Podcasts about Saas

How to start and grow a small business without investors. Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/r361-tyler-king-without-investors/ Bootstrapping a software business without venture capital or angel investors lets you grow on your own terms, and Tyler King, co-founder of Less Annoying CRM, shares how he built a profitable, sustainable SaaS company by staying disciplined, customer-focused, and true to what he actually wanted from the business. Tyler King, co-founder and CEO of Less Annoying CRM, joins the show to share how he bootstrapped a profitable software company. No venture capital, no angel investors, no exit plan, and no rush. He shares what small business owners can learn from building a company on their own terms. For anyone who assumes a software startup requires millions in funding and a race toward an IPO, Tyler's story is a useful counterpoint. He grew a sustainable, profitable SaaS (Software as a Service) business slowly and deliberately, proving that discipline and patience can be advantages rather than limitations. Tyler didn't grow up dreaming of running a business. He was a programmer at a venture-backed startup when the 2008 downturn hit and nearly everyone was laid off. Everyone except the five cheapest employees, which happened to include him. With the bosses gone, he spent a year unofficially playing co-founder, and discovered he loved entrepreneurship. In 2009 he and his brother Bracken started what became Less Annoying CRM. The idea came from real frustration. Tasked with setting up Salesforce at that old job, Tyler (a computer science graduate) spent a month and couldn't make it work. At the time, roughly half of the CRMs companies paid for went unused. So rather than build something with more features, he set out to build something people could actually use. From there, Henry and Tyler dig into the practical realities of bootstrapping: funding the business from savings and side-job cash flow, why banks won't lend to software companies, and how limited money forces healthy discipline. "How much money did we make this month? That's how much money we can spend," Tyler explains. He shares hard-won lessons on shipping a minimum viable product (MVP) fast (his first version was "minimum, debatable whether it was viable"), using intuition over thin data, and building a company that can survive any one person (what he and his team call the "hit by a bus" test) which is the same discipline as building to sell. They also cover his unusual culture choices: separating raises from performance, giving everyone "20% time," and recruiting almost entirely from a pool of interns. Perhaps most striking is how Less Annoying CRM's biggest differentiator - customer service - happened by accident. Tyler put his own phone number on the contact page, and when it rang, the caller was stunned anyone picked up at all. This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run, grow and exit your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

There is no shortage of discussion about the role of AI in the energy transition. Yet while many talk about the future of intelligent grids, only a handful of industry leaders are delivering solutions at scale.  One of them is Alberto Méndez Rebollo—an executive, investor, and entrepreneur dedicated to accelerating the energy transition. Throughout his career, Alberto has held senior leadership positions at Siemens Gamesa, Vattenfall, XCharge, and other organizations, overseeing multi-million-euro initiatives across renewable energy, power grids, and electric mobility.  Today, as Co-Founder and CEO of Plexigrid, he is leading the development of next-generation technology designed to prepare electricity networks for a rapidly changing energy landscape. Plexigrid, a deep-tech company headquartered in Sweden and Spain, develops intelligent software that helps utilities optimize and digitize electricity distribution networks. At the core of its platform is a real-time digital twin of the distribution grid, enabling operators to monitor capacity, detect anomalies, and make better operational decisions.  The company's AI-powered technology automatically coordinates energy consumption and manages flexible assets such as EV chargers, shifting demand away from peak periods. This allows utilities to alleviate congestion, increase grid resilience, and unlock additional network capacity—without the need for costly and time-consuming infrastructure upgrades.  The market response has been remarkable. Operating on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, Plexigrid has expanded its commercial pipeline from €8 million to more than €150 million in just four years, consistently winning competitive tenders against some of the industry's most established players.   Its growing client base includes leading utilities and energy innovators, with notable partnerships such as EDP and Piclo focused on advancing real-time grid orchestration. The company has also raised approximately €15 million across multiple funding rounds, providing a strong foundation for continued growth and innovation.  Beyond the technology, however, this is a story about transformation at warp speed. It is about how critical infrastructure can evolve—not only technically, but culturally—to embrace new technologies and operating models. As electricity networks become increasingly decentralized, digital, and dynamic, organizations like Plexigrid are demonstrating how AI can move from a promising concept to a practical tool that helps utilities adapt, modernize, and thrive in the energy transition.  “Today's show is supported by the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt. The BMW Foundation unites leaders across sectors to develop solutions that foster an innovative economy and a future-proof society. A key focus is "Energy Transition & Climate Change," where the Foundation drives "International collaboration to accelerate the energy transition." With rising energy demands from AI and data centres, new partnerships, effective collaboration, and the exchange of science-based solutions and strategies are essential.”

Episode Summary Tim Melanson sits down with Bradley Rausch, owner of Level Up Influence, who helps coaching, consulting, and SaaS founder-led brands make more money from the clients they already have through stronger client success and customer experience. Bradley shares his origin story, from rising as a high-ticket closer at a nine-figure sales organization at just 19 years old, to walking away from that role over an ethical misalignment that shaped his focus on treating clients well and delivering on promises at scale. He also opens up about one of his biggest career mistakes — taking a director-level role that was beyond his skill level at the time and being let go after just a week — and how he bounced back quickly by pivoting into a better-fit client success position. From there, Bradley digs into the skills that have helped him most: knowing what to say no to, structuring his work around his own focus and energy, and using AI as a thinking partner rather than just a task-doer. He also shares practical advice for beginners on prioritizing reps and fast learning over perfection, highlights Hormozi's "Rule of 100," and talks about the renewed value of in-person networking in a digital-first world. Who is Bradley Rausch? Bradley Rausch is a client experience architect, strategic advisor, and the go-to "backend profit" partner for founder-led coaching and group programs. With six years of experience, he's helped dozens of founders turn chaotic growth into durable, higher-margin revenue without sacrificing their values. From first-72-hour onboarding systems to referrals, testimonials, and ascension playbooks, Bradley and his team help founders turn each great client into 1.5–2x more profit and build businesses that feel lighter as they scale. Bradley is the owner of Level Up Influence. He got his start at 19 in the online high-ticket coaching, consulting, and SaaS space, working his way up to a top sales training and coaching organization before stepping away to focus on client success. He later spent time as director of client success for B2B eight-figure brands while building his consulting business on the side, and for the past year has worked on his consulting company full-time. Connect with Bradley Rausch Website: www.bradleyrausch.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/bradley-rausch/ Host Contact Details Website: https://workathomerockstar.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/workathomerockstar Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/workathomerockstar LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timmelanson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WorkAtHomeRockStarPodcast X / Twitter: https://twitter.com/workathomestar Email: tim@workathomerockstar.com Timestamps 00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro 00:24 Bradley Origin Story 02:18 Client Success Mission 03:31 Biggest Career Mistake 06:58 Bouncing Back Fast 08:53 Confidence vs Competence 11:31 Three Skills to Win 14:34 AI as Thinking Partner 17:41 Avoiding Busywork Traps 20:31 Cutting Through the Noise 21:53 Start Simple With AI 22:31 Hormozi Rule Of 100 23:43 Stop Waiting On Websites 26:51 Hard Work Still Wins 29:47 In Person Networking Returns 32:23 Monetize Discretionary Effort 34:29 Content And Penguin Example 36:33 Bradley Business Updates 37:09 Refreshing Client Delivery 39:51 Who Bradley Helps Most 42:02 Where To Connect 42:18 Music And Taylor Swift 44:25 Covering Folklore Evermore 45:48 Podcast Wrap Up Disclaimers Title: Business & Coaching Advice This episode reflects Bradley's personal experience and opinions. Every business is different, so use his advice as a starting point and adapt it to your own situation. Title: Guest-Shared Client Stories Some client results and figures mentioned in this episode are shared from Bradley's own experience and haven't been independently verified — think of them as real-world examples, not guarantees. Title: Third-Party Frameworks This episode references ideas and frameworks from other experts, like Alex Hormozi's "Rule of 100." These are shared for discussion and reflect that expert's own claims, not an endorsement from Work at Home Rockstar.

This week's throwback guest studied Logistics and supply chain management, as well as held roles from Server and Sales Associate in retail, to Named AE. He worked at companies such as Apple, Symantec, MongoDB, Metadata, and Proofpoint, before leading Dimmo, where they are changing the way people evaluate and buy software where you can watch SaaS demos without jumping into sales cycles. Since this conversation, he had the shift to Tailscale as an Enterprise Account Executive. When he isn't at work, he is spending time golfing, and spending time with his family. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming Troy Munson to The 20% Podcast. In this week's episode, we discussed:- His early years- Studying Supply Chain and how it relates now- Discuss his experiences selling software- The lead up to Dimmo- The future of buying softwareEnjoy this week's episode with Troy Munson.I am now in the early stages of writing my first book! It will cover my journey into sales, the lessons learned, and include stories and advice from top sales professionals around the world. I'm excited to share these interviews and bring you along on this journey!Like the show? Subscribe to the email: Subscribe HereI want your feedback! Reach out at 20percentpodcastquestions@gmail.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.If you know anyone who would benefit from this show, please share it! If you have suggestions for guests, let me know!Enjoy the show!

AI is about to replace bloated SaaS, and most businesses are still only playing with chatbotsSean G Muller says the next wave of AI is not about better prompts or prettier copilots. It is about rebuilding business around context, agents, and what actually creates value - before your software stack becomes the expensive middleman.Mark Smth and Sean unpack why the last six months have been a genuine shift: agentic loops are now good enough to handle real business work, not just experiments. Sean explains how he moved from traditional technical architecture into building full application pipelines, MCP servers, and background agents that review email, track social signals, draft responses, and keep business moving without adding more human overhead.You'll discover why context is the missing ingredient in almost every failed AI project, how Sean uses a simple meal-planning example to explain it, and why companies that scatter knowledge across laptops, SharePoint, Google Cloud, and people's heads are sitting on hidden risk. Sean also breaks down the difference between AI as a feature and AI as a business transformation engine, including the mistake many firms make when they bolt chat onto old workflows and call it progress.We also get into the coming SaaS pocalypse - the idea that tools like HubSpot, Salesforce, Xero, Slack, and Atlassian may face a serious reckoning as businesses realize they can build leaner, custom, agent-first systems for less than the cost of endless licenses and modules. Sean shares how he built a headless, agent-driven CRM and why he thinks greenfield builds will replace expensive transformation projects much sooner than most executives expect. This conversation matters if you lead a business, run operations, own a small or mid-sized company, or simply suspect your current software is forcing you to work the wrong way. If you want to understand where AI is actually delivering leverage right now - and how to avoid wasting money on shallow pilots - this episode is essential listening.Mark Smth hosts the conversation and brings the enterprise and product lens, pushing Sean to get specific about what success looks like for real businesses in New Zealand.Sean G Muller is an AI and enterprise architecture specialist based in New Zealand, known for helping organizations build practical AI systems, implement agentic workflows, and rethink business process from the ground up.Resources1. The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage - https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/0385249462?ref_=mr_referred_us_au_nz2. Gemini: A Family of Highly Capable Multimodal Models — 2312.11805.pdf ⁠https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.118053. On the Measure of Intelligence — 1911.01547.pdf - https://arxiv.org/pdf/1911.01547Support the showIf you want to get in touch with me, you can message me here on Linkedin.Thanks for listening

Mark is CEO of a SaaS company, Podcast Host and Board Member. Next to that he is a martial art practitioner and loves turning fuzzy value propositions into a sharp one so that customers immediately see the value. Website: https://www.timewax.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpdejong/  CallumConnects Micro-Podcast is your daily dose of wholesome leadership inspiration. Hear from many different leaders in just 5 minutes what hurdles they have faced, how they overcame them, and what their key learning is. Be inspired, subscribe, leave a comment, go and change the world!

(0:00) Bestie intros: Recapping recent interviews and the state of American science (3:31) China's Robot Olympics, Optimus update, Grok Bot (9:05) Nvidia and Salesforce rip after big earnings: AI Capex Bubble and SaaSpocalypse narratives get reversed (33:32) Bessent gets called out by Druckenmiller for bond market interference (1:01:33) AI writing controversy: Druck used AI to write his WSJ Op-ed (1:15:00) CIA Chief visits Moscow, Meta's settlement and new teen rules (1:22:52) Science Corner: Moderna's mRNA cancer vaccine Come hang with the Besties at the All-In Summit | September 13-15: http://theallinsummit.com Follow the besties: https://x.com/chamath https://x.com/Jason https://x.com/DavidSacks https://x.com/friedberg Follow on X: https://x.com/theallinpod Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theallinpod Follow on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@allin Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/allinpod Intro Music Credit: https://rb.gy/tppkzl https://x.com/yung_spielburg Intro Video Credit: https://x.com/TheZachEffect Referenced in the show: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/27/nvidia-nvda-q2-earnings.html https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/article/how-nvidia-silenced-the-bears-105017893.html https://nvidianews.nvidia.com/news/nvidia-announces-financial-results-for-second-quarter-fiscal-2027 https://polymarket.com/event/largest-company-end-of-december-2026 https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/18/treasury-yields-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/24/bessent-1-trillion-treasury-general-account-bond-buybacks.html https://seekingalpha.com/news/4636322-wall-street-sees-bessent-putting-fear-of-god-into-bond-vigilantes https://www.wsj.com/opinion/let-the-bond-market-speak-81529d74 https://www.wsj.com/world/cia-director-john-ratcliffe-makes-surprise-trip-to-moscow-c1c68fa6 https://polymarket.com/event/russia-x-ukraine-ceasefire-agreement-by

Inside the D&D side hustle that's really a masterclass in building AI systems that pay you back. Make money online by selling AI-generated D&D campaigns: Learn how tabletop creators use a two-pass AI content creation workflow to build balanced, ready-to-run 5e campaigns and monetize them on Patreon—a proven digital product side gig that takes hours, not months. This episode breaks down the prompt structure, explains why DMs buy convenience content, and shows the specific market opportunity overlooked by most AI entrepreneurs. https://DarkHorseEntrepreneur.com This episode explains how tabletop RPG creators are using a two-pass AI workflow to generate balanced, ready-to-run D&D 5e campaigns quickly and monetize them through Patreon, arguing this is an overlooked micro-business. It outlines why DMs buy convenience content, cites a growing market for pre-built campaigns, and shows a detailed prompt structure that uses official encounter-balancing formulas plus a second refinement pass in another model to improve balance, pacing, and coherence. It emphasizes that success depends less on content creation and more on repeatable systems, subscriber acquisition and retention, and audience-building via TikTok/YouTube Shorts, including using subscriber requests to drive loyalty. It also describes higher-paying customers (streaming DMs), backend monetization through licensing to publishers and marketplaces, risks from shifting AI behavior requiring documented prompts and quality gates, and a potential future SaaS tool that could disrupt Patreon sellers. 00:00 AI DnD Side Hustle 01:18 DM Pain And Demand 02:18 Encounters Are Algorithms 03:06 Base Prompt Blueprint 04:08 Specificity And Constraints 04:48 Two Pass Quality System 06:08 Patreon Content Calendar 07:25 Retention And Requests 08:36 Premium Streaming Clients 09:51 Marketing Reality Check 11:03 Patreon As Funnel 12:17 Scaling And Version Control 13:13 SaaS Disruption Angle 14:06 Build Moats With Systems 15:00 System Over Content 15:50 Whiskered Wisdom 16:42 Action Step 17:23 Wrap Up AI side hustle, Make money with AI, Patreon subscriptions, licensing, SaaS, ChatGPT business ideas, prompt framework, generating D&D campaigns, AI content creation, campaigns, NPC stat blocks, encounter modules, D&D campaign generator, tabletop RPG, make money online, TTRPG, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Roll20, D&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast, Patreon, ai automation business, online side hustles, business motivation, work from home, business mindset, entrepreneur motivation, entrepreneurship, ai content creation, side hustle ideas, entrepreneur mindset, business tips, how to make money online, make money from home, ai automation agency, AI, AI Tools, ai entrepreneur, make money online, side hustle ideas, make money from home, online side hustles, AI start up ideas, entrepreneur, ai business https://DarkHorseEntrepreneur.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Don’t get left behind in the AI shift! Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this critical conversation, Vince Menzione sits down with Shannon Sigmon, Marc Harpster, and Jeff Mesnik to uncover how the rapid pace of change in the Google Cloud Marketplace and AI agent integration is forcing organizations to completely rethink their go-to-market strategies. They break down why traditional three-year business plans are dead, replacing them with agile 100-day sprints to keep up with the shifting ecosystem. The panel reveals that leveraging your Adaptability Quotient (AQ) and turning data patterns into actionable co-sell motions are the only ways to survive the upcoming “agent age” and maintain a competitive edge. https://youtu.be/xIaABKU1jmM Key Takeaways Consistent messaging is required to gather actionable data and build trust with channel partners. Three-to-five-year business plans are obsolete, and leaders must now operate in 100-day sprints to keep pace with hyperscaler changes. Google Cloud Marketplace uniquely supports channel partners by allowing them to own the customer relationship and recognize top-line revenue. The rise of AI agents is shifting discovery away from traditional SEO, requiring ISVs to adapt how they provide access to their tools. Creating interactive content variations from a single asset helps train AI agents to discover and prioritize your solutions. Despite rapid digital transformation, human connection remains the ultimate deciding factor in enterprise software purchases. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags Adaptability Quotient, Google Cloud Marketplace, agentic age, co-sell motion, digital sales hub, private offers, propensity to buy, AI pattern analysis, hyperscaler CRM, interactive trivia content, product-led discovery. Transcript Shannon – Marc – Jeff AUDIO Podcast [00:00:00] Vince Menzione: That becomes the core of your data analysis because if you’re not submitting consistent content and submit, you know, consistent information, then you’re not gonna get information back. [00:00:13] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us. The way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:25] Vince Menzione: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner [00:00:26] Vince Menzione: Podcast. I’m Vince Menzione your host. And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the [00:00:46] Vince Menzione: strategy. [00:00:47] Vince Menzione: It is the strategy because being in the room changes everything. Let’s start. [00:00:57] ——-: We have another incredible group of leaders coming up here and, uh, and friends of ultimate partner and, uh, Susan, do you need me for, okay, good. Come on up. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna invite you up and then have you each. Introduce yourself, uh, to this conversation. Shannon, it has been a great to see you. Yeah, great friend. [00:01:18] ——-: Been in, it was in Boca. Mark. Great to have you. Good to see you, sir. Jeff, great to have you. Uh, this is incredible. I’m, I’m excited for this conversation. So, uh, yeah, we talked about aq. We talked a little bit about AQ in this last session. Don’t, didn’t we? Yeah. [00:01:34] Shannon Sigmon: A little. [00:01:34] Vince Menzione: Why don’t we go, why don’t we have you, I wanna have you each introduce yourself, your role, your company mission, and, and, and everything here. [00:01:40] Vince Menzione: So why don’t we start with Shannon. [00:01:41] Shannon Sigmon: Um, hey, thank you Vince for having us again, um, here in Bellevue. It’s been great to meet with everybody and see some old friends. Uh, I’m at Software One, so Shannon Sigman, um, based on the East Coast, but I work at Software One I’m responsible for. Um, in my sales role, I’m responsible for our channel and digital sales organization in North America. [00:02:00] Shannon Sigmon: And then I also have, um, responsibility supporting Regina Ma and Freddie and our leadership team as the chief of staff. Um, and we’re focused software one, if you haven’t worked with us before, we’re focused on helping, um, helping our customers and partners deliver real financial impact in their business so they can afford some of the, the cool to do some of the cool stuff you were talking about in the earlier session. [00:02:20] Shannon Sigmon: And it’s, for us, it’s really about coming in on the front end and helping, um, our customers and our partners understand what they’re doing in their software stack, their cloud stack, and then how to, um, optimize that, rationalize the strategy and, and the implementation of of solutions. [00:02:36] Vince Menzione: And a global leader in the marketplace in [00:02:38] Shannon Sigmon: That’s right. [00:02:39] Shannon Sigmon: The, the number one Microsofts, um, we [00:02:41] Vince Menzione: used to say re reseller or ls. We used to all these different, [00:02:44] Shannon Sigmon: yeah. We, um, it’s funny, I was speaking last night. We fall into the scale solution provider. We’re d with Google and AWS. But, um, we operate very differently on the, on the North America market as a more of a boutique, uh, personalized experience than what a traditional dity is. [00:02:59] Shannon Sigmon: I’m less about the transaction and more about the impact and the, the outcomes and, and helping partners with their go-to-market strategy. [00:03:07] ——-: Awesome. Yeah. And sitting next to you, Marc I’ll let you introduce yourself ’cause this kind of ties in very nicely in [00:03:13] Marc Harpster: Yeah. [00:03:13] ——-: In terms of the work you do. [00:03:14] Marc Harpster: Uh, thanks Vince. [00:03:15] Marc Harpster: Uh, hi everyone. I’m Mark Harpster. I am part of the Google Cloud Marketplace organization. So, uh, guy who you just heard from on the last panel is my boss. Uh, I run strategic initiatives within the marketplace team. So this includes our channel program. Uh, so everyone who is. Uh, the partners who like to resell, uh, ISV software out our marketplace. [00:03:38] Marc Harpster: Uh, I have a team who works with, uh, all of you, and that includes distribution. Uh, and uh, then I also, we run, um, the, some of our, like the go to market strategic initiatives. So we have a. Uh, customer credit program that ISVs can take advantage of to help incentivize deals going through marketplace, uh, propensity to buy, uh, data that we can share. [00:04:02] Marc Harpster: Mm-hmm. Uh, a number of different programs along those lines. Uh, basically, uh, we’re we’re helping. You know, customers find the solutions that they want to buy and helping them buy from the who they wanna buy from. [00:04:14] ——-: Yeah. And you were out early. I mean, you’ve been in the, the, I I feel like Google was leaned in very early on the channel. [00:04:20] Marc Harpster: Yeah. [00:04:20] ——-: And it was a couple years now, right? [00:04:22] Marc Harpster: Yeah. I joined Google about two and a half years ago. Uh, I was, you know, at, at another, worked for another cloud marketplace before that. So I’ve, I’ve been in the marketplace space for, uh, over a decade now. Uh, I’m really passionate about it. And with the, to touch on your point, Vince, I think the one key advantage of Google is, you know, within the, our channel partners, uh, we have a huge, uh, partner network, uh, of, of, you know, channel resellers and, uh, system integrators. [00:04:52] Marc Harpster: Uh, and we actively want those channel partners to, you know, own the customer relationship, including all of the billing. Uh, channel partners tend to love this because we’re the only cloud marketplace that really supports sort of the ability to recognize top line revenue for the channel partners. Uh, and so that’s been a real, uh, you know, distinguishing factor. [00:05:11] Marc Harpster: And one thing I’m really excited about within our marketplace. [00:05:14] Vince Menzione: You got it right. Awesome, Jeff. Good to see you, sir. [00:05:17] Vince Menzione: Good to see you. Thank you. Thank you for having [00:05:19] Jeff Mesnik: me. Good to have you. [00:05:20] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:05:21] Vince Menzione: Tell us a little bit about your organization, about content amx. [00:05:24] Jeff Mesnik: Well, I’m honored to be here with, uh, these two. Yeah. [00:05:27] Jeff Mesnik: You know, and, and Vince obviously [00:05:29] Vince Menzione: Thank you. [00:05:29] Jeff Mesnik: But you know, our organization is really about coming back, and I’m not trying to plug tackle by you saying this, but we’re doing the blocking and tackling for organizations another. [00:05:40] Vince Menzione: That’s why I named the tackle. [00:05:41] Jeff Mesnik: Yeah, I know. It’s, it’s, it’s part of my every conversation now and I have to think about it, but we basically believe in the idea that trust is starting by consistency and expectation. [00:05:55] Jeff Mesnik: So a few years ago I was listening to, um, an event where Tim Couch and, um, Michelle Ragusa, McBain were talking and they said, partners respond to. You meeting and greet, you know, exceeding expectations. So one of those expectations should be consistent messaging to them and consistent messaging for them to send out to their customers. [00:06:15] Jeff Mesnik: And then the next step is that becomes the core of your data analysis, because if you’re not submitting consistent content and submit, you know, consistent information, then you’re not gonna get information back. So that information back then turns into sales opportunities because you’re not looking at. [00:06:34] Jeff Mesnik: Clicks or having a marketing person say, Hey, you know, this person just stopped by my booth. Or Hey, they downloaded a white paper. It’s patterns using AI to analyze and address and look at patterns and turn those patterns into actions. So, you know, we’ve been talking Shannon and Mark and I about those patterns and how to. [00:06:55] Jeff Mesnik: Respond to them to maybe do a co-sell motion if that’s what’s necessary, or to make sure that the partner is ready for the next step. We’re doing a program for Microsoft. Whoops. So we’re doing a program for Microsoft. Do I still have it? [00:07:11] Marc Harpster: Yeah, you’re [00:07:11] Marc Harpster: good. Um, that en enables the partners to learn about AI and then we can understand where they are in their AI path. [00:07:22] Vince Menzione: Awesome. So Shannon, uh, Regina, man. Freddy. Yeah. Also a great friend of, ultimate Partner. Been on stage, was on stage here a couple years ago. We talked about adaptability quotient. Uh, we, we took that, we took that back. Now we use it all the time. And I, you know, I want, I wanna cover with you what that means to your organization. [00:07:40] Vince Menzione: A lot has changed. [00:07:41] Shannon Sigmon: Yes. Still. Yeah. [00:07:42] Vince Menzione: Still changed. Yeah. And you work with multiple hyperscalers, so take us through like, how, how, how does. What is now Software One used to be crayon, now it’s software one Crayon, or it’s just software one. Now let’s talk about all the change and how you’re absorbing it, and then how are you taking it to market and being successful. [00:08:00] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah, it’s interesting. We spent time, gosh, two, three years ago now, um, talking about adaptability being the next superpower [00:08:07] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:08:07] Shannon Sigmon: Uh, of workforce, right? That it wasn’t just about having the experience, but with the rate at which. The pace at which change was happening, having, uh, uh, employees foundationally focused on curiosity and learning and con constant development. [00:08:23] Shannon Sigmon: Um, and my goodness, uh, this year alone, right? We we’re. We, it’s hard to keep up. Right? So this idea of creating a full three to five year plan, we’re, we’re creating sprints plans. Yes. Right. And sprint strategies. And so I do think when we look at our integration of the two companies as Crayon and Software one come together globally, um, that has been a critical mass. [00:08:47] Shannon Sigmon: Uh, issue for us to overcome, but also to get our employee base one feeling comfortable with the pace of change because it can, for those people who are, are not change agents, it can be really uncomfortable and, and stress inducing. Um, but also giving them space to, to try things, fail fast and learn from it. [00:09:07] Shannon Sigmon: And. Um, it, it, it infuses that adaptability quotient, infuses entrepreneurial spirit within the organization a bit. Um, but it has become, it is the superpower of the next generation is how, how quickly can you adapt to change, but not just adapt to it as it’s coming, but stay ahead of it, um, and stay ahead of what’s happening in the industry through communities like this so that you’re skating towards the puck, not waiting for the puck to hit you in between the eyeballs. [00:09:34] Vince Menzione: Yeah. How long are these sprint. I can’t even imagine doing a three-year plan any, any longer. Right. [00:09:39] Shannon Sigmon: I mean, we, there’s some intentionality behind it for us. So my, um, partner in crime, Sean, uh, er, who leads our rev ops, uh, function in North America, we, we sprint pretty fast. So we do leadership offsite every three months. [00:09:52] Shannon Sigmon: Um, and it’s not like it does, we don’t sit in a meeting conference room like this quite often. There’s. We’re running an Airbnb and we’re living and breathing and talking and tumbling rocks together in a real productive way. Um, and it forces our leadership team to not just work at an operational level, but like really down in the trenches at a personal level together to solve problems for our people. [00:10:15] Shannon Sigmon: For our culture, for our business future. And I think that has helped us stay ahead of what’s coming at us from both the hyperscaler community, from the economy, uh, and global, some of the global trends that we’re seeing. It helps us stay ahead of that. And I mean, as leaders, we can, we can conflict and, and, uh, debate in a closed, safe space to get to work through some of that. [00:10:38] Vince Menzione: Mark, what are you seeing? I mean, we were just talking to D about all the significant advances Yeah. In your organization and you work with all these amazing top resellers in the industry. Mm-hmm. Uh, Tony Voya is an old friend of mine’s. Been on the podcast a hundred times. Yeah. Ran another organization’s one of [00:10:54] Marc Harpster: Yeah. [00:10:54] Vince Menzione: Also one of the large, yeah. [00:10:57] Marc Harpster: Yeah. Tony’s great. Um, it’s interesting you mentioned working in sprints. We, we ourselves are even adapting into sort of the notion of like. What are you doing in the next a hundred days? [00:11:07] Vince Menzione: Mm-hmm. [00:11:07] Marc Harpster: Right? You can’t, that six months, a year is too long. It’s too long. So, you know, that’s just internally, uh, within Google Cloud. [00:11:14] Marc Harpster: But, uh, our, you know, I see this across, if, if we go back a decade ago, uh, you know, ISVs had to learn how to change to, to just to, to list a PayGo product in a marketplace. [00:11:28] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Yeah. [00:11:28] Marc Harpster: Right. A whole new business model. Uh, and then, then we. Introduced the notion of like, Hey, it doesn’t have to just be pay, right? [00:11:36] Marc Harpster: It’s, yeah. Now we’re going to introduce the concept of a private offer, right? And how does that work? Right? And so you heard a lot of, uh, insights in the last panel about some of the changes you need to make to your sales organization and how do you adapt to that, right? And then there’s the change of like, well, what about the channel partners? [00:11:52] Marc Harpster: Right? Yeah. So every channel partner. Uh, in that I’ve been working with for the last eight, nine years, make the pivot to like, oh, we still have a place here. We have all these customer relationships and connections and hey, we can sell these things too. Right? But they have to figure out how the channel private offers feature works, right? [00:12:10] Marc Harpster: Um, distribution. Right. Then suddenly we’re, we’re, we’re bringing distributors back into the cloud marketplace world, you know, and they’re actually pushing us for like brand new things, like, Hey, we wanna, we want more APIs, right? And so I, I’ve seen. The entire community of partners. Be, be able to adapt to meet the customer where they are. [00:12:30] Marc Harpster: Right. And, and take advantage of the customer benefits of buying through marketplaces. And so now we’ve got another, another moment of great change, right? As we head kind of into the agent age. And every one of us is gonna have to, to be adaptable again. Yeah. And I think the notion of like. Whatcha gonna do in the next a hundred days? [00:12:47] Marc Harpster: Or like, what, what, what is the first thing that we, what are our priorities? How do we focus on, this is going to be key, right? ISVs need to, to understand, hey, how do, how do agents change the way we, uh, allow customers to access our tools and our software? Right? Uh, the channel needs to then understand like, well, what are we reselling agents? [00:13:07] Marc Harpster: Are we creating our own agents? Yes. Like, how does this change us? Right? And so it’s across the board, uh, and it’s gonna be a really. Fun, you know, rest next few months. [00:13:16] Vince Menzione: What are you seeing with regards to that? I was thinking about that as well. Like does the ISV create the agent or does the, the, the, the channel partner, the reseller, the Gs, I mean the GSIs [00:13:25] Marc Harpster: are involved here as well. [00:13:26] Marc Harpster: Certainly are, are, are, you know, I think DI mentioned this in the last panel. They, they’re, they’re creating agents, uh, you know, all over the place right now. But a lot of ISVs are as well. They recognize that they need to adapt. Right. And so I think we’re getting. Um, we’re getting really good participation, uh, from. [00:13:46] Marc Harpster: All sorts of partners and even, you know, the, the kind of traditional, uh, like what I call a reseller, they’re starting to figure it out as well. Right? Like, do I need to list my own agent? How do I do that? Right. And they’re coming to us seeking some guidance right now. Yeah. Are [00:14:01] Vince Menzione: you? [00:14:01] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah, I mean, I think we look at ourselves as customers. [00:14:03] Shannon Sigmon: You already heard that yesterday. Yeah. A lot on, from some of the Microsoft community. Um, we we’re starting to see pockets and um, we’re, we’re actually running our own company-wide hackathon in June. Um, specifically to intersect with copilot, Gemini, Claude, how do we get our teams on the ground level? Um, I loved what was said earlier, but it’s gotta be a, a bottoms up, tops down approach. [00:14:28] Shannon Sigmon: And the good thing for us is we have leadership support at the top down on, on the tinkering, on the learning, on the implementation. And now we’re working to build the skillset from the bottom up so that we can take some of those use cases to our customers and our partners and, and start to learn and adopt along the way. [00:14:45] Vince Menzione: So Jeff, you’ve been working with channel partners on the marketing side for many years on their go to market strategies. What are you seeing on your side of this aq? Or how are, how is AQ being absorbed and how are you thinking about this new world that we’re living in today? [00:14:58] Jeff Mesnik: Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, we work with 10,000 different types of channel partners and whether it’s through education or passing through and driving demand for them, and what we’re finding is there’s a little bit sometimes also a whiplash. [00:15:12] Jeff Mesnik: I mean, it’s like first it’s like, okay, we gotta go to the marketplace. Now we have ai, and now, oh wait, there’s these ISVs that can add value on top, and how do I do it together? So. Well, we’re, when we’re talking to these partners, we are trying to learn from the customers also who are bringing, because they’re adjusting their, you know, notions like, right? [00:15:34] Jeff Mesnik: You know, Shannon, you’re doing it every three months, [00:15:36] Shannon Sigmon: right? [00:15:36] Jeff Mesnik: So these poor partners, right? They’re trying to communicate and engage and work with the customer, and then all of a sudden it changes on a dime. So you need to have that instantaneous access to the. Information about what a customer is researching, what they’re doing, what they’re most interested in, and that’s really the important part to help with the, you know, adaptability quotient for these partners. [00:16:00] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:16:00] Jeff Mesnik: And for them to learn, they have to be pushed into it through a customer. Not just pushed into it from the vendor’s perspective. Also on the distributors are saying, Hey, let’s you know, go to my marketplace. Don’t go to Google’s marketplace. We are, we are Google’s marketplace. And it’s very, it can be very confusing. [00:16:18] Jeff Mesnik: So using AI you can understand what the customer’s needs are. You can enrich it by pulling in data from the different sources of information, whether it’s a CRM system or third party piece, and then use AI to actually define the next step that each partner can take so that they’re adapting faster and their sales team understands what to do next, and then go through some micro learnings or whatever it might be. [00:16:44] Jeff Mesnik: Mm-hmm. I love that. [00:16:45] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah. Yeah, and I was gonna say, Jeff and I are actually working together on a pilot. One of the things, and Vince, we talked about it, um, our teams internally are so consumed with the integration. [00:16:56] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:16:56] Shannon Sigmon: I was scared. There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes. We pulled the plug really early on, at least getting our frontline sales force integrated last year. [00:17:04] Shannon Sigmon: So, at least to the market and to our customer and partner community, we were one company, but there’s a lot of system integration that’s still to come. And so, um, we, we’ve been partnered with Jeff and, and the content MX team because, um, a part of our cycles of getting our message out to market to our partners and helping them with their customer messaging is just the nurturing, the insights and leading the customer, leading the sellers through that sales Next. [00:17:27] Shannon Sigmon: Best step conversation. And so we’re, um, we’ll leverage some of the, the tools and the resources that that Jeff’s team is bringing to bear for us, because our marketing team has got integration work to go do. We’ve got rebranding and new websites to build and new processes to implement. And so for us that adaptability means realizing we can’t do it all ourselves. [00:17:48] Shannon Sigmon: And so we leveraged this community to connect with partners in the ecosystem who can help us. With our own solutioning of, of how we go to market and making sure we’re not missing the beat in those a hundred day sprints. [00:18:00] Vince Menzione: And you’re truly global. That’s right. As an organization. Right. So Switzerland is now the new headquarters that is right. [00:18:05] Vince Menzione: Nor was it Norway before and [00:18:06] Shannon Sigmon: yeah. [00:18:07] Vince Menzione: And then of course you’ve got the Americas [00:18:09] Vince Menzione: and [00:18:09] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah, we have our headquarter office here in Milwaukee and they’ve got a digital sales hub in Nashville, Tennessee. [00:18:13] Vince Menzione: Yeah. So. Bringing all those resources and then having all these people that have to adapt to change and then drive and go to market. [00:18:20] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah. [00:18:20] Vince Menzione: On top of that, [00:18:21] Shannon Sigmon: look, it just allows us to focus on what matters most, which is our customers, our partners, and our people. Um, and so leveraging our partner community, leveraging this network of folks that you’ve built helps us. We’ll continue to focus our team on the things that matter most for driving the business our results. [00:18:38] Shannon Sigmon: Um, we just announced earlier this week we had a bang up, um, Q1 and looking forward to that momentum carrying through the rest of the year. And, and it’s because of the partnerships and, and helping us to, to manage that adapt adaption of our business, um, going forward. [00:18:54] Vince Menzione: Mark, anything else from your side? [00:18:56] Marc Harpster: Uh, I just, I, I think, you know, platforms like yours are, are super exciting to me, and there’s a number of them that we’ve heard from over the last couple days. [00:19:06] Marc Harpster: You, you help all of us, every partner in the room, including the hyperscalers, you know, meet the customer where they are. And I think that’s increasingly important because as complicated as it’s for all of us to figure this out, it still has to be the customers at the center of it all. Right? And so we need to meet ’em where they are. [00:19:22] Vince Menzione: So what does real AI credibility look like for those partners? [00:19:27] Marc Harpster: Yeah, it’s, it’s a great question. Um, you know, it’s, it’s, uh, I’m fortunate to, to get to be at Google right now and we have, uh, uh, you know, we’re obviously working on a lot of things. Um, you know, we’ve been talking a lot about agents and, and, uh, you know. [00:19:45] Marc Harpster: What does it mean to, to listen agent and what’s that gonna do for the customer? Um, you know, I think it, it’s, it’s gonna have a big impact on how we co-sell. Right. I think we touched a little bit on this in the last panel. Uh, I think that, um, you know, customers, uh, are going to find their way to agents and it’s a different type of customer who’s gonna find it. [00:20:08] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:20:08] Marc Harpster: Uh, and I think that, you know, this opens up a real opportunity. Uh, for us to, you know, us as hyperscalers in the marketplace, to, um, kind of flip how things have been. Where traditionally it’s like, oh, you know, the ISV or, or the channel reseller sources the deal, and then we’re gonna register a deal in the, in the CRM, it’s gonna go over to, uh, you know, the, the, the hyperscaler CRM and then the sales rep’s gonna get involved. [00:20:34] Marc Harpster: I mean, that stuff is still gonna happen, still gonna be important, but now customers are gonna find their way to agents and now it’s, oh. The marketplace. [00:20:43] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:20:43] Marc Harpster: To get that information back out. Right. Or maybe they’re finding the content through a platform like Jeff’s, uh, and they go try something out and suddenly that’s the signal. [00:20:53] Marc Harpster: Right? And so we need to find a way to communicate that, I think a little more nimbly than we have in the past. Um, you know, so that’s a really big one. Um, and I think that like, uh, you know. The next, the next decade is really gonna be like, a little bit like the last decade was, uh, just as you know, in the last decade, really all these, all of the businesses that, you know, all of you guys in this room found a way to grow these astounding businesses, you know, in cloud. [00:21:21] Marc Harpster: And now I get to do the whole thing again in, you know, in the age of AI and agents. So I’m super excited for it. [00:21:27] Vince Menzione: Well, it, I think about SEO and product-led growth, almost like, oh, the agent’s gonna discover mm-hmm. Yeah. The solution in the marketplace, right? [00:21:35] Marc Harpster: Yeah. [00:21:35] Vince Menzione: So how do you think about go-to market strategies around that, right? [00:21:39] Vince Menzione: Yeah. ’cause, ’cause marketing changes dramatically, [00:21:41] Marc Harpster: right? [00:21:42] Vince Menzione: We were talking about that yesterday. [00:21:43] Marc Harpster: Yeah. Like when the agent is the one, finding [00:21:45] Vince Menzione: the agent is the one finding it, and it, it better be able to find it. ’cause then it’s gonna go search other places if it doesn’t. Yep. As if it’s not discoverable. [00:21:52] Vince Menzione: I think we all get to figure that out together. [00:21:54] Vince Menzione: Right. [00:21:54] Vince Menzione: Jeff, you’re, you’re the go-to-market expert, [00:21:57] Jeff Mesnik: I mean, [00:21:57] Vince Menzione: in the panel here. So how do you think about that? [00:22:00] Jeff Mesnik: We think about it the same way, kind of in your video, right? Yeah. Where it’s basically there’s a few ways that you need to be, um, reaching out so that you’re discovered by the AI agent. [00:22:10] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:22:10] Jeff Mesnik: So exactly the, you know, for example, you, you know, people here we are all writing white papers and case studies and, you know, doing all that work. [00:22:18] Jeff Mesnik: But what really triggers it is when you create more content from that one piece. So that’s more interactive. So for example, like, you know, you guys were talking about the short, the video shorts. [00:22:29] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah. [00:22:29] Jeff Mesnik: You can instantaneously, like we have a system that’s connected that instantaneously creates these video shorts from the PDF. [00:22:36] Jeff Mesnik: Or some of you may have seen I created a trivia night, which is an interactive element, so it enables people to then share and engage, and that starts to have, you know, some effect with the SEO, which is now. AI agents who are looking out to see, okay, what are the responses? What are the other people saying? [00:22:57] Jeff Mesnik: You’re spearheading that motion. [00:23:00] Jeff Mesnik: Yeah. [00:23:00] Jeff Mesnik: And then as you said, kind of the, kind of the triggers or the, you know, the, for the data insights that come back mm-hmm. From that are the ones that can trigger a co-sell motion where you’re working together with. Other partners you can be, you know, if you’re a vendor and you use us and you see that information, then maybe partner tap comes in and you can basically find which partner is the right one, and the systems can then target and have a co-sell motion together. [00:23:27] Jeff Mesnik: Yeah. [00:23:27] Jeff Mesnik: Right. So that’s the power that’s available now. [00:23:30] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Shannon, you mentioned about skating where the puck is going. Yeah. Famous. What, by the way, Wayne Gretzky lives in Jupiter, Florida. For those who dunno, uh, all the famous athletes, but of course that’s his, his quote. [00:23:42] Vince Menzione: And Joe Namath. Right. [00:23:43] Vince Menzione: And Joe NamUs. [00:23:44] Vince Menzione: Yeah, he’s in the, he’s in that one picture though slide. I have. Let’s talk about that a little bit. ’cause you, you’re navigating quite a bit of change. One of the most trusted resellers in the market working with the hyperscalers. Tell us how you’re adapting to that puck, where that puck is going. [00:24:01] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah, I, I think one of the things that we encourage and we talk about it, we, um, have a regular standing, uh, meeting where we talk about going out in the wild. [00:24:09] Shannon Sigmon: And so I think the, the most important thing that I would leave you all with and something that we are, um, fostering and learning along the way too, is your people in this whole A-E-O-G-E-O world. Your people have to have an opinion. It’s not just enough for them to share the content, click on the content, read the content, but they have to show up with a perspective or an opinion. [00:24:30] Shannon Sigmon: I don’t, I don’t need to be Jay McBain, but my goodness, I’m gonna follow him. I’m gonna learn from him, and I’m gonna share some of the learnings that I read from him because. He’s doing the work and, and getting the research together for us. But it is important that they do that and the, and the learning and adapting to where the puck is going, doesn’t happen behind a pane of glass. [00:24:47] Shannon Sigmon: They have to be out in front of it, in front of their customers, in front of partners, having a cup of coffee down the street with the neighbors. Because everybody is now consuming information in a much more personal way. It’s not, uh, just a corporate feed, uh, trough of AI slop that, um, somebody I was at an event last week they talked about, but to, to really understand it, to know it to be customer zero. [00:25:13] Shannon Sigmon: You have to be in it. And that doesn’t happen behind the pane of glass. So I would say that was probably the first one. And I think, um, one of the things that, uh, sparked, you know, a fire yesterday for me, Vince, was just really this conversation around the marketplace. Um, and especially in our, our, our community and what we do is how do we, this convergence of SaaS. [00:25:34] Shannon Sigmon: This convergence of consumption in the marketplace. Um, how do we as resellers help our customers optimize how they procure, um, their software in a much more modern way, um, and manage that along, along this journey so that they can take advantage of things coming up in ai. But I think those are like the two. [00:25:53] Shannon Sigmon: The one thing is just being curious, getting out in front of it and building your perspective. And you don’t have to be the smartest person in the room, but you do need an opinion. Um. And then showing up at events like this so that you can learn. [00:26:06] Vince Menzione: So Mark, uh, largest go to market shifts happening. I mean, the, the, the, the growth is astounding. [00:26:12] Vince Menzione: What about from your perspective? [00:26:14] Marc Harpster: Yeah, I think, um, you know, how you go to market, uh, in, in this new age is gonna change based on the type of partner that you are, right? Uh, if you’re an AI native startup, then you know that is your go to market. Like, like the AI is who you are, right? It’s part of your identity. [00:26:35] Marc Harpster: Versus if you’re a a, you know, a, a, an incumbent, a, a large ISV, you need to figure out how to wrap AI around your existing solutions, right? Mm-hmm. But if you may have a SaaS solution, and now do you have agents that are talking to that SaaS solution? You know, and are you building that? Where are you building that? [00:26:50] Marc Harpster: How are you running it? And how are you partnering with, you know, the hyperscalers? Uh, how are you partnering? You know, it could be, uh, philanthropic or open ai, right? Mm-hmm. Like we all have to, you know, you have to think about. How each of these different types of partners can help you go to market, right? [00:27:08] Marc Harpster: And really come up with that strategy. [00:27:13] Vince Menzione: Former. Any comments on that? [00:27:14] Jeff Mesnik: Yeah, well, I mean, I’ll just add, I, I just was thinking about this, uh, I’m gonna butcher this Bueller quote, but things are changing really fast, and you gotta take a moment to listen and understand what’s going on out there. So the data coming in is always going to drive everything else that you do. [00:27:30] Jeff Mesnik: So I butchered that quote, but imagine I said it right? [00:27:33] Vince Menzione: Yeah. I, I love Shannon, what you said it, and I’ll. Paraphrase it. The analog is the new digital. [00:27:42] Shannon Sigmon: It is, yeah. [00:27:43] Vince Menzione: Because we need rooms like this. We need to be in the room with other listen experts like [00:27:48] Shannon Sigmon: yourselves. Yeah. I mean, I say quite often human connection still matters, and at the end of the day, people are gonna use AI tools to do the research, to find the information, to surface the video training, but they’re not gonna make the decision until they know the person they’re buying from. [00:28:03] Shannon Sigmon: Yeah. And so that whole adage of people buy from people they like and trust. Is even more important in this, in this day and age. Yeah. [00:28:12] Vince Menzione: Any last comments or go tos for the, for this community? In front of us today. [00:28:17] Jeff Mesnik: I’ll just say that because of this community, you know, Shannon and I met, so we have yeah. [00:28:21] Jeff Mesnik: Great business that we’re gonna be doing together and I met the team at ISSI and we’ve got a great partnership that’s brewing. And, you know, I’m looking forward to other, you know, people that I’ve met here, um, Andrew who’s out there. Um, we’re gonna do some work together. So thank you, Vince. Thank you. I mean, this community has really been fabulous for me personally and for my business. [00:28:39] Jeff Mesnik: It’s been great meeting [00:28:40] Vince Menzione: and I didn’t pay you to say that, by the way. [00:28:42] Jeff Mesnik: No, I paid you. [00:28:44] Vince Menzione: That’s right. You did. You. Okay. Well, alright, mark, anything, any last comments from [00:28:52] Marc Harpster: Yeah. You know, um, don’t be afraid of the change, right? Like, if you have that hour a week, just go play around with play, play with all of the different, uh, AI. [00:29:02] Marc Harpster: Technologies that are out there, right. And just, uh, get to know them, right? The more comfortable you are with them, the easier this whole thing’s gonna be. So dedicate an hour a week, just go, you know, and that’s your time to, to learn how these things work, right? So [00:29:15] Vince Menzione: yeah, [00:29:15] Marc Harpster: I say don’t be afraid of it. [00:29:16] Vince Menzione: Awesome. [00:29:17] Vince Menzione: Yeah. Thank you so much. What a great panel. Great conversation. What do you think? Everyone? Thank you. Thank you so much. [00:29:25] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated. Share it with a [00:29:31] Vince Menzione: partner leader in your network. Subscribe where you listen, and head over to the Ultimate partner.com for show notes related content and the resources for this episode. [00:29:42] Vince Menzione: And if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything.

Aug 28, 2026 – Nvidia and Marvell reveal AI's next phase, software stages a comeback after the "SaaS apocalypse," and a hawkish Warsh puts a Fed hike back on the table. Ryan Puplava breaks down where growth, value, and rate risk collide for investors...

In this episode of the [Un]Churned Podcast, Josh Schachter sits down with Jake Saper, General Partner at Emergence Capital, to unpack the firm's 25 year thesis of being “early experts in emerging business models,” from the on-prem-to-cloud shift that birthed their first investment in Salesforce, to vertical SaaS with Veeva, to what Jake calls AI-Native Services, or AINS.They also dive into:What “AI-Native Services” actually means, in Jake's own wordsThe real story behind Gainsight's shift from selling software to selling outcomesWhy the biggest headwind to this transformation is cultural, not technical“Mirage product market fit,” the #1 mistake Jake sees in AI pitches right nowWhat Jake actually looks for in founders before he investsWhy tech vendors of the future might look more like insurance carriers than software companiesIf you're building anything in the AI services space, thinking about how AI changes SaaS margins, or just want to understand where venture capital thinks the next generational businesses will come from, this episode is a masterclass in spotting a category before it has a name.Want the playbook, not just the conversation? Subscribe for deep-dive, actionable breakdowns from every episode at ⁠unchurned.substack.com.⁠--Timestamps00:00 – Intro & Backstory01:37 – What Emergence Capital Focuses On, and How It Started08:14 – Naming the Category: Why “AI-Native Services” (AINS)12:42 – The Walk on the Embarcadero: How Gainsight's Pivot Was Born17:28 – The Biggest Headwind: It's Cultural, Not Technical20:24 – What Jake Looks For as an Investor: Domain Credibility31:21 – The Hanover Park Story: 150 Fund CFOs36:38 – Mirage Product Market Fit: The Overplayed Pattern in AINS Pitches38:48 – The AINS Idea Jake Wants Someone to Build42:07 – The Mafia, Dump Trucks, and Unexpected AI Competitors--Where to Find Jake Saper:Jake's LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakesaper/Emergence Capital: https://www.emcap.com/Where to Find Josh Schachter:Josh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jschachter/Unchurned Substack: https://unchurned.substack.com

SaaStr 875: Who Owns Your Data Now? Agents vs. System of Record, ServiceTitan vs. Podium, Headless Salesforce, and Agentic Renewals on The Agents #013 The agents are writing data faster than any human ever could - and systems of record aren't ready for it. This week on The Agents, Jason and Amelia dig into the biggest meta-theme of 2026: what happens when your AI agents become the primary user of your CRM, your MAP, and every other system you've built your business on? Together, they unpack the ServiceTitan vs. Podium blowup, where an agentic lead gen tool slowly became a competing system of record until ServiceTitan shut them off with 30 days' notice, and why this is just the first of many fights like it coming across SaaS. Then Amelia pulls back the curtain on how SaaStr actually runs Salesforce headless through 10K, what it means that their agents have written 40 gigabytes of data into Salesforce without either of them logging in, and why the storage math is going to force a reckoning for every vendor jacking up API prices right now. Plus: the renewal agent Amelia built that generates a fully custom, hyper-personalized pitch deck for every single customer, using headless Salesforce, Gamma, social data, podcast mentions, and Gmail. And why Clay plus ZoomInfo plus Cowork turned out to be the best enrichment stack their agents have found yet. If you're building on top of systems of record, selling to companies that are, or just trying to figure out how agents change the economics of SaaS data, this one is essential listening. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 02:00 - ServiceTitan cuts off Podium: what happened and why it matters 10:00 - 40 gigs in Salesforce and neither of us logged in 16:00 - The API pricing reckoning coming for systems of record 22:00 - How SaaStr runs Salesforce headless with 10K 30:00 - The renewal agent: no account left behind 42:00 - Narrative-first pitching: getting the agent to sell 50:00 - Clay + ZoomInfo + Cowork: the enrichment stack that actually worked 58:00 - What comes next: agentic inbound proposals SaaStr hosts the world's largest community for B2B software founders and executives.

Joseph Lee is the Co-founder and CEO of Supademo, an AI-powered platform that helps teams create interactive product demos and guides for sales, marketing, onboarding, and customer education. He leads Supademo's product vision and growth, building intuitive, self-guided experiences that enable companies to simplify product education and drive engagement. Previously, Joseph co-founded Freshline, a B2B e-commerce platform for food distributors, where he served as CPO and led product strategy and execution from customer insight through product development. In this episode… Product demos are no longer just a sales tool — they can shape how prospects understand a product, how customers learn to use it, and how teams drive adoption at scale. But what makes a demo effective enough to move users from curiosity to real product value? Joseph Lee, a two-time startup founder and product builder, says the most effective demos help customers understand value faster by letting them experience a product rather than passively watch it. He highlights the power of interactive, self-serve experiences that can support sales, onboarding, training, enablement, and product education. Supademo's product-led approach also allows users to experience advanced features through reverse trials, while AI helps teams personalize, translate, maintain, and scale demos more efficiently. As these experiences become more intelligent and agentic, companies can guide users through workflows with less friction and help them reach meaningful outcomes sooner. In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz speaks with Joseph Lee, Co-founder and CEO of Supademo, about using product demos to accelerate sales, onboarding, and adoption. They discuss interactive self-serve demos, AI-powered personalization, and in-app product education. Joseph also shares how Supademo evolved from SaaS into an agentic demo platform.

They were wrong: software and AI are running togetherSean Emory of Avory & Co. argues the SaaS apocalypse narrative is broken. CRPO accelerations at Salesforce, ServiceNow, Okta, Palantir, MongoDB, and Zoom, plus NVIDIA's data center guide, show software and AI are compounding together, not cannibalizing. Sean walks the four layers of the AI stack, why distribution wins at the application layer, and where the real risks sit.Chapters00:00 The SaaS is dead narrative01:07 Intro and disclosures01:50 Is the SaaS apocalypse wrong03:52 Backlog signals: CRPO04:16 Salesforce and Agentforce05:50 ServiceNow and Okta06:52 MongoDB and Zoom08:31 Four layers of the AI stack12:37 NVIDIA's full stack strategy16:31 Risks and what to watch18:11 Wrap upMore from Avory & Co.Newsletter: investingwithdata.comWebsite: avoryfunds.comDisclaimerFor educational purposes only. Not investment advice. Opinions reflect our views as of the recording date and may change. Avory & Co. and Sean Emory may hold positions in securities discussed. Do your own research and consult a professional before making investment decisions.

Mark is CEO of a SaaS company, Podcast Host and Board Member. Next to that he is a martial art practitioner and loves turning fuzzy value propositions into a sharp one so that customers immediately see the value. Website: https://www.timewax.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpdejong/  CallumConnects Micro-Podcast is your daily dose of wholesome leadership inspiration. Hear from many different leaders in just 5 minutes what hurdles they have faced, how they overcame them, and what their key learning is. Be inspired, subscribe, leave a comment, go and change the world!

In this episode, Sean Tepper shares his journey from tech to investing, emphasizing the importance of simplicity in complex topics, building systems, and maintaining faith-driven leadership. Discover how he leverages biblical principles and innovative strategies to scale his SaaS business and inspire entrepreneurs.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Mark is CEO of a SaaS company, Podcast Host and Board Member. Next to that he is a martial art practitioner and loves turning fuzzy value propositions into a sharp one so that customers immediately see the value. Website: https://www.timewax.com  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpdejong/  CallumConnects Micro-Podcast is your daily dose of wholesome leadership inspiration. Hear from many different leaders in just 5 minutes what hurdles they have faced, how they overcame them, and what their key learning is. Be inspired, subscribe, leave a comment, go and change the world!

How do you walk into a company of nearly 800 people as its first-ever president and win over the ones who wanted your job?We are bringing this one back because it keeps landing with second-in-command leaders. Cameron sits down with Sameer Kazi, the first president in ActiveCampaign's history, who joined a fast-growing company of nearly 800 people and had to earn trust from day one.Sameer traces his path from employee 200 at ExactTarget through the Salesforce acquisition, KKR, Bessemer, and running Cheetah Digital, then unpacks how he split responsibilities with the CEO, why he brings non-finance leaders close to the numbers, and how he decides with incomplete information.If you are stepping into a senior seat or scaling a business without losing its edge, this one is worth the revisit. Listen now.Sponsored by:This episode is brought to you by our Silver Sponsor, Next Level Growth.They help COOs and leadership teams build Elite Organizations through a proven, customizable framework built around the Five Obsessions of Elite Organizations.If you and your leadership team are ready to operate at the next level, take the Elite Organizations Assessment and receive a free 20-page customized report based on your answers, plus a complimentary one-hour coaching session with a Next Level Growth Partner and Business Guide to begin implementing tools that will help you build an even more elite business.Complete the assessment here to get started - nextlevelgrowth.com/cooassessmentTimestamped Highlights02:35 Employee 200 at a "tiny little company" called ExactTarget03:15 Filing an S-1 in 2008, right as the markets fell apart03:50 Why the growth never actually slowed down05:37 The years between Salesforce and ActiveCampaign08:50 Walking into KKR and asking, "Barbarians at the Gate?"10:38 The boardroom lesson from a business with declining growth12:38 What an MBA is actually good for13:38 Reading Salesforce's income statement before SaaS was cool14:48 The 54% lever that only works while growth holds15:52 Quitting his job to raise money with twins on the way16:32 Why ActiveCampaign came looking for him19:23 Why the role was never about empire building21:46 Winning over the people who wanted his seat25:11 How you know when you know enough to decide26:24 What ActiveCampaign really does34:47 Why every non-finance leader should learn the numbers37:25 The advice he would give his 21-year-old selfAbout the GuestSameer Kazi was serving as President of ActiveCampaign at the time of this recording, the first person to hold that title in the company's history, reporting to founder and CEO Jason VandeBoom. A veteran SaaS operator, he was an early executive at ExactTarget (employee 200) through its acquisition by Salesforce and ran EMEA operations from London. He later served as interim CEO of Simply Measured and CEO of Cheetah Digital, and worked alongside investors including KKR and Bessemer. He holds an MBA and describes himself as a sleeves-rolled-up, sweat-the-details operator. Sameer is now the Chief Executive Officer at Pantheon Platform.

In this episode the hosts debate whether a profitable AI assistant business listed for just 1.5x earnings is an incredible bargain—or a business that's about to be made obsolete by ChatGPT and Claude.Business Listing – https://mailchi.mp/websiteclosers/new-deal-alert-artificial-intelligence-ai-digital-assistant-on-demand-ai-agent-low-churn-cross-channel-memory-integration-subscription-based?e=42dc999128Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous – the #1 podcast for small business M&A. Every week, we break down businesses for sale and talk about buying, operating, and growing them.Looking to build a professional website in minutes? Try Wix: https://wix.pxf.io/c/6898629/3115214/25616?trafcat=templateHubSpot is the backbone for how businesses scale without chaos. Try them out here: https://go.try-hubspot.com/OeG9VrSubscribe for more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquisitionsAnonymousPodcast?sub_confirmation=1Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.acquanon.com/newsletterSponsors:Premiere Sponsor – Inzo TechnologiesWhen you acquire a business, you also inherit years of accumulated IT and cybersecurity risk. Inzo Technologies helps acquisition entrepreneurs evaluate technology during due diligence and stabilize IT after closing with a buyer-operator perspective. Get a complimentary IT risk audit at https://inzotechnologies.com/eta and mention Acquisitions Anonymous.Secondary Sponsor – Quiet LightThinking about selling an e-commerce or SaaS business? Quiet Light's team of former operators provides free business valuations and has decades of experience helping founders successfully exit. Visit https://quietlight.com to schedule a free valuation and mention Acquisitions Anonymous.What happens when an AI startup generating $1.4 million in annual revenue and $340,000 in earnings hits the market for just $500,000? That's exactly the deal Michael Girdley brings to Heather Endresen and Mills Snell in this episode of Acquisitions Anonymous.The business sells subscription access to an AI-powered digital assistant capable of scheduling meetings, drafting emails, creating presentations, conducting research, generating images, and more. At first glance, the valuation looks almost too good to pass up—but once the hosts dig into how the product is built, the real debate begins. Is this a defensible SaaS business, or simply a wrapper around ChatGPT and Claude that could disappear the next time OpenAI releases a product update?Along the way, the hosts explore AI wrappers, customer stickiness, switching costs, marketing moats, vertical SaaS opportunities, and what makes an AI business valuable in a world where the underlying technology is improving every month. It's a fascinating discussion about buying businesses during one of the fastest-moving technology shifts in history.Key Highlights:- AI assistant business listed for $500K on $1.4M revenue and approximately $340K EBITDA (about 1.5x earnings)- Discussion of AI "wrapper" businesses and whether they have sustainable competitive advantages- Why customer memory and personalization could increase switching costs—but may not be enough- Debate over generic AI tools versus vertical, industry-specific AI solutions- Final verdict: all three hosts give the business a thumbs down despite the attractive valuationSubscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

What would change if a customer could return three days later through a different channel and continue the same conversation without repeating a single detail? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I speak with Paul Adams, Chief Product Officer at Fin, the company previously known as Intercom. Paul has spent almost 13 years with the business and provides a candid account of how it abandoned its previous roadmap, placed a company-wide bet on AI, and rebuilt its products and working practices around AI agents. Our conversation begins with Fin's move from a customer service agent toward what Paul calls a single customer agent. The idea is that customers do not care whether their request belongs to sales, service, or customer success. They want the company to understand their situation and help them complete the task. Paul explains how AI agents can bring customer history, company knowledge, operational data, and business goals into the same conversation. This could allow an agent to resolve an issue, support a purchase, recognize a valuable customer, or transfer the conversation to a human without losing the context already provided. We also examine the economics behind poor customer service. Many companies are not ignoring customers through a lack of concern. They are receiving volumes of requests that cannot economically be handled by adding people alone. Paul says some Fin customers are resolving between 70 and 90 percent of customer queries through AI. Rather than seeing entire teams disappear, he is observing employees move into customer success, knowledge management, AI supervision, and higher-touch services. The episode also provides an unusually candid account of what it took to rebuild an established SaaS company around AI. Paul describes the process as brutal. Strategies were discarded, familiar processes were removed, and some people decided the new direction was not for them. His advice is to prioritize speed, place smaller experiments in front of real customers, and learn from evidence rather than waiting for every internal condition to become perfect. Paul also recalls working on early versions of mobile YouTube and Gmail when colleagues questioned whether anyone would watch video or answer email on a phone. Those stories provide a timely warning about judging new technology by its early limitations. Could AI agents finally give customers continuity across sales, service, and support, or will internal company structures remain the greater obstacle? Listen to the conversation and share your thoughts with me.

Send us Fan MailIn this episode of Coffee N°5, Lara Schmoisman chats with Quinten Farmer, founder of Portola and creator of Tolan. Quinten dives into his journey of developing an innovative personal AI that acts as a supportive companion to help users navigate overwhelm and life's everyday challenges. From exploring ethical considerations and data privacy to designing a non-human, lovable alien character, this conversation uncovers what it takes to build AI platforms that prioritize emotional safety, user connection, and responsible future growth. • Key Topics Covered:The vision behind Tolan and the development of a supportive personal AI. Why Portola chose an alien guide persona to make digital interactions feel lovable and safe. Navigating ethics, user privacy, and misinformation in AI-driven conversations. AI's emerging role in supporting mental health and helping users manage daily stress. Understanding business models and monetization strategies for consumer AI platforms.Future technology trends and the evolving relationship between consumers and AI.• About Quinten Farmer:Quinten Farmer is a seasoned tech entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Portola, the company behind Tolan. With a strong background spanning finance, SaaS, and emerging tech, Quinten is now focused on blending cutting-edge artificial intelligence with creative storytelling. Through Tolan, he is exploring how character-driven AI can serve as a grounded, privacy-conscious reflection tool that enhances everyday human experiences. 

Demandbase's Vice President of Product explains why they deleted a fully-approved AI architecture two months before launch — and how the rebuild surpassed some of their customer's highest expectations.Topics Include:AWS's Achint Naveen introduces Demandbase's VP of Product, Chad HoldorfDemandbase unifies sales, marketing, and revenue data into one viewNovember's architecture used many specialized agents, all committee-approvedThat design failed constantly — only a 30% conversation pass rateOn May 11th, the team deleted the entire architectureRebuilt in May with AWS Strands: one simpler, flexible agentPass rate leapt from 30% to 94% almost overnightWeek two retention rose from the low 20s to upper 80sWeekly active users grew 45% week-over-week after launchReal customer interviews play, calling the new AI a "dream"One user cut an hour-long report down to fifteen minutesCustomers now trace ad impressions directly to closed dealsHoldorf's advice: delete and rebuild when architecture gets too complexAWS's Naveen walks through Bedrock, AgentCore, and StrandsAgentCore Memory highlighted as Demandbase's next area of explorationParticipants:Chad Holdorf – Vice President of Product Management, DemandbaseAchint Naveen – Sr Account Manager, Amazon Web Services See how Amazon Web Services gives you the freedom to migrate, innovate, and scale your software company at https://aws.amazon.com/isv/

Ian and Aaron discuss Aaron's trip to Copenhagen for Laravel Live DK, meeting DHH, having "the hell trip home", using AI to beat Air Canada's bureaucracy, and so much more.Sponsored by Bento, DropInBlog, Valorin Security, and Svix.Interested in sponsoring Mostly Technical?  Head to https://mostlytechnical.com/sponsor to learn more.(00:00) - Back In the Land of the Free (01:52) - Happy Anniversary! (04:22) - Aaron's First Intl Biz Class Flight (12:04) - Laravel Live DK (22:05) - Aaron's Talk & Meeting DHH (32:58) - DHH & Taylor's Fireside Chat (42:27) - The Spoon Is An Airplane (56:22) - The Hell Trip Home (01:17:41) - Scheming With Codex (01:27:34) - A Quick Controversy Links:Abigail Otwell's airport photo (Aaron in line behind Taylor & Abigail)Laravel Live DKDHH on Twitter/XOmacom Foundation launches with $8 million (Omarchy blog)GeocodioTom Crary on Twitter/XTaylor's video of Aaron trying caviarFlighty (iOS app)Ian's tweet of the chairs Aaron slept on

On a Friday, one of Miro's architects set his agents loose on the company's AI engine. Nobody asked him to. By Monday, he demoed a full refactor. Tuesday, it had a kickoff, and a few months later it was the headline of their user conference. Here's the twist. Miro has refused to rebuild its process around AI. They've kept the same three milestones they've always had...they just changed what happens around them. Our guest today is Jeff Chow, Miro's Chief Product & Technology Officer. He helps lead a company whose entire job is helping cross-functional teams work better together, which makes it an unusually good place to watch what AI is actually doing to how teams build. Jeff's take: AI hasn't moved the milestones — It's rewritten everything that happens between them. In this episode, he shares: The false confidence trap of building alongside an agent that tells you every idea is brilliant, and why that makes the moments where humans actually align more important than ever Why product "process barnacles" accrete on companies as they scale, and how that quietly turns a culture of invention to optimization at just the wrong time And why saying no is the next organizational crisis. Now that anyone can build almost anything, it's become clear that coding was never the hard part Links Jeff's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjchow/ Miro: https://miro.com/ Chapters 0:00 Introduction 2:20 Why Miro refused to rebuild its process around AI 5:20 What shows up at kickoffs and solutions reviews now 12:15 The false confidence trap: Say no to "yes-man" agents 14:30 From optimization culture to invention culture 18:20 How one IC's side project reshaped Miro's AI engine 22:30 Process barnacles and why saying no is the next crisis 27:30 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Jeff Chow.

Send us Fan MailService-centric organizations operate with business models that are fundamentally different from those of product-based companies, requiring ERP systems designed around people, projects, contracts, subscriptions, customer relationships, and financial management rather than inventory and manufacturing processes. Industries such as financial services, banking, insurance, SaaS, technology, media, consulting, and other professional services prioritize resource utilization, project profitability, recurring revenue, and customer engagement over physical supply chains. Because of these operational differences, their process requirements, reporting needs, and overall system architecture often vary significantly from those of inventory-driven businesses, making it essential to select an ERP that aligns with the unique demands of service-based operations.In this episode, our host Sam Gupta discusses the top ERP Systems for service-centric industries In 2026. He also discusses several variables that influence the rankings of these ERP systems. Finally, he shares the pros and cons of each ERP system.Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEczEhiG_PoQuestions for Panelists?

You subscribe to the newsletters, listen to the podcasts, watch the videos, sit in the partner events, and every quarter your revenue still falls behind the target you set for yourself. The smartest SaaS partners I know are usually the most stuck, and it is not because they are missing information, it is because they have too much of it. In this episode I tell the truth about my own trap: after I sold my business I decided I had all the frameworks and could coach myself, and that lasted about a month before I was back to 60-hour weeks spinning my wheels. I share the two decisions I made when I finally re-engaged my own coach, one about who I serve and one about what I sell, and how those same two moves reshaped my clients' businesses too. If your target is not moving no matter how much you consume, this one is for you, because you cannot read the label from inside the jar.Resources and LinksNeed help with your WHO and WHAT decisions? Apply for a FREE Multiplier CallBook a Decision Session herePrevious episode: 699 - AI will expose youCheck out more episodes of the Paul Higgins PodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel: @PaulHigginsMentoringJoin our newsletterSuggested resources

Michael Gants, founder and CEO of Encore, breaks down how apps can turn unused "streak" and celebration screens into a new revenue stream, without a single ad or paywall. He shares how brands like Disney, Uber, and Apple are paying to reach users in their happiest moments, and why founders should be more afraid of a broken CAC/LTV ratio than of running a monetization experiment.

Don’t miss the marketplace revolution! Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://theultimatepartner.com/ebook-subscribe/ Check Out UPX: https://theultimatepartner.com/experience/ In this episode of the Ultimate Partner Podcast, Vince Menzione sits down with AWS Marketplace leaders George Maroulakos and Arif Razvi to uncover the rapidly shifting ecosystem of technology procurement and partner transformation. They dive deep into the evolution of buyer experiences, the critical necessity of executive alignment, and how agentic AI is redefining software discovery and consumption. If you want to accelerate deal velocity and ensure your business isn’t left behind, this conversation outlines exactly why integrating the AWS Marketplace into your core co-sell motion is no longer optional. https://youtu.be/Avp0sIyxRU8 Key Takeaways Embracing the AWS Marketplace should be viewed as a natural extension of your co-sell motion, not an interrupt-driven exception. Successfully leveraging the marketplace requires top-down executive sponsorship to overcome internal friction across legal, finance, and revenue operations. Partners must prepare for global expansion by ensuring local entities and currencies are wired up to meet buyers where they are. Agentic AI and natural language queries are leveling the playing field for software discovery, moving beyond traditional SEO-driven presence. SaaS pricing models are shifting toward consumption and outcome-based structures, demanding highly detailed product metadata. The speed of deal closure is drastically increased when partners are prepared to transact seamlessly through the marketplace. If you're ready to lead through change, elevate your business, and achieve extraordinary outcomes through the power of partnership—this is your community. At Ultimate Partner® we want leaders like you to join us in the Ultimate Partner Experience – where transformation begins. Key Tags AWS Marketplace, partner transformation, buyer experiences, hyperscalers, co-sell motion, revenue operations, strategic alignment, agentic AI solutions, outcome-based pricing, metadata optimization, software discovery, private offers, global expansion, deal velocity, cloud centers of excellence. Transcript Arif Razvi and George Maroulakos Audio Episode [00:00:00] George Maroulakos: From my perspective, think about marketplace as a why not as opposed to a why. [00:00:06] Vince Menzione: You can feel it happening. The ecosystem is shifting beneath us, the way Hyperscalers are partnering, how AI is remaking the channel and what it means to win in 2026. [00:00:17] Arif Razvi: Welcome to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. I’m Vince Menzi, own your host. [00:00:22] Arif Razvi: And each week I sit down with leaders at the intersection of technology, [00:00:26] Vince Menzione: partnerships and outcomes. The voices shaping how ecosystems actually work. We talk about what’s real, what’s changing, and what it takes to lead in this era where the partner channel isn’t just part of the strategy. [00:00:39] Arif Razvi: It is the strategy because being in the room changes everything. [00:00:44] Arif Razvi: Let’s start. [00:00:48] Vince Menzione: I’m excited to, because we were talking about some of this earlier with Matt, but I thought this would be a great conversation. I’m gonna ask each of you to introduce yourselves, George and Arif, and your roles. ’cause you have two very unique roles. Uh. Contrasting roles, I would call it, within the AWS Marketplace Organization. [00:01:06] George Maroulakos: Yep. Happy to do so. So I think Vince just didn’t wanna say my last name, so that’s why I’m gonna introduce myself. Mayor. Very, very good. So Mayor Laki, George Meki, pleasure to meet. Hey, I can say that, uh, all of those that I haven’t met before, lots of familiar faces as well here. Uh, so it’s really great to see. [00:01:21] George Maroulakos: Uh, I’m part of the AWS Marketplace team and our center of excellence. That focuses on buyer experiences. So like why is a buyer guy here in this partner session? And I think, you know, I’m gonna help to try to bring some perspective around what our buyers see as the value for using marketplace and. [00:01:40] George Maroulakos: Working with all of these great partners that are here in the room and, uh, you know, the experiences that we see in helping to drive, you know, the blood to all organs. I’m using that a lot, Alison, to copyright it. It’s, it was really good. I love that, that analogy. But, um, for, but for both our partners as well as for our customers. [00:01:59] Vince Menzione: That’s awesome. [00:01:59] Arif Razvi: Hey everybody. I’m Arif Roski. I’m based here in New York City, although I’m a Celtics fan. Um, uh, go, go. I, I still supported the Knicks through the championship and I’m very happy for them. So excited to be here. Excited to be among, uh, other channel and alliance leaders. I’ve spent my entire 25 plus career in channels and alliances. [00:02:20] Arif Razvi: The last seven years, uh, on AWS marketplace where I lead, uh, a couple of functions. One is I support all of Matt Ian’s feature launches. So from a go-to market perspective, uh, I support his launches. I also focus on international expansion of marketplace. So, uh, Matt alluded to this earlier. I’ll mention some, I’ll talk about some stuff in a little bit. [00:02:39] Arif Razvi: And then, uh, we do some deep engagements with some of our most strategic partners to help them accelerate and unblock their marketplace business. By embedding a subject matter expert from my team into their organization to really help drive, uh, adoption of marketplace. [00:02:55] Vince Menzione: So important. Both of your roles. [00:02:56] Vince Menzione: By the way, this is standout roles. I, you know, I. I don’t want to get into trouble here. I talk about other hyperscalers, but I said this with Matt on stage earlier. You guys have been at the forefront of driving marketplace in such a strong way, having somebody who’s customer focused, right? And that lens is so important. [00:03:15] Vince Menzione: I don’t feel, I feel like that’s missed so many times. And then you also have. You know, quite a bit of an important role here in terms of what you’re doing in embedding resources. ’cause a lot of times people get lost in the process and it seems to be the, the common currents. So, um, really great both sides of the same equation here, right? [00:03:33] Vince Menzione: Buyer led, partner built, uh, let’s start George here. Um. Let’s talk about how buying has changed. Right. We go back to the early days of marketplace. It felt like it was a listing at first and it started to become important. Organizations like Work Span started to come to fruition and started to drive, at least in my part of the world. [00:03:53] Vince Menzione: And then we started talking a lot more about Marketplace. And of course the, the cus customer commits really started driving things in a different direction. You’ve got the customer, so talk about what your journey’s been like. [00:04:05] George Maroulakos: So I’ve been with Marketplace nine and a half years, which is pretty long time since the beginning of it, and watching the evolution of, of where things have come and where they started. [00:04:15] George Maroulakos: And I remember, uh, I was covering the, the northeast region when I very first started and working with, uh, you know, different enterprise accounts and financial services and, and, and healthcare and life sciences, and talking about this. This creation that occurred called, called AWS Marketplace, and even folks within AWS didn’t really know what that meant or how to talk about it or sell it. [00:04:38] George Maroulakos: So there was this creation of a infield based business development function to help supplement the account teams and the value and the importance of marketplace as a part of a customer’s AWS journey. And when I first started the, the, the highest, uh, or most frequently subscribed to products that existed were. [00:04:57] George Maroulakos: Uh, Amazon machine images a amis and it’s very specifically open source amis. So think of Bantu or Cintas as the predominant things that were being subscribed out of marketplace. So, um, by definition, not really revenue generating. You’re, these are not the a hundred million dollar transactions or the billion dollar club that we talk about today. [00:05:19] George Maroulakos: It was very much helping. The builders go again, go back 10 years, uh, who are just getting started with the cloud and how could they find partner solutions that they trusted or that they felt were secure and helping them to start to build out and migrate their workloads into, into AWS. Um, so I existed before the. [00:05:39] George Maroulakos: Very first private offer was transacted. Nice. Um, there’s actually a, a gentleman towards the back, uh, who helped with one of our very first private offers. I see you back there, Joe. Nice, nice. Um, so we, we worked on, uh, uh, uh, really big transaction with, uh, with, at the time AppDynamics, uh, and, and helping to get. [00:05:58] George Maroulakos: You know, a customer really up and running with their implementation that, so watching over the 10 years from, you know, the builder mentality of, of getting started with the cloud to really embracing all kinds of partner based, um, solutions that go along with AWS. It’s really been, uh, you know, a, a rocket ship you referenced earlier, moving to the top right quadrant, if we want to use the, the Gartner analogy, and I think we’re at another. [00:06:24] George Maroulakos: Inflection point because with what’s going on with Ag agentic solutions, the way that our customers are finding and discovering different partner solutions is better than ever I would think. And I think it gives much more of a equal opportunity in playing field for all partners of all shapes and sizes because you’re not driving your presence based on SEO or whether or not you have the best Google search results. [00:06:53] George Maroulakos: With AgTech and how you differentiate your solutions, you’re gonna be able to really get yourself in front of more customers more quickly. And as Matt talked about earlier, the, the, the really big penetration that we’ve seen thus far is real, is on the discovery piece, the, the research area, the pre-purchase activity, so validate what’s available. [00:07:13] George Maroulakos: So I think marketplace has really evolved over the 10 year, nine and a half years-ish that I’ve been there. And I think it’s gonna continue to change here in the coming months ahead. Yeah. [00:07:23] Vince Menzione: Any predictions? [00:07:25] George Maroulakos: Yeah, I, I think, you know, the, I, the, the importance of marketplaces is only going to continue to grow. [00:07:32] George Maroulakos: Uh, and I think we’re going to see, you know, even more innovation and expectation from our customers on being able to find the right solutions and being able to procure and deploy them as quickly as possible. [00:07:44] Vince Menzione: Nice. Arif, from your side. Partner transformation. So, you know, embedding resources with the partners. [00:07:51] Vince Menzione: Right. So you basically help kickstart a lot of the, the efforts, right? George? George is looking at it from the customer side, and then you’re kick-starting it on the partner side. [00:08:00] Arif Razvi: Yeah. Either kickstarting it, uh, on the initial stages with a strategic partner. Yeah. Or accelerating their adoption of something that’s already there. [00:08:07] Arif Razvi: Right. So what we’re seeing, what I’m seeing a lot of more recently is partners who say, I didn’t know you had capabilities for us to sell into Korea or Japan, or we just, we just launched India. Yep. Matt alluded to this easier, uh, earlier that we’re making it easier for partners to expand globally. And now partners are realizing, wait a minute, I can match my. [00:08:26] Arif Razvi: Uh, my business processes on marketplace, so revenue recognition, tax collection, locally, local invoices, and now they’re starting to set up multiple entities outside the US to meet those buyers, uh, where they are. [00:08:41] Vince Menzione: Nice. And you mentioned having these resources. How do you determine who gets resources and who? [00:08:47] Arif Razvi: Well, there’s, uh, staging and there’s, uh, there’s qualification mechanisms we use. We work with the PDMs for the partners. So any PDM, uh, any pd DM managed partner can be nominated for, uh, what, what we call a compensation. [00:08:59] Vince Menzione: So you’re overlaying that organization sense. [00:09:00] Arif Razvi: We’re overlaying the PDs. We’re not replacing, we’re only doing time bound sprints to unlock very specific activities. [00:09:05] Arif Razvi: Very [00:09:06] Vince Menzione: cool. So it’s not a poll. Yeah. Cool. You’re not, you’re not there forever. [00:09:08] Arif Razvi: No. [00:09:08] Vince Menzione: You’re there to get the job done. We [00:09:09] Arif Razvi: did that before. Uh, yeah, we’re, we’re doing short sprints now. [00:09:12] Vince Menzione: Yep. Let’s talk about how the buyers are using marketplace. You’ve done some really in, we talked about this earlier with Matt, but we’ve talked about some of the innovative things you’ve done. [00:09:21] Vince Menzione: You know, being, being able to embed into a website and in the storefronts. All these things seem to be unique to AWS. Talk to us about how the buyers are using the marketplace today. And [00:09:31] George Maroulakos: yeah, I think, you know, Matt talked about earlier the. Pre the, the preconception around why customers use marketplaces for the financial incentives, the, the financial benefits that go along with it, whether it’s direct incentives that are associated with the individual product that’s out there, or the Association of Marketplace to our private pricing agreements and the ability for. [00:09:55] George Maroulakos: Transactions that occur in marketplace to count towards those commits. Um, I’m gonna amplify a, a particular point that Matt made, uh, in his talk that, you know, we have many more customers who do not have PPAs with AWS than those that do. And the volume of transactions that take place in marketplace. [00:10:11] George Maroulakos: Dwarf, uh, in volume from those that, uh, are occur from our PPA customers. So yes, there are very large transactions that occur and there is Ben financial benefit that goes along with it. But there’s many other value points that our customers find from discovery. From ease of use, from consolidated billing, from post-purchase, um, you know, management and governance that goes along with it, and reconciliation that’s available, that’s, that exists. [00:10:36] George Maroulakos: Um, you mentioned storefronts. I’m really excited. That was one of the most exciting launches. That’s why I reminded him when he was talking about it, uh, around, you know, what that means. And it’s both a presence for, um, our partners and being able to create their own storefronts on behalf of, of customers or within their own property, but also for our buyers directly too. [00:10:54] George Maroulakos: Take that next generation of something that was previously, you know, our private marketplace and curate a catalog that is very specific and intentional for the things that they’re interested to innovate with and the partners that they’re interested in using. And so I think meeting our customers where they’re at. [00:11:10] George Maroulakos: And being, you know, marketplace anywhere and everywhere is I think really important for our customers. And then the other aspect, you know, in terms of how our customers use marketplace, there’s more than one persona at our customer that we need to be, be, be aligning with. Right. Interesting. We typically talk about procurement and the value points that procurement find in marketplace, but just as important as, as the technologists. [00:11:32] George Maroulakos: It’s the Cloud centers of Excellence. It’s the innovators who are looking for those business applications or those infrastructure solutions that exist and making sure that we have the right things from the right partners available to them. So we see value all over the place with our customers and how they inter interface with [00:11:47] Vince Menzione: more. [00:11:47] Vince Menzione: You brought up something really interesting, insightful, is the fact that all the different personas in the organization that are touching the marketplace, right? [00:11:54] George Maroulakos: And it’s at different points of the journey, right? Yeah. So while there may be early discovery and research and experimentation going on from, you know, the technologists or, or, or the, or the, the, the business application owners, um, as it progresses through the, the, the. [00:12:09] George Maroulakos: The opportunity lifecycle procurement and sourcing and legal, and the shared services then become a more important part of, of making sure that we get those opportunities closed and launched. [00:12:18] Vince Menzione: Yeah, and that was one of the things we were talking about earlier is the fact that how, how, uh, it, it, the work arduous it could be. [00:12:25] Vince Menzione: To go through that whole process at a customer side. Right? ’cause they have to. [00:12:29] George Maroulakos: It is, and and you know, I think when Cloud first got started, it was quite scary for procurement, right? It became another version of Shadow it. And we were seeing things that were getting purchased on P cards because they could quickly stand up infrastructure versus waiting for the IT team to do it. [00:12:44] George Maroulakos: And so now you introduce all of these other things that. Procurement kept near and dear to their heart, and here comes another wave of, is this truly positive disruption? Is it going to affect what’s, what I’m doing affect really my goals and objectives of supporting the company. And as you, you know, you continue to express the value of marketplace, they start to see, hey, this is actually very complimentary and helped me can get better control and governance in a way that I. [00:13:11] George Maroulakos: Perhaps didn’t have before with what was going on inside the cloud. [00:13:15] Vince Menzione: So this is a question for both of you actually, but I was thinking about these partners in the room and what did they get wrong? Like what are they doing? Like what are the things we always talk about, things that they’re doing right? [00:13:26] Vince Menzione: We’re having the happy talk about all the great success that’s been going on, but what is your advice to partners that maybe are not getting it right? Like what, what, what are the things you see that. The easy stumbling blocks that could be fixed. [00:13:38] Arif Razvi: Yeah. Well, probably the easiest is, uh, waiting to talk about marketplace at the last minute and not making it part of the full commercial journey [00:13:45] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:13:45] Arif Razvi: That the sellers will go through. Right. So, um, but that includes being able to have those internal conversations from the executive level, getting that executive sponsorship from marketplace upfront. That filters down through the rest of the organization. So you’ve gotta get rev ops teams, finance, legal, you know, the marketplace terms, the, the standard, uh, contract that goes into your listing has to be approved by legal. [00:14:08] Arif Razvi: Uh, and then you get down to the sales teams, making sure that you’re not penalizing sales teams for doing transactions on marketplace, which will create friction, then meeting buyers where they are, right? So local entities, local currency, um, having all that wired up. Uh, I met with a, a partner yesterday at Summit who is literally wiring up 10 new regions, 10 new entities in 10 new locations on marketplace in advance of what they know is a pipeline that’s going to be building into those regions. [00:14:37] Arif Razvi: So they’re getting ready and not waiting for the last minute for marketplace. [00:14:40] Vince Menzione: I love it. And the internal, go ahead. [00:14:43] George Maroulakos: Yeah, I, I echo definitely what Arif was saying and I think the, the other aspect of that is that our customers shouldn’t feel like it’s more painful. To use marketplace versus they would any other way. [00:14:54] George Maroulakos: And so whether that shows up in pricing, it shows up in awareness of what marketplace is and isn’t, or what it can or cannot do. Um, whether it’s introducing it naturally or it’s this, oh, by the way, on the end, like the, the more. Integrated marketplace is as a part of your co-sell motion, whether you’re doing it directly on your own or through a reseller or with AWS or all of the above. [00:15:17] George Maroulakos: Um, it’s, it should be a natural extension and a value point that you’re bringing to your respective customers, not some. Interrupt driven or, or exception based activity that goes along with selling your, your, your, your solution. [00:15:31] Vince Menzione: Why do you think customer, some customers or some partners are held back or what, what, what is, is it a mindset? [00:15:38] Vince Menzione: I mean, I talk about the principles, you know that, but like, is it mindset? What is it? Is it, [00:15:42] Arif Razvi: it’s, it’s internal. Friction. Yeah. A a a lot of what I see, especially in these, in, in embedded engagements is the amount of, you know, I have a lot of empathy for this room, right? Because you are the ones that have to go internally and navigate all of these stakeholders to be able to convince them that marketplace is the route to market. [00:16:01] Arif Razvi: It’s the preferred route to market, and it’s the way that a AWS wants to co-sell. With its partners. And that’s a hard thing to do if you don’t speak the same language that the tax legal, rev ops, finance, accounting, because everything changes. When you start doing transactions on marketplace, your revenue is booked differently, right? [00:16:20] Arif Razvi: It’s booked as a w from AWS and not from the, you know, from the, so things change and having that conversation is often challenging. Uh, we are working on some tools that will help make that conversation easier. Um, and we’ve already written blogs, and again, there are mechanisms that your partner managers have internally that they can request support and guidance. [00:16:43] Arif Razvi: Uh, and we’re happy to provide that. [00:16:45] Vince Menzione: What needs to change so that marketplace becomes a true go to market engine. [00:16:49] Arif Razvi: Top down, top down, top down where, where I’ve seen the most success. From a partner is where they’ve gotten strategic alignment at the executive level. That marketplace is the way we are going to, uh, sell globally. [00:17:02] Arif Razvi: Right? Then that starts to filter down, as I mentioned earlier, into the different teams and yes, it is a journey and you may start with the US or if you’re EMEA based. Partner, you may start with just amea, but eventually you will start to expand your, you’ll want to expand your business. Um, and marketplace is a great place to do that because we have all of those mechanisms globally to help you scale without adding incremental resources to handle the tax or the compliance or the invoicing and collection and all that stuff. [00:17:30] George Maroulakos: Yeah. I’ll add to that because I’m gonna steal a second thing you said, Allison, about centering around a customer. I, I loved a lot of Allison. Come on now. I’ll be your hype guy. I absolutely, but, but, but the but demand will drive supply. And I think to what you were talking about, Arif, when are customers, when. [00:17:46] George Maroulakos: Our customers come to you about wanting to use marketplace. Yeah. How are you ready to adapt to that? How are you ready to respond to it? And if it becomes a disjointed, not centered around a customer, bespoke based, independently based interaction with the customer, everybody loses. Versus if you’re ready to embrace what that means and how to make that as good of an experience, if not better, versus how they might have traditionally procured your solution and deployed it. [00:18:13] George Maroulakos: Um, now we have a much better together story. So I think understanding that customers more and more are going to use marketplaces, particularly AWS marketplace, and want to make use of partner solutions that embrace marketplace as a part of their way to procure and deploy. You have a much better chance of being successful with them. [00:18:33] Vince Menzione: You know, it made me think about this. Is there a seminal event? Like I think about, I think back to COVID changing buying behavior, right? I’m, we’ll use AWS, an example, three boxes show up in my house every day, right? That didn’t happen before. We used to go to the store. Is there a seminal event we’re waiting to happen? [00:18:50] Vince Menzione: I, I know that the millennial buyer, we talked about this earlier with Matt, is the new buying persona. Over 50% of buyers are millennial and they’re used to doing comfortable with phones and trust Is all there. Is there something else we’re missing or what do, what do you think’s gonna happen? [00:19:03] George Maroulakos: I really think it’s what in front of us right now. [00:19:05] George Maroulakos: Yeah. Vince, I think what. Agen solutions, what Agen SaaS offers, what the power of information and research that’s now directly available to customers versus maybe indirectly available through consultancies or deeper research. Um, the velocity of what our customers are going to be able to do and with partners that they may not have even heard of right before. [00:19:32] George Maroulakos: You know, they started their journey. I, I think this is a present day. Inflection point. Yeah. Um, going back, you know, over the past several years, the advent of supporting private offers I think was a pretty big milestone for marketplace. It allowed for our partners to be able to. Work through customized terms and conditions and commercials that were important for a particular opportunity in a customer. [00:19:54] George Maroulakos: But today, the here and now I think becomes the next inflection point for the success of marketplace. [00:19:59] Arif Razvi: That would [00:19:59] Vince Menzione: Go ahead. [00:20:00] Arif Razvi: I was just gonna add on top of that, but partners need to be ready for that. Right? And if they’re not ready to accelerate a deal and get it closed in days versus stalling it for weeks to negotiate. [00:20:11] Arif Razvi: Yes. Like they’re not gonna stand. Customers are not gonna stand for that. So partners need to be ready to move quickly. If you think about all the innovations that Matt is delivering for Marketplace and Partner Central. They’re about accelerating co-sell. They’re about accelerating deal velocity. They’re about, we know f from, from the Forrester studies and others that we presented, that we’ve made public that the deal value goes up when you’re dealing with marketplace and co-selling with AWS. [00:20:36] Arif Razvi: So how can we just accelerate that? Yeah. Partners need to be ready for that and move quickly. [00:20:40] Vince Menzione: And you use partners in sort of a, you know, plural sense, but I think about those organizations as so many multifaceted. We talked about finance, we talked about all of different functions in the organization. [00:20:51] Vince Menzione: What are you doing to help that? I mean, we talked about you’re doing a lot of readiness work, but I do feel like there’s a lot of evangelism still to be done internally with those organizations. How do you think about [00:21:02] Arif Razvi: that? Yeah, we, um, obviously events like this are fantastic mechanisms to at least get the conversation started and get your head thinking about what you need to think about. [00:21:10] Arif Razvi: But we have other activities. We have, uh, rev Ops squads, right? So revenue operations teams, and we bring them together, uh, around the world op, uh, ops squad, which is operational teams, so deal desks and others that help them, uh, understand the capabilities that marketplace can bring to accelerate deal velocity. [00:21:28] Arif Razvi: And then we have, like, obviously other events like the, the, uh, marketplace Seller Conference in September where we bring marketplace sellers together and give them, you know. Guidance. And so there are ways to get this information beyond just like getting somebody from my team, of which there are very few as you, you know, as we start to, to consolidate down. [00:21:47] Arif Razvi: But um, but they are available and there’s other mechanisms and we’re happy to share those out. [00:21:50] Vince Menzione: Nice, nice. Well coming here doing this and we’ll make a podcast episode out of this as well. Can you hear. I hear us all, uh, because I do think it’s important to get in front of, especially the Chief Finance Officer and operations and all those different departmental heads who aren’t really embedded into, like, they don’t come to these events. [00:22:07] Arif Razvi: Yeah. And they also don’t log into Partner Central. That’s right. So how do they get this information right? Yeah. So we have to one to one it with them. Yeah. But that doesn’t scale when you think about what’s gonna happen now with this next wave of GSIs and sis and, and others coming onto Marketplace who hadn’t been there. [00:22:22] Arif Razvi: Yes, they’re gonna need the same guidance. Yeah. So we have to start thinking about what we’re building is AI tooling to help with those conversations. [00:22:28] George Maroulakos: Well, and, and you know, if, when I think about it from, from our buyer’s perspective, even just yesterday we held a, a couple of round table discussions with some procurement leaders that were, we’re here for the summit and, you know, we do a lot of enablement and, and awareness. [00:22:42] George Maroulakos: With alliance leaders at our partners, and that’s certainly a, the tip of the spear of getting the conversation started, but it’s not enough. And one of the things that we hear from our customers is. Well, you may have a great partnership with particular partner A, but the individual experience that I had with that sales rep doesn’t match that. [00:23:02] George Maroulakos: And so yeah, the evangelism and the awareness, yes, and the understanding of marketplace has to go beyond just the alliance team. You guys are the amplifier to it. But the folks that not only are in the back office and all the, the, the operational teams, but on the front lines and field sales need to also understand and embrace, not understand all the features and capabilities of marketplace. [00:23:25] George Maroulakos: AWS needs to handle that, but understand how marketplace fits into the co-sell strategy in what’s going on for that particular customer is very, very important to make sure our customers get the right experience. [00:23:37] Vince Menzione: Well, I think Arif, you mentioned this earlier about compensation models. And that’s a, that’s a factor too. [00:23:42] Vince Menzione: ’cause people, people, um, they’re fearful of change. They’re fear, fearful of compensation changing. Especially, especially sellers. I, um, again, that’s a coaching area. [00:23:54] Arif Razvi: Yeah, it’s a coaching area. Um, it, it, it is, um. It’s probably one of the easier ones to solve. Um, and, and, and, you know, we have these conversations with partners about net, uh, cost neutral or uh, seller neutrality and things like that. [00:24:06] Arif Razvi: Once you show them the economics of how AWS can increase their deal value, those economics sort of, they go away. The problems go away, but they, you have to get in front of those. Uh, you know, senior leaders, the CROs and the CFOs, to have that conversation to then go, okay, I get what’s going on here. I get why I’m paying. [00:24:23] Arif Razvi: The listing fee is, is about funding all of these marketing activities that we do for our partners, right? [00:24:29] George Maroulakos: Well, and then you use the word neutrality. The other end of that neutrality problem or, or, or challenge is the pricing that goes along with the opportunities that are made available to customers. [00:24:38] George Maroulakos: And so to one of your earlier questions on points of friction or what, what stops it from taking off further? When, when partners and our customers have a disconnect on. What they’re expecting to pay when they use marketplace, or if there is a unnatural cost that goes along with procuring that solution through marketplace. [00:24:57] George Maroulakos: That also tends to bring a, a pretty bad experience, not only for that opportunity in front of them, but for respective opportunities that may, may be in play thereafter. So thinking about not, you know, having an a, an unnatural experience for our customers relative to pricing as well as compensation and, and everything else is, is also very important. [00:25:17] Vince Menzione: So we’ve got a few minutes left, and we haven’t really touched on ag agentic AI and agen AI solutions. A little bit different than the SaaS solutions per se. How, how are these solutions brought and sold differently than SaaS? [00:25:30] Arif Razvi: Uh, well, as Matt said, the SaaS apocalypse is not real. [00:25:34] Vince Menzione: Yeah. [00:25:34] Arif Razvi: Um, he doesn’t, I’m glad to hear that, nor nor do I. [00:25:37] Arif Razvi: Um, I, I think what, you know, where, where SaaS has been very user seat based, you’re moving now to a world that’s gonna be more consumption based or outcome-based pricing. And so that’s really changing the dynamic and I think partners need to think about what does an outcome-based, uh, pricing model look for My particular. [00:25:55] Arif Razvi: Um, product, uh, Zendesk is a good example of, Matt published a blog, uh, earlier this week, I think it was, where we, we referenced Zendesk pricing on closed tickets or, or resolutions to tickets, right? For, for outcome-based pricing. So I think we need to think about on the pricing side, how to reprice, how to think about pricing. [00:26:13] Arif Razvi: But on the discovery side, thinking about what your, what your listing looks like, it’s no longer about marketing copy. It’s about, it’s almost, I was talking yesterday about being an API contract. ’cause the agent needs to have all the details that a person doesn’t necessarily need to have in order to make a recommendation that your product is the best fit based on the technology that’s underlying that, where it’s gonna fit in the infrastructure. [00:26:37] Vince Menzione: So three and a half minutes left lightning round. Um, but seriously, what, what if I’m in the room or even any, any partner that’s listening today, what do I need to change in the next 30 days? [00:26:50] George Maroulakos: From my perspective, think about marketplace as a why not as opposed to a why. And if you change your mindset around marketplace can be better together in helping to accelerate and expand your opportunities with our mutual customers. [00:27:03] George Maroulakos: You’ll get a whole lot more value out of it. You’ll get away from the fud in the system or some of the traditional roadblocks that you either have been or could be encountering when you think about marketplace, uh, together with your, with your solution. So think about the why not think about the value that the, the, the total solution can bring to our mutual customers and integrate it much more naturally into your total sales motion. [00:27:26] Vince Menzione: Nice. [00:27:27] Arif Razvi: I would say maybe three things. One, um, don’t just sell globally. Operate locally. Think about how your buyers wanna buy and then meet them there, right? As a partner, even if you’re doing CPPO transactions, um, you know, meet them in the location. Number two, top down, go get that executive alignment so the problems start to disappear, or at least are easier to manage when you’ve got that executive alignment. [00:27:51] Arif Razvi: And the third was, uh, don’t wait till the last minute to introduce marketplace. Work with your sales teams to make sure it’s part of the early conversation versus no procurement leader wants to know at the end of the day, oh wait, it’s coming. I gotta deal with this marketplace thing. They don’t wanna deal with it on the buyer side. [00:28:06] Vince Menzione: No, absolutely. Alright, we’ve got time for like one question in the back. Is that Eric? Yeah, that’s [00:28:12] Guest: me. [00:28:13] Vince Menzione: Hey. [00:28:14] Guest: Hi, Eric Rosenstein, um, with Cornerstone Strategy XAWS. So George, you talked about, uh, tools around that customers can use to research for self discovery. So what guidance, uh, first of all, like what capabilities are these tools gonna bring and what guidance would you give an industry specific ISV? [00:28:36] Guest: So someone that’s focused on law enforcement or private equity. That solution may be Angen solution, or it may be something more SaaS related. What guidance would you give an ISV to think about how to best leverage those tools? Is it metadata? Is it like. The outcome that your solution’s gonna drive, how would you tell ’em to best utilize those coming tools? [00:28:58] George Maroulakos: Yeah, excellent question and, and I think this is gonna, going to continue to emerge in the days, literally in weeks, weeks ahead. But recently, I, I’d say over the last six months, the advent of agent mode I think has been a game changer and the ability for our customers to use marketplace directly to research. [00:29:18] George Maroulakos: Efficiently what’s in our catalog. Prior to that, we had a category based. Old school based, search based category, click through way, which became very buried beyond the first page for any solution that was out there. Now with natural language query and the ability to propose, what am I specifically looking for, it gives partners that were on the first page or the last page in equal opportunity to be surfaced. [00:29:48] George Maroulakos: So then for a partner being able to do many of the things you just enumerated. Better metadata, better keywords, better description and differentiation for what your solution offers allows for the Ag agent search, whether it’s natively within AWS or outside of AWS through Claude Chat, GBT Crock Pick your, your, your agent of choice. [00:30:10] George Maroulakos: To be able to identify and know that your solution’s available. [00:30:13] Arif Razvi: And from a partner side to your question, I would say, uh, rich metadata, uh, both so that agent mode can find it. Yeah. Use cases, problems, it solves, you know, uh, technical specifications, pricing where you can, right. So that agents can really understand the solution, uh, that the buyer is, um, is looking for. [00:30:33] Vince Menzione: GEO is. [00:30:37] Guest: Perspective should be like as detailed as saying, so this agent is gonna act on these various data sources. [00:30:44] Arif Razvi: Yes. [00:30:45] Guest: Bringing it all together to drive that outcome that you want the agent [00:30:48] Arif Razvi: drive, if you can include what it needs to connect to in order to deliver that outcome as part of the listing. [00:30:53] Arif Razvi: Absolutely. ’cause the agent will want to know. For sure. [00:30:57] Guest: Thanks. [00:30:58] Vince Menzione: Alright, we are at time and this was a great session. [00:31:01] Arif Razvi: Thank you Vince. [00:31:01] Vince Menzione: Great to see you, George. George and I grew up, uh, five miles away from each other and went to the same college. I love it. Great to, great to spend some [00:31:09] Arif Razvi: time with you, George. [00:31:11] Vince Menzione: Thanks for listening to the Ultimate Partner Podcast. If today’s conversation resonated, share it with a partner leader in your network. Subscribe where you listen, and head over to the ultimate partner.com. For show notes related content and the resources for this episode, and if you haven’t already, now’s the time to register for the Ultimate Partner Live Event in Reston, Virginia, October 26th through October 28th. [00:31:38] Vince Menzione: Until next time, keep showing up in the rooms that matter because being in the room changes everything.

If an AI Crash Happens, It Will Be 5x Worse Than Dot-Com Bubble PoppingIn this episode of Macro, Micro and Small Cap News, we examine two major macro developments pointing to aggressive financial engineering.First, US national debt crosses $40 trillion, pushing 30-year Treasury yields to near 20-year highs. We break down the US Treasury's bond buyback programme and why funding it with short-term T-bills introduces severe rollover risk into the financial system.Second, we analyze the AI earnings bubble and circular funding structures involving Nvidia, hyperscalers, and neocloud providers like CoreWeave. We explore what happens if commercial AI monetization continues to lag behind massive infrastructure capex.We also cover market movements in Gold and Bitcoin, followed by company research on UK-listed small caps: gaming publisher Everplay (EVPL) following the launch of Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, and SaaS provider Cerillion (CER).Special Summer OfferGet 40% off membership to the Sharepickers Investment Club with our Summer Special discount: Discount Code: POD40 (Capital letters, no spaces) Offer Price: £149 (reduced from £249) Expiry Date: 31st August 2026 How to Claim: Visit Sharepickers.com, scroll down to the checkout section, and enter POD40 in the "Have a Coupon" field. Show Notes Macro Story 1: US National Debt Crosses $40 Trillion Contextualizing $40 trillion: servicing costs exceeding $1 trillion annually and debt reaching roughly 120% of US GDP. Surging 30-year Treasury yields reaching ~5.3% and the impact on borrowing costs. US Treasury bond buyback expansion funded via short-term T-bills and the resulting rollover risk. Macro Story 2: The AI Earnings Bubble & Circular Deals The divergence between massive capex spend on data centers/GPUs and realized end-user software revenues. Hyperscaler cash flow pressures in the race for market dominance. Case study of circular vendor financing structures, accounting useful life vs. debt maturities, and index concentration risks. Market Movements: Commodities & Crypto Spiking bond yields driving Gold's rally. Bitcoin price strength, short liquidations, and US administration commentary regarding digital asset purchases. Small-Cap Stock Research Everplay (EVPL): Early SteamDB concurrent user data and estimated gross unit sales for Hell Let Loose: Vietnam, alongside its importance to H2 2026 weighting. Cerillion (CER): Review of H1 performance, the £42.5m Omantel contract, an expanding back-order book (£56m+), £31m cash position with zero debt, and moving average technicals. About The SharePickers Investment ClubThe SharePickers Investment Club employs a unique, systematic method to uncover small, profitable companies on the London Stock Exchange.Each potential investment undergoes comprehensive analysis and is evaluated against 15 crucial financial metrics. This fact-based, quantitative approach allows us to pinpoint high-potential growth businesses and deliver consistent results, bypassing the hype and focusing strictly on the numbers.Learn more at www.sharepickers.com.

Today we're going to venture outside real estate for a few minutes and talk about software. But this is really a discussion about business economics, and those principles apply to every industry.For the past twenty years, one of the most attractive business models in technology has been Software as a Service, or SaaS.Instead of buying software once, customers pay every month or every year. From the software company's perspective, this is wonderful. Revenue becomes recurring and predictable. Investors love recurring revenue, and software companies have been valued accordingly.But artificial intelligence may be starting to challenge the fundamental economics of that model.We recently conducted an audit of the software subscriptions inside our own business. Like many companies, we had accumulated numerous applications over the years. Accounting software, project management software, communication tools, document management, CRM systems, design tools, and numerous specialized applications.What became obvious was that we were paying for a tremendous amount of capability that we simply weren't using.In several cases we were subscribing to the highest tier because, at some point, somebody believed we needed one particular feature. When we looked carefully at actual usage, we discovered that the basic version accomplished virtually everything we needed.We downgraded several subscriptions and, in some cases, reduced the cost by more than fifty percent.Did productivity decline?Not at all.Suppose your company uses only ten percent of the functionality in a large project management platform.What if instead you built exactly the workflow your organization needs?Instead of changing your business process to accommodate somebody else's software, the software accommodates your business process.There is something very attractive about that.But before declaring the SaaS industry dead, we need to distinguish between development cost and lifecycle cost.----------**Real Estate Espresso Podcast:** Spotify: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/show/3GvtwRmTq4r3es8cbw8jW0?si=c75ea506a6694ef1)   iTunes: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-real-estate-espresso-podcast/id1340482613)   Website: [www.victorjm.com](http://www.victorjm.com)   LinkedIn: [Victor Menasce](http://www.linkedin.com/in/vmenasce)   YouTube: [The Real Estate Espresso Podcast](http://www.youtube.com/@victorjmenasce6734)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/realestateespresso](http://www.facebook.com/realestateespresso)   Email: [podcast@victorjm.com](mailto:podcast@victorjm.com)  **Y Street Capital:** Website: [www.ystreetcapital.com](http://www.ystreetcapital.com)   Facebook: [www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital](https://www.facebook.com/YStreetCapital)   Instagram: [@ystreetcapital](http://www.instagram.com/ystreetcapital)  

Live from a Portuguese bar annex, Chad and Joel crack open a cold cider and fire up "HR's Most Dangerous Podcast" to roast the absolute state of modern recruiting. Before tackling the tech industry's worst ideas, the boys review hostage-style movie clips, swap obscure band recommendations, and pitch a Spaceballs 2 sponsorship. The SaaS-pocalypse Comes for Workday: Private equity behemoth Silver Lake is eyeing a $51B buyout of Workday. Google's Resume Garbage Can: Leaked documents show Google DeepMind's AI screening tool is rejecting qualified applicants at random, forcing frustrated hiring managers to set up illegal human-only shortcuts around their own TA department. Gen Z's AI Penalty: Stanford research shows a 19% drop in entry-level hiring for AI-exposed roles. Babysitting the Machine at Walmart: Store associates are now tasked with cleaning up after Walmart's AI. Indeed's Desperate Marketing Pivot: Indeed's CMO claims targeting passive job seekers at soccer matches is a "revolutionary" new strategy. Really? Chapters 00:00 - Intro and Episode Overview 03:45 - Review of the Odyssey and movie expectations 07:43 - Changes in media consumption and radio 09:54 - New music discoveries and bands 11:21 - Music show segment and shout outs 12:26 - TA20 awards and AI professionals recognition 13:25 - Upcoming events and travel plans 20:32 - Private equity buyout talks with Workday 21:50 - Implications of PE acquisition on Workday's culture and support 23:13 - The SAS apocalypse and AI's impact on SaaS companies 24:37 - Market valuation and PE acquisitions of software companies 28:38 - Google resume dumping and AI in HR 29:06 - Challenges of AI in recruitment and hiring processes 31:15 - The puppy analogy and AI's limitations 32:13 - The importance of human skills and adaptability 37:24 - AI's impact on youth employment and highly exposed occupations 40:00 - The need for experienced workers to train AI 41:32 - Future workforce and the importance of human skills 44:34 - Adapting to AI and the importance of continuous learning 46:35 - Walmart's AI implementation and employee trust issues 49:45 - The role of human nuance in AI and workplace tasks 52:57 - The importance of understanding complex tasks in AI deployment 54:29 - Indeed's new marketing strategy and market position 55:33 - Critique of Indeed's marketing and tech evolution 57:29 - Spaceballs 2 and industry humor 58:07 - Google and Indeed traffic decline signals 59:22 - The shift to old school marketing and candidate engagement 01:00:21 - The future of job search and AI-driven applications 01:01:18 - Humor and lighthearted closing remarks

Dan Nathan hosts FirstMark Capital partner David Waltcher at the firm's HQ to discuss Waltcher 's path from an Accel internship to investing in enterprise software, security, and AI. They compare the consumer-to-SaaS shift, the post-2021 “SaaSpocalypse,” and how public markets can overreact to AI narratives, using Salesforce as a system-of-record case study. Waltcher argues many incumbents will prove durable due to switching costs, ecosystems, and trust, while M&A is accelerating amid volatile publics, strong buyers, and fast-growing AI businesses, citing deals like Stripe–OpenRouter and interest in Workday. The conversation turns to Chinese and open models driving token cost deflation and model routing, and to rising security threats, including agent-related incidents, fueling demand. Waltcher highlights FirstMark investments Onyx (agent security), Nebulock (agentic threat hunting), and Tracebit (assume-breach deception), and says innovation risk is highest if recession or a market crash hits, not from AGI timing debates. —FOLLOW USYouTube: @RiskReversalMediaInstagram: @riskreversalmediaTwitter: @RiskReversalLinkedIn: RiskReversal Media The financial opinions expressed in Risk Reversal content are for information purposes only. The opinions expressed by the hosts and participants are not an attempt to influence specific trading behavior, investments, or strategies. Past performance does not necessarily predict future outcomes. No specific results or profits are assured when relying on Risk Reversal. Before making any investment or trade, evaluate its suitability for your circumstances and consider consulting your own financial or investment advisor. The financial products discussed in Risk Reversal carry a high level of risk and may not be appropriate for many investors. If you have uncertainties, it's advisable to seek professional advice. Remember that trading involves a risk to your capital, so only invest money that you can afford to lose. Derivatives are not suitable for all investors and involve the risk of losing more than the amount originally deposited and any profit you might have made. This communication is not a recommendation or offer to buy, sell or retain any specific investment or service.

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William Collins and Eyvonne Sharp dig into the latest AI headlines, from the largest copyright settlement in American history to stolen AI models and invisible watermarks on Claude output. Plus, they discuss why so many companies have rallied around NVIDIA’s support for open weight AI models. Our hosts also examine the biggest questions arising from... Read more »

Fresh listener questions are on the table this week. Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson tackle whether small builders can realistically compete with industry heavyweights, what the AI agent wave actually means for the future of SaaS, and whether mixing your personal social presence with your business is a smart move or a mistake.Key Takeaways00:11 – Competing in a market dominated by big players04:40 – Is AI really the end of SaaS as we know it?15:52 – When it makes sense to build versus buy17:43 – Personal social accounts and promoting your businessLinks and ResourcesRecord a video question for the podcastWatch The REWORK podcast on YouTubeBasecamp is the no-nonsense project management system. Sign up for free at Basecamp.comHEY is a fresh take on email. Sign up for a 30-day free trial at HEY.comFizzy is a modern spin on kanban. Sign up for free at fizzy.doBooks by 37signalsJason Fried on XDavid Heinemeier Hansson on X

What does it actually take to rebuild a $100M vertical SaaS company around AI - not just add AI features, but make AI the core of how your customers run their business? Adam Guild, CEO of Owner, shares the full story: how they went from zero AI-first customers to 83% of their base in just two years, why they had to rethink pricing, sales, and onboarding from the ground up, and what it means to serve small business owners who need results, not tools. Adam breaks down the hard lessons - the customers who churned when AI didn't deliver fast enough, the moments that forced the team to simplify, and why the restaurant industry became the proving ground for a new kind of AI-native vertical SaaS playbook. If you're building in vertical SaaS or trying to figure out how to actually move your customer base to AI, this one is required listening. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 02:00 - From 0% to 83%: the timeline and what changed 07:00 - Why vertical SaaS is the right place to go AI-first 13:00 - Rethinking onboarding, pricing, and sales for AI customers 20:00 - What churn taught them about AI adoption 27:00 - The operational reality of rebuilding a $100M company 35:00 - What comes next SaaStr hosts the world's largest community for B2B software founders and executives.

William Collins and Eyvonne Sharp dig into the latest AI headlines, from the largest copyright settlement in American history to stolen AI models and invisible watermarks on Claude output. Plus, they discuss why so many companies have rallied around NVIDIA’s support for open weight AI models. Our hosts also examine the biggest questions arising from... Read more »

On the podcast: hitting $10M ARR without ever testing a paywall, paying their own customers to help make video ads, and why you might want to turn away some potential customers.Top Takeaways:

SUMMARY: Brandon and Aaron discuss the pros and cons of owning or renting your model weights. What does that mean for the Enterprise, and what should you be considering?SHOW: 1055SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Enterprise AI Show #1055 TranscriptSHOW VIDEO: https://youtu.be/uc0GZBLgUeoSHOW SPONSORS:Nasuni - Activate your data for AI and request a demo Topic: Own Your Weights or Rent Them?Why now? Alex Karp had a spicy CNBC segment arguing enterprises should "own their weights" rather than rent models from the big labs — sparking a widely-shared response from Jamin Ball on Clouded Judgement. SubstackPast: Same shape as the "own vs. rent" debate the industry has had before — on-prem vs. SaaS, buy vs. build for ERP/CRM — just replayed one layer down, at the model layer instead of the app layer.Present: A weight file is really just a frozen snapshot that degrades in relative terms as frontier models keep improving — what actually matters is owning the RL/training loop that keeps producing better weights, not the weights themselves. A model RL'd against a company's actual workflows can beat a frontier generalist model on that one task, and do it far more cheaply — but that leaves enterprises managing a sprawl of task-specific models that all need governing, versioning, and securing.Future: Ball frames it as a stated-preference vs. revealed-preference problem — everyone says they want model sovereignty, but the spend data shows enterprises keep writing bigger checks to the frontier labs every quarter because most don't have the talent or infra to run the loop. Where's the market for a company that closes that gap — makes "owning the loop" accessible without the complexity tax? Tie back to your Show #4 (off-the-shelf AI, harnesses) — this is basically that debate's sequel, one layer deeper. (Aaron's hot take, and another episode: maybe it's not about the weights at all…)FEEDBACK?Email: show @ the enterprise ai show dot comeBluesky: @TheEntAIShow.bsky.socialTwitter/X: @TheEntAIShowInstagram: @TheEntAIShow

Ian is joined by Jesse Hanley, founder of Bento, to discuss everything from Grok Bot to finding your ideal customer to the future of knowledge work and so much more.Sponsored by Bento, DropInBlog, Valorin Security, and Svix.Interested in sponsoring Mostly Technical?  Head to https://mostlytechnical.com/sponsor to learn more.(00:00) - Settle All Family Business (02:04) - Grok's Bot (12:43) - AI & Knowledge Work (35:17) - How much can one person automate? (46:42) - Will normies use bots? (59:29) - Jesse's videos (01:12:17) - Growing Revenue (01:20:11) - Finding your ideal customer (01:33:56) - Cameras (01:41:51) - Life in Japan Links:Jesse Hanley / @jessethanley — founder-in-the-park videos live hereGrok "bot" agent app (xAI)OpenClaw Hermes Agent (Nous Research) Less Annoying CRMBen Orenstein Laravel Live Japan TatamiMax MRR articleHidden Multipliers (book/audiobook)Find Your Carol workshopA Smart Bear blogJason CohenSony FX30Sony a6000 (body)Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8 (Sony E)Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 GM II Sony 300mm f/2.8 GM OSS (Ian's)Kase FiltersPatrick McKenzie

On this episode of What Are Your Thoughts, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Downtown Josh Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Michael Batnick⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ break down what's driving the global bond selloff, why pressure has shifted from the front end of the yield curve to long-term rates, and what it could mean for investors. Plus: Big Tech's massive off-balance-sheet AI commitments, whether the bottom is finally in for enterprise SaaS after the Workday takeover reports, a market that keeps going all the way up, and a look inside Bill Ackman's evolving Pershing Square empire and his search for permanent capital. This episode is sponsored by Franklin Templeton. Learn more at https://www.franklintempleton.com/advantage Sign up for ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Compound Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and never miss out! Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-compound-media/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@thecompoundnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Investing involves the risk of loss. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be or regarded as personalized investment advice or relied upon for investment decisions. Michael Batnick and Josh Brown are employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management and may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this video. All opinions expressed by them are solely their own opinion and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholtz Wealth Management. The Compound Media, Incorporated, an affiliate of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ritholtz Wealth Management⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. The information provided on this website (including any information that may be accessed through this website) is not directed at any investor or category of investors and is provided solely as general information. Obviously nothing on this channel should be considered as personalized financial advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. See our disclosures here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ritholtzwealth.com/podcast-youtube-disclosures/⁠⁠⁠ Franklin Templeton Disclosure: Before investing, carefully consider a fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. You can find this and other information in each prospectus, or summary prospectus, if available, at franklintempleton.com. Please read it carefully. All investments involve risk, including possible loss of principal.  © 2026 Franklin Distributors, LLC. Member FINRA/SIPC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Build a ChatGPT Micro-SaaS That Owns One Zip Code (Hyperlocal AI Business Blueprint) Most AI entrepreneurs chase millions. We chase one zip code. In this episode, discover how hyper-local micro-SaaS turns digital products for beginners into profitable niche monopolies—with lower competition, faster cashflow, and the margins small-town businesses are desperate to pay for. Learn the exact AI entrepreneur framework parents use to dominate their neighborhood, not the internet. https://DarkHorseEntrepreneur.com Tracy argues beginners can make real money by building tiny ChatGPT-powered micro-SaaS apps that solve one painful problem for one zip code, rather than chasing global scale. It shares examples: a 28-year-old in Portland built a Twilio + OpenAI rescheduling voice agent for 16 nearby dental offices, charging $800/month and reaching $12,800 MRR with zero marketing, and an Austin founder who built a roofing bid tool that cut quoting to 90 seconds and sold it locally for $1,200/month to 18 contractors. It explains why hyperlocal focus yields high conversion and pricing power, warns about customer concentration and trust (one bad update can collapse a whole territory), and recommends treating this as a 12–24 month play: reach 15–25 customers, then get acquired or expand vertically to adjacent professions while staying local. The episode ends with an action plan to map nearby businesses, identify repetitive “pain knobs,” and build a targeted solution, plus a newsletter plug. 00:00 Zip Code SaaS Pitch 01:15 Portland Dentist Case Study 02:58 Why Hyperlocal Converts 04:09 Austin Roofing Bid Bot 05:17 Bottoms Up Wedge 06:04 Scaling Without Losing Edge 07:33 Indispensability Economics 08:04 Hyperlocal Risk Trap 09:43 12 to 24 Month Exit Plan 10:41 Zoom In Framework 12:33 Whisker Wisdom Takeaway 12:49 Your Action Steps - Whiskered Wisdom 13:53 Recap digital products for beginners, ai entrepreneur, make money online, ai side gig, microSaaS, Micro SaaS, Hyperlocal, AI, No-code, AI tools, OpenAI, API, Local business, automation, Monthly recurring revenue, MRR, Vertical SaaS, ai content creation, ai automation business, online side hustles, word from home, make money from home, ai side hustle, business mindset, business tips, ai automation agency, side hustle ideas, entrepreneur mindset, business motivation, entrepreneur motivation, how to make money online, entrepreneurship, digital courses, digital entrepreneur, digital marketing, digital product ideas, digital products, entrepreneur, entrepreneur podcast, entrepreneur tips, entrepreneurship, entreprenuer, online business, tips for entrepreneurs,  https://DarkHorseEntrepreneur.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode the hosts analyze a four-unit quick service restaurant franchise portfolio and debate whether buying an underperforming chicken/Mexican franchise platform is a smart acquisition or an expensive operational headache.Business Listing – https://go.franzy.com/resale/qsr-4-unit-southeast-01Welcome to Acquisitions Anonymous – the #1 podcast for small business M&A. Every week, we break down businesses for sale and talk about buying, operating, and growing them.Looking to build a professional website in minutes? Try Wix: https://wix.pxf.io/c/6898629/3115214/25616?trafcat=templateHubSpot is the backbone for how businesses scale without chaos. Try them out here: https://go.try-hubspot.com/OeG9VrSubscribe for more episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@AcquisitionsAnonymousPodcast?sub_confirmation=1Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.acquanon.com/newsletterSponsors:Quiet Light BrokerageThinking about selling your e-commerce or SaaS business? Quiet Light Brokerage specializes in helping founders maximize value with experienced former operators—not just brokers—and offers a free, no-obligation business valuation. Learn more at: https://quietlight.comBedrock Quality of EarningsBefore buying a business, make sure the numbers are real. Bedrock provides buyer-focused Quality of Earnings reports using experienced financial professionals and AI-powered analysis to help uncover surprises before closing. Learn more at: https://bedrockqoe.comWhat happens when you find a franchise portfolio that's growing—but still underperforming its own brand averages? In this episode, the hosts evaluate a live four-unit quick service restaurant (QSR) portfolio consisting of chicken and Mexican food franchises in the Southeast.The business generates approximately $4.2M in trailing twelve-month revenue and $676K in adjusted EBITDA, but the opportunity isn't as straightforward as it appears. The hosts dig into franchise economics, average unit volumes (AUVs), dual-brand restaurant conversions, SBA financing, franchise transfer restrictions, and whether operational improvements can realistically unlock significant upside.The discussion goes well beyond valuation. The panel debates whether these restaurants are simply poorly operated, located in weak markets, or attached to an aging franchise brand that may never reach system averages. Along the way they explore AI drive-thru ordering, franchise legal structures, pricing flexibility, restaurant labor, and why experienced multi-unit operators may view this acquisition very differently than first-time buyers.Key Highlights:- Four-unit QSR portfolio with $4.2M revenue and $676K adjusted EBITDA- One dual-brand chicken/Mexican location could potentially be converted into a standalone Mexican concept with franchisor incentives- Discussion of AUV (Average Unit Volume), franchise due diligence, and identifying operational versus location issues- SBA financing considerations, including funding acquisition costs, working capital, and restaurant conversion expenses- Deep dive into AI ordering, pricing strategy, franchise economics, and why experienced operators often outperform first-time ownersSubscribe to  weekly our Newsletter and get curated deals in your inboxAdvertise with us by clicking hereDo you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel.Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show!Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.For inquiries or suggestions, email us at contact@acquanon.com

This is episode three of Decoding the C-Suite, a five part miniseries from Recruiting Future about how leadership really thinks about AI, recorded with the leadership team at SmartRecruiters seven months into their acquisition by SAP. If you've ever struggled to get AI investment signed off, this episode is for you. Tom DiDesidero, CFO at SmartRecruiters, explains exactly what he wants to see in a business case, why he backs short, measurable pilots over big commitments, and how to bring evidence rather than instinct. He also lifts the lid on the real economics of AI, from unpredictable inference costs to gross margins far below anything the SaaS world is used to, and makes a prediction about how the AI and SaaS worlds inevitably come together.

What actually changed for the AI SOC this year? Bill Peterson, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Sumo Logic, says it reached the point of getting into production, where a year or so ago the same conversation was about what was coming. Marco Ciappelli puts the count of companies carrying AI SOC in the name at 43, and Bill Peterson says that number strikes him as low. The market is maturing, and Sumo Logic announced its own set of AI SOC products and solutions during the week. The second thing is what a security audience does with it. Hands-on practitioners want to touch it, see it, feel it, and Sumo Logic ran live demos of its products on site. When a technical audience puts hands on a keyboard and tries something, Bill Peterson expects them to take it back to work with them. Production first, then enablement of the practitioners. The third is the pace behind all of it. Most security vendors are SaaS companies running CI/CD and shipping continuously, so three and six month roadmaps and delivery are the norm now and the 12 to 18 month roadmap is gone. Some customers are what Sumo Logic internally calls AI shy, accepting they have to get there while taking a slow and reasoned approach, and Bill Peterson treats that as normal for any technology. This is a Brand Briefing. A Brand Briefing is an on-location conversation recorded on site at Black Hat USA 2026, putting a spotlight on the guest and their company and pairing it with the editorial reach of ITSPmagazine. Learn more: https://www.studioc60.com/performance/#briefing GUEST Bill Peterson, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Sumo Logic On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williampetersonjr/ RESOURCES Black Hat USA 2026 event coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/black-hat-usa-2026-cybersecurity-event-coverage-in-las-vegas Learn more about Sumo Logic: https://www.sumologic.com/ Sumo Logic Dojo AI: https://www.sumologic.com/solutions/dojo-ai Sumo Logic Dojo AI agent announcements at Black Hat USA 2026, including general availability of the SOC Analyst Agent: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sumo-logics-new-dojo-ai-agents-investigate-and-resolve-security--cloud-operations-issues-at-machine-speed-302839720.html Are you interested in telling your story? ▶︎ Full Length Brand Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#full ▶︎ Brand Spotlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#spotlight ▶︎ Brand Highlight Story: https://www.studioc60.com/content-creation#highlight ▶︎ Get your own Brand Briefing at an upcoming event: https://www.studioc60.com/buy-brand-briefings KEYWORDS Bill Peterson, Sumo Logic, Marco Ciappelli, brand briefing, brand story, brand marketing, marketing podcast, Black Hat USA 2026, AI SOC, agentic AI, security operations, Dojo AI, SOC analyst agent, product marketing, CI/CD release cycles, AI adoption, human in the loop, security operations center, market maturity Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For about a decade, a customer data platform's job was to be the place your customer data lived. What happens to that job when the most valuable thing a system can do goes beyond remembering and evolves to deciding and acting?Agility, in a category that's been declared dead more than once, isn't chasing whatever the market renames itself this quarter. It's being able to change what your product does without losing the thing your company is actually good at.Today we're going to talk about what it takes to evolve a category from the inside. Specifically:- Why fifteen years of data infrastructure turned out to be an advantage rather than baggage to shed.- What actually changes — in the product and in the company — when a system stops solely storing customer data and starts acting on it.- Where the line sits between a marketer steering an agent and a system running on its own.This conversation also kicks off a four-part series we're running this week with the product team at Treasure AI: four leaders, four vantage points: the vision, the roadmap, the operational reality, and the design.To help me start it off, I'd like to welcome Rafa Flores, Chief Product and Growth Officer at Treasure AI.About Rafael FloresAs a proud immigrant from Honduras, Rafael's journey is rooted in three core values passed down from his family: the power of education, treating everyone with dignity—no matter their background—and lifting up the next generation. Once he was an wide-eyed kid with big dreams, and today, he's living them. He's dedicated his career to scaling SaaS companies from startup spark to high-growth success. At Meltwater, he played a key role in driving product innovation and market readiness that led to a successful IPO. At Datanyze, he led strategic initiatives that culminated in an acquisition by ZoomInfo—boosting their data intelligence footprint. At ARM, he spearheaded innovation in Retail SDK and IoT, opening new frontiers in connected experiences. And at 6sense, he led all automation, data, and AI-powered products, building inclusive teams and solutions that empower GTM leaders to sell smarter. At Treasure Data, he helped orchestrate a landmark $600M acquisition by ARM and secured record-breaking funding for the Customer Data Platform. Now, he's back—leading Treasure Data into a new era of intelligence and automation built for scale. It's more than a comeback; it's a homecoming. This is a team he deeply believes in—brilliant, driven, and purposeful. Beyond tech, he's a devoted father of three and married to a registered nurse whose compassion and strength inspires him every day. My expertise lies in product strategy, CDPs, data privacy, and scaling GTM solutions—from agile startups to Global 2000 enterprises. He's passionate about solving hard problems with technology, driving sustainable growth, and mentoring rising product leaders. As a member of the Forbes Technology Council, he aims to share insights, spark dialogue, and help shape the future of innovation—one conversation, and one leader, at a time.Rafael Flores on LinkedIn---------- Resources ---------- Treasure AIReach your customers with Reddit. Spend $500 in ad spend, get $500 back in ad creditCheck out the Treasure AI Studio sandbox for yourself.Enjoyed the show? Tell us more at and give us a rating so others can find the show.Connect with Greg on LinkedInDon't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more.Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology.The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

a16z General Partner David George is joined by Will Gaybrick, President of Product & Business at Stripe, to discuss how AI is changing the way Stripe builds products, organizes teams, and thinks about the future of internet commerce. Stripe has evolved from a payments company into a multi-product financial infrastructure platform, while a new generation of AI companies is growing and monetizing faster than previous software cohorts. Will explains why Stripe sees AI productivity as an opportunity to build more rather than simply cut costs, including how its internal coding agents now generate thousands of pull requests each week. They discuss creating founder-like agency inside large companies, building smaller and flatter teams, and why Stripe believes dramatically more software will be created as the cost of building continues to fall. They also look ahead to agentic commerce, why checkout pages could disappear, the potential return of micropayments, stablecoins as infrastructure for a global economy, and a future where AI agents increasingly buy software and services from other machines.   Resources: Follow Will Gaybrick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-gaybrick-5730347/ Follow Will on X: https://x.com/gaybrick Follow David George on X: https://x.com/DavidGeorge83 Follow Stripe on X: https://x.com/stripe Stay Updated:Find a16z on YouTube: YouTubeFind a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when an autonomous AI agent can complete thousands of actions before a traditional access review has even identified that something has gone wrong? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I speak with Alex Bovee, CEO and co-founder of C1, about identity security, runtime governance, shadow AI, and the controls companies need as humans and agents begin working together. Alex has spent much of his career in identity and security. He and his co-founder previously worked at Okta on zero trust products before creating C1 as an access control platform capable of operating at machine speed. That requirement has become increasingly important as AI agents begin accessing company data, calling tools, using credentials, and taking actions across enterprise systems. Alex describes agents as non-deterministic systems that can "reward-max." An agent may pursue its assigned objective so aggressively that it finds an unexpected or dangerous way to complete the task. It does not possess a moral compass or an intuitive understanding of what the company considers acceptable. Traditional identity processes were created for people. A company might review access every 90 days or investigate a security issue after an event. That approach becomes inadequate when an agent can execute thousands of actions within minutes. We discuss why identity is becoming a control plane for AI agents. Networks, data systems, and security tools all play important roles, but identity determines which resources an agent can access, which actions it can perform, and whether it acts independently or on behalf of a person. Without a defined identity or delegated authorization model, an organization may struggle to connect an agent's behavior with a responsible owner, a limited mission, and enforceable permissions. Alex explains the four connected capabilities inside C1's Agentic Control Plane. The first concerns shadow AI discovery. Companies need visibility across cloud services, SaaS applications, endpoint agents, hosted agents, local MCP servers, and credentials stored throughout the environment. This is particularly relevant because employees are downloading locally developed or "vibe-coded" MCP servers and running agent tools on their devices. These components can introduce software supply chain risks and expose local credentials. The second capability covers credential security. C1 has introduced a post-quantum credential vault designed to protect secrets and inject them into authorized agent workflows without leaving credentials scattered across devices and applications. The third area is runtime governance. Instead of reviewing behavior after an incident, organizations can evaluate an agent's actions against its assigned mission as they occur. If an agent is authorized to complete one business task but begins exploiting an internal tool, contacting an unapproved service, or attempting to extract data, runtime controls can block the action or request human approval. The fourth capability concerns agentic security intelligence. This uses information collected across identities, agents, permissions, credentials, and behavior to identify risks and support automated remediation. We also discuss human accountability. Alex says emerging regulatory thinking recognizes the need for a responsible person behind an autonomous agent. That connection allows businesses to establish ownership, delegate authority, and determine who remains accountable for the agent's behavior. The conversation then turns to the effect of AI on employees. Alex rejects the assumption that organizations will simply remove people as agents become more capable. His preferred analogy is that people are moving from manually producing every artifact to building and supervising the factory. Employees provide the inputs, direct the agents, examine the outputs, and correct the process when necessary. C1 has experienced this internally. Alex says its engineering team increased from roughly 150 weekly software merges to around 1,500, while engineering headcount grew by approximately 10% to 15%. That productivity requires careful human review. Generating work faster does not remove the need to assess whether the output is accurate, secure, useful, and aligned with the original objective. For CISOs and CIOs, the goal is to provide a governed path for AI adoption. A blanket prohibition may encourage employees to work around policy. Secure self-service access can give teams approved tools, defined permissions, and runtime protection. If an AI agent can operate at machine speed, are your organization's identity controls capable of observing, authorizing, and stopping it at the same pace? Listen to the conversation and share your thoughts with me.

You've picked a real niche, built a real list, and spent real money, so why are there still zero sales calls on your calendar? In this episode, I break down what happened with a SaaS partner I'll call Dan, who sent 91 cold emails and dropped $6,000 on an association deal and still got nothing, all while quietly avoiding the one activity that fills a pipeline. I share the moment an investor offered to strip him down to less than half his own company just so he could keep not selling, and why I told him to go get a job instead. Then we dug into what he really meant when he said he despised sales, and he turned out to be one lens away from the trap he'd built for himself. If picking up the phone still feels like the call center you escaped years ago, this one is for you.Resources and LinksNeed help with your WHO and WHAT decisions? Apply for a FREE Multiplier CallBook a Decision Session herePrevious episode: 699 - AI will expose youCheck out more episodes of the Paul Higgins PodcastSubscribe to our YouTube channel: @PaulHigginsMentoringJoin our newsletterSuggested resources

A listener is trying to decide how to price a new online service. Should she use the common SAAS (“software as a service”) model, or are there alternatives? Side Hustle School features a new episode EVERY DAY, featuring detailed case studies of people who earn extra money without quitting their job. This year, the show includes free guided lessons and listener Q&A several days each week.Show notes: SideHustleSchool.comEmail: team@sidehustleschool.comBe on the show: SideHustleSchool.com/questionsConnect on Instagram: @193countriesVisit Chris's main site: ChrisGuillebeau.comRead A Year of Mental Health: yearofmentalhealth.comIf you're enjoying the show, please pass it along! It's free and has been published every single day since January 1, 2017. We're also very grateful for your five-star ratings—it shows that people are listening and looking forward to new episodes.