ve eliminated fraud, it’s really focusing on the data. What source you buy the traffic from, what sources they get the traffic from. Because sometimes you might buy a source of traffic like Google, and it may not come from Google. It may come from one of its syndicated partners like a CNN or a weather.com or Bloomberg, somewhere where you’re not familiar with, but if they’re getting traffic, that’s their partner network. They’re getting traffic from there. So you want to identify the sources. It could be by keyword, right? You can take a look and break it down by keyword. If you're looking at Google and maybe you have certain keywords that have a much higher performance because it's a better audience to targetShare on X and then you can have some that are much lower, then you got to decide what the cutoff is. So if you say, “Hey, anything less than a 10% conversion, I'm going to get rid of. And anything greater than 10%, I'm going to buy more of.” So that’s kind of where you focus on your conversion value. And ultimately, it’s to try to maximize your conversion while still spending your budget. Because let's say if you've got a source that's converting at 80%. It's going to be far and few between, and they're going to be expensive, and the volume of traffic is going to be light, and it's not going to be enough. Because if you've got one conversion a month, that's probably not enough to survive your company on. So you got to get somewhere in between, where you get the volume and you get the conversion value that you're looking for to give you the best possible campaign.Share on X So basically, you calculate your ROI on each type of conversion, and you get to a point where you still get a positive ROI. Is there like a rule of thumb? What is the kind of ROI do you need in order for it to generally be worth taking the risk of doing the advertising and putting in the effort? Yeah. It’s very different from client to client. It’s got to be specific to a client. And I'll give you an example. I used to work with a company called TigerDirect. They were a huge reseller of electronics, computers, computer components, and stuff like that. And they would spend $110 to generate a $20 sale. So everybody knows that’s losing money, right? You're losing $80 on every sale you generate, or whatever the number is. If they're spending $100 to generate a sale just to get a $20 sale, why would they do that? Well, they know once they get a client in the door, they market. They used to send weekly magazines of all the new stuff that's out in the market, the new pricing index, constant email bombardments. They would call you and say, “Hey, I saw you bought recordable CDs. We have a special on recordable CDs if you're looking for them.” They would market like crazy to their client base, and they would average over $300 per client. So that’s the lifetime value. Right. Their lifetime value was much greater than their cost for acquisition. And they were comfortable and in a position to spend that money to acquire the client knowing that they would make the money over time. Most companies don't operate that way. Most companies operate like GEICO—they pay $15 or $20 to get somebody to fill out a form saying they want to save money on car insurance. And they may close 15% of those leads into actual deals. And when they do the math, they’re making money every single lead that they get in, the ones that convert. And on the ones they lose, they're making enough money on the wins that the losses are outweighed, and they're still making money. So again, every company, every product—it's different. I've seen the same industries, like car insurance. Let's stick with car insurance. I've seen four or five companies where I'm looking at their conversion rates. Conversion rates are different. Their ROIs are different, their spend is different—everything's different. It's just targeting different audiences.Share on X So if I had unlimited funding, let’s say, and I want to ramp up as fast as possible, but I wanted to make it in a smart way. Is there like a rule of thumb that your lifetime value—the profit you make on a customer—has to be 3x the amount you spend on advertising? And the lifetime is measured by the profit, not the top line, but the bottom line. Yeah, I haven't seen a specific rule of thumb to give clients. Obviously, your lifetime value of a client needs to be more than the cost to acquire that client. And if you want to be profitable, not every company starts out profitable. Look at Uber—they were a billion-dollar company before they went profitable. They were able to raise enough money to keep everything going, because all they cared about was client acquisition. Yeah. Let me get as many clients and as many drivers and riders in the door, as many drivers and riders in the door as they can possibly get so they can own the market. They had a great idea. Lyft was right behind them. They didn’t care. They were able to raise enough capital to just keep spending like crazy, knowing that in the long game, once they owned the market in all the different markets they were targeting, they were going to be profitable.Share on X So they were spending like crazy. Doesn't that mean that there are some actors in the advertising market that inflate prices because maybe they’re venture-funded, and one out of a hundred company is going to make it unicorn? And the other 99 are going to be spending money on advertising, driving up prices. So if someone comes in and they're bootstrapping, they're going to be hard-pressed to actually make a return on their Facebook ads, because there's so much demand chasing results without appropriate expectation. Well, if there’s enough demand, then the bootstrapper can make it work. I’ve been a bootstrapper my whole life. So if you’re in a market where there’s enough demand, it’ll work. But if you're in a situation where, let's say today, you decide to come up with a rideshare app, you're going to be hard-pressed to win riders and drivers as a new bootstrapped company. Personally, I don't think Uber would be where it is today if it were bootstrapped. A business model like that required to grow fast, and they needed the capital to do it. So there are certain industries that bootstrappers just aren't going to be able to touch, because you've got a company like Uber that was losing money while acquiring all these new clients, knowing that down the road they would own the network and they would be able to be profitable. That’s a big gamble. Yeah. But it's also all the other companies that get funding but never actually make it. And the venture capitalists are spreading their risk because they invest in ten companies, and if one blows up, that's enough. Yeah. So that means that there’s a lot of fake demand, basically. Well, I’m talking about the demand from the client, not demand from the company. The company has the product, and they're trying to generate demand for their product. So when I say demand, I mean demand from the customer. No, I mean, demand for advertising. Oh, okay. Yeah, I see what you’re saying. So clicks. Yeah. So there's a limited number of people that are looking for that term. You’ve got a lot of people spending money. It’s going to make it difficult to get it unless you’re spending a lot per click. Yeah. So that means that maybe pay-per-click advertising is not for the faint of heart. I wouldn't say that. Yeah. It's not for everybody when you're talking about every industry, right? Certain industries—I’ll give you an example. Let's say you're a roofer. Pay-per-click is going to work great for you because there are only so many roofers in a given area, and there's a high demand for roofing. You can get away with spending a couple dollars a click, where it’s not going to break the bank, and you get that phone ringing. My son, for example, owns a power washing and holiday lighting company. And he does Facebook and Google ads. He’s a small company, bootstrapped, and generates plenty of demand because of that situation. But again, if he decided he wanted to compete with Uber, he'd be lost. So it really depends on the industry, Insurance. Let's say you want to start your own Rich Kahn insurance company. Well, I’m going to be competing against Allstate, Progressive, GEICO—all these companies that are spending heavily in that sector. The only way you're going to get action is to spend more per click than they do. And if I’m spending more per click, and I don’t have the scale like they do, I’m going to lose money. Yeah. Super interesting. So let’s circle back to your framework. So we talked about fraud minimization as a way to optimize ads. We talked about conversion. What's the third leg of this stool? For me, it’s content. So let's say you've got fraud out of the game. You optimize by campaign and your ads are showing up number one every single time, but the copy doesn't draw. Or you don't refresh the copy often enough, then it gets stale, and people see it and think, “Eh, let me try somebody new.” So they're always looking for newer content, a way to hook the client. You really have to optimize campaign copy. So again, working with Google—that's ones out there—you have the ability to put up multiple ads, multiple creatives. Their system will automatically take titles and rotate them for you so they stay unique. And then they'll push more traffic to the ones that are getting a better conversion rate or a better click-through rate. So it's about constantly staying on top of your copy. Just like when you watch TV. You'll see the same companies advertising over and over again, but it's always a different commercial because they're trying to hook you. If they played the same commercial for the last 20 years, you'd just tune it out. Tune it out. Yeah. Yeah. But when you see something new, it's like, “Oh, let me watch that one.” It's kind of cool. Because the commercials have to have good copy. If it's boring, stale copy, nobody's going to pay attention. And if it's entertaining, then it's even better, right? Exactly. If it becomes memorable and you think, “Oh my God, you've got to see this commercial I just saw, it was amazing,” that's the kind of commercial you try to build—but it's very difficult to build. Yeah, that’s very interesting. The creative element is very important. To catch attention and keep it, it has to be creative, curiosity-inducing, and potentially entertaining. That’s wonderful. Yeah. So when did you decide to go all in on Anura? Yeah. We launched it April 1st, 2017. We spent that first year trying to figure out who we were as a business. Because I'd never sold SaaS before, so I was trying to figure out—do I have a pitch deck? How do I talk to people? What works best? How do I get the person to say they're interested and want to get on a call? There was so many things that we were struggling with that first year. I don’t know if we signed up more than one or two clients that first year. By the second year, we signed up a bunch of clients because we started to figure out what was working, who we’re talking to, the right trade shows to go to, the right Google ad campaigns to run. And as we started getting that, we started getting our traction and we started growing the client base. So I guess we would say we launched in 2017, but really went all in in 2018. That's when we saw our first couple of clients jump on the software, fall in love with it, give us case studies and reviews, and say, “I can't believe how you changed my business. This is amazing.” Once we got into the hands of a client, and we had one or two clients that really embraced it, that's when we felt, “Okay, we're onto something special. We're all in.” That was about 2018. And then you started winding down your consulting business and went all in on the SaaS business? Yeah. We left the Google competitor, the really small Google competitor marketing agency. We left it up for a couple years because we had some clients that were still buying and using it. As the client attrition naturally occurred, we got to a point where we said, “Okay, it's time to shut it down.” That was also around 2018–2019. Basically, in 2018 we pulled all the resources from it and just kept it running for the clients that were still there. They'd been with us for years, so we kept it stable. We weren't going to trade shows, we weren't advertising it. Support was handled by two of us, the client support, actually the whole company was run by two of us, three of us, and we just let it run for a couple of years until the last client jumped off, and then we shut it down. Yeah. Actually, that's a great approach—to evolve from a business that maybe has a ceiling, find another opportunity, start putting more time into it as it takes off, reallocate resources, use the legacy business as a cash cow, your legacy business and then once the new business takes off, then basically cut bait. That’s very interesting. And I’ve seen this happen. I’ve done it myself as well. So what's the hardest decision you've ever had to make in your business? I’m going over the last 22 years. The hardest decision I ever had to make was firing a best friend. And unfortunately, it actually happened twice. My two best friends—one was a partner and one was an employee. We were working together, and it just got to the point where we had to go our separate ways from a business standpoint, and that hurt the relationship. We stopped talking. It was a bad breakup. And I just ran into them about a year ago, and we picked up where we left off—bygones be bygones. It was tough back then because you have a good friend, and it's like, “Oh, I want to bring my friends into the business. So I always tell new business owners when they're starting: if you're going to start the business with friends as a partner, that's different.Share on X But don't hire your friends as employees. Because if you hire them as employees and you have to make a business decision that doesn't go well for them, they're going to pull the “friend card.” And you’re going to be stuck between either getting rid of a bad employee, and I say bad, but like an employee that you need to get rid of or lose a friend. That’s tough. Friends are hard to come by, especially good friends. Especially when you get older and your kids are out of school, you're not hanging out on the sidelines at sports or having coffee with people. As you get older, there are fewer groups you hang out in, so it's harder to find friends. So it’s not worth losing a friend over business. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I had this experience as well, and it’s it was super painful for both of us. It did impact the relationship, even though we both put up a brave face over it, but it kind of breaks the trust. Yeah. It’s not fun. Yeah. So, final question I want to ask you is: what is the most important question an entrepreneur should ask themselves, in your opinion? Am I willing to not give up? Like I said, when I started this company, it wasn’t a new concept. If it’s a new concept, it's a lot easier to say, “Man, I'm going to crush this.” Because when we started this, there were probably about a half a dozen different fraud solutions in the marketplace back in 2017. There was a handful of them that were out. They were already getting a lot of traction. I think all of them were fully funded and doing really well. It’s not the greatest time in the world to enter the fraud detection market when you have traction like that—kind of like entering the market trying to compete with Uber. But I looked at it and thought, based on everything I was doing, I think we have a better product. And once we started getting that feedback from clients who use the other products and realized we had a better product, it made me more convinced that this is the direction we want to go to.Share on X We want to turn this into its own company. We want to grow it. And for me, that question is: is this something I can do and not give up on? But if it’s something like you’re like, “Ah, if it doesn't do this, I don't know,” then don't start. Because one of the things you’ll find with most entrepreneurs, successful entrepreneurs, they don’t give up, persistence. They’re can be smart about it, but persistent. It’s also a balance. It’s a belief. Maybe this is what you’re talking about that, do you have this conviction that this is going to work out in the end? Yeah. So how do you know? How do you know that you are willing to not give up? What makes you be able to make this decision? Is this a decision or is this like an ongoing question that you keep asking yourself? For me, it's: I've got to run it through my head and feel that it's an unfillable business. And then I got to feel it in my heart. If I don’t feel it in my head and my heart, I’m not going to do it. I’ve had cut dozens and dozens of great ideas, some that I think would be phenomenal even in today’s standard, but I didn't have the resources I wanted behind them. I didn't really have the heart in those businesses, so I didn't start them. I wasn't all in. Like I said before, with this business, when we started it, I was all in with my toe. And then once I started getting feedback from clients, I jumped in. Because then I knew, it wasn’t me saying I’ve got the best solution, it was my client’s telling me I got a better solution. And then as I get client after client, so now you know, you look at seven, eight years later, I’ve got new people in the office. I started working for this new fraud company. I see they’re kind of small compared to some of the other big companies out in the marketplace. And then they’re on the phone with clients who are like ranting and raving about our software. They come back—now they're all in. And that's really what I want is I want every team member to feel that, to know that they're with the right company. It's not just for me—it's for the team too. Share on X Yeah, the team. I agree. That’s super important. Well, I love that. And this whole idea of the client feedback, reinforcing the value, and making people confident to sell it is huge. Yeah. All right. So if people would like to reach out to learn about your solution—maybe they’re advertising, they’re spending a lot of money, and they want to save the 25% without losing any conversions, or they just want to reach out and learn more about and get to know you—where should they go and how can they reach you? I would start with anura.io or www.anura.com . We own both. And on there, we have huge amount of resources. We publish several blogs every week. We have dozens of eBooks online. We have the world’s only comprehensive guide on ad fraud, it’s about an 80 page document. So plenty of ways to learn. And then once they want to talk to somebody, once they’re ready, and like they’ve done their research and they’re ready to talk to us, they can fill out a form and we'll reach out, or they can just pick up the phone and call us. If they want to follow me on LinkedIn, that’s my social media of choice. I post videos like this on there, some wacky videos sometimes with me and my grandkids. The best way to find me is just Rich Kahn on LinkedIn. I'm easy to find. Awesome. Well, Rich, thank you for coming and sharing your framework—the Ad Optimization Framework. So it's content, fraud minimization, conversion, and this idea of conviction: when you are willing to not give up concept. It’s fabulous. For those of you listening, if you found this valuable, follow us on YouTube, check out our LinkedIn page, and stay tuned because every week we are going to get a wonderful contributor like Rich Kahn, the CEO of Anura. So Rich, thanks for coming and thanks for listening. Appreciate it. Important Links: Rich's LinkedIn Rich's website
Brian Connery, Vice President of Sales at On Health, explains how their electronic medication administration record (EMAR) system and connected "med box" hardware aim to reduce medication errors and simplify workflows for direct support professionals (DSPs). Connery describes the company's person‑centered, collaborative design approach, shaped by a founding story involving a family tragedy related to medication mismanagement. He also shares his personal journey from DSP to leadership roles across provider agencies and state services, highlighting the meaningful, community‑driven nature of the intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) field. Connery closes by offering three recommendations for improving supports in IDD—innovation through technology access, reducing silos via collaboration and data sharing, and ongoing education paired with shared responsibility—emphasizing that progress requires collective effort across providers, vendors, and advocates.
Katrina Hazell is a dynamic motivational speaker, life coach, and author, known for her inspiring book "Special Education to College the Katrina Story, Breaking Those Glass Ceilings". As the founder and Executive Director of Disability Champion Mentoring Network Incorporated, Katrina is dedicated to empowerment, self-direction, and disability advocacy. She holds the position of Vice Chair of the Council on Developmental Disabilities and serves as an advocate lead for the Regional Centers for Workforce Transformation. Katrina is also a graduate of Kingsborough Community College, where she earned her Associate's degree.Episode Summary:In this enlightening episode of DSP Talk, host Asheley Blaise welcomes Katrina Hazell, a prominent motivational speaker and life coach, to discuss self-direction for people with disabilities. As individuals set new goals for the year, Katrina delves into the significance of self-directing one's life, focusing on using one's unique gifts and strengths rather than conforming to external expectations. Katrina shares how she navigates the systems designed for individuals with disabilities and underlines the importance of supportive relationships with Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) to foster true independence.Throughout the episode, Asheley and Katrina explore how being in control of one's own goals translates into daily life, highlighting the need for a balance between independence and support. Katrina shares her experiences advocating for herself, such as her journey with supported decision-making, and the impact it has had on bolstering her confidence. By underscoring the importance of emotional support and positive reinforcement, Katrina emphasizes building empowering partnerships rooted in trust and accountability. As Katrina shares her vision for a life that transcends societal limitations, Asheley encourages listeners to focus on the bigger picture, creating a life guided by one's own aspirations.Key Takeaways:Self-Direction Empowerment: Katrina emphasizes that effective self-direction begins internally and is strengthened by supportive networks that truly recognize and believe in one's goals.Daily Goal Control: Effective DSP relationships enable individuals to retain control over their goals by offering accountability and positive support, ensuring alignment within provided systems.Partnership Dynamics: Empowering DSP partnerships involve sharing goals, fostering trust, and providing accountability support, ensuring that individuals can achieve their aspirations.Bigger Picture Perspective: Katrina advises that both individuals and DSPs should focus on creating and pursuing a holistic vision for life, transcending system-imposed limitations.Notable Quotes:"I do not allow myself to feel limited or dwell on my disability. Instead, I focus within my gifts, abilities, and superpowers." - Katrina Hazell"I knew I didn't want guardianship, but a village to support me along the way." - Katrina Hazell"A truly empowering partnership with a DSP is having accountability support where you can see yourself thrive." - Katrina Hazell"Create the bigger picture of the life that you want to see within yourself, not what the system sees for you." - Katrina HazellResources:Episode TranscriptSpecial Education to College The Ketrina Story: Breaking Those Glass CeilingsDisability Champion Mentoring NetworkThe Regional Centers for Workforce TransformationFor more inspiring discussions and insights into disability advocacy and self-direction, tune into the full episode and stay engaged with DSP Talk for future episodes. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Squints615 sits down with Mille Manny. Originally from Memphis, TN. Squints615 came across Mille Manny on social media and immediately wanted to get him on IGSSTS. Took a few weeks....but it happened. His newest single "Bad One" is currently available on all DSPs. Enjoy an episode that houses that specific type of talent Squints615 labels as "undeniable." Follow Mille Manny on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/millemanny_/?hl=enSubscribe to Mile Manny on Youtube @millemanny BIGS&P - SHOW AND PROVE ENTFOLLOW @SQUINTS615 ON INSTAGRAMAND YOUTUBE @SQUINTS615MERCH AVAILABLE AT WWW.CHADARMESTV.COM
What began in 2007 as a hi-res music download store has grown into a vital platform for global music fans eager for a human-curated, high-quality listening experience. Qobuz has had a massive 2025, which saw them peak at #4 on the iOS App Store thanks in part to viral posts calling out their 24-bit hi-res streaming & download offerings and editorial team-led recommendations. This month, we talk to Qobuz's Managing Director, Dan Mackta about the company's history & recent success, how the Qobuz experience is akin to shopping for music at your local record store, the many ways it differentiates from the top DSPs of the day, and more!