Episódios
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Huijin Kong is a beacon of inspiration and empowerment, making an enduring impact in the world of business leadership. A tenacious achiever, she earned her stripes graduating summa cum laude from Wharton and securing an M.B.A. with Highest Distinction from Harvard Business School. Driven by an unyielding faith in the inherent potential of every individual, she fearlessly carves her path, leaving a lasting impact in her wake.
Currently, as the Principal Counselor at LinHart Group and co-author of 'Positive Influence: The First and Last Mile of Leadership,' Huijin continues to inspire and empower.
In today’s episode, Huijin tells us how she was called to this career, sheds light on the challenges faced by higher-ups in maintaining their purpose, and how leaders can positively influence their teams.
Press play to hear Huijin’s thoughts on…
Taking the leap and trusting yourself
“Success and our pride is very, very hard to let go. That was the most difficult thing for me in my own transition— to move on from one successful career to, frankly, what looked like a not very promising second career that I probably will fail at. So, do you dare to take the leap and then find the courage in yourself and in your company and your organization to do it?”
Being an influencer at your company
“The key as an influencer is to really understand the key goals that you have, that your company has. What's going to be difficult for people? Because our definition of influence and leadership, which is interrelated, is ‘Are you able to get someone to do something better, faster, or new that they wouldn't have otherwise done?'"
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After winning her first Olympic medals for Canada in Turin (2006) and Vancouver (2010) and achieving the Guinness World Record for World Championship freestyle skiing gold medals, Jennifer Heil turned her athlete’s focus to founding RYA Health, and to becoming a policy developer of Safe Sport to address abuse and harassment.
In today’s episode, Jennifer talks about how her Olympic career led her to a holistic approach to training that has translated to her work as an entrepreneur, especially the meditation practices that she started at a young age. She also dives into how technology is changing the future of women’s healthcare.
Press play to hear Jennifer’s thoughts on…
How to methodically approach each business deal
"When you're a hot funded startup with a bunch of money and investors behind you...there's a tendency to think, we can do it all at any given time. And that's just not possible."
Getting the most value out of your business deals
"So many companies play a superficial service level type of business. But why not go get 50% of this market? When I look at doing these deals, I say, I am gonna go after this and do this until I hit what I think is 50 or 60% of the value of what I'm doing here. And then I'm going to ignite something else."
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Ever wonder where the term “Subscription Economy” came from?
In a nutshell, it came from Tien Tzuo, CEO and founder of Zuora. Today, Tien is recognized as one of the thought leaders in the software-as-a-service industry. He founded Zuora in 2007, ultimately building one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies. Over the years, he’s evangelized the shift to subscription-based business models and the complex billing structures they inherit.
In today’s episode, Tien talks about how his work at SalesForce—he was employee number 11—impacted the work he’s doing today with Zuora, the importance of customer relationships, the evolution of subscription-based services, and what the future of SaaS companies looks like.
How to view customers as subscribers
“We think less of the subscription and more of the subscriber, and our view is that the modern business starts with a customer and envisions a customer as a subscriber.”
Building subscriber relationships
“So it's a re-envisioning start with the relationship, build relationships...There's so many companies out there and so many ways of thinking that says, look, we're just trying to do a deal, versus we're trying to count how many relationships we have, and then find all sorts of ways to monetize those relationships."
The trend of ‘anything as a service’
"This whole SaaS thing that you and I live in and take for granted, it's going to evolve and take over the world. It's not software eats the world, right? It's really 'as a service' eats the world. And this whole idea of anything as a service is probably the biggest trend in the next 10, 20 years."
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Kurt is a technology entrepreneur, world explorer, and expert in business development. The first 20 years of his career were spent between the San Francisco Bay Area and Asia working with technology startups in finance and business development roles. Today, Kurt is the CEO of the startup, Stealth Smiles.
During this episode he talks about how to methodically pursue and land big deals. He breaks the process down into three parts: Chart Your Course, Galvanize Your Crew and Maneuver Strategically, and Land the Deal and Expand. Master these and you’ll be on your way to landing the lighthouses and building an enduring business.
How to methodically approach each business deal
"When you're a hot funded startup with a bunch of money and investors behind you...there's a tendency to think, we can do it all at any given time. And that's just not possible."
Getting the most value out of your business deals
"So many companies play a superficial service level type of business. But why not go get 50% of this market? When I look at doing these deals, I say, I am gonna go after this and do this until I hit what I think is 50 or 60% of the value of what I'm doing here. And then I'm going to ignite something else."
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“No one ever gained a lot by risking next to nothing.”
This is why Tim Prendergast is so successful in everything he does, from being a CEO to being a dad to his three daughters. Today, as the CEO of StrongDM, he and his team work to solve the problem of getting people access to infrastructure in a safe and sane way.
Before working at StrongDM, Tim was the principal architect for Adobe's Cloud Team and became a seed investor in technologies he truly believes in. Tim is an expert in all things cloud security, cloud infrastructure, and building and scaling SaaS businesses.
In today's episode, Tim talks about how all great innovation starts with pushing the envelope of what's possible. He also talks about what he learned as a 'Chief Couch Officer' (COO), where he took a step back from a fast-paced career to play video games and, most importantly, teach his kids essential concepts, from entrepreneurship to security to computers.
Press play to hear Tim’s thoughts on…
Why Tim joined StrongDM
"A lot of people ask me like, what got you off the couch? The answer is amazing people and amazing technology. And I think that's a true statement for probably most founders who are passionate about tech."
The power of teamwork in a tech startup
"We're gonna unlock the power of what teamwork can actually do when we don't put the entire burden on either a sales team or an engineering team, but we actually have an entire company moving in a direction using their kind of digital infrastructure to power their business."
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First and foremost, Jay Kaplan is a technical security expert. He has served in many high-profile cybersecurity roles—including at the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency. Jay was also selected as Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology.
After seeing a gap in the cybersecurity space, Jay started his own cybersecurity company in 2013, ultimately co-founding Synack. Synack is an organization that strives to unite technology and human intelligence to revolutionize the cybersecurity world. With this approach, Synack has developed a premier security testing platform that protects federal agencies, DoD classified assets, and a growing list of Global 2000 customers.
In today’s episode, Jay talks about the rise of ransomware and how to protect yourself and your company against it. He also discusses the evolution of cybersecurity over the last decade and how consumers can secure their accounts.
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How people started working in the cybersecurity
"People that transitioned into the cybersecurity field generally were doing something else. They were handling infrastructure, they were system administrators, they were software developers, etc., and they just became fascinated in this subject."
The complicated nature of cybersecurity
"I think there really is no manual to have a comprehensive security strategy. It's not like you go read the Security for Dummies book and go through the pages and you're good. So it makes things very complicated.”
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“I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”
– Wayne Gretzky
When Andrei Hagiu wrote a Harvard Business Review case study on AppDirect, he used this quote from Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to show the mindset each founder should have before starting their company. Andrei is an expert in platform strategy and started a career in academics as an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, as well as at MIT Sloan. Andrei's research and teaching focus entirely on platform businesses (e.g., Airbnb, Amazon.com, Facebook, etc.) and their unique strategic challenges.
Today, Andrei is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.
In today’s episode, Andrei talks about the difference between virality and network effect, how to create a successful, multi-sided platform business, and the future of Web3’s decentralized platforms.
Press play to hear Andrei’s thoughts on…
Making your platform user-friendly
"You want to make it very easy for individual users to adopt it, right? That's the key because it matters to you to have a lot of users, and then it's easier from there to actually become a platform later on."
The difference between virality and network effect
"Virality just means...if you do a marketing campaign and your customers tell other customers about your product, it's of course a very useful tool. But that doesn't mean that your product all of a sudden has network effect. Network effect is basically my willingness to pay us higher for this particular platform or product if there are other customers on this platform."
Creating a healthy relationship between buyers and sellers
"Make it easier for you to transact with them, which in itself is an insurance against leakage, right? If all you're doing is making it easier for buyers and sellers to find each other, why would they come back to you once they found each other?"
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Andy Whyte has literally written the book on the power of the MEDDICC sales system. His book, “MEDDICC: The ultimate guide to staying one step ahead in the complex sale,” outlines how to apply the MEDDICC framework to any sales deal. But before Andy became a powerhouse in sales, he was an account executive at impressive companies like Oracle and Sprinklr. He also led many successful sales teams at various companies before starting out on his own. Today, Andy is the CEO and founder of MEDDICC, an organization that helps build elite competency in sales teams.
In today's episode, Andy talks about how the best salespeople are good at solving their customers' problems. He shares his three critical parts to selling, how companies can best adopt and implement MEDDICC, and the big changes he's seen in sales as companies evolve from enterprise-led to product-led.
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Overcoming challenges in sales
"There's not often a deal where everything's green, and everything's great, right? If there ever is, you know, they get called a bluebird. There's often challenges. What we like to say is the best salespeople are the ones who are the fastest to identify what the challenges are, and they're the ones who put their hands up."
Time efficiency
"I'm really big on this idea of just being more efficient with your time and therefore double down on your winners. You can only double down on the winners if you have a framework that's going to help you identify who the winners are, which is bringing it all back to MEDDICC."
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How do you play the game of content creation and come out on top? Time and energy. Harry Stebbings is a wildly talented podcaster, investor, and content creator. He got his start in podcasting at a very young age and at just 20 years old, he became one of the youngest VCs in the world. Today, Harry is the Founder of The Twenty Minute VC, the world's largest independent venture capital podcast.
In today’s episode, Harry shares his thoughts on the future of content and his own strategy behind creating content for multiple social media platforms from LinkedIn to TikTok. He talks about how he learned to build a deep network and create relationships that last, and what it means to bundle and unbundle businesses.
Press play to hear Harry’s thoughts on…
How TikTok Helps His Business
“On TikTok, you can absolutely go viral with 50 followers, it's much more uncorrelated, which allows for this true democratization of the reach of content in a way that I think is quite exciting... What I love about TikTok is it brings the story front and center, not the person in many ways. And so it can be a real discovery mechanism for content that doesn't quite make it in many ways. But now we have 28% of our viewers download through TikTok. 28% of new subscribers come through TikTok. It's insane.”
How Technology Can Solve Problems
"If we think about investing in this next generation of innovation, technology has to be the solution to some of the world's biggest problems. Whether it be the macro problems that we face on incoming inequality, whether it be the climate change problems that we face. I mean, it goes on and on."
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“Do one thing everyday that scares you.” This quote is a driving force behind everything our next guest does, from traveling to investing and everything in between. Anarghya Vardhana is a Partner at Maveron finding the next big direct to consumer business to invest and nurture. After years of working at Google and fintech startups, she entered into the VC space. In 2017, Anarghya was included in Forbes “30 under 30” list in venture capital.
In today’s episode, Anarghya talks about her lifelong love for STEM and her passion for diversifying this space. She shares why she loves finding new leaders through healthcare startups, and how doing one challenging thing every year positively impacts her self-confidence.
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Her Investment Philosophy
“If you invest in one company, it may inch towards something else. So you may be solving the dietary side of things by investing in the women's health business, because sometimes those things can go hand in hand. But I think the best way to think about it is every year there's going to be one to two phenomenal entrepreneurs working in consumer healthcare, building in consumer healthcare. My job is to try and meet them and to get to know them and see if there's an opportunity to partner and be a part of their journey for whatever they're gonna build.”
Doing Hard Things to Instill Confidence
“Some people are just born with confidence. They just walk into the room and they're confident, and it's not that natural or innate for me. I have to work to be confident…Confidence comes from practice and hard work and knowing that I've done something that might be even harder than the thing I'm just about to do. And so that got me into the psyche of, ‘Well, if I just do hard things, then it'll help me be confident.’”
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Adrian Grenier wears several hats: conscious celebrity, actor, musician, director, and producer. But he’s also the Co-Founder and General Partner at DuContra Ventures, an impact fund that aims to create a yield beyond money. At DuContra, Adrian is focused on making meaningful, holistic investments that will help the Earth and the people living here.
In today’s episode, Adrian talks about why we should move away from the hopeless view that the world is ending. He also discusses how taking responsibility for our actions can lead to a life full of purpose.
Press play to hear Adrian’s thoughts on…
Empowering Humans to Build More Impactful Businesses
“The concept is that if we can empower human beings, individuals, and give them the tools and the ability, the health of wellness, so that they can make the best possible decisions. And then bring them together with other humans, communitas in collaboration, empower them with the tools of finance so that they can go out and build the world. They're going to make not only better choices, better businesses, better consumer products for us as consumers, but also for the world in the future.”
Why We Need Meaningful Connections Now More Than Ever
“I think certainly we're in a content craze and technology just made it more accessible and in many ways to a negative degree, being forced upon us with all the algorithms, getting inside of our heads. So I think now is an opportunity to try and solve for that. How do we give people more rich, meaningful experiences? How do we serve up content that actually empowers people and give them the tools to not just sit at home and watch Netflix?”
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Why are companies like Zoom, Calendly, and Slack so successful?
According to Blake Bartlett, partner at OpenView Venture Capital, it comes down to three little letters: PLG or Product-led Growth.
Blake coined the term “product-led growth” in 2016 and continues to be a thought leader in this community. In today's episode, Blake, shares his insights about PLG and discusses leading investments in companies like Highspot, Calendly, Expensify, Postscript, and more. He also talks about the ini tial discovery of PLG and how it has changed how companies structure themselves in this increasingly digital world.
Press play to hear Blake’s thoughts on…
Discovering PLG for the First Time
“What's at the core DNA of these companies? They lead with product as it pertains to growth, so that sounds like a good name for it: product-led growth. We put it out there in mid 2016 and started talking about it a lot, really until we were blue in the face for a number of years. In 2019, a lot of other folks started to join the conversation and it became apparent that it wasn't just us that saw this shift happening in the market.”
Salespeople being the Sherpas of the PLG Experience
“Instead of sitting on the opposite side of the table from the customer trying to convince you to buy, you've already bought, you're already using it. You just wanna buy more. And so we actually have the same shared goal, which is you using more of my product. And so how can I be on the same side of the table as you as a sales rep? And act more like a Sherpa.”
Determining Product Market Fit in a PLG Environment
“Even if there's no monetization, you can still be highly confident in product market fit because of the number of users you're acquiring, the rate at which they're activating, the rate at which they're continuing to use the product, the rate at which they're inviting new users, whether that's in their organization, on their team, or external folks they're collaborating with to the product, the rate at which they're swiping the credit card and converting. And so looking at it through this more freemium-oriented customer journey at the early phases of a company, I think that's where the special sauce is for determining product market fit in a PLG environment.”
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If you adopt a product-led growth model, will that take jobs away from your salespeople? The answer may surprise you.
Today’s guest, Todd Olson, says that a PLG strategy and optimization will allow space for salespeople to become much more effective and efficient. Todd is co-founder and CEO of Pendo, a platform that accelerates and deepens software product adoption. He’s also the author of the book, “The Product-Led Organization: Drive Growth By Putting Product at the Center of Your Customer Experience.” In today’s episode, Todd says when companies utilize all of what product-led growth has to offer, then they will become much more efficient, communicative, and better at adapting to the ever-changing digital landscape.
Press play to hear Todd’s thoughts on…
Creating a Holistic User Experience
“Within a product team, there needs to be really, really good communication because the last thing you want is like some growth team trying to drive people top of funnel in and convert them while another team is trying to do self-service and somehow they collide and they're just constantly messaging users all the time and just confusing them. So there needs to be this more holistic kind of user journey idea to make sure that whatever the user's seeing is just an overarching stitched-together experience.”
Keep Experimenting Until You Nail It
“If it's a feature in your product that is very differentiating, that you believe sets you apart from everyone else and you believe it's one of the core reasons that people use your product, that's one where I think there's really value in driving a lot of experimentation. There's value in collecting feedback. There's value in not only shipping it, but then leaving space in your roadmap for what we call fast feedback or follow up work, where we iterate for potentially sprints, months, quarters, until we feel like we've nailed it.”
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How did our guest Joe Lonsdale go from high school chess champion to super successful VC? His diverse network and a wide variety of interests to start. Joe has been a part of founding more than a dozen mission-driven companies, including Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov, Affinity, Epirus, Resilience Bio, and 8VC. In today’s episode, Joe talks about how he’s been able to build such strong teams over the years and why even in a remote world, human connection is key to building a strong foundation.
Press play to hear Joe’s thoughts on…
Developing a Company Culture
“You have to have a really clear vision of where the company's going. You have to have really clear values that people share and they talk about, that they put down together. And a good way to talk about values is to talk about scenarios, things that could come up and how you deal with them.”
Hiring Great Engineers
“Elon Musk says, ‘Cost of cost is much less than the cost of time.’ So great engineers figure out how to like manage the scarcity of time and to get things done very quickly as well, to attract others and to know how to measure other talents and use other talents and inspire other talents”
Bring in the Adults
“When you're building these companies, you want the highest IQ, brightest, hardest work, working innovators early on to kinda iterate toward prototypes and customers, fresh product market fit and really get there. And then once things are working a certain way, you still wanna have the innovative part of the business and you wanna nurture it, but you also wanna bring in adults who know how to run processes.”
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In the season finale, Daniel Saks is joined by Renee Bergeron, General Manager of AppSmart to reflect on Decoding Digital season one. They discuss key insights and lessons learned from some of the great tech minds, business leaders and digital transformation experts featured in the season. Listen to hear Daniel’s take on why endurance is vital to survival, how to effectively drive digital transformation, and what really makes a digital hero.
Press play to hear Daniel Saks’ thoughts on…
The Problem with Complexity
“Steve Jobs said ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.’ Especially in B2B business and digital enterprises today, it's so easy to add scope creep and to talk about all the features and the underlying capabilities and to drive a lot of complexity, not only into your marketing message, but into the way you operate. It's super, super difficult to break things down and make them simple and intuitive.”
Building Trust
“It takes a long time to build trust, but only seconds to degrade that trust. In the digital world, building trust is much more difficult, because you don't necessarily always have the human-to-human interaction and experience… having faces, and names, and experiences behind your brand is super powerful.”
Living Your Values
“Instead of just being words on a wall, the values can become the way that you hire, the way that you promote, the reason why you let people go... Integrating your values into the fabric of who you are is going to ultimately differentiate values-based cultures from those who aren't and enable you to endure and scale seamlessly in this digital economy.”
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If one thing is clear about digital transformation, it’s that people power drives it. But how do you inspire, empower, and cultivate these key changemakers?
Authors of “The Transformation Myth: Leading Your Organization Through Uncertain Times”, Dr. Gerald Kane, Boston College Professor, and Rich Nanda, US Monitor Practice Leader, Deloitte Consulting, join this episode to share their insights. Listen to hear their thoughts on what leadership and culture characteristics enable digital heroes to thrive and how to start a transformational flywheel.
Press play to hear their thoughts on…
The Advantages of Legacy Companies
“I think traditional legacy companies have several inherent advantages. They have scale, they have supply side advantages locked in. They have long-term customer relationships to build upon. They have IP that's been developed over years. But the key is that the shelf life of those ideas isn't as long as they used to be in a world that changes so often.”
—Rich Nanda
The Near-Term Future
"The next three to five years are going to be among the most exciting and disruptive periods in our lifetimes. Companies who have learned to innovate and are rethinking the workplace are going to unleash new competitive capabilities. We ain't seen nothing yet, to quote the phrase."
—Gerald Kane
The Importance of Vision
"It's a myth that technology is some kind of silver bullet. People think that, buying fancy technology, partnering with the cool tech companies, all of a sudden change is going to happen. But one of that's possible without the right purpose and vision."
—Rich Nanda
Click here to download The Digital Hero Mindset: The Traits People Need to Innovate in a Technology-Driven World
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Digital transformation looks different for every business. Sometimes that transformation happens on a personal level, as well as professional. Former Microsoft CTO and Principal Owner of Digital Future Consulting, Jennifer Byrne, joined this episode to share how Microsoft navigated a tough period by being more transparent and how digital heroes at all levels play a key part in digital transformation success.
Press play to hear Jennifer’s thoughts on…
Finding the Digital Heroes in Your Organization
“The true heroes in my mind... are the folks who did the quiet work of ushering that transformation through a company. ... [S]omebody has to hold the hands of a lot of people who are trying to learn a new skill who are going to be adversely affected by this. They get no credit. They're the note takers in the meetings, but they're the people who are the lifeblood of transformation, in my opinion.”
Creating a Culture of Learning
“When there's a culture of learning, and where companies do it well, is where executives take that to heart. ... There is no shortcut. You have to do it also because your employees will watch. You've got to be in the boat with your people.”
The Future of Work
"It behooves you to think about the technology that's already encroaching in your space. Think about the job that you do today. If you go to work every day and you know exactly what your day's going to look like, you have a fairly automated, repeatable set of processes that you do. And that's actually more likely to be automated than somebody who goes to work saying ‘I have no idea how this is going to go.’"
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Should start-ups target consumer or enterprise markets first? Former entrepreneur turned investor and Managing Partner of Upfront Ventures, Mark Suster, joins this episode to give his guidance to entrepreneurs looking for investment and growth. He discusses how to engineer product-led growth for your market, how to secure investment, and the dos and don’ts for start-up entrepreneurs.
Press play to hear Mark’s thoughts on…
Understanding Product-Market Fit
“I would rather you have no influencers. I would rather you have no hype. I would rather you raise less capital and obsess with what is the product feature that's really going to resonate with a group of people, like the raison d’etre. What is it that they're waking up every day to use your product, to do and why your product and not other stuff?”
The Value of Sales and Marketing
“At the end of the day, sales and marketing really matter. And it turns out that people buy products for reasons other than, this is the absolute best product in the market. They buy products for the perception that this is going to help them improve.”
Committing to Being an Entrepreneur
“We're looking for people who want to go on a 10- or 12-year journey with us. We're not looking for people to go on a two-year journey. So you've got to want to do this. This is your career. This is your livelihood, your life, and your mission. And if you're successful at it, you're going to be hugely financially and emotionally rewarded for doing it.”
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Tech hasn’t just disrupted the wellness industry – it’s revolutionized it. Long before the global pandemic forced health and fitness businesses to pivot to virtual experiences, Mindbody was a key player in enabling wellness organizations to thrive through tech. Mindbody CEO and founder of Booker Software, Josh McCarter, has more than a decade’s experience at the forefront of digitally transforming the wellness industry. He joins this episode to share how the vertical ecosystem connects the world to wellness.
Press play to hear Josh’s thoughts on…
The Necessity of APIs
“You kind of hope that if you build it, they will come. And that's really where you start out in the early days, but without having the APIs and having that ability, nobody's ever going to come, right? Nobody wants to partner with somebody that has a closed ecosystem and is really difficult to interface with.”
Going Beyond APIs
"So it really requires an end-to-end thinking, it's not just, 'hey, we're going to go develop and publish APIs that everybody's going to write to, and that's going to be the end of it.' There's always some component of partner management and technical integration work that's going to be there."
Satisfying User Expectations
"What we see, especially in the SMB segment is that most of these customers look almost like consumer users, right? Like they want it to be as simple as using an iPhone or using their iPad. And so we have to adapt our technology to where the current users are."
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What does it take to compete against digital giants? The Founder, Chairman, Principal Analyst, and CEO of Constellation Research Inc., Ray Wang, joins this episode to reveal the key takeaways from his latest book, Everybody Wants to Rule the World: Surviving and Thriving in a World of Digital Giants. Ray discusses the current landscape of digital transformation, what the challenges are, and how to follow in the footsteps of today’s digital giants.
Press play to hear Ray’s thoughts on…
The Need for “Digital Artisans”
“The last piece is the digital artisans. They blend the right brain left brain pieces that are out there. They understand that hard science is important, but you also have to understand the humanities and your role in playing out what the implications of that change is going to be, not only just on your employees, but also your other stakeholders.”
Building the Business Graph
“The business graph is like the social graph, the social graph in social networks that tells you, 'hey, this person's connected. This person here, their actions, there's what they're going to do.' The business graph is a stakeholder, a customer employee, a supplier, or a partner. And how do I connect that stakeholder to an action with an object? And what do we learn about those patterns? And that becomes the competitive mode.”
Creative Acceleration
“Creative acceleration actually happens with a common set of ideas, the density of ideas and the random collisions that occur. That's kind of how this technology innovation has been built. It's just these networks of networks that get passed on.”
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