Christopher Lochhead Follow Your Different

As we continue our run on legendary VCs, we feature today Bruce Cleveland, an entrepreneur, executive, venture capital investor and best selling author of Traversing the Traction Gap. We have a fun and insightful conversation today about the state of enterprise tech and why its the best place to create enduring value. We also touch important points on digital transformation and a lot more! Legendary VCs Joining our list of legendary VCs that we have featured on Follow Your Different is Bruce Cleveland. He joins Randy Komisar (Episode 106) and Heidi Roizen (upcoming episode). He is the founding partner of Wildcat Ventures which has been rated in the top 1% of enterprise technology investors on the planet. At the moment, he is taking up his Masters Degree at John Hopkins University, America’s first research university. He took up Digital Communication, which he feels would be beneficial for writing content for his succeeding books.  Enterprise Tech Scene Bruce shares a number of important insights into the ent

Our guest is the legendary entrepreneur Nigel Eccles. He’s the founder of Fan Duel, the category king in Daily fantasy sports. We go deep on how Fan Duel created and ultimately dominated this mega category. We also talk about how they created a super-engaged community and how they explored podcast advertising to promote the brand. Nigel explains why he thinks podcasting is a massive new opportunity. In fact, it is one of his motivations why he started his new company, Flick. FanDuel Fantasy Sports Forbes reports that daily Fantasy Games is growing at 41% annually, and will be $14.4 billion category in 2020. This brought together five lads from Edinburg Scotland to join this trend. They created FanDuel back in 2009 as they wanted to create a simple platform for fantasy sports enthusiasts. “We wanted to build something that is so simple and even we can play and I think actually is a big part of the success of the company.” - Nigel Eccles Building Communities Nigel narrated how they started FanDuel 10 years ago

Silicon Valley legend, Randy Komisar joins us today in a longer than usual episode, but definitely an information-packed conversation. He shares a piece of his mind to us especially on how to have a legendary career, what it's like to be dubbed as the Digital CEO and many more. Rare Opportunity  Randy Komisar was a partner at VC pioneer Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He worked closely with other legends like Steve Jobs and George Lucas. In fact, he has some very interesting stories he shared, being a former senior counsel at Apple and former CEO at LucasArts. “I don't like being disliked and I don't particularly try to be liked. I try to be valued, to create something constructive or positive in a relationship. But being liked is not, it doesn't cross my mind. I want to be respected, if I'm really lucky, I'd like to be admired.” - Randy Komisar The Virtual CEO Silicon Valley CEOs dubbed him as a Virtual CEO. Randy served in that role for companies like WebTV and Global Giving. He had some compelling storie

Today’s guest is David Rendall—a standup comedian, with a doctorate in organizational leadership and author of The Freak Factor—gives us a run-down on self-acceptance which benefits our personal and business life. He talks about how our weaknesses can become strengths and why finding people who are weird like you is a good thing. The Good and the Bad Twiggy. Stickman. Ladder. These are some of the nicknames of David Rendall during his younger years. He was unusually skinny when he was young and was working odd jobs, something that most people of his age would not even bother to try. However, David turned his life around and embraced his inner freak. The word freak usually has dual meanings. If people dub someone as a control freak or a neat freak, it usually means they are overdoing it and they need to tone it down. On the other hand, being called a freak in a sporting context means you have outside of ordinary skills. “Freak is often a term we use for criticism but its also a term we use positively. I want

Our guest for today is the CEO of the newly public, enterprise technology company PagerDuty, none other than Jennifer Tejada. This episode is the second part of the two-part series on IPO. Jennifer shares with us today how it is like to go public. This is a celebration of entrepreneurship and you’ll have fun listening to this long-free-form conversation. Legendary IPO Jennifer had a legendary career in Silicon Valley. Various media outlets featured Jennifer due to the recent IPO of PagerDuty, a leading platform for real-time operations. In a moment of victory, what Christopher calls as “a celebration of entrepreneurship,” Jennifer recounts to Christopher the joys and pains on transitioning from being private to becoming public. “I enjoyed the process of being forced to refine our story and our value proposition for retail investors and laypeople. I think its really helpful for the business to go through that exercise.” - Jennifer Tejada NYSE Feels Jennifer shares that there was not much significant change

This is the first in a special two-part series featuring two CEO’s of two recent multi-billion IPOs—Jennifer Tejada, CEO of Pager Duty and billionaire, founder and CEO of Zoom Communications, the amazing Eric Yuan. Today’s episode features an insightful conversation about how Eric feels like to have a super successful IPO. Eric further shares Zoom’s culture centered on happiness and his motivation, mission and vision for Zoom and much more. Culture of Happiness Eric Yuan guested at Christopher’s previous podcast, Legends and Losers Episode 032. As of recording time, Zoom Communications raised $357M in IPO and is a $20+ billion market cap company. “When I wake up, the first person I ask is myself. Do I feel happy or not? I encourage our employees to ask the same questions. Ultimately, if our employee is not happy, I’m pretty sure they cannot give happiness to our customers. That's why we keep the happiness culture here.” - Eric Yuan Christopher cited some amazing data from GlassDoor. Employees rated Zoom 4.8,

Today’s episode is a special re-issue with Dr. Sean Stephenson, “The Three-Foot Giant.” He’s a great example of turning obstacles into opportunities, transforming his life into a legendary one. This conversation with Christopher Lochhead is made even more powerful upon the recent passing of Dr. Sean Stephenson. Join us as we relive the inspiring story of “The Three Foot Giant” in this episode. A (Legendary) Life Well Lived Dr. Sean passed away on the 28th of August 2019, following an accident. He was predicted not to survive at birth because of his rare bone disorder, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, which stunted his growth and caused his bones to be extremely fragile. When he was 18 years old, he has already fractured his bones for over 200 times. Despite his obstacles in life, he lived an inspiring life. He served as an instructive example of how to make your place in the world when you can’t find a place in the world. He worked for President Clinton and shared the stage with his Holiness the Dalai Lama and Opra

Our guest today, Jaime Masters is an entrepreneurial coach and podcasting pioneer. She hosts “Eventual Millionaire” and she shares with us today some fun, practical and insightful learnings on what it takes to become a legendary entrepreneur. She is an engaging business thinker who has her own quirks (love for costumes) and an amazing mother of two kids who are budding entrepreneurs. From Tardy to Masters Jaime Masters hosts the podcast Eventual Millionaire, where Christopher was once invited to promote his first book Play Bigger. She has interviewed close to 500 millionaires and she shares them through her book of the same title, Eventual Millionaire. Jaime shares with us some funny and serious experiences she had when she started using her maiden name again. The name “Jaime Masters” is now a brand and she admits that she has no further intention of changing her name again, even when she remarries. “It was something like, looking out when I'm 60, which person do I want to be? Which brand do I want to be bu

Today, we have a super fun conversation with Brian Schulmeister, the co-host of Grumpy Old Geeks podcast. We shared stories about music and what it was like doing websites for top bands and names in the industry. Of course, we got our grump on! We talk about what’s in the news: undersea data cables, A.I, data breach and many more! Websites For Music Artists Brian Schulmeister is the co-founder of Slender Fungus, a design company working primarily within the music industry. His vast experience in building websites landed him projects with big names such as Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morisette, Green Day, Coldplay and Rihanna, among others. He started his career way back in 1996 and he shared some interesting points on how he went on to pursue clients on his own. He also commented on the music industry at the present time and how consumers are consuming it so poorly. “The generation now and the way people experience music now is so shallow and disconnected from the artist and its singles. Spotify playlist through h

Languaging Master Lee Hartley Carter joins us today for a riveting conversation about the power of language and the art of persuasion. She discusses today how language shapes everything in our lives and how to use language to convince people when facts don’t seem to matter. Marketers and non-marketers will surely learn a ton from this conversation about communications, language strategy, and persuasion. The Power of Language Lee candidly shares with Christopher that she never thought about a job opportunity which involves words and messaging. When she was younger, she considers herself as obsessed with words. For her, language is the means in which people can connect with other human beings and convey thoughts, feelings, and perspectives. Language is a powerful tool with every word, having its own meaning. “That change in language changes thinking, which ultimately change social beliefs and norms and potentially laws and governance approaches. It can change a lot of things.” -  - Lee Hartley Carter Language

In this episode, the CEO of Athena Alliance Coco Brown talks about how to build a legendary board of directors. Coco is an entrepreneur and an advocate for women. She tells us why boards need to have fresh talents and why they need diversity on skills and people. Also, she shares why the old model of creating a board is worn out. The Athena Alliance Coco Brown is the CEO of Athena Alliance. It is a global community of women business leaders, committed to driving diversity on company boards and developing new women leaders. “We're essentially bringing the top-tier women together in a digital ecosystem that provides us a lot of opportunities for them across disciplines.” - Coco Brown Coco describes the community as in-part-Linkedin — with a portion of coaching and networking — and in-part-Bumble, because of matchmaking activities. Male CEOs and The Outdated Board of Directors Athena Alliance serves as an agency. The group is in contact with male CEOs who wish to expand their network with women. Coco further sh

One of the most prolific and important writers in the world and our most regular guest Dushka Zapata, joins us today. We had a heartfelt conversation about mending broken-hearts, why grief is worst when you’re young, why discipline is better than inspiration and many more! Writing Beautiful Answers at Quora You may find Dushka lounging in Question and Answer site Quora, where her writings receive 140 million views. Her life-affirming, fun and powerful answers have garnered her quite a following, including Christopher himself. During this conversation, she shared a wonderful passage where we can learn a thing or to about mending a broken heart. She shares a story about a big, crowded yoga class she attended. The intention was to heal the physical and non-physical aspects of the person ⁠— whether a sprain, a wound or even sorrow, anxiety and loneliness. “At this point, I sneaked a peek. I opened my eyes and slowly panned the room. I would say that 97% of the people on the room had placed both their hands over

Podcasting has never been hotter! Dan Granger joins us today to have a unique, thoughtful and inspiring conversation about performance marketing & podcasting media. He is the CEO of Oxford Road, the pioneer in digital performance advertising, which he also talks about today. The Incubation Period Dan has done an incredible job of being early in new digital areas that produce meaningful results both for a performance and branding perspective for marketers. He started paying attention to podcasting way back in 2006 but not only until the year 2012 did he start monetizing it, through advertisement placement on podcasts. Officially in 2013, they started working with unheard-of brands like Zip Recruiter, Blue Apron and Hulu. “I had a 10-year background in radio. What was interesting is we get to ride two simultaneous waves that were really, really influential in the marketplace—both in media and general business.” - Dan Granger Startups Building Businesses in Podcasting Dan notes that it was all early adapters—ge

Entrepreneur, CEO, and top podcaster Matt Brown joins us today for another no-BS conversation about being a Techpreneur in South Africa. He gives us a glimpse of the South African Tech scene, as well as his successes, as he was voted as #1 Tech startup in Africa in London Tech Week. Matt gives practical insights on business and life design as well. #1 Tech Startup Matt Brown, a very down to earth guy, recounts to Christopher his experience at London Tech Week, as organizers named him the #1 Tech Startup in Africa. Although he admits he now has unnecessary pressure due to the title, he claims it was a great opportunity for international development in the technology space. “It was pretty insane when a government like the UK gets behind an idea. So what they have done is, they mobilized literally billions of pounds just for Africa Tech, 1.2 Billion pounds available for distribution.” - Matt Brown The Storytelling Technology Matt runs a firm called Digital Kung Fu and he candidly shares with Christopher his elev

Today’s episode features a highly informative discussion between our host, Christopher Lochhead and Jules Pieri. She’s the first designer to graduate from Harvard Business School. She shares some amazing lessons on how to create legendary new products and how to make sure those products succeed in the world. Industrial Designer Turned Legendary Marketer Fortune named Jules as one of the Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs." She is the Co-Founder and CEO of the product launch platform The Grommet. Jules shares that before she formed the company, she observed the huge shifts in technology ⁠— specifically the internet, like the development of 3D printing. 3D printing enabled a huge new class of entrepreneurs with physical products. “Creative people have access to inexpensive tools, they will use that. Physical products are less abstract than software, so they're gonna inspire more people to participate.” - Jules Pieri  What We Can Learn From Squatty Potty Jules shares with Christopher the story behind the product

Today’s guest is one of Christopher’s favorite people, host of Cloud Wars podcast, Bob Evans. Together, they dig deep into how Microsoft transformed into a “Trillion Dollar Cloud Category King.” They discuss what we can all learn from their remarkable turn-around. Moreover, the compare why they think every company is a software company and a lot more! Microsoft: A Trillion Cloud Category King  Bob Evans shares his opinion on Microsoft and its trillion-dollar cloud business. This massive growth in sales led both Bob and Christopher awestruck. Bob shares that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has largely driven the company into its current status. He pointed out that Nadella realized Microsoft was spending too much time achieving internally driven goals. He believed it’s about time to ask what are the goals and dreams of their paying customers, what do they need to happen and how can Microsoft help them. “I think it should be an inspiration to all sorts of businesses. You are limited not by competitive set and not b

Christopher Lochhead discusses, in his newly launched podcast, Lochhead on Marketing talks about some of his ideas timely for a potential recession. With this threat coming, Christopher points out the importance of developing and acting on ideas that would make your companies survive this disastrous event. He hopes that through these suggestions, your company will come out even come out stronger from a potential recession. Without further adieu, here are Christopher's 7 Recession Marketing Ideas Never Let A Good Recession Go To Waste!Assume you can’t raise any more moneyMeasure twice, cut onceBrainstorm short-term ways to increase revenueMarket & Sell Into The WhitespaceConsider a competitor trade-inDouble Down on Your Category You can check out Lochhead Marketing Podcast on Lochead.com or any podcast player that you and listen to episode 008 7 Recession Marketing Ideas. Links: Lochhead on Marketing We hope you enjoyed this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing fro

Our guests for today, NY Times best-selling author/power couple Marc and Angel Chernoff talks about their new book and other self-help topics. We had an insightful conversation about happiness and unhappiness, as well as overcoming serious set-backs and other tons of practical insights for living. The Journey is Worth It Marc and Angel Chernoff got into this line of work when they lost someone — a best friend and a sibling. Just in their late 20s, they found themselves investing a lot in personal development and self-reflection.  “It was those moments where ultimately  — we saw therapists, I mean depression sets in. We had no tools for coping and coming out of it. We realize what we want to do on a daily basis was to reflect.” - Marc Chernoff Fast forward to the present day, Forbes dubbed this duo as “the authors of the most popular personal development blogs on the planet.” They are promulgators of the idea of acknowledging that “our present lives are more important than all of the lofty goals we have set fo

We have just launched a new marketing podcast! It talks about the mindsets and strategies for winning ⁠— with a special focus on how you design, create and dominate market categories. It’s called LOCHHEAD ON MARKETING. Radical Generosity As Christopher is not a fan of self-promotion (which may sound crazy, coming from a three-time marketing guy), we have thought about how we’re going to market and promote the podcast. On one hand, we wanted to do some marketing that would feel comfortable without the overly self-promotional crap. This brings us to Christopher’s buddy and co-conspirator on category creation and design, and legendary marketing, Eddie Yoon.  He has this powerful idea that legendary category designers practice “radical generosity.”  “If you think about the word ‘creation’, in a lot of ways, you could argue creation is about bringing something to the world and Eddie says, if you wanted to create a design category -- having a radical generosity mindset matters.” - Christopher Lochhea

Today's inspiring guests are from DonorsChoose.org, CEO and Founder Charles Best and entrepreneur Oliver Hurst-Hiller. These two, together with a small group of people, came together and made our world a different place, through crowdfunding. DonorsChoose.org Donorschoose.org is a non-profit which enables teachers who need help to go straight to the public and seek financial assistance. Charles Best, a former high school teacher turned activist founded the organization. Together with Oliver Hurst-Hiller, the Chief Technology Officer of the org, they have pioneered the category of crowdfunding.  “I was like teachers all over the country. I was spending my own money on school supplies for my students. My colleagues are doing the same. We would talk about all the stuff we want our students to have, but we couldn’t go into our own pockets to buy.” - Charles Best Merging Technology with Advocacy Charles Best and Oliver Hurst-Hiller share the current education situation in the US — it is underfunded — and teachers