Technori Podcast With Scott Kitun

Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) software is deeply unsexy, extremely important and mostly unexplored — until now, thanks to LogicGate. Matt Kunkel, co-founder and CEO of LogicGate, understands GRC has a dreary reputation — and he’s happy to be part of the team working to make it easy. He and his co-founders designed a platform enabling companies to put together their own GRC program using drag and drop.

Cryptocurrency is poised to change the way we use money — and CMT Digital CEO Colleen Sullivan says it’s time for U.S. regulators to join the party. CMT Digital One branch of proprietary trading and financial services firm Capital Markets Trading (CMT), it focuses on cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. At first CMT Digital only worked on the regulatory side. A few years later, in 2016, the firm invested in Bitcoin, and in 2017 it launched a trading desk for crypto assets. These days, the company also invests in crypto-related technologies.

Groupon’s new CTO, John Higginson, explains why his job is less about coding and more about people, plus how to be the kind of leader your team respects. Becoming CTO has meant putting people before machines. “This is more a people role than a technology role,” John says. “Figuring out how to get the right people is hands down the most important thing I need to spend my time on.”

Not all vitamin products are created equal — and some aren’t vitamins at all. Meet the doctors setting their own high standards in an unregulated industry. If you’re now wondering what the bleep you should be taking or not, Dr. Levitan and Vous Vitamin co-founder Dr. Romy Block get it. They founded Vous Vitamin to help people buy safe, high quality vitamins in levels they actually need.

Some businesses immediately chase investors, looking to monetize as quickly as possible. Others, however, bootstrap for as long as possible, investing all their energy into building the best product. Jason VandeBoom, CEO and Founder of ActiveCampaign, spent 17 years building his product. He and his team created the category of customer experience automation and continue to be industry leaders in the space. After bootstrapping and focusing on building a powerful platform, ActiveCampaign finally decided it was ready to take on investors. They’ve just closed Series B funding of $100 million, investing most of it back into their product. Jason joined the podcast to share his tips for building a scalable business, how to stay focused on growth and ignore the competition and how to stay patient in a turbulent industry.

The laser focus required of a professional athlete doesn’t leave room for a plan B. But when golfer David Feherty retired in 1997, he found success in multiple new careers. After David put down his clubs, he picked up a microphone and returned to the green as an on-course reporter for CBS. His professional experience, sharp humor and Irish charm made him a hit with golf fans. Off camera, he’s written five non-fiction books and a column for Golf magazine called Sidespin. In 2011, David launched the post-golf project he’s probably best known for: his self-titled interview show “Feherty” on the Golf Channel. The show debuted as the most-watched original series in the channel’s history and David was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality in 2014. He’s interviewed players and famous fans including Jack Nicklaus, Rory McIlroy and Matthew McConaughey. But he’s still modest about his abilities

Teens, parents and car insurers don’t agree on much. But they do agree that dangerous and expensive car accidents are bad. KarChing CEO Ramsey Gouda figured that insurers and parents would be willing to pay some money upfront to reduce the risk of teen car accidents. The KarChing app uses telematics (or a combination of monitoring technologies) to measure factors like acceleration, hard braking and screen usage. Parents and insurance companies deposit money via the app. When the teenager is driving well, the cash is funnelled into their PayPal or Venmo accounts. “You see it going up as you go,” Ramsey explains. “If you're driving safely, it goes up. If you start messing around, it stops.”

No one starts a business because they love grappling with the financial side of it. But understanding your money is key if you want to keep the lights on. Clockwork CEO Fady Hawatmeh understands this better than anyone. He used to run a CFO consultancy firm where he saw firsthand how small companies struggled to plan for the future. Clockwork’s accounting software uses artificial intelligence (AI) to build a financial forecasting model unique to each of their clients. They also help CPAs offer more advanced financial forecasting services.

Childcare has been an issue for ages — possibly since caveman days, but we’re still getting it wrong.Daycares tend to offer only multi-hour stretches, so parents are out of luck if you only need supervision for Junior for an hour or two here and there. Nannies and babysitters don’t want to travel for one hour’s pay. And then there are stay-at-home parents who are happy to watch other people's children as well as their own to make extra money. But unless you happen to know them already, you're unlikely to know where to find them. Toi Valentine and Kayla Carey explain how their company, MeTime, helps parents take short self-care breaks, thanks to a new approach to childcare.

Cryptocurrency is slowly going mainstream, and what it’s losing in mystique, it’s making up for in influence. Not long ago, cryptocurrency (better known as crypto) was the exclusive domain of internet nerds. Now it’s being held, invested and traded by people who recognize its potential to bring a healthy diversity to their investment portfolios. Kraken is being taken seriously too. In 2019, they raised $13.5 million based on a $4 billion valuation. Kraken CCO Robert Zagotta joined the podcast to talk about how the crypto market looks today, its value in every portfolio and how Kraken is helping more people join the game.

Matt Xavier, a senior associate at Unispace, works on the Workplace Strategy Group. His team works with companies to assess their organizational goals and design physical office environments around those objectives. Matt joined the podcast to share his top tips to consider before moving offices, how to create the ultimate space for you and your team and how technology has played a crucial role in designing the modern office.

Unless you have a marketing degree, the more you read about advertising, the less comprehensible it becomes. And that’s exactly how ad execs like it. This small but mighty company aims to cut through the industry noise. Programmatic Mechanics is a breath of fresh air in the industry in more ways than one. First, they do exactly what their name suggests — help businesses and agencies with programmatic advertising (advertising that is managed by computers). It turns out machines are far better than humans at churning through data points to figure out ideal targets. Second, as CEO and founder Keith Gooberman explains, they’re an independent company. “We didn’t take any funding,” he says. “We don't have some goal to hit to keep investors happy. We can be honest about how many people saw your ad and then booked your hotel room.”

You can become a billionaire with anything — from collecting garbage to selling Beanie Babies. The point is to figure out what makes you unique and valuable to the customer. “As long as you're solving an emotional or financial problem for somebody, you can make a lot of money,” says Robert Blackwell, Jr., CEO and founder of several companies including Killerspin and Quant16 (formerly EKI-Digital). Robert’s been building companies since he was eight years old, when he was selling gum in school. Although he was, as he describes, “a non-dangerous delinquent” who didn’t take well to school — a common thread we see among founders — he’s always been an uncanny problem solver.

The cannabis industry is still emerging, dazed and confused, from the black market to the open market, presenting platforms like Leaf Trade the chance to make a big impression. Founder and CEO James Yi joined the podcast to talk about Leaf Trade’s role in shaping the emerging cannabis industry, why wholesale is a challenge of its own and why he welcomes local governments’ say over how cannabis works in their communities.

Private jets used to be reserved for tycoons, presidents and rock stars, but ordering a personalized flight today isn’t just a power move — it’s a productivity tool. Expanding your business often requires traveling, and the bigger you grow, the more often you and your team will be on the move. But travel can be stressful — wasting time on inconvenient commercial flights and long car rides isn’t just tedious, it can be a drain on your resources and cost you time. Airshare offers a more affordable way to benefit from the convenience of a private plane. Unlike competitors, you buy days rather than hours, which can be more economical. Plus, the pilot and jet stay with you the entire time, so last-minute schedule changes aren’t a problem and you’re never left stranded. The company also ensures the time you spend in the air can be as productive as possible. John Owen, who has been with Airshare since 2016, and recently became president and CEO came on the show to talk about the efficiency of private flight. “You'

Insurance is one of the less sexy parts of running a company — and that’s especially true when working with the legacy companies that are far removed from the startup way. Newer business models often don't neatly fit into traditional insurers’ outdated categories. Sometimes plans need to be patch worked and even then — coverage can still be spotty — which could spell disaster down the road. That’s where Vouch saw an opportunity. The company offers business insurance designed for startups. Co-founder Travis Hedge joins Scott in-studio to talk about the insure-tech at WGN Radio.

Beyond being a fun distraction at the gym or on your commute, podcasts are gaining recognition as an engaging and accessible business tool. While it’s easy to get started, it’s hard to make a podcast good, which is why professional podcast production agency Dante32 is flourishing. Founded in 2018 by CEO Griffin Caprio and CSO Jenn Dudley, Chicago-based Dante32 helps businesses create podcasts in a style and format that resonates with their specific audience.

In the wake of the remarkable fall of WeWork, you’re forgiven if you feel more than a little skeptical about coworking as a business model. But Knotel is doing things differently. They may not have WeWork’s name recognition — yet — but the company is building a coworking empire based on stringent market analysis. Knotel is led by startup veteran Amol Sarva. He has a track record of growing great companies and was on the founding team of Virgin Mobile USA. Around 2015, Amol and his partner decided to evaluate coworking as a business opportunity — they wanted to understand the hype. “We did the analytical work that we normally do when we evaluate a company idea,” Amol says. They were pleasantly surprised to find that coworking is “actually a sensible business in a bunch of ways.” But they found that many businesses in the space were focused on attracting small teams and hadn’t yet tapped into the enterprise market. “They were focusing on really small businesses, and spending outsized amounts of money to get the

Copping out on corporate gift-giving means missing a prime relationship-building opportunity.But sending a bland fruit basket or not-so-subtle branded junk is unlikely to be very memorable. Plus, giving gifts that people aren’t too excited about can be downright wasteful. That’s why Packed with Purpose is a gift. The specialty gifting company hand picks high-quality products from businesses that are positively shaping their communities. It’s corporate gifting with a social mission. Founder and CEO Leeatt Rothschild came up with the idea in her previous job helping companies use their social responsibility budgets.

When Chuck Swoboda was hired at electronics manufacturer Cree in 1993, household light bulbs came mostly in two flavors: incandescent and fluorescent. The company had just gone public and generated just over $6 million in annual revenue. But the product that would grow the company into a $1.6 billion global market leader –– the LED light bulb –– were virtually light years away from becoming a popular, affordable option. Even when he took on the role of CEO of Durham, North Carolina-based Cree in 2001, LEDs were a hard sell. “Everyone told me that nobody would buy them,” Chuck says. “Lighting companies told me we’ll never need them because what they had was good enough.” But “good enough” isn’t in Chuck’s vocabulary. By the time he left Cree in 2016, Goldman Sachs reported that “the rapid adoption of LEDs in lighting marks one of the fastest technology shifts in human history.” Today, Chuck splits his time between Cary, North Carolina and Milwaukee, where he serves as the Innovator-in-Chief at his (and Scott’s