Working Without Waste

  Lynn Corazzi is the founder and CEO of Data2Profit Consulting. He’s best known as the Data Magician. He helps companies double sales and profit growth rates by using untapped data to make better decisions, have greater insights and develop more powerful strategies.

  In this episode, we talk about how Lynn’s team dives into your data to resolve the pitfalls inside your CRM systems, clean up Messy Data, help you use data rather than your gut to make great decisions, aligning your team around data and how Data Confidence Propels a Business Forward.

Food waste is a global problem. It’s not solely a production problem. Often, it’s a distribution problem as well. On top of that, in many parts of the world women are disenfranchised. They don’t have the same opportunities as men do to earn money and support their families. Agricycle’s mission is to change that game.

For example, mango trees are abundant in Sub Saharan Africa. And they bear a lot of fruit. More than can be consumed locally or transported long distances because it’s perishable. Agricycle’s founders saw that this was a problem and went to work to create the solution.

Partnering with the community of women farmers, Agricycle Global created an upcycling model that immediately increased the percentage of mangos that could be processed and sold, rather than rot on the ground. The model leveraged an Agricycle designed inexpensive and highly effective fruit dehydrator with women farmer’s willing to purchase and operate them.  It’s helped the women earn 7-10 times the normal wage in their community. Their brand, Jali Fruit, has a long shelf life, allowing it to be shipped to markets around the world.  

Today, we’re joined by Josh Shefner, one of the company’s founders to tell us the story of how they’ve gotten where they are today. Along the way, you’ll learn about the many ways Agricycle benefits communities by empowering over 40,000 farmers all around the world, and you’ll also hear about other exciting and innovative products developed by the company that are yet to hit shelves.

Every so often, the stars align and the perfect entrepreneurial opportunity reveals itself to just the right person. They spot the perfect niche, have a spark of inspiration, and after a tremendous amount of hard work, a stellar business is born.

In today’s case, that person is Ana Kraft, and that stellar business is Xena Workwear, a company that’s redefining workplace attire for women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers.

Xena Workwear produces footwear and other attire for women that’s as stylish as it is functional. On today’s episode of Working Without Waste, we’ll learn more about the story behind Xena Workwear, and take a deep dive into how this creative business went from concept to design and finally, production. We’ll touch on how the idea came to be, and discuss Kraft’s time working with gBETA, Milwaukee’s nationally-renowned startup accelerator program.

After listening to this inspiring episode, head to xenaworkwear.com to read more about the company, check out their products, and get inspired by their series of fantastic blog posts focused on empowering women and being yourself in the workplace.

The modern workplace is filled with tools meant to make life easier: Email. Google Drive. CRMs. Excel. SCMs. Slack. Google Docs. Mailchimp.

The list goes on endlessly, and each platform — though usually helpful in some way — presents a new learning curve and another tab to get lost in the fray with the thirteen you’ve already got open.

Enter Monday.com: A super-modular platform that helps teams manage their work. Monday is built up of boards that can be linked and automated to create entire workflows and processes, handling just about anything. Sales to delivery, project brief to creative asset completion and more, it can truly do it all.

This week, we sat down with Ophir Penso who joined us from Tel Aviv, Israel to talk about all things Monday. He’s the Global Director of Channel Partnerships at the company, and over the course of our chat, we uncovered a lot of interesting information about the company’s technologies, how its customers use the platform, and how allowing companies to easily create their own processes and digital applications is changing the future of the workplace.

Tune in, and you’re sure to be wowed and inspired a few times along the way.

No matter what you do for work, chances are, your workplace has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For many people that work in an office, this has meant a transition to working from home, or very reduced time in an office with limited capacity. Though some people thrive working remotely, many employees enjoy the separation of work life and home life and look forward to the day they can physically return to work.

Today, we sit down with Sande Golgart, President of ZONEZ, to discuss the company’s revolutionary Clean ZONEZ technology. They’re rethinking the ways in which we treat air in the office environment by addressing the source, building complex and effective filtration systems into their already-successful modular office layouts.

Tune in to this week’s show, and you’ll hear even more about how this innovative technology hit the market so quickly and effectively. We’ll also discuss how it works, what kind of filters are used, and discuss the design of the product from concept to market.

Most of us are probably familiar with virtual reality in one way, shape, or form. This quickly developing tech sector is widespread in the video game, movie, and software industries.

Since then, many users have been whisked away to virtual lands far and wide — but one company is here to embrace the more practical, lesser-explored side of virtual reality: VR training. Today, we’ll sit down with Steve GrubbS, the Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder of Chalkbites, a VR training company that’s here to change the way we learn in the workplace.

Managed IT is, more or less, the outsourcing of some or all of a company’s IT operations. For some businesses, this means hiring a managed IT firm to handle everything: purchasing and setting up computers and servers, training employees on equipment, strategizing for future technological growth, and much more. For other businesses, managed IT functions as an expert guide, offering advice for big projects like cloud migration, server room design, and even IT hiring.

So, how does it all work? On this week’s podcast, we’re joined by Dave Stamm, CEO of Stamm Technologies, to talk about all things managed IT. Listen in, and you’ll learn about Dave’s story, how Stamm Technologies and their clients are adapting to COVID, and what the technological future of the workplace might look like. 

We’ll also hear Dave’s opinion on the ol’ server vs. cloud debate, and you’re also sure to pick up a few tips to help streamline the IT experience in your workplace. 

Private equity sometimes gets a bad rap, but it’s not always warranted. Like any investment firm, it all comes down to the people behind the company, and the good news is, many private equity firms really do care about the business at hand.

Sequoya Borgman, Founder & Managing Director of Borgman Capital, has made it his sole prerogative to keep the best interest of any business and its owner top of mind. Today, we’ll chat with this entrepreneurial-minded owner about what private equity companies do.

You’ll learn about how private equity investments help small businesses, where the money comes from, and learn how many owners are able to grow their companies when they accept a bit of expert advice.

For many people, persisting health problems present a daily struggle. Visiting specialists, trying different medications, and working toward a healthier lifestyle can take up a lot of time. Often, it can be frustrating to track down the root of a particular health problem — the symptoms that manifest, don’t necessarily present a clear diagnosis or path for treatment, and too often, the root cause of the symptoms are never known.

But what happens when patients don’t even realize they’re having symptoms? What happens when the body has been dealing with the issues so long that it’s adapted, leaving patients unaware there’s any underlying issue at all?

Dr. Madan Kandula, ENT and CEO/Founder of Advent, sees many patients that are unaware of their problems. People suffering from depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, and even weight gain are often unaware that issues stem from airway problems that lead to poor sleep.

Listen to this week’s episode and you’ll hear about the many ways Dr. Kandula helps reduce waste in his patients’ lives by ensuring restful sleep to foster more energetic, productive days.

How do you go about hiring when the world’s flipped on its head? For Amy Fallucca, CEO and Founder of Bravent, it’s all about taking a practical approach. 

Bravent is a strong player in the HR consulting and recruitment world, and their tailored process has changed the ways companies hire for the better. They paint a comprehensive picture of the role that needs to be filled, and dedicated recruiters work hand-in-hand with the business in need to ensure the person they pick is right for the job.

Her smart techniques borrow the best from other industries, and you’re sure to learn something from her practical, entrepreneurial mindset. During our talk, we’ll cover how new technology has shaped the recruiting world, discuss how big data is coming into play in the HR world, give a few tips to our job-seeking listeners, and more.