School for Startups Radio

November 10, 2023 - Customer Experience David Ewing and Diploma Framing Lucie Voves

David Ewing – Founder of Motiv 
You are always going to have good moments with your customers. Andyou’re going to have bad moments. These are the moments that matter.The high highs and the low lows. The key is how do you respond and howdo you change the customers’ attitude at those moments that matter.
David Ewing is the Founder of Motiv, a cutting-edge firm specializing in Oracle CX solutions. After graduating from Harvard, David founded Motiv in 2001 as a consulting group out of San Francisco.  Since becoming an Oracle partner in 2005, Motiv has become the largest Oracle CX exclusive partner in the world. As CEO, David has a passion for leading with heart and sharing his experiences, fostering deep relationships with others through his humor and captivating storytelling. David is also the Austin EO President, leading over 200 entrepreneurs in numerous industries. He has revolutionized the realm of customer service since 1998. With a keen understanding that altering customer attitudes drives ideal behaviors, David has transformed this insight into substantial revenue growth for over 500 clients. A Harvard cum laude graduate in Engineering, his leadership acumen has not only propelled Motiv to the Inc 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing companies but has also generated millions in additional revenue for their clients. Beyond his professional prowess, David’s leadership extends to the community as the president of The Entrepreneur’s Association, Austin Texas Chapter, where he’s committed to unlocking every entrepreneur’s potential. Outside the boardroom, David is the proud coach of his son’s robotics team and cherishes his 19-year marriage, considering it his crowning achievement.
Lucie Voves – Founder of Diploma Frame 
One of my regrets would be that I didn’t go get funding faster. The silverlining of that is that I never took venture funding and I own 100% today.
Lucie Voves started founded Church Hill Classics as a side hustle, while working days as a marketer at Procter & Gamble. She started custom framing in her basement at night. When Lucie Voves started Church Hill Classics 30 years ago, she didn’t set out to create college diploma frames. In fact, her original intention was purely nostalgic: to find a framed illustration of a building that was near and dear to her heart, Dartmouth Hall. Lucie and her husband Joe were college sweethearts, and with so many amazing memories of their years at Dartmouth College, she really wanted something special to hang in her first corporate office. When she couldn’t find a print of Dartmouth Hall, she decided to commission the artwork herself in 1991. It got Lucie thinking that there had to be other Dartmouth alumni with the same sentimental desire, so she printed 500 lithographs, took a crash course in picture framing, and set up a makeshift tabletop booth on a street corner at Dartmouth College over graduation weekend. The response was incredible! In fact, the artwork sold so well that other town merchants complained that she was cutting into their sales. Lucie knew they were onto something. Her framed art grew in popularity, and she added other campus views when they started selling at The Dartmouth Coop. Along the way, she heard from consumers who loved the art and asked if she would frame their diploma to match. Lucie created her first diploma frames for Dartmouth, and shortly thereafter expanded to Williams College, Princeton, UConn, Yale, and Syracuse. Today, Church Hill Classics carries a wide array of document and diploma frame styles for thousands of colleges, high schools, honor societies, the U.S. Military, and professional institutions. For many, their college campus will always be their “home away from home.” College logos and images of campus landmarks have a way of instantly transporting individuals to the memorable events and friendships that shaped their young adulthood. Best of all, they remind Lucie of how she met her college sweetheart—and created a sweetheart of a business!

November 8, 2023 - Situational Awareness Mike Shapiro and Disctopia Patrick Hill

Mike Shapiro – CEO of EQTY | Forbes Global Properties and the Author of the Book Read the Tape: Using Situational Awareness to Predict Business and Personal Probabilities
I do think real estate residential will decline in valuations because of thehigh interest rates. Do i think it will be a repeat of 08? No. I think we’redown 10% already.
Acclaimed entrepreneur Mike S. Shapiro’s risk-inclined and results-oriented methods help individuals and organizations leverage insights for stellar results, including building his multi-billion-dollar business, HOM Sotheby’s International Realty. He is also the CEO and Co-Founder of EQTY | Forbes Global Properties and a co-founder of Plunk, a Seattle-based proptech start up. Mike’s system is based on skills he developed as a market maker and trader with the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. There, he learned the value of paying attention to what’s in front of us – “reading the tape” – and how to use information to predict behaviors, leverage opportunities and achieve game-changing results and lifelong satisfaction. It’s the same method he used when he purchased a nearly bankrupt real estate firm in coastal Orange County, California during the 2008 “Great Recession” and that he sold 10 years later to create the world’s second-largest Sotheby’s International Realty brokerage, with 1,200 agents and annual sales exceeding $7 billion. He’s also used this system to coach 1,000+ real estate agents to greater success, including many who now rank among the “Top 20” agents in the U.S. Mike – who describes himself as “cold and calculating as a trader and as empathetic as a golden retriever, which is why I have a 51% approval rating” – approaches life and work with a commitment to joy: the joy he finds in helping others and the joy they experience when they realize that success is achievable. He’s a frequent speaker at conferences and universities, a featured guest on television news shows and podcasts, and a sought-after expert on real estate and investing for local and national business publications. His perspectives on real estate and equity markets are available via his blog and soon, his podcast will launch on ForbesRadio.Patrick Hill – Founder and CEO of Disctopia
The LinkedIn paid ad model is three to four times more expensive thanGoogle, Facebook, or any other paid advertising. It is because you candrill down to the exact person that you are trying to target.
Patrick Hill is the founder and CEO of Disctopia, a music streaming and podcast hosting platform. After selling mixtapes from his backpack and helping his friends distribute their music, he realized how unfairly artists were being paid for their work. This led him to create a platform that pays the highest per stream in the market. Dystopia is now one of the fastest-growing streaming platforms for creatives, boasting over 4 million podcasts, music from 10,000 indie artists, and a recent addition of 20,000 audiobooks to its offerings. With many creators struggling in the streaming era, Patrick’s mission is to help them grow and secure a steady income from their work.

November 6, 2023 - UK Super Star Martin Warner and Electric Mule Richard Flentge

Martin Warner – CEO & Founder at Flix Premiere, Chairman & Founder at Autonomous Flight Ltd, Founder at Entrepreneur Seminar and Author of Startup Story: An Entrepreneur’s Journey from Idea to Exit
My goal is putting 2 million passengers flying across New York Cityin a year, using vertical take-off technology.  
Martin Warner is one of Britain’s leading entrepreneurs, operating between the US and UK, and a global thought leader on the subject of Entrepreneurship. He is also an educator, inventor, film producer and investor. Martin is currently the CEO of Flix Premiere, the leading independent film streaming service. In addition, he was the first British pioneer to enter the eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off & Landing) race for Urban Air Mobility. Martin is the Chairman & Founder of Autonomous Flight, an electric aviation focused design & manufacturing firm pioneering eVTOL urban air mobility. Martin is the founder, author & mentor of Entrepreneur Seminar, the No. 1 online learning & mentoring program for Entrepreneurship. Among Martin’s accolades, he achieved the grand slam fast exit when he co-founded botObjects, a revolutionary 3D printing software and hardware manufacturer, which was later acquired for $50MM in January 2015 in a record breaking 17 months by the industry leader, 3D Systems Inc.. Warner co-invented a ground-breaking full-colour 3D desktop printer called the ProDesk3D which made the front cover, appeared No.1 in T3’s Magazine Hot 100 products. Martin recently made the top 100 global innovators list by Business Cloud. In recent times, the media has compared Martin as the ‘UK’s Elon Musk’ due to his multifaceted inventions and cross-industry areas. As a prolific innovator, Martin’s curiosity led him into state-of-the-art air logistics through his R&D firm Parcel Fly, and resulted in a recent breakthrough software innovation pioneering a new air traffic management process called ‘Random Autonomous Routes’ for use in future parcel deliveries by drones in cities around the world. Having taught entrepreneurship for 20 years, over 300,000 people have been impacted by Martin’s education across the world. Today, he shares his thought leadership, teachings, and coaching through his accelerated education program – Entrepreneur Seminar. Additionally, Martin has developed over a dozen leading products, and published over 120 patents. He was responsible for creating and hosting a leading London focused start-up & venture investment conference – Tech Entrepreneurs Week. As a passionate advocate for entrepreneurship, Martin has interviewed some of the greatest leaders and innovators in the world today including Sir Richard Branson, Peter Guber, Steve Wozniak, Jimmy Wales, Carly Fiorina and others. Martin frequently comments on his ventures in the media, and has appeared on many news programmes including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Fox Business, and across many print, magazine and online media outlets across the world. He has appeared on a number of magazine cover’s including Variety and Screen, and delivered a keynote interview at the Cannes Film Festival.Richard Flentge – Solar Expert and Author of Verities of an Electric Mule
In North America, we talk about being below the 30th latitude whichis a little south of Atlanta. They do get enough sunshine to substantiallyimpact their electric bill with solar.
Richard Flentge, author, as a Journalist reporting on the rise of the electric vehicle, Tesla, and solar technology, he has covered Climate Change, Tesla battery Technology and Solar innovations.On the research side Richard managed an off grid solar array and battery research focused on the innovation of devices, and repurposing of used electric vehicle batteries. Richard has experience in solar battery banks for off grid, computer power backups, solar homes and custom electric vehicles. Richard has configured and sold multiple large solar battery builds around the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and multiple countries in Europe. He has international experience with Chinese suppliers. He is also known for Mule Tack, a history book on how the mule became the official state animal of Missouri. A true fact based story of a Missouri man fighting injustice to get the Mule legally adopted as the state animal of Missouri. His latest book ZAT How to survive the Apocalypse and Not Freak out, 2nd edition paperback was released in 2022. As former Co- host of EVTV Richard has appeared and over 50 online videos and helped produce over 200 webcasts chronicling the adoption of electric vehicle technology with Jack Rickard.

November 3, 2023 - 150 Patents Greg Bullington and AI Investor Jason Criddle

Greg Bullington – CEO & co-founder of Magnolia Medical Technologies
From the time you have very legitimate proof and scientific evidenceabout the ability to dramatically improve standard of care in medicineto implementation at scale is 17 years. In health care, nobody wantsto be first. Fortunately, no one wants to be last.
Greg Bullington is CEO & co-founder of . Magnolia’s mission is to eliminate the misdiagnosis of sepsis. Sepsis is the #1 leading cause of death, costs and readmissions in hospitals nationwide. Diagnosis of sepsis is plagued by an average of 20% to over 50% of positive sepsis blood tests inaccurately providing false-positive results. Greg has raised over $125 million to date to finance the successful growth and development of the company. Magnolia’s flagship product, Steripath®, is the only FDA-cleared product family indicated to reduce blood culture contamination that causes false-positive diagnostic test results for bloodstream infections including sepsis, that can lead to harmful patient misdiagnoses, mistreatments and significant avoidable hospital costs. Greg has led all aspects of company development since inception including clinical trials, peer-reviewed publications, intellectual property strategy, product development, manufacturing and overall commercialization strategy. With a broad-based background, Greg has deep industry expertise in the medical device and healthcare technology sectors. Over the past 20 years, Greg has led engagements and worked with senior executive teams at over 50 companies ranging from Fortune 100 corporations to venture-backed and early stage startups as a consultant, advisor, and investor. Additionally, Greg has significant intellectual property expertise. He is the first named inventor on over 100 issued patents and 50+ pending US and international patent applications. Greg began his career in professional services with Deloitte & Touche LLP. He continued his professional development as a management consultant with Lake Partners, a Seattle-based strategy consulting firm prior to founding Forum Ventures in 2006.
Jason Criddle – Managing Director of SmartrHoldings
The biggest hack I could tell any business right now, if you have acleaning company, a landscaping company or you’re trying to get anew app online, go get $1000 of T-shirts and leave your house andwalk into a public area and make a scene! Give away product thatleads people back to your website. It will pay for itself tenfold!
Jason Criddle is a father, millennial investor, international best-selling author, entrepreneur, and has helped sell more than an estimated $2bil in products and services. Jason is founder of SmartrCommerce, SmartrHoldings, SmartrMarketing, and Jason Criddle and Associates. Jason builds successful on and offline sales processes and investment and insurance infrastructure for companies making $100k or more a month in sales. Specializing in top tier performance, his brands, writing, and education have helped entrepreneurs and companies sell and build more than an estimated $2-billion dollars worth of products, services and infrastructure. He has personally helped many hundreds of clients lose over 10,000lbs of body fat and add thousands of pounds of muscle after transforming his own body. When not working, Jason is training or in his gym, building cars and motorcycles, coaching sales and wellness, or trying to be an even cooler dad. Jason Criddle and Smartr have top-paying programs and positions in place for sales professionals, so get in touch if you are a top-performer looking to excel further in your sales career.

November 1, 2023 - Dale Carnegie CEO Joe Hart and AI Consultant Glenn Gow

Joe Hart – CEO of Dale Carnegie and Co-Author of Take Command: Find Your Inner Strength, Build Enduring Relationships, and Live the Life You Want 
Two people can have the exact same circumstances, the house, themortgage, the broken shoulder, whatever. One person is miserable,down, and negative, and the other person is thriving. The differenceis what they think.
Joe Hart began his career as a practicing attorney. After taking a Dale Carnegie Course, Joe reassessed his career path and future, ultimately leaving the practice of law, going to work for a top real estate company, and then founding an innovative e-learning company called InfoAlly. After selling that business five years later, Joe became the president of Asset Health, a US-based health and wellness company—all before becoming the President and CEO of Dale Carnegie in 2015. In 2019, the CEO Forum Group named Joe as one of twelve transformative leaders, giving him the Transformative CEO Leadership Award in the category of the People. He is the host of a top global podcast, “Take Command: A Dale Carnegie Podcast”, and he speaks around the world on topics such as leadership, resilience, and innovation, among other things. Joe and his wife, Katie, have six children, two dogs, and one cat. He is an active marathoner, having run many races, including Boston, New York, Chicago, Berlin, Detroit, and Toronto.
Glenn Gow – AI coach and Consultant 
It is the white-collar jobs that are at the most risk because of A.I. Theskills that this type of AI brings to the party is replacing some of theskills that you used to pay a lot of money for.
Glenn Gow was a CEO for 25 years (and in venture capital for 5 years) and taught him more than just business; it taught him the essence of leadership. Now, he applies his insights by coaching CEOs to create their own personal and corporate successes. Keynote Speaker on AI For the last 5 years, Glenn has been helping the C-Suite prepare for the impact of AI. His keynote sessions simplify AI for leaders, ensuring the C-Suite will leverage AI for better strategy, governance and financial results. Board Member On the board, Glenn is the AI expert. Boards benefit from his deep understanding of AI when he drives the conversations around risk, governance, oversight and strategy. He was founder and CEO of Crimson Consulting Group, where he ran the company for 25 years. His work includes Apple: launch new products into new markets, Facebook: leverage marketing technology, Microsoft: a “competitive migration” program creating $100M in incremental revenue, Cisco: a global GTM approach resulting in $250M of additional revenue and Google: doubling the number of leads for the sales organization.

October 30, 2023 - Marvel Comics Special Show Gavin Edwards and Dave Gonzales

Beloved culture writers Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards are proud to release MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios. The authors draw on more than a hundred interviews with actors, producers, directors, and writers to present the definitive chronicle of Marvel Studios and its stunning rise to become the dominant player in Hollywood and global pop culture. Dissecting every phase of Marvel’s inception, from its humble beginnings as a moribund toymaker in the 1990s to its current status as the king of superhero movies, the book reveals the secrets behind Marvel’s success.
Gavin Edwards – Co-Author of the Book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios
One of the fundamental insights into Marvel is the sense that anyonecan pop up at anytime. You are reading a Spiderman comic and thenthe Fantastic Four drop by. They said what if we do that in movies?That’s how you get 20 movies out of Iron Man.
Gavin Edwards is the New York Times-bestselling author of thirteen books, including The Tao of Bill Murray, Kindness and Wonder: Why Mister Rogers Matters Now More Than Ever, and most recently, Bad Motherf—er: The Life and Movies of Samuel L. Jackson, the Coolest Man in Hollywood. Gavin has ridden on Taylor Swift’s private plane, taken a city bus to the Grammys, and participated in the world’s largest tomato fight. Gavin Edwards is your man. He has been a repeat guest on the Today show (NBC), All Things Considered (NPR), and Behind the Music (VH1)—and he’s entertained and motivated audiences all over North America.Dave Gonzales – Co-Author of the Book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios
We had 600 scripted TV shows last year. That is going to be greatlyreduced now that we are at the end of peak TV, now that the writersand actors want to be fairly compensated. The overall result is goingto be less the TV.
Dave Gonzales is a podcaster and has written for the New York Times and the Guardian. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

October 27, 2023 - OSS.Ventures Renan Devillieres and Course Creation Expert Nancy Giere

Renan Devillieres – Founder of OSS Ventures – Building a French Manufacturing Eco-System
There are not enough startups in manufacturing. Manufacturing isroughly 25% of GDP and 0.7% of startups.
A graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Renan began his career as a consultant at McKinsey, before becoming an economist at the OECD and then strategic project manager for the Richemont Group. After his various experiences, Renan launched into entrepreneurship by founding a start-up, which he sold to Google Ventures in 2018. Having always been attracted to tech and industry, Renan co-founded OSS Ventures in 2019 with the mission of supporting French industry in its technological, environmental, social and societal transition from industry 2.0 to industry 4.0
Nancy Giere – Course Creation Expert and Author of Bundle Your Brilliance: Turn your expertise into profitable online courses    
To have online classes work you need to be really clear who your audienceis and the problem that you are trying to solve and what makes you unique.What is your spin? Everything starts who do you want to serve.
Nancy Giere is a course creation expert. She works with businesses of all sizes from solopreneurs to Fortune 100 companies turn their expertise into high profit courses. She creates engaging, fun, and interactive programs that get results. Nancy Giere has created courses for any type of content you can imagine, from leadership development to technical training and far more. She has experience designing programs for every online and offline delivery method. Pick a topic and she’s probably worked on it. She has an enormous breadth of experience across many industries. She has spent her entire professional career designing courses for organizations of all sizes from solopreneurs to Fortune 100 companies. She knows how to build the systems that make your online course one that will work beautifully and stand out from the crowd.

October 25, 2023 - Thrive Business Bill Simmons and Abundant University Dr. Michael D. Smith

Bill Simmons – Founder of Thrive Business Operations – Building a Fractional COO Business
As much as the client is hiring us, we are making a decision on who we wantto work with. I often say you can’t help someone who knows it all. We have toget ahead of that and not be so desperate for business that we take on bad clients.
Bill Simmons founded his company with a goal to help business owners and entrepreneurs clarify and execute their visions! Bill is the founder of Thrive Business Operations. The firm provides Fractional COO Services helping growing businesses that struggle with operational challenges succeed by integrating a Fractional Team and optimizing business through The Thrive OpsCycle. Their primary mission is to help businesses unlock growth through smooth operations, improved communications, and increased accountability. Bill is passionate about helping business owners reduce frustrations and increase their profits through executing and advancing their strategy, systems, and people Bill has over 30 years of experience helping entrepreneurs and individuals grow in their life and their business. Bill is also an experienced speaker, sharing his message of leadership and success with well over 250,000 people throughout the world. With his gift as a storyteller he will be sure to inspire your audience while also bringing them value from his years of experience.
Dr. Michael D. Smith – Carnegie Mellon University Professor and Author of The Abundant University: Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World
Higher education must realize that what we are doing is financiallyand morally unsustainable. We cannot correct those problems fromwithin the existing scarce classroom.
Dr. Michael D. Smith is a professor of Information Technology and Marketing at Carnegie Mellon University. He is interested in how new technologies impact consumers and firms, and particularly interested in how new technologies are impacting the entertainment industry. His book, Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment, co-authored with Rahul Telang, talks about the “perfect storm” of technological changes that are hitting the entertainment industries, and what leaders in these industries can do to respond. Higher education in the US works wonderfully for the elite, but it fails hundreds of thousands of deserving students every year. It contributes to social injustice and socioeconomic stratification, has created a $1.7 trillion student loan debt crisis, and bestows sterling credentials on a select few that often need it least. But, as Carnegie Mellon professor Michael D. Smith shows in his new book The Abundant University: Remaking Higher Education For a Digital World (MIT Press; September 19, 2023) there is reason for hope—as long as those in charge are willing to embrace the type of change that has always terrified the academic world. Higher education, like so much else in the era of smartphones and AI, is primed to be revolutionized by digital technologies, which will allow it to offer high-quality and affordable instruction to students who’ve previously been excluded due to finances, life circumstances, and other barriers to access.

October 23, 2023 - No Bridge Too Far Deepak Ohri and Predictable Sales Process Luis Báez

Deepak Ohri – Founder and Former CEO of lebua Hotels & Resorts     
The difference between me and other people is that when theydream, they are sleeping. My dreams don’t allow me to sleep.
Deepak Ohri, founder and Former CEO of lebua Hotels & Resorts, is well-known worldwide as an award-winning entrepreneur who has transformed the luxury hospitality landscape in Asia. In November 2022, Deepak Ohri was named the World’s Leading Happiness Ambassador by the World Travel Awards. He has been recognized globally as an award-winning entrepreneur and celebrated speaker, being featured speaker at the Forbes Global CEO conference and Financial Times Business of Luxury Summit, amongst many others. Ohri is also a guest lecturer at many prestigious business schools including Harvard Business School, Columbia University, NYU Stern School of Business, and MIT Sloan.  Deepak has been appointed Executive in Residence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the College of Business at Florida International University (Miami, Florida). He has also co-created and helped pioneer the first MBA course in luxury marketing and management www.luxuryincubator.bz for the Graduate School of Business at FIU.
Luis Báez – Predictable Sales Process Guru    
In sales, there needs to be a manner of qualification. First, ask if theyhave the problem that you can solve. If they do great secondly, howwould you quantify that problem? On a scale of 1 to 10 how much doesit hurt? And third, how much is your budget? How much are you willingto invest to have this solved?
Luis Báez is a sales enablement strategist and consultant dedicated to Tech/SaaS-based B2B professionals. A Bronx-raised, proud, Puerto Rican-American and former Silicon Valley C-Suite professional, Luis is dedicated to helping business owners and employees build themselves as better people—full stop. In 2017, after years of working in some of the biggest Silicon Valley startups (think LinkedIn, Google, Uber, Tesla, and more), Luis began to teach impassioned business owners how to scale their revenues and impact by creating and selling high-end offers. Today Luis is the Global Director of Revenue Enablement at Deputy (a SaaS Workforce Management Product Company,) not to mention a published author through the internationally-recognized Madecraft organization, which includes an incredibly popular LinkedIn Learning course on personalized sales that has been taken by over 15K people to date.

October 20, 2023 - SearchTires.com Timothy Shaffer, SAS Data Jay Upchurch and Joy! Donnalynn Riley

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