Groupon’s new CTO, John Higginson, explains why his job is less about coding and more about people, plus how to be the kind of leader your team respects. Becoming CTO has meant putting people before machines. “This is more a people role than a technology role,” John says. “Figuring out how to get the right people is hands down the most important thing I need to spend my time on.”

Not all vitamin products are created equal — and some aren’t vitamins at all. Meet the doctors setting their own high standards in an unregulated industry. If you’re now wondering what the bleep you should be taking or not, Dr. Levitan and Vous Vitamin co-founder Dr. Romy Block get it. They founded Vous Vitamin to help people buy safe, high quality vitamins in levels they actually need.

Some businesses immediately chase investors, looking to monetize as quickly as possible. Others, however, bootstrap for as long as possible, investing all their energy into building the best product. Jason VandeBoom, CEO and Founder of ActiveCampaign, spent 17 years building his product. He and his team created the category of customer experience automation and continue to be industry leaders in the space. After bootstrapping and focusing on building a powerful platform, ActiveCampaign finally decided it was ready to take on investors. They’ve just closed Series B funding of $100 million, investing most of it back into their product. Jason joined the podcast to share his tips for building a scalable business, how to stay focused on growth and ignore the competition and how to stay patient in a turbulent industry.

The laser focus required of a professional athlete doesn’t leave room for a plan B. But when golfer David Feherty retired in 1997, he found success in multiple new careers. After David put down his clubs, he picked up a microphone and returned to the green as an on-course reporter for CBS. His professional experience, sharp humor and Irish charm made him a hit with golf fans. Off camera, he’s written five non-fiction books and a column for Golf magazine called Sidespin. In 2011, David launched the post-golf project he’s probably best known for: his self-titled interview show “Feherty” on the Golf Channel. The show debuted as the most-watched original series in the channel’s history and David was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality in 2014. He’s interviewed players and famous fans including Jack Nicklaus, Rory McIlroy and Matthew McConaughey. But he’s still modest about his abilities

Teens, parents and car insurers don’t agree on much. But they do agree that dangerous and expensive car accidents are bad. KarChing CEO Ramsey Gouda figured that insurers and parents would be willing to pay some money upfront to reduce the risk of teen car accidents. The KarChing app uses telematics (or a combination of monitoring technologies) to measure factors like acceleration, hard braking and screen usage. Parents and insurance companies deposit money via the app. When the teenager is driving well, the cash is funnelled into their PayPal or Venmo accounts. “You see it going up as you go,” Ramsey explains. “If you're driving safely, it goes up. If you start messing around, it stops.”

No one starts a business because they love grappling with the financial side of it. But understanding your money is key if you want to keep the lights on. Clockwork CEO Fady Hawatmeh understands this better than anyone. He used to run a CFO consultancy firm where he saw firsthand how small companies struggled to plan for the future. Clockwork’s accounting software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to build a financial forecasting model unique to each of their clients. They also help CPAs offer more advanced financial forecasting services.

Childcare has been an issue for ages — possibly since caveman days, but we’re still getting it wrong.Daycares tend to offer only multi-hour stretches, so parents are out of luck if you only need supervision for Junior for an hour or two here and there. Nannies and babysitters don’t want to travel for one hour’s pay. And then there are stay-at-home parents who are happy to watch other people's children as well as their own to make extra money. But unless you happen to know them already, you're unlikely to know where to find them. Toi Valentine and Kayla Carey explain how their company, MeTime, helps parents take short self-care breaks, thanks to a new approach to childcare.

Cryptocurrency is slowly going mainstream, and what it’s losing in mystique, it’s making up for in influence.

Not long ago, cryptocurrency (better known as crypto) was the exclusive domain of internet nerds. Now it’s being held, invested and traded by people who recognize its potential to bring a healthy diversity to their investment portfolios. Kraken is being taken seriously too. In 2019, they raised $13.5 million based on a $4 billion valuation. Kraken CCO Robert Zagotta joined the podcast to talk about how the crypto market looks today, its value in every portfolio and how Kraken is helping more people join the game.

Matt Xavier, a senior associate at Unispace, works on the Workplace Strategy Group. His team works with companies to assess their organizational goals and design physical office environments around those objectives. Matt joined the podcast to share his top tips to consider before moving offices, how to create the ultimate space for you and your team and how technology has played a crucial role in designing the modern office.

Unless you have a marketing degree, the more you read about advertising, the less comprehensible it becomes. And that’s exactly how ad execs like it. This small but mighty company aims to cut through the industry noise. Programmatic Mechanics is a breath of fresh air in the industry in more ways than one. First, they do exactly what their name suggests — help businesses and agencies with programmatic advertising (advertising that is managed by computers). It turns out machines are far better than humans at churning through data points to figure out ideal targets. Second, as CEO and founder Keith Gooberman explains, they’re an independent company. “We didn’t take any funding,” he says. “We don't have some goal to hit to keep investors happy. We can be honest about how many people saw your ad and then booked your hotel room.”