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This week, Eric is in South America shooting a film, so Paula and Nick take on the challenge of a two-person episode. We kick things off with some current events, a round of Swim Sets with Paula, and a brand-new segment, How Hard Can It Be, before diving into your listener questions.This week, we discuss:Hot flashes unrelated to menopauseReducing sugar intake while still fueling trainingHow pros get their country's flag at the finish lineUsing a trainer to prepare for a hilly raceThe role of technical race officialsRacing for one country while living in anotherIdeal wheel depth for racing and trainingCoordinating training with other athletesAdjusting training and racing with a newbornWhether a power meter is necessary for a first raceWearing Ironman apparel without having done oneA big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive! To submit a question for the podcast and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast—————————Swim sets with Paula 400 choice8 x 25 (1 easy, 1 build to fast) on :304 x (150 FAST on short rest, 100 easy with :30 rest)200 ez kick/swim mix4 x (125 easy with :20 rest, 75 FAST on short rest)200 ez kick/swim mix100 cool down —————————40% off TTL Warehouse Sale(Tickets) Look For Things Where You Can Find Them | Official Trailer
This January, Breakfast with Martin Bester is taking How Hard Can It Be to new heights with a month-long challenge. At the end of 2024, musician Elandré challenged Martin Bester, Philicity Reeken, and Xola Ntshinga to participate in the annual Veganuary challenge. Elandré also opened up about his decision to become vegan
Why not kick off your 2025 with a good old challenge? This January, Breakfast with Martin Bester is taking How Hard Can It Be to new heights with a month-long challenge. At the end of 2024, musician Elandré challenged Martin Bester, Philicity Reeken, and Xola Ntshinga to participate in the annual Veganuary challenge. The Breakfast with Martin Bester team politely accepted the challenge, and for the rest of January 2025, they are only allowed to eat vegan.
How Hard Can It Be to do ASMR? The Breakfast with Martin Bester team and their amazing listeners tried ASMR for the first time. Here are the results: An entire South African-related ASMR compilation to help you relax.
This week, on How Hard Can It Be the Breakfast with Martin Bester, the team attempted to answer questions for a final matric exam paper. The team selected questions from previous exam papers for Life Orientation, Afrikaans, Maths, and Physics to see if they could answer correctly. Breakfast with Martin Bester listener Henry also joined in on the fun and assisted the team in their pursuit.
Yes, you read that correctly. How Hard Can It Be to LARP? The Breakfast with Martin Bester team tried LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) in the latest edition of How Hard Can It Be.
Raditya (Dito) Wibowo, CEO & Founder of MAKA Motors, and Jeremy Au discussed: 1. Gojek Chief Transportation Officer: Raditya describes his seven-year tenure rise from managing a nascent on-demand transportation service from the modest two-story home HQ with only 2 toilets to becoming Chief Transport Officer. Developing Gojek's first dynamic pricing algorithm was key to beating competition from traditional and emerging tech players. His strategic thinking was pivotal in navigating these emerging problems, including how to navigate the demand vs. supply aspects of Ramadan. 2. Founder MAKA Motors: Dito shared how he founded an electric motorcycle startup nd the transition challenges from software to hardware. He detailed the design principles tailored to meet Indonesian market demands and consumer behaviors. Strategic decisions include customer personas, in-house R&D vs. outsourcing and managing component assembly logistics. His industrial engineering background has also influenced his approach to solving complex problems at the company. 3. How Hard Can It Be?: The phrase "How hard can it be?" encapsulates his entrepreneurial spirit, strategic planning and resilience. He shares how his early consulting experiences at McKinsey shaped his later thinking, as well as how he has had to think on his feet to overcome multiple startup challenges. Jeremy and Dito also explored the importance of adapting business models to changing market conditions, continuous learning for consumer needs, and the personal commitment to become comfortable with uncertainty. Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.bravesea.com/blog/raditya-wibowo Nonton, dengar atau baca wawasan lengkapnya di https://www.bravesea.com/raditya-wibowo-id 观看、收听或阅读全文，请访问 https://www.bravesea.com/blog/raditya-wibowo-cn Xem, nghe hoặc đọc toàn bộ thông tin chi tiết tại https://www.bravesea.com/blog/raditya-wibowo-vn Get transcripts, startup resources & community discussions at www.bravesea.com WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VakR55X6BIElUEvkN02e TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeremyau Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyauz Twitter: https://twitter.com/jeremyau LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bravesea English: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Bahasa Indonesia: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Chinese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Vietnamese: Spotify | YouTube | Apple Podcasts Join us at Geeks on a Beach! Use the code "BRAVESEA" for a 45% discount for the first 10 registrations, and 35% off for the next ones.
Olympic swimming coach Rocco Meiring and Olympic swimmer Pieter Coetzé went head-to-head with the Breakfast with Martin Bester team for the ultimate Olympics quiz on How Hard Can It Be!
Henning Pretorius got his first-ever piercing on How Hard Can It Be after his wife nominated him to get a piercing.
In celebration of the Games, Jacaranda FM's Breakfast with Martin Bester decided to create The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be. From Monday, 5 August, to Thursday, 8 August, the team is giving listeners a chance to compete in The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be.
In celebration of the Games, Jacaranda FM's Breakfast with Martin Bester decided to create The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be. From Monday, 5 August, to Thursday, 8 August, the team is giving listeners a chance to compete in The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be.
In celebration of the Games, Jacaranda FM's Breakfast with Martin Bester decided to create The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be. From Monday, 5 August, to Thursday, 8 August, the team is giving listeners a chance to compete in The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be.
In celebration of the Games, Jacaranda FM's Breakfast with Martin Bester decided to create The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be. From Monday, 5 August, to Thursday, 8 August, the team is giving listeners a chance to compete in The Olympic Games of How Hard Can It Be.
Breakfast with Martin Bester challenged themselves to guess listeners' jobs by just hearing them speak. Every Tuesday between 07:00 and 08:00 on Breakfast with Martin Bester, we ask ourselves: How Hard Can It Be? Each week, Martin Bester, along with Philicty Reeken and Xola Ntshinga, attempt a different activity to see how difficult it actually is.
How Hard Can It Be to talk about a topic, you know nothing about, for a whole minute? The Breakfast with Martin Bester team challenged themselves to talk about three different topics they knew nothing about.
On this How Hard Can It Be the Breakfast team try some questionable food combinations courtesy of TikTok. Tomato sauce on KitKat chocolate isn't the only weird one, but it might just be the worst.
On this How Hard Can It Be, the Breakfast with Martin Bester team asked listeners to submit some of their burning questions. As part of the challenge, the team had to answer the questions, being completely honest.
On this How Hard Can It Be sport, presenter Xola Ntshinga challenged the rest of the team to be sports presenters. Both Martin Bester and Philicity Reeken tried to read sports bulletins while trying to pronounce some of the most difficult sports star names.
On this week's How Hard Can It Be, Breakfast with Martin Bester invited South African musician Mo Magic to show the team how to do magic. He also wowed the team with a few tricks he had prepared just for us.
Every Tuesday, Breakfast with Martin Bester asks the question: How Hard Can It Be? This time, Breakfast with Martin Bester spoke to psychic medium Heather-Anne Bender, who helped Martin Bester to interpret the dreams of listeners.
WAS IT THE GREATEST RADIO STATION - EVER?PODCASTS WITH NO CONTENT ARE DOING GREAT WITH SOME AUDIENCES. RUNNING TWO SUCCESSFUL FM STATIONS IN NEW YORK CITY. HOW HARD CAN IT BE? APPARENTLY, VERY HARD.Welcome to the only podcast/video blog that talks about all kinds of media…and the impact on local sales and management. Two media execs, Jackson Weaver and Keith Samuels do this each Wednesday. Produced by InTown Media we welcome comments at jackson@intownmedia.com Website www.intownmedia.comMedia Insultant is produced each Wednesday as Jackson Weaver & Keith Samuels offer comments, ideas and sometimes snarky comments about the current media landscape. They focus on radio and TV primarily - but also any media that is relevent or beneficial to media sales and management. Videos are under the Media Insultant Showcase on Vimeo. Comments are always welcome at jackson@intownmedia.com Thanks for listening!
On the latest How Hard Can It Be, Martin Bester and the team were visited by auctioneer Jade Cahi, who showed them how to do an auction. The team managed to auction off a one-of-a-kind Gary Player and Martin Bester doll live on air.
On Friday Anele asked ‘How Hard Can It Be?' to be a Mr D delivery driver! Afterdoing our research over the weekend, Anele armed with her Mr D jacket and delivery bag took to the streets of Joburg to deliver pipping hot food to youSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
For this week's How Hard Can It Be, Martin Bester invited local Drag artist RiRi Rouge to show him how to do Drag.
We got the first shipment of Nutrisystem food today. I had it backward. The frozen stuff is coming tomorrow. I haven't checked it against the packing slip, but I did notice that the muffins are pretty small. On one hand, it makes sense they'd be small. We are trying to The post How Hard Can It Be? appeared first on Male Chastity Journal.
We got the first shipment of Nutrisystem food today. I had it backward. The frozen stuff is coming tomorrow. I haven't checked it against the packing slip, but I did notice that the muffins are pretty small. On one hand, it makes sense they'd be small. We are trying to The post How Hard Can It Be? appeared first on Male Chastity Journal.
We got the first shipment of Nutrisystem food today. I had it backward. The frozen stuff is coming tomorrow. I haven't checked it against the packing slip, but I did notice that the muffins are pretty small. On one hand, it makes sense they'd be small. We are trying to The post How Hard Can It Be? appeared first on Male Chastity Journal.
It is a process that we have all encountered. You go to the doctor (which is already a pain in the butt to get into) go through whatever exam you have lined up, the doctor scribbles some illegible gibberish on a piece of paper and sends you to your local pharmacy. You know it will take a little bit of time, and your stomach is doing most of the talking right now, so you decide to grab a bite on the way over to the pharmacy. You grub your burger, pull into your local WalAideRiteGreens, meander to the back and queue up in the line. You finally get to the window, only to find out that your prescription isn't ready yet. “HOW HARD CAN IT BE!? Just take the pills from the container, and put them in the bottle for me” you scream inside of your head. But, there is much more to it than just that. This week's guest on The Malliard Report is here to dispel all the misconceptions of life in a pharmacy, discuss specialty medications, the opioid crisis, and much more. This week Jim welcomes pharmacists number 1 Fan & Advocate, and podcaster Todd Eury to the show. “Pittsburgh native Todd Eury from Brownsville, Pennsylvania, started the first podcast about the profession of Pharmacy in 2009, and today, it's the global leader in podcasting about the business and profession of the pharmacist. Todd Eury started the Pharmacy Podcast Network in March of 2009. Todd is the CEO of the Pharmacy Publishing Network, the parent publication of the Pharmacy Podcast Network. With the editorial, C.E. education support, and evidence-based podcasting divisions, Eury directs the leading audio publication in the Pharmacy Industry.” Todd is an excellent guest, and does a great job at peeling the curtain back to what happens behind the scenes in the local pharmaceutical world. Todd's take on certain issues in today's time is certainly one worth noting. If you want to check out Todd's podcast make sure to stop by pharmacypodcast.com where you can also join the “U.S. Pharmy.” For all things Malliard, head over to malliard.com where you can catch past shows, merch, the newsletter, and the weekly live chat every Tuesday at 9 PM EST. Make sure to rate and subscribe through your favorite podcasting app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How hard can it be to monetize your startup business? John Livesay sits with Arnaud Henneville-Wedholm, an entrepreneur, optimist, and author of How Hard Can It Be? The journey is full of peaks and valleys. It's never just a straight line towards success. The key is to start small. Validate your assumptions by throwing your ideas into the market. Don't forget to get honest feedback. The most important thing? Believe that you can. Need more tips on how to make your startup business a success? Tune in! WANNA HOST YOUR OWN PODCAST? Click here to see how my friends at Podetize can help GET YOUR FREE SNEAK PEEK OF JOHN'S NEW BOOK BETTER SELLING THROUGH STORYTELLING Better Selling Through Storytelling JOHN LIVESAY, THE PITCH WHISPERER SHARE THE SHOW Did you enjoy the show? I'd love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link Click on the 'Subscribe' button below the artwork Go to the 'Ratings and Reviews' section Click on 'Write a Review' Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here's How » Join The Successful Pitch community today: JohnLivesay.com John Livesay Facebook John Livesay Twitter John Livesay LinkedIn John Livesay YouTube
How hard can it be to monetize your startup business? John Livesay sits with Arnaud Henneville-Wedholm, an entrepreneur, optimist, and author of How Hard Can It Be? The journey is full of peaks and valleys. It's never just a straight line towards success. The key is to start small. Validate your assumptions by throwing your ideas into the market. Don't forget to get honest feedback. The most important thing? Believe that you can. Need more tips on how to make your startup business a success? Tune in!WANNA HOST YOUR OWN PODCAST?Click here to see how my friends at Podetize can helpGET YOUR FREE SNEAK PEEK OF JOHN'S NEW BOOK BETTER SELLING THROUGH STORYTELLINGBetter Selling Through StorytellingJOHN LIVESAY, THE PITCH WHISPERERSHARE THE SHOWDid you enjoy the show? I'd love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review!Click this linkClick on the 'Subscribe' button below the artworkGo to the 'Ratings and Reviews' sectionClick on 'Write a Review'Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join The Successful Pitch community today:JohnLivesay.comJohn Livesay FacebookJohn Livesay TwitterJohn Livesay LinkedInJohn Livesay YouTube
How Hard Can It Be author, Arnaud Henneville Wedholm, joins startup mindsets to talk about his new book, How Hard Can It Be, Lessons From Trying to Take Down Facebook. Inspired from his efforts to build a startup that would be better than Facebook. Arnaud tells his story on how his startup, InternalDesk, became a "Broken Unicorn." We hear about what it's like to struggle as an entrepreneur and why success comes from trying and failing. InternalDesk was created to incentivize people to complete challenges to better themselves. Noteworthy Discussion Points The Social Media "Like" is the modern day tiger. Why we should seek failure so we can prepare for it more. Overcoming fear and mental blocks Why motivation comes from within and relating to purpose. Learn more about Arnaud and purchase his book: https://howhardcanitbethebook.com or at Amazon & Barnes & Noble. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/startupmindsets/support
What if career failure wasn't a failure at all, but could be turned into success?We are sure that almost everyone has been at this point in their lives where the world seems to have stopped: demotion, made redundant, start-up collapsing, an application to the dream job declined.It sucks, it feels like the end. But as with so many things in life, it is all a matter of perspective, with what kind of eyes you look at the problem at hand.Today on the show is Arnaud Henneville-Wedholm, tech-start-up person, motivational genius. His super power: failure-to-success magic.Arnaud is chatting to us about how what seemed like an incredibly successful start-up for 6 years with big investors, eventually failed. And how decided to leverage this failed venture and spin it into a new and even shinier one.If you love this episode, be sure to check out Arnaud's book "How Hard Can It Be?", which sheds a light on the less glamorous side of running a start-up and how despite the hard-ship you can sail the ship into a safe haven.Have a listen, have a laugh, learn a little and have a fabulous day!Let's go get it!HIGHER! Career Podcast -- with Nikki Symmons and Tom Zamzow--Welcome back to Higher! everyone. The podcast full of wicked stories from the job market and experts showing us how to succeed in it. Because we've all been there haven't we, it's time to get unstuck. It's time to make some change. It's time to lead. Let's go get it!Be sure to follow @gohigherpodcast on Instagram for a peek behind the scenes and get to actually see our faces from time to time! We also have a delightful LinkedIn page where you can stay updated on the latest and greatest: HIGHER! Career Podcast.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You won't gain much listening to massive success stories like Elon Musk. What you need to do to mature is learning from mistakes of others. Victoria Wieck sits with Arnaud Henneville-Wedholm, entrepreneur, optimist, and the author of How Hard Can It Be. Arnaud shares how he opens his book with a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. It says, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.” Don't be afraid to fail your way to success. You need to trust what you can do and have that resilience and drive to change the world. If you want more tips on developing perseverance, listen to this episode. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://milliondollarhobbies.com/
Actress and author Celia Imrie joins Nikki Bedi and Richard Coles to discuss her debut non-fiction novel, set against the backdrop of the sinking of the Titanic. Celia explains her family connections to the legendary ship and talks about her love of travel and career highlights. Listener Nick Wharton got in touch about his adventures in climbing, and being reunited with his estranged father. Tom Chapman is an award-winning barber who experienced a personal tragedy that led him to create The Lions Barber Collective, a charity which aims to support mental health by offering a safe space for people to talk. Tom's also just written his debut children's book. Singer Frankie Bridge shares her Inheritance Tracks: I Heard it Through the Grapevine sung by Marvin Gaye and Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin. Restaurant critic, MasterChef guest judge and writer Grace Dent talks about the comfort food that she enjoys when not working, and how it's inspired her new podcast. Grace also reflects on realising her childhood ambitions and her love of the Lake District. Orphans of the Storm by Celia Imrie is out now. How Hard Can It Be by Nick Wharton is out now. The Mighty Lions & the Big Match by Tom Chapman is out now. GROW: Motherhood, mental health & me by Frankie Bridge is out now. New episodes of Comfort Eating with Grace Dent are released every Tuesday. Producer: Claire Bartleet Editor: Eleanor Garland
Episode 095: Books adapted into Movies Tami - To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee Jamie - Into the Wild by John Krakauer Amie - I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson Episode 095: Books Adapted into Movies Amie Newberry & Tami Ruf Today we're exploring books made into movies. Do you like books made into movies? Are you a ‘read the book first' kind of person and then go see the movie, or are you a ‘see the movie first' kind of person and then read the book? We talk all about these dilemma's on the show today and talk about 3 books we loved AND loved the movies too! What Are We Watching? Tami - Wanda Vision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ Jamie - 30 Rock Amie - My Love on Netflix Books Mentioned Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay Me by Elton John Into the Wild by John Krakauer The Wild Truth: A Memoir by Carine McCandless Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald I Don't Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson How Hard Can It Be by Allison Pearson Movies / Media Mentioned The Crown on Netflix To Kill A Mockingbird I Am Number Four Secret Life of Bees The Power of One Rocketman Bohemian Rhapsody Into the Wild Crazy Rich Asians The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann version) Ray Bradbury from NEA Big Read - Where he talks about readers being librarian. Hans Rosling's Ted Talk - New Insights on Poverty Click HERE to visit Dollar Street website
First of all THANK YOU for being a loyal subscriber to How Hard Can IT Be?... after a couple years of it I’ve decided to take a bit of a hiatus, and use the opportunity to create a new pod I really want you to check out, called #AskTrap. #AskTrap solves what had become the 3 big challenges of HHCIB, namely that it took too long to listen to, too long to make, and was hit or miss in asking the questions most valuable to you, the current or aspiring entrepreneur or investor. I wanted to make something quick and easy to add to your podcasting queue in all the new platforms opening up the pod world to a bigger audience - from Spotify to Alexa and Google Home - while reducing the production burden on me so I could increase the frequency of new episodes. #AskTrap is built on the Anchor platform, which means I can pretty much do the whole thing on my phone, wherever I am. This time YOU’RE the one asking the questions - with a simple hashtag on Twitter or LinkedIn - and I promise to give you an answer for a busy person, meaning in about 5 minutes. Plan is to do that 3 times per week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and see where that gets us. Check out the all-new #AskTrap podcast wherever you’re listening to this, subscribe and rate us in the iTunes store and elsewhere, and help us spread the work if you like what you hear. Beyond that, if you have a questions I can answer about almost anything - brands, marketing, startups, VC, careers, whatever - just use the #AskTrap hashtag, and I’ll get on it. Thanks again, and I’ll talk to you again soon.
How Hard Can It Be, by Allison Pearson, will make you life, even while life around you may be completely hectic. It is the perfect book to relate to, while finding humor in our imperfect world and our imperfect life.
Jimmy Kimmel talks to the woman who got her head stuck in a tailpipe. Timberwolf Karl-Anthony Townes is featured in ESPN's “Body Issue”. Amal Clooney says some very sweet things about George at the AFI event. Guest is Allison Pearson, author of “How Hard Can It Be”. Paul McCartney tells James Corden how he wrote, “Let it Be”.
Allison Pearson's latest book, “How Hard Can It Be” has already been optioned for TV by the producer of HBO’s hit series “Big Little Lies.” The book’s prequel, “I Don't Know How She Does It” sold over 4 million copies and inspired a film starring Sarah Jessica Parker. Roxanne recently sat down with the bestselling author to discuss her hilarious new book, raising children, and how stay-at-home moms can transition back into the work place. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kate Reddy had it all: a nice home, two adorable kids, a good husband. Then her kids became teenagers (read: monsters). Richard, her husband, quit his job, taking up bicycling and therapeutic counseling: drinking green potions, dressing head to toe in Lycra, and spending his time?and their money?on his own therapy. Since Richard no longer sees a regular income as part of the path to enlightenment, it’s left to Kate to go back to work. Companies aren’t necessarily keen on hiring 49-year-old mothers, so Kate does what she must: knocks a few years off her age, hires a trainer, joins a Women Returners group, and prepares a new resume that has a shot at a literary prize for experimental fiction. When Kate manages to secure a job at the very hedge fund she founded, she finds herself in an impossible juggling act: proving herself (again) at work, dealing with teen drama, and trying to look after increasingly frail parents as the clock keeps ticking toward her 50th birthday. Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be? Hilarious and poignant, How Hard Can It Be? brings us the new adventures of Kate Reddy, the beleaguered heroine of Allison Pearson's groundbreaking New York Times bestseller I Don't Know How She Does I Allison Pearson’s first book, I Don’t’ Know How She Does It was a smash hit when it appeared in 2002. The story of a hedge fund manager who could juggle nine currencies in five time zones but wakes up at 1:37 am in a panic over the need to produce a homemade pie for her daughter’s school, Oprah called it “the national anthem for working mothers.”
What did you do in the Bluetooth wars, Daddy? Welcome back to You Don’t Look Like a Runner. This week we catch up with a number of long lost friends as we take a deep dive on the email and check in with the Audio Veteran from MIT. We talk about the /fucking snow/ again, Nick has a right to be forgotten, Jon is humbled by a swimming float, and we sharpen up plans for the Mania Half. How Hard Can It Be?—back to basics running event series AfterShokz Trekz Titanium ERL headphones Jon’s swimming routine card Birmingham International Marathon has been cancelled ...and the Birmingham Velo has been too The Mania Half New people who sign up using that coupon code will get 25% off their membership for the first 3 months. Go to: podiant.co/signup and use the offer code “RUNNER”. Go to runnerpod.com where you can look through old episodes, read show notes and blog posts. If you have any comments, questions or thoughts please tweet us @runnerpod or you can email us podcast@runnerpod.com.
What did you do in the Bluetooth wars, Daddy? Welcome back to You Don't Look Like a Runner. This week we catch up with a number of long lost friends as we take a deep dive on the email and check in with the Audio Veteran from MIT. We talk about the /fucking snow/ again, Nick has a right to be forgotten, Jon is humbled by a swimming float, and we sharpen up plans for the Mania Half. How Hard Can It Be?—back to basics running event series AfterShokz Trekz Titanium ERL headphones Jon's swimming routine card Birmingham International Marathon has been cancelled ...and the Birmingham Velo has been too The Mania Half New people who sign up using that coupon code will get 25% off their membership for the first 3 months. Go to: podiant.co/signup and use the offer code “RUNNER”. Go to runnerpod.com where you can look through old episodes, read show notes and blog posts. If you have any comments, questions or thoughts please tweet us @runnerpod or you can email us podcast@runnerpod.com.
Meet Carbonite President & CEO Mohamad Ali to hear his remarkable immigrant story, and learn the approach to business value creation that's not only transformed Carbonite into an exciting Boston company again, but enabled his string of successes from IBM, to Avaya, to HP. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first.
My guest the week is venture capitalist and charter G20 Member Jeff McCarthy. Jeff’s a Partner at North Bridge Venture Partners, focused mainly on materials. He played leadership roles at two early, successful companies within the North Bridge portfolio, Cadia Networks and New Oak Communications, where he was the CEO until that company was acquired by Nortel. Before joining New Oak, Jeff was Vice President of sales and business development at Cadia Networks, a developer of ATM concentrator products for the service provider marketplace, and held senior management positions at Wellfleet Communications, including Vice President of Carrier and Channel Operations. Jeff is a proud and active graduate of the Northeastern University School of Management, and serves as an advisor to the University. In this week’s second segment Jeff and will focus on a problem that seems like a great one until you have it, which is how to pick the right VC partner when you have more than one to choose from. Jeff will share thoughts on the importance of chemistry and vertical expertise, respond to my question about what’s different for female entrepreneurs, and compare funds specialized in individual stages of the venture journey with those that invest throughout it. As always, How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple. Here now, my conversation with G20 Member Jeff McCarthy...
Hello and welcome to a very special episode of "How Hard Can It Be"...Up close and personal with the real people behind the hits and misses in Boston's venture capital big time. My name is Bob Hower and I'm the Co-founder of G20 Ventures. You can follow me on Twitter at @bobthevc, and link to our Medium publication at G20vc.com. Each week we'll be getting to know one of the luminaries in our local startup community, and drill into a specific area of their expertise for the benefit of other entrepreneurs and investors. My guest the week is the usual host of this podcast, my new partner Mike Troiano! Mike is a new venture capitalist who brings nearly 25 years of executive leadership and marketing experience to bear for entrepreneurs. He most recently served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Actifio, a global enterprise data-as-a-service provider he helped turn from an obscure virtualization technology into a venture capital "unicorn" valued at over $1.2 Billion. As CMO from 2012 to 2017, Mike helped grow revenue over 80% per year, creating the Copy Data Virtualization category while expanding the business into blue chip accounts across 37 countries. He spent his early career at top worldwide ad agencies including McCann-Erickson and FCB, and was named the founding CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Interactive in 1995. He later served as the president of NASDAQ-listed systems integrator Primix, and as General Manager of mobile content pioneer m-Qube from inception through one of the largest Boston-based venture capital exits of 2006. In this week’s second segment Mike and I talked about the importance of belonging, what makes him such an effective communicator, how he decided to become a VC and what it means to him to be a great one. We also discussed what all great entrepreneurs have in common with bruce Springsteen, something this Garden State native liked a lot. As always, How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is ezCater Co-Founder and CEO Stefania Mallett. Stefania has spent over 25 years building and growing technology-enabled companies that solve real business problems. She co-founded and successfully sold InSite Marketing Technology to what is now KANA on NASDAQ, and prior to that led National Logistics Management (a broker for $225M in transportation services) to profitability for the first time in 4 years. As the COO of IntraNet (now ACI Worldwide,) Stefania revamped the firm and vaulted it to #1 in its market, a position it has maintained for 15+ years. What I find remarkable about Stefania is not only the depth of her competence but the breadth of her interests. A self-proclaimed “systems thinker” and engineer, she emerged from a difficult and non-traditional childhood determined to make sense of the world, proceeding through a hugely successful and entrepreneurial career to do exactly that through a series of executive management roles across a dizzying array of industries and company types. Far from the overly-intellectual engineer stereotype, though, she’s managed to remain a warm and insightful person who clearly cares deeply for the people she’s working with the build ezCater, a neat little company which itself has a story worth telling. We’ll spend our second segment doing just that, walking step by step through the unexpected yet highly typical twists and turns that characterized ezCater’s beginning, through the disciplined approach to management that’s created one of Boston’s most successful and thriving marketplace businesses. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is Patrick Sweeney, an Olympic athlete turned technology entrepreneur turned full time adventurer. Patrick chases adventure for a living, propelled by a passion to help others do the same through corporate speaking engagements and network television appearances, plus an upcoming book in 2017. Patrick grew up a working class Irish kid outside of Boston, and was shaped by a dramatic life experience he’ll share in our talk. He finished 2nd in the 1996 Olympic trials rowing the single scull and won international races from Canada to Norway. After attending a top business school, he built multiple ground-breaking technology companies, earned six patents, wrote two award winning books and appeared on media outlets from CNN to Bloomberg, CNBC, and The New York Times. One day, though, while working the 80-hour weeks and living the intense life of an entrepreneurial leader, Patrick got a wake-up call in the form of a life-threatening illness. When he recovered, he took his first steps toward finding his own adventurer again, unlocking a passion and energy for life all too often lost in the pursuit of material wealth. Today Patrick’s focus is on breaking world records and embracing every day as if it were his last. In Feb 2015 he became the first person to bike to Everest Base Camp in Nepal, and has now become the first to attempt cycling the Seven Summits. His mission is to help millions around the world find their adventurer within, and our second segment today focuses on the process of overcoming fear that’s central to achieving that or any goal in life and in business. This conversation is a fascinating one about breaking through what he calls the “fear frontier,” covering ground from startups to parenting, the limiting functions of our lizard brains, and the journey to find the “genius” we all have at the intersection of our passion and our vocation. PLEASE take a minute to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Overcast, or Pocket Casts, and consider giving us a quick, 5-star review on iTunes. It really helps spread the word and I would sincerely and personally appreciate it. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is Matt Johnston, Chief Executive Officer of Mautic, the leader in open source marketing automation. Mautic makes it easy for you to put the right message in front of the right person at the right time, empowering enterprises and agencies with a flexible, open platform built for us by us. Before joining Mautic earlier this year Matt was the Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Applause (formerly known as uTest). An integral part of Applause’s growth after joining in late 2008, Matt led that company’s marketing, community management, partner channel, and company strategy, helping it become one of Boston’s most highly regarded enterprise technology players. Before that he played a range of senior and strategic marketing roles at OnForce, Mimeo, and Herman Miller office furniture. Our second segment this week is a real treat for anyone interested in what it means to be a Chief Marketing Officer in 2017. Matt and I together have held just about every marketing role you can have, including the one at the top, and our conversation covered everything from the anxiety and stress of keeping up with the latest technology phenom du jour to the roots, current reality, and future of the latest and greatest Account Based Marketing (ABM) model. It’s always fun to trade war stories with another senior marketing guy, and you’ll be a fly on the wall for a conversation I know we both really enjoyed. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is Pierre-Loic Assayag, the CEO and co-founder of Traackr, the world’s most powerful and effective influencer management platform. Traackr lets marketers scale their influencer marketing programs by focusing on the individual people with the greatest impact on their objectives. Their customers include Coca-Cola, HP, OpenTable, Capital One, Kiehls, Travelocity, SAP and Adidas. Half of the top 50 communications agencies today use Traackr to drive successful social programs and earn more attention by engaging with the right people, an amazing achievement for a company just in the process of raising its first round of institutional capital. A longtime mar-tech veteran, Pierre-Loic has deep expertise in advertising and marketing innovation across the digital space. After starting his career at P&G, Pierre-Loic became Peugeot-Citroen’s first Director of New Media heading up an international portfolio of information technology projects. He went on to join the frontlines of the Internet economy at places including Viant and Optaros, bringing blue chip customers the vision and execution they needed to survive and thrive in a media landscape transformed by the slow, painful death of traditional mass media. In our second segment we’ll talk about a subject near and dear to any entrepreneur’s heart, which is when to raise money. Traackr’s been remarkably capital efficient in the way it’s grown into a global company, and that’s because Pierre-Loic has some strong views on the relative importance of customer revenue and investor capital. He also has a very specific and I think pretty unique way of thinking about when to go raise money, a model based on aligning your interests with that of investors I think could save a lot of us a lot of heartache as we journey down the road. -- How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is Eric Paley, Managing Partner of Founder Collective, an early stage fund begun by a team of entrepreneurs who themselves launched companies and led them through successful exits. Founder Collective is focused on helping the next generation of great entrepreneurs build important and lasting businesses through it’s refreshingly clear and often-stated mission, to be the most aligned fund for founders at the seed stage. Previously, Eric was the CEO and co-founder of Brontes, which was acquired by 3M in 2006. Founder Collective’s prescient investments in companies including Pill Pack, Seat Geek, the Trade Desk, Periscope, Buzz Feed, Hotel Tonight, and Uber have made it one of the most prominent seed stage funds in Boston and beyond. Fortune magazine’s influential Term Sheet recently identified Founder Collective as among a group of VC firms outside Silicon Valley who were moving investors beyond their strict belief in "the best and the rest" in venture, matching or beating the performance of the handful of storied West Coast firms to deliver some of the best performing funds of the past decade from firms that didn’t exist before the dot-com bubble. Our conversation on the importance of “founder friendliness” included Eric’s perspective on the challenges facing portfolio star Uber right now, an exchange I think our regular listeners will find particularly interesting. In our second segment Eric and I turned to what he calls The Idea Myth, the belief that every great company finds its genesis in some flash of inspiration born in the mind of some genius entrepreneur. The reality, and the core investment thesis of Eric’s firm, is that venture success tends to emerge from teams who deeply understand customer value creation, who have the talent and the will to persist in solving the the seemingly endless string of mundane challenges that must be overcome to will a successful company into existence from nothing. It’s a refreshing reminder of the importance of execution in a business that too often elevatea strategy above all else, and a view I very much share with him and his partners. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is Yumin Choi, Managing Director of Bain Capital Ventures Healthcare team. Yumin joined Bain's Boston team last year after ten years culminating as a General Partner at HLM Venture Partners. At HLM he led a variety of investments across healthcare IT and services sectors, serving as board director for AbleTo, mPulse Mobile, Oceans Healthcare, Payspan (acquired by Primus Capital), Spinal Kinetics, and Vets First Choice. Yumin has a really interesting background... born in Seoul, South Korea, lived in Japan as a child and moved to Hawaii at age 10 where he attended the Punahou School, President Obama’s alma mater. He's an investor and mentor in several healthcare accelerators, including Blueprint Health, Healthbox, Startup Health, Rock Health, and 500 Startups. Yumin serves with me on the board of the New England Venture Capital Association, and on the board of overseers for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the oversight committee for Boston University’s Coulter Foundation. He also served as a lecturer in the Gordon Institute at Tufts University, where he taught entrepreneurial finance. I think my conversation with Yumin about the job of being a VC is probably the most illuminating I’ve had to date, focusing on the importance of building a network, looking for patterns in the dots of what can be hundreds of near misses and good ideas below the threshold of Yes, and staying open to opportunities regardless of their source or pedigree. Our second segment, though, is about the single event that probably shaped Yumin’s views on the value of healthcare innovation more than any other... his own diagnosis with cancer at age 31, and a subsequent treatment regime that - all by itself - almost killed him. This is not the usual blah blah about relationships in venture, folks, try as we always do to avoid that. My conversation with Yumin was about his journey to understand why what he was doing mattered, and I was inspired by him and his story in a way I hope you will be too. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
This week's guest is Drift Co-Founder and CEO David Cancel. If you’ve ever landed on a web page and had a real person offer to help you find what you were looking for, there’s a decent chance Drift helped make it happen. Their mission is to “help businesses grow by delivering a better, personal experience across every conversation with their customers," and it’s a space David knows all too well. He’s spent his career building great products for marketers at companies he’s founded including Compete, Lookery, Ghostery, and Performable. He served as Chief Product Officer at HubSpot after it acquired Performable in 2011, and is widely credited as having re-architected both the product and the engineering team at that company prior to its wildly successful IPO in 2014. David’s active in the Boston tech community investing in and advising organizations like Charles River Ventures, Spark Capital, NextView, DormRoom Fund, EverTrue, Visible Measures, Yottaa, and HelpScout. You can and absolutely should catch his Podcast - Seeking Wisdom - which offers practical advice on health, wealth, life, and learning for fellow entrepreneurs. As you’ll hear in our conversation, David was born and raised in New York City and now lives in the Boston area with his wife and two kids. In this week’s second segment he and I talked about the process of developing products that win, which is so different from the mythology most startups are framed in after the fact. If you had to develop a person from scratch to drive that process, you’d be hard pressed to design a better fit than David, and we’ll dig into the relationship I’ve always found fascinating, between the person and the products they create. I’ve known David for a long time, and he’s not only one of the best product guys in Boston, but one of the most broadly read and genuinely thoughtful people in our community. I think you’re really going to enjoy our conversation, which drifts into the working class backgrounds that have shaped us both, the importance of family, and the unvarnished truth about what it takes to create something the world wants badly enough to pay for it. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is Kevin Bitterman, a Partner in Polaris Partners Boston office. Kevin joined Polaris in 2004 to focus on investments in healthcare, after playing a key role in getting Sirtris Pharmaceuticals off the ground while a graduate student at Harvard Medical School. What was that role? Well, it depends who you ask. When Kevin was asked by the Boston Business Journal he said, "I deserve next to no credit for the tremendous accomplishments they've had there." His team had a different view... "All you have to do is read Kevin’s Ph.D. dissertation," said lead investor Terry McGuire, "He was a co-discoverer of (Sirtris' science), and a big reason for their success." Sirtis was acquired by drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC in 2008, for $720 million. Trust me when I tell you a VC who downplays their role in a startup’s success is the rarest of creatures indeed, and Kevin’s atypical humility is one of the things that’s made him a go-to guy on the Boston biotech scene. In his time at Polaris, Kevin also co-founded Genocea Biosciences (NASDAQ: GNCA) and was the founding CEO of Editas Medicine (NASDAQ: EDIT), Morphic Therapeutic and Visterra. He currently represents Polaris as a director of Editas Medicine, InSeal Medical, Genocea Biosciences, Kala Pharmaceuticals, Morphic Therapeutic, Neuronetics, Taris Biomedical and Vets First Choice. Kevin is also active in the local life science and healthcare start-up community, serving on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) and with me as Board Chair of the New England Venture Capital Association (NEVCA). He has a BA, summa cum laude, from Rutgers University and a PhD in genetics at Harvard Medical School. In this week’s second segment Kevin and I talked about how cutting edge biotech companies like the one’s he’s been involved in get off the ground, how they emerge from our great universities to create companies that have collectively saved millions of lives. His answer is nothing like the way most people think of VC, and even different from the technology venture model some of us know so well. Kevin and I live in the same town in the Western suburbs and have even spent a few Dad’s weekends down in Mohegan Sun (which will NOT be discussed in this podcast.) I know him to be a family man of great kindness, talent, and intelligence, and it was a pleasure spending a little time to get under what makes him tick. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio, the world’s leading Enterprise Data-as-a-Service platform. Deliver your data just like your applications and infrastructure... as a service available instantly, anywhere. For hybrid cloud, faster DevOps, and better business resiliency, Actifio is Radically Simple.
My guest this week is Brent Grinna, the Founder & CEO of EverTrue. EverTrue is a social donor management software platform that helps hundreds of higher education, independent school, and other non-profit fundraising organizations track and engage alumni and donors. EverTrue participated in TechStars and was selected as a winner of MassChallenge in 2011. Bain Capital Ventures is their lead investor today, and their partner institutions include household names like Amherst, Williams, Colgate, Brown, Boston University, Phillips Andover, and Phillips Exeter. The business was born after Brent - who’d been fast tracking as a venture capital and private equity investor - was asked to serve as an Alumni Volunteer for his undergraduate alma mater, Brown University. He found a system in desperate need of upgrade to 21st century technology and tactics, and set out to bring them to the education fundraising process he cared deeply about. The reason he cared so deeply was that access to higher education had changed the lives of both he and his brothers, who’d grown up on rural farmland in a far flung corner of Iowa. Football and smarts were Brent’s ticket to Brown, where he not only excelled academically but ended up Captain of the Varsity Football Team. After graduating he spent four years in finance at William Blair & Company and Madison Dearborn Partners, then earned his MBA with honors from Harvard Business School. In this week’s second segment Brent and I talked about the people stuff that almost always ends up being the primary focus of the CEO, at any stage of the business. I think other CEOs and those who aspire to be one will relate to both the insights and the struggles we both shared in this aspect of the job, if not to uncover all the answers then at least to commiserate on some of the harder questions. I consider Brent both a true friend and one of the most promising entrepreneurs in Boston, I think you’ll enjoy listening in on our conversation... especially if you don’t mind a couple Pats fans / ex-jocks taking apart the parallels of football and business. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is Jules Pieri, Co-Founder and CEO of the product launch platform The Grommet. The company’s Citizen Commerce™ movement is reshaping how consumer products get discovered, shared, and bought. Jules started her career as an industrial designer for technology companies and was subsequently a senior executive for large brands, such as Keds, Stride Rite, and Playskool. The Grommet is her third startup, following roles as VP at Design Continuum and President of Ziggs.com. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan and people tell her she is the first designer to graduate from Harvard Business School, where she is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence. Jules was named one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs in 2013. In June, 2014, she was invited to the White House Maker Faire to launch The Grommet Wholesale Platform, connecting Makers with Main Street Retailers. She writes a personal blog at jules.thegrommet.com, and the “CEO Unplugged” column on Inc.com. She posts as @julespieri on Twitter and Instagram. The title of our second segment this week is “Amazon Sucks.” To be honest, no one is more surprised to be writing those words than me, having been an Amazon customer since all they sold were books. To be honest I’ve LOVED Amazon for a long time. I respect their execution and how they take care of me as a customer, and it’s the default store in our household, which spends more than it probably should online. When I posted something to that effect on Facebook, though, my longtime friend Jules stepped in to set me straight, about the impact of Amazon’s policies related to pricing on fellow entrepreneurs. She has some very specific concerns about the way they’ve gone after counterfeiters in particular, and I have to say having spent some time with Jules that I now share them. If you’re skeptical, that’s great. Hear her out in our second segment today, and judge for yourself. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is Steve Kokinos, founder and CEO of Fuze, a unified communications platform that improves business productivity by integrating voice, video, and always-on collaboration into a global, cloud-based service and all-in-one app people actually want to use. Under Steve’s leadership, Fuze has become one of the hottest and most highly regarded startups in Boston, creating the Unified Communications as a Service market and transforming the way enterprises view communications as a key driver of business visibility, process improvement, and results. Before Fuze Steve was a founder of BladeLogic, a company he took public at $17/share before it was acquired by BMC software for $28, and WebYes, an early market leader in the Web hosting and application service provider business acquired by Breakaway Solutions in advance of their IPO in 1999. Steve is 3 for 3, folks, and we spent the first part of our conversation talking about what he’s learned along the way, from startup through product market fit and scale. In our second segment Steve and I discussed the proliferation of apps and fragmentation of communications channels that’s ironically making it harder for all of us - at work and at home - to connect with each other. Think about how many messaging and communications apps you have spread across your laptop, tablet, and smartphone right now, then about the big, dumb piece of plastic that’s probably sitting on your desk at work, and all time, energy and effort we’re all wasting trying and failing to get the right info in the right context to the right person right now. Fuze solves that problem in a rather elegant way, of course, but having spent the last decade or so reflecting on how to help people and companies communicate more effectively, Steve’s got some great insight on the problem, where we are in solving it, where we’ll go from here. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is fellow G20 member Craig Spitzer. Craig’s the CEO of a2c Boston, New York and Philadelphia, an IT consulting and staffing company he co-founded in 2007 with the mission of assisting clients who need new talent and technology to achieve their business objectives. Craig founded his first company — Alliance Consulting Group — in 1994, at the tender age 29. By 1999 ACG was ranked in the top ten of the Inc. 500, an honor it earned again the following year, becoming the only consulting firm ever to do so. Ernst & Young recognized Craig as their 2000 NYC Entrepreneur of the Year in Consulting and Outsourcing Services, and by age 36, he was recognized as one of Philadelphia’s top 3 CEOs under 40. ACG was sold to Safeguard Scientific in 2002, after growing to 720 employees and producing annual revenues of over $100 million. What makes Craig‘s story and life remarkable, though, is its sheer scope. He’s produced or co-produced three feature films; was a founding investor in businesses including two successful nightclubs, and sat as Director and Chairman for Halcyon Jets and on the Board of Trustees at the Kiski School, which he attended as a boy. Our conversation ranged from the streets of Pittsburgh to the beaches of St Barth’s, from the summit of Kilimanjaro to a pre New Year’s Eve party on the Octopus. He counts high school buddies and fraternity brothers among those closest to him, but maintains intimate friendships with people including Dick Vermeil, Michael Strahan, and Billy Bob Thornton. It’s a life touched by the triumph of a hugely successful business and the tragedy of 9/11, in vivid personal terms. It’s not an exaggeration to say our conversation was one of the most fascinating I’ve had so far, and I think you’re really going to enjoy it. Our second segment features Craig’s unique insight on the role of relationships in selling. As a student of enterprise selling myself I promise you this is a master class in the approaches and personal habits that lead to sales success. Relationships are at the core, of course, but Craig goes way beyond the usual blah-blah-blah to share his thoughts on the importance of being both interested in and interesting to the people you want to get to know better, and his secrets on how to seed, harvest and just enjoy the kinds of relationships that propel a business and a life forward. I really think you’re going to enjoy this one, don’t forget to tell your friends, subscribe, and rate us on whatever podcast app has my in your head right now. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is G20 member Dino Di Palma, who most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of Benu Networks, a provider enterprise technology that allows network operators to dynamically and exponentially scale existing networks for better service agility and increased stickiness in the home and business. Prior to that he was the Chief Operating Officer at Acme Packet, a company he helped take public and eventually sell to Oracle in a transaction valued well over $2 Billion. Dino also served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Business Development at Acme Packet, and as Vice President of Sales and Business Development prior to that. Before Acme Packet Dino was the Vice President of International Business Development of SEMA/Priority Call, where he spent six years in systems engineering, sales, and business development. He holds a BA degree in Economics and Political Science and an MBA from McGill University and an MA degree in Public Policy and Public Administration from Concordia University. Dino’s twice been the first guy on the ground to open up a new international territory, and we spent the second part of our conversation talking about what it takes to do so effectively. Our conversation included his single most important piece of advice when it comes to doing that right, thoughts on how to pick the right time and place to begin, and another 20 minutes of hands-on, practical thinking on the right way to take your business from the country it happens to be born in to those that might end up being critical to its growth, shaping both your product vision and the scale of your success. This is a topic I’m also passionate and have also learned a lot about during my time at Actifio, and I really hope anyone considering doing the same will listen in on what a couple of guys who’ve made all the big mistakes have to say about doing it right. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week's episode features my conversation with Sarah A. Downey, a Principal at Accomplice focused on venture investing in virtual and augmented reality and frontier tech. Before getting into venture she served as Director of Marketing at Ovuline, a women’s reproductive health startup making fertility and pregnancy mobile apps, and as Manager of Content and Communications at Abine, a consumer online privacy startup. She got her J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law, and a B.A. in Psychology from Hamilton College. Sarah’s pretty well known in VR circles as a contributing writer for UploadVR.com, and has been featured as a source in over 250 publications including The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Forbes, The Economist, CNET, and CNN. She’s a video gamer, weight lifter, and scifi fan, or as her Twitter bio says, a “17 year-old boy interests in the guise of an adult female.” Awesome. To me Sarah’s one of the more fascinating characters on the Boston venture scene these days, and what I most hoped to get out of our conversation was a better understanding of how a nice girl from Connecticut goes from being a lawyer to an inked up, cosplaying, video game fanatic helping to make sure Boston holds its spot at the virtual reality grown up table. I found my answer where she did; in the parking lot of a Barnes & Noble a few years back, where she decided to stop living the life other people expected her to live, and started to build a new one around the truth of who she was, what she wanted, and what she loved to do. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week we’re going to do something short and sweet, a Holiday Quickee coming in a little over 30 minutes. I think you'll really enjoy my conversation with G20 member Jim Herrnstein, one of the most brilliant yet humble people I’ve encountered in my travels. To say Jim’s not your typical entrepreneur would be a dramatic understatement... First off he has a PhD in astrophysics from Harvard, and in Astrophysics circles he is best known as part of the team that in 1995 used an $86 million radio telescope to find the first black hole hidden at the center of a galaxy. Rather than rest on his laurels as a tenured professor in some Ivy-covered sanctuary, Jim signed on to apply his remarkable skills in math and physics to one of the world’s most legendary quantitative hedge funds, Renaissance Technologies. But even that’s not the most interesting thing about Jim Herrnstein. In his spare time, Jim is the Chairman of of an organization called Pivot, whose mission is to create a model system of universal access to quality health care for Madagascar via comprehensive health system strengthening in a region near Ranomafana National Park. Why the hell Madagascar? Why should anyone who could do a guest cameo on Billions spend his time trying to save lives on an Island 8,600 miles from home? Those are the questions I asked Jim in the second segment of our interview, and a big part of the reason this particular conversation was so special to me, and something I wanted to share during this season of giving. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored as always by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is my longtime friend and co-conspirator Jim Crowley, who most recently served as CEO of Skyhook Wireless. Before that was the CEO and President of BuyWithMe, and before that of Turbine, a massive multi-player gaming company that was acquired by Warner Bros. in 2010. Jim and I worked closely together at m-Qube before that, where he was our Chief Operating Officer and ran our gateway business while I was the GM of mobile advertising and interactive TV. Jim actually started his career as an Attorney at Hale and Dorr, a Boston law firm, from 1992 to 1994. He holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991 and a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Connecticut College in 1986. In today’s second segment Jim and I will talk about the importance and the challenges of business model innovation, something that provides a threadline through his entire career, and a challenge facing more and more entrepreneurial leaders as the rate of change and innovation increases around the world. While this episode is on the long side I think you’ll enjoy hearing it as much as I enjoyed making it. It’s a chance to get to know someone I consider one of the finest people in the startup ecosystem, not only for his individual talents and track record but because of the values of team and family that, as you’ll hear for yourself, originate in a childhood spent right in the middle of a whole mess of Crowley brothers and sisters in a house where everybody was expected to do their part. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is Bill Wiberg, co-founder, General Partner, and spiritual guide of G20 Ventures. Bill is an accomplished executive and 14-year venture investor passionate about technical innovation, and helping entrepreneurs win. He has extensive operating experience, culminating in his role as the President of Lucent Technology’s $5 billion Cellular and PCS Wireless Networks division. Prior to that he held senior management positions in product development and marketing at AT&T, Bell Labs, and Lucent, and made the change to venture investing in 2000. Bill serves on the Boards of G20 portfolio companies Mautic and Siemplify. He remains a GP at Advanced Technology Ventures, and serves on the Boards of Great Point Energy, Rive Technology, Silicor Materials, Oasys Water and Aquion Energy. He earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University, an M.S. from Stanford University, and a B.S. from Cornell University. He and his wife and two daughters one of whom is also a recent graduate of Cornell - live in Wellesley. In today’s second segment I’ll ask Bill about the death of IT, exploring the implications of the rapid commoditization of the compute, networking, and storage technologies businesses large and small have used to differentiate themselves from competition for the last 60 years. We’ll explore what the coming generation of enterprise tech looks like from the centrality of enterprise data, AI, machine le arning and the evolution of voice technology from novelty to business value driver. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is Patrick MeLampy, co-founder of 128 Technology and that company’s Chief Operating Officer. With longtime partner Andy Ory, Patrick co-founded Acme Packet Inc. and served as its Chief Technology Officer, eventually taking the company public and selling to Oracle in a transaction valued at over $1.7 Billion. Patrick holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA from Boston University. A great student of innovation, Patrick has accumulated 26 issued or pending patents, and has some very specific ideas to share on what keeps most people and companies from innovating, the subject of this week's second segment. How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
This week my guest is Ram Sudireddy, pretty universally regarded as one of Boston's best engineers and entrepreneurs in the world of microprocessors. Starting as a UMass computer and electrical engineer, Ram realized his dream early to work at the legendary Bell Labs where he was the chief architect and lead designer for a number of highly complex ASICs. He left Bell Labs to found Siltek Corporation, which provided ATM and SONET design services for companies including Lucent, SGS Thomson, and Sun Microsystems. Through a series of successful acquisitions Ram ended up at Applied Micro, where he served as SVP, GM, and CTO managing a worldwide group of more than a thousand engineers. He founded Chil Semiconductor, acquired by International Rectifier in 2011 for 75 Million in cash. An active investor and angel, Ram also serves on the Dean's Council of the Harvard Divinity School. In Part II of our podcast this week we'll spend some time talking about Religion and Entrepreneurship, including Ram's thoughts on the role and importance of religious thinking and ethical responsibility for entrepreneurs. -- How Hard Can It Be is sponsored by G20 Ventures, early traction capital for East Coast enterprise tech startups, backed by the power and expertise of 20 of the Northeast's most accomplished entrepreneurs. G20 Ventures... People first. How Hard Can It Be is also sponsored by Actifio. Actifio virtualizes data the way a hypervisor virtualizes compute, to help customers enable the hybrid cloud, build higher quality applications faster, and improve business resiliency and availability. Actifio... Radically Simple.
Are you an aspiring writer? Listen in to hear how Robyn Peterman, first-time author, cut through red-tape and got published with a three minute pitch. Robyn Peterman, author of "How Hard Can It Be," talks about how she pitched her way to a two book publishing deal. Plus, her first book is already optioned for movie production. In addition, Robyn shares some of the pit-falls she avoided from advice from friends in the industry. If you dream of being a published author, listen in to hear how one writer got through and found success. Robyn shares her often funny journey to published author and more. How Hard Can It Be? is available on Amazon.com Check out more info on Robyn Peterman at her website.
Candi & Randy welcome author Robyn Peterman to the show to chat on her new book "How Hard Can It Be?" Based on a three minute pitch, Robyn secured her first book deal - a two-book deal - and has already had her first book optioned as a movie. Listen in to hear how this debut author navigated her way through publishing offers to author success! She, and her book, are very funny and entertaining. From Robyn's website: "What happens when an accountant decides to grab life by the horns and try something new? Apparently a pirate named Dave, a lot of pastel fleece, and blackmail—just to start with... "And only I could get arrested for a jewelry heist I didn’t commit—by a hunky cop whose handcuffs just might tempt me to sign up for a life of crime. Maybe I’ve found my calling after all..." How Hard Can It Be? is available on Amazon.com Check out more info on Robyn Peterman at her website.
What did you do in the Bluetooth wars, Daddy? Welcome back to You Don't Look Like a Runner. This week we catch up with a number of long lost friends as we take a deep dive on the email and check in with the Audio Veteran from MIT. We talk about the /fucking snow/ again, Nick has a right to be forgotten, Jon is humbled by a swimming float, and we sharpen up plans for the Mania Half. * [How Hard Can It Be?—back to basics running event series](http://codrc.co.uk/events-10k-half-marathon-marathon-shropshire/) * [AfterShokz Trekz Titanium](http://amzn.to/2pyE1no) * [ERL headphones](https://geterl.com) * [Jon's swimming routine card](https://twitter.com/runnerpod/status/972504521971773441) * [Birmingham International Marathon has been cancelled](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-43431274) * [...and the Birmingham Velo has been too](https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/controversial-velo-birmingham-cycle-ride-14229058) * [The Mania Half](http://runnerpod.com/b/3610a8ca26650e/) New people who sign up using that coupon code will get 25% off their membership for the first 3 months. Go to: [podiant.co/signup](http://podiant.co/signup) and use the offer code “RUNNER”. Go to [runnerpod.com](http://www.runnerpod.com) where you can look through old episodes, read show notes and blog posts. If you have any comments, questions or thoughts please tweet us [@runnerpod](http://www.twitter.com/runnerpod) or you can email us [podcast@runnerpod.com](mailto:podcast@runnerpod.com).
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