Unlearn

Have you ever wondered why so many people fail to land their dream job after attending a boot camp or taking an online course? In this episode of Unlearn Podcast, Barry O'Reilly chats with Sarah Doody, a UX researcher and designer, and the founder and CEO of the Career Strategy Lab, a program that helps UX and product professionals at all career stages navigate the job search and articulate their skills and experience to help them grow. Sarah talks about her journey of designing her career and helping others do the same. She and Barry discuss the need for ongoing career development, the importance of setting boundaries, and why systems and design thinking is important in building a successful business and career. Designing Your Career “When I think back, I realized that I've always been designing my career,” Sarah remarks. She describes herself as a systems thinker who can spot problems and opportunities in sales, marketing, product, and engineering. However, her multi-talented nature often meant people didn't know what to do with her, and she had to design her own roles at different startups. Barry recalls how when he joined ThoughtWorks in 2010, only engineers were considered essential, and designers were struggling to find a place. He comments that the talent to design from experience to prototype is a core skill, and one of the main reasons his former colleague went on to become CEO of Thoughtworks. “When I think of design, it's not like just designing products, it's designing processes,” Barry comments. “It's designing onboarding experiences for people, …to know what the needs are, and then to create a solution that creates this great experience.”  The Career Strategy Lab Sarah shares her journey from UX consulting to building her education business, Career Strategy Lab, which helps job seekers and professionals find purpose, reward, and recognition in their careers. She describes the evolution of the lab, from creating online classes and in-person workshops to running a six-month career incubator. “We go through creating all kinds of the assets you need for your job search,” she tells Barry. “It's a joy to watch,” Barry remarks, “but also to see the results, creating social mobility for all these people, helping them figure out what they actually want to do and enjoy, and then actually creating better opportunities for them. It's tangible. Not many people get to build products where they really can see how they're helping their users.” Looking Ahead Sarah’s new podcast, Career Strategy Podcast, is a strategic marketing move for her business. She plans to repurpose the podcast content to create social media content and she has designed a system to make this happen. She also talks about her upcoming book with Rosenfeld, The Product of You, and how she plans to use the podcast interviews as content for the book. A special message to listeners Nobody Studios is a new venture studio, co-founded by Barry, with the purpose of derisking pre-seed stage business ideas. Our goal is to create 100 compelling companies in the next five years. We believe we can achieve this by minimizing the time, speed, and capital required to validate truly repeatable and scalable business models before any significant venture investment. We're excited about radically changing how companies are built and funded, and even democratizing wealth creation. If you share our passion and want to contribute your talent, capital, or influence, we would love to hear from you! Contact us at: Nobody Studios | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest  Find full show notes at BarryO'Reilly.com Resources Sarah Doody on LinkedIn Career Strategy Lab | Career Strategy Podcast The Product of You

On this episode of Unlearn Podcast, Barry O'Reilly hosts Anurag Gupta, founder and CEO of Shoreline, a product that helps reliability engineers reduce the “heavy lifting of dealing with incidents” so they can focus on improving their systems. Anurag is a notable leader in the reliability space: his experience includes joining Oracle in its infancy, and over seven years at AWS, where he ran their analytics and relational database services. In this episode, he explores the importance of embracing failure, creating a blameless culture, and sharing knowledge to build more reliable and resilient systems. The power of a clear vision There is power in having a clear vision of what you want to become in life, Anurag believes. He shares how he sat down and imagined what people would say about him after he died, which helped him define his personal story arc. He knew he wanted to start his own company but recognized he needed to learn how to do it first. He joined a startup, traded his skills at Oracle, and eventually landed at AWS, where he helped build successful products like Aurora and Redshift. Barry remarks, "If you want something to come to life and create it, you have to envisage it." Anurag adds, “I believe that if you really know what you want, the universe kind of bends its way to help you get it. …If I want something real, I think the world will bend in my favor.” A community for engineers Innovators who are exploring novel ideas often create communities of like-minded persons. Barry asks Anurag about Reliability.org, the community Anurag created. Reliability.org is a nonprofit community for engineers who want to learn how to build and operate highly reliable systems, Anurag responds. Unlearning is about getting past your own experience and biases to learn from others who have walked different paths from yourself but have shared goals, he says. Thus, Reliability.org is a community created for engineers who want to learn from and debate with one another. Anurag believes that building highly reliable systems is still a black art, and engineers should embrace learning from those who have first hand experience. Looking ahead Anurag is excited about building something ubiquitous with Shoreline, where if “anyone anywhere has fixed a problem, everyone everywhere gets the benefit”. He is willing it into existence with Reliability.org. A special message to listeners Nobody Studios is a new venture studio, co-founded by Barry, with the purpose of derisking pre-seed stage business ideas. Our goal is to create 100 compelling companies in the next five years. We believe we can achieve this by minimizing the time, speed, and capital required to validate truly repeatable and scalable business models before any significant venture investment. We're excited about radically changing how companies are built and funded, and even democratizing wealth creation. If you share our passion and want to contribute your talent, capital, or influence, we would love to hear from you! Contact us at: Nobody Studios | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Pinterest  For full show notes, please visit BarryO'Reilly.com Resources Anurag Gupta on LinkedIn Shoreline Reliability.org

Accountability is a buzzword in business, but is the traditional notion of assigning ownership to a single individual the most effective approach? In this episode of the Unlearn Podcast, Barry O'Reilly is joined by Kate Tarling, author of The Service Organization: How To Deliver and Lead Successful Services, Sustainably. Kate is the founder of a services company and a service leader and designer who has made a significant impact in public and private organizations, especially in the UK Government. Kate shares her experiences in creating high-performing services and teams and establishing accountability in large organizations. Kate and Barry discuss the challenges of getting different teams to work together effectively and the importance of intentional effort and investment to create end-to-end services and improve the customer experience.  Great customer experiences Creating great services is a better way to market products than relying on promotions and discounts. Kate says of the pivotal moment she realized this: “... if we just design this to work really well, if people love using it, then I feel like that is a way into marketing rather than having to offer promotions.” Her varied career experiences - in roles from operations to marketing to product - led her to realize the connecting thread in her work was a focus on service ownership and design. She tells Barry that she was working in service ownership before she even knew it was a thing. Lessons learned from Lean Startup Weekend Kate shares her experiences from a Lean Startup Weekend over a decade ago, where she worked on designing a solution for care homes. This was an example of a high-performing team coming together to iterate toward success using a user-centered design process. While this process is useful for designing products and services from scratch, Kate found that scaling this process to larger organizations presented a different set of challenges. She began to capture the questions and challenges faced when applying these principles to organizations, such as the way governance and decision-making structures work, the flow of money through the organization, and team structures. Principles and techniques of creating successful teams  In large organizations with multiple teams, it is essential to have a sense of what brings them together and a clear understanding of what they are moving towards. Kate and Barry discuss how to create successful teams in large organizations, particularly those aiming to demonstrate new, modern, agile ways of working. Kate emphasizes the importance of having a clear sense of what is being aimed for, not in terms of target states, but a clear strategy and performance indicators. She says, "Having a sense of what you're aiming for, not so much a target state, but a set of ideas or some performance indicators or something can help, but it really takes everybody to know what that is." She stresses that everyone must work together for the good of what they are driving at, rather than just focusing on their individual roles, profession or teams. Democratizing wealth creation through Nobody Studios Barry O'Reilly shares his excitement about co-founding Nobody Studios, a venture studio that aims to rapidly create new companies and derisk pre-seed stage business ideas. The studio's goal is to start 100 companies over the next five years and democratize wealth creation and distribution. Barry invites those interested in changing the way work is done and products are created to get involved in Nobody Studios. Read full show notes at BarryO'Reilly.com Resources Kate Tarling on LinkedIn The Service Organization: How To Deliver and Lead Successful Services, Sustainably

“Joining a startup is irrational for most people. Launching a venture studio to build a hundred startups is totally irrational to pretty much everybody,” Barry O’Reilly remarks. “You've got two sticks, you rubbed them together, and you're telling people that this is going to turn into a 500-story skyscraper."  On this show, Barry celebrates this 100th episode of the Unlearn Podcast with Mark McNally, co-founder of Nobody Studios. Mark, who has started 14 companies in his career, shares that what sets Nobody Studios apart is its purpose-driven Why, which is to give people agency and create something bigger than themselves that will outlast them.  Together, they reflect on the last two years of building their venture studio, Nobody Studios, the importance of diversity, and how this journey has been a transformational personal development experience. This shows dives into their vision for creating a vehicle that brings together ideas, resources, and dreams to impact the world beyond their own lifetimes. Absorb Everything It’s important to be open to learning and stretching yourself. With Nobody Studios' board set of ventures, Barry and Mark have been exposed to different perspectives, which has helped them learn and grow. “I can say without a doubt I've learned more in the last three years than I have in my entire career and my entire life. It's just the diversity and the creativity and people who join a call… I come out of that 1-hour call, and it's like I got a piece of their brilliance, a piece of their perspective, and it's stretching me,” Mark comments. Barry says that he has been transformed by listening to the stories and experiences of different entrepreneurs. They encourage listeners to be like a sponge and absorb everything that is exposed to them. "While you have a strategy and you have plans, at the same time, we're a learning, breathing thing. You just want to be a sponge, and you want to just inherit and absorb the things that you’re exposed to," Mark says. Success and Scars are Equally Valuable “When you're doing things for the right reason,” Mark tells Barry, “and there's some informed lessons and scars along the way, things tend to play out the way you hope, your truth. I think our truth is resonating.” Building a globally distributed venture studio during the pandemic was a risky move. Mark and Barry credit the role of serendipity in their journey. Exciting Times Ahead The future is bright for Nobody Studios, and they are excited for what is to come. The business is still in its infancy, so they have a long way to go. Even when they have unlimited financial resources available to them, they plan to continue to make constraints one of the things that force them to get things right. In order to grow, they have to transition from doing everything to finding the right talent and systems. Making key hires to mature the organization and build the foundation is crucial. The flywheel is picking up momentum, which is a fascinating transition for any business. The Sky's the Limit Nobody Studios has twelve companies moving, with a few already in the market and eight more to come this year. They are well on their way, and the potential ahead is unlimited. The journey of Nobody Studios has been one of the most rewarding of Barry's life. He and Mark are excited about the road ahead, and this 100th episode is another great moment to reflect on the twists and turns of the journey. They are having fun, and they look forward to continuing building together. Go to Barry O'Reilly for full show notes. Resources Mark McNally on LinkedIn Nobody Studios Nobody Studios Equity Crowdfunding on Republic

Pascal Finette is a well-respected entrepreneur and innovation expert with a wealth of knowledge and insights to share about achieving success in the business world. Having led entrepreneurship and open innovation tracks at Singularity University, Pascal is an experienced mentor and coach with a focus on amplifying positive change in the world. He is an advocate for finding companies with a greater purpose and mission, and emphasizes the importance of taking risks and being open to new opportunities. Pascal has also recently released a book, Disruption: How to Decode the Future, Disrupt Your Industry, and Transform Your Business, which shares his insights on innovation and navigating disruption in the business world. Pascal provides insights into the mindset and experiences of a successful entrepreneur and innovator. In this episode of the Unlearn Podcast, host Barry O’Reilly converses with Pascal Finette about the importance of purpose, community, and an innovative, risk-taking spirit. He shares his story as he encourages listeners to follow their intuition and take action. Following Your Intellectual Curiosity Rather than being guided by a clear plan or strategy, Pascal relied on his gut feeling to guide him towards interesting opportunities. While his resume looks impressive in hindsight, he acknowledges that in the moment, his decisions never seemed to make any sense. By being willing to say yes to opportunities that presented themselves, he was able to forge a unique path that ultimately led to success. This eagerness to take risks and try new things is an important trait for anyone looking to innovate and create change in their personal or professional life. As Pascal puts it, "if it doesn't work out, it's fine.” Open Innovation Open innovation is about creating a community of people, including customers and collaborators, for the purpose of building something together. This is based on the principles of how communities work together, such as how the Amish build a church or a building. The idea is to apply these principles to the world of business to create something greater than what one organization or team could create on their own. Companies like Mozilla have made their code open source, inviting people to contribute to make it better for the benefit of everyone. In its heyday, something like 40% of Firefox’s code was written by volunteers, Pascal points out. be radical be radical is a company that helps individuals and organizations discover what matters for their future and how they can go and transform. Pascal was inspired to start this company while working at Singularity University where he helped people see the future differently, particularly when it comes to technology. Pascal found that there was an interesting gap between people seeing what could be and not knowing what to do about it. He wanted to help people build a future they could see. Looking Ahead Pascal is looking forward to the changes that AI will bring to the way we think about information retrieval, especially in terms of crafting better questions rather than just seeking answers. He believes that we are at a pivotal moment where the systems that define the web will change dramatically, and the way we think about browsers, searching, and information retrieval will change. Pascal is excited to see how people will make use of these changes and what they will create from them. Find full show notes at BarryO'Reilly.com Resources Pascal Finette on Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Disruption: How to Decode the Future, Disrupt Your Industry, and Transform Your Business be radical

In this episode of Unlearn Podcast, host Barry O'Reilly and two experienced tech executives, Melissa Perri and Gibson Biddle, meet for a Personal Board of Directors meeting. Melissa Perri is the founder and CEO of Produx Labs, a product management consultancy, and author of Escaping the Build Trap. She is also a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School. Gibson Biddle is a former Chief Product Officer at Netflix and renowned product leader and speaker. Using the CAMPS Model (community, autonomy, mastery, purpose, scale), they share personal insights on the importance of building relationships, continuous learning, work-life balance, and feedback. Throughout the episode, they provide practical tips and advice for personal and professional growth, including valuable lessons and takeaways for listeners seeking to succeed in their own careers and personal lives. Building a Community People who surround themselves with a strong network of friends, colleagues, and mentors tend to be more successful in their personal and professional lives. Your community can also provide emotional support and accountability, which are important for achieving goals and personal growth. Gibson shares that he has been engaged with the community of product leaders all over the world but feels like he hasn't done enough to mechanize it. He admits that his community score is his lowest. He acknowledges that Lenny Bruchitski is a great role model for building a community. Gibson likes to teach through talks and workshops; he is still very much a one-person company, which limits his leverage in creating a community. [Listen from 6:20] Retiring Gracefully Barry asks Gibson what flexibility would look like for him now that he is retiring. Gibson responds that he has optimized for flexibility by deciding what he chooses to do or not do every week. For him, autonomy and flexibility are almost the same. Talking to people who are presently or soon-to-be retired has also been helpful in providing insights, he tells Barry. His passion for speaking at events and workshops is what keeps him energized, and he plans to continue doing this even in retirement. “I get energy from my talks and workshops. It helps me age gracefully, stay current,” he remarks. “...You have to have a purpose,” Gibson stresses. “Even in retirement, you have to have goals. You have to be learning new stuff.” He explains how he learned to let go of his ego and focus on creating value instead of money. He rates himself on mastery, purpose and scale and shares his rationale for the scores. [Listen from 9:00] Find the complete show notes at BarryO'Reilly.com Resources: Melissa Perri on LinkedIn | Website | Product Institute | Produx Labs Gibson Biddle on LinkedIn | Twitter | Website   Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value

On this episode of the Unlearn podcast, host Barry O'Reilly is joined by Michael Wu, Chief AI Strategist at PROS. Michael is a seasoned expert in the field of AI, with over 25 years of experience and a background in math, physics, and molecular biology. Michael shares his journey from studying nonlinear dynamics and the brain to working in the tech industry and how his diverse education has helped him approach problems from multiple angles. He and Barry also talk about how influence spreads, and how AI is impacting our lives now and into the future. A Strong Desire to Understand “The conviction is just a strong desire to understand something,” Michael tells Barry. “At the bottom of my heart, I think even right now, in my current role, I still try to understand a lot of things fundamentally.” Barry asks Michael about his decision to change his approach to studying the brain. Michael explains that his decision was driven by a strong desire to understand how the brain works, and he felt that using a physics-based approach would be impractical. He was fascinated by the biology-based approach and felt that taking this approach, along with a top-down approach, would provide a deeper understanding of social media platforms and why people use them. He explains that combining both approaches allowed him to reach a deeper understanding than either approach alone would have. How Influence Propagates One area Michael has been studying deeply over the years is the idea of how influence spreads. We all influence others and we’re also always being influenced. Barry asks Michael, “What were some of the interesting surprises that you found as you were trying to model this idea of what influence is?” Michael responds that he identified six factors that were necessary for influence to propagate. By understanding how people shared, how frequently they shared, who they shared with, the timeliness of their responses, and other behavioral profiles, he was able to identify influencers before they became popular. He encourages brands to cultivate these “influencers in the making” as potential advocates. Pricing and Sales Efficacy PROS dubs itself ‘A CFO’s best kept secret to profitable growth’. This is because the company’s main focus is on pricing and sales efficacy. Pricing has been shown to have a more significant impact on monetization than any other factor: a 1% change in price can lead to as much as 11% improvement in margins! The second tool provided by PROS is sales efficacy, which helps companies have a more effective and efficient sales team. Michael explains his work mainly falls under the category of demand forecasting, which involves finding the right balance between supply and demand. This balance determines the equilibrium price, which optimizes revenue when supply matches demand. How AI Impacts Our Lives Artificial intelligence and data analysis can help companies make decisions based on data rather than just trusting instincts. A good example is GPS navigation systems, which have now evolved to optimize routes based on travel time, traffic patterns, and weather. Michael encourages businesses to learn to trust the data and use it to their advantage, even if the answers might be unexpected.  “People don't realize that the AI sometimes doesn't have to be as good as a human to be beneficial,” Michael points out. “In many cases, it doesn't have to be. It just needs to be good enough. It doesn't even need to be as good as you. But if it could be like 70% as good as a human, it could help you tremendously by making your work or your processes a lot more efficient.”  AI is being used in many areas, whether we are aware of it or not, and those who do not embrace it risk being left behind, Michael warns. Read full show notes at BarryO'Reilly Resources Michael Wu on LinkedIn PROS

Gisela Martinez is the Executive Director for Clinical Research at Merck, an organization who has brought important medicines and vaccines to the world through intensive biopharmaceutical research for more than 130 years. Working at Merck for over 20 years, Gisela has done it all in various roles. She is a proud mom, a passionate, inclusive, and people-oriented leader, and DE&I ally. In this episode of Unlearn, Gisela joins Barry O'Reilly to share how she found success by diversifying her skills and knowledge. She encourages listeners to pay it forward by helping others learn and grow. Turning ‘Difference’ into ‘Drive’ Realizing the power in her diversity was a turning point for Gisela. All her life, she had viewed being different as a hindrance rather than something to be celebrated or appreciated. “I thought [it] had created roadblocks for me in opportunities because I [wasn’t part of] the norm,” she tells Barry. She believed her identity and way of thinking were obstacles to success, as she didn’t feel like she belonged anywhere or that anyone understood her. When her lightbulb moment came, however, it flipped that belief upside down. Trying to fit in was working against her. Why not just be herself? “The difference I have - that was the power that I had to actually change things… to give me that confidence to become who I needed. I was suppressing myself… I just need to be who I am, because that’s my strength.” Defining Success Contrary to popular corporate belief, success isn’t about being promoted to higher levels of authority and accountability. Rather, success is built from diversity in experience and thoroughly understanding the business you’re in, Gisela explains. Instead of only looking up the chain, Gisela looked sideways, behind, and in front; she then used that knowledge to add value to her work. “When I reflect on my 22-year-long career, I’ve only been promoted 4 times,” she shares. This would seem strange in the corporate world, which is so used to moving people up the ladder when they’ve mastered their core job, but Gisela prioritized continuous learning over promotions, preferring to move across the organization. “I can say I understand the business of what we do, not just the tactical side of being a subject matter expert. The Power of Purpose The driving force behind Gisela’s unique approach to work isn’t boredom, but a sense of purpose. “I very quickly understood my purpose and what gives me fulfillment. Because in any company, you can go up the ladder and so forth and get success. [But] what brings you that core happiness?” For Gisela, that fulfillment came from infusing value into anything she did. At her core, she believed her purpose was to influence, change, evolve, unlearn and relearn in every aspect of her professional life. It wasn’t hard work for her to do - it was organic. Gisela’s focus hadn’t ever been on climbing the ladder, but she was able to work in so many roles because she kept looking for where she could add impact. It’s this focus, Barry remarks, that is so important - following your intellectual curiosity and creating and exploring in a way that is meaningful to you. Growing with Gratitude Gisela shares her daily gratitude practice. At the end of every day, she sits down with her daughter to reflect on what they are grateful for, a practice she also does on her own in the morning. Additionally, Gisela begins leadership team meetings in celebration of something, with each member sharing their joy. Looking Ahead For Gisela, the next steps are about paying it forward. Her gratitude for her fulfilling career inspires her to share her knowledge and experiences with others. She leads a women's network in Asia Pacific and wants to help other people feel seen, heard, and worthy. Resources Gisela Martinez on LinkedIn No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention

Barry O’Reilly wraps up 2022 in this solo episode of the Unlearn Podcast. He shares five unlearning stories from listeners across the globe. He recaps how Nobody Studios has evolved ahead of the equity crowdfunding campaign launch and shares their plans for 2023. Rewind Despite its young age, Nobody Studios has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Venture Studios of 2022. Barry comments that this accolade is humbling and motivates Nobody to prove that it’s deserved by building themselves over time.  Nobody Studios plans to launch 4 new companies this month, with 8 more in incubation. They are also going to be the first-ever venture studio to offer equity crowdfunding to the world when it goes live at the end of the year.  As for the Unlearn Podcast, it continues to grow from strength to strength. At 150,000 downloads with 5,000 downloads a month, the Unlearn Podcast is in the top 5% of podcasts listened to worldwide. Unlearning Stories Albert Einstein once said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same mindset that created it.” Listeners from across the globe share their unlearning stories as they grow closer to the persons they want to become:  Fred from Barcelona describes unlearning the fear of failure, and how it held him back. Jane in New York talks about relearning confidence as a young person, rejecting the societal notion that age is the determining factor for the value of someone’s contribution.  Sonya from Rio De Janeiro renounces softening her authority and diminishing her voice as a woman, encouraging other women to speak out and stand up against the societal conditioning of women to be passive. Stephen in Melbourne shares how he challenged his belief about his daughter, deciding to investigate the reason behind her behavior, and how it changed their relationship for the better. Veronica from Singapore explains unlearning her preconceived idea of happiness, and the importance of making your happiness a priority. Barry’s biggest unlearning of 2022 also involved understanding what makes him happy and how to make more time for what does. Deleting social media freed much of his time, he comments. After realizing just how much of his time was being sucked into “low-return activities,” he found the breakthrough behavior of no longer scrolling through social media feeds. Looking Ahead Barry has many big moments in store for 2023. In addition to the launch of Nobody Studios’s crowdfunding campaign and companies, Barry will be partnering with LearnCrunch in February to launch an High Performance Leadership Program. Also, the Unlearn Program with Stephen Downing is also going live next year. Stay tuned to take advantage of opportunities to work together. Resources Nobody Studios | LinkedIn

Victor Chima and Boina Babu are the founders of LearnCrunch, business partners, and former co-workers at Spotify. LearnCrunch is a live cohort-based interactive learning platform that helps tech professionals learn business-critical skills they can apply on the job to increase their impact. Both Boina and Victor are continuous learners, working in data and other industries to build the best learning experience for tech professionals. In this episode of Unlearn, Boina and Victor discuss upskilling with Barry O’Reilly, sharing the importance of learning and why companies need to actively facilitate it on the job. LearnCrunch: Origins Victor shares how LearnCrunch came to be. After realizing he felt the most fulfilled helping other people grow on the job, he ventured into management to continue doing it at a larger scale. Empowering people was something he was good at and loved doing, so he considered how to maximize this skill and passion. Over drinks, Victor and Boina commiserated over the difficulty of transferring knowledge from one person to another, and thus MentorColor was born. This platform allowed them to connect professionals with mentors from top companies. But that only solved part of the problem, Victor says. The resources for learning were accessible, but that didn’t make the learning experience magically easy. The next challenge was knowing what resources to use, where to find them, and which ones to trust. “We decided to help people get through the noise and focus on the things that actually matter,” Victor explains. Building MentorColor  Barry asks Victor and Boina to share some things they unlearned while transitioning from Spotify to MentorColor, and then to LearnCrunch. “For a lot of the things we did at MentorColor, we had already done them at Spotify,” Victor replies. One such thing involved hiring. When it comes to getting access to opportunities and knowledge, people are often penalized by being in the “wrong” geography. This is something Victor is intimately familiar with, being from Nigeria, so he made it a point to attract as much talent as he could from around the world. Making the Leap Everything remains a side project until you start giving it 100% of your focus, Victor says. MentorColor was a side project, but LearnCrunch is their obsession. What they do in a month at LearnCrunch was a year’s worth of work at MentoColor. “We thought to ourselves, ‘We either get serious with this or not; we can’t know if it's working the way we want it to work unless we're giving it everything that we can,’” he shares. No Man is an Island “We wouldn’t have a platform if we didn’t have the relationships we do,” Victor remarks. He sees LearnCrunch as a two-way street; everyone is there to support each other, to align interests and solve a problem together. Victor talks about the importance of learning. “How do you create an environment where we can ensure that people get the learning outcomes they want?” Companies tend to solve this problem by hiring new people; they don’t facilitate learning, so the current talent pool just keeps working based on the knowledge they had previously. Then, the companies complain about a lack of talent. “What about upscaling those that are there? Sometimes, they need [the company’s] support to do it because they're very focused on execution.” Looking Ahead What’s exciting to look forward to is that it’s a new market, Boina says.”We’re working on something that is big enough to be passionate about, to be focused on.” He is very motivated by the fact that they will be connecting people to awesome instructors like Barry and impacting their lives in monumental ways. Read full show notes at BarryO'Reilly.com Resources LearnCrunch MentorColor Victor Chima on LinkedIn  Boina Babu on LinkedIn