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This week, the SphereCast team speaks with Luke de Haas, Chief Executive Officer and Founder at MOSEA — a Toronto-based digital platform offering an easier way to pool money with large groups of friends and send those funds directly into bank accounts. Think of it as a Venmo-type of platform, but for the masses. MOSEA offers familiar one-to-one digital funds transfers but also offers the option to quickly and easily create crowdfunding projects amongst friends.

Luke and his co-founders are young, and having been raised in the digital age, they know the real value of seamless, non-physical funds transfers. And as digital payments continue to rise in adoption and popularity, these types of capabilities must continue to expand. On the podcast, Luke explains how he and his team spotted a gap in this ever-growing industry and built a solution to meet the need. 

Noteworthy Quotes:

"The amazing thing about working with really smart, invested people is that you're always trying to come to the truth and figure out what's the best thing we can put in front of our users' faces."

"Being naive when you're young is really useful. Because if I knew everything I know now, I might not have started this idea... It allows us to keep pushing forward when other people may not do so."

"We have an advantage. We're young. We understand the demographic we're going to — we're in the demographic we're going to. And we're not afraid to take much bigger risks, as opposed to older people."

"We get through challenges with a never-ending belief that we're going to succeed."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Luke de Haas

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MOSEA

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This week, the SphereCast team interviews Ingmar Kruse, CEO of SunSniffer — a technology that measures solar power module performance using artificial intelligence. Kruse’s platform provides information on each module’s power usage and whether the module needs to be replaced, all with the push of a button. Prior to the advent of SunSniffer, this type of work was expensive — more expensive, in fact, than the panels themselves. However, through his work, Kruse hopes to take the pain out of solar energy and to, ultimately, encourage more widespread sustainable energy adoption.

Ingmar’s journey into solar power was far from linear, and his story is incredibly interesting. In fact, Ingmar’s earliest work was with color printing and scanning and its associated software. However, his diverse experience fostered a certain “out of the box” thinking that ultimately led him to his work today — work that is, quite literally, saving the world. On the podcast, Ingmar talks through his full story, gives details on how SunSniffer got off the ground, walks through his typical day, and so much more.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"It's a great time to start a business. There are so many resources that are free of charge. There are great videos on YouTube. There's not the burden of paying a lot of money [for training]."

"I like to listen to advice. I listen to other opinions. Because it helps me develop my own opinion... It helps me find my own way."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Ingmar Kruse

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SunSniffer

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This week, the SphereCast team speaks with Ryan Grant, Founder & CEO at Vori Health — a virtual-first healthcare provider that practices a holistic, integrated approach to musculoskeletal care. On May 7 of this year, Vor Health announced a $45MM Series A investment, led by New Enterprise Associates, Inc. This funding round is a huge vote of confidence for Vori Health’s mission, which is to care for the whole person and cater to the real problem, rather than throwing temporary and often ineffective remedies onto one-off symptoms.

Having a background in neurosurgery, Ryan is fully aware of the shortcomings of the neuroscience normal — an environment where conclusions are drawn too quickly and medicines are doled out too liberally. However, with enough grit and determination, Ryan is convinced that the status quo of this international issue can be shifted. On the podcast, Grant shares the story of how his company came to be, educates listeners on the shortcomings of neuro medicine, deep dives on the challenges of entrepreneurship, and sells us on his mission to make medicine human again.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"Medicine across the planet is very dehumanized for a variety of reasons. And it's overdue to make it more humanized — practicing what's ethically-sound, evidence-based medicine."

"Here's how you change the world over time: everybody's got to win, in a better way. Patients. Providers. Payer partnerships. The team. If everyone benefits and you do it in a nice way, that's how you start to change the conversation."

"It's really about helping the world be a better place and doing the right thing all the time. And making medicine more fun... You're obviously dealing with serious things in medicine, but that doesn't mean you can't make it more engaging. And make it more fun and human."

"You never have perfect data... Even with the most pristine data, at best, it's 60 percent accurate. So you're always making decisions on incomplete data."

"The most challenging part of startups or new endeavors is managing your own emotions... It can be a roller coaster."

"Feedback. You want as much feedback as possible. You want as much criticism as possible — the good and the bad. That's the only way you keep making something better."

"People always do better with a mentor or a coach. Even Olympians have a coach. Who do you go to in tough decisions?"

Bullet List of Resources – 

Ryan Grant

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Vori Health

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This week, the SphereCast team interviews Patricia Salas, President and “Chief Dream Enabler” at SBHIS Insurance Services, Inc. — a firm maniacally focused on finding its customers the best Medicare or Medi-Cal plans to meet their individual needs. Founded in 2006 in southern California, the firm has grown to have a nationwide presence and is known for its superior customer service. SBHIS boasts partnerships with NBC Universal, ABC, Univision, Medi Healthcare Solutions, and many other large companies.

Patricia has lived this truth: that entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint of heart. In fact, Salas will be the first to admit that, when she started on her journey as a founder, her entrepreneur acumen was lacking. However, Patricia quickly discovered that the very people she was helping through her business — seniors — had deep lived experience she could tap into and became invaluable consultants (and friends) that helped her on her journey. On the podcast, Salas tells some inspiring stories about partnering with those who have gone before and shares some wisdom she’s picked up along the way.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"Early in the pandemic, we were one of the highest producing agencies in the country... because, more than anything, we showed people that we cared. And we were out there caring."

"We had a growth anywhere from 60 to 100 percent year-over-year for the first few years. And it was because we did the right things for the senior."

"One of the most important characteristics of a leader is empathy. You have to feel and understand where your team is."

"We've had to transition from a very high touch, high need senior to a senior that is very practical and very quick. And if you don't give them what they want, they're going to flip to someone else. And my job is to lead the company through this transition."

"I want to change my name to 'Chief Dream Enabler'... What a blessing to be able to help other people achieve their dreams. The more dreams I achieve, the better I do... It's all about helping others. And that's how it all started."

"Don't give up — expect the no's. You're going to get more no's than yes's... It's easy to believe that the no's are correct. And then the dream dies down and you settle... No one can kill your dream for you unless you accept the 'no' as the final verdict."

"I believe the trick to becoming successful is allowing others to become empowered and feel they can make a difference themselves."

"Change or die. If you don't change the way you think and accept that the market is changing, you're going to die."

"If you want to change things, you have to change yourself."

"When we started, nothing went as planned because nothing was planned."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Patricia Salas

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SBHIS Insurance Services

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This week, the SphereCast team speaks with Matt Hagel, Chief Financial Officer at Freshly. Freshly is a meal delivery service that delivers fresh-made meals straight to your door that are ready to heat-and-eat in three minutes or less. Freshly has been featured in The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, Glamour, TechCrunch, and other high-profile publications and has experienced an explosion of popularity over the past year due to the pandemic, given less people wanting to leave their homes.

Over the course of his career, Matt has held a variety of leadership positions at some of the world’s most respected brands and fastest-growing startups — Deloitte, Sony Music Entertainment, AppNexus, and Bark & Co., to name a few. And, as you would imagine, Hagel has become a wealth of knowledge on issues of effective leadership. On the podcast this week, Matt deep dives on issues of keeping a team inspired and efficient — both in and beyond the finance and accounting disciplines.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"As a leader, I've learned to effectively delegate. And in order to delegate, you have to build up the team. But more so than that, it's about the process. When you join a company, you must first establish a process... There's some pushback here sometimes because it feels like you're going slower. But while it feels like we're going slower, it will enable us to go a lot faster. If you have good process design, it should make you more effective."

"Saying 'thank you' is free. Recognition comes in many forms... Gratitude means a lot. Recognition is a lot."

"Good leaders are good listeners."

"Sometimes mentorship is just about having an ear to speak to. It just helps talking some things out. We all deal with very similar problems, both personally and professionally. And it's not like we're recreating the wheel every time."

"Teamwork is key. You can't solve all of this yourself."

"You want to use tools to enhance the work you're doing... Excel will still always be a part of the formula. Now, we're just more of a gourmet meal, using other tools."

"There's no typical day; I learned that a long time ago. But that's really something I enjoy. Each day poses a new challenge that keeps things interesting."

"I think your past is a sum of all the parts, and you really learn to rely on your gut based on all of your prior experiences."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Matt Hagel

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Freshly

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This week, the SphereCast team interviews John Mark Nalocca, a former professional track and field athlete who is now an Attache of the Italian Embassy in Israel and an MBA candidate at IDC Herzliya. As a track and fielder, John Mark competed in both national and international competitions and was on the verge of qualifying for two rounds of Olympic games, were it not for back-to-back leg injuries. Nalocca is set to graduate with his MBA in Strategy and Business Development this year, in 2021.

John Mark’s story is a tale of resilience in the face of adversity, but more than anything, his story is the prime example of someone who has mastered the art of the pivot. When unfortunate events derailed his dreams, Nalocca did not hesitate to pinpoint an alternative path and start moving. On the podcast, John Mark lays out his entire story, speaks to the importance of being driven and passionate, and shares some helpful tips on gracefully pivoting towards a new career path.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"The first trick to achieving a career in a different field is being hungry."

"I knew that the best way to achieve some greater path towards the future was to move into something new... You have to begin with something you're passionate about."

"Athletes are seen like superheroes. At the end of the day, they are normal people. But normal people that are only a little bit more committed."

"Success in sports is just an instance of many good habits carried out consistently together."

"Currently, I don't have a specific answer as to what's next for me. But one thing that keeps on driving me and pushing me to go forward is curiosity, hunger, resilience, and achievement. I want to be successful and be an example to people."

"A little bit of training — for sure, no result. A lot of training — probably, result."

Bullet List of Resources – 

John Mark Nalocca

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This week, the SphereCast team speaks with Michael Kohen, Co-Founder and CEO at SparkAI. Kohen’s impressive resume includes senior-level experience at Zoox — an AI-powered autonomous vehicle company that was eventually acquired by Amazon. In his career, Kohen has learned that, though an automation product may have loads of momentum, it always slows down before market deployment as the team perfects the machine learning algorithms. SparkAI partners with companies to push their automation products past the finish line and get to market faster.

Having been on the front lines of automation product development, Kohen is intimately familiar with these development pains. However, as with every good entrepreneur, Kohen has created an innovative solution to meet a real market need. On the podcast, Michael dives into SparkAI and the benefit his company brings its clients and also discusses the freedom of spending your life in a job that you truly love.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"With automation products, it's seemingly easy to make early progress that lets you get in front of your first customers. Show some demos; show some progress. But it's really that back part — the back 10 percent of that automation challenge — that's very difficult."

"It's interesting. Both my cofounder and I had a front-row seat to the promise and excitement of automation and robots. But we also had a front-row seat to some of the challenges and frustrations of what it took to get to market."

"The most successful career paths are the ones where people can look back and say, 'Listen, I was doing the thing that I would have been doing if this was the last day of the universe.'"

"In our careers, at the end of the day, all of us are figuring this stuff out for the first time. And we're learning things along the way — in many cases, the hard way. But over time, each of things we learn — those experiences we have — make us better people and make us better professionals."

"Ultimately, you need to find that thing that you are absolutely passionate — that keeps you up at night... when you find that thing and throw yourself at it, you will inherently be successful. You will work harder. Think faster. Think better and more broadly about that problem because you are deeply attached to it."

"The greatest successes that I've had in choosing what my next moves are are the times when I've let my decisions be guided by the things I deeply care about and the things that inspire me. And, frankly, the things that I find myself still thinking about after hours, when I'm not on the clock."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Michael Kohen

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SparkAI

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Ever wonder what goes into developing an AI-powered product?

A lot of joy. A lot of heartache.

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This week, the SphereCast team interviews Aviad Harell — Founder, Chief Operating Officer, and General Manager at Sisense. Sisense is a platform offering users custom analytics that can be embedded into essentially any platform via integration capabilities and open APIs. As the company’s mission statement states, Sisense allows users to “infuse analytics anywhere,” tapping into deep insights to inform better decision making. To date, Sisense has partnered with over 2,000 top companies to make this vision a reality.

Numbers don’t lie, and Aviad understands the competitive advantage that quality analytics can bring to an organization. On the podcast Aviad discusses the birth of his company, how his startup learned from some specific mistakes in its earliest days, how he’s learned to differentiate between temporary market trends and longstanding market changes, and why his company decided that openness and hyper customization is ultimately best for everyone — which was the biggest risk they ever took.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"In many ways, Sisense platform is a ‘tool belt’ of analytics tools or business intelligence (BI) value chain tools. You use the tools within that tool belt that you need — the right tool for the right ask."

"One of the biggest challenges in founding a business intelligence platform is to continue to adjust your offering to the evolution of the market."

"Before choosing a software platform to use at our company, I become intimate with the problem and how things operate in order to understand the requirement. Then I start with something that I can iterate and scale later on."

"Mistakes? We had tons of them... My approach is to make mistakes quickly and recover from them as quickly as possible."

"If you truly understand the market, you have some sense of what types of technologies are going to make an impact and which technologies are things that will fade away."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Aviad Harell

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Sisense

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This week, the SphereCast team speaks with Boris Korenfeld, Director of Engineering over Waze and Carpool products at Google. Prior to his run with Google, Boris held various executive leadership roles within research and development — or R&D, for short. Korenfeld’s R&D experience began at Hewlett Packard and eventually moved to an Israeli transportation startup called Gett, where he was tasked with tripling the size of the R&D organization. At Gett, Boris held both Chief Technology Officer and General Manager roles before eventually taking his director role at Google.

Having architected and led a handful of R&D organizations, Boris is a wealth of knowledge around the best ways to construct and run research and development. On the podcast, among many other things, Boris speaks to the “ideal” R&D structure (if an “ideal” even exists), explains whether R&D is possible at small- and medium-sized companies, shares some lessons learned from having to triple his R&D staff at Gett, and even goes step-by-step on how to build a successful R&D org for any business.

Noteworthy Quotes:

"At the end of the day, the mission of R&D is to empower the business.”

"Research and development is not about some sort of ideal structure. It's about what's ideal for you and your company. You have to analyze many aspects which will lead you to the optimal org structure for your company. But if you do it right, it will take your company to the next level."

"Be listening to the triggers and adjust your R&D organization to your evolving business needs. Be brave and lead through the changes."

"The main dilemma of the R&D manager is maintaining flexibility and stability. It's all about balance. You can't maintain both 100 percent."

"Planning an R&D reorganization is generally a big and painful process. People don't like change... You have to invest appropriate time in building the change plan. Deep dive into details. Don't leave it at a high level."

"During R&D reorgs, it is critical to communicate to employees what is in it for them. What do they gain from this change? If that is communicated properly, it's a big push for success."

"Always assess business aspects before making plans to change an organization."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Boris Korenfeld

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This week, the SphereCast team interviews Dodd Haynes, an expert consultant in domestic and international finance and accounting. Prior to his current run as a consultant, Dodd was the Chief Financial Officer for three multinational companies — Muzak, ACN, and Mood Media. Each of these three companies operate in very distinct industries, giving Haynes a depth of business knowledge held by few others. Dodd holds degrees from the esteemed Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Though Haynes holds international accounting experience across a diversity of industries, he observed one unique truth — that, regardless of location or vertical, the language of finance is the same. Rows and columns. Numbers and characters. However, though the language is the same, complex organizations often require more than Excel to keep track of finances. On the podcast, Dodd discusses the importance of having one shared financial platform with a seamless integration and rollout — and shares a story of a time when the rollout was far less than perfect. 

Noteworthy Quotes:

"During the merger, to successfully roll out a common financial reporting platform, you have to involve all areas of the business. It's not just an accounting implementation. You need salespeople. Back office people. And you clearly need accounting and finance assistance... Without all those teams heavily involved in the implementation, you're not going to have the success you're looking for when doing a large project like this."

"You need technical expertise on a team to carry out a complicated systems merger. But you also need to make sure the team leads understand the most complicated parts of the transactions."

"Sometimes, at the end of the day, you get international finance done by the basics — rows and columns. Numbers and characters... When you don't have common platforms, you have to ask yourself, 'How can I submit data in a way where I can do things.' And a lot of it is basic pivot tables and formulas."

"There's a lot of satisfaction in knowing the teams that you work with. And getting to know all of their customs and backgrounds."

"In my international experience, the commonality of business language seems to be global and globally accepted."

Bullet List of Resources – 

Dodd Haynes

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