The Pitchwerks Podcast

This is our last episode of the year, and we’ve brought in a big guest for it!  Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto is in the studio, telling Scot MacTaggart about how he and the city are working to attract top businesses and individual talents with a “4P” strategy that goes above and beyond the usual thinking.  Mayor Peduto shares his ideas of how the city will further promote entrepreneurship, and cites Andrew Moore of Carnegie Mellon and Google fame in his argument for clean air and clean water as key tools to bring the best employers and opportunities to the city. 

In honor of Thanksgiving, we’re giving you a giant feast of information to sink your teeth into!  Leah Jakaitis is the head of marketing science at Tulco Labs, which uses data science to help their companies to compete in certain targeted industries.  This week, Leah tells Scot MacTaggart all about the accountability and “janitorial work” of her job, and the ways in which she sees marketing - online and offline - getting better at serving everyone involved. 

When it comes to telling stories by producing videos and other types of content, very few people can match Jordon Rooney, just in terms of sheer numbers alone.  Whether you’re talking about impressions, conversions, engagement, or clients, Jordon has an incredible track record. He started off as a young guy making positive content for younger audiences, and now he’s a slightly-older young guy who makes content for all kinds of people, including well-known brands that take in billions in revenue each year.  This week, Jordon shares tons of insights and observations with Scot MacTaggart and the Pitchwerks audience.

This week, John Dick, CEO of the super-advanced market research firm CivicScience is in the Epicast studios, and he’s got the goods, turning his appearance into one of the strongest shows we’ve ever done. Talking with Scot MacTaggart about everything from unexplored market connections to the specific mechanics of the CivicScience sales funnel, John gives a master class in managing your business, explaining mature tactics and philosophies that are making CivicScience into the obvious choice for major consumer brands.

A few years ago, Jon Shanahan was making a good living, following a fairly mainstream career path, and decided to start a YouTube channel called The Kavalier, where he reviews and recommends mens clothing, shoes, watches and more.  He’s now produced well over 600 videos, he has 90,000 subscribers, and The Kavalier is his full-time job. This week, Jon comes in to talk to Scot MacTaggart about how he mustered the courage and energy to pivot out of a perfectly good career situation, overcome the predictable doubts about his new path, and put food on the table for his kids. 

This week, we take it a little easy and let Scot MacTaggart’s friend Mitch Turck bring Origin, his new card game into the studio so our celebrity panel can try it out!  Origin is a combination of history trivia and poker, where the players guess when events happened, and try to convince other players that their guesses are correct. By day, Mitch is a transportation and autonomous vehicles expert, but in his spare time, he has been developing Origin to launch on Kickstarter where it can now be found.  The other players in the room are Jared Raszewski, the CEO of Dissolves from last week’s show, and Marta Mazzoni from the popular Epicast travel and entertainment podcast Marta on the Move.

If you’re tired of measuring and scooping powdered drink mix, this week’s guest will interest you.  Jared Raszewski is the founder of Dissolves, and he has invented the Tide Pod of drink mixes. Like the name says, the pod dissolves in your drink!  It’s completely safe for all diets, and solves a lot of different problems of measuring, mixing, and cleanup. Jared talks to Scot about what he learned in the University of Pittsburgh’s Blast Furnace, Founder Institute and AlphaLab Gear, the decisions he has made along the way, and where he sees things going from here.

Whether you call it “people operations”, “human resources”, or something else entirely, you have to admit that there seems to be a lot more marketing floating around in the department that deals with people and talent and such lately.  This week’s guest is Anessa Fike, the founder and CEO of Fike and Co, and she’s here to tell Scot MacTaggart all about that marketing mindset that has taken hold, and is now called “employer branding”. Anessa was once in charge of recruiting for The Motley Fool, one of the best-loved employers in the country, and has shared her knowledge with employers of all sizes ever since.

Jim Krenn is the creator and co-host of the successful “No Restrictions” podcast, now produced by the team at the Pittsburgh Current.  He has stayed local to his hometown of Pittsburgh and still remained successful in his entertainment career, which now spans more than 30 years.  Jim Krenn will always be a comedian -- many Pittsburghers think of him as the personality that put the WDVE morning show on the map, others as the backbone of Nickelodeon’s cult hit “Action League Now!”

This week, Jim comes into the Epicast Studios to talk with Scot MacTaggart about his many innovative and entrepreneurial reinventions - from his new “Yinzer” line of cards and candy to a brand-new live show in December that will feature him doing musical impressions - and the mindset that he uses to stay grounded so he can succeed. 

It’s October, so let’s talk about Scarehouse, the nation’s top haunted attraction!  Scot’s friend Katie Dudas - aka Dudders - is the sales and marketing director for the all of the various Scarehouse projects and attractions, and this week she opens her playbook all the way up for Pitchwerks listeners.  Immersive experiences, data analytics, geography, social media, customer reviews, and what regular retailers can learn from attractions like Scarehouse and its sister properties -- everything’s on the table. If you’re in the area, be sure to thank Katie for sharing her insights by checking out the Scarehouse “Scream District” in Pittsburgh’s Strip District all this month!