Cache Flow - SoundSage

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In this episode, host Brian Dainis interviews Brook Schaaf, CEO of FMTC, to explore the world of affiliate marketing. They discuss the role of affiliate marketing in e-commerce, the distinction between influencers and affiliates, and the challenges faced by the industry. Brook shares insights from his experience and highlights the pivotal role played by the affiliate program in the company's success. Discover key factors that led to Brook’s excellence in affiliate marketing, the challenges faced by affiliates today, and how FMTC helps them navigate the complex landscape.

Introducing Brook Schaaf, an influential entrepreneur shaping the affiliate marketing landscape. Serving as the CEO and Co-Founder of FMTC, Brook leads the charge in aggregating affiliate content and empowering affiliates and bloggers through innovative services and tools. With his dedication and vision, he's redefining how businesses thrive in the digital world from his base in Austin, Texas. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

Zappos' success in the early days of the Internet was attributed to their effective marketing and logistics game, supported by a high conversion rate and strong relationships with affiliates.
Affiliate managers need to network, create personal relationships, and market their programs effectively to stand out in today's market.
The debate: Is affiliate marketing a single channel or multiple channels?
The human relationship aspect of affiliate marketing creates limitations in terms of growth.
FMTC provides a platform for distributing deals and products, helping affiliates monetize their content with ease.
Some merchants still allow affiliates to use their own domains for ad arbitrage.
CJ Affiliate's tracking still works, but a significant gap between CJ's tracking and Google Analytics data may exist.

Connect with Brook Schaaf:

Connect with our host, Brian Dainis:

Linktree

Quotables:

14:20 - “You have to have like the front end of the shop and the back end of the shop and the marketer's the front end of the shop basically. And so the personal relationships are actually much harder to get nowadays. You know, affiliate is… you have like all these spam email campaigns that go out, I get them too. Some of them are affiliate-related, some of them are not. I've got a bunch of affiliates, some of these with the app. People just email you, and it's like, there's not really a way for us to do business, you know, do some research before you reach out to me. And so with so much more noise, it's a lot harder to succeed.”
14:58 - “You have this target market, which is these affiliates, maybe there's hundreds, maybe there's thousands. It depends on the space that you're in. You really need to sort of do deep networking. You really need to fight to get the attention of these affiliates. You have to figure out how you can work with them. You've got to go into it with a good attitude. And I would say that's true regardless of what kind of merchant you are, because the space is just a lot more crowded and competitive. And for anybody who's doing merchant affiliate program, you're basically competing sooner or later with Amazon, which has a monster, you know, the, probably the granddaddy of all affiliate programs, not the first; I think it usually gets stated in '96 or late nineties”
16:16 - “So it sounds like it's good old-fashioned, hand-to-hand combat with networking and sales to get these things, especially in the early days of affiliate to get these things off the ground. It's just good old-fashioned, shaking hands, kissing babies, getting out there and meeting people, getting the right people connected, getting the brands connected with the people who are out there putting out content or doing newer cutting-edge digital marketing.”
28:27 - “If you're running ads, and you know whether you have your own ad sales team, maybe that's how you really make money is if you have your own ad sales team. But if you're using like ad sense or one of these ad serving platforms like programmatic ad serving, it's not super lucrative compared to something like I would imagine like doing a well strategically executed affiliate program across like maybe multiple strategically executed affiliate programs across many pieces of content.”
33:43 - “When I did sales training, they said there's no such thing as an efficient human relationship. So I think right there, that's a big piece of it. The onboarding takes somebody time, which is why my company exists. We really exist to reduce the friction in deployments of affiliate content as a business-to-business provider. You have to find everybody, connect with them somehow. There's an onboarding process even for the coupon reward sites, some of which work with tens of thousands of merchants. And then if it's a smaller commerce content guy, it's almost more like a PR pitch. Like, hey, put my product in your article, I'll send you a free one or a sample or whatnot. It's a lot more work on their side.”

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In this episode, Chris Carr, President & CEO of Farotech, discusses various aspects of the rapidly evolving world of AI. From the impact on marketing to the emergence of Pie AI and the importance of regulation and chat priming, there is a lot to uncover. Furthermore, OpenAI's Code Interpreter tool is revolutionizing productivity, while AI tools and SEO hacks are explored, along with the compounding effect of misinformation, advancements in generative art, and the revolutionizing of video production through AI technology.

Meet Chris Carr, the visionary President & CEO of Philadelphia's fastest-growing marketing agency, Farotech. With an impressive 22-year journey leading the agency from its inception, Chris has redefined inbound marketing, creating a team of SEO strategists, designers, and programmers that deliver exceptional results and ROI. His expertise spans project management, web development, and even vaccine sales at GlaxoSmithKline, showcasing his diverse talents in the world of business. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

Companies need to be ready for the rapid advancements and speed of AI.
Chris now spends most of his time helping companies understand and prepare for AI.
NotebookLM allows users to upload files into one folder for easy access and organization.
ChatGPT's Code Interpreter can analyze macro data and provide valuable insights across multiple accounts or projects.
AI tools can simulate fights and create entertaining content.
AI-generated content is changing the way search results are presented.
Responsible AI models require complete data sets and fine-tuning to minimize hallucinations.

Resources:

Farotech
Curotec
Open AI: ChatGPT
Open AI: Code Interpreter
Inflection AI: Pi
Anthropic: Claude AI
NotebookLM
Pine Cone
MidJourney
Open AI: DALL-E 2
Stable Diffusion

Connect with Chris Carr:

Connect with our host, Brian Dainis:

Linktree

Quotables:

20:15 - “And so I had this bestselling author named Anne Hanley, she was on my blog, and she says, the number one concern I have about AI is that it confidently gives you misinformation. And so we're going to talk a little bit later about exploratory data analysis and where that's been a problem with it. But here's what we're seeing with hallucinations is, is that if you can give it more content, it's not going to guess as much. And so what I mean by hallucination is, let's say hypothetically I have a blog and I say “Hey, give me five statistics that are going to back up or support this 1500-word blog”. It'll absolutely do that, but then you'll go and check the references, and they never really existed. None of the statistics, like this, is on every single chat program. They make up their own stats.”
15:15 - Pie AI: “Hey there friend, glad to chat with you and your friends. I'm happy to give you all a quick demo of my conversational capabilities. I'm sure your friends will be amazed at how natural and engaging I can be. Are they ready to meet the future of AI?”
Chris: “Yeah, actually, I think they're really spooked.”
Pie AI: “Ha ha. I love your sense of humor. It's not uncommon for people to feel a little apprehensive about AI at first, but don't worry, I'm here to show them that conversational AI is nothing to be spooked about. I'm friendly, informative, and always happy to chat. So, should we start the demo?”
Chris: “Yeah, go ahead.”
Pie AI: “Alright, here we go. Let's start by having a simple conversation, just like you and I are having right now. Ask me any questions you want about anything at all, and I'll answer them in a friendly, informative way. So, fire away.”
Chris: “Last question. Why is the sky blue?”
Brian: “Really thinking on that one? Yeah, it's a hard question.”
Chris: “Hey, why is the sky blue?”
Pie AI: “I see what you did there. You are having fun testing my conversational capabilities, aren't you? But I'm happy to answer the same question again, just like a real person would. So, are you ready for the scientific explanation of why the sky is blue?”
09:03 - “One of the biggest, like proponents of regulation, one of the biggest like advocates for regulation is Sam Altman, who is the CEO of OpenAI, who like seems to be in the lead with AI. Like if you read the news, like everyone, like ChatGPT, it's like Kleenex or Bandaid, it's like a noun essentially. I know, yeah. For all these other things, but like technologically speaking, they might lose their lead like as better systems. Like if, you know, they're running on Azure, like, you know, AWS can compute this model data like 10 times faster. So, you know, one of the things that I've heard, you know, I've had some conversations and heard people talking about, is this the idea that Sam Altman is trying to introduce regulation as a strategy for slowing down competitors.”
41:07 - “Dude, this just brought a really interesting thought experiment for me. Like the historical way that you get information is you go to Google, you put in a few words, and you get 10 blue links, and Google has a whole massive complex algorithm that decides those 10 blue links. And part of it's this EEAT part of it's like backlinks and who's linking to those pages and how trustworthy and authoritative Google thinks those sources are. But with AI, like, you know, it's going to be easier as tools evolve, you know, it'll probably cannibalize search, the 10 blue links paradigm will probably become a thing of the past.”
17:14 - Brian: “So, so what's like the real use case of this thing [personal AI] though? Like, you can talk to it and kind of do like a cool party trick, but like, what's the real use case of it?”
Chris: “It's pretty soon you'll be able to upload files and links to it. But like, what I do is that while I'm driving, I'll say “Hey, today I'm going to write a blog about X and I'm trying to figure out what am I missing? What am I not missing? What are some data points that you think would be cool? Who else wrote maybe something like this that reminds you of what I'm talking about? And it's literally like I'm talking to a person, it's like I'm brainstorming with someone. So from a content creation standpoint and a creativity standpoint, it's pretty freaking good.”

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In this episode, we welcome Adam Butt, Founder & CEO of Noticed, a digital commerce, optimization, and marketing agency. With a focus on empowering fearless brands to achieve limitless growth and profitability, Adam and his team leverage their expertise in eCommerce platforms such as Shopify Plus, Klaviyo, and Postscript to create customer-focused experiences. Join us as Adam shares insights on building successful online businesses, optimizing conversions, and the transformative power of digital marketing.

Adam Butt is the Founder & CEO of Noticed, a digital commerce, optimization, and marketing agency that partners with fearless brands seeking limitless growth and profitability. With expertise in eCommerce platforms like Shopify Plus, Klaviyo, and Postscript, Adam and his team create customer-focused experiences with a never-settle attitude and ROI-driven approach. Additionally, Adam is an investor in American Battery Technology Company, Aptera Motors, Postscript, and Quadrant Biosciences Inc, supporting early-stage startups and innovative projects in various industries. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

The pivotal moment that led Adam to realize the potential of e-commerce.
The rise of AI will disrupt industries, but platforms need time to catch up.
The agency model needs to adapt to changes and deliver true omnichannel value.
Microbrands aim to grab a small piece of market share and may seek acquisition by larger companies.
The need for the US to produce its own lithium due to national security concerns.
A long-term approach emphasizing innovation and strategic planning is preferred over chasing short-term gains.

Resources:

Noticed
Curotec

Connect with Adam Butt:

Connect with the host Brian Dainis:

Linktree

Quotables:

10:37 - “I think the only way you can really differentiate your value today is if you're really vertically specialized, and you do that thing really, really well, but then you've got to really have complimentary agency partners to support with the other channels or two, you are ultimately providing more of an agnostic model where you've got a pricing, I would say advantage you whether it's onshore and an offshore model. I think that's just the way the market's coming now.”
28:05 - “And I think one thing I've seen some brands struggle with who've tried to expand from overseas to the US is they treat their brand exactly the same as, you know, how it should be in their country. And it's just different. The brand feel, the content, the description, the focus of how you dial into consumers completely different in Europe. They might want more, more information, in the US they might want less information. I think if you're really looking to try to take a product from overseas and bring it over here, I think really understanding the consumer base here is really important.”
45:22 - “Your product doesn't necessarily need to be the best, you know, it sh it the, you know, the better the product is, the more, the more it helps you. But like the brand and the brand, marketing strategy is more important than the actual product. And if you're in a commoditized space, it's very difficult to win.”
58:34 - “As a services business, you don't want to be too far ahead of the curve because the market isn't ready for it yet. Like the platform companies, the SaaS companies, the hardware companies, like, they need to be like out in front of the curve because they're creating the technology that we're gonna use to implement for our customers.”
01:10:56 - Brian: “There's electric car company values are already like super priced in for like future growth. So there's not like, you know, it's not like you're getting in early anymore. Like the investors have already priced in the future market.”.. Adam: “Yeah. And it's, I think that it's a really good point, Brian, like it's a lot of the legacy automobiles like Ford, they're building a 13 billion plant in Tennessee right now. Fully dedicated EV plans because they've got this older school factory process that they've now are competing into a new school factory process compared to Tesla.”

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Join us as Kayne Grau, CEO of Uptake, discusses how their data analytics company is transforming fleet maintenance through predictive analytics for the trucking industry. By using machine learning models and advanced data science techniques, Uptake is able to predict and prevent truck failures, offering valuable insights and recommendations for maintenance. They analyze data from sensors and telematics devices, reducing downtime and improving efficiency for fleet operators.

Kayne Grau is the Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Uptake, an intelligence system for industrial assets. With a focus on strategic direction and product enhancement, Grau leads the company in providing AI-driven solutions for asset performance management. With extensive experience in the field and recognition for leadership in industrial IoT, Grau is driving the digital transformation of industries worldwide. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

Their platform increases driver happiness and retention, as well as technician job satisfaction.
Uptake's data science team fine tunes their product to eliminate false flags without missing important failure predictions.
The company's focus on transportation is driven by the industry's lack of production, technicians, drivers, and part availability.
Uptake collaborates with telematics service providers to complement their hardware and provide actionable data to fleet operators.
These sensors can detect anomalies and strange behavior, alerting fleet operators to potential maintenance issues.
The vision behind this technology is to connect every asset in the world, creating a better and more efficient global supply chain.
They focused on understanding the retail and wholesale prices, as well as the length of time vehicles stayed on dealer's lots.

Resources:

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
Uptake
Curotec

Connecting with Kayne Grau:

Connecting with Brian Dainis:

Linktree

Quotables:

38:00 - “The data's like the new oil. You got to be able to, you got to be able to extract it, refine it, and monetize it, right? And that could be for us, or that could be for an enterprise. But the hardest part is a lot of times the very front end of that, how can I get the data out of the source? How can I refine it to understand what is usable, and what is noise? And then ultimately, how do I digest that data to give it to the end user so that they see value that yeah, that it's difficult to do that.”
04:25 - “I've had this affinity to probably SaaS, indirectly building SaaS products probably within either marketplaces or building it within consumer products. But I love the SaaS space. I love the ability to be able to shape a product and take it to market and, you know, watch that flywheel catch as they always say.”
11:15 - “This idea of once somebody forms like the, the initial first impression is really critical, like that first impression, it's sort of like an empty ball, you know, it's a, just a ball of clay that can be molded. And once that first impression is created, it's really, really hard to undo that. Like there's kind of like, you know, once you put your, once a customer or a user puts your brand into a box, like it's really hard to get out of that box. And if the truck driver has like two experiences or even potentially one experience where they get that false flag, they come in, and they're like, why am I here?”
39:31 - “You use one of these like software packages like New Relic and those are like spewing logs as well, like really robust logs. And so just even that, like thinking about how much more data a single software application produces now than it did 15 years ago, just like, you know, kind of like exhaust, I guess like exhaust data just for like existing and running, it's just like spewing off all this exhaust data that, that is even like mind-blowing a little bit.”
27:00- Brian: “A check engine light kicks on. It might be, you know, maybe it's just like a warning check engine light. Maybe it's like your engine's about to blow up, check engine light. But if you can catch those things like three months early when they're about to go into the shop for regular maintenance, so you can, like, nip it in the bud then as opposed to waiting till you're on a, you know, 2000 mile haul or something. Like that's probably the strategy there, right?”.. Kayne: “You hit the nail on the head that that's exactly right. And it doesn't have to be a check engine light to come on. The sensor could be firing and showing things that are happening with the truck way ahead of time before that light comes on.”

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk

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In this episode, Wil Reynolds, VP of Innovation at Seer Interactive, discusses various topics related to the impact of AI and automation on search, SEO, job markets, and opportunities for young people. Experts share their thoughts on AI-generated content, strategies for website testing, the potential disruption and economic value of ads, and concerns about job displacement. While highlighting challenges, the episodes also emphasize the opportunities for innovation and equal access to opportunities in an automated world.

Wil Reynolds is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience in the digital marketing industry. Currently serving as VP Innovation at Seer Interactive, a leading SEM/SEO consulting firm based in Philadelphia, Wil's expertise lies in attracting and retaining online success for clients through strategic planning and ROI-driven approaches. With a track record of excellence, Wil's career showcases his commitment to delivering results and fostering a vibrant community of professionals. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

Using AI to produce higher-quality content faster can be a cost-effective solution.
The Michelin Star example illustrates how perception and association can elevate a brand.
The landscape of search is evolving, and Google's potential shift to an interactive agent model may disrupt the traditional 10link format.
AI may lead to job losses, especially for those in entry-level positions, which could negatively impact marginalized groups.
The market takes time to reduce prices but increases instantly.
Many larger organizations may invest money in addressing the issue of automation, but they often fail to actively participate in providing equal opportunities for young people.

Resources:

Seer Interactive
Curotec

Connecting with Wil Reynolds:

Connecting with Brian Dainis:

Linktree

Quotables:

39:38 - “Where are people going to get a chance to prove themselves if so much of the work that they started off gets automated? So it's not just that people are going to lose their jobs. I think it's the people that have been told for years, it's like, you know, who's left holding a bag right now on student loan debt? Black people who were told this is the way to economic success. You have to get a degree. And then all of a sudden it's like, well I got to go get a degree, so I'm going to take out these loans. And then all of a sudden they get out of school, and it's like, oh, that degree's not going to get you a job doing entry level coding.”
25:15 - “Client goes “Man, once this is 10% of my conversions, I don't care about search terms, I care about the economic value. Once 10% or more of my conversions are being affected by answer boxes, then I want to know da da da, and I'm going to take action.” So then for us in our platform, we set up that alert at the individual client level. Hey clients, we now have percentage of answer boxes combined with your paid data in this.”
17:14 - “And obviously like the big topic of conversation right now is that Google is going to cannibalize their cash cow, which is this Google Ads by replacing the 10 links, like the format that you know has been searched for the entire cycle, the entire history of searches that you input a query, you get 10 links and that paradigm is, you know, kind of ripe right now to completely flip on its head with this new interactive agent model.”
33:12 - “I've seen so many times people are just expecting you can just log into Google Analytics, and it's all going to be there. It's, it's so much work to really get a great analytics or BI system in place.”
48:27 - “If it used to take you x number of people to write content, X number pieces of content, and now it takes you one plus AI, well, what's going to happen to those nine people? Right? And I think what'll happen is more people will go into other jobs... Brian: To the same point, though, the market will eventually work itself out. Like if it actually, you know, companies that just reduce their headcount by half, they're, you know, and they keep trying to charge the same rates and just like fatten their margin. Eventually, someone else is going to come in and do it for less.”

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In this episode, Makenzie Stokel, co-founder of EVA, shares the evolution of their platform from helping musicians get paid to connecting entertainers with businesses for corporate events. She discusses the challenges of transitioning into tech and the importance of validating ideas. Additionally, she talks about managing demand on a two-sided marketplace and pivoting to a virtual model during Covid-19. Finally, Stokel shares insights on the role of masculine and feminine energy in business and future plans for Eva's expansion.

Makenzie Stokel is the Co-Founder of EVA, a technology-driven platform that connects event planners with vetted live entertainment. With a focus on delivering customized experiences for virtual, hybrid, and in-person events, Makenzie and her team at EVA are serving leading brands and companies with top-notch entertainment solutions in North America. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

Product management became a crucial part of Eva's growth.
Makenzie emphasizes the importance of explaining how the industry works to determine the longevity of the business.
Eva is a two-sided marketplace that connects entertainers and event planners; event planners can browse the directory, request specific entertainers, or build an event to match with available entertainers.
Managing demand on both sides is the biggest challenge for a two-sided marketplace
Masculine and feminine energy play a role in business and personal relationships.
The future plans for Eva include expanding into adjacent markets and potential partnerships.
Makenzie values being lean and profitable in business.

Resources:

EVA
Curotec

Connect with Makenzie Stokel:

Connecting with Brian Dainis:

Linktree

Quotables:

02:40 - “It's hard to make a lot of money performing live because there are so many musicians and especially when they're just getting started, they're willing to play for free or really cheap and it kind of drives the price down for musicians like a bar if they know they can get Joe for 200 bucks for five hours, like why would they pay Sandy a thousand dollars.”
46:02 - “I do think women in those positions of like pitching and, and looking for money or partnerships, whatever it may be, when the majority of the time a man is across the table, we do just have to think a little bit more about things and like how we're going to be perceived, whereas men probably don't have to take those extra steps.”
48:35 - “I can be working, and I'm in CEO mode, I'm in like masculine go mode and then like, you know, if I have like a gig with my bands at the end of the day after I worked, I'll have to like take the time to transition out of that like go business mode into like getting in touch with being able to connect with like the emotional side of myself to be able to perform well.”
09:19 - “The mistakes that I see made when, you know, when a client has a, a product they're looking to build is, you know, if they immediately go to like the offshore route, which a lot of people do through like Upwork, you know, it's like a lot of people have bad experiences with that, and they just jump to blaming it on the offshore team or the offshore person. Sure. Which is often, like sometimes it could be the case, maybe that person was incompetent, but often it's not the case. And what they're missing is product management and product ownership in the middle.”
12:52

Brian: “And then like when you get these boom markets like in 2021, you know, being like in a dev firm you start hearing all these pitches like Facebook for dogs or like people drinking beer, like sending beer selfies to their friends. Like, oh it needs to be an app and…”

Makenzie: “Right. Absolutely. Well, I mean that too, I think brings up the other point of how important it is to validate the idea before building it.”

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In this episode, Camb AI’s CTO and Co-founder, Akshat Prakash, talks about Camb AI’s revolutionizing language translation.

Ack Prakash is the CTO and Co-founder of Camb AI, a technology revolutionizing speech-to-speech translation with proprietary technologies and a focus on high-resource to low-resource languages. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

The importance of raising the bar for AI dubbing and translation by preserving contextual understanding and perfecting background scores, lip movements, and cross-lingual time syncs.
How open source push, performance upkeep, and more activity of users will cause Pie Torch to win in the long term.
How Apple's lack of enterprise sales experience has hindered its potential to innovate in the cloud space.
Why Camb AI focuses on zero-shot dubbing AI for converting high-resource languages to low-resource languages.
Why Dubai is growing rapidly in AI and the Middle East because of funding and resources going towards it.

Resources:

Camb.ai
Curotec

Connecting with Akshat (Ack) Prakash:

Connecting with Brian Dainis:

Linktree

Quotables:

03:14 – A lower resource language, not necessarily isn't spoken by fewer people like Malla is spoken by a lot of people. But it is true that perhaps it does not have as much digital data as something like Spanish would. Now, the problem that has existed is that more and more content as it has been developed in languages like English that are higher resourced to have a lot of digital data on the internet, speakers are not so fluent speakers of English. And, people who don't speak the language at all often miss out on a lot of things that are developed in English. So, you know, high-quality education, health, sports, entertainment. But that's just like kind of the tip of the iceberg.
04:54 – And with Camb AI, we're hoping that with some of these foundational models that we're creating that focus on this transfer of high resource to lower resource, we can provide essentially a backbone on which a lot of creators, enterprises, and general internet users can watch content or consume any kind of content in their preferred language and really, really democratize and build an internet that's for everybody and not for somebody who speaks a particular language or, or doesn't.
28:10 – It more depends on how much activity someone has. So for example, if Facebook is using, is the pioneer for Pie Torch, and they're doing really kick-ass work in open source and doing a lot of good academic research, and they're open sourcing that then that community will continue to grow. And I think this is a general principle for any AI system or framework over time.
35:52 – “I think all this stuff is going to continue to be more and more open source at the framework level, but I do think that the ways it's going to be commercialized is that people will build products that have deep-rooted feature sets in AI capabilities. And then the other piece you touched on, which I love, is the models, the data. And, I think, there'll be a concept in the future of like a mass. Like we have SaaS, we have PaaS, we have, you know, all this stuff. I think we'll have MaaS models as a service”
1:04:49 – I think I try to remain very structured with my life because I know that if you do go too overboard, you're not going to get work done anyway. You're going to start becoming lazy. You never want to be in the place where you start disliking the love of your life kind of thing. Something that you put your blood, sweat, and tears into.
1:10:21 – I think what I've been reading and hearing more and more is that AI is not going to replace anybody, but people who know AI, understand it, or are able to work with it effectively are going to be the leaders of the future. And I just do encourage people to learn as much as they can be on podcasts like these and, and kind of other places where they can learn everything and anything about how this world is shaping out.
34:30 – Google was the original pioneer of this. I mean, tensor TensorFlow was like the OG framework for AI, and they were the creators, like I think Google has been at the lead of this charge for a long time.

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This episode, VideoAmigo’s CEO, Ajoy Thomas, talks about the ways YouTube is changing as a platform, how to build a presence on YouTube, and why it’s easier to build an audience on YouTube rather than TikTok.

Ajoy Thomas is the CEO of VideoAmigo, a technology-enabled services company that builds video audiences for the world's largest brands. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

How the YouTube landscape is changing.
The benefits of having long-term relationships with influencers.
Why you should keep your conversations authentic and not network only with the intention of selling.
Why YouTube is a better distribution mechanism than TikTok for building an audience.
The different ways users engage with TikTok compared to YouTube.
The political climate around TikTok.

Resources:

VideoAmigo
Curotec

Connect with Ajoy Thomas:

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on Linktree

Quotables:

9:23 – “So even the brands that work with us, it's not really about uploading videos and things of that. They want that strategic advice, like what is the next thing we should be doing? What's the next trend that's there? What makes sense for us? And those are the things, if you're truly a data nerd, you have those insights, and you can give that to the brands.”
11:22 – “When you are dealing with analytics, you're dealing with 20 million channels, and then you have to abide by YouTube's API process, which is like, you can only show like 18 months of data. So beyond that, you know, having a provision in different places so that it is stored but not accessible, and then at some point it's deleted.”
18:50 – “It takes a little bit of right place, right time, and that creative mind kind of thinking about, okay, the lights went out what can we do 30 minutes of just silence, right? And then brands kind of like getting on top of it. And we have seen that with brands as well. Like they have a social media, just keeping an eye on trends and figuring out when to take the right risks and then jumping on it, you know?”
50:57 – “AI has so many applications within every industry, right? Like it removes that friction, right? Like from coming up with a question, well now I have to query it. Sure. Now the UI is the interface for the sequel, but still, I have to figure out all those things from there. I have to synthesize the output, and now I have to put that in a chart and now look at it, ponder on it and figure out exactly where the anomalies are or what the insight is, and then distill it.”
56:19 – “I think of TikTok as maybe you could get the word out there, but nurture your audience on the YouTube side of things because that is more long-lasting and the TikTok is just given to you, right? Like, you're not typically searching for things, even though people do search. It's just like, it opens up, it's there, and then you scroll, you are not dictating what is next. Right? As opposed to YouTube, you are clicking on that related videos. You are choosing what you want to watch. So yeah. In that sense, I think TikTok has perfected that it has figured out the laziness aspect of like, I just want to be entertained. I don't wanna, don't make me think.”
55:40 – “[My wife] She’s about to launch a book and there's like an aspect of helping a lot of people that have a certain need. And so she just started doing all this TikTok stuff to try to start like kind of building up her audience. And she's already had a YouTube channel for years, but she started with TikTok and she's been doing content. She had one piece go mini viral that got like, you know, in the tens of thousands of views on TikTok and the other ones are getting like hundreds or thousands of views.”
24:56 – “Also though like influencers though, it's kind of like a way to not have to worry about that, right? Because if you hand the creativity off to somebody else, they're not necessarily, they're not like directly your brand. So I guess they could offend people and then that's, you know, that's kind of the risk you have… having your brand associated with something offensive.”

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This episode, TrainHeroic’s Co-founder Josh Sutchar talks about the importance of business strategy for personal trainers and gym owners, different ways to improve user engagement, and the future of training.

Josh Sutchar is the Co-Founder of TrainHeroic, an online training platform for coaches and athletes. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

What makes a product successful.
Different benefits of using metrics to measure engagement.
Ways to improve user engagement and commitment.
How to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
How coaches can use technology to collect data and get a holistic picture of their athletes' progress.
The common traits places have where people regularly live to be over 100 years old.
What makes a training plan effective.

Resources:

TrainHeroic
Curotec

Connect with Josh Sutchar:

Connect with Brian Dainis::

Linktree

Quotables:

22:33 – “It's better to go and build the champions, speak the language to each individual champion, and then the sale just happens at the top level. Once you have the whole champion force behind you rooting for your platform. Yeah. And it has a lot of concepts of teaching your customers, taking control of the sale. Taking the customer, taking the prospect through a journey of understanding, you know, learning new things, learning new things that they didn't know before. And then understanding the emotional impact of what those new things that they've just learned have on their business or their revenue or their risk profile.”
29:56 – “The head of OC said to me this is the single best investment that we've ever made in our operators. It's cause everybody was using it, right? It's like you can have equipment that collects dust, or you can have equipment that's being used and everybody was using it. And my point here is just yes, to answer your question you can go at this different elevation and sell it in at the top, but we just didn't see the buy-in. Like we've done that even with corporate gyms, if you will, right? You sell it at the top, and now you're playing this game to really get it sold to each coach. When it's their idea, it goes much better. I used to have this mentor, he said if you help them plan the fight, then they won't fight the plan.”
26:07 – “Colorado's such a great place for a business like this. There's so much tech out there. There's a lot of VC out there, and literally every single person in Colorado is an athlete of some kind. Like everyone's so outdoors either snowboarding, skiing, hiking, mountain biking, you know, everyone just plans their life around being in shape and doing adventurous stuff. So it's I feel like you guys are in the absolute right place for what you're doing.”
35:01 – “His business model, like the gym launch thing the playbook basically, almost kind of like what you guys are doing for trainers in a way. I think laying out the playbook. It's such a good business model because people who have a lot of people are not business savvy. They just have, like you said, they have a passion to do something. They want to do that thing that they love doing, and they want to make a living doing it, but they don't know how to run Facebook ads. They don't know how to install Facebook pixels. They don't know how to run a sales funnel.”
44:05 – “That can make you feel a certain way for you, it might be hey I want to make my coach proud. Or for me, it's like hey, I know my coach is looking at my training session, so I want to make sure that I get the training session and like, Hey, last week I did four of these, and we're supposed to be progressing, I'm going to go for this fifth rep. And it's not because it's set in on my training plans, cause I care about and want to make the coach that programmed it for me feel like his work is worthwhile, and I'm worthwhile.”

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Stan Pittman is the Founder of Eigen X and has more than 20 years of experience in engineering and software technology.

Stan has worked with Global Organizations on project management, needs analysis and requirements definition, system and process design, business intelligence, big data solution design and implementation, outsourcing, and software development. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

Being at the center of a company’s collapse.
Issues that come from acquisitions.
The increased costs that come with fast growth.
How to manage growth through high-growth periods.
How to overcome financial challenges that come with growth.
When it’s right to hire junior staff.
The most effective ways to get new business.
The difficulties of outsourcing outbounding.

Resources:

Eigen X
Grant Thornton
SMART
Tableau
Arthur Andersen Accounting
FTX
Open AI
Curotec

Connect with Stan Pittman:

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on Linktree

Quotables

16:17 - “It went from being a really rapidly growing firm to hey this may not hold together here so yet again we found ourselves sitting in the London office realizing that this probably isn’t going to last.”
23:42 - “A lot of entrepreneurs don't realize how much cash you’re going to need. So if I sign a client in January, also get my first bill February 1st, odds are the clients going to pay that in 60 or 90 days but I’m making payroll real-time so by the time I see that cheque for January I might need to make 8 payrolls without hitting the influx of cash so the faster you grow the greater you consume cash ahead of receipts.”
51:16 - “As companies grow your deals come from different places especially as you go through different layers of customers, you start out with smaller customers then you move into bigger customers, and eventually even large enterprises like you guys focus.”
53:52 - “If you’re going after a SaaS company and you know specifically what their pain point is and you know how you can solve their pain point and they’re a 200-person 50 million ARR SaaS company it’s like duh I’ll reach out to the CTO or the CEO or I’ll reach out to the director of engineering or something, there’s only four or five people that make sense to reach out to and you can pretty well target what you need to say to them but if you’re trying to reach out to a massive 20 billion dollar corporate enterprise.”

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Mark Kesti has over 25 years of experience building, developing, and leading sales, marketing, and business development teams and is currently the Chief Revenue Officer and President at Innovo.

Mark has held VP Sales and other senior executive-level leadership positions overseeing US and international Fortune 500 companies such as GE, Omron, and BD (Becton Dickinson).

His diverse and accomplished background also includes Vice President, P&L, and Corporate Officer leadership success with VC-backed startups, small to mid-size turnarounds, and private equity portfolio companies.

Mark is a hands-on leader who believes in building process-driven, high-performance cultures that are laser-focused on maximizing revenue and profitability.

He is a published author and recognized thought leader within the sales industry, where he has been a guest lecturer for the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and invited presenter at national and international sales conferences.

Mark has also served as a Board of Advisory Board Member for the Eastern Technology Council, University City QED Program, GE Integration, and Eagle Scout Review Board for the Chester County Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is a graduate of the Temple University Fox School of Business and Management. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

The practical uses and underlying value of crypto in business
What caused the FTX to collapse.
The next tech innovations that will change the world.
Three key aspects startups need to be successful.
How to effectively get appointments with new prospects.
The average lifespan of a VP of sales in a startup.
The dangers of growing too quickly.
The benefits of startups focusing on a very specific niche.

Resources:

'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli to LUNA's Do Kwon: 'Jail Is Not That Bad'
OpenAI
Turing
Innovo Sales
Innovo Sales Leaders

Connect with Mark Kesti:

LinkedIn
YouTube

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on Linktree

Quotables

12:20 - “Vietnam, Russia, China not as much because they crack down on those sort of things, certainly Mexico, almost every South American and Central American country you don’t need to exchange currency just bring dollars and they’re fine with that, they’re totally fine with that.”
34:18 - “Every member of the leadership team needs to have prior experience, whether successful or unsuccessful, experience, in a previous startup. If they don’t have that you’re going to run into problems that someone who’s done that before had already tackled, seen, knew how to deal with, or better yet will know how to avoid it to begin with.”
41:19 - “Sales is about one thing and one thing only it’s about the number of hit backs, the more often we get an opportunity to speak to someone who may have a benefit of the value we have to offer, the more often that can occur, the more likely they are to say hmm.”
55:23 - “[OpEx] It’s so critical . . . because getting them in the door is one thing, but now you have to do the hard work of delivering and keeping them happy.”
59:03 - “Doctors are the best salespeople because they spend so much time learning before they diagnose, they want information information information, start connecting dots and they come to a conclusion reasonable one or a couple of options possibly before they prescribe treatment, we’re the same way as I think any good consulting firm should be.”
1:08:18 - “They have to be unemotional and that’s easier said than done, you’ve built this business it’s your baby, you started it from the beginning and you’ve done every job and every job relatively well but you can’t continue to do that just the amount of information that changes so quickly it’s just not feasible to be on top of those things.”

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Ardy Arianpour is a visionary health tech pioneer and serial entrepreneur with two decades of experience harnessing technology to solve some of healthcare’s biggest challenges.

Ardy’s main focus is on patient-centric data interoperability and to tackle this he founded Seqster, the leading healthcare technology company that has pioneered the ability to break down health data silos at scale.

Seqster’s enterprise operating system aggregates disparate health data sources into a single, 360-degree longitudinal patient record in real-time, solving a multitude of challenges for Life Sciences, Patient Engagement, and Data Interoperability.

Seqster has worked with global pharma and digital health leaders to transform healthcare to meet the rapidly growing and changing needs of patients and researchers. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

How health data can act as a medicine.
How new DNA sequencing technologies can identify different predispositions to cancer.
Why individuals need access and ownership of their health data.
Examples of patient lives that have been saved by Seqster.
Creating web applications that researchers can interface with.
The KPI’s Seqster tracks.
The future trends in health care and patient data.
The impact of Amazon and Walmart moving into healthcare.
The future vision for Seqster.

Resources:

Seqster
IBM Watson
Oura Ring
OpenAI

Connect with Ardy Arianpour:

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on Linktree

Quotables

2:32 - “Since the moment you’re born you have data on you even when you’re a fetus depending on what tests your Mom has and so that moment to the moment that you, unfortunately, pass away and leave this earth there’s a lot of data.”
7:05 - “Depending on the gene that was showing up within your genome you would have an 80 to 85 percent chance of developing, unfortunately, breast cancer so you can actually get treatment and get a mastectomy done to save your life and that testing led us to looking at how we can augment all the other data.”
14:58 - “When we founded Seqster we didn’t think Seqster was going to become law, just think about that. How many companies and how many founders have you spoken to that came up and created some sort of technology that became law, it’s incredible.”
21:50 - “Our team at Seqster actually saved my dad's life, it’s pretty amazing, and he dodged a bullet why and how, maybe the audience is thinking how did you guys save his life well if anyone knows anything about cancer every single minute counts.”
45:24 - “We didn’t have a business model and that’s why we’ve been able to build something that people like yourself and others just love and that’s because we built it with purpose and passion.”

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Steve Horsmon is an ex-student, ex-engineer, ex-program manager, ex-corporate educator, and ex-husband.

Steve was a self-proclaimed good guy his whole life and worked hard, made a decent living, and treated people kindly. He tried to please everyone in his path – especially the women in his life.

Steve thought this was the key to success, satisfaction, and happiness but realized he was wrong, he needed to be true to himself. He needed to be real, authentic, and honest and help others do the same.

Steve followed his belief and created his own coaching business, building an online community around the world of hundreds of men trying to improve their lives. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

How what works in relationships can translate to what works in business.
What it’s like building an online community from scratch.
How to bring people into a community.
The power of not being in a relationship.
How to assess people when interviewing them.
What to look for when hiring a leader.
The impact a leader can have on their business.
How to feel fulfilled at work.

Resources:

GoodGuys2GreatMen

Connect with Steve Horsmon:

Website

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on Linktree

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James Corbett is the Co-Founder of IMPaCT, an AI-powered, real-time CJIS-compliant, highly secure, role-based access information-sharing application designed to simplify and enhance law enforcement communication.

Jame is also the Co-Founder of Project Refit which is building tools and processes to combat isolation in the hopes of reducing suicide. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

The issues of law enforcement using consumer-based applications.
The pros and cons of the government using blockchain.
The impact community has on mental health and wellbeing.
The rise of hybrid living.
Landing customers in the Government space.
The network effect and how product strategy changes during periods of growth.
What it takes to be CJIS compliant.
The challenges of selling to law enforcement officers.
The way leaders should communicate with their employees.

Resources:

IMPaCT
Project Refit

Connect with James Corbett:

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on Linktree

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Mike Benson built and grew Warmup Inbox from the ground up, a product that is used by thousands of companies and was acquired by private equity for millions of dollars.

Following his successful exit, Mike now searches for gaps in markets that venture capitalists won’t touch and builds sustainable profitable businesses within them. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

The disadvantages of service-based sales models.
How to find new contacts.
How to stop your cold emails from getting marked as spam.
The challenges scaling with rapid growth brings.
How to know if your startup has potential.
Issues indie hackers often face.
What makes a successful startup.
The process of selling your startup.

Resources:

Lemlist
Warmup Inbox
Dabble Ventures
TransPerfect
Byron
Clearbit
Mailwarm
Calendly
CyberLeads
Mailstand
Scale AI
Jasper

Connect with Mike Benson:

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on Linktree

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Greg Fridman is the Founder and CEO of AAPlasma, an R&D firm focused on cold plasma. He is an entrepreneur and academic, as well as a creative problem solver, decisive team leader, and persuasive communicator.

Greg is a seasoned R&D director with strong team building, and technology integration skills, and has a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, with an interest in synthetic chemistry, plasma chemistry, catalysis, and plasma engineering.

Greg is also a principal investigator and Co-PI on multiple government and private grants with an overall budget exceeding $15M. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

What forever chemicals are used for and the problems they have.
How to reduce the harm fluorocarbons cause.
The challenges of replacing fluorocarbons.
How to filter forever chemicals out of water.
The difficulties of regenerating activated carbon.
The need for a new invention to replace fluorocarbons.
The issues with owning a new electric car.
How to get government funding as a tech startup.
The difference between venture capital and government funding.
What SBIR is and how you get funding through these programs.

Resources:

AAPlasma LLC
Government Contracting
Government Grants
NSF's Innovation Corps
SBIR
NextFab
Zephyro

Connect with Greg Fridman:

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on LinkTree

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Bill Morrow is a Managing Partner at Empirical Consulting Solutions and has extensive expertise in identifying hurdles preventing growth, aligning sales to the vision and goals of the company, and driving results through a clear strategic path.

Bill has over 20 years in sales leadership roles and has successfully turned around and achieved new revenue goals over 25 times. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

The origins of coworking and a few bits on WeWork.
Deploying capital during an uncertain market.
How to access portfolio companies of investment firms.
Different sales channels and which are the most effective.
How to do outbound sales in a way that resonates with your prospects.
The challenger sales model.
How to consult your way into new sales.
What is customer stratification.
Why your top customers might not be your best clients.
How to work out who your high-value customers are.

Resources:

Empirical Consulting Solutions
Regus
WeWork
The challenger sales model
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Connect with Bill Morrow:

Connecting with the host:

Cache Flow Twitter

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Chris Wink is the cofounder of Technically Media, a digital media company best known for its community of technology professionals Technical.ly, and local nonprofit and philanthropy news site Generocity.org.

Chris’s expertise is in storytelling and convening, with a special focus on workplace culture, employer brand and employee value proposition, and he closely follows economic and workforce trends and best practices. Here are a few of the topics we’ll discuss on this episode of Cache Flow:

The most important aspects of employer brand marketing.
New trends in the employer brand marketing space.
Different drawbacks of being a remote worker.
The decline of entrepreneurship in recent generations.
The power of storytelling for startups.
What startups need to succeed.
Journalist and influencer best practices.
The nature of social media platforms.

Resources:

Technical.ly - Generocity
McKinsey
Principles For Dealing With the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail
Curotec

Connect with Chris Wink:

Connecting with the host:

Brian Dainis on LinkedIn

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Welcome to the Cache Flow podcast. I’m the host Brian Dainis and on my show, I’ll be discussing go-to-market strategies and reverse engineering success stories within business, technology, and the SAAS industry.

Cache Flow: Recent Episodes

Brian Dainis