The Digital Workspace Works Podcast

This week, Ryan chats with Mitchell Goldman, COO at Edgify, about his inspiring journey from competitive kart racing to successful teenage entrepreneur to repeat startup founder. Mitchell shares perspectives he's learned from his diverse background, including the value of learning from failure and pursuing meaningful work. Later, they discuss Mitchell's latest ventures, including Mattr, a dating app for the neurodiverse, and Edgify, a computer vision startup helping retailers with loss prevention through edge-driven solutions. Meet Our Guest Mitchell Goldman is the commercial founder of three VC-backed startups, including a batch of exits, fortified by seven years of Tier-1 investment banking experience. His diverse journey spans from triumphing as a British racing champion to helming a 30-strong business at the mere age of 16. Mitchell currently serves as the COO of Edgify.ai. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

It's no secret that working at a computer for 40 or more hours a week is not great for our physical health, but it's easy to neglect the basics of ergonomics that ward off repetitive stress injuries like carpal tunnel. This week, Ryan chats with Mike Pace, Senior Channel Sales and Marketing Manager at Contour Design, who shares expert advice on how to create a comfortable workspace that supports longterm wellness. If you're currently hunched over a keyboard or sitting awkwardly in your office chair, do your body a favor and tune in for an ergonomics reset. Meet Our Guest Mike Pace is the Senior Channel Sales and Marketing Manager at Contour Design, a market leader in the research, development and design of ergonomic computer mouse solutions such as RollerMouse, Unimouse and Multimedia Controller. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Ryan chats with Adelina Chalmers, founder of The Geek Whisperer, about how CTOs can move from the sidelines to strategic members of the executive leadership team. Adelina shares her advice from over 10 years of working with CTOs and technology leaders from small businesses to the Fortune 100. Meet Our Guest As the founder of The Geek Whisperer, Adelina Chalmers advises new and experience CTOs on accelerating engineering performance and ways to become more strategic, confident leaders. Since 2011, she has worked with scientists and engineers at all levels, from CTO/CSO all the way to graduate engineer/scientist who work for: Arm, Fujitsu, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Astra Zeneca, Imagination, Deloitte, Cambridge University, Cranfield University and many more. Adelina has been recognized as one of the top 50 most influential women in UK tech by Computer Weekly. Learn more about Adelina's work and connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adelinachalmers/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Ryan speaks with Dr. Botho Mhozya, Head of Healthcare Delivery Transformation at Discovery, about technological advances in healthcare that are improving the patient experience and health outcomes. They explore the concept of Hospital at Home, which uses remote monitoring technology to enable patients to receive care from the comfort of their homes, as well as the impact AI is having on the healthcare industry. If you're interested in what's next in telemedicine, you won't want to miss this episode. Meet Our Guest Dr. Botho Mhozya is the Head of Healthcare Delivery Transformation at Discovery. She is Australian trained medical doctor and has worked for many years as a clinician across the public and private sector internationally in Australia and Botswana. In 2015, Dr. Mhozya diversified into private healthcare insurance clinical leadership roles. She has held senior management roles in managing fraud risk, HP outliers and relationships as well as managed care in Southern Africa. Learn more about Discovery Hospital at Home: https://www.discovery.co.za/medical-aid/discovery-hospital-at-home ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Join Ryan as he dives into the world of Community Led Growth with entrepreneur, community builder, and Wall Street Journal Best Selling author, Lloyed Lobo. Lloyed, known for co-founding Boast.AI and Traction, explores the transformative power of communities in his latest book, From Grassroots to Greatness: 13 Rules to Build Iconic Brands with Community Led Growth. In an age where traditional marketing is losing its impact, Lloyed argues that thriving communities are the ultimate asset for any business. Discover the 13 game-changing rules that can take your company from obscurity to greatness, drawing inspiration from iconic brands like Apple, Atlassian, and Harley-Davidson. We'll tackle fundamental questions: Why do some companies inspire cult-like followings while others fade into obscurity? Is a great product enough to succeed in today's market? Lloyed's book and experiences reveal that the future of successful brands lies in what their community says about them, not what they say about themselves. Unleash the full potential of your business with Lloyed Lobo's expertise in Community Led Growth. Tune in for an eye-opening conversation that will change the way you approach business in today's evolving landscape. Meet Our Guest Lloyed Lobo cofounded and helped bootstrap Boast.AI to 8 figures ARR. Boast is a fintech platform that provides businesses with R&D and Innovation funding. He also cofounded and helped bootstrap Traction to more than 100,000 entrepreneurs and innovators. Traction is a global community that brings leaders behind the fastest-growing companies such as Shopify, Atlassian, Twilio, MailChimp, Github, Intercom, Calendly, Zapier, and more to share learnings on how to build and scale companies via podcasts, meetups, retreats, and conferences. Prior to Boast.AI and Traction, Lloyed ran product and go-to-market for a number of early stage startups. He's been involved in the US and Canadian startup ecosystem for more than 15 years as an entrepreneur, community builder, and angel investor. Lloyed is a software engineer by education, and a community builder by passion. Followed Lloyed on LinkedIn. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Overly broad positioning and focusing on features rather than value are common mistakes that stall startup growth. This week, Ryan speaks with Mark McGregor, experienced marketing and strategy professional, about the importance of forecasting return on value for B2B software vendors and clients. Tune in to learn how positioning your product or service for the right persona and taking a value-based customer lifecycle approach will set you up for greater business success in today's competitive landscape. Meet Our Guest Mark McGregor is an experienced marketing and strategy professional with over 25 years experience in the software industry. The past few years have been dedicated to working in the SaaS sector and focusing on B2B experiences, working with management teams to deliver consistent triple digit growth. Mark has earned a strong reputation for helping software companies “punch above their weight” with limited marketing budgets. Specific skill areas include Product Marketing, Product Management, Analyst Relations, Marketing Strategy, and Business Transformation. Mark is very much a hands-on type of person, so while he is experienced in managing marketing teams for content marketing, digital marketing etc. he continues to generate high quality, lead generating, thought leading content himself. Working with user organisations on Process Transformation and Organisational Change across many vertical sectors including Banking, Insurance, Utilities and Manufacturing, Marks work has centred on training and coaching organisations in the disciplines of Enterprise Architecture, Business Architecture and Business Process Management. A popular speaker, and frequent writer, Mark is a recognized as having specialist expertise in the areas of Process Modelling, Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture, Business Architecture & and Modelling Tools. Marks books include: "People Centric Process Management" (Co-Author), "Winning with Enterprise Process Management" (Author), "Thrive! How to Succeed in the Age of the Customer" (Co-Author), "In Search of BPM Excellence" (Contributor and Co-Editor), "Extreme Competition" (Contributor), "El Linro del BPM 2011" (Contributor). In addition to his work in product and strategy, Mark also called upon to assist venture capitalists with due diligence on potential investments and providing M&A advice to software vendors. You can connect with Mark on LinkedIn. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Ryan dives into the world of agriculture technology. Along with guest Kevin Macaringue, agritechnology and digital transformation consultant, this episode explores the positive impact of software for empowering rural farmers. Meet Our Guest Kevin Macaringue is an agritechnology and digital transformation consultant. He has helped develop and deploy web & mobile technologies across a number of different sectors, such as: - Agriculture & Value Chain Development - Retail & Corporate Banking - SME & Business - Monitoring & Evaluation & Poverty Reduction Using custom software development, data analysis, market and business making skills, he's been able to leverage technology to solve a host of problems in a sustainable, efficient manner. He also performs consultancy in the usage of websites, blogs, social media, and comprehensive branding strategies. He also provides consultancy on the optimization of business models through technology; all with clearly measurable successes. With comprehensive experience in digital marketing both as a freelancer and agency, his love for technology and business have formed the basis of his career. Over the past 8 years, he has helped numerous businesses stand out online, and perform better offline. Learn more: https://agritechmoz.com/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Should your next executive recruit be fractional or full-time? This week, Ryan chats with Roger Sowerbutts, scale-up advisor and fractional commercial leader, about the advantages of working with fractional executives, particularly for early-stage startups and scale-ups. Gain insight into how these experts bring a unique blend of experience and adaptability, bolstering your team without the commitment of full-time hires. Ryan and Roger also discuss the challenges founders face when hiring their first commercial leaders and why bringing on a fractional executive first can be the smartest move--helping to avoid hiring the wrong full-time fit and preventing years of lackluster results. Later on in the episode, Ryan and Roger share their thoughts on the opportunities brought about by generative AI and exciting advancements in sales and marketing tech. Tune in to this episode and equip yourself with the strategies and insights that could spell the difference between startup stagnation and exponential growth. Meet Our Guest Roger Sowerbutts is a fractional commercial executive with a 30-year track record in IT tech and software as a commercial leader. He spent over 10 years at HP and Microsoft in commercial sales and partner roles. The last 20 years, Roger has started, grown and exited 5 tech businesses, netting shareholders a return of over $600 million. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Ryan speaks with Phil Hobden, Head of Digital Sales at Wolters Kluwer, about how we got from the first iPhone to ChatGPT and how to ride the wave during critical moments in the evolution of technology. Meet Our Guest In his role as Head of Digital Sales, Phil Hobden leads a team working with the Wolters Kluwer digital product suite (CCH OneClick, Basecone, finsit, and Twinfield) to implement software with a range of accounting firms across the United Kingdom, from the Top 4 firms to smaller niche practices and everything in between. Outside of his day job, Phil is a contributor for Elite Business Magazine online, a serial podcast host, a judge for UK Business Tech awards (2021-2023) & the Global Tech awards 2022, a public speaker, and guest on numerous industry podcasts and webinars, including with industry bodies such as the ACCA. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Ryan speaks with Ashley Woodhall, founder of Practical Infosec, about the delicate balance between a seamless end-user experience and effective cybersecurity practices. During the discussion, Ashley shares practical tips on how to secure your organization without overwhelming employees. Later in the episode, Ryan and Ashley examine the rise of sophisticated deepfakes and the need to adapt to an ever-evolving threat landscape. Meet Our Guest After 10 years in cyber security, Ashley Woodhall has seen a lot of change but crucially, he's learned that good security is just doing a couple of things consistently, and doing them very well. Practical Infosec helps purpose-led organisations do those things very well, so they can do the good in the world they want while being protected.​ Ashley started the business after making himself a promise in 2019: If the next full-time employment role didn’t work out for any reason, he would build something myself which had meaning. He's now finding meaning through his work, helping purpose-led organisations. ​In addition to a BSc in cyber security, Ashley is certified to GCIH (ability to identify and respond to cyber attacks) and GCCC (ability to carry out audits against the Critical Security Controls). He has worked in technical, risk management and strategic roles and for the last two years has been running Practical Infosec. Ashley is a mentor to students both privately and through organisations such as CAPSLOCK and the North East Business Resilience Centre (NEBRC). He has also served on a board of directors for 3 years. Outside of work, Ashley can be found (out of place) in Barcelona's hipster cafes, watching Liverpool FC, laughing out loud at Bill Bryson's travel books or getting lost in the city. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, we explore the evolving tech job landscape with our guest, Oliver Sulley, Co-Founder of AI-focused recruiting company, Edge Tech. Dive into the impact of AI on roles, from prompt engineering to the deep fake dilemma, while unraveling the nuances of the technology hype cycle. Join us for a revealing conversation about AI's influence on job evolution and the future of tech careers. Meet Our Guest Oliver Sulley is the Co-Founder of Edge Tech, a market leader in Artificial Intelligence recruitment, where he focuses on emerging technologies including Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Machine Learning (ML), Generative AI, Conversational AI and Intelligent Automation (IA). Oliver thrives on helping scaling businesses effortlessly reach their goals with bespoke solutions around permanent, contract, and statement of work hiring. Put simply, he's here to take the headache away from recruiting by reducing your time-to-hire while increasing the quality of your applications. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Ryan chats with Asaf Darash, founder and CEO of Regpack, about how he turned his Ph.D. research into a successful online registration software business that serves more than 6,000 organizations and 25 million users worldwide. They also discuss the pandemic's impact on the rapid adoption of digital tools and how the option to process payments online is now a consumer expectation regardless of organization size or industry. Meet Our Guest Asaf Darash is the founder of Regpack, an online registration system used by more than 6,000 organizations and 25+ million users worldwide. Regpack’s technology is based on Asaf’s Ph.D. research that dealt with computer data connections and networks and is the foundation for the flexibility of the Regpack system. Asaf also has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and investor. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week on Digital Workspace Works, Heather speaks with Jon Darbyshire, CEO and Co-Founder of SmartSuite, a collaborative work management platform. Jon shares why he was inspired to come out of retirement to found SmartSuite after the success of his last business, Archer Technologies, and how business process automation is changing the way we work. We also examine trends in workflow automation including empowering non-technical employees to be citizen developers through no-code interfaces and how companies like SmartSuite are integrating generative AI into their products to unlock new levels of productivity. Finally, we discuss the intersection between work management and employee engagement with a focus on Millennial and Gen Z employees and how great software can help foster organizational culture. Meet Our Guest In 2021, Jon Darbyshire and his team launched SmartSuite, the work management platform that manages any process, from any industry, on one platform. Now, SmartSuite unites essential elements used to get work done, regardless of company size or type. In the year 2000, Jon founded Archer Technologies, an enterprise governance, risk and, compliance software, giving business users—not developers—the ability to adapt software to their unique business requirements. Jon and the Archer team built a flexible, award winning platform and solution suite that became the mainstay of governance, risk and compliance teams for some of the world’s most powerful organizations, including 1 in 3 of the Fortune 100. Archer Technologies was purchased by EMC Corporation in 2010. Throughout his career, Jon has been dedicated to automating everyday, essential business tasks to create smarter, more efficient organizations, no matter what the industry. Prior to Archer Technologies, Jon held leadership positions at both EY and Price Waterhouse, honing his skills in understanding the need to automate and simplify work for the enterprise. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

We're excited to announce the new Valuu Community, a forum for Digital Workspace Works podcast listeners, fractional executives, and technology professionals to network, learn, and grow. Gain insight into how to bring more value to your organization, ask questions to our community of experts, and find your next opportunity. Sign up for free at community.valuu.ai. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

How will we see the world in an AI-powered future? This week, we discuss Apple's announcement of their spacial computing headset, Apple Vision Pro, and potential use cases for this technology at work. We also dig into how facial recognition technology is currently being used to deter petty theft in Britain. TcCzR04l1HI5JuFoHy87 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Join us for a very special episode as we introduce Ryan's new venture, Valuu, a cutting-edge technology company that provides innovative solutions to help organizations plan, track, and deliver value and transform digital transformation. Valuu's flagship product, ValuuWorkspace, streamlines workflows, optimizes performance, and achieves business objectives more efficiently. Valuu also offers services like ValuuAdvisory and ValuuTraining to maximize the value of its products and methodology. Learn more about revolutionizing the way organizations work and deliver value at https://www.getvaluu.com/. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, Ryan catches up with Tom Arbuthnot, Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud, which provides Microsoft Teams IT Professionals with the best and most up to date insights, advice, and training on-demand. Ryan and Tom discuss the potential of generative AI in the workplace, including Microsoft Copilot. Topics include what limitations to watch out for, whether Co-Pilot is likely to be an additional cost on top of Microsoft 365, and what jobs may be impacted in the latest AI wave. Later, Ryan shares an update on the launch of his new venture, Valuu, a cutting-edge technology company that provides innovative solutions to help organizations plan, track, and deliver value. Meet Our Guest Tom Arbuthnot is the Co-Founder of Empowering.Cloud and Solutions Director at Pure IP. A Microsoft MVP and Microsoft Certified Master, Tom stays up to date with industry news and developments and has the opportunity to share information and opinions on TomTalks.blog, the UCToday.com Microsoft Podcast and his TomTalks.email list. He regularly speaks at events around the world. Learn more: Empowering.Cloud Follow Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomarbuthnot/ ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

This week, we chat with Farzad Rashidi, the Lead Innovator at Respona, a link-building outreach platform that helps B2B SaaS and agencies increase their organic traffic from Google. During our conversation, Farzad shares his firsthand experience of working remotely before it became mainstream. We dive into the importance of link-building for businesses in 2023 and explore Respona's origin story from its roots as Visme's marketing secret weapon. Farzad also provides practical insights on conducting effective link-building and cold outreach without resorting to spamming techniques. We also discuss the potential impact of generative AI on the future of search, offering a glimpse into what lies ahead. Join us for this informative episode as we discuss remote work, the significance of link-building, Respona's journey, and the evolving landscape of search in the digital age. Meet Our Guest Farzad Rashidi is the Lead Innovator at Respona, the all-in-one link-building outreach software that helps businesses increase their organic traffic from Google. As the first marketing hire at Visme, Farzad helped the company gain over 20 million users and pass 3.5M monthly organic traffic. Since then, he's been helping other companies achieve similar successes via Respona. Learn more about Farzad's work: https://www.farzadrashidi.com/ Connect with Farzad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farzadrashidi/ Show Links Follow us on Twitter: @thedwwpodcast Email us: podcast@digitalworkspace.works Visit us: www.digitalworkspace.works Subscribe to the podcast: click here YouTube channel: click here ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

For episode 150, we sit down for a more casual chat where we reflect on the impact of growing up surrounded by screens, the impossible task of processing current AI news, and more. Show Links Follow us on Twitter: @thedwwpodcast Email us: podcast@digitalworkspace.works Visit us: www.digitalworkspace.works Subscribe to the podcast: click here YouTube channel: click here ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, discover the story behind Penfold, the pioneering digital pensions company. Co-Founder Chris Eastwood shares his motivations and the challenges of navigating workplace pensions. We explore the importance of financial literacy and how Penfold is making saving for retirement easy. Join us as we unravel the complexities of the retirement savings landscape and witness how technology-driven solutions are reshaping the industry. Gain valuable insights into the future of workplace pensions and Chris's vision for a world where financial security and retirement planning intertwine. Don't miss this thought-provoking episode that explores the digital transformation of workplace pensions and the possibilities that lie ahead. Meet Our Guest Chris Eastwood is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Penfold, the digital pension. Since first learning the astonishing maths of compound interest he's been passionate about pensions and the benefits of saving as early as possible. Sadly, the industry has let everyday savers down with confusing products and outrageous levels of friction. As a result, 79% of Brits aren't on track for a comfortable retirement. So Chris set up Penfold with his Co-Founder Pete Hykin to change all this by building a pension experience people actually enjoy using that helps them reach their goals. As Co-CEO at Penfold, Chris focuses on Product, Marketing and Investor Relations. Connect with Chris on LinkedIn Learn more about Penfold: https://getpenfold.com/ Show Links Follow us on Twitter: @thedwwpodcast Email us: podcast@digitalworkspace.works Visit us: www.digitalworkspace.works Subscribe to the podcast: click here YouTube channel: click here ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★