Scouting for Growth

By Sabine VanderLindenBusiness Entrepreneurship Technology

Scouting for Growth episodes

May 01, 2024Oliver Wyman Series: Unlocking Value by Leveraging Commoditised Tech
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL introduces the a series of podcasts featuring Steve Abel, Partner at Oliver Wyman, Brian McDermott, Chief Technology Officer at Victor Insurance and Esther Becker, Partner and Captive Actuarial Leader at Oliver Wyman.
The objectives of the following four episodes are to:
create an all-rounded viewpoint of what is happening in insurance
demonstrate how an insurance managing general agent has grown its business to over 3 billion dollars in Direct Written Premiums (DWP)
and how the world of captive insurance is evolving when emerging risks are so present in our day-to-day lives.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Legacy system optimization is crucial for insurance companies to not only reduce costs but also to enhance the value of existing investments. By addressing historical oversights and implementing effective strategies, insurance companies and carriers worldwide can unlock comprehensive value from their legacy systems.
Insurers out there… You've made substantial investments in your core systems, but it's possible that some of our decisions weren't aligned with the best long-term outcomes for your business or enterprise. Revisit past decisions critically to assess whether they still serve your company's current and future needs. Look for signs that you've been locked into proprietary solutions, which may hinder adaptability or interoperability in the long term. I have talked about those with many insurers, and this is certainly an area of concern today.
Implement APIs that enable more flexible interaction with your core systems, and introduce modular upgrades that add new capabilities without a complete system overhaul. These targeted improvements can significantly increase value and extend the lifespan of your core systems, helping you stay competitive in a rapidly evolving insurance market.
Finally, I wanted to dive into the world of captives, and self-insurance programs offer a strategic approach to managing emergent non-insurable risks. A captive’s ability to navigate complex technological challenges and optimize technology choices is crucial to reinforcing the relevance and efficiency of its operations.
BEST MOMENTS
‘To unlock the value from your core systems, adopt a three-pronged approach: Simplify. Innovate. Collaborate.’
‘When you invest in technology startups, scaleups and growth ventures… recognizing the common missteps is going to be essential to avoid them.’
‘In leveraging commoditized technology, your goal should be to build more relevant applications. Utilizing established technologies allows you to focus on innovation without reinventing the wheel.’
‘By proactively shaping your approach to these areas of advancement, you're preparing to meet the demands of 2030 and propel the insurance and insurtech sectors forward.’
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
20 min
April 23, 2024Romaney O’Malley: Disrupting Financial Strategy in InsurTech
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Romaney O’Malley, Group CTO at bolttech, an InsurTech unicorn that is quite literally electrifying the InsurTech space, now spearheading solutions in 35 markets across three continents.
In today’s episode, we explore a multitude of topics, including: The Journey to the Top: What were the critical turning points in Romaney's impressive career? Master Strategist: How does Romany approach challenging strategic decisions at bolttech? Industry Titans: What's the inner fabric of companies like Bolltech, as well as traditional companies such as AIG, Swiss Re, and GE Insurance?
KEY TAKEAWAYS
In 2008, my husband and I decided to move to Johannesburg so he could take an opportunity with a bank in South Africa. That was a big deal to move away from London & a great job with SwissRe, but this was a really unique opportunity that ended up being one of the best decisions we’ve made for both of our careers. It exposed me to very different markets across Africa, which was invaluable to the rest of my career. Taking risks is important.
One of the fascinating things about emerging markets is that they can leapfrog the steps that have shaped mature industries. The use of mobile technology & telcos in banking in many parts of Africa is far more advanced than we see in developed countries, because they have skipped many of the evolutionary steps that some older economies have taken. Those markets & consumers are at the sharp end of innovation.
You can’t approach things as 1 decision. Your leadership team/board is never going to make 1 linear series of decisions; the complexity comes from multiple decisions & how they interact with each other. You should approach these problems as multi-dimensional & you’re always going to be balancing different things. Strategic decisions are about trade-offs & maximising the point at which you ensure you’re delivering a range of things to different stakeholders without getting out of balance.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Moving to London from Sydney on secondment gave me the opportunity to see the scale & the size of the opportunity in the rest of the world.’
‘I always knew the future of insurance was technology-based.’
‘Play to your strengths but surround yourself with a team of people that are really good at the things that you’re not so good at.’
‘The stronger we can build an ecosystem across the opportunity in InsurTech, the more effective insurance industry we’re going to have.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Romaney O’Malley, Group CFO at bolttech, an international insurtech company that is revolutionizing the way we think about insurance and technology. Her unique blend of leadership skills and financial acumen is drawn from a 25+ year-career at the apex of the insurance industry.
Romaney's depth of experience is not limited to the insurance field; she has also ventured into reinsurance, finance, and consulting.
When the numbers are crunched and the strategies laid down, Romaney finds her escape in the great outdoors. Whether planning her next exciting travel adventure or unwinding through the meditative art of yoga, she's a perpetual explorer—of landscapes, of limits, and of life.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
54 min
April 18, 2024Anika Jackson: Amplifying Your Brand Power
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Anika Jackson, who wears many hats with enviable finesse. Currently, Anika is professor, a VP of operations for Full Capacity Marketing, a full-service agency dedicated to uplifting workforce development and educational institutions.
Today, Anika will share with us her insights about growth, drawing from her multi-faceted experiences and achievements.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Everything changes every day with digital. AI has been around for 20 years, but only last year its popularity rose for everyone to understand what the technology is & start utilising it for marketing or efficiencies in our systems & processes. We have to keep on top of everything. My students range from 20s-60s & they want to learn how to manage everything that’s happening.
Podcasting is the only omni-channel marketing that we have nowadays; you have video content, audio content, you can create blog posts, thought-leadership pieces, hundreds of pieces of content for social media. There are so many ways to utilise each episode. Not only that, it’s business development, every time I’m on a podcast or have a guest on my podcast not only do I learn something new from them but that’s another person I can now call on in my network.
I’ve leaned into learning more about a lot of different things so I can better advise people on how to make the best use of their dollars. Especially for small businesses, it’s not easy to get financing unless you have someone already backing you – most small businesses don’t. We at the Intuit Small Business Council are going to speak to Congress in a couple of weeks about AI & small businesses & making sure they have access to tools – digital equity.
A lot of people don’t want to use their own voice, but in this day & time everybody wants to know who are you? I’m buying into you as a person & a founder. Yes, you have the product that’s going to solve something, but I want to know about the person, the authenticity factor. You have to believe in the person & that their solution is really going to solve your problem. Don’t think about it as ‘you’, think about it as you’ve got something people need to hear because what you have to offer & the solution you’re providing is going to help revolutionise things, help with access to something, or change somebody’s life that’s really important to them at this time. Take the ego out of it.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Who are you & what are you doing here? That needs to infuse everything that you do. It helps people decide if they take a job, can work with you, if you’re aligned with them. ’
‘I’m learning as much as I’m teaching.’
‘This is a world where you have to think omni-channel, you have to be integrated, & you can’t be siloed, you have to work together, that’s the world we live in.’
‘Reserve all of the names across the socials but don’t scatter your attention, really be focused and niche down.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Anika Jackson is a mother, community volunteer, philanthropist, marketing and communications professional, podcast host, and graduate adjunct professor at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. As a marketer, she has done it all, including experiential marketing/event production, launch marketing, public relations, digital, and influencer marketing throughout her multiple-decade career.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
47 min
April 11, 2024Nektarios Liolios: Driving FinTech Innovation and Mental Health Advocacy
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Nektarios Liolios, a true FinTech trailblazer, a passionate entrepreneur, and a dedicated mental health advocate.
In this episode, we'll dive into Nektarios' wealth of experience and insights on the evolution of FinTech, building thriving startup communities, investing in early-stage ventures, and fostering a more inclusive and mentally healthy entrepreneurial landscape.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
When I started the accelerators, we were riding the first wave of glorified entrepreneurship in 2011-13. Startups were cool, & we created artificial pressure around building things faster than in the wild. There were glimpses of people struggling, but I really didn’t take them too seriously. The real understanding of how bad people's mental health was affected in the early stages of building a business wasn’t something I was fully aware of. But it became clearer to me as we progressed with building these programmes.
In 2018, I lost my Dad the day after I finished work at the accelerator. I had to deal with the mess that comes with leaving behind a big chunk of my identity. I thought, perhaps there’s room to do something about this & I joined a woman I knew who had started Founder Anonymous within the VC fund she worked with to give founders the space to talk about how hard it actually is.
There’s a bag of things: identity, loneliness, imposter syndrome, and co-founder conflict. There are so many things that naturally happen in life, concentrated in the world of building a startup, & these people are completely left to their own devices to deal with these challenges. I got into entrepreneurship in my mid-40s, so I already feel I was a little better prepared for these things than younger entrepreneurs who haven’t had much life experience. But I wasn’t expecting my identity to be so messed up.
The challenges faced by someone working in the corporate world and someone working in the entrepreneurial world are different, especially for founders. You don’t have the same support system. In the corporate world, you can take some time off and talk to HR; there may even be support initiatives. But founders are very specific kinds of animals; it takes a particular type of makeup to become one in the first place. Research shows that entrepreneurs are more likely to have anxiety, depression, and neurodiversity manifestations (ADHD, bipolar) in their family history.
BEST MOMENTS
‘The outside picture is that startups are cool & the hustle is cool & you need to ruin yourself because the potential returns of a successful startup aren’t comparable to corporate life, I want to demystify that.’
‘We were part of the problem; we cared about the business, we didn’t care about the people behind the business.’
‘We want to build a business where we don’t want to kill ourselves. That doesn’t mean we’re not working hard; it means being allowed to say I’m struggling. Authenticity is important.’
‘There’s a link between wanting to be your own boss & experiencing certain mental health issues.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Nektarios Liolios is a visionary FinTech entrepreneur, investor, ecosystem builder, and mental health advocate, passionate about driving positive change.
His work has taken him around the globe, where he has closely collaborated with hundreds of entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses in London, New York, Singapore, Dubai, Amsterdam, and Melbourne. His dedication to entrepreneurship, collaboration, and improving lives has earned him recognition as a FinTech veteran and a spot on the Pride in FinTech Powerlist 2023.
LinkedIn
Innovate Finance
The Future Farm
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
46 min
April 03, 2024Nicky Billou: Elon Musk-Style Thought Leadership Strategies for CEOs
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Nicky Billou, who shares his expertise on how startup CEOs can leverage thought leadership to accelerate business growth, stand out in competitive markets, & create lasting impact in their industries.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
My parents took us from a legacy of tyranny, in Iran, to a legacy of freedom in Canada. This is a very profound & important thing for an entrepreneur to understand: Entrepreneurship is only possible where you have free enterprise, free enterprise is only possible where you have free expression, free expression is only possible where you have freedom. The bedrock foundation for the success of any entrepreneurs in an environment that allows for freedom.
We are living in an era where for you to really make an impact, for you to have your brand/organisation to be known, you can’t do things the way they’ve always been done. People are smart now, they can see when you’re being disingenuous. What all people crave, everywhere, is authenticity, being real, being honest, coming from the heart. As a founder/CEO you need to understand that & it must be first & foremost in your mind.
Elon Musk is somebody who has taken the time to create for himself a persona, a brand. Everyone knows Elon Musk. Why? Because Elon Musk stands for something more than “I want to sell more cars.” He got into Tesla because he wanted to change the world. DO you want to be the unknown CEO of your company or the Elon Musk of your industry?
Being a guest on a podcast is like doing a TED Talk; you’ve got 18 minutes, you can’t waste 1 word, & you need to know what you are & aren’t going to say. Podcast guesting is an important tool in thought leadership. You also need a team to put out your content in the form of videos, written quotes & longer-form posts. CEOs should also have their own podcast but it shouldn’t be about your business, it should be about you so you raise your profile. Finally, you need to write a book (you could hire someone to co-author it with you).
BEST MOMENTS
‘It takes an immigrant to show people the value of freedom. There are a lot of people in the West that don’t appreciate how precious & wonderful freedom is & how it doesn’t exist everywhere.’
‘Life is about people, even business is about people, not money. The purpose of business is to solve problem for people for a profit.’
‘My superpower is I’m a professional believer, I believe in people, I pour into people, I Love people.’
‘If you want to sell more, have the best employees working for you, have access to investment funds to grow & scale, thought leadership is the accelerator that will get you there faster than anything else.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Nicky Billou is an author, thought leadership expert, & host of the Thought Leader Revolution podcast. Over the past decade, Nicky has established himself as a leading authority on personal branding & business growth strategies.
As the founder of eCircle Academy, Nicky runs a year-long mastermind & educational program, working with entrepreneurs from various industries to position them as authorities in their niches.
His insights have helped numerous entrepreneurs add 7-9 figures to their businesses & build powerful personal brands. With a passion for helping startup founders & CEOs become thought leaders in their industries, Nicky draws inspiration from visionary leaders like Elon Musk. He believes that by developing a solid personal brand, entrepreneurs can attract more investors, customers, & top talent to their ventures.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
44 min
March 28, 2024Yannick Even: A GenAI Visionary and the Future of Work
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Yannick Even, a visionary at the intersection of AI, analytics and Generative AI. With over two decades of experience in transforming global organizations into data-driven powerhouses, Yannick's journey has taken him from the corridors of management consulting across Europe and Asia to pioneering roles at Swiss Re, where he led the charge in integrating innovative tech and data insurance products into the market.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Insurance is very traditional. Even 15 years ago there were a lot of forms, paper, very siloed. Nobody could really track a customer throughout their journey, everyone was very focused on their part of the journey. This is also true in terms of technology and data. It created a lot of misunderstanding for the customers & even the brokers about the future of insurance & how to leverage technology & data. This resulted in a lot of data gaps in the core of the system, from CRM to data management. It’s taken until recently for the industry to realize we need to do much better.
In the last 5 years at Swiss Re, I’ve witnessed & been part of a transformation to a data-driven company. We built a common data foundation where we agreed on even the common definition of data, built a catalog of data and assigned data custodians. On top of this foundation, we built the governance layer & tried to take out the silos making data available to everyone, not stuck behind barriers. The most important layer was the cultural layer, around the people, we upskilled them around data and AI literacy.
You need to really understand the market, I've seen too many people build fancy solutions with the latest technology available, but not spending enough time checking the product is what the customer needs.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Customer expectations are used now to have a much more engaging, personalized digital interaction with banks, retail, restaurant, any service which is at their fingertips.’
‘Data transformation is the base to start the journey in AI enablement. If your data isn't in the right shape, you can't leverage the value AI can bring.’
'We look at where tech & data can augment & bring value at scale into the way we do business.’
‘Not every problem will be solved by GenAI, there are a lot of problems that traditional AI will solve. It's also important to understand which problem will be solved by which technology & make it efficient across all the different parameters.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Yannick Even is a distinguished expert with over two decades of experience in transforming global organizations into data-driven powerhouses, emphasizing the responsible use of Data & AI. His journey in management consulting spanned 18 years across Europe and Asia, including a 5-year tenure at KPMG China.
Recognized as a thought leader in Insurtech, Generative AI (GenAI), & Responsible AI solutions, Yannick has garnered a following of over 12,000 innovators worldwide. Currently based in Zurich, he is leveraging his vast expertise in dual endeavors. He is at the forefront of developing top-tier Generative AI upskilling programs for corporates, including The Digital Insurer Global GenAI Explorer program supported by Microsoft.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
1 hr 10 min
March 21, 2024Simon Guest: Orchestrating Digital Health Ecosystems
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Simon Guest, formerly CCO at The CareVoice and now Global Head of Business Development - Life Protection at Zurich Insurance, who has been instrumental in pioneering a differentiated approach to growth in the healthcare sector. Under his guidance, The CareVoice will focus on creating multifaceted platforms that benefit from the network effect, where each new user or partner amplifies the ecosystem's cumulative value and utility.
Join us as we dive into the intricacies of orchestrating growth ecosystems for market differentiation, the power of behavioural science in healthcare, and the innovative strategies that have positioned The CareVoice as a leader in personalized health engagement. Simon's insights promise to be invaluable for anyone looking to understand the future of healthcare and the role of digital ecosystems in driving sustainable value creation.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
I’ve spent more than 20 years working in life & health insurance in various roles & countries. On the one hand, you become a bit frustrated that some of the problems remain the same, but the advancement of technology & the macroclimate's focus on health & wellness create opportunities for life & health insurers. They need to fundamentally rethink their proposition as digital health and wellness, not only for brand & marketing purposes, but also to change the relationship with their clients & impact their results.
What’s important, in our experience, is that you find someone who has an open ecosystem approach, offers the best services you can find in the market & will constantly evolve them. We think that we’re playing that role between build & buy, but in the end, the end consumer gets the best & most critical experience.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Life & health insurance companies have to move to a situation where they are offering end-to-end prevention & digital health care services in one orchestrated way & then provide the insurance behind that if their client needs it.’
‘There are not that many products where you ask people to pay a lot of money for 20 years in the hope that they never use that product. Fundamentally, we have to change the value proposition for customers in this industry.’
‘When it comes to health, you can’t make any mistakes.'
ABOUT THE GUEST
Simon Guest is the Global Head of Business Development - Life Protection at Zurich Insurance. Before then, he was the CCO of Carevoice, which provides Digital Health & Wellness Solutions for Insurers. Simon's journey in the insurance industry is marked by significant achievements & a deep understanding of Life and Health Insurance. His tenure at global giants like Generali & AXA has endowed him with unparalleled expertise in leading Global Protection & Health Business lines. This experience has not only honed his skills in driving strategy & commercial results but also provided him with a comprehensive view of insurance markets worldwide.
Between 2014 and 2022, Simon served as CEO of Generali Engagement Solutions, where he was instrumental in forging and leading a groundbreaking partnership with Discovery. This collaboration brought the Vitality shared-value wellness proposition to 7 European markets, showcasing Simon's ability to leverage innovation, partnerships, & ecosystems. His 'start-up' mentality has been key to delivering exceptional customer propositions and setting new industry benchmarks.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
42 min
March 14, 2024Denzil Eden: Using AI To Transform Work
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Denzil Eden, founder & CEO of Smarty, an AI-powered productivity assistant. With degrees in computer science & AI from MIT & an MBA from Harvard, Denzil has been at the frontier of harnessing AI's potential to transform work. She has held roles in engineering & product management and is now the founder & CEO of Smarty.
The pair discusses her founder journey as a solo technical female, how to provide advice for startups navigating economic uncertainty, insights on how she sees AI continuing to shape the future of work over the next decade, & practical tips for founders & professionals to help them start implementing today to enhance productivity.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
I started coding at 8 years old & fell in love with building. That passion stayed with me & I enrolled at MIT, where my passion thrived. I got a degree in computer science & did a Master's in human-computer interactions, building an app like Slack for classrooms. I thought that being a founder wasn’t for me, that I wanted more stability & I’m not sure where that mindset came from. I explored a lot of different careers & eventually went to business school to round out my education, while there, the idea for Smarty came to me.
This is the time to develop your AI literacy, to play around with AI tools, to understand how they think, work & how they can make your life better, how they can augment the work that you’re doing. We’re in such an early period of what technologies & tools are going to come out with AI, but the faster you start immersing yourself in that world, the sooner you’ll be able to understand how to prompt/talk to/leverage an AI tool.
There’s a lot that goes into responsible & ethical AI. We should attribute the source of the data for these AI tools, the original artists should get credit, and there should be a system to track the original creator of a piece of work. On the other hand, many artists stand on the shoulders of giants who came before them, inspired by what came before & trying to create something new from it. I think AI tools can help speed up the process of experimenting with their own work.
I’ve learned so much on my founder's path & specifically about being a woman in AI, because AI is so heavily based on the data it’s been fed. It’s really important to provide AI tools with diverse sources of data. What I’m seeing right now in the AI space is that there are no female speakers at events. Not just gender, but the sources of information need to be diverse in terms of race, culture, and socio-economic class; diversity is fundamental to how AI works.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I was overwhelmed in most areas of my life & I realised that the majority of the things I was doing & had on my plate could be easily automated with existing technology, so I started building Smarty for myself.’
‘I use the same pitch I started with in 2018, but the appetite for the pitch is so different today. It shows you that timing is everything. Don’t be dissuaded, have internal drive over external validation.’
‘I think AI is going to be a transformational tool in every industry, every job from tech to farming to music. It’s such a magical time & I’m very excited to be part of that movement.’
‘You don’t have to understand the ‘black box’ of an AI tool & how it works, you just have to learn how to use it & in 5-10 years’ time you’ll be the expert.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Denzil Eden is the founder & CEO of Smarty, an AI-powered productivity assistant that helps professionals plan their days & automate mundane tasks. A trailblazer as a solo female technical founder, Denzil earned degrees in computer science & AI from MIT before getting her MBA from Harvard.
Denzil has an extensive background in technology and entrepreneurship. She started coding at age eight & has worked as a software engineer, product manager, & now founder and CEO.
Denzil has been at the forefront of harnessing AI to transform everyday work life for over 5 years through Smarty. Backed by Pear VC and other investors, Smarty has helped thousands achieve peak productivity by creating structured routines, automating administrative tasks, & maximizing time efficiency. When she's not using technology to make people's lives easier, you can find Denzil playing piano, writing sci-fi stories, or searching for the perfect cup of tea.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
47 min
March 07, 2024Rich Edwards: Differentiating with Data in a World of AI
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Rich Edwards, CEO of Mindspan & former product leader for IBM Watson. He has a knack for demystifying complex topics like machine learning & getting to the heart of how companies can drive real business value.
In our conversation, he shares a contrarian view — the biggest differentiation won’t come from algorithms but rather a company’s first-party data assets.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Seeing where AI & machine learning was going, it wasn’t quite a mainstream adopted technology in 2017, but it clearly was going to be. Where was the interesting part of that to look at? A lot of the value was going to come from data, particularly first party data, that even now is sitting untapped. Eventually that search led me to the company I’m at now, Mindspan, which is a small business which I eventually bought.
The information that they’re entrusted with (when used correctly) can be very, very valuable & allow them to provide very high value services to their customers. The trick is making that come together with the compliance element required in the banking and insurance sector. A lot of the organisations that we work with don’t have the technical skills to build it up which is where a lot of the differentiated value comes from.
AI isn’t one thing. Science fiction has portrayed it as a monolithic thing that’s all knowing. In reality it doesn’t work like that, it’s component pieces that work together in a pipeline/flow handling things. It’s more like the summer intern, the person that comes to you from university who is diligent, eager, literate, can follow instructions, can write but doesn’t know anything about your business or background, & has no context or experience to base it from, but can answer simple questions.
An important issue that we as a society are stumbling into with AI is similar to healthcare or the extension of credit: Areas where there’s a lot of personally identifiable information that’s out there that businesses have about the people they work with that could be misused or exploited. There’s a lot of regulation around healthcare information in the US that states clearly who’s allowed to possess that information & what they’re allowed to do with it. There’s a lot of stuff we haven’t even thought of yet with AI, for example facial recognition. Data is a valuable asset & requires a level of care around it that isn’t just protection but governance.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I had no business being around AI, based on my background, but I was the guy that had been around IBM long enough & knew how to get things done. That afforded me the ability to be at the forefront of this.’
‘For many use cases with generative AI, the differentiation between the providers is getting less & less & less. It’ll be a thing that you buy, but it won’t be a thing that’s going to make you stand out.
‘Anything we can do today is machine learning, anything we can’t do yet is AI, but the line between the 2 is blurry.’
‘AI is a superpower that you can give to people that are most responsible for an interaction/experience that your customers have.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Rich Edwards is a veteran technology leader with over 20 years of experience working at the intersection of data, AI, and business strategy. As former product management lead for IBM Watson, Rich helped global banks and financial institutions leverage artificial intelligence to uncover growth opportunities and gain a competitive edge. He currently serves as CEO of Mindspan, a firm focused on helping community banks and credit unions transform through data-driven technologies.
Under Rich's leadership, Mindspan turns client data into an operating asset to boost differentiation, create personalized customer experiences, and future-proof their business. With his extensive background in regulated industries like finance and healthcare, Rich understands the importance of building trust and maintaining rigorous data governance. He offers a unique perspective on AI ethics, data privacy, and the responsible use of generative models like ChatGPT.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
59 min
February 29, 2024Chris Miles: Why I Call Myself The Anti-Financial Advisor
On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Chris Miles, an unconventional financial advisor who has an incredible backstory; he left the industry disillusioned in his 20s to become a passive real estate investor, achieving financial independence and retiring by age 28.
Since then, he has taught hundreds of entrepreneurs his formula for generating enough passive income to be "work optional" and then positioned to work by choice not necessity. During this conversation, Chris shares his incredible personal story, lessons learned, overcoming major financial setbacks during the Great Recession when he found himself over $1 million in debt, alternative investment strategies beyond just real estate to generate passive income, and actionable advice to start taking control of your financial future.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
I realised that when I was in the financial advisor industry that I was just a salesman in a suit; I was selling people financial products, but I wasn’t really helping people become financially free. It became my mission to debunk that, to get people to go a different route that’s been proven to work. Don’t deal with financial advisors because they suck!
After quitting being a financial advisor in 2006, I looked at a friend who I trained to become a financial advisor who had gone to do real estate investing. So, I started going into the alternative investment route. Later that year, at almost 29, I was able to retire because I had enough passive cashflow coming in to pay my bills. That blew my mind because the financial advice world teaches you to accumulate/save all this money to live on less than the interest in retirement.
I don’t want to invest in apartments right now. I might wait 6-12 months before I start investing there again. But, residential real estate (depending on where in the US) is still cash flowing, there are still good, solid returns. Not only owning real estate, but investing without owning the property by lending to people who are renovating/flipping/renting out properties & make a financial return of 10%+.
I could send the rest of my life relaxing, but I believe that god puts you on this planet, gives you certain gifts & abilities that you can develop here to use to bless others’ lives. I really felt it was a responsibility of mine to bless lives. That’s why my company is called Money Ripples.
BEST MOMENTS
‘I was always taught that there wasn’t enough money. I wanted a different life that wasn’t just paying bills & then dying.’
‘My clients couldn’t retire early off my advice, I couldn’t & even experienced financial advisors could retire early off their own advice after 30-40 years.’
‘When the student is ready, the teacher appears.’
‘I have friends in real estate who say the last couple of years have been the worst years financially, even worse than 2008. But the key is, they’re talking about commercial real estate, not residential.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
Chris Miles is a leading authority on helping entrepreneurs & professionals get their money working for them today. He earned the nicknames "Cash Flow Expert" & "Anti-Financial Advisor" thanks to his contrarian perspectives & proven track record.
Chris hosts the popular Money Ripples Podcast, sharing unconventional money tips & insights. He's also the founder of Money Ripples, a firm dedicated to helping clients maximise cash flow.
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
If this episode sparked your thinking, follow Sabine VanderLinden on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for more insights.
And if you’re interested in sponsoring the podcast, reach out to the team at [email protected]
40 min