Podcasts about trendkite

This episode is extra special because I was lucky enough to interview THE AJ Bruno, Founder and CEO of QuotaPath. AJ wears many hats—he's a limited partner, podcast host, serial entrepreneur, commercial pilot, dad, and much more!AJ delves into the personal aspects of his life, including his upbringing in Pittsburgh, where his father's entrepreneurial spirit and career as a commercial pilot heavily influenced him. AJ recounts his early experiences in acting and entrepreneurship, which laid the foundation for his later ventures. AJ's first business was called Control the Buzz, a website where users could post messages for a fee, inspired by the Million Dollar Homepage concept. Despite its short-lived success, the experience taught him valuable lessons about focus and monetization. This early venture paved the way for his sales career at Meltwater, where he honed his skills and leadership abilities. AJ credits a transformative experience at a Tony Robbins seminar for inspiring him to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams with renewed vigor. This event helped him overcome limiting beliefs and set him on the path to founding TrendKite, his next significant business venture.AJ reflects on the parallels between being a pilot and an entrepreneur. Both roles require meticulous attention to detail, constant monitoring of various systems, and the ability to handle multiple responsibilities simultaneously. AJ shares how his passion for flying helps him clear his mind and draw connections to his business life. He also discusses the challenges and rewards of balancing his love for aviation with his responsibilities as a CEO and family man, highlighting the importance of learning and growing continuously in both personal and professional aspects.Discover the heart and hustle behind AJ Bruno's entrepreneurial ventures as he imparts wisdom and inspiration in this engaging episode of The First Customer!Guest Info:QuotaPathhttps://www.quotapath.com/demo/AJ Bruno's LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3/Connect with Jay on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jayaigner/The First Customer Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@thefirstcustomerpodcastThe First Customer podcast websitehttps://www.firstcustomerpodcast.comFollow The First Customer on LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/the-first-customer-podcast/

AJ Bruno, QuotaPath's CEO has raised $70 million for QuotaPath and had a successful sale of TrendKite for $225 million, after multiple rounds of funding.  He's also a father of three and a pilot who does not like the idea of building the plane while flying it.About QuotaPathQuotaPath brings ownership and accountability to your compensation process by automating sales commissions. Rally teams around shared revenue goals by building comprehensive sales compensation plans and providing visible earnings. Feel confident you're paying commissions correctly on every deal. About SpringTime VenturesSpringTime Ventures seeds high-growth startups in healthcare, fintech, logistics, and marketplace businesses. We look for founders with domain expertise, forging a path with a truly transformative technology. We only invest in software-based businesses in the USA. We bring a people-focused approach, work quickly, and reach conviction independently. Our initial check size is $600k. You can learn more about us and our approach.   About Rich MaloyRich's mission is to rebuild the American dream through entrepreneurship. He believes technology gives all people the opportunity to grow, learn and earn. He is a Managing Partner at SpringTime Ventures and the host of the VC Minute podcast. With prior careers in finance and sales, he's been focused on the startup ecosystem for over a dozen years. He's a father of two young children and loves sci-fi, skiing, and video games.  

What is up everyone? Sharing out another amazing episode with ya'll. I asked Jenn Deering Davis to join me on the show. Jenn is Co-Founder and Head of Marketing at Gradient Works. I actually first listened to Jenn talk to Cassidy Shield on the Stacking Growth podcast (always got my eye out for innovative early stage startups!) and I really wanted to bring her on because she has a lot of experience with category design which is a creative process in and of itself. Prior to Gradient Works, Jenn co-founded Union Metrics, a social media analytics startup, that was acquired in 2018 by TrendKite and then TrendKite was acquired by Cision (a global media intelligence company). Gradient Works was founded in 2020 and has 20 people. They've raised Seed funding ($2M total). Quick description: Right rep, right account, right time. Dynamic sales book management software to help sales manage their territories. Here's what we hit on during the episode: What does creative mean to you; Cool creative approaches and experiments at Gradient Works; How they built their audience before they had a product and now they get 20K inbound website visitors; How the team builds creativity into how they work; What's Jenn's advice on how to turn technical concepts into stories that help people understand each other; Why they decided to design a new category at their early stage startup (HINT: it's never too soon); Pitfalls to avoid when creating your startup's new category; How to know that the category design process is working; Why now is the best time for startups to get more creative; Which startups should we be watching in 2023; When has Jenn personally been the most creative; Jenn asks Anna her burning question. You can find Jenn on LinkedIn. You can learn more about Gradient Works. For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen, and don't forget to leave a review! And whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you: 1. Startup marketing strategy, execution and advising (25+ happy clients and mentees) >> www.furmanovmarketing.com 2. Sign up to get my monthly newsletter where I'm sharing playbooks and insights and cracking some jokes that will make you smile guaranteed >> https://share.hsforms.com/1cP1V40x7RGes5gHk1XNgNw47lba 3. Sponsor my Top 10% podcast and get startup founders, marketers and VCs hearing about your brand >> https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov You can also find me hanging out on LinkedIn every single week: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/anna-furmanov/message

How do you run a multi-million dollar business while raising a loving family and taking care of your well-being? It's a question that so many high achievers have failed to answer for themselves. Today, I'm speaking with Matt Allison, a man that has. Matt went through all the trials and tribulations of founding and then selling a wildly successful business. He was the Founder and CEO of the digital analytics & PR company, TrendKite, that in 2019 was acquired for $225 million. Matt has worked with most of the Fortune 100 companies. As the Founder and CEO of Handraise, he's on a mission to help every company he works with deliver on their promises and always provide value for their customers. Besides being a successful entrepreneur, Matt is a loving husband and father. But before he learned how to juggle his different roles in life, Matt struggled with stress, anxiety, financial difficulties, and the burden of running a multi-million dollar business in his 20s. Yet, he took invaluable lessons from that experience that made him a stronger person. And he's here to share them. In this episode, we're discussing why being financially broke doesn't mean that you also have to be mentally broke, the importance of unplugging and finding what provides meaning to your life, why discipline equals freedom, and much more. After talking with Matt, one can't leave without being inspired to take on the world. Listen in and learn for yourself why that's the case. Key Takeaways with Matt Allison Life can suck, but you choose how to interpret stressful times and what meaning you give them. How he started doing regular self-reflection by listening to Tony Robbins. Learn the morning priming exercise that he does each day. The mindset helped him go from living in a basement with no heating to founding and running multiple multi-million dollar businesses. How team sports changed his mentality and made him appreciate hard work and perseverance. Being an underdog led him to push himself more in sports and business. Learn to appreciate the struggle instead of wishing for life to deal you better cards. Discipline = Freedom. Learn why being disciplined does not confine, but liberates you. Being a Founder and CEO can be stressful, especially at a young age. Learn how Matt overcame the crippling anxiety while running his first business. What lessons did he take away and apply later? Even in his most prosperous days, Matt made it a point to surround himself with people smarter than himself. Find out why. The importance of scheduling play in your life. The habits he followed to lose over 30 pounds.   The Man Flow Yoga Members' Area - 7-Day FREE Trial Want on-demand yoga programs, workouts, tutorials & more? Visit ManFlowYoga.com/join and start your 7-day free trial today.  FREE 7-Day Beginner's Yoga for Men Challenge 15-Minute On-Demand Videos No flexibility, no yoga experience required. Noticeable results – feel better, stronger, and move better. BONUS ACCESS! Exclusive Members-Only workout: Head & Neck Essentials Routine Visit ManFlowYoga.com/7dc to start the challenge today! Connect with Dean Pohlman Facebook YouTube Instagram

In the episode “Making of a Brand: Brand is Everything, Everything is Brand”, Brandi Starr was joined by Russ Somers, CMO of Lytho. Russ has led marketing for B2B companies including TrustRadius, TrendKite (acquired by Cision), and Invodo (acquired by Industrial Color Labs). Russ is focused on helping power the creative and marketing teams that power major brands, and on having an awesome time while doing so.  In this episode, Russ shares his insight on the journey of rebranding.  Having taken Lytho through a renaming and rebranding the entire company (which included a merging of two companies) in a short, 90-day span.  Through specific examples and broader concepts, Russ provides guidance and his expertise on rebranding from infancy through to project completion, how CMOs need to be at the center of the rebrand, from concept to execution, to foster communication and collaboration with stakeholders as a path to success of the rebrand. This insightful conversation on how to successfully execute a rebrand and Russ's four key points to approaching any rebrand should not be missed! Links: Get in touch with Russ on Twitter Check out Lytho's website Subscribe, listen, and rate/review Revenue Rehab Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts , Amazon Music, or iHeart Radio and find more episodes on our website RevenueRehab.live.

Most entrepreneurs approach building a tech startup by starting from scratch, but there is another path…acquisition.  Our guest, Wayne Lopez, saw an exciting opportunity to acquire a services company and leverage his product expertise to build a scalable tech platform that solves pain points for existing customers.   In this podcast, Wayne shares how he stumbled upon this opportunity to become an entrepreneur through acquisition.  We also discuss why software, and data-driven platforms are creating extraordinary value and amplifying business outcomes.   Founder Bio: Wayne Lopez is a technology and product executive with 20 years' experience in leveraging technology to solve real business problems in the CRM, BI and analytics space. This includes startup, Big 5 consulting and mid-market experience. Wayne is currently Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Vertify, where he is responsible for the product roadmap, strategy and delivery of the Vertify Revenue Operations Intelligence platform.   Outside of his startup and tech life, Wayne spends a considerable amount of time providing mentorship to underrepresented tech entrepreneurs. Although Wayne is a native New Orleanian through and through, he now calls Austin, TX home with his wife and 2 kids.   2:35  New Orleans born and bred + early career 5:30  Deciding on building a career in tech 7:21  Why tech valuations are more aggressive than other industries 11:17  Getting a taste of startup journey at TrendKite 12:21  How Vertifi got started – building a product out of a services business 13:58  The value in having a co-founder with a complimentary skillset 15:15 Tech entrepreneurship through acquisition 20:00 What is Vertifi? 24:30  The emergence of RevOps (revenue operations) 27:57  Driving business value/ROI by leveraging data to align sales and marketing 30:35  Establishing the business case for developing AI-driven capabilities 32:20  Is the AI hype real? 37:45  New Product: Predictive Opportunity Analytics 40:00  Vertifi's funding journey and perspectives on fundraising 48:20  What Wayne wishes he knew in his early days as a Founder

AJ Bruno is the Co-founder and CEO at QuotaPath, the most adaptable compensation solution for sales reps to finance to everyone in between. Prior to QuotaPath, AJ spent six years at TrendKite, the company he founded and was president of in Austin, Texas. Aside from his love of all things tech, AJ is an avid pilot and is very active in the startup community. He's an investor to dozens of startups and advisor and mentor to many. He currently sits as a Board Member of Philly Start-Up Leaders, the largest community of entrepreneurs in Philadelphia.

AJ leads the QuotaPath team as CEO & Co-Founder. Prior to QuotaPath, AJ spent 6 years at TrendKite, the company he founded and was president of in Austin, Texas. At TrendKite, AJ led 250+ employees to a successful acquisition by the public company Cision for $225 million in January 2019. Aside from his love of all things tech, AJ is the father of three young girls and is an avid pilot, frequently seen flying around in his Beechcraft Baron. AJ is very active in the startup community. He's an investor to dozens of startups and advisor and mentor to many. He currently sits as a Board Member of Philly Start Up Leaders, the largest community of entrepreneurs in Philadelphia. He is also an alumni of Dreamit Ventures, having completed the program with his first company, TrendKite. Connect with AJ Bruno: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ajbruno3 Connect with Poya Osgouei: https://www.linkedin.com/in/poyaosgouei/                                   This week's episode was supported by Oracle NetSuite (sign up for a personalized product tour at www.netsuite.com/scale), Indeed (get a $75 credit for your job post at www.indeed.com/scale) and Bambee (Get your HR Audit for free at Bambee.com/uncharted or Bambee.com/scale) --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/uncharted1/support

Learn all about AJ Bruno here

Lily is a Director of Sales at TeleVet located in Austin, TX. She now leads a new business sales team on a mission to restore work-play balance for veterinarians providing peace of mind for their clients. Prior to TeleVet, she was a Director of Sales Development at Cision. She worked her way up from being a Sales Development Representative to being a Senior SDR, Team Lead, then promoted to Manager of SDRs and then Manager II for SDRs at TrendKite which ended up being acquired by Cision. She graduated from the University of Texas and has studied abroad in Japan. These are some of her testimonials as a manager."Lily is one of the most hard-working, dedicated, and helpful leaders I've ever had the pleasure of learning from. She quickly rose through the ranks from SDR Manager to Director of Sales Development in just a few short months after she hired me on as an SDR at TrendKite (now Cision). In that time, I quickly learned how to have thoughtful conversations, manage my pipeline, and simply become a better sales rep. Her ability to drive results and lead by example is why I recommend Lily for any leadership role in any industry."Lily is a fantastic leader. On the SDR team, we were always looking for Lily's feedback knowing that she was a master of her craft and also one of the most successful reps in the history of TrendKite. I'm grateful for my time to work underneath Lily and know she will continue to build great sales teams wherever she goes.Check out this episode if you are curious about stepping into a managerial role and the skills and philosophy that has helped her promote many of her SDRs. If you want to connect with Lily, please do so below.https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-youn-jaroszewski/Spotify link:https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ls4mDnpgehXtgH3yrLBOFiTunes:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-99-davidson-hang-podcast-w-lily-youn-director/id1323403814?i=1000500606566YouTube:https://youtu.be/3yRtYtAj2UY

Lily is a Director of Sales at TeleVet located in Austin, TX. She now leads a new business sales team on a mission to restore work-play balance for veterinarians providing peace of mind for their clients. Prior to TeleVet, she was a Director of Sales Development at Cision. She worked her way up from being a Sales Development Representative to being a Senior SDR, Team Lead, then promoted to Manager of SDRs and then Manager II for SDRs at TrendKite which ended up being acquired by Cision. She graduated from the University of Texas and has studied abroad in Japan. These are some of her testimonials as a manager. "Lily is one of the most hard-working, dedicated, and helpful leaders I've ever had the pleasure of learning from. She quickly rose through the ranks from SDR Manager to Director of Sales Development in just a few short months after she hired me on as an SDR at TrendKite (now Cision). In that time, I quickly learned how to have thoughtful conversations, manage my pipeline, and simply become a better sales rep. Her ability to drive results and lead by example is why I recommend Lily for any leadership role in any industry." Lily is a fantastic leader. On the SDR team, we were always looking for Lily's feedback knowing that she was a master of her craft and also one of the most successful reps in the history of TrendKite. I’m grateful for my time to work underneath Lily and know she will continue to build great sales teams wherever she goes. Check out this episode if you are curious about stepping into a managerial role and the skills and philosophy that has helped her promote many of her SDRs. If you want to connect with Lily, please do so below. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-youn-jaroszewski/ Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5ls4mDnpgehXtgH3yrLBOF iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-99-davidson-hang-podcast-w-lily-youn-director/id1323403814?i=1000500606566 YouTube: https://youtu.be/3yRtYtAj2UY

We've got an interview with a friend and a great entrepreneur, AJ Bruno, the CEO and co-founder of a company called QuotaPath. He's a serial entrepreneur who started and sold a company called TrendKite. He's been working on QuotaPath as well. It's a great conversation, and it's really all about going off on your own and pushing yourself into that zone of discomfort where all personal growth happens.

We've got an interview with a friend and a great entrepreneur, AJ Bruno, the CEO and co-founder of a company called QuotaPath. He's a serial entrepreneur who started and sold a company called TrendKite. He's been working on QuotaPath as well. It's a great conversation, and it's really all about going off on your own and pushing yourself into that zone of discomfort where all personal growth happens.

In this episode I interview DreamIT Venture’s Managing Partner - Steve Barsh. Dreamit is an early stage venture fund that accelerates startups building transformative tech products in the fields of healthcare, real estate, construction, cybersecurity, and physical security. Dreamit invests in startups with demonstrable traction that are looking to rapidly gain customers, initiate new partnerships and raise additional capital. Since its founding in 2008, Dreamit has accelerated over 320 startups, including LevelUp (acquired by GrubHub), Trendkite (acquired by Cision), SeatGeek, HouseParty (acquired by Epic Games), Adaptly (acquired by Accenture), Steve has over 30 years of experience starting, leading, launching, and building multi-national companies as well as early stage venture work. He has helped launch over 100 companies that have generated over $1B in value. He has extensive experience working with entrepreneurs, scientists and physiciansSome things that we discuss on the podcast.What differentiates great entrepreneurs from good entrepreneursHow VC’s triage and pickout startups to invest inWhat sort of questions do VC’s like to askAnd much morePodcast recommendation:-Slide beanConnect with Steve:-https://www.dreamit.comhttps://twitter.com/sbarshhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebarsh/If you enjoyed this episode then please subscribe, I will be interviewing other successful founders and investors to provide you a shortcut to success.Follow instagram:- https://www.instagram.com/wantmoneygotmoney/

Adelle shares with us how the passing of her close mentor and friend, Tracy, led to the realization that she could make a diamond from the carbon in her ashes, sparking the idea for her company Eterneva. We talk about her experience working in product marketing at companies such as BigCommerce and TrendKite, how earning her MBA at Acton School of Business helped prepare her for being an entrepreneur, and what it was like to be on Shark Tank, where she received a $600,000 investment from Mark Cuban. Tune in to hear all of this and more.

As the leader of the TrustRadius marketing team, Russ Somers balances a data-driven approach and an interest in growth hacks with narrative instincts honed by years as a songwriter and performer. He has led marketing teams for high-growth startups including TrendKite (acquired by Cision), Invodo (acquired by Industrial Color Studios), and sonarDesign. Russ started his marketing career with Fortune 500 companies including Dun & Bradstree, Dell, and Sabre Holdings. He spends his spare time with his family, as well as collecting and restoring vintage guitars.

The Same Jesus 4 – Same God Welcome to another episode of Action & Ambition. I’m your host, Andrew Medal. Today’s guest is AJ Bruno. 

AJ is the co-founder of QuotaPath, which is an automated commission tracking software that recently raised $5m. Prior to QuotaPath, AJ spent 6 years at TrendKite, the company he founded. At TrendKite, AJ led 250+ employees to a successful acquisition by the public company Cision for $225 million in January 2019. AJ is very active in the startup community. He’s an investor to dozens of startups and advisor and mentor to many. You’re going to love this episode. Let’s get to it and hear about his journey! Free From Addictions Podcast

Why you need to hire trusted talent to build and scale your startup. Referrals are still the strongest way to stack the deck with talent for your organization. But you cannot shortcut the interview process. Just because a person worked well in another organization does not mean they will be successful at yours. Diligence in gathering evidence of value, growth and cultural alignment must be gathered to avoid making a bad hire.  Our guest today: AJ Bruno, CEO & Co-founder of QuotaPath.  AJ leads the QuotaPath team as CEO & Co-Founder. Prior to QuotaPath, AJ spent 6 years at TrendKite, the company he founded and was president of in Austin Texas.  At TrendKite, AJ led the go-to-market and sales strategy/execution and took that team from initial product inception through $20+ million ARR and 250+ employees. TrendKite was acquired by the public company Cision for $225 million in January 2019.  AJ is religious about vetting and hiring talent and has made over 300 hires in his career  Today we discuss Why trusted talent is the best option to build and scale your startup.  What to do when you don't have a strong network The steps to take to hire through referrals:  Why is hiring “trusted talent” the best route Look into your own network of people you have previously worked with or go to a trusted source to help build the team you need to take you to the next level. Why is this important Avoid running into bad hires   How do we do it? Reverse engineer your network Looking for trust and loyalty A lot of back channeling (connect with at least 5 people)  If you know the person? He needs to justify why for both parties In the Interview process Disqualification questions- do you know who Elon Musk is? Tie questions to the importance of the role Rick’s Nuggets Knock out questions  Provide a growth path to avoid a transactional experience Key Takeaways:  Backchannel with at least 3 references if the hire is very strategic (the first hire in their position or respective position) Create a consistent process (with knockout questions or frameworks) if it will be a hire you will make multiple times (sales reps). Ensure that the person is sold on working with you and learning from you as much as possible if it is a strategic hire.

AJ Bruno, CEO and founder of Quotapath is this week's guest on The SaaS Revolution Show. Currently founder and CEO of Quotapath, AJ was previously founder and president of TrendKite (acquired by Cision for $225 million). He built the sales function from the ground up and grew it $0-~$25 million ARR in four years, and the company had around 250 employees before being acquired. AJ shares his insights on building a high-performing sales team, goal-setting, and motivation.

What does it take to start a company? Even more, what does it take to exit one and start another? Today’s guest is perfectly qualified to answer these questions. Joshua Rhodes interviews entrepreneur AJ Bruno. After his initial company, TrendKite, was acquired for $225 million, AJ immediately co-founded his current company, QuotaPath. He takes us along his amazing journey and spills some tips and tricks on making it yourself. He shows what an exit looks like, where the money from it goes, and how to take off from there and start another venture. Having come from a sales background, AJ shares the importance of building great relationships in business, sharing how it helped him with his success. Now in his second company, AJ lets us in on the three key things that he had done differently than the first. He then taps into the value of having financial freedom through an investment strategy.

Angela Wilkins is the founder and Chief Scientist at Mercury Data Science (MDS) where she works with Mercury's portfolio companies to identify solutions for complex data problems. Prior to MDS, Angela was a member of faculty research at Baylor College of Medicine and led projects at the policy think tank, Center of Science and Law. She developed her machine learning knowledge in the biomedical field as part of IBM's Watson AI and DARPA Simplex Project. Angela received her M.S and Ph.D. from Lehigh University, all in Theoretical Physics. Enjoy the show! We speak about: [01:10] How Angela started in the data space [03:45] Using proteins to understand aging [07:35] Setting team expectations [09:15] Challenges at Baylor [15:15] Using data science to make policy [18:30] Leading seminars on machine learning and data science [22:05] TrendKite – putting the right data in front of the PR person [26:40] The transition from academia into business [30:15] Rapid fire questions [35:00] Future data science challenges [36:10] Do as many things as you can Resources: Angela’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adwilkins Mercury Fund: https://mercuryfund.com TrendKite: https://www.trendkite.com Quotes: “We look to see how proteins, drugs, and diseases interact.” “We came up with an algorithm for aligning protein networks along multiple species.” “I left Baylor because I needed new problems.” “Algorithms are useful everywhere.” Thank you to our sponsors: Fyrebox - Make Your Own Quiz! RMIT Online Master of Data Science Strategy and Leadership Gain the advanced strategic, leadership and data science capabilities required to influence executive leadership teams and deliver organisation-wide solutions. Visit online.rmit.edu.au for more information And as always, we appreciate your Reviews, Follows, Likes, Shares and Ratings. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy the show! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/datafuturology/message

Is Edelman and Cision’s Communications Cloud Partnership a watershed moment in the PR world? In this podcast, Kevin Akeroyd, CEO of Cision, and Steve Barrett, PRWeek editorial director, discuss this major development and its impact on the PR industry. They also dive into Cision’s acquisition of public relations platform TrendKite and social media company Falcon.io, along with clients’ campaign execution using measurement technology.

1 to 10? Try 0 to 20. At least, that’s what AJ Bruno drove TrendKite to do before it sold for $225 million. Now, as founder and CEO at QuotaPath, AJ is implementing everything he’s learned from operating a crazy-successful startup. In this episode, AJ gives us the inside scoop on what characteristics a startup’s first hires should possess, how to create leaders, and more.

I wanted to check in on the BBQ scene a little bit. If you’re a cook, butcher, cutter, pit guy or have anything to do with BBQ send me a message or DM. The BBQ world is full of stories and I want to hear yours. I love BBQ. I love the people who cook it, I love the smell of it cooking all over Texas. I love the meats that Texans cook and I love the way the alchemy of BBQ transforms a simple cut into soft and delicious wonderment. If you listen to this show you know I travel all over. I’m the embedded journalist chasing the story of BBQ. Just recently I’ve jumped in cars, planes and even on my motorcycle to get good cue and a good story. A lot of my interviews were videotaped as well so don’t be a stranger to the youtube channel! If you want to know when they come out subscribe to my channel. It’s easy to remember, just type in Best B B Q Show. Also, click the little bell icon to get notifications every time I post an episode on the channel. This being episode 114, I want to ask y’all a few questions. I want to know exactly what you’re looking for when you press play on the show. The reason I ask is because I don’t enjoy a lot of popular BBQ shows, especially these shows on TV that give you a glimpse of a popular spot but don’t truly tell their story. I’m creating something different. I’m creating something that goes deeper into the people who cook bbq and how they cook it. I know I could get hundreds of thousands of followers if I just posted BBQ porn all the time. Slomo shots of meat cooking and getting cut. Epic drone passes of big events and the biggest names. Don’t worry, you’ll see that on my show, I just don’t want it to be the majority of what I’m sharing. I’m excited to show you the nuances of BBQ. The things they can’t show in a 4 and a half minute segment between commercials on a TV food channel. I’m also on demand. You can watch my stories anytime you want or listen to a podcast at will. No need to worry about catching it at a certain time. I’ve got over 100 guests from the past few years to follow up on and new ones to introduce to you as well. I’ll always be checking in with the OG’s like Wayne Mueller at The Cathedral of Smoke, The Snow’s BBQ crew and a few competitions teams like SS Pit Crew or The Shed BBQ. A few weeks ago I jumped in a car with my friend Joey Garcia. A Houston BBQ enthusiast who’s good with a camera and loves a long drive. We left Friday morning around 10am. I loaded a cooler full of topo chicos. Lime of course. We had a long drive but we both knew with short stops we’d be there in no time. If you driven through west Texas you know there isn’t much out there. I love the wind turbines, the abandoned buildings and all the overpriced gas stations. If you’ve driven I-10 in west Texas you’ve seen an abandoned gas station where the roof over the pumps has fallen and twisted in the wind. I’m amazed that it’s there every time I drive by. Things don’t change as fast out west. In Austin things change every day. Between Google, Apple, Datical, Dell, Atlassian, TrendKite, Facebook, Accenture, the universities, 3M, Whole Foods  it seems every person I meet is in tech. Even the amount of BBQ joints keeps growing every year. So when you hear west Texas has a BBQ scene, you pay attention, because changes don’t happen often in the dessert. Joey was determined to get to Convenience West BBQ shortly after they started serving BBQ. He mentioned the menu more than once and all the different offerings he was excited to try. The white Subaru we were rolling in was cruising comfortably a few miles over the speed limit. We flipped between podcasts and some easy listening. By the time we got to Fort Stockton,which is still a few hours from Marfa, we had gone through at least 7 topo chicos. If you didn’t know, the secret to surviving a Texas summer, it’s topo chico. They’re not sponsoring me, but if you know someone there, I think we could talk about it… That cold glass bottle that seems to never run out of bubbles is a staple in my life. To get to Marfa, you have to drive through a few towns, one of those is Alpine. Alpine is about 26 miles east of Marfa and consists of two one way streets. They call it the one way. I’d love to explore Alpine more, but not this trip, we had to get to Convenience West before they ran out of food! The vibe in Marfa is quiet, calm and serene. There’s a few stop signs, some bars, food shark, dairy queen and on the west side of town is Convenience West BBQ. When we pulled up the dining room was full of the eclectic crowd you’d expect. Fashionable hats, coveralls, summer dresses and cool jackets littered the room. Kaki was happy to greet us and I recognized the whole crew from their Instagram. Mark was slicing up a mouthwatering brisket. You can tell someone who knows how to cut brisket a few ways. One, is they take their time and let a sharp knife do the work. Two, their slices are even the whole way down. They’re not thicker on the bottom or the top. After looking at the menu and seeing the unique items like the roasted carrot dip dip, I was sure we had made a good choice. There’s nothing like starting a weekend with a mad dash to BBQ. I’m sure if you’re listening, you’ve been on one of these. If not, you’re probably thinking about a BBQ excursion to one of your favorite places. I tell this story because BBQ takes time. It takes patience and eating it takes a little time and patience too. How many other foods do people drive across states and countries to eat? How did BBQ become everyone's destination. Not only that but many people drive for hours and then get in a line that may be an hour or longer. Have you waited in a line lately? Are you planning to? Snap a photo and tag me. I’ve got a $20 credit to my merch store for one lucky listener. I’m a BBQ guy. If you scroll through the camera roll on my phone it is all meat. My lady likes to laugh and tell people this. If they don’t believe her she happily scrolls through my phone to show all the food and meats. With my years of meat pictures you could scroll through for days. I’m pretty sure my cloud is a vegetarian's nightmare. Happiness is BBQ. The people I meat in BBQ are living a great life. They’re hard workers. They lose sleep, have burns and cuts on their hands. They slave away for days before the food is ready. If you’re eating good Texas BBQ it’s possible the process to make it started 24 plus hours ago. How is something so old becoming so popular? This show is on its third year and I feel like I’ve barely covered all the happenings. Even though I’ve been on both coasts and all over Texas there’s still more story to tell. The quality of BBQ in America is on the rise. Texas BBQ can take a lot of credit for that. In Texas, we take our time. Even a chicken takes at least a couple of hours. In the past two years a lot of ideas have come up for this show. Should it be interviews or reviews? Restaurants, competition or pop ups? Do we need some sort of focus. I don’t think it’s that easy. It’s hard to cover BBQ without expressing an opinion but I’ll tell you now that I won’t be criticizing or putting down any BBQ I eat. All of the positives will be shared and if I don’t like something, well, you won’t hear about it. When I eat all the different cuts and creations people work so hard to cook, it’s astounding. There’s no way to compare all the ways people cook. Even some of the chains in Texas, like Rudy’s are putting out a good product and have a great vibe when you walk in. This is also why I won’t be making any lists. I don’t think anyone is qualified to rank the top places. How could you say one place is 1st, 3rd or 10th. I can guarantee you if you made a list of 50 places that it would be hard to find a top. The truth is we’re all having too good of a time to start making lists. I’m eating the best BBQ in the world and sharing it with as many people as I can. I don’t have time to rank or complain. To nit pick little details. Honestly, if you eat BBQ, especially in Texas and you aren’t satisfied, let the people there know. I understand it’s difficult to send things back or convey you have a problem. None of us ever want to complain, but I’ll tell you from talking to countless owners that they want to know. They would rather know right away than read it on some review on google or yelp.   Google or Yelp aren’t going to give you a better slice of brisket or and they aren’t going to help you if something was wrong. You know who can help you? The people at the restaurant. We’ve all read the reviews that make no sense. “I called and no one answered...1star”, “The BBQ was cold because I took 20 minutes taking pictures, 1 star” Most people who review food aren’t truly qualified to do so. So stop listening to their reviews and go explore for yourself.

What if you could tell a journalist how your story will play on his or her news website? Imagine being able to predict social media engagement in a news pitch. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could shape your story to make it irresistible for newsroom gatekeepers who are increasingly focused on audience data and their own analytics? Erik Huddleston is rapidly becoming the PR pro's best friend. His team at TrendKite in Austin, Texas thinks it has figured out how to do all of this and more, with a new technology he calls Story Kit.  It’s brand new, but those who’ve used it already have called it “life changing.” Huddleston discusses the idea behind the AI in this special PRSA Conference episode of the Flack Pack. LINKS: TrendKite.com https://www.trendkite.com Story Kit https://www.trendkite.com/products/connect/story-kit Erik Huddleston https://www.linkedin.com/in/ehuddleston/

Scott Baradell of Idea Grove talks to the Erik Huddleston, CEO of Trendkite. TrendKite revolutionizes how the world's biggest brands and media companies generate, amplify, and measure the impact of their earned media.

Morgan Flager, general partner of Silverton Partners, one of Austin's oldest home-grown VC firms, is an active investor in early-stage technology startups in Austin.  He currently serves on the boards of Aceable, Alert Media, Convey, Outbound Engine, Trendkite, The Zebra, Turnkey Vacation Rentals, SourceDay, and Rollick. Before joining Silverton, Flager worked with FTC Capital in San Francisco and in corporate development for Ingrian Networks and as a product manager at Kintana. He grew up in Santa Cruz, California and earned his B.S. from Stanford University.  Last month, Silverton announced it had raised a $108 million fund, its largest to date. This is the firm's fifth fund. In this podcast, Flager discusses the firm's investment focus and how it decides to invest in an entrepreneur. 

Erik is an expert in PR analytics and big data. Before leading TrendKite, he ran Product for Sprinklr after the merger with social analytics firm Dachis Group. He brought to market Dachis Group’s platform that enables brands to optimize paid, owned and earned tactics through the lens of earned media.

Erik Huddleston, CEO of TrendKite, joins the Social Pros Podcast to discuss the evolution of PR and amplifying earned media through social.   Special thanks to our sponsors: Salesforce Marketing Cloud (Magic Moments: How to Create Inspired Marketing to Amaze Your Customers: candc.dl/amazecustomers) Convince & Convert (Experience This! Show: experiencethisshow.com) Yext (The Everywhere Brand: http://offers.yext.com/everywherebrand)   In This Episode Why both online and offline media sources still matter What many businesses overlook when it comes to influencer marketing How to approach social both proactively and reactively How technology can greatly benefit PR pros by changing crisis management Why you need to heavily integrate PR with marketing   Resources Erik on Twitter TrendKite The Business Leader’s Guide to Becoming a Social Business Visit SocialPros.com for more insights from your favorite social media marketers.

In this episode we hear from Jen Cantu, VP of People at TrendKite.

In this episode we talk to Russ Somers, VP Marketing at TrendKite.