Unleashed - How to Thrive as an Independent Professional

Wes Wheless helps solo consultants bottle their secret sauce. To do so, Wes offers two services: The NicheFinder Sprint and The IP Builder Sprint. He believes that consultants need to identify a niche or specialization and a unique approach to serving that niche, typically codified into intellectual property (IP). Each sprint is delivered one-on-one over 1-2 weeks. Niche Finder Explained NicheFinder is designed for early-stage solo consultants who are struggling to narrow down their niche. It involves working one-on-one to identify their zone of genius and then lay out potential ICPs. The client and the consultant come up with three specific ICPs, which are then run through a custom GPT that runs a detailed viability analysis on each lane. The GPT also derives three additional ICPs based on context and evaluates their viability as well. With an identified niche, the consultant can now decisively focus on building a market position around that specific problem and buyer. Examples of Niche Consulting Wes shares an example of a client whose determined niche is fractional CMO for B2C subscription companies that have hit a growth plateau and have not invested in brand marketing. Another example is a client who went solo from a boutique consulting firm that specializes in change management. Her genius zone was being the translation layer between strategic vision and operational teams. She had a keen understanding of internal issues and also helped new executives acclimate to their roles. The GPT analysis suggested that she should focus on innovation teams running pilots but not getting traction due to organizational resistance. Wes explains that the GPT analysis includes 12 viability factors, including access, lifetime value, competitive alternatives, and target revenue numbers. These factors help narrow down options and identify red flags, ultimately leading to a more viable solution. Sourcing Consulting Opportunities Before Niching Down The discussion explores the approach of starting with potential buyers from your existing network, rather than relying on staffing firms or referrals. Will suggests starting with decision makers or influencers. This approach can help you identify your potential universe of buyers and determine what services they are willing to pay for. Wes adds that this approach can help you learn about selling yourself and what people are interested in. However, Wes points out that it can also lead to triangulating into a specialty that might not be interesting or appropriate for you. If you continue to work for anyone who will hire you at the moment, you may end up working in areas where you don't have much business taking on that kind of work. Identifying and Validating a Consulting Niche Wes discusses the process of developing a niche through the NicheFinder sprint. He emphasizes the importance of having a strong understanding of the client's pain points and interests before proceeding with the niche finder. Wes suggests that the process should be followed by market validation conversations, where potential clients can share their ideas and validate their interest in the service. This process should take around three to five conversations. Wes suggests changing the LinkedIn headline and content to be specific to the identified problem. He also suggests codifying relevant IP and developing visual assets that can be shared. The IP Builder Sprint and Intellectual Headshots Wes suggests that consultants should have served at least two or three clients within their niche before starting the IP Builder sprint. Wes suggests that consultants should display their expertise prominently through visual assets, which Wes calls intellectual headshots. These are instantly digestible visual articulations of your expertise that can prompt and streamline conversations. They can be distributed at scale and can look like typical consulting frameworks. Some clients have created headshots that look like comic strips or...

Show Notes: Alex Lugosch and Ilya Druzhnikov, founders of True PMF, explain that True PMF is a rapid prototyping and discovery service for startups and established companies who are releasing a new product or testing a new market and don’t have the tools or six to eight months to try new experiments for product market fit. The firm uses cold calling tools to test out different ideas and pitches to potential clients, focusing on understanding the reactions of potential buyers. Ilya explains how their tool saves time and money by improving the cold call process. First Steps in a Cold Call Strategy Alex and Ilya work with a founder to identify their target audience and use tools like ZoomInfo to gather a list of people that fit that profile. They then use cold calling tool to test out different ideas and iterate different pitches to potential clients. They also train the founder to do cold calls, helping them understand the process and find what resonates with potential buyers. The firm often stacks rank lists of 20 audiences to test in the next 20 days, with each experiment taking about two sessions of an hour each. At a certain point, they do turnover, where the founder takes over to learn how to do the process. They use several list building services, data validation services, and dialers to build tight lists, accessing many people at the C-suite that most founders can only dream of contacting. Within one or two calls, they find that those people are picking up on their pitches and talking to them, which is a significant improvement from the traditional six-month process of trying to determine if something is a product market fit. The Cold Call Conversation and Analysis Ilya explains the process, beginning from when they contact the founder, building the initial list, finding direct phone numbers for 80-100 people, and loading them into their enterprise-grade tech stack that few startups can afford. He goes on to explain how they start the conversation. They try to make the pitch relevant to the founder and explain that their solution could save time and money while having a positive impact on the bottom line. After the call, the transcript goes directly into the AI model, which produces an analysis of the conversation and offers recommendations on how to proceed. The next step is to determine the outcome of the call. In a typical calling session, there are sometimes upwards of 14 or 15 connects. As the conversation gets closer to the target, the conversations become more rich, with more follow-up emails, scheduled demos, and referrals. It's an iterative process until discovering the audience is interested in the topic and/or the call can be referred to the right person. Cold Calling Techniques The conversation turns to the importance of effective cold pitching techniques. They mention the importance of recognizing what’s currently relevant to the client. They also discuss the concept of partnering one person to take a pitch and then alternate to the other person without giving feedback. The key to getting better at cold pitching is focusing on the elements that work in the previous pitch. This technique can be applied to other situations as well, such as listening to each other's tone of voice and understanding their preferences. Alex emphasizes that these techniques are not meant to scale sales but to provide relevant information about messaging and product features that can be used in outbound campaigns that are scalable, such as emails, LinkedIn messages, or conferences. Ilya and Alex give an impromptu example of an opening conversation with mid-market private equity owned portfolio companies. Ilya explains that their informs more effective marketing strategies. This approach helps clients narrow down their ideas about the persona, develop stronger content that connects with their target market(s), and ensures that their marketing efforts are highly effective. Cost of SDRs Cold Calling The discussion revolves...

Show Notes: Vanessa Liu, co-founder and CEO of Sugarwork, talks about how this tool helps enterprises capture tacit knowledge by acting as a guide. Sugarwork helps companies capture specific information at scale and enables sharing, and guides companies to ask specific questions to elicit the required insights. How the Sugarwork Platform Works Vanessa explains how the dashboard works and how it helps companies understand, leverage, and easily access their tacit knowledge for better decision-making and growth. She introduces the scheduling section. Vanessa shows how the Knowledge Share section acts as a guide that helps advance the discussion and gathering of key insights. She shares a few query examples that guide questions that gather insights, including: Roles and responsibilities Problem solving… Core Technical Questions Sharing Resources and Data from Meetings Vanessa explains how scheduling meetings works and the integrations with several different meeting apps. Vanessa talks about the AI avatar or an employee interview an interviewee, and how the information gathered and stored in the Knowledge Share section. The platform allows companies to schedule video meetings where an AI note taker transcribes the conversation and provides a summary. The raw data from the meeting is also available, allowing participants to share their insights. Shared Resources are uploaded into a repository, allowing the company to access the information on a permissions-based basis. She explains how AI takes notes and issues a summary and overview. Asking Questions and Accessing Knowledge Share Vanessa explains that the platform is typically used for short, compressed periods, such as a transformation or launch of something new. This allows HR teams to access knowledge shares and ask questions as if they were talking to the interviewees. The platform also allows for queries based on ChatGPT, or other tools to understand why a client or customer works with a particular vendor. The platform is designed to be accessible to the entire company. Interview Use Cases and Documenting Processes The conversation turns to the use of interviewers in companies, with two common models: one involves a trained interviewer interviewing everyone in the company, and another involves multiple interviewers for onboarding junior employees. Vanessa suggests two use cases for this approach: documenting processes and understanding succession planning work. A project manager can document the process and create a process map to optimize it. Another use case involves understanding people's knowledge shares for succession planning or transformations. Saving Time and Improving Efficiency Vanessa also mentions the activity value added analysis (AVA) project, where companies can identify activities that are taking up significant time and eliminate them. This tool can be used for cost-cutting projects, such as the AVA project, where companies can identify bottlenecks and improve efficiency. The second use case is business optimization, where companies can map processes to identify areas for optimization and understand where people are spending time. For example, a new product development process can be analyzed to identify pain points and identify solutions for bottlenecks. This can include changing the configuration of people involved or adjusting handoffs. Budget Processes and Interviews Sugarwork is designed to help companies understand their processes and identify key themes in customer segments. The platform is not intended for detailed process mapping, but rather for understanding the different customer segments and their roles in the process. Sugarwork provides a consolidated view of everyone involved in the budgeting process. The platform also helps identify key themes across various customer segments. Its focus on detail, data analysis, and automation makes it an attractive option for companies looking to streamline their...

Show Notes: Ami Parekh discusses the business model and services of Included Health, a company that provides personalized healthcare. Included Health partners with self-insured employers and health plans to improve the way working Americans and their families receive healthcare. Included Health Services About a third of Fortune, 100 companies, and 10 million Americans have access to Included Health’s services. The company focuses on providing access answers and advocacy as people engage in the healthcare system. The company has nearly 3000 people, including 1000 clinicians across the country, including primary care doctors, specialists, nurse practitioners, and therapists. Additionally, hundreds of care advocates help patients understand the ins and outs of the healthcare system. Many patients come to Included Health because they can't get access to primary care and behavioral health, which can take one to two months across most of the country. The company aims to address this supply problem. Navigating the Healthcare System Ami talks about the role of Included Health in helping patients navigate the healthcare system, focusing on personalized and best-for-the-patient approach. She explains how it can help patients navigate their insurance and coverage options. She also covers the use of data and data science to match patients with the highest quality healthcare professionals for specific requirements, such as orthopedic surgeons or specialists. Ami emphasizes that Included Health are not plans or payers, but providers who work with a wide field of providers, and their job is to help patients achieve the best outcomes within the current healthcare system. Accessing Quality Data in Healthcare The conversation turns to the concept of quality data in healthcare, how it is crucial to consider the quality of care and the likelihood of repeat surgeries, and the issue of inappropriate prescribing behavior, such as the use of opiates and benzodiazepines, which can be addictive. Ami explains how Included Health accesses and uses data, and how collected sanctioned data can help determine if a provider is safe for family members to see. Ami emphasizes that data is never perfect, and in the worst case scenario, patients can consult with clinicians to find the right doctor. The data can help inform conversations about who to see, and Included Health offers support in finding publicly available data sources and the right practitioner. She highlights the need for better data and collaboration between healthcare providers and patients to improve patient outcomes and overall healthcare quality. Improving Healthcare Pricing and Cost Employers typically pay for Included Health as a layer on top of their health plan, as they want their employees to be healthy, productive, and engaged members of their workforce. They also want healthcare costs to remain low so that they can pay their employees a living wage and invest in other benefits. Healthcare is often the number two cost after supplies in America, and employers want their employees to be healthy, productive, and engaged. Included Health offers a way to give healthy days back to employees by reducing the number of days they are unable to be healthy due to mental or physical health reasons. This results in increased productivity, better work performance, and overall cost savings. There are two dimensions to using included health services: first-time care and saving time. First, employees get the right care the first time, which can lead to cost savings. Second, health plans are incentivized to offer support to their patient population, as they are paying for it. Third, Included Health helps find providers quickly, saving employees time and freeing them up to focus on the healing process and family. Furthermore, Included Health provides access to primary care doctors, which is crucial for long-term cost savings and better health. How Included Health Works Included Health has about...

Show Notes: Sarah Dobson, founder and creative director at Design of Brand, discusses their niche in helping founders of companies establish their brand identity. They offer a process that includes brand strategy, naming, and creating a visual identity system for launch or relaunch. She explains what a brand identity entails and provides examples of successful case studies. Discovering and Designing a Brand Identity Sarah explains what the core of a brand identity is, how it is more than just a palette or a logo, and how she helps founders articulate that identity from developing the symbolic mark, word mark, and often, the name of the company through to the visual design elements of fonts and colours etc. She discusses her practice of collecting examples for design inspiration. She shares that he takes photos of various elements, such as typography, street signs, shapes, and color palettes, and banks them to find the right place in someone's identity. She also mentions that she started using Pinterest early on and quickly gained 800,000 followers. Sarah believes that understanding trends is crucial for creating unique designs and not looking like another brand. She uses Pinterest to research interiors and symbols for clients where she populates secret boards with images and ideas. She researches broadly online to find inspiration from a variety of sources and uses it to create visually appealing designs. Sarah mentions that she is considering launching a course to help people name their companies. She believes that sharing her capabilities with others would be meaningful to help more people develop their brand identity. A Case Study on Naming a Brand Sarah shares a case study of working with a founder who didn't have a name for their company. She shares the story of Othership, a social sauna and cold plunge business in New York. The founder had stopped drinking and was looking for alternative alternatives to bars. Sarah explains that she had two clients who were also interested in Sonic culture and the Soho House of Wellness. The clients joined forces to establish their company and Sarah explains how she worked closely with them to develop a deep understanding of who they were and of the company they were developing. Sarah observed the founders as they were prototyping and building out the space. They developed breath work, audio and physical space to help them synthesize their vision for a more social, healthy way of having fun. Sarah explains how she encouraged them to change their name from Inward to Othership because it reflected the founder's focus on connections and creating a healthy space with and for others rather than internal issues. She also explains how playing with suffixes and compound words is a part of the naming process. Case Study on Creating a Visual Identity Sarah discusses the process of creating a visual identity for the brand Othership, including the logo mark, buttons, and photography. She talks about where she found inspiration for the symbol mark, which included drawing inspiration from the spinning top toy and The Sims. The logo has had an incredible effect on people's lives, with at least five people now having tattoos of it. The color scheme was inspired by Disney’s Fantasia, and the founders' energy was a key factor in the design, and the color palette was atypical and flexible, not just two colors. Sarah explains that this approach was similar to a design she developed for a super food snack cafe's color palette. In terms of process and iterations, Sarah mentions that, sometimes, two to three different concepts are explored, with one being the most likely one based on the client's preferences and the other exploring more strategic ideas. The process is seen as due diligence, with the goal of finding the one that resonates with the client. Case Study on the Brand Identity of a Cannabis Retailer and an Organic Food Snack Sarah discusses his experiences in creating a cannabis retailer in...

Chad Oakley, CEO of Charles Aris, a second-generation executive search firm, discusses their 55-year history and their focus on four areas. Charles Aris specializes in strategy and go-to-market practice, which places individuals into corporations, private equity firms, and portfolio companies. Chad explains their areas of expertise and mentions that the firm has a team of over 100 and has completed over 1,450 positions in this area in the last 21 years. They also have a finance and corporate development practice, which handles CFOs, FPAs, and candidates for merger and acquisition roles. Additionally, they have an engineering and operations practice that handles supply chain, CFO, and plant managers. The Changing Market for Consultants Chad, a former consultant, discusses the changing market for consulting in the age of uncertainty, and what the market is looking for. He traces back to April 2024, when consulting in the United States was down, particularly for top firms like Bain, BCG, McKinsey Strategy, and L.E.K EY Parthenon. The downturn was driven by higher interest rates and inflation. Chad talks about the factors leading to high interest rates and how it impacted consulting firms, private equity firms and M&A activity. He touches on how consulting firms reacted to this downturn and how it affected consultants. Chad shares a 2025 Compensation study conducted by Charles Aris showing a range of data that covers undergrads and MBAs, major consulting firms and competitors. He then shares three primary factors that caused a rise in the market in January 2025. The market is now looking for new opportunities and challenges. Key Factors Leading to Market Change for Consultants Chad explains the factors that led to the changes in the market over the past year. The newly elected President, Trump, was bullish on business, promising to rally markets better than Biden and eliminate red tape and regulations. This positive outlook led to a more optimistic outlook for the market. Business is recovering, creating solid momentum in the economy. In Q1 2024, companies started investing and private equity firms resumed deals, resulting in stronger demand for consulting services. However, the implementation of tariffs by the President has arrested this momentum, creating uncertainty for business leaders. The current tariffs have no playbook for them, and the possibility of changes in the future makes it difficult for current CEOs or business leadership teams to commit to action. Chad shares a conversation he had with the CEO of a publicly traded manufacturing company CEO, who has manufacturing facilities in the US, China, and South America. He cannot justify the massive investment in onshore manufacturing due to the potential decrease in tariffs. This has halted deal momentum, particularly in consulting services. Despite this, consulting firms are still working on projects they sold in the first few months of the year. They are now trying to be strategic about their consulting services, focusing on key areas to win and play in the market. The Number One Area of Focus for Consulting Firms. Chad explains that consulting firms are trying to be strategic in their direction, which has led to a focus on supply chain consulting. Companies are trying to navigate the impact of tariffs on their supply chains, and consulting firms are helping them do so by reshuffling their manufacturing base from high tariff countries to low tariff countries. They are also helping clients re-negotiate procurement contracts with global suppliers and consider acquiring competitors with a more favorable supply chain structure. Consulting firms are gearing up for a bulk of demand for supply chain services, and focusing on blue and white collar services. They are also doubling down on consulting playbooks for their services, including blue and white collar services, which is also a major area of focus for private equity firms. Consulting firms are also looking at...

Show Notes: Joe O’Mahoney is a part-time professor of consulting at Cardiff University and a leading authority on the growth and sale of boutiques and small consultancies. He has spent 20 years researching consultancies and interviewing hundreds of owners and senior leaders. He has developed a growth drivers model, which includes factors like leadership quality, client relationships, and market positioning. He conducts benchmark surveys and interviews with leadership teams and clients. Joe then conducts a SWOT analysis, and estimates the valuation of the firm. He helps the owner satisfy their equity goals, and pull the levers. Joe typically focuses on two to three priorities each year to drive up the firm's growth. He shares three key factors in leadership and team management that are crucial to a successful scale up. Building a Sales Team for a Boutique Consultancy Joe explains that, in the long term, building a competent sales team is crucial for a firm's valuation. This involves promoting, training, mentoring, rewarding, and recruiting sales capabilities. A culture that puts sales first should be complemented by a competent system that listens to sales calls and introduces new hires. This will help build a pipeline of capable sales people in the future. In the short term, implementing these strategies can improve marketing efforts. It is important to consider how your value proposition is translated into marketing themes and content, as well as the frequency and visibility of these posts. It is crucial to ensure that marketing efforts are effective and aligned with the company's goals. Challenges of Scaling a Business Joe discusses the challenges of scaling a business, particularly for those with a two to 3 million revenue mark. He suggests that firms need to focus on their signature service, which is high value, high growth, and can cross-sell. Marketing algorithms reward clarity in these areas, leading to better value propositions, marketing, and themes. This clarity allows firms to build intellectual property (IP) and increase margins. Once sales, project margin, or EBITDA are reached, firms can decide on additional products to sell alongside their existing offerings, such as parallel products, cross-selling services, or follow-on services. By building a logical sequence of events, firms can achieve high-quality revenue. The Importance of IP in Scaling Consulting Firms Joe shares an example of a firm that focused on a manual approach to cloud consultancy. However, when breaking down their service lines by revenue, the company realized that they should change their focus. In terms of branding and content, Joe explains that buyers are interested in the past growth, future growth, and margin of the firm, but they also want a marketing machine that generates clients, and an architecture of sales that generates high-quality leads. Joe explains that IP is a top priority for buyers, including the quality of the leadership team. This includes delivery IP, marketing IP, thought leadership, website design, and content. LinkedIn is an interesting example, as due diligence is starting to reveal its influence on a firm's success. Valuation and Growth Trajectory Valuation is a crucial factor for buyers and private equity, as they are interested in the future value of the firm. A healthy growth trajectory is essential, and a machine that can push up the multiple is preferred. Joe explains that it is often better to focus on building the architecture that will allow you to improve your multiple, rather than focusing on increasing your profit margin. This can be achieved by implementing a PSA system, CRM system, training people, and building out IP. However, it is difficult to drive up the multiple quickly, as everyone is talking about margin all the time. It is important for buyers to consider the firm's potential for growth and profitability before making a decision. Joe talks about the EBITDA and how it should be approached....

Show Notes: Chris Freeberg is the co-founder of deck.support, a company that brings some of the best tools for PowerPoint into Google Slides. Chris and cofounder Dimitri Limberopoulos recognized the need for increased functionality in Google Slides as more companies were switching from PowerPoint to Google Slides but wanted a larger variety of tools and functionality for projects. deck.support was launched last month in the Google workspace marketplace as an extension to Google Slides and provides a wide range of tools to increase creativity and functionality that are available for PowerPoint. deck.support is an affordable and essential tool for those who prefer working in Google Slides for client or collaboration reasons. An Introduction to deck.support deck.support lives within Google Slides and Chris demonstrates how to access the extension. He discusses the use of deck.support which offers various formatting shortcuts and alignment tools. These tools allow users to quickly align images, columns, and objects, and automatically resize them for better alignment. deck.support Objects and Templates Tutorial Chris explains how to use objects and templates. Objects are text and graphical elements that can be inserted onto a page, such as three-step process wheels or four-step process wheels. Templates are more elaborate versions of layouts. Templates can include a table of contents, detailed agenda, context, findings, matrix, BFA, call out, box prioritization, traffic light, slide, Harvey Ball, timeline, slide, customer funnels, and more. The founders have tried to replicate the visual languages used in their slides. The collection of templates, key actions, deliverables, and hypotheses is a complete list of 90% of the standard slide designs used in consulting projects. deck.support for Project Goals and Objectives The project also includes charts with more numerous charts to explore the project's goals and objectives. The goal is to provide a more engaging and effective presentation for clients. They have built a roadmap of 10 different chart types to start with, aiming to bring a high level of precision to Google Slides. AI is another feature which allows users to prompt the AI to read a slide and add finishing touches. This is an integration with Open AI, which will look at a slide and add specific notes to the speaker notes at the bottom. The AI suggestions launched at the bottom of the slide include a more action-oriented or informative headline that concisely summarizes the benefits of deck support. deck.support and the Golden Age of Entrepreneurship Chris discusses the importance of remembering who the audience is for a slide presentation to ensure clarity and comprehension. The process of building the tool involved a quick analysis of the potential of Google Slides, and hiring a developer with expertise in Google Apps Scripts. The augmented intelligence provided by AI tools allowed him to understand the process of development and make informed decisions. Chris believes that AI is a gold standard in the field of entrepreneurship, as it provides a demystification of the process, making it easier and more enjoyable for the audience. He also mentions the importance of considering the audience's needs and the potential for advancements in the field. Chris and Dimitri built a roadmap using PowerPoint and AI to understand the purpose of their software. They were guided by 17 years of BCG experience and were familiar with existing tools and their limitations. Developing, Testing, and Pricing deck.support Chris discusses the development process of their product, which took about six months. The first step was identifying how to communicate what they wanted in terms of tools and functionality, and identifying the limitations of current tools on the market. They used chat GPT to evaluate different jurisdictions for incorporation, such as Delaware, Ireland, Dubai, and Singapore. They landed on...

Show Notes: Stephan Meier, a professor at Columbia Business School, is the author of the book "Employee Advantage." He teaches the business strategy core class, which is required for all MBA students. Stephan also teaches an elective on the future of work, focusing on how treating employees and labor interacts with technology and business strategy. Stephan conducts international trips to African countries, such as Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya, to provide students with international experiences and perspectives on businesses, strategy, and different environments. His focus is on putting workers first to help businesses thrive. The conversation turns to Stephan’s book and the concept of the workplace and business strategy. He mentions how the pandemic brought the workplace under the spotlight and technology use ramped up, while at the same time, Stephan was teaching a class on the Future of Work. The conversation turns to the concept of putting workers first as a key element of business success, and how the business language reveals the mode of managing the employee base. This outlook has led to a large divide between employee and employer. According to Gallup surveys, about 65% of Americans are not engaged at work, and this number is even higher worldwide. Stephan also talks about customer centricity and how employee experience is crucial for both innovation and customer satisfaction. The Employee First Approach Stephan cites Jeff Bezos, and Amazon as examples of organizations that prioritize employee satisfaction. Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos believes that learning from dissatisfied employees can lead to continuous improvement and better business outcomes. This mindset is also seen in other industries, such as Costco in the US, which provides clear career paths, communicates clearly, and promotes internally. DHL Express, for two years in a row, was named the best employer in the world on the best workplaces in the world list for two consecutive years. They put employees first because they realized that turnover is terrible and happy employees are more engaged and leads to satisfied customers. They changed aspects of communication, listening, training, and career path within the organization, leading to financial success. How the Employee/Customer Centric Approach Wins Stephan discusses the importance of treating employees well and putting them first at the margin when making trade-offs. He talks about Starbucks, where the company's customer-centric approach has led to a loss of a customer-centric environment. He talks about how this could be improved. Stephan also emphasizes that both customers and employees are critical stakeholders that create value within the organization. Companies that prioritize their employees are more likely to be successful. This is because they have a strong focus on competence, which is encouraged by offering the right tasks that push employees optimally. This is crucial for motivation and retention, as people often leave organizations when they don't learn anything new. How Successful Companies Prioritize Employees Stephan states that companies strive to differentiate through a customer-centric approach, but he goes on to explain that the employee-centric and the customer-centric approach are often interchangeable. He offers examples of companies that prioritize their employees including Costco, DHL Express, and MasterCard. Microsoft uses an AI-powered tool called Unlocked, which allows employees to choose projects they want to participate in and matches them with opportunities within the company. This approach not only improves the internal market but also creates a better experience for employees. Companies like KKR, which invest heavily in portfolio companies, implement ownership programs, which give employees stock options as a start. To differentiate between companies that prioritize their employees, companies should consider metrics such as engagement level and turnover rates. By...

Show Notes: Dori Yona, founder of Simple Closure, explains the process of shutting down a company. The process is painful, manual, and bureaucratic, with an average time of nine to 12 months. It can cost companies thousands of dollars or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees. Many companies end up doing it incorrectly, leading to fines and penalties. The Multiple Moving Parts of a Business Shut Down Dori explains that the main difficulty in shutting down a company is the coordination of multiple moving parts, such as the state of incorporation, IRS, lawyers, accountants, payroll provider, vendors, service providers, investors, payroll, and state departments. The average shutdown for a venture-backed company has about 95 moving parts, and if any of them are missed or not done correctly, the process can drag on and on. First Steps in Shutting Down a Business Dori talks about three typical approaches for a shutdown of a firm, which they categorize into three main “buckets”. The first bucket is companies that reach out six to nine months before they need to shut down, as they are running out of cash and trying to raise another round or convince existing investors to invest more in their company. They want to be ready for what happens if it doesn't work out, so they reach out to the Simple Closure six months before to discover what the process involves. Dori mentions the Shut Down calculator his firm developed and put on their website to help business owners work through costs and assess the time they have left before going into the red and complicating the shut down. Bucket number two is when companies decide to shut down immediately, need quick media advice, need help presenting to the board, or with winding down the business. Bucket number three is when companies have shut down operationally six months or a year ago but never dealt with properly winding down the business. They may face penalties, fines, and liens on their personal property due to improper actions. The Financial Reality of Shutting Down a Business Dori emphasizes that it is not easy to walk away from a company, as it can come back and haunt the owner(s). He explains that while a corporate entity is there to protect board members, investors, and founders, if certain things are not done properly, it can pierce the corporate veil, making the board and founders personally liable and potentially sued. The most common issue is wages, where an employee is owed wages and has not been paid. Companies should make sure that the proper winding up process is done to avoid loose ends and potential lawsuits from stakeholders, such as vendors, investors, state departments, and payroll departments. Dori also stresses the importance of considering investors during the shutdown process. Payroll Providers and the Shut Down Process A company's shutdown process involves understanding the number of employees it has and how to properly shut down them. Dori uses a typical seed stage company as an example. This type of company usually has around 15 to 20 employees at its peak, with a few founders and one more engineer or person. To properly shut down the company, it is crucial to know who is currently on payroll, whether full-time or contractors, and how many employees the company had at its peak across different states and locations. Most startups use payroll providers, but they are not good at shutting down payroll accounts. When a company shuts down, they terminate the relationship between themselves and the payroll provider, this does not mean the payroll provider has closed down all accounts in all states. To help close out all accounts and notify all states, companies should ask for the HRIS census, which provides background and history of employees. Analyzing this data helps determine who is a past employee versus an active employee. The discussion explores the issue of 1099s for companies that are about to shut down, such as those in the US. Dori explains that...

Show Notes Jacob Bank, founder and CEO of Relay.App, talks about the rise of AI agents, a type of chatbot that can work on your behalf in the background. He explains that AI agents can perform tasks similar to junior-level employees or interns. How AI Agents Work An example of an AI agent working on your blog post is Chat GPT, which can automatically draft a blog post about a new recipe. The agent may ask for feedback and then publish it for you. This makes AI agents less of a thought prompt partner and more like an intern who takes on a mission on your behalf. There are two ways AI agents can take action on your behalf: making direct computer calls called API calls, or controlling your computer. API calls allow agents to make direct connections with tools like Salesforce, Calendly, Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, and HubSpot. The second approach involves the AI controlling your computer, i.e., constantly looking at the screen and clicking buttons on it. Relay.App focuses on business productivity applications and automated calls, so it cannot log into your bank and perform actions on your behalf. However, a tool using the computer use capability would need two factor authentication and captcha. AI Agent Interaction: Solutions and Problems AI agents can interact with any website or tool that has an API, such as email browsers, CRM systems, and business productivity tools. There are three categories of AI agents: APIs, which perform tasks on a computer screen, AI in-built capabilities, and capabilities in reasoning. One problem AI agents need to solve is how they interact with their tools, such as reading and writing data from Salesforce, and how they can do this either via an API or by controlling the browser. Additionally, AI agents have the ability to extract information from PDFs, translate language information, turn text to speech, create videos automatically, and browse the web and do research. Three Models of AI Agents There are three models of AI agents to keep in mind: one class is a tool like relay.app, where the tool comes on your cloud or services, and interacts with things, while another class is a tool owned by the customer or freelancing agents. Models to consider when building AI agents: pre-built AI agents, which are commonly used in customer support tools, custom AI agents, and freelancing agents. These models are designed for specific vertical use cases and can be hosted on a platform or servers. AI agents can interact with various tools and platforms, including email marketing tools, CRM systems, and cloud-based versions of Microsoft tools. They can also perform tasks such as transcription, summary notes, and internet research. Customer Service Agents Customer service agents can be trained on a company's knowledge base. These agents can take various actions, such as replying to emails, triggering password reset emails, or issuing refunds. There are three main types of customer support agents: pre-built agents for specific use cases, custom built agents on easy-to-use platforms like lyndee.ai, relevance.ai, and Zapier, and engineers building their own agents using developer-focused frameworks. There are two options for building agents: one that interacts with APIs, and another that almost takes over your desktop. The fully browser-based approach is less reliable and predictable, but API-based approaches provide clearer guardrails for the agents. Common Use Cases for Relay.App The most common use cases for Relay.app include email handling, calendar management, customer interaction and relationship management, and marketing content creation. Email calendar management involves extracting information from emails, summarizing PDFs, forwarding them to others, drafting or applying to emails, labeling them, and archived emails. Personal productivity use cases involve managing emails, scheduling meetings, and reminding people to RSVP. Customer interaction and relationship management involves researching...

Nikola Lazarov is the co-founder and CEO of Eilla AI, a tool that provides AI workers for private market intelligence. Nikola is an AI engineer who started his career at a London-based hedge fund, Marble Bar Asset Management, where he worked as a quant. He realized the value of AI in structuring unstructured data for private companies and decided to start a company almost three years ago. What Eilla AI Does While Nikola mentions that their target clients are investors and investment bankers, Eilla AI's tool does various tasks, such as finding competitors, analyzing their USP, target market, and financials. It also offers a solution for finding comparable transactions and conducting valuation reports. By searching for similar companies, it can determine their multiples, revenues, and valuations. The tool collects data from various data providers, including CrunchBase Zero and PitchBook, and scrapes it on its own. One of the most exciting solutions offered by Eilla AI is finding comparable transactions and doing valuation reports. This involves finding similar companies, analyzing their financials, average multiples, and what is driving these valuations. The tool automatically gathers and compares the data, providing valuable insights for startups, investors, and investment bankers. How Eilla AI Works The conversation turns to how it works. Nikola talks through using the software and explains the visuals on the screen, which includes tabs such as company, profile, competitor, research, buyer, selection, investment highlights, key questions, risks and mitigates, and a one-pager. The company profile page provides a consolidated set of information about the company, including its headquarters location, number of employees, founding status, total raised, and last transaction. The company description, industry, problem solved, key team members, funding, product, clients, business model, digital intelligence, and news are all included. The platform is similar to CrunchBase and other data aggregators, but it aggregates data from various sources, such as LinkedIn, their website, CrunchBase, and Capita. The platform also offers footnotes for each piece of data, allowing users to hover over it to see the source of the information. The platform also provides information on the website traffic, such as the source and the number of followers. Aggregating Data from Various Sources Nikola explains how the tool works using competitor research as the example to find the closest competitors to Pay Hawk. He explains that this process saves time and helps save time by aggregating data. However, what differentiates Eilla AI is what happens on top of this aggregated data. It uses a proprietary database of in-depth product information to gather information from over 7 million companies, ranking them based on funding, cat count, and other factors. AI is used to determine the number of competitors and similar companies. A Vertical View of Information Users can select a few companies to dive deeper into, and a vertical view allows for a comparison table. The table includes company name type, description, product description, headquarters location, team, year of founding, last round of funding, status, ownership status, detailed offering, unique selling proposition, and target market. The information is organized in a way that would take weeks to pull together. Users can use the vertical view to see the companies side by side. The platform also includes green dots on product descriptions to indicate high similarity and source information. This tool is unique in that it not only provides data but also replicates the workflow of competitor research. It offers insights such as a SWOT analysis on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Pay Hawk versus its competitors. Product and Services The platform also includes a Products and Services tab with bullet points around PayHawk versus its competitors. Each product has a footnote...

Jeff Sinclair, a senior global leader at McKinsey, discusses the history of operations at the firm. The firm was initially known as a strategy firm and did some organization and marketing work. However, in the 1980s, clients began to draw more attention to operations, particularly in the automotive industry in Europe and North America. Operations became a strategic function for automotive OEMs and part suppliers, as they needed to serve their customers with high quality, cost-effective, and operationally effective services. Operations Practice at McKinsey When Jeff joined the firm in 1981, there were about 500 people in the firm. Today, it is estimated that there are 40,000 people worldwide. The firm started building its operations capability in the 80s by recruiting people with specific functional expertise, particularly in manufacturing. They started hiring people from Toyota Supplier Support Center, and creating a well-defined career path within the firm, which is the specialist path or expert path. The operations practice was at the leading edge of other functional practices, such as marketing, market research, and organization. However, the firm had to create new career paths, which led to many iterations of the expert path. The firm had to continuously improve how it recognized and understood their contributions beyond the traditional generalist path. Bureaucratic Maneuvering in Creating a Career Path Jeff discusses the transition from a strong culture to multiple career paths within McKinsey. He explains that this change took about 18 years and was driven by the firm's strong culture and the willingness of senior partners in positions of power to help navigate the new path. As employees advanced in the firm, they had to develop relationships with senior executives, which led to ongoing opportunities to serve them. This made it difficult for experts to fit in and develop new service lines and ways of thinking about problem-solving. The firm struggled to recognize the contribution of subject matter expertise to their ability to serve clients and give them credit for developing new service lines and ways of helping clients execute more effectively. Experts were used on projects in a mixture of subject matter expertise, consulting director roles, and full-time execution people. The Evolution of Consultants at McKinsey The firm gave some of the personnel role responsibility to the functional practices themselves, hiring lean manufacturing or supply chain experts into the practice. They would take over the personnel development role, evaluation of performance, counseling, and coaching on how to evolve these new career paths. Over time, the firm recognized the high value added contribution of functional practices and expanded its service to clients. While there is still a tension between generalist and specialist paths within McKinsey today, it has improved significantly. Bob Sternfels, the managing director of the firm, was a functional practice leader who recognized the level of contribution of functional practices and grew the career path within the firm. McKinsey’s Expansion into other Industries The firm's operations practice evolved from a dominant career path of the generalist partner to a more diverse range of ways of delivering value for clients. The firm initially faced resistance from some office leaders who believed that the new approach would lead to professional suicide. However, over time, the firm embraced the idea of having multiple functional practices, including the operations practice. In the 90s, McKinsey expanded its service to healthcare providers, which led to the growth of the operations practice. This led to the development of Lean principles, such as the Toyota Production System, which were applied in various industries, such as healthcare, consumer goods, and banking. These principles allowed the firm to create real value in areas where people didn't expect it. One example of this...

Show Notes: Anne-Laure Le Cunff, author of Tiny Experiments and founder of Ness Labs, shares her approach to understanding her own life and why she does things the way she does. Anne-Laure explains that self anthropology is a powerful tool for problem-solvers and doers to understand their own lives and prioritize their priorities. By embracing uncertainty and turning it into curiosity, individuals can overcome procrastination and achieve more in their lives. She emphasizes the importance of self-anthropology in helping people become anthropologists of their own lives by observing themselves throughout their daily lives and asking themselves why they are doing things the way they do. This allows them to understand what is happening right now before planning for the future. Overcoming Procrastination with Curiosity One example of how self-anthropology can be applied to procrastination is by focusing on the problem with curiosity rather than trying to beat it. Procrastination is often seen as a signal from the brain and body that something is not working for you right now. By approaching procrastination from a place of curiosity, individuals can learn useful things from it. By identifying the problem, learning more about it, addressing it constructively, and seeking mentorship, coaching, and the right tools, individuals can design tasks in a more fun and enjoyable way. This approach allows individuals to move forward and get unstuck from the pressure to beat the problem. Anne-Laure explains that self-anthropology is a powerful tool for problem-solvers and doers to understand their own lives and prioritize their priorities. By embracing uncertainty and turning it into curiosity, individuals can overcome procrastination and achieve more in their lives. A Framework for Overcoming Procrastination The conversation turns to the effectiveness of a framework that treats procrastination with empathy, and overcoming procrastination by asking questions and experimenting with different approaches. This approach can be applied to various challenges, such as managing anger, managing health, and examining patterns in emotions and anxiety. Journaling is a great tool for reflecting on experiences and understanding the root causes of issues. Journaling is a mindfulness practice that allows for non-judgmental observation and self-anthropology. By taking notes about thoughts, emotions, and behavioral patterns, one can ask questions about why they happen, what could be different, and what new approaches or ideas could be explored. Regular reviews of journal entries can help identify patterns and changes in one's life, which can help in dealing with challenges in the present moment and providing material for future reflection. Tiny Experiments and Atomic Habits Anne-Laure discusses the concept of making PACTs and how they can be used in conjunction with habits. PACT stands for Purposeful, Actionable, Continuous, and Trackable and they work well with habits. Atomic habits involve building habits by making tiny experiments with specific durations and outcomes. A tiny experiment is a type of PACT that involves choosing one action and a specific duration to collect data. The main difference between a tiny experiment and an atomic habit is that the experimenter withholds judgment until the data is collected, allowing them to decide if the habit is beneficial or not. The main difference between a tiny experiment and an atomic habit is that the experimenter withholds judgment until the data is collected. This allows them to determine if the habit is beneficial and if it is something they want to continue with in the future. Anne-Laure also discusses the importance of reflection in small experiments, as it helps individuals identify what they enjoy and what they should continue with. Anne-Laure suggests aligning the data with the measures of success at the end. She suggests tracking internal and external signals, such as mood, heart rate variability,...

Show Notes: In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman interviews Harsh Sahai, CEO and co-founder of Bridgetown Research, a company that has built an AI tool and he talks about it in this episode. Harsh previously worked at McKinsey, where he focused on commercial due diligence. He also ran a machine learning lab at Amazon, where they researched sequential decision-making algorithms. AI Pricing Algorithms and Convex Optimization Harsh talks about his work at Amazon where main use cases were pricing products, as people tend to remember old prices and make decisions based on what they remember. For example, planning the sequence in which to launch products or introducing new shows on Prime Video could be done in a multi-step planning process. Harsh talks about his background in convex optimization, which is a mathematical model that can be used to represent various outcomes. Convex optimization is often used to model price versus volume, and it helps in making more sequential decisions for more than just pricing. Bridgetown Research Explained On founding Bridgetown Research, many of Harsh’s former colleagues joined him in the mission to build tools for the consulting industry and more. Bridgetown Research developed a platform that automates data collection and analysis, allowing them to curate these analyses and deliver value to clients. The firm developed software products that can conduct interviews at scale at a fraction of the cost, run 300 common analyses, evaluate approximately 10 decisions, and work alongside clients to build interactive documents. The firm primarily serves investors in the software industry, similar to McKinsey due diligence. Automating Consulting Groundwork They use AI agents to conduct interviews, breaking down high-level questions into sub-questions that can be answered by the AI agents. The agents then map the best sources of data for each analyze, such as Gartner or Forrester, and compile secondary research. The AI agents are integrated with a few expert networks, which they recruit on the company’s behalf. They have a fully adaptive conversation, similar to a consultant's conversation, and then parse out the analysis to answer the main questions. The cost of these interviews is lower than a normal human-to-human interview because they can do it on their own schedule. Harsh also discusses the benefits of owning a research platform for consultants. They have researched this topic extensively and have 1000 interview transcripts of both people who hired a consultant and like consultants. The platform offers voice-based conversations, text prompts, and interactive screens for additional context. Using AI Agents in Surveys The AI agent in the discussion is similar to a traditional survey, but it allows users to answer questions directly on their screen. It can also embed multiple choice or ranked sorting questions, and can follow a different chain of questioning depending on the user's response. The agent constructs a hypothesis based on secondary research and uses adaptive questions to collect enough data to either prove or disprove these hypotheses. If it disproves the hypotheses, it goes back and looks at all transcripts to come up with new hypotheses and start collecting more data. One of the reasons for the cost efficiency is that, unlike regular surveys, the AI agent doesn't ask the exact same questions, reducing the length by about 20 to 25% once statistical conviction is reached. This flexibility allows for discounts from the person taking the interview, as it's extremely convenient for them. Examples of AI Agent’s Responsiveness The agent's responsiveness works by comparing the user's responses to previous answers, such as asking about the main reasons they chose a particular software versus another. The agent then moves on to the next question based on the user's response. Harsh offers a few examples and verifies that the agents have received positive feedback from experts who are...

Show Notes: Jim Ettamarna, a renowned expert in commercial excellence, defines it as incorporating commercial efficacy and efficiency. He believes that there are two key branches to drive down in this area, and it holds tremendous potential for clients and organizations. Jim's framework for commercial excellence is value creation, which involves understanding market demand, go-to- market models, market growth, and demand trends with a focus on each specific industry. A Six Sigma Lean Framework Jim uses a lean framework, starting with Six Sigma, to standardize the right work and ensure associates and employees are conducting the right activities and behaviors. He also emphasizes the importance of systems in psychology in commercial results, as it helps design standardized systems for onboarding talent, enhancing team engagement, and engaging with customers. In sales, motivation is crucial, and the human element of having a team is essential. However, dealing with complex buying processes can be challenging, so it is essential to tune processes and approaches to the specific needs of the customers. A Go-to-market Model The go-to-market model is a linkage between strategy and execution and commercial excellence. It should be tuned for the company's strategy and the strategic context. For example, a $300 million middle market private equity-backed company serving the Durable Medical Equipment market that sold to 5,000 independent organizations and specialty retailers. The company had to strategically think through market growth, accounts to capture, and the buying cycle for customers. To drive efficiency and effectiveness, the company had a set of building blocks, including an online component, independent sales reps, an inside sales team, and specialty sales people. The strategy piece involved determining what would drive value, growth, renewals, base volumes, and pricing. The go-to-market model was designed around these building blocks, and commercial excellence was driven by optimizing these aspects. Components of Commercial Excellence Jim discusses the importance of breaking down commercial excellence into various components, including channels, sales operations, content, and management systems. He emphasizes the need for segmentation at the top level to understand what will drive value and optimize the go-to-market model for the business. Within this model, he suggests ways to optimize each element, such as sales enablement, which includes training, scripts, and engagement strategies. He also emphasizes the importance of benchmarking and understanding the nuances of sales teams. He shares an example of a furniture retailer where he worked with 2500 full-time employees and 1000 part-time employees. The performance of the company was analyzed using Pareto curves, but some outliers were more successful than averages. To replicate these outliers, he spent time in the field with the best sellers and identified their backgrounds and profiles. He also highlights the importance of identifying B+ and A minus players and setting them as standards. The A plus players are often unique individuals that can be difficult to replicate, but they can still learn from them. Segmentation is crucial in understanding customer nuances. Value Mapping and Needs-based Segmentation In the past, value mapping and needs-based segmentation were crucial for designing sales teams and engaging with customers. This was particularly important when selling software into hospital systems, where hospitals may make localized decisions or have a system or GPO that drives these decisions. The CIO or clinical or nursing professional may specify the solution, and the CIO and finance will negotiate it. Jim cites a case where a big client involved segmenting the market and designing selling approaches based on how customers operated and how they bought. This involved investing in customer success research, conducting field interviews, and conducting surveys to...

Show Notes: In this episode of Unleashed, Will Bachman interviews Bart Sayer, a former senior vice president at Estee Lauder, to discuss how to analyze a cosmetics company. Bart has two quick chapters in consulting, having worked as a partner in the consumer retail practice of Booz and PWC. He then joined ELC, where he held three different roles, including SVP, General Manager of Clinique’s international business. The conversation focuses on understanding the structure of major cosmetic companies and the various types of companies encountered in the industry. The Beauty Industry Explained Bart explains that the beauty industry is divided into four main categories: skincare, makeup, hair, care, and body. The market is divided into luxury and mass segments, with luxury beauty expected to grow between six and 8% in the foreseeable future. Mass brands are more likely to be found in drugstores, such as Walgreens and CVs. Premium brands are more available in department stores or specialty multi, such as Sephora and Ulta, and a third channel being direct to consumer. At Estee Lauder they believed that distribution defines your equity, so prestige brands are careful about where they appear. Specialty channels like QVC and travel retail offer exposure to premium-priced and mass brands within the United States and other markets. Travel retail has been a growth vehicle for multiple brands, but it is more of a prestige and luxury phenomenon. Ingredients in Beauty Products The ingredients in mass and prestige products differ fundamentally. While not all ingredients are created equal, they are used in formulations that push efficacy to the furthest boundaries while maintaining safety. Prestige brands also put extra protections in place to ensure product safety for sensitive skin. The formulation philosophies vary widely across different entities. Allergy testing is also highly variable across these different entities. The difference in ingredients and formulations between mass and prestige products is significant, as is the importance of customer service and product quality. Bart discusses the importance of clinical testing in product and research development, highlighting that it is a high barrier to entry for indie brands. He also discusses the shift from paid media-led to earned media-led marketing models in the beauty industry, where companies work with contract manufacturers to access the latest ingredients and formulation philosophies. Bart emphasizes the blend model in which cosmetics companies come up with formulation philosophies, select ingredients, design tests, and select categories and subcategories. This approach is not binary, as L'Oreal has over 40 different manufacturing facilities worldwide. The marketing model has evolved from paid media-led to an earned media-led model, where companies seize organic market buzz and amplify their products on social channels. Local vs. Global Adaptation The concept of local versus global adaptation is crucial in the beauty industry. Brands must find a locally relevant articulation of their brand essence to convince Chinese consumers that their product is top-notch. Large media companies often have global ambassadors who can speak for the brand, but if a local face is not available, the brand may not get the traction needed. To succeed in the beauty industry, companies must balance being more reactive to market trends and being part of a locally relevant conversation. This involves being more reactive to market trends through an earned media-led approach on social media platforms and ensuring that they are part of a locally relevant conversation in terms of platforms, messaging, and talent. Bart highlights the importance of clinical testing, R&D conceptualization, marketing, and consumer insights in the beauty industry. By understanding these factors, companies can better navigate the competitive beauty market and achieve success in the ever-changing beauty industry. Indie and...

Rob Garmaise, VP of AI research at Info-tech Research Group, is at the forefront of Info-tech research, helping clients identify best practices across their IT operations. They conduct extensive primary and secondary research, speaking with industry experts and other clients to understand the drivers of value and proof that a given practice leads to better results. AI Vendors, Verticals, and Research Taxonomy Rob explains that the firm has a vast research taxonomy, with AI being an important part of it. They have a team in place to connect with thought-leading vendors and their leading adopter clients to gather insights on various functions, rules, verticals, and sub-segments where AI is taking root. The strength in the marketplace currently lies in the horizontal focus on functions and roles across organizations rather than the various verticals or lines of business. Most AI vendors aim to maximize their total addressable market which is difficult to do when focusing on just one vertical. The Market and Vertically-orientated Competitors Rob predicts that the mix of vertically-oriented competitors will change as the market evolves. Currently, the strength is 80% on functions and roles, 20% on verticals. This approach allows AI vendors to maximize their total addressable market and stay competitive in the market. In this discussion, Rob discusses the implementation of AI solutions in various functions and roles within companies, including IT. He highlights the strengths in CO generation, data and analytics, service management, HR, sales, and marketing. AI in HR, Sales and Marketing, and Operations In HR, AI is being used to improve employee experience by indexing content and interacting with users. Talent acquisition recruiting uses AI on both sides of the recruiting equation, with AI being used in talent assessment, helping to cut through biases and improve diverse hiring. Sales enablement and sales automation tools are the top lead and revenue-driving categories, while customer experience is the top cost-saving category. Operations are also being explored, with AI parsing information captured from video cameras for various applications such as shop floor settings, retail environments, and restaurants. Natural language conversations with equipment can lead to predictive maintenance, allowing organizations to strategize and optimize operations. Robert goes on to explain more about the improvements made using AI in HR, IT, and sales and management. AI-based Solutions in the Retail and Insurance Industry The conversation turns to the use of AI in various industries, including retail, and insurance. In the retail industry, AI-based solutions have impressed with their ability to scan store shelves with smartphones and receive critical metrics like stock availability, pricing, promotion, and competitor positioning. Smart Digital Signage solutions can also be used to adapt to demographics and reactions of customers. In the insurance industry, AI-based solutions include smart digital signage that can adapt to demographics and react to customer reactions. In the insurance industry, AI-based solutions include smart digital signage that can adapt to different demographics and respond to customer needs. Companies are exploring AI solutions to improve employee experience, sales, and marketing, while also focusing on cost-saving and predictive maintenance strategies. Robert discusses the potential benefits of AI in retail, such as real-time reactions to client information, automated stock out detection, and the potential for Google Maps to locate specific items in individual stores. AI in the Legal and Financial Sectors In the legal sector, AI is being used for various purposes, including legal research, contract review, and contract management. This is particularly important for law firms and organizations with understaffed legal teams. In manufacturing, AI is being used to offer real-time instructions to machine line...

Show Notes: Marilyn Lin, a customer service thought leader with over two decades of experience, discusses the importance of customer support in driving business success in the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry. She has led global Technical Support Teams that not only resolve issues but also foster customer loyalty, drive renewals, and inform product strategies. In today's competitive SaaS landscape, customer support is not just a cost center but a linchpin of retention and growth. Customer Service in the SaaS Industry The conversation turns to the different terms for customer support, such as customer support, customer service, customer care, and customer success. Marilyn identifies the difference between terms. She equates customer success to the team focused on the health of a customer, focusing on how they are leveraging and using the product and solution, realizing value from their investments. They are more akin to the account management side of the organization, taking care to understand the customer's top priorities and helping guide them through leveraging and using the solution and products they have purchased or subscribed to. She explains that customer support and customer service are terms used interchangeably to describe the professional services provided by teams that help customers implement solutions in their environments. In B-to-C environments, customer care and customer service are more technical support teams, while customer support is more tactical. Subcategories within Customer Service There are different subcategories within customer service, such as onboarding teams, which help new B2B customers onboard with a SaaS company. Major chunks within customer service include customer training and onboarding, customer delivery teams, and customer escalation teams. The support delivery team handles cases and interacts with end users, helping them find solutions to their issues. A customer escalation team is involved when customers escalate issues or outages, ensuring timely resolution. Marylin explains that historically, customer service organizations have been seen as reactive and cost centers rather than a strategic arm. However, there is a treasure trove of insights from the interactions with end users, which can be used to drive improvements in the product and solution. This information can feed into the product development cycle, helping product and engineering teams prioritize their roadmaps and drive customer voice. Support teams can also provide insights related to training and enablement, usability, and user experience, which can be shared with the design team. The Importance of Customer Service in Business The importance of customer service in a business is discussed, including the need for analytics to understand the impact of the customer service team and test interventions in terms of retention rate. A high retention rate can lead to increased value and a better brand image. Marilyn talks about key metrics she pays attention to as V.P. of customer service, including the importance of understanding the time to resolution, common themes of issues, and the financial impact of these metrics is mentioned. In a recurring revenue environment, it is crucial to highlight top case drivers or issues tied back to the customers and provide the ARR to the executive team. The need to prioritize areas like product bug fixes or feature enhancements is stressed, and the cost to serve customers, breaking it down by segments and regions to better understand customer needs and improve efficiency. By focusing on these metrics, businesses can better serve their B2B customers and drive more value. Examples are shared. Tracking Trends and Changes in the Support Business In a V.P. of Customer Experience role, key metrics include time to resolve issues, first time to resolve, and the ability to address user issues with the first interaction. Additionally, the team and individual level is monitored to...

Show Notes: Scott Markman, founder of MonogramGroup, discusses his journey as an entrepreneur and the challenges he faces in the private equity sector. Scott kicks off the conversation with a quick introduction to his podcast, "Beer Stories for Private Equity," which focuses on issues related to the firms, companies they own, and consultants. About the Agency Scott founded the agency, MonogramGroup, in 1990. The agency has evolved from a design firm to a full-fledged agency, with a focus on brand expertise and deliverables. Services include research, insights, positioning strategy, ideation around who or what is a brand today versus tomorrow, building out content, and creating a reservoir of assets. They also address the complexity of audiences, competitors, and going to market. For example, Starbucks has a single brand but must address specific needs for consumers, employees, coffee growers, Wall Street, and social media audiences. Scott talks about the agency’s work and how they serve their market. Defining Brand Scott defines brand as two things: the DNA of an organization, which is connected to the ‘why’ of an organization, relating to Simon Sinek’s definition of a company’s mission, which should connect to all aspects of the brand. The second is that the brand is the everything and Scott explains how this ties to all aspects of the company. This approach has been successful for them serving large global brands for about 20 years, including Life Fitness, Mintel and Sensata, the world's largest maker of sensors for vehicles. A Focus on Private Equity and a New Brand The agency’s focus turned to private equity firms when Scott was introduced to the sector in 1996. They created a brand called Antares Capital, which is the largest provider of credit to PE middle market deals. The success of this brand earned recognition across the private equity sector in North America. The practice has since grown to include 90 clients, and over this period, they have interviewed investment bankers, representatives, institutional capital, pension funds, foundations, insurance companies, hired CEOs, founders, and sellers of businesses to private equity, which has given them in-depth knowledge in this field. Among agencies, there is typically a competitive conflict issue where working for two competitive companies is not allowed. The Role of Branding in Private Equity Firms The conversation turns to the role of branding in private equity firms (PE firms) and their portfolio companies. Scott explains that the business model is to get gigs with PE firms or lenders, but now it is secondary to engagements with portfolio companies. The primary goal is to create relationships with PE firms, building trust and proving themselves. He also discusses the concept of differentiating between PE firms and portfolio companies. Private equity firms are pattern recognizers, template driven, and risk-averse, making them more likely to follow similar practices unlike venture capital. Scott talks about developing distinctive messaging and differentiation for private equity firms when there is a proliferation of thousands of firms following the same patterns in branding. Private equity firms can be categorized into three levels: top, middle, and lower middle market. Scott offers examples of each level and where his agency has served clients and why they focus on serving the lower-middle market. The Diagnostic Guide to Branding Scott talks about Umbrex's diagnostic guide to branding, which is a comprehensive document on the subject matter. He talks about categories within the framework which are a great way to rate a brand on sub-topic factors such as brand strategy, communication, marketing, and customer experience. Scott suggests that this framework could be applied to look at levels A, B, C, and D of complexity and rigor, and then compress and streamline it into a degree of detail and actionability commensurate with the company's size and future...