Disruptive Ceo Nation

Pedro Pico is both an inspiring businessman and gem of a woman. For this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we head to Lisbon, Portugal and meet Pedro, whose motto is ‘My secret to get things done is getting started’.   Pedro is a creative adventurer who has built a business out of his love affair with food. He produced his own cooking show on YouTube which led to founding Tasty Studio, a company specializing in branded food and beverage media content. He has also hosted hundreds of home-cooked dinners for people from around the world all of which has led to his latest business venture: Drag Taste.   Featured by Airbnb as one of the top experiences in the world, Pedro developed Drag Taste with spouse Nikolay (a.k.a. Irina Ganache). They have an amazing team of the best drag queens from all over the world and, under a chandelier of red high heels, they host events such as "Drag-up Cooking Class", where they transform every guest in drag and host a Portuguese cooking class and event. Not to be side tracked by CO

You know what they say, ‘Begin with the end in mind’ and that’s how you need to approach building your business. In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we speak with Patrick Ungashick, author of Dance in the End Zone: The Business Owner’s Exit Planning Playbook, and the award-winning A Tale of Two Owners: Achieving Exit Success Between Business Co-Owners. Patrick works with company founders and business owners to prepare for and achieve happy and successful exits. As a business owner himself, he founded and leads two separate companies. As a speaker, Patrick typically addresses more than 50 groups per year, sharing exit advice and solutions to owners of privately-held companies from several million to over a billion in revenue. Additionally, he has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Financial Week. During his nearly 30 years’ career, Patrick has helped hundreds of business owners achieve exit success. Outside of work, even though he cannot juggle nor play a musical instrument, Patr

Sumaira K. Isaacs is a woman who knows the world and a woman the world should know. When we booked her, our intent to was to explore the close correlation between a country’s open borders and lively tourism to the opportunity for entrepreneurs to achieve business success, but we just happened to schedule this call amid the global COVID-19 pandemic and ended up with a rich conversation about what happens to business when borders close and events cancel. The movement of people is critical to success of business and unless business tourism returns, can there be a full economic recovery? Afterall, one in ten people in the world work in a role that is part of the hospitality and tourism industry. And with the potential for 75 million hospitality jobs to be lost worldwide and forecasts of half the global airlines closing down, what does the post-COVID-19 global scenario look like? Originally from Pakistan, with a long base of business in Dubai, and now residing in Canada, Sumaira is an International tourism indus

We invite you to spend time with Anna-Mieke Anderson, a B Corp founder and CEO of MiaDonna & Company and The Greener Diamond (www.miadonna.com). Named by Entreprenuer Magazine as one of their 100 Powerful Women in 2019, we thoroughly enjoyed discussing how the passions that inspire the birth of a business still require sound strategies to keep that mission alive. Based in Portland, OR, USA, Anna-Mieke is globally recognized as the pioneer of the lab-grown diamond (LGD) industry. After learning the conflict origin of her own earth-mined diamond in 2005, Anna-Mieke challenged the notion that gemstones, particularly diamonds, could only come from a place of unnecessary hardship. In 2007, she launched MiaDonna and pushed the quality of lab-grown diamonds to the highest levels. Today, ten percent of net profits are given to their non-profit foundation, The Greener Diamond, which helps free women and children oppressed by the active conflict diamond mining industry. Anna-Meike is a dedicated mother of 2, an avid

Ron Carucci is a voice of wisdom for founders whether they are seeking Series A Funding or managing a mature business. In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we explore topics such as founderism, strategy, growth and the insights into how 15% of your efforts can be the secrete sauce to success if you lift your head and lead the way you should. Ron also shares how investors are evaluating your business to spot a winning team, a winning leader, and a winning idea and challenges business leaders to understand their differentiators and firmly know why you have a right to win business. As co-founder and managing partner at Navalent, Ron has been working with CEOs and executives pursuing transformational change for their organizations, leaders, and industries. From start-ups to Fortune 10's, turn-arounds to new markets and strategies, overhauling leadership and culture to re-designing for growth, he has worked in more than 25 countries on 4 continents. In addition to being a regular contributor to Harvard Busine

Julian Fisher is the founder and CEO of jisp, a lifestyle app that digitizes products and experiences to bring the best of online into physical spaces offering digital baskets, gamification, and the ability to tap product labels and have instant information. In this episode Julian shares insight into his entrepreneurial journey, growing companies, and product development in the digital space. What we appreciate about Julian (aside from the smile in his voice) is the rich history (and frankly love story) he has with technology which is rooted in his launching the UK’s first internet exhibition in 1994. Since then his work has remained inexorably linked to technology, improving sales and payments, and tackling compliance issues for a wide group of blue-chip companies. Today, the jisp solution serves many of the UK’s biggest and well-known stores such as JD Sports, H&M, Topman, Whittard of Chelsea, Crew Clothing and Yankee Candle. You can connect to Julian through www.jisp.com or on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin

Join us as we head to the UK to discuss socially conscious business with Farah Asemi, founder of ecofleet, a sustainable mindful B to C logistics service using carbon-neutral electric cargo bikes and vehicles. In this episode we transverse topics of product development, white label service, warehousing in a city like London and management of a unique workforce. Currently, ecofleet riders do 12,000 laps of the world every year. But what we love oh so much is the branding – it is worth checking out. We also cover the question of why enter the #greenbusiness space and Farah shares if the trigger moment when she knew there needed to be a call for change. When we caught up with Farah she was entering her first round of fundraising after starting the company with personal seed money and a government grant. We also cover the unique process to hire riders that will fulfill the mission in rain or shine – ok, this is London – so in rain or rain. Prior to ‘cycling into action’, Farah had a successful career within prope

Will Bachman is a brilliant mind at work connecting other brilliant minds to business today. As co-founder and Managing Partner of www.Umbrex.com he has brought together a global, collaborative community connecting 800 top tier independent management consultants across fifty countries. He is also the host of How to Thrive as an Independent Professional, which has over 270 published episodes. If you want to know how to set up a successful solopreneur practice in a gig economy, this is the man to know. In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we touch on the principles Will has employed to grow this impressive ecosystem of independent professionals that anyone can use to grow business in your market niche as well. We discuss the value of content creation as a door opener to more meaningful client relationships and how providing your client community a platform to engage and connect will extend the value of your brand. But we also love that Will is simply an interesting CEO. He is a graduate of Harvard College

Nikolaus Kimla – Pipeliner CRM and Salespop Nikolaus Kimla is a business Rockstar, innovator and influencer that you should know. Crossing from Austria to California, Nikolaus has created six businesses in the tech space and in this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, he shares insights into what it took to conceive and launch his latest endeavor, serving as the founder and CEO for Pipeliner CRM. As an expert in process efficiencies, digital workflows and CRM, Nikolaus has designed a solutions platform to enable sales teams to navigate complex sales processes in the B to B space and beyond. He shares views on tech design and how better adoption rates are achieved with a deep knowledge of the user perspective. Also the founder of Salespop, Nikolaus shares insight into how to leverage content creation for community building as Salespop articles can have tens of thousands of views and professionals the world over visit the platform’s educational portal: https://salespop.net/sales-management/. Nikolaus is the kind

How can artificial intelligence help strengthen roads and infrastructure? On this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, RoadBotics co-founder and President, Dr. Ben Schmidt shares his unlikely journey to revolutionize the way local governments assess and maintain their roads. RoadBotics was spun out of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Robotics Institute in 2016 and has raised $11.4M in venture capital investment to date. Ben shares insights into how the company developed including his theory about ‘brain trusts’, raising capital, protecting intellectual property, and working with governments. He also shares how machine learning from companies like Roadbotics can help government make better data driven decisions. Ben studied bioengineering in college and received his PhD in that same field, but halfway through his PhD program, he realized that academia was not for him. He completed his dissertation, earned his title, but he wanted to do more. Instead, he took that knowledge decided to start a com

In the future of work, culture will drive everything, and Dr Tiffany Jana will be there advising clients on how to optimize their workplace and community environments to benefit customers, stakeholders and staff. A lifelong diversity and inclusion expert, Dr. Jana is a proven business builder, highly sought-after speaker and prolific author whose latest book, Subtle Acts of Exclusion, is now available. We also will say she is one of the biggest bundles of energy we have ever met! In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, Dr. Jana shares how she founded and built www.tmiconsultinginc.com. She is an expert on ‘interpersonal competencies’ and touches on the process to identify engagement gaps, human equity gaps and systems gaps. She discusses problems in the workplace, such as microagressions, that can kill teams. Dr Jana also insights into how she became an author and why being an author is good for your business. Dr. Jana is the Founder of TMI Consulting and has helped orchestrate the firm’s tremendous growth

David Broomhead is the co-founder and CEO of Trade Hounds in Boston, a startup that’s created a mobile app and social network for America’s 13-million construction and trade workers, providing them an online forum to share their work and life experiences. In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, learn how the team at Trade Hounds approached developing a platform to serve as a digital ‘Town Hall’ that lets construction workers, contractors, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, etc. connect with each other to discuss their jobs, new work opportunities, their families and work issues. Broomhead grew up in a small, blue-collar town in Australia and at an early age gravitated towards the family construction business. Immigrating to the U.S., Broomhead was at Babson College earning his MBA, when he began engaging in conversations, research and development with both workers and employers to deliver what the market was missing.   For more information visit www.tradehounds.com or connect with David on LinkedIn at htt

May Al-Karooni is the CEO & founder of Globechain, a reuse marketplace that connects corporates to charities, small businesses and people to redistribute unneeded items, generating social impact data. In this episode, May describes the organization’s journey from inception to scaling across multiple countries and continents while providing insight into holding the vision as the founder, building technology platforms, and knowing when and how to seek investors. May shares how last year 5,100,000 kilos were diverted from landfills by being redistributed through Globechain’s 10,000 members, demonstrating the need for being Commercial with a Conscience ®, May is a global citizen who has previously worked within the investment banking and asset management industry, fundraising monies for venture capital, property and hedge funds for the last 10 years totalling over £120 million in funds raised. In 2015 May set up Globechain after seeing a demand for a new online circular economy within the waste management industr

In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we speak with Ishu Singh, founder of Innstal. Innstal is an app that seeks to revolutionize the commercial and retail sales industry. Recognizing the disconnect between sophisticated electronics coming with printed manuals, Ishu had a vision that would alter the way instruction guides, warranties and receipts could be accessed and stored for the consumer all while reducing millions of tons of paper waste a year for manufacturers. Ishu shares insights into the road he took to move from vision to product development and encourages founders that you can’t compare the timing of your journey to others. If you are interested in starting an app, then this episode is for you. Now based in Toronto, Canada, Ishu has been an entrepreneur for the last 14 years. During his corporate career, he built the management systems of many companies, handled the projects of a few thousand to multi-million dollar projects while dealing with major corporations like Nissan, GM, etc. Innstal ha

In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we speak with Rebecca Liebman, co-founder of LearnLux, a fast-scaling startup that empowers modern workplaces to offer financial wellness tools and education as an employee benefit. Rebecca shares the story of how she lived in Kenya and studied microfinance in an informal economy and completed research in Germany, France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Then, along with her brother Michael Liebman, she became determined to democratize access to financial guidance and make expert resources available to all. Starting their company while they were still in college, Rebecca provides insights into the journey to build an impactful and profitable organization, including how they secured the company's last round of funding which was led by Ashton Kutcher's Sound Ventures and Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff. LearnLux scales and goes to market by partnering with the world’s best companies to offer valuable benefits that help employees do their best work every day because they feel confi

In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we speak with Skyler Ditchfield, co-founder and CEO of GeoLinks. Skyler is an award winning, lifelong risk taker and entrepreneur delivering innovative telecom solutions. He shares how GeoLinks was started in 2011 with $550 in startup capital and a bold vision and now stands as a highly recognized change maker in the network connectivity marketplace. Our conversation covers his founder’s journey, company growth, culture, team building, taking on the big guys, the value of serving on boards, keeping money in the company, the decision for outside funding and his passion for closing the digital divide by reaching underserved communities and offering price competitive services. GeoLinks has revolutionized the way data is transferred from global data centers to its final delivery destination. GeoLinks builds custom solar powered and wind turbine relays as part of their mission of providing a green network footprint and as solar relays don’t require connection to the electr

In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we speak with Dr. Maximilian ‘Max’ Pinker, founder and CEO of HiveNet.cloud. Max shares insights on his startup journey and the vision for HiveNet which is building an advanced distributed cloud computing network whose goal is to be a powerful future force in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency by allowing everyone with a computer to be able to rent out their idle machines and thus disrupt the billion dollar big cloud computing organizations. HiveNet is currently at its halfway mark on its roadmap to an anticipated public launch and Max excitedly shares insights into building the company, core development team and why they want to make a positive impact on the environment and society. Max firmly believes that as HiveNet increases the usage of available computers it can directly decrease the need for more new computers thus less electronic garbage will be created. Dr. Pinker is a scientist, polymath, and blockchain expert who is happy to make new connections an

The phrase ‘purpose driven business’ can all too often be thrown around as a marketing strategy, however, Saddleback Leather was born out of purpose. It is a brand with a presence, a personality, good people and a passion for outstanding quality.  This episode of Disruptive CEO Nation enjoys a conversation with company founder Dave Munson. He tells of the unlikely journey of how an appreciation for a well-made bag led to years of figuring out how to make it work, selling products out of his truck, selling on eBay, and ultimately building a robust ecommerce platform. This episode also covers the challenges that can come when building a factory and production line in Mexico and operating an operations and sales team out of the US all while trying to maintain as much of a virtual workforce as possible.  Dave Munson leads with the belief that ‘competing on price is a race to the bottom’. Saddleback focuses on nothing less than top quality and products have a 100-year warranty – it’s why their tagline is whose tag

What does it take to build a business driven by 1.5M+ design, development and data science experts from every country in the world? In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation, we feature the business story of Mike Morris and how his team developed the world’s largest technology network and on-demand digital talent platform. Transparent about key learnings over seventeen years of preparation, scaling, acquisition and dedication to measurement, Mike provides honest insight into his world and that of the talented individuals who are a part of Topcoder’s global community. A gig economy expert, Mike speaks worldwide about cultivating a passionate workforce to drive the transformative nature of digital innovation across every industry imaginable. He believes that when workers have better experiences that businesses have better results and he is an advocate for women in STEM. An active Boston College alumnus; guest lecturer at institutions like Harvard University, MIT, New York University and University of Californi

The future of business will not only demand that professionals keep up with technology, it will require leaders to operate at the top levels of human performance as the environment accelerates. Our brains will be faced with ever increasing choices and challenges and that is where the science of NeuroSource steps in. Dr. Dale Foster and his wife, Lee Ann, founded NeuroSource in 2004, and together they have successfully helped clients who have struggled with many challenges, such as ADD, Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, Sleep struggles, Stroke Recovery, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), but they have also aided executives in their quest to optimize the full potential of their brain. In this episode of Disruptive CEO Nation learn more about the field of Neurofeedback, QEEG Brain Mapping and how you can train your brain for improved health and performance. Hear from founders who share what it is like to grow a business where you must educate your customers, gain their trust and demonstrate scientific results. Dr. Dale