For You Leaders - Business And Leadership Podcast Featuring Kirk Dando

If you missed the first episode with Anthony Bucci, co-founder and former CEO of RevZilla, be sure to listen now. He explains how he and his co-founders scaled RevZilla from an idea to over $140 million in revenue without raising any outside money.Anthony is a self-proclaimed nerd when it comes to people issues. In this episode, he will challenge your thinking on hiring, leading and managing. He’ll give you a powerful concept we recommend our portfolio companies: the 5-15. Anthony mastered keeping signal strength throughout the business, and he explains in great detail how and why you should use a 5-15 with every direct report.Anthony also shares about how he debugs his own psychology by utilizing mentors, board members, and outside executive coaches. We spent over 2 hours with Anthony covering a wide variety of topics. To break down the episodes into digestible bites, we’ve broken up our interview into three parts:Episode 1: You’ll hear the process Anthony and his co-founders used to start and generate

There’s a reason why nothing kills faster than success: everything breaks at scale.Today’s guest is Anthony Bucci, the co-founder and former CEO of the incredibly successful company, RevZilla. As CEO, Anthony navigated RevZilla doubling in revenue almost every year – without raising any outside money.Anthony provides a unique retrospective on today’s podcast. He’s had a chance to reflect on his experiences inside the rocketship company. He now wants to help normalize the journey for anyone listening to this podcast.We spent over 2 hours with Anthony covering a wide variety of topics. To break down the episodes into digestible bites, we’ve broken up our interview in three parts:Episode 1 (Today’s Episode): You’ll hear the process Anthony and his co-founders used to start and generate the idea for the company that became RevZilla. Anthony also goes into great detail about how they differentiated themselves and quickly scaled from $0 to over $140 million in annual revenues. Anthony shares why and how they achiev

Today, we’re continuing our conversation with serial entrepreneur, Brett Hurt. If you missed the first episode, make sure to listen to learn the resources Brett uses to scale, how to communicate with investors and a lot more.This episode is jam-packed with insights and actionable advice from Brett. We spend a lot of time talking about exactly HOW to create a thriving culture. Brett shares a unique but powerful way to develop your company’s values so they stick and are memorable. Brett’s built amazing cultures in his previous businesses (including Bazaarvoice, where they won best place to work as a small, medium and large business) and his current company, data.world.Brett also dives deep into the role of the CEO. His unique perspective will cause you to rethink and possibly redefine the role of the CEO.Topics include:The most valuable conference Brett makes sure to attend every single yearThe criteria Brett uses when deciding whether to invest in a company or fund (currently Hurt Family Investments is investe

Today we’re talking to serial entrepreneur, Brett Hurt.He’s a co-founder and the CEO of data.world and a founder of Coremetrics and Bazaarvoice. Brett also owns Hurt Family Investments with his wife, Debra. They’re now invested in 55 startups and 12 VC funds.Brett’s had the privilege, both firsthand and through his investments, to see the practices that work (and don’t) for scaling a business. In Part One of our interview with Brett, he shares two practices he wishes more CEOs would utilize: investor communication and continual learning. He shares the exact way he communicates to his investors and the resources he personally uses to learn on a daily basis.Dive in to hear more about how you can start these simple, but impactful practices today.Other topics include:The role his daughter had in creating data.worldWhy Brett joined forces with his co-founders and created data.world.The ambitious hopes for data.worldA surprising talk he had to give to iconic leaders - and the resultsHow and why to communicate with

Happy Valentine's Day! In this short podcast, we discuss the powerful concept of gratitude and how you can use it to upgrade your leadership. We also introduce the Leadership Gratitude Journal. You can download or buy a physical version of the Leadership Gratitude Journal here.

It’s not a secret, people and their issues are a huge part of any leader’s life. It can be the best and worst part about being a leader. The good news is today’s episode is full of simple, actionable frameworks around developing and leading people. We talk about how to hire, how to fire, how to develop and why people are such a big issue in the first place. We also highlight the one question all great leaders ask, at least once a quarter, about every one of their employees.Our guest today wrote an excellent book on people. Trevor Throness recently wrote, The Power of People Skills. He shares his unique experiences and practical advice he’s learned working with leaders of scaling businessesThis podcast is full of application, including a powerful tactic that’s changed the way thousands of companies think about people. Listen now:Topics include:Why people issues are so hardWhy we get hiring right about a third of the time, wrong about a third of the time and just so-so another third of the timeWhat to do a

Sports analogies are overdone in business. Don’t let that get in the way of hearing the powerful messages from today’s podcast guest, Clint Gresham. Clint is a former NFL Player, Super Bowl Champion and author of Becoming. Today’s podcast is rich with raw and real information on what it means to be a work in progress in business and life.The Super Bowl means many things to different people. You might think of the brilliant (or not-so-brilliant) ads in the commercial break. Or you look forward to the halftime show. Or you maybe you actually want to watch the two best teams in the NFL play each other.But if you play football, your ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl. It’s a clear goal you either meet or you don’t.But what happens when you reach your ultimate goal? Do you feel like you’ve “made it?” Do your insecurities disappear? Do you suddenly feel fulfilled?As Clint, will tell you - the answer is no. That may seem obvious, however, Clint’s vulnerability in what he shares about being a work in progress, th

If you missed the last episode of the For You Leaders Podcast, make sure you listen to it first. Our guests, Matt Laessig, COO & co-founder at data.world and Bryon Jacob, CTO & co-founder at data.world, explained the powerful concept of Strategic Pillars. If your business does any sort of strategic planning, make sure you listen to the previous episode. Today, we continue our conversation with Matt and Bryon. They tackle several critical topics: meetings, how leadership should show up in meetings and how they manage raising young families at the same time they are building a startup. While meetings may sound like an unsexy topic, they are incredibly important. First, most communication and therefore execution (or the lack thereof) happens within meetings. Second, there is a large amount of salary sitting in meetings every day, in any organization. In this episode, we’ll explain how to calculate exactly how much money you are spending in meetings every year. You owe it to yourself to at least have a

Most businesses have a great strategy that isn’t executed or a poor strategy that isn’t corrected quick enough. It doesn’t have to be that way. As our guests today explain, the key to executing the right strategy starts with the powerful concept of Strategic Pillars. Strategic Pillars are simply the 3-5 strategic battlefields your business has to win to be successful. Today’s guests are Matt Laessig, COO & co-founder at data.world and Bryon Jacob, CTO & co-founder at data.world. They both have a highly-accomplished resume with stints at HomeAway, where they learned, hands-on, the power of strategic pillars. You’ll even hear the story about how HomeAway made a drastic change to their business using Strategic Pillars. If your business has a strategy, this is a must listen to episode. It’s full of practical, real-world advice to ensure you develop the right strategic pillars - and how to use the strategic pillars to drive alignment, agreement and acceleration  - for your business. Other topics in this e

Restaurants have a notoriously high failure rate and the ones that survive often have razor thin margins. 60 percent of restaurants close or change ownership in the first year of business, 80 percent fail within five years. The fact that Kerbey Lane Cafe in Austin, Texas serves food is almost where the similarities end between Kerbey Lane and most other restaurants. For over 25 years, they’ve done business differently: from hiring to training everyone (down to the table bussers) how their role contributes to the company’s EBITA goal. Today we are talking to Mason Ayer, the CEO of this unique business. He explains how this family-owned restaurant chain, started by his parents, has always seen their business as more than merely serving food. That passion made Kerbey Lane Cafe an Austin Icon with seven unique locations. Mason, the recent winner of the Best CEO award by the Austin Business Journal, shares the insight he’s learned from running the business from a genuinely open book and a big heart. You’ll hear t

What comes to mind when you hear human resources? A lot of us think about rule enforcers, 401k administration or resolving vacation time issues. HR can - and should- be so much more. Human resources can be an asset to drive the company's goals. HR can be a true strategic partner and asset within the C-Suite. Does that sound like your HR team? Today’s podcast is a short interview that reminds us of the powerful possibilities of a different type of HR. Our guest is Ryan Robinson, the Chief People Officer (CPO) of Bazaarvoice. Ryan is unlike any other HR professional you’ve ever met (his title doesn’t even have “HR” in it). Just like a salesperson has a clear thought process and strategy around sales, or a product manager thinks about how they manage product, Ryan has a very clear process around how approaches people. He’ll share his Pillars of People Performance in this episode and you’ll quickly see he approaches people in a unique way. Compare this to your HR team. If you shared this interview with them - wha

People often think that success just happens. Anyone who has ever been in business knows it’s not true. There is no such thing as overnight success. It’s a constant journey. Today’s episode is all about the journey of growth. Kirk Dando was a leadership keynote speaker at a recent event at Galvanize in Austin, TX. Listen in as he shares his experience about the journey to the top. He’s been the personal Sherpa to thousands of CEOs have they’ve embarked on the journey of growth. This is a special episode, giving you the rare opportunity to hear the advice Kirk Dando shares with leaders around the world. Today’s Topics Include: What happens to every business on the journey to success. Analogies you can use with your team about growth and scale - including the powerful analogy of Mt. Everest Who’s the Sherpa? Sherpa’s know that there will be tough parts of any climb. But they also know how to change the language when scaling a mountain. Business leaders need to change the conversation to change the language to

Sam Decker (@samdecker) is an experienced start-up executive and advisor who has worked at iconic tech companies like Apple. Sam was the founding CMO at Bazaarvoice, founder of Mass Relevance (now Spredfast) and recently founded the digital optimization company, clearhead. However, it turns out there is a very low-tech way Sam accomplishes so much. He’s learned the secret for startup success is to simply “get uncomfortable.” As you’ll learn, this practice has helped Sam push himself to start new companies and fill the gaps of knowledge. In this episode, we also talk about: How to be a student of the game The advice he thinks most startups need to hear The biggest mistakes new startups make What tying knots, race car driving, and flying helicopters have to do with startups How time tradeoffs are like “pruning a bonsai tree” His time-management process, looking at desired outcomes Sam’s role in Kirk’s book, Predictive Leadership Looking for more great leadership podcasts?

“Many organizations draw the bullseye after they fired. They claimed success when they didn’t intend it.” - Tim Hawks Almost every organization has a strategic plan of some sorts. That’s the first, and easiest, step. The missing piece in the planning process is typically around communication and alignment. It’s the leaders’ role to communicate the plan in a way that creates alignment. Employees need to be able to connect their every day role back to the goals. Communication of a plan is not a one-time occurrence. There needs to be a process to state and restate the goals. You need to measure the progress continuously. The real work of strategic planning comes after the plan. That’s exactly what we are unpacking with today’s guest, Tim Hawks. He describes how they operationalize their strategic planning process. Tim dives into their meeting cadence, their communication process and a lot more. Listen in to hear how you can operationalize your strategic planning process to reach your goals. Today’s Topics Includ

Everyone on your team is connecting to something. Some connect to their paycheck. Others connect to a title or their influence. What if you could connect them to their sense of destiny? That’s the challenge and approach our podcast guest, Tim Hawks, takes with his organization. Tim is the head of an organization that inspires over 7,000 people around a common mission, vision and goal. Tim is the head pastor at Hill Country Bible Church in Austin, Texas. Before you stop reading, I encourage you to listen to this podcast with an open mind. You are not going to hear a sermon, but you are going to hear Tim’s unique perspective as a leader. Tim is an incredible communicator that leads a volunteer-led organization. He speaks candidly about how he accomplishes the work through staff and volunteers. Today’s Topics Include: How Tim accomplishes a lot, without paying a large number of people within his organization How his organization has many of the same issues of a for profit organization How Tim inspires thousands

GENE AUSTIN - BAZAARVOICE - PART TWO Today, we continue our conversation with Gene Austin, the CEO of Bazaarvoice. In the last episode, Gene talked about the unique aspects of being the CEO of a publicly traded company. He also talked about the view from the other side of tough decisions. Gene also said he's the least likely CEO to have a Chief Operating Officer, due to his very operational approach. Today, we discuss how Gene conducts his one-on-ones and the operational cadence he uses to focus the business. He describes how he translates the strategy to an executable and measurable plan. This episode is short on fluff and full of actionable advice you can start practicing today. Today’s Topics Include: Gene's format for one-on-ones: an open forum that removes obstacles in the way of the employee How Gene keeps a pulse on the business The first area Gene investigates when he suspects a management issue The three things Gene always wants to know about what is going on in the business Bazaarvoice's Managemen

We’ve talked to startups, financial institutions, and even dads. What about a company that has graduated from the startup stage to being publicly traded? How is this different? How is this the same? If you were ever curious about how managing and leading a company changes as it grows, this episode is for you. Today’s guest is Gene Austin, the CEO of Bazaarvoice. If you've shopped online, you have probably used Bazaarvoice and didn't know it. Bazaarvoice is behind many of the online review and ratings systems on many eCommerce websites. Gene has more than 30 years of experience growing technology companies. Gene talks candidly about his path to CEO of Bazaarvoice and the clear differences between running a small company to a post-IPO organization. Today’s Topics Include: The different seasons of a company's growth and the different requirements of growth The unique requirements of a public company CEO Board of Directors: How to use them correctly The true role of a Board How to use your Board Gene's path to B

GABE KRAJICEK - PART TWO This is part 2 of our interview with Gabe Krajicek the CEO of Kasasa. If you missed Part One of the interview, make sure you listen to that episode first. Gabe explains more about Kasasa and how they are taking on Goliaths. Today we talk with Gabe about company core values. Kasasa lives and breaths their core values. Instead of empty words on a page, Kasasa decided to take a different approach to core values. They created a shield, which represents their four core values: Interdependence, Five Star Leadership, Love, and Badassitude. Kasasa will even pay if for someone to get a Kasasa “shield” tattoo. In today’s episode, we talk about how Gabe became obsessed with company values and culture. Listen in and learn why Gabe focuses on core values and culture. Today’s Topics Include: ● Why being obsessed with culture changes the outcome of the business ● How to create a culture that lasts ● Culture starts in the heart of the leader ● Why he created a symbol for their values ● How having and

The story of David and Goliath is a classic business fable. The big guy takes on the little guy...and wins. It sounds great, but how do you actually do it? Our guest today, Gabe Krajicek, is currently taking on some of the largest businesses in the world. As CEO of Kasasa, he’s taking on the likes of Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Chase. Kasasa partners with community banks and credit unions to wage a war on Mega Banks. Today, Kasasa’s partners make Kasasa the 6th largest bank in the country - and they are still growing. However, the journey wasn’t always easy for Gabe and Kasasa. At one point, Kasasa had three months of runway when regulators notified them their product was illegal. In this episode, Gabe talks candidly about that moment and the steps he took to from there to take on the Goliaths of the banking world. Today’s Topics Include: How the road to heaven does go through hell. What makes it a day trip or a daily trip? Scattered focus leads to scattered results What happens to your company when you

Giving back seems like the trendy thing to do these days. Consider the success of Tom’s or Warby Parker. However, giving back isn't just a trendy thing to do. It the only way to grow a business according to our guest today, Paul Trylko, President & CEO of Amplify Credit Union. Even though Amplify Credit Union is not-for-profit, their mission is still based around a triple bottom line: serving the community, the credit union members and employees. Amplify is a member-owned financial cooperative with more than 56,000 members and over $790 million in assets. They've been serving Austin since 1967, when they started as IBM Texas Employees Federal Credit Union. Paul has been CEO of Amplify through rapid growth and expansion. He has been named CEO of the Year by the Austin Business Journal and the National Association of Credit Unions. In this episode, Paul talks candidly about his experience as a CEO: literally from day one to succession planning. Today’s Topics Include: Why doing the right thing is the only