In this episode, Diana gets to chat with her first CX guest, Robin Marcenac. Robin is the Head of Customer Experience and Success at Pypestream, a conversational AI platform that makes chatbots sound more human.

Diana and Robin nerd out over natural language processing (NLP), how far it’s come since its inception, and how companies like Pypestream use it today.

Robin then shares about what a career in CX looks like and the less than linear path he took to get here. He also takes us through his transition from working at IBM, a large corporation, to working at Pypestream only a couple of years after it was founded.

Stay tuned until the end to learn some surprising facts about Robin, including his birthplace outside of the country, and to hear Robin’s top 3 tips for getting to where he is today.

You can find Robin on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to check out Pypestream at the link below!

Pypestream: https://pypestream.com/

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

Originally hailing from Australia, Sasha Pilch found startup paradise in the U.S. when she visited New York City three years ago, and she hasn’t left since. She currently heads new business at Ramp and runs NYC Fintech Women with her co-founder, Michelle Tran.

What started as a way to build Sasha’s own network of fintech contacts in NYC has turned into a community of 5,000+ women (and men!) who are passionate about supporting women in fintech. Sasha and Diana talk about the importance of male allyship in achieving equality in a heavily male-dominated space.

While many people think sales is about the hustle and grind and that “a good salesperson can sell anything to anyone,” Sasha has a different take.

Tune in to hear her advice for salespeople and for women in tech, and to hear the gutsy story of how she turned her back to 10 years of working at big banks to work at a startup company in a foreign country.

You can find Sasha on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to check out Ramp and NYC Fintech Women at the links below!

Ramp: https://ramp.com/ (sign up for a corporate card in less than 5 minutes!)

NYC Fintech Women: https://www.nycfintechwomen.com/

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

In this episode, Diana chats with another fellow Chicagoan, Marc Summe. Marc is the CEO at Minute7, a time and expense tracking software that helps streamline billing for lawyers, engineers, and other professional services providers.

Marc talks about what led him to leave corporate life for the startup world, and ultimately what led him to start his own company. He also introduces Diana to the sport of paddle tennis, which she has never heard of despite its existence in the world for over a century.

You can find Marc on LinkedIn or email him at [email protected], and don’t forget to check out Minute7 at the link below, where you can sign up for a 1:1 demo and sign up for a free 30 day trial!

Minute7: https://www.minute7.com/

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

In this episode, Diana chats with a fellow Chicagoan, James McGuinness. James moved to Chicago from the UK nine years ago and is now the co-founder of PondLeap, along with his wife.

PondLeap connects overseas companies with freelance salespeople in the U.S. to help overseas companies expand their global reach into the U.S. After holding onto his idea for PondLeap since 2012, James finally decided to take the plunge recently and build out the platform.

James also talks about what (or who) brought him over to the US nine years ago, what he misses about the UK, what it’s like co-owning a business with his wife, and his work superpower.

You can find James on LinkedIn or email him at [email protected], and don’t forget to check out PondLeap at the link below!

PondLeap: https://www.pondleap.com/

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

In this episode, Diana reconnects with one of her former VAs, Jaclyn Curtis, who is now the COO at multiple startup companies.

Jaclyn fills Diana in on how she’s managed to rise through the ranks from VA to Account Manager to COO over the last few years, while introducing another child into the world.

Today, Jaclyn is the COO at two startup companies, Bant.io and Zopto, while raising three young boys at home. She even divulges at the end which child is her favorite (at the moment), so make sure you stay tuned until then to find out.

You can find Jaclyn on LinkedIn, and don’t forget to check out Bant.io and Zopto at the links below!

Bant.io: https://bant.io/

Zopto: https://zopto.com/

***

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

In this episode, Diana chats with Founder and CEO of Moxie Mouth, Meggie Abendschein.

Moxie Mouth is a social justice consulting agency dedicated to flipping the script on social impact and designing strategies outside of the traditional philanthropic box. While Meggie’s work is focused on the four areas of (1) women, (2) children, (3) mental health, and (4) antiracism, much of her work recently - in light of the resurgence of the BLM movement in our country - has been focused on antiracism efforts.

Meggie shares her story of growing up in the typical Southern home with conservative and religious (Baptist) ideals to learning to form her own belief system in college to mustering up the courage to publicly stand up for what she believes (at the expense of alienating many of her close connections) when she founded Moxie Mouth. She also talks about what it’s like being a female in a male-dominated industry and offers her advice to other women looking to start their own companies - especially those in the nonprofit world and/or centered on social justice issues.

Listen until the end to find out what Meggie’s offering to all women listening and where Moxie Mouth is headed in the future!

You can find Meggie on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter, and don’t forget to check out MoxieMouth at the links below!

MoxieMouth: https://www.moxiemouthstrategies.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsmoxiemouth/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itsmoxiemouth

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

In this episode, Diana gets to chat with the first Product Manager she’s had on the podcast!

David Silverman got a job as a Technical Product Manager right out of college and spills the tea on what the elusive PM job title actually means.

Even though his background is in coding and computer science, David is also acutely aware of the less technical sides to building a product, such as customer experience. He shares how he has been able to develop such a well-rounded perspective on building out a product and his best tips for aspiring PMs to do the same.

You can find David on LinkedIn or Twitter, and don’t forget to check out CatchPoint at the link below!

CatchPoint: catchpoint.com/

***

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

In this episode, Diana sits down with another client of hers, Teja Yenamandra, to chat about his company, Gun.io. Gun.io is an online platform that helps businesses find and hire elite freelance software developers at a moment’s notice and is used by companies like Tesla, CISCO, and NBC.

Teja shares about his unique startup journey, which started in China. After working for free there, thinking he was going to go to law school, and experiencing life as a dark-skinned man in a society that’s not used to seeing people who look like him, Teja found his passion for startups and moved back to the U.S. to start Gun.io, which is still running strong seven years later.

You’ll want to stick around until the end of this episode to hear Teja’s holistic approach to entrepreneurship, which is focused on mind, body, and spirit - something not many startup founders talk about.

You can find Teja on LinkedIn or at tejayenamandra.com, and don’t forget to check out Gun.io and the Frontier Podcast at the links below!

Gun.io: gun.io

Frontier Podcast: https://www.gun.io/frontier

***

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

After finding himself closer to the World Trade Center on 9/11 than he would’ve liked and having an existential crisis about what he was doing with his life, Ledge quit his cushy management consulting job and went out on his own.

Over the last 20 or so years, Ledge has been involved in running 13 businesses, so I think it’s safe to say he knows a thing or two about running a business.

In one of the most advice-rich episodes yet, Ledge dishes on all the lessons he’s learned over the years that have led him to run Add1Zero the way he runs it today - with only the ideal clients he wants to work with.

Listen til the end to hear Ledge’s biggest piece of advice for people starting out in the startup world today - it’s probably not what you’d expect.

You can find Ledge on LinkedIn, and don’t hesitate to send a connection request and message.

You can check out Add1Zero at the link below and inquire about Xpert Community when you message Ledge:

Add1Zero: add1zero.co

YouTube: https://bit.ly/2OHczQv

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/

Startup growth expert, Lisa Han, joins us to talk about how she’s been working hard toward reinventing regulated industries like fintech and legal with companies like Atrium, Ramp, and Instabase. 

Despite growing up with a parent in tech, she never got inspired to get into tech until meeting a group of Thiel Fellows in college. 

Tune in to hear about how she’s tackled strategy, partnership, and growth for startups on the East and West Coasts and what her experience has been being a racial and gender minority in a predominantly male-dominated field.

You can find Lisa on LinkedIn and at [email protected]. Don’t forget to check out Instabase and Ramp at the links below:

Instabase: instabase.com

Ramp: tryramp.com/

Instabase and Ramp are hiring like crazy right now! You can find their job boards at the links below:

Instabase Job Board: boards.greenhouse.io/instabase?gh_src=5bb0ba002

Ramp Job Board: tryramp.com/careers

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SUBSCRIBE to Startup Happy Hour to get episodes like this delivered to your device every Tuesday!

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CONNECT with Diana on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianadchen/