Decoding Digital

Huijin Kong is a beacon of inspiration and empowerment, making an enduring impact in the world of business leadership. A tenacious achiever, she earned her stripes graduating summa cum laude from Wharton and securing an M.B.A. with Highest Distinction from Harvard Business School. Driven by an unyielding faith in the inherent potential of every individual, she fearlessly carves her path, leaving a lasting impact in her wake.

Currently, as the Principal Counselor at LinHart Group and co-author of 'Positive Influence: The First and Last Mile of Leadership,' Huijin continues to inspire and empower.

In today’s episode, Huijin tells us how she was called to this career, sheds light on the challenges faced by higher-ups in maintaining their purpose, and how leaders can positively influence their teams.

Press play to hear Huijin’s thoughts on…

Taking the leap and trusting yourself 

“Success and our pride is very, very hard to let go. That was the most difficult thing for me in my own transition— to move on from one successful career to, frankly, what looked like a not very promising second career that I probably will fail at. So, do you dare to take the leap and then find the courage in yourself and in your company and your organization to do it?”

Being an influencer at your company

“The key as an influencer is to really understand the key goals that you have, that your company has. What's going to be difficult for people? Because our definition of influence and leadership, which is interrelated, is ‘Are you able to get someone to do something better, faster, or new that they wouldn't have otherwise done?'"

After winning her first Olympic medals for Canada in Turin (2006) and Vancouver (2010) and achieving the Guinness World Record for World Championship freestyle skiing gold medals, Jennifer Heil turned her athlete’s focus to founding RYA Health, and to becoming a policy developer of Safe Sport to address abuse and harassment. 

In today’s episode, Jennifer talks about how her Olympic career led her to a holistic approach to training that has translated to her work as an entrepreneur, especially the meditation practices that she started at a young age. She also dives into how technology is changing the future of women’s healthcare.

Press play to hear Jennifer’s thoughts on…

How to methodically approach each business deal

"When you're a hot funded startup with a bunch of money and investors behind you...there's a tendency to think, we can do it all at any given time. And that's just not possible."

Getting the most value out of your business deals

"So many companies play a superficial service level type of business. But why not go get 50% of this market? When I look at doing these deals, I say, I am gonna go after this and do this until I hit what I think is 50 or 60% of the value of what I'm doing here. And then I'm going to ignite something else."

Ever wonder where the term “Subscription Economy” came from? 

In a nutshell, it came from Tien Tzuo, CEO and founder of Zuora. Today, Tien is recognized as one of the thought leaders in the software-as-a-service industry. He founded Zuora in 2007, ultimately building one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies. Over the years, he’s evangelized the shift to subscription-based business models and the complex billing structures they inherit. 

In today’s episode, Tien talks about how his work at SalesForce—he was employee number 11—impacted the work he’s doing today with Zuora, the importance of customer relationships, the evolution of subscription-based services, and what the future of SaaS companies looks like.

How to view customers as subscribers

“We think less of the subscription and more of the subscriber, and our view is that the modern business starts with a customer and envisions a customer as a subscriber.”

Building subscriber relationships

“So it's a re-envisioning start with the relationship, build relationships...There's so many companies out there and so many ways of thinking that says, look, we're just trying to do a deal, versus we're trying to count how many relationships we have, and then find all sorts of ways to monetize those relationships."

The trend of ‘anything as a service’

"This whole SaaS thing that you and I live in and take for granted, it's going to evolve and take over the world. It's not software eats the world, right? It's really 'as a service' eats the world. And this whole idea of anything as a service is probably the biggest trend in the next 10, 20 years."

Kurt is a technology entrepreneur, world explorer, and expert in business development. The first 20 years of his career were spent between the San Francisco Bay Area and Asia working with technology startups in finance and business development roles. Today, Kurt is the CEO of the startup, Stealth Smiles. 

During this episode he talks about how to methodically pursue and land big deals. He breaks the process down into three parts: Chart Your Course, Galvanize Your Crew and Maneuver Strategically, and Land the Deal and Expand. Master these and you’ll be on your way to landing the lighthouses and building an enduring business.

How to methodically approach each business deal

"When you're a hot funded startup with a bunch of money and investors behind you...there's a tendency to think, we can do it all at any given time. And that's just not possible."

Getting the most value out of your business deals

"So many companies play a superficial service level type of business. But why not go get 50% of this market? When I look at doing these deals, I say, I am gonna go after this and do this until I hit what I think is 50 or 60% of the value of what I'm doing here. And then I'm going to ignite something else."

“No one ever gained a lot by risking next to nothing.” 

This is why Tim Prendergast is so successful in everything he does, from being a CEO to being a dad to his three daughters. Today, as the CEO of StrongDM, he and his team work to solve the problem of getting people access to infrastructure in a safe and sane way. 

Before working at StrongDM, Tim was the principal architect for Adobe's Cloud Team and became a seed investor in technologies he truly believes in. Tim is an expert in all things cloud security, cloud infrastructure, and building and scaling SaaS businesses.

In today's episode, Tim talks about how all great innovation starts with pushing the envelope of what's possible. He also talks about what he learned as a 'Chief Couch Officer' (COO), where he took a step back from a fast-paced career to play video games and, most importantly, teach his kids essential concepts, from entrepreneurship to security to computers.

Press play to hear Tim’s thoughts on…

Why Tim joined StrongDM

"A lot of people ask me like, what got you off the couch? The answer is amazing people and amazing technology. And I think that's a true statement for probably most founders who are passionate about tech."

The power of teamwork in a tech startup

"We're gonna unlock the power of what teamwork can actually do when we don't put the entire burden on either a sales team or an engineering team, but we actually have an entire company moving in a direction using their kind of digital infrastructure to power their business."

First and foremost, Jay Kaplan is a technical security expert. He has served in many high-profile cybersecurity roles—including at the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency. Jay was also selected as Forbes 30 Under 30 in Enterprise Technology.

After seeing a gap in the cybersecurity space, Jay started his own cybersecurity company in 2013, ultimately co-founding Synack. Synack is an organization that strives to unite technology and human intelligence to revolutionize the cybersecurity world. With this approach, Synack has developed a premier security testing platform that protects federal agencies, DoD classified assets, and a growing list of Global 2000 customers.

In today’s episode, Jay talks about the rise of ransomware and how to protect yourself and your company against it. He also discusses the evolution of cybersecurity over the last decade and how consumers can secure their accounts.

Press play to hear Jay’s thoughts on…

How people started working in the cybersecurity

"People that transitioned into the cybersecurity field generally were doing something else. They were handling infrastructure, they were system administrators, they were software developers, etc., and they just became fascinated in this subject."

The complicated nature of cybersecurity

"I think there really is no manual to have a comprehensive security strategy. It's not like you go read the Security for Dummies book and go through the pages and you're good. So it makes things very complicated.”

“I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”

– Wayne Gretzky

When Andrei Hagiu wrote a Harvard Business Review case study on AppDirect, he used this quote from Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to show the mindset each founder should have before starting their company. Andrei is an expert in platform strategy and started a career in academics as an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School, as well as at MIT Sloan. Andrei's research and teaching focus entirely on platform businesses (e.g., Airbnb, Amazon.com, Facebook, etc.) and their unique strategic challenges.  

Today, Andrei is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. 

In today’s episode, Andrei talks about the difference between virality and network effect, how to create a successful, multi-sided platform business, and the future of Web3’s decentralized platforms.

Press play to hear Andrei’s thoughts on…

Making your platform user-friendly

"You want to make it very easy for individual users to adopt it, right? That's the key because it matters to you to have a lot of users, and then it's easier from there to actually become a platform later on." 

The difference between virality and network effect

"Virality just means...if you do a marketing campaign and your customers tell other customers about your product, it's of course a very useful tool. But that doesn't mean that your product all of a sudden has network effect. Network effect is basically my willingness to pay us higher for this particular platform or product if there are other customers on this platform."

Creating a healthy relationship between buyers and sellers

"Make it easier for you to transact with them, which in itself is an insurance against leakage, right? If all you're doing is making it easier for buyers and sellers to find each other, why would they come back to you once they found each other?"

Andy Whyte has literally written the book on the power of the MEDDICC sales system. His book, “MEDDICC: The ultimate guide to staying one step ahead in the complex sale,” outlines how to apply the MEDDICC framework to any sales deal. But before Andy became a powerhouse in sales, he was an account executive at impressive companies like Oracle and Sprinklr. He also led many successful sales teams at various companies before starting out on his own. Today, Andy is the CEO and founder of MEDDICC, an organization that helps build elite competency in sales teams. 

In today's episode, Andy talks about how the best salespeople are good at solving their customers' problems. He shares his three critical parts to selling, how companies can best adopt and implement MEDDICC, and the big changes he's seen in sales as companies evolve from enterprise-led to product-led.

Press play to hear Andy’s thoughts on…

Overcoming challenges in sales

"There's not often a deal where everything's green, and everything's great, right? If there ever is, you know, they get called a bluebird. There's often challenges. What we like to say is the best salespeople are the ones who are the fastest to identify what the challenges are, and they're the ones who put their hands up."

Time efficiency 

"I'm really big on this idea of just being more efficient with your time and therefore double down on your winners. You can only double down on the winners if you have a framework that's going to help you identify who the winners are, which is bringing it all back to MEDDICC."

How do you play the game of content creation and come out on top? Time and energy. Harry Stebbings is a wildly talented podcaster, investor, and content creator. He got his start in podcasting at a very young age and at just 20 years old, he became one of the youngest VCs in the world. Today, Harry is the Founder of The Twenty Minute VC, the world's largest independent venture capital podcast. 

In today’s episode, Harry shares his thoughts on the future of content and his own strategy behind creating content for multiple social media platforms from LinkedIn to TikTok. He talks about how he learned to build a deep network and create relationships that last, and what it means to bundle and unbundle businesses.

Press play to hear Harry’s thoughts on…

How TikTok Helps His Business

“On TikTok, you can absolutely go viral with 50 followers, it's much more uncorrelated, which allows for this true democratization of the reach of content in a way that I think is quite exciting... What I love about TikTok is it brings the story front and center, not the person in many ways. And so it can be a real discovery mechanism for content that doesn't quite make it in many ways. But now we have 28% of our viewers download through TikTok. 28% of new subscribers come through TikTok. It's insane.”

How Technology Can Solve Problems 

"If we think about investing in this next generation of innovation, technology has to be the solution to some of the world's biggest problems. Whether it be the macro problems that we face on incoming inequality, whether it be the climate change problems that we face. I mean, it goes on and on."

“Do one thing everyday that scares you.” This quote is a driving force behind everything our next guest does, from traveling to investing and everything in between. Anarghya Vardhana is a Partner at Maveron finding the next big direct to consumer business to invest and nurture. After years of working at Google and fintech startups, she entered into the VC space. In 2017, Anarghya was included in Forbes “30 under 30” list in venture capital.

In today’s episode, Anarghya talks about her lifelong love for STEM and her passion for diversifying this space. She shares why she loves finding new leaders through healthcare startups, and how doing one challenging thing every year positively impacts her self-confidence. 

Press play to hear Anarghya’s thoughts on…

Her Investment Philosophy 

“If you invest in one company, it may inch towards something else. So you may be solving the dietary side of things by investing in the women's health business, because sometimes those things can go hand in hand. But I think the best way to think about it is every year there's going to be one to two phenomenal entrepreneurs working in consumer healthcare, building in consumer healthcare. My job is to try and meet them and to get to know them and see if there's an opportunity to partner and be a part of their journey for whatever they're gonna build.”

Doing Hard Things to Instill Confidence

“Some people are just born with confidence. They just walk into the room and they're confident, and it's not that natural or innate for me. I have to work to be confident…Confidence comes from practice and hard work and knowing that I've done something that might be even harder than the thing I'm just about to do. And so that got me into the psyche of, ‘Well, if I just do hard things, then it'll help me be confident.’”