Disruption / Interruption

Robert Lanteigne is a serial and visionary Award-winning Entrepreneur, International Creative Technologist, Artist, Inventor, and a concerned dad of a 7-year-old son who is glued to his gaming console. With an extensive background in executive leadership and building innovative ideas from the ground up, he was inspired to create an entertaining and safe way for kids and families to explore the Metaverse. Lanteigne’s company, SiZZmic Transmedia, is a family-friendly content creator company for the Metaverse in the three most in-demand categories: Education, Esports, and Entertainment including Fine Art.

Key Takeaways:

• What IS the Metaverse and how SiZZmic Transmedia is making it a multigenerational experience
• How Lanteigne is using his artistic skills to create disruptive technology
• Why smart contracts can be challenging for artists and online creators
• How technology is helping families connect virtually
• Who will benefit most from custom-built learning opportunities within the Metaverse
  
  

Quote of the Show (39:00):  

“I never wait for anybody. When I wanted something, I asked. Ninety percent of the time I got it, and when I didn’t, I worked. That was young Bob, I was everywhere.”

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Want PR that actually matters? Get 30-minutes of expert advice in a fast-paced, zero-nonsense session from Karla Jo Helms, a veteran Crisis PR and Anti-PR Strategist who knows how to tell your story in the best possible light, and get the exposure you need to disrupt your industry. Click here to book your call: https://info.jotopr.com/free-anti-pr-eval

Ways to connect with Robert Lanteigne:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lightbob/
Website: https://sizzmictransmedia.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrqhzMPAlsRmxbbQ_mVXRrg

Ways to get more Disruption/Interruption: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption  

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755  

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

KJ is back with a new batch of innovators, disruptors, and rebels who are changing the status quo to make this world and our global commerce better. Listen in as she shares what’s coming in season 2 and why she’s dedicated to sharing these stories and insights with the world.

Quote of the Show (4:00):  

“Ninety percent of tech startups fail, even with Venture Capital. This usually happens because there's a breakdown in the communication between what they do and why it is so important. The world needs disruptive leaders now more than ever.”

Join our Anti-PR newsletter where we’re keeping a watchful and clever eye on PR trends, PR fails, and interesting news in tech so you don't have to. You're welcome.

Want PR that actually matters? Get 30-minutes of expert advice in a fast-paced, zero-nonsense session from Karla Jo Helms, a veteran Crisis PR and Anti-PR Strategist who knows how to tell your story in the best possible light, and get the exposure you need to disrupt your industry. Click here to book your call: https://info.jotopr.com/free-anti-pr-eval

Ways to get more Disruption/Interruption: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption  

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755  

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Belle Walker has spent her career helping companies build and optimize their teams. Belle leverages her background as an engineer into a problem-solving approach that helps leaders assemble the right team for their organizations’ needs. She calls her approach “from friction to function.”   

Key Takeaways: 

• Staffing a company is like building a bus: You need the right vehicle with the right mix of passengers sitting in the right places.   
• Look at companies like an engineer would: Define the problem, assess the materials at hand, and figure out what obstacles and limits are part of the big picture. Then, make a plan around those facts.   
• Building a team requires honesty: You have to be truthful about what you want, what resources you have, and what you’re unwilling to change.
• Taking companies from friction to function means removing obstacles that prevent workers from doing their best work.
• A leader is a person who motivates and inspires those around them. A manager who can’t achieve that can’t succeed.
• It’s not enough to promote from within. Leaders should create opportunities for newly appointed managers to grow and learn their new roles.
• Fast-growing companies should think strategically about how to structure teams: They need to make sure middle managers have a clear sense of their role, and leaders should have a clear sense of their managers’ strengths and goals.
• The best time to bring in Belle is when the company has crossed an “invisible threshold” before it starts to sprawl and get disorganized.
• When she’s not fixing businesses, Belle enjoys running Disney half marathons. She’s excited for her 6-month-old baby to cheer her on at the next one.  

Quote of the Show (6:00):   “In a perfect world, if you could have any talents at any talent mix, what is the bus that you would design that you would build? How would you lay out those seats in a way that works best for your industry right now, for your company, right now for your product? And then you look at the individuals that you have that you really want to empower and enable.”   

Links: 

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

Company Website: https://belleviewconsulting.com/   

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption  

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755  

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The grandson of a British missionary in Zambia, David Kamwana, was inspired to invent and engineer by his grandfather’s workshop. He had the tools to do everything at the workshop - from fixing his car to wiring his house.  

After graduating from John Brown University with a B.S. in mechanical engineering, David noticed how many students were crippled by debt but still lacked the skills to take on more than an entry-level job. He also noticed that job descriptions often fail to truly represent the requirements of a position. 

After several years as a Corporate Engineer, David co-founded OneCrate with the vision of streamlining the job search process for businesses and job seekers. Phase one is to build a digitized database of job descriptions and resumes to allow AI algorithms to help with job matching. Phase two is to use the growing database to help businesses, students, job seekers, and educators map out clear career paths using real and relevant data. 

Key takeaways: 

• Most resumes and job descriptions are created in Word documents or PDFs and, except when and where actively posted, are out of the market and out of the flow. It’s only when a candidate actively looks for a job, and a company posts the job description that they might match up.   
• There could be an outstanding candidate ready and interested but not visible to a company because the candidate has not seen the job posting. OneCrate looks to bridge that gap.   
• Job boards like Indeed have started the process and provide more aim. However, there are still a lot of details on both resumes and job descriptions that are not formatted in an AI-friendly way. OneCrate improves the process with smart digital resumes and totally digitized job descriptions.   
• Eventually, this digitized data will facilitate interesting predictive models that can help businesses, job seekers, and students making choices about their career paths.
• Just improving job matching is a significant step forward, but the future potential of digitizing this data is to streamline the education and training processes so that students step into the workforce with the precise skills and abilities needed by the companies who hire them.   
• Companies who use OneCrate have access to a relevant, easy-to-update org chart that can be viewed and updated. Employees can contribute to their job descriptions, helping them be more accurate and robust.

Quote of the show: (15:08)  “Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, they already have internship programs that allow you to join their programs out of high school and get into a position that could pay you a quarter of a million dollars a year. They already have that. So we already know that it's possible. So imagine going down that, that path and ask that person, how much did you spend to, to get the skills that you have that are getting you paid quarter million dollars a year? And then you, you know, Compare that with somebody who goes to a four-year computer science program learns a whole bunch of different things and spends $150,000+ to get through the program and then has to start from the bottom and probably still has to be trained by the company that they're gonna work for.” 

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-kamwana/  Company Website: https://www.onecrate.com/    

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption  

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755  

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dave Delaney is a speaker, author, podcast host, and leadership consultant. He uses his "Nice Method" to help companies use innovation to transform how they recruit and retain top-level talent. 

Too many business leaders get preoccupied with mission success and forget about the people helping them achieve it. Dave reminds leaders that engaging positively with staff will make them happier and make team members want to stick around. 

Key takeaways: 

• The golden rule still matters: treat others the way you want to be treated.

• There are three keys to successfully leading people:   (1) Lead with acceptance and empathy.   (2) Actively listen.   (3) Don't fear failure.   
• Free speech doesn't mean you can say anything you want to your colleagues or subordinates without consequences. Being rude or inappropriate at work will have ramifications for you.   
• Keeping employees is more cost-effective than managing turnover. It costs between six and nine months of an employee's salary to replace them if they quit.   
• Giving employees consistent recognition, starting with the onboarding process and continuing throughout their tenure, creates a positive workplace culture.   
• Leaders should conduct "stay interviews" to find out how employees feel and what would make them happier at work.

• In-person interaction helps build a stronger work culture. Even teams that work remotely should seek out opportunities for in-person events.   
• Dave's other passion is entertaining people. He is an experienced improv performer and has recently turned his talents to stand-up comedy.    

Quote of the Show (20:52): "I used to go to all these tech conferences and, or organize my own events to bring people together, and we would meet in person. And once you meet in person, the magic happens. That's when real relationships happen. That's what hugs and high fives and handshakes and human physical human touch, which actually does help scientifically, like solidify relationships. So the same can be said for in the workplace and bringing your team together."   

Links: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davedelaney/   Company website: https://futureforth.com/    

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve is a serial entrepreneur with a proven track record for producing breakthrough revenue growth in brutally competitive marketplaces, having successfully helped grow seven startup companies from early stage to going public or being sold, resulting in nearly $5 billion in shareholder value.

Steve's new book, High-Velocity Digital Marketing: Silicon Valley Secrets to Create Breakthrough Revenue in Record Time, talks about how companies can maximize their marketing impact by adjusting their marketing strategy to better address who their customers are and how they make buying decisions. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Marketing has to focus on who your buyer is, not who you assume it is. Take the time to learn who makes buying decisions about your product.   
• Companies need to have a true grasp of their customers' world. Understanding customer problems will help you present your product as the solution.   
• Marketing should be bringing potential customers along a path from interest to purchase. Each marketing piece should encourage customers to move to the next step.   
• The speed with which customers move along the path is marketing velocity. Faster velocity means faster sales and faster revenue.   
• Providing a no-commitment point of entry into your product — like free access to a tool — changes the nature of your relationship with the customer. Your sales approach can be more consultative than persuasive.   
• There is no substitute for doing hard work. Marketing and sales can't be automated. It's all about doing the work to get the results you want.   
• When he's not helping professionals grow in their careers, Steve enjoys travel, food, wine, and spending time with his young grandchildren. 

Quote of the show:  

2:24"...what I've found, having led disruption at multiple places is hard work. And to me, the most important ingredient is realizing there's no substitute for hard work. I found that you just have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Today, for example, I was called by a   venture capital firm, asking if I felt that there was room in the market for a company on the low end. And it was a very simple question, but really to answer that question fully, there would be so much hard work ahead of them. And what I found is, is that no great achievements are possible or sustained without hard work. And, and hard work is the price you'll pay for the success that you desire to achieve." 

Links: 

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

Company Website: https://www.insightpartners.com/    

To pre-order High-Velocity Digital Marketing: Silicon Valley Secrets to Create Breakthrough Revenue in Record Time:  https://www.amazon.com/High-Velocity-Digital-Marketing-Silicon-Breakthrough/dp/1637742169

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The COVID-19 pandemic rocked the world of B2B sales. Companies had to scramble to shift to digital, and buying the right technology was a race against the clock. In the aftermath, companies are slowing down and reassessing their purchasing process. How can vendors score new sales in this environment? 

Josh Bilow has been in B2B sales for decades. He is disrupting the status quo by asking clients to look any the big picture from a new angle. 

Key takeaways: 

• During COVID-19, companies were pouring money into new software solutions, but they were not the right solutions for the desired outcomes. Now sales professionals and companies are asking, "What's the desired outcome, and can this technology achieve it?"

• To be effective in B2B sales today, you must understand the product, the buyer's goals, and the industry environment as a whole. This guides your conversations with buyers so you can impact their thinking.   
• Sales is like coaching. A good B2B sales professional can coach a buyer through the process of outlining outcome goals and company culture to determine the best product fit.   
• Companies want to try before they buy. Demos, trials, and hands-on experiences are key to assuaging concerns about new products.   
• The fears about the economy are creating instability for employees. Employees worried about looming workforce cuts are extra cautious in making buying decisions because they know a wrong choice could affect their future employment.   
• Josh feels like his real job has been raising three kids. That's where he feels he's making the greatest impact.  

Quote of the show (14:33): "Holistic approach is actually very, very relevant here because it's dealing with people that are unsure of their jobs. It's dealing with companies that are unsure of their future that you're selling to, and they can be fired at any moment. They don't wanna misstep. So if they're not believing in what you sell, and they're not kind of, you're not advising them and understanding that impact, like I said before, impact, right? You're not making an impact on them. They're not gonna buy anything from you."

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

Company: https://www.redpointglobal.com/  

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some might say that data is the most valuable asset in business today. Information about customers and their behavior shapes every decision organizations make. Collecting data is relatively easy, but what happens once the data is collected? B2Bs are drowning in data, and processing that data into something useful is hard to do. 

Today’s guest, Lars Grønnegaard, has years of experience bringing products to market. He’s watched how companies use data to drive sales and realized that there was a problem: they used the right data incorrectly. 

Now he’s shaking up the B2B data market with Dreamdata, a new kind of data analysis company. 

Key takeaways 

• Old-fashioned sales numbers aren’t enough because 70 to 80% of the buying process happens before buyers even talk to the company. Customers prefer a self-serve model of research before they’re ready to buy. Organizations need to track what happens before the customer reaches out to sales.   
• The customer journey from interest to purchase can take up to nine months. Finding out what inspires the journey and what steps customers take is critical data.   
• Marketing teams today do the work that sales reps did in the past. They know the product, speak customer interest, and draw customers along with additional interactions.   
• Looking at raw numbers isn’t enough to understand customer behavior. You have to apply context to the data to understand what it really means.   
• Human analysis is key. Machine learning is a great tool for data analysis if you’re doing a huge number of transactions. AI doesn’t do a good job of understanding organizations that rely on fewer deals with bigger payoffs.   
• Dreamdata does the work of analyzing all the key data and returning it to the client in a useful format.   
• In addition to data, Lars’ current obsession is making the perfect pizza in his apartment’s wood-fired pizza oven. 

Quote of the show: 

26:26 "...there are outcomes at the sort of strategic level, which is prioritizing between different marketing disciplines. So, you can move investment from say, different types of paid ads into or maybe organic content. So by demonstrating that actually organic content, even though it takes longer, is also driving revenue. You can reprioritize your budget." 

Links: 

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

Company Website: https://dreamdata.io/ 

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Denny Bohs discovered project management while working for a small start-up he helped build from two to 5,000 clients. He and the team at Renteez realized that as the rental market explodes, today’s renters expect to pay digitally. However, most property management software targets large property management firms. Many owners are left without an affordable and accessible option. 

In addition to creating an easy-to-use, integrated digital rent payment solution, the team at Renteez is adding the option to pay using cryptocurrency. They minted a coin to facilitate the process on the platform. Renters who choose to pay using the renteez coin will have the option to stake their rent payment and earn a return — something previously unheard of in the rental market. 

Key takeaways 

• The explosion of multi-family and built-to-rent properties combined with the ability to work remotely and the competitive housing market all contribute to a mushrooming rental market. 

• The newer generation doesn’t use checks and expects digital payment options. 

• Some landlords may own several properties, but many are smaller and independent and don’t have the software and support to manage their investments effectively. 

• Many digital platforms like PayPal limit the dollar amount you can send for free. For many landlords, fees eat into profits. 

• Many digital platforms also take several days to process the payments as they are transferred onto the platform and then have to be transferred into the landlord’s bank account. 

• There are property management software solutions on the market, but many target larger companies or require technical expertise. 

• For these and other reasons, there is a pent-up demand for landlords to have a better way to accept payments. 

• Landlords with only one or a few properties who can't accept digital forms of payment are missing out. 

• Renteez is creating a service that is affordable for landlords, easy to use, fast, and offers all the digital payment options that tenants want. 

• In addition to standard payment options, renters can pay with cryptocurrency seamlessly using the platform. 

• Renters who choose to use the coin will eventually have the option to stake their rent payment and turn their monthly rent into an investment. 

Quote of the show: 

11:05 “And if you're a landlord, you shouldn't have to necessarily be technically savvy in order to do what you're doing, right? So, you don't have to be, become like an expert in how all this technology works in order to do this. But some of the services that are out there, you know, they're, they're not very intuitive and people have to try to figure out how this works and it becomes a source of frustration...” 

Links: 

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

Company Website: https://www.renteez.com/ 

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bryan Daugherty, Global Public Policy Director for the Bitcoin Association, is a subject matter expert in blockchain ESG & information security, cybersecurity, commercial blockchain development, and enterprise transformation. He's also a certified cryptocurrency investigator. Bryan is responsible for informing lawmakers of blockchain and noticing technology's latest research and innovation. 

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the utility of blockchain and bitcoin. While the media links them to speculative crypto markets, the combination of bitcoin and blockchain has broad implications for data security and improved commercial transaction capabilities. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Status quo: People misunderstand the purpose of blockchain and assume it's inexorably linked with crypto mining. The focus is on the least important aspect of this technology: the tokens. It's created a mindset that blockchain tokens are a speculative financial instrument. 

• The main ingredient for disruption: We can disrupt the status quo by reverting to the initial purpose of blockchain and Bitcoin, according to the original Bitcoin White Paper by Satoshi Nakamoto. It describes an honest network that provides microtransactions and data security. The tokens are a tool to get to the underlying technology: smart contracts, automation, data integrity, data storage, and data analysis. 

• Most online users don't realize that all data is vulnerable. It can change and does change. Blockchain systems provide a highly secure, resilient system for data immutability. 

• Blockchain systems have stagnated because they haven't been scaled up for mass use. If the technology could reach the kind of transaction processing capacity of companies like Visa, blockchain applications could expand dramatically. 

• Environmental concerns about blockchain1 would actually decrease with greater use. It takes the same amount of C02 to process a thousand transactions as it does to process 10 million transactions. The per-transaction energy cost would decrease with increased transactions. 

• Using blockchain for transaction processing would provide companies with real-time data about their customers and speed up customer service improvements. 

• Creators could use blockchain-empowered social media to retain verifiable, monetizable ownership of their work without a middleman application like Facebook or Youtube. 

• Scalable blockchain could be an upgrade to today's internet, allowing direct verification of data, eliminating the middleman, and reducing transaction fees for consumers. 

Quote of the Show 12:19  

"So, you know, there's so much misunderstanding about just the technology in general. And, you know, because of that early misunderstanding of maintaining one megabit blocks,... it incentivized others to find ways to scale, you know, other ways. And so now we see that all the, all the time with the Lightning network or, you know, these off-chain solutions or moving to a different consensus mechanism. But the reality is, any of those, you know, decisions really draw back from the benefits of what blockchain or Bitcoin specifically provides, which, you know, is this very secure, resilient system for data in, you know, immutability." 

Links: 

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

Company Website: https://smartledger.solutions/  

Ways to Tune In: 

Amazon Music — https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/eccda84d-4d5b-4c52-ba54-7fd8af3cbe87/disruption-interruption 

Apple Podcast — https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/disruption-interruption/id1581985755 

Spotify — https://open.spotify.com/show/6yGSwcSp8J354awJkCmJlD 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.