Tech leaders are committed to solving problems that pester man on a daily basis while also focus on improving the livelihoods of people – but what about the ones that have no access to tech? To the internet? To the millions of gigabytes of content on the internet? Enter Andrew McCaughan, CTO at BuffaloGrid.

This techie is hell-bent on bridging the gap between developed and emerging economies, by working on a tech solution that will allow people to connect and gain access to the amazing world of the internet, or as he likes to put it “connecting the next billion”.

TC sat down with Andrew to learn more about his goals, his journey from techie to tech leader, and how he manages his teams and makes sure they feel they’re in the right place, doing the right thing.

Key takeaways:

- How being straight with what you can and can’t do breeds trust and support

- Why it’s okay to ask for help, even as a leader

- Why leaders should sometimes see themselves as facilitators

Our Guest: Andrew McCaughan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amccaughan/

Website: https://www.buffalogrid.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/amogram

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Efficiency starts with leadership, and the best kind of leadership is the one built around the needs and capabilities of your teams. Meet Skyler Seamans and Shane Emmons, the two techies from TeamSnap – a company that provides spots management solutions. What got us really interested into these two and their company is their unique management method they invented, called Shape Up – a mixture of known Agile and Scrum methods which has made them a force to be reckoned.

TC sat down with them to learn more about what they do, what drives them, and how their Shape Up method has helped them get to where they are now.

Key takeaways from the episode:

• How assessing the size of problems can help you in finding solutions

• Why it’s important to get people behind ideas before implementing them

• Why methods that allow and encourage your employees to grow will always be a resounding success

Our Guests: Skyler Seamans and Shane Emmons

LinkedIn:

Skyler Seamans: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skylerseamans/

Shane Emmons: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-emmons/

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

We have this idea of data that it’s a bulk of information that helps us make decisions in the virtual world, but can it be used for something like renovating buildings and improving the efficiency in the construction world? Enter Japjit Tulsi, the CTO at Matterport, a company which is dedicated to making spatial data a bit more likeable, and the world a bit better.

Japjit’s journey is one that’s filled with many companies, both startups and large corporations, all which have helped him diversify his portfolio, and gain vast experience. He’s been in the industry for a quarter of a century now, and is one of the most impressive tech leaders we’ve had on our podcast:

Key takeaways from the podcast are:

• How having a list of dos and don'ts regarding leadership can help you become more consistent

• Why hiring right is more about time, rather than approach or skill

• How visualization of data can help spur the next big thing in tech

Our Guest: Japjit Tulsi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/japjittulsi/

Website: https://matterport.com/

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

There’s tons of payment methods and processors out there, but how many of them actually have their focus on transactions that are a make or break for users? Could be many, but one that really stands out is Flywire. And on the doings of this company, we have its CTO, David King, who sat down with our TC Gill to share the story of Flywire, and of course, his own journey in the world of tech.

From his beginnings in academia, through his start in IT, all the way to him becoming a tech leader, there’s simply not much that David King hasn’t done. He became a leader with no leader-training, but has grown into the role, learning how to delegate and trust teams, and through it, grow and develop brands.

Key takeaways from the podcast are:

• How transforming from techie to leader is all about getting away from the single contributor mindset

• How customer feedback can help you drive products and services forward

• Why alignment at the top is more important than alignment at the bottom

Our Guest: David King

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidking14/

Website: https://www.flywire.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/dking307

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

Learning, we were taught, was all about having access to material, to content, to courses and all that – and while that’s true, with the ever-increasing availability of study materials now new questions arise – what about the process of learning? And one of the people looking to answer this question is Stepan Suvorov, CTO at Studytube, a company that offers courses to employees of companies, as well as offering services such as organizing learning activities, so everything one would need to get their game to the next level.

Here, TC picks Stepan’s brains on his road to becoming a CTO, his experience as a leader, and the change he has experienced along the way in terms of changing skills, changing titles, and roles. From his humble starts, all the way to what he’s doing right now, Stepan’s story is one that will definitely inspire many techies to the top.

Key takeaways from the podcast are:

• How to pivot from B2C to B2B, without nosediving to disaster by missing opportunities

• Why maintaining the resilience of the product helps scalability and maintainability

• How micromanagement does more harm than good in management

Our Guest: https://stepansuvorov.com/blog/follow-me/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stepansuvorov/

Website: https://www.studytube.nl/en/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevermeister?lang=en

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

End-of-life is a challenging time for loved ones. The bereavement process is difficult at the best of times, adding further challenges when the legal and financial questions arise from the event. Well, the guest we have on this podcast is working hard to make this smoother. John Catnach, the CTO of Exizent, is working hard with his team to create a smoother and more efficient process. It reduces time to find information, provides it to all the relevant parties, and eliminates duplication of information. This solution that Exizent is providing is a great example of how technology can make people's lives easier, even in the most trying of times.

Key takeaways from the podcast are:

• Just how complex the bereavement process can be and how Exizent is providing a solution to that.

• The art of over-communication when working remotely (especially in the COVID-19 era)

• The importance of making yourself expendable so you can be agile, nimble, and free in your career with ease and elegance (not being so important you become pigeon holed into a project)

Our Guest: John Catnach

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johncat/

Website: https://www.exizent.com/

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

In business development and in particular startups, we talk about pivoting whenever the situation has changed or an even better idea has emerged. One that solves a real problem and pain point in the real world.

Well, our guest in this episode of CTO Confessions, Eoin O'Brien, tells about a huge pivot that led to a big success. He is the CTO of Tracworx, a company that offers a cloud-hosted Wi-Fi-based patient flow management and asset tracking solution. This is all in the spirit of improving operational efficiency within organizations. Eoin joins us to share his leadership and startup journey and lessons learned so far:

Key takeaways from the podcast with Eoin are:

• Having a varied set of leaders allows for a blend of leadership that can create a strong foundation for success.

• Pivoting is not just a cool Jazz dance move, its an important and potentially high return business tool

• Build a good strong, resilient team around you, so your business has resilience in tough times

Our Guest: Eoin O'Brien

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eoin-obrien/

Website: https://www.tracworx.ai/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tracworx_

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

There are mountain ranges of it! There are oceans of it! Not only do we climb the mountains, but we also swim in it as well. Yes! We are talking about data. And yes, it's an understatement to say there is a bit of it about. To help us tech leaders get clarity on this bonkers situation, we have Arend-Jan Nijhuis, a data expert who joins us on CTO confessions, to share his experience and some tips about how to harness its potential. Also, some sharing of cases where the use of data went curly at the edges and created a huge undesirable impact.

Key takeaways from the podcast with Arend are:

• How companies and governments are using big data and the pitfalls and benefits of using it

• The gravitation towards harmonized systems so data can be shared in standardized forms

• Some tips on outsourcing (Arends experience)

• The importance of multidisciplinary teams so that innovation can emerge from the exportation of data

• The role of an analytical translator to help understand and use the data

Our Guest: Arend-Jan Nijhuis

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arendjannijhuis/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ArendJanNijhuis

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

We are all served by them in these modern times. Those helpful men and women bringing our orders to our homesteads. The complexity of this last logistical mile becomes evident as one scales, and constraints become evident. Expected costs are being driven down, and time to deliver ever smaller.

In this episode, we speak to the CTO of Stuart, a company in this space; Lachlan Laycok joins us to celebrate his lessons learnt and his team's efforts.

Key takeaways from the podcast are:

• Making your life easier as a leader by employing people better than you

• How using data sharpens the edge of the competitive blade

• The importance of addressing the really good, the bad, and the damn right ugly. Those towers-of-knowledge and toxic members of your team

Our Guest: Lachlan Laycock

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lachlanlaycock/

Website: https://stuart.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Stuart_Delivery

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)

A techie who started out as a system administrator, and slowly worked his way up the ladder, ending up as the Director of DevOps at TUI Travel Group, the world’s number one holiday business group – Christian Rudolph. We sat down with him in an episode, and he just let us pick his brain as we tried to see what’s really ‘techy’ that’s going on behind the scenes in a big corporation like TUI, as well as learn about his experience as a tech leader.

From his humble beginnings, all the way to leading teams in a big company, Christian has wisdom that we’re sure many of you would like to hear – from his advice on how to put together high performing teams, all the way to how he manages them, there’s not much else to say than: this is an episode you must hear.

Key takeaways from this podcast:

- How leading teams can actually help you maintain your passion

- Why maintaining team spirit is more important than ensuring efficiency

- How trust shapes teams and ensures longevity efficiency

Our Guest: Christian Rudolph

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-rudolph-592ab841/

Website: https://www.tuigroup.com/en-en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisru82

Intro and background music: Craig MacArthur - Power Shutoff (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x74iB_jtauw)