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

Many technology leaders struggle to be highly connected to their teams and fully engaged with their families. They are wicked smart, high IQs, and know their business like the back of their hands. They live in a tech world that is rapidly changing; and unfortunately, many are under tremendous stress. It is not their fault - they don't have time, energy or knowledge to think about engagement, connectedness or emotional intelligence with their teams. Fortunately, it is possible for them to become deeply self-aware of their behaviors, identify solutions for their specific challenges and fully engage and connect with their teams and their families. After spending 20+ years in corporate software and security companies, Tenice Wehmeyer began partnering with security and software leaders to create curiosity of the ripples and level of engagement they have with those around them – both inside and outside of the office. Then using this self-awareness, we create new ripples of productive impact with their team, peers,

Dan McGaw is an award-winning entrepreneur and speaker. He is also the Founder and CEO of McGaw.io, an analytics and marketing technology consultancy. Coined as one of the original growth hackers, he has led the teams at Kissmetrics.com, CodeSchool.com, UTM.io and more. In 2015, Dan was selected to be a United States Ambassador of Entrepreneurship by the United States Department of State, where he had the privilege to advise the government, universities, and private corporations on how to build entrepreneur ecosystems. Dan takes a deep dive into MarTech and discusses how to leverage Amazon-like automation & and personalization strategies without having an Amazon-like budget. When people think of advanced personalization, they often assume it is complex and out of reach for them. However, with the right data taxonomy and structure, 1 to 1 personalization across email, text, ad campaigns, and on-page optimization, can be achieved, a lot easier than you think. As each customer enters the funnel at different

Emarsys empowers digital marketing leaders and business owners with its omnichannel customer engagement platform built to accelerate business outcomes. By rapidly aligning desired business results with proven omnichannel customer engagement strategies — crowdsourced from leading brands, their platform enables their customers to accelerate time to value, deliver superior one-on-one experiences, and produce measurable results. This industry-specific, outcome-driven approach combined with a customer-centric personalization, actionable AI, and a fully integrated Customer Engagement Platform (CEP) can deliver transformational results. Alex Timlin is the senior vice president of verticals at omnichannel customer engagement company Emarsys. Alex leads the company's world-class client success organization to drive adoption and growth across 2,000+ clients in more than 100 countries — empowering them to better communicate with their contacts and customers across billions or engagements. Alex joins me on the Tech Talks

Raffi Jamgotchian has been in the cybersecurity and IT field for over 25 years, first in corporate finance and later as the owner of his own firm. Currently, Triada Networks supports boutique investment firms. Raffi recently co-authored an Amazon bestseller called "On Thin Ice" with 30 other cybersecurity experts. Raffi shares insights from the book and his journey in tech. We also discuss how you can learn from making mistakes and taking losses in business, and you can overcome challenges in business. Triada Networks provides data security, business continuity, and IT solutions. Boutique investment firms and small businesses deserve cybersecurity and IT solutions that give them a competitive edge, not take it away. I learn more about their mission to empower businesses and employees to leverage the best technological solutions so they can grow.

Le Wagon is a coding bootcamp that teaches students to develop web applications from scratch. Our cutting-edge curriculum and world-class teachers give students all the skills and tools needed to kick-start their tech career, land a job as software developers or product managers, or launch their own startup. Today's guest is Boris Paillard, founder and CEO of Le Wagon. We discuss why we're currently seeing such a high demand for data science skills. As the demand for these skills continues to increase, it's essential to understand what's driving this demand. Boris shares his expert perspective on these factors and can also cover the broader trends shaping the data science sector, including: Widespread digital transformation of companies – At a significant pace, across all industries Decision making rooted in data, not individual judgment – The scale of large companies prohibits effective, individualized judgments The historic data skills gap – Why it existed, and what's changing

Peter Voss is a Serial Entrepreneur, Engineer, Inventor, and a Pioneer in Artificial Intelligence. Peter started out in electronics engineering, but quickly moved into software. After developing a comprehensive ERP software package, Peter took his first software company from a zero to 400-person IPO in seven years. Fueled by the fragile nature of software, Peter embarked on a 20-year journey to study intelligence (how it develops in humans, how to measure it, and current AI efforts), and to replicate it in software. His research culminated in the creation of a natural language intelligence engine that can think, learn, and reason -- and adapt to, and grow with the user. He even coined the term 'AGI' (Artificial General Intelligence) with fellow luminaries in the space. Peter founded SmartAction.ai in 2009, which developed the first AGI-based call center automation technology. Now, in his latest venture, he is taking that technology a step further with the commercialization of the second generation of his 'Co

A global leader in EdTech, D2L is the creator of Brightspace, the world's first integrated learning platform. The company partners with thought-leading organizations to improve learning through data-driven technology that helps deliver a personalized experience to every learner, regardless of geography or ability. D2L's open and extensible platform is used by more than 1000 clients and almost 15 million users in higher education, K–12, healthcare, government, and the enterprise sector—including Fortune 1000 companies. The company has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Singapore. D2L's Chief Strategy Officer Jeremy Auger discusses how technology is shaping education driven by COVID. Auger explores the current and future role of technology in education, closing the education tech gap, opportunities for edtech/municipality collaboration to push advancement forward, and the future of learning. As Chief Strategy Officer, Jeremy is directly responsible for corporate strategy dev

While talk in 2020 has focused on interpreting the new normal, this discussion has been altogether shortsighted. Instead, we should be thinking about what a better normal looks like beyond the pandemic. The research in this year's 2020 Legal Trends Report from Clio aims to further our vision for what this better normal could look like, based on what they have seen so far. The Legal Trends Report uses aggregated and anonymized data from tens of thousands of legal professionals in the United States. This year, the company has adapted and expanded their analysis to provide more up-to-date data on law firms to better identify the challenges faced during the global pandemic in 2020. George Psiharis, COO, Clio joins me on the Tech Talks Daily podcast to share insights from their Legal Trends Report. George Psiharis is the Chief Operating Officer at Clio, the leader in cloud-based legal technology. Specializing in customer success, business development, and data operations, George has worked extensively with law sch

François Cazor is the Co-Founder & CEO of the fast-growing technology company Kpler. François shares his inspiring tech startup story, which began after a chance meeting in New York in 2009. At the height of the financial crisis, they noticed that financial organizations began to jump into CO2 trading. Realizing that there was little transparency to this, in 2009, Cazor and Maynier set about building the first real-time intelligence platform for this market, eCO2Market. Despite being a successful, expanding company, almost overnight, the rules on CO2 trading changed due to the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol beginning in 2012 - eCO2Market was effectively finished. To keep the company alive in some form, Cazor and Maynier consulted and also paid interns with their household savings while searching for another idea. Kpler became an instant success. Much like the CO2 market, until Kpler, there had been little to no transparency of the commodity market. Within the first quarter of its foundation in 2014, t

What does Epson mean to you? I suspect you might immediately think of printers. But after learning about their Moverio smart glasses and a focus on sustainability, I wanted to learn more about how the pandemic challenged Epson to examine the sustainability of all its technologies. We all have a role to play in building a better future. For Epson, being a sustainable company means being mindful of every aspect of their organisation – from the smallest lightbulb to the largest factory. It fuels their innovation, drives growth, motivates their workforce and, ultimately, to contribute to society. It is also an essential part of how they work with our partners across the supply chain. Daniel Quelch, Sustainability Manager at Epson, joins me on the podcast to discuss how the societal shift in where and how we work has created new opportunities for companies to focus on more sustainable tech. I also learn how smart glasses can provide remote technical assistance to printers capable of printing labels for restaurant

The ability to make informed decisions based on data and insights is the future of decision-making. Business intelligence has been making waves throughout organizations because it provides useful information and data that allows executives to make decisions for the good of their business. Organizations are increasingly using new generation decision intelligence tools to get a more accurate and efficient view of their growing volumes of data. However, the implementation of decision intelligence can further bolster these insights, leading to more context (from both customers and operations) and overall better decision-making by executives. With all this in mind, I have invited Imam Hoque, Chief Product Officer at Quantexa, on the podcast today to discuss the value that decision intelligence can provide and why relevant and timely context is essential to business success. More than a decade ago, Quantexa founders pioneered network analytics. Now, they've combined the same innovative approach with the latest data

SetSchedule is the technology innovator revolutionizing the real-estate business and data services. The company's multi-patented agnostic leads marketplace and SAAS products suite leverage AI-powered predictive data, trend insights, and automated marketing software tools to deliver better business efficiency to agents, teams, brokers, and other vertical markets. Roy Dekel is CEO and Co-Founder of SetSchedule. Preceding SetSchedule, Roy sold billions in financial products and prior to trends, institutionalized the buy and hold residential lifestyle model, managing a lofty residential portfolio. Before moving to California, Roy grew up in Israel, a child of Romanian refugees. He served as a first lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces of the Navy Seals. We talk about the new patented software and developments at SetSchedule. I learn how artificial intelligence and machine learning software in real estate will affect the industry moving forward. Roy shares his experience creating a company to use innovative te

MuleSoft is a SalesForce company famous for its integration and API platform. It makes it easy to connect data from any system to create connected experiences faster. It also enables insurance companies to modernize legacy systems, bring new products to market faster, and extend distribution channels. I wanted to learn more about how MuleSoft drives digital engagement and transforms the policyholder experience. Jerome Bugnet Senior Manager, Digital Transformation Solutions at MuleSoft. I invited him on the podcast to explore the world of InsurTech and how the rising expectations from consumers are changing the industry. We talk about re-imagining the insurance ecosystem and what the future of insurance might look like. Global lockdowns have forced consumers online, and the result is a much more digital-savvy market. As a consequence, consumers have come to expect a much-improved digital experience from their providers. For insurers, this requires urgent investment in the technologies and capabilities that pow

With Twitter recently hitting the headlines for silencing President Trump, many have questioned if tech giants now possess more power than governments. With increased polarization in society, many also blame tech and social media for division rather than uniting the global community. How did we get here? And how do we stop a tech lash from building and get back to leveraging technology to bring us together? Dentons is the world's largest law firm, and I wanted to learn more about their experiences with legal policies in technology. Victor Boyajian and his colleague Michael Drobac from Dentons share their insights on legal challenges they see in technology. We also discuss what excites them about tech's future in society and Legal Tech. Victor Boyajian heads Dentons' Global Venture Technology practice. A recognized leader in his field, Victor focuses on representing emerging growth technology companies and Fortune 500 companies in a broad array of venture capital, private equity, securities and strategic trans

Employees can now work anywhere and everywhere thanks to a long list of remote working tools and productivity apps. But remembering which app you saved your document, message, presentation, report, video, project plan, or a task list can be frustrating. Onna is an eDiscovery startup that raised $27M during the lockdown. The latest funding round was led by Dawn Capital, with participation from Dropbox, the Slack Fund, and existing early investor Nauta Capital. Onna also works with Slack, Dropbox, Fitbit, EA and Lyft. Salim Elkhou shares the story behind Onna and how it uses machine learning to help consolidate knowledge and discover information across multiple connected apps. I learn how it helps companies find information that would have otherwise been scattered across multiple remote work applications (i.e. Gmail, Slack, etc). Throughout his career, Salim Elkhou recognized a gap with the rise in popularity of cloud-based and hosted enterprise apps. He started a successful eDiscovery business, eStet, a servic

Point Health is a digital healthcare startup on a mission to make healthcare easy to find, easy to understand, and easier to afford for members of insurance plans and healthcare sharing organizations. The company recently announced the intent to acquire The Karis Group, an Austin-based company with 25 years of experience in healthcare billing negotiation and patient advocacy. Member retention and loyalty are big problems with insurance companies losing an estimated 33% of members each year. Point Health intends to help solve part of this problem through a new technology platform for payors. Matthew Dale joins me on the podcast to discuss the issue of healthcare accessibility in the US; why is transparent pricing so critical? and how technology can solve this problem. I also learn how healthcare billing is such an incredibly complex system in the US but how technology is changing tech change that. Matt shares how technology is helping families navigate thousands of dollars in healthcare bills each year. Matt'

In the Citrix Ready Podcast series, I explore how technology can empower people and organizations to unlock innovation, engage customers, and be productive—anytime, anywhere. In today's episode, I learn more about how collaboration and hybrid working environments are reshaping the future of work. It recently occurred to me that Microsoft, Citrix, and AMD were all playing roles in how I was working. But we only think of them as solutions in their own right. So I wanted to try and get people from all 3 companies onto the podcast to understand the role that they play in our working life. Kevin Raines, Senior Product Marketing Manager for HPC at Microsoft, Isidro Gonzalez, business development executive with the AMD, and Nitin Sharma, product and solutions marketing strategy all join me on the podcast. We discuss how they are collaborating together and reshaping and reimagining how we work anywhere and everywhere. Kevin Raines is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for HPC at Microsoft. He has over 25 years of Inf

Auvik Networks recently released its 2021 Network Field Report which surveyed IT pros across North America and looks at how in-house IT admins manage their networks and the current state of network management practices. Steve Petryschuk joins me on the podcast to share insights from the survey. I learn how there appears to be high network confidence with low network knowledge in some organizations. For example, more than half of IT pros have incomplete knowledge about how their networks are configured, yet 77% of these same people also report a high or very high confidence in their networks. We discuss how this could indicate a potential mismatch between perception and reality, with IT pros unaware of the weaknesses in their network management practices. I also learn how only 36% of organizations back up their network device configurations daily or weekly, despite additional data showing that configuration changes are frequent. Founded in 2011, Auvik's cloud-based network management software keeps IT networks

As AI adoption grows, how are companies working to manage risk and stay ahead of the pack? Deloitte's third annual survey suggests how leaders' thinking is changing as applications become pervasive throughout the organization. Beena Ammanath, executive director of the Deloitte AI Institute shares insights in relation to Deloitte's latest State of AI in the Enterprise survey. We talk about the biggest skills gaps, the most in-demand technology skills, what companies are looking for, and how employees and leaders at all levels can best prepare themselves for the new normal by prioritizing disruptive technologies like AI. In addition to the tech skills gap and training, Beena also talks about employee anxiety about being replaced by machines, and how leaders and employees can work collaboratively to downplay the fear. Ultimately, humans and robots can and should work together. Beena is Executive Director of Deloitte AI Institute and leads Trustworthy AI. Beena is an award-winning senior executive with extensiv

Today's guest is Joe Hyrkin, CEO of Issuu, the Omni-channel content tools and publishing platform. The Issuu Story Cloud enables millions of marketers, brands, and creators, and publishers globally to digitally share and monetize their longer-form quality content and create content marketing materials. As someone that creates a wealth of content, I am curious how Issuu makes it possible to create something once and distribute it everywhere. By taking your PDF, images, and text and transform them using your design and Issuu's templates to give you a native experience on desktop, mobile web, app, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and all other social media. I learn how the pandemic has affected Issuu and how their customers used the platform. Joe shares how they started to see a flood of menus being posted as restaurants scrambled to respond to online ordering and takeout needs. Some even posted QR codes of Issuu formatted menus in storefront windows so patrons could view the menu and order food over the