The G&T Sessions

Today’s episode of The G&T Sessions, we are pleased to have as our guest, Duena Blomstrom, Duena is the author of “Emotional Banking”, “People Before Tech: The Importance of Psychological Safety and Teamwork in the Digital Age” and the upcoming book “Tech-Led Culture”. Duena is the creator of the "Emotional Banking" and “Human Debt” concepts and is advising the world’s top executives and companies on their people strategy. She is an international keynote speaker, top technology influencer with over 250,000 followers and 122,000 subscribers, and the co-founder of PeopleNotTech, a company offering a human work platform that increases the Psychological Safety, EQ and Well-being of Teams. A lively episode, where we cover a wider range of topic including a very important topic today, Human Debt [rather than Technical debt] and the ways that organisations can wake up to addressing this growing challenge across their people teams. If you are wanting to know more about this topic, then Duena is a fountain of knowledge and so hope you enjoy the episode! Links are here People & Tech Podcast https://peopleandtech.transistor.fm/  Secret Society of HumanWork Advocates https://secretsocietyofhumanwork.transistor.fm/  TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@duena_blomstrom  YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@duenablomstromofficial  Read more weekly and subscribe on LinkedIn or duenablomstrom.com Pre-order or grab the #TechLedCulture book out in all major outfits in October For speaking engagements, to be part of the upcoming global book tour and for paid appearances and media interviews contact pr@techledculture.com To lower your HumanDebt and get closer to a healthy Tech Led Culture go to www.peoplenottech.com

Today’s episode of The G&T Sessions, we are very pleased to be joined by Sam Beni, Co-Founder & CEO of Platin. Sam is a technology futurist aiming to simplify the complex, he has a deep passion for emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI). He coined the term “Complex AI” and is a subject matter expert and international speaker in this field which became recognised through his TEDx talk. He has an extensive background in cutting-edge technology firms and previously co-founded multiple deep tech scale-ups and has successfully exited as a founder. Sam previously led the Tech Nation’s Innovation function, including the Applied AI growth programme, part of the UK Government’s AI and Data Sector Deal created to support the UK’s most promising founders. Sam is now on a new mission to enable human augmentation through AI for professionals globally with Platin. Sam Beni is a passionate advocate for the power of technology to change the world for the better. His TEDx talk has been featured on the TED website, and he is a frequent speaker at industry events such as CogX, AI Summit et al. Great episode with Sam covering his journey from his roots born outside the UK, and now firmly establishing himself as a person to know in the UK and Global Technology industry. Enjoy !!! Links:  TEDx Talk :https://www.ted.com/talks/sam_beni_why_should_complex_ai_decide_for_you Website for signing up for Platin waiting list: www.joinplatin.ai Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-beni

Today’s “special” episode of The G&T Sessions, we are not only pleased to have one but two guests. Joining us today is Niki Davies and Jonathan [Jonny] Clark. Niki is the Director and Head of Marketing for Software Cornwall. She drives growth and innovation in Cornwall's tech and digital sectors. With over a decade of marketing experience, she helped to propel multi-award-winning clean tech startup verv to international acclaim, raising £2M+ in crowdfunding, winning 9 awards, and scaling from seed to Series A. She is passionate about sustainable change and committed to tech-driven progress that leaves a positive impact. Jonny began his career in economic development at Liverpool City Region LEP, working on business growth programmes, research and policy around digital transformation in the manufacturing sector. He then ran 'Activate', a flagship ERDF-funded project and grant fund tailored towards scaling early stage digital, creative and technology businesses. Following this, he embarked on a consulting career - supporting prestigious big brands' innovation and venturing efforts and coaching startup founders - whilst he co-founded and grew GDPR Defender, a legal knowledge tool that supports SME data privacy compliance. Jonny has made several angel investments (including a number of 'Tech Nation Rising Stars' winners) and holds a number of advisory and non-executive roles across enterprise and the public sector that advocate for startups - including as co-founder of the acclaimed 'Baltic Ventures' accelerator in Liverpool and the Organiser of Liverpool Slush'D. We came together today to discuss the 1st time that Slush’D is coming from Helsinki Finland where it was founded many years ago as SLUSH, and now coming to the UK for a dual centre event in Newquay, Cornwall and Liverpool on the same day. Great episode and for any budding Entrepreneurs and Founders who want to get involved we are sharing multiple links below of how you can get involved. Personally, I have been asked by Startup Cornwall, run by Software Cornwall as an Advisory Board member to support the review of the Startup Pitch competition we are running in September at the event. Enjoy the episode talking about how Tech businesses and Founders are being supported and developed outside London and expanding the footprint across new locations and giving access to people across the UK. Enjoy !!! Startup Cornwall Links and team Software Cornwall  https://www.linkedin.com/company/software-cornwall Tech South West  https://www.linkedin.com/company/tech-south-west/ Cornwall TI  https://www.linkedin.com/company/cornwallti/ Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Growth Hub  https://www.linkedin.com/company/cornwall-and-isles-of-scilly-growthandskills-hub/  Digital Plymouth  https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-plymouth/ Digital Somerset  https://www.linkedin.com/company/digital-somerset/ Tech Exeter https://www.linkedin.com/company/tech-exeter/ Silicon South  https://www.linkedin.com/company/silicon-south/ techSPARK  https://www.linkedin.com/company/techspark-uk/  Cornwall Chamber of Commerce  https://www.linkedin.com/company/cornwall-chamber-of-commerce/  Liverpool Slush’D Links with Partners @Liverpool Slush'D  @Tuesday Media  @Growth Platform  @KPMG  @Baltic Ventures  @Gather @UKTN  @LCR Angel Network  Startup Cornwall Advisory board:  Ben Cooper Allyson Glover Ananya Banerjee Startup Cornwall Core Team:  Holly Patton Garry Hunt Sara Tipler Robert Wiltshire Kayley Lawry 

Today’s episode of The G&T Sessions Podcast, we are very pleased to be joined by Sunil Menon. Sunil is a Hyderabad-based software engineer who seven years ago took a huge risk and changed careers from a Senior Developer at Microsoft to setting up his own business. Sunil Menon’s journey is nothing short of an inspiring story. Sunil was the first race director of Airtel Hyderabad Marathon from 2011-2012. He completed IRONMAN South Africa in 2014, ran the prestigious Boston Marathon in 3:05 minutes and represented Telangana in National Games for Olympic triathlon distance in 2015. An ex-reality show contestant, Sunil is the only IRONMAN-certified coach from Hyderabad. He now works as a full-time marathon, triathlon and life coach at his own company Menon Fitness Systems,. Sunil has authored two best selling books, namely Fuel your Body Naturally and released Breathe Better, Live Better in May 2023. Awesome episode for everyone who wants to up their game on health and fitness and learn how to learn from the best in the world. See you in India soon Sunil and thanks for coming on the show. Enjoy ! Breathe Better, Live Better, May 2023 Paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5DQ9F36  Kindle https://www.amazon.in/Breathe-Better-Power-Conscious-Breathing-ebook/dp/B0C69SN7TS  Kobo https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/breathe-better-live-better-the-power-of-conscious-breathing  Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Sunil_Menon_Breathe_Better_Live_Better_The_Power_o?id=DjrCEAAAQBAJ&pli=1  Fuel Your Body Naturally with Dr Samta Mahajan & Sunil Menon, April 2021 Paperback https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5DQ9F36  Kindle https://www.amazon.in/Fuel-your-Body-Naturally-Long-lasting-ebook/dp/B091QDLMWZ  Kobo https://www.kobo.com/in/en/ebook/fuel-your-body-naturally  Google Play https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Dr_Samta_Mahajan_Sunil_Menon_Fuel_your_Body_Natura?id=D0snEAAAQBAJ  Links www.menon.fitness https://www.linkedin.com/in/menonfitnesssystems/ https://www.facebook.com/desisuperman https://www.facebook.com/MenonFitness/ https://www.youtube.com/c/MenonFitnessSystems https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1392907630 https://open.spotify.com/show/0v195zsojHhoCqWTz01Gue Twitter/X: @menonfitness Instagram: @menonfitness

Today’s episode of The G&T Sessions, we are very pleased to be joined by John Watton. This episode has been in the mix for a long time so great to finally have John as a guest and for him to share his amazing journey working across multiple businesses and crafting his superpowers on B2B Marketing. John leads EMEA marketing for VMware, the multi-cloud services company, and has spent the past 25 years creating, innovating and scaling B2B marketing and previously Technical sales in technology companies of all sizes including Oracle, SAP, Adobe, Microsoft, Yext and ShipServ. When not working he can be found enjoying great coffee, fiddling with synthesisers or listening to electronic music. A very valuable episode for everyone wanting to know more about what’s happening today and what you should think about for B2B Marketing if you are a fellow CMO, Head of Marketing or Founder, Co-Founder or even VP Sales / Chief Revenue Officer. Enjoy !!! Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnwatton/

Today’s episode of The G&T Sessions we are honoured to have not one but two guests. Our first guest is Aaron Spradlin, the Chief Information Officer of United Planners. He joined United Planners in 2007, with 15+ years of broad based financial services industry experience including compliance and IT. Prior to joining United Planners, Aaron has been a sought after industry consultant as well as being a Director at Charles Schwab and Business Analyst for AIG.  Our second guest is Mike Hallett, the CEO of Cleverdome, a leader in growth acceleration, establishing global presence to rapid expansion and eventual acquisition of software based businesses. In addition, he has significant global board and advisory experience. Mike’s senior management experience includes Honeywell, Oracle, Siebel, Kintana, and CollabNet, and most recently he co-founded a company within the Tata Communications Innovation investment business. We covered in this episode a hot topic related to recent SEC focus on Cyber incidents and how Aaron and his work with Mike at Cleverdome has put in place an innovative way to protect and scale the United planners business. Very insightful for regulated businesses who want to manage risk at scale as this phenomenon is not going away any time soon. Links Https://www.unitedplanners.com  https://www.cleverdome.com  Aaron’s LinkedIn  https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-spradlin-42407a24/  Mike’s LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hallett-387237/ 

Today’s episode of The G&T Sessions, we are pleased to have Ben Murray as our guest. Ben is a corporate finance executive with over twenty-five years of public and private company experience in finance and operations in the software and airline industries. Throughout his roles, he has demonstrated the ability to link the key drivers between finance and operations to drive corporate transparency, margin improvement, and real time fact-based decision making.   Ben has been a SaaS CFO for the past nine years and helps SaaS founders and investors with strategic finance. He writes about all things SaaS finance and metrics at TheSaaSCFO.com, TheSaaSAcademy.com. He has an MBA from the University of Iowa and holds an active CPA license. Great episode for all Founders and Leaders who want to know what to do and by when in terms of embracing Finance for your business, now particularly important given all the jargon and also demands from investors and stakeholders. Enjoy !! Links https://www.thesaascfo.com htttps://www.thesaasacademy.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrmurray/

Chenoa Farnsworth is the managing partner of Blue Startups, a top 20 U.S. Accelerator (Techcrunch), based in Honolulu, Hawaii.  To date, Blue Startups has invested in 110 companies which have gone on to raise $500 million in venture capital. She also manages the Hawaii Angels investment network, which has invested over $60 million in over 100 startup companies. In 2010 she founded Hi Impact, a Hawaii-based impact investment organization which led to the establishment of the Impact HUB Honolulu in 2012, a co-working space dedicated to social entrepreneurs.  In 2006, she co-founded Kolohala Ventures, a Hawai‘i-based venture capital firm that invested $50 million into Hawai‘i-based technology start-ups. Prior to that she provided strategy development and business planning consultation for start-up companies and high-growth businesses through her company Farnsworth Consulting. Farnsworth has served the community as chair of the Women’s Fund of Hawai‘i, director of the Hawaii Venture Capital Association, director of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Hawaii, director of the Impact HUB Honolulu, and judge for the University of Hawai‘i business plan competition. Farnsworth earned a BA in political science from the University of California at Santa Cruz and an executive MBA from the University of Hawai‘i. Amazing episode with Chenoa, her business partner is Henk Rogers, who Founded Tetris and so we discuss the recent Apple TV Film called Tetris besides Chenoa sharing some absolute golden nuggets for Startup Founders. Enjoy ! Links:  www.bluestartups.com  https://www.linkedin.com/in/chenoafarnsworth/

Philip Nordenfelt is an entrepreneur with tech and AI focus, born in Sweden and professionally hardened in Amsterdam and across the world. He specialises in taking AI-oriented companies from idea to revenue. His current mission is building Cytely.io - a life sciences microscopy SaaS company with the mission to significantly reduce time and resources necessary for significant breakthroughs in medicine development and academic research. This was a long awaited episode and boy oh boy was it worth the wait. We covered a lot of topics including Philips evolution at work, working in Kuwait, moving back to Sweden and even his time in Latin America experiencing things that has given him clarity on his life and mission. Really great episode and hope you enjoy! Links  Life Sciences SAAS where Philip is CEO https://cytely.io  A side project with AI based automatic routing of invoices https://invoicealpha.ai -  Contact Philip here https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipnordenfelt/ 

Theo Priestley is a globally recognised and sought after futurist and international speaker, author, and authority on the future of business, technology and society focusing on the convergence of emerging trends, including Web3, Metaverse and Artificial Intelligence.  He is widely known and sought after for his forthright views on the negative impacts of technology on society and currently works to inform political and business leaders of the risks and benefits of adoption. Theo has been listed as a Top 100 global technology influencer and thought leader on the Internet of Things (IOT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Fintech multiple years in a row. Priestley has worked with some of the biggest names in tech and business including SAP, Siemens, Bosch, Software AG, AON, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise - consulting, speaking for, and advising on strategic foresight, and emerging technologies. He has mentored for a number of startup accelerators including the HTC ViveX VR incubator and Alchemist, one of Silicon Valley's Top 10, and gives guest lectures at Universities. He has published more than 300 articles on topics including Web3, Artificial Intelligence, Space, Blockchain, Metaverse, and Mixed Reality, for Forbes, the European, WIRED, Huffington Post, and more. He has also contributed op-eds to VentureBeat, GigaOM, and The Times Raconteur, and has been interviewed for radio and national television news on technology trends. He authored the book, The Future Starts Now, published internationally through Bloomsbury. An energetic, informative, and polished speaker, he has engaged groups ranging from 20-2000 on emerging technology trends and their impact on society and business, and featured talks have taken place globally at conferences, corporate events, meet ups, webinars, and innovation boot camps. www.theopriestley.com