Podcast appearances and mentions of tom hale

In this episode, Scott Becker sits down with Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA, to explore how the ŌURA Ring is transforming preventative health through clinical-grade biometrics, AI insights, and partnerships in women's and cardiovascular health. Tom also shares his vision for ŌURA's evolving role in the healthcare system and how wearable data can help individuals become the CEO of their own health.

Oura CEO Tom Hale speaks on the company's expansion in health and wearables market. He speaks with Bloomberg's Scarlet Fu and Romaine Bostick. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Avery Hale Smith, Chief Experience Officer at Backroads Travel was born and raised in the Bay Area experiencing her family's extensive travels and time spent in nature at an early age. The daughter of Tom Hale, the Founder, President and CEO of the active travel company Backroads, Hale Smith developed a curiosity about the world at large—and the world of entrepreneurship that led to social advocacy and cultural engagement.  With nearly a decade of expertise in strategy consulting, sales, marketing and customer engagement, and a wealth of international travel she found her way back home to Backroads and the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2023, she was named Executive Vice President of the company. She introduced Backroad's Women's Adventures in 2023, a collection of trips that create travel and connection specifically for women. Heather and Avery talk about the joys of active travel, places they have been and future adventures.    Backroads Website: www.backroads.com Heather's Website:  www.heatherthomson.com Social Media: IG: https://www.instagram.com/iamheathert/                     You Tube:    https://youtube.com/@iamheathert?si=ZvI9l0bhLfTR-qdo SPONSOR:  TIMELINE/Mitopure - Timeline is offering 10% off your order of Mitopure. Go to www.timeline.com/HEATHER.  (Remember to use code HEATHER)   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two weeks after Oura CEO Tom Hale started tracking and improving his sleep, he recalls, “It was like walking out of a black-and-white movie into a 4K technicolor movie… I've been missing this for 30 years.” The experience of feeling 20 again every day inspired him to apply for the Oura CEO role. Now, nearly 3 years into the job, he sat down to discuss what all founders and CEOs should consider when it comes to avoiding burnout and maximizing health and productivity. We covered his experiences with tools like continuous glucose monitoring, his thoughts on the future of wearables, and how AI insights will help us take better control of our health. (00:00) Intro(00:53) The Journey with Oura Ring(01:47) Sleep Optimization and Health Trends(05:06) Behavioral Changes for Better Sleep(09:33) Tom Hale's Professional Background(12:47) Challenges and Opportunities at Oura(22:50) The Importance of Sleep(26:05) Health Benefits of Quality Sleep(28:38) Oura's Unique Position in the Market(36:47) Consumer Choice and Healthcare Disruption(40:59) Unexpected Insights from HSA and FSA Spending(41:36) The Future of Insurance and Wearable Data(44:40) Preventative Care and Employer Incentives(47:21) The Impact of Small Choices on Health(48:52) Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare(54:08) The Role of Continuous Glucose Monitors(59:50) Expanding Oura's Market and Product Strategy(01:12:04) Navigating Leadership and Company Culture(01:19:22) Future Opportunities and Global Expansion(01:23:43) Closing Remarks and Reflections  Executive Producer: Rashad AssirProducer: Leah ClapperMixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA

As authored by Tom Hale.

After using an Oura Ring helped him through a stressful transition, Tom Hale decided he wanted to help the health tracker reach new heights. Tom has led the company in a chapter of impressive growth since becoming CEO in 2022. In this episode, he sits down with host Jeff Berman to reveal how he translated lessons from his time leading software companies to innovate features, build partnerships, and more than double the number of Oura Rings sold.Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.comSubscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today, you'll learn about a new polymer that could battle antibiotic resistant infections, a possible new way to detect life on other planets from afar, and what to expect when you're expecting to adopt a furry friend.Powerful Polymer •“Texas A&M Team Develops Polymers That Can Kill Bacteria.” by Shana K. Hutchins. 2023. •“The global threat of antibiotic resistance.” ReAct. N.d. •“Ring-opening metathesis polymerization of N-methylpyridinium-fused norbornenes to access antibacterial main-chain cationic polymers.” by Sarah N. Hancock, et al. 2023. Exoplanet CO2 •“A carbon-lite atmosphere could be a sign of water and life on other terrestrial planets, MIT study finds.” by Jennifer Chu. 2023. •“Atmospheric carbon depletion as a tracer of water oceans and biomass on temperate terrestrial exoplanets.” by Amaury H.M.J. Triaud, et al. 2023. •“How do astronomers find exoplanets?” by Daniela Breitman. 2017. Adoption Science •“What To Expect When You Adopt A Shelter Pet, According To Scientists.” by Holly Large. 2023. •“18 Interesting Pet Adoption Statistics & Facts to Know in 2024.” by Misty Layne. 2024. •“Do Dogs Cry? Signs Your Beloved Pup Might Be Sad.” by Tom Hale. 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Will an Oura ring change the health industry as we know it? The company's CEO Tom Hale is this week's guest. Plus, why GM have pulled the plug on their robotaxi and has Google come closer to achieving the dream of quantum computing? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Slimme ringen zoals die van Samsung zitten in de lift, merkt ook Oura, dat al elf jaar dit soort gadgets maakt. Joe van Burik vertelt erover in deze Tech Update. Oura maakt al jaren een slimme ring, die voor pakweg driehonderd euro in combinatie met een abonnement te krijgen is. Samsung zet daar de Galaxy Ring tegenover, sindskort ook in Nederland beschikbaar, al is die een stuk duurder. Oura meldt nu dat het op schema ligt om 500 miljoen dollar omzet te bezoeken dit jaar. Dat is een verdubbeling van vorig jaar, zegt CEO Tom Hale tegen Bloomberg. Oura heeft nu zo'n 2,5 miljoen van die slimme ringen verkocht. Verder in deze Tech Update: Amazon is deels vrijgesproken van het in stand houden van een illegaal monopolie door de federale rechter in Seattle, nadat de FTC de techreus had aangeklaagd In Californië heeft gouverneur Gavin Newsom nog meer AI-gerelateerde wetten van tafel geschoven See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Russia has trained its navy to hit European targets with nuclear-capable missiles, and 40 per cent of the biggest US manufacturing investments announced in the first year of Joe Biden's flagship industrial and climate policies have been delayed or paused. Plus, we ask the FT's Tom Hale if there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for China's economy.Mentioned in this podcast:Russian navy trained to target sites inside Europe with nuclear-capable missilesChina deflation fears ease as consumer prices riseDelays hit 40% of Biden's major IRA manufacturing projects Life and Art podcast: Why museums should keep their mummies and shrunken headsThe FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Breen Turner, Sam Giovinco, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Our engineer is Monica Lopez. Topher Forhecz is the FT's executive producer. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show's theme song is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I sat down with Tom Hale, CEO of Ōura Health, makers of the Oura Ring to discuss how they are enabling entrepreneurs to take a more measured approach to maximizing sleep. We also discussed how as as well as how leaders can leverage emotion to reinforce the company's mission and create a more engaged team. To learn more about Ōura Health and Ōura for Business, go to ouraring.com/business Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As authored by Tom Hale.

North Texas was battered by an especially active weather season this spring, with severe storms causing significant damage and loss of life. A devastating tornado on May 25 killed seven people in Cooke County, becoming one of the three deadliest tornadoes in North Texas since 1930. KRLD's John Liddle took a look back at the month with help from meteorologists Dan Brounoff, Tom Hale, and others. Photo credit: Getty Images

Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner, and Daisy Wolf, investment partner at a16z Bio + Health.Together, they talk about the potential of wearables to change behavior, and how that can affect health. They also discuss how AI could maximize the usefulness of wearables and power the insights provided to wearers.

Fitbit, Apple Watch, Nike Fuelband, WHOOP, Oura Ring. With the nature of my career, I've been rocking some sort of wearable technology since it became a thing, over 10 years ago. I get so many messages asking why I switched up my wearable recently and today I am sitting down with Tom Hale, CEO of Oura — my current wearable of choice. I've been looking forward to this conversation for a long time and we really dive into everything that is the wearable industry. I appreciate how Tom talks about wearables very democratically throughout this conversation and his outlook on the future of the industry. We talk about Tom's interesting journey to CEO of Oura, his perspective on why people should invest in a wearable and the importance of placement, as well as how he's gained meaningful insight from his journey with wearing an Oura ring.  IN THIS EPISODE  Tom's journey to becoming Oura's CEO (5:10) What made Tom lean into Oura in the diverse world of wearables (8:13)  The early days of CEO and managing the learning curve that came with a massive technology company (11:55)  The reason to wear a wearable at all (16:32) Tom's perspective on the ‘nocebo' effect (19:40) Why continued use of a wearable matters even if you feel you've got the data you need (25:20) The importance of the placement of wearables and how it impacts data (37:01) How the Oura employees are Tom's biggest inspiration (42:00) Tom's bookshelf recommendations (45:02) How sleep can affect nutrition and overall appetite regulation (48:26) Tom's perspective on the future of wearables (57:02) SOCIAL Tom On LinkedIn ⁠⁠⁠@emilyabbate⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@hurdlepodcast⁠⁠⁠ OFFERS Hyperice | Go to hyperice.com and use code HURDLE15 at checkout for 15% off the entire product suite LMNT | Head to drinklmnt.com/hurdle to get a free sample pack with first purchase  JOIN: ⁠⁠⁠⁠THE *Secret* FACEBOOK GROUP⁠⁠⁠⁠ SIGN UP: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Weekly Hurdle Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠ASK ME A QUESTION: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Leave me a voice message, ask me a question, and it could be featured in an upcoming episode!⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hurdle/message

Today, you'll learn about a new polymer that could battle antibiotic resistant infections, a possible new way to detect life on other planets from afar, and what to expect when you're expecting to adopt a furry friend, Powerful Polymer “Texas A&M Team Develops Polymers That Can Kill Bacteria.” by Shana K. Hutchins. 2023. “The global threat of antibiotic resistance.” ReAct. N.d. “Ring-opening metathesis polymerization of N-methylpyridinium-fused norbornenes to access antibacterial main-chain cationic polymers.” by Sarah N. Hancock, et al. 2023. Exoplanet CO2 “A carbon-lite atmosphere could be a sign of water and life on other terrestrial planets, MIT study finds.” by Jennifer Chu. 2023. “Atmospheric carbon depletion as a tracer of water oceans and biomass on temperate terrestrial exoplanets.” by Amaury H.M.J. Triaud, et al. 2023. “How do astronomers find exoplanets?” by Daniela Breitman. 2017. Adoption Science “What To Expect When You Adopt A Shelter Pet, According To Scientists.” by Holly Large. 2023. “18 Interesting Pet Adoption Statistics & Facts to Know in 2024.” by Misty Layne. 2024. “Do Dogs Cry? Signs Your Beloved Pup Might Be Sad.” by Tom Hale. 2023. Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join us on the latest episode! Our Guest: Tom Hale, CEO at ŌURAWhat you'll get out of this episode: Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA, discusses Oura Ring's evolution on 'Slice of Healthcare' podcast. Key insights into Oura Ring's unique features in wearable tech. Oura's focus on women's health and personalized data. Discussion on data privacy and celebrity endorsements. Future directions for Oura and wearable health technology. To learn more about ŌURA:https://ouraring.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/oura/Tom's Socials:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomeghale/Our sponsors for this episode are:Sage Growth Partners https://www.sage-growth.com/Quantum Health https://www.quantum-health.com/WHAT IS SLICE OF HEALTHCARE?The go-to site for digital health executive/provider interviews, technology updates, and industry news. Listed to in 65+ countries.#DigitalHealthcare #HealthcareData #HealthcareInnovation #SliceOfHealthcare 

Sign up for the launch of the $101M XPRIZE – the largest in history, being announced on November 29th: https://www.xprize.org/health#get-involved ____________ In this episode, Peter, Tom, and Dr. Rebecca discuss the importance of sleep as a universal superpower, its optimal duration, what you need to do to get a good night's sleep, and the consequences of sleep deprivation. 03:38 | Sleep: Health's Essential Pillar 09:48 | Questions on Melatonin Use 21:29 | Essential Tips for Good Sleep Tom Hale is the CEO of Oura, a company known for its smart rings and apps to track sleep, activity, and other health metrics. He has a rich background in engineering and product management, with previous roles at Riot Games, SurveyMonkey, and HomeAway. Under his leadership, Oura has gained recognition for its innovative technology, including being listed as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2021. Dr. Rebecca Robbins is a renowned sleep researcher, author, and consultant, currently an associate scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Her research delves into sleep's impact on cognitive and athletic performance, as well as overall health. She co-authored "Sleep for Success!" and is a prominent speaker and consultant, aiding organizations in enhancing sleep habits and productivity, with features in major media outlets. Learn more about Oura. ____________ I only endorse products and services I personally use. To see what they are,  please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:  ProLon is the first Nutri-technology company to apply breakthrough science to optimize human longevity and optimize longevity and support a healthy life. Get started today with 15% off here: https://prolonlife.com/MOONSHOT  Get started with Fountain Life and become the CEO of your health: https://fountainlife.com/peter/ _____________ I send weekly emails with the latest insights and trends on today's and tomorrow's exponential technologies. Stay ahead of the curve, and sign up now:  Tech Blog Get my new Longevity Practices book for free: https://www.diamandis.com/longevity My new book with Salim Ismail, Exponential Organizations 2.0: The New Playbook for 10x Growth and Impact, is now available on Amazon: https://bit.ly/3P3j54J Learn more about my executive summit, Abundance360 _____________ Connect With Peter: Twitter Instagram Youtube Moonshots Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom Hale teaches about 7 types of people who God cannot save.

Kevin McCarthy has been ousted as Speaker of the House of Representatives, the yield on 30-year US Treasuries hit a 16-year peak on Tuesday, India has told Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomats from the country and the Financial Times' Tom Hale discusses the murky future of China's Evergrande property group. Mentioned in this podcast:Kevin McCarthy ousted as House Speaker by Republican rebels‘Crimes' probe into Evergrande founder adds to pressure over $300bn debt woesIndia tells Canada to withdraw dozens of diplomatic staffBond sell-off intensifies as long-term US yields hit 16-year peakThe FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson, Kasia Broussalian and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Monique Mulima, Monica Lopez, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT's executive producer. The FT's global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show's theme song is by Metaphor Music.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Embroker. The Embroker Startup Insurance Program helps startups secure the most important types of insurance at a lower cost and with less hassle. Save up to 20% off of traditional insurance today at Embroker.com/twist. While you're there, get an extra 10% off using offer code TWIST. Lemon.io - Hire pre-vetted remote developers, get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist LinkSquares. Life for in-house legal just got a whole lot easier. From contract creation to execution and more, LinkSquares is the go-to for all your legal needs. Learn more at linksquares.com/twist * Today's show: Oura CEO Tom Hale joins Jason to discuss his journey to becoming CEO of Oura (3:02), subscription-based business models (7:05), navigating ZIRP (39:37), the challenges of scaling a hardware business (45:00), and so much more! * Time stamps: (0:00) Oura CEO Tom Hale joins Jason (3:02) Tom's journey to becoming CEO (7:05) The significance of subscription models for business operations & product innovation (11:28) Embroker - Use code TWIST to get an extra 10% off insurance at https://Embroker.com/twist (12:57) Oura's subscription-based business model (23:04) Cultivating positive habits & Oura's advanced tracking features (26:26) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (27:47) Leading a company and instilling core values (34:51) The impact of pausing marketing & harnessing the power of virality (38:20) LinkSquares - The go-to for all your legal needs, learn more at https://linksquares.com/twist (39:37) The ZIRP phenomenon and the challenges of scaling up (45:00) Finding a strong product-market fit (53:35) Merging personalization with consumer-focused approaches in healthcare (1:03:45) Oura's company culture * Check out Oura: https://ouraring.com Follow Tom: https://twitter.com/tomeghale * Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo: https://www.launch.co/four Apply for Funding: https://www.launch.co/apply Buy ANGEL: https://www.angelthebook.com Great recent interviews: Steve Huffman, Brian Chesky, Aaron Levie, Sophia Amoruso, Reid Hoffman, Frank Slootman, Billy McFarland, PrayingForExits, Jenny Lefcourt Check out Jason's suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis * Follow Jason: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jason Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis * Follow TWiST: Substack: https://twistartups.substack.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin * Subscribe to the Founder University Podcast: https://www.founder.university/podcast

Description:Today,  Lee sits down with Tom Hale, CEO of ŌURA, which delivers personalized health data and guidance to make wellness and recovery part of your daily practice. Tuning in, you'll find out how Tom went from growing up with dreams of becoming a train engineer to discovering the OŪRA Ring and writing a letter to the board about why they should hire him as CEO. You'll gain some insight into Tom's journey as a leader, which started with executive positions at Macromedia and Adobe, to becoming President of Momentive, where he set enterprise strategy and led product growth. Join us as we discuss Tom's leadership style, why he says it's lonely at the top, how he got a crash course in fundraising from raising $40 million in less than a month, and so much more!Exclusive Deals from Our Sponsors:AWESOME CX by Transcom provides high touch, personalized customer experience services to consumer brands of any size! Email Lee at lee@stairwaytoceo.com to learn more about their award-winning services and Awesome Coffee Chats.  In This Episode You'll Hear About:•   [02:29] Tom's upbringing in a “dusty town” and his love for trains (and Dungeons & Dragons).•   [08:21] What sparked his interest in the impact that business and tech can have on society.•   [10:42] Some of Tom's early jobs, including computer consulting and summarizing scripts.•   [18:54] The importance of learning on the job and how he went from Adobe to Second Life.•   [24:23] What Tom learned about the gig economy from his time at HomeAway.•   [26:27] How losing sleep led him to discover the Oura Ring and how it improved his health.•   [36:49] The story of how Tom went from a customer of Oura to the company's CEO!•   [44:05] Challenges facing newbie CEOs and the value of having a leadership mandate.•   [46:07] Little-known realities of being CEO, including the loneliness that comes with it.•   [51:44] Oura's company values, which encompass a spirit of collaboration and aiming higher.•   [53:35] Viewing the fundraising journey as a lesson in what investors find compelling.•   [55:42] Insight into Oura's vision for the future: from sick care to human care.To Find Out More:ŌURATom Hale on LinkedInTom Hale on XLee Greene on LinkedInStairway to CEOStairway to CEO on InstagramQuotes:“Pulling on the threads of technology, its impact on society, how people change because of technology, and [my experience] with personal computers – it came together and led me on the path that I'm on today.” [0:10:24]“They put me in [a product management job at Macromedia], and it was probably my [biggest] learning-on-the-job moment, figuring stuff out. I remember some moments of high anxiety because I was like, ‘I have no idea what I'm doing!'” [0:17:45]2“Early in your career, if you're at a company where there's more work than there are people to do it – you can move up really quickly in your career.” [0:19:17]“[When] I went to HomeAway, I was captured by the idea that you could rent a property to someone over the internet and they would come and stay in it. It was an interesting confluence of what we today call the gig economy.” [0:25:22]“For me, during that period of losing sleep, [the Oura Ring] really changed my life.”  [0:27:57]“That kind of power, giving your body a voice, is central to what Oura does.” [0:36:40]“It was all very rational and logical, but there was a strong intent behind [my letter to Oura]. Sometimes, you get that intent coming through and people say, ‘Here's somebody who's motivated.' And motivation counts.” [0:38:53]“I get most excited about working on products that I can understand, touch, and feel and [that are] relevant and relatable – on a really human level.” [0:39:43]“The role of a CEO sometimes is to go against the grain.” [0:47:14]“Our big vision is: how do we become part of the behavioral change that improves health outcomes, that transforms the healthcare industry from one where it's about sick care to something we call human care?” [0:56:14]

From Apple Watches to Fitbits, people have become used to wearable tech to track things like steps and sleep. In the health-tracker market the race to add new features and analytics is fierce. One of those competitors is Finland's Aura, which sells a ring that monitors your heart rate, sleep patterns, body temperature and more. The company says sensors on the ring provide more accurate measurements than a device worn on your wrist. Joining Julia to discuss is Oura CEO Tom Hale. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy

Guest: Tom Hale, CEO of OuraWhen he was growing up, Tom Hale's family had pretty ordinary dinner-table conversations: What happened today, how was school, etc. But every day after dinner, Tom and his father would play backgammon, an experience that indirectly taught him a lot about business. Now the CEO of wearable health company Oura, he recalls that the game helped him understand risk-taking, strategy, pattern recognition, and more. Tom's father also insisted they play for money: “If I could win 20 bucks, I could go down to the store and get something. But when I lost, I felt the sting of it. That's the best teacher, because you're learning the preciousness of the decisions you make.”In this episode, Tom and Joubin discuss Tom's radio voice, games of chance and skill, vacation rentals pre- and post-Airbnb, “irritant” service fees, health tracking, the psychology of rebranding, the consumerization of healthcare, personalized medicine, the myth of the founder-hero, rowing machines, and the meaning of work.In this episode, we cover: Returning to the office (00:50) John Doerr and Macromedia (05:15) Post-dinner backgammon (08:01) Tom's past jobs and HomeAway (11:31) Competing against private startups (16:09) How Airbnb captured demand (18:55) Being acquired by Expedia (24:26) What Oura's smart rings do (26:13) Rebranding SurveyMonkey to Momentive (29:55) Leaving Momentive for Oura (31:54) Making the case for himself (34:59) The future of public health, data, and wearables (37:10) “Sleep is strategic” (42:32) Why Oura is an AI company (44:48) The health impact of a taxing job (47:16) Being a non-founder CEO (49:39) Working with people (53:38) What would be in a “working with Tom” doc? (54:52) Managing the psychology of a 10-year-old startup (56:48) Being there for family & colleagues (59:18) Who Oura is hiring, and what “grit” means to Tom (01:02:54) Links: Connect with Tom Twitter LinkedIn Connect with Joubin Twitter LinkedIn Email: grit@kleinerperkins.com  Learn more about Kleiner Perkins This episode was edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod.fm

I talked about the importance of prioritizing your health with Tom Hale, CEO of Ōura Health. We discussed the countless impacts of taking an intentional approach to your health and your sleep, as well as how leaders can use emotion to reinforce their company's mission and create a more engaged team. To learn more about Ōura Health and Ōura for Business, go to www.ouraring.com/business Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we sit down with cycling travel industry veteran, Brad Sauber to discuss the new Alaskan Gravel Expedition trip from Raid Cycling. This point to point trip brings gravel cyclists to some of the most remote terrain in the United States for an incredibly memorable ride. Episode Sponsor: Hammerhead Karoo 2 (use promo code: TheGravelRide for free HRM) Support the Podcast Join The Ridership  Automated Transcription, please excuse the typos: [00:00:00] Craig Dalton: Hello, and welcome to the gravel ride podcast, where we go deep on the sport of gravel cycling through in-depth interviews with product designers, event organizers and athletes. Who are pioneering the sport I'm your host, Craig Dalton, a lifelong cyclist who discovered gravel cycling back in 2016 and made all the mistakes you don't need to make. I approach each episode as a beginner down, unlock all the knowledge you need to become a great gravel cyclist. This week on the show. We welcome Brad. Sobber from raid cycling to the broadcast. Brad is a veteran of the cycling industry. Having worked for a number of cycling travel businesses over the last few decades. Raid cycling focuses on putting together the most memorable trips to the most memorable destinations. You can imagine. When we get into this Alaskan gravel expedition that we're talking about on today's episode, I encourage you to augment your listening by visiting the raid cycling.cc website. To see some of the pictures as most of us can imagine, Alaska is a vast, vast wilderness. At a scale. That's really hard to describe. In an audio podcast. So I encourage you to, to take a look at the pictures, listen to the description of this particular trip, because it's absolutely amazing. Nice. Dais point to point in the Alaskan wilderness. Culminating with a prop plane trip back to your original starting point, the trip sounds absolutely spectacular. And I think you'll see from Brad's description, his whole emo in this cycling travel world has been to create once in a lifetime bucket list trips for his clients. I'm super excited to introduce you to red cycling in this broadcast today. I'm super excited to introduce you to Brad and raid cycling today. Before we jump in, I need to thank this week. Sponsor hammerhead and the hammerhead crew to bicycle computer. As I've become accustomed to hammerhead just recently sent another update to my career, to computer. They do this, I think every two weeks so they can keep you. In the latest and greatest technology that their minds over there can come up with. I noted in this week's edition, they're adding e-bike battery monitoring to one of the screens that optional screen for you. I've got an E gravel bike, supposedly on the way for testing. So I'm excited to integrate that directly into my hammer, head, head unit. So I will know when the battery is about to die. As you guys probably know hammerhead crew too, is the most advanced GPS cycling computer available today. It's got industry leading mapping navigation and routing capabilities. That set it apart from other GPS options, it's got free global maps and points of interest included like cafes and campsites. So you can explore with confidence with on the go flexibility. I recall in my recent trip to Jarana Spain, that before I left, I downloaded the maps of Spain and I was able to use the computer. Just as if it was in my local terrain here in California. I recently ran into a cycling neighbor of mine who was telling me about a new route that he had developed. That was a mixed terrain route through some local trails that I hadn't. Really explored that much. So I went over to Strava, found the route on his profile, downloaded it and saved it. I'm going to put that directly onto my career too, so I can go out there and ride with confidence. You know, if you're like me, anytime you actually have to navigate, when think about the navigation, it really slows down the overall route. So having those cues preloaded into my career too, is going to make that ride a lot more enjoyable. Right now our listeners can get a free heart rate monitor with purchase of a hammerhead crew to just visit hammerhead.io right now and use the promo code, the gravel ride. At checkout today, this is an exclusive offer for our listeners. So don't forget the promo code, the gravel ride. You'll get that free heart rate monitor with purchase of your career. To go to hammerhead IO today, add both items to your cart and use that promo code. Without business behind us. Let's jump right into that conversation with Brad, from raid cycling. [00:04:26] Craig Dalton: Brad, welcome to the show. [00:04:27] Brad Sauber: Hey, thanks Craig. It's great. Uh, great to be here. Looking forward to the [00:04:30] Craig Dalton: chat. Yeah, good to see you again. I appreciate you reaching out and uh, I love what I'm seeing on this Alaska gravel trip. So, we'll, we'll get into that in a minute, but we always start out with learning a little bit about your background as a writer. Where'd you grow up and how'd you find the bike? [00:04:48] Brad Sauber: Oh, I've lost you there. It cut out. Um, [00:04:52] Craig Dalton: yeah, no worries. Let me, can you, can you hear me now? Yeah. That was [00:04:56] Brad Sauber: weird. Wonder why I did that? [00:04:58] Craig Dalton: Yeah, no worries. I'll just, uh, I'll just start off again and I can, it's easy to, it's easy to cut. Things like that. Hang on one second. Cool. All right, shall we? Yeah. Okay. [00:05:10] Brad Sauber: Brad, welcome to the show. Hey, thanks, Greg. This is, uh, exciting to be here. I'm looking forward to, uh, the conversation. [00:05:16] Craig Dalton: Yeah, it's good to see you. It's probably been a couple years since we first connected in, in Mill Valley or shared somewhat [00:05:23] Brad Sauber: hometowns for you backyard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a good day. We went out for a ride. I remember that. [00:05:27] Craig Dalton: Yeah. So I'm, I'm, uh, really excited to get into the Alaska gravel Expedit. Seeing it, reading the overview just looks spectacular. But before we go there, yeah, let's just get a little bit about your background. Brad. Where did you grow up and how did you discover the bike originally? [00:05:44] Brad Sauber: Yeah, so I'm from the northwest, uh, Seattle is where I would call home. Um, lived my first 30, 35 years, um, in the Seattle metro area. Um, started out in high school as a, uh, as a baseball and basketball player. I, I preferred, uh, being on the bike, so I picked up the road bike a little bit and then, uh, kind of that early, early nineties, late eighties, uh, when mountain biking was blowing up. Uh, I took to that quickly growing up as a kid, I was on BMX bikes all the time in the neighborhood and enjoyed a little bit of that, of, of racing, but then really got into the mountain biking quite hardcore. So, Early nineties, um, a lot of big adventures on the, on the mountain bikes. And, uh, a lot of the 24 hour races, a hundred mile endurance events and things like that really led to a love of cycling. Um, and then, yeah, once I went off into college, um, fell in love with, uh, more road riding, more crit racing. Most of that was just to kind of stay fit for you can do bigger mountain bike races and such. And then that led me into 1992, decided to take off to New Zealand, um, with a buddy of mine. We got a six month visa and we took our mountain bikes and pan years and, uh, went and did six months of riding on the gravel roads and craziness and dirt roads in, uh, in New Zealand and hiking all over that amazing country. And, and as a result of that, I thought, man, I've gotta figure out how to do this for a living. I just fell in love with being on the bike guiding. doing all sorts of wonderful adventures and came back and applied for a, uh, uh, a degree program at a small state college in Washington called Central Washington University. They had an outdoor rec program, um, and then also a travel and tourism, uh, degree program. So I jumped into both of those and they were, they basically allowed me to create my entire curriculum around cycling and cycling. So even my senior thesis at college for my bachelor's degree was, um, about international cycling and international cycling tour operations. And then that just led from there one amazing adventure after the next, um, at a cross-country trip that I guided, um, boy, it was a 2006 or so across the United States, uh, that was 60 days of a small. . And then that just led to, uh, starting another mountain bike travel company. We ran that for a couple years and sold it. And yeah, that just kind of led into more expeditionary type stuff through Asia. Um, spent, um, quite a few years working, uh, in India, Nepal, Tibet and the Himalaya for a number of years, back and forth. Uh, doing mountain bike trips, cycling tours through India and um, some more high altitude trekking and things like. You know, I'm going back quite a few years, but you know, we're, I've been in this business for about 30, 35 years at this point, but that then finally led to me starting another, um, a travel company called Brad. So destinations, which I ran for a couple years until 2001. When nine 11 happened and it kind of shut that whole destination and that whole region for me down, I was focused on India and Nepal and those kind of areas, but unfortunately with uh, nine 11, I had to, uh, shift and kind of reinvent myself. And that's when I found a small bike touring company at the time called Bicycle Adventures. They were founded in 1984. Just the year after, um, Tom Hale started Back Roads and, uh, they were hiring tour guides. So I went through their hiring weekend and was hired. You know, in 1999, uh, 2000 and started guiding for them. Um, and that led to my goodness, uh, about six or seven years of full-time guiding about 150 to 200 days a year on the road. Um, working with anywhere from 250 to 300 clients each season on, uh, multi-day, uh, bike tours and multi-sport tours all over the western us, Canada, Hawaii, New Zealand. And then finally in 2003, 2004, they asked me to come on and run the operations for the business. And that was a booming time, 2004, 2005. If you remember back then, that's when Lance was, uh, doing quite well. Cycling was huge. And um, our business then went up to about 170 departures with over 2000 clients. So we had a lot of trips, a lot of equipment, and I was running the whole operation back in for the owner at the time. Uh, who was, his name was Bob Clark. And I did that all the way up until about 2011, um, you know, building that business up. Uh, then they decided to, uh, sell the, the business. Um, and I kind of moved down. I did move down to California with my wife at the time. who, and I had met actually on a bicycle Adventures tour back in 2004 and she was based in the Bay Area. So I moved down there and, um, met, uh, Joah Cara, who was an ex-pro, uh, living in Mill Valley. And he and I started riding quite a bit, getting to know one another. And one night, um, on a napkin at Beer Works in town, I said, listen, we should start a bike tour company. And his experience was, uh, training in Kiati in. and, um, he said, look, I'm gonna take some buddies over there. Why don't you to come and we'll have a look at this experience. And so we spent six days with a few people, uh, riding the roads that he used to train on, and we came back. We both basically quit our jobs. He quit LinkedIn and I had just had resigned from my role at Bicycle Ventures and we started in gamba. So that would've been, oh, probably 2011 was when we basically started that business and it was self-funded. We had a third partner, but Joel and I, Joel and I were the ones that basically got that thing up and running. And that was an amazing experience. You know, it was basically a, um, you know, a fantasy camper cyclist. We had all these amazing pros that were around us on all these cool trips in, in Italy. And then I was branching out into, uh, in France as well, doing some things around the Tour de France, and then also bringing some of the tours back, the United States. And, um, he had a great time. Um, but it was hard to self-finance a business. It was hard bit of a, you know, hard road as a, as a partnership as well. And at that time in, um, you know, after founding in Gamba, I'd had, uh, reconnected with, uh, Simon Matram over at Rafa, and he and I first met back in like 2004, uh, 2005. He'd just launched the Rafa brand and I did a small private ride with him in California when he came over to look at one of their first, uh, retail spaces. Studio Velo actually actually was the bike shop that was one of their first companies that carried their brand. And we went to dinner that night in Mill Valley. He en slated Olson and I and a few others. And I remember looking at him and saying, Hey, listen, I think you're primed to do some sort of a, uh, lifestyle travel vertical, if you ever want to do that within the Roth of space. You know, keep me in mind. So that was literally 2004, 2005. And then crazy enough when um, you know, Joel and I founded in Gama there 2011, 2012, um, that's when Simon reached out and said, Hey listen, we're ready. We've got a bunch of capital we're taking on Team Sky as well that same year in 2012, and we want to break into more of a lifestyle concept. And he asked if I was interested in. Leaving my wife in Mill Valley and moving to London and starting a travel vertical for Rafa. And that's really where everything really came together for me in many ways. It was an, an amazing experience, um, to have that kind of a mentor working side by side of Simon and it really refined. I guess for me, all those years of working in the, uh, multi-sport travel space, it, we just wanted to create really inspirational, hard and unique cycling trips around the world, and that's what we did. Our first season at Rafa, we launched five trips and they sold out overnight. Which was quite a surprise to me. Usually it's a bit of a hustle to get people to travel with you, but overnight, uh, we launched the website and in the morning we, uh, woke up and they, the sales had literally shut down the site. So we had to think about, geez, how can we do this? So off we were running on that very first year with five trips sold out, and in our five seasons of running tours, we worked our way up to over a hundred departures. So it was quite a bit of growth. All in-house, running the whole show out of our London office and building it in just all inside with our own team, all our own resource. We didn't outsource anything and we didn't work with any other contractors or vendors. Uh, we did everything in-house, so I helped build an an assemble, an extraordinary team of people. uh, in-house all the way from, uh, accountants to, you know, assistants and, uh, office staff, all to all the staff and guides out in the field. And then we started branching out, uh, all over Europe, the us, uh, Asia Pac, running trips in Japan. Um, and then it just kind of kept going from there. So it was a busy, uh, few years for me. Uh, and then I finally moved back, um, about 2000, uh, 2000. late two thousands I guess. Um, and finally Simon ended up, uh, selling the, the business. And so that just kinda led to me, uh, thinking about what else I wanted to do. And we had all these incredible people that came out of the Rafa travel space and they said, look, can we keep this going? And I said, sure, let's do it. So we started raid cycling at that point. [00:14:39] Craig Dalton: Got it. There's a, there's a ton to unpack there, Brad. [00:14:42] Brad Sauber: Yeah, there's a lot [00:14:43] Craig Dalton: there. . Yeah. Yeah. No, I think, I mean, it's, I appreciate you sharing that story because I think it's super interesting, at least to me, to sort of look at the travel industry from. What it's like to be a guide to what it's like to operating the business and to what it's like to operate a business at scale. Yeah, and as you've described, you've played all those roles, so just maybe to, I mean, to set the stage a little bit, guiding is something that a bunch of athletes do, typically, a young person's vocation, you get. Handhold and take care of the guides. Ideally share your local knowledge and your love of the sport. But typically people are staying in that role for, you know, I would guess like two to five years. Right? Does that sound [00:15:29] Brad Sauber: right? Yeah, that's right. I mean, that's how I started out in my early twenties guiding, uh, but I always knew that I wanted to do something more. My background really is more operational, uh, and logistics. That's what I kind of enjoy more. I of course, like being out in the field, I. Training staff. I like working alongside of them, but I also like to get them to that point where, , you know, they're just super confident. They have a lot of autonomy, they have a lot of freedom, and then they can run with it and run their own experience. And then I kind of, in the background, of course, working on other new departures, creating new trips. That's, that's kind of my sweet spot. Um, yeah, so I kind of left the full-time guiding, uh, thing, you know, probably by the time I was 30, 32. Um, I was in the background running, you know, a very large operation for many years. And then, back with Rafa Travel. I trained an amazing group of people, worked with incredible staff. They pretty much ran all those trips. And I would kind of be in the background and I'd float around a fair bit. Um, but [00:16:21] Craig Dalton: yeah. Yeah. And when you talk about the logistics, just so the, the listener is crystal clear on this? Yeah. You, you're typically get, you're going to have some local infrastructure, whether or not you're providing bikes, you're gonna have vans, you're gonna, you know, have to arrange hotels. There's a ton of work that goes into creating these experiences. and it has to be done pretty far in advance in order to lock down the accommodations, et cetera. Can you just go into some of like the logistics of what it was like at a bigger organization? What was that? What was the footprint of the, the logistics side of the organization? What did that look like? [00:17:00] Brad Sauber: Well, if you go back to bicycle adventures, I mean, that was, um, one of the largest players in the bike travel space. You know, 170 departures. We had a. 12,000 square foot facility, 700 bicycles, 18 custom vans, uh, 20 custom trailers, and all the equipment that goes along with each one of those, um, kind of operations. It's a moving bicycle shop. It's got full racks for all, every, you know, we carry 20 bikes on these R vehicles. You carry 15 people, A lot of equipment, a lot of investment into that overhead. So that was just a constant, you know, maintenance cycle on all of these vehicles and equipment. You're always moving bikes in and out of that operation and it's, it's pretty intense. The, the unique experience for me was when I went to Rafa and, um, you know, Simon said, Hey, we need to get some vehicles, let's get some Jaguars and, and Land Rovers. And I thought, wow, I didn't know we had the budget to do that. And he's like, well, what do we need a budget for? Let's just bring them in for a meeting and ask them for free vehicles. And I have to say, I don't think that happens with many of the other companies out there. I, I don't think, um, any of the other big players have ever been able to, uh, just call on any car manufacturer, especially one, um, , you know, like a Jaguar and ask for a whole fleet of private vehicles. And that's what we did. It was, it was quite unique because of the name and the brand recognition that Rafa had from around the world. You know, in walks the team from, uh, you know, Jaguar and they said, yeah, what do you guys need? And in exchange, really, they just wanted to have access for our client base a little bit. We would brand, you know, It was kind of a brand partnership deal. Um, but that first two years, what happened was because we were the main sponsor, clothing sponsor for Team Sky, Jaguar was supplying them all their vehicles. Well, they had to provide new vehicles to the team, team Sky every season. So then they would just take those custom vehicles from Team Sky and give 'em directly to us. So we got them a year after they were used by the team. So we had all these amazing, uh, Jaguar sport breaks, which were actually custom made vehicles from the ground up. They didn't even have VIN numbers. They were so unique. Um, these were vehicles that were made specifically for the Swanee team, uh, that worked at Team Sky and they had all these regulations on the width of the backend and how bad the, how tall the hatchback would come up. And so these were incredible, unbelievable, top of the line Jaguars. And so then they just gave us the whole fleet of these vehicles and we'd rebrand them, uh, under Rafa Travel. And then a few of the, uh, the most expensive high-end, um, you know, range Rovers as well. We had on board to pick people up and, and. Ferry people around on these experiences. But it was pretty amazing to have the Team Sky vehicles. You know, we always had a lot of issues. We had all these low profile racing tires I'd often pull into, in the middle of the tour, uh, I'd meet the team mechanics for Team Sky. I'd call 'em, I'd say, Hey, listen guys, I've, I've got these low profile wheels. They don't work very well on our trips. And they'd like, Hey, bring 'em in. We think the coolest things and we'll just swap 'em out. So there were a few times we'd show up and, you know, stage four of the tour niece and with three, four vehicles in the middle of. And I'd rock up and we would just swap the, the wheels and tires right off of their vehicles and put 'em on ours, It was pretty amazing to have that sort of relationship, uh, with Team Sky back in that day. So that was quite unique. But, you know, we had vehicles moving around all over the place. Um, I remember one time we had a vehicle breakdown in Corsica, uh, but the local Jaguar dealership wouldn't talk, it, wouldn't touch it because it was a, it didn't even have a VIN number on it, so they didn't even know what the heck this vehicle was. So they actually had to send a truck all the way from London, um, down through France Drive, take the ferry all the way over to Corsica to actually pick the vehicle up as it sat there for about a week and a half on the side of the road. And it was broken down. So there was a lot of logistics moving vehicles around, um, and having. You know, delivered into France. We had a big service course in, um, in Italy, and then also one in, in East as well. So bikes and gear moving around. It was, it was quite unique with, uh, Rafa Travel. Yeah, [00:20:46] Craig Dalton: it sounds like it. So, as you've described this kind of personal journey in the bicycle travel industry, you've, yeah. You've started out as a guide. You've, you've gone into a big enterprise with bicycle adventures. Then you had an opportunity to work with Rafa, which sounds like, would it be considered sort of a, a mid-sized. Travel. Provider at that point? [00:21:07] Brad Sauber: Well, you know, five season in into it, we became one of the, one of the larger bike travel companies out there that mainly just focused on bicycling tours. I mean, a hundred departures is a pretty good size, uh, operation. You know, that was literally in about the sixth season that we ran. Um, , we hit those kind of numbers. It's nothing compared to like the back roads, which are up a thousand departures a year. But they're very multi-sport and they do other things besides, uh, just cycling. Um, but I would say that Rafa Travel at the peak was probably one of the top one or two, uh, companies out there as far as size and in destination, um, you know, expertise. And we were kind of all over it. We were practically on every. From Africa, south America, um, AsiaPac us and so we were running quite a large operation. Um, At [00:21:51] Craig Dalton: that point. Got it. My line of questioning is really around, as you as the Rafa travel experience had to wind down for reasons totally unrelated to its success or presence in the market. Obviously when you moved over and decided to start raid cycling, you had seen big, small, you'd grown companies from small to big, et cetera. Sure. What was your, what was your vision for. , [00:22:18] Brad Sauber: well really raid came out of, uh, the, the combination of all those years, uh, guiding out in the field, working in a lot of the multi-sport things. I, I enjoyed those experiences. I, I think, um, working with people and, and facilitating really fun, uh, experiences for folks was really rewarding for me. But as soon as I got to work with, uh, Simon directly and, um, kind of had his mentorship and his support in taking, um, Rafa travel to exactly that, that. That point that I really wanted it to be at, which was, you know, really stretching the elastic for people, putting them in a little bit out of their comfort zone on the bike, um, but also wrapping a lot of care and attention around it so that people can accomplish something really unique and. You can do that anywhere in the world on a bike. There are beautiful places to ride everywhere. But I wanted to specifically keep it focused on destinations that had a history, uh, of cycling and cycling. Racing. So in the early days of Rafa Travel, I had a very narrow window of destinations that I really wanted to look at creating departures, but they always had to connect back to the sport of. Was really the, the endeavor. Yeah. Um, you know, we wouldn't go to Costa Rica for example. I mean, we, there were places that yes, we could go and ride, but there, if they didn't have a big, you know, history of the, of the connection to the sport of, of racing, we wouldn't do it. So Simon really allowed me to craft those experiences and those destinations, you know, being Japan being a really unique experience. I mean, that was two years of work for me to put together that, that point A to point B experience. And that's, that's really what I, I found my niche at, uh, Rafa really allowed me to, I guess, just distill down all those experiences, get very specific about what it is, of the experience that I was looking for and the challenges that I wanted to put in front of people, and we were able to refine it and. When we shut down Rafa, of course, a lot of people were disappointed, A lot of staff, but also a lot of our clients that have been traveling on this for all those years. I walked away with a lot of people emailing me saying, Hey, let's try to keep the spirit of this moving forward. And really that's where RAID came out of it. And. You know, the third year of, um, Rafa Travel, we actually broke our number of departures down to two different types of verticals. We had, we had a ronay, which is point A to point B. We had retreats, we had these climbing, uh, retreats as well. And then we also designed a, uh, a tour called a Raid, which is a French term for point A to point B cycling experience. And so I took. Kind of from the, the Rafa travel side of things is I like the spirit behind what the word ray, what, what the word Ray means. And that's how we founded that. And most of the team from Rafa Travel came over with me. My, all of my Japan staff that have been with us since 2000, well boy, 2014, 2015, they're still with me to this day. They've ran every departure that we've ever done, both as Rafa Travel and as as Raid. And we've developed new trips over there, uh, just for the RAID brand as. And then a lot of the US team, the Ben Lie's, um, a lot of the, kind of the guys that have been with Rafa for many years are still with me to this day. Um, you know, yeah, they're all, they're all there, they're all available. We, uh, run trips all the time. So that was really the, the impetus to starting raid was just after, uh, we shut down Rafa Travel. [00:25:30] Craig Dalton: Nice. Let's talk about when you started to see gravel become something interesting for you and how, obviously with Rafa you were known for creating unique, challenging experiences, which undoubtedly touched a little bit of dirt here and there, but when did you start thinking about gravel as its own unique opportunity to kind of create these adventures you like to. [00:25:54] Brad Sauber: You know, it's interesting. Um, I was hesitant in the beginning. Um, I harken back to my days of trying to develop a mountain bike travel company and we did that with a company called Bike Trucks International. Not many people had probably ever heard about it, but you know, we really struggled for a few years. The old saying that, uh, the old saying that goes, that has always stuck with me is the more specialized you r in your activity, the more independent you. , and if you apply that to cycling, mountain biking is a very specialized activity, and typically the people that love mountain biking, love the outdoors, love to be in remote locations and like to do it alone. right? Yeah. When we go out on these big adventures, we want the challenge, but we also like that solitude and so to create, um, mountain bike tours, there's only been a few companies in the world that have ever done it and done it well. You know, Western Spirit's probably the best name out there, and they've been doing it for 30 plus years. It's really hard to take that type of activity, which is more technical and create it for the mass. . Yeah. So, yeah, so when, when we really started seeing gravel come around and I started seeing all these huge events happening, um, you know, I think early on when I started doing some of the Grasshopper events, the early grasshoppers there in, uh, NorCal, which I know you're familiar with, you know, a lot of those were showing up and we were, you know, port road bikes through small creeks. We were hitting single track trail. You know, and finishing on, uh, Willow Creek on Little Dirt Trails and I thought, wow, this is really interesting. More road cyclists are kind of coming for these events. And that's when I started to kind of see an uptick in it. And I thought, why don't I include little bits of this in some of these Rafa travel experiences? But you also have to know that Rafa's travel, Rafa Rafa's history with gravel riding goes back quite a few days back in the old continental days, what were called the gentleman's races back in the day, the first, you know, one day. A hundred to 200 mile races that they used to put on. They always used to throw in a little, little touch gravel, little bit of technicality. And so when we finally did the whole Rafa travel thing, that's when I said, look, we should probably look at adding and peppering in these experiences with some of the, uh, the dirt roads that we used to ride in the continental events and things like that. And, you know, it worked pretty. Um, but y you know, I still experienced a lot of Hess hesitancy from people. Even though people were strong writers, they could ride 150 mile days. Yeah. You put five miles of gravel on them and they were like, wow, that's intense. I don't wanna do that again. . And then, you know, then we built a, um, uh, a Utah trip which had some, you know, 15, 20 mile sectors of gravel and they would come out of that going, wow, that's enough. I don't want any more. And then that just kind of led me to going into, into, uh, with raid cycling, let's, let's actually try to do some gravel specific things. So three or four years ago we launched our LA and Catalina Island Gravel Experience, which literally was a hundred percent gravel. And we had a great response and wonderful group of people that, uh, have done those trips. And that's when I kind of started seeing that as a result of the big events, the steamboat events and things where these thousands of people would show up. , it became somewhat the norm then for people to actually ride, uh, these styles of bikes on the roads [00:28:57] Craig Dalton: and trail. Yeah. It's certainly not without its challenges. I imagine just, you know, with, with road climbs, like everybody's gonna make it up the road, you know, they might be slower or faster that there's so many elements of gravel riding. You not just have to get up the hill, but you have to be confident going down the hill. Yeah. People's technical abilities, it always shocks me. You know, I can bring someone who's 10 times the athlete I am out on, on the road, bring 'em on the trail. All of a sudden I'm dusting them. They can't stay with me. Right. Yeah. So, I mean, I gotta imagine it's like it, it would've taken time for gravel travelers or cycling travelers to really understand what's ahead of them. To your point, experience things like S P T Gravel, do these big events and start to understand, like I've got, now I've got the skills to sign up for the LA to Catalina trip, for example. [00:29:48] Brad Sauber: Yeah, I mean, I've had a few trips where, you know, we've put, uh, people that are extremely strong cyclists. These are people that we're, uh, doing a hundred, 150 mile days with, you know, 10 to 15,000 feet of climbing and, and then we throw in five miles of gravel and they, they fall apart. We've certainly seen that on a number of experiences, but I think now with the level of bikes and the gearing that's out there, that's really made a big difference. Size of tires you can run. Um, I think it's just a fantastic sport and I'm noticing more and more people want to do it. Hence, you know, we've moved into the, uh, kind of Alaska experience and, um, yeah, we're really looking forward to these strips. [00:30:23] Craig Dalton: Yeah, I think that's a great segue to this Alaskan gravel expedition, such an ambitious itinerary. I'd love for you to first start off by just like give a, give the short overview of what this trip's [00:30:36] Brad Sauber: all about. Well in Covid, uh, one of my ride leaders, ride captains, um, Sean Martin, who's a native Alaskan from Anchorage, um, you know, our business basically shut down. And so we just kind of turned inward and started looking at maps and started thinking about where these destinations that we wanna ride. And he kept saying, Alaska, Alaska, this is where we need to go. You know, we need to look towards the, uh, this Great Northwest destination. And I thought, okay. I've only known a few businesses. There are companies that have ever ran trips there. They kind of focused on certain destinations within Alaska and did small, kind of four to six day trips. And I specialize in point A to point, kind of point B destinations. So I wanted to look at the distances. I wanted to look at all these gravel roads that, uh, existed there and see how we can kind of connect them and make them a more well-rounded experience. And because my clientele is, is global, they're from all over the world. I needed to be, I needed it to be more of a challenge than say four to six days of riding. So when I started penciling, this whole concept together with the help of Sean and peering out over all these maps and learning about some of these dirt roads, it all came together in a nine to 10 day package. And that's a really good fit for people to invest the time and energy to fly here from London or. Copenhagen and wherever a lot of these people are coming from Australia, New Zealand, it's gotta be enough for them to invest that time of energy and then money to get there. So it came, it came together quite easily once we kind of opened up our mind and looked at the grand distances between a hotel to hotel and, and, and in Alaska there, you know, there's one section, there's 165 miles of gravel road and there's only one. And so it just kind of landed in my lap that, wow, this place actually exists and I could book it and, um, we could break that 135 mile day or whatever it is, up into 2 65 or 70 mile days on gravel, which makes it quite approachable. And it just kind of fell in my lap. And then the further west or the further east, we kept looking, um, to the Wrangles St. Elias National Park, which I'm ashamed to say I didn't even realize was the largest national park in the United. Um, I thought, wow, this is amazing. And then learning about the McCarthy, uh, road, which is 65 mile gravel, one one way road out to a dead end to this extraordinary, uh, vast wilderness. It's possibly one of the most remote road roads in, in North America, um, to this little hamlet of McCarthy, uh, which then sits right next door to Kennecott, which was an old gold mining destination in the early 19 hundreds. Um, and it just started falling together for us. And, um, we added in, of course, the Denali Road inside the park. and I was just blown away, uh, by what this experience could do. Why these hotels [00:33:16] Craig Dalton: even exist [00:33:17] Brad Sauber: up there. , well, they're actually hunting lodges. Um, okay. You know, outside of Denali and, um, kind of that, that region that's just north of, uh, Anchorage, of course, that's a lot of bus tours and, and train goes up in Denali. People come to go to Denali. But once you go east on the Denali Highway, which is this, you know, dirt road, it's 135 miles of dirt. There's only one hotel out there. And. , you know, I called them up and it's a hunting lodge where they literally hunt for bear and caribou and moose. And it's a small family that run this place. They keep it open most of the year. And uh, I asked about two different dates in July and August and they said, yeah, they're available. So I had to book out the entire property. They're gonna be [00:33:57] Craig Dalton: scratching their heads when a bunch of like reclad cyclist [00:34:01] Brad Sauber: show. Exactly. I know, exactly. And I have a, I've had a great story. I actually met someone recently who had stayed there and he says, oh, it's an amazing experience. He said, one morning I woke up and I went out into the dirt parking lot and there was a guy Skinnying a bear. You know, in the parking lot, and it's a pretty wild experience, but I'm really looking forward to the wonderful people that own it. It's a family operation. You know, when we arrive, we're gonna have a big family dinner in their little, it's like their home. And they have a beautiful tavern inside this, uh, old, um, hunting lodge. And, uh, we'll have a great dinner. And the rooms are simple. The staff are actually sleeping in bunk beds, um, outside in an unheated, uh, no power. Little, little shack, uh, but the clients are inside the main lodge and they all, they'll have some nice clean, uh, ri for them as well. And then the other property, uh, that we go to on the next day got, Kona Lodge was built in 1914. It's actually the oldest Roadhouse in Alaska. Again, it's a family, uh, run operation. Um, Husband and wife run it with their small daughter, their young daughter. And this place has a lot of history. You know, back in the early 19 hundreds it was a gold mining, uh, rush there. And so it was just amazing adventurous and people that came to that region looking for gold, copper. And so we'll spend the night there and, uh, have a great glass of whiskey and a killer dinner that night. A big, um, beautiful festival of, uh, dinners that evening. I think the family's really looking forward to having this group there. And then the last two nights out in Kennecott is inside the national park at this old mine that the, you know, the national Park has, um, remodeled and made into this really, really cool um, I'd say semi luxury property, but have a great restaurant on site as well. And so we have to book two nights there cuz it's two night minimum. Um, but yeah, I was just kind of blown away by the whole itinerary and it's just come together so well. I mean, the distances are quite long between hotel to hotel and that's kind of what, how I advertise my trips cuz they're point A to point b, hotel to hotel. So yeah, we might have a distance of 130 miles from hotel to the next hotel. It doesn't necessarily mean we're gonna ride every inch of that. Um, but I think most days people are gonna be riding anywhere from 80 to a hundred miles each day. It's kind of what most people come to do. Um, and of course with all the, the sunlight. You know, we have plenty of daylight hours to, uh, tackle as much distance as they really want to. Yeah. Yeah. [00:36:12] Craig Dalton: That's great. That must be a luxury to have though. So much daylight hours. . Yeah. [00:36:16] Brad Sauber: I'm a, I'm nervous. I've never had that before. . [00:36:18] Craig Dalton: Yeah. I don't know how you guys are gonna sleep, but question. So you arrive in Anchorage, Alaska, and Yeah. Are you riding directly from Anchorage to start, or is there a [00:36:30] Brad Sauber: transfer? Yeah, so day one actually on arrival, um, we're going to take people, Sean's gonna take people on a little local loop of some single track and some kind of back country riding around Anchorage. It should be really cool. And then that evening we'll have a great dinner in town, but then the next morning we have about a a 45 minute transfer. We had just north, uh, where we come up to a little teeny town and we start from there. And our first, uh, major climb is up over Hatcher Pass, which is about a 12 mile climb, and most of that's on dirt with anywhere from 10 to 14%. Great pitching up here and there. And then we'll have, uh, on the backside of Hatcher Pass, it's an all downhill, uh, about I think 12 to 13 miles or so of gravel. Off of Hatcher Pass. If you looked up Hatcher Pass Road, you'll see these magnificent views of just this high alpine setting above the tree line, incredibly lush and green. This windy strip of, uh, one lane dirt road that just passes through this region is really spectacular. Um, that's day one. And then they'll cycle all the way into tna, which is kind of the, um, the kickoff, um, place for, you know, the climbers that go up into Denali. So we'll spend the evening in Ta Kitna, and then the following day, Is an all road day. Um, it'll be between, you know, 85 and 130 mile day for them as they make their way all the way up the highway, which is called a Parks Highway, which goes all the way up into Denali. And, um, then we'll spend two nights up there, uh, readying ourselves for our big day inside the park on the, uh, Denali Park Highway, which currently, um, in its current state. A year or so, year and a half ago, there was a big slide at mile marker 42 on the Denali Park Highway, and it wa it washed out this whole insection of road and it won't be, um, repaired for another two years. And so it's actually a good thing for us because I think it's going to limit the amount of park vehicles that are on the road. but that'll be literally an 84 mile out and back road, um, road ride that day inside the park. And about 55 miles of that will be on dirt road and hopefully with just limited vehicles. And it's an interesting logistic thing for me to consider because I can't take a, my personal support vehicle inside the park. And so people are gonna be, um, set up with all the gear and equipment and be prepared for an 85 mile day on their own. And there's really no water and there's no food out. And a lot of bears . So they're going to be, uh, ready with their bear spray and they're gonna ride inside the park kind of as much as they want or as little as they want. Um, there is an option where the park runs these, um, little shuttle buses and they each have two bicycle racks on each shuttle bus. And so I'm going to purchase bike passes for everyone. So anyone at any time can jump on these buses and, and move either further out or. Turn around and come back if the conditions get too crazy or if people just have had enough. But I think most of these riders are gonna ride all the way out to mile 42 and then all the way back, so it'll be over 80 plus miles with over 10,000 feet of climbing. It's a pretty big outing. [00:39:24] Craig Dalton: What type of equipment are you recommending that riders bring with them? Yeah, [00:39:28] Brad Sauber: it's just your standard gravel bikes. You know, disc brake is preferable. Um, the, the dirt roads in Alaska are hard pack and super fast and super smooth under the most ideal conditions. So you kind of have to be prepared for everything from warm days to, you know, possible, you know, high wind. Heavy rain as well. Just never know what you're gonna experience and weather changes there from, you know, minute to minute. So as far as gearing, uh, I'm mostly telling people to ride a double on their gravel bike if they can. Uh, there will be some just with a, with a single as well, and probably 700 by 42 at the smallest. I'd probably encourage people to probably go 45 to 48 on the tire size, uh, for the gravel bikes. and I'm not providing any of the gravel bikes. People tend to bring their own on these tours. You know, when you're riding a hundred plus mile days, 10,000 feet. I do recommend people have their own bike that they've trained on. I mean, just the slightest difference in a saddle position, you know, could give someone a pretty serious knee problem on day three of an experience like this and it just, they don't have the ability to ride the rest of the tour. So, yeah, rather than me just providing, you know, bikes, I think people really should bring their own and, and everyone is. So that makes [00:40:36] Craig Dalton: sense. Is there any technicality in terms of like the descending off some of those passes? Or is it pretty much, you know, as you described, these roads are pretty, pretty predictable gravel and you can, you can open it up without too much concern. [00:40:51] Brad Sauber: Yeah, I think, but as we all know, you know, driving on and or riding on gravel roads, you get those little marbles that, uh, that, that sit on the sides and down the center of these roots. So you do have to be careful of course, on that. And any of these roads are gonna be, Especially Hatcher Pass on day one. I mean, people will be excited and ready to really kind of throw down the hammer, I'm sure as often they do on day one. But we really have to keep them, you know, in control and safe and kind of really work with them on that descent. I mean, 10 plus miles on a gravel road is, is never easy no matter what the conditions are. Um, but you throw in a little bit of rain or something and then it could be turned a little bit slippery road as well. As far as the park road goes, um, it's always in great condition. They maintain that road quite a bit. The Denali Highway, which is the one that we ride for two days, the next day, that's gonna be a little different. That is above, um, the tree line, the entire distance. A lot of tundra, a lot of open wind, a lot of open, um, kind of just exposed scenery. A lot of potholes, I'm sure. Um, they do. It's not, not many vehicles drive that road. There'll be a few buses out there moving people around, but it's a very remote stretch of, uh, dirt road that we'll see very little traffic. And then the McCarthy Road is one that most Alaskan, um, rental car companies don't even allow rental cars to drive it. Um, I'm, I'm expecting, um, you know, lots of gravel, uh, a lot of potholes. Um, you know, all the people that have talked to me about driving that road say, you really can't drive more than about 20, 25 miles an hour. And that's 65 miles of gravel, just one way. So that journey will probably take me three to four hours just to drive up in there supporting people. Um, but yeah, I think in under ideal conditions, these roads are really amazing to ride and really fun. But if we do throw in some, uh, some rain and or some hail, uh, they could be a little, um, a little more difficult. Little sticky, little slippery, a little more of an adventure. [00:42:39] Craig Dalton: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. We, we've sort of glanced over this a little bit, but I wanna make sure to drive the point home how remote. Does it feel when you're riding these [00:42:49] Brad Sauber: roads? Oh man, this literally every kind of animal that you could possibly think of from caribou to elk and bear are just gonna be everywhere from what I've been told. You know, when you ride out there on these long expanses of, uh, these dirt roads with very little, uh, vehicle, um, impact. I think you're gonna see everything from the smallest little weasel to rabbits to some really big intense animals. Uh, I've spent a lot of time on the phone with, um, Denali National Park Rangers talking about that experience of riding. Um, and, you know, from the local people that have looked over this itinerary, uh, from Outfitters that looked at it, I mean, people have randomly reached out to me and said, man, this is really ambitious and super exciting to have you guys come up here and, and attempt this sort of thing. and I'm really, really looking forward to it. And just the expanse of these, these gravel roads, the distances and the remoteness, it's really something. I mean, it's so remote that on the last day, on day nine of the trip, I have to charter two private sesnas to fly everybody out in a two and a half hour flight to get them back to Anchorage. So, and, you know, moving vehicles and, uh, 10 bicycles out of there is a seven hour drive just for me to get back to Anchorage while everyone will be riding in comfort in their own private planes. So two planes will be, um, chartered just to get people out of, uh, out of St. Elias National Park. It's a pretty remote area. As we're [00:44:09] Craig Dalton: riding on these each day, what is the scenery like? I mean, are we, are we sort of far enough off of Denali that we get a perspective of the size and scale of that? Amazing mountain for sure. You [00:44:23] Brad Sauber: will be, um, you'll feel very small in this landscape. I mean, it's, it's every mountain range you could possibly think of up there from the wrangles to the, the Alaskan range. We're riding along huge rivers like the Copper River. So yeah, you're gonna be just witnessing these incredible rivers, incredible mountain ranges. And of course, Dali's gonna be looming over us for the first three and a half to four days where in every direction that you ride and look, it's gonna be right there staring. And I mean, when we ride the Denali Highway going into the park, the Denali Park Road, I mean, you're looking at this massive mountain straight ahead the whole time. I mean, it's just right there. So that's your, your, your North Star. You might say, you know, for Alaska. Yeah. Combine that with just the remoteness and all the wildlife. Uh, this is really, truly gonna be a unique experience for people. And, um, people will feel very small. I think it'll be as close as you can get to a religious experience on a. Yeah. [00:45:11] Craig Dalton: It's so hard to describe in an audio podcast, , the visuals that I, you know, I've just, the, the basic visuals I've seen on your website, so I'll certainly direct people over there to kind of have a, a little visual guide to what we've been talking about this whole time. [00:45:25] Brad Sauber: Yeah, for sure. No, I appreciate that. That'd be great. [00:45:27] Craig Dalton: That's amazing. I, I appreciate the audacity of planning these trips. I can't wait to hear how the, the first two go off this year. I know, and we don't have a lot of time for this, but I know you do run a couple other gravel experiences throughout the year. Do you want to talk about those real quick? [00:45:42] Brad Sauber: Well, you know, I've ran them over years, over the years. Uh, we've specialized in some pretty remarkable gravel events in Utah along with the national parks. Um, that's a place I've been running tours for nearly 25 or 30 years. I do have a private trip coming up in April in New Mexico, which is one of my favorite destinations. And after I finished that nine day trip, I'm actually staying on board for another week and creating a point A to point B, uh, New Mexico gravel experience. and um, that is really interesting. Special. Yeah. That's gonna be connecting Albuquerque all the way through, um, out to, uh, Taos and then all the way to Santa Fe and then all the way back into Albuquerque. Super cool. Mostly dirt roads. It's funny, [00:46:20] Craig Dalton: you know, you hear about it, um, from a mountain bike perspective, a lot of people rave about New Mexico, but it hasn't really kind of tipped into the gravel market yet, to my knowledge. So that's, that's really interesting to hear you explore. [00:46:33] Brad Sauber: I'm really excited for that place. I've been running tours there for 30 plus years. I absolutely love. New Mexico as a destination. To me, it's one of the most unique states culturally, um, from a food perspective, the hotels, uh, the history, uh, it just blows people's minds and especially when people call me from Europe and ask me where they should go. I first say New Mexico. I think it's really a, a diverse place and it's also a place with a lot of value. You know, it's still not, it's not that expensive for people. So we can run some pretty affordable experiences there for people and make it very access. . Um, and the gravel riding is going to be, uh, phenomenal. It, it's gonna be a really special event. I mean, eight days of gravel riding, connecting, you know, Taos, New Mexico, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, all these remote places. Abaki, we are gonna come on this. We come into the backside of Abaki on a dirt road. Um, that I, from what I can tell and what I'm looking at, is just gonna be one of the finest rides that you could have in your life. Yeah. I [00:47:30] Craig Dalton: love it. Well, Brad, thank you for coming on and talking about what you're doing at Raid Cycling. I, I do love your passion and perspective to make everything you put and make available to cyclists incredibly memorable and that certainly shows in like the thoughtfulness of your comments and the trip design. So thanks for sharing all that with [00:47:49] Brad Sauber: us. Well, thank you for the time. I really appreciate it. I really enjoyed chatting with you, Craig. Look forward getting back on the bike [00:47:55] Craig Dalton: with. Yeah, exactly. You'll get back to Mill Valley one of these days, , for sure. Cheers. Thanks, [00:48:00] Brad Sauber: Brad. All right. Thank you, Greg. Cheers. [00:48:04] Craig Dalton: That's going to do it for this week's edition of the gravel ride podcast. Big, thanks to Brad and raid cycling for joining us and telling us about that spectacular Alaskan gravel expedition. Big, thanks to hammerhead and the hammer, head crew to computer for supporting the show. I remember, use the promo code, the gravel ride for that free heart rate monitor with your purchase of the crew to computer. If you're interested in connecting with me, please join the ridership. That's www.theridership.com. If you're able to support the show, ratings and reviews are hugely appreciated or you're welcome to visit. Buy me a coffee.com/the gravel ride. Until next time. Here's to finding some dirt under your wheels.    

 Inclusion on CNBC's Disruptor 50 list is a one of the brass rings for all tech startups. The 2022 list included among its newcomers Oura Health, which recently passed 1,000,000 sales of its signature Oura Ring wearable technology. CEO Tom Hale celebrated the inclusion Oura Health on the list, along with his fellow disruptors, at a special dinner on the New York Stock Exchange Trading Floor. He returned to the NYSE to discuss engineering the future of wearable technology, putting a sleep lab and training facility on your finger, and why Oura is poised to continue its growth amid a volatile market environment.   Inside the ICE House: https://www.theice.com/insights/conversations/inside-the-ice-house

The Oura Ring is helping people track their health data now and understand how we can optimize our health in the future. Tom Hale is the new Chief Executive Officer of ŌURA, the makes of the Oura Ring. With a background in software, Tom became interested in tracking his health and fitness after a health crisis in his own life. On this episode of HLTH Matters, Tom joins hosts Dr. Jessica Shepherd and Dr. Jordan Shlain to discuss how Oura is helping to educate people about their sleep and their health. We discuss how the Oura ring can bridge the gap between patients and doctors by providing baseline data to help their healthcare team equip them with faster, more responsive treatments for an improved quality of life. Listen in as Tom explains how the Oura app is helping people improve their sleep patterns, track their reproductive cycles, and provide better care for their immunocompromised loved ones. Plus, Tom will share his top tips for better sleep. Topics CoveredHow quality sleep impacts every health system in the human bodyHow providers can use the metrics from the Oura app to help their patients improve their livesHow setting your baseline can help your healthcare provider detect future medical conditionsWhy you should set an alarm clock to go to bed instead of to wake upTom walks us through the components and variables that determine your Oura readiness scoreHow a continuously worn medical device can help you manage all stages of your life Connect with Tom HaleTom Hale on LinkedIn Connect with Dr. Jessica Shepherd, Dr. Guatam Gulati & Dr. Jordan ShlainHLTHDr. Shlain on TwitterDr. Shlain on LinkedInDr. Jessica Shepherd MD Dr. Shepherd on Twitter Dr. Gulati on TwitterDr. Gulati on LinkedIn Resources Oura Ring Introductory Quote[11:26] “It takes 60 to 90 days to form a habit. Habits don't happen just because you want them to happen. They happen because they become ingrained parts of your behavior. So what do you need to get them to be ingrained? First of all, you need to know what to do. You've got to have some direction that makes sense for you. Two, you need some feedback that helps you understand if the habit is working because if it's not working, you know what, you're not going to do it.” [11:57] If you don't see some kind of impact, or …change, you don't form that habit.”

Tom Hale, CEO at Oura, discusses Oura Ring, the personal health and wellness device you wear on your finger.Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Hale, CEO at Oura, discusses Oura Ring, the personal health and wellness device you wear on your finger.Hosts: Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec. Producer: Paul Brennan.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last year, we talked about China needing to find a mechanism to fix its economy. It looks like it may have found it - by abruptly ending its zero-Covid policies. The FT's Shanghai correspondent Tom Hale and Global China Editor James Kynge break down what President Xi Jinping's main goals are and whether it's enough to jumpstart the country's economy.Clips from CNN, BBC- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - BTM listeners, we want to know what you think of the show and what you want to hear more of. Visit ft.com/btmsurvey to submit your feedback. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For further reading:Xi Jinping's plan to reset China's economy and win back friendsChina's economy begins to reopen after 3 years of Covid isolation China's Covid generation: the surging inequality behind Xi's U-turnI spent 10 days in a secret Chinese Covid detention centre- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On Twitter, follow Tom Hale (@TomHale_), James Kynge (@JKynge) and Michela Tindera (@mtindera07)Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, I'm joined by Tom Hale, CEO of Oura, maker of a smart ring analyzing a wearer's biometric data with the goal of improving sleep, stress, fitness, and overall health. Founded in Finland in 2013, Oura has quickly become one of the world's fastest-growing wearables, recently eclipsing 1M rings sold. Developed as a sleep tracker, the technology has evolved to provide sleep, readiness, and activity insights to users through Oura's app interface.   In this episode, we discuss Tom's experience leading growth-stage startups, his personal health journey with Oura, and how wearables are transforming healthcare. In this episode, you'll learn: • Tom's perspective on growing mid-size subscription businesses • How Oura leverages data to improve users' health • Oura's unique strategies for next-gen wearables Subscribe to the podcast → insider.fitt.co/podcast Subscribe to our newsletter → insider.fitt.co/subscribe Follow us on LinkedIn → linkedin.com/company/fittinsider/ Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 01:15 Tom's background and journey to Oura 05:56 About Oura 10:55 Subscription business model 15:10 Oura's subscription model 18:59 Oura ring vs other wearables 24:08 Marketing strategies 26:04 COVID's impact on healthcare 28:24 Data driven healthcare 33:39 New features to look out for 36:51 Conclusion

The market for smartwatches, wristband fitness monitors, smart rings and other wearable health trackers is booming. But could these devices and the data they capture actually transform healthcare? In this episode, we size up the potential of wearables to generate medical breakthroughs and even change how healthcare is delivered. We explore with Tom Hale, chief executive of Oura Health, and wearable tech researchers Jessilyn Dunn, Stephen Friend and Leo Wolansky. This episode is supported by Pictet Wealth Management and includes additional commentary from Alexandre Tavazzi, Pictet's head of CIO office and macro research. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While health tracking devices are not new, Ōura, best known for its $300 Oura Ring, has somehow seamlessly bridged the worlds of technology, wellness and design, so much so that Kim Kardashian, Jack Dorsey and Prince Harry are all fans. That unlock happened largely due to the ring's focus on sleep, according to Oura CEO Tom Hale. “Most fitness wellness trackers are oriented around ‘get more activity,' ‘get going' and ‘get out there,' and we're like, ‘Hey, relax and recover, make sure that you're well-rested,'” Hale said on the latest episode of the Glossy Beauty Podcast. CMO Karina Kogan agreed, “There is now a movement in culture, a move away from sick care to self-care. Historically, when you think about tracking anything in your health people tended to count calories and count steps. It was all about weight loss,” she said. “Now, consumers are thinking about longevity. They're thinking about their immunity. They're thinking about how can I live longer.” Ōura, the Finnish parent company of the Oura ring, launched in 2013 and on Kickstarter no less. While the original Oura ring was bulker in design, much like any piece of technology, the ring became sleeker and more technologically enabled. To date, the company has sold nearly 1.5 million rings and has a $2.55 billion valuation. This week, the company launches its latest innovation, the Oura Gen3 Horizon which is reminiscent of a wedding ring and comes in a rose gold finish. It continues to track Ōura's hallmarks such as daytime and live heart rate, advanced temperature sensing, blood oxygen sensing, all while providing consumers more options. Below are additional highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited for clarity. A culture shift Kogan: “It's all it's a broadening the definition of health, so it's not just about how many steps you took and how many calories you burned. It's also about how well you slept, how much time you spent in REM or deep sleep, how much stress you're undergoing, whether it's physical stress or emotional stress, it's about tuning into other aspects, other biometrics or biomarkers. I think consumers are very comfortable with metrics and there's a certain gamification to scores. Oura gives you three daily scores, your readiness, sleep score and your activity, and those help guide you. The range of metrics that consumers are looking at are expanding, consumers want to optimize their life” Future-proofing for uncertainty Hale: “[With] all the things that are going on in the world today, Covid, a war, more economic upset, inflation, all the things, I think our mission is more important than ever because people are stressed out more than they've ever been. If we can do our part to help people understand where they are, meet them where they are, and provide them support for where they are, that's immensely rewarding. It's not about some giant outcome. It's about doing good for the people of this planet, who are right now facing some really, really stressful times.”

Don't miss part TWO of our interview with Thomas Hale! Thomas begins the episode by discussing his recent trip to Ukraine and the people and experiences he encountered. At the end of this episode, he also shares a tip he puts into practice each year that has resulted in personal and professional success. 

In Part One of David Donaldson's interview with Tom Hale, a successful business owner and entrepreneur, they discuss the lessons Tom has learned throughout his successful career and how his perspective on what success truly means has changed. Don't miss the first of the two-part episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube!   

We'd all like to be healthier—to sleep longer, have lower stress, and have more energy. But is it possible for an AI to help us accomplish this? And how would that experience feel? What data would we need to provide? How would the AI encourage the behavior changes required? Would it feel like a friend or a bully? Would it work at all?To answer some of these questions, we talked with Tom Hale, the new CEO at Oura. Oura makes a fascinating device that monitors a long list of signals from your body all through a ring on your finger. That ring connects with an app on your phone that gives you lots of data about your health. Perhaps most interestingly, in addition to the facts about your health, the app provides suggestions for what you might do differently. And it provides those suggestions in a way that seems cautious about making too many conclusions, leaving the true agency with you.Neither of us owned Oura rings before our conversation so we couldn't bring that experience to the podcast. But after our conversation we both decided to buy one and give it a try. Our sizing kits are on the way and the rings will follow soon after. We're planning to record our reactions to the rings so subscribe, if you haven't already, to get an alert when we publish our experience.Prior to joining Oura, Tom was President of MomentiveAI, previously called SurveyMonkey, Chief Product and Operating Officer at HomeAway, and a long-time executive at Adobe Systems.Tom's personal experience with the Oura Ring before becoming CEO is what tipped the balance and got us to be some of his newest customers. We'll be interested to hear if any of our listeners do the same.If you enjoy our podcasts, please subscribe and leave a positive rating or comment. Sharing your positive feedback helps us reach more people and connect them with the world's great minds.Learn more about Oura.Subscribe to get Artificiality delivered to your emailLearn more about Sonder StudioThanks to Jonathan Coulton for our music This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit artificiality.substack.com

Greetings, fellow Bastardo! This week on The Viva Bastardo Show we have Tom Hale of Morton Street Partners. Tom is a collector of *extremely* interesting cars (with a penchant towards the French ones) and is also a wildly knowledgeable historian on many, many things automotive. This is a fun one, so make sure to give a listen! This episode is sponsored by: Inbound Motorsports (https://inboundmotorsports.com/) Vital Oxide (https://vitaloxide.com/) And Economy Signs (http://www.economysigns.com/) The Viva Bastardo Show is part of the Hagerty Podcast Network.

This week we take stock of COP26, the latest major international meeting on climate change which just wrapped up in Glasgow - billed beforehand as the "last best hope for the world to get its act together". Asia, of course, is crucial to the debate over climate change. It's home to some of the world's biggest polluters, but also some of its fastest-growing economies, that are at the forefront of the world's shift to cleaner energy.The 197 countries involved in COP26 did at least agree on rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions.  But the meeting's outcome has drawn plenty of criticism, particularly over the final deal's language on the use of coal - and China and India's role in shaping that language. Joining Andrew this week we have Dr Sam Geall. He's the CEO of China Dialogue, a website devoted to understanding and analyzing China's approach to tackling climate change; and is also an associate fellow at Chatham House in London. Dr Tom Hale is an associate professor in public policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, who specializes in the way multilateral institutions tackle global challenges. He also co-leads the Net Zero Tracker which monitors different countries' and companies' progress on meeting their climate change commitments.We also have Yan Qin with us on the show; she is the lead analyst at Refinitiv, and has over a decade's experience analyzing energy and carbon markets in China and Europe. 

Tom Hale is BACK and here to announce the official Launch of the Net Zero Tracker! So yes - this week we have Associate Professor in Global Public Policy at Oxford University, Tom Hale, who joined us back in March of this year discussing the launch of a report “Taking Stock of commitments to Net Zero”. That report put a spotlight on the credibility of a wave of government and business net zero commitments at the time. He is now returning more triumphant than ever with a significant update - The launch of a publicly available Net Zero Tracker! It's a big deal. Our host, Paul Dickinson jumps in to ask, What the Hale IS the Net Zero Tracker? And how is it creating radical transparency that will lead to actually limiting global heating to 1.5C? In tandem with the Net Zero Tracker is a new release as well, The Net Zero Dashboard Codebook - Filled with terms to bring absolute clarity to Net Zero pledges, promises, and commitments...so what the Hale do all these terms mean? Stick around for our classic Lightning Round. The Race to Zero continues!   —   Christiana + Tom's book ‘The Future We Choose' is available now! Subscribe to our Climate Action Newsletter: Signals Amidst The Noise   —   Links Mentioned in the Show:   Net Zero Tracker UNEP Gap Report Oxford English Dictionary Climate Words Added NYT Visualization of Emissions Pre-Paris vs Current vs Pledged vs Necessary for 1.5C   —   Thank you to our guest this week!    Thomas Hale Associate Professor in Global Public Policy at Oxford University Twitter | Website   Blavatnik School of Government Twitter   Net Zero Tracker Twitter | Website   —   Race to Zero Twitter | LinkedIn   COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn   —   Keep up with Christiana Figueres here: Instagram | Twitter   Tom Rivett-Carnac: Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn   Paul Dickinson is on LinkedIn! LinkedIn   —   Follow @GlobalOptimism on social media and send us a message! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn   Don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss another episode of Outrage + Optimism!

It's not often you see a company well established in its product niche completely rebrand, but that's exactly what Tom Hale and his team at Momentive, formerly SurveyMonkey, have done. Tom joins Scott Britton and Andrei Newman on the Built by Humans Podcast to discuss what an effective rebrand looks like, why modern businesses need AI-generated feedback, and how the workplace can help the world. Here are some quick takeaways: Automated surveys give the quick data needed to remain agile and move at “ventilator speed” in the modern workplace. All growing multi-product businesses hit a wall where they need to rebrand. Matching different products to buyer profiles is key to getting past this. Brand health can be measured both through traditional metrics like awareness and competitive share but also through monitoring statistics like customer calls and the amount of people directed to your product without a referral. AI, if made well enough, can provide a volume of personal feedback humans are unwilling to expend the time and energy on. Try to look past just money and see the workplace as a way through which to positively affect the world. If you can use business to help people, you should.

Lydbogen IO I af billedkunstner Marie Kølbæk Iversen kobler sig til hendes længerevarende kunstneriske projekt Io/I (2015-) og udvider den fysiske bogudgivelse med samme titel udgivet af Antipyrine i 2019. Projektet Io/I tager sit udgangspunkt i månen Io, der kredser om Jupiter. Derfra spiralerer projektet gennem associationer og fejloversættelser videre til at handle om mytologi og videnskab, moderskab og kunstner-jeg'et. Lydbogen rummer både uddrag fra Marie Kølbæk Iversen og Katinka Fogh Vindelevs opera Moonologue fra 2018 samt digte af Ida Marie Hede, et essay af Yann Chateigné Tytelman og Marie Kølbæk Iversens egen tekst Moonologue.   “Io: Jupiters inderste måne, som blev opdaget i 1610 af den italienske astronom Galileo Galilei og opkaldt efter præstinden Io, der – efter at have været forført af Jupiter – blev forvandlet til en hvid kvie for at skjule hende for sin jaloux kone, Juno. Juno gennemskuede imidlertid bedraget, og sendte en hestebremse for at bide Io hver gang hun stoppede for at hvile. Således var Io dømt til rastløse vandringer, ligesom en måne kredser om sin planet. Ved hjælp af det italienske førstepersons pronomen, 'io', - 'I' på engelsk - er Ios mange identiteter sammenfaldende og frembringer et hybrid transversalt måneselv, der omfatter præstinden, koen, Galileo, månen, du, mig…”   -- Billedkunstner Marie Kølbæk Iversen er født i 1981 i Herning, og bor og arbejder i dag i København og Oslo. Hun er uddannet fra Kunstakademiet i 2008 og arbejder ofte med kunstprojekter som trækker på en stor research, der går på tværs af både videnskab, mytologi, historie og tro. Hendes arbejde manifesterer sig både i videoværker, installationer, tegninger, bøger og senest også som sange.   Denne lydbog er en del af serien ‘5 lydbøger af 5 kunstnere'. Serien er støttet af Statens Kunstfond.     “IO I” af Marie Kølbæk Iversen, 2021 Udgivet af Museet for Samtidskunst, 2021 på baggrund af den fysiske bog med samme titel udgivet af Antipyrine, 2019.   Sprog: Engelsk, dansk og italiensk   Tekster: “Jeg kigger på IO / Io sto guardando IO / I'm looking at myself” (2015) af Ida Marie Hede Optaget og indtalt på dansk af Ida Marie Hede, 2021 Optaget og indtalt på italiensk af Francesca Astesani, 2021 (på baggrund af Chiara Sartors oversættelse, 2015) Optaget og indtalt på engelsk af Tom Hale, 2021   “Moonologue” (2016) af Marie Kølbæk Iversen, frit efter Lynn Madsen, Aeschylos, Galileo Galilei og Wikipedias side om Io (måne). Indtalt på engelsk af Marie Kølbæk Iversen, 2021   “Untitled (moon with many eyes)” (2018) af Yann Chateigné Tytelman Optaget og indtalt på engelsk af Yann Chateigné Tytelman, 2021   Musik: Uddrag fra “Moonologue—For Our Suns”, 2018 Komposition: Katinka Fogh Vindelev Libretto: Marie Kølbæk Iversen Sopran: Katinka Fogh Vindelev Kontratenor: Morten Grove Frandsen   Optaget på The Lake Studio Komposition og lyddesign af Katinka Fogh Vindelev, 2021 Cover af Marie Kølbæk Iversen, 2021, baseret på grafisk design af Louise Hold Sidenius, 2019

A Covid-19 outbreak has brought China's Yantian port to a standstill, threatening trade. Tom Hale of the Financial Times in Hong Kong explains the background to the disruption, and we consider the potential impact on global trade with Nils Haupt, senior director at German shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd. Also in the programme, earlier this week El Salvador decided to adopt the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as legal tender. Nic Carter is founding partner at Castle Island Ventures, and his Twitter event on cryptocurrency was joined by El Salvador's President Bukele just as the country's parliament passed the new law. Finance ministers across the largest member states of the East African Community, such as Kenya and Tanzania, present their national budgets for 2021/22 today. Dario Kenner is a development economist with the Catholic charity Cafod, and discusses the budgetary challenges the countries face. Plus, the BBC's Shingai Nyoka reports from Zimbabwe on efforts in the country to bring down its high 28% youth unemployment rate.

In this episode of Making Healthcare, Dr. Tom Hale interviews Dr. Stephen Beeson about his career defining moments, how to make a human connection with a patient as a physician, the blood sweat and toil that goes into creating innovation in healthcare, learning from failure, and why you should chase purpose instead of success.

Tom Hale believed he had a 'fake cupboard' in his own kitchen for the last two years, before he discovered he'd actually had a dishwasher there for all that time. More at www.CooperandAnthony.com, and watch us nightly at 7pm EST https://www.twitch.tv/cooperandanthony

Tom Hale believed he had a 'fake cupboard' in his own kitchen for the last two years, before he discovered he'd actually had a dishwasher there for all that time.  More at www.CooperandAnthony.com, and watch us nightly at 7pm EST https://www.twitch.tv/cooperandanthony --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/cooperandanthony/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cooperandanthony/support

Dr. Hale is the chief medical officer at VirtuSense Technologies, a health care company that uses proprietary technology and artificial intelligence to reduce adverse events within hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and senior living communities. He previously was the senior vice president for care solutions at Navvis Healthcare, after a 37-year career at Mercy Health, where he was the leader and clinical architect of the world’s first virtual care center. As the executive medical director of Mercy Virtual, Dr. Hale led the development of new ways to effectively and efficiently deliver health care to Mercy communities. Prior to his current position, Dr. Hale maintained a general internal medicine practice for 23 years. He was a founder of Mercy Medical Group and served as its first president for 15 years.  Dr. Hale holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from Saint Louis University. He received his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia Medical School, subsequently completing his internal medicine internship and residency at Mercy Hospital St. Louis leading to board certification in 1983. In 2011, he earned a master’s degree in medical informatics from Northwestern University. John Marchica, CEO, Darwin Research GroupJohn Marchica is a veteran health care strategist and CEO of Darwin Research Group, a health care market intelligence firm specializing in health care delivery systems. He’s a two-time health care entrepreneur, and his first company, FaxWatch, was listed twice on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing American companies. John is the author of The Accountable Organization and has advised senior management on strategy and organizational change for more than a decade. John did his undergraduate work in economics at Knox College, has an MBA and M.A. in public policy from the University of Chicago, and completed his Ph.D. coursework at The Dartmouth Institute. He is a faculty associate in the W.P. Carey School of Business and the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University, and is an active member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. About Darwin Research GroupDarwin Research Group Inc. provides advanced market intelligence and in-depth customer insights to health care executives, with a strategic focus on health care delivery systems and the global shift toward value-based care. Darwin’s client list includes forward-thinking biopharmaceutical and medical device companies, as well as health care providers, private equity, and venture capital firms. The company was founded in 2010 as Darwin Advisory Partners, LLC and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., with a satellite office in Princeton, N.J.

US President Joe Biden is set to announce his country’s steepest ever emissions cuts, Russia plans to pull out of the International Space Station by 2025, and Turkey’s opposition is asking where US$128bn in foreign exchange reserves has gone. Plus, the FT’s Shanghai correspondent, Tom Hale, explains why the corruption at Huarong Asset Management is creating headaches for Beijing. US to propose emissions cut of up to 50% by end of decadehttps://www.ft.com/content/32f5e2cd-4689-4434-9da0-d97d46673eaf?Huarong debacle tests Beijing’s resolve to bail out state groupshttps://www.ft.com/content/2aabfd64-6527-442f-b6fb-36c3804dcfc7Russia to pull out of International Space Station in 2025https://www.ft.com/content/a1518565-e643-42ae-a650-02e9c3bdd657Turks chase missing billions in foreign exchange reserveshttps://www.ft.com/content/dee218ba-c102-4a2f-8042-e8c8601991cd? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Host Dr. Nick van Terheyden aka Dr. Nick talks to the CMO of VirtuSense, Tom Hale, MD on a wide variety of topics including, monitoring in the medical home with AI, challenges of fee for Service and the move to managed care, AI and sensors to prevent falls. To stream our Station live 24/7 visit www.HealthcareNOWRadio.com or ask your Smart Device to “….Play HealthcareNOW Radio”. Find all of our network podcasts on your favorite podcast platforms and be sure to subscribe and like us. Learn more at www.healthcarenowradio.com/listen/

Join John Williams, Hugh Johnson with Smugglers Notch Ski Resort and Tim Hale for this weeks Outdoor Adventure Update!

What Makes Florida Solar Power a Good Neighbor...Our goal is to help you save thousands on your energy bills, we will build a custom proposal based on your energy consumption.1. Be Informed. Our advisor will go over your solar proposal and explain how you can save money and help the environment at the same time.2. You new Solar system comes with no upfront cost meaning Zero Money Down! If Financed!3. Get Real Savings! Analyze the proposal and see how much money you can save by switching to solar energy today, for zero out of pocket cost.4. It has never been easier and more affordable to switch to clean energy today.5. Continue to use your electricity as usual and start saving money.To learn more about Florida Solar Power, go to: https://www.flsolarpower.net/Florida Solar Power16000 Old 41 Road Unit 211Naples, FL. 34110239-234-2542Support the show (https://goodneighborpodcast.com)

Friends & Colleagues,  There are a few healthcare delivery enablers which will catalyze the transformation of healthcare delivery over the coming years. In our dialogue today, we'll be focusing on ...

Friends & Colleagues, There are a few healthcare delivery enablers which will catalyze the transformation of healthcare delivery over the coming years. In our dialogue today, we’ll be focusing on one of them - virtual care. Our guest this week has spent years directly leading the charge in virtual healthcare redesign and deployment. Dr. Tom Hale is the Chief Medical Officer of VirtuSense where he and his colleagues are using virtual care to build value-based services for ACOs, MAs, and other at-risk models. Prior to this role, Dr. Hale pioneered the development of telemedicine and virtual care at Mercy Health. Under his leadership, Mercy telehealth services launched the world’s first virtual care center, Mercy Virtual. Prior to that, he led a 350-member multi-specialty organization as the President of Mercy Medical Group.In this episode, Dr. Hale and I will touch on:Some insights as to how Mercy Health developed its world renown Virtual Care services and the amazing outcomes they achieved.    Examples of AI-enabled monitoring technologies that VirtuSense has created, such as one that reduces falls by 50 to 70% in the home and in hospital rooms.    Common missteps that healthcare organizations make in deploying virtual care.    Tom’s belief that success in virtual care is largely about people and process; requiring more than just an overlay, but instead an overall redesign of clinical and business models. Dr. Hale provides us with a very pragmatic understanding of the benefits of virtual care. He busts the myth that virtual care is merely a video substitute for a supposedly superior in-person visit. He proposes that virtual care redesign is actually far superior to the traditional approach of in-person healthcare encounters. I love his metaphor comparing traditional care to a series of ‘snapshots’ that provide disconnected, infrequent and lagging representations of a patients’ health; which is in sharp contrast to virtual care with its AI-enabled, remote monitoring and rapid responsiveness, which provides a continuous ‘movie’ of the patient's health -  continuous, connected and contextual.  Dr. Hale also points out that virtual care increases access to care; and through standardization and automation, it can reduce harmful variation of care - all leading to improved outcomes and lower total costs.  He backs these claims with data. The reduction of falls was significant, as well as the 60% reduction in healthcare costs that he and his colleagues achieved by placing simple remote monitoring technology and iPad’s into patients' homes. Another fascinating revelation was how AI-enabled software can detect the onset of sepsis or the worsening of chronic disease long before they become apparent through our current monitoring. An example of this is the increasing variability in heart rate that precedes the onset of heart failure by days, allowing providers to more proactively respond to and prevent ED visits and hospitalizations. I really appreciate Tom’s thoughts regarding the impact of virtual care on the Social Determinants of Health and vulnerable populations: “Virtual care increases access to [proactive preventive] care. It decreases harmful variation. It removes the geographic barriers to care. It brings the best of the best to everybody. How can it not help the poor and underserved populations?”And I hope his final message in this podcast makes it to the ears of policy makers and payers. “Virtual Care will increase access and decrease variation in care, and you’ll get lower costs and higher quality. But, for that to happen, we need you to decrease the regulatory barriers, and prove and support the economics around virtual care that brings value to patients.”Until Next Time, Be Well Zeev Neuwirth, MD

This episode features Dr. Tom Hale, Chief Medical Officer at VirtuSense. Here, he discusses how virtual reality plays a role in healthcare, the trends he is seeing in the virtual reality healthcare space, and more.

The backbone of a strong customer experience is feedback. And it's never been more important than it is now.  According to Tom Hale, president of SurveyMonkey, digital surveys and feedback have seen tremendous growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. With companies forced into new ways of doing business and interacting with their customers, feedback has never been more crucial. Surveys allow companies to check their progress and see what needs to be improved, especially at a time when so many things are new and changing.  New research from SurveyMonkey found that 87% of CX professionals say customer feedback is more important now than it was before COVID. Customer experience and feedback has taken a higher priority because of the pandemic, and Hale doesn't think it will ever change back.  The struggle then becomes how to get the most effective and useful feedback. In order to get great feedback, companies must know how to create a great survey. Here are five tips to creating the perfect customer survey: Start with NPS. Hales says the gold standard for customer feedback is a question about NPS (Net Promoter Score), which is an accurate way of measuring how likely customers are to recommend the company. A high NPS means customers are generally quite satisfied with the experience. Start the survey by asking, “Would you recommend this product/service to a friend?” and allow customers to rate their response on a scale from 0-10.  Leave space for open responses. Great surveys combine numerical answers and free responses. When asking about NPS, follow it up with an open text box to encourage customers to elaborate on why they would or wouldn't recommend the company. Open responses can be used to elaborate on nearly any question and add more depth to the survey responses.  Think through the entire experience. The perfect customer survey isn't just about the questions—it's about the entire experience. Hale shared his own example of when he bought a new treadmill and received the follow-up survey just after it was delivered when he was in the thick of assembling the complicated machine. Too many companies ask for feedback at the wrong time. Hale's response would have been very different if he had received the survey a few days later after he had time to assemble and try the treadmill instead of receiving it when he was distracted and stressed. Make it easy for customers to respond. Think through the entire experience of when a customer will receive the survey, how long it will take them to complete and how they will feel when they're completing the survey. Customers are much less likely to respond to feedback requests that are too complicated or have too much friction, such as when they receive a printed receipt with a long survey link they have to type in themselves. Great, accurate customer feedback comes when it is easy for customers to give responses. As Hale says, much of designing the experience is the communication around the experience, including how you ask the questions. Give surveys throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Successful customer feedback doesn't just come after a customer has made a purchase. SurveyMonkey surveys its own customers at all parts of the lifecycle to have metrics and feedback about the entire experience from start to finish. The surveys look slightly different based on where they are given in the customer journey, but the information pinpoints areas for improvement and helps prioritize what needs to be changed first.  The root of the perfect customer survey is customer-centricity. When a company has a culture of being customer-centric, it comes through in their entire experience, including asking for feedback. When companies truly care for their customers and design experiences around them, it shows in useful feedback that guides the customer experience and improves all aspects of the journey. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her new course here. For regular updates on customer experience, sign up for her weekly newsletter here. 

An All-American quarterback, a beautiful co-ed, and a chance encounter after the game leads to an unspeakable crime. John Knox is pressured to drop the case, but his sense of justice and honor will not let him. But will forces outside his control make the decision for him? Tune in this season to A Dash of Read, by Tom Hale. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Our final episode for season two is another fictional one. Our drama starts on a damaged starship at the edge of the solar system. Its commander has forgotten who she is, what she's doing there, and who the other passengers in this vessel are. The episode features the voices of Chris Carpineti, Danielle Emina, Dr Suze Kundu, Emily, Lucy & Claire Waller, Tom Hale, Sacha Coward, Katy Evans, Hannah Sabrun, Mufseen Miah, Anne Jones. There's a little teaser for our Christmas special at the end, voiced by Dr Steven Di Costa.

The discussion ranges on a variety of perspectives on what our future impact can be, from a less is more approach both online and in terms of our carbon footprint. Expanding the conversation on design more fully across spheres also helps define certain frameworks around innovation and redefine notions of sustainability. Moderator:Christine Kuan CEO and Director at Sotheby's Institute of Art, New York.Guests:Suzanne Demisch Co-founder of gallery Demisch Danant, New York.Tom Hale, Senior Vice President, General Manager at Crozier Fine Arts.Florian Idenburg, Co-Founder of architectural design firm SO – IL, New York.Timothée Verrecchia, Founder and Managing Director at Verrechia & Partners

Bill “Blinky” Hubina, owner of Ventura Surf Shop, joins Dr. Bunny to discuss surfing and how his business is doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Surfing has become even more popular during the pandemic because it's a sport that's done out in the fresh air, and Blinky tells us how he and his wife have navigated the waters during this unprecedented time. Bill also tells us about the fascinating history of Ventura Surf Shop. They are a true local surf shop, selling custom new and used surf boards, accessories, and wetsuits. They've been around for so long, they've had the same phone number since 1967! Tune in for a great interview and be sure to stop in to Ventura Surf Shop to support local businesses! About Ventura Surf Shop: Ventura Surf shop was started in the early sixties by Tom Hale. Tom had been building boards with V.I.P., Ventura International Plastics in the late fifties. VIP was owned by Bill Fisher with the shop located on Olive Street.  The shop sold fiberglass, cloth, resin & laminated surfboards. VIP went on to a new factory on Callens Rd. where they produced boards “Pop Outs” (production boards) Ten Toes, Shark, Tiki and the Duke Kahanamoky boards. Boards were sold to mass merchandisers like Sears and Federated. Tom left VIP to open a small shop in 1962, located at 235 W. Santa Clara St. where he made custom Tom Hale surfboards. In 1963 Tom Morey moved to Ventura recruiting Tom Hale to be his shaper and moved into the small shop on Santa Clara St. with Hale. Morey made Australian surfboards and Tom Morey skeg works (aka TRAF Fins). According to Tom Hale the polypropylene fins while being shaped with a grinder smelled like a fart, (TRAF spelled backwards)! Morey's wife Jolly was a talented artist and helped Tom Hale design the first Ventura Surf Shop logo for Hale's custom boards. In 1964 Morey decided to change the name of his Australian surfboards to Morey, then in 1965 Morey and Karl Pope became partners and opened Morey Pope on Front St. in Ventura. Tom Hale went on to produce his own custom boards nd opened a sales shop on Main Street across from Ventura High School. He eventually closed the Main Street shop and sold boards out of his glassing shop on Callens Rd. Tom made boards in Ventura until 1973 when he moved to San Diego. In the meantime, Bill “Blinky” Hubina who also worked for Morey on Santa Clara St. became Morey Popes first employee on Front St. In 1967 Blinky and Dennis Ryder left Morey Pope to start William Dennis Surfboards in an industrial building on Callens Rd. Dennis departed the business shortly after it got started. Blinky continued to make William Dennis surfboards. The business grew and eventually Blinky opened a small show room on Thompson Blvd. in the front of the house where he lived. In 1972 Karl Pope who had bought Morey out decided to close Morey-Pope retail shop and start Wave. Wave was a corporation which included surf, wave, and Morey-Pope. Karl Pope moved the new company to Saticoy and in 1973 opened Wave, making honeycomb surfboards. Blinky took over the Morey-Pope building on Front St. and expanded the William Dennis surfboard business in to it. Where they manufactured William Dennis boards and had a show room. In 1973 when Tom Hale left Ventura the employees started answering the phone “William Dennis” Ventura Surf Shop and assumed the name. The Ventura Surf Shop was sold to Stan Fujii in 1980. Stan changed the sign on the shop on Front St. from William Dennis to The Ventura Surf Shop in 1986. Stan started making Fujii surfboards, then in 1995 Stan moved the shop to its current location at 88 E. Thompson Blvd.  Stan ran the business for 20 years until he sold it to Mark Ellison in 2000 along with his managing partner Bill Blinky Hubina. Blinky and his wife, Mignonne purchased the shop in 2012 from Mark and continue to run it today along with his son Robert Hubina. The Ventura Surf Shop has a long history in the surfing community, it is a true surf shop, selling custom new and used surf boards, accessories and wetsuits.  There are over 300 new boards and 200 used boards for sale. This hard core surf shop offers customs boards by William Dennis, Campbell Bros., Wayne Rich, Roberts, Dennis Ryder, Klaus Jones and Spence. Contact Ventura Surf Shop at (805) 643-1062 Also visit: www.venturasurfshop.com and find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/venturasurfshop and on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ventura_surf_shop/ Contact Dr. Bunny Vreeland at (805) 482-8111 or E-mail: Bunny@BunnyVreeland.com Also visit: https://bunnyvreeland.org/ https://vreelandcollege.org/ https://upgradeyourlifewithdrbunny.com https://communicatewithanyone.wordpress.com/

COVID-19 has not only upended our lives but also changed the ways in which we engage with anything else, and especially public policy. Governments around the world have responded differently to threats posed by COVID-19, implementing a variety of measures to contain the spread of the virus and save lives. The focus of many interventions has been about saving lives and sustaining an economy while in lockdown. In this episode, we look at measures that governments right across the world have taken to contain the spread of COVID-19. Our first discussant, Tom Hale, an Associate Professor in Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government joins us to talk about the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, which has been collating data on the different policy responses governments around the world have taken to contain the outbreak. We then talk to two students; Pollyana Lima from Brazil, and Femi Adebola from Nigeria, who are currently reading for a Master of Public Policy (MPP) at the Blavatnik School. They been working closely on the Government Response Tracker, and share insights on some of the interesting patterns in responses from governments around the world and reflect on how their respective governments have responded. While some political leaders, like the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly referred to the virus as a “little flu”. We engaged with someone who had the “little flu”, Woo Wee Meng, also reading for an MPP, paints an intimate picture about life in quarantine and isolation in Singapore with COVID-19.

Tom Hale is the author of Authentic Lives, a 2nd year PhD student in intercultural studies at Fuller School of Intercultural Studies. Today, he shares about growing up in Nepal, working for nearly two decades in the former Soviet Union, and why he is passionate about living authentically. Tom's story helps us think more deeply about how we represent ourselves. Listen to Tom's story now! Stories Tom shared: Growing up in Nepal as the son of American doctors at a village hospital When his mom dropped him off at boarding school Finding his niche in high school Sharing conversation with friends from different backgrounds How the Navigators helped him grow in faith A time in the Navy Eventually moving to the former Soviet Union Problems with labels: when the way people describe you isn't how you think of yourself Great quotes from Tom: Sometimes when we say something is spiritually dark, what we're reflecting is modernity vs. premodernity. It is possible to come up with a life mission that you can share with anyone. Resources we mentioned: Authentic Lives: Overcoming the Problem of Hidden Identity in Outreach to Restrictive Nations by Thomas Hale III Transcending Mission: The Eclipse of a Modern Tradition by Michael W. Stroope Related episodes: Michael Cooper and the International Call VJ and Small Beginnings Idella Kercher and God's Abundant Provision The post Tom Hale and Living an Authentic Life appeared first on Eric Nevins.

Tom Hale is the author of Authentic Lives, a 2nd year PhD student in intercultural studies at Fuller School of Intercultural Studies. Today, he shares about growing up in Nepal, working for nearly two decades in the former Soviet Union, and why he is passionate about living authentically. Tom’s story helps us think more deeply […] The post Tom Hale and Living an Authentic Life appeared first on Eric Nevins.

Hi, my name is Tom Hale, and this is Tom Reads his Books. What is Tom Reads his Books you may ask? Well, as I said, my name is Tom Hale. And, I have written some books. 3 so far. The Working Blonde, A Dash of Red, and A Lesser God. After publishing these books, I heard from more than a few people that they’d love to read them but they just don’t have the time. They needed an audio book. Well, I suspected creating an audio version of my books would involve paying someone to read them, and I just did not see the point of that. After turning this over in my head, my tiny brain popped out an idea: a podcast where I read my books. And so here we are. After some careful research during a lunch break, I decided I’d learned enough to start my podcast adventure. Not a side hustle, just something fun to try. I’m not having guests, I won’t be sharing my thoughts about current events or sports or whatever. I’ll just be reading. At this point I envision each episode being two or three chapters, but that will vary depending on the length of the chapters. I’ll try to put out multiple episodes a week, since they’ll be relatively short, but who knows. I’ll start with The Working Blonde, then will have an inner debate with myself on which book to read next. Hopefully you’ll be there to find out. So thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy me reading my books. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

On this week's episode of The Wealth Intersection, we turn our focus to the world of travel. Americans love travel. In fact, the average American spends $2,037 annually on travel. But travel and tourism has evolved over the decades and Americans are also seeking adventure. Enter Tom Hale. Forty years ago, Tom launched Backroads - an adventure travel company that believes that traveling under your own power and at your own pace opens up an opportunity to connect more meaningfully with the world. From biking to hiking to multi-sport, Backroad's unique way of curating the journey provides a rare experience so transformative that you'll never want to travel in any other way. Join us as host Megan Gorman speaks with Tom Hale about building the Number One Adventure Travel Company. From the company's humble beginnings in Tom's garage to offering over 231 trips around the world, the story of this entrepreneur is both adventurous and inspirational.

On this week's episode of the Great Loop Radio podcast, Tom Hale tells us about different types of marine sanitation devices.  Tom also clears up misconceptions about No Discharge Zones (NDZs), what they are, and where they are located.

On this week's episode of Great Loop Radio, Tom Hale joins us to talk about considerations for tides and current on the Atlantic ICW. 

On this week's episode of the Great Loop Radio podcast, Tom Hale joins us to cover a topic straight from our Members Discussion Forum -- Sacrificial Anodes.  Aluminum or Zinc?  Which is better for your type of cruising?  To bond or not to bond?  Find the answers on this week's episode.

On this week's episode of Great Loop Radio, Tom Hale returns for part 2 of his tour of the AICW.  This week, he'll share navigation information for the segment of the Great Loop route that takes us along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Charleston, South Carolina to Norfolk, Virginia.  Listen for tips on current hazards to navigation and how to work with tides when planning your trip.

On this week's episode of Great Loop Radio, Tom Hale join us to share navigation information for the segment of the Great Loop route that takes us along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway from Fernandina Beach, Florida to Charleston, South Carolina.  Listen for tips on current hazzards to navigation and how to work with tides when planning your trip.

On this week's episode of Great Loop Radio, Tom Hale joins us to talk about common causes of fire aboard.  Tom also shares what to do if fire breaks out. 

This edition of the CHS includes tributes to Laguna local and distance swimmer Tom Hale as well as a birthday callout to local listener and friend of the show, Amanda Reid. Cuts include artists like Peter Gabriel, REM, Brendan Benson, The Silencers, Marc Bolan, Ty Segall, Altered Images, The Beatles, The Killers, Prince and MANY […]

We are talking to the relay Swim team – Tom Hale, his daughter Faith, Roddy Teeple, Patsee Ober, Brett Rose and Lynn Kubasek who made the 33.5 Mile crossing from Avalon on Catalina Island to Laguna Beach, live from their boat with a swimmer in the water. You will also heat music from REM, Josie […]

Tom Hale spent two years at General Motors, another at Chrysler, and 17 years at American Motors as a Styling Designer. He then set out to pursue his passion in art and today has sold over three thousand original paintings to clients all over the world. He has received numerous awards including the Gold Medal of Honor from the American Watercolor Society. He’s produced 59 commissioned event posters and his work can be found at the most prestigious concours events and galleries. He is a member of the Automotive Fine Arts Society and the American Watercolor Society.

Tom Hale, Cruising Editor for Waterway Guides, will be picking up where he left off last week on his narrative about the great Chesapeake Bay. Tom will relate his favorite stops, cruising tips and everything you might want to know about this wonderful waterway.

Tom Hale will be joining us to talk about places to go, things to see, and cruising information for the Cheapeake Bay and surrounding area. Since many of our members are already in this area or headed that way, this is a very timely topic for discussion. Don't forget you can call in with any questions on this topic!

This is a continuation of last week's discussion with Tom Hale of Waterway Guides. We will talk more about the Chesapeake area, where to go, cruising information, marinas, etc.

Our Guest Host will be Tom Hale, Editor of Waterway Guides, and the topic will be cruising the Chesapeake - anchorages, marinas and sites to see.

Tom Hale, Chief Product Officer for Linden Lab announces the latest step to make the new Second Life user experience a better one: Welcome Island and Discovery Island. Metanomics host Robert Bloomfield fields questions for Tom from the community.Metanomics

Watch this mixed reality version of Metanomics with host Robert Bloomfield live from Second Life and the Engage Expo in San Jose CA as he talks with guests Philip Rosedale and Tom Hale of Linden Lab plus Harper Beresford and Jeanie Tubbs, both resident content creatorsMetanomics

Tom Hale, formerly of Macromedia, and now post merger, a senior VP at Adobe, talks about how to get your platform widely adopted by users globally (flash and acrobat each are on more than 88% of internet enabled desktops worldwide). This interview covers issues such as standardization, developing for end users, and viral marketing.