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What happens when Congress passes a $3.8 trillion deficit-increasing bill by just one vote while promising fiscal responsibility? Blake and David break down the "Big Beautiful Bill" and reveal who really benefits—spoiler alert: it's not the middle class or the national debt. They explore QuickBooks' aggressive new AI agents rollout with price hikes up to 17%, examine why Tesla's CPA CFO earned $139 million in one year, and uncover how tariff-stressed businesses are weaponizing invoice rejections to manage cash flow. You'll discover why the time-based billing model is fundamentally broken in accounting, learn about the emerging "Next 12" tier of accounting firms, and understand why partners work the most hours while achieving only 6.9/10 job satisfaction.Sponsors Relay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/relayTeamUp - http://accountingpodcast.promo/teamup REFRAME 2025 - http://accountingpodcast.promo/reframe2025 Payhawk - http://accountingpodcast.promo/payhawkChapters(00:44) - The Big Beautiful Bill Act Overview (03:13) - Public Perception and Survey Insights (04:51) - Tax Implications and Specific Provisions (19:24) - National Debt Concerns (29:35) - QuickBooks AI Agents and Price Increases (32:52) - AI and Automation in Accounting (33:52) - Intuit's Earnings and Stock Performance (34:53) - Price Increases for QuickBooks Products (36:53) - AI Agents and QuickBooks Plans (38:01) - Impact of AI on Accounting Apps (38:56) - Intuit Enterprise and Accountants' Role (39:28) - Reframe 2025 Conference (42:40) - Big Four Transparency and Work Hours (48:18) - Tariffs and Invoice Rejections (54:52) - Big Four vs. Next 12 Accounting Firms (01:00:48) - Conclusion and CPE Information Show NotesDo Americans Support Trump's 'Big, Beautiful' Budget Package? What Poll Found Before it Passed in House https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/2025/05/22/do-americans-support-trumps-big-beautiful-budget-package-what-poll-found-before-it-passed-in-house/161567/ Tesla CFO earns staggering $139 million compensation package https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/tesla-cfo-earns-staggering-139-million-compensation-package Tesla Exec Receives Record Pay Package, Highest Paid CFO https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/tesla-exec-receives-record-pay-package-highest-paid-cfo/491938 Tesla CFO Vaibhav Taneja draws record $139 million salary https://americanbazaaronline.com/2025/05/21/tesla-cfo-vaibhav-taneja-draws-record-139-million-salary-462881/ Big 4 Transparency - Awards Season https://big4transparency.beehiiv.com/p/big-4-transparency-awards-season Tariffs & Trade Uncertainty Creates Invoice Rejections Surge https://procurementmag.com/news/tariffs-trade-uncertainty-creates-invoice-rejections-surgeInvoice rejection spike suggests tactic's use as tariff buffer, study says https://www.cfodive.com/news/invoice-rejection-spike-suggests-tactics-use-as-tariff-buffer-study-says/748528/ Art of Accounting: Analysis of Top 100 Firms data https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/art-of-accounting-analysis-of-top-100-firms-data The corporate work week grows even longer https://www.cfo.com/news/the-corporate-work-week-grows-even-longer-survey-microsoft-reclaim-ai-/748628/ Need CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merchSubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAccountingPodcastSpotify: http://cloudacctpod.link/SpotifyPodchaser: http://cloudacctpod.link/podchaserStitcher: http://cloudacctpod.link/StitcherOvercast: http://cloudacctpod.link/OvercastClassifiedsREFRAME 2025 - http://accountingpodcast.promo/reframe2025Want to get the word out about your newsletter, webinar, party, Facebook group, podcast, e-book, job posting, or that fancy Excel macro you just created? Let the listeners of The Accounting Podcast know by running...
What determines value in your company? What should founders be asking themselves regarding pricing to determine value in their company? How do you know an effective negotiation strategy? On today's episode, Paul Watts welcomes back Sonia Dumas. Sonia is a selling strategist, entrepreneur, and co-author of The Market Ownership Method: 7 Proven Principles and One Profitable Plan for Higher ROI Clients. Sonia has worked with industry giants like Intuit, Investopedia, Starwood, and Marriott, just to name a few. Today she will discuss experience-based negation strategies and effective negation tactics. Outline of This Episode (0:00) Introduction to Sonia Dumas (1:15) The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics in Negotiation (4:45) Sonia's Most Effective Negotiation Strategy (9:55) Planning for Successful Negotiations (11:30) Managing Complex Sales: Simplify (13:00) Counteracting Aggressive Negotiation Tactics (15:00) The Top Three Negotiation Dos and Dont's Resources & People Mentioned The Market Ownership Method: 7 Proven Principles and One Profitable Plan for Higher ROI Clients Connect with Sonia Dumas Sonia Dumas - WOMEN Sales Pros Connect With Paul Watts LinkedIn Twitter Subscribe to SALES REINVENTED Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK https://www.podcastfasttrack.com
Plus: Booz Allen Hamilton stock dips as President Trump cracks down on federal spending. Retailers Ross Stores and Decker's Outdoor cite uncertainties due to tariffs. Software maker Intuit reports better-than-forecast quarterly results. Ariana Aspuru hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Could the Pope be on the hook for US taxes? As the first American elected Pope, Leo XIV faces an unusual conundrum under US citizenship rules. Meanwhile, Intuit's controversial new API pricing has developers reeling, and Hector Garcia joins the conversation to explain why this "tariff" threatens the entire QuickBooks ecosystem. Blake and David also examine how companies use foreign trade zones to dodge Trump's tariffs, unpack the AICPA's new CPA licensure model, and reveal shocking numbers on government fraud that could approach $1 trillion annually. Plus, discover why 99.99% of Trump Memecoin buyers lost money while just 58 wallets walked away with billions.Sponsors REFRAME 2025 - http://accountingpodcast.promo/reframe2025 TeamUp - http://accountingpodcast.promo/teamupBluevine - http://accountingpodcast.promo/bluevine (Bluevine is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking Services provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC.) Payhawk - http://accountingpodcast.promo/payhawkChapters(01:54) - South Carolina State Treasurer Ousted (04:04) - Deal CEO Relocates Amid Lawsuit (05:28) - Live Stream Interactions (07:29) - Introducing Hector Garcia and Reframe (08:19) - Intuit Developer Program Changes (09:53) - Discussion on API Charges and Developer Impact (16:37) - Speculations and Theories on Intuit's Strategy (28:56) - Reframe Conference Details (31:30) - Trump's Tariffs and Foreign Trade Zones (33:52) - Introduction to Free Trade Zones (34:42) - Arizona's Dominance in Free Trade Zones (37:41) - Legal Challenges to Trump's Tariffs (40:29) - Intuit's Political Maneuvering (44:53) - New CPA Licensure Model (57:43) - Fraud and Government Inefficiencies (01:06:27) - Closing Remarks and New Podcasts Show NotesSouth Carolina Senate votes to remove state treasurer over $1.8 billion accounting error https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article287284067.htmlDeal CEO Alex Bouaziz relocates to Dubai amid Rippling lawsuit https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/15/deal-ceo-alex-bouaziz-has-relocated-to-dubai-amid-the-rippling-lawsuit/Rippling raises $450 million at $16.8 billion valuation https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/16/rippling-raises-450m-at-16-8b-valuation/AICPA and NASBA release model legislation for new CPA licensure pathway https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2024/apr/aicpa-nasba-release-model-legislation-new-cpa-licensure-pathway.htmlFlorida Institute of CPAs successfully pauses bill to eliminate licensing boards https://www.ficpa.org/article/ficpa-advocacy-update-on-house-bill-639American Pope Leo XIV may need to file US tax returns https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/23/american-pope-leo-xiv-may-need-to-file-us-tax-returns.htmlForeign Trade Zones become tariff shelters amid Trump's trade policies https://www.wsj.com/economy/tariffs/foreign-trade-zones-become-tariff-shelters-for-small-firms-a5e81093Federal court questions constitutionality of Trump's Liberation Day tariffs https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-trade-court-questions-legality-biden-tariffs-2024-04-17/Elon Musk stepping aside at DOGE while work continues through 2026 https://www.axios.com/2024/04/22/elon-musk-stepping-aside-doge-juneIRS fails to meet improper payment rate goals for refundable tax credits https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2024reports/202440032fr.pdfCriminal groups stealing up to $1 trillion from US government programs https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/hackers-stealing-us-government-money-rcna15002499.99% of Trump Memecoin buyers lost money while 58 wallets made over $10 million each https://www.chainalysis.com/reports/trump-memecoin-analysis-2024/Intuit's record lobbying spending and Republican support to eliminate IRS Direct File https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2024/04/intuit-turbotax-parent-spends-record-on-lobbying-amid-direct-file-rollout/Intuit Developer Program Changes https://developer.intuit.com/app/developer/homepageNeed CPE?Get CPE for listening to podcasts with Earmark: https://earmarkcpe.comSubscribe to the Earmark Podcast: https://podcast.earmarkcpe.comGet in TouchThanks for listening and the great reviews! We appreciate you! Follow and tweet @BlakeTOliver and @DavidLeary. Find us on Facebook and Instagram. If you like what you hear, please do us a favor and write a review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser. Call us and leave a voicemail; maybe we'll play it on the show. DIAL (202) 695-1040.SponsorshipsAre you interested in sponsoring the Cloud Accounting Podcast? For details, read the prospectus.Need Accounting Conference Info? Check out our new website - accountingconferences.comLimited edition shirts, stickers, and other necessitiesTeePublic Store: http://cloudacctpod.link/merchSubscribeApple Podcasts: http://cloudacctpod.link/ApplePodcastsYouTube:
Adam Crisafulli of Vital Knowledge and Nicole Webb of Wealth Enhancement Group break down the market action today and whether more pain is ahead. Earnings highlights included results from Workday, Autodesk, Deckers, Ross Stores, and Intuit. Jon sits down for the latest commentary from Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi. In Washington, the Trump budget bill took a major step forward—Raymond James policy analyst Ed Mills talks through the implications for investors—including winners and losers. Sean Henry, CEO of logistics firm Stord, on how companies are reshaping supply chains in a new world for global trade.
Dive into San Diego's evolving product management landscape with Vidya Dinamani as she announces the inaugural Product Management Summit. Learn how the local tech ecosystem has matured and why bringing world-class product leadership to San Diego matters. Key Topics: • San Diego Product Management Summit (June 5-6) • Evolution from Intuit leadership to Product Rebels • Building Product Tank's 2,500+ member community • Customer-centric product development methodologies • San Diego's maturing tech ecosystem Links & Resources: Product Management Summit Product Rebeles Connect with Vidya: LinkedIn: Vidya Dinamani Connect with Neal: LinkedIn: Neal Bloom Twitter: @NealBloom
There are times as a QuickBooks ProAdvisor that you might want to entertain other options, either temporary or permanently.Lynda Artesani and Sarah Prevost join the panel to discuss the differences between QBO and Xero for those that might be looking to add Xero to their suite of supported offerings.Learn about Xero: https://xero5440.partnerlinks.io/80w3795vt0k0-nx0cimCPE offered through Earmark. There is no Live CPE for this Webinar, however you can check out the Prior CPE eligible sessions here: https://bit.ly/QBPHCPE QB Power Hour is a free, biweekly webinar series for accountants, ProAdvisors, CPAs, bookkeepers and QuickBooks consultants presented by Matthew "Spot" Fulton and Dan DeLong who are very passionate about the industry, QuickBooks and apps that integrate with QuickBooks.Watch or listen to all of the QB Power Hours at https://www.qbpowerhour.com/blog Register for upcoming webinars at https://www.qbpowerhour.com/00:00 Introduction to Earmark App and Course Enrollment01:07 Welcome to QB Power Hour Webinar Series01:42 Today's Topic: Is the Grass Greener at Xero?02:31 Meet the Guest Speakers: Sarah Prevost and Artesani04:47 Discussion on QuickBooks and Xero15:05 Intuit's Changes and Their Impact25:28 Exploring Xero's Features and Support36:02 Xero's Bank Feed and Reconciliation38:02 Discussing Xero Payroll Capabilities38:46 Reconciliation Process in Xero41:04 Exploring Xero's User Interface41:54 Bulk Work and Cash Coding in Xero43:14 Mobile App Enhancements43:34 Customizing Chart of Accounts45:08 Financial Statements and Reporting47:41 Time Tracking and Project Management51:03 Find and Recode Tool53:02 Xero Pricing and User Management55:31 Xero App Store and Integrations57:06 Certification and Training for Xero58:59 Comparing Xero and QuickBooks01:01:37 Merchant Services and Inventory Management01:03:43 Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks
Nadav Eylath, founder and managing partner of at.inc, shares his philosophy of early-stage investing rooted in trust, long-term thinking, and technical rigor. Nadav talks about backing founders at the very inception of their startup journey—sometimes even before they've left their jobs. He explains how asking questions like “What kind of company will this be in 30 years?” leads to deeper conviction and better partnerships. Nadav also shares his views on why venture capital needs to evolve and how a flexible, founder-first approach can reshape the industry.In this episode, you'll learn:[01:49] From building treehouses to model airplanes: Nadav's early love for tech and tinkering[03:26] How informal advising turned into full-time investing[04:57] The meaning behind the name at.inc and how it reflects the firm's thesis[10:01] “What kind of company will this be in 30 years?”—the power of visionary questions[13:30] Building conviction: fast no's, thoughtful yes's[15:51] How early-stage founders can build a relationship with Nadav[20:14] Why Nadav says no: timing and fit[24:07] How venture capital should evolve to serve today's foundersThe nonprofit organization Nadav is passionate about: Tel Aviv UniversityAbout Nadav EylathNadav Eylath is the founder and managing partner of at.inc, a venture capital firm that invests at the very inception of startups. With a background in data science, marketing, and company-building, Nadav brings an operator's empathy and a long-term investor's lens to early-stage ventures. His career spans roles at startups acquired by companies like Intuit, as well as over a decade of deliberate, hands-on venture investing. Nadav's approach is grounded in trust, curiosity, and a passion for helping founders bring technically ambitious and globally relevant ideas to life.About at.incat.inc—short for “at incorporation or at inception”—is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that backs startups from day zero. The firm invests in deeply technical companies with global potential, often writing the first check when founders are just forming their ideas. Generalist by design, at.inc partners with entrepreneurs across sectors, emphasizing long-term vision, high trust, and a hands-on approach. With a focused investment pace and founder-first philosophy, at.inc supports startups throughout their full journey, from inception to global scale.Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned for our next episode.
Vibe coding is having a moment.The buzzy new phrase was coined earlier this year by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy to describe his process of programming by prompting AI. It's been embraced by tech professionals and amateurs alike. Google, Microsoft and Apple have or are developing their own AI-assisted coding platforms while vibe coding startups like Cursor are raking in funding.Marketplace's Meghan McCarty Carino recently spoke with Clarence Huang, vice president of technology at the financial software company Intuit and an early adopter of vibe coding, about how the practice has changed how he approaches building software.More on this“What is vibe coding, exactly?” - from MIT Technology Review“New ‘Slopsquatting' Threat Emerges from AI-Generated Code Hallucinations” - from HackRead“Three-minute explainer on… slopsquatting” - from Raconteur
Vibe coding is having a moment.The buzzy new phrase was coined earlier this year by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy to describe his process of programming by prompting AI. It's been embraced by tech professionals and amateurs alike. Google, Microsoft and Apple have or are developing their own AI-assisted coding platforms while vibe coding startups like Cursor are raking in funding.Marketplace's Meghan McCarty Carino recently spoke with Clarence Huang, vice president of technology at the financial software company Intuit and an early adopter of vibe coding, about how the practice has changed how he approaches building software.More on this“What is vibe coding, exactly?” - from MIT Technology Review“New ‘Slopsquatting' Threat Emerges from AI-Generated Code Hallucinations” - from HackRead“Three-minute explainer on… slopsquatting” - from Raconteur
Alicia and Margie break down the QuickBooks ProAdvisor certification process, exploring the differences between certification levels and the benefits of becoming certified. They discuss the recently opened recertification period, explain how to navigate the testing process, and share insider tips for passing the exams with confidence. Learn how certification can expand your QuickBooks knowledge, boost your professional credibility, and help you attract new clients through the ProAdvisor directory.(00:06) - QuickBooks ProAdvisor Certification Overview (01:28) - Benefits of Certification (02:55) - ProAdvisor Directory and Points System (05:45) - Recertification Process (10:57) - Recertification Tests and Tips (18:36) - Importance of Certification (19:21) - Credly Badges and ProAdvisor Title (27:35) - Conclusion and Upcoming Events Resources LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14630719/YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@UnofficialQuickBooksPodcastEmail: unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.com Free ebook: “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor Academy and Certification.” www.akadian.com/everythingIf you need help recertifying because the Intuit training doesn't match your learning style: www.akadian.com/recertify Past episode about Intuit Academy, Nov 2024: https://uqb.show/66Alicia's QBO Mobile App class on May 13, 2025:Join live webinar for free: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZEM9oSItSDK-c6bE8mhEiQ?mc_cid=d6d4232c7f&mc_eid=4be8b822bd#/registrationEnroll for class recording with CPE: http://royl.ws/QBOMobileSign up to Earmark to earn free CPE for listening to this podcasthttps://www.earmark.app/onboarding
Intuit has reversed course and TAGS are back! Previous episode about Tags being cancelled: Taps for Tags, April 3, 2025, uqb.show/84
As General Manager of PayPal's Small Business and Financial Services Group, Michelle Gill is responsible for bringing together the products and services that help small business owners run and grow their business. She is my guest for this episode of the Tearsheet Podcast. Michelle brings deep financial expertise and experience building platforms and tools that help customers manage their finances to her role on PayPal's Senior Leadership Team. Michelle was previously Senior Vice President of Intuit's business money management, payment, and banking service, QuickBooks Money Platform. Prior to Intuit, Michelle successfully integrated and expanded SoFi's lending business as General Manager and Executive Vice President of Consumer Lending and Capital Markets. Drawing on her early career experience as a Managing Director and Partner at Goldman Sachs, Michelle also served as SoFi's Chief Financial Officer before moving into the product leadership role. Before that, Michelle spent a decade leading the U.S. Assets business for global investment firm Sixth Street Partners. Given her career and experiences, Michelle brings a broad view of fintech innovation. She focuses on user-centered solutions. At PayPal, she leads efforts to help entrepreneurs navigate the complicated web of financial tools they often depend on. “The preponderance of [small businesses] use greater than 15 tools to run their business,” she shares. “What they got into business for is the passion… and yet they end up spending more time on things that are not what they love.” Our conversation explores how PayPal is actively trying to reduce that complexity. It does so not by offering more tools, but by making the ones they already use work better together. Gill outlines the strategy behind PayPal's cash flow-based lending model and how it fits within their open ecosystem, whether it's digital lending, embedded finance, or leveraging open banking.
#356 In this episode, Guy welcomed Robbie Mackenzie to discuss the power of the Merkaba, a form of sacred geometry that informs our energy fields and helps individuals unlock their spiritual potential. Robbie explained how opening the Merkaba can lead to heightened states of consciousness, spiritual ascension, and overall well-being. He shared his personal journey, which includes extensive fasting and meditation, to fully activate and channel this energy. Throughout the conversation, the importance of raising collective consciousness and embracing one's divine power is emphasized. Robbie also talked about his work with Archangel Metatron and his role as an 'ascension artist,' encouraging listeners to recognize and tap into their inner power for a transformative life experience. About Robbie: Robbie Mackenzie, a trance Medium, Healer and Intuit. I developed in a meditation circle twenty one years ago and very quickly I was standing on my feet being overshadowed by beautiful loving beings who spoke through me while I was in a deep trance state. The words were very loving and energy healing and I always felt like I was getting a big comfortable hug from beyond. Soon I was asked to channel in front of groups at church services and the messages were always very well received. Key Points Discussed: (00:00) - WILD! 79 Days of Fasting to Channel THIS: The Ancient Key to Humanity's Awakening (00:52) - Welcome to the Podcast: Setting the Scene (01:29) - Introducing Robbie Mackenzie: A Deep Dive into Esoteric Topics (02:01) - Personal Growth and Healing: The Journey of Self-Discovery (02:39) - Engage and Share: Building a Better World Together (03:22) - Upcoming Retreats and Events: Join the Journey (03:43) - Starting the Conversation: Welcoming Robbie (04:16) - The Clarion Call: Channeling and Spiritual Experiences (06:20) - Understanding Ascension: A Heart-Centered Approach (08:53) - Meditation Circles: A Path to Spiritual Awakening (14:40) - Opening the Merkaba: Techniques and Experiences (18:49) - The Science and Spirituality of the Merkaba (27:36) - Synchronicity and Life's Passions: Following Your Path (30:40) - Global Ascension: Personal and Collective Growth (31:18) - Aligning with the Divine (31:46) - Introduction to Archangel Metatron (35:24) - Channeling Higher Beings (36:45) - The Importance of Physical and Spiritual Preparation (43:21) - Experiencing and Sharing Divine Energy (47:06) - The Global Ascension Movement (52:37) - Promoting Self-Care and Spiritual Healing (55:32) - Conclusion and Resources How to Contact Robbie Mackenzie:robbiemackenzie.com About me:My Instagram: www.instagram.com/guyhlawrence/?hl=en Guy's websites:www.guylawrence.com.au www.liveinflow.co
Bob Parsons is a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and was awarded a Purple Heart. After graduating from college, he founded Parsons Technology, which was later sold to Intuit. He then founded GoDaddy, which became the world's largest domain name registrar. He later sold a majority stake in GoDaddy and founded YAM Worldwide. He also founded PXG, a golf club company, and The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, which supports marginalized populations. Parsons is also the author of the bestselling book "FIRE IN THE HOLE!". Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: https://www.tryarmra.com/srs https://www.identityguard.com/srs https://www.betterhelp.com/srs This episode is sponsored by Better Help. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/srs and get on your way to being your best self. https://www.blackbuffalo.com https://www.boncharge.com/srs https://www.meetfabric.com/shawn https://www.shawnlikesgold.com https://www.helixsleep.com/srs https://www.hillsdale.edu/srs https://www.patriotmobile.com/srs https://www.rocketmoney.com/srs Bob Parsons Links: X - https://x.com/DrBobParsons Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/drbobparsons YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/ThinkFast126 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebobparsons/ Website - BobParsons.comBook by Bob Parsons - As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases (paid links): Fire in the Hole!: The Untold Story of My Traumatic Life and Explosive Success Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Doug C. Brown is the CEO of CEO Sales Strategies and a Sales Revenue and Profit Growth Expert.He has led client award-winning and high-performance teams as well as pioneered profitable development programs for companies. He has advised companies such as Intuit, CBS Television, Procter & Gamble, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Nationwide, Embassy Suites, Inc. 500 to 5000 companies, and thousands of other businesses and entrepreneurs.As an independent division head, Doug created, trained, and presented high-impact, results-oriented web seminars for prospects of Tony Robbins and Chet Holmes. Doug increased their division sales by 864% and close rate by 62% in just six months.Today, he helps companies and individuals increase their sales by incorporating sales revenue and profit growth strategies used by top 1% performers through the Top 1% Academy, Sales Revenue, and Profit Growth Masterminds. He also specializes in creating commission-only sales teams and advises companies on how to properly prepare for a high-performing sales team so they can attract and retain elite sales producers.
Breaking News, Out of Sunday night's Pacers-Bucks game...Damian Lillard is out for the playoffs with a left torn achilles tendon. 48 hours later and I STILL cannot stop thinking about this finish in Intuit. Where did AG's putback rank on the top 1st round moments of ALL-TIME list? What did the Chef Steph prove in his game 3 takeover and WHAT does it mean for the Warriors postseason aspirations? The Pistons are Pist off after a controversial ending in Detroit. We re-live and react to an instant classic turned CONTENTIOUS postgame scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Breaking News, Out of Sunday night's Pacers-Bucks game...Damian Lillard is out for the playoffs with a left torn achilles tendon. 48 hours later and I STILL cannot stop thinking about this finish in Intuit. Where did AG's putback rank on the top 1st round moments of ALL-TIME list? What did the Chef Steph prove in his game 3 takeover and WHAT does it mean for the Warriors postseason aspirations? The Pistons are Pist off after a controversial ending in Detroit. We re-live and react to an instant classic turned CONTENTIOUS postgame scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brought to you by TogetherLetters & Edgewise!In this episode: A unique sound alleviates motion sickness Intuit, Owner of TurboTax, Wins Battle Against America's TaxpayersAirbnb will now show users the total cost of their stay right awayWhy It's So Difficult for Robots to Make Your Nike SneakersSaying 'please' and 'thank you' to ChatGPT costs millions of dollars, CEO saysStarbucks opens its first 3D-printed store. Is it cheaper than the real thing?Apple Watch Turns 10YouTube Turns 20Adam Neumann's Flow More Than Doubles Valuation, Eyes Eventual IPO Weird and Wacky: Someone hacked Seattle crosswalk buttons to broadcast fake Jeff Bezos messages about tax dodgingHue new? Scientists claim to have found colour no one has seen beforeChinese robots ran against humans in the world's first humanoid half-marathon. They lost by a mileTech Rec:Sanjay - GitHub Copilot Joe - Soundcore Sleep A20 Earbuds by AnkerFind us here:sanjayparekh.com & casabona.orgTech Talk Y'all is a proud production of Edgewise.Media.
Shap, Justin (@LAClippersFilm), and Cole (@colehoops) get together to talk about the first playoff game at Intuit Dome, and it was a huge one. Clippers won 117-83 in a blowout W against the Nuggets, and it left the crew wondering what the Nuggets could throw at the Clippers next. They talk about medals, the solid Clippers all through the roster, ways to the team could be better, and look ahead to a huge Game 4.
This week, we discuss Google being found to be a monopoly, OpenAI's “offer” to buy Chrome, and some hot takes on JSON. Plus, is it better to wait on hold or ask for a callback? Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhUxUPJv5g4) 516 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhUxUPJv5g4) Runner-up Titles Just Fine The SDT “Fine” Scale Callback Asynchronous Friendship I would love to get to know you better…over text Send you Jams to the dry cleaners. JSON Take it xslt-easy! Rundown OpenAI OpenAI in talks to pay about $3 billion to acquire AI coding startup Windsurf (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/16/openai-in-talks-to-pay-about-3-billion-to-acquire-startup-windsurf.html) The Cursor Mirage (https://artificialintelligencemadesimple.substack.com/p/the-cursor-mirage) AI is for Tinkerers (https://redmonk.com/kholterhoff/2023/06/27/ai-is-for-tinkerers/) Vibe Coding is for PMs (https://redmonk.com/rstephens/2025/04/18/vibe-coding-is-for-pms/) OpenAI releases new simulated reasoning models with full tool access (https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/04/openai-releases-new-simulated-reasoning-models-with-full-tool-access/) Clouded Judgement 4.18.25 - The Hidden Value in the AI Application Layer (https://cloudedjudgement.substack.com/p/clouded-judgement-41825-the-hidden?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=56878&post_id=161562220&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=2l9&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email) OpenAI tells judge it would buy Chrome from Google (https://www.theverge.com/news/653882/openai-chrome-google-us-judge) The Creators of Model Context Protocol (https://www.latent.space/p/mcp?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email) Judge finds Google holds illegal online ad tech monopolies (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/17/judge-finds-google-holds-illegal-online-ad-tech-monopolies.html) Intuit, Owner of TurboTax, Wins Battle Against America's Taxpayers (https://prospect.org/power/2025-04-17-intuit-turbotax-wins-battle-against-taxpayers-irs-direct-file/) Relevant to your Interests Switch 2 Carts Still Taste Bad, Designed Purposefully To Be Spat Out (https://www.gamespot.com/articles/switch-2-carts-still-taste-bad-designed-purposefully-to-be-spat-out/1100-6530649/) CEO Andy Jassy's 2024 Letter to Shareholders (https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-2024-letter-to-shareholders) Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says AI costs will come down (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/10/amazon-ceo-andy-jassys-2025-shareholder-letter.html) Happy 18th Birthday CUDA! (https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-2024-letter-to-shareholders) Honeycomb Acquires Grit: A Strategic Investment in Pragmatic AI and Customer Value (https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/honeycomb-acquires-grit) Everything Announced at Google Cloud Next in 12 Minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OpHbyN4vEM) GitLab vs GitHub : Key Differences in 2025 (https://spacelift.io/blog/gitlab-vs-github) Old Fashioned Function Keys (https://economistwritingeveryday.com/2025/04/11/old-fashioned-function-keys/) Fake job seekers are flooding U.S. companies that are hiring for remote positions, (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/08/fake-job-seekers-use-ai-to-interview-for-remote-jobs-tech-ceos-say.html) NetRise raises $10M to expand software supply chain security platform (https://siliconangle.com/2025/04/15/netrise-raises-10-million-expand-software-supply-chain-security-platform/) Mark Zuckerberg's antitrust testimony aired his wildest ideas from Meta's history (https://www.theverge.com/policy/649520/zuckerberg-meta-ftc-antitrust-testimony-facebook-history) How Much Should I Be Spending On Observability? (https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/how-much-should-i-spend-on-observability-pt1) Did we just make platform engineering much easier by shipping a cloud IDP? (https://seroter.com/2025/04/16/did-we-just-make-platform-engineering-much-easier-by-shipping-a-cloud-idp/) Google Cloud Next 2025: Agentic AI Stack, Multimodality, And Sovereignty (https://www.forrester.com/blogs/google-next-2025-agentic-ai-stack-multimodality-and-sovereignty/) iPhone Shipments Down 9% in China's Q1 Smartphone Boom (https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/18/iphone-shipments-down-in-china-q1/) Exclusive: Anthropic warns fully AI employees are a year away (https://www.axios.com/2025/04/22/ai-anthropic-virtual-employees-security) Synology requires self-branded drives for some consumer NAS systems, drops full functionality and support for third-party HDDs (https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/nas/synology-requires-self-branded-drives-for-some-consumer-nas-systems-drops-full-functionality-and-support-for-third-party-hdds) Porting Tailscale to Plan 9 (https://tailscale.com/blog/plan9-port?ck_subscriber_id=512840665&utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=[Last%20Week%20in%20AWS]%20Issue%20#418:%20Another%20New%20Capacity%20Dingus%20-%2017270009) CVE Foundation (https://www.thecvefoundation.org/) The Cursor Mirage (https://artificialintelligencemadesimple.substack.com/p/the-cursor-mirage) There's a Lot of Bad Telemetry Out There (https://blog.olly.garden/theres-a-lot-of-bad-telemetry-out-there) Gee Wiz (https://redmonk.com/rstephens/2025/04/04/gee-wiz/?ck_subscriber_id=512840665&utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=[Last%20Week%20in%20AWS]%20Issue%20#418:%20Another%20New%20Capacity%20Dingus%20-%2017270009) Nonsense Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg's voices (https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/14/silicon-valley-crosswalk-buttons-hacked-to-imitate-musk-zuckerberg-voices/) A Visit to Costco in France (https://davidlebovitz.substack.com/p/a-visit-to-costco-in-france) No sweat: Humanoid robots run a Chinese half-marathon (https://apnews.com/article/china-robot-half-marathon-153c6823bd628625106ed26267874d21) Metre, a consistent measurement of the world (https://mappingignorance.org/2025/04/23/150-years-ago-the-metre-convention-determined-how-we-measure-the-world/) Conferences DevOps Days Atlanta (https://devopsdays.org/events/2025-atlanta/welcome/), April 29th-30th. KCD Texas Austin 2025 (https://community.cncf.io/events/details/cncf-kcd-texas-presents-kcd-texas-austin-2025/), May 15th, Whitney Lee Speaking. Cloud Foundry Day US (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/cloud-foundry-day-north-america/), May 14th, Palo Alto, CA, Coté speaking. Fr (https://vmwarereg.fig-street.com/051325-tanzu-workshop/)ee AI workshop (https://vmwarereg.fig-street.com/051325-tanzu-workshop/), May 13th. day before C (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/cloud-foundry-day-north-america/)loud (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/cloud-foundry-day-north-america/) (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/cloud-foundry-day-north-america/)Foundry (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/cloud-foundry-day-north-america/) Day (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/cloud-foundry-day-north-america/). NDC Oslo (https://ndcoslo.com/), May 21st-23th, Coté speaking. SDT News & Community Join our Slack community (https://softwaredefinedtalk.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-1hn55iv5d-UTfN7mVX1D9D5ExRt3ZJYQ#/shared-invite/email) Email the show: questions@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:questions@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Free stickers: Email your address to stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Follow us on social media: Twitter (https://twitter.com/softwaredeftalk), Threads (https://www.threads.net/@softwaredefinedtalk), Mastodon (https://hachyderm.io/@softwaredefinedtalk), LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/software-defined-talk/), BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/softwaredefinedtalk.com) Watch us on: Twitch (https://www.twitch.tv/sdtpodcast), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi3OJPV6h9tp-hbsGBLGsDQ/featured), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/softwaredefinedtalk/), TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@softwaredefinedtalk) Book offer: Use code SDT for $20 off "Digital WTF" by Coté (https://leanpub.com/digitalwtf/c/sdt) Sponsor the show (https://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/ads): ads@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:ads@softwaredefinedtalk.com) Recommendations Brandon: Dope Thief (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/dope_thief) on Apple TV (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/dope_thief) Coté: Check out the recording of the Tanzu Annual update (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1QZXzJcAfQ), all about Tanzu's private AI platform. Next, watch Coté's new MCP for D&D video (#4) figures out something cool to do with MCP Prompts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEtYBznneFg), they make sense now. And, a regret-a-mmendation: Fields Notes annual subscription (https://fieldnotesbrand.com/limited-editions). Photo Credits Header (https://unsplash.com/photos/a-telephone-sitting-on-top-of-a-wooden-shelf-2XnGRN_caHc)
Sponsored by; Dalia: https://www.dalia.co/rectechcrm Jobcase: http://jobcase.com/hire Intuit Inc. the global financial technology platform that makes Intuit TurboTax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks, and Mailchimp, today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire GoCo, a leading provider of modern HR and benefits solutions for small and mid-market businesses. With GoCo, Intuit will deliver a comprehensive Human Capital Management (HCM) solution to help businesses hire the right employees and manage their workforce effectively, all in one place. https://hrtechfeed.com/intuit-to-acquire-hr-platform-goco/ SAN DIEGO — HelloSky (formerly Skyminyr), the only talent intelligence platform purpose-built for the executive search industry, today announced the close of a $5.5 million oversubscribed seed round. The raise includes participation from Caldwell Partners, Karmel Capital, True Capital Partners, Hunt Scanlon Ventures and prominent angel investors from Google and Cisco Systems. https://hrtechfeed.com/hellosky-announces-5-5m-seed-round/ HireClix, a recruitment marketing services company, launched JobFlow SEO, a recruitment marketing technology solution that enables organizations to optimize their open job postings and be easily found on Google and other search engines. https://hrtechfeed.com/hireclix-launches-jobflow-to-imprive-employer-job-posting-seo/ NEW YORK — Greenhouse, the leading hiring platform, today announced the appointment of its new Chief People Officer, Paaras Parker. With over 15 years in HR leadership in retail and technology enterprises, including industry-leading companies like Kroger and Macy's, Paaras brings extensive experience growing high-performing people teams, building strong workplace culture, and navigating an ever-evolving workplace landscape. https://hrtechfeed.com/greenhouse-software-welcomes-new-chief-people-officer/ LinkUp released their March job numbers report; The number of active job listings rose slightly by 0.4% to 7.31 million in Q1 2025, following a steep 8.3% decline in Q4. While modest, this uptick may reflect early stabilization efforts as firms cautiously resumed hiring. https://hrtechfeed.com/u-s-job-postings-up-slightly/
Could AI be doing a day's work in just minutes for accountants? In this episode, Blake and David explore how accounting technology is revolutionizing traditional workflows, from Xero's new AI protocol that connects chatbots directly to accounting data, to Google's game-changing "I" function in Sheets that lets you analyze data with natural language. You'll discover why deep research tools might replace entire teams of analysts and why revealing your AI usage might actually hurt your professional reputation. Plus, hear about unusual recession indicators (men's underwear sales are down!), what Americans consider financial success versus reality, and why accountants everywhere are buzzing about Baker Tilly's merger with Moss Adams. Whether you're curious about automating journal entries or simply wondering if you should disclose your AI wizardry, this episode delivers practical insights for the modern finance professional.SponsorsPayhawk - http://accountingpodcast.promo/payhawkRelay - http://accountingpodcast.promo/relayCloud Accountant Staffing - http://accountingpodcast.promo/casRoboDebit - http://accountingpodcast.promo/robodebitChapters(00:00) - Introduction and Podcast Overview (00:39) - App News and Intuit Updates (07:53) - Intuit's AI and Bitcoin Controversy (11:10) - Xero Innovations (20:16) - Paychex Acquires Paycor (21:11) - Flowcast's AI Agents (25:17) - Pipe Acquires Glean AI (26:28) - Google Sheets AI Formula (34:30) - Google Agent Space (42:29) - AI's Impact on High-Level Jobs (43:12) - Testing AI with Investment Analysis (44:25) - Mother Road Brewery Investment Evaluation (49:31) - Canva's New Sheets Feature (54:31) - Google's Monopoly and Data Breach News (58:22) - AI Disclosure in the Workplace (01:05:51) - Mega Merger of Accounting Firms (01:11:26) - Signs of a Recession (01:17:45) - Upcoming Events and CPE Opportunities Show NotesAccelerating Money Innovation with Deserve Technology Platform and Talenthttps://www.intuit.com/blog/news-social/accelerating-money-innovation-with-deserve-technology-platform-and-talent/ WARNING: Quickbooks Checkinghttps://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/banking/warning-quickbooks-checking/00/1516063 Green Dot considers sale as CEO exitshttps://www.paymentsdive.com/news/green-dot-citi-strategic-review-sale-ceo-exit-gresham/742096/ Intuit Enterprise Suite Spring update features more efficient multi-entity accounting, enhanced reporting, and morehttps://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/enterprise/intuit-enterprise-suite-spring-2025-release-notes/ Strive targets Intuit for Bitcoin buys after orange-pilling GameStophttps://cointelegraph.com/news/strive-targets-intuit-bitcoin-buys-after-gamestop Xero Rolls Out New "Reconcile Period" Featurehttps://insightfulaccountant.com/accounting-tech/general-ledger/xero-rolls-out-new-reconcile-period-feature/ Xero introduces new Model Context Protocol server for smarter accountinghttps://devblog.xero.com/xero-introduces-new-model-context-protocol-server-for-smarter-accounting-4d195ccaeda5 Paychex Acquires Paycor in $4.1 Billion Dealhttps://www.pymnts.com/acquisitions/2025/paychex-acquires-paycor-in-4-1-billion-deal/ Introducing FloQast AI Agents: Revolutionizing Accounting Automationhttps://www.floqast.com/blog/introducing-floqast-ai-agents-revolutionizing-accounting-automation Pipe Acquires Glean.ai to Add Spend Management to Suite of Embedded Financial Solutionshttps://pipe.com/resources/press-releases/pipe-acquires-glean-ai-to-add-spend-management-to-suite-of-embedded-financial-solutionsGoogle Sheets Introduces AI-Powered =AI() Formula for Enhanced Productivityhttps://yourstory.com/2025/04/google-sheets-ai-formula-gemini Scale enterprise search and agent adoption with Google Agentspacehttps://cloud.google.com/blog/products/ai-machine-learning/google-agentspace-enables-the-agent-driven-enterprise Sarah Friar's LinkedIn Post … https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sarah-friar_what-an-ai-powered-finance-function-of-the-activity-7259765674506399744-IKQD OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar: We are building a lot of IP down into the data center layerhttps://www.cnbc.com/video/2025/03/20/openai-cfo-sarah-friar-we-are-building-a-lot-of-ip-down-into-the-data-center-layer.html Introducing Visual Suite 2.0: Productivity, meet creativityhttps://www.canva.com/newsroom/news/canva-create-2025/ Department of Justice Prevails in Landmark Antitrust Case Against Googlehttps://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-prevails-landmark-antitrust-case-against-google Dark Web Digest – Lessons Learned from the Wolters Kluwer Data Breachhttps://www.purevpn.com/blog/dark-web-digest-issue-4-wolters-kluwer/ New HEC Paris research suggests that shadow adoption of ChatGPT could benefit employees but not the firmshttps://www.hec.edu/en/news-room/new-hec-p...
In today's episode, Wesley Aster speaks with Ezra Kebrab, Founder and CEO of Caliza, a cross-border payments platform leveraging stablecoins to eliminate geographic barriers by allowing companies around the world to open digital dollar accounts for their users to save and transact. Ezra shares how is personal journey - from his childhood to his experience at Visa and Intuit - inspired him to build infrastructure for the next generation of global payments. Tune in to hear about: - Ezra's path from Intuit and Visa to launching Caliza - The problems Caliza solves for businesses in Brazil and the company's recent expansion to Mexico and Asia - The advantages of using stablecoins over traditional cross-border systems like SWIFT - Caliza's 2024 raise with Initialized, Quona, Abstract Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and others For more FinTech insights, follow us on: - Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech - Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech - Instagram: instagram.com/whartonfintech
Kawhi Leonard is still that dude. Lucas, Shap, and Cole (@colehoops) talk about a great game, featuring Kawhi dropping a cool 39 points with clinching offensive and defensive plays. The guys talk medals, the rotation adjustments, what to expect going to LA, and hype now that LA has Home Court Advantage heading for their first game at the Intuit Dome.
Welcome to the daily304 – your window into Wonderful, Almost Heaven, West Virginia. Today is Tuesday, April 22, 2025 A wide array of industries thrive in #YesWV--find out why the Mountain State is a great place to live and work…view and post West Virginia-based manufacturing opportunities on Jobcase.com…and the Governor's School of Entrepreneurship fosters innovation among high schoolers…on today's daily304. #1 – From WV DED – West Virginia's diverse economy has moved beyond our history of resource extraction to include a robust array of products and services. Thriving industries here include aerospace, manufacturing, food and agriculture, technology, and more. Visit westvirginia.gov to learn about the key industries that have taken a foothold here and learn why leading companies make their home in the Mountain State. Learn more: https://westvirginia.gov/thriving-industries/ #2 – From JOBCASE – Consumers are in constant contact with products containing elements made in West Virginia. The state supports a diverse manufacturing sector and its workforce ranks first in the U.S. for the lowest turnover rate in manufacturing-specific jobs. West Virginia boasts robust partnerships with employers, fostering a vibrant employment environment for job seekers. Through their partnership with Jobcase.com/WV/Post, #YesWV offers a free platform for local employers to post job opportunities, ensuring that positions reach the right candidates. Visit Jobcase to see who's hiring or to post job opportunities in #YesWV. Read more: https://www.jobcase.com/articles/manufacturing-in-wv #3 – From WVDE – Have you ever noticed a problem and thought, “Someone should do something about that!”? That's entrepreneurship – seeing opportunities, imagining what's possible, and taking action. The Governor's School for Entrepreneurship fosters innovation, critical thinking, and a growth mindset while expanding students' confidence and professional network. This event takes place July 11-20 at Marshall University and is open to students in 9th, 10th and 11th grade. The class will learn to innovate and solve problems the same way that Intuit, Apple, AirBnB, and other world-leading companies do. Students also will experience some of Huntington's most interesting attractions and find opportunities to help them innovate their way to even greater success. Learn more: https://wvde.us/academics/middle-secondary-education/student-events-programs-initiatives/governors-schools-west-virginia/governors-school-entrepreneurship-gse Find these stories and more at wv.gov/daily304. The daily304 curated news and information is brought to you by the West Virginia Department of Commerce: Sharing the wealth, beauty and opportunity in West Virginia with the world. Follow the daily304 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @daily304. Or find us online at wv.gov and just click the daily304 logo. That's all for now. Take care. Be safe. Get outside and enjoy all the opportunity West Virginia has to offer.
The tools that could 10x your business growth are already at your fingertips—you just haven't explored them yet! Today, I am hosting my husband, Chris Winfield, who's gone deep down the AI rabbit hole, to share the latest tools and strategies that every entrepreneur needs to know. From better content creation and client engagement to building smarter systems, we cover the exact ways AI can help you grow without burning out. We explore platforms like Claude, Grok, ChatGPT, and HoneyBook, an all-in-one business manager that's integrating AI in a way that saves time and streamlines operations. So, if you've been overwhelmed by AI or unsure where to start, this conversation will flip the switch. Join us and discover how to embrace the shift and make AI your most valuable team member. Want to see these tools in action? Be sure to join our upcoming free training with HoneyBook. "You don't need AI to get it perfect, and you don't want to just take the first output and go with it. You want to always review everything that AI is creating for you." ~ Chris Winfield In this Episode: - Meet Chris Winfield - Exploring initial AI tools and the introduction of ChatGPT - Mastering AI Tools and their impact on business - Practical AI applications for entrepreneurs - How to create prompts and avatars for writing GPTs - Advanced AI tools and techniques for business - Future of AI and its implications - Why it is critical to explore AI tools daily - Conclusion and upcoming webinar with HoneyBook Join Our Free Webinar With HoneyBook: https://bit.ly/FreeWebinarWithHoneyBook About Chris Winfield: Chris Winfield is a renowned entrepreneur, writer, and coach dedicated to helping individuals build authentic relationships to achieve their goals. As the founder of Super Connector Media, he emphasizes the power of genuine connections over traditional networking tactics. Chris has contributed to publications like Inc., Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and TIME, and has been featured in over 200 media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and NBC's Today Show. He has assisted clients from companies such as Disney, Virgin, and Intuit in leveraging media and influencer relationships to enhance credibility and drive profit. Website: https://www.chriswinfield.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswinfield/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thechriswinfield LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriswinfield/ Where to find me: IG: https://www.instagram.com/jen_gottlieb/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jen_gottlieb Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jenleahgottlieb Website: https://jengottlieb.com/ My business: https://www.superconnectormedia.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jen_gottlieb
Doug C. Brown, CEO of CEO Sales Strategies, is a renowned Sales Revenue and Profit Growth Expert. He is the creator of a predictable, reliable, measurable, math-based model for sales revenue growth. Using this system, Doug helps businesses and independent business professionals dramatically increase their sales. Doug has served as the independent President of Sales and Training for Tony Robbins and Chet Holmes, achieving a 143% increase in close rates and a 4150% sales boost in six months. He has built over 35 businesses, generating over $900 million in sales for himself and his clients.His expertise has benefited companies like Intuit, CBS Television, Procter & Gamble, and thousands of other businesses. He has earned Top Sales Professional Awards and led high-performance teams.Doug's latest venture, Vibitno, is a revolutionary sales automation software designed to increase sales revenue by enhancing follow-up efficiency, boosting client retention, and increasing sales productivity.For four decades, Doug has shared his knowledge to help others achieve extraordinary sales growth through simple, effective steps.Connect with Doug here:https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougbrown123/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100076044798202&mibextid=LQQJ4dhttps://www.instagram.com/dougcbrown_https://ceosalesstrategies.com/Don't forget to register for our FREE "Scale Your Business Using LinkedIn" Workshop here:https://www.thetimetogrow.com/scale-your-business-blueprint-workshop-april2025
SponsorsRightworks Rightnow 2025 - https://uqb.promo/rightnow2025 (use code UQB15 for 15% OFF)Hector Garcia returns to discuss Intuit Enterprise latest updates, which include a revolutionary multi-entity allocation tool that simplifies expense distribution across companies. The episode explores impressive new features like consolidated dashboards that allow real-time comparisons across entities, enhanced project budgeting capabilities tailored for construction businesses, and early implementations of AI for business insights. Hector also shares his thoughts on the future of IES pricing models and how AI might differentiate QuickBooks Online from Enterprise Suite offerings.{campaign_start}}(00:00) - Welcome and Introduction (00:44) - Overview of Intuit Enterprise Suite (01:05) - Defining Mid-Market and Enterprise Software (02:48) - Pricing and Client Quotes (06:43) - New Features in Intuit Enterprise Suite (07:55) - Multi-Entity Allocation Tool (16:18) - Consolidated Dashboards and Reports (23:49) - Forecast Reports and Project Budgets (37:23) - Cost to Complete Project Report (39:08) - AI Import for Project Budgets (41:36) - Task Management in Intuit (52:25) - Third-Party Integration Enhancements (54:37) - Speculations on Pricing Transparency (01:01:23) - Future of AI in QuickBooks (01:06:36) - Upcoming Events and Classes Send your Questions/Comments (we could read/answer them on air) unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.comMarch 2025 IES Release Notes:https://digitalasset.intuit.com/render/content/dam/intuit/sbseg/en_us/ies/ies-sales-marketing/March2025productreleaseoverview.pdfLinksHector's App - RightTool www.righttool.appReframe 2025 Conference https://reframe2025.com/Alicia's Payment Class http://royl.ws/QB-Payments-CourseChart of Accounts in QBO: http://royl.ws/QBOCOAReconciling in QBO, Including troubleshooting: http://royl.ws/Reconciling-In-QBOSign up to Earmark to earn free CPE for listening to this podcasthttps://www.earmark.app/onboarding
The Trump administration has decided to terminate the IRS's Direct File program, according to a source familiar with the situation, putting an end to the free electronic filing system that congressional Republicans and the tax preparation industry have had in their crosshairs since its creation. Work on Direct File began during Joe Biden's presidency, bringing together some of the administration's top technical and product minds and tapping into funds from the Inflation Reduction Act. Providing all U.S. taxpayers with a free filing tool would have put the country in line with most developed nations. But despite what the IRS considered to be a successful launch last year, Direct File's future was murky after President Donald Trump's election and the administration's welcoming of Elon Musk's DOGE into the government tech world. The pending elimination of the free filing tool was celebrated Wednesday by the makers of TurboTax. Derrick Plummer, an Intuit spokesman, called Direct File “a solution in search of a problem, a drain on critical IRS resources and a waste of taxpayer dollars.” Consumer advocate groups panned the Trump administration's decision. Susan Harley, managing director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division, said in a statement that scrapping Direct File “is almost literally taking money out of our pockets.” Dean Ball, a policy scholar with a focus on the intersection of history, political theory, policy and technology, is joining the Trump administration as a senior policy advisor on artificial intelligence and emerging technology, he announced Tuesday on the social media platform X. Ball said in his post of joining the Office of Science and Technology Policy: “It is a thrill and honor to serve my country in this role and work alongside the tremendous team [OSTP Director Michael Kratsios] has built.” He comes to OSTP from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, where he has served as a research fellow for the past year. Ball is also the author of an AI-focused blog called Hyperdimensional, in which he has defended the AI Safety Institute and commented on the Trump administration's terminations of probationary employees, saying the move had unintended consequences. Ball also wrote recently that he is interested in AI being built at the same time that the Trump administration and Republicans “seek to advance theories of a ‘unitary executive' — the notion that the president exercises the powers granted to him by the Constitution and Congress absolutely.” The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.
Houston is considered an automobile-dependent city, with an estimated 77.2% of commuters driving alone to work in 2016.[327] A commuting study estimated the median length of commute in the region was 12.2 miles (19.6 km) in 2012.[330] A 1999 Murdoch University study found Houston had both the lengthiest commute and lowest urban density of 13 large American cities surveyed.[332] Harris County is one of the largest consumers of gasoline in the United States, ranking second (behind Los Angeles County) in 2013.[333]Intuit, the owner of TurboTax, spent more than $11 million on federal lobbying between 2008 and 2012. Intuit "opposes IRS government tax preparation", particularly allowing taxpayers to file pre-filled returns for free, in a system similar to the established ReadyReturn service in California.[32]Sonic The Hedgehog's Buddy Tails Mini-Series Part 100:00 Intro13:12 Southern Crossover Part 153:49 Sonicgrams01:04:23 Outro
In this episode of Tank Talks, we dive into one of the most significant shifts happening in tech right now: the rise of AI agents.Our guest, Adam Coccari, has a front-row seat to the AI transformation as the Managing Director of HubSpot Ventures. But what makes Adam's story so compelling is how it began, not in boardrooms, but in a classroom, teaching 4th-grade math. From building an educational gaming app with no tech background to helping launch Microsoft's venture fund, Adam's journey is anything but typical.We explore why agentic AI is reshaping how work gets done, which sectors are already feeling the shift, and how founders can build winning SaaS companies without bloated teams or massive rounds. Adam breaks down what separates lasting startups from hype-fueled flashes and shares tactical advice for early-stage founders navigating the AI-powered future of business.From Teacher to Tech: Adam's Unusual Path to Venture (00:01:54)* Why building a math app for kids led Adam into tech* Lessons from the classroom that still shape his leadership today* How “Math Evolve” became a top-ranked game and what went wrongCloud, AI & Lessons from Microsoft (00:09:07)* What Adam learned working on Azure before it was cool* How B2B sales, marketing ops, and funnels really work* The early power of machine learning in enterprise use casesInside Corporate VC and the M12 Playbook (00:11:59)* What most corporate venture arms get wrong* Why being “just strategic” isn't enough anymore* How M12's independent structure helped them win dealsWhy Agentic AI Is Having Its Moment (00:21:46)* What makes AI agents different from traditional automation* Why back-office work is ground zero for agentic disruption* Real examples in bookkeeping, AR, customer service, and moreBuilding AI SaaS in 2025: What Founders Need to Know (00:24:31)* The rise of vertical SaaS powered by AI* What “experimental ARR” means and how to see through it* Why speed, execution, and domain knowledge beat scaleHow Startups Should Think About Go-To-Market (00:27:10)* Why PLG-first startups may scale to enterprise better than top-down players* What metrics actually matter in early-stage AI SaaS* Why a 3-person team can now do what used to take 30What Investors Are Looking For Now (00:34:08)* What Adam really looks for in AI founders* How he spots resilience, vision, and product intuition early* Why founder-market fit is more important than everPartnering, Platforms & Navigating Corp Dev (00:41:28)* The truth about working with big platforms as a startup* How to think about M&A as a long-term signal, not a strategy* Why transparency and trust still matter in the AI eraThis isn't just another AI hype episode. It's a real look into how work, software, and venture are changing fast. As AI rapidly reshapes how businesses operate, startups and incumbents alike stand at a crossroads: adapt or fall behind. Adam Coccari makes it clear: Agentic AI isn't on the horizon; it's already here, transforming how teams handle back-office tasks, optimize workflows, and scale faster with less. The question is: will companies embrace AI as a force multiplier, or get left behind in an era where agents don't just assist, they execute?About Adam CoccariAdam Coccari is the Managing Director of HubSpot Ventures, where he leads investments in early-stage SaaS and AI startups. He was previously a founding member of Microsoft's M12 venture arm and led venture efforts at Intuit. Adam began his career as a math and technology teacher, where he created the hit educational app Math Evolve, featured globally by Apple.Today, he focuses on backing bold founders building AI-native applications, with a special eye on agentic workflows, vertical SaaS, and B2B automation. His mix of product intuition, startup empathy, and platform strategy makes him one of the most thoughtful voices at the intersection of SaaS and AI.Connect with Adam Coccari: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-coccari-9932a134Visit the HubSpot website: https://www.hubspot.com/venturesConnect with Matt Cohen: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/matt-cohen1Visit the Ripple Ventures website: https://www.rippleventures.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com
Veronica Wasek joins Alicia for "wheel of rants" to dive into QuickBooks Online's chart of accounts transformation. They explore how Intuit's changes to expand the chart have created both opportunities and challenges for accountants and small business owners alike. The hosts discuss common account types including opening balance equity, undeposited funds, and reconciliation discrepancies, while offering insights on modernizing traditional categories to better reflect today's digital business environment..SponsorsRightworks Rightnow 2025 - https://uqb.promo/rightnow2025 (use code UQB15 for 15% OFF)(00:00) - Welcome to the Show (00:35) - QuickBooks Online's Chart of Accounts Evolution (02:18) - Reactions to the New Chart of Accounts (04:01) - Renaming Classic Categories (07:33) - GAAP and Custom Chart of Accounts (12:14) - Detail Types and Tax Preparation (17:33) - Managing Opening Balance Equity (21:51) - Undeposited Funds Workflow (25:20) - Reconciliation Discrepancy (27:47) - QuickBooks Online Adjustments (30:32) - The Importance of Numbering Systems (33:59) - Reclassify Tool and Modern Categories (37:21) - Meals and Entertainment Changes (38:52) - Merchant Services and Modern Expenses (43:47) - Final Thoughts and Upcoming Classes Send your Questions/Comments (we could read/answer them on air) unofficialquickbookspodcast@gmail.comAlicia's classes:Chart of Accounts in QBO: http://royl.ws/QBOCOAReconciling in QBO, Including troubleshooting: http://royl.ws/Reconciling-In-QBOCredit Cards in QBO, April 1, 2025: http://royl.ws/QBO-credit-cardsVeronica's class:QBO Paid Diagnostic Review System: http://bit.ly/5mb_diagnostic
Send us a textWhen a medical misdiagnosis shattered Erin Brown's trust in the system she had worked in for 25 years, it sparked an unexpected spiritual awakening. A former nurse and medical instructor, Erin's journey from science to spirituality began with meditation—and led her to powerful visions and a new path as an energy alchemist. In this inspiring conversation, Erin shares how she bridges the worlds of medicine and mysticism, explaining the Schumann Resonance and how Earth's electromagnetic frequencies impact our bodies, moods, and creativity. Erin breaks down how energy patterns mirror emotional cycles, and how tuning into these natural rhythms can support our healing and growth. We also explore timeline shifts, quantum jumps, and the deeper meaning of ascension—not as escape, but as an evolving consciousness. Whether you're grounded in science or drawn to spirit, Erin's insights offer a grounded, transformative lens for navigating life with more awareness.To learn more about Erin or to book a session with her:Visit: www.consciouslyerin.comFollow her on TikTokClairvoyaging is now a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) charity, so any donations are now tax deductible. If you'd like to support our projects that aim to foster understanding for diverse spiritual belief systems, visit www.clairvoyaging.com/support. She Leads with CAREShe Leads with CARE is a limited podcast series hosted by actor and producer Bellamy...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show-- DONATE to the Clairvoyaging Documentary (it's tax-deductible!)-- SUBSCRIBE in your preferred podcast app! -- Follow @clairvoyagingpodcast on Instagram.-- Send us an email: clairvoyagingpodcast@gmail.com-- Become a Clairvoyager on Patreon and get access to exclusive extras!
Send us a textPresented in partnership with NexusPoint Feeling overwhelmed in your business? If you're stuck in a loop of constant tasks and firefighting, you're operating—not owning. The solution isn't more hours, it's smarter systems and empowered delegation.That's where NexusPoint comes in. With over a decade of entrepreneurial experience, they help founders streamline operations and integrate global talent—so you can lead like a CEO, not just survive like an operator.Exclusive for The Renaissance Podcast listeners: NexusPoint is waiving their $500 recruiting fee.
Here's what to expect on the podcast:Sharissa's journey from tech leadership to coaching.Understanding and identifying burnout.How introverts can thrive in leadership without changing who they are.Balancing work and self-care.Practical tips for introverts to lead with confidence and authenticity.And much more! About Sharissa:Sharissa Sebastian Deppen is the CEO of Leadership Mastery Alliance; a company specializing in supporting introverted servant leaders who are women in corporate leadership. She's a leadership and executive coach with an MBA, MSc in Technology Leadership, and her PCC Certification from the International Coaching Federation (ICF), as well as a Myers Briggs Certified Practitioner. She has 15+ years of corporate leadership experience, in addition to coaching several Fortune 100 leaders and executives.She's also a TEDx speaker and TEDx speaker coach, an award-winning international keynote speaker, a writer for Forbes and the Huffington Post, a member of Forbes Coaches Council, a Professor at Southeastern University, and an advisory board member at the University of South Florida.Her many years of experience include helping leaders draw on their God-given strengths and abilities, see their value, and be able to bring out the best in themselves and others, all while having fun, being fulfilled and not burning out! She's able to masterfully help them navigate their blind spots while thriving in their zone of genius to take their career and leadership to a level that has a significant impact on themselves, their teams and their organization.Her clients include leaders and executives at companies such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Twitter, Microsoft, Harpo Studios, Bank of America, CNN, The United Nations, Intuit, SalesForce, BP, Fedex, Comcast, Deloitte, Accenture, Keurig Dr. Pepper, Victoria's Secret, Warner Brothers Studios, US Bank, Coinbase, Ameriprise Financial, Nestle, Virgin, Mars, Slack, Space Force, among others. Connect with Sharissa Sebastian Deppen!Website: https://www.leadershipmasteryalliance.com/Email: info@leadershipmasteryalliance.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharissasebastian/----- If you're struggling, consider therapy with our sponsor, BetterHelp.Visit https://betterhelp.com/candicesnyder for a 10% discount on your first month of therapy.*This is a paid promotionIf you are in the United States and in crisis or any other person may be in danger -Suicide & Crisis Lifeline Dial 988----- Connect with Candice Snyder!Website: https://www.podpage.com/passion-purpose-and-possibilities-1/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/candicebsnyder?_rdrPassion, Purpose, and Possibilities Community Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/passionpurposeandpossibilitiescommunity/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passionpurposepossibilities/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candicesnyder/Shop For A Cause With Gifts That Give Back to Nonprofits: https://thekindnesscause.com/Fall In Love With Artists And Experience Joy And Calm: https://www.youtube.com/@movenartrelaxation
Got a team member who keeps missing deadlines and making mistakes? Dealing with a colleague who seems annoyed by anything that comes out of your mouth?Last month, I did 3 speaking gigs back-to-back with different audiences:A C-Suite Retreat in Laguna Beach (fancy, right?)A session with the West Valley Warner Chamber of Commerce on teamwork cause the teamwork makes the dream works!)A private retreat at Lido House in Newport Beach for API government affairs execs from Intuit, Coca-Cola, Turo, Edison, Health Net, Kaiser Permanente, and East West Bank (yes, that's a lot of power in 1 room!)And guess what? No matter the industry or leadership level, the same question kept coming up:How do I communicate with people who just don't think like me?Like a marketing exec who pulled me aside and said:“How do I talk to accounting people? I'm flowery, and they're...not.”If you're working hard and ever struggled to getting your message across, and making sure something gets done catch this 18-minute episode, we break it down: Why talking to different personality types is like practicing a sport (or scrolling TikTok—consistency is key!)How a team dashboard can keep everyone on the same page (aka fewer “per my last email” moments)How AI can help you edit emails, texts, and messages so your message comes across to the other person based on their communication style and goalsResources Mentioned:More info on Conscious ConversationsEpisode 47. Scripts & Strategies for Boundaries and Negotiation for WOC Leaders with Accion Opportunity Fund (52 mins) Apple | SpotifyEpisode 99: How to Develop Executive Presence & Own the Room You're In (My Talk from NextUp Summit) (1 hour) Apple | SpotifyWhere We Can Connect:Schedule a Business & Career Review call with me to see if it's a good fit to work together: elainelou.com/callCheck out our 314 client reviewsFollow the Podcast on AppleFollow the Podcast on SpotifyFollow Elaine on Instagram: @elainelou_Connect with Elaine on LinkedIn: Elaine Lou CartasCheck out our other podcasts for Women of Color
What do Spotify, Google Meet, and your expense report tool have in common? They could all delight your users—if you design for more than just function. In this episode, Dr. Nesrine Changuel breaks down the emotional motivators that transform average products into unforgettable ones. Overview What separates a good product from a great one? According to Dr. Nesrine Changuel, it's not just meeting functional needs—it's creating emotional delight. In this episode of the Agile Mentors Podcast, Brian Milner sits down with Nesrine, a former product leader at Google, Spotify, and Microsoft, to explore how emotional connection is the secret sauce behind the world’s most beloved products. They dive into Nesrine’s “Delight Framework,” reveal how seemingly mundane tools (like time-tracking software or toothbrush apps!) can create joy, and explain why delight isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a competitive edge. Whether you're a product owner, product manager, or just want to build better user experiences, this episode will change how you think about your backlog forever. References and resources mentioned in the show: Dr. Nesrine Changuel Product Delight by Dr. Nesrine Changuel Blog: What is a Product? by Mike Cohn #116: Turning Weird User Actions into Big Wins with Gojko Adzic #124: How to Avoid Common Product Team Pitfalls with David Pereira Join the Agile Mentors Community Subscribe to the Agile Mentors Podcast Want to get involved? This show is designed for you, and we’d love your input. Enjoyed what you heard today? Please leave a rating and a review. It really helps, and we read every single one. Got an Agile subject you’d like us to discuss or a question that needs an answer? Share your thoughts with us at podcast@mountaingoatsoftware.com This episode’s presenters are: Brian Milner is SVP of coaching and training at Mountain Goat Software. He's passionate about making a difference in people's day-to-day work, influenced by his own experience of transitioning to Scrum and seeing improvements in work/life balance, honesty, respect, and the quality of work. Dr. Nesrine Changuel is a product coach, advisor, and speaker with over a decade of senior product management experience at Google, Spotify, and Microsoft, where she led major consumer products like Chrome, Meet, Spotify, and Skype. She holds a Master’s in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in Media Processing and Telecommunications and is based in Paris. Auto-generated Transcript: Brian Milner (00:00) Welcome back Agile Mentors. We're back for another episode of the Agile Mentors podcast. I'm with you as always Brian Milner and today I have a very special guest with me. I have Dr. Nesrine Changuel with me. Welcome in Nesrine. Nesrine (00:14) Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me. Brian Milner (00:16) I'm very excited to have Nesreen with us. I think this is going to be a really, really great episode for all of you product owners out there or product specialists, anybody who works in the product area. I think you're going to find this really interesting and you're going to want to bookmark this one. Maybe even come back to this a little bit. Nesreen is a coach, a speaker, particularly in the product area. She has previously worked at Google. She's worked at Spotify, at Microsoft, so no stranger to large enterprise, very high profile products that she's worked on in the past. She has a book coming out in May, so look for this book. It's called Product Delight. And that's really what we're going to be focusing on here is the concept of eliciting or generating kind of an emotional response to our product. I guess I'll start by, did you stumble upon this? What drew your interest to people's emotional response to products? Nesrine (01:19) Yes, so maybe I can share the story how I came to this topic and how I became so vocal about it. So in addition to being a product manager and leader over the last decade, I was always and I always enjoyed being a speaker. So I always wanted to go on stage and share insight. This is probably coming from my research background, because when I used to be a researcher, I traveled the world to go and present my research work and When I became a product manager, I kept this habit with me. So I always been on stage and I spoke about different topics like product discovery, product operation, different topics. Until one day I got reached out by a conference organizer and he said, Hey, Nisri, we want you on stage, but we have an idea for a topic for you. I'm not that used. Usually I come up with idea myself, but I said, okay, what do want me to talk about? And he said, Hey, Nusreen, you have been working for Spotify, for Microsoft, for Google Chrome and Google Meet, and we all admire those products and we consider them very successful products. What if you come and tell us what's the common thing that probably is there any common thing that made those products successful? Being an insider, being within those company, could you share with us something that you consider in common between those products? To be honest with you, I found it challenging at the same time interesting as an exercise. I was not, by the way, able at that time to answer the question, what's in common? So I sat down and I did the exercise myself and I started to think what was really in common? What made Skype Skype? What made Spotify Spotify and those Google products so successful? And I came to the following conclusion. I found that what made those products so successful is that they don't only solve for functional needs, but they also solve for emotional needs. So when we use a particular product, we use it for a certain functional need, but we also use it for an emotional need. And without even knowing that I have been doing it for more than 12 years, I came to the conclusion that, my God, during all those years, I have been focusing so much into users need from both angle, functional and emotional. So I came on stage and I spoke about that topic and from that day, I started to give it a name. I'm calling it emotional connection. I'm calling it product delight. And I'm here to share more about it as well. Brian Milner (03:50) That's awesome, yeah. I mean, I think we do hear a lot and we focus a lot on that functional kind of need, the way you differentiate there. think that's a good differentiation, functional and emotional kind of needs or motivators there. yeah, I mean, I've always heard, know, kind of that kind of general product advice is, you know, find the things that... people really, really have as huge needs, the things they would pay someone to do for them. And that's the key to success is finding those huge needs. But we're actually going beyond that to say, yeah, those are important. It's not to say that we should skip that, but it's when there's the emotional connection to a feature or to something that we do that really the light bulb kind of comes on for our customers. Is that kind of what your research is leading to? Nesrine (04:40) you're getting it right. Don't get me wrong. Of course you have to honor the functional needs and serve the functional feature, but the delight or the emotional connection happens when you go beyond exactly how you said it. Let me explain. If you serve only functional needs, you know what you get? You get satisfied users because they are asking for something and they are satisfied about what they are receiving. Now, Brian Milner (04:41) Okay, okay. Haha. Nesrine (05:05) If you surprise them by going beyond, by anticipating their need, by exceeding their expectation, you're not only satisfying them, you're surprising them in a positive way and delight is the combination of surprise and joy. Actually, the theoretical definition of delight is a combination of two emotions, surprise and joy. So going beyond, anticipate need and exceed expectation. is what we should aim for in addition to the functional needs. Brian Milner (05:35) That's awesome. Yeah, I use this example sometimes in, we use this example in the agile world to talk about, you know, the part of the agile manifesto that says customer collaboration over contract negotiation. And, you know, there's an example I use from my past where I used to work at a company that was very contract driven. And, you know, the thing that I always used to kind of take away from that was the very best we could ever do or hope to do. was to meet our customers' expectations. We could never, ever exceed it because we were only doing exactly what they told us to do. So I think this is a really important distinction here to make that just meeting the customer's needs, just meeting the minimal customer satisfaction bar, that's not going to keep you with loyal customers. That's not going to have repeat customers, or they're not going to tell their friends about, you know. That product did exactly what I hoped it would do. But it didn't really surprise me. It didn't really go beyond that. I know you talked about, because I've read your blog and a little bit of the discussion about this. So I know you talk about in the blog kind of the connection to Kano analysis. And I've always thought that's a really great way to try to determine things to target and go after. So talk to us a little bit about that, about Kano analysis and kind of what that uncovers and how that connects to what your research has shown. Nesrine (06:51) Yes. I love Kano by the way. I, I mean, that's one of the framework I have been considering throughout most of my product career. But this framework comes with a limitation and let me explain. So first of all, for those who are not very familiar with Kano, Kano is a visualization or categorization, let's call it. It's a categorization framework that allows to categorize features among different categories. One of them is must have. So these are the things that absolutely have to be in the product. Other that are performances, which are the more you have, the more satisfied users are, the less they less satisfied they are. And of course there are the delighters and delighters are those feature that when they are in the product, users are surprisingly happy. And when they are not, are not even the satisfaction is not even impacted. So the limitation of Kano is that it doesn't tell you how to achieve delight. Let me explain. I think we live in a world that everyone agree that we should delight our users. I mean, this, this concept is now globalized and everyone is talking about delighting users. The issue is that we don't know how to delight them. So we know category, there's a category that called delight, but we don't know how to. So the, the framework that I'm introducing and I'm calling it the delight framework is the framework that allows to first identify. So it's usually, represented into three steps. The first step is to start by identifying the emotional and functional motivators. So let me give you an example. I've been working at Spotify for about four years and as a Spotify user, imagine yourself, you are a Spotify user. You do have, of course, functional motivators. What could be the functional motivators? Listening to music, listening to podcasts, maybe listening to an audiobook. So all those are functional motivators. Now, what could be the emotional motivators as a Spotify user? It could be feeling less lonely. It could be feeling more productive because when you're working you need to listen to something. It could be about changing your mood. It could be about feeling connected. So all those are emotional motivators that drive users to use a product like Spotify. So what I encourage every product manager or every product team to do at first is to dig into identifying, of course, the functional need. And everyone is good, by the way, in identifying the functional needs. But also, while doing that exercise, pay attention to what could be the emotional motivators. So that's step number one is about listing the functional and the emotional motivators. Once you have those, Now we get to the second part of the framework, which is look at your backlog. And I guess you have a very busy backlog and take those features one by one and see for this particular feature, which motivator am I solving for among the functional ones and among the emotional ones as well. So the delight grid, for example, is a visualization tool that I came and created in order to allow product teams to visualize their backlog and see how many of my features are only solving for functional motivators. In that case, we call that category low delight. How many of my features are only solving for emotional motivators? These are very rare, but the best example I would call is, for example, I'm having an Apple watch and one month ago it was New Year Eve and at midnight I get fireworks popping out of my Brian Milner (10:35) Ha Nesrine (10:36) Apple watch and it was a happy new year there's nothing functional in there but it's all about creating some smile I call this surface delight and then how many of your features are solving for both functional and emotional motivators and I call this deep delight so maybe I deviated a bit from your question compared to canoe but it's actually about adding this dimension of connecting features to the real motivators of the users. Brian Milner (11:07) No, maybe a little bit, but you connected it to where we end up going anyway. So I think that's a great connection there. And by the way, for anyone listening, we'll link to all of this so that you can find this and follow up. But I like that differentiation between surface delight and deep delight. I know some of the examples that I've heard used kind of frequently in looking at Kano analysis and kind of trying to find those delighters. And that is kind of the area that it specifies there in Canoe, right? You're trying to find those things that are not expected, but when people find that they're there, they like that it's there, but they don't expect it's there. So if it's not there, there's no negative response that it's not there, but there's a positive response if it's there because they like seeing it. And my boss, Mike Cohn, tells this story about this Nesrine (11:59) Yes. Brian Milner (12:03) There's a hotel in California that became famous because at the pool, they have a phone that's by the pool that's the Popsicle Hotline. And you can pick up the phone and you can order a Popsicle to be brought to the pool. And it's the kind of thing where you're not going to go search for a hotel. Does this hotel have a Popsicle Hotline? I'm only going to stay at hotels with Popsicle Hotlines. It's not that kind of a normal feature. It's a delight feature because when you see it and you find out it's there, it's like, that's really cool. And it can be the kind of thing that says, yeah, I want to search that hotel out again next time I'm in this area because I really thought that was a nice little attention to detail and it was fun. But I think what I'm hearing from you is that might be more of what we would classify as a surface delight. It's not really meeting a deep need. Nesrine (12:35) Yes. Brian Milner (12:56) But it's fun, it's exciting, it's not expected, but it doesn't really cross that threshold into, but it also meets kind of functional delights. Is that kind of what you're saying there? Okay. Okay. Nesrine (13:08) Yes, actually I heard about that hotel story just to tell you how much viral it went. It came to me. So actually you get it correct that I consider that as surface delight and I have nothing against by the way, surface delight. You can add surface delight. The issue is you can end up doing only surface delight and that's not enough. So the idea is to do a combination and I do have two stories to share with you just to compliment on this hotel story. One is personal and one is professional. Brian Milner (13:21) Yeah. Okay. Nesrine (13:37) The personal one just happened to me a month ago. I went to Sweden and I went to Stockholm. That's where I worked for eight years. And I went there for business and I decided to meet some friends and some ex-colleagues. So we all gathered and went to a restaurant, a very nice restaurant in Sweden. And came the time where we had to say goodbye and to pay. And I guess you can feel it immediately when it's about paying and we are a large group and you start to get that anxiety about who's paying what and what did I order? What did I drink? What? I mean, I honestly hate that moment, especially in a large group where you don't necessarily have a lot of affinity with us. Like, should we split in 10? Should we pay each one paying its piece anyway? So that was a moment of frustration, of anxiety. Brian Milner (14:09) right. Yeah. Nesrine (14:28) And I loved how the restaurant solved it for it. You know how they solve for it? I mean, maybe it exists in the U.S., but for me, that's something I never seen before. The waiter came with a QR code on a piece of paper and you scan the QR code. And when you scan your QR code, you get the list of items that got purchased by the table. And all you have is to pick, and that happens automatically real time. Everyone is picking at the same time. You pick the things from the list and you pay. for the things that you order. You can even tip on the bottom. You can give feedback. Everything happened on that QR code. And you can guess how much that anxiety could be removed. So that's the personal story I wanted to share. The second story, which is more professional, I want to share how we try to improve experience at Google Chrome. So I've been the product manager at Google Chrome. Brian Milner (15:13) Yeah. Nesrine (15:25) And we started from the observation that people do have plenty of open tabs. I guess you are one of them, especially on mobile. Like on mobile, you go and check how many open tabs you do have on Chrome and you realize that they are have, we realized at least out of numbers, out of data that people do have plenty of open tabs. So it started as Brian Milner (15:32) You Nesrine (15:47) technical issue. Of course, the more tab you have, the heavier the app is, the slower the app could be, et cetera. So we wanted to reduce the number of unnecessary open tabs in Chrome. So we interviewed users and we started to check with them, why do they even leave their tabs open? So some of them leave tabs because they consider them as a reminder. I mean, if tab is open, it means that you need to finish a task there. Some people really leave tabs just for ignorance. mean, they moved from a tab to another and they completely forget about them. Actually, we realized that the fact of leaving tab open, the reason for leaving tab could be completely different from a person to another. And the other interesting observation, and when I say identify emotional motivators, you will realize that people feel a bit ashamed when they show to us that they do have plenty of open tabs. Some of them would say, sorry, I usually don't even have so many open tabs. It's only now. And I'm like, it's okay. But the point is, if you have this mindset of trying to track the emotional insight from your users, you will take note. And the note was anxiety, feeling ashamed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And that was in introduction for in... Brian Milner (16:42) You Yeah, right. Nesrine (17:04) improving the tab management experience later on in Chrome. Brian Milner (17:07) That's actually a really good parallel, though. I think that's a good example because it reminds me, too, even going back, I remember one of the things, and I'm going way back here, but I remember one of the things about Gmail that was kind of a selling point initially was the concept there of you don't have to worry about maintaining an inbox. keep all your mails and search. And you can search through your mails and find whatever it is. And I remember prior to that, most people would use something like Outlook or something like that to have their mail, there was always this constant struggle of, I've got to keep it down. I've got to delete things. I've got to categorize things. And Google had this different approach of, don't worry about it. Just leave it. And that's a good, I think, example as well of kind of that emotional response of, Nesrine (17:48) Yes. Brian Milner (17:56) Gosh, I'm kind of anxious. I feel bad that my inbox is so big. And I know that's bad, but Google comes along and says, don't worry about it. You're not bad. It's OK. Yeah. Nesrine (18:05) Yeah, yeah. And by the way, I think Gmail is filled with plenty of deep delight features. One of them I can quickly highlight is, you know, when you send an email, we're saying attached file and the file is not there. And when you try to hit send, you get that pop up like a be careful or like a mind, there is no attached file inside. These are for me like very attached to the fact that You don't want to feel ashamed. You don't want to look stupid later on saying, Hey, sorry, I forgot the file. Here's the file. That's, that's a great example. And the other example that come to mind again in Gmail, you know, that smart compose when you're trying to answer an email and you can just hit tab, tab, tab to complete the sentence. I mean, the functional need is to write an email. The emotional need is to get it in a relaxed way. And the combination would allow for something like. Brian Milner (18:49) Yeah. Nesrine (19:00) Smart Compose. Brian Milner (19:01) That's awesome. Yeah, so I guess that leads to the question though, when we're talking about something like Spotify, mean, music intrinsically is emotional anyway, right? It's something that you have an emotional connection to and you feel a certain way when you hear music. But if my product is a, I don't know, expense reporting software, right? Nesrine (19:23) Mm-hmm. Brian Milner (19:25) I can just hear people out there kind of asking, know, and kind of thinking to themselves, yeah, but my product, right, my product is not that kind of, it doesn't elicit that kind of emotional response in people the same way music would. So does this apply to me as well? So how would you answer those people who feel like my products might be a little bit more bland or boring and don't really intrinsically have an emotional connection to them? Nesrine (19:47) Mm-hmm. So my answer is that if your product is boring, then it's even more priority now to focus on emotional connection. But let me elaborate. So that's one of the reflections that came to my mind while writing the book. So while writing the book, I wanted the book to be a storytelling book. So I was writing a lot of my stories, stories from Skype at the time, Spotify and all the Google product. But at some point I said, hey, hey, Nisreen, you need to get more insight from other people and other experiences. So I get to interview product leaders from completely different industries and completely different domain. I interviewed leaders from B2B like Atlassian or Intuit and so many other companies that I don't have so much insight from. I even interviewed people from hardware, like I interviewed someone from Dyson and I was, hey, what makes Dyson so emotionally attractive for me? Cause I love my Dyson vacuum cleaner. But let me get to your point because when I interviewed someone from Intuit, that person told me something super interesting. She told me that at some point she was working at a tool called Tsheet. And Tsheet is a tool that allows you to enter your time report. There is nothing more boring than that. I think I'm picking the one that you're looking for here because it's, it's as a user. The only reason I would use this tool is to report my time so I can get paid. Brian Milner (21:06) Hmm. Right. Yeah. Nesrine (21:19) There is nothing exciting, nothing emotional. And what I got out of that product leader who used to be the head of product at the time, she told me that they were completely aware about the fact that the product is not that attractive. And instead of living with that observation, they did all what they could do to make it even more attractive. So they added some fun. They made the messaging less aggressive and less about enter your time. report but rather into more playful and even the images are more playful. When you press the enter time report you get the congratulation and some confetti if needed. So they explicitly turned and that's a strategy. They turned that boring moment into something even more attractive and they had to do that otherwise the experience will keep on becoming more more boring and the perception of users toward the product will be even less, more and more gray, I would say. Brian Milner (22:22) Yeah, yeah, just that little dopamine kind of kick, right? Just that little bit of chemical reaction in your brain can make a huge difference. That's awesome. That's a great story and a great answer to that question. So I'm curious, we're talking about trying to find these things and trying to see, your matrix here, it thinks about the emotional motivators, the functional motivators, and trying to find those things that kind of cross both planes. Nesrine (22:24) Yep. Brian Milner (22:52) How do you verify at the end? Because if you're lining your features up and think, I think this solves this emotional thing. I think this solves this functional thing. Is there a way to follow up to ensure that it actually is doing that? How do you follow up to make sure it's really doing what you thought it would do? Nesrine (23:09) Yes, so let's imagine you did the exercise well, you filled in the delight grade and you observed that you do have plenty of low delights, which is most of the cases by the way. The very first thing I recommend is to see opportunities for moving or transforming these features into deep delight. And in the book, for example, I talk about the nine delighters. Nine delighters are ways that could be sometimes cheap even to introduce. in order to make those low delight features into more deep delight. This could be, for example, through personalization. We love when the features are personalized, and that's one of the reasons, for example, why Spotify is so successful, is through features like Discover Weekly or RAPT or these kinds of super personalization related features. It could be through seasonality. That's, for me, the cheapest and the most delightful feature you can or aspect of feature you can add to your product. So for example, when I worked at Google Meet, I've been working at the background replace features. So we have been, of course, introducing static image. We have been introducing video backgrounds as well. But from time to time, we always use seasonality to introduce what we call seasonal background. So when it's Easter, we introduce Easter background. When it's Christmas, we introduce Christmas background. Guess what? Even like for Olympic game, we introduce Olympic game background. When it's the Earth Day, we introduced Earth Day background. So there is always an opportunity to introduce some seasonality to the product. And guess what? We relate to those, especially if the product is global. We relate like last, when was it? Like last Wednesday. It was the new year, the Chinese new year. And I was checking when is exactly the exact date for the new year, the Chinese new day. And I put that and you know what happened in Chrome? It got these dragons and those like the celebration within the product, like within Chrome. These of course are surface delight, but you know what? Why not? You see? So there are some tools. Some of them are not that... Brian Milner (25:17) Right. Nesrine (25:22) expensive to introduce to the product. Some would require a bit more thoughtful and thought into it, but there are ways that I detail in the book in order to introduce more delight. And then if you want to validate through metrics, and I guess that's your question where it's heading to, then the good news, and that's something that I discovered recently because there's been a study that was conducted by McKinsey. And you know what they studied? They studied the impact of emotional connection on product adoption. So they actually studied over, I don't know how many industries die, like tourism, IT, energy, whatever. And they interviewed more than 100,000 users or whatever. So the conclusion that they found out of that very interesting study is that emotionally connected users will get you more twice as more revenue, twice as more referral, and twice as more retention compared to satisfied users. I'm not talking about the non-satisfied. So if you take two groups of users, those that you satisfy their needs and those that you go beyond and they are emotionally connected, those that are emotionally connected get you twice revenue, referral and retention. Brian Milner (26:19) Hmm. Nesrine (26:43) So this is just to highlight that for people who say, no, but this is the cherry on the top. This is just like the extra. It's not the extra, it's the way to stand out. I don't know any company that is standing out nowadays without investing into emotional connection, none. Brian Milner (26:54) Yeah. That's a really good point. Yeah, I mean, the example that comes to my mind when you talked about seasonality and other things like that, know, I love my, you know, they're not a sponsor, Oral-B toothbrush, you know, the electronic toothbrush, and you know, there's an app with it and it keeps track of, you know, did you get all the areas of your teeth and did you hold it there long enough and... One of the things I always love about it is when it gets to December, the opening screen when you open up the app starts having snowfall. It's kind of a funny little emotional response, but you look at that and you think, that's cool. Yeah, it is kind of that season where now it's time to get ready for Christmas and it's that special. It's only this month that it's going to be like that. It's going to go away at the end of the month. Nesrine (27:45) Yes. Brian Milner (27:49) feel little sad when it's gone, it's back to normal. But it's such a silly little thing. Does that make any difference in really brushing my teeth at all? Does it change how well I brush my Not really. It's just a fun little thing that when it pops up there. And think how little that took from someone to do that. It's a little animation that they just pop up on a loading screen. But that little tiny bit, think, again, maybe a little bit surface. Nesrine (28:10) Yes. Brian Milner (28:16) but it takes something that would have been routine. It takes something that would have been kind of boring otherwise, and it just added a little bit of fun to it, you know? And I think you're right, that emotional connection is really, really important in situations like that, yeah. Nesrine (28:21) Yes. Yes. Yes, yeah. And the thing that I'm very vocal about nowadays is the fact that this emotional connection is actually not a new topic. It's something that has been extremely popular among marketers. For example, if you think about the best marketing campaign, they are all very emotional. The most successful marketing campaign are. If you think about designers, there are plenty of resources about emotional design. There is a great book by Don Norman. It was called emotional design. Aaron Walter as well wrote something called Designing for Emotion. But you know, the problem is that among engineers and among product manager, we don't talk that much about that. And you know what happened when we are not informed about this topic? There is a gap between the language of marketers, designers, and the engineers and product manager. And that gap doesn't allow things to succeed. I'm trying to educate the engineers and the product world towards this well-known domain outside of the product in order to have this consistency and start making real impactful products. Brian Milner (29:40) Yeah, yeah, this is such a really deep topic and it just encourages me, think, even more to recommend the book there. It's not out yet, time of this recording it's not out, but it's going to be in May of 2025. That's when this book is coming out. And I know it's gonna have a lot of really good information in it. Again, the book is gonna be called Product Delight. by Nesrine Changuel, Dr. Nesrine Changuel. I should make sure I say that. But I really appreciate you coming on because this is fascinating stuff. And I think the product managers, the product owners that are listening here are going to find this really fascinating. So I appreciate you sharing your time and your insights with us, Nesrine. Nesrine (30:26) Thank you, it's my pleasure. I love talking about this topic. Brian Milner (30:29) Ha
Welcome to the daily304 – your window into Wonderful, Almost Heaven, West Virginia. Today is Wednesday, April 2, 2025 Beckley's Future Forward Summit focuses on boosting the region's economy…Marshall's new partnership with Intuit is expected to generate 250 new jobs…and career opportunities abound for engineers in #YesWV…on today's daily304. #1 – From WV EXECUTIVE – Save the date! The Future Forward Summit and Expo is set for April 22-23 at the Beckley Raleigh County Convention Center. The event will focus on four crucial pillars for the region: housing, downtown development, small business growth and the economic outlook. The New River Gorge Regional Development Authority and Beckley Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce have recruited expert speakers to lead discussions on each topic and to seek recommendations for improvements in each area. Tickets are available on the BRCCC website. Read more: https://wvexecutive.com/future-forward-summit-to-focus-on-four-crucial-pillars-for-region/ #2 – From METRO NEWS – Marshall University and Intuit have announced a partnership to advance education and drive economic growth in West Virginia. The partnership has three main focuses: Expanding the tech talent pipeline between Marshall and Intuit Creating Intuit's Prosperity Hub/Internship Helping integrate financial education for college and high school students. The Prosperity Hub will be located in Marshall's $250 million Innovation District, home of the Brad D. Smith Center for Business and Innovation and future home of the upcoming Cybersecurity Center. The hub is expected to help generate 250 jobs. Read more: https://wvmetronews.com/2025/03/25/marshall-university-announces-partnership-with-intuit/ #3 – From JOBCASE – Are you an engineer looking for exciting opportunities in diverse industries? West Virginia's #YesWV initiative is buzzing with job openings for engineers across multiple sectors. A wide variety of industries are thriving in the Mountain State and are actively hiring in fields that include aerospace, automotive, chemicals, and biotech manufacturing. Join a vibrant community of innovators and who are driving forward the future of engineering across diverse industries. Visit Jobcase today to explore job opportunities! Read more: https://www.jobcase.com/articles/yes-wv-engineering Find these stories and more at wv.gov/daily304. The daily304 curated news and information is brought to you by the West Virginia Department of Commerce: Sharing the wealth, beauty and opportunity in West Virginia with the world. Follow the daily304 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @daily304. Or find us online at wv.gov and just click the daily304 logo. That's all for now. Take care. Be safe. Get outside and enjoy all the opportunity West Virginia has to offer.
Ep #274: The Career Reinvention Blueprint with Sarah KimEver feel like your expertise is boxing you in? Like you've built a reputation around a certain skill set… but now it's starting to feel like it's placing a limit on where you can go in your career? Maybe you're the kind of leader who refuses to stay in one lane. Or maybe you want to shake things up - but you're not sure how to do it without leaving your current organization behind. If that's you, this episode of Women Changing Leadership with Stacy Mayer is a must-listen. I sat down with Sarah Kim, Chief Customer Success Officer at Intuit, who's spent nearly 20 years growing her career within the same company - without getting stuck in one identity. She's held leadership roles in marketing, data and analytics, operations, and now customer success. And she did it by reinventing herself, leaning into her strengths, and asking for what she wanted. In this conversation, Sarah and I unpack how she navigated a nonlinear path to the executive suite, the power of self-advocacy to get what you want (especially when you're not the “obvious” choice), and why your current job title doesn't have to limit where you go next.Unlock the missing piece in your leadership development. Take the quiz: www.ReadytoBePromoted.com
Brett Coin is the Chief Transformation Officer at Findem, an AI first, workflow automation platform for sourcing, CRM and analytics. Prior to Findem, Brett spent 20+ years in TA as a practitioner in sourcer, recruiter, manager and leadership roles for global companies such as Okta, Intuit and Cisco. Brett is originally from New Jersey, but has been a long-time Californian and currently resides in the SF Bay Area with his wife and two kids. Recorded live at Transform 2025 in Las Vegas, Adam and Brett dig into: - Brett's journey from practitioner to leadership. - The source of hire data as a proactive, conscious strategy to increase recruiter productivity while decreasing costs. - Talent pool management as a short and long-term lever to increase candidate NPS, diversity of slate while decreasing time to hire - AI's impact to consolidate workflows and deliver total cost of ownership through tech stack consolidation Connect with Brett: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettcoin/ Learn more: http://findem.ai/transform-2025 Live from Transform 2025, we're bringing you an exclusive podcast series packed with insights from some of the brightest minds in hiring, talent strategy, and workforce transformation! In this series, we've got incredible guests from Okta, Tubi, Edelman, Greenhouse, Findem, and more, sharing how top organizations are rethinking hiring, culture, and talent acquisition in today's fast-changing world. Greenhouse combines a structured, data-driven hiring approach with AI-embedded workflows that empower recruiters to focus on strategic, high-impact work. From sourcing top talent to personalizing the candidate experience, Greenhouse streamlines and optimizes the entire hiring process. This ensures that every hire is the right hire—eliminating bias, creating fairness, and helping teams make smarter, faster decisions. Over 7,500 companies, including HubSpot, Duolingo, and J.D. Power, trust Greenhouse to build better teams and turn talent into a strategic advantage. Want to learn how today's top companies are winning the talent game? Tune in now and visit Greenhouse.com to transform the way you hire. Thanks for listening. Please follow us on Instagram @NHPTalent and X @AdamJPosner. Visit www.thePOZcast.com for all episodes
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The Clippers beat the best team in the NBA with Kawhi looking like his old self, should the league be worried? Adam and Will talk an electric night at Intuit and the game against the Grizzlies
In this episode of HR Like a Boss, John chats with Tom McCarty, CEO of OrgChart, to discuss the power of HR data and analytics in driving business success. Tom shares insights on the importance of visualizing organizational structures, leveraging HR technology, and using data to lead strategic conversations rather than getting lost in numbers. He highlights the value of curiosity, communication, and asking the right questions to maximize the potential of a company's most valuable asset: its people. Tune in to discover how HR can move beyond administration to become a data-driven strategic force in business.ABOUT TOM MCCARTYTom McCarty is a seasoned sales and operations executive with over 20 years of experience in transforming businesses and optimizing sales and operational efficiency. He currently serves as the CEO of OrgChart, LLC, a position he has held since November 2021. Under his leadership, OrgChart has successfully expanded its reach, streamlined operations, and achieved significant growth in a competitive market. Before joining OrgChart, McCarty held executive roles at several high-growth SaaS companies, including Intuit, Pipedrive, Chatlingual, and Xero, where he played critical roles in building and scaling those businesses. McCarty's career was shaped by his 13 years at Dell Technologies, where he progressively took on more complex and high-impact roles. Throughout his tenure with Dell, his leadership was instrumental in driving growth across multiple regions and functions, navigating large-scale operational changes, enhancing cross-functional collaboration, and optimizing strategic initiatives across the business. McCarty's expertise spans across sales leadership, global operations, and strategic growth initiatives. He is known for his ability to lead large teams, drive efficiency, and deliver exceptional results, all while cultivating a culture of collaboration and performance excellence. He lives in Denver, CO with his wife, two boys, and their dog. In his spare time, McCarty is a dedicated father who enjoys attending his boys' cross-country races, taking family vacations, and exploring the outdoors.
Molly Ruland stops by to explain how she started a branded podcast that brought in so many clients from season one that she had to pause it. For Molly, it is all about starting and building relationships with her guests. By conducting targeted outreach, she added 500 marketing people to her LinkedIn network, improving the relevance of her feed.When it comes to SEO, AI is interesting, but she advises against using "podcast lingo" and emojis in podcast show notes and metadata. Instead, she recommends focusing on using relevant keywords. We should be advising AI to use relevant keywords in our descriptions and have it use the AIDA approach.Takeaways: Molly Ruland emphasizes that authentic podcasting is about being yourself and not just a sales pitch. Building relationships through your podcast can lead to business opportunities without being pushy about it. SEO isn't just a buzzword; optimizing your podcast content can help increase its visibility and attract the right audience. Don't just focus on the numbers; create meaningful connections with your guests and audience. Because of My Podcast: Ralph Estep JrRalph has been an accountant for 30 years. Because of his podcast, Intuit approached him to share and teach about the experience of moving from local copies of their software (Quickbooks and others) to the web-based version. Check out Ralph's show at www.askralphpodcast.comLinks referenced in this episode:schoolofpodcasting.comaskralphpodcast.comheartcastmedia.comCamp Content ShowTom Petty and Axl RoseMentioned in this episode:I'd Love To Meet You - Here is Where I Will BeI will be manning the Podpage booth at Podcast Movement in Chicago and Dallas. For more information go to www.schoolofpodcasting.com/where If you would like to me speak at your even (on or offline) go to www.schoolofpodcasitng.com/contactWhere Will I Be?Starting a podcast can be daunting. Fear of failure, uncertainty about where to begin, and doubts about your abilities can hold you back. But what if you had a guide? The School of Podcasting is here to help you confidently launch, grow, and monetize your podcast. With over 20 years of experience and tons of successful podcasts launched, I'll walk you through every step. From planning to promotion, you're never alone." Learn at your own pace with video courses, join a supportive community, and get unlimited coaching. Say goodbye to fear and hello to success." Start your podcasting journey today with the School of Podcasting. Join now and take the first step towards turning your passion into a reality. Visit SchoolOfPodcasting.com to get started. No fear, just success.School of Podcasting2025 Audience SurveyQuestion of the Month: Let's Talk AIForm a listener, are you using AI, if so what tools, what do you create, and do you spend more time tweaking the results that it would be quicker to just do it yourself?
Guest: Ben Chestnut, Former CEO and Co-Founder of MailchimpIf you find yourself selling your startup, then Mailchimp co-founder Ben Chestnut has some important advice for you: Get a dog. When Intuit bought Mailchimp in 2021 for $12 billion, the company asked Ben if he wanted to stay on as CEO, but he chose to “walk off into the sunset” and let the new owners take over. After that, he estimates it took 6 to 12 months before he stopped checking his email, social media, and calendar with the same level of stress a CEO might have. Adopting a dog, he discovered, forces you to “get OK with the voices in your head."“After the acquisition, that's all I do, I walk the dog,” Ben says. “And the dog was good therapy ... No judgments from a dog.”Chapters:(01:09) - Growing slow (03:06) - The long journey (07:48) - Is money a burden? (09:35) - Building globally in Atlanta (11:22) - Ben's upbringing (12:59) - The first 10 years (17:58) - Scaling to one billion emails (19:22) - Freemium (23:32) - No equity (26:00) - Deciding to sell (33:55) - “I'm a sunset guy” (35:29) - Stress and support (37:25) - Time with the parents (39:07) - Get a dog (42:24) - The voices in your head (46:03) - Serial and “Mailkimp” (53:00) - Hiring interviews (57:14) - Fitness routines (59:27) - Lights off (01:01:46) - AI & reinvention (01:06:30) - The worst days (01:09:15) - What “grit” means to Ben Mentioned in this episode: Intuit, Wolt, DoorDash, LinkedIn, Dan Kurzius, Salesforce, ExactTarget, Pardot, Constant Contact, Rackspace, Free by Chris Anderson, Wired Magazine, Charles Hudson, the Freemium Summit, Drew Houston, Dropbox, Evernote, Phil Libin, TechCrunch, Brian Kane, Catalyst Partners, Georgia Pacific, Scott Cook, Bing Gordon, Vinay Hiremath, Loom, Joe Thomas, Caltrain, Flickr, Saturday Night Live, Droga5, Cannes Film Festival, Strava, Twitter, LinkedIn, Nvidia, Glean, Rubrik, Amazon AWS, and Mechnical Turk.Links:Connect with BenLinkedInConnect with JoubinTwitterLinkedInEmail: grit@kleinerperkins.com Learn more about Kleiner Perkins
TestTalks | Automation Awesomeness | Helping YOU Succeed with Test Automation
In this episode of the TestGuild Automation Podcast, host Joe Colantonio chats with machine learning engineer Lakshmithejaswi Narasannagari, who boasts over fourteen years of experience working with tech giants like Intuit, Incom, and Poshmark. Check out App Automate: https://testguild.me/appautomate2 Lakshmi delves into her fascinating career journey from Oracle developer to transitioning into machine learning operations and test automation. The conversation covers best practices for ML pipelines, testing at scale, and how to integrate testing effectively in the AI ML space. Lakshmi shares insights on understanding machine learning models, navigating various roles within AI and machine learning, and setting up guardrails to ensure model performance and accuracy. Please tune in to gain valuable knowledge from Lakshmi's expertise and learn how to approach testing in our AI-driven world.
Visit our Substack for bonus content and more: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/kristen-berman Many of the most successful products launched in Silicon Valley lean heavily on behavioral design to increase engagement. Former Design Better guest Nir Eyal talks about this in his books Hooked and Indistractable, and today we have another expert in this field, Kristen Berman, who co-founded Irrational Labs with professor and researcher Dan Ariely in 2013. We chat with Kristen about how to design products that change behavior, and also about the darker side of behavioral design, which in extreme cases can create addictive products. We also learn how Kristen uses behavioral science on herself, to achieve goals and encourage positive habits. Bio Kristen Berman is a leading figure in applied behavioral economics and behavioral product design. In 2013, she co-founded Irrational Labs with Dan Ariely, collaborating with major organizations such as Google, PayPal, Facebook, and Netflix to enhance user health, wealth, and happiness. She was also on the founding team of the behavioral economics group at Google, a collective that supported over 26 teams within the company, and hosted the global behavioral change conference StartupOnomics. In addition, Kristen co-founded the Common Cents Lab at Duke University, where her leadership guided over 50 experiments aimed at improving the financial well-being of tens of thousands of low- to middle-income Americans. Her expertise has been featured in outlets like The Stanford Social Innovation Review, TechCrunch, and Scientific American. As a co-author of the workbooks series Hacking Human Nature for Good alongside Dan Ariely, Kristen has provided practical guidance on changing behavior that is widely used by prominent companies—Google, Intuit, Netflix, Fidelity, and Lending Club among them—for their business strategies and product design. *** Premium Episodes on Design Better This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. Upgrade to paid *** Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show: Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer. To get $100 towards your first bed purchase, go to http://thuma.co/designbetter. *** If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com
In business, every decision you make can change the trajectory of your company - so it’s important to be as informed as possible. The intel you collect as you learn and grow is vital to informing how and why you run your business in the future. On this episode, hosts Jannese and Austin share their own experiences with using data to inform the paths they carve forward as they sit down with Brandon Littleton who started Bag Lady’s Fry Joint with his brother. The two started their business from scratch, with just a family recipe and an idea. Join us as Brandon explains how hard lessons - and hard data - inform the decisions they’ve made so you can do the same with your own findings. Learn more about how QuickBooks can help you grow your business: Quickbooks.com Support the show: https://www.steveharveyfm.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.