The Tech Blog Writer Podcast - Inspired Tech Startup Stories & Interviews With Tech Leaders, Entrepreneurs And Innovators

Derek Osgood is a former marketing exec turned founder, building Ignition – the collaborative GTM platform helping Product and Marketing teams to get new products to market faster and more effectively. Prior to founding Ignition, he was an early hire at Rippling where he stood up the Product Marketing function and helped scale the company to $20M in ARR. As a Product Marketing leader everywhere from startups to major brands like PlayStation, Derek has launched over 100 products, and his products have generated over $1B in revenue. Now he's building the platform he wished he had along the way. In today's episode, Derek discussed the vital elements to a successful product launch and the future of software for product and marketing teams. We also talk about the biggest mistakes companies make when launching products + how to avoid them. Tech Talks Daily Podcast Sponsor Details Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/TTD - Enter promo code TTD for 83% off and 3 extra months free! 

ECINS started as a germ of an idea back in 2000, when founders, Gary and Sarah Pettengell, were still working in the police force. They saw vulnerable people grappling with problems like gambling, addiction, family violence and sex crimes and wondered if there might be a less authoritarian, more compassionate way to help them. They thought how much better it might be if support agencies could securely share their knowledge about people, so the complexity of their lives and struggles might be more fully seen and supported. They wondered what might help empower vulnerable people and communities to take action in their own lives. And so, Empowering Communities through Integrated Network Systems, or ECINS, was born. Gary and Sarah share how their collaborative technology is solving complex social problems. Bios: Gary Pettengell Global CEO As head honcho of E-CINS, if there is one thing you can be sure of, it's that Gary's sights are firmly set on making things better. Whether during his time in the police force,

The UK and European fintech space has seen a boom in recent years. But over the last five years in particular, Europe has seen huge growth. In the first half of 2021 alone, fintech investment in the region reached $39.1bn. The boom in Europe's fintech scene is apparent in our work at Ripple too. A quarter of our customer base is from the region. Over the years, Europe has developed strong foundations for the fintech industry to flourish, and it looks set to continue this upward trajectory with no signs of slowing down soon. So why does Europe have a booming fintech scene? Sendi Young, Managing Director, Europe, Ripple, joins me on the Tech Talks Daily Podcast to discuss Ripple's momentum in the market, trends she's seen in digital payments, crypto adoption, and financial regulation in this space. We also talk about how Ripple is supporting the next generation of talent in finance with initiatives including its University Blockchain Research Initiative (UBRI) in partnership with the world's leading universitie

Adam Moelis shares why half of American's can't come up with $400 in an emergency, and 78% of people live paycheck to paycheck. But they spend $80 billion on the lottery every year. We also discuss a recent study that showed that most wished they'd learned more about money in school and scored themselves low when it came to financial literacy. Could tech change this? Adam shares how he founded Yotta to help Americans make healthier financial decisions and become more financially secure. Adam's company provides the chance to win big every week, similar to playing the lottery but in an FDIC-insured account where customers cannot lose any money. About Adam  Adam Moelis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Yotta, a financial technology startup whose mission is to help Americans become more financially secure by offering a unique banking experience that allows customers to win weekly prizes of up to $10 million.   Adam graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Finance and Accounting from Wharton. His degree and interest in

Since co-founding NineTwoThree Digital Ventures in 2012, Andrew Amann has helped launch countless ventures for clients and emerging companies and turned his business into one of the fastest-growing private companies in America on the Inc 5000 list.   Amann is an experienced intrapreneur and entrepreneur. He is responsible for patents for nuclear submarine components and three supply chain innovations and has successfully launched twelve startups, including the digital business card solution, Inigo App, acquired by Royaltie. Amann excels at bootstrapping startups without the involvement of venture capital.   In today's episode, Aman shares how he has navigated the startup world by building a digital venture studio vs. a traditionally backed V.C. model startup. He also discusses how mentors and encourages young entrepreneurs with this approach.  Tech Talks Daily Podcast Sponsor Details Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/TTD - Enter promo code TTD for 83% off and 3 extra months free! 

As many traditionally in-person industries embrace hybrid work on a large scale, there have been, and will continue to be, many changes to both the technology and the workplace. But I wanted to learn more about how workplace collaboration technology shifted and grown over the last 2 years to meet the needs of this new workforce. Jamie Snaddon shares his insights and story. About 8x8  8x8, Inc. (NYSE: EGHT) is transforming the future of business communications as a leading Software-as-a-Service provider of voice, video, chat, contact center and enterprise-class API solutions powered by one global cloud communications platform. 8x8 empowers workforces worldwide to connect individuals and teams so they can collaborate faster and work smarter. Real-time business analytics and intelligence provide businesses unique insights across all interactions and channels so they can delight end-customers and accelerate their business. Tech Talks Daily Podcast Sponsor Details Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/TTD -

The Great Resignation is here, employees are seeking new opportunities and businesses are having to re-evaluate their workplace cultures to improve employee retention and evolve their onboarding programmes for new joiners. Whilst business leaders are busy finding solutions to retain talent with new perks The reality is, the Great Resignation has brought about growing business IT challenges associated with insider threats. Insider threats have become a new, distinct challenge for organizations as they try to balance employee turnover, employee onboarding and the use of non sanctioned apps and platforms.  The sheer number of employees leaving their jobs and potentially still having access to the network or proprietary data has created a headache for IT and security teams tasked with protecting the organization. In 2022,  Rick McElroy, Principal Cybersecurity Strategist at VMware believes we'll see the number of insider threat incidents increase.  Attackers will also start targeting employees to carry out their

Steve Tack, SVP, Product Management at Dynatrace, reveals the big announcements from Dynatrace Perform 2022. We discuss how Dynatrace will extend observability and advanced AIOps to all major serverless architectures. As a result, DevOps and SRE teams can now automatically discover, analyze, and optimize serverless applications in cloud-native applications at scale, freeing teams from manual processes and enabling them to spend more time accelerating innovation.  We also discuss how Dynatrace will enhance its Application Security Module to deliver on the promise of Runtime Application Self-Protection (RASP) for cloud-native applications. Building on existing capabilities, including immediate and automatic detection of vulnerabilities in cloud-native apps and container workloads, Dynatrace will also block against attacks. As a result, organizations can secure modern cloud workloads and applications – accelerating throughput. Finally, we discuss why these product updates are important and what they mean for Dyn

Amanda Mountain has been with SAP for over 15 years. She serves as Global Vice President of SAP Digital Commerce, providing customers one seamless experience across all digital channels. She oversees digital customer strategy for SAP across sales, customer success, support and marketing, and has enabled and exemplified the digital transformation of SAP. In today's episode, Amanda discusses how 2020 (and much of 2021!) reshaped the way she led her team at SAP. From the impact being virtual had on employees to its effect on B2B sales and customer experience, Amanda highlights how she has remained human-focused to keep employees and engaged and business in the green.  Tech Talks Daily Podcast Sponsor Details Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/TTD - Enter promo code TTD for 83% off and 3 extra months free! 

Tomas Gorny was born and raised in Poland. He moved to the United States in pursuit of the American Dream at the age of 20 without knowing any English. Today, he's a technology visionary, Co-founder and CEO of Unitedweb and Nextiva, and on the board of directors for Endurance International Group.  Tomas has received numerous awards for his leadership in the technology industry. In 2014 he was recognized as the "Business Leader of the Year" at Arizona Technology Council's 2014 Governor's Celebration of Innovation, and in 2017, he was named Top Tech CEO by the Phoenix Business Journal. Nextiva co-founder and CEO joins me on Tech Talks Daily to share his story. We discuss how Nextiva brings together communications, customer management, intelligence, and automation to help businesses build deep, lasting relationships with their customers. Tech Talks Daily Podcast Sponsor Details Get Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/TTD - Enter promo code TTD for 83% off and 3 extra months free! 

Josh Millet is the founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based Criteria, a venture-backed ($64.3M) assessment company dedicated to helping organizations make better talent decisions using objective, multidimensional data. The company acquired Alcami Interactive, a video interviewing platform, and Revelian, the leading game-based assessments company in the past couple of years. Josh founded Criteria in 2006 with a vision to create a SaaS-based pre-employment testing service that would eliminate biases in the hiring process. I invited him to share his story on Tech Talks Daily. With over 20 million assessments administered globally, the company has helped organizations make objective, data-driven hiring decisions that lead to better business outcomes with its scientifically validated assessments across multiple dimensions, including aptitude, personality, and skills. On average, Criteria has helped organizations increase their hiring success rates by 52%, reduce turnover by 48%, and generate 25% more revenue.  Before

Lauren Woodman, the tech-for-good veteran who was recently announced CEO of DataKind, joins me on Tech Talks Daily to discuss the future of the Data for Good movement. DataKind is a global non-profit organization that leverages data science in the service of humanity. They are unique for pushing the boundaries of what is possible when social and humanitarian causes leverage advanced technology to enact positive change in the world.   Woodman has over 25 years of experience in the technology and non-profit sectors including roles as congressional liaison at the UN and GM of Microsoft's global education programs. Most recently, she was the CEO at NetHope where she awarded $190 million in technology capabilities and infrastructure to humanitarian organizations.    In this episode, we discuss her experience as a pioneer in the tech policy and non-profit space. I also learn more about the current data projects DataKind is working on using AI solutions and its social impact.

Miles Barr, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of solar startup Ubiquitous Energy, joins me on Tech Talks Daily. The solar energy company designs transparent solar technology for windows, electronics, and other applications. We discuss their goal of helping solve climate change by creating truly transparent renewable energy for every surface across the globe.  Founded in 2011, Ubiquitous Energy was started by a group of MIT and MSU scientists and engineers looking for new ways to reduce humanity's carbon footprint by seamlessly integrating solar power technology into everyday products and surfaces.  Here in 2022, Ubiquitous Energy has the world's leading transparent solar technology – converting light into electricity using semiconducting materials while maintaining visible transparency. To both residential and commercial building occupants, Ubiquitous Energy's solar windows provide a clear, vibrant experience that is expected from traditional Low-E windows, but with self-contained, on-board power and smart

Quantum technology is on the brink of a breakthrough. This giant leap forward in computing power will enable unprecedented speed and power for certain industries. However, with this scientific milestone also comes significant cyber risk. For example, quantum computing has the power to break today's standard encryption methods - processes that are widely used to protect customer data, complete business transactions, and secure communications.  While a handful of industry giants in tech and academia have reported "quantum breakthroughs" there are still skeptics that disprove quantum's progress thus far. Nonetheless, it's just a matter of time. Quantum advances aside, the reality is that anything secure today will no longer be secure in the future. Because of this, companies need to be vigilant about staying up to date with the adoption of new standards.  However, industry groups (for example, NIST in the United States) are expected to debut new standards for quantum-resistant cryptography. In turn, companies wi

Redis is a popular open-source database. As a real-time data platform in the cloud, global enterprises have become a critical component to compete in the digital economy. Alongside this, it's a company that's gone from strength to strength in recent times, with revenue growth of 54% over the last three years. In April, it secured $110m in series G funding, which closely followed a $100m funding round in August 2020, providing the company with a $2bn valuation. Taimur Rashid, Chief Business Development Officer at Redis, joins on Tech Talks Daily to why it's time for senior teams to start seeing the creative value of developers within their organizations. Taimur shares his belief that software developers can offer a lot more value to their business. Therefore, organizations should empower their developers and give them a voice to experiment and innovate. We also discuss how Redis is enabling the future of real-time AI. Finally, Taimur declares we're in the golden age of AI and ML and that it's becoming a core p

High-profile hacks and ransomware breaches continue to plague headlines, making cyber risk more tangible for individuals. So it's no surprise that a Bloomberg analysis found cyber expenses rising faster than overall IT spending. In addition, as remote/hybrid work shifts more workflow to the cloud, spending is expected to increase.   Insight Partners is a NY-based VC/PE firm with over $30 billion under management. It is also a top enterprise software investor specializing in cybersecurity and data privacy. Notable investments in this space include DarkTrace, Tenable, Armis, Veeam, OneTrust, Cylance, Recorded Future, and Aqua Security.   Steve Ward, Managing Director at Insight,  formerly the CISO of Home Depot and a member of the Secret Service, Steve has over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity, physical security, fraud, and technology risk. We discuss where companies allocate cybersecurity spending and the innovations disrupting the market. We also talk about how the shift to remote/hybrid work has affec

Stewart Watts, VP EMEA at D2L – the global learning provider, joins me on Tech Talks Daily in a conversation on the state of digital transformation across HigherEd, and the sectors' recovery plans.   As part of its Outcome Delivery Plan: 2021 to 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) has prioritised improving the sector's digital infrastructure and connectivity. Indeed, DfE has placed 'innovation, technology and data' front and centre and this has been reflected in the recent Autumn Budget and Spending Review, with a new package of £1.8 in financial support. However, it has acknowledged that it will need to reassess all current staff training initiatives, particularly in the use of digital technologies, in order to facilitate this.   In its latest research, D2L consulted 500 higher education professionals in the UK on their motivations behind their digital transformation strategies, as well their struggles over the last 18 months, and what the drivers behind their post-pandemic recovery plans will be. It fo

Over the past year, COVID-19 has dramatically impacted the travel industry, forcing it to reimagine its future. SITA sets out five critical areas for the air transport industry to recover and recently published a survey highlighting SITA's remodelled solutions to tackle the significant challenges facing air travel in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Sergio Colella, SITA Europe President, expends how SITA will help the industry recover quickly. We discuss how technology will affect passengers, especially when addressing the new health requirements through automation and making the passenger journey more mobile-enabled and touchless in the airport. I also learn how SITA is making progress in driving down its emissions and energy consumption through its Planet+ program – a program recognized by the UN as a Sustainable Development Goal Good Practice.  SITA recently published their CSR report revealing they are on course to be carbon neutral by or before 2022. We discuss the acquisition of Safety Line to help a

Current trends are increasingly geared towards delivering improved user experiences and innovation at speed. Unlocking data and harnessing digital capabilities will be the cornerstone of future transformation initiatives, with composable businesses set to take centre stage in the year ahead. MuleSoft, provider of the world's #1 integration and API platform, has outlined the trends that will shape these emerging operating models and IT priorities in 2022. Emely Patra discusses how the future of work will be built on connected hybrid experiences. We also discuss how the composable business matures and why 2022 will be the year of the business technologist and the growth of hyper-automation.

As companies address employee demand for more flexible work arrangements, they will need to adapt their hiring processes to protect data privacy, accelerate hiring time, and expand the candidate pool. In addition, employers will need to continue to stay apprised of new and developing hiring laws to ensure compliance and reduce the risk of monetary and reputational harm resulting from lawsuits. Market forces have increased the need for background screening because of tailwinds in the economy, but it's coming into conflict with heightened scrutiny concerning privacy protection. At the very time when background screening is needed, governments are making it harder to get access to information about people.  In 2006, during the earliest days of the big data era, Inflection was founded to address three emerging trends: the increasing prevalence of people searching for people online, the emergence of online records, and the privacy implications of the easy availability of personal information.   I explore this topi