Follow Your Different
025 Courage to be Different w/ Vineet Jain, Founder/CEO Egnyte
How do you carve out a counter-intuitive niche and be successful at it? On today’s episode, Vineet Jain joins us for a discussion about how he charted a path different from every other tech person’s. He also shares how it all paid off, ten years later.
Swimming Upstream to Grow
Vineet has built a business that has seen nine consecutive quarters of records. They did this against a landscape of massive competitors who at one time looked like they might really threaten Egnyte. And to achieve this, they had to niche down.
“Indeed, this company of ours has grown in the big shadow being cast by some of the players who had a lot more funding.” – Vineet Jain
Financing Against the Trend
Year over year, Egnyte had a compounded growth rate of 30-35% and wasn’t raising much money. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter of 2016 that their cash flow turned positive. But Vineet knew that this wasn’t enough to keep the company afloat.
In August of 2018, he pitched that they raised financing. This was despite the general trend that tech companies observed. Sure enough, Vineet’s confident promise was met, and Goldman Sacks came into the picture.
Divine Luck and Difference
Egnyte had a size disadvantage against other companies in their category. They had a little over 600 employees, so they had to figure out how to play to this asymmetry. Ultimately, they decided to focus on their product and the economics of customer acquisition.
“You cannot pick a fight with an enemy who has picked your weapon of choice.” – Vineet Jain
Even with how they tried to show how they were different, they didn’t escape being lumped with 100 other vendors. But the confluence of two factors helped them rise: the expansion of the category they belonged to and the adoption curve becoming mainstream. With a product that fit the market at an interesting period, they got higher demand.
To hear more about how Vineet worked to build Egnyte to reach its pre-eminence and raised a $75M-funding round, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Vineet Jain is the CEO and co-founder of Egnyte.
Prior to Egnyte, Vineet founded and successfully built Valdero, a supply chain software solution provider, funded by KPCB, MDV and Trinity Ventures.
He has held a rich variety of senior operational positions at KPMG and Bechtel. He has 20 years of experience in building capital-efficient and nimble organizations. Vineet earned a BS in Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering and received an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Vineet Jain on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
024 Brand Activism: Christian Sarkar
Why is it so hard for these companies to do what is right and fair? On today’s episode, activist Christian Sarkar joins us. He talks about brand activism and why business leaders need to embrace social causes beyond making money.
Uncontrollable Capitalism
Christian says that we have reached a point where the government can no longer control capitalism. There simply isn’t a set of rules to regulate it. This is peak irony, given how guard rails were put up to prevent a repeat of the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression.
“We have created a culture of governance that is very weak and, by design, has no teeth.” – Christian Sarkar
We have the free market and companies have to play by set, agreed-upon norms. The problem, however, persists. Nobody is addressing the things that endanger not only the economy but the society at large.
Paying Attention to Society
Christian co-authored Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action with Philip Kotler. The book espouses brand activism, something that most companies forget about in their pursuit of capital gains. Capitalism doesn’t pay attention to society enough.
Everyone is so concerned about getting the stocks up, but nobody knows about the three major problems that even the government can’t solve. These include the environment, income inequality, and population control. Neglect these three altogether, and you spell the end of not just your business, but also of the world.
Adopting Brand Activism
It is certainly difficult to create a brand that can lobby for causes that could save the world one person at a time. They don’t teach you charity and social responsibility in a business school. Every time, it is all about maximizing shareholder value.
There are companies who appeal for government funds to protect themselves from the backlash of climate change. The catch is that they have highly contributed to it. It’s time that business leaders choose between stepping up or sitting by the window of this freight train in a collision course.
“This is the problem with market-driven capitalism—that’s just blindly following the pursuit of value extraction.” – Christian Sarkar
To hear more about progressive brand activism and its importance, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Christian Sarkar is a Consultant, Author, Entrepreneur, Publisher, Artist, and Activist. With Philip Kotler, he co-authored (“The Father of Modern Marketing) of the bestseller “Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action”. He is also the editor of The Marketing Journal.
Links:
Amazon – Brand Activism: From Purpose to Action
We hope you enjoyed Christian Sarkar on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
023 Sex & Intimacy w/ Allana Pratt
How does an orgasm relate to the birth of a planet? Intimacy expert Allana Pratt joins us on this special episode. The podcaster slash author shares how she unlocked her sexuality, why sex is sacred, and why our sexual energy is key to a life lived happily.
From Nerdy to Naughty
Allana hadn’t always been the naughty, confident woman that she’s now known for. She started off as the nerdy, insecure girl who always felt out of place. Eventually, she hopped on her uncle’s 18-wheeler semi from British Columbia to Los Angeles to follow her dreams.
She moved to the States and has been a dancer since she was five, doing jazz, ballet, tap, and theater. And instead of taking over their family’s pharmacy, she moved to Tokyo. On her very first show, 19-year-old Allana had to wear a G-string and fishnet tights—something she has never done before.
Coming to Terms with Sexuality
She ought to have enjoyed the experience of her first Tokyo show. But at the time, she hadn’t figured out the sacredness of sexuality just yet. And neither did she own the power of her radiance.
“I believe that our sexual energy is life force energy.” – Allana Pratt
To Allana, a person’s sexual energy is the same energy that spins the planet, blossoms a flower, and creates the birth of a child. And the energy of an orgasm? It’s the very same energy that births a planet.
Beyond the Bedroom
At the core of it, sexual energy is as pure as everything else that makes the world what it is. It’s the root of existence itself within our bodies. When people learn to let go of all judgment to sexuality, they also learn to feel a lot more authentic and safe.
Many of Allana’s clients come to her with shame or guilt, thinking they’re weird or broken because of their sexual desires or the way they choose to have contact. This, she says, is the very reason why she loves to be that safe space for people. When people drop into their bodies and do the work to forgive themselves, there starts to be a buzz that will flow through all aspects of their day-to-day.
“Yes, sometimes the ‘deliciousness’ has a ‘bow chika bow wow’ energy, like a real sexual energy when we think of sensuality in the bedroom. But sometimes, this delicious energy is tenderness, care, healing, patience, listening.” – Allana Pratt
To hear about more on intimacy and relationships and what it means to have Queen Energy, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Intimacy expert Allana Pratt inspires open-hearted living with delicious sass. Featured on CBS, TLC & FOX, this cum laude graduate of Columbia University is the author of 3 books. She’s a coach to celebrities and the host of the sexy empowering show “Intimate Conversations LIVE”.
After working with thousands of men and women who struggle to open their hearts again in the aftermath of a harsh breakup, Allana helps them learn how to date again and find lasting love.
She inspires women to embrace their sacred erotic nature to attract all the love and attention they can handle. She heals men’s emasculated hearts, cures their ‘nice guy’, and awakens their ‘noble badass’ so they can create hot, healthy intimate relationships.
Allana’s passionate devotion to helping men and women reclaim their joy, freedom and personal power is rooted in her own experience. Allana grew up insecure, ashamed of her body and afraid of men. She endured a brutal custody battle that threatened to compromise her joy, softness and feminine power.
Yet Allana sat in the fire embracing the experience as a spiritual teacher. She emerged more courageously vulnerable and radiantly loving than ever before.
Allana’s joy for life is contagious. She savors being a mother and pole dances for pleasure.
She challenges and inspires her clients to be unapologetically true to themselves and to bow in reverence to their exquisite spiritual and sexual nature.
Links:
AllanaPratt.com – Intimacy Expert for Men
We hope you enjoyed Allana Pratt on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
022 Legendary Marriage w/ Lance and Brandy Salazar
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On today’s special episode, we hear from a legendary married couple, Lance and Brandy Salazar. They co-authored Hal Elrod’s newest book, The Miracle Morning for Couples: Creating a legendary connection one morning at a time. They tell us about co-designing your life with your partner, coming back from the brink of divorce, and much more.
An Empty Sort of Happiness
Lance and Brandy’s married life was a lovely adventure before they had their kids. No one ever prepares enough for a life with young ones and that was when the kick-in happened for them. They had to provide for their growing family and keep “feeding the beast”.
With their priorities skewed, their mental fortitude deteriorated. They were overwhelmed and their marriage was falling apart. And the ultimate wake-up call to fix things was Brandy asking Lance to move out.
“We had all the great things that society told us apparently would buy us happiness or bring us happiness. And we had everything we needed and more… But our marriage sucked.” – Lance and Brandy Salazar
Defining Their Values
All these things led to a decision to design the life they wanted. In the process, they found out that they hadn’t defined their values. And so they sat down and mapped out all the things that they needed to achieve their dream life, and this included their home environment.
“It wasn’t until that designing part really came to fruition that we identified the fact that weren’t in the right town for us.” – Brandy Salazar
Having realized the environment as an important life aspect, it became a catalyst to define more of their values.
Byproducts of Life Design
Lance and Brandy realized the benefits of operating from a place where they knew their values and the things that bring them fulfillment and freedom. Once they defined the center of their world, everything else fell into place. And among these is their happy, healthier marriage.
To hear more about how Lance and Brandy created the relationship of their dreams, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Lance and Brandy Salazar are on a mission to help couples reconnect with each other and stay deeply in love while raising their daughters. They created “Legendary Couples with Kids” because they know firsthand how challenging it is to keep your marriage a priority while juggling careers and being parents.
They now know that it is possible to be more in love than ever before. Their story is common, but their method is not.
Four short years ago, they were nearly divorced. Having kids abruptly deprioritized their marriage, and they lacked deep intimacy and connection. They were disconnected, frustrated, unhappy, and they knew they weren’t modeling the marriage they wanted for their girls.
At the point of calling it quits, they made one last effort to save their relationship. This time, they tried something new. They took the best and most effective tools used by successful business and health coaches with proven positive psychology methods and applied these concepts to their marriage.
They stayed consistent with their commitments and made their vision a reality within a few short months. After almost 14 years of marriage and almost being divorced, they were now experiencing a remarkable level of connection, intimacy, and fun in their relationship.
Their results were so effective that they applied the same method and principles to their family and brought their daughters along on this journey with them.
So, in 2017 they quit their 20-year careers, sold their ‘dream home’, began homeschooling their daughters and have dedicated their efforts to this mission; helping Couples with Kids everywhere create the most amazing and Legendary relationships possible!
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Lance and Brandy Salazar on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
021 Q&A with Lochhead
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How do you know when to quit? Is there still a place for creative minds in the marketing industry? On today’s Q&A with Lochhead, Christopher answers these two questions sent by his listeners.
Category Leaders’ Share
Should you quit a company that’s starting to fail at the category king game? In writing Play Bigger, Christopher and his co-authors conducted a research project where they analyzed every venture-backed company found in Silicon Valley from 2000-2015. They tracked how these companies grew in value.
They looked into the data for an answer to an important question. What percentage of the market cap goes to the category leader? It turned out that the number was a whopping 76%.
Winner Takes All
In businesses today, there exists a winner takes all game. And you would want to be part of that company. It’s a bitter pill to swallow.
We learn so much by winning. There is also the halo effect that comes from being part of a legendary team, and these halos last forever. Christopher would know.
“The minute that you think your company can’t win the category king or queen game in your space, that’s when you need to start looking.” – Christopher Lochhead
When considering companies, you must also ask yourself these important questions: Can this company do product, company, and category design right? And can you make a contribution to that?
Creativity in Marketing
How about people who want to live off creative work in marketing? Is creativity still a fundamental asset in this landscape?
In business today, data and technicals are becoming increasingly important. Even so, creativity still comprises half the work in marketing, especially concerning new skills that companies require in new CMOs.
“Category design is now the number one skill that CEOs are looking for when they are recruiting new CMOs.” – Christopher Lochhead
To hear more about the role of creativity in the marketing landscape, download the listen to the episode.
Links:
Harvard Business Review Article – How Unicorns Grow
We hope you enjoyed this Q&A with Lochhead
020 Conversational Marketing, Category Design & More w/ David Cancel
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Why is it even more important now to focus on customers? Today, David Cancel joins his friend Christopher to talk about personal brands and authenticity. They also have an insightful discussion about designing a new category of conversational marketing.
Reputation Before Personal Brand
Everybody seems to be scrambling to become influencers these days. But too often, people fall for the false promises of contrived personal branding. They need to learn the distinction between a personal brand and reputation.
“A reputation starts with ‘carrying the water’, doing the work, producing the results… Becoming a person of substance that can be relied upon to produce results.” – Christopher Lochhead
With a reputation, people would turn to you and know you for your personal brand. But first, you need to have done something repeatedly you will be known for. And only then can you be authentic.
“You wanna learn from the athlete, you wanna learn from the entrepreneur, you wanna learn from whoever that has repeatedly done something—not that they did something one time.” – David Cancel
Big Changes, Infinite Supply
David built Drift with the idea that people have been taught to do certain things that no longer exist. He also had a career centered around the idea that companies have all the control over their offers.
But this setup has become obsolete with the infinite supply of everything in every category. In effect, the customer has a lot more options.
Designing a New Category
After reading Play Bigger, David realized the importance of category design in linking their company’s vision and desired results. They needed to drive back to people and customers. And so they designed a category around conversational marketing.
They aim to espouse the strategy of making customers feel special while delivering what they wanted.
“This is the larger change that we believe is gonna happen in the world, where the customer has control.” – David Cancel
To hear more about conversational marketing, chatbots, and category design from David, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
David Cancel is a serial entrepreneur, podcast host (Seeking Wisdom) and angel investor/advisor. He created hypergrowth companies, products and product teams at companies such as Drift.com, HubSpot, Performable, Ghostery and Compete.
David has been featured by media outlets such as The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Wired and Fast Company. David has also guest lectured on entrepreneurship at Harvard, Harvard Business School, MIT, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Bentley and other Universities.
His popular blog DavidCancel.com has been read by 1M+ entrepreneurs, and his Twitter account @dcancel has 180k followers and is considered a “Must-Follow” account for entrepreneurs, executives, and product people.
Links:
Website – Seeking Wisdom Podcast
iTunes – Seeking Wisdom Podcast
Amazon – Conversational Marketing
We hope you enjoyed David Cancel on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
019 Nice Guys Finish First w/ Matt Hanson
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Which should come first—lifestyle or career? On today’s episode, Matt Hanson shares the story of how he designed his life and business exactly the way he wanted. He also offers powerful insights into marriage, sales, relationships, and the joy of being a small e-entrepreneur.
Making Your Life Work
Matt made the decision as a young man to live the way he wanted. It was never easy, but his wife of 28 years has stayed by his side through every decision he made. This included committing to a life away from the city.
He didn’t want to live the way people did in the Bay Area. He also knew he wasn’t fit to be part of the rat race, so he headed to another direction. And now, he’s reaping the fruits of staying true to himself.
“The lifestyle certainly came first and figuring out a way to support the lifestyle kinda came second.” – Matt Hanson
Lifestyle First, Career Second
He then looked for ways to live by his lifestyle choice. Over time, he stumbled upon real estate, which has allowed him to continue his lifestyle while making a very good living. Matt says that this is the right way to approach life.
Matt likes walking into houses being built whenever he sees them. He also enjoyed the idea of houses and understanding whether they were designed right. And the more he saw, the more he learned just how unique each and every house is, in terms of layouts and proportions as well as marketability.
“Far and away, the majority of houses I walk into, I would never buy in a million years.” – Matt Hanson
Being Personal
Mike says that real estate, much like everything in life, is tougher than it looks. It is an emotional career choice. And Matt has figured out that sticking to formula wasn’t how he could stand out.
“I take the satisfaction, the closing, the fact that people are happy… I take it very personally.” – Matt Hanson
To hear more about why Matt’s mustache is a force to be reckoned with and how he found his voice in real estate, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Matt Hanson is a ski enthusiast, mountain lover, and realtor. His love for building houses came to be when he made the decision to move to Lake Tahoe. He was voted Realtor of the Year by his peers in North Lake Tahoe.
Links:
LinkedIn – Tahoe Truckee Homes
We hope you enjoyed Matt Hanson on this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
018 Super Bowl Special with Brian Berger
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On today’s episode, Christopher talks Super Bowl with Brian Berger. The founder and host of Sports Business Radio
Behind-The-Scene Stories
Brian has worked with a lot of people who make the sports world go behind the scenes. They have a story to share. And so he started the podcast.
“Everyone was interviewing players and coaches, but no one would talk to the business people behind the scenes—owners, agents, front office executives.” – Brian Berger
After 15 years, they have brought a unique perspective to listeners. They get firsthand information from the people who live and breathe sports business. People often assume that they talk stock prices and deals, but they’re not that complicated at all.
“It really is more about, ‘Why did people make certain decisions that they made, how did they find their path to success?’ We keep it ‘simple stupid’, as they say.” – Brian Berger
Dealing with PR
On top of being a podcaster, Brian has also been a long-time PR executive. He knows what it’s like to be the person to deliver a guest to a show and to deal with PR people who are hit-and-miss. So, to help better the industry, he started Sports PR Summit.
“I like building relationships with the people that I have on my show as guest and I’d rather deal with them directly… But sometimes a PR person can add some elements that I may not have thought of.” – Brian Berger
And if you’re lucky, an exceptional PR
Super Bowl Predictions
The highest-rated Super Bowl was in 2015, with 114 million watchers. Even though there are top media markets involved in this year’s Bowl, Brian thinks there won’t be the same outcome.
To hear more about Brian’s podcasting and Super Bowl facts and figures, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
with Brian Berger
Brian Berger is the host and founder of Sports Business Radio. Since the show’s launch in 2004, Berger has gone one-on-one with high-ranking sports executives such as former NBA Commissioner David Stern, Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, NCAA President Mark Emmert, Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley and 2-time NBA MVP Steve Nash.
Berger is also the Founder/CEO of the Sports PR Summit, an annual event that brings together Senior PR executives from the pro and collegiate sports ranks as well as from top sports corporations, media members and athletes for panel discussions and valuable networking opportunities.
Media members and athletes share candid insight about the best ways for PR executives to work most effectively with them. The event allows for all attendees to leave with a better understanding of the evolving communications issues and challenges we are facing in the sports industry.
Sports PR Summit speakers have included NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star Isaiah Thomas, WNBA star Lisa Leslie and ESPN journalists Tom Rinaldi and Jeremy Schaap. former NFL quarterback Michael Vick, New York Knicks Head Coach David Fizdale and ESPN’s Jemele Hill.
Berger received a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications/Broadcasting with a minor in Berger has been named to Forbes.com’s list of Top 50 sports follows on social media in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 (@SBRadio) and the award-winning Sports Business Radio podcast is regularly ranked in the Top 100 of the Business News section on iTunes.
Cynopsis Media named the Sports Business Radio podcast “Best Podcast” of 2018.
Links:
We hope you enjoyed Brian Berger in this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
017 WTF?! Willing to Fail: 1-800-Got-Junk Founder Brian Scudamore
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Today, Brian Scudamore talks about perseverance and why failures are so legendary. The founder of 1800-GOT-JUNK
Professionalizing Junk Removal
When 1-800-GOT-JUNK? took off, the general reaction of other people is asking why they didn’t think of it first when it was such a simple concept. But it was, in fact, difficult to execute, and Brian saw a gap within the space.
Nobody had professionalized junk removal. So they set out to build the business and added uniforms and friendliness into what they do. All these efforts have changed the game for the junk space.
Differentiating the Brand
1-800-GOT-JUNK? has had various slogans that capture their very essence, like “We’ll stash your trash in a flash” and “FedEx of junk removal.” They wanted to be identified as a brand that everyone would know about.
“We were trying to give people a sense of what is it that we’re really trying to create. We’re differentiating ourselves.” – Brian Scudamore
They also had a headline about their junk removal process, previously comprised of three steps. At present, this process is simply, “You point, junk disappears.” It’s like magic, and people have become so familiar with this process that whenever truckies show up, customers will just start pointing to their trash, mocking the brand in a fun way.
Willing to Fail?!
From an outsider’s perspective, Brian might have gotten lucky because they were the first to have thought of making junk removal a business. But before its legendary takeoff, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? took eight years to reach a million in revenue.
If anything, it’s slow growth, but because of the momentum and their sheer perseverance, the business became a success. They failed and failed, but Brian has never wanted to be someone who wins easily.
“To me, failure needs to be my best friend in order for me to grow as a person, to be better as a leader, to inspire others in our business to live their best life.” – Brian Scudamore
To hear more about how Brian launched his business to new heights by being willing to fail, download and listen to the episode.
Bio:
Brian Scudamore has always taken the road less traveled.
At nineteen, he pioneered the industry of professional junk removal with 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, turning a chore people avoid into an exceptional customer service experience.
He then scaled that success into three more home-service brands, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, You Move Me, and Shack Shine.
Brian’s “Willing to Fail” philosophy stems from his belief in the power of dreaming big, taking risks, and learning from mistakes.
Through franchising, he’s giving thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to live their dreams of business ownership.
Links:
Amazon – WTF?! (Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success
We hope you enjoyed Brian Scudamore in this episode of Follow Your Different™! Christopher loves hearing from his listeners. Feel free to email him, connect on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and subscribe on iTunes!
