LAUNCH! Podcast

When you combine education and technology, you get Elena Agaragimova from Dubai. She is changing the way people learn. Having grown up in the traditional education system like most of us, she saw its flaws in transferring into a career. She has made it her life’s mission to scale learning so that people can have the skills they need to advance into fulfilling careers. She has worked in talent development around the world, and shares her takeaways with LAUNCH! on what reskilling for the future looks like.  In addition to discussing the business and future of education in the workplace, she also reveals to us how she overcame the challenges in building an AI application as managing partner of Bessern as well as what it's like to start a company in Dubai.

If you liked this episode, then you may like

-Podcast episode “From Side Gigs to an Empire with Afifa Siddiqui” who is also an expert in the talent management space.

-Article “Should You Lead or Follow When It Comes to AI” where we help businesses decide when they should start integrating AI into their business.

In this episode, we talk with Jerry Abiog, cofounder and CMO of Standard Insights which provides growth marketing with AI as a service. His firm was born from lessons learned from past failures. He comes onto the LAUNCH podcast to talk about a phoenix that has arisen from the ashes. Because the AI market is projected to grow to almost $400 billion by 2025, we wanted to explore AI with someone who has had a hand on driving it forward. In this episode, we hope to give our listeners a better of sense of AI as the future and how to go about integrating it into one’s business.

If you liked this episode,

then you may like reading our article on, “What is This AI Thing” where we explore what artificial intelligence really is and provide a tool on how to apply it to your business

Our guest on this episode is a startup aficionado.

He is currently the co-founder and chief growth officer of Siëo, which helps entrepreneurs launch, manage and grow their businesses through service and software-based solutions. Siëo’s mission is to inspire independence, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Kyle Herron lives that mission by teaching startup knowledge to underserved high school communities in Southern California and was the Winner of 2017 Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics Award.

As with any true entrepreneur, they go through a series of failures before finding a breakthrough success. On this episode, Kyle shares with us how he figured out he was going to set himself on this path of entrepreneurship and how his failures have led him to be successful.

Sean Biscelia, serial founder and chief executive officer of Curion, shares his business playbook that he has perfected over his career to help executives and entrepreneurs lead successful businesses.

Learn the 5 basic tenets of his playbook. Learn why do successful entrepreneurs fail? How do you create repeatable success? How do you lead disruption? How can you quickly learn an industry? How do you select the right talent for your team? Should you hire culture over domain expertise or domain expertise over culture? How do you avoid over-competition in your salesforce that could negatively affect the customer experience? How do you go about getting everyone to communicate a consistent message? How do you measure that?

If you liked this episode then you may like

“The Makings of an Entrepreneur” with Kyle Herron episode

As an entrepreneur not only do you have to understand your customer, your industry, and how you can competitively fit into the picture, but you also must understand investors and what they are looking for. Many entrepreneurs throw themselves into researching how to build out their idea and raising money becomes an afterthought. We want you to be a successful entrepreneur and therefore will show you what it’s like to be in the shoes of an investor. We want you to start thinking about it now so that by the time you are ready to raise capital, you are stepping into the investor world with your best foot forward.

Marcia Dawood is a general partner of MindShift Capital, a global investment firm that focuses on supporting female entrepreneurs particularly in technology, health, & education. She is also a board member of the Angel Capital Association. In this episode, she shares with LAUNCH! valuable insights about being on the other side of the table from the entrepreneurs. Learn about capital investing in entrepreneurs, what it’s like being an investor, what VCs and angels are looking for in a business, what are some of the current issues and challenges in the investor world, and how the landscape is opening up for women.

LEADING THROUGH UNCERTAIN TIMES

During these COVID-19 times we circle back to an interview we did in 2018 with then Ruckus Wireless President, Dan Rabinovitsj, to get his take on M&A change management because we thought it had some good takeaways on leading during uncertain times. Dan Rabinovitsj is now the VP of Facebook. Ruckus Wireless at the time was undergoing several M&A transactions at once. Dan was leading through that time of change and uncertainty and has brought to LAUNCH! listeners his learnings and best practices from his experience. As industries pivot and change in COVID-19 times while still amidst the digital revolution, many companies will find themselves in a similar situation. Dan’s story is a testament to how strong a company can be when their survival is at stake. It is those that come out ahead of the change that will find success in this new era.

• Learn what it’s like to undergo a buyout
• Learn what are the biggest challenges undergoing M&A and how to lead and influence through it
• Learn strategies to getting your team to accept the change, integrate, and maximize their performance
• Learn some of Dan’s favorite resources for leadership, M&A, and change management

If you liked this episode,

then you may like, our “Beyond The Interview” podcast episode which also talks about leading in the hard to lead areas of life.

In this episode Rebecca Bennett interviews Leadership Development Advisor and Executive Coach Beth Armknecht Miller. They talk about how executives can create their own think-tank to help support them in their role and how to build organizational resiliency through succession planning.  Learn what are the common mistakes of succession planning and how do you avoid them? What does it mean when you have high potentials that are not performing up to their potential and what can you do about it? How do you prepare to exit as a leader/business owner? How to effectively reskill your employees at low cost? How do you hire to your values and competencies? What are some key tips to successfully onboard a new hire? How does one deal with a difficult co-worker or boss? What are some first steps managers can take to develop their coaching skills? How do you nurture a desired culture? How do you create psychological safety? How do you create an accountability culture? 

If you liked this episode,

Learn more about our guests on their individual episodes with LAUNCH!

“From Globe-Trotter to Startup Mom with Erin Beck“

“From Side Gigs to an Empire with Afifa Siddiqui Podcast“

“Ed-tech & Startups in Dubai with Elena Agaragimova Podcast“

“Get A Glimpse at Curion CEO’s Business Playbook Podcast“

In this episode, award winning marketer/business owner/coach, Megan Brame comes onto the pod to share with us her insights on how to get started and succeed in marketing for your startup. It all starts with a self-brand and having a presence. We discuss role models like Stephenie Meyers, creator of the Twilight series, who did it well and started with a customer community before making her product.

Megan provides insights on questions like:

• How to figure out who your true customer is? Where to find them?
• How to go about customer-product fit and market validation? What prep work is required?
• How do you capture the customer voice? When do you use customer surveys?
• When is it time to let a customer go?
• What are the marketing funnel stages and how do you work within each one?
• When is it the time right to start a paid social media campaign and how to go about starting one?
• When should you outsource your marketing efforts?
• What are her top tool recommendations?

If you liked this episode,

You might like our episode with Power Podcaster Hernan Sias - The Secret To Building Your Brand & Networking

In this episode we explore how Hernan Sias has been able to build his brand and expand his network through his journey in podcasting. If you are starting a business and trying to acquire customers, looking for a job, or just trying to to build your self-brand, Hernan shows us the power of podcasting and what it can do for you. Together Hernan and I explore how to get your own podcast started, the ups and downs of podcasting, as well as how to scale it. As business owners we also discuss what it takes to get to financial freedom and productivity. Hernan encourages everyone to shift their mindset of what retirement means to them, to not think of it as an age, but rather as a goal that can be achieved at any age. The dream is to build a passive income business. But in order to do that, you have to be able to systematize your business so that it can run without you. Hernan and I explore how to scale business and run a business while at the same time not losing sight on what keeps you happy.

If you liked this episode,

You might like our episode with Kyle Herron in The Makings of An Entrepreneur

We are all living through a new era started by the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses and employees are having to pivot and adapt quickly because their livelihood depends it. Never before have we seen society change so fast and move together in one direction.

So far we have seen many business go bankrupt and shutdown while others have created new offerings. It’s fascinating to study why some businesses go one way while others go the other. But just because you have to shut your operations down doesn’t mean it’s - the end. It’s a new beginning for many. But how do you get there? How do you lead through such a devasting time? How do you set that new vision, that new future. And what will that Future of work be like? In this episode we explore those questions so that our LAUNCH! listeners can find that new beginning for your businesses.

On this episode I handpicked 4 leaders who have demonstrated great leadership qualities during these uncertain times and have successfully come up with a plan and pivoted their organizations in response. So today you will be hearing from Erin Beck, CEO of Wana Family Networks, Afifa Siqqique, CEO of Canadian Payroll Services, Elena Agaragimova, Managing partner of Bessern, as well as Sean Bisceglia, CEO of Curion, who were each featured in their own episodes prior.

If you liked this episode,

Learn more about our guests on their individual episodes with LAUNCH!

“From Globe-Trotter to Startup Mom with Erin Beck“

“From Side Gigs to an Empire with Afifa Siddiqui Podcast“

“Ed-tech & Startups in Dubai with Elena Agaragimova Podcast“

“Get A Glimpse at Curion CEO’s Business Playbook Podcast“