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The more agile companies can be in the current volatile landscape, the better. Smartsheet is a collaboration software
platform that helps companies optimize functionality and one of the things that makes it different is that it is not purpose-built. With 2572 documented use cases to date, Smartsheet possesses the kind of wide applicability that companies need to stay light-footed enough to keep up, and all without having to write a line of code! Today we have its CMO, Anna Griffin, join us on the show to talk more about how the software works as well as speak to the things that make her tick and how she got to be where she is today. Anna gets into her journey into the B2B space and what feeds into her out of the box approach to marketing. We turn our attention to Smartsheet next and hear from Anna about the platform’s fluidity and how they approach marketing it when the product does so many different things. She makes a case for how well the software lends itself to bottom-up adoption, and then we hear a few metrics that prove many larger firms are taking to it in a top-down way too. Anna gets into some of her unusual strategies for winning over these big enterprise clients next, and from there we dive a bit more into the places she finds her inspiration. For all this and more from a unique CMO with a flair for marketing and an equally outstanding product that is here to stay, be sure to tune in!
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Business travel may not be happening as frequently anymore due to the COVID pandemic, but that does not concern today’s guest, Avi Meir. He is CEO and Co-Founder of TravelPerk, a ground-breaking business travel platform that
offers companies of any size a one-stop-shop to book all of their travel in a single space. Avi is a travel industry veteran with fifteen years of experience. In this episode, we learn more about the platform, including the pain points they look to solve, how they generate income, and the ways they are reimagining business travel. We also learn about Avi’s choice to base the business in Barcelona, an unconventional destination for a tech company. Not only does the city offer a great quality of life, but Avi also believes that it influences their ability to attract top talent. Naturally, the conversation goes to COVID and how TravelPerk has been impacted. Avi shares the remarkable decision they have made to not let anyone go, and how they have used a combination of government relief and out of pocket payments to ensure their employees are furloughed with 80% pay. Aside from the practicalities of having to rehire, Avi knows that a drastic restructuring would harm the company culture, which they value tremendously. We discuss why figuring out core values is the foundational step to fostering a great culture, and learn what TravelPerk did to establish theirs. Along with this, Avi talks about their FlexiPerk product, which has been a pandemic standout and his hot take of why 2021 will see more business travel growth than 2019! Be sure to tune in today!
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[00:41] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Leveling Up Podcast!
[01:10] An introduction to Avi, his background, and how he came to found TravelPerk.
[02:25] Learn more about TravelPerk and its mission as a business travel platform.
[03:36] Hear about how the platform makes money through commission and products.
[05:10] The typical amount customers can expect to pay on TravelPerk and the costs they save.
[07:28] Some of TravelPerk’s numbers, including employee count and growth rate.
[08:45] Why Avi decided to found TravelPerk in Barcelona which is not a typical tech hub.
[10:47] How TravelPerk manages to recruit great talent and its international workforce.
[12:44] Hear how Israeli culture influences their prolific innovation and work ethic.
[14:39] How TravelPerk has dealt with COVID, including the decision to furlough employees.
[17:59] Avi shares some COVID-related statistics about the business travel industry.
[20:23] The FlexiPerk product TravelPerk offers and its strength, particularly during the pandemic.
[23:16] What culture means at TravelPerk and some unique ways the company fosters it
[24:00] TravelPerk’s core values and how they were defined.
[27:08] Hear Avi’s contentious prediction for the future of the travel industry.
[28:00] Despite all the pandemic-related shifts, the need for human connection still remains.
[28:49] Avi’s must read books and favorite business growth tool.
[32:01] Why Avi tries to stay away from social media where possible.
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Joining us today is Gino Wickman, the founder of EOS Worldwide—a leadership team development company—and the creator of Entrepreneurial Leap, Rocket Fuel, and the bestseller Traction, which you have heard many founders 
rave about. Contrary to what other books on entrepreneurship want to make you believe, not everybody is cut out to be an entrepreneur—so says Gino who has established himself as an authoritative voice on the subject over the past 20 years. According to him, there are six essential traits that every true entrepreneur has, and as controversial as it seems, he believes that a person is born with these traits and cannot necessarily acquire them at will. He also distinguishes between a visionary and an integrator, the former coming up with the great ideas and then pivoting to the next and the latter who is skilled at implementing and maintaining those ideas and keeping things consistent. These are some of the reasons why his books and entrepreneurial philosophies are radically different from the many others on the market. In this episode, he gets into what EOS (entrepreneurial operating system) is and what it means for entrepreneurs and their leadership teams, and he talks about recognizing the need for a system that would help businesses to manage their human energy more effectively. After all these years, Gino’s dream is not to ride off into the sunset and leave it all behind but rather to take up a new role as a coach and mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs—because this is what gets him fired up and performing at unusual energy levels. Tuning in, listeners will also hear about his latest book and project Entrepreneurial Leap and how it is helping first-timers to formulate a plan and take action!
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[00:41] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Leveling Up Podcast!
[01:00] Gino talks about his entrepreneurial journey and being an EOS implementer at heart.
[02:03] Redirecting his energy toward teaching entrepreneurs and what he hopes to achieve.
[02:55] The value of having spent the past 25 years learning from established companies.
[04:03] What EOS is all about and how it serves entrepreneurs and their leadership teams.
[05:13] Identifying the need for an operating system to orchestrate and manage human energy.
[06:44] Working hands-on with clients and getting referrals—the secret to Gino’s success.
[08:32] Why he bothers with coaching and teaching despite his success.
[09:53] Gino discusses Entrepreneurial Leap and why he has a 10-year timeline for the project.
[11:09] How this book is different from the many other books on entrepreneurship out there.
[13:03] An overview of the six essential traits of a true entrepreneur.
[13:44] What it means to be a visionary versus an integrator in the context of entrepreneurship.
[15:57] The positions that are typically occupied by a visionary and integrator in an organization.
[17:07] What EOS clients do when they grow beyond the ideal 10–250 employee mark.
[19:08] The benefits of implementing EOS and Entrepreneurial Leap early on in a startup.
[20:36] The roadmap that Gino created to help aspiring entrepreneurs formulate an action plan.
[22:20] What Gino’s current work structure and team look like after selling EOS Worldwide.
[23:42] The three different ways of implementing EOS in your business.
[24:53] Doing what he loves and other reasons for Gino’s consistently high energy levels.
[27:24] Gino makes a case for the power of writing and planning with pen and paper.
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As a B2B business, attracting an audience to your website to convert them into sales leads is not an easy process, but Madison Logic does it all for you. Madison Logic is an account-based marketing service that helps B2B companies 
convert their best accounts faster and today we learn more about the firm from its Co-Founder and COO, Vin Turk. Vin opens by explaining how he got the idea to streamline conversions in the B2B space before explaining exactly what it is that Madison Logic does. We move on to discuss how the firm makes its money on both the lead and display side before chatting more about their ideal customers. Vin shares some impressive metrics about growth and ROI, mentioning their unique journey without VC backed capital and how being featured on INC 5000’s list six times back to back made a difference in this respect. We get into exits, spinoffs, and the company’s long term vision next, before drilling down on their customer acquisition model which includes a brilliant strategy to become more vital to current ones. Wrapping up with Vin, we chat about how Madison Logic keeps values consistent in the firm as far as strategy and corporate culture, and hear some amazing tips from him around continuous self-evaluation and reflection, so be sure to tune in!
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Today’s guest, Gary Saarenvirta, has been thinking deeply about AI long before the current hype. Having worked in the AI space for over 25 years, Gary was shocked at how little math and science was used in big business, and 
founded Daisy Intelligence to fill this glaring gap. Daisy is a SaaS AI-powered platform that helps retailers and insurers achieve higher profits by helping them make smarter operating decisions. In this episode, Gary sheds light on some of Daisy’s product offerings and the specific ways they increase profitability. As someone with an engineering background, Gary always focused on the technical side of things, but with the growth of the business, he has become increasingly aware of the value of people and culture. We talk about various ways that Daisy looks after their team, including flexible remote working options during COVID and mentoring programs. Gary himself has seen the value of having a coach, and he shares how this has helped him grow as a leader. Along with this, we discuss why Daisy’s technology is uniquely differentiated and how they use optimal control thinking to ensure their software stands out. Gary believes that by making businesses more efficient, through autonomous enterprise, it will not only reduce product costs but decrease the cost of living generally. We wrap the show up by hearing some of Gary’s must read books as well as why being a small company that has productized AI has helped them attract top talent. Don’t miss out!
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Today we are excited to bring you a conversation with Amy Lacey, the bestselling author of Cali’flour Kitchen and the founder of Cali’flour Foods, a company that sells cauliflower-based foods and currently the fastest growing food 
company in e-commerce. When Amy began looking into resolving her autoimmune issues, she stumbled on a recipe for a cauliflower pizza base, which she perfected, started selling at farmers’ markets, and eventually built out into an 8-figure business. In this episode, she gets candid about the percentage of her business that is based on e-commerce versus retail, her thought process behind deciding to bring venture capitalists on board, and why it was more about choosing strategic partners than getting the financial backup. Since the earliest days, customer service and experience have been a top priority for her and the team, a value she believes sets them apart from many other food companies and opens doors to the most unexpected opportunities, including the chance to talk to people like Martina McBride and Whoopi Goldberg. And the secret to outstanding customer service, she says, lies in your ability to truly listen to the needs of people and then to deliver the perfect solutions. Amy also discusses how the COVID-19 crisis affected their sales, the importance of surrounding yourself with people who know the industry, the equity you should be prepared to give to key stakeholders, why you have to secure your trademark as early as possible, and more!
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On today’s show, we are happy to welcome someone we’ve wanted to have on for some time now, Andrew Wilkinson. He is currently a Managing Partner at Tiny Capital, as well as the Founder of MetaLab, which helped design Slack.
Along with this, Andrew is also invested in a range of other companies. In this episode, we learn more about his incredible journey and how he grew a passion for tech and design into a range of flourishing businesses. Andrew also sheds light on his investing education and overcoming his initial reluctance to see the power of investments. For Andrew, being an entrepreneur is about freedom to create the life you want, and having time to pursue your interests, which is how he saw the value of delegating. This is not easy when you are starting out your entrepreneurial journey, as Andrew knows, but as a company scales, so too should the owner’s levels of delegation. We take a look at the types of businesses Tiny Capital is interested in and why they are only pursuing simple business models. Our conversation then takes a turn into a different interest of Andrew’s — subscription podcasts. We discuss why these are such effective, yet untapped income-generating models and Andrew shares some of the work they are doing in this space. We then circle back to Tiny and leadership more generally where Andrew unpacks the importance of incentives along with his characteristic lazy leadership style. Andrew’s self-reflexivity and ability to talk openly about his weaknesses is truly refreshing. This conversation was a great look into what it really means to be an entrepreneur. Be sure to tune in today!
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Elay Cohen, CEO, and co-founder of SalesHood joins us on the show today to talk sales enablement platforms, dominating a category, and boosting sales through collaboration! SalesHood is a sales enablement platform that has 
been at the forefront of its niche as it evolved from its early adoption phase to a broad base market offering! We hear about the platform’s genesis where Elay realized the benefit of doing sales enablement to help companies grow while he was Senior VP of Productivity at SalesForce. From there, we learn what sales enablement actually means before Elay talks about the many companies who have experienced hyper-growth since adopting their platform. Elay weighs in on how SalesHood makes their money as well as shares metrics about their growth rates, ARR, and more! We also get into the effects of COVID on the success of SalesHood and their clients, and how the platform is perfectly suited to thrive at this time of increased migration to virtual. Elay does a great job of explaining the story behind how they arrived at a product to market fit, which leads into the topic of creating and dominating a category, and the role Elay’s book, Enablement Mastery, as well as his initiatives to create communities around sales enablement have played in this. Wrapping up, we hear Elay’s thoughts on his favorite book, tools, and CEOs so make sure to listen in and hear it all!
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Making money is easy, according to our guest today, Taylor Welch, co-founder of Traffic and Funnels, but knowing how to invest and multiply wealth is the hard part. This is why he has made it his mission to arm people with the 
skills they need to grow their money and minds beyond self-imposed limits. We kick off this episode by learning more about Traffic and Funnels and how they help clients build online digital marketing systems and show high-level consultants, coaches and experts how to develop lead generation machines to scale businesses to seven figures a year. From there, we dive into the importance of mindset. For a long time, Taylor was a skeptic about how important it is, but through seeing the power of positive, intentional thinking firsthand, he now knows that it’s a foundational pillar of success. We then turn our attention to leadership where Taylor shares his approach. For him, it’s about fostering his team to be able to not only make decisions but understand the motivation behind their choices. It’s not about not making mistakes; it’s about what you learn from them. We round the show off by delving into the flywheel approach to business, SalesMentor, and why all businesses don’t need to make money. Be sure to tune in today!
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Staying ahead of the pack and knowing what the next big thing is is not an easy skill, but it’s one today’s guest, 
Clinton Sparks, has mastered. As a Grammy-nominated producer, with over 75 million records sold, it would have been easy for Clinton to rest on his laurels and stick with music only. Instead, he is the Vice President for Business Development at FaZe Clan, a professional esports company, author, and founder of Get Familiar Radio. We kick off the show by learning more about esports and why Clinton thinks marketers should be paying more attention to it. He talks about the importance of understanding this young, internet-savvy generation who can spot inauthentic advertising a mile away. We find out more about how to properly speak to gamers and discover what resonates with them. We then turn our attention to how Clinton’s upbringing fostered his entrepreneurial spirit and the value of building enduring relationships. Clinton struggled to find his place in the world, but through hard work, honoring his relationships, and showing empathy, he has managed to succeed. From there, we move onto the younger generation’s desire for fame over greatness and how the culture of instant gratification has devalued the true meaning of the hustle. Throughout the episode, Clinton highlights the importance of your reputation and ensuring that business deals are about reciprocity over financial gain. We wrap the show up with a look at what is on the horizon in the esports world along with the main takeaways from Clinton’s book, How To Win Big in The Music Business. Tune in today!
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[00:41] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Leveling Up Podcast!
[00:20] An overview of Clinton’s background and some of his professional achievements.
[01:26] Why marketers need to pay more attention to and spend more in esports.
[02:32] Clinton’s suggestions of good places to start when delving into esports marketing.
[03:52] How the gaming mentality is different from the typical consumer.
[05:26] Hear more about Wendy’s recent Fortnite marketing campaign.
[07:42] Find out more about how Clinton always manages to stay ahead of the curve.
[09:41] The scene from Good Will Hunting that Clinton finds so relevant to the world today.
[12:29] Clinton shares more on his book, How To Win Big in The Music Business.
[14:55] The importance of being honest about where you are and where you aspire to be.
[15:50] Why Clinton thinks people should focus on greatness and not fame to truly succeed.
[18:36] Hear more about Clinton’s expanded definition of greatness.
[19:35] Clinton’s tips on building great relationships and his dirt pile strategy.
[22:05] What is currently exciting Clinton most in the esports world.
[25:11] Why it’s important to consider how valuable a business deal is for the other person.
[26:43] Hear about why Clinton’s favorite business tool is social media and how he uses it.
[29:20] Clinton’s favorite business book.
[31:45] What to expect from Clinton’s book, the main takeaways, and how to find it.
[34:51] The best way to find Clinton online.
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