Episodes
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And we are back. The new season of the Startup (R)evolution podcast is going live!
This is the show for leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs wanting to do things differently.
For those of us who want to lead and work in a new way but have come to realize that good leadership is more complex than simply having that one great idea.
True leadership is about the difficult decisions and trade-offs, we encounter whilst executing against our vision.
The first episode in 2024 - this very one - is with John Schneider. He is the CMO at Betterworks, a performance management software. In this role, he is responsible for marketing, which includes brand, product marketing, public and analyst relations, demand generation, events, and customer marketing.
Five facts about John:
John has been working in Silicon Valley for more than 20 yearsHe recently led a start-up to IPO on Nasdaq with a $2B valuation.Taught at Santa Clara University’s business school for 7 years, alongside his regular job.Has 3 boys with his wife, and lives in San DiegoJohn and I have worked together since 2021.In this conversation, we discuss John’s approach to leadership: head, hands, and heart.
If you are surprised or excited to hear the word heart - this episode is for you!
We cover why John opted for being a generalist and visionary vs specialist, what he learned from the 4-year journey to IPO at his last company, and when he last admitted a mistake to his team.
Let's dive in!
⭐ Don't forget to follow John:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schneider/
Betterworks page: www.betterworks.com
⭐ For more of The Startup (R)evolution you can check out our links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_startup_revolution/
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
Viola Eva’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/violaeva/
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New episodes coming in spring 2024!
We are excited to change the world of startups for the better.
But trying to make a difference and turning out good intentions into reality has proven to be more complicated than expected.
We constantly encounter unexpected second-order effects: When we solve one issue, we end up unintentionally creating another one.
It is dawning on you that being a good leader is more complex than simply having that one big idea.
True leadership is about the difficult decisions and trade-offs you encounter whilst executing it.
On this show, we explore the entrepreneurial zeitgeist with the aim to work and lead differently.
Between all of us, we can decode what it will take to be a leader today.
New episodes coming in spring 2024!
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Missing episodes?
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This week’s guest is Frederik Hermann, the VP of digital marketing at software startup Beekeeper. We met two years ago when he started the role and have worked together directly since then.
Interestingly enough, Frederik studied in Karlsruhe, near my hometown. He has lived in California for almost two decades, serving as a marketing leader for various startups.
In today's conversation, we talk about the turbulent year that 2023 has been so far - and why AI changes everything.
Frederik shares with us how he measures engagement and happiness in his team, what he looks for when he hires, and what it takes to progress from individual contributor to VP.
Let's dive in.
⭐ More about Frederik Hermann
Frederik is a senior marketing executive passionate about technology and innovation with a focus on marketing strategy, user acquisition, and growth.
He’s a resourceful, dynamic, and effective marketing executive with a record of achievement in developing and directing strategic marketing activities in challenging and highly competitive markets. Frederik is an influential leader with exemplary business sense and expertise, leading cross-functional teams and efficient campaigns that drive pipeline and revenue.
⭐ Follow Frederik on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederikhermann/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/frederikhermann
Company website: https://www.beekeeper.io/
Personal website: https://www.frederikhermann.com/
⭐ Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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Brett and I met at a B2B marketer mastermind led by Jay Acunzo, a previous guest.
In the mastermind, Brett was working on The Juice, and I was working on the premise of this very show, The Startup Revolution.
We kick off this episode by discussing what it takes to go on vacation without your laptop. And I must admit that I am very guilty for not turning off my laptop during holidays this year - and planning to be better at it again.
Brett McGrath is The Juice's VP of Marketing and the Modern Day Marketer podcast host. We discuss the difference between working for a small early-stage startup vs. bigger and more corporate companies.
This is really a conversation of two marketers feeding off each other, talking about personal brands in B2B, pipeline creation, email marketing, experimentation, and building a brand.
⭐More about Brett McGrath
Brett has spent 13 years in the B2B SaaS industry in various marketing functional and leadership roles. His passions are messaging and positioning, sales alignment, demand generation, and content creation. Brett is highly focused on building out go-to-market strategies that elevate the organization's brand and develop sales pipeline. He’s results-driven and believes it's all about bringing in the right people.
⭐Follow Brett on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettmcgrath/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/IndyMcGrath
Company website: https://www.thejuicehq.com/
Podcast & Newsletter: https://www.thejuicehq.com/modern-day-marketer
⭐Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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My guest today is Grant Donovan PhD, Grant and I met whilst developing a Search marketing and content strategy for his new company Chaos Cultures.
His perspective on leadership immediately inspired me: He embraces the Chaos that is inherent to organizations.
All workplace cultures are complex and chaotic by nature because they contain an array of genetically diverse people, with varied personal experiences, a range of intelligence levels, differing belief systems, broad personality variations, mixed motivations and assorted aspirations that are all thrown randomly together in a group where productive outcomes normally rely heavily on collaborative efforts.
I don’t know about you but acknowledging that leadership and teams are chaotic by nature was a relief for me!
⭐More about Grant Donovan, PhD:
Grant Donovan is a specialist in culture change and the development of leaders.
With a background in performance psychology, Grant moved to corporate coaching and
consulting in 1984.
He is a frequent presenter at International Management Conferences and has led many management tours to the best performing worksites in Europe and North America.
Grant has written five management books including the best-selling, “The Customer and the Performance Power of Self-Managed Work Teams,” and is co-author of the very popular “Coffee Conversations: The Simple Leadership Secret of High Performance Workplaces.”
⭐Follow Grant on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantdonovan/
⭐Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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My guest today is Alison Murdock - Alison has worked as a marketing leader for many tech startups in the Bay Area, including Firstup and 6sense.
On today's episode, we talk about what is working for startups in the wild year that 2023 has been so far. We dive into go-to-market motion and how it affects marketing, the channels we use, the metrics we track, and the teams we build.
Alison and I meet at a conference in Austin this spring and immediately hit it off. Her consultancy offers startups and growth-stage companies the marketing resources, experience, and talents to make a greater impact on their business.
If you're wondering how to build your marketing team from scratch, this episode is for you!
⭐Follow Alison on her socials:
🌀Company website: https://www.trustedcmo.com/
🌀LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisonmurdock/
⭐ Don’t forget to follow us:
🌀Instagram: @the_startup_revolution
🌀LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-revolution-podcast/
🌀Website: http://the-startup-revolution.com
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The SaaS marketplace is getting more and more crowded by the day. We are more distracted than ever as we get flooded with content, especially this year with the rise of AI content tools. So the voices advocating for uniqueness and creativity for B2B brands are getting louder and louder.
However, saying you need to build a strong brand is always easier said than done. Today, we take a dive deep with Nick Gaudio into what it truly means to make it weird as a B2B brand. We discuss creating unique brand messages and building your marketing organization around that.
Nick is a former seventh-time AP award-winning writer and creative writing professor. He has served as a brand and marketing expert for the last 10 years. Most recently, he's been working for the revenue workflow tool Rattle.
Let's dive in.
⭐Follow Nick on her socials:
🌀Company website: www.gorattle.com
🌀LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nick-gaudio-a88229132/
⭐ Don’t forget to follow us:
🌀Instagram: @the_startup_revolution
🌀LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-revolution-podcast/
🌀Website: http://the-startup-revolution.com
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My guest today is Abril Lombardi; we met a few months ago when she wrote me this bold message from LinkedIn: “The truth is, I really admire your work, and I follow your webinars regularly, and since I'm looking for a new remote work opportunity, I thought you were one of the big ones I wanted to contact.”
Since then, she has supported Flow as an SEO specialist. But this episode is not about SEO.
It's about Abril's journey from a journalism degree to marketing professional. It's about outreach, job hunting, and the challenges of remote work. April is bold, and she doesn't give up. She is a great example for Gen Z and millennials that want to dream bigger and take a leap of faith, especially when searching for a new job.
So let's dive in.
⭐ More about Abril
Abril's career path began at the age of 15 as a fashion model. Four years later, her passion for communication and journalism led her to obtain a degree in the field and quit modeling. By then, she began creating content for her social media, which sparked her love for marketing and growing businesses online.
Driven by her passion for telling stories, Abril has honed her SEO Specialist, Copywriter, and content marketer skills, collaborating with remote teams and startups from the U.S., Canada, and Germany. She's now looking forward to combining her marketing and journalistic skills as a business storyteller.
⭐Follow Abril on her socials:
🌀Instagram: @abilombardi🌀Tiktok:@abiroad__🌀Youtube: https://youtube.com/@abilombardi 🌀LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/abril-lombardi/
⭐ Don’t forget to follow us:
🌀Instagram: @the_startup_revolution🌀LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-revolution-podcast/ 🌀Website: http://the-startup-revolution.com
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In today's episode, Juliana Mendez and I decode some of the myths around startup growth and what it takes to be successful in B2B SaaS.
Juliana is a Fractional Growth Marketing leader for B2B SaaS startups. She leads growth marketing teams for a fixed time of three to six months. So she needs to make good things happen quickly.
She gets hired to sell specific growth challenges. To build, hire, and develop growth marketing teams and implement cross-functional processes and a culture of growth. Growth marketing is a cross-functional approach across marketing, product, and sales that is looking to optimize end to end, from acquisition to retention and monetization.
Juliana has a very data-led lean and experimentation-based approach, and I really appreciate her learnings from knowing the behind-the-scenes of a variety of startups and teams.
So let's dive in.
⭐More about Juliana:
Juliana is a tri-lingual fractional VP of growth marketing and startup advisor for B2B SaaS, with more than a decade of professional experience in creating data-driven growth strategies from the early stage to the growth stage (0-30M ARR).
Her industry focus: (product-led, hybrid, Sales-led) B2B SaaS, product-led Sales transformation, TravelTech, FinTech, PropTech.
⭐Follow Juliana on social media:
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/julianamendez/
⭐Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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My guest today is Jay Acunzo, a podcast host of many shows, writer, speaker, and a major inspiration of mine on the intersection of art and marketing.
He was also our coach for developing the premise of The Startup (R)evolution, which is this: It always sounds easy in the business books and Ted Talks. But the kinks and second-order effects get unraveled in the implementation.
So in this episode, we talk about creativity and authenticity in B2B.Jay says: "The problem isn't bots replacing tons of creators; the problem is tons of creators acting like bots. "
Let's dive in.
⭐ More about Jay
He’s an author, show host, speaker, and brand consultant. His narrative-style podcast, Unthinkable, has been heard by over a million people worldwide. (It’s kinda like Radiolab but for creators.) Jay also writes books, develop & hosts original series for brands, and offer 1:1 coaching to help you resonate more deeply and build your brand and audience.
In 2023, Jay founded a membership program to help you push yourself creatively: the Creator Kitchen.
Previously, he worked in marketing and editorial roles at Google, HubSpot, and ESPN and as a creative leader for a tiny startup and the VC firm, NextView.
Jay’s grand aspiration/delusion is to be the Anthony Bourdain of workplace storytelling.
Make sure to follow Jay:
⭐ Website: https://jayacunzo.com/
⭐ Twitter: @jayacunzo
⭐ Instagram: @jacunzo
⭐ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo/
Follow us:
⭐ Instagram: @the_startup_revolution
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My guest today is Julio Taylor. He is the CEO of Hallam Agency, a digital marketing agency with 60 employees and almost 5 million pounds in revenue.
In this episode, we discuss the path to becoming CEO and embracing the visionary and oneself. What is special about Julio is that he compares his business journey to his time playing full-time and an alternative metal band.
⭐ We discuss creative differences, power struggles, and setting the right incentives. He talks about how you need to know your instrument, but also your role in a band, and that not everyone needs to be a songwriter or front center. From here, we have a side discussion about agency operations and time tracking specifically; again, this is all about incentives.
For many agency owners, just like myself, time tracking is at the core of capacity planning and profitability analysis. But now that AI is making us so much more productive, time spent might have just become obsolete as a way to evaluate the value of our work. Who says that if you could start over again, he would build a culture without time tracking poorly is open, honest, and well-reflected; you will enjoy this one.
Let's dive in!
⭐ More about Julio:
Julio is a highly experienced leader with a proven track record of leading successful teams on demanding and high-performing projects and campaigns. Skilled in Digital Marketing Strategy, UX, and brand strategy.
CEO of Hallam, winner of Google's Growing Business Online 2019 award and 6 of The Drum's awards including Agency of the Year 2019. Hallam is an emerging force in the digital space, helping clients to thrive in a digital world.
He also works closely with senior leadership teams at global companies to improve the way they think, work and deliver digital experiences for their audiences.
Don’t forget to follow Julio:
⭐LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliotaylor/?originalSubdomain=uk
⭐ Website: https://www.hallaminternet.com/team/julio-taylor/
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Welcome back to the show, everyone! In this episode, we sit down with Helene Jelenc, a fascinating anthropologist turned SEO expert.
Helene shares her journey, which started with a master's degree in anthropology from the US and led her to live in various countries before settling down in Slovenia. Helene has gained extensive experience in research, consulting, editing, content writing, SEO, and cultural consulting as a freelancer. In 2022, she joined my Agency, Flow SEO, as part of the team and has inspired everyone ever since.
Our conversation centers around Helene's decision to transition from a successful career in entrepreneurship to becoming part of a team. We explore what motivated her to make this change and how she has grown personally and professionally since the switch.
As two marketing enthusiasts, Helene and I also discuss the ever-changing landscape of search and what excites us about new marketing strategies.
So, get ready for an insightful conversation with Helene. Don't miss out!
⭐More about Helene:
She’s an American living in Slovenia, a curious traveler, and a mother of chickens who travels for food and music.
Coming from a research background, Helene stumbled upon marketing when she began blogging in the early 2010s. Her interest in SEO quickly blossomed, and she started working with brands to create authentic and intentional content that ranks.
Helene is a huge fan of collaborative projects, original research, creative content that pushes the boundaries of what’s out there, and anyone who at least gives an honest effort.
⭐Follow Helene on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenejelenc/
Blog: https://wanderinghelene.com/
Instagram: @wanderinghelene
⭐Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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My guest today is Pablo Fernandez, a community builder passionate about human connection. He is the Founder of Secret Table, a renowned experienced design company that connects leaders, innovators, artists, and entrepreneurs.
In our conversation, we talked about my well-made events, deep connection, and psychological safety. No one wants a sleazy networking event with business cards. But we are all burnt out from zoom and small talk as well. We are so eager, and we're so meant to connect deeply.
Pablo shares about consciously creating community and why you might want to spend time with those who are different from you. Let's dive in.
⭐ More about Pablo
Pablo Fernandez is the founder of Secret Table, a renowned experience design company that connects leaders, innovators, artists, and entrepreneurs. On a mission to share the importance of in-person connection and a supportive community, he advises multiple start-ups and serves on the board or leadership team of various nonprofits, such as the San Diego Food Systems Alliance.
He is also a start-up mentor through the Founder Institute. Pablo has hosted and produced over 300 events over the past decade. Most recently, is advising Experience House, a one-month creative mastermind and artist residency for experienced designers and community builders.
⭐ Follow Pablo on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pabloafernandez/
Website: https://www.secrettable.co/
⭐Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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In this episode, we explore the psychology of change and why organizational shift is more than just tools and practices with my guest, Ken Paskins, an expert executive coach and fractional COO.
Together, we delve into the importance of vulnerability and honesty in leadership and how fostering trust within your team can lead to success.
At the beginning of the episode, we talked quite a bit about EOS. This is short for Entrepreneurial Operating System. It's a management methodology by Gino Wickman, which emphasizes the importance of clear goals, success metrics, and check-ins to enable business growth.
Whether you're looking to implement a new system or scale up your business, this episode is for you. Because, as usual, these systems are easy in their best-selling books. But complexity arises during implementation.
⭐ More about Ken
Ken Paskins, Founder of GCE Strategic Consulting and COO of The Shift Spot™, is an accomplished CEO / COO and Executive Coach. Ken brings a broad range of leadership experience, including operations, sales, acquisitions, strategic planning, and P&L management (up to $500M) while leading teams north of 400 people across North America and Europe for Fortune 100 companies such as Oracle.
Ken is a results-oriented, decisive, and strategic executive with proven success in leading and scaling organizations. He has worked with a wide range of industries and company sizes in various funding stages by helping companies get "unstuck” so they can scale to the next level!
⭐ Follow Ken on social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenpaskins
GCE Website: https://www.gcestrategicconsulting.com/
The Shift Spot: https://www.theshiftspot.com/
⭐Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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JR and I first met in 2018 in Black Rock City. John D. Russell is a photographer, content creator, and adventure guide. He's also my friend who taught me what to do when stuck in a sandstorm where you can't see at arm's length.
Yes, he is the leader of my Burning Man Camp Hex Collective. I wanted to talk with him because of the wild conditions when leading at Burning Man. Everyone is a volunteer gifting their time and energy, and the conditions are extreme between the heat, sandstorms, and cold.
But everyone is ultimately united in a shared vision and common values. So in this episode, we talk about becoming a leader, choosing your language carefully, letting go, and letting people make their own mistakes.
They say a burner can endlessly talk about Burning Man. Let’s dive in!
⭐ More about John D. Russell
John D. Russell is a Visual Storyteller passionately driven to help businesses stand out from their competition through persuasive visual media, marketing, and education. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accountancy from CSU, San Marcos.
A Best Selling Author, John is internationally published and has been on assignment in over 30 countries. His client list includes brands such as Toyota, Airbnb, Skechers, Habitat for Humanity, and many more.
Follow John D. Russell on social media:
⭐Website: www.johndrussell.com
⭐Hex Collective: www.hexcollective.org
Don't forget to follow us:
⭐Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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Kevin Indig is a strategic growth advisor who has run SEO organizations for companies like Shopify, G2, and Atlassian. He has also consulted for brands like Ramp and Eventbrite.
Kevin is on a mission to accelerate technology that can solve the world's biggest problems and on today’s episode, he shares his new journey as an independent advisor.
We talked about the advantages and disadvantages of working in a big company versus working for yourself.
We dive into the world of Chat GPT/AI and have a wild conversation about copyright, the definition of art, first-order thinking, creativity, and the ethics of promoting oneself on social media.
And finally, we discuss leadership and the meaning of success to him. It's a wild and interesting conversation that you won't want to miss. Let's dive in!
⭐ Make sure to follow Kevin on his socials:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kevin_Indig
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinindig/
Website: https://www.kevin-indig.com/
Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/c/KevinIndig
⭐ Don't forget to follow us:
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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In today's episode, we talk about holacracy, asynchronous communication, and remote-first culture
These are three modalities that embrace autonomy and ownership within your team.
I love talking with today's guest, Lavinia, because she's so thoughtful.
And she also has more than 10 years of experience in building remote teams.
She is the managing partner of Livit International. a support system for entrepreneurs, startups, and remote workers who build tech and digital businesses.
She's also the founder of The Remote Skills Academy, an education platform for Indonesians who want to learn to work remotely.
In this episode we uncover what it takes to work collaboratively in a remote and cross-cultural organization.
⭐ More about Lavinia:
Livit has been incubating and nurturing remote-capable teams, projects, and companies for the last 10+ years. They’ve worked with over 1000 clients from across the world, and their partner portfolio at any given time spans 10-25+ countries.
Lavinia is also the founder of the Remote Skills Academy, an education platform for Indonesians who want to learn to work remotely, and a founding member of the Remote-First Institute.
Livit recently won the Flexible Workplace Award for "Outstanding Employee Wellbeing" at Running Remote in Montreal, are amongst the 2% happiest and most engaged teams worldwide according to OfficeVibe, and is a top 3 Best Workplace in Indonesia in 2022, and a top 25 Best Workplace across Asia & Middle East according to Great Places To Work®.
Lavinia has lived in 8 countries on 4 continents, and explored 35+ others. She is a fan of jazz, heritage architecture, food, nature, and a future of work enthusiast.
Follow Lavinia on social media:
⭐ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laviniaiosub/
⭐ Livit: https://www.linkedin.com/company/livit-ecosystem/
⭐ Remote Skill Academy: https://www.linkedin.com/company/remote-skills-academy-by-livit/
Don't forget to follow us:
⭐ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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If you're like me, and you find yourself glued to the laptop way too often, this episode is for you.
Today's episode is about what can seem like contradictions:
Laptop work and flow states, the office and movement, entrepreneurship and embodiment, discipline, and creativity.
But throughout the episode, you will learn how one can serve the other.
My guest today is Annika Rhea, a performance artist and Flow coach from New York. The basis of her art is Flow, a combination of rapid creative problem-solving, energized presence in the moment, and mastery of her craft.
She even changed her last name to Rhea the goddess of Flow to commit herself entirely to the art form.
Her teachings on art and business, as well as the business of art, are about the absence of resistance and a constant process of exception and adaption to push through assistance and find Flow.
⭐ More about Annika:
Annika Rhea is an immersive action painter and movement artist based in Brooklyn, NY.
She is the creator of BODY MEDIUM, a painting technique that utilizes the body in motion as a painting tool. Her work merges visual art, performance art, and video art. Rhea is a process-oriented artist and is inspired by the relationship between motion, color, rhythm, and emotion.
Follow Annika on social media:
⭐ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annikarheaart/
⭐ Website: https://annikarhea.com/
Don't forget to follow us:
⭐ Linktree: https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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We all read the same business books and watch the same Ted talks. However, our visions for success are radically different.
Do you really know what you are optimizing for when growing your company? Growth, headcount, revenue, profit, freedom, impact or creativity?
In this episode, we talk about why great advice for one leader, one vision and one company might be the wrong advice for another one.
You will learn about the 4 stages of your entrepreneurial journey. And we will decode why certain ideas work for certain stages - and not for other ones.
In this episode, I am speaking with Jodie Cook. She built and sold her social media agency over a ten-year period and writes books and articles about entrepreneurship. Fun fact: She also competes internationally in powerlifting.
Follow Jodie Cook on social media:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cookjodie/
Website: https://jodiecook.com/ten-year-career
Don't forget to follow us for more insightful content:
https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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Today, we discuss why having good intentions is not enough to have an impact on the world.
You will learn about the intricacies and second-order effects of some of the hottest trends in start-up culture:
⭐ What are the downsides of financial transparency and profit sharing?
⭐ Why would a wellness program lead to more stress?
⭐ And do we really want radical ownership from our team members?
In this episode, I am speaking with Gareth Hermann. He is the co-founder of the digital marketing agency Magic. They are first and foremost catering to conscious companies. They famously worked on the presidential campaign for Marianne Williamson or the Denver Psilocybin Initiative.
We talk about some of the creative new ways of working and leading that he implemented - the ones that worked out - and the ones that lead to struggle, challenges, and unexpected consequences. Let’s dive in!
Follow Gareth Hermann on social media:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gareth-hermann
Don't forget to follow us for more insightful content:
https://linktr.ee/the_startup_revolution
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