This episode was produced in partnership with the Austin Technology Council. ATC is a 30 year old association focused on promoting and facilitating growth of technology companies in Central Texas. Over the past three decades the business ecosystem in Austin has changed, and ATC is actively changing, too.  Learn more at https://AustinTechnology Council.org.

Today’s guest is Brain Beck, the co-founder and managing partner at Sabio Tech Partners. In this interview he shares his experience from the past five years in working with private equity firms, and companies, in reviewing and improving their tech to ensure better growth and valuations.

About Brian Beck

Brian Beck is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Sabio Tech Partners, an

Austin-based technology advisory firm focused on helping middle market private

equity firms achieve greater investment valuation with reduced risk. In today’s

world, every company uses technology to both run the business and to produce

its products and services. Brian’s core belief is that all firms considering

significant investments must factor technology into their diligence process,

because “what you don’t know will hurt you.” Leveraging the expertise and

knowledge gained over a long career in the technology and financial services

industries, Sabio has developed an innovative approach and toolset, called

“Quality of Technology” (Q·of·T), specifically designed to enable private equity

firms to conduct robust and rapid technology diligence of their potential

acquisitions.

Though Brian has worked and traveled extensively in Canada, Europe, India and

Asia Pacific, he has called Austin home for the past 20 years and is passionate

about the Austin food scene, its new professional soccer club (Austin FC), and

grilling on his back porch.

https://thomsinger.com/podcast/sabio-tech-partners 

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For episode 726 of “Making Waves at C-Level”, host Thom Singer sits down with a strategy professor from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Ron Adner has written two unbelievably great books and loves everything about strategy. His newest book, “Winning the Right Game: How to disrupt, defend, and deliver in a changing world” is a MUST READ for everyone in leadership.

In this conversation they talk about changes from classic disruption and ecosystem disruption. How leaders can navigate these changes. They also touch on how this new world impacts companies and industries. 

About Ron Adner

Ron Adner is The Nathaniel D’1906 and Martha E. Leverone Memorial Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Prior to joining Tuck, he was the Akzo-Nobel Fellow of Strategic Management at INSEAD, where he served on the faculty for ten years.

Dr. Adner’s award winning research introduces a new perspective on value creation and competition when industry boundaries break down in the wake of ecosystem disruption. His two books, The Wide Lens: What Successful Innovators See that Others Miss (2012) and Winning the Right Game: How to Disrupt, Defend, and Deliver in a Changing World (October 2021) have been heralded as landmark contributions to the strategy literature. Clayton Christensen (Innovator’s Dilemma) described his work as “Path-breaking” and Jim Collins (Good to Great) has called him “One of our most important strategic thinkers for the 21st century.”

Dr. Adner has held editorial and board positions in the leading peer-reviewed academic journals of his field, including the Academy of Management Review, Management Science, the Strategic Management Journal, and Strategy Science. His managerial articles have been published in outlets including the Harvard Business Review, The Atlantic, Fast Company, Forbes, Wired, The Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal .

Dr. Adner’s work is a rare convergence of rigorous academic research, profound managerial insights, and practical, powerful frameworks. Applied, tested, and validated in some of the world’s leading companies, his approach to seeing the bigger strategy picture has been transformative in driving effective innovation in both the corporate and social sectors.

Dr. Adner is founder of the Strategy Insight Group, whose mission is to help clients eliminate strategy blind spots and build robust go-to-market strategies in complex ecosystems, internal and external. He is a keynote speaker, consultant, and advisor to companies around the world. His engagements have transformed strategy at Fortune 500 firms as well as at entrepreneurial startups. He is an accomplished teacher and a seven-time winner of the annual, student-voted, Award for Teaching Excellence at both Tuck and INSEAD (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2011, 2019).

Dr. Adner holds a PhD and an MA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as master’s and bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.

https://thomsinger.com/podcast/ron-adner

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How can apps make you more productive? Don’t know the answer? Then you need to know Beth Z. She is “Your Nerdy Best Friend” and she had dedicated her life to knowing all the apps you can have on your phone that will help you get more done (and maybe have some fun, too).

About Beth Z

Speaker, Author, Nerd…

(Not necessarily in that order)

To find the right technology that makes your life easier, you could…

• Sign up for free trials of 19 project management tools
• Download the top 27 Zoom alternatives
• Scroll through 49 more ways to make an engaging Instagram post
• Or, you could just ask Your Nerdy Best Friend

Beth Z cuts through the noise to bring you tech tips, tools and tricks for productive productivity, sexy social media, tolerable to-do lists and truly collaborative collaborations. Beth takes the fear out of technology and helps you get right to the point with effective apps and tools that you can integrate into your everyday work and life.

About Nerd365: A Year of APP-ortunities to Upgrade Your Life

​Want to save time, money and hassle with today’s latest technology?

Stop wasting time resetting lost passwords, deleting unwanted emails and attending boring online meetings.

Beth Z, aka Your Nerdy Best Friend, has done the tech homework for you with more than 400 tested tech tools, tips and apps that make your life easier.

Nerd365 divides the tips into bite-sized insights so you can digest the new tech all year long and find the right app for the right occasion. Whether you need to track your packages and deliveries on National Package Tracking Day or keep your web searches private on Ask a Stupid Question Day, we have the app for you. And if you want to transform your complicated data into helpful infographics for Information Overload Day, we can help with that, too.

http://thomsinger.com/podcast/beth-ziesenis-2

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What is the biggest weakness of leadership, and what can leaders do for their organizations? Dr. Rick Goodman shares how his clients work on culture and transformational leadership.  

Dr. Rick Goodman has been a team physician for a professional sports team who worked on both brains and body. He is a serial entrepreneur who works with organizational teams who want to lead and grow their business.

In this episode Thom and Rick chat about business success and how to develop leaders.  

About Dr. Rick Goodman

Since 1988, Dr. Rick Goodman has been keynote speaking, facilitating and working with small companies with only a few people all the way up to big behemoths that dominate their industries.

Rick’s presentations are based on real-life experiences with one focus – for audiences and attendees to achieve transformational results in their lives!

In 2008, Dr Rick Goodman wrote a widely acclaimed book – “Living a Championship Life: A Game Plan for Success,” based on my experiences while serving as a medical staff member of the St. Louis Rams (NFL) and the St. Louis Ambush (ISL).

Dr Rick’s keynotes are high-energy and jam-packed full of content that anyone can immediately implement into their life

https://thomsinger.com/podcast/rick-goodman

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Why do we need to be intentional with energy? And does the significance of your energy matter as a leader? Dustin James says energy matters more than most people think.

In this interview Thom Singer talks to professional speaker, entrepreneur, and corporate energizer Dustin James about how energy impacts your whole organization.

About Dustin James

Dustin E. James is America’s Top Corporate Energizer.  He is on a mission to elevate the workplace by helping corporations increase sales performance by building resilient, connected and creative leaders. 

This motivational speaking powerhouse takes energy and engagement to an entirely different level. Dustin has presented to over 500,000 individuals in-person and virtually throughout the United States.  

Dustin’s interactive learning experiences motivate and inspire through massive crowd engagement, creativity, and professional story telling. Creativity is one of his calling cards, with over 200+ plus stories to tailor for each of his events. Dustin has been a TOP PERFORMER in 4 different industries, he is a proud husband and father of two, he is a serial entrepreneur, a TEDx Speaker, and John Maxwell Certified Coach.

https://thomsinger.com/podcast/dustin-james

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Episode 722 is a combination of 12 short interviews with toy store owners and toy manufacturers. Thom Singer was the EmCee for the ASTRA Toy Marketplace and Academy and had the chance to spend 4 days with the coolest people in the toy industry. He has worked with this association several times, and has learned that “toy people are fun people” and they are creative and innovative business leaders.  

Your city might just have one or more independent toy stores. If so, you should check out these businesses. There is a lot to learn from toy stores around creativity, being playful in your career, customer service , innovation, and hard work. 

In this interview he asks people about the toy industry, how retailers morphed and grew during the pandemic, and what lessons other industries can learn from the toy business.  

This is fast past series of two to five minute chats that are full of business advice. 

https://thomsinger.com/podcast/Toy-store-lessons 

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Sometimes you have to take the “road less traveled” to find success in business. The guest on Episode 721 of “Making Waves at C-Level has done just that. In this interview Ed Rigsbee shares his eclectic career journey and the lessons he has learned along the way.

As an individual or a company, innovation is key to finding your highest levels of success.

About Ed Rigsbee

Ed Rigsbee is unique in the fact that he holds both the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential and that of the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP). He has been referred to as, the dynamite that blew up the log jam. If your organization is ready to take a definitive step toward growing your organization, Ed is ready to help you through the maze or land mines, road blocks, and subversives. He is available to help your non-profit “move the needle” toward accelerated membership growth.

THE ROI OF MEMBERSHIP – Ed Rigsbee’s book

Looking for the missing link to explosive membership growth? It’s member ROI at your core. Learn to calculate, prove and communicate your organization’s member ROI and prove to the non-members in your industry/profession that membership in your organization is a smart business decision. Trade associations and professional societies of today must continually prove the return on investment they deliver to members in order to stay relevant. Today, membership organization leaders must see their organization through the eyes of the non-member and be capable of proving the actual yearly sustainable real-dollar ROI that their current members receive in order to maintain high-level member retention and continual new recruitment. Learn how to turn your ambivalent members into member recruitment evangelists.

https://thomsinger.com/podcast/ed-rigsbee

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Have you ever thought about how your strategic planning and succession planning impacts your corporate culture? Well according to Liz Weber, it plays a big part. And culture matters in business now more than ever.

This episode of “Making Waves at C-Level” is a conversation about succession plans, strategy, and culture. Thom and Liz go deep into her expertise and find ways you company should be looking at your org chart and thinking about how you cover the roles of EVERY employee.

About Liz Weber

In the words of one client, “Liz Weber will help you see opportunities you never knew existed.”

A sought-after consultant, speaker, and trainer, Liz is known for her candor and ability to make the complexities of leadership E.A.S.Y. She creates clarity for her audiences during her results-oriented presentations. Participants walk away knowing how to implement the ideas she shares.

Liz has been named a Top 100 Leadership Influencer for 2022 by LeadersHum, a Top 100 HR Influencer by Engagedly, and a Top HR Influencer to Watch by BambooHR and HR Exchange Network. She. She is one of fewer than 100 people in the U.S. to hold both the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) and Certified Management Consultant (CMC) designations; the highest earned designations in two different professions.

As the President of Weber Business Services, LLC, a management consulting, training, and speaking firm headquartered near Harrisburg, PA, Liz provides strategic and succession planning, executive coaching, and comprehensive leadership training programs to business owners, leaders, executive teams, and boards of directors.

Liz holds an MBA in International Business and is an experienced national and international board director. Liz has extensive association leadership experience as she’s served at the national and international board levels and has won awards for her initiatives and service.

Liz has supervised business activities in 129 countries. She has designed and facilitated conferences from Bangkok to Bonn and Tokyo to Tunis. In addition to writing nine leadership books, and her Leadership Insights blog articles, Liz posts to social media daily.

https://thomsinger.com/podcast/liz-weber

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Thom Singer sits down with one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Austin, Texas. His friend, Brett Hurt, is the author of The Entrepreneur’s Essentials and the founder of six successful companies. 

In this conversation they chat about Brett’s entrepreneurship, the new book, what makes a B Corporation, and how Brett can do a 22 minute plank. This interview is full of useful information for anyone at any level of their business career.  

About Brett Hurt

Brett Hurt is the CEO and co-founder of data.world, an Austin-based Certified B Corporation and public benefit corporation. data.world makes it easy for everyone—not just the “data people”—to get clear, accurate, fast answers to any business question. data.world’s cloud-native data catalog maps its customers siloed, distributed data to familiar and consistent business concepts, creating a unified body of knowledge anyone can find, understand, and use. data.world is also home to the world’s largest collaborative open data community, including public COVID-19 datasets. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, data.world was honored on the “Best for the World” list by B Lab that recognizes the top 10% of all B Corps globally. And in 2020, data.world was named by the Austin Business Journal as one of the top-three companies to work for. Brett is also the co-owner of Hurt Family Investments (HFI), alongside his wife, Debra. HFI are involved in 115 startups, 31 VC funds, and multiple philanthropic endeavors.

Brett co-founded and led Bazaarvoice as CEO, through its IPO, follow-on offering, and two acquisitions. Bazaarvoice became the largest public SaaS (Software as a Service) business in social commerce and was named by the WSJ as one of the top IPOs of 2012. Brett also founded and led Coremetrics, which was rated the #1 Web analytics solution by Forrester Research and, like Bazaarvoice, expanded into a global company and leader. Coremetrics was acquired by IBM in 2010 for around $300m.

In 2017, Brett was given the Best CEO Legacy Award by the Austin Business Journal. He is a Henry Crown Fellow and Braddock Scholar at the Aspen Institute. Brett began programming at age seven and doing so on the Internet at age eighteen. He finished his book, “The Entrepreneur’s Essentials”, in August 2019 (available at databrett.medium.com for free).

Two beautiful children and married to Debra, my much better half, since 1996.

About “The Entrepreneur Essentials” Book

The Entrepreneur’s Essentials developed through Brett’s series of blog posts called Lucky7—named in honor of his mother—to help all entrepreneurs take proactive steps to avoid mistakes that, though common, can have a hugely negative impact on their business.

Brett presents this book as a guide with 23 informative lessons, pulling from impactful experiences from his own life as both a startup CEO and investor, sharing dual perspectives to give deeper insight. He explores the stages of a startup’s progression from deciding on a company name to hiring well and understanding what it takes to be an inclusive leader worthy of your own company. Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or a first-time business owner, The Entrepreneur’s Essentials will help you explore ways to make your startup better.

You can get the book at https://theEntrepreneursEssentials.com 

About data.world

data.world is the enterprise data catalog for the modern data stack. Their cloud-native SaaS platform combines a consumer-grade user experience with a powerful knowledge graph to deliver enhanced data discovery, agile data governance, and actionable insights. The company is home to the world’s largest collaborative data community, which is free and open to the public. It’s where people discover data, share analysis, and team up on everything from social bot detection to award-winning data journalism. They use what we learn from this community to improve the enterprise product and vice versa. 

www.ThomSinger.com/podcast/brett-hurt

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This episode is the return of the “Making Waves at C-Level” podcast after a month long hiatus. Host Thom Singer has been making some changes to his career and business life – and so stay tuned to see a lot of new things happening here on this podcast.

In this interview he talks to Zora Chase from Chasing Nectar Digital Solutions. They discuss why all companies should have a digital expert in their corner and bring up the important strategies for digital.

This is also the first time Thom Singer has ever interviewed anyone from his Kindergarten class. Yes, the two first met in the early 1970s in Ms O’Brien’s kindergarten room at Hugo Reid Elementary in Arcadia, California. The two grew up in the same schools though High School, and were both the homeroom “Anchors” of their school’s closed circuit TV newscast during their senior year.  

About Zora Chase

Very few digital companies can confidently compare the benefits of digital versus traditional media. Chasing Nectar founder, Zora Chase, is able to leverage more than 20 years combined in broadcast and digital media, guiding dozens of businesses with marketing needs that span from grand openings, form fill, eCommerce, lead generation and branding. She built a team to share perspective to help you make sound marketing decisions. They strive to help you attain more customers without more spend and deliver results.

About Chasing Nectar Digital Solutions

Chasing Nectar places digital ads for growth-minded businesses. They work with clients to analyze the spend with a goal of delivering a substantial Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). They offer an array of products including Facebook and Instagram, Targeted Display Ads, Geo-Targeting, Video Ads, including OTT and YouTube, PPC, SEO/Reputation Management; Online Audio, Household IP Targeting and Live Chat.

Chasing Nectar stays on top of the rapidly evolving digital ad environment and use over 15 different ad exchanges to access premium inventory that is brand safe and delivers optimal ROI for our clients.

https://www.thomsinger.com/zora-chase 

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