Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

♻️ Eliminating 4 Million Plastic Jugs from Landfills!

Laundry routines aren't super fun for any one, but recent studies show how it's downright terrible for the environment. Washers use copious amounts of water. Add to that detergents that can release toxic chemicals that get into the food chain, as well as the transportation costs of lugging around massive plastic jugs of laundry detergent across the supply chain.

This industry seems to be ripe for eco-disruption and Canada based Tru Earth, is one such trailblazer! Today, we speak to Ryan Mckenzie, Co-Founder of Tru Earth, a company that has created the eco-friendly laundry detergent, that's as sensitive on your skin, as it is to the environment!

Their patented detergent strips are a gamechanger, and in their short duration as a company have eliminated almost 4 million plastic jugs from landfills with 94% less transportation pollution as its peers! With an annual revenue of upwards of $30 million, Tru Earth was recently awarded Canada’s 2nd Fastest growing startup! 🚀

------
💰 OFFER : Get 10% Off using code "THINGSCHANGE10" at checkout on all Tru Earth products!
------

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

Sweeping infrastructure plans are in plans across the globe. Take Biden's nearly $4 trillion infrastructure package that is aimed at repairing roads, transportation hubs and telecommunication systems.  How do they plan on paying for it?

Taxes!

• To finance the proposal, the administration has proposed a partial rollback of some tax breaks signed into law in 2017 by President Donald Trump, pushing tax rates on corporations from 21 percent to 28 percent, and raising rates on individual incomes over $400,000 and capital gains for the next 15 years.
• Corporate tax hike: Biden would raise the corporate income tax rate to 28%, up from 21%. The rate had been as high as 35% before former President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans cut taxes in 2017.
• Global minimum tax: A historic proposal would increase the minimum tax on US corporations to 21% and calculate it on a country-by-country basis to deter companies from sheltering profits in international tax havens.

The reforms will affect the largest companies in the world with profit margins of at least 10%. But will it work?

Yes! The bill is heavily focused on the pressing issue facing the world: climate change. If signed into law, the plan would rank as one of the largest federal efforts ever to curb emissions & reduce the economic cost of climate change through this bill.

Studies reveal that infrastructure spending does lead to output and productivity growth. Analyses by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco determined that post-war road-building was both a good investment and a boon to growth.

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

Infrastructure today cannot meet the needs of the digital economy tomorrow. 5G, driverless cars, Sustainable cities, broadband access to all are some of the breakthrough technologies promised in the coming decades.. But how are these even possible if the underlying foundation i.e infrastructure itself is weak!

Infrastructure has been neglected far too long. The easiest way to get a slowing economy going again is for the government to put people to work!

Investing in roads, bridges, providing access to broadband, improving our electrical grid can go a long way to building a more efficient and sustainable modern society.

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

Online search for “inflation” have multiplied over the past few months..

The surge in attention comes during a supply demand mismatch, resulting in computer chip shortages, gas lines,  surging metal prices, & food prices on the way up as well.

Lumber, specifically, has been on a tear,  up 500% since last year!
The price increase in lumber actually leads to a price increase in residential homes, with new single-family homes up a staggering $35K that can be attributed to the rise in the price of lumber!

As prices rise, people look to the federal reserve to curb inflation, but we fear they may have dismissed the dangers of a red-hot economy. 

So what do we do about this. How do we curb this overheating of commodity prices? The crew at THC dives in!

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

Product Placement Is Key To Sales And Profit in Supermarkets and grocery stores..

Every aisle of a supermarket has 100s of different brands of products,  all vying for your attention and aiming to ultimately end up in your shopping cart.

Getting your product into a new store is hard enough on its own. How do you measure your product availability, inventory levels, product placement or even know what your competition is doing in a store that you do not own?

This data is hugely important for CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) companies, but has been largely unavailable before.

Our guest today on THC, is aiming to solve this problem with cutting edge image recognition tech!

Today, we have Erik Chelstad, Co-founder and CTO of Observa, a technology company that helps CPG brands understand their customers better through sophisticated data gathering at the brick and mortar stores, using AI to collect data from the pictures, and delivering rich insights to the brand owners.

Their image recognition technology can increase sales force productivity, improve shelf condition insights and help drive incremental sales.

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

As zoom university comes to an end for the graduating class of 2021, we ask ourselves, is online learning here to stay? The trends say it is... sort of.

Lackluster Investment into Learning Technology
Prior to Covid-19 schools barely invested in online learning with only 5% of their total budget being put towards IT.  This applies to the big name universities that have more than 10,000 students in attendance with smaller colleges not investing anything into learning technology. Now after a full year of social distancing shutdowns, colleges have had to rely fully on digital learning and technology to keep classes going and tuition funds flowing.

A New Financial Option
While CPI has increased 236% since 1980, college tuition alone has grown 1200% and that's not even including housing which is an enormous expense for students to pay for. A large reason for this is the branding that top universities have build and the luxury premium that students are willing to get into debt for. The fact that over half of all students are in debt and the total debt sum is now $1.6 Trillion shows how flawed the system currently is. However, thanks to a rise in online learning programs and boot camps there is an alternative to traditional schooling.

Income-Share Agreement Financing
With more and more online learning programs coming to market, the incentive to go to a university are starting to dwindle with some online schools giving students the option to take zero risk in taking their classes. Instead of being put into debt, students have two choices
1. They can choose to pay the upfront cost of programs designed to teach them skills relevant to the specific job they want, or
2. They can pay zero dollars upfront and only have to share a portion (10-15% of their salary typically) if they successfully get hired in a relevant job in a relevant industry that their classes were geared towards.
This option is called an income share agreement and it's been growing in popularity in recent years. Instead of students taking the risk to pay for schooling, the online schools take on the risk that they will provide excellent training that will yield results in the form of getting hired. This incentive makes e-learning companies put their best foot forward when it comes to providing students with a comprehensive and effective learning environment

Future of E-Learning
So with online schools providing students with an alternative, and a large influx of investment into IT, we are going to see a hybrid model of online/ in person learning programs at colleges. Universities are being challenged to prove they're worth $70,000 a year over taking online classes for specialized skills that only get paid if you get hired. It's hard to see universities lowering their tuition or matching this kind of financing structure, but we can expect to see higher quality classes and more online class integrations in the next decades. Combining online classes with in-person classes can allow colleges to scale more students, while still allowing in person learning that is so important for people looking for experiences. If universities don't  adapt and prove their value, then prestige may not be enough to keep applications pouring in and tuitions flying higher. There are alternatives now and it's important that applicants consider more than has been in the past generations. 

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

Nike, Disney, Coca Cola, Apple, and Sony all have one thing in common. They have built iconic brands that have become recognizable world-wide. Growing up we've been surrounded by brands and they have shaped the way we go about our days, our consumption habits, and our opinions on the best products and services we choose to use. There is an emotional aspect that makes up how we view brands in the present and even more in the future.

So how are brands developed and why are they so important? We live in a global economy where barriers to entry are at historic lows proving that branding is one of the only ways that companies can differentiate from their competitors. Millennials are more demanding of brands that are conscious and aligned with their personal political viewpoints and interests. Statements about donating towards causes or taking steps to become more environmentally conscience goes a long way with consumers today.

An example of how a company is trying to establish brand strength is Chipotle, a food brand, that has built a loyal following even with controversial health issues in the past. Chipotle is focused on providing quality fast casual food, but recently they launched a clothing line, because they understand that this will help strengthen their the loyal customers. By building a brand a business is able to take up more mindshare of people that will use the product/ service more often.

So, there is a shift from Stakeholder capitalism to Shareholder capitalism  because investors don't have the same influence over businesses like they once did. The customer now has more power over a businesses focus and approach in what they create and whether they operate in a environmentally conscious way. Social Media has been a catalyst for how consumers have more power in what products perform well. Consumers are realizing that a purchase for product X is a economic vote towards X and by purchasing certain goods and ignoring others they are able to influence brands from their buying patterns.   

In the end, branding can make or break a company. It takes decades to build a brand and only one big mistake to cripple a business. Next time your buy new clothes or shop online, remember, your choices actually have a direct impact on how companies are conducting business and you have the ability to influence businesses to align more with what matters to you.

Check out our new brand website and the exciting content that we are bringing every week on THC.

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

Is it possible to make artificial intelligence more accessible to companies, both large and small?

Our latest episode is with Hyun Kim, Co-Founder and CEO of Superb AI, a company that is building a platform that aims to make shipping AI models easier. 

With a highly technical team, that spans 25+ research publications, 7,300 research citations and 100+ patents in computer vision and deep learning technology, Superb AI aims to utilize decades of experience to lower the hurdle for industries to adopt machine-learning technology.

With the rockstar team, SuperbAI uses deep learning AI to label and analyze images and videos up to 10 times faster than manual processes can!  

It’s no wonder, their clients include not only small businesses but also Samsung, LG, Qualcomm and Pokémon Go maker Niantic.

With a recent $9.3 million financing round, Hyun and team, are looking to expand further in North America and enter Europe. And we at THC cannot wait for this future to unfold 🚀

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

How do you know where your UberEats, DoorDash or Caviar orders REALLY come from?

The COVID Delivery Boom
The pandemic has pushed delivery applications to the lime light. The 4 largest food delivery platforms saw their revenues rise $3B collectively in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2020. Doordash, who currently operates about 50% of the market, saw 543 million total orders in the first 9 months of the year (compared to about 181 million orders in the same period last year).

Painfully Swallowing the Delivery-app Premium
When the lockdowns happened all over the world, restaurants had to find ways to make money without having "Dine-in" options. Well, they turn to delivery. Restaurant-owners, who dreaded giving away 15-30% of the revenue to the delivery-apps for every order, had to turn to the UberEats and Doordash's of the world.

How do you make money during a Pandemic?
If your only type of sale is delivery, and you're giving away a large part of your revenue to the delivery apps, how exactly do you make a profit? Well, you optimize your costs. Try to make everything cheaper for your operations and expansion. One of the largest costs for any restaurant is the rent! This is where a new industry can help rental costs relatively cheaper: Ghost Kitchens

Kitchens on The Cloud
A Cloud Kitchen or Ghost Kitchen is a large space that can house different types of companies that want to produce products specifically for "take-out". Picture a large warehouse with numerous stations of stainless steel prep tables, hood vents, stoves, ovens, and sinks, each with its own orders coming in direct from customers.

Benefits of a Cloud Kitchen vs Traditional Restaurant Model:

• Low Overhead
• Low Start-up Costs
• Data-Driven Decision Making
• Efficiency

Support the show

Things Have Changed

Send us Fan Mail

In a world that's increasingly becoming data-driven, we see the importance of business intelligence or "BI". With more data getting gathered, we have the ability to find key metrics that can simply help us make better decisions.

Today we have a professional that has dedicated his life to helping people get into the field of business intelligence:  Chris Dutton, Founder and COO of Maven Analytics, an online business intelligence platform where you can start your journey towards becoming a BI professional. He shares with us the story of how he started with excel!

Excel is just one of the tools that Maven offers courses for, and is where Chris found his passion for teaching. He started out as “The excel guy”.

Chris is now a best-selling instructor on Udemy. This guy has taught about HALF A MILLION students. You can trust he knows what to focus on in the world of online learning. And at Maven, you can learn other BI tools like SQL, PowerBI, and Tableau. What makes it so special, is what Maven really focuses on: Student Outcomes.

Support the show

Things Have Changed