From Fake Leads to Firm Ethics: Rebuilding Trust w/ Jerry Van Vort VP of CS @WUWTA

We trace how a CS leader uncovered a flood of fake leads, rebuilt guardrails under investor pressure, and chose ethics over easy money—then connect those lessons to hiring, tooling, and scaling without losing the plot. The stories move from legal lead ops to cannabis lab testing, all through the lens of trust and customer value.

• discovering affiliate-driven fake leads and broken credit policies
• installing KPIs, tools, and training in a headless CS org
• pushing product safeguards and partner governance
• choosing quality over quantity and pricing for value
• handling escalations, lawsuits threats, and investor pressure
• ethics under fire: refusing a $20,000 bribe
• hypergrowth pitfalls: five CEOs in five years
• asking sharper questions before taking a role
• proactive learning and problem-led improvement

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🎙️ Guest: Jerry Van Vort
 📣 Find Jerry:
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerryjv/ 

🔥 Topics Covered:
 🟣 Lessons from transitioning careers: from winemaking 🍷 to cannabis 🌱 to SaaS
 🟣 Why quality over quantity matters in customer delivery
 🟣 How ethics under pressure (like refusing a $20k bribe) builds long-term trust
 🟣 The chaos of hyper-growth: scaling from 12 → 150 employees in 12 months
 🟣 Surviving 5 CEOs in 5 years and what that taught about leadership resilience
 🟣 Why interviewing a company is just as important as them interviewing you
 🟣 The three questions Jerry always asks before joining a new company
 🟣 The importance of structure: KPIs, compensation fairness, and bringing in outside talent

🌐 Website
https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/

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🎙️ Be a Guest on the Podcast
Have a CS horror story or digital-first strategy worth sharing? Submit to be a guest:https://www.joedoestechtouch.com/podcast

🔗 Connect with Joe on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephdigrande

📺 Watch Full Episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaH58ojbaWym4ej_PedQ4Fw

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