Podcast appearances and mentions of Eric Ries

In This Episode: [00:20] Introducing Oleg Kuzmenkov of Seller Assistant App [03:10] Reseller pricing [10:00] Price list analyser [15:25] Manually or doing bulk tools [18:20] Price of seller assistant [25:00] Seller Assistant and what they do.   Guest Links and References: Website: https://www.sellerassistant.app/ Linkedin profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oakuzmenkov/   Book References: Lean Start Up by Eric Ries   100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez   Links and References: Wizards of Amazon:  https://www.wizardsofecom.com/ Wizards of Amazon Courses:  www.wizardsofecom.com/academy Wizards of Amazon Meetup:  https://www.meetup.com/South-Florida-FBA/ Wizards of Amazon on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/WizardsofAmazon/ Wizards of Amazon on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/wizardsofecom/

In this episode of Don't Waste the Chaos, Kerri Roberts discusses the essentials of business strategy, emphasizing that strategy is not merely a plan but a series of intentional choices that shape how businesses grow, adapt, and lead. With her signature clarity and practical insight, Kerri challenges the outdated notion that strategy is a one-time planning event. Instead, she presents strategy as a dynamic, living framework for decision-making that drives alignment, momentum, and long-term success. From identifying the right customer to simplifying execution, Kerri shares how leaders can use data, speed, and culture to bring strategy to life inside their organizations. She offers practical tools and reflective questions to help founders, executives, and team leaders clarify their direction and create alignment across people and performance. Tune in to hear: -Why strategy is a set of choices, not just a written plan-How clarity about your customer leads to stronger decisions-Why simplicity outperforms complexity in strategic planning-How to use the right data to make better decisions-Why fast execution beats perfect planning ResourcesThe Advantage by Patrick Lencioni https://amzn.to/4deF7LBTraction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman  https://amzn.to/4mdE5UgThe Lean Startup by Eric Ries https://amzn.to/4kbq47HCreativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull https://amzn.to/4iYbPlS The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John Maxwell https://amzn.to/4jUQHhHThe Effective Executive by Peter Drucker https://amzn.to/4mkCL2b Salt & Light AdvisorsLearn more about simplifying executionhttps://www.saltandlightadvisors.com/ Join our weekly newsletter:• HR and operations insights for business professionals: https://www.saltandlightadvisors.com/contact Magic Mind Save $40 off your first order at magicmind.com/KERRIROBERTS ProducifyX For Recruitment Assistance, Tell them Kerri sent you  Connect on IG:https://www.instagram.com/saltandlightadvisorshttps://www.instagram.com/kerrimroberts Check out Don't Waste the Chaos on YouTube:https://youtube.com/@dontwastethechaospodcast Visit our websites:www.kerrimroberts.comwww.saltandlightadvisors.com

In this dynamic episode, Scott Stirrett is joined by Eric Ries — entrepreneur, bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way, and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE). He explores how the principles of experimentation, vision, and agility can transform not only startups, but also individual careers. Eric shares how the Lean Startup methodology, originally designed to help businesses thrive in uncertainty, can empower early-career professionals to make bold decisions, test hypotheses about their work, and adapt to a rapidly evolving world. From founding a stock exchange with nothing but an idea and a government form, to navigating the rise of generative AI, Eric draws on decades of experience to offer practical advice for anyone navigating career ambiguity. Whether you're building your first MVP, pivoting in response to market changes, or trying to articulate your personal values in an age of institutional distrust, this episode offers a timely blueprint for embracing uncertainty with purpose.

The Green Impact Report Quick take: Packaging and sustainability expert Tom shares how AI and smart technology are transforming recycling and landfill diversion efforts in stadiums, universities, and corporate buildings – creating a more engaging path to sustainability for the next generation. Meet Your Fellow Sustainability Champion  Thomas (Tom) Grinnan is a Global executive and consultant who thrives in new markets, leveraging 25+ years in the Pharmaceutical, Life Science & Packaging industries. With a strong background in sustainable packaging innovation, he's now leading DC1 as CEO, where they develop AI-powered solutions to drive recycling and reduce landfill waste. At DC1, Tom is focusing on landfill diversion through innovative technology that makes recycling more accessible, measurable, and engaging for users while providing valuable sustainability metrics for organizations. Tom began his career in strategic planning after studying French and biology at the University of Virginia. His multilingual skills (fluent in French with knowledge of Spanish, Japanese, and German) helped him develop a niche in cross-border market expansion. Throughout his career, Tom has grown businesses by 15%+ annually through strategic innovation and mentoring. Prior to joining DC1 in March 2024, he worked with major corporations like Midwest, Faco, Westrock, and Silgan, where he gained firsthand experience in sustainable manufacturing practices that reuse resources and minimize environmental impact.

Did you like the episode? Send me a text and let me know!!Launching Your Physical Product: Prototyping to MarketingIn this episode of 'Business Conversations With Pi,' Skoob and his AI co-host, Pi, delve into the essential steps for new entrepreneurs launching physical products. The discussion offers comprehensive advice on market research, design, prototyping, manufacturing, and marketing strategies. Listeners will learn about tools like CAD software and 3D printing, gather tips for refining prototypes, and receive guidance on creating a strong brand identity and effective pricing strategy. The episode also includes book recommendations to further support entrepreneurial success. Whether you're just starting out or looking to enhance your existing strategies, this episode is packed with actionable insights. "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries:   "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal:"Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" by Al Ries and Jack Trout: "The Ultimate Sales Machine" by Chet Holmes:00:00 Introduction to Business Conversations with Pi00:46 Meet Your Hosts: KU and Pi01:11 Diving into Entrepreneurial Questions01:59 Special Focus: Sunglasses Startup02:37 Steps to Launching a Product03:42 Prototyping Tips for Sunglasses04:49 Getting Help with CAD and 3D Printing05:50 Marketing and Pricing Strategies06:54 Recommended Reading for Entrepreneurs07:59 Final Words of Wisdom08:24 Conclusion and Next Steps Thank you for being a Skoobeliever!! If you have questions about the show or you want to be a guest please contact me at one of these social mediasTwitter......... ..@djskoob2021 Facebook.........Facebook.com/skoobamiInstagram..... instagram.com/uepodcast2021tiktok....... @djskoob2021Email............... Uepodcast2021@gmail.comAcross The Start Line Facebook Community If you would like to be coached on your entrepreneurial adventure please email me at for a 2 hour free discovery call! This is a $700 free gift to my Skoobelievers!! Contact me Now!! On Twitter @doittodaycoachdoingittodaycoaching@gmailcom

I am Granger Forson, and you can find me at www.bizsmart-gloucestershire.co.uk or connect with me on LinkedIn. In this inspiring episode, I talk with the remarkable trailblazer, Ukponu Ayogu, who is dedicated to uplifting immigrant women and mothers through coaching, mentorship, and technology solutions.   We discuss her journey of starting a business born out of personal necessity – transforming her own struggle to find fulfilling work in a new country into a powerful resource for others. You'll hear how her focus on helping women understand their ‘why' and monetise their passions has fuelled incredible success stories.   From creating streamlined tech stacks that automate processes for work-life balance, to launching the Rising Phoenix Network, Ukponu is on a mission to bring robust support to thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs. She shows us the importance of proving a business model before seeking outside funding, and how email marketing can truly change the game.   If you're ready to learn from someone who has mentored hundreds of women already, this is the conversation for you. Tune in and discover how to realign your motivation, build a supportive community, and set the foundation for a thriving business future! ✨   To ensure you don't miss any inspirational future episodes do subscribe to ScaleUp Radio wherever you like to listen to your podcasts. So, let's now dive into the inspiring journey of Passion, Persistence, and Global Empowerment with Ukponu.   Scaling up your business isn't easy, and can be a little daunting. Let ScaleUp Radio make it a little easier for you. With guests who have been where you are now, and can offer their thoughts and advice on several aspects of business. ScaleUp Radio is the business podcast you've been waiting for.   If you would like to be a guest on ScaleUp Radio, please click here: https://bizsmarts.co.uk/scaleupradio/kevin   You can get in touch with Granger here: grangerf@biz-smart.co.uk   Kevin's Latest Book Is Available! Drawing on BizSmart's own research and experiences of working with hundreds of owner-managers, Kevin Brent explores the key reasons why most organisations do not scale and how the challenges change as they reach different milestones on the ScaleUp Journey. He then details a practical step by step guide to successfully navigate between the milestones in the form of ESUS - a proven system for entrepreneurs to scale up. More on the Book HERE - https://www.esusgroup.co.uk/   Ukponu can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ukponuayogu/   Resources: Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/think-and-grow-rich-the-original-classic-hill/2073500?ean=9781906465599 The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/the-lean-startup-how-constant-innovation-creates-radically-successful-businesses-eric-ries/1171537?ean=9780670921607 Dare To Lead by Brene Brown - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/dare-to-lead-brave-work-tough-conversations-whole-hearts-brene-brown/406737?ean=9781785042140 The Female Start Up Club podcast - https://www.femalestartupclub.com/pages/podcast Unfinished Business podcast - https://open.spotify.com/show/6y2bgkjQwaNqAVusotUFMo Mindset Manifestation podcast - https://mikaylajai.com/podcast/ Structured app - https://structured.app/ Apple Podcast app - https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-podcasts/ Digest app - https://www.producthunt.com/products/digest-app  

Artificial intelligence is radically transforming software development. AI-assisted coding tools are generating billions in investment, promising faster development cycles, and shifting engineering roles from code authors to code editors. But how does this impact software quality, security, and team dynamics? How can product teams embrace AI without falling into the hype? In this episode, AI assisted Agile expert Mike Gehard shares his hands-on experiments with AI in software development. From his deep background at Pivotal Labs to his current work pushing the boundaries of AI-assisted coding, Mike reveals how AI tools can amplify quality practices, speed up prototyping, and even challenge the way we think about source code. He discusses the future of pair programming, the evolving role of test-driven development, and how engineers can better focus on delivering user value. Unlock the full potential of your product team with Integral's player coaches, experts in lean, human-centered design. Visit integral.io/convergence for a free Product Success Lab workshop to gain clarity and confidence in tackling any product design or engineering challenge. Inside the episode... Mike's background at Pivotal Labs and why he kept returning How AI is changing the way we think about source code as a liability Why test-driven development still matters in an AI-assisted world The future of pair programming with AI copilots The importance of designing better software in an AI-driven development process Using AI to prototype faster and build user-facing value sooner Lessons learned from real-world experiments with AI-driven development The risks of AI-assisted software, from hallucinations to security Mentioned in this episode Mike's Substack: https://aiassistedagiledevelopment.substack.com/ Mike's Github repo: https://github.com/mikegehard/ai-assisted-agile-development Pivotal Labs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivotal_Labs 12-Factor Apps: https://12factor.net/  GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot Cloud Foundry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Foundry Lean Startup by Eric Ries: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898 Refactoring by Martin Fowler and Kent Beck https://www.amazon.com/Refactoring-Improving-Existing-Addison-Wesley-Signature/dp/0134757599 Dependabot: https://github.com/dependabot Tessl CEO Guy Podjarny's talk: https://youtu.be/e1a3WuxTY-k  Aider AI Pair programming terminal: https://aider.chat/ Gemini LLM: https://gemini.google.com/app Perplexity AI: https://www.perplexity.ai/ DeepSeek: https://www.deepseek.com/ Ian Cooper's talk on TDD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN9lftH0cJc Mike's newest Mountain Bike IBIS Ripmo V2S: https://www.ibiscycles.com/bikes/past-models/ripmo-v2s Mike's recommended house slippers: https://us.giesswein.com/collections/mens-wool-slippers/products/wool-slippers-dannheim Sorba Chattanooga Mountain Biking Trails: https://www.sorbachattanooga.org/localtrails Subscribe to the Convergence podcast wherever you get podcasts, including video episodes on YouTube at youtube.com/@convergencefmpodcast Learn something? Give us a 5-star review and like the podcast on YouTube. It's how we grow.

Late last year, we sat down with Eric Ries, who fundamentally changed how we think about building startups through The Lean Startup. Only Eric can make corporate governance sound poetic. The conversation took an unexpected turn as we delved into what Ries calls "vampire founders" - leaders who feel immortal yet isolated, watching employees come and go while they remain eternally at the helm. This phenomenon stems from founders conflating their identity with their companies, leading to a uniquely lonely experience that differs markedly from traditional CEO roles.The discussion revealed how the current startup ecosystem, flush with capital but short on genuine opportunities, has created a pressure cooker environment where founders often compromise their original values to fit institutional expectations. Ries argues that most entrepreneurs start with genuine idealism but get caught in a system that strips companies of their distinctiveness - what he calls being "surgically deboned". This process happens gradually through what Ries terms "gravity," where financial transactions unconsciously transmit values that pull companies toward conformity.Perhaps most provocatively, Ries challenges the fundamental premise of shareholder primacy theory and suggests that the way we currently build companies is neither inevitable nor optimal. He points to examples like Anthropic's Long Term Benefit Trust as evidence that alternative governance structures can work, while arguing that the current system's defenders spend inordinate energy convincing everyone that the status quo is inevitable - a sure sign, he suggests, that it isn't.Some key insights from this video:-  The "vampire founder" phenomenon describes leaders who feel immortal yet isolated, watching teams cycle through while they remain unchanged-  Most founders begin idealistic but face systemic pressure to conform, leading to companies losing their distinctiveness over time-  The startup ecosystem has more capital than good opportunities, creating pressure to grow at unnatural rates-  Traditional governance structures often force unnecessary compromises that make both founders and companies weaker-  Alternative governance models exist and can work, but the system actively resists their adoption becoming widespread-  Financial transactions always transmit values unconsciously, creating a gravitational pull toward conformity-  The current startup system is defended not because it's inevitable, but because it's actually quite fragile-  Most founders who achieve financial success still end up deeply unhappy due to the compromises they made along the way-  Building trustworthy companies is actually more profitable than exploitation, but the system makes this hard to see-  Change is possible - Ries points to how The Lean Startup went from radical idea to conventional wisdom in just a few years.

In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Scott Maynard, co-founder of Excite Media, a Brisbane-based marketing agency specializing in digital marketing for service-based businesses. Scott, an electrical engineer with a background in software development, brings over 20 years of experience to the marketing industry. Excite Media has grown from a two-person startup to a 40-employee company generating $5.6 million in revenue. Scott attributes their success to prioritizing team happiness, client satisfaction, and financial sustainability. They foster a positive work environment through a 4-day work week and open feedback channels. Other Resources: An easy way to measure if your customers love you in 21 minutes – use the Net Promoter Score (NPS). And it's FREE. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Scott Maynard, co-founder of Excite Media, believes the hardest thing in growing a small business is juggling the various demands and feeling pulled in different directions. He compares the experience to navigating an obstacle course in the dark or juggling Rubik's cubes while facing unexpected challenges. This feeling arises from the need to manage multiple priorities simultaneously as the business expands. What's your favourite business book that has helped you the most? One of the business books mentioned in the podcast you uploaded is "100 Million Dollar Offers" by Alex Hormozi. It's highly recommended for understanding how to create compelling offers that can transform a business. The guest also praises it for its insights on objection handling and structuring marketable offers​. For my personal favorite, I would highlight "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries, as it provides a practical approach to building businesses that focus on continuous innovation and learning—a principle useful across industries. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Scott Maynard highly recommends seeking out podcasts and online resources that are specific to your industry. He also suggests exploring content from individuals like Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary V) and Warren Buffet, who offer valuable insights applicable to various business aspects. Maynard emphasizes the importance of being curious and choosing materials that resonate with your needs. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Scott Maynard suggests that learning how to use a spreadsheet is a valuable tool for growing a small business. While it may not seem glamorous, spreadsheets are incredibly versatile for tasks like business planning, number crunching, and financial forecasting. He emphasizes that mastering this fundamental tool can empower business owners to make informed decisions and manage their operations effectively. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? Looking back on his 20-year entrepreneurial journey, Scott Maynard would advise his younger self to be patient, maintain consistency, and focus on the business fundamentals. He emphasizes that success is not a get-rich-quick scheme but rather a result of sustained effort and dedication over time. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Know your numbers. You can't make good decisions unless you know the numbers — Scott Maynard Define your culture and accept that it's not going to be for everyone. That's fine — Scott Maynard Do the fundamentals well and cover your weaknesses by surrounding yourself with people who complement your strengths — Scott Maynard

We discuss the four modes of coaching and navigate career growth in expanding / contracting companies with James Birchler. James shares highlights from the recent coaching / mentoring workshop he facilitated, and breaks down how each mode of coaching differs tactically. We also cover the dilemma of linear career/leadership growth vs. exponential company growth, different common communication challenges eng leaders face, why people / organizational challenges are harder than technical issues, and how to prepare for & execute uncomfortable conversations. James also shares his unique journey to technical leadership & how past management roles – even in non-tech spaces – have helped shape his thoughts on coaching & eng leadership today.ABOUT JAMES BIRCHLERJames Birchler is an engineering and product development leader, technical advisor, and an accredited Executive Coach from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business Executive Coaching Institute.In his coaching practice, James focuses on self-awareness, integrity, accountability, and fostering a growth mindset that supports continuous learning and high performance.He focuses his technical advisory practice on common mechanisms and playbooks required at different phases and inflection points of startup growth and scaling: Hiring and interviewing, product development methodologies including Lean Startup and Agile, operational meeting cadence and communication flow, people management, technical leadership, vision/mission development, alignment, and execution.James implemented the Lean Startup methodologies with Eric Ries at IMVU (literally the first Lean Startup), where his team helped start the DevOps movement by building the infrastructure to ship code to production 50 times a day (which was a lot at the time!) and coining the term “continuous deployment.”He has more than 20 years of experience leading high-performance teams in growth environments, including startups and scaled organizations, including Amazon. He has delivered great consumer software products and implemented product development and innovation processes based on continuous learning and improvement.Presently James advises and coaches Series A+ startups in the US and Europe, and leads innovation practices in hyper-growth areas of last mile delivery technology for Amazon. Previously my roles included VP of Engineering & Operations, VP of Engineering, and Founder at several technology startups including IMVU, Caffeine.tv, SmugMug, iCracked, The Arts Coop, and Letters & Science.You can find James at jamesbirchler.com, LinkedIn, and Substack.SHOW NOTES:Highlights from James' recent coaching & mentoring workshop (2:41)Shared challenges around building trust in eng teams (5:25)The differences between coaching vs. mentoring (7:01)Building trust in order to best support your team members as a manager (9:38)Defining the advising mode of coaching (11:54)How supporting differs from advising (14:29)The story behind James' technical leadership journey (16:55)Transitioning from a PhD program & environmental planning career into tech (20:19)The dilemma of career growth: linear leadership growth vs. exponential company growth (23:53)Why organizational challenges are more complicated than technical puzzles (26:49)Navigating career growth during company contraction from the employee perspective (28:02)Preparing for uncomfortable conversations as a coach / manager (31:50)Strategies for actually having those tough conversations (35:36)Frameworks for helping others identify what they want (37:58)Rapid fire questions (42:44)LINKS AND RESOURCESStop 'Coaching' Your Tech Team (And What To Do Instead) - James' substack post on the four modes of development breaking down the core differences of coaching, advising, mentoring, and supporting roles and explaining how trust is the secret ingredient to all four.jamesbirchler.com - James' website where you can find info about his executive coaching and resources for engineering leaders and founders.How to lead with radical candor | Kim Scott - NYT bestselling author, Kim Scott, has cracked the code on giving valuable feedback in a way that builds genuine relationships, drives results, and creates positive workplaces.What Are People For? - In the twenty-two essays collected here, Wendell Berry conveys a deep concern for the American economic system and the gluttonous American consumer. Berry talks to the reader as one would talk to a next-door neighbor: never preachy, he comes across as someone offering sound advice. In the end, these essays offer rays of hope in an otherwise bleak forecast of America's future. Berry's program presents convincing steps for America's agricultural and cultural survival.New Happy: Getting Happiness Right in a World That's Got It Wrong - Happiness expert Stephanie Harrison draws upon hundreds of studies to offer a life-changing guide to finding the happiness you have been looking for, all based on a decade of research and brought to life with beautiful artwork.Accelerate: Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations - Through four years of groundbreaking research, Dr. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim set out to find a way to measure software delivery performance—and what drives it—using rigorous statistical methods. This book presents both the findings and the science behind that research. Readers will discover how to measure the performance of their teams, and what capabilities they should invest in to drive higher performance.Conversations on Science, Culture, and Time: Michel Serres with Bruno Latour - Although elected to the prestigious French Academy in 1990, Michel Serres has long been considered a maverick--a provocative thinker whose prolific writings on culture, science and philosophy have often baffled more than they have enlightened. In these five lively interviews with sociologist Bruno Latour, this increasingly important cultural figure sheds light on the ideas that inspire his highly original, challenging, and transdisciplinary essays.This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team:Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-HostJerry Li - Co-HostNoah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

Did you like the episode? Send me a text and let me know!!Mastering Minimum Viable Products (MVP) with AI InsightsIn this episode of Business Conversations with Pi, host Scoob and his AI co-host Pi, developed by Anthropic, delve into critical topics for new entrepreneurs. They discuss what a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is, the importance of overcoming perfectionism, and strategies for launching an MVP effectively. They also provide valuable post-launch steps, recommend insightful books, and emphasize the importance of learning and iterating based on user feedback. Tune in for actionable advice and AI-enabled insights to help turn your startup dreams into reality."The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries: "Hooked" by Nir Eyal "The Startup Owner's Manual" by Steve Blank"The Mom Test" by Rob Fitzpatrick"Running Lean" by Ash Maurya00:00 Introduction to Business Conversations with Pi01:50 Defining the Minimum Viable Product (MVP)03:07 Strategies for Launching Your MVP05:02 Post-Launch Steps and Overcoming Perfectionism06:46 Recommended Reading for Entrepreneurs07:55 Final Thoughts and Encouragement08:29 Conclusion and Next Steps Thank you for being a Skoobeliever!! If you have questions about the show or you want to be a guest please contact me at one of these social mediasTwitter......... ..@djskoob2021 Facebook.........Facebook.com/skoobamiInstagram..... instagram.com/uepodcast2021tiktok....... @djskoob2021Email............... Uepodcast2021@gmail.comIf you would like to be coached on your entrepreneurial adventure please email me at for a 2 hour free discovery call! This is a $700 free gift to my Skoobelievers!! Contact me Now!! On Twitter @doittodaycoachdoingittodaycoaching@gmailcom

Steve Blank is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford University, where he co-created the "Hacking for Defense" curriculum for the Department of Defense. As a consultant to top defense and intelligence organizations, Steve brings cutting-edge strategies to the national security sector. Before entering academia, Steve built eight different startups. He helped launch the Lean Startup movement with his May 2013 Harvard Business Review cover story. Steve also authored the acclaimed business books "The Four Steps to the Epiphany" and "The Startup Owner's Manual.” This episode's is guest host is Meka Asonye, a Partner at First Round Capital. Before joining First Round as an investor, Meka led go-to-market teams at both Stripe and Mixpanel. – In today's episode we discuss: Commercial versus military market strategies Finding mission solution fit The hidden challenges most startups miss Building relationships in National Security The new generation of “defense founders” Much more – Referenced: Alexander Osterwalder: https://www.linkedin.com/in/osterwalder/ Department of Defense: https://www.defense.gov/ Eric Ries: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/ Hacking for Defense: https://hackingfordefense-prod.stanford.edu/ How Saboteurs Threaten Innovation: https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/ How to find your customer in the Dept of Defense: https://steveblank.com/2024/09/17/the-directory-of-dod-program-executive-offices-and-officers-peos/ Mission Model Canvas: https://steveblank.com/2019/09/ Pete Newell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petenewell/ Special Operations Command: https://www.socom.mil/ The Frozen Middle: https://steveblank.com/2024/07/30/why-large-organizations-struggle-with-disruption-and-what-to-do-about-it/ The Hacking for Defense Manual: https://stanfordh4d.substack.com/p/the-hacking-for-defense-manual-a The Hacking for Defense Course: https://www.h4d.us/ The lean launchpad at Stanford: https://steveblank.com/2011/05/10/the-lean-launchpad-at-stanford-–-the-final-presentations/ The Secret History of Silicon Valley: https://steveblank.com/secret-history/ – Where to find Steve: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveblank/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/sgblank Website: https://steveblank.com/ – Where to find Meka: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mekaasonye/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/bigmekastyle – Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast – Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (02:27) Validating ideas for defense products (03:57) Guide to military sales and procurement (07:15) Rethinking GTM strategies (10:13) Building a network in national security (15:07) The dual-use debate (18:35) Behind the rising number of “defense founders” (22:30) “Mission solution fit” (24:35) Breaking new ground in military tech (26:09) Essential resources for any defense founder (28:59) What's missing from Silicon Valley

In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Lilly Garrett, who shares her entrepreneurial journey that led her to building Maixia Marketing. She discusses the innovative strategies she has led that fueled significant growth at multiple early stage startups. Lilly emphasizes the critical role of data-driven decision-making and effective marketing foundations. Tune in for valuable insights on building a successful business from the ground up.   Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Lilly Garrett believes the hardest things in growing a small business are team building, marketing foundations, data management,and the art of prioritization.  What business book has helped you the most? Lilly Garrett's favorite business book that has helped her the most is "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Lilly Garrett recommends the following podcasts and online learning resources to help grow a small business: April Dunford, she has a blog and podcast all about positioning, it's a must read/listen for all businesses! What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Lilly Garrett recommends using Pocus, if you're sales-led and Slack for all internal comms.  What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? Lilly Garrett would advise herself on day one of starting out in business to ensure you've validated as well as you possibly can (read The Mom Test) ensure to record more data asap, and collect feedback consistently, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer insights from the beginning. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Success in business often boils down to effective marketing and understanding your customers — Lilly Garrett Don't underestimate the power of a strong team; collaboration fuels innovation — Lilly Garrett Embrace challenges as opportunities to learn and grow; every setback is a stepping stone to success — Lilly Garrett      

In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Damien Cantelo, co-founder of Apollo Secure, shares his journey leading an 8-member team while navigating the challenges of a failed GPS deal. He discusses the importance of resilience and strategic cash flow management in protecting small businesses from cyber threats. Damien also emphasizes the value of learning from setbacks and how adaptability is crucial for long-term success. Tune in for insights on fostering a secure business environment and the lessons learned along the way. Other Resources:   Discover expert cybersecurity strategies to safeguard your business and achieve peace of mind, featuring insights from Damien Cantelo. Discover how Andrew Miller scaled his solo startup to a $500K annual revenue powerhouse with 7 team members, sharing key strategies for transforming early-stage companies and achieving work-life balance. Andrew Miller. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Damien Cantelo identified that one of the hardest things in growing a small business is listening to customers and ensuring that your product or service aligns with their needs. He mentioned that entrepreneurs often become too attached to their original ideas and may struggle to let go of their initial concepts. Instead, they must be disciplined enough to adapt based on what customers actually want, even if it differs from their original vision. This can be a continuous challenge as business owners navigate their growth journey. What's your favourite business book that has helped you the most? Damien Cantelo highlighted "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries as a significant book that serves as a Bible for tech startups. Additionally, he recommended "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore, which he considers timeless and still relevant today, especially for understanding market dynamics in various business contexts. These books have greatly influenced his approach to business and product development. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Damien Cantelo recommends the "Built to Sell" podcast for valuable insights on building and selling businesses. He also appreciates John Warrillow's podcast, which complements his books, along with April Dunford's resources on marketing and positioning for effective business differentiation. Additionally, he suggests exploring cybersecurity podcasts for niche industry insights. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Damien Cantelo recommends cash flow forecasting in Excel as an essential tool for growing a small business, highlighting the importance of understanding cash inflows and outflows. He emphasizes that, despite the availability of various sales and marketing automation tools, effective cash management remains critical for business sustainability. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? Damien Cantelo advises that on day one of starting out in business, one should "stick with it" and be prepared for a long and challenging journey. He echoes Winston Churchill's sentiment that if you're going through hell, you should keep going, emphasizing the importance of perseverance in overcoming obstacles. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.   Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Listening to your customers is the key to evolving your business – Damien Cantelo Perseverance is essential; if you're going through hell, keep going – Damien Cantelo   Don't be afraid to pivot; the market knows what it wants – Damien Cantelo      

Today we're diving into a topic that is often overlooked as a ‘bore' or even ‘chore' by many Direct Selling business owners: compliance. What exactly is compliance, and why does it matter? Let us answer that for you and, while we're at it, we'll also share how it can help your business to grow!  Compliance is often an avoided topic - viewed as a restriction but what if I told you that it's an important tool to have under your belt? That understanding it and how it applies to your business could make your Social Media strategies more effective?!  To help us navigate this, we've brought on a special guest, Jonathan Gilliam. Jonathan is the founder and CEO of Momentum Factor, a leading digital risk management firm specializing in compliance monitoring, education, brand protection, and online reputation management. He's also the mind behind Field Watch, a compliance management platform that helps businesses grow safely and responsibly. In today's conversation, we'll explore how compliance can be less scary, and why it's so important in protecting your business and brand. Jonathan will share his expertise, offer practical strategies and share insights to guide you in safeguarding your business and making a positive impact in the industry.  Let's jump in and explore how to grow your business the right way while protecting what matters most. Enjoy the episode!   We'll be talking about:  ➡ [0:00] Introduction ➡ [4:25] A fun fact about Jonathan ➡ [7:16] Getting into the Direct Selling industry ➡ [10:04] What actually is compliance and why is it important? ➡ [11:36] Direct Selling vs other industries ➡ [13:27] Awareness of being non-compliant ➡ [14:19] What is and isn't okay to post?  ➡ [15:59] The risk of non-compliant claims online ➡ [19:15] The most common compliance issues ➡ [22:05] Things someone can say and cannot say ➡ [26:24] What to do if somebody else is non-compliant ➡ [29:20] Alerting the compliance department ➡ [32:38] Old content that is going bite you down the track ➡ [34:16] 3 tips from a compliance expert ➡ [36:17] Common mistakes people are making ➡ [39:11] What to say when you can't say anything ➡ [45:17] A word of advice from Jonathan ➡ [46:53] Check out Momentum Factor's website ➡ [48:02] Jonathan's recommended book ➡ [48:49] Jonathan's dream superpower ➡ [49:45] Jonathan's favourite quote ➡ [50:37] Jonathan's advice to his past self ➡ [51:09] Final thoughts   Resources:  Book Recommendations ➡ Lean StartUp by Eric Ries: https://bit.ly/4h0zu5s ➡ Find Jonathan's books here: https://momofactor.com/resources/books/    Quote: ➡  “If you don't go, you don't know” About our guest: Known for developing innovative solutions to difficult digital challenges, Jonathan Gilliam is Founder & CEO at Momentum Factor – the leading AI-powered digital risk management firm specializing in compliance monitoring and education, brand protection and global online reputation management, as well as the developers of the FieldWatch Compliance Management platform. Jonathan graduated with a BA degree from the University of Texas at Austin, followed by graduate studies at Rice University. While his firm has been named an Inc. 5000 America's Fastest Growing Private Companies honoree by Inc. Magazine in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, Jonathan has been recognized by the Austin Business Journal as one of Austin's Best CEOs twice.  A published author, Jonathan's books ‘Social Selling: How Direct Selling Companies Can Harness the Power of Connectivity and Change the World' and ‘Blastoff! Creating Growth in Direct Selling Companies: Lessons in Momentum from CEOs & Industry Leaders', helped shape the Direct Selling industry conversation about new media and delivered a vision of social media's promise for Direct Selling companies.   Connect with Jonathan Gilliam: ➡ Jonathan Gilliam's Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.gilliam ➡ Jonathan Gilliam's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathangilliam/ ➡ Find Jonathan's books here: https://momofactor.com/resources/books/    ➡ Momentum Factor website: https://momofactor.com/ ➡ Momentum Factor X: https://x.com/MomoFactor/ ➡ Momentum Factor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momofactor/ ➡ Momentum Factor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/momentum-factor/     Connect with Direct Selling Accelerator: ➡ Visit our website: https://www.auxano.global/ ➡ Subscribe to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DirectSellingAccelerator ➡ Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auxanomarketing/ ➡ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auxanomarketing/ ➡ Email us: grow@auxanomarketing.com.au If you have any podcast suggestions or things you'd like to learn about specifically, please send us an email at the address above. And if you liked this episode, please don't forget to subscribe, tune in, and share this podcast.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Martin Anderson, founder of Ionata Digital, discusses his journey growing a digital services company with over $2 million in annual revenue. He shares his strategies for work-life balance, the importance of cash flow, and how focusing beyond Tasmania allowed his business to thrive. Martin also emphasizes the value of professional development, including his experience as president of Tas ICT. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Martin Anderson believes the hardest thing in growing a small business is managing cash flow. He emphasizes the importance of putting money aside for tax liabilities and being prepared for the financial demands that arise, especially in the second year, when the tax department might request payments for both the past and the coming year. Without careful planning, cash flow issues can become a significant challenge for business survival. What's your favourite business book that has helped you the most? Martin Anderson's favorite business book is "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries. He appreciates its focus on testing ideas early, iterating, and learning from feedback. The book's concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) resonates with him, as it encourages starting small, listening to your audience, and making improvements based on their responses. This approach aligns well with the agile project management style Martin uses in his business. Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Martin Anderson recommends Tim Reid's podcast, "Small Business, Big Marketing," as a valuable resource for growing a small business. He finds it packed with great ideas and practical advice, especially for Australian entrepreneurs. Martin appreciates Tim's engaging speaking style and the useful insights provided on marketing strategies for small businesses. What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Martin Anderson recommends Xero as an essential tool for growing a small business. He praises it for simplifying financial management and believes that having a solid handle on finances is crucial for success. While he enjoys managing the business finances himself, his mentor suggests delegating this task to focus more on strategic growth. Nonetheless, Martin considers Xero a fantastic product, especially for startups. What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? If Martin Anderson could give advice to himself on day one of starting out in business, he would say: "Focus beyond Tasmania from the start." He emphasizes thinking nationally or globally, rather than being geographically limited. Martin believes that by targeting larger markets from the outset, entrepreneurs can tap into a much bigger audience and accelerate their business growth. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.     Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Work-life balance is essential; respect your team's time outside of work – Martin Anderson Don't place artificial limits on yourself; the internet connects you to a global market – Martin Anderson Cash flow is the lifeblood of any small business; plan for your tax liabilities – Martin Anderson      

How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. Get all the news you need by listening to WBZ NewsRadio 1030 on the free #iHeartRadio app! Or ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio.

Astro themes of October! (00:01:33) October 1st - 2nd: Correction.  The Sun Mercury cazimi and the Libra eclipse - Something is wrong. (00:02:42) October 3rd - 7th: Analysis.  Mercury square Mars creating challenge in decision making. (00:04:07) October 8th - 13th: Intuition Mercury in Libra trine Jupiter in Gemini - Manifesting time! (00:07:11) October 14th - 19th: The beginning of transformation Venus opposite Uranus - What or who is draining your wealth and energetic resources? (00:12:34) October 20th - 24th: Refinement Mercury trine Saturn rx - Get clear headed on things. (00:15:30) October 25th - 31st: Picking your battles Mars sextile Uranus - A boost of freedom Books!!! (00:18:19) Aries Book Picks: Purpose, destiny and evolution of networks. The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell. (00:19:05) Taurus Book Picks: Being unapologetically the self and evolution of your professional goals. Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to Stand Alone by Brené Brown The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries (00:19:50) Gemini Book Picks: Making your own luck and intense spiritual growth The Luck Factor: The Four Essential Principles by Richard Wiseman The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer (00:20:20) Cancer Book Picks: Innovative visions and or Financial transformation Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley and David Kelley You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero (00:21:07) Leo Book Picks: Rebirth in alliances and the evolution of connections with others. Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown The Power of Connection: How Relationships Help Us Heal by Dr. David F. Drake (00:21:51) Virgo Book Picks: Deep focus on wellness and health regeneration. How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease by Dr. Michael Greger Lifeforce: How New Breakthroughs in Precision Medicine Can Transform the Quality of Your Life & Those You Love by Tony Robbins (00:22:53) Libra Book Picks: Taking a risk in making changes Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown The Art of Risk: The New Science of Courage, Caution, and Chance by Kayt Sukel (00:23:44) Scorpio Book Picks: Power struggles in work and/or family and rebirth of emotional foundations Family Ties That Bind: A Self-help Guide to Change Through Family of Origin Therapy by Dr. Ronald W. Richardson It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are by Mark Wolynn (00:24:20) Sagittarius Book Picks: Time is money and the evolution of managing your mindset Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness by Morgan Housel (00:25:05) Capricorn Book Picks: Control of wealth and developing motivated negotiations in partnerships  The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich by David Bachwhere Bach Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton, and Sheila Heen (00:25:58) Aquarius Book Picks: Rebirth of identity and unconventional self-reinvention The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear (00:26:41) Pisces Book Picks: Letting go of the past and empowerment through surrender The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life* by Mark Manson

The Founder Formula for success covers six areas. Today, I give you the six books you must read to master each area. Watch the video for my full reviews but if you can't wait, here is the full list. Brain: Atomic Habits by James Clear https://amzn.to/4dUFdHP Body: Outlive by Dr Peter Attia https://amzn.to/3XrVJbA Business: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries https://amzn.to/3AX29YF Finance: The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel https://amzn.to/4gkHXjp  Family/Friends: The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Green https://amzn.to/3zdSqwj  Fun: Losing my Virginity by Richard Branson https://amzn.to/3ZlICem  --- Thanks to my season partners Local Enterprise Office: https://rebrand.ly/EELEO  Azure Communications: https://rebrand.ly/eeazure  Property Bridges: https://rebrand.ly/eepropbridge  *Use code Fox20 to get a 20% discount with Azure.

Design and Development Principles for LLMOps // MLOps Podcast #254 with Andy McMahon, Director - Principal AI Engineer at Barclays Bank. A huge thank you to SAS for their generous support! // Abstract As we move from MLOps to LLMOps we need to double down on some fundamental software engineering practices, as well as augment and add to these with some new techniques. In this case, let's talk about this! // Bio Andy is a Principal AI Engineer, working in the new AI Center of Excellence at Barclays Bank. Previously he was Head of MLOps for NatWest Group, where he led their MLOps Centre of Excellence and helped build out their MLOps platform and processes across the bank. Andy is also the author of Machine Learning Engineering with Python, a hands-on technical book published by Packt. // MLOps Jobs board https://mlops.pallet.xyz/jobs // MLOps Swag/Merch https://mlops-community.myshopify.com/ // Related Links Andy's book - https://packt.link/w3JKL Andy's Medium - https://medium.com/@andrewpmcmahon629 SAS: https://www.sas.com/en_us/home.html SAS® Decision Builder: https://www.sas.com/en_us/offers/23q4/microsoft-fabric.html Data Engineering for AI/ML Conference: https://home.mlops.community/home/events/dataengforai Harnessing MLOps in Finance // Michelle Marie Conway // MLOps Podcast Coffee #174: https://youtu.be/nIEld_Q6L-0The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses book by Eric Ries: https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Eric-Ries/dp/0307887898 --------------- ✌️Connect With Us ✌️ ------------- Join our slack community: https://go.mlops.community/slack Follow us on Twitter: @mlopscommunity Sign up for the next meetup: https://go.mlops.community/register Catch all episodes, blogs, newsletters, and more: https://mlops.community/ Connect with Demetrios on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpbrinkm/ Connect with Andy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-p-mcmahon/ Timestamps: [00:00] Andy's preferred coffee [00:09] Takeaways [02:04] Andy's book as an Oxford curriculum [06:13] Register for the Data Engineering for AI/ML Conference now! [07:04] The Life Cycle of AI Executives Course [09:55] MLOps as a term [11:53] Tooling vs Process Culture [15:01] Open source benefits [17:15] End goal flexibility [20:06] Hybrid Cloud Strategy Overview [21:11] ROI for tool upgrades [25:41] Long-term projects comparison [29:02 - 30:48] SAS Ad [30:49] AI and ML Integration [35:40] Hybrid AI Integration Insights [42:18] Tech trends vs Practicality [44:39] Gen AI Tooling Debate [51:57] Vanity metrics overview [55:22] Tech business alignment strategy [58:45] Aligning teams for ROI [1:01:35] Communication mission effectively [1:03:45] Enablement metrics [1:06:38] Prioritizing use cases [1:09:47] Wrap up

Disclaimer: We recorded this episode ~1.5 months ago, timing for the FastHTML release. It then got bottlenecked by Llama3.1, Winds of AI Winter, and SAM2 episodes, so we're a little late. Since then FastHTML was released, swyx is building an app in it for AINews, and Anthropic has also released their prompt caching API. Remember when Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis coined the GPU Rich vs GPU Poor war? (if not, see our pod with him). The idea was that if you're GPU poor you shouldn't waste your time trying to solve GPU rich problems (i.e. pre-training large models) and are better off working on fine-tuning, optimized inference, etc. Jeremy Howard (see our “End of Finetuning” episode to catchup on his background) and Eric Ries founded Answer.AI to do exactly that: “Practical AI R&D”, which is very in-line with the GPU poor needs. For example, one of their first releases was a system based on FSDP + QLoRA that let anyone train a 70B model on two NVIDIA 4090s. Since then, they have come out with a long list of super useful projects (in no particular order, and non-exhaustive):* FSDP QDoRA: this is just as memory efficient and scalable as FSDP/QLoRA, and critically is also as accurate for continued pre-training as full weight training.* Cold Compress: a KV cache compression toolkit that lets you scale sequence length without impacting speed.* colbert-small: state of the art retriever at only 33M params* JaColBERTv2.5: a new state-of-the-art retrievers on all Japanese benchmarks.* gpu.cpp: portable GPU compute for C++ with WebGPU.* Claudette: a better Anthropic API SDK. They also recently released FastHTML, a new way to create modern interactive web apps. Jeremy recently released a 1 hour “Getting started” tutorial on YouTube; while this isn't AI related per se, but it's close to home for any AI Engineer who are looking to iterate quickly on new products: In this episode we broke down 1) how they recruit 2) how they organize what to research 3) and how the community comes together. At the end, Jeremy gave us a sneak peek at something new that he's working on that he calls dialogue engineering: So I've created a new approach. It's not called prompt engineering. I'm creating a system for doing dialogue engineering. It's currently called AI magic. I'm doing most of my work in this system and it's making me much more productive than I was before I used it.He explains it a bit more ~44:53 in the pod, but we'll just have to wait for the public release to figure out exactly what he means.Timestamps* [00:00:00] Intro by Suno AI* [00:03:02] Continuous Pre-Training is Here* [00:06:07] Schedule-Free Optimizers and Learning Rate Schedules* [00:07:08] Governance and Structural Issues within OpenAI and Other AI Labs* [00:13:01] How Answer.ai works* [00:23:40] How to Recruit Productive Researchers* [00:27:45] Building a new BERT* [00:31:57] FSDP, QLoRA, and QDoRA: Innovations in Fine-Tuning Large Models* [00:36:36] Research and Development on Model Inference Optimization* [00:39:49] FastHTML for Web Application Development* [00:46:53] AI Magic & Dialogue Engineering* [00:52:19] AI wishlist & predictionsShow Notes* Jeremy Howard* Previously on Latent Space: The End of Finetuning, NeurIPS Startups* Answer.ai* Fast.ai* FastHTML* answerai-colbert-small-v1* gpu.cpp* Eric Ries* Aaron DeFazio* Yi Tai* Less Wright* Benjamin Warner* Benjamin Clavié* Jono Whitaker* Austin Huang* Eric Gilliam* Tim Dettmers* Colin Raffel* Sebastian Raschka* Carson Gross* Simon Willison* Sepp Hochreiter* Llama3.1 episode* Snowflake Arctic* Ranger Optimizer* Gemma.cpp* HTMX* UL2* BERT* DeBERTa* Efficient finetuning of Llama 3 with FSDP QDoRA* xLSTMTranscriptAlessio [00:00:00]: Hey everyone, welcome to the Latent Space podcast. This is Alessio, partner and CTO-in-Residence at Decibel Partners, and I'm joined by my co-host Swyx, founder of Smol AI.Swyx [00:00:14]: And today we're back with Jeremy Howard, I think your third appearance on Latent Space. Welcome.Jeremy [00:00:19]: Wait, third? Second?Swyx [00:00:21]: Well, I grabbed you at NeurIPS.Jeremy [00:00:23]: I see.Swyx [00:00:24]: Very fun, standing outside street episode.Jeremy [00:00:27]: I never heard that, by the way. You've got to send me a link. I've got to hear what it sounded like.Swyx [00:00:30]: Yeah. Yeah, it's a NeurIPS podcast.Alessio [00:00:32]: I think the two episodes are six hours, so there's plenty to listen, we'll make sure to send it over.Swyx [00:00:37]: Yeah, we're trying this thing where at the major ML conferences, we, you know, do a little audio tour of, give people a sense of what it's like. But the last time you were on, you declared the end of fine tuning. I hope that I sort of editorialized the title a little bit, and I know you were slightly uncomfortable with it, but you just own it anyway. I think you're very good at the hot takes. And we were just discussing in our pre-show that it's really happening, that the continued pre-training is really happening.Jeremy [00:01:02]: Yeah, absolutely. I think people are starting to understand that treating the three ULM FIT steps of like pre-training, you know, and then the kind of like what people now call instruction tuning, and then, I don't know if we've got a general term for this, DPO, RLHFE step, you know, or the task training, they're not actually as separate as we originally suggested they were in our paper, and when you treat it more as a continuum, and that you make sure that you have, you know, more of kind of the original data set incorporated into the later stages, and that, you know, we've also seen with LLAMA3, this idea that those later stages can be done for a lot longer. These are all of the things I was kind of trying to describe there. It wasn't the end of fine tuning, but more that we should treat it as a continuum, and we should have much higher expectations of how much you can do with an already trained model. You can really add a lot of behavior to it, you can change its behavior, you can do a lot. So a lot of our research has been around trying to figure out how to modify the model by a larger amount rather than starting from random weights, because I get very offended at the idea of starting from random weights.Swyx [00:02:14]: Yeah, I saw that in ICLR in Vienna, there was an outstanding paper about starting transformers from data-driven piers. I don't know if you saw that one, they called it sort of never trained from scratch, and I think it was kind of rebelling against like the sort of random initialization.Jeremy [00:02:28]: Yeah, I've, you know, that's been our kind of continuous message since we started Fast AI, is if you're training for random weights, you better have a really good reason, you know, because it seems so unlikely to me that nobody has ever trained on data that has any similarity whatsoever to the general class of data you're working with, and that's the only situation in which I think starting from random weights makes sense.Swyx [00:02:51]: The other trends since our last pod that I would point people to is I'm seeing a rise in multi-phase pre-training. So Snowflake released a large model called Snowflake Arctic, where they detailed three phases of training where they had like a different mixture of like, there was like 75% web in the first instance, and then they reduced the percentage of the web text by 10% each time and increased the amount of code in each phase. And I feel like multi-phase is being called out in papers more. I feel like it's always been a thing, like changing data mix is not something new, but calling it a distinct phase is new, and I wonder if there's something that you're seeingJeremy [00:03:32]: on your end. Well, so they're getting there, right? So the point at which they're doing proper continued pre-training is the point at which that becomes a continuum rather than a phase. So the only difference with what I was describing last time is to say like, oh, there's a function or whatever, which is happening every batch. It's not a huge difference. You know, I always used to get offended when people had learning rates that like jumped. And so one of the things I started doing early on in Fast.ai was to say to people like, no, you should actually have your learning rate schedule should be a function, not a list of numbers. So now I'm trying to give the same idea about training mix.Swyx [00:04:07]: There's been pretty public work from Meta on schedule-free optimizers. I don't know if you've been following Aaron DeFazio and what he's doing, just because you mentioned learning rate schedules, you know, what if you didn't have a schedule?Jeremy [00:04:18]: I don't care very much, honestly. I don't think that schedule-free optimizer is that exciting. It's fine. We've had non-scheduled optimizers for ages, like Less Wright, who's now at Meta, who was part of the Fast.ai community there, created something called the Ranger optimizer. I actually like having more hyperparameters. You know, as soon as you say schedule-free, then like, well, now I don't get to choose. And there isn't really a mathematically correct way of, like, I actually try to schedule more parameters rather than less. So like, I like scheduling my epsilon in my atom, for example. I schedule all the things. But then the other thing we always did with the Fast.ai library was make it so you don't have to set any schedules. So Fast.ai always supported, like, you didn't even have to pass a learning rate. Like, it would always just try to have good defaults and do the right thing. But to me, I like to have more parameters I can play with if I want to, but you don't have to.Alessio [00:05:08]: And then the more less technical side, I guess, of your issue, I guess, with the market was some of the large research labs taking all this innovation kind of behind closed doors and whether or not that's good, which it isn't. And now we could maybe make it more available to people. And then a month after we released the episode, there was the whole Sam Altman drama and like all the OpenAI governance issues. And maybe people started to think more, okay, what happens if some of these kind of labs, you know, start to break from within, so to speak? And the alignment of the humans is probably going to fall before the alignment of the models. So I'm curious, like, if you have any new thoughts and maybe we can also tie in some of the way that we've been building Answer as like a public benefit corp and some of those aspects.Jeremy [00:05:51]: Sure. So, yeah, I mean, it was kind of uncomfortable because two days before Altman got fired, I did a small public video interview in which I said, I'm quite sure that OpenAI's current governance structure can't continue and that it was definitely going to fall apart. And then it fell apart two days later and a bunch of people were like, what did you know, Jeremy?Alessio [00:06:13]: What did Jeremy see?Jeremy [00:06:15]: I didn't see anything. It's just obviously true. Yeah. So my friend Eric Ries and I spoke a lot before that about, you know, Eric's, I think probably most people would agree, the top expert in the world on startup and AI governance. And you know, we could both clearly see that this didn't make sense to have like a so-called non-profit where then there are people working at a company, a commercial company that's owned by or controlled nominally by the non-profit, where the people in the company are being given the equivalent of stock options, like everybody there was working there with expecting to make money largely from their equity. So the idea that then a board could exercise control by saying like, oh, we're worried about safety issues and so we're going to do something that decreases the profit of the company, when every stakeholder in the company, their remuneration pretty much is tied to their profit, it obviously couldn't work. So I mean, that was a huge oversight there by someone. I guess part of the problem is that the kind of people who work at non-profits and in this case the board, you know, who are kind of academics and, you know, people who are kind of true believers. I think it's hard for them to realize that 99.999% of the world is driven very heavily by money, especially huge amounts of money. So yeah, Eric and I had been talking for a long time before that about what could be done differently, because also companies are sociopathic by design and so the alignment problem as it relates to companies has not been solved. Like, companies become huge, they devour their founders, they devour their communities and they do things where even the CEOs, you know, often of big companies tell me like, I wish our company didn't do that thing. You know, I know that if I didn't do it, then I would just get fired and the board would put in somebody else and the board knows if they don't do it, then their shareholders can sue them because they're not maximizing profitability or whatever. So what Eric's spent a lot of time doing is trying to think about how do we make companies less sociopathic, you know, how to, or more, you know, maybe a better way to think of it is like, how do we make it so that the founders of companies can ensure that their companies continue to actually do the things they want them to do? You know, when we started a company, hey, we very explicitly decided we got to start a company, not a academic lab, not a nonprofit, you know, we created a Delaware Seacorp, you know, the most company kind of company. But when we did so, we told everybody, you know, including our first investors, which was you Alessio. They sound great. We are going to run this company on the basis of maximizing long-term value. And in fact, so when we did our second round, which was an angel round, we had everybody invest through a long-term SPV, which we set up where everybody had to agree to vote in line with long-term value principles. So like never enough just to say to people, okay, we're trying to create long-term value here for society as well as for ourselves and everybody's like, oh, yeah, yeah, I totally agree with that. But when it comes to like, okay, well, here's a specific decision we have to make, which will not maximize short-term value, people suddenly change their mind. So you know, it has to be written into the legal documents of everybody so that no question that that's the way the company has to be managed. So then you mentioned the PBC aspect, Public Benefit Corporation, which I never quite understood previously. And turns out it's incredibly simple, like it took, you know, like one paragraph added to our corporate documents to become a PBC. It was cheap, it was easy, but it's got this huge benefit, which is if you're not a public benefit corporation, then somebody can come along and offer to buy you with a stated description of like turning your company into the thing you most hate, right? And if they offer you more than the market value of your company and you don't accept it, then you are not necessarily meeting the kind of your fiduciary responsibilities. So the way like Eric always described it to me is like, if Philip Morris came along and said that you've got great technology for marketing cigarettes to children, so we're going to pivot your company to do that entirely, and we're going to pay you 50% more than the market value, you're going to have to say yes. If you have a PBC, then you are more than welcome to say no, if that offer is not in line with your stated public benefit. So our stated public benefit is to maximize the benefit to society through using AI. So given that more children smoking doesn't do that, then we can say like, no, we're not selling to you.Alessio [00:11:01]: I was looking back at some of our emails. You sent me an email on November 13th about talking and then on the 14th, I sent you an email working together to free AI was the subject line. And then that was kind of the start of the C round. And then two days later, someone got fired. So you know, you were having these thoughts even before we had like a public example of like why some of the current structures didn't work. So yeah, you were very ahead of the curve, so to speak. You know, people can read your awesome introduction blog and answer and the idea of having a R&D lab versus our lab and then a D lab somewhere else. I think to me, the most interesting thing has been hiring and some of the awesome people that you've been bringing on that maybe don't fit the central casting of Silicon Valley, so to speak. Like sometimes I got it like playing baseball cards, you know, people are like, oh, what teams was this person on, where did they work versus focusing on ability. So I would love for you to give a shout out to some of the awesome folks that you have on the team.Jeremy [00:11:58]: So, you know, there's like a graphic going around describing like the people at XAI, you know, Elon Musk thing. And like they are all connected to like multiple of Stanford, Meta, DeepMind, OpenAI, Berkeley, Oxford. Look, these are all great institutions and they have good people. And I'm definitely not at all against that, but damn, there's so many other people. And one of the things I found really interesting is almost any time I see something which I think like this is really high quality work and it's something I don't think would have been built if that person hadn't built the thing right now, I nearly always reach out to them and ask to chat. And I tend to dig in to find out like, okay, you know, why did you do that thing? Everybody else has done this other thing, your thing's much better, but it's not what other people are working on. And like 80% of the time, I find out the person has a really unusual background. So like often they'll have like, either they like came from poverty and didn't get an opportunity to go to a good school or had dyslexia and, you know, got kicked out of school in year 11, or they had a health issue that meant they couldn't go to university or something happened in their past and they ended up out of the mainstream. And then they kind of succeeded anyway. Those are the people that throughout my career, I've tended to kind of accidentally hire more of, but it's not exactly accidentally. It's like when I see somebody who's done, two people who have done extremely well, one of them did extremely well in exactly the normal way from the background entirely pointing in that direction and they achieved all the hurdles to get there. And like, okay, that's quite impressive, you know, but another person who did just as well, despite lots of constraints and doing things in really unusual ways and came up with different approaches. That's normally the person I'm likely to find useful to work with because they're often like risk-takers, they're often creative, they're often extremely tenacious, they're often very open-minded. So that's the kind of folks I tend to find myself hiring. So now at Answer.ai, it's a group of people that are strong enough that nearly every one of them has independently come to me in the past few weeks and told me that they have imposter syndrome and they're not convinced that they're good enough to be here. And I kind of heard it at the point where I was like, okay, I don't think it's possible that all of you are so far behind your peers that you shouldn't get to be here. But I think part of the problem is as an R&D lab, the great developers look at the great researchers and they're like, wow, these big-brained, crazy research people with all their math and s**t, they're too cool for me, oh my God. And then the researchers look at the developers and they're like, oh, they're killing it, making all this stuff with all these people using it and talking on Twitter about how great it is. I think they're both a bit intimidated by each other, you know. And so I have to kind of remind them like, okay, there are lots of things in this world where you suck compared to lots of other people in this company, but also vice versa, you know, for all things. And the reason you came here is because you wanted to learn about those other things from those other people and have an opportunity to like bring them all together into a single unit. You know, it's not reasonable to expect you're going to be better at everything than everybody else. I guess the other part of it is for nearly all of the people in the company, to be honest, they have nearly always been better than everybody else at nearly everything they're doing nearly everywhere they've been. So it's kind of weird to be in this situation now where it's like, gee, I can clearly see that I suck at this thing that I'm meant to be able to do compared to these other people where I'm like the worst in the company at this thing for some things. So I think that's a healthy place to be, you know, as long as you keep reminding each other about that's actually why we're here. And like, it's all a bit of an experiment, like we don't have any managers. We don't have any hierarchy from that point of view. So for example, I'm not a manager, which means I don't get to tell people what to do or how to do it or when to do it. Yeah, it's been a bit of an experiment to see how that would work out. And it's been great. So for instance, Ben Clavier, who you might have come across, he's the author of Ragatouille, he's the author of Rerankers, super strong information retrieval guy. And a few weeks ago, you know, this additional channel appeared on Discord, on our private Discord called Bert24. And these people started appearing, as in our collab sections, we have a collab section for like collaborating with outsiders. And these people started appearing, there are all these names that I recognize, like Bert24, and they're all talking about like the next generation of Bert. And I start following along, it's like, okay, Ben decided that I think, quite rightly, we need a new Bert. Because everybody, like so many people are still using Bert, and it's still the best at so many things, but it actually doesn't take advantage of lots of best practices. And so he just went out and found basically everybody who's created better Berts in the last four or five years, brought them all together, suddenly there's this huge collaboration going on. So yeah, I didn't tell him to do that. He didn't ask my permission to do that. And then, like, Benjamin Warner dived in, and he's like, oh, I created a whole transformers from scratch implementation designed to be maximally hackable. He originally did it largely as a teaching exercise to show other people, but he was like, I could, you know, use that to create a really hackable BERT implementation. In fact, he didn't say that. He said, I just did do that, you know, and I created a repo, and then everybody's like starts using it. They're like, oh my god, this is amazing. I can now implement all these other BERT things. And it's not just answer AI guys there, you know, there's lots of folks, you know, who have like contributed new data set mixes and blah, blah, blah. So, I mean, I can help in the same way that other people can help. So like, then Ben Clavier reached out to me at one point and said, can you help me, like, what have you learned over time about how to manage intimidatingly capable and large groups of people who you're nominally meant to be leading? And so, you know, I like to try to help, but I don't direct. Another great example was Kerem, who, after our FSTP QLORA work, decided quite correctly that it didn't really make sense to use LoRa in today's world. You want to use the normalized version, which is called Dora. Like two or three weeks after we did FSTP QLORA, he just popped up and said, okay, I've just converted the whole thing to Dora, and I've also created these VLLM extensions, and I've got all these benchmarks, and, you know, now I've got training of quantized models with adapters that are as fast as LoRa, and as actually better than, weirdly, fine tuning. Just like, okay, that's great, you know. And yeah, so the things we've done to try to help make these things happen as well is we don't have any required meetings, you know, but we do have a meeting for each pair of major time zones that everybody's invited to, and, you know, people see their colleagues doing stuff that looks really cool and say, like, oh, how can I help, you know, or how can I learn or whatever. So another example is Austin, who, you know, amazing background. He ran AI at Fidelity, he ran AI at Pfizer, he ran browsing and retrieval for Google's DeepMind stuff, created Jemma.cpp, and he's been working on a new system to make it easier to do web GPU programming, because, again, he quite correctly identified, yeah, so I said to him, like, okay, I want to learn about that. Not an area that I have much expertise in, so, you know, he's going to show me what he's working on and teach me a bit about it, and hopefully I can help contribute. I think one of the key things that's happened in all of these is everybody understands what Eric Gilliam, who wrote the second blog post in our series, the R&D historian, describes as a large yard with narrow fences. Everybody has total flexibility to do what they want. We all understand kind of roughly why we're here, you know, we agree with the premises around, like, everything's too expensive, everything's too complicated, people are building too many vanity foundation models rather than taking better advantage of fine-tuning, like, there's this kind of general, like, sense of we're all on the same wavelength about, you know, all the ways in which current research is fucked up, and, you know, all the ways in which we're worried about centralization. We all care a lot about not just research for the point of citations, but research that actually wouldn't have happened otherwise, and actually is going to lead to real-world outcomes. And so, yeah, with this kind of, like, shared vision, people understand, like, you know, so when I say, like, oh, well, you know, tell me, Ben, about BERT 24, what's that about? And he's like, you know, like, oh, well, you know, you can see from an accessibility point of view, or you can see from a kind of a actual practical impact point of view, there's far too much focus on decoder-only models, and, you know, like, BERT's used in all of these different places and industry, and so I can see, like, in terms of our basic principles, what we're trying to achieve, this seems like something important. And so I think that's, like, a really helpful that we have that kind of shared perspective, you know?Alessio [00:21:14]: Yeah. And before we maybe talk about some of the specific research, when you're, like, reaching out to people, interviewing them, what are some of the traits, like, how do these things come out, you know, usually? Is it working on side projects that you, you know, you're already familiar with? Is there anything, like, in the interview process that, like, helps you screen for people that are less pragmatic and more research-driven versus some of these folks that are just gonna do it, you know? They're not waiting for, like, the perfect process.Jeremy [00:21:40]: Everybody who comes through the recruiting is interviewed by everybody in the company. You know, our goal is 12 people, so it's not an unreasonable amount. So the other thing to say is everybody so far who's come into the recruiting pipeline, everybody bar one, has been hired. So which is to say our original curation has been good. And that's actually pretty easy, because nearly everybody who's come in through the recruiting pipeline are people I know pretty well. So Jono Whitaker and I, you know, he worked on the stable diffusion course we did. He's outrageously creative and talented, and he's super, like, enthusiastic tinkerer, just likes making things. Benjamin was one of the strongest parts of the fast.ai community, which is now the alumni. It's, like, hundreds of thousands of people. And you know, again, like, they're not people who a normal interview process would pick up, right? So Benjamin doesn't have any qualifications in math or computer science. Jono was living in Zimbabwe, you know, he was working on, like, helping some African startups, you know, but not FAANG kind of credentials. But yeah, I mean, when you actually see people doing real work and they stand out above, you know, we've got lots of Stanford graduates and open AI people and whatever in our alumni community as well. You know, when you stand out above all of those people anyway, obviously you've got something going for you. You know, Austin, him and I worked together on the masks study we did in the proceeding at the National Academy of Science. You know, we had worked together, and again, that was a group of, like, basically the 18 or 19 top experts in the world on public health and epidemiology and research design and so forth. And Austin, you know, one of the strongest people in that collaboration. So yeah, you know, like, I've been lucky enough to have had opportunities to work with some people who are great and, you know, I'm a very open-minded person, so I kind of am always happy to try working with pretty much anybody and some people stand out. You know, there have been some exceptions, people I haven't previously known, like Ben Clavier, actually, I didn't know before. But you know, with him, you just read his code, and I'm like, oh, that's really well-written code. And like, it's not written exactly the same way as everybody else's code, and it's not written to do exactly the same thing as everybody else's code. So yeah, and then when I chatted to him, it's just like, I don't know, I felt like we'd known each other for years, like we just were on the same wavelength, but I could pretty much tell that was going to happen just by reading his code. I think you express a lot in the code you choose to write and how you choose to write it, I guess. You know, or another example, a guy named Vic, who was previously the CEO of DataQuest, and like, in that case, you know, he's created a really successful startup. He won the first, basically, Kaggle NLP competition, which was automatic essay grading. He's got the current state-of-the-art OCR system, Surya. Again, he's just a guy who obviously just builds stuff, you know, he doesn't ask for permission, he doesn't need any, like, external resources. Actually, Karim's another great example of this, I mean, I already knew Karim very well because he was my best ever master's student, but it wasn't a surprise to me then when he then went off to create the world's state-of-the-art language model in Turkish on his own, in his spare time, with no budget, from scratch. This is not fine-tuning or whatever, he, like, went back to Common Crawl and did everything. Yeah, it's kind of, I don't know what I'd describe that process as, but it's not at all based on credentials.Swyx [00:25:17]: Assemble based on talent, yeah. We wanted to dive in a little bit more on, you know, turning from the people side of things into the technical bets that you're making. Just a little bit more on Bert. I was actually, we just did an interview with Yi Tay from Reka, I don't know if you're familiar with his work, but also another encoder-decoder bet, and one of his arguments was actually people kind of over-index on the decoder-only GPT-3 type paradigm. I wonder if you have thoughts there that is maybe non-consensus as well. Yeah, no, absolutely.Jeremy [00:25:45]: So I think it's a great example. So one of the people we're collaborating with a little bit with BERT24 is Colin Raffle, who is the guy behind, yeah, most of that stuff, you know, between that and UL2, there's a lot of really interesting work. And so one of the things I've been encouraging the BERT group to do, Colin has as well, is to consider using a T5 pre-trained encoder backbone as a thing you fine-tune, which I think would be really cool. You know, Colin was also saying actually just use encoder-decoder as your Bert, you know, why don't you like use that as a baseline, which I also think is a good idea. Yeah, look.Swyx [00:26:25]: What technical arguments are people under-weighting?Jeremy [00:26:27]: I mean, Colin would be able to describe this much better than I can, but I'll give my slightly non-expert attempt. Look, I mean, think about like diffusion models, right? Like in stable diffusion, like we use things like UNet. You have this kind of downward path and then in the upward path you have the cross connections, which it's not a tension, but it's like a similar idea, right? You're inputting the original encoding path into your decoding path. It's critical to make it work, right? Because otherwise in the decoding part, the model has to do so much kind of from scratch. So like if you're doing translation, like that's a classic kind of encoder-decoder example. If it's decoder only, you never get the opportunity to find the right, you know, feature engineering, the right feature encoding for the original sentence. And it kind of means then on every token that you generate, you have to recreate the whole thing, you know? So if you have an encoder, it's basically saying like, okay, this is your opportunity model to create a really useful feature representation for your input information. So I think there's really strong arguments for encoder-decoder models anywhere that there is this kind of like context or source thing. And then why encoder only? Well, because so much of the time what we actually care about is a classification, you know? It's like an output. It's like generating an arbitrary length sequence of tokens. So anytime you're not generating an arbitrary length sequence of tokens, decoder models don't seem to make much sense. Now the interesting thing is, you see on like Kaggle competitions, that decoder models still are at least competitive with things like Deberta v3. They have to be way bigger to be competitive with things like Deberta v3. And the only reason they are competitive is because people have put a lot more time and money and effort into training the decoder only ones, you know? There isn't a recent Deberta. There isn't a recent Bert. Yeah, it's a whole part of the world that people have slept on a little bit. And this is just what happens. This is how trends happen rather than like, to me, everybody should be like, oh, let's look at the thing that has shown signs of being useful in the past, but nobody really followed up with properly. That's the more interesting path, you know, where people tend to be like, oh, I need to get citations. So what's everybody else doing? Can I make it 0.1% better, you know, or 0.1% faster? That's what everybody tends to do. Yeah. So I think it's like, Itay's work commercially now is interesting because here's like a whole, here's a whole model that's been trained in a different way. So there's probably a whole lot of tasks it's probably better at than GPT and Gemini and Claude. So that should be a good commercial opportunity for them if they can figure out what those tasks are.Swyx [00:29:07]: Well, if rumors are to be believed, and he didn't comment on this, but, you know, Snowflake may figure out the commercialization for them. So we'll see.Jeremy [00:29:14]: Good.Alessio [00:29:16]: Let's talk about FSDP, Qlora, Qdora, and all of that awesome stuff. One of the things we talked about last time, some of these models are meant to run on systems that nobody can really own, no single person. And then you were like, well, what if you could fine tune a 70B model on like a 4090? And I was like, no, that sounds great, Jeremy, but like, can we actually do it? And then obviously you all figured it out. Can you maybe tell us some of the worst stories behind that, like the idea behind FSDP, which is kind of taking sharded data, parallel computation, and then Qlora, which is do not touch all the weights, just go quantize some of the model, and then within the quantized model only do certain layers instead of doing everything.Jeremy [00:29:57]: Well, do the adapters. Yeah.Alessio [00:29:59]: Yeah. Yeah. Do the adapters. Yeah. I will leave the floor to you. I think before you published it, nobody thought this was like a short term thing that we're just going to have. And now it's like, oh, obviously you can do it, but it's not that easy.Jeremy [00:30:12]: Yeah. I mean, to be honest, it was extremely unpleasant work to do. It's like not at all enjoyable. I kind of did version 0.1 of it myself before we had launched the company, or at least the kind of like the pieces. They're all pieces that are difficult to work with, right? So for the quantization, you know, I chatted to Tim Detmers quite a bit and, you know, he very much encouraged me by saying like, yeah, it's possible. He actually thought it'd be easy. It probably would be easy for him, but I'm not Tim Detmers. And, you know, so he wrote bits and bytes, which is his quantization library. You know, he wrote that for a paper. He didn't write that to be production like code. It's now like everybody's using it, at least the CUDA bits. So like, it's not particularly well structured. There's lots of code paths that never get used. There's multiple versions of the same thing. You have to try to figure it out. So trying to get my head around that was hard. And you know, because the interesting bits are all written in CUDA, it's hard to like to step through it and see what's happening. And then, you know, FSTP is this very complicated library and PyTorch, which not particularly well documented. So the only really, really way to understand it properly is again, just read the code and step through the code. And then like bits and bytes doesn't really work in practice unless it's used with PEF, the HuggingFace library and PEF doesn't really work in practice unless you use it with other things. And there's a lot of coupling in the HuggingFace ecosystem where like none of it works separately. You have to use it all together, which I don't love. So yeah, trying to just get a minimal example that I can play with was really hard. And so I ended up having to rewrite a lot of it myself to kind of create this like minimal script. One thing that helped a lot was Medec had this LlamaRecipes repo that came out just a little bit before I started working on that. And like they had a kind of role model example of like, here's how to train FSTP, LoRa, didn't work with QLoRa on Llama. A lot of the stuff I discovered, the interesting stuff would be put together by Les Wright, who's, he was actually the guy in the Fast.ai community I mentioned who created the Ranger Optimizer. So he's doing a lot of great stuff at Meta now. So yeah, I kind of, that helped get some minimum stuff going and then it was great once Benjamin and Jono joined full time. And so we basically hacked at that together and then Kerim joined like a month later or something. And it was like, gee, it was just a lot of like fiddly detailed engineering on like barely documented bits of obscure internals. So my focus was to see if it kind of could work and I kind of got a bit of a proof of concept working and then the rest of the guys actually did all the work to make it work properly. And, you know, every time we thought we had something, you know, we needed to have good benchmarks, right? So we'd like, it's very easy to convince yourself you've done the work when you haven't, you know, so then we'd actually try lots of things and be like, oh, and these like really important cases, the memory use is higher, you know, or it's actually slower. And we'd go in and we just find like all these things that were nothing to do with our library that just didn't work properly. And nobody had noticed they hadn't worked properly because nobody had really benchmarked it properly. So we ended up, you know, trying to fix a whole lot of different things. And even as we did so, new regressions were appearing in like transformers and stuff that Benjamin then had to go away and figure out like, oh, how come flash attention doesn't work in this version of transformers anymore with this set of models and like, oh, it turns out they accidentally changed this thing, so it doesn't work. You know, there's just, there's not a lot of really good performance type evals going on in the open source ecosystem. So there's an extraordinary amount of like things where people say like, oh, we built this thing and it has this result. And when you actually check it, so yeah, there's a shitload of war stories from getting that thing to work. And it did require a particularly like tenacious group of people and a group of people who don't mind doing a whole lot of kind of like really janitorial work, to be honest, to get the details right, to check them. Yeah.Alessio [00:34:09]: We had a trade out on the podcast and we talked about how a lot of it is like systems work to make some of these things work. It's not just like beautiful, pure math that you do on a blackboard. It's like, how do you get into the nitty gritty?Jeremy [00:34:22]: I mean, flash attention is a great example of that. Like it's, it basically is just like, oh, let's just take the attention and just do the tiled version of it, which sounds simple enough, you know, but then implementing that is challenging at lots of levels.Alessio [00:34:36]: Yeah. What about inference? You know, obviously you've done all this amazing work on fine tuning. Do you have any research you've been doing on the inference side, how to make local inference really fast on these models too?Jeremy [00:34:47]: We're doing quite a bit on that at the moment. We haven't released too much there yet. But one of the things I've been trying to do is also just to help other people. And one of the nice things that's happened is that a couple of folks at Meta, including Mark Seraphim, have done a nice job of creating this CUDA mode community of people working on like CUDA kernels or learning about that. And I tried to help get that going well as well and did some lessons to help people get into it. So there's a lot going on in both inference and fine tuning performance. And a lot of it's actually happening kind of related to that. So PyTorch team have created this Torch AO project on quantization. And so there's a big overlap now between kind of the FastAI and AnswerAI and CUDA mode communities of people working on stuff for both inference and fine tuning. But we're getting close now. You know, our goal is that nobody should be merging models, nobody should be downloading merged models, everybody should be using basically quantized plus adapters for almost everything and just downloading the adapters. And that should be much faster. So that's kind of the place we're trying to get to. It's difficult, you know, because like Karim's been doing a lot of work with VLM, for example. These inference engines are pretty complex bits of code. They have a whole lot of custom kernel stuff going on as well, as do the quantization libraries. So we've been working on, we're also quite a bit of collaborating with the folks who do HQQ, which is a really great quantization library and works super well. So yeah, there's a lot of other people outside AnswerAI that we're working with a lot who are really helping on all this performance optimization stuff, open source.Swyx [00:36:27]: Just to follow up on merging models, I picked up there that you said nobody should be merging models. That's interesting because obviously a lot of people are experimenting with this and finding interesting results. I would say in defense of merging models, you can do it without data. That's probably the only thing that's going for it.Jeremy [00:36:45]: To explain, it's not that you shouldn't merge models. You shouldn't be distributing a merged model. You should distribute a merged adapter 99% of the time. And actually often one of the best things happening in the model merging world is actually that often merging adapters works better anyway. The point is, Sean, that once you've got your new model, if you distribute it as an adapter that sits on top of a quantized model that somebody's already downloaded, then it's a much smaller download for them. And also the inference should be much faster because you're not having to transfer FB16 weights from HPM memory at all or ever load them off disk. You know, all the main weights are quantized and the only floating point weights are in the adapters. So that should make both inference and fine tuning faster. Okay, perfect.Swyx [00:37:33]: We're moving on a little bit to the rest of the fast universe. I would have thought that, you know, once you started Answer.ai, that the sort of fast universe would be kind of on hold. And then today you just dropped Fastlight and it looks like, you know, there's more activity going on in sort of Fastland.Jeremy [00:37:49]: Yeah. So Fastland and Answerland are not really distinct things. Answerland is kind of like the Fastland grown up and funded. They both have the same mission, which is to maximize the societal benefit of AI broadly. We want to create thousands of commercially successful products at Answer.ai. And we want to do that with like 12 people. So that means we need a pretty efficient stack, you know, like quite a few orders of magnitude more efficient, not just for creation, but for deployment and maintenance than anything that currently exists. People often forget about the D part of our R&D firm. So we've got to be extremely good at creating, deploying and maintaining applications, not just models. Much to my horror, the story around creating web applications is much worse now than it was 10 or 15 years ago in terms of, if I say to a data scientist, here's how to create and deploy a web application, you know, either you have to learn JavaScript or TypeScript and about all the complex libraries like React and stuff, and all the complex like details around security and web protocol stuff around how you then talk to a backend and then all the details about creating the backend. You know, if that's your job and, you know, you have specialists who work in just one of those areas, it is possible for that to all work. But compared to like, oh, write a PHP script and put it in the home directory that you get when you sign up to this shell provider, which is what it was like in the nineties, you know, here are those 25 lines of code and you're done and now you can pass that URL around to all your friends, or put this, you know, .pl file inside the CGI bin directory that you got when you signed up to this web host. So yeah, the thing I've been mainly working on the last few weeks is fixing all that. And I think I fixed it. I don't know if this is an announcement, but I tell you guys, so yeah, there's this thing called fastHTML, which basically lets you create a complete web application in a single Python file. Unlike excellent projects like Streamlit and Gradio, you're not working on top of a highly abstracted thing. That's got nothing to do with web foundations. You're working with web foundations directly, but you're able to do it by using pure Python. There's no template, there's no ginger, there's no separate like CSS and JavaScript files. It looks and behaves like a modern SPA web application. And you can create components for like daisy UI, or bootstrap, or shoelace, or whatever fancy JavaScript and or CSS tailwind etc library you like, but you can write it all in Python. You can pip install somebody else's set of components and use them entirely from Python. You can develop and prototype it all in a Jupyter notebook if you want to. It all displays correctly, so you can like interactively do that. And then you mentioned Fastlight, so specifically now if you're using SQLite in particular, it's like ridiculously easy to have that persistence, and all of your handlers will be passed database ready objects automatically, that you can just call dot delete dot update dot insert on. Yeah, you get session, you get security, you get all that. So again, like with most everything I do, it's very little code. It's mainly tying together really cool stuff that other people have written. You don't have to use it, but a lot of the best stuff comes from its incorporation of HTMX, which to me is basically the thing that changes your browser to make it work the way it always should have. So it just does four small things, but those four small things are the things that are basically unnecessary constraints that HTML should never have had, so it removes the constraints. It sits on top of Starlet, which is a very nice kind of lower level platform for building these kind of web applications. The actual interface matches as closely as possible to FastAPI, which is a really nice system for creating the kind of classic JavaScript type applications. And Sebastian, who wrote FastAPI, has been kind enough to help me think through some of these design decisions, and so forth. I mean, everybody involved has been super helpful. Actually, I chatted to Carson, who created HTMX, you know, so about it. Some of the folks involved in Django, like everybody in the community I've spoken to definitely realizes there's a big gap to be filled around, like, highly scalable, web foundation-based, pure Python framework with a minimum of fuss. So yeah, I'm getting a lot of support and trying to make sure that FastHTML works well for people.Swyx [00:42:38]: I would say, when I heard about this, I texted Alexio. I think this is going to be pretty huge. People consider Streamlit and Gradio to be the state of the art, but I think there's so much to improve, and having what you call web foundations and web fundamentals at the core of it, I think, would be really helpful.Jeremy [00:42:54]: I mean, it's based on 25 years of thinking and work for me. So like, FastML was built on a system much like this one, but that was of hell. And so I spent, you know, 10 years working on that. We had millions of people using that every day, really pushing it hard. And I really always enjoyed working in that. Yeah. So, you know, and obviously lots of other people have done like great stuff, and particularly HTMX. So I've been thinking about like, yeah, how do I pull together the best of the web framework I created for FastML with HTMX? There's also things like PicoCSS, which is the CSS system, which by default, FastHTML comes with. Although, as I say, you can pip install anything you want to, but it makes it like super easy to, you know, so we try to make it so that just out of the box, you don't have any choices to make. Yeah. You can make choices, but for most people, you just, you know, it's like the PHP in your home directory thing. You just start typing and just by default, you'll get something which looks and feels, you know, pretty okay. And if you want to then write a version of Gradio or Streamlit on top of that, you totally can. And then the nice thing is if you then write it in kind of the Gradio equivalent, which will be, you know, I imagine we'll create some kind of pip installable thing for that. Once you've outgrown, or if you outgrow that, it's not like, okay, throw that all away and start again. And this like whole separate language that it's like this kind of smooth, gentle path that you can take step-by-step because it's all just standard web foundations all the way, you know.Swyx [00:44:29]: Just to wrap up the sort of open source work that you're doing, you're aiming to create thousands of projects with a very, very small team. I haven't heard you mention once AI agents or AI developer tooling or AI code maintenance. I know you're very productive, but you know, what is the role of AI in your own work?Jeremy [00:44:47]: So I'm making something. I'm not sure how much I want to say just yet.Swyx [00:44:52]: Give us a nibble.Jeremy [00:44:53]: All right. I'll give you the key thing. So I've created a new approach. It's not called prompt engineering. It's called dialogue engineering. But I'm creating a system for doing dialogue engineering. It's currently called AI magic. I'm doing most of my work in this system and it's making me much more productive than I was before I used it. So I always just build stuff for myself and hope that it'll be useful for somebody else. Think about chat GPT with code interpreter, right? The basic UX is the same as a 1970s teletype, right? So if you wrote APL on a teletype in the 1970s, you typed onto a thing, your words appeared at the bottom of a sheet of paper and you'd like hit enter and it would scroll up. And then the answer from APL would be printed out, scroll up, and then you would type the next thing. And like, which is also the way, for example, a shell works like bash or ZSH or whatever. It's not terrible, you know, like we all get a lot done in these like very, very basic teletype style REPL environments, but I've never felt like it's optimal and everybody else has just copied chat GPT. So it's also the way BART and Gemini work. It's also the way the Claude web app works. And then you add code interpreter. And the most you can do is to like plead with chat GPT to write the kind of code I want. It's pretty good for very, very, very beginner users who like can't code at all, like by default now the code's even hidden away, so you never even have to see it ever happened. But for somebody who's like wanting to learn to code or who already knows a bit of code or whatever, it's, it seems really not ideal. So okay, that's one end of the spectrum. The other end of the spectrum, which is where Sean's work comes in, is, oh, you want to do more than chat GPT? No worries. Here is Visual Studio Code. I run it. There's an empty screen with a flashing cursor. Okay, start coding, you know, and it's like, okay, you can use systems like Sean's or like cursor or whatever to be like, okay, Apple K in cursors, like a creative form that blah, blah, blah. But in the end, it's like a convenience over the top of this incredibly complicated system that full-time sophisticated software engineers have designed over the past few decades in a totally different environment as a way to build software, you know. And so we're trying to like shoehorn in AI into that. And it's not easy to do. And I think there are like much better ways of thinking about the craft of software development in a language model world to be much more interactive, you know. So the thing that I'm building is neither of those things. It's something between the two. And it's built around this idea of crafting a dialogue, you know, where the outcome of the dialogue is the artifacts that you want, whether it be a piece of analysis or whether it be a Python library or whether it be a technical blog post or whatever. So as part of building that, I've created something called Claudette, which is a library for Claude. I've created something called Cosette, which is a library for OpenAI. They're libraries which are designed to make those APIs much more usable, much easier to use, much more concise. And then I've written AI magic on top of those. And that's been an interesting exercise because I did Claudette first, and I was looking at what Simon Willison did with his fantastic LLM library. And his library is designed around like, let's make something that supports all the LLM inference engines and commercial providers. I thought, okay, what if I did something different, which is like make something that's as Claude friendly as possible and forget everything else. So that's what Claudette was. So for example, one of the really nice things in Claude is prefill. So by telling the assistant that this is what your response started with, there's a lot of powerful things you can take advantage of. So yeah, I created Claudette to be as Claude friendly as possible. And then after I did that, and then particularly with GPT 4.0 coming out, I kind of thought, okay, now let's create something that's as OpenAI friendly as possible. And then I tried to look to see, well, where are the similarities and where are the differences? And now can I make them compatible in places where it makes sense for them to be compatible without losing out on the things that make each one special for what they are. So yeah, those are some of the things I've been working on in that space. And I'm thinking we might launch AI magic via a course called how to solve it with code. The name is based on the classic Polya book, if you know how to solve it, which is, you know, one of the classic math books of all time, where we're basically going to try to show people how to solve challenging problems that they didn't think they could solve without doing a full computer science course, by taking advantage of a bit of AI and a bit of like practical skills, as particularly for this like whole generation of people who are learning to code with and because of ChatGPT. Like I love it, I know a lot of people who didn't really know how to code, but they've created things because they use ChatGPT, but they don't really know how to maintain them or fix them or add things to them that ChatGPT can't do, because they don't really know how to code. And so this course will be designed to show you how you can like either become a developer who can like supercharge their capabilities by using language models, or become a language model first developer who can supercharge their capabilities by understanding a bit about process and fundamentals.Alessio [00:50:19]: Nice. That's a great spoiler. You know, I guess the fourth time you're going to be on learning space, we're going to talk about AI magic. Jeremy, before we wrap, this was just a great run through everything. What are the things that when you next come on the podcast in nine, 12 months, we're going to be like, man, Jeremy was like really ahead of it. Like, is there anything that you see in the space that maybe people are not talking enough? You know, what's the next company that's going to fall, like have drama internally, anything in your mind?Jeremy [00:50:47]: You know, hopefully we'll be talking a lot about fast HTML and hopefully the international community that at that point has come up around that. And also about AI magic and about dialogue engineering. Hopefully dialogue engineering catches on because I think it's the right way to think about a lot of this stuff. What else? Just trying to think about all on the research side. Yeah. I think, you know, I mean, we've talked about a lot of it. Like I think encoder decoder architectures, encoder only architectures, hopefully we'll be talking about like the whole re-interest in BERT that BERT 24 stimulated.Swyx [00:51:17]: There's a safe space model that came out today that might be interesting for this general discussion. One thing that stood out to me with Cartesia's blog posts was that they were talking about real time ingestion, billions and trillions of tokens, and keeping that context, obviously in the state space that they have.Jeremy [00:51:34]: Yeah.Swyx [00:51:35]: I'm wondering what your thoughts are because you've been entirely transformers the whole time.Jeremy [00:51:38]: Yeah. No. So obviously my background is RNNs and LSTMs. Of course. And I'm still a believer in the idea that state is something you can update, you know? So obviously Sepp Hochreiter came up, came out with xLSTM recently. Oh my God. Okay. Another whole thing we haven't talked about, just somewhat related. I've been going crazy for like a long time about like, why can I not pay anybody to save my KV cash? I just ingested the Great Gatsby or the documentation for Starlet or whatever, you know, I'm sending it as my prompt context. Why are you redoing it every time? So Gemini is about to finally come out with KV caching, and this is something that Austin actually in Gemma.cpp had had on his roadmap for years, well not years, months, long time. The idea that the KV cache is like a thing that, it's a third thing, right? So there's RAG, you know, there's in-context learning, you know, and prompt engineering, and there's KV cache creation. I think it creates like a whole new class almost of applications or as techniques where, you know, for me, for example, I very often work with really new libraries or I've created my own library that I'm now writing with rather than on. So I want all the docs in my new library to be there all the time. So I want to upload them once, and then we have a whole discussion about building this application using FastHTML. Well nobody's got FastHTML in their language model yet, I don't want to send all the FastHTML docs across every time. So one of the things I'm looking at doing in AI Magic actually is taking advantage of some of these ideas so that you can have the documentation of the libraries you're working on be kind of always available. Something over the next 12 months people will be spending time thinking about is how to like, where to use RAG, where to use fine-tuning, where to use KV cache storage, you know. And how to use state, because in state models and XLSTM, again, state is something you update. So how do we combine the best of all of these worlds?Alessio [00:53:46]: And Jeremy, I know before you talked about how some of the autoregressive models are not maybe a great fit for agents. Any other thoughts on like JEPA, diffusion for text, any interesting thing that you've seen pop up?Jeremy [00:53:58]: In the same way that we probably ought to have state that you can update, i.e. XLSTM and state models, in the same way that a lot of things probably should have an encoder, JEPA and diffusion both seem like the right conceptual mapping for a lot of things we probably want to do. So the idea of like, there should be a piece of the generative pipeline, which is like thinking about the answer and coming up with a sketch of what the answer looks like before you start outputting tokens. That's where it kind of feels like diffusion ought to fit, you know. And diffusion is, because it's not autoregressive, it's like, let's try to like gradually de-blur the picture of how to solve this. So this is also where dialogue engineering fits in, by the way. So with dialogue engineering, one of the reasons it's working so well for me is I use it to kind of like craft the thought process before I generate the code, you know. So yeah, there's a lot of different pieces here and I don't know how they'll all kind of exactly fit together. I don't know if JEPA is going to actually end up working in the text world. I don't know if diffusion will end up working in the text world, but they seem to be like trying to solve a class of problem which is currently unsolved.Alessio [00:55:13]: Awesome, Jeremy. This was great, as usual. Thanks again for coming back on the pod and thank you all for listening. Yeah, that was fantastic. Get full access to Latent Space at www.latent.space/subscribe

In this episode of Turpentine Finance, Sasha sits down with Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE). Ries shares the challenging journey of creating a new national securities exchange designed to promote long-term thinking in public companies. He discusses the obstacles faced in gaining SEC approval, the misconceptions about corporate governance, and why many companies struggle with balancing short-term pressures and long-term vision. Ries offers valuable insights for CEOs and CFOs considering going public or dual-listing, emphasizing the importance of aligning investors with a company's long-term mission. This conversation explores how rethinking capital allocation and corporate structure can lead to more sustainable, successful businesses. LINKS: The LTSE: https://ltse.com/ The Lean Startup: https://theleanstartup.com/ RECOMMENDED PODCAST Founder, entrepreneur, and best-selling author of The Lean Startup Eric Ries discusses how to build profitable companies for the long-term benefit of society. Ries talks with world-class technologists, thought leaders, and executives working to create a new ecosystem of trustworthy organizations with limitless potential for growth and a deep commitment to purpose. Together, they uncover the tools and methods to ensure the next generation of companies are designed to maximize human flourishing for generations. Guests have included founders from Facebook, LinkedIn, Zapier, TaskRabbit, and many others. Listen here at: https://www.ericriesshow.com/ SPONSORS: RIPPLING SPEND: Imagine total control over your company's spending with Rippling Spend, the all-in-one platform for expense reports, corporate cards, and bill pay. Control spend, set custom approval chains, and close your books 3x faster. Visit rippling.com/spend for a free demo and one month free trial. NETSUITE More than 37,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. If you're looking for an ERP platform, get a one-of-a-kind flexible financing program on NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/102 BRAVE: The Brave search API can be used to assemble a data set to train your AI models and help with retrieval augmentation at the time of inference. All while remaining affordable with developer first pricing, integrating the Brave search API into your workflow translates to more ethical data sourcing and more human representative data sets. Try the Brave search API for free for up to 2000 queries per month at https://brave.com/api X/SOCIAL: @sashaorloff @ericries (Eric) TIMESTAMPS: (00:00:00) - Introduction and opening quote from Eric Ries (00:02:18) - Explanation of what the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) is (00:07:11) - Eric's background and journey to founding LTSE (00:14:29) - The challenge of convincing investors to fund LTSE (00:16:03) - Sponsors: Netsuite | Rippling Spend (00:21:47) - Eric's experience navigating the SEC approval process (00:29:38) - Sponsor: Omneky (00:31:30) - Discussion on how companies are notified of SEC approval (00:36:13) - Types of teams LTSE likes to work with (00:42:36) - Challenges and questions companies ask behind the scenes (00:50:36) - Brief mention of companies listed on LTSE (00:53:12) - Advice for CEOs and CFOs thinking about going public (00:58:36) - The importance of allocating shares to long-term investors (01:01:21) - What's next for LTSE and Eric Ries (01:02:49) - Closing remarks and outro

Robert Leonard chats with Eric Jorgenson about who Naval Ravikant is, why he wanted to write a book about him as a guide to wealth and happiness, how his strategy of not making any money out of the book came about and why he chose to go that route, the most important thing Eric has learned from Naval, and much, much more!  Eric is a writer, podcaster, and builder of books. He is the creator of The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN 00:00 - Intro 02:35 - Who Naval Ravikant is and why Eric wanted to write a book about him. 07:01 - How Eric's strategy of not making any money out of the book came about and why he chose to go that route. 11:38 - How someone can build or find a position of leverage and why this is important going into the future. 12:43 - The breakdown of Naval's framework on how to get rich without getting lucky. 21:28 - What's behind Naval's idea that if you don't have equity in a business, then you don't have a path towards financial freedom? 23:02 - Why Naval believes the forty-hour work week is outdated and why we should be like athletes instead. 24:55 - How Eric was able to get Tim Ferriss to write the foreword to his book. 25:46 - What the quote, “You'll never be rich since you're obviously smart, and someone will offer you a job that's just good enough” means. 27:04 - Why being a clear thinker is more important than being smart, and how we can think clearly. 28:42 - What a mental model is and how this can help you in your business and life. 41:52 - Which habit or principle Eric follows in his life that has had a big impact on his success and what has been the most influential book in his life. 46:44 - What has been the most important thing Eric has learned from Naval? And much, much more! *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members. Podcast: Naval Ravikant: The Angel Philosopher in The Knowledge Project with Shane Parrish. Tim Ferriss' book, The 4-Hour Workweek. Charlie Munger's book, Poor Charlie's Almanack. Bill Watterson's book, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. Robert Cialdini's book, Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion. Jason Calacanis' book, Angel. Eric Ries' book, The Lean Startup. Check out the books mentioned in the podcast here. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed. NEW TO THE SHOW? Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try Kyle's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Range Rover Airbnb Toyota Public NetSuite Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

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

“Lean Startup y Ventas: Innovación Ágil para tu Estrategia Comercial”   En esta serie especial de tres episodios, nos adentraremos en los principios revolucionarios del libro “Lean Startup” de Eric Ries y exploraremos cómo estos conceptos pueden transformar tus estrategias de ventas. A lo largo de estos episodios, descubrirás cómo adoptar un enfoque ágil y centrado en el cliente puede mejorar significativamente tu rendimiento comercial. Hablaremos sobre la creación de productos mínimos viables (MVP), la importancia de medir y aprender continuamente, y cómo fomentar una cultura de innovación y adaptabilidad dentro de tu equipo de ventas.   Especial de Aniversario El 1 de julio, celebraremos el cumpleaños de Crece o Muere, reflexionando sobre nuestro crecimiento y agradeciendo a nuestra increíble comunidad de oyentes por su continuo apoyo.   Acompáñanos en esta serie imperdible y descubre cómo los principios de Lean Startup pueden llevar tu estrategia de ventas a un nuevo nivel de éxito e innovación. ¡No te lo pierdas!

“Lean Startup y Ventas: Innovación Ágil para tu Estrategia Comercial”   En esta serie especial de tres episodios, nos adentraremos en los principios revolucionarios del libro “Lean Startup” de Eric Ries y exploraremos cómo estos conceptos pueden transformar tus estrategias de ventas. A lo largo de estos episodios, descubrirás cómo adoptar un enfoque ágil y centrado en el cliente puede mejorar significativamente tu rendimiento comercial. Hablaremos sobre la creación de productos mínimos viables (MVP), la importancia de medir y aprender continuamente, y cómo fomentar una cultura de innovación y adaptabilidad dentro de tu equipo de ventas.   Especial de Aniversario El 1 de julio, celebraremos el cumpleaños de Crece o Muere, reflexionando sobre nuestro crecimiento y agradeciendo a nuestra increíble comunidad de oyentes por su continuo apoyo.   Acompáñanos en esta serie imperdible y descubre cómo los principios de Lean Startup pueden llevar tu estrategia de ventas a un nuevo nivel de éxito e innovación. ¡No te lo pierdas!

Episode 63 of ‘All About Art': Ell Pennick, Founder of Guts Gallery, on Starting a Gallery as a Working-Class Arts Professional In this episode, I sat down with Ell Pennick, founder of Guts Gallery in London. Ell founded Guts as one of the youngest gallerists navigating the art world today. As a working-class, queer Northerner with no art background, Ell's footing in the art world started with their frustrations at the lack of meaningful opportunities for people like them. Listen on to hear me ask Ell about how their gallery is challenging the status quo and how they got started as an entrepreneur. We speak about the other ventures Ell is pursuing, including the Guts Incubator and Goldie Saloon, a queer-led bar and cafe underneath the gallery opening soon. We also speak about how they choose the artists they work with, how they develop their collector base, and so much more. Thank you Ell for coming on the podcast! Articles/ books mentioned in the episode: Ell Pennick for AnOther Magazine: https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/15298/guts-gallery-ell-pennick-interview-london The Lean Startup by Eric Ries: https://www.wob.com/en-gb/books/eric-ries/lean-startup/ You can follow Guts Gallery on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/guts_gallery/?hl=en And check them out on their website here: https://gutsgallery.co.uk/about/ YOU CAN SUPPORT ALL ABOUT ART ON PATREON HERE: ⁠https://www.patreon.com/allaboutart⁠ FOLLOW ALL ABOUT ART ON INSTAGRAM HERE: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/allaboutartpodcast/⁠  ABOUT THE HOST: I am an Austrian-American art historian, curator, and writer. I obtained my BA in History of Art at University College London and my MA in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy at Goldsmiths, University of London. My specializations include contemporary art, specifically feminism and artificial intelligence in artistic practice, as well as museum policies and arts engagement. Here are links to my social media, feel free to reach out: Instagram⁠ @alexandrasteinacker   ⁠ Twitter ⁠@alex_steinacker⁠ and LinkedIn at ⁠Alexandra Steinacker-Clark⁠ COVER ART: Lisa Schrofner a.k.a Liser⁠ ⁠⁠www.liser-art.com⁠ and Luca Laurence www.lucalaurence.com  Episode Production: Paul Zschornack

“Lean Startup y Ventas: Innovación Ágil para tu Estrategia Comercial”   En esta serie especial de tres episodios, nos adentraremos en los principios revolucionarios del libro “Lean Startup” de Eric Ries y exploraremos cómo estos conceptos pueden transformar tus estrategias de ventas. A lo largo de estos episodios, descubrirás cómo adoptar un enfoque ágil y centrado en el cliente puede mejorar significativamente tu rendimiento comercial. Hablaremos sobre la creación de productos mínimos viables (MVP), la importancia de medir y aprender continuamente, y cómo fomentar una cultura de innovación y adaptabilidad dentro de tu equipo de ventas.   Especial de Aniversario El 1 de julio, celebraremos el cumpleaños de Crece o Muere, reflexionando sobre nuestro crecimiento y agradeciendo a nuestra increíble comunidad de oyentes por su continuo apoyo.   Acompáñanos en esta serie imperdible y descubre cómo los principios de Lean Startup pueden llevar tu estrategia de ventas a un nuevo nivel de éxito e innovación. ¡No te lo pierdas!

Welcome to Growthmates. This is Kate Syuma, Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I'm building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms. Thanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).To celebrate the first Growthmates anniversary, we prepared a gift to our community — “The Holistic Playbook for Growth Teams”. It's a reflection of industry trends, in-depth interviews with our guests, and insights gathered from a hundred companies. You can get this playbook for free on our new website → growthmates.club. In this episode, I had the pleasure of speaking with Andrew Capland, Coach for Heads of Growth, previously Director of Growth at Wistia, and one of the most supportive people I've recently met in the advising community. We explored some burning questions I recently used to survey 100 companies. I asked some of these questions to Andrew to get his wisdom.By the end of this episode, you can learn about new rituals to introduce in your Growth teamwork, the most impactful experiment on pricing from Wistia, and more ways to uncover Growth opportunities if you feel stuck.  If you find this show valuable, please share it with a colleague or friend — it greatly supports our efforts to continue creating it for you. To receive all episodes directly in your inbox, subscribe to growthamtes.club This episode is supported by Appcues — the platform that helps you design, deploy, and test captivating onboarding experiences.Appcues created the Product Adoption Academy to help you level up your product adoption for free. Check out the template that I created to help companies uncover meaningful improvements. Find an example of Dropbox Onboarding inside and apply it to review any growth flows: appcues.com/growthmatesKey highlights from this episode:* Challenges in Product-Led Growth: We discussed key growth challenges with Andrew from the recent industry research I facilitated with 100+ companies. He shared a bunch of insights and his practical experience from Wistia and works with clients.* Building Growth Processes: A practical ritual Andrew recommends is "Full Story Fridays," where teams review user interactions to identify valuable improvements.* Driving Monetization: At Wistia, Andrew led pricing experimentation efforts, which involved diverse strategies to adjust pricing structures and packaging (listen more in a full episode). * Acquiring New Users (No Sign-Up Required): Andrew cites examples of products that have interactive versions on their websites, allowing potential users to engage with the product directly and enhancing the conversion rates dramatically .* Improving Activation and User Onboarding: To define the "aha" moment in user onboarding, Andrew suggests starting with qualitative insights from users who have recently engaged meaningfully with the product or upgraded. * and much more!Follow Growthmates updates on:* NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: https://growthmates.club * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/* Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.comWhere to find our guests:* Andrew Capland LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcapland/ * Andrew's Newsletter “Delivering Value” on SubstackWhat we've covered in this episode:00:00 Journey from Growth Leader to Growth Coach08:49 Challenges and Successes in Product-Led Growth15:10 Building Growth Processes for Success25:38 Acquiring New Users and ICP25:53 Improving Activation and User Onboarding26:39 Navigating Growth Challenges: Defining Metrics and Research Methods31:42 Uncovering Growth Opportunities: Strategies and Tools36:41 The Role of Advisors and Consultants in Growth39:47 Building Growth Processes and Driving MonetizationResources Referenced:* “The Holistic Growth Playbook” with insights from 100+ companies, expert takes from Dropbox, Amplitude, Loom, and more: growthmates.club/playbook* "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries: https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898* "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey A. Moore: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-Marketing-High-Tech-Mainstream/dp/0060517123* "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal: https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/1591847788* "Inspired: How To Create Products Customers Love" by Marty Cagan: https://www.amazon.com/Inspired-Create-Products-Customers-Love/dp/0981690408* Andrew's Newsletter “Delivering Value” on Substack: media.deliveringvalue.coThank you for listening! Subscribe to the show on growthmates.club and get free playbook with frameworks and insights. If you find this valuable, please share it with your friends and colleagues, and subscribe to this show on your favourite platforms to get new episodes. Let's keep growing together!For sponsorship and other inquiries reach out to hello@growthmates.club Thanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit katesyuma.substack.com

Eric Ries has invested in over 100+ early-stage startups. He is best known as the author of The Lean Startup, a must-read for entrepreneurs worldwide. He also founded the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), a new stock exchange designed to support companies with long-term goals. He recently launched a new podcast discussing ways to re-think corporate governance to be mission-first.In Part 1 of our interview, he shared insights from angel investing. In Part 2, Eric shares his new ethos for startups rooted in long-term thinking, putting a company's mission at the center of everything and aligning all stakeholders. This mission-first approach challenges the traditional capitalist, and data shows it leads to better company performance.Eric writes checks of $10K or less as an Angel at the earliest stages. He is interested in mission-driven founders, education, fintech, AI, and more.Highlights:Eric Angel invests for reasons beyond financial outcomes. He focuses on giving back to people in his network, learning about startup approaches and various industries, and doubling down in areas he is passionate about. Any time he has strayed from his investing criteria, it hasn't worked out. Advising then investing: Eric prefers to work with a startup as a friend or advisor before investing. He keeps his check size to $10K to support his goal of high-velocity learning. He can write more checks with smaller checks, which means more learning.Investing as a spiritual journey: Eric practices introspection to support continuous learning and to avoid overgeneralizing when things don't work out. When he invests, he applies Lean Startup thinking by asking, “Is this outcome falsifiable”? Invest -> Measure -> Learn. We guess this makes him is a "Lean Investor"Eric's second act after Lean Startup is supporting mission-first startups: He advocates for a new ethos that he believes will lead to better performance in the long term.Eric shares tools for mission-first founders, including the Public Benefit Corporation, the LTSPV, employee voting trust, and more.(00:00) - Introduction to First Funders (00:54) - Meeting Eric Ries: a journey down memory lane (02:45) - The Impact of Lean Startup (07:15) - Eric's Angel investing journey starts with being an advisor and a mindset of giving back (09:55) - What is Eric's investing criteria (14:04) - Eric prefers to advise startups first before investing (17:47) - Eric's second act: from Lean Startup to nurturing mission-driven founders who will also realize massive profits (25:14) - Writing small $10K checks into a high volume of early-stage startups enables high velocity learning (27:24) - (28:28) - Eric decouples investing from outcomes to stay focused on giving back and learning (30:44) - How to be a useful startup advisor: stand for something that creates competitive advantage for startups (34:31) - A challenging investment: lessons from high-stakes and high-stress moments and can the startup journey be a force for healing trauma? (43:04) - The Long-Term Stock Exchange vision: a new ethos and governance approach for the startup community (45:01) - How mission-driven founders and investors need to be brave to challenge the capitalist status quo (47:33) - How tech startup can leverage the Public Benefit Corp and how the B-Corp certification won't work for software companies (51:24) - LTSPV: An SPV Angels can leverage to align their check with long-term thinking (54:08) - The spiritual journey of investing: what did you really learn vs what do you think happened? (57:07) - Speed Round and Final Thoughts (59:24) - Takeaways Connect with Us:Follow the First Funders PodcastNewsletter with behind-the-scenes access and key takeawaysTwitter/X: @shaherose | @aviraniEmail us with feedback and suggestions on topics and guestsDisclaimer: This is for information purposes only. This is not investment advice.

In this episode, we're diving into the essential takeaways from "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries. We understand that not everyone has the time to read an entire book, so we've summarized the crucial insights for you. If you're looking to build a successful business by adopting lean principles, finding actionable strategies, or getting inspired by Eric Ries' revolutionary approach, this episode is just for you. Join us as we unpack the core concepts of 'The Lean Startup', including how to create a sustainable business model, the importance of validated learning, and the power of rapid experimentation. We'll highlight the most impactful lessons and practical tips from the book, providing you with the tools you need to build and scale your startup efficiently. EmpowerLaunch, our partner platform, is your essential resource for connecting with experienced entrepreneurs. Visit empowerlaunch.co.uk to discover mentorship opportunities, events, and more ways to elevate your entrepreneurial journey. Follow us on Instagram @teen.tycoonspod for exclusive content and updates. We're thrilled to announce that more video interview episodes will be coming soon on Spotify and YouTube, so stay tuned! We'd love to hear your feedback and questions. If you're interested in sponsoring the podcast or have any inquiries, please email us at teen.tycoons@outlook.com. Remember to rate and follow our show on Spotify to stay updated on all our latest episodes. Your support helps us continue bringing valuable content to aspiring young entrepreneurs like you.

In this week's episode of Unsupervised Learning, we delve into the forefront of AI innovation with Eric Ries and Jeremy Howard. Eric Ries, renowned for pioneering the Lean Startup movement, has consistently influenced modern entrepreneurial strategies with his emphasis on agile, sustainable growth through innovation. Jeremy Howard is known for his contributions to deep learning and data science, co-founding the fast.ai educational initiative that democratizes access to cutting-edge AI learning. Eric's new podcast and newsletter:https://www.ericriesshow.com/https://ericries.carrd.co/ (0:00) intro (0:33) The Lean Startup 4:34) thinking about defensibility (9:10) best way to get caught up on AI (11:34) starting Answer.ai (23:48) efficient fine-tuning of Llama 3 (38:21) AI regulations (48:27) over-hyped/under-hyped (48:53) most exciting AI startups (55:37) Jacob and Jordan debrief With your co-hosts: @jacobeffron - Partner at Redpoint, Former PM Flatiron Health @patrickachase - Partner at Redpoint, Former ML Engineer LinkedIn @ericabrescia - Former COO Github, Founder Bitnami (acq'd by VMWare) @jordan_segall - Partner at Redpoint

On today's show, Robert Leonard talks with James Altucher. James is prolific writer, successful serial-entrepreneur, chess master, and venture capitalist. James has a very colorful history throughout many facets of the finance industry. He has successfully started and sold various companies. James currently actively invests in, or advises, over 30 companies in multiple industries. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN 00:00 - Intro 03:06 - The business environment of the early information technology revolution. 06:09 - How to overcome and recover after a difficult financial loss. 19:23 - How to be a successful serial entrepreneur. 28:18 - What it means to “Choose Yourself” for success. 35:23 - Why Bitcoin could be the currency of the future. And much, much more! *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members. Recommended Book: Entrepreneurial Leap by Gino Wickman. Recommended Book: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Recommended Book: Choose Yourself by James Altucher. Check out the books mentioned in the podcast here. Enjoy ad-free episodes when you subscribe to our Premium Feed. NEW TO THE SHOW? Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try Kyle's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Toyota Monarch Money Airbnb Meyka NerdWallet Fundrise Yahoo! Finance NetSuite Range Rover Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://theinvestorspodcastnetwork.supportingcast.fm

Episode 582:  Sam Parr ( https://twitter.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://twitter.com/ShaanVP ) talk about the $1B idea that is basically inevitable, why stock exchanges are the smartest business model ever created and the female Pieter Levels who we're crowning our Hustler of the Week.  Want to see Sam and Shaan's smiling faces? Head to the MFM YouTube Channel and subscribe - http://tinyurl.com/5n7ftsy5 — Show Notes: (0:00) Shaan's billion-dollar idea: Executive Check-ups (2:12) Mayo Clinic's $100M proof of concept (12:58) $15K/mo lead gen arbitrage (17:25) Pizza intelligence (19:41) Shaan's Mount Rushmore of indexes (24:54) The most profitable companies in the world (26:32) Why stock exchanges have the best business model (33:20) "Shoot your old idea in the head" - Eric Ries (41:20) Hustler of the week: The Female Pieter Levels (43:30) "Marketing is the tax you pay for an unremarkable product" — Links: • Prenuvo - https://www.prenuvo.com/ • Big Desk Energy playlist - https://shorturl.at/ajuG5 • Suno - http://suno.ai/ • ICE Index - https://www.ice.com/index • Long-term Stock Exchange - https://ltse.com/ • “Startup Lessons Learned” - https://www.startuplessonslearned.com/ • Branded Fruit - https://brandedfruit.com/ • Danielle Baskins - https://daniellebaskin.com/ • Get HubSpot's Free AI-Powered Sales Hub: enhance support, retention, and revenue all in one place https://clickhubspot.com/sym — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it's called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

For too long, company builders have been told that purpose and profit are at odds -- that trading one for the other is inevitable. A burgeoning group of founders is proving that wrong, creating organizations whose commitment to their mission inspires the trust of customers, employees, investors, and other partners, leading to serious competitive advantage. Better companies mean a better world for everyone not just now, but far into the future. Join Eric Ries for conversations with a range of leaders from across industries as well as thinkers who are contributing to this new movement to tackle generational challenges by centering human flourishing. Where To Find Eric Ries: Website: https://www.ericriesshow.com/ X: https://twitter.com/ericries LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow Production and Marketing: https://penname.co/

Scrum, you ask. Are we talking here about Rugby? Not at all. My guest on this episode is Rodrigo Quezada. Rod says he grew up with a pretty normal childhood until, during college, he was in a serious automobile accident that effected his ability to easily draw on childhood memories. I leave it to Rod to tell you about this. He went to college and graduated after which he entered the workforce. In 2015 Rod discovered a book entitled “Scrum, The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time” by Jeff Sutherland. I will not attempt here to describe what “Scrum” is. Rod is much more articulate about it than I. What I will say is that the art of Scrum takes creating and enabling teamwork to a new level. Scrum is all about teams working as cohesive units. I personally can see why one can say that using the Scrum model well may be a cause for more efficiency. This episode is to me quite engaging and worth the hearing. I think you will learn more about teamwork and perhaps you will discover a way to enhance how you work on projects. About the Guest: My name is Rodrigo Quezada from Mexico and I currently work as Principal Project Management at AT&T. During high school had a near-death experience at a car accident that compressed most of my childhood memories. They are there and can be retrieved by external triggers yet not by myself. Overall have awareness that had a childhood and within normal parameters as far as I can remember. Started my career path at the century start in procurement and was having a good time yet by 2015 a pivotal event happened when I ran across a book by Jeff Sutherland called Scrum, The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time. As failing at implementing traveled to the USA for training by Scrum.org and a new career path emerged. Implemented in the most empiric and lean way possible which aligns with the pillar of the Scrum system. Began a new undergraduate as computer engineering which was followed by a masters in data science and now a Phd in progress along with several professional certifications and a lot of learning. At this point in time would like to share this out as find it very beneficial to both individuals and organizations as, per the Scrum guide definition, it aims at “adaptive solutions for complex problems”. Ways to connect with Rodrigo: Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rodrigoquezadareyes About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Thanks for being here. And for listening. We really appreciate it. Today, we get to introduce and interview Rodrigo Quezada. But we're gonna call him Rod and he said, That's okay. He asked me if I preferred Mike or Michael. And I said absolutely. So he's going to call me Mike. And I'm going to call him Rod. And I guess that works out pretty well. Rod has an interesting story to tell both about life in in his childhood and what he's doing now. And he's going to talk to us a lot about Scrum. And I'm not talking about rugby, necessarily. But we'll get to that. Anyway. Rod, I want to welcome you to and thank you for joining us here on unstoppable mindset.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 02:05 Thank you so much for inviting me, Mike. I'm very excited to be here, I think this opportunity to be able to share this out with with the team at large. I'm super excited about it. So then again, thank you. Well, absolutely.   Michael Hingson ** 02:19 And you're You're most welcome. And we're really glad that you're here. Rod, by the way, is in Mexico City. So I get to learn new things and refine old things every day. So Mexico City is an hour ahead of us. So it is about 1134 in the morning where I am and it's 12:34pm where he is so he's he's doing this during lunch. So I don't know whether you had lunch? Or we'll have to get through this. So you can go eat lunch, but we'll get there. Sure. Well, let's start by kind of going back and talking like I love to do about you growing up the early rod. So tell us about childhood and kind of what your experiences were like and and a little bit about you growing up?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 03:09 Absolutely. I think of myself as a fairly normal childhood. I however, during college, I had a car accident where most of my memories were, I'm not gonna say wipe out because they're there. They're just word kind of compressed somewhere in my mind. So I'm able to access memories of my childhood as long as somebody else triggers them. And happens a similar situation with music, I'm able to pretty much sing a song as long as the music starts. But as soon as the music ends, I cannot go ahead and play it again. And I cannot sing it. But if the music starts again, I can see it again completely. So it's very similar with my memories from my childhood. So as far as I know, it was a normal, happy childhood childhood. And that's as far as I can go.   Michael Hingson ** 03:58 Yeah. Did you so were you always in Mexico City? Is that where you grew up? Or where did you grow up? Yes,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 04:04 I was born. Yes, I was born and I live in Mexico City. Most of my life. There have been a few projects for work where I have been in the in the US for a couple of it was a couple of weeks and every now and then a couple of months. But but basically that and coming back. Yes. remote work for a long time. But but you based basically in Mexico City. Yes.   Michael Hingson ** 04:27 So you're pretty used to doing remote work already?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 04:31 Yes, actually, I was long before the pandemic that we had the COVID in the year. I believe that was 2020. Right? Before that as communications start to become more accessible. It was becoming much much more easier to talk around people around the globe at a fairly unexpensive way. So because of that it was fairly easy to work from pretty much anywhere. So I had the I guess I was lucky He enough to consider myself a knowledge worker and start doing that since probably say about year 2020 10 When I was working in the automotive industry,   Michael Hingson ** 05:10 what did you do in the automotive industry,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 05:12 I used to be a buyer, which later turned into a global responsibility bility becoming a Category Manager, specifically for rubber, later on adding plastics and gaskets. So I was in charge of global supply in order to make sure our facilities in Mexico in the US had the materials they needed in order for us to assemble the products for for commercial vehicles. Right.   Michael Hingson ** 05:42 Okay. And that kept you busy. What, when you were in college, what was your degree? And what were you studying? Well,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 05:49 my original major was in international business. Back then, by the time that I was just about to select my major, the we start getting some of these agreements like NAFTA, where we were able to start sending goods back and forth, because before that, there was not a lot of trading among at least not along among Mexican other countries. After that, it opened what it is wide open. And now we have globalization is a whole different landscape right now. But back then, there were not as many commercial agreements, and it was pretty trendy. And I thought that was interesting. And it started out in that route.   Michael Hingson ** 06:29 So did you end up getting your bachelor's degree in that?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 06:32 Originally? Yes. And once we unfold the story on Scrum, then everything changed. And I see a very different career path. Yes,   Michael Hingson ** 06:42 I gather and we'll we'll definitely get to that. But so when did you graduate? What year did you graduate from college?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 06:48 That was me in year 2000.   Michael Hingson ** 06:54 That was around the time you had your auto accident?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 06:57 Yeah, like, before I graduated, like it's probably happened somewhere along the lines of 9697.   Michael Hingson ** 07:04 All right, so it was a little bit before you graduated anyway. But yes, that was certainly a major change in your life. Where you were you laid up for a while, or our, how did it affect you other than suppressing memories? Well,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 07:22 I think on the bright side, it allowed me to have a visitor give life a much broader meaning I was I was super grateful that I was able to make it. The heat came in my on my side, I was driving, it was my fault. I started moving forward in order to cross and then a car was coming, and there was no way that he can be avoided. And it was interesting, because I look into this person, that driver, it was I look at her eyes. And it was almost like communication, that it's I think of it out of this world. It was like talking through through without talking if you know what I mean, there was like a moment where I was pretty much saying please, please, I want to I want to still be here a little longer. And I start watching a movie. Before that I start watching a movie of my life, like a lot of kind of pictures in a super fast space. And and that's when I realized that I was just about to no longer be here in this world. And that's when I was like, oh, no, please, I read a Ruby. And that's when I make these super quick communication and eat work and and she seared the wheels. And it still hit me for sure. But not not in my door. If he had been in my door, I would not be fortunate enough to be talking to a and sharing all of this. So once once they helped me realize what happened, I realized how fortunate I am to having a second chance in this life to make the best out of it and and validate and savor as much as possible. Of course, it's not always easy, but but definitely worth attempting to to enjoy it.   Michael Hingson ** 08:58 Well, and it's interesting, I've talked to a number of people who have had major crises in their lives, and have had to, to deal with that. And so many people have said, sort of the same thing, that having a second chance and really having the opportunity to go back and think about it. They realize that the second chance gives them the opportunity to try to do more meaningful things and to be hopefully better people but certainly gives them the opportunity to go off and better value life and what it brings.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 09:39 Yes, fully agree.   Michael Hingson ** 09:41 Yeah. And you know, I'm, of course, I had my own experience with that, needless to say, surviving being in the World Trade Center on September 11. And, and we had discussions about it my wife and I, especially when the press started getting our story and the decision that that I'm made and my wife agreed was that if we could help people move on from September 11, by me doing interviews and, and also, eventually also starting a speaking career. And if we could teach people a little bit more about blindness and disabilities and guide dogs and other things, and it was worthwhile. And I love to tell people now being in large part of keynote speaker traveling the world to speak. It's much more fun to sell philosophy of life than it is to sell computer hardware. So   Rodrigo Quezada ** 10:36 yes, it's   Michael Hingson ** 10:37 a whole lot more fun to do that. So I will always do that if I can. It's much more fun to do computer stuff. So I can't complain a bit. Well, so I'm, well, I'm very much glad that you're here. So we could do this podcast. So I really appreciate it, though, that you have learned to value life more. And that's a good thing to do. But you went into the to the automotive world, and how long were you doing that? I   Rodrigo Quezada ** 11:07 was in that industry for 13 years. Wow. And then what happened? Okay, he gets interesting, I was into project management handling these different kinds of prod projects. And I was looking for ways to be a little bit more productive. So I was doing that. And then I spotted a name, a title of a book that was called doing twice the work in half the time by the author, Jeff Sutherland. And I was like, Oh, this sounds like a book that I need to get into. Right. So I started reading it. And I was a pivotal moment in my life, or at least, yeah, no, it was in many different ways. So I start reading the book. And I was I have, I had almost, I have to try it at least. So I tried to implement it. And I wasn't not being lucky enough to say that I was successful. So I realized I needed additional understanding of it, and then I seek out for training back then, right now is certain it's a bit more accessible to have training online. But back then it was not in like late year 2015. But I was able to find a place called scrum.org that had this workshop. And that was lovely. That sounds about perfect. And so So I did, I traveled to the US got this training. And it was it was amazing that the environment was very energizing. And I was like, oh, gosh, this is so definitely it. And I was able to connect the dots that I was missing prior to just reading the book. And I came back super excited. And I told my boss, I know this is gonna sound really, really weird, but I want to go ahead and implement it even I still not an expert on this, but I want to give it a try. And if you don't mind, we're gonna play roles. And we can make it happen if you're willing to allow me to. And that's the way I started pioneering on using Scrum. So where were you working at the time? Yeah, I was working for Bendix, commercial vehicle systems. Bendix, I was based on Mexico City would enough is here. But eventually, I also got an office in our corporate facility. Back then it was located in Elyria, Ohio, very close to the Cleveland airport, about 30 minutes from there. And now they move over to Avon the corporate move over. So back then I was like, why don't, why don't we don't have a kind of like a team like the scrum team that I can refer to, but I was like, let me make you the product owner. And I'm going to be a little bit of a mix of a developer and a scrum master. Because our organization, I don't know if has changed ever since. But it used to be kind of like a matrix. So the the way the teams were set up, were very dynamic. So it was not a this is a specific team that we can call scrum team. But even then, that was enough raw material where to get started. And it was the most empirical way to do it. I was back then I was even using Excel as a way to visually track the work that was meant to be done.   Michael Hingson ** 14:10 Well, so far, first of all, what did your boss say when you said I want to try to put this into effect and so on? What was your boss's position?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 14:23 He was one of the directors for purchasing and aside of the fact of thinking that I was kind of crazy of doing something so something and nobody else seemed to be doing around us. I think he was more of why not? You already went through this training. So let's let's give it a shot. And interesting enough later on. I don't think I don't know if it was because of me or pretty disconnected. But the company has eventually moved over to using Scrum, which I was super happy when I heard they were about you about then I was at that point in time. I was no longer with the company but but it was I was super excited to hear that they weren't going to do that.   Michael Hingson ** 14:59 So, why Scrum? That is? Why, why that word. Give us a little bit of the origins and kind of maybe start to fill us in a little bit about what this is all about.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 15:14 Absolutely. A scrum comms. Scrum is the framework right? grandslam to atheris, with our Kench, whoever and Jeff Sutherland. So they together created this framework, and they have refine it and make it better and better over time. Were these idea of giving these a specific name, they describe it as referring to the game of rugby, rugby, where the team is very cross functional in that like, you go like here and I go here and we stay in an each position is more alpha, we transition into whatever needs to happen in order to make this work. So that's what they thought this is almost like, like, like doing Scrum when you when you're playing rugby. And that's the reason why they gave his name off a scrum to the framework. And what it happens is that within this framework, you set up yourself in small teams, but each team has everything it needs in order to accomplish its goals. So basically, is a small unit of people 10 or less, usually, that set up a scope and, and become or are allowed to become self organized in order to make everything work.   Michael Hingson ** 16:29 So does that team then work on a specific job a specific function? Or is it more general, kind of trying to understand a little bit about what the framework is and the whole process? Absolutely,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 16:44 the team is meant to be cross functional, because it has to handle the order or has to have all the resources needed to accomplish the goals that are set for for that specific team. Now, there will be times where a project is extremely complex, and one single team is not going to be able to do everything. So that's where you're able to what is called as scale or scaling, which basically means different teams are working on a small portion of a larger goal. But the outputs of the different teams combined allow for these one big thing for a company to be able to go happen. Maybe Maybe if I go ahead and describe how the framework breaks down into its components, that could be helpful to share. Let's do that. Okay, sounds good. So So basically, there's three roles, three artifacts, and five, it has changed names over time, sometimes we call them events, we call them ceremonies, or commitments, I think the most recent way to to frame them. And basically, within a team, you're going to have three roles. And there's going to be a product owner, who is the person in charge of maximizing value for the team. And that is a person that is a bridge between the customers or stakeholders and the team that is actually doing the work. So So that's more related to what we usually think of as a project manager. But this position in the scrum team becomes quite complex. And that's why there's a second role that is created that is called the scrum master. The scrum master accountability is efficiency of the team. So it's more geared towards the inside of the team, which is the communication with the product owner and the auditor role, which is the developer. So when we think of developer, it can pretty much be any function. Because scrum can be used in any industry, although it has a natural, a natural fit with anything related to technology and software and all of that, however, it can be expanded to pretty much any industry. So that will change the scope and therefore the composition of of a team. So for instance, let's say in a non tech kind of team, you could have somebody from marketing and somebody from accounting and somebody from I don't know, some sort of operations and that team combined is going to go and reach a given amount of goals. And and then that's kind of like the three roles of the team. The product owner, the scrum master and developer and the developer are the the people that actually make the work happen. The the go getters, let's think of it that way. And the team works as a cohesive unit, which means there's got to be a clear direction of what needs to be done. The supporting coaching by the scrum master and the team actually making that work happen. Once we transition from the roles to the artifacts, that's where pretty much how the work gets managed. You create what we call a backlog of work or product backlog items within this product backlog which is everything you can build or create or accomplish. Basically your list of goals are Wish List. And so far, I'm not going to find that you want me to elaborate on any of the points that already talked about?   Michael Hingson ** 20:07 No, I think you're, you're doing fine. Let me let me ask you a question though. Typically, in a team environment, there's a team leader, is that the scrum master in this case?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 20:18 Ah, that's a? That's a great question. It's a complicated question, by the way, that's fair, as us as a scrum master and product owner sharing that leadership accountability. But if you think of, if a stakeholder or a customer has a question, Who were they gonna direct their question to, that's gonna be the product owner. So in that classic regard, I think I'm gonna have to lean more towards the product owner would be that lead. However, from a team standpoint, kind of like the leadership tends to gravitate more towards the scrum master, because the scrum master is is willing and able to help the team, figure out or solve, actually understand which which impediments you might have, and find a way to solve them. Now, in a great scenario, when you're coaching as a Scrum Master, you're not trying to solve the problem for the team, you're just trying to help the team being able to solve it by themselves. So it's more of a facilitator. But it's also a leadership role. Okay,   Michael Hingson ** 21:22 so if the scrum master is more of a coach and a facilitator, in sort of the typical language of teams, and so on, then what is the product corner person,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 21:38 it's also a leader. But the broker will be more centered around the product itself than than the team or the team efficiency, because that's where the support from the scrum master comes from. So the product owner will be more more related to to figuring out the requirements and needs from the customers slash stakeholders, and translate that into a team in order for the team to work on that value maximizing goal. Okay.   Michael Hingson ** 22:08 All right, well, go ahead and continue sort of the explanation of how the whole the whole process works, then?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 22:14 Absolutely. So from the goals, we go to what are called the artifacts, and there are three, one of them is the product backlog, which is basically your inventory of everything that that we can go ahead and build related to a given product. From there, what you're going to do is that you're going to break him down in a small in a smaller chunk, which is where from everything that we could do, where are we actually going to commit to do and that's when you go into what we call the sprint backlog, which is basically a smaller one, wait a given timeframe in order to be accomplished. And once it is that will usually refer in in traditional project management as deliverable. We call it an increment in Scrum, which is the outcome of work from the team within a given timeframe. Now, that will take us over to the ceremonies because that timeframe happens to be one of those. But before I move over to the events or ceremonies, any any questions you might have regarding the in the artifacts, or the rolls?   Michael Hingson ** 23:20 I don't think so at this point. I'll keep thinking about it. But I'm just fascinated to hear this explanation.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 23:28 Thank you so much. So moving into the ceremonies, there's there's the container for the word, it's called a sprint. And it comes from from racing, right like like a short race called Sprint. So what you're going to do is that you're going to work on something, and it's going to be a month or less, usually in increments of weeks. So usually you're going to use the sprint stuff one week, two weeks, three weeks, or up to four weeks. But no more than four reason being you want to keep it a as a scope of work that is no longer than that. In order for you to make sure you collect feedback, which is one of the I think biggest benefits of using Scrum. You're not working on something for a long time. And then in the end, come back and say a marketplace live, what I got is more of I work in a little something and I collect feedback. And based on that feedback, I'm able to inspect and adapt. So the team is always working on the highest customer priority or value, value or valuable item. So that being said, you set up a cadence of your sprint, which can go from one week up until four. And that's it. Once you have the spring. You start your spring with a sprint planning meeting, which basically do us collectively as a team commit to a given amount of work and therefore an increment or increments by the end of the sprint. Once that happens, you have a daily meeting which too it's wondering it's worth it happens On a daily basis, and it's a meeting where you're going to synchronize with a team, you want to make sure that everybody is working towards the goal, and basically keeping the eyes on the ball. And then by the end, the close to the end of the sprint, you're going to have what is called a sprint review, which is where you showcase the work that has been completed to the customers largest stakeholders. And it's a great place for interaction and collaboration, because basically, you're promising something, then you are showing what you have committed to what you promise, and then you get understanding of the path moving forward. Sometimes the customer know exactly what they want. And sometimes they think they want something but then once they start to seeing that as something they can actually inspect, they might want something different. And that's great timing, because this chrome allows for rapid changes or ongoing changes. So I might go one a given route, but I want to change route. Absolutely, let's do it. And that's what these sessions are for is kind of like a working session where collaborate the team or the scrum team and the people that are going to be using the outcome of the work, meet to review and, and provide feedback to each other. And the last event, once that happens is a what is called a retrospective or retro where basically just the scrum team gathers and understand what are the what is the team doing right? What is the team, that what the team can improve, and basically include those small improvements. And that's where the continuous improvement portion comes in. Because every single sprint, if the team is working properly, the team is growing better and better over time.   Michael Hingson ** 26:44 Well, okay, so this is clearly a very structured organizational process, which I can appreciate. But you said a lot earlier that that what you really got intrigued about and what intrigued you with the the whole idea of Scrum, even before you necessarily knew the name was do twice the work in half the time. So why does this process really increase workflow?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 27:13 Great question. One, one of the answers is because of the communication flow, the fact that you are keeping keeping teams small enough allows every team member to be able to understand each other, if the team is too weak, like when you go to a party, right? If there's too many people in the table, you can talk to a few that are close to you, but you cannot understand what is happening by the end of the table. So it's very similar, because the team is small enough communication flows properly. And therefore you avoid misunderstandings. And you're able to communicate faster and better. Therefore, you become far more productive. The other thing that I think is a part of the answer is the level of autonomy of a scrum team is fairly large. So that allows the team to organize to better suit their own needs, which allows each of the team members to bring in the best of them, and then combine them into the pool of resources. So the fact that everybody is able to work in such a pace, and the team either failing or succeeding as one. I think that's part of the reason why it makes a team so productive. And last but not least, you you every spring, you work towards the goal. So there's no misunderstanding of Yeah, everybody's doing a little something. Now, by the end of the sprint, we're going to show the work that we have completed. So so we keep focused, and we make sure it happens.   Michael Hingson ** 28:46 So it sounds like in any company, where you have a fairly decent number of people, you're going to have a number of different Scrum teams. And each one is is working on a project or maybe a few teams are working on different parts of the same project. But who coordinates all of that. So it sounds like there could be essentially a scrum within a scrum then that you've got somebody who is overseeing what the various teams are doing.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 29:21 Yeah, interesting question that's probably gonna change from from company to company or industry to industry. Think probably should explain that. A Scrum is a framework is meant to work as a whole. I mean, you don't escape roles or escape ceremonies or increments, you use all of those elements. But once you have that basic foundation, which is basically the framework, pretty much the rest of the field is very flexible. It allows for us I was explaining like scaling for instance, if I have a larger project, one team is not going to be able to accomplish everything then we can Scale to two teams or three teams or four teams. Now, if we are to go that route, then yes, your point, we're probably going to need to use as an organization, some additional tools for managing that complexity across different teams. But as long as the teams are not working on the exact same thing, potentially, you're pretty much just setting goals, and letting them go work towards those goals. So so the self organization of the teams allows a lot of flexibility for the organizations as well, they just need to set the goals. And then the teams go work to make those goals happen.   Michael Hingson ** 30:34 Well, let me maybe phrased the question slightly differently, who sets the goals?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 30:41 Well, that's what we usually refer to as the stakeholders, but stakeholder can be pretty much usually is going to be like senior leadership levels, that are saying this is what we need. So depending on the size of the company, that's kind of like which level is setting which goals, but I think is gonna probably cascade down, it's going to be most likely many of these pros is going to be top down. Eventually, if there are some mature Scrum teams, you can actually let them run wild with Can you set up your own goals of what you can actually accomplish and make that kind of proposals bottoms up? That's definitely something that can be done as well.   Michael Hingson ** 31:17 Sure that and I can appreciate that. But in general, what you're saying is that there, there is someone or there is some part of the organization, as you said that the top leadership that essentially stakeholders sets the goals. And that's where the process begins, and then assigns or works with the people below them to decide what team is responsible for what goals?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 31:49 Yes, and that's where the communication takes place between these stakeholders and the product owner, in order to break it down for the team to work in that. Right.   Michael Hingson ** 32:00 Okay. And so, once the goals are assigned, then is it also true that someone keeps the the leadership informed as to how the team is going? Or is the idea you have to trust the team and let them do their job for a month, and not interfere with the dynamic of the team?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 32:25 What I'm saying? Absolutely, yes, I guess potentially, that sometimes that can actually happen, in my experience is more of less ongoing communication between the product owner and the stakeholders, even though we're working on a given set goal for each sprint, yeah, is usually potentially having these communication helps towards the same point in time, good practice to have a roadmap of what you're doing. And eventually the roadmap can as I said, it can change because of what we think of discoveries, right, or validated learning and, and kind of think of, there's an amazing book about that by Eric, oh, gosh, he's like, I almost could swear it's Reyes, it's called the lean startup. And there's something concept that brings that comes from this book called validated learning, which is sometimes and the reason why the scope of this team says is small, is because there's a lot of unknowns when you start a project. So there's things and assumptions that that kind of like could hold true over time. But the more the larger the project, the less likely they are. So you have a certain degree of assumptions, and you want to go try to test them as fast and early as you can. Which leads to a concept that we refer to in this Agile world as your fail fast, which doesn't mean you're trying to intentionally fail. But if you are going to fail, it's better to do it as fast as you can and get your lesson learn and move forward. Because that allows you to experiment a little bit, which pairs well with the empirical nature of this process. And it also helps on the Lean thinking, because you don't want to waste resources. So if a project is going to be canceled six months from now, I rather know what would not let leave that padding to that project and cancel six months from now and cancel it, let's say two weeks after getting started, right. And I'm thinking worst case scenario, right with a project canceled, more often than not, your project is gonna change paths in order to arrive to one that is actually your successful path. So you go from something good to I guess I'm learning this from a title of a book, right? But what kind of going from good to great, right? Because you are understanding your product better as you are building it. And that takes me over to a concept which I think is in the core of everything we're talking, which is the iterative and incremental nature of Scrum. So what you're doing is building a little something, you do an iteration, and then you stop. You inspect and adapt and based on your findings, and Next time around your next iteration is going to build on top of that. So that's what we call the incremental nature because you're always delivering something. And it's always better than the, the version you delivered before. Can   Michael Hingson ** 35:15 you give us an example and tell maybe a story of, of a project and how Scrum, really enhanced getting the project done? Can you actually, is it easy enough to tell an actual story and talk about your experiences with it?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 35:35 Yeah, absolutely. I'm kind of thinking across I know, I'd see for an example is like, oh, gosh, it's been a couple of years. So I mean, I've collecting experiences. Sure. And, yeah, plus the NDAs. Right, what I can and can't share about Sure.   Michael Hingson ** 35:54 When you just sort of in general.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 35:58 Okay, got it. Yeah, well, let me share this example. It happened in one team, where we had these cross functional setup of the team members. So each of them having a speciality or kind of like being a specialist with one thing. And what happened, eventually, when we started doing the work, there were a couple of team members that were doing a lot of work. And there were some of them that we, we see working every now and then. And that makes it kind of complex, because as long as every, you have like two options, right? If you're going to be cross functional allele, everybody, there's a little bit of everything now, that for sure, nobody's going to be as proficient as the specialist. But the whole idea is that we can rely on each other. So for example, if our our programmer gets a stock, and he can get some help from the tester, then the tester gets the program a little bit with some shadowing are helped by the programmer, and then they can both program a little bit. And that's an example of clean Croc cross function. But if you're not able to do that kind of thing, because of whatever risk management policies or even willingness by the team members to go outside of their usual line of work. And that was the case here. There were team members that said, this is what I do, this is what I want to keep doing. So what we end up doing is if if these team members are don't have some tech skills that we need, but there's this other activities that they can do, as long as they don't have to mess up with the complexity, complexity of programming, or managing certain technology tools, what we did was simplify that and create a web application for for low to no code, tech team members to be able to produce work in that application. And that helped because now they can do work in an ongoing basis, as opposed to having to wait until there was some no tech work for them. And that helped the team increases the throughput dramatically, because now different team members could actually be producing work in parallel, kind of like everybody working on something at the same time, and the output was increased significantly. So   Michael Hingson ** 38:14 with those team members that really were not very technically inclined in the process, it sounds like they may not have really embraced the whole scrum idea at the beginning. But what did they think by the end of the project?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 38:30 Well, I think by providing them tools and make their life easier, and they can actually contribute to the whole, I think that that was a pretty amazing experience for us all because it is great if everybody can like go ahead and do different functions, but it's not always possible. So if it is not, how can we think outside of the box and seal provide a solution that allows the team to be more productive? And that's what we did. And it was an amazing experience.   Michael Hingson ** 38:55 And I think that's really the issue here isn't that what you're really promoting is people thinking and innovative in different ways, collectively, so that you are able to fashion and create a solution may be where you didn't think there was one. But by working together by functioning as a team, and by valuing the team, you figured out? Well, we've got to do these additional kinds of tasks to make it possible for everybody to be productive. But that's what it's really all about, isn't it is everybody needs to be involved in the team and be be productive? And the team has to be concerned about that and really work to make that happen.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 39:39 Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that. It's almost like as simple as saving the best for last. The definition of a scrum includes the fact that it is creating adaptive solutions to complex problems. And where it connects very well. What you just mentioned is that it is more of a mindset. It works within a framework. Yes. But but all the pieces working together, it is really about a mindset of problem solving in a way that that, let's say sets up the field in order for you to be very successful. So it is a tool that embraces change and innovation and problem solving, I think to a whole new level, and that's what I think we need in this day and age. Because as we have evolved as a human species, we have also been facing challenges that we didn't have before, like, like, like global warming, and are things that that are like, gosh, how are we going to solve that, right? But we gotta find a solution. Because if we don't, our our, our future is compromised. So how do we manage and handle all these projects, and I think this might not be the only way to do it. But it's definitely one way to do it. And that's the reason what I consider myself such an advocate for Scrum. I think once you do it and understand what it's coming from, you cannot stop using it, I can't.   Michael Hingson ** 41:05 So you use it in, in work and everything that you do, what do you do now? Or are you working for a company now? Or, or what's your current job environment like?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 41:15 Yes, eventually, as I started gravitating towards technology related words and phrasing and things like that, I start exploring into a new career path. And by year 2018, I started a new undergraduate program for computer engineering. And I finished that when in 2020. And then I got into a master's in data science. And about that same timeframe, I was lucky enough to join at&t, where I currently work as a principal project manager working with Scrum teams. And And most recently, I also getting engaged pursuing a PhD in computer science as well. So once I started gravitating towards technology, I realized my passion for it. And that process Grom. And it started ignited me into a very different career path, which is what I currently do.   Michael Hingson ** 42:12 So did you bring scrum to a TNT or was AT and T already embracing that as a concept?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 42:18 Because fine, I think they're really for this specific project is something that was about to get started. So pretty much. There were a few people getting started with it with a project. And then eventually, there was a significant amount of additional of team members that were hired. When I started with them, I started actually as a scrum master. And eventually, by doing the work, I transition over to product owner. So I'm fairly familiar with with with all the roles as I was leaving doing development when I got started on a very empirical way since early 2015. Yes,   Michael Hingson ** 42:56 so as a product owner or as a scrum master. When I mean that, that isn't a full time job as such, that is, you don't just sit in monitor other people, you're directly involved in doing a lot of the work yourself, right?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 43:14 Yes, absolutely. Regardless of the role, yes. Right. And   Michael Hingson ** 43:18 so you are just as much a part of the working team as anyone else. Even though you have the additional responsibilities of being the product owner, the scrum master, which is understandable when a project is done. This is a question I've always found interesting with different kinds of teams, because a lot of times when there is a team effort to do something, when it's all over and it comes time to recognize the teams, the team leader gets recognition and the rest of the team doesn't necessarily get the same amount of visibility. How does that work in a scrum environment? Is it just the project owner, product owner or the scrum master that gets recognized or is is the company or the process such that it's understood that it's really the whole team that needs to get recognized not just one or one or two people,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 44:12 it has to be the whole team if you ask me, because everybody is pushing towards this successful outcome that is a team outcome. So So collaboration and teamwork is is kind of like the glue that binds everything together. So even though the product owner is representing the team and helping the requirements and understanding and communicating with stakeholders, interestingly enough, as we are used to traditional management positions, item kind of think of off meter or scrum master or product owner as we can think of them as managers, however, from my view is almost like not giving yourself that managerial title. In some words, maybe you're doing it but you are so part of a team that is hard to tell apart. I'm kind of like, am I am I like, like overseeing? Or am I actually kind of like silly and bold, but I feel that I'm part of the team. If the scrum team is working properly, you are part of the team. So so it's not like different layers of people managing and people doing even though Yeah, true developers are doing. But you're so close to them that that that line gets kind of blurry, if you know what I mean. It's like, there's no way I could accomplish this by myself, I needed the team to backup whatever I'm supporting as a product owner. And similar thing with with the scrum master, if I'm helping a team become more efficient over time, the team is better than better. And that serves a higher purpose for both the team and the whole organization. Maybe   Michael Hingson ** 45:44 more like viewing yourself as if you will, a senior member of the team in terms of experience or knowledge level subject matter expert that you're bringing to it. But that doesn't make you better, or a a person who is separate from the team. And I think that's a wonderful concept that you're still really part of the team. And it's all about how you best add value to the team. Yes,   Rodrigo Quezada ** 46:06 it's all about maximizing value as a team. Yes.   Michael Hingson ** 46:12 Yeah, that's, that's extremely important. Because in so many teams, in so many job situations, the boss regards themselves as the boss and everybody works for them. The team leaders, the team leader, everybody works for them. But they're not in a sense, as much a part of the team is they really ought to be   Rodrigo Quezada ** 46:33 Yes, true indeed. And actually, that remember that, when they, when they created this framework, they they took away titles, they didn't want to say you're the senior de surgir, the junior dad, because that's more related to a hierarchical kind of structure. They wanted to make it as if you're a developer, you're helping with creating and crafting and adding value to the product. So you are a developer. And that's it, you don't need to have a specific title as you are a QA or you are a software engineer, or you are a site reliability engineer, SRE is like you're part of the team. And that's it, you might have a speciality. And there's something that I almost forgot to mention. Within this world, we're very used to I do one thing, and I do that one thing very well. But there's this concept of a T and are m shaped professional, which basically means you're extremely good at more than one thing. So So you have a broad understanding of several things, but you're good at at one or more things. So in that regard, there's no limit also to your potential as somebody doing the work. So kind of, is kind of like a path to mastery and fulfillment. So if you're doing these just like well, then then eventually that takes you to higher levels. And that in turn, moves over to your personal life. And then suddenly you have a virtuous, virtuous, virtuous cycle. I believe there's a right way to say it, Mike. Yeah, so so it's kind of like, like, it's fun. And then work doesn't feel as well, kind of like the way we think of work, right? Because work becomes far more fun, and you enjoy it. And then you do what you like. And then you happen to do even better, because now you aren't kind of like, completely nursing what you're doing. But aren't   Michael Hingson ** 48:24 scrum master and product owner titles in of themselves? Or how, how is that in the scheme of things different than then having some other kind of title?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 48:37 No, no, that's fair enough. That's where I think Trump is making an exception. We have these two, these two positions that are having kind of like extremely specific accountabilities within the team, because, for example, right, we only want one point of contact with the team to talk to stakeholders, because otherwise it could be 10 people sense from a stakeholder standpoint, right? You want to talk with one person from the team? And that's why it's specific to the scrum I'm sorry, to the product owner. Right.   Michael Hingson ** 49:08 Okay. And, again, I think that gets back to what I said before, which is really, although they are titles, it's really talking more about your level of experience and some of the expertise that you bring to the team.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 49:24 Yes, absolutely. It's a cohesive, cohesive unit of professionals working together, which breaks down silos, right, because you're trying to collectively achieve something opposed to this is my part of the word. And that's the only part I care for. And this is more of approach of this is what we are working towards building together.   Michael Hingson ** 49:43 Right. And that's what teamwork is really all about, or should be really all about. And so often we we tend to really miss the whole point of what the value of the team is, and we pay more lip service to teamwork. then actually doing things to embody it and make it really a part of what we do. I know that when I hired salespeople and worked with salespeople, one of the things that I always said is my job is not to boss you around, because I hired you expecting that you already know what to do and how to do it. But my job is to add value to make you more successful. And it sounds like that is what you're really seeking in the whole scrum process as well. And why you have a scrum master and product owner.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 50:33 Yes, indeed. And previously, you mentioned something about when the project ends. And I think that comes to a different concept that I found extremely interesting, which is, with your teams being kind of like a group of people working together, and the longer they can work together better, they can read each other's mind and, and, and talk to each other without even talking. If you happen to have a team like that, that is happy working together. The other thing that happens is, your cost and time is pretty much fixed. So so the team from a company standpoint has the keeping costs, right. And time is pretty much going going in a pretty linear way. What I'm trying to explain is, the scope is what's changing over time with the team. So you can you can start adding new or different things to the teams. And if one project ends, a new one can begin. As long as you have a problem to solve. You can leverage on on on a scrum team or several Scrum teams in order to make sure you keep addressing the problems that you want to tackle as a as an organization or as a group, right. It doesn't have to be a company always. But we can certainly use companies as a quick reference point for Scrum teams.   Michael Hingson ** 51:47 You mentioned to me in the past that Scrum teams don't in Scrum and doesn't embrace as much some of the traditional tools like Gantt charts and so on, why is that?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 52:00 Correct. The Gantt charts are mainly used within traditional project management when you are considering that all your assumptions are gonna are going to hold true through the whole lifecycle of your project. And therefore your planning is perfect at the beginning. But as soon as US bottlenecks that were not foreseen in time, or, or potentially, let's say technical difficulties that you find along the way. And those were not accounted for in the original Gantt chart. So usually what ends up happening is that the Gantt chart starts to deviate along from the actual planning or actual action in place. So eventually you depart from somewhere very different from where you intended to arrive. So what what is scrum does, there's there's some metrics that are used, usually referred to as velocity, which is very subjective, because it means something different to different teams. So one team have a 50 story points velocity, and our team can have a 500 story points velocity, which might seem that 501 is much faster than the team which 50 points but it's so subjective that from a working standpoint, that one was 50 points can be actually delivering more work to the to the to the organization. But anyway, you can have these kind of like burn downs, or burn up charts that you can use to track sort of metrics of how the team is doing against the planning. But remember, that is based on short spans of time, so no more than four weeks. So even if you're meeting or missing your targets, it just meant to be contained within a small or short timeframe for you to understand, learn, adjust, and do it again. But do it better.   Michael Hingson ** 53:36 If you don't get a project done in the four week time that you originally set based on the scrum rules.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 53:44 That would be a problem. Most of the time, what you do is you break down into small chunks that are achievable within a sprint, we we can think of and then again, this might come back to if I remember correctly, this Eric Ries and the Lean Startup, there's something called an MVP or minimum viable product, which is basically from everything we can do, what is the minimum we can achieve. So if you plan yourself to at least achieve a little something, and then everything you can add on top of that before the sprint is over, I think there's a safe path to always have something to show for you as a team accomplishing something because if you if you kind of lean towards the all or nothing approach, either I believe or everything or I don't have nothing to show, there could be points in time where the risk is high. And you're going to show up to the review saying I didn't complete it my work, right? There's nothing to show. So what I'll probably suggest is, is take the MVP path, always have a little something that is something you can guarantee as a team that you can deliver. And then if you happen to have extra time within your sprint, go build on top of that and add more things to here's what we have completed by the sprint review.   Michael Hingson ** 54:53 So if something doesn't get done in the appropriate time, you really We have two potential reasons for that, that I can think of one is, you made the goal too large, or too, the team isn't functioning nearly as well as it should be. And that's an in both cases, that's something for someone to go back and reevaluate.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 55:20 And that's where the rhetoric comes in. Because every by the end of every sprint, you need to collectively as a team say, Okay, where do we miss? Where do we waste? And what do we knew earlier? What do we need to do a little bit different to fix that in the future? So you're always looking for ways to becoming better and better as a team, which is one of the things that I definitely love about this framework.   Michael Hingson ** 55:41 Yeah. And that was why I asked the question, because, again, it's all about the team making a collective decision or creating a collective understanding. And again, is all about the team. Yes, it is, which then can communicate with the stakeholders and so on. In case it's the stakeholder that screwed up. And the stakeholder hopefully understands what the scrum team is all about. And we'll accept the observations when that happens as well. Yes.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 56:18 And there was something else that you mentioned that it triggered. Yeah, at one point in time, you mentioned about the team recognition. The sprint review is not only between this, the product owner and the stakeholders for the sprint review, you have to have the whole team. So the product owner can be presenting. Yes. But the team is there. So there's kind of like very specific questions about things on the, of how the product was built, or how the product is working, or any What if coming from the either end users, customers or stakeholders. That's where the team can bring in their expertise, because they build it together. Right? So the team has a voice as well within the Sprint Review isn't is not necessarily only a steal your point like like just who is managing the team, it's more off. Here's the whole team that builds together. And any questions, here's a whole team in order to be able to answer as a team.   Michael Hingson ** 57:10 And that's what really makes this such an exciting concept, because it's all about the team. And and hopefully, when the team completes a project, if they really work together, then no one tries to separate the team and put different people from one team on to another team. They allow the team to continue to operate and be a cohesive unit. Yes.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 57:35 And there's one more thing that also Bond's things together, which is one of the pillars of Scrum, which is called transparency. The process is extremely visible to everybody in the organization. So what the team is working on what progress are having, everybody can actually go see. So whether the team is working these working items, which you should refer to, or at least I'm used to referring to them as PBIS, or product backlog items. Everybody can go see what the team is working on and how they're communicating and their evidences of work completed and everything else. So stakeholders don't always have to rely on whatever the product owner says. They can actually go and see what the team is doing. Because the process is extremely transparent to everybody. And for sure, the team as well. So So usually the work is not a sign that work is is kind of taken, right? How can I help? How can I contribute? So I go to the to the sprint backlog, and I grab a working item. And let's say me as a developer, I go work on that. And every now and then it's not, it's not. It's not recommended that it's done. But every now and then even other roles such as a scrum master can go ahead and take a little bit of work, even though it's not recommended can be done. So. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 58:49 Why should more people embrace the scrum concept of doing work?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 58:55 God, gosh, first and foremost, because, aside from the fact that it, it's fosters teamwork, and increases happiness levels on and promotes mastery from team members, which makes it ever more exciting, it helps you deal with that the solutions to complex problems borrowing from the definition of Scrum. So as long as you have complex problems to solve it, what you want to solve is pretty repetitive and fairly and linear and straightforward. Yearning, you're probably not going to need Scrum. But as long as it starts to deviate from something that is that predictable. You can rely on group of professionals working together as a unit in order to tackle together those those problems and come out with adaptive solutions. Cool.   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 If people want to learn more about Scrum and the process, how can they do that?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 59:54 I'll probably say start out with information that is already provided. it on the scrum guide. You look at it as that the scrum guide. It was created by Ken Ken Shriver and Jeff Sutherland, the creators of Scrum. It's out there on the internet. So so I'll probably say start there, because that's the guideline for the whole framework. And   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:16 what is it called   Rodrigo Quezada ** 1:00:18 the scrum guideline, okay. It's even trademarked. But it is open to the public, you don't have to even pay to in order to be able to read or things like that. And it's been translated to different languages as well. So I'll probably say start there, because that's, that's pretty much the epicenter from for the whole framework. However, if you want to learn a little more, there's different books out there and different organizations that can help in the process, including certifications and everything else. Guess one of them, for sure, is this book that started me with Scrum, which is called doing twice the work and half the time by Jeff Sutherland is definitely one of my top recommendations for Scrum. There's also two websites that I think of that are that are scrum.org. And there's other ways to that is called Scrum Alliance. Dot I believe that.com. But if I'm incorrect that.org Both both promote a lot of conversations and best practices on Scrum. So a lot, those are great resources. There's a lot more out there. But those are the ones that come top of mind.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:23 And is there a way if people want to talk to you and kind of get more thoughts from you about all this or just get to meet you? Is there a way for them to do that?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 1:01:32 Yeah, we could probably use LinkedIn for that. I haven't had a lot of civility. But I don't mind if I do because the whole purpose of this podcast was sharing this out loud with more people. I know what I know what up what I want that to be spread out, because I'm definitely a scrum enthusiast. So if there's way that I can help somebody else I'll I'll be happy to. So   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:59 how can they reach you on LinkedIn? What? What do they look for?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 1:02:06 Let me go seek my gosh, would it be okay if I sent it to you, I don't have it handy. Kind of like but but you can look for my name, Rodrigo. Queszada Queszada with a Z and Reyes with a Y in the end. And it's I think it's fairly accessible. Once you're into Lincoln system. Go ahead and spell all that for me. So sure, no problem. Rodrigo says spelled R o d r i g o, my first life name. Last name is Queszada. Which is Q u e z as in Zebra a d as in Daddy a. My other last name it which is Reyes R e y e s   Michael Hingson ** 1:02:51 There we go. So we can search for you on LinkedIn with that. So what are you doing? You're not working?   Rodrigo Quezada ** 1:03:00 Guys, I would rather work I'm usually doing some training. And aside of that, for sure. It's spending time with friends and family. It's a mix of of those. I have these reckless pursuit of understanding and training and eventually I'll find my purpose in life. I'm still in debt that I cannot say I have it. What I always feel I'm getting a little bit closer. So I hope I get there before. Before my end of   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:24 life. There you go. Do you do you have a family? Are you married or anything like that? Yes.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 1:03:28 I'm married. Two kids. Almost 10. Actually, they're just about to be 10. And, yeah, and also two bucks. So So yeah, I think.   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:41 Yeah, so So that's six in the family. If you get four more, you can have a scrum team.   Rodrigo Quezada ** 1:03:48 Yeah, getting close. Yeah, keep   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:50 keep working on that. Well, Rod, this has really been very much fun and enjoyable. And I really appreciate you coming on and talking about Scrum. It's a concept I have not been familiar with. But I'm going to go learn more about it. I think it's fascinating. I think there are parts of it that as I listen to you tell it that I have used in the course of my life, although I never understood it and call it Scrum. But I appreciate it. And I think it's an extremely valuable thing. Anything to promote teamwork is always a good thing. So I want to thank you once again for being here. And I want to thank you for li

Peter Deng, VP da OpenAI, comentou esta semana no SXSW sobre o como o avanço das A.I.s irá aumentar a produtividade no trabalho e criar empresas cada vez mais enxutas. Eric Ries, em seu livro "Lean Startup" também já abordou este tema ao falar das startups que vivem sob condições incertas e precisam evitar o desperdício de tempo e recursos para sobreviver. Se no passado o tamanho de uma empresa, em número de colaboradores, era motivo de orgulho, esse cenário se torna bem diferente nos dias de hoje. A ultra especialização e a freelarização também são movimentos que estão catapultando a tendência das empresas enxutas, isso além de outras questões indiretas, desde as mais simples como a taxa de juros, como as mais complexas como o conceito de Tecnofeudalismo de Yanis Varoufakis, autor de um livro sobre o tema. Essa é a base para o Morse Trends de hoje num bate-papo entre João Carvalho e Gabriel Villa.Acompanhe também o Artigo na íntegra: https://morse-news.com/post/empresas-enxutas/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Neste episódio da quarta temporada do Metanoia Lab, patrocinado pela Oi Soluções, o Andrea (andreaiorio.com) analisa uma frase do Eric Ries, autor do best-seller "The Lean Startup", que fala sobre a importancia de transformar também a cultura de erro das start-ups de uma cultura "fail fast" para uma cultura "learn fast".

In this week's episode, I had the pleasure to interview Lomit Patel. Lomit is the Vice President of Growth at IMVU. Prior to IMVU, Lomit managed growth at several startups including Roku ( a digital media player manufacturer that IPOed ), TrustedID (acquired by Equifax), Texture (acquired. by Apple) and EarthLink. Lomit is a public speaker, author, advisor, and was recognized as a Mobile Hero by Liftoff. Lomit's new bestselling book Lean AI, is part of Eric Ries' “The Lean Startup” series.

In this episode, Uzair talks to Taimur Malik about his political campaign in NA-148, where he competed as a PTI candidate against PPP's former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. The margin of victory for the PPP's candidate was razor thin and Taimur is currently in the process of appealing the results. We talked about the vote count, what was it like to campaign in Multan given the constraints on the PTI, and what comes next for the party, both in the courts and in assemblies. You can follow Taimur on X @taimur_malik. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:50 Status of NA-148 election 12:30 PPP's response to the results 19:00 Campaigning in Multan for the PTI 28:00 Overall appeals of the PTI 37:50 PTI's alliance with the SIC 44:40 PTI's strategy moving forward 49:38 Reading recommendations Reading Recommendations - The Constitution of Pakistan - Nuskha ha-e Wafa bu Faiz Ahmed Faiz - The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Lomit Patel is the Chief Growth Officer of Tynker, with 20 years of experience helping startups grow into successful businesses. Lomit has previously played a critical role in scaling growth at startups, including Roku (IPO), TrustedID (acquired by Equifax), Texture (acquired. by Apple), and IMVU (#2 top-grossing gaming app). Lomit is a public speaker, author, and advisor, with numerous accolades and awards throughout his career, including being recognized as a Mobile Hero by Liftoff. Lomit's book Lean AI is part of Eric Ries' best-selling "The Lean Startup" series. Visit Amazon and check out his Amazon Best Seller Lean AI https://www.amazon.com/Lean-AI-Innovative-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/1492059315 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/tbospodcast/support

On today's Millennial Investing Rewind Episode, Robert Leonard chats with Eric Jorgenson about who Naval Ravikant is, why he wanted to write a book about him as a guide to wealth and happiness, how his strategy of not making any money out of the book came about and why he chose to go that route, the most important thing Eric has learned from Naval, and much, much more! IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN 00:00 - Intro 11:38 - How someone can build or find a position of leverage and why this is important going into the future. 12:43 - The breakdown of Naval's framework on how to get rich without getting lucky. 21:28 - What's behind Naval's idea wherein he states that if you don't have equity in a business, then you don't have a path towards financial freedom. 25:46 - What the quote, “You'll never be rich since you're obviously smart, and someone will offer you a job that's just good enough” means. 46:44 - Why Naval believes the forty-hour work week is outdated and why we should be like athletes instead. And much, much more! *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members. Related episode - MI091: Warren Buffett's #3 & Charlie Munger's #1 Business Book of All-Time w/ Robert Cialdini. Recommended Book: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson. Eric Jorgenson's podcast. Recommended Book: The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Recommended Book: Poor Charlie's Almanack by Charlie Munger. Recommended Book: The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. Recommended Book: Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. Recommended Book: Angel by Jason Calacanis. Recommended Book: The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Check out the books mentioned in the podcast here. NEW TO THE SHOW? Follow our official social media accounts: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok. Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try Kyle's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: NetSuite Linkedin Marketing Solutions Fundrise TurboTax HelloFresh Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to another episode of Category Visionaries — the show that explores GTM stories from tech's most innovative B2B founders. In today's episode, we're speaking with Marc Bernstein, CEO & Founder of Balto, a contact center solutions provider that's raised $52 Million in funding.  Most interesting points from our conversation: Inspiration Behind Balto: Marc's own struggles with applying coaching advice in sales calls led to the creation of Balto, aiming to bridge the gap between learning and doing in high-pressure customer interactions. Unique Influences: Beyond typical entrepreneurial heroes like Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, Marc finds inspiration in the diverse talents and unfinished projects of Leonardo da Vinci, highlighting the strength found in a broad spectrum of interests and the occasional focus shift. Navigating Through Tough Times: The global shift in the tech landscape in 2022 forced Balto to make significant operational changes, including reducing their workforce. This period, while challenging, taught the team valuable lessons in efficiency and focus. The Lean Startup Approach: Balto's early strategy was heavily influenced by Eric Ries' The Lean Startup, leading to rapid product development and direct feedback collection from potential customers through a series of 82 demos, culminating in their first sale. Understanding the Market: Marc's dive into market research and the realization that contact centers experienced acute pain from inefficient communication and coaching processes shaped Balto's target market and product development strategy. Vision for the Future: Looking ahead, Marc envisions a world where AI's capabilities extend beyond task automation to enhance human abilities, ensuring that people remain a critical component of the workforce in an AI-dominated future.

In this MI Rewind Episode, Robert Leonard chats with Andrew Gazdecki about what Microacquire is, how he built it, and what his goal is with this company; how he thinks about smaller, bootstrapped companies versus large, venture-backed ones that are trying to be worth a billion dollars; why VC-backed companies generally get all the news coverage and what Andrew is doing to change this, and much, much more! IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN: 00:00 - Intro 02:29 - What the first steps are to getting a new business off the ground. 32:04 - Why having a great product is not enough in today's world and why relying on this is a losing strategy. 32:04 - How someone with a faulty sales process can fix it. 32:04 - How to focus on one thing as an entrepreneur and how to determine what that one thing should be. 52:15 - What it means to “build in public” and why Andrew has chosen to go this route. And much, much more! BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members. Eric Ries' book The Lean Startup. Pat Flynn's book Will It Fly?. Chris Guillebeau's book Born for This. The Shark's book Shark Tank Jump Start Your Business. All of Robert's favorite books. NEW TO THE SHOW? Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try Kyle's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcasts here. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Airbnb NetSuite Masterclass Babbel Shopify Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patrick Donley (@JPatrickDonley) sits down with Dave Meyer, VP of Data and Analytics at Bigger Pockets and author of the forthcoming book, Start with Strategy. They do a deep dive and discuss why picking the right strategy is key to your real estate investment success. You'll also learn how Dave got into financial independence, what the early days of Bigger Pockets were like, and also Dave's thoughts on where and what asset class he would be investing in given today's market conditions.  Dave Meyer has spent his career working in the technology industry while also investing in real estate. In 2016, he took the opportunity to combine his professional passions for real estate and technology and joined BiggerPockets, where he now serves as the VP of Data and Analytics.  Dave has been a rental property investor in Colorado since 2010 and invests passively nationwide. He's also the host of the BiggerPockets On the Market podcast, which started in 2022 and is growing rapidly as a one-stop source for all things real estate analytics. Outside of work, he enjoys traveling, eating sandwiches, and being outside. He currently lives in Amsterdam, Netherlands. IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN 00:00 - Intro. 02:50 - How Dave was part of eating the world's largest hamburger. 05:42 - Why studying abroad was the inspiration for moving to Amsterdam. 08:02 - How Dave got interested in personal finance and investing. 08:41 - How one of Dave's first entrepreneurial ventures went. 14:04 - Why data analytics intrigued him. 21:22 - What the early days of Bigger Pockets was like. 27:20 - How the writing process for Start with Strategy went. 28:36 - Why investor's need a guide to pick the right real estate strategy. 30:47 - What is the resource triangle. 34:58 - What Dave's first real estate investment was and what he contributed to it and much more! *Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences. BOOKS AND RESOURCES Join the exclusive TIP Mastermind Community to engage in meaningful stock investing discussions with Kyle and the other community members.  The Everything Guide to House Hacking by Robert Leonard. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Traction by Gino Wickman. The One Thing by Gary Keller. Real Estate by the Numbers by J Scott and Dave Meyer. Real Estate Rookie by Ashley Kehr. Wealth Without Cash by Pace Morby. Check out all the books mentioned and discussed in our podcasts here. NEW TO THE SHOW? Check out our Millennial Investing Starter Packs. Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here. Try Kyle's favorite tool for picking stock winners and managing our portfolios: TIP Finance. Enjoy exclusive perks from our favorite Apps and Services. Stay up-to-date on financial markets and investing strategies through our daily newsletter, We Study Markets. Learn how to better start, manage, and grow your business with the best business podcasts. SPONSORS Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors: Airbnb NetSuite Masterclass Babbel Shopify Connect with Patrick: patrick@theinvestorspodcast.com Connect with Dave: Website | Instagram | Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Greg interviews Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and founder of The Long Term Stock Exchange.They talk about how to test business ideas, why businesses with a social mission will outperform, and opportunities in AI.►►Subscribe to Greg's weekly newsletter for insights on community, creators, and commerce. You'll also find out when new and exclusive episodes come out from Where it Happens. And it's totally free.https://latecheckoutstudio.ck.page/FIND GREG ON SOCIAL:Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenbergInstagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@gregisenbergaLINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:Production Team:https://PodFlow.comERIC RIES:Eric Ries's Newsletter: https://theleanstartup.comLong-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE): https://ltse.comLean Startup Corporate Training and Events: https://leanstartup.coX: https://twitter.com/ericriesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/TIMESTAMPS:00:34 Concept of AI companies being funded differently02:06 Longevity of wrapper AI startups and platform wars07:16 Benefits of creating viral startups11:07 Idea of buying non-AI startups and adding AI capabilities14:08 Approaches to quickly understand customer needs in a new space21:41 Eric's point about companies doing the right thing and the importance of trust36:23 First Business Idea: Religion startup - HQ trivia meets a church37:08 Second Business Idea: Social network for gig workers38:31 Third Business Idea: AI accountability bots

In this podcast, Franco Perez, a founder of Franco Mobile Homes, a thriving mobile home industry entrepreneur, shares his journey from a modest beginning to scaling his business to over 110 mobile homes in three years. He emphasizes the significance of purpose-driven entrepreneurship, recruitment challenges, and the importance of adopting a lean startup mentality. Franco also discusses his favorite business books, the role of mentorship, and the crucial aspect of effective time management in achieving business growth.   Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let's get into it by clicking here   Troy asks our special guest about their journey's start and defining success, their industry reconsideration, and the most challenging phase in business growth. He inquires about their love for small business growth, key habits for owners, and insights on team building, wins, mistakes, and advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions: The most challenging aspect of growing a small business is often the initial phase, particularly making the first $50,000 in revenue. This stage requires a focused effort on establishing a viable business model, securing early customers, and overcoming the hurdles of uncertainty and limited resources.  Franco Perez revealed that his favorite business book is "The Lean Startup." This book, authored by Eric Ries, emphasizes the importance of adopting a minimum viable product (MVP) mentality. Franco recommended mastering the calendar as an essential tool for small business growth.  Franco emphasized using YouTube as a primary tool for professional development, mentioning it as his go-to resource for learning and acquiring knowledge. One advice he would give to his younger self on starting his business is to build relationships, treat everyone right, and do the right thing. Good deeds attract good people and good business. Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights!   Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.

MVP vs MMF - What is the Difference? - Mike Cohn I had a question come up in a recent Better User Stories webinar. We were talking about story mapping and the concept of setting a significant objective for a period of time (usually about a quarter).I gave three examples of how to come up with a significant objective: An MMF (minimum marketable feature), an MVP (minimum viable product), or a WIG (wildly important goal).At the end, someone asked me if I could further explain the difference between an MVP and an MMF. I wanted to share the answer with you in case this has come up on your team.What's an MVP?An MVP is about the whole product. ​​Product is in the name: Minimum Viable Product. The term MVP comes from Eric Ries and his book The Lean Startup.An MVP is the version of a product that delivers the maximum amount of information for the least amount of effort. An MVP is designed to validate the idea of a product as a whole: Is this product something people will pay for?I have a bit of an issue with using an MVP for a significant objective. Why? Because when you meet again to plan, what do you build next?You've already released something minimum and viable. Whatever comes next is more than minimum and viable. So how can you call it an MVP? It feels as if you can only use the term once.I tend to prefer the term MMF, minimum marketable feature.What's an MMF?An MMF is about a single feature rather than the whole product. A minimum marketable feature is a subset of an overall feature, one that delivers value when released independently. It was introduced by Mark Denne and Jane Cleland-Huang in their book Software by Numbers.That is, the MMF is not everything you may ultimately want in the feature, but it's enough to get some feedback.In a spell checker, for example, you may release a version that checks your spelling but doesn't allow users to share custom dictionaries or do other things you know you eventually want. But you've released enough to market that your spell checker includes that feature.What's the Difference?A minimum marketable feature is smaller than a minimum viable product. An MVP can and likely would include multiple MMFs.For example, suppose I'm building an ecommerce website.I might have the following requirements: ​​  I can search for items I can put items in a cart I can pay for items I can set delivery addresses That set of features would be an MVP: I could launch my ecommerce site with those features. An MMF, on the other hand, would be a way to deliver part of any one of those features.Let's say we want an MMF for “I can pay for items.” We want to be able to launch that feature in the coming period but decide to launch it in a minimal way first, maybe for capacity reasons or maybe because we want to learn something about it before we create a bunch of functionality.So we would take the feature “I want to pay for an item” and identify a minimum marketable feature: “I can pay for an item with Mastercard.” It's not a whole product. It's not even a full feature. But it is enough to get us going.Whether you prefer to think about MVPs, MMFs, or something else, focusing teams towards a significant objective and mapping the stories that will get you there, will help you and your team succeed with agile. How to connect with AgileDad: - [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠ - [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠ - [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠ - [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/⁠

In this episode of Product Thinking, Jag Duggal, Chief Product Officer at Nubank, joins Melissa Perri to unravel the process of building a strong global product management team in a fast-growing business. They also dive into the importance of customer obsession, challenges in talent acquisition, and the power of documented principles in scaling businesses.

In this episode of Product Thinking, Tom Eisenmann, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, joins Melissa Perri to dive into "Why Startups Fail," his transformative book. Specifically, they dive into the inspiration of the book, six unique types of startup failures and how to avoid them, as well as strategies for hiring your first product manager.