Inflection Points

Daniel Ackermann started his entrepreneurial journey at the young age of 22, co-founding several tech companies. He currently employs over 300 talented individuals as CEO of Degordian. 

 A serial tech founder he was named in Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and the companies he has led have gained prestigious recognition, including multiple 'Best Employer' awards and Deloitte's CEE Fast 50.

Degordian is a digital agency that goes beyond the boundaries, focusing on performance and growth marketing, brand communication, digital production, and employer branding. Not to mention his other successful ventures such as Mediatoolkit, one of the first SaaS products in Croatia, and Bornfight, an award-winning software development company.

We discuss:

• How to successfully incubate products inside an agency
• Why agencies shouldn’t raise capital
• Adapting your business to succeed in the US
• Creation of a company with the goal of a happy and engaged top team

Cindy Gallop is a world-renowned brand and business innovator who prides herself on blowing things up, in the best way possible!

She's been described as the 'Michael Bay of Business,' known for shaking up conventional models and ushering in transformative change across various sectors. Cindy's philosophy is that out of adversity comes opportunity, a belief that has guided her work and led to breakthrough innovations.

She's also a stalwart advocate for diversity, working tirelessly with companies committed to leading the diversity agenda in their sectors. Her efforts in driving real change in this area have been revolutionary.

In 2009, Cindy launched, MakeLoveNotPorn, at a TED talk, marking a significant inflection point in her career. MakeLoveNotPorn, a pro-sex, pro-porn, and pro-knowing the difference initiative, is the world's first user-generated, human-curated social sex video-sharing platform. 

We discuss:

• Make Love Not Porn and its mission to promote open conversation about sex
• Encouragement for women to identify gaps in their industries and start their own businesses
• The importance and severity of sexual harassment in the industry as a barrier to gender equality

Part 2

Sir Martin Sorrell known for his strategic acumen and adaptability, disrupted the traditional advertising model by embracing technology and integrating creative content with data analytics. He foresaw the importance of digital advertising and invested heavily in digital capabilities, positioning WPP as a leader in the digital marketing landscape.

In 2018 founded S4 Capital, a disruptive advertising and marketing services company. S4 Capital combines the power of creative thinking, data-driven insights, and technological innovation to help businesses navigate the challenges of the digital age and achieve growth in an ever-evolving market.

Sir Martin Sorrell's contributions to the advertising industry have earned him widespread recognition and accolades. In 2000, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the advertising industry.

In part two we discuss

00:00 IP2: What motivated Sir Martin to found S4 Capital after WPP

00:00 IP3:  Building a culture of innovation and adaptability

00:00 Outro: What is exciting Sir Martin about the next 12 months

Sir Martin Sorrell is a prominent figure in the advertising and marketing industry, renowned for his strategic vision, entrepreneurial spirit, and transformative leadership.

Sorrell began his career in the advertising industry at Saatchi & Saatchi, among arguably a generation of talent he became known as the third Saatchi brother. In 1985, he founded WPP initially as a below-the-line agency but then changed direction with a sequence of the largest-ever deals in the industry.

WPP grew exponentially to become the world's largest advertising and communications services company. For over 30 years, Sorrell led WPP, navigating the company through the emerging technologies of the digital revolution.

In 2018 Sorrell left WPP and founded S4 Capital, a digital and data-first disruptive advertising and marketing services company. With a career spanning over five decades, Sir Martin shares the wealth of his experience over our two-part podcast.

In Pt.1 We discuss:

01:20 Intro: The most interesting formative experiences in his business life

IP1: The evolution of the advertising and media industry

IP2: Sir Martin’s process for identifying opportunities for investment and acquisition

Daniel Gilbert, CEO of Brainlabs, a data-led marketing agency that has taken the industry by storm since its founding in 2012. Dan founded Brainlabs with a vision to help businesses build experimentation-led marketing operations, and since then, the company has grown exponentially. It's now a global player in the media market, with a team of over 240 people and a top ranking on Deloitte's Tech Track Fast 50.

A pioneering figure in introducing mathematicians and engineers into the world of marketing Dan was named #1 in PPC Hero’s Most Influential PPC Experts in the World list (2018), one of the most influential people in digital by Econsultancy (2018), and was a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (London, 2018).

We discuss:

1:20  Intro: Steady, continuous progress vs ‘hockey stick’ success

3:07 IP1: Daniel’s experience working with Google right after university and the early stages of Brainlabs

12:34 IP2: Creating a cohesive company culture to sustain growth - The Brainlabs Handbook

21:05 IP3: What made Daniel take the leap towards Private Equity investment

27:12 IP4: The huge advantages of a financial buyer

38:23 Outro What is exciting Dan about the next 12 months

Somayeh Aghnia is a serial entrepreneur and technology founder who co-founded This episode of Inflection Points Joe speaks with Somayeh Aghnia, highly accomplished entrepreneur, technology founder and Geeks' Co-founder and CEO.

Somayeh co-founded Geeks in 2008, a company that helps senior leaders design, engineer, and adopt appropriate software technology to accelerate their businesses. Additionally, Somayeh created WordUp, an AI language app that has been downloaded over 5 million times and founded a technology university.

With multiple awards under her belt, including the Queen's Award for Enterprise in Innovation, the UK Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award, and the Gold Stevie Award for the most Innovative Company of The Year in Europe, Somayeh's experience and knowledge are invaluable to anyone looking to succeed in the technology industry.

We discuss:

1:17 Intro Introduction and choosing tech as a career

3:50 IP1 Immigrating to the UK from Iran

6:35 IP2 Being a changemaker at the core and founding Geeks

16:59 IP3 Flat management structure hindering growth

24:54 IP4 Using her superpower of Female empowerment

32:36 The difficulty of English as a language being the driver for app Wordup

42:11 Outro What is exciting Somayeh about eh next 12 months

Lee Hackett is the Group CEO at Bluprintx. Bluprintx using technology such as Adobe and Salesforce to design and deliver growth in global organisations, connecting the dots between people, workflow, technology, and data.

Under Lee's leadership, Blueprintx has experienced tremendous growth and now spans US, Europe and Asia. Built through both organically and by acquisition.

BluprintX is Lee’s second entrepreneurial venture, the first he scaled and sold to a UK PLC. Prior to his corporate career, Lee was a professional footballer with Wigan Athletic.

We discuss:

1:11 Intro:

3:04 IP1: Transition from the football pitch to the corporate ladder

10:39 IP2: The two-step journey to owning his own business

17:38 IP3: Evolution of BluPrintx and effectively scaling for global growth

27:32:  The power of growth and technology

35:17 Outro What is exciting Lee about the future 

Welcome to this episode of our podcast where Joe sits down with Dimi Albers, the Global CEO at Dept, a technology and marketing services company that creates end-to-end digital experiences for some of the world's most recognizable brands.

Dimi has overseen the company's rapid expansion to a truly global organisation of 4,000 employees through both organic and phenomenal in-organic growth. He was part of Tam Tam, the original agency that became Dept, running the business for 11 years holding many roles in the agency.

We discuss:

00:58  Intro– How and why Dimi joined Tam Tam (now Dept)

03:40 IP1 – Taking investment from Waterland

09:51 – IP2 Working out how to build and maintain culture (and growth) in spite of M&A

17:30 – IP3 The decision of single brand vs Holding company – why there is a clear winner.

26:18 – IP4 What changed when Dimi became CEO

34:30– Outro What Dimi is looking forward to in the next 12 months

In this episode of Inflection Points, Joe talks with guest Bruno Guicardi, President and co-founder of CI&T.

Bruno co-founded CI&T with two partners in Brazil and has grown the business into a global organization with over 7,000 employees working with some of the world's largest companies, like Coca-Cola, AB InBev and Johnson & Johnson. It was listed on the NYSE in 2021.

As the President of CI&T, Bruno has been instrumental in driving the company's growth and expansion. He has led the company's adoption of agile and LEAN methodologies and efforts to embrace emerging technologies like AI and Machine Learning.

We discuss:

01:22 Intro: The Genesis of CI&T

07:02 IP1: International ambitions and taking investment

14:35 IP2: Internal systems and process – embedding LEAN methodology

26:44 IP3: Growth units – how to organise a company of 7,000 people

32:00 IP4: Listing a business and the party afterwards

42:15 Outro: What excites Bruno about the next 12 months

In this episode, Joe Hine has a fascinating conversation with Timothy Armoo, co-founder of Fanbytes, one of the UK’s leading Gen Z social media marketing agencies.  

Fanbytes was founded in 2017 and quickly gained traction and recognition for its unique approach to influencer marketing. The company worked with major brands and won numerous awards before selling to Brainlabs in 2021. 

Named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for his achievements in Media and Marketing. Timo started his entrepreneurial journey at just 17 when he started his first business and has gone on to start two more since.  

We discuss:

1:10 Intro Driving forces of Timothy Armoo 

2:45 IP1 Gaining a sense of self and understanding wealth 

14:40 IP2 Launching Fanbytes and mentally levelling up 

20:57 Insights into the Influencer marketing industry 

24:45 IP3 Finding the right buyer when selling  

32:58 Outro What is exciting Timo about the next 12 months