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2 episodes with Virgin Mobile
2 episodes with Virgin Mobile
2 episodes with Virgin Mobile
2 episodes with Virgin Mobile
2 episodes with Virgin Mobile
2 episodes with Virgin Mobile
ABOUT MARDI NAJAFI:LINKEDIN PROFILE: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mardi-najafi-rdi-idc-772b1328/MARDI'S BIO:Mardi Najafi is an award-winning, multidisciplinary designer with over 30 years of experience at the forefront of the design world. A visionary leader in the field, Mardi believes that design has the power to evoke emotion, create unforgettable experiences, and leave a lasting impact. His work spans a diverse range of high-profile retail environments, from intimate boutiques to large-scale, branded experiences for some of the world's most iconic companies, including Coca-Cola, Adidas, Virgin Mobile, Telus, Loblaws, Penguin Random House, Keilhauer, and Versace. His global portfolio reflects his ability to blend innovation and cultural context, with projects across Paris, New York, Toronto, and beyond.As the Principal, Chief Creative Officer, and Retail & Hospitality Practice Lead at SDI Design, Mardi is passionate about pushing the boundaries of design to craft immersive, transformative environments that captivate audiences. Known for his attention to detail and his ability to seamlessly merge art and commerce, he excels at creating spaces that are not only visually striking but also deeply meaningful and engaging. His work continues to redefine the retail landscape, setting new standards for brand experiences that resonate long after customers leave.Beyond his design practice, Mardi is an active voice in the industry as an accomplished speaker, educator, and panelist. He is deeply committed to fostering innovation, sharing his expertise with the next generation of designers through mentorship and his involvement in various professional advisory committees. A lifelong advocate for education, Mardi has taught at prestigious design schools around the world, inspiring students and shaping the future of the design community.In 2023, Mardi was honored as the first Canadian inductee into the Retail Design Institute's prestigious Legions of Honor, recognizing his exceptional contributions to the field. He is also currently serving as the President of the Retail Design Institute Canada, where he continues to shape industry standards and advocate for the advancement of design excellence. SHOW INTRO:Welcome to the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast.EPISODE 73… and my conversation with Mardi Najafi. On the podcast, our dynamic dialogues based on our acronym DATA - design, architecture, technology, and the arts crosses over disciplines but maintains a common thread of people who are passionate about the world we live in and human's influence on it, the ways we craft the built environment to maximize human experience, increasing our understanding of human behavior and searching for the New Possible. The NXTLVL Experience Design podcast is presented by VMSD Magazine part of the Smartwork Media family of brands.VMSD brings us, in the brand experience world, the International Retail Design Conference. The IRDC is one of the best retail design conferences that there is bringing together the world of retailers, brands and experience place makers every year for two days of engaging conversations and pushing the discourse forward on what makes retailing relevant. You will find the archive of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast on VMSD.com.Thanks also goes to Shop Association the only global retail trade association dedicated to elevating the in-store experience. SHOP Association represents companies and affiliates from 25 countries and brings value to their members through research, networking, education, events and awards. Check then out on SHOPAssociation.orgMardi Najafi is the Principal, Chief Creative Officer, and Retail & Hospitality Practice Lead at SDI Design.We discuss his life of growing up the son of an Iranian diplomat, a professional path through the fashion, exhibit design and retail industries and how teaching is about giving back to young designers in their fledgling careers…We'll get to all of that in a moment but first, a few thoughts… * * *There are interviews that I have done over the past 73 episodes that have been specifically about a person's work, There have been those that have been about a brand or product category, Or the study of neuroscience and its role in experience making, We've delved into art and creativity, leadership, climate issues, and many other subjects.And there are other interviews that I have done that focused in on a person's career path, how their experiences brought them to where they are today. In these cases, I often find that my guest and I identify how serendipity stepped in front of them as they careened through a career, how taking the road less traveled lead them to creative professional journeys that were unexpected, and how a shift in their mindset resulted in profoundly rewarding roles at companies or with personal and professional relationships. I love discussions about serendipity – how our life paths seem to be guided by novel circumstances that were unforeseen, yet when confronted with them, we found a moment to step aside from our pre-determined story, one that we might have created with specific objectives, a place to be at some future moment, and in the midst of new circumstances, a choice was to be made about what the next move would be without really knowing where it would lead.There seems to be some magic in this process – a sense of wonder that keeps the creative spirit alive. There is also a good dose of courage needed at the nexus of ‘now and next, when a calling summons new thinking and a re-evaluation of our pre-suppositions about how things are supposed to be now, or in the future, need re-evaluation.I think it is often the case with creative paths or projects.To start out knowing where you are going would suggest that you have you have already been. To start out with the end in mind creates a path of production, of doing, rather than one of seminal discoveries along the way.There is something in the unknowing that I believe maintains the creative path as an adventure, one where in the doing of the thing we are continuously discovering rather than just in production mode.In the discovering, we remain engaged, learning, exploring and the path is laid out as we move along it. However… being in a place of unknowing, can be fear inducing since I think we so often like the assuredness of the pre-determined and predicable.I have found this particularly true in teaching at universities in design fields. Students don't like the unpredictable so much. Many prefer the determinism of knowing where their projects will eventually end up. But I think in taking this approach we short circuit the opportunity to discover something new – something we could not have predicted but when discovered, results in a sense of awe that shifts our perspective and maybe our purpose. And I think it takes courage to follow a set of rules about designing something, call it strategy, and let the rules of the strategy guide the process. As we pursue the path of the work the rules help to guide decisions that make the next step self-evident. Then the next, and the next and so on, until a conclusion to the process meets the requirements of the design brief.Assuming the strategy is well founded, you can rely on the rules to guide the process and decision-making. Along the design path, all decisions can be cross-referenced against the strategy and the outcomes that don't align with the determined set of rules can be set aside in a preference for the ones that best exemplify them.Then there is the emergence of circumstances that throw you a curve ball – conditions shift within which you have little control – and your path necessarily changes. The resilience and the flexible mindset that is required in these moments are factors that influence your ability to adjust – to find yourself in a place of positive transformation or maybe to simply survive.I have found that the key to positive transformation is to keep saying yes to serendipity. To loosen the rigidity in my mindset and welcome the unexpected. It can be a struggle because I have generally been geared to knowing where I'm going. I don't mind saying that I have long preferred the predictable over the mercurial. It is at times not easy, but these moments of re-alignment with new realities can be the success factor supporting our determination to keep going and to leverage the “new” for the purpose of re-making ourselves. I think that in this, there is a sense of agency. I think that we are, in fact, in little control of anything but for our own reactions to adversity or the everchanging circumstances of life.Perhaps this is the proverbial ‘making lemonade out of lemons.' When life gives you lemons… you know… make lemonade.And this is where the life path of my guest in this episode comes in. Mardi Najafi has had a colorful host of experiences influencing his professional path.Having grown up the son of an Iranian Diplomat, he was schooled in multiple countries including Iran, France and Russia. He was conscripted into Iranian military service and made a friend with whom he, after his release from service, created a business bringing watches into Iran. That adventure eventually allowed him to earn enough money to buy his father's release from prison and ironically lead to a career in design.After a building a successful professional track record working in Europe, he landed in Canada where he fostered his interest in retail design. In 2023, Mardi was honored as the first Canadian inductee into the Retail Design Institute's prestigious Legion of Honor, recognizing his exceptional contributions to the retail design field. He is also currently serving as the President of the Retail Design Institute Canada, where he continues to shape industry standards and advocate for the advancement of design excellence.Mardi Najafi is an award-winning, multidisciplinary designer with over 30 years of experience at the forefront of the design world. A visionary leader in the field, Mardi believes that design has the power to evoke emotion, create unforgettable experiences, and leave a lasting impact.His work spans a diverse range of high-profile retail environments, from intimate boutiques to large-scale, branded experiences for some of the world's most iconic companies, including Coca-Cola, Adidas, Virgin Mobile, Telus, Loblaws, Penguin Random House and Versace.Mardi is deeply committed to fostering innovation, sharing his expertise with the next generation of designers through mentorship and his involvement in various professional advisory committees.After having a few conversations with Mardi, I would say he lands squarely in the camp of actually following Robert Frost's ‘Road Not Taken' welcoming the discovery born of life's moment of significant change - even when it is uncomfortable. * * *ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645 (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why', ‘what's now' and ‘what's next'. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott's “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine's Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation's Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore. In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.
Communicating with your customers is a good thing, right? Well, what about when some of your outbound communications end up repelling customers rather than attracting them? Today we're going to discuss advanced customer interaction strategies with John Kim, Co-Founder & CEO of Sendbird. We'll dive into the effectiveness of in-app messaging, the rise of mobile engagement, and the evolving machine-to-machine economy. John S. Kim is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sendbird (YC W16), the customer communications platform powering 4,000 of the world's most popular digital applications. 7 billion messages sent and received between over 320 million people every month are routed using Sendbird, whose customers include DoorDash, Match Group, Virgin Mobile, Noom and Paytm. The company has raised $220 million USD to-date, backed by reputable investors including ICONIQ Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, Shasta Ventures, Y Combinator and more. John is a successful serial entrepreneur and CEO. His first startup Paprika Lab (social gaming) was acquired by GREE, and he was Korea's all-time no.1 pro gamer in the Unreal Tournament. RESOURCES Sendbird website: https://www.sendbird.com Wix Studio is the ultimate web platform for creative, fast-paced teams at agencies and enterprises—with smart design tools, flexible dev capabilities, full-stack business solutions, multi-site management, advanced AI and fully managed infrastructure. https://www.wix.com/studio Attend the Mid-Atlantic MarCom Summit, the region's largest marketing communications conference. Register with the code "Agile" and get 15% off. Register now for HumanX 2025. This AI-focused event which brings some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology together. Register now with the code "HX25p_tab" for $250 off the regular price. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
Communicating with your customers is a good thing, right? Well, what about when some of your outbound communications end up repelling customers rather than attracting them? Today we're going to discuss advanced customer interaction strategies with John Kim, Co-Founder & CEO of Sendbird. We'll dive into the effectiveness of in-app messaging, the rise of mobile engagement, and the evolving machine-to-machine economy. John S. Kim is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sendbird (YC W16), the customer communications platform powering 4,000 of the world's most popular digital applications. 7 billion messages sent and received between over 320 million people every month are routed using Sendbird, whose customers include DoorDash, Match Group, Virgin Mobile, Noom and Paytm. The company has raised $220 million USD to-date, backed by reputable investors including ICONIQ Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund, Shasta Ventures, Y Combinator and more. John is a successful serial entrepreneur and CEO. His first startup Paprika Lab (social gaming) was acquired by GREE, and he was Korea's all-time no.1 pro gamer in the Unreal Tournament. RESOURCES Sendbird website: https://www.sendbird.com Wix Studio is the ultimate web platform for creative, fast-paced teams at agencies and enterprises—with smart design tools, flexible dev capabilities, full-stack business solutions, multi-site management, advanced AI and fully managed infrastructure. https://www.wix.com/studio Attend the Mid-Atlantic MarCom Summit, the region's largest marketing communications conference. Register with the code "Agile" and get 15% off. Register now for HumanX 2025. This AI-focused event which brings some of the most forward-thinking minds in technology together. Register now with the code "HX25p_tab" for $250 off the regular price. Connect with Greg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregkihlstrom Don't miss a thing: get the latest episodes, sign up for our newsletter and more: https://www.theagilebrand.show Check out The Agile Brand Guide website with articles, insights, and Martechipedia, the wiki for marketing technology: https://www.agilebrandguide.com The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://www.teksystems.com/versionnextnow The Agile Brand is produced by Missing Link—a Latina-owned strategy-driven, creatively fueled production co-op. From ideation to creation, they craft human connections through intelligent, engaging and informative content. https://www.missinglink.company
This week on the podcast, we're thrilled to introduce Jade Mackay, a dynamic marketing consultant and rural business woman whose diverse journey bridges both urban and rural landscapes. Jade currently resides in Goondiwindi with her husband, Jack, and their 3-year-old son, Tom. Jack, an agronomist by trade, manages his own farm, growing wheat, barley, and chickpeas.Jade's career path has been marked by pivotal moments and bold decisions, including a major shift at 35 when she realized that city life wasn't her ultimate destination. After earning a degree in Business with a focus on Marketing and PR, her first role as a Marketing & Admin Coordinator for Port Douglas Daintree Tourism set the stage for an impressive career. She went on to work for major companies like Wagamama in Sydney and Boston, David Jones, Foxtel, and News Corp in Sydney, Walt Disney and BSkyB in London, Virgin Mobile in Sydney, RB Sellars and White Story in Melbourne, and Goondiwindi Cotton back in Goondiwindi.Jade and Jack, who met in 2018, have been married for five years. Their journey to parenthood was not without its challenges; after a five-year battle, they welcomed their beautiful son, Tom. Now, living rurally, Jade finds inspiration in the agriculture industry, particularly with the rapid advancements in technology. She sees immense potential for growth but emphasizes the critical need to attract more people to regional areas to support this development.Passionate about creating change, especially as a rural woman, Jade believes in the power of community involvement. Whether it's joining a committee, volunteering, or taking on local work, she feels that immersing oneself in community life not only creates opportunities but also enriches the overall experience of living in rural areas.Tune in to hear Jade's story of resilience, adaptability, and her vision for the future of rural industries and communities!Follow Jade on Instagram and follow her Instagram picks or social suggestions:@Enjoyed the episode- producing these podcast are a blast and take time, I would love it if you could show me some love and support, by liking, rating and sharing this episode or you can do so by - Buying me a coffeePlease make sure you leave a review or rate this episode. @married_tothe_landBoarding school it can be an overwhelming decision and process, but the team from Boarding Schools Expo are here to help make that process easier. On October 11th join the Australian Boarding Schools Summit live online. Join expert panellists, parents, students and the schools themselves and deep dive into the stuff you want to know about. Boarding Schools Expo Australia - helping families for 20 years - right from the heart of rural Australia.
If there was one thing you think society should talk more about, what would it be? “We need to talk more about money. Making it, investing it, losing it.”_________________My guest today has a story quite unlike anything I've ever heard before… actually, it seems unbelievable. Sadly, it's all true and as you'll hear, the ordeal that this beautiful unsuspecting single Mum has been through made such an impact on her life - she's now using that for good. Tracy Hall is an author, keynote speaker and senior marketing executive. In 2019, Tracy became known as Hamish McLaren's famous ‘last victim' thanks to her role in The Australian's hit podcast, ‘Who the Hell is Hamish?' If you haven't listened to it, I'd highly recommend you do - it's riveting and to think that Tracy's situation instigated such an in-depth investigation to occur around the globe has you gob-smacked at the audacity of this guy. Over the last 25 years, Tracy has had extensive exposure to start-ups, large corporations and global tech brands including Virgin Mobile, eBay, GoDaddy and Afterpay. She frequently consults for smaller companies, volunteers as a teen mentor for The Raise Foundation and is a Board Director for the Men's Mental Health Charity - Mongrels Men.Today, Tracy is an advocate for financial wellness, writing and speaking publicly about intimate fraud, scams, financial empowerment, victim mindsets, resilience, rebuilding and our need to rethink how we trust. Her book, The Last Victim is a riveting read and eye-opener to how the world of fraud, scams, and being taken advantage of can happen to any one of us. This is an incredible story that provides such a different take on this ever-growing topic. Order Tracy's book here: The Last VictimFor more information about Tracy, check out these places;-Website: Tracy Hall LinkedIn: Tracy HallInstagram: Tracy Hall___________Head to michellejcox.com for more information about the ONE QUESTION podcast, your host or today's guestsConnect with Michelle on Linkedin here:- @MichelleJCoxConnect with Michelle on Instagram here:- @michellejcoxConnect with Michelle on Facebook here - @michellejcoxAND, if you have a burning topic you'd love people to talk more about, or know someone who'd be great to come on the One Question podcast, please get in touch;- hello@michellejcox.com
What do you call a nun in a wheelchair? Virgin Mobile! What do you call a sleepwalking nun? A roamin' Catholic! Okay, making too many nun puns is a bad habit! Immaculate (2024) dir. Michael Mohan, written by Andrew Lobel, starring Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria), Álvaro Morte (Wheel of Time), and a bunch of Italians (Italy). Non-gothic recs: Amanda - Madame Web dir. SJ Clarkson with Dakota Johnson, Zosia Mamet, and Sydney Sweeney again Chance - Bad Lieutenant dir. Abel Ferrara, with Harvey Keitel, and another traumatic scene with a nun That's So Gothic releases episodes on the first and third Thursday every month. Email sogothicpod@gmail.com. Follow Chance and Amanda on Letterboxd @mrchancelee and @mcavoy_amanda. Instagram @sogothicpod Closing music "Gothic Guitar" by Javolenus 2014- Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0)
Hussein Hallak is a seasoned entrepreneur, prolific advisor, and thought leader in the tech space with a career spanning over 25 years. He's the founder and CEO of Next Decentrum, a leading provider of business education in emerging technology, and the company behind Momentable, a discovery platform for art and culture. Hussein has developed over 20 startups, honing an extensive range of expertise and experience. In his previous role as Evangelist and General Manager at Launch Academy, he mentored and trained hundreds of entrepreneurs, helping it become one of North America's premier tech incubators with over 6,500 founders and 500 startups raising more than $1 billion. As an accomplished professional, Hussein has launched successful ventures like CreativeArab, the world's first and largest marketplace for Middle Eastern art, and The Content People, an award-winning content marketing agency with prominent clients such as Virgin Mobile, Pfizer, and Starbucks. Hussein's insights have been featured in publications like Business Insider, Forbes, BBC, BetaKit, Entrepreneur, DailyHive, Notable, CBC, CoinTelegraph, and South China Morning Post. He is an Oxford Blockchain Strategy Programme graduate and holds a BSc in Electronics Engineering. He is also a writer and speaker on startups, blockchain, leadership, and personal branding, recognized as one of Vancouver's top 30 tech influencers to follow in 2019. Beyond his professional commitments, Hallak is an advocate for art and culture, launching Momentable to help emerging artists reach a new generation of collectors. His passion led him to create Crypto Pharaohs, the first story-based pop culture digital collection inspired by ancient Egypt. A passionate advocate for tech, lean startups, design thinking, and decentralized innovation, Hallak tirelessly works to inspire entrepreneurship and foster innovation through connection, collaboration, and community. Hussein is a compelling speaker who regularly shares his knowledge and insights at conferences and events. His recent speaking engagements include presentations at the AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, NFT NYC, Richmond Art Gallery, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and the Building Business Capability conference. Hussein's unique blend of expertise, encompassing art, emerging tech, AI, blockchain, and more, makes him an exceptional guest for podcasts catering to art enthusiasts, art collectors, and NFT collectors, as well as VCs and angel investors. Don't miss the opportunity to have Hussein Hallak on your podcast to unravel the magic of combining art, tech, and entrepreneurship. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: jon@jondwoskin.com Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big! Connect with Hussein Hallak: Website: https://www.momentable.art/ *E – explicit language may be used in this podcast.
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In the throes of the Great Recession, Erica Gessert faced one of her first tests of leadership. As the head of Investor Relations for Virgin Mobile, she found herself navigating the collapsing financial sector. Key banks that were integral to the company's operations began to crumble, and the economic landscape was fraught with uncertainty. Keeping investor concerns top of mind, Gessert was able to help steady Virgin Mobile and bring the path leading beyond the crisis into full view. In the years ahead, Gessert's career trajectory continued upward as she transitioned into various finance leadership roles. She spent a significant portion of her career at PayPal, where she honed her skills in analytics and strategic planning. Her ability to leverage data for decision-making allowed her to emerge as a strategy-minded finance executive capable of driving business growth and profitability. In May 2022, Gessert was named CFO of Upwork. At the time, the company was grappling with profitability challenges despite the favorable tailwinds from the pandemic-induced shift to remote work. Drawing on her experience, Gessert initiated a series of strategic measures to stabilize the company's finances. Within just three quarters, she led Upwork to a turnaround, achieving 18% EBIT margins and positive cash flow. A key aspect of Gessert's strategy has been leveraging technology and data analytics to enhance customer acquisition and retention. She implemented predictive churn models and other analytical tools to gain deeper insights into customer behavior, significantly improving Upwork's client growth.
Welcome back to Small Business School! In today's episode I'm thrilled to be joined by Lisa Simone Richards! Lisa has spent her career working with early-stage female founders to build their brand awareness and authority through The Visibility Co. so that women-owned startups could grow faster to Series A funding by getting access to bigger platforms to share their vision. She has brand experience with companies like Virgin Mobile, Staples, Crayola, and more, her clients get access to the same PR strategies that multinational companies use to exponentially grow their businesses. I'm so excited to share Lisa's journey with you and talk about actionable strategies you can implement to elevate your small business' brand presence to reach new heights through strategic PR and visibility efforts!Topics Covered:The differences in strategy between hyper-local businesses and those aiming for national or international growth.The ABCs of Visibility: Awareness, Buzz, and Credibility, and how they contribute to a successful PR strategy.Understanding the distinction between creating content to engage existing audiences and gaining visibility to reach new ones.Practical tips on preparing assets like bios, press pages, and clear call-to-action strategies to maximize PR opportunities.Exploring visual platforms like Instagram Live, television appearances, or speaking engagements to elevate your authority and thought leadership.Focusing on delivering value in every interaction, whether it's through content creation, media appearances, or networking efforts.By seeking out already established communities and providing value to your audience, you can unlock new opportunities for your business and establish a strong presence in your industry. Connect with Lisa on LinkedIn to learn more about how to enhance your business' visibility!Lisa's Links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisasimonerichards/Website: https://www.lisasimonerichards.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasimonerichards/The Female Founders PR Kickstart Scholarship application:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eZhQ7qKj9OKZZCs9BcuwKb29-YFLdfmk/viewStaci's Links:Instagram. Website.The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media. To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!
In this episode, we interview Kasey Skala, who brings a wealth of experience from his impressive career in consumer marketing across large global brands like Great Clips, Solo Cup, Virgin Mobile, and more recently his transition to Citywide, a B2B franchise company in North America. What you'll learn in this episode: The Power of Storytelling: Discover why storytelling is essential for connecting with individuals and how it can make your brand stand out by adding meaning and purpose. Differentiating Your Brand: Learn how to use storytelling to decommoditize your services or products, making your brand the preferred choice amidst a sea of competitors. Consumer Connection through Stories: Uncover the secrets to leveraging consumer experiences and stories to create a deeper bond with your brand, using examples from Kasey's work with Solo Cup and other companies. Storytelling in B2B: Gain insights into the nuances of storytelling in the B2B sector and how humanizing your brand can significantly impact your content's effectiveness, even in industries considered less exciting. Finding and Sharing Impactful Stories: Kasey shares practical tips on uncovering compelling stories within your organization or customer base that resonate on an emotional level and foster community engagement. This episode is packed with tactical lessons on using storytelling to not only enhance your brand's presence but also to build meaningful connections with your audience. Whether you're in B2C or B2B, there's something to learn from Kasey's extensive experience and innovative approaches to marketing.
Award-Winning Design Director and former Head of Art and Design at J. Walter Thompson Worldwide, Aaron Padin unveils the untold stories behind his iconic projects, revealing how his unique cultural journey influenced his approach to design and branding. From the pulsating energy of NYC streets to leading global competitions in China, Aaron's narrative is a mesmerizing blend of heritage, innovation, and social impact. His extensive portfolio includes projects with PUMA , Starbucks, Energizer, Smirnoff, General Mills, Jet Blue, Virgin Mobile, and more.
Inspired by the soul of Detroit, 313 Presents produces more than 350 concerts, theatrical productions, sporting events and family shows a year. With 2 million attendees annually, the entertainment powerhouse works with six world-class venues across southeastern Michigan, including Little Caesars Pizza Arena, The Fox Theatre, Comerica Park, Pine Knob Music Theatre, Meadowbrook Amphitheatre, Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre and Sound Board at Motor City Casino. Howard N. Handler, President of 313 Presents, is responsible for leading the company's vision and strategy as well as guiding operations, partnerships and long-term growth. Howard is an entertainment and sports industry innovator with a track record of success across a range of world class companies including Major League Soccer, Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., Virgin Mobile, The National Football League, MTV and VH1 Digital and Saturday Night Network Live.
Hussein Hallak is a seasoned entrepreneur, prolific advisor, and thought leader in the tech space with a career spanning over 25 years. He's the founder and CEO of Next Decentrum, a leading provider of business education in emerging technology, and the company behind Momentable, a discovery platform for art and culture. Hussein has developed over 20 startups, honing an extensive range of expertise and experience. In his previous role as Evangelist and General Manager at Launch Academy, he mentored and trained hundreds of entrepreneurs, helping it become one of North America's premier tech incubators with over 6,500 founders and 500 startups raising more than $1 billion. As an accomplished professional, Hussein has launched successful ventures like CreativeArab, the world's first and largest marketplace for Middle Eastern art, and The Content People, an award-winning content marketing agency with prominent clients such as Virgin Mobile, Pfizer, and Starbucks. Hussein's insights have been featured in publications like Business Insider, Forbes, BBC, BetaKit, Entrepreneur, DailyHive, Notable, CBC, CoinTelegraph, and South China Morning Post. He is an Oxford Blockchain Strategy Programme graduate and holds a BSc in Electronics Engineering. He is also a writer and speaker on startups, blockchain, leadership, and personal branding, recognized as one of Vancouver's top 30 tech influencers to follow in 2019. Beyond his professional commitments, Hallak is an advocate for art and culture, launching Momentable to help emerging artists reach a new generation of collectors. His passion led him to create Crypto Pharaohs, the first story-based pop culture digital collection inspired by ancient Egypt. A passionate advocate for tech, lean startups, design thinking, and decentralized innovation, Hallak tirelessly works to inspire entrepreneurship and foster innovation through connection, collaboration, and community. What you will learn Discover why it's so critical to adopt a growth mindset as an entrepreneur Learn why quality relationships trump quantity of relationships in the business world Find out why genuine networking is so powerful Hussein shares his thoughts on the role of AI in the creative world The challenges & opportunities faced by creators in the digital age Why consistent practice is crucial in the creative process Discover why adapting to the changing digital landscape is essential Plus loads more!
Voici l'histoire de Richard Branson, un entrepreneur britannique, qui va défrayer la chronique par ses prises de risques et ses idées. Dans ce 2e épisode, Richard Branson développe Virgin dans tous les secteurs après la vente de son label de musique. Et malgré quelques échecs, il connait un succès phénoménal. Mais c'est la conquête du ciel qui prend désormais tout le temps de Richard Branson, entre compagnie aérienne et l'espace. Dans les années 90, Richard Branson, financé par la vente de Virgin Music, étend son empire dans divers secteurs. Il lance Virgin Trains, Virgin Money, Virgin Cola, Virgin Brides, Virgin Vodka, Virgin Clothings, Virgin Voyage, et Virgin Cruise. Malgré des hauts et des bas, il reste optimiste et avance. Depuis le lancement de Virgin Mobile aux États-Unis en 2001 jusqu'à sa nomination comme chevalier en 1999. Des anecdotes humoristiques, comme son apparition à moitié nu pour le lancement de Virgin Mobile, ajoutent une touche légère. L'expansion dans l'industrie aérienne est marquée par des incidents, y compris une rivalité avec British Airways. Malgré les obstacles, Virgin Atlantic prend son envol, couvrant l'Europe, les États-Unis et l'Australie. Richard Branson devient un chevalier en 1999. La conquête spatiale devient une obsession pour Branson depuis 2003. Virgin Galactic est créée, mais des accidents tragiques surviennent en 2007 et 2014. Malgré ces revers, Branson persiste et réalise son rêve d'aller dans l'espace en 2021. L'épilogue révèle la philanthropie de Branson, finançant des projets humanitaires et s'engageant dans des défis extrêmes. Le texte se termine sur une note légère, suggérant que Branson pourrait se lancer dans la conquête des fonds marins. En résumé, le présent texte offre un aperçu de la vie trépidante de Richard Branson, de la diversification de son empire Virgin aux défis et aux succès de ses aventures aériennes et spatiales, tout en soulignant sa philanthropie et son appétit pour de nouveaux défis.
In this episode Jon and Sandra talk with Jamie Heywood, CEO at zolar. They explore how Jamie, with a background in tech, media, and telecom sectors, sees the PV sector; trends in the wider European PV space; and the opportunities for zolar. Jamie Heywood is CEO of zolar, Germany's largest residential green energy marketplace. Before taking the reins at zolar, Jamie had over 30 years experience leading growing technology companies across Europe and Asia. His varied career includes running Uber's business in UK and Northern Europe in the years after Travis Kalanick's tumultuous departure, leading Amazon's UK Electronics divisions through its hyper-growth stage in the UK, and launching Virgin Mobile's businesses in both India and China. Jamie has an MBA from INSEAD, studied Psychology and Philosophy at Oxford University, and loves reading, hiking and playing squash. Watch our on-demand webinar on collective self-consumption here. Read our latest press release on how the energy crisis drives boom in home solar and battery markets across EU Listen to this similar podcast with Jannik Schall from 1KOMMA5° You can also visit our website to learn more about our Solar PV Research Service at lcpdelta.com Subscribe to LCP Delta email communications Select your areas of interest, and we'll alert you whenever new content is published. You can amend your choices or unsubscribe at any time. Hosts – Jon Slowe and Sandra Trittin Produced – LCP Delta and D8 If you'd like to give feedback on this episode or would like to be a future guest on the podcast, please contact us at talkingnewenergy@lcp.com Follow us on: Twitter | LinkedIn Hosted on Podbean. See podbean.com/privacy for more information.
The First 100 | How Founders Acquired their First 100 Customers | Product-Market Fit
Amol Sarva is a serial entrepreneur, advisor, and mentor at 70+ companies; He has co-founded several startups, including Virgin Mobile USA, Peek, Halo Neuroscience, Knotable, Knotel, and he has developed and taught the course "Venturing to Change the World" at Columbia University. He entered the Museum of Failure with a crazy gadget called Peek. Now he spends his time with amazing new things like Aikito and CornerUp, investing in climate and longevity through LifeX ventures. He has raised to date a combined $1.1 billion.You can find Amol atTwitter: https://twitter.com/amolLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amolsarva/Personal website: https://amolsarva.com/You can find LifeX VenturesWebsite: https://www.lifex.vc/If you like our podcast, please don't forget to subscribe and support us on your favorite podcast players. We also would appreciate your feedback and rating to reach more people.We recently launched our new newsletter, Principles Friday, where I share one principle that can help you in your life or business, one thought-provoking question, and one call to action toward that principle. Please subscribe Here.It is Free and Short (2min).
Podcast Episode 106Really Interesting Women - Jean OelwangJean Oelwang is the founding CEO and President of Virgin Unite, the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group. Since its launch, it has inspired a number of global initiatives – like The Elders (with Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu), Ocean Unite, Carbon War Room and The B Team. For over 20 years Jean has worked closely with and learned a lot from Sir Richard Branson, having previously been the joint CEO of Virgin Mobile in Australia.In her current roles Jean has had occasion to work with Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, former President Carter, amongst many others. It has given her insight as to what makes a successful and fulfilled life - and it's not money. In fact, I was cheeky enough to ask her about the meaning of life...and she gave me the answer! And it makes sense!!We discuss her recent book "Partnering" which shows the importance of deep seated connections and relationships and her anecdotal evidence comes from her interviewing over 60 business and life partnerships including Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Ben and Jerry, and Desmond and Leah Tutu.It's really interesting, insightful and a fun conversation.Head to the link in my bio to listen to this podcast. www.theelders.orgwww.bteam.orgJean's book: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/partnering-9781529146066@jeanoelwang #reallyinterestingwomen #riw @virginunite @virgin #partnerships #nelsonmandela #desmondtutu @richardbranson #dalailama #disruptivedetours @theelders_org #deeplylistening #meaningoflife Visit instagram @reallyinterestingwomen for further interviews and posts of interesting women in history. Follow the link to leave a review....and tell your friendshttps://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/really-interesting-women/id1526764849If you know of a potential guest or interesting woman in history, email me atreallyinterestingwomen@gmail.com
Join Roland Frasier in this episode of Business Lunch as he welcomes the legendary Sir Richard Branson to discuss his unique approach to building and expanding the iconic Virgin brand. With a blank sheet of paper and a determination to be different, Branson has disrupted industries ranging from music to airlines and now, space travel. He shares inspiring stories of his adventures, including balloon voyages and a near-death experience during Hurricane Irma. Branson reveals the secrets behind his brand's success, emphasizing the importance of reputation, treating people well, and taking risks. Learn how Virgin is revolutionizing space travel and the small satellite industry, and get a sneak peek into the upcoming launch of Virgin Voyages' adult-only cruise line. If you want to be inspired by an entrepreneur who dares to dream big and take action, tune in to this episode of Business Lunch with Roland Frasier.HIGHLIGHTS "We needed to use ourselves to get out there and get the companies on the map. I think these adventures gave us a much more sexy, you know, image that people would identify with over stuffy competitors." "Tactical strategies that you can start using to live a rich and happy life." - Roland Frasier"You're only as good as your reputation, so you've got to zealously protect your reputation." TIMESTAMPS00:00: Introduction04:09: What Drives You? 09:28: Virgin Mobile 14:46: Diversity In Expertise 18:54: Building A Brand 23:44: The Future Of Virgin Voyages 28:20: Virgin Galactic 38:02: Partners Mentioned in this episode:Get Roland's Training on Acquiring Businesses!Discover The EXACT Strategy Roland Has Used To Found, Acquire, Scale And Sell Over Two Dozen Businesses With Sales Ranging From $3 Million To Just Under $4 Billion! EPIC Training
Grażyna Piotrowska-Oliwa, która jest polską menedżerką, byłą prezeską PGNiG SA, Virgin Mobile i członkinią zarządu Pepco była gościnią najnowszego odcinka "Hallo Haller". Dorota Haller rozmawiała z gościnią o feminizmie i kobietach w turbo dużym biznesie. – Kiedy jestem mentorką inteligentnych dziewczyn, menedżerek, często widzę w nich barierę – nadal wierzą, że jeśli chcą od życia więcej i stawiają na karierę, to jest coś z nimi nie tak. Jeśli od dziecka jesteśmy indoktrynowani przez stereotypy, zgodnie z którymi kobieta może być tylko matką i posłuszną żoną, i ma zapomnieć o karierze, bo mamy model maczyzmu, to ja mówię temu "nie" – podkreśllała w rozmowie. Dorota Haller podkreślała, że kobiety aplikujące na te same stanowiska co mężczyźni, posiadając podobne kwalifikacje, często rezygnują, gdy uważają, że nie posiadają odpowiednich umiejętności na dane stanowisko. Mężczyźni idą do pracy, wiedząc, że nie spełniają wymogów. – Czasami, gdy na jedno stanowisko rekrutują się i mężczyźni i kobiety wyraźnie widać różnicę w kwestii ich pewności siebie. Mężczyzna, który czegoś nie wie, nie przyzna się do tego, licząc, że zdąży się douczyć. Kobieta swoją wiedzę wręcz zaniży, bo "nie chce się chwalić". To nie chwalenie, a stwierdzenie – mówi Grażyna Piotrowska-Oliwa. W podcaście poruszano również m.in. temat tego, jak ważne jest wychowanie dziewczynek bez stereotypów, by wyrosły na pewne siebie kobiety.
This week, we're joined by President & CMO at Cactus, Jeff Graham. With extensive agency experience, Jeff brings an incredible perspective of the true role of the account service department and how their work can drastically improve the creative quality and output of any agency. Jeff shares stories from his previous life at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, as well as insights into the incredibly meaningful work he's leading at denver-based Cactus. We dive into how mission driven marketing comes to life in the agency world, fabulous advice that Jeff has for others in the industry and so much more! Key Takeaways:Did you know that men are 4x more likely than women to die by suicide? Jeff shares the work him and his team are doing to help solve this difficult problem. Jeff shares how deep his passion is for one of the agencies he previously worked for – which may or may not have resulted in a tattoo!We discuss how account reps can best support their creative counterparts in the agency world.Jeff speaks to the importance of work that focuses on behavior change. Guest Bio:Jeff Graham is President & CMO of Cactus, a strategically-led creative agency specializing in consumer behavior change. Prior to Cactus, Jeff was SVP, Managing Director at Barkley, and co-founder, Managing Director of Boulder creative boutique Grenadier. Jeff brings 30 years of agency experience leading account teams in some of the country's most creatively-driven agencies including Crispin Porter Bogusky, Arnold Worldwide, TBWAChiatDay, and CORE. Jeff's account experience spans some of the world's most iconic brands—Microsoft, Volkswagen, Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, Best Buy, NFL, Gibson Guitar, Virgin Mobile, Bass Pro Shops, Indian Motorcycle, Under Armour, and Old Navy (as interim CMO). For decades, Jeff has taught university students and mentored young account services professionals on the art of 'Creative Account Leadership'. By creating the conditions on every project and every account where bold, culture-changing creative ideas can thrive, the account function can play a crucial role in improving creative output and driving brand growth. He's been an adjunct professor at both the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Missouri-Columbia; and he's a frequent guest speaker for ad clubs nationwide. A native of St. Louis, Jeff is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism (BJ) and St. Louis University's Chaifetz School of Business (MBA). He's a classic car enthusiast, cancer survivor, lucky husband who outkicked his coverage, proud dad to 4 amazing girls, volunteer/board member for several non-profit and charitable organizations, a board member for the One Club-Denver, and past president of AdClub Colorado (AAF).
“The other thing I would say too is it's important to celebrate decisions where you decided not to do something, that was maybe a great idea. So products you thought about launching that you decided not to launch and in hindsight that was a great decision.”— Peter FurnishPeter Furnish has had a long and exciting career, full of interesting experiences that have helped him learn valuable lessons. His journey has taken him to visit Walt Disney's home in California, where he gained insights into the creative genius behind the Disney brand. He also had the opportunity to witness Sir Richard Branson's daring promotional stunts for Virgin Mobile, which taught him the importance of taking risks to create a buzz.During his career, Furnish has worked with some of the most iconic brands, including The Walt Disney Company, Labatt Breweries, Cineplex, Virgin Mobile, and Starbucks. Each of these experiences has provided him with valuable lessons that have helped him build a successful career.Here are some of the highlights from the episode: Failure is a valuable teacher — always use its lessons to improve Being flexible and unlearning what you know are essential when transitioning between companies of different categories and growth stages Creativity is key to making an impact The differences between founder-led and founder-inspired businesses Build a network and learn from those around you Enjoy!Looking for more?Discover more about Starbucks here.Follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.Discover more about Cineplex here.Follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.You can learn more about Neo Financial here.Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.Interested in joining Neo? Unlock a special offer for podcast listeners here: join.neo.cc/podcast50
On this episode of the Entrepreneur Organization Business Podcast, meet Damian Kernahan, CEO of Proto Partners. With 14+ years of experience under their belt, Proto Partners has worked with big names like Fosters and Telstra on growth initiatives such as business model redesign, product and service design, and customer experience design. In this episode, Damian shares his tips on how to systemize your marketing efforts to attract more leads, boost conversions, and make marketing work for you. You'll learn how to optimize your marketing strategies and streamline your customer journey for better results. If you're an entrepreneur looking to grow your business and get the most out of your marketing efforts, then tune in to this episode with Damian Kernahan.--------------------ABOUT THE GUESTDamian is a renowned authority on Customer Experience Management, Service Design, and Service Innovation. With extensive knowledge and experience in these fields, he has become a sought-after consultant and advisor to many top-tier organizations. Damian's contribution to the service design industry has been significant, and he has helped pioneer the introduction of service design to Australian businesses. As the Owner and Managing Partner at Proto Partners, Damian has been instrumental in identifying and closing the gap between what organizations promise to their customers and what is actually delivered. He founded Proto in Sydney in 2008, establishing Australia's first focused service design firm. Since then, he has worked with a range of clients, including Optus, Westpac, Hoyts, Gumtree, and Virgin Mobile.Connect with DamianWebsite: http://protopartners.com.au/resourcesLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/customer-experience-innovation/--------------------ABOUT THE HOSTLinh Podetti is the CEO and Founder of Outsourcing Angel, a Sydney-based company that helps to create jobs for people in the Philippines while creating freedom for business owners around the world. Outsourcing Angel provides Systemise & Scale Up Services as well as Recruitment of Virtual Assistants to help business owners grow a business that doesn't rely on them.Linh has been an active member of EO Sydney since June 2022, and she actively seeks out opportunities to promote and uplift fellow entrepreneurs.Connect with Linh Podetti:linh@outsourcingangel.com.auhttps://www.linhpodetti.com--------------------ABOUT EO Entrepreneur's Organization (EO) is a global business network of 18,000 + influential business owners in over 220 chapters across 76 countries. We offer world-class events that encompass engaging entrepreneur and business stories, skills-specific workshops, and exciting social gatherings.Our mission is to drive both business and personal growth through peer-to-peer learning, providing support for the holistic entrepreneur experience covering business, family, community, and personal aspects. As a not-for-profit organization, all our funds directly contribute to member benefits.If you're a business owner with revenues ranging from US$250k to US$1m, you can join our Accelerator Program. If your revenues exceed US$1m, you can join the main EO Program in your nearest local chapter. To join or find out more about your nearest chapter, visit https://www.eonetwork.org/why-join/apply-for-membership-form.For further information, please contact:Podcast Host Linh Podetti: linh@outsourcingangel.com.au General Inquiries: support@eonetwork.org.au EO Sydney: www.eosydney.com.au EO Global: https://hub.eonetwork.org/
If you like to travel internationally, you know there is a major problem with it - cellular coverage. Sure, your carrier might claim to have coverage across the globe, but it's usually spotty coverage, has slow data speeds, and is often very expensive. Thankfully we've now got Celitech, a company that has made an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) infrastructure that works across the world without breaking the bank.What is an MVNO?MVNO stands for mobile virtual network operator and essentially means a carrier without hardware. In the United States, Virgin Mobile is a brand that many people know. It was an extremely popular prepaid cellular service before Sprint was bought by T-Mobile. But, Virgin Mobile didn't really exist - at least not in the same way as Sprint and T-Mobile.Rather than having towers that they own, operate, or lease, like the current Big Three, Virgin Mobile purchased time from Sprint and resold it under their own name. They even had an operating agreement that the network would display on phones as Virgin Mobile and not as Sprint. This is the operating mechanism of an MVNO.What is Celitech?Celitech has built out a series of relationships around the world in order to build its own MVNO infrastructure. This allows international travelers to add international cellular service to their travel plans and have a consistent and predictable mobile experience while traveling.The offering is powered by two sets of relationships - the providers and the agents. On the provider side, Celitech has teamed up with AT&T, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone, some of the biggest names in mobile. These relationships allow for Celitech to offer its service in nearly any country with consistent experiences.On the other hand, there are the agents. In this case, it's mostly travel companies, like Expedia, that the company partners with. These companies can offer international cellular service at 80% less than traditional international roaming costs. Plus, the network will report as being their own, not that of Celitech.How does it work?Let's say you set up your travel plans through Expedia. You've booked your flights, your hotels, and even rental cars if you need them, all through the website. At the end of the experience, Expedia can say something like, "We see you're traveling internationally. Would you like to add international cellular service for $X?" If you say yes, they can simply add it to your existing bill.Once you're ready to travel, you receive an email from Expedia with your itinerary, etc. In that email there's a QR code. Once scanned, you can set up your international mobile service. Once setup, your phone will show that you're on the Expedia mobile network, as opposed to AT&T or Vodafone, so that users fully understand what's happening.SummaryThe Celitech infrastructure is available today for travelers using partner providers to use. To learn more about the platform and to see what partners have implemented the system, you can go to the company's website.Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.Sponsored by: Get $5 to protect your credit card information online with Privacy. Amazon Prime gives you more than just free shipping. Get free music, TV shows, movies, videogames and more. The most flexible tools for podcasting. Get a 30 day free trial of storage and statistics.
If you like to travel internationally, you know there is a major problem with it - cellular coverage. Sure, your carrier might claim to have coverage across the globe, but it's usually spotty coverage, has slow data speeds, and is often very expensive. Thankfully we've now got Celitech, a company that has made an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) infrastructure that works across the world without breaking the bank.What is an MVNO?MVNO stands for mobile virtual network operator and essentially means a carrier without hardware. In the United States, Virgin Mobile is a brand that many people know. It was an extremely popular prepaid cellular service before Sprint was bought by T-Mobile. But, Virgin Mobile didn't really exist - at least not in the same way as Sprint and T-Mobile.Rather than having towers that they own, operate, or lease, like the current Big Three, Virgin Mobile purchased time from Sprint and resold it under their own name. They even had an operating agreement that the network would display on phones as Virgin Mobile and not as Sprint. This is the operating mechanism of an MVNO.What is Celitech?Celitech has built out a series of relationships around the world in order to build its own MVNO infrastructure. This allows international travelers to add international cellular service to their travel plans and have a consistent and predictable mobile experience while traveling.The offering is powered by two sets of relationships - the providers and the agents. On the provider side, Celitech has teamed up with AT&T, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone, some of the biggest names in mobile. These relationships allow for Celitech to offer its service in nearly any country with consistent experiences.On the other hand, there are the agents. In this case, it's mostly travel companies, like Expedia, that the company partners with. These companies can offer international cellular service at 80% less than traditional international roaming costs. Plus, the network will report as being their own, not that of Celitech.How does it work?Let's say you set up your travel plans through Expedia. You've booked your flights, your hotels, and even rental cars if you need them, all through the website. At the end of the experience, Expedia can say something like, "We see you're traveling internationally. Would you like to add international cellular service for $X?" If you say yes, they can simply add it to your existing bill.Once you're ready to travel, you receive an email from Expedia with your itinerary, etc. In that email there's a QR code. Once scanned, you can set up your international mobile service. Once setup, your phone will show that you're on the Expedia mobile network, as opposed to AT&T or Vodafone, so that users fully understand what's happening.SummaryThe Celitech infrastructure is available today for travelers using partner providers to use. To learn more about the platform and to see what partners have implemented the system, you can go to the company's website.Interview by Don Baine, The Gadget Professor.Sponsored by: Get $5 to protect your credit card information online with Privacy. Amazon Prime gives you more than just free shipping. Get free music, TV shows, movies, videogames and more. The most flexible tools for podcasting. Get a 30 day free trial of storage and statistics.
Nuestro episodio es una conversación con Juan Vélez, CEO de Virgil Mobile para Colombia/México sobre:+ La vida en Medellín, las lecciones de vida en la finca y la disciplina del trabajo+ La violencia y ser un nerd deportista+ Prestar servicio militar y estudiar algo inesperado+ Conectar los puntos hacia adelante y el mundo de los satélites+ Los inicios en Sillicon Valley+ Orbitel, Une-Epm y Virgin Mobile+ La evolución de su liderazgo exigente a colectivo+ La cultura Virgin, su historia y el rol del CEOAcá puedes conocer más sobre Hackers del Talento y Ricardo PinedaEste episodio es impulsado por vansa. Si quieres crear contenido educativo a la medida para potenciar el talento en tu empresa, vansa es tu aliado. Contamos con más de 60 opciones de contenidos para educar de forma aplicable y entretenida. Trabajamos con más de 540 empresas líderes en la región. Conoce más acá: www.vansa.co
Tune in on Monday, 1/23/23 at 6:30am EST, for a brand new episode of The Doctor Whisperer Show featuring PR Expert, Lisa Simone Richards! https://www.instagram.com/lisasimonerichards/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasimonerichards/ ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ ABOUT OUR GUEST: "Doctors who want to become nationally recognized media experts work with me to grow both their personal brand and grow their practices. My clients become sought-after, regularly-featured experts in the media and build award-winning practices, magnetically attracting their perfect clients. After 20+ years helping brands like Staples, Virgin Mobile, and Crayola build worldwide recognition, truthfully, I got bored. And I saw so many talented professionals branching out on their own who needed access to those same strategies in order to grow their own impact and income. I wanted to share these PR strategies that had been reserved exclusively for international, multi-million dollar businesses with up-and-coming subject matter experts building their own practices. In just a matter of months (sometimes even weeks!), my clients build their expert authority status, getting featured on Forbes, CNBC, FOX, Inc., MSN, Yahoo, and hundreds of other major media outlets. Without even ‘pitching' themselves for media opportunities, my clients have invitations landing in their inbox - interviews, stages, and other chances for exposure just fall into their lap, thanks to their reputation as a sought-after industry expert. When I'm not at work, you can find me playing in the kitchen (still perfecting beef wellington!), petting ALL the dogs in the park, and watching way too many fashion styling videos on YouTube." ▪︎ ▪︎ ▪︎ T︎hank you to our show sponsors, REVA Global MD and In This Together LIVE. Register via the link below for Dr. Kylie's In This Together LIVE event. February 20-22, 2023 Orlando, FL drkylieburton.com/in-this-together-live --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thedoctorwhisperer/message
Lisa Simone Richards is a publicist for medical professionals and other consummate experts - coaches, authors and speakers - who want to become regular guest experts on TV, top-rated podcasts, and other major media. After working with her, Lisa's clients are recognized as industry thought leaders, add an extra comma to their annual revenue, and increase their ‘IT' factor with a sold-out brand. With brand experience including Virgin Mobile, Staples, Crayola, and more, she gives consummate experts access to the same PR strategies that international, multi-million companies are using to scale their businesses. Her clients often start getting press on national media including FOX, NBC, Forbes and more during their first 30 days of working with her. On weekends you can find her playing in the kitchen with her husband, petting ALL the dogs in the park, and watching way too many fashion styling videos on YouTube. Website: www.lisasimonerichards.com Instagram: @lisasimonerichards LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasimonerichards/ Free download: www.theperfectpodcastpitch.com
Tune in from October-December to our Christmas MuVies Spotlight show where Pam and Dawn chat with stars of the upcoming holiday movies from Hallmark, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, Great American Family, Lifetime tv, UPtv, etc. and new holiday music. Friday, Dec. 2nd 5pm eastern - Join Christmas MuVies Spotlight with Pam & Dawn as we speak with actress & producer Kaitlyn Leeb about her career & new holiday movie, Christmas in the Wilds! It premieres on Dec. 2nd at 7pm eastern on UPtv. . About Kaitlyn: is an actress for film and television with a degree from York University in Psychology. Kaitlyn first started out in the industry as a print model in ad campaigns and billboards for companies such as Virgin Mobile, Dentyne Ice, FUZE fruit drinks, and RBC for the 2010 TIFF before starting her career as an actress. She is known for Total Recall, Locked Down, Christmas with a View, Shadow Hunters, & Romance in the Wilds to name a few! Follow on social media: Twitter @take2radio @xmasmuvies Instagram & Facebook @take2radio @christmasmuviesspotlight Websites: take2radio.com christmasmuviesspotlight.com
Hey! I'm Lisa Simone. Doctors who want to become nationally recognized media experts work with me to grow both their personal brand and grow their practices. My clients become sought-after, regularly-featured experts in the media and build award-winning practices, magnetically attracting their perfect clients. After 20+ years helping brands like Staples, Virgin Mobile, and Crayola build worldwide recognition, truthfully, I got bored. And I saw so many talented professionals branching out on their own who needed access to those same strategies in order to grow their own impact and income. I wanted to share these PR strategies that had been reserved exclusively for international, multi-million dollar businesses with up-and-coming subject matter experts building their own practices. In just a matter of months (sometimes even weeks!), my clients build their expert authority status, getting featured on Forbes, CNBC, FOX, Inc., MSN, Yahoo, and hundreds of other major media outlets. Without even ‘pitching' themselves for media opportunities, my clients have invitations landing in their inbox - interviews, stages, and other chances for exposure just fall into their lap, thanks to their reputation as a sought-after industry expert. When I'm not at work, you can find me playing in the kitchen (still perfecting beef wellington!), petting ALL the dogs in the park, and watching way too many fashion styling videos on YouTube. https://www.lisasimonerichards.com/ ----------- Sharon T McLaughlin MD FACS is the founder of Mind Lull and Female Physicians Entrepreneurs. Today we speak about why you would want to have a digital business card. Learn more about Mind Lulls Journals https://mindlull.com Female Physician Entrepreneur Group If you are a women physician, join us at Female Physician Entrepreneurs Group We learn and grow together https://www.facebook.com/groups/FemalePhysicianEntrepreneurs Our website https://FPEStrong.com #physicianentreprener #physiciansidehustle #physiciansidegig #physiciansidegigs #businessgrowth #businessmarketing #womenphysician #womenentreprenuer #physicianspeaker #mindset #mindful
Hey! I'm Lisa Simone. Doctors who want to become nationally recognized media experts work with me to grow both their personal brand and grow their practices. My clients become sought-after, regularly-featured experts in the media and build award-winning practices, magnetically attracting their perfect clients. After 20+ years helping brands like Staples, Virgin Mobile, and Crayola build worldwide recognition, truthfully, I got bored. And I saw so many talented professionals branching out on their own who needed access to those same strategies in order to grow their own impact and income. I wanted to share these PR strategies that had been reserved exclusively for international, multi-million dollar businesses with up-and-coming subject matter experts building their own practices. In just a matter of months (sometimes even weeks!), my clients build their expert authority status, getting featured on Forbes, CNBC, FOX, Inc., MSN, Yahoo, and hundreds of other major media outlets. Without even ‘pitching' themselves for media opportunities, my clients have invitations landing in their inbox - interviews, stages, and other chances for exposure just fall into their lap, thanks to their reputation as a sought-after industry expert. When I'm not at work, you can find me playing in the kitchen (still perfecting beef wellington!), petting ALL the dogs in the park, and watching way too many fashion styling videos on YouTube. https://www.lisasimonerichards.com/ ----------- Sharon T McLaughlin MD FACS is the founder of Mind Lull and Female Physicians Entrepreneurs. Today we speak about why you would want to have a digital business card. Learn more about Mind Lulls Journals https://mindlull.com Female Physician Entrepreneur Group If you are a women physician, join us at Female Physician Entrepreneurs Group We learn and grow together https://www.facebook.com/groups/FemalePhysicianEntrepreneurs Our website https://FPEStrong.com #physicianentreprener #physiciansidehustle #physiciansidegig #physiciansidegigs #businessgrowth #businessmarketing #womenphysician #womenentreprenuer #physicianspeaker #mindset #mindful
Commercial director JJ Adler, of Rukus Films, is an award winning director and writer who helped create comedy spots for all kinds of companies including GEICO, P&G, SC Johnson, Virgin Mobile, Nestle, Coke, Verizon, McDonalds, Pepperidge Farms, etc., and with The Martin Agency, McCann, R/GA, Mother, Droga5, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey, DDB, VMLY&R, PKT, JWT, BBDO, and many more. She talks comedy, running…
Commercial director JJ Adler, of Ruckus Films, is an award winning director and writer who helped create comedy spots for all kinds of companies including GEICO, P&G, SC Johnson, Virgin Mobile, Nestle, Coke, Verizon, McDonalds, Pepperidge Farms, etc., and with The Martin Agency, McCann, R/GA, Mother, Droga5, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey, DDB, VMLY&R, PKT, JWT, BBDO, and many more. She talks comedy, running her own shoppe, and the secret to good spots. Check out my favorite - her Gain-iac commercial with Craig Robinson. EVENTS & COURSES My next Commercial Directing Bootcamp is January 7th, 2023 in Los Angeles. Save $100 once you've completed either Masterclass or Commercial Directing Shadow online courses. Voodoo Lounge is open 24/7. Are you longing for a community for us Commercial Directors? Join me in the Voodoo Lounge. It's free for filmmakers to ask questions, post cuts, share successes, comment and even gripe. Just stay positive and we'll help one another. I'll be doing a monthly AMA there over zoom. Again, it's free. Online Commercial Directing Masterclass as well as my Commercial Directing Shadow course have received 100% 5 star reviews. Plus you and me do a free filmmaker consultation call with either course. Win a chance to shadow me on a real shoot! DM for details. How To Pitch Ad Agencies and Director's Treatments Unmasked are now bundled together with a free filmmaker consultation call, just like my other courses. Serious about making spots? The Commercial Director Mega Bundle for serious one-on-one mentoring and career growth. Amazon Prime!! Jeannette Godoy's hilarious romcom “Diamond In The Rough” streams on the Amazon Prime! Please support my wife filmmaker Jeannette Godoy's romcom debut. It's “Mean Girls” meets “Happy Gilmore” and crowds love it. Here's the trailer. Thanks, Jordan This episode is 85 minutes. My cult classic mockumentary, “Dill Scallion” is online so I'm giving 100% of the money to St. Jude Children's Hospital. I've decided to donate the LIFETIME earnings every December, so the the donation will grow and grow. Thank you.
The guest in this episode is Dave Messenger. He's the Executive Chairman of LianLian, a Chinese-born FinTech company he's helping to go global. Dave discusses starting his career as an apprentice chef, before training to become an engineer and later venturing into leadership positions at Virgin Mobile and American Express.Shaun asks Dave about mentorship and its influence on his career, as well as his observations around diversity. We also land upon the topic of failure, which is something Dave looks for when recruiting as a sign the individual has put themselves out there and ultimately had to bounce back. Listening to this episode, you will:• Discover more about the Executive Chairman role, the challenges which are faced and how the position will innovate and adapt in the coming years.• Hear Dave's three things to consider when creating a long-term sustainable company.• Learn why focus groups is a great way to stay up to date on technology and trends within business, as well as for soundboarding ideas and situations.
Lisa Simone Richards is a PR & Visibility Strategist for online coaches who want to get seen everywhere. Through her free workshops, masterclasses and mentorship program, she gives you the insider secrets on how to get exposure and reach more people without spinning on social media or wasting more money on Facebook ads. Her clients learn the lather-rinse-repeat formula for more visibility which makes them more sales. They go from invisible to in-demand getting interviewed on top podcasts, partnering with big names in their industry and building their authority expert status getting featured on major media like FOX, NBC, Forbes, Inc., and more. On weekends you can find her playing in the kitchen with her husband, petting ALL the dogs in the park, and watching way too many fashion styling videos on YouTube. Here's what we covered on the episode: How Lisa Got Started in Public Relations + Starting Her Own Business Today Lisa is here to talk about public relations and press, which is a topic we haven't really covered on the show yet When Lisa first learned about public relations, it was 2002, and she was in her first year of college – she became interested because Samantha Jones on Sex and the City made PR look super fun Right after college, Lisa worked for a beauty company; she also interned at Fashion Magazine and worked at a few fashion agencies where she would be behind the scenes at various shows or working designer suites during film festivals Eventually, Lisa moved into the agency world, where she had more corporate clients like Staples, Crayola, and Virgin Mobile In 2009, Lisa got a taste of working with small businesses and entrepreneurs and fell in love with how much influence and impact she could have versus being a cog in the wheel at an agency Lisa shares that she was able to help one company she worked at for four years grow from 30 locations in Ontario to over 100 across Canada and help take the company's revenues from $400k to over 4 million a year Now in 2022, Lisa loves teaching creatives and online service-based business owners how to get earned media opportunities, how to get interviewed on people's television shows, podcasts, newspapers, magazines, and websites Your ideal client is hanging out somewhere; Lisa helps show people how they can get access to that place, figure out who they need to know, come up with a creative message and get free access to their ideal clients while getting an endorsement at the same time When Lisa started her business as a side hustle in 2015, she was running a PR agency called Vitality PR & Communications – what she saw in the market was people wanted to work with PR agencies, but their prices were set very high, and that wasn't realistic for up and coming, new business owners Through Vitality, Lisa offered 3-month PR packages at a fraction of that cost – so clients could get access to exposure, get up and running, and then they could choose if they wanted to re-sign or not Lisa wanted to have more impact, scale, and leverage, so she moved from the agency model into doing one-on-one coaching, group mentorship programs, and having courses – and shares that she still has all those things today, but what is fun is now she's starting to revisit the agency model The differentiator before for Lisa was having shorter retainer plans, and now they have a 6-month model where they also train an in-house team – Lisa says it's like the publicists showing you the secrets that other publicists don't want you to know Tips for Showing up Like a Pro + ABCs of Visibility Lisa recommends that if you don't have a full media kit on your website, at least have a shareable Dropbox or Google folder with certain assets in there like, high-resolution images and headshots, and your bio Before you start going out for outreach, Lisa says you'll want to get really clear on your messaging – what is that lather-rinse-repeat message that you can use over and over again Lisa shares that she likes to work with clients on the messaging – she gets to work with a lot of very talented people who come to her with complex ideas and messaging, and then she gets to help deliver it in a way that will be consumer-friendly The story of when Lisa worked with identical twin chiropractors in 2015, and they wanted to do a piece on what happens to your elbow and wrist alignment when you take a selfie and how Lisa worked with them on making that message interesting for consumers How Kim Kardashian was in the UK and took 1,500 selfies that week, so all of a sudden, they were able to change it into a story about what happens to your elbow and wrists when you take 1,500 selfies like Kim Kardashian – that's when it got picked up by national news, local radio and a magazine Lisa wants to understand what a person's business goals are, so where she starts with that is what she calls the ABCs of visibility; are you looking to build A) awareness, B) Buzz, C) Credibility – understanding which one of these you are trying to achieve will determine the types of places that make sense for you to be seen Another thing Lisa likes to check in on is who are her clients and what are they comfortable with – someone who is introverted may not want to speak live at a conference or be on national television – so really understanding a person and where they are going to shine helps Lisa decide where they should get started as well Lisa shares that it's easy to have relationships in the industry, but they are not necessary - if you want to be on Good Morning America, for example, figure out who the segment producer that covers the topic is, send them an email with a good idea – it doesn't need to be harder than that Easy Ways to Achieve Visibility + Lisa's Offers Why you should have a healthy media mix for your audience when it comes to reading content, listening to content, or watching content When it comes to written media, instead of writing on your website or doing a blog post, Lisa says you could do a guest blog post on someone else's site or go to Google and search write for us + your industry, and you will get websites that are looking for people to write on that topic, so you can put your content out where people are actually looking for it For audio content, Lisa says you could be interviewed on podcasts, radio, or co-host rooms on Clubhouse Moving to visual content, you could be interviewed on a local morning television show, go live in someone else's Facebook group or Instagram, you could do a guest training in someone's mastermind, or speak on live or virtual stages How imposter syndrome happens to everyone no matter what stage they are at in their business and how Lisa encourages her clients to write a not so humble brag sheet to help build confidence – grab a pen and paper; write down how much time and money you've invested in your specialty, and think about the results you've achieved Lisa talks about the transition she went through in her business and says if you are going through a transition in your business, an easy thing to do is to take control of the platforms you own – update your profiles, and send an email to your list sharing your transition into your new niche When you are transitioning in your business, Lisa shares that you might have to start from scratch and build your brand according to your new niche – think about the new podcasts, stages, and websites it makes sense to be seen on and start positioning yourself for those opportunities so you can get in front of the right people Lisa's super deluxe package is for service owners who want to done-for-you PR services who don't want to be paying the agency endlessly on retainer – a 6-month package where Lisa does their PR and also trains someone on their team to be able to bring it in-house Where Lisa tends to work with most of her clients is inside her 6-month mentorship program, where she teaches everything she's learned in her 20 years of experience How Lisa has a few entry-level courses on podcasting or getting on television where people can go through automated modules and teach themselves how to get publicity Lisa shares that she used to offer a 30-day program but realized that doing it all for people to a certain degree keeps her up at night, so she doesn't offer that anymore – she's learned that she can come up with an amazing PR strategy and hand it off to someone on her team to execute Although it's great we can now own our social media platforms, Lisa cautions us that our social media content is where we are nurturing our existing audience - It's not the same as visibility, which is why it's so important to get on other people's platforms to increase visibility and get lead generation A line Lisa learned and loves is “don't change your talk, change your audience” – get clear and consistent with your message and put it in front of new people over and over again because for those people, it's going to be the first time that they hear it and if they think about working with you, they will research and Google you, and a consistent message will instill trust I talk about my business transition and the 3 things I want to offer, and Lisa comments on how I could package my 3 steps and position my message or how I could break down step 1 in-depth and help clients get little wins so when they want to keep going, they come back to me for step 2 and 3 How sometimes simplifying your process is better than overloading your audience with a bunch of content After listening to this episode, Lisa encourages everyone to write down one thing they took away from the episode that makes sense for them and put it into practice If you head over to Lisasimonerichards.com/quiz, there is a quiz called ‘How should I get visibility as an online Coach' – based on your answers, Lisa will share 1 of 5 ways to start getting visibility and send a training video so you can get started Links mentioned: Lisa Simone Richards Website Get Clients From Podcasting Course How Should You Get Visibility Online as a Coach? Like what you heard? Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes. Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board Let's connect on Instagram!
400 Global Telecom Carriers are Upgrading their Networks. How will creators share nextgen immersive experiences? Better Worlds Podcast hosted by Ayla Kremb, COO of Diffuse Funds Find out why Susan Brazer considers blockchain a female technology and how innovations including web3, 5G peer-to-peer networks are empowering woman, environmentalists, and scientists to share data and nextgen immersive experiences. A member of Global Women in Blockchain https://globalwomeninblockchain.org she describes blockchain as a female technology rooted in resonant values including collaboration, community, transparency, trust, decentralization, and immutability. #metaverse #5g #web3 # About the Guest Susan Brazer is currently the CEO of LionShare Media, which is launching the THIN-AIR™ 5G cloud-native platform for premium entertainment and immersive media. Susan has led the launch and operation of consumer-facing mobile, media and technology platforms, applications and services for: Apple, DirecTV, SES Astra, FIFA World Cup Venture Fund, Viacom/Showtime, Virgin Mobile, and Nokia. Previously, Susan was VP, Wireless Device Strategy and Business Development at Nokia, and VP, Corporate Development & New Products at Virgin Mobile USA. Prior to this, Susan was EVP, Corporate Development at the FIFA World Cup Venture Fund, where she raised $50M+ to develop interactive TV, gaming, and avatar training ventures. Susan was the SVP, Networks & Marketing for Viacom's Showtime Intl in the Middle East and Africa, overseeing MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, The Movie Channel, TV Land, BloombergTV, Paramount, Style and Discovery. Susan was the VP, Marketing at Compression Labs, where led the business plan and launched DirecTV with Hughes Communications, which created the first 500 channel TV service. As VP, Digital TV Strategy at SES ASTRA, she led the migration of 22 countries with major broadcast operators--BSKYB, CanalPlus, Kinnevik, Bertelsmann, CLT and Multi-Choice. The genesis of Susan's new products and UI/UX expertise began at Apple Computer, where she launched its 1st portable computer, the Newton, and Knowledge Navigator (the prototype for the iPAD and Siri). She was an M&A analyst at PepsiCo (acquired Kentucky Fried Chicken) and an International Treasury Analyst at Phillip Morris, where she was an early adopter of the first electronic forex trading systems. Susan holds a B.A. in Economics from Brandeis University, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and attended the London School of Economics. Susan is on the Board of Global Women in Blockchain and a mentor at Princeton University's Keller School of Engineering for Innovation and Entrepreneurship." # About Better Worlds Better Worlds is a communication and community building platform comprised of weekly podcasts, engaging international conferences and hack-a-thons to encourage and support the development of Web3 solutions. Our programs celebrate voices from every continent to forge a shared and abundant future.
This interview features Brendan Gahan, Partner and Chief Social Officer at Mekanism. We discuss working with OG YouTubers like Smosh back in 2005, founding Epic Signal and selling it to his former employer, hanging out in El Salvador's Bitcoin Beach, why it takes him 100 drafts to publish content, the future of the creator economy, and learning how to enjoy what you create.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up. A podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Brendan Gahan:I felt like my strengths could be better utilized going off on my own. It was really as simple as, well, I want to do this work the way that I know how to do it and the way I want to do it. And if that takes me going off on my own, then that's what I'm going to do. So I did. In hindsight, it sounds much smarter than it was. It was not smart from like an on paper standpoint, but I just felt like it was the right thing for me to do because I've been doing it longer than most people, I have relationships, I have a sense of what strategically works. I want to do it the way that I want to do it. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Brendan Gahan, partner and chief social officer at Mekanism. So Brendan was born in Ventura, California, and grew up surfing many local breaks. But although his parents were educators, he entered college without a career focus. But just a few weeks away from graduation, a last minute call from his uncle sparked his entry to media and advertising, and he never looked back. His career started at a creative agency working on some of the first YouTube campaigns with hit creators like Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox's Smosh. With a growing reputation as a social and digital expert, Brendan eventually started his own agency, Epic Signal, which he ended up selling to Mekanism. Chris Erwin:Today, Brendan is their chief social officer. On the side he also publishes a wide array of content, making it one of the industry's most well regarded thought leaders. Some highlights of our chat include what it was like to sell his company to his former employer, why he's hanging out in El Salvador's Bitcoin Beach, how it took him 100 videos to post his first TikTok, the future of the creator economy, and learning how to enjoy what you create. All right, let's get to it. Chris Erwin:Brendan, thanks for being on The Come Up Podcast. Brendan Gahan:Thanks for having me, pumped to be here. Chris Erwin:We were just having a little chat about, you got a surf in this morning, if that's right. Brendan Gahan:I did. I'm working in El Salvador this week in a little town called Zonte, people may have heard of it referred to as Bitcoin Beach. And there's a nice little right hand point here, so made sure to get out there. Chris Erwin:Are you regular foot or goofy foot? Brendan Gahan:I'm regular, yeah. Chris Erwin:Okay, so you like the right-handers. I'm goofy, I like to go left. Brendan Gahan:Yeah, right hand point in particular, it's like my favorite kind of wave. I grew up in Ventura. So grew up surfing C Street, at the point in Ventura. And then every once in a while I would make the trek up to Rincon and stuff. Chris Erwin:I'm curious, where exactly did you grow up? Were you in the LA County or were you up north? Brendan Gahan:No, I was in Ventura. So there's Ventura County, which encompasses quite a bit of Southern California, but I grew up in the city of Ventura, maybe three quarters of a mile away from the beach, it's like a 15-minute walk or so, and yeah, it was great. Chris Erwin:Great. And do you still have family that's in Ventura? Brendan Gahan:Parents are still there. I've got some aunts, uncles, cousins in the area. And then my younger sister lives, she's still in Ventura County, but about 30 minutes away from where we grew up. Chris Erwin:I often talk about Southern California real estate. And you look at one of the few pockets in SoCal that's near the beach that has been underdeveloped is definitely Ventura. I think that's true for the last 30 years. I think that's finally starting to change, particularly during COVID and remote work. Have you seen that there? Brendan Gahan:Oh my gosh, it's crazy. I was just there this past weekend. And there's all these developments going up, like apartment complexes and condos, and yeah, it's sort of interesting. When you look at Ventura on a map, there's sort of like this no man's land between LA and Santa Barbara. And for years, Ventura was just sort of like overlooked. It was like people would pass through Ventura to go to either Santa Barbara or LA, but then more and more Ojai started to become a place, and Ventura has become a bit of a destination and there's now some startups out there. Before the biggest company there was Patagonia. Ventura, growing up was sort of like this blue collar cowboy meets surfer vibe for the most part. And yeah, that's definitely evolving. Chris Erwin:I think cowboy meets surfer vibe sounds about as good as it can get, you know? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, yeah. Chris Erwin:I forget who, but when I was at Big Frame almost 10 years ago now, I remember there were some industry friends that had set up shop in Ventura and were commuting to LA, and it was only about like an hour, hour and 15 away, not that crazy if you timed it right. So curious, looking at you being at the nexus of digital media and advertising and all the things, were there any media influences when you were there, when you were younger? Did that come from your parents or anything like that? Or was your upbringing focused on completely different things? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, definitely not. LA seemed like the furthest thing in the world to me growing up. And it seemed like a city, it may as well have been New York in my mind. Even though it was only like an hour and a half, we would go to LA on a field trip every couple years, or maybe my parents would take us there and we'd visit a museum or something like that. But it was not like a destination that was really on my radar. And from a professional standpoint where my head was at, I sort of had the cliche jobs in mind, it was like, oh, okay, maybe I'll be a teacher or a lawyer. A lot of people I knew growing up, and a number of relatives were like firemen, so my mind was sort of gravitating towards, I thought I'd either be a doctor, a lawyer or a psychologist. So I didn't have much of like a media or a tech influence until later. Chris Erwin:What did your parents do? Brendan Gahan:They were both in education. So my mom was a teacher's assistant in resource classes. And then my dad initially was like a teacher and then became a principal at a number of the special education schools in Ventura County. And then when he retired, he was the director of special education in Ventura. So education ran deep in the family, I guess. Chris Erwin:Yes. No, clearly understood. But I think you mentioned that you had an uncle that was in the media space, right? Brendan Gahan:That's right. Yeah, yeah. So I had an uncle who worked in advertising and he was at Wieden+Kennedy like in the heyday when it was like Bonos, Air Jordan, all that, when it was as big as it could get, and they lived a ways away. But whenever I saw him, I would just like pepper him with a million questions because to me, somebody working in advertising, in particular on like Nike and in that era, it wasn't just ads. It was like shifting culture, like Spike Lee and all that stuff. So I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. And I'd always ask him a million questions about it. But in my mind I never thought that I would end up working in that space. It seemed like this extra terrestrial sort of thing. Brendan Gahan:But he was always really cool. And he was like a creative director doing a lot of the Air Jordan spots and that sort of thing. So he always had funny stories he would share. And I just thought it was the coolest thing. I remember being in like elementary school, he'd visit or we'd go visit him, and I'd just pepper him with questions. So it was always sort of like seated in the back of my mind, but at the same time it felt unattainable, but I was really fortunate. Brendan Gahan:I don't know if we want to skip ahead too much, but basically he ended up offering me my first internship, totally came out of the blue. I got a phone call one day, I was like two days away from graduating from college. And I was about to go home for summer and work, and yeah, just out of the blue, he's like, "Hey, I got this guy on my team," he had started his own agency at this point, he's like, "And we need some young kid who understands digital," because this is 2005. And so I came up there and I interviewed with this guy he wanted me to intern for- Chris Erwin:But you did not go to college for this, if I understand correctly, you went to, is it UC Santa Cruz and you were psychology and history? Brendan Gahan:Yep. Yep. Chris Erwin:And again, you thought with that you were going to follow in your parents' footsteps, become an educator, or become a lawyer. Brendan Gahan:Something like that, yeah, I thought I was zeroing in on like teacher, lawyer or psychologist. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do. And psychology I always thought was fascinating. So I studied that, and then I realized two, three years in, I was like, oh, I've taken a ton of history courses and if I just take a few more, I can get a double major in apparently history, because of all the writing and stuff if I remember correctly, it was like not a bad thing to have if you were looking to get into law school. So it just kind of like was a circuitous path to get where I ended up. Chris Erwin:It didn't feel like you were overly passionate about anything at that point. I think you were open minded and you had some, call it nuclear, familial inspirations or influences. But when you got this call from your uncle, you're like, hey, this has been the cool uncle that was part of these massive sociocultural movements, Michael Jordan and Nike, I totally hear you. So when you got that call, were you really pumped up or was it, oh no, this sounds like something interesting and there's some direction and let's just go see what happens. Brendan Gahan:I was really pumped. I was also really torn because I was going to go home and work as a teacher's assistant for the summer and do summer school, which I know my parents were sort of excited about on so many different levels, because I'd be home. They would see me. They loved the idea of me getting into education, at least I'm pretty sure that's what they were excited about. And so I was like very torn, but also super excited. Brendan Gahan:And I went out and drove up to San Francisco for the interview. And I still remember walking into the ad agency office for the first time just being like, holy shit, this is so fucking cool. This is an office, people work out of here. It was like this creative space. And I remember thinking, especially as a college kid, wow, there's like a beer fridge and your pool table, and all these things. And obviously I knew work was happening, but it seemed like a great environment to get work done. I don't think I ever overdid it on any of the fun things, but it was like this relief to sort of have that there, and it felt really exciting to me. Chris Erwin:So then you get the job and you move up north. Brendan Gahan:Yep. Chris Erwin:What were you focused on in the beginning there? And then, I think from our notes that you did some early work with Smosh, is that right? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, exactly. So I did an internship and then I eventually got hired, and I was technically like a junior account executive. This was 2005, 2006, 2007, I think, and it was in the early, early days of social media and I was the youngest guy in the office. So people would ask me random questions, like, "What's the deal with MySpace, what happens on that?" Or, like Facebook, nobody else could get on Facebook because you still had to have your college email address. So I sort of found myself being this resource, and at the same time me being flabbergasted by the way advertising was being done. Brendan Gahan:I remember the first time I found out how much a billboard cost, and looking at that and being like, this is almost more than, I mean, I can't remember the number right now, but I remember thinking, this is about as much I make in a full year with my salary and being like, I don't think anyone does anything because of the billboard, or certainly not like a normal billboard ad, and seeing this huge disconnect between what drove people to do things and what people were genuinely excited about and where dollars were being allocated. Brendan Gahan:So I think I slowly started just embracing that and being like, to me, it was common sense to a certain extent, like, look, I can go on YouTube and I can see how many people watch this video. Why aren't we doing this? This shows millions of people. Once again, like walking down the street, I don't know of anybody who does anything because of a billboard. And so that sort of evolved, and I started just pitching ideas proactively. And I remember I even tried to pitch clients and stuff, and stuff I in hindsight probably didn't have- Chris Erwin:Existing clients of the agency, or were you doing some new business development? Brendan Gahan:All of the above. I remember reading about it in the ad trades, like, oh, so and so company fired their agency and I'd be like, well, why don't they work with us? And literally come up with ideas and mail them things, and like try and get a response. And I don't know, just like this sort of, we're a creative industry, let's be really creative. Chris Erwin:Was that the expectation from your role or was that you just having some gumption of being a self-starter? Brendan Gahan:Not to pat myself on the back, but I think it was definitely me sort of having a little bit of gumption. I think I also just didn't know. It was a relatively small loose agency. And so I thought, well, it wasn't like this is exactly how you're supposed to do this job, and this, this and this, I think creativity was really encouraged and so long as work was getting done, anything I wanted to do sort of beyond that was like, all right, yeah, sure, that sounds cool. Chris Erwin:So did that spirit, is that what drove you... Did you work directly with Smosh? What is that story there? Brendan Gahan:Yeah. So late 2006, this client the agency had had before I was even there, they came to the agency and they were like, "Hey, we want to do an ad campaign. We don't have a big budget." And it was a portable MP3 player. And the partners at the agency were talking about it right behind me. And they were about to turn it down. And it was one of those situations where in hindsight, yes, it was not much money, and they should have turned it down by all means. But I just butted in. I was like, "Hey, what if we pitched them this idea of getting these kids on YouTube to promote it. And we just rather than try and squeeze like a campaign into this budget, let's just do one video." Brendan Gahan:And so they were like, "Oh, that sounds kind of cool. Yeah, let's pitch it to the company, to the brand." And they bought it. I think I literally turned around after the partners said it was okay to pitch it to the client and I emailed Ian and Anthony, found their email on MySpace and they emailed me back that afternoon. And I think the next week they came by the office because they were just up in Sacramento area, so it wasn't too far. Chris Erwin:They were one of the biggest YouTube channels at the time, right? Just for context, this is 2005, 2006. Facebook had just started in '04. YouTube had just started in '04. Google bought them I think a couple years later. So Ian and Anthony were probably one of the biggest personalities on the platform at that time. Brendan Gahan:Yeah. I think they might have been number two. I know they eventually were number one for a couple of years, but I don't think they were quite number one yet. It was sort of like early days and there was a lot of jostling for position and stuff. Chris Erwin:So you got their emails from their MySpace page, you hit them up. That definitely wouldn't happen today, not as easy to go direct to the top creators. And then they came by your office, what happened? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, they came by, by that point we had gotten the thumbs up from the client to like, "Oh yeah, sure, we're down, if you can make it work." They came by the office, we literally got in a room and it was sort of funny. I remember nobody knew what you would charge for something like this, you know? So we were literally just kicking around like, what would you want to charge for this? I don't know, how much do you want to pay for this? Just going back and forth. And then finally, one of the partners was like, "Well, I don't know, would you guys do it for like 15 grand or something?" And they were like, "Probably, why don't we go back to..." I think Anthony's dad was an accountant or something like that. Brendan Gahan:And they were going to run it by him. I might have those details wrong, but they were like, it was basically like a, pretty sure that'll work. Let's go talk to our parents. And then they came back and they were like, sure, and so we did it, they made this video called Feet for Hands. I remember when it went live it crashed the client's website, which I thought was so fucking cool. I felt so validated. And then, yeah, it got like millions of views. And I just wanted to do that again and again, and again. And I saw what Mekanism was doing and my first boss at that agency, he'd left for Mekanism, Jason Harris, the president and CEO of Mekanism now. He joined Mekanism, became a partner. And we had a great working relationship. Brendan Gahan:I interned for him and stuff. And I showed in that video, I was like, look, look, look at this thing. It's got three million views. I know I can help you guys. I was so envious of the work they were doing. They were doing like early viral video stuff. And this is like 2006, 2007, when a lot of this stuff, people weren't paying attention at all. And so I was just so envious of the projects they were working on. And they brought me in for a few interviews and I literally met the whole agency, which at the time was pretty small, I think like twice. And then they hired me. Chris Erwin:Was this East Coast based? Brendan Gahan:This is all West Coast. They were in San Francisco, just a few blocks away from the office I was at, at the time, and then got hired, it was like Mekanism was doing a ton of branded content, viral video stuff but oftentimes without any paid media. The platforms, most of them didn't even have paid media as an option. I think at the time you could buy a YouTube homepage banner and that was it. Facebook didn't have it. There was no sort of formal way of promoting that stuff for the most part. So we sort of, myself and a couple other guys, younger guys, we built out a team over time that was the social media team. And we were just constantly coming up with different ways to promote content, doing everything from Reddit seeding to tons and tons of work with creators. We worked with all the big creators in those early days, which was great, because it was a small community. We got to make a lot of deeper relationships at the time. Chris Erwin:Yeah. And you were probably working with a lot of those creators direct versus now there's tons of representatives, managers and agencies, and sometimes you never even talk to the end talent, but back then probably different. Brendan Gahan:Oh, 100%, yeah. We would get pretty elaborate sometimes with these campaigns, we would do like in person summits and kickoffs. We worked with 20th Century Fox on some campaigns, and we would fly like 50 influencers in and a bunch obviously would be in LA, but host these elaborate dinners and events, and sometimes it'd be two, three days long where they're meeting with the execs, meeting with actors, kind of getting a download of the campaign, what the expectations were for them. Then we'd take them out, go partying. So it was cool. Got to spend a lot of face time with people and it was a really fascinating time. Chris Erwin:You were there for about five to six years at Mekanism, right? Brendan Gahan:Yeah. Chris Erwin:And then I think you transitioned to full screen after that for a brief stint, but then you started your own agency, Epic Signal. So what was the catalyst for you to leave this kind of the broader corporate support and other people that were helping elevate your career to say, I want to do something differently, I'm going to do it by myself. Brendan Gahan:I felt like full screen was exploding at the time. You know this, all the MCNs were blowing up, but I felt like there was a lot of distraction and stuff. And the thing that I was really passionate about at its core was the strategy in collaborating with both brands and creators to create something awesome. And I felt like full screen, it was like they were trying to grow this MCN, this network and make a scalable business. So it was a little bit different from what I was really passionate about. And so I left, I thought I was just going to take my time sort of consulting. But I mean, this was like when influencer marketing was reaching this new fevered pitch because... We talked about it yesterday. Sometime around there, Maker was acquired, all these clients that I'd worked with and people at different agencies that I'd worked with over the years came out of the woodwork and were like, we have to have an influencer strategy. Brendan Gahan:We have to have a YouTube strategy. And I'd been the, air quotes, like YouTube guy and influencer guy since 2006. So I was one of a handful of people who had sort of like this deep bench and experience in this niche. So all my old clients started hitting me up. All of a sudden I had more work than I could personally do. And slowly started hiring people just out of necessity, because I didn't want to say no to these awesome opportunities. I was like, oh crap. I get to work with Mountain Dew, hell yeah, let's do it. Chris Erwin:I do want to clarify, but when you went off on your own, I mean I'm sure look, as the industry is growing, Google original channels program happened in 2011, 2012, hundreds of millions of dollars of funding into digitally native production companies to fuel the overall video ecosystem to help you to recruit more advertisers. And so when you decided to go off on your own to start Epic Signal, why was that? Had you always wanted to be an entrepreneur? Did you think like, hey, I want to be an owner and I'm early in a very nascent industry and so this is scary, but I'm going to get an early foothold and see what happens. Brendan Gahan:It honestly wasn't as strategic as that, it was more like, I felt like my strengths could be better utilized going off on my own. And I like being really hands on and strategic. It was really as simple as, well, I want do this work the way that I know how to do it and the way I want to do it. And if that takes me going off on my own, then that's what I'm going to do. So I did. And in hindsight, it sounds much smarter than it was, it was not smart from like an on paper standpoint. I left full screen. I left my equity on the tape because I left just shy of a year, but I just felt like it was the right thing for me to do, because I knew, I'd seen this space grow so fast and I was like, I've been doing it longer than most people. I have relationships, I have a sense of what strategically works. I want to do it the way that I want to do it. And that just made me feel good, and so that's what I did. Chris Erwin:Now did you launch Epic Signal in LA or did you move to New York? Brendan Gahan:So I was in LA, but very quickly was splitting my time up between LA and New York. I was going back and forth. I'd spend two weeks in LA, two weeks in New York, back, forth, back forth constantly, and then was about to move to New York officially, I ended up having more clients there than anywhere else, more brands I was working with there than anywhere else. And then as I was sort of putting the plan together to do that, I ended up selling it. And then I had to move to New York, so it moved things along. Chris Erwin:That happened pretty quickly, right? Because I think you had Epic Signal for, was it a couple years before you sold it to Mekanism? Brendan Gahan:Yeah, I think it was just shy of two years. It was almost two full years, yeah. Chris Erwin:Okay. And when you decided to sell, how big was your team at that point? Brendan Gahan:It wasn't big. It was like a half dozen people. Chris Erwin:Okay. Why did you decide to sell? Brendan Gahan:I found myself in a situation where I was doing so much back office stuff. It was like the very thing that I left to go do was, I wanted to focus on the strategy and deal with that, do the actual work. And then what I found was, when you are an entrepreneur, it's very easy to get sucked into dealing with lawyers and accounts, and payroll, and all this stuff that is not fun, all that back office stuff. Chris Erwin:I'm feeling you right now on that. That's where I feel like I'm at with RockWater. Brendan Gahan:You try and delegate it, but it's like all these things get this overflow back to you. And so I was back in this situation where I was doing the work that wasn't making me happy. And at the same time, I sort of felt like I have this window of opportunity where it's like, this is a really small team, we're lean and mean. We've got great profit margins. We've also got dope clients. We were working with like ABI. We worked on Bud Light campaigns, Corona. We did work with several PepsiCo brands, a handful of others. So we had a dope roster of clients that we were working with, a handful of whom were on retainer. And I was like, we have this niche where we're focusing on helping brands with YouTube strategy and YouTube creators. And oftentimes, especially the bigger brands, like a Pepsi, Mountain Dew, they had multiple agencies and they would have like a social AOR even. Brendan Gahan:And they did have a social AOR, but I was like, it's only going to be a matter of time before I get squeezed out and they start offering this services that I'm sort of in this interesting niche I can offer at this time that they don't have. And so I felt like the cache of the brands that I had, the team in place, people would find it desirable because of the relationships and already booked revenue, and great team. And so I thought I'll try and capitalize on my time and see if I can make a deal happen. Brendan Gahan:And then I had a letter of intent on the table and I would call my old boss at Mekanism for advice. "Hey, I'm negotiating with these guys, and this is a deal on the table. Does this make sense? What should I push back on?" So he was aware that things were moving along. And basically I was in New York, I had signed a letter of intent, things were sort of going through due diligence and all that. And he was like, "Let's grab drinks." So I met up with him for a drink. He's like, "Just come back." I was like, "All right, well, I got a deal in hand if you can beat it, I'm down. Like let's do it." I loved working with him. Chris Erwin:Hey listeners, this is Chris Erwin. Your host of The Come Up. I have a quick ask for you. If you dig what we're putting down, if you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating wherever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work. And it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it everybody, let's get back to the interview. Chris Erwin:I have to ask, did you run a formal sales process where you decided to sell and then you're like, all right, here's the 20 best fit buyers that are out there and I'm going to go call them or I'm going to hire someone to dial for dollars on the company's behalf. And/or were you also just getting unsolicited in bounds that you were like, oh, hey, this is interesting. Maybe with the market timing, things that you were sharing, where there was a lot of brands had big agencies of record, you felt that you were going to get squeezed out. So now is the time to sell, what was that looking like? Brendan Gahan:Exactly that, but sort of like the inverse. Initially, I sort of had a hunch and so I sort of informally had some conversations and dinners with people where like, I didn't come right out and say, "Hey, I want to sell," I didn't want to come across as desperate. Because I mean, and I wasn't, I wasn't desperate, but I wanted to sell. But I would sort of just seed the idea, like, "Hey, I'm kicking around the idea of selling, I'd love to do X, Y, and Z. And like' Chris Erwin:Just like dating, the classic courting phase, you're just doing the dance. Brendan Gahan:Exactly. And then once people started expressing interests, I was like, okay, I'm definitely onto something. This is something I'm way out of my depth on. So I asked around and some buddies recommended some lawyers and I hired them and signed a deal with them. And I was like, all right, let's make this happen. And that was the best decision I could have made. They earned every dime I paid them and then some, because beyond just the relief of handing it over, they definitely got me more money and I didn't ever have to be the bad guy throughout the process, which I'm very bad at saying no to people in negotiations and stuff like that. They were just like, every step of the way they were like, "No, just pass it over to us. We'll take care of it." And then they would hit me up and they're like, "Here's what's on the table, here's what we advise. What do you want to do?" And the process was stressful enough as it is, but having them sort of take the reins just alleviated so much stress. Chris Erwin:Selling your company is a very unique work stream that requires a very unique set of skills to execute well. And it can be very emotional for a founder, operator and CEO. This is your baby. You could transform your life through a big liquidity event, but it's also going to impact, you might be selling to another company and working for someone else. So having a partner there to guide you along the way is really important. I mean, I saw this a lot because I was a banker on Wall Street back in the day and sold a variety of different companies and helped shepherd the sale with Big Frame to Awesomeness TV. I just talked about that in the last podcast with Sarah Penna, one of the co-founders of Big Frame, and it's a really big decision. Chris Erwin:So I totally get it. I'm curious, who were the buyers that you were talking to? Was it different brand agencies? Was it different brands that wanted to actually just bring you on in house? Was it some of the emerging YouTube MCNs that wanted to build out their influencer sales arm? What was that group looking like? Brendan Gahan:I think it was two MCNs and this holding company, I won't name names and stuff, but it was a fascinating process. And to your point about seeing it and it being stressful and all this stuff, if you think about it, it's like, it's an experience that, as an owner or an entrepreneur you're out of your depth, it's a very unique thing that happens. It doesn't happen that often. And so bringing in professionals is so helpful because they actually do these deals. I'm doing totally different types of deals. I have no experience selling an organization. Chris Erwin:Yeah. You need to create a very compelling story and also urgency, get people excited and the feeling that they're going to miss out. So if you kind of go after the process willy nilly, you can set up a really bad result for your company. And also for your counterparties that are saying, "Hey, we're interested here. We've been in talks for a while. Why is this dragging along? Who else are you talking to?" Chris Erwin:So you can really damage, not only all the value that you've created for your business, but it can impact your team, it can impact the ability of you to continue working in the industry thereafter. So got to do it right. But so many say, I was just talking to a banker about this yesterday. Oftentimes, transactions result from long standing relationships and trust that have been built. So the end buyer for Epic Signal was your past boss at Mekanism, that became your eventual home. So after you joined forces with them, was the mandate, "Hey Brendan, come back on board. You're now part of the senior leadership team. The market opportunity is even bigger. Let's go after it with you and your whole team in a bigger way." Brendan Gahan:Pretty much, yeah. It was a bit of a plug and play option, they had... Obviously there was a social team when I left, the feeling was like there wasn't... A number of people had left by the time I came back, so I was able to bring my team in, merge it with the existing team. And we started expanding the offerings again. When I was running Epic Signal, I deliberately tried to keep it very narrow in niche, because I couldn't compete with a big social agency, it just wouldn't happen. Brendan Gahan:But by having two very key offerings, it streamlined so much of the processes and it gave me a clear point of differentiation. And when I joined back up with Mekanism, it was like full service, social, we're doing everything, community management in the lightweight, social content creation, analytics, reporting, influencer marketing, all this stuff. And so had to scale up the team and integrate with the larger organization as a whole. And it was fun. I think I'm sort of like this entrepreneur at heart or intrapreneur, and I like the process of sort of building and evolving and exploring new opportunities. So it was a really good fit, is a good fit. Chris Erwin:Thinking back on all of the brand and influencer campaigns that you've done, there's got to be one or two that stand out in terms of just something crazy went down. I think back to at Big Frame, working with some talent, doing a six figure brand deal, talent deciding literally two hours before something's supposed to go live that they're not going to post it or having a meltdown on the floor of VidCon and sobbing and crying because they're having a personal breakdown, because look, that life is tough and burnout is real in the influencer space. I remember a bunch of stories when we were launching different content verticals and flying in different 40 creators into like a creator house. This is like back in 2013, before there was like the modern creator houses of today. So any stories from the trenches that you remember from your early days? Brendan Gahan:Oh my God. Yeah, it's like, working with creators I think is one of those things, when you're in it, you're almost like, I'm never going to do this again. Then afterwards you're like, oh, that wasn't so bad. That was really fun. I think probably one that took the cake as far as stress goes, was we were working with Brisk Iced Tea, which is a PepsiCo brand. And we're about to host a summit because Brisk was relaunching, they had Eminem in the super bowl spot, and they were reviving the Claymation look. They did one with Ozzy Osborne, they did one with Danny Trejo, and we were actually having Danny Trejo fly out to New York, and he was going to meet with all these creators and stuff. And this was during the winter before super bowl. So I don't know if it was like December or January, or maybe early February, but there was a massive snowstorm. Brendan Gahan:Flights kept getting canceled and delayed. And I remember being glued to my phone, refreshing constantly, looking at, I think there were a handful of flights that were going to make it out of LA to New York before things were going to get canceled. And I remember, we signed up all these creators, Danny Trejo was going to show and he was going to be the cool, shiny object, and his flight to New York. I remember it kept getting delayed, delayed, delayed, it got canceled. We got him on another flight, delayed, delayed, delayed. And I was just like refreshing my phone and being like, this whole thing is going to fucking fall apart if that flight doesn't take off. It sounds like not that big a deal right now but I remember it was just one of those moments where I was just like, the whole thing was going to fall apart. The world was on my shoulders and I was just freaking out. But I've had a million situations like that, I remember- Chris Erwin:Did that work out? Did he get on the flight and did the campaign come together? Brendan Gahan:Oh yeah, he ended up [crosstalk 00:34:02]. Chris Erwin:He's like, I can't leave the audience hanging. Brendan Gahan:Yeah. He made it and it was freaking amazing. We thought we had him for like an hour, he was going to do a little talk, kind of talk about... His story's amazing first off. And then his spot with Brisk was super cool. And we thought people were going to get a kick out of that. I think we had like 45 minutes for him booked. He was going to come out and hang out and talk with the creators. I think it was like 20 or so creators. And we thought that was going to be this awesome experience for everyone before we sort of called it a day and then went out. And he was so cool. He came out, told this story, which is insane. And then he was like, "All right, what are we doing next, guys?" And he hung out... We had all these YouTubers there. Brendan Gahan:We had like Nice Peter and Mike Diva, and Tim DeLaGhetto, all those guys. And he made himself available to do cameos and their vlogs or any content they were making. Chris Erwin:Wow. Brendan Gahan:People would be like, "Hey, can you pretend to choke me out and beat me up for my video?" And he'd be like, "Oh sure." He just was there hanging out all day. And then we were going to take all the creators out to a dinner, take them to [inaudible 00:35:10] or one of those, where drinking and bowling and stuff. And he's like, "Oh, could I come along?" He doesn't drink. So he didn't drink. But he was hanging with the whole crew, all of us until, I don't know, like one in the morning or something. He was the nicest guy, and so it was this amazing sort of transition from like the day before, one of the most stressful experiences of my life. I don't think I slept that night to everything went off better than I could have possibly hoped for. Chris Erwin:I just want to call that out. I think that's one of the beautiful things about working with digitally native creators and being in the advertising business, is meeting all these incredible personalities. So I think Danny Trejo, tell me if I'm wrong, but I think he's LA born, Latin, very tatted up, I think had a pretty rough upbringing, but made his way into American movies and TV series. And he often plays like the bad guy or the thug and maybe those roles have been evolving, but what you see on screen- Brendan Gahan:It's pretty spot on. Chris Erwin:Yeah, what you see on screen is clearly very different than who his actual personality is, and were it not for what you're doing, Brendan, you would never have gotten to meet him, and you probably have hundreds of stories like that, that's a pretty beautiful thing. Brendan Gahan:We did one campaign with Virgin Mobile, they were sponsoring Lady Gaga's tour at the time, we got to go hang out with Lady Gaga after one of her shows like, it was wild. I bring up celebrities, but I think honestly hanging out with the creators was my favorite thing, because especially back then, there was a lot of uncertainty in terms of like, how am I going to turn this into a job? Or this is my job, but I'm just kind of scraping by. And it was an interesting mix of sort of a lot of belief in what they were doing, which I found super admirable, and I was almost envious of the fact that they took that leap as well as this sort of insecurity and doubt that they had. Brendan Gahan:There's so much pressure to keep making content and to power through, but at the same time, not knowing exactly where it was headed. You think back then, like the daily vloggers, that was a big thing in that era, those guys, we would spend all day with them doing stuff for the brand. And then when other people would go have dinner and drinks late into the night, they would have to go edit and they'd be editing until like three in the morning, running on [crosstalk 00:37:21] of sleep. Yeah. Chris Erwin:You ask what kids want to be nowadays, they want to be a creator, but whether it's a daily vlogger, or you're creating content, you're managing a fandom that is always on, and that's a lot to take on and that's why there's burnout. And I hear you, some of those early creators, they were probably just racing because they're like, hey, I have put all my resources into this, all my focus. Maybe this goes away in a couple years because the fans' interests and the passions are going to change or the algorithms are going to change and maybe this is not going to be here. So it was like a money land grab. Chris Erwin:But Brendan, when you say that you would look at creators and say, oh, I was jealous how they took the leap, maybe I want to take the leap as well. You took that leap during COVID and you started really building out your own personal audience and thought leadership. And that speaks to that you like to do things on the side. I think you have a strong entrepreneurial or intrapreneurial spirit as you described. And I don't think it just started over the past couple years. I think when we were talking in advance of this interview, you were investing back in the day as well. And I think that you were an early investor in Big Frame, is that right? Brendan Gahan:So I did invest in Big Frame, but via Mekanism because I knew Sarah from back in the day when she was working for Phil DeFranco. And so when she was starting it, I was like, oh my gosh, can we get in? So yeah, we made this small investment and I just sort of wanted to be a part of all that. I definitely had like a serious case of FOMO. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I think that was really cool. I think Sarah and Steve, we actually had a bunch of different creators and I think peer business partners in our cap table, a way of giving them ownership as a thank you, helping us build this together. And so when we sold, all those creators that were in our cap table got some money. Was it life changing money? No, but it was something. And I think they really represented a pretty special ethos from the top. Brendan Gahan:That's awesome. That's so cool. Chris Erwin:But yeah, and you are also early on and I think you still are, you're an advisor to the VidCon board, is that right? Brendan Gahan:Yeah. So I sit on the advisory board for the industry track specifically. So I mean, I've been to all the US VidCons, a bunch of the international ones. So I was always deep in that space. And I've known Jim since the Revision3 days, he was, Jim Louderback the CEO was the CEO of Revision3, which was one of the big early MCNs. And I'm not sure exactly to be honest how that came about other than... But I think what prompted it was as part of the acquisition of Viacom for VidCon, Jim came on board and I think it was a way to make sure that, I think he put together a few advisory boards to make sure that he was getting a lot of input from multiple points, because for so long the community was relatively insular, and its expanded so much so quickly. Chris Erwin:I first met you, I think via an introduction from Chas, Chas Lacaillade who I think was an early interview on this podcast. You guys overlapped at full screen back in 2013 and then have both built your own businesses after that, pretty funny track. And first met you in New York. And I remember a conversation a year and a half ago or a couple years ago, I was asking, what are you focused on? What are you doing? You're a dabbler in so many things, you're at Mekanism, but I'm seeing that you're doing all this incredible thought leadership on LinkedIn, all these incredible posts and you're really consistent about it. Chris Erwin:They were really high quality. And you said, "Hey Chris, I'm really focused on building an audience. And I think audience in the modern creator economy is one of the most valuable currencies that you can have." And you weren't completely clear what you wanted to do with that audience, but you're like, I'm going to build and now's a great time to do it. So I am curious to hear that story of how that came to be and what you're working on today. Brendan Gahan:You probably said that so much more articulate than I did. I'm going to have to remember that, but yeah. That was definitely the insight. I think the way it came about was sort of like, I was legitimately beating myself up over the fact that I had probably hundreds of pages of writing and thoughts in Google Drive that I'd never published as a blog post. And I would just like constantly beat myself up over this. I'd have what I thought was a great idea. I'd work on a blog post and then it would just sort of get longer and longer and longer and longer. And then eventually it became this daunting task to like push it out, because I had a blog for a while and I would sort of fall into this pattern and then not publish for like a long, long time. Brendan Gahan:And the thing I sort of found was the hardest part was to press publish really. And so I was like, okay, well what's the easiest way I can get myself to kind of overcome that, because I did want an audience. I felt like I had thoughts that I wanted to get out of my own head. And so basically I was like, all right, what is sort of the easiest way to do this and inoculate myself to this idea that this fear of pressing publish. And so I started small and basically I was like, all right, well, I'm going to start posting one thing a day on LinkedIn. It doesn't matter if it's simply sharing an article, just writing cool or writing a whole blog post if I feel like it. And that made it very approachable. Brendan Gahan:In the early days, I would literally just sit there and press a timer, 20 minutes and write. When it was done, I'd give it a once over and then press publish. And that really helped me sort of start to overcome this fear, and did that for all of, what was that 2020 I believe. And then at some point towards the end of 2020, I was like... We'd already done multiple TikTok campaigns and I'd seen the power of TikTok, and like early days, you can still get in there and you can have an impact. Brendan Gahan:It's a softer landing than it will be later. So after seeing all the successful campaigns, I was encouraging my fiance to get on there and do it. And then every time she would post something, it would blow up. Because she had a decent sized YouTube channel and Instagram but it wasn't massive. And I was like, just get on TikTok, trust me. So I found myself sort of giving this advice to everyone, but not taking it myself. And I was like, all right, I should just... These opportunities they only come by every few years if you're lucky, and I was like, I need to just take my own advice. And so in the same way I had to get over writing and sharing my thoughts, I had to get over that with TikTok. Chris Erwin:Yeah, putting yourself on video, that's a big difference than writing and text base expression on LinkedIn. Brendan Gahan:It was so hard. It was so hard. She used to laugh at me because I would put the camera on me and then I would just try and say something, and I would be like, "Fuck, fuck," and then try and say a word and I'd stutter. And I would sit there for like 20 minutes trying to spit out two sentences. Chris Erwin:Brendan, I got to say, I feel you on that because Kevin Gould at Kombo Ventures, he would do these job rec videos on LinkedIn where he'd just be like, call it one or two minutes. "Hey, we're Kombo Ventures, I'm Kevin, we're looking to hire someone, this is what we're doing. And here's who we're looking for." I record these and this is like an inner tip on me. I'll record that like 15 times, it's a one minute video, but I'll say no, I skipped up, I said something I didn't want to say. I don't like how I look. I don't like the lighting, and people think like, oh yeah, you just put it up and that'll be like my one thing I need to get done in the morning, and it'll take me 15 tries to do it. Then you just go to think about, okay, if you're a professional creator doing that for a living, I really feel it then, it's a pretty good glimpse into it. Brendan Gahan:100%. And I think one thing I saw Roberto Blake, maybe, I think I saw a video or saw him tweet, you've got to make 100 bad videos to get to your first good one, or maybe it was Mr. Beast. And I was like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that's very true. And that sort of made me embrace the fact that the first ones are going to be awful, and I tried to not focus on like each one, but more building the habit because that would, I don't know how else to say it, but sort of inoculate yourself to that feeling of just sheer fear and anxiety of getting in front of the camera. Chris Erwin:On the outside looking in, I look at, we're a big content marketing machine at RockWater to drive awareness and legitimacy for the services that we do as the self-described McKinsey of the creator economy, right? Market research, strategy advisory, capital raising, and all of that. We look at what you're doing, Brendan, from your LinkedIn posts to your blog, to now almost I think over 100,000 followers on TikTok. It's very, very impressive. A lot of people in the industry say the same thing, right? Like, oh, do you see Brendan's path and what he's posting? It's incredible. I look at the TikTok videos. They're very well edited. Are you doing that yourself? Do you have a team helping you? Brendan Gahan:I'm not editing them myself anymore. I was up until late last year. So I hired an editor out of the Philippines actually who works full time on my TikTok. Then he does design for my blog posts and a bunch of different things basically, he helps me out with a bunch of stuff and that's been a huge relief because now I feel like I'm trying to transition to... There's almost sort of like, as a creator and this is something I observe, but I'm having trouble implementing it, sort of like people find you because of your topic is interesting or maybe you've got a helpful bit of information, but then they stick around and embrace you because of kind of the personality piece. Brendan Gahan:And I'm really trying to sort of evolve it into creating something that provides more insight into me at the same time. And hopefully people feel like there's a connection to me rather than like, "Hey, here are just some interesting stats or an interesting strategy." So that's sort of like where my head is at in terms of where I want to take it. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do that. But I think similar to just the same way I got started before, I'm just trying to throw things out there and see what sticks. Chris Erwin:Loudly from the RockWater team, keep doing what you're doing. We love it. Brendan Gahan:Oh, thanks. I appreciate that. Chris Erwin:Yeah. A closing theme before we get into some rapid fire questions and close out the interview. What's next for Brendan and Mekanism? And maybe that's a theme of talking about, what do you think is most exciting in the creator economy and how do you want to support it? You've been writing about Web 3 and X to earn models. Is that something that you're thinking a lot about lately? Brendan Gahan:In terms of Mekanism, I really enjoy that. And so long as I get to work with great brands and great people and do great work I'm content. In terms of the creator economy and stuff, I love everything that's happening there. And I do a little bit of investing and advising, and I love nothing more than sort of brainstorming with people who are building, it's so exciting. And I think the aspect of the creator economy that I'm really fascinated by is sort of... Rather than, most of the VCs coming in are like, oh, we're going to build this scalable product for creators. And that's interesting, but I think the thing that's more interesting is sort of the creators building their own brands, and I think right now production and productization, that's sort of the commodity piece. The development of a brand and cultivation of an audience is becoming the differentiator and the most valuable asset. Brendan Gahan:We were talking about that at the beginning, an audience is leverage. And so as we see sort of this transition from like Web 2 to Web 3, where everybody sort of breaks it down, Web 1 was read, Web 2 is read, write, Web 3 is read, write, own. If the creators of platforms and communities within Web 3 are the users and owners, it makes sense that they would be less likely to embrace traditional methods of advertising. There are some stats out there, like 96% of people hate ads. Yeah, nobody likes most advertising. There are great ads, but by and large people don't want advertising. So those who are sort of able to understand how to embrace communities and build communities, they're going to have a leg up as we sort of transition to Web 3. And we're already seeing the ripple effects of this. Brendan Gahan:I mean like iOS 14 impacted the ability to advertise, do targeted advertising. Creators are launching big brands now faster than ever, partnering with creators is the easiest way to have an impact because they've maintained that direct line of communication to their audience. And so I think creators building and owning brands is really exciting. And also, people are like, oh, like creators think it's in this nascent state. And yes, in the grand scheme of things, it is. But there are already multi billion dollar creator brands. It's so funny, I mean, you probably know him, but Richard Ryan, he was a YouTuber back in the day. I used to do a ton of work with him. He and this other YouTuber, Matt Best, they partnered with some other guys a few years back. They were the guys that launched Black Rifle Coffee, which I didn't realize how big that brand was until they IPOed, and like- Chris Erwin:Yeah, they just went public, right? Brendan Gahan:They went public. I actually was in Austin two weeks ago, I hung out with Richard. It was so wild. It's like, that was built, the platform for that initially was YouTubers. So it's really fascinating. And we're seeing all these other great brands, Logan Paul and KSI, their Gatorade competitor, et cetera. I think that aspect of the business, it just shows how powerful these creators are, which I think is really, really exciting. Chris Erwin:The Black Rifle Coffee, we were doing some research into that company a year ago to understand how some of these creator led brands and particularly CPG brands are incubated and looking at their story, and look, I don't want to undersell what they have done, but I think the quality of their coffee is good, but that's not their specialty. It's that they have these personalities behind it. And this ethos founded by former members of the military, pride in country. And they've built an incredible business doing that. And they've gotten a lot of other ambassadors that have helped them build their business along the way. And I think, yeah, it was funny, Chas was telling me about this. I guess you guys maybe hung out with Richard together. I would love to interview Richard on the podcast. So if he's listening, I'm going to be reaching out soon. Brendan Gahan:Richard's a really, really good dude. Chris Erwin:All right. So Brendan, we're going to enter the last segment of this interview. We're going to do a rapid fire, six questions, and the rules are as follows. With these questions, looking for short answers. So one sentence, or maybe even just one to two words, do you understand the rules? Brendan Gahan:Yes. Chris Erwin:Let's get into it. Proudest life moment? Brendan Gahan:Still ahead of me. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do less of in 2022? Brendan Gahan:Emails and late night work sessions. Chris Erwin:What do you want to do more of? Brendan Gahan:IRL time with friends and family. Chris Erwin:Okay. Maybe more time in Bitcoin Beach, down in El Salvador. Brendan Gahan:Yeah. Serious. Chris Erwin:What one to two things drive your success? Brendan Gahan:I'll keep this one short, crippling insecurity. Chris Erwin:Okay. I dig it. Advice for media execs going into 2022? Brendan Gahan:Get your hands dirty. Chris Erwin:Any future startup ambitions? Brendan Gahan:TBD. Chris Erwin:To elaborate on that, that could be some intrapreneurship at Mekanism or other things you're doing on the sides. I think my prediction is, this audience that you're building particularly on TikTok, I think something's going to come out of that in a pretty unique way. Brendan Gahan:So long as I can think and strategize, I'm very content. Chris Erwin:Here's the last one, Brendan, pretty easy. How can people get in contact with you? Brendan Gahan:Just Google my name, Brendan, B-R-E-N-D-A-N, Gahan, G-A-H-A-N. I'm on all the socials. So whatever your platform of choice is, you'll be able to find me. Chris Erwin:Yeah. And his website is great, lots of content there. Brendangahan.com. All right, cool. Brendan, thanks for being on the show. This was a delight. Brendan Gahan:Thank you. This was a lot of fun. I really appreciate you having me on and I love all the content you guys put out, so I'm really stoked to have made the cut and be on this. Chris Erwin:Very welcome, an easy decision. Chris Erwin:Wow. That was a super fun interview. And I really learned a lot. I think that Brendan and I are kindred spirits in a couple ways. One, our mutual love for surfing in Southern California, and two, just the vulnerabilities of putting yourself out there as a content creator. So that was really fun. Quick note, we just hosted our first executive event of 2022 just this past Thursday in LA. We did a media and commerce executive dinner at Chilena. It was awesome. We had an incredible array of guests. I think over 50 people came out and I also hosted a panel about the future of livestream commerce. So we had the head of operations of Popshop Live there, and the founder and CEO of both Verb, which is the parent company of Market.live and also StageTEN, just an awesome chat. It was a lot of fun, really great energy, and we're pumped to do more. Chris Erwin:So I think we're planning a dinner for investors in media and commerce coming up in the fall in New York City. And then also, we want to put another one together for sports media. So if you'd like to get involved as a sponsor, as a guest, or you want to be on a panel that I will moderate, reach out, you can hit us up at hello@wearerockwater.com. And then as always for all you listeners out there of our podcasts, we love to hear from you. If you have any ideas for guests or any feedback on the show, just shoot us a note, TCUpod@wearerockwater.com. All right, that's it everybody. Thanks for listening. Chris Erwin:The Come Up is written and hosted by me, Chris Erwin, and is a production of RockWater Industries. Please rate and review this show on Apple Podcasts and remember to subscribe wherever you listen to our show. And if you really dig us, feel free to forward The Come Up to a friend. You can sign up for our company newsletter at wearerockwater.com/newsletter, and you could follow us on Twitter @TCUpod. The Come Up is engineered by Daniel Tureck, music is by Devon Bryant, logo and branding is by Kevin Zazzali, and special thanks to Alex Zirin and Eric Kenigsberg from the RockWater team.
Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin business conglomerate. Under this moniker are companies like Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile, Virgin Atlantic, and, of course, Virgin Galactic. Branson recently visited the edge of space (by some definitions) and become the first billionaire business owner of a space company to do so. In his brief time there, he took a moment to reflect on his life and to encourage the dreamers of tomorrow. His words, recorded many miles above the Earth's surface, should echo in all of our ears.
Podcast: The Wall Street AnalyzerEpisode: Clear Blue Technologies International's (TSXV: CBLU) CEO Miriam Tuerk talks about their Smart-Off Grid TechnologyPub date: 2019-02-08Clear Blue Technologies International(TSXV: CBLU)CEO: Miriam Tuerk INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS: WSA: Good day from Wall Street, this is Juan Costello, Senior Analyst with the Wall Street Analyzer. Joining us today is Miriam Tuerk, CEO and Co-Founder of Clear Blue Technologies. The company trades on a TSX Venture, ticker symbol CBLU. Thanks for joining us today, Miriam. Miriam Tuerk: Very pleased to spend some time with you. WSA: Sure. Please start off by providing us with an overview of the company for some of our listeners here today that are new to your story. Miriam Tuerk: Well, let me start first of all with what our products are all about. We have a patented Smart-Off Grid technology, and we use that technology to remotely manage, monitor, and control the power of IoT devices anywhere in the world 24/7. So, say for example, you have a telecom tower or a light pole powered by a solar panel or a wind turbine and a battery. Our smart controller communicates wirelessly in real-time to send our cloud-based system critical data, and through that we have a management technology platform as well as a service team that allows us to manage, monitor and control that power anywhere in the world today. One of the best features in our products is that we can predict how the system is going to perform through the weather. For instance, in the City of Hamilton, Ontario, over the next week we might have very bad weather, and we need to manage through a low-power period. Similarly, if you're dealing with a very hot place in Africa, you could have a period of time where the weather is very, very hot and you need to manage power through it. So our unique technology makes the systems resilient, reliable and eliminates the need for locally trained resources, in order to allow us to provide mission critical uptime power for infrastructure all over the world. We generate revenue in two ways. Firstly, we provide energy-as-a-service. We manage, monitor and operate the systems for our customers on an ongoing recurring revenue basis around the world. And because they want guaranteed performance, they ask us to provide them with the best technology in-system. So, in addition to our controller and power electronics technology, we provide an entire power solution with the best batteries, the best solar panels and systems, and that's the second form of our revenue. We're geographically diverse. We have customers in 35 countries around the world in more than 20 states in the US and eight Canadian provinces. And globally our systems have been installed to power controlled lighting, security cameras, cell phone towers, including sites inEurope, the Middle East, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa. WSA: So bring us of the speed there on some of your most recent news and activities. You just had a project there in North Dakota and one in Toronto? Miriam Tuerk: Yeah, so in January we announced our deployment of our solution across North Dakota with the Department of Transportation there. Many people would be familiar with the Humbolt tragedy that happened in Canada last year at a rural intersection, and so the safety and reliability of lighting at rural intersections to eliminate bad car accidents is the key motivation for this. And the Department of Transport in North Dakota selected us to provide 50 systems at 50 rural intersections across the state. We also just announced 40 street lights along Bloor Street West in Toronto. Bloor Street West is kind of like the Greenwich Village of Toronto and very nice neighborhood. We're powering street lights, security cameras and Wi-Fi hotspots in that area. That's an exciting project for us because cost savings versus going to the grid was quite significant. The City of Toronto said that they thought it would cost $35,000 per pole to connect to the grid, and with us they were saving more than $30,000 per pole with an off-grid solution. We also announced our new product line for lithium batteries in the last month. And last year, we had a number of huge telecom announcements. We’ve been selected as the smart off-grid power service and solution company for the Telecom Infra Project, founded by Facebook, among others. We announced our partnership with BRCK to provide off-grid power to thousands of hotspots and communication spots in Africa. We also announced a big partnership with Telefónica. They have a program called Internet para Todos, which aims to connect 100 million people to cell networks. Telefónica is one of the top five telecom companies in the world, with €54 billion in annual revenue. And this is going to allow them to expand their network by a material percentage and grow their business. And then lastly, we were listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in November, and then we had a couple of other smaller announcements. WSA: So what are some of the main goals and milestones that you're looking at here over the course of the next six to 12 months? Miriam Tuerk: So we've already achieved a number of key milestones. As of Q3 2018, we had installed more than 3350 systems worldwide. We listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. And our trailing fourth quarter revenues ended September 30th of last year with just under $4.5 million, which was almost 300% increase over the revenue of the same period of the previous year. So we are starting to move up the hockey stick in terms of recurring revenue and one-time revenue—we're doubling our revenue every year right now. And we've also laid in place a number of key partnerships, including our collaboration with the Telecom Infra Project, which was founded by Facebook, Intel, Nokia, SK Telecom and Deutsche Telekom. And that initiative which have got billions of dollars of investments from more than 400 companies around the world is planning on bringing the next billion people online and in order to do that they need power. From a forward-looking perspective, we're seeking selective opportunities to grow in different geographic marketplaces. We see some exciting things happening in South America as a result of our work we're doing with Telefónica in Peru and that will still grow. We see a lot of potential for this technology in Southeast Asia and other emerging markets. We hope to grow our partnership with Vanu out of Rwanda, and then potentially to places like India. And we're also starting to move and transition our revenue model to more and more increasing recurring revenue and a subscription based service. Already today, every customer we sell to has a recurring revenue service management contract with us where we manage and operate the systems. And our plan is to grow our recurring revenue significantly because that delivers value to the customer and value to our shareholders. WSA: Sure, what is the current market opportunity regarding the solar panel lighting and what makes you uniquely position there to capitalize and grab market share? Miriam Tuerk: So, the interesting thing about the power grid today is that it has not changed in over 100 years. It's pretty much the same as what Tesla and Westinghouse were building over a 100 years ago. Big central power generation and then a big mass of distribution networks is kind of what the telecom industry looked like 30 years ago. So when you look at the telecom industry, you used to have this monopolistic control of a slow-moving industry. There was one phone per household in North America, and one out of every 10 homes in an emerging market might have had a phone. AT&T and the RBACs and they had to try to break them up to try to introduce some disruption and get that industry moving forward. With the movement from grid telecom to wireless telecom all of a sudden, you had huge explosion in the number of wireless devices out there. Now everybody in the emerging markets has wireless telecommunications in many different places. And in the Western markets you have, say, five cell phones in the house. So the market grew significantly. From a capital markets perspective we went from AT&T, which was a low-valued monopolistic company not moving forward to significant disruption, innovation and competition. And so today you have T-Mobile, Verizon Mobile and Virgin Mobile who are all new entrants into the marketplace that have grabbed big market share. The power industry is about to go through exactly that same disruption. And the reason is because of solar technology. It’s not because solar is green that is a great benefit and a key value, but it's because our solar cell is 2 inches in size. And so if you do a big central generation station for water for hydro, for example, you have to build a huge generating station. But if you’re building a solar plant you’re taking millions of little solar cells and you're putting them in a central solar farm. The problem is $.40 of solar in a farm cost you another $.60 of cabling and distribution so that you're paying a buck for that solar at the streetlight pole or at the cell phone tower or at the security camera or at your house. But if you now take that $0.40 of solar and you put it at the streetlight, it costs you $.40 instead of the dollar. And so this fundamental economic shift. And the fact that it’s not a three year or a five year investment, it's a one-time cost savings, is driving this massive rollout. The City of Toronto at Bloor West Village estimated that it was going to cost them $35,000 per pole to connect that pole to the grid. Even though it was right in downtown Toronto right on the side of the sidewalk power is only 20, 30 feet away — but it's 20, 30 feet through concrete through rights-of-way, through roadways and through buildings and so very expensive. And instead of spending $35,000 they spent about $5,000 for the solar off-grid power. So that huge and compelling change also introduces competition. Now, all of a sudden, when the City of Hamilton wants to put in a wind streetlight down the street or a Wi-Fi hotspot somewhere they have more choices than just their local power utility. And so through that we believe over the next five to 10 years the world is going to go wireless power. We're aiming to become the leading energy-as-a-service company that's managing and operating those systems for the City of Toronto, the City of Hamilton, Telefónica and any other customer around the world, as that's where the business opportunity is. WSA: You were able to increase your revenues last quarter by over 280%. What are some of the key drivers there that you believe investors should be aware of about the company? Miriam Tuerk: The key driver is that in the Western markets, like North America, and in mission critical infrastructure, we've been able to prove to our customers how systems work and that they are operating well. So if you’re in Long Island, New York, and you've got these smart off-grid solar streetlights on a new roadway, we're able to show that we can make it through a Nor'Easter. We can make it through a rainstorm, if there's shading, or a new tree is growing, and here is how the systems perform. And because of that, we have built significant confidence in our products. And through that confidence we're starting to get everybody. So last fall we were able to announce that some traction in the Ontario market, we now have more than 18 municipalities in Southern Ontario. Everyone is starting to use it, because they have experienced our energy-as-a-service, and the proof of the experience of these systems work. And then when you look at things like the Telecom Infra Project. Two years ago, we did not have any telecommunications projects and systems. We did our first project with Vanu from the Bose family in the middle of 2017 about a year and a half ago, and within 18 months we went from 0% revenue, to 10% of total revenue in Q3 2018. And so in emerging markets and Western markets, and in both verticals (our lighting street infrastructure and our telecom cell phone tower business), we are growing significantly. And as we know, if we get into other verticals and deploy globally, the growth path is quite strong for us. WSA: Sure, and perhaps you can walk us through your background and experience Miriam and talk about who the key management team there is? Miriam Tuerk: So the company was founded by myself, John Tuerk, who is our Chief Power Officer and Mark Windrim who is our Chief Technology Officer. We started the company in my basement in 2011 and we all came from technical backgrounds in energy and in IT. We wanted to use our expertise to create something that could facilitate clean power, that with both low-cost and reliable enough to be installed for critical systems. We wanted to build a company that wasn’t dependent upon some of these, but was really going to be compelling from a business value proposition and solved the bigger problem. There is a huge opportunity for growth in this market. As our world becomes increasingly digitalized, we see growth in the Internet of Things, but the energy demand for these high-tech devices is actually decreasing. Through the growth of all of these smart devices we're going to have things such as safer railway infrastructures that have more braking systems to prevent train disrailment, and we have dark rural intersections which will reduce the risk of car accidents. All of that demand creates a significant opportunity to deliver something mission critical that's a key part of our safety and our infrastructure, and that can be cost beneficial with off-grid renewable energy. And because of this, we think the smart off-grid power in both the developed and the emerging world is going to explode, and it’s going to become the dominant power solution. I think that five to 10 years from now, in the same way that I would never think of putting a phone on my desk, I just use cellular phones, I'm going to not even think about wiring every streetlight or every telecom tower to the grid. It’s going to take over the emerging market very quickly. And as the developed world replaces their infrastructure and rolls out new IoT projects, like 5G which needs new telecom systems installed every few hundred feet. So it's a massive infrastructure rollout, and powering that through solar off-grid and eliminating the cable destruction is really where the market is going to go. WSA: Right, so once again joining us today is Miriam Tuerk, the CEO and Founder for Clear Blue Technologies. The company trades on the TSX venture, ticker symbol CBLU. And before we conclude here Miriam to recap some of your key points, why do you believe investors should consider the company as a good investment opportunity today? Miriam Tuerk: So with our growth strategy of geographic expansion, greater penetration in the global industry verticals and continued expansion into new industry and new vertical we believe that 2019 is going to be a breakout year for Clear Blue. Key pilot projects with new, very large customers that we announced last year like BRCK and Telefónica are a major focus for our team, and they lay the foundation for the future growth that we plan to capitalize on. We are confident that we will deliver long-term shareholder value as the revenues and margins grow as we grow our recurring revenue base. Clear Blue really at the start line. The market opportunity is huge and the telecom marketplace just shows you what happens when you have that type of transition. The time is now. Things are moving very quickly. We’re the first company in the sector, so we are the first market, we have a market leadership position. And with Facebook selecting us as the smart off-grid partner in the marketplace, they told us that they had talked to every major power company. I don’t want to list them, but they had gone to many of the top ones you'd think of when you talk about power technology, and no one had what we had built from a capability perspective. And then also we already have a huge footprint of existing customers. We have systems in 35 countries around the world and a proven proper hub, referenceable track record with many cities, many governments, many municipalities and many telcos. We've demonstrated that this is a great opportunity and that we can deliver on that opportunity to ultimately deliver great results to our shareholders, investors and our customers and other stakeholders. WSA: Well, we certainly look forward to continue and to track the company's growth and report on your upcoming progress, and we like to thank you for taking the time to join us today there Miriam and update our registered audience on CBLU. It was great having you on. Miriam Tuerk: Thanks so much for showing some interest in what we're doing.The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Analyzer, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.
Bob Stohrer knows a little something about overturning category conventions given his incredible experience at brands like Virgin Mobile and the NFL. Well, now he's training his sharp marketing mind on the home security category with Kangaroo and it won't be the same once he's finished with it. Check out the latest episode of Brands in Action.00:18 - Bob Stohrer Intro01:03 - How quarantine has been01:43 - Workplace culture changes due to Covid02:42 - Why was Kangaroo founded?07:13 - Business opportunities with increase in home delivery10:38 - What does security mean right now?13:10 - Kangaroo customer base14:38 - Building trust and combating fear to use this type of product17:15 - Creative strategy vs. other companies21:01 - The safety of risk22:52 - Small wins to build creative credibility24:52 - How brand drives organization29:17 - Holding creatives accountable33:44 - Education at Syracuse and NYU37:27 - Risky creative strategy
In this week's episode, I speak with Duncan who started as an engineer and spent years at Virgin Mobile. But he always had a focus on people and the human interaction between technology and customers. So when life presented an "interruption moment" he spun that human focused approach first into a psychology degree. He started a non-profit to help student think about their careers in Ghana and then created the Burnout Clinic in Toronto which helps companies and their leaders prevent or treat burnout. Little did he know that this focus on the human side of business was going to be so crucial as a pandemic hit the globe.In this episode we specifically talk aboutThe Hero's Journey and how those moments of resilience and questioning and forks in the road can end up creating an amazing careerRecognizing "interruption moments" and how to leverage those into a pivot in your life (and career!)A lot of talk about burnout!Finding our motivation through personal valiesAnd how we are coping through this pandemic in a collective movement that will hopefully continue as we start to figure out our new normal As always, please consider subscribing, leaving a rating and review and sharing this podcast and the whole series with others. We do this podcast to help spread the word that everyone can get unstuck and find the thing that brings them joy in their careers. If our guests can do it, you can too! Check out our Facebook Group (Career Changers) and Instagram page (@career_changers_kdw) for more tips! So let's connect so we can chat about the best way to get you unstuck and into a role, or life, that is right for you!More about Duncan...Duncan So is the Co-Founder & Executive Director at The Burnout Clinic. Duncan has been a child of corporate burnout that has led him professionally into the field of human flourishing for over a decade working on systemic social change projects. He's a social entrepreneur and change agent, on a mission to create a more passionate world building systems and programs for companies and communities on the path of making social good.Board Certified with the Association of Integrative Psychology. A Master Practitioner in Mental Emotional Release, NLP and Hypnosis. He graduated with a degree in Applied Sciences specializing in Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto.At the Burnout Clinic, we help HR Leaders and Entrepreneurs develop and integrate burnout intervention programs within their organization. Our flagship 2-day burnout intervention program stops the cycle of high anxiety, fatigue, creaWelcome to the Shine at Work Podcast! On this show, your co-hosts Karen and Dan will shine a light on your job search so you can land a role that lets you flex your strengths and progress your career in an environment you actually look forward to working in each day. From creating a stand-out resume, to confidently negotiating your salary, to finding your footing as a new manager, you can expect to hear actionable advice to help you shine your brightest in your role. Karen D. Weeks is the CEO and Chief Career Coach of Shine at Work Coaching. She has over twenty years of HR experience, including as CPO at Ordergroove. Dan Carr is a Shine at Work Career Coach with over a decade of recruiting experience helping high-growth startups expand with top talent. Connect with Us! Website Instagram Karen Weeks on LinkedIn Dan Carr on LinkedIn
What was the BEST experience you've ever had with a company in your past? Our guest's job is to either match that experience or deliver an even more enjoyable one.
The question on everyone's mind is… What Next? What happens when venues are able to open up again? Will audiences still hunger for live experiences in the same way? And what can everyone in the events industry do until then to keep from going under? My guest in this episode, Eyal Simko, is owner of The One Up Group, a full service events production company with clients like Sony and Virgin Mobile, and he may have a pulse on this. Eyal and I talked about what opportunities every event creator - both large and small - has for changing their brand experience by incorporating virtual into their strategy and content, and how his company's new platform VirtualCr8tive was conceived from helping some of the world's largest entertainment brands reposition themselves in 2020. Homepage: http://www.TheOneUpGroup.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theoneupgroup --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/shomeelife/support
Welcome to season 2 of The Party Crashers Podcast! Season 2 is all about taking a deep-dive and walking you through how to pull off different types of events; Conferences, Live Events, Festivals, Premieres, Wedding etc. We hope you have your life jacket ready! In Episode 1, we sit down with Adriana Contreras, Director of Production at Crown+Conquer to chat about how they pulled off the Spotify Secret Genius Award show (Pre-Covid). Of course Adriana shares other tips and fun stories about her journey in the industry. Adriana Contreras started her career working with brands such as adidas, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, the Academy and prior to joining Crown + Conquer as the Director of Production she worked at Create & Cultivate. With over 18 years experience, Adriana has developed a diverse skill-set that has spanned marketing, advertising and event production. Adriana has a passion for producing multifaceted events for the brands she works with, wanting to connect consumers in an authentic way with the brands. Her specialty lies in being forward thinking, decisive, creative and interpreting a strategic vision into a brand's activation. Now as a Director here at Crown + Conquer, Adriana oversees all of C+C's experiential events & projects, servicing a wide range of clients like Amazon, YouTube, Sprite and many others. REMEMBER TO LIKE, COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST! Follow us on Instagram @thepartycrasherspodcast . Email us with questions, appearance requests or sponsorship opportunities: ThePartyCrashersPodcast@gmail.com As always thank you to Nathaniel W. James (@nateplayskeyz) for your editing and music production services. For more info about Crown + Conquer, check out @wearecrownandconquer on IG (Heads up. We spotted an open Sr. Event Manager position. Check out the post here on linkedIn)
On this episode of the podcast we are joined by a special guest, Michele Molino the Founder of Female CoFounder. Michele is a badass female entrepreneur, and also a Product Manager at Vmware Pivotal Labs. She's previously worked on brands like Virgin Mobile, CraveTV, Bell and Lucky Mobile. Michele is a proud Schulich alumna who graduated with Honours and Distinction specializing in Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Finance. Now she's creating an opportunity to uplift women who are excited about building the future of tech.For every 20 start-up founders in the technology sector, less than 3 are women. We're working with everyone in the tech community to change that. Female CoFounder is a community where you build diverse teams for side-projects and startups. Join the community at www.femalecofounder.com - If you've ever thought about starting a side hustle, building a business or venturing into entrepreneurship, this is the conversation for you. Michele shares her story about how Female CoFounder was built, some of the challenges and setbacks she's gone through and her learnings along the way. Nika's been a community member of FemaleCoFounder since their early days, and led their first Lightning Talks on Risk and Resilence in entrepreneurship, and how to build up your risk tolerance. Michele talks about the community she's building and how important it is to have the right people by your side when you're creating something special. With Michele we unpack what are some common fears that hold women back from starting businesses. We talk about how to get out of your own head and how to persevere.
T-Mobile today announced that it has closed a deal that divests Sprint's pre-paid businesses, including Boost and Virgin Mobile. The news finds Dish entering the wireless carrier game in earnest, courtesy of the $1.4 billion deal. The whole thing was, of course, a key part of T-Mobile's bid to merge with Sprint. It was a […]
Darrell Cox, CFO at Vena I chat with Darrell about: His path to the CFO seat at Vena, with stops as the VP Finance at Freshbooks and various finance roles within telcos such as Rogers, Virgin Mobile and WIND. Vena Solutions — what the company does and what its all about. As a company, Vena helps finance leaders in organizations plan for the future through its FP&A software. To that end, Darrell shares how finance leaders can be ready to capitalize on opportunities navigating through a time of crisis and be ready to come back stronger post-crisis. The importance of the finance leader to be a storyteller and look beyond the numbers. The biggest misconception about the finance function within growth stage software companies like Vena. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/backbone/message
CES 2020 surprises, Sprint to shutter Virgin Mobile, and the latest 5G expectations for the iPhone. How to Contact us: 650-999-0524 How to Listen:
The EU pushes for more encrypted private communications, Virgin Mobile goes iPhone only, and the OnePlus 5 is revealed. How to Contact us: 650-999-0524 How to Listen:
All the news and devices out of CES 2017, T-Mobile cuts fees from its rates plans, and Sprint refreshes Virgin Mobile. How to Contact us: 650-999-0524 How to Listen:
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