Poppy is a co-founder and CEO of Darktrace, a world-leading AI company for cyber defence, named Europe’s ‘Fastest Growing Super Scale-up’ by Tech Tour in 2018. Poppy was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 2019 in recognition of her services to cyber security. In this talk from BoS Europe 2019, Poppy will discuss how Darktrace has grown to become one of the world’s fastest growing cyber AI company. She will share some of her experiences in helping t...
Feb 23, 2021•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you don’t have a Head of Product you may suffer from: narrow focus on engineer/development productivity; underpowered product management teams; customer benefits misaligned with actual features; and lack of a realistic product strategy. But it’s hard to hire a Head of Product. We don’t know what product leaders do, and disagree about what’s most important in a new one. We write wildly aspirational job descriptions for candidates and we confuse subject/market expertise with product m...
Feb 16, 2021•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Choosing the wrong metrics can lead to the wrong strategy, or worse, no strategy at all. (For example, learn why revenue is a dangerous target.) In this talk from BoS USA Online, Matt shares some of the lessons he’s learned in growing companies, large and small, that will help you choose the right metrics to target in your organisation. Recorded online via Zoom at Business of Software Conference USA Online, September 2020. For more great talks, sign up for the newsletter at businessofsoftware.or...
Feb 09, 2021•55 min•Ep 53•Transcript available on Metacast Rita introduces her new research on how strategic inflection points offer an opportunity to disrupt existing players using examples like Dollar Shave Club vs. Gillette to show how changes in technology can destabilise existing competitive advantages. Michael Sikorsky shows how companies create entirely new business models to solve perennial problems and drive growth – how can banks use mobile to appeal to millennials and machine learning talk to talk to your mobile? Recorded live at BoS USA 2017...
Feb 02, 2021•1 hr•Ep 52•Transcript available on Metacast Jason shared some of the things he did to make ShipCompliant the successful business that it is. More importantly, he’ll talk about the mistakes he made in selling and what he wished he had realised before he did. He believes ‘Exit by acquisition’ should not be the only manifestation of success for bootstrappers. This talk was recorded live at BoS Conference Europe in 2017. For more great talks, visit the website at businessofsoftware.org
Jan 26, 2021•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nandini has a background in marketing and journalism and has been responsible for growth and community at companies including Kayako and ProdPad. She was named by Business Insider as one of 23 industry leaders “fixing” digital advertising and a Digiday Changemaker in 2017. At BoS USA Online 2020, Nandini discussed some of the potential dangers organisations face in a world where news travels fast online. She shares some insider insight into why HotJar publicly dropped the Trump campaign and GOP’...
Jan 19, 2021•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Wistia are in it for the long run – they want to run their business their way - which seen them grow and then turn down a buyout before growing some more. Co-Founder & CEO Chris Savage speaks about the process of scaling Wistia in this week's talk from BoS USA 2017, including some fascinating insights into how to communicate well internally in a growing company, and the importance of delegating as your company grows. For more great talks, visit businessofsoftware.org/videos where you can bro...
Jan 12, 2021•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Like many BoS speakers, Peldi comes to the conference every year regardless of whether he’s on stage. He comes to be part of the community, to learn from others, and to hang out with his "tribe" – incredible entrepreneurs keen to give advice and meet new people. In this talk he shared an honest update about his worries in Balsamiq’s milestone 10th year. On realizing he’s still too integral to the business, Peldi started the ‘Winter 2018 Injected Turbulence Project’ – de...
Dec 15, 2020•1 hr•Ep 48•Transcript available on Metacast Ayat Shukairy is a ‘queen of CRO’ with over ten years helping companies create websites that customers love, and that result in increased sales and retention. Most marketing talk, or business strategy meetings, emphasizes the importance of ‘customer first’. Yet if we take a look at companies and how they operate, the C-Level exec are still calling the shots without paying heed to the needs and wants of the customer. Even when companies embrace a customer first approach, the way they t...
Dec 08, 2020•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve all been there. You finally step foot into the job you’ve wanted forever only to feel like you aren’t good enough for the role, or worse, a complete fraud. You’re not alone; an estimated 70% of people from all walks of life, both men and women experience imposter syndrome at some point in their careers. In this talk from BoS USA Online 2020, Tiffany Da Silva (Founder, flowjo.co) shares her own experiences along with the framework and tools she uses every day to eliminate it. Recorded live ...
Dec 01, 2020•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this (fireless) Fireside chat, we delve into what inspires and motivates David, how he came to start five different companies, and how he leads a high-growth company. Plus there are some great questions asked by the audience at the end that helps David open up about what he has done and what’s next. Filmed live at Business of Software Conference USA 2018 in Boston, MA
Nov 24, 2020•53 min•Ep 45•Transcript available on Metacast Agile methodology can be confusing and difficult, but B Pagels-Minor breaks it down to bite-size slices of delicious cakes that will will help every team work better, communicate better, and provide better returns. In this talk, you will learn how to understand which version of the many flavours of agile is right for your company based on your company with many cake references. You'll be pleased to hear, this podcast has zero calories. Recorded live at BoS Conference UAS 2018 in Boston, MA If yo...
Nov 17, 2020•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast For most of us, sales means reciting features, benefits, pressuring customers into purchasing. Selling feels icky. It’s not our fault – that’s how most selling is done. There’s a better way. Bob Moesta has taken Jobs-to-be-Done theory and flipped it to apply it to sales. In this talk Bob talks about how to help people to buy, without selling. He takes us through the six steps of a customers journey from ‘first thought’ to ‘on-going use and building habits’. Knowing this journey can help you to p...
Nov 10, 2020•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Back in 2016, Josh Seiden and Jeff Gothelf teamed up to explain how the Obama campaign testing their software systems early gave them an upper hand over the Romney campaign using facts and figures and rigorous testing. Recorded live at Business of Software Conference USA 2016 in Boston, MA For more great talks, visit businessofosoftware.org/videos
Nov 03, 2020•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk, Thompson Aderinkomi - co-founder Nice Healthcare- will share how he has come to understand why so many of the things people know to be true about growing a successful business are simply not true. His experiences as a serial entrepreneur have taught him to question the orthodoxy and why deciding on the right course is down to you. He will leave you with an understanding of how you can ask the right questions through some very honest and personal experiences. Recorded live...
Oct 27, 2020•46 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast How can you find fun in the usually mundane? Do you design your business software like game designers design games? Rahul Vohra founded Superhuman as the antidote to boring email platforms. Being able to do things faster, without distraction, and with a goal of inbox zero makes you change your perspective on emails. Rahul talks us through the different aspects to think about when designing business software and how to make an everyday task exciting and surprising for the user. Recorde...
Oct 20, 2020•54 min•Ep 40•Transcript available on Metacast Derek Sivers has been a musician, circus performer, entrepreneur, TED speaker, and book publisher. Long ago he started CD Baby, and wrote a great little book about it called “Anything You Want”. In this BoS Talk Derek will offer some perspectives on what we can do to be more mensch and make the world a better place, how can we end up on the right side of history, and why we should keep our eyes on how the game we play is going to end. Recorded live at Business of Software Conference Europe ...
Oct 13, 2020•41 min•Ep 39•Transcript available on Metacast Alex is the author and inventor of Business Model Canvas, a best-selling book and tool to visualise, challenge and reinvent business models. At Business of Software Conference Europe 2017, he led us through an exercise to help identify the jobs your product should be doing to meet the needs and pains of their ideal customer. Recorded live at Business of Software conference USA 2017 in Boston, MA. For more great talks, visit businessofsoftware.org/videos or sign up for our newsletter to rece...
Oct 06, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast When marketing a product, it’s common for founders to focus on the product itself with pitches like “Look at our cool features! We help you do X activity better!” Which can just get lost in the noise. Capturing your customer’s attention requires focusing on their ultimate motivation (“job to be done”), to transform her current situation into a preferred one. Claire Suellentrop loves getting inside customers' heads, uncovering what those customers really care about, and using these juicy details ...
Sep 29, 2020•59 min•Ep 37•Transcript available on Metacast Software businesses contain an incredible number of moving parts and variables. How can we isolate and study them? For most of us, it’s a combination of trial and error and learning from others’ mistakes when they’re brave enough to share them. Matt has spent the last 10 years starting and running his own software company (Riskpulse), learning many hard lessons along the way. Recorded at Business of Software Conference USA 2018 in Boston, MA For more great talks, visit businessofsoftware.or...
Sep 22, 2020•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rita McGrath is a longtime professor at Columbia Business School and one of the world’s top experts on innovation and growth. She is also one of the most regularly published authors in the Harvard Business Review. This talk gives company leaders food for thought with questions such as do you incorporate diverse perspectives in decisions? Do you empower small, agile teams? Are there resources available for little bets? And does your organization reward truth-telling? Recorded live ...
Sep 15, 2020•50 min•Ep 35•Transcript available on Metacast Paul Kenny is no stranger to the Business of Software Conference stage. A sales coach with experience working with software companies including Redgate and StackExchange, Paul has a huge amount of experience and insight to share on the process of selling your software. In this talk from BoS USA 2017, Paul talked about the important things to get right to set your company up well to turn your software into money. Recorded live at Business of Software Conference USA 2017, in Boston, MA F...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Your product roadmap is not a model, an algorithm or an artifact, it is an ongoing political process that requires careful management of the relevant stakeholders. One major challenge is that your stakeholders DO NOT WANT the same things. To make a Roadmap useful, you need an allocation model and a selling strategy that helps you: understand; manage the expectations of; deliver value to people across the organization who prioritize very different things. Rich explains some approaches...
Sep 01, 2020•59 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Swiss based Alex is a gifted communicator and the author of ‘Business Model Generation’ – a book about business models that has sold over 120,000 copies. (Why? Because it is extraordinarily good). Fast Company Magazine named Alex’s book one of the Best Books for Business Owners in 2010. At BoS 2011 he talked on how to implement this practically in your own business. Recorded live at Business of Software USA 2011. For more great talks, visit businessofsoftware.org/videos...
Aug 25, 2020•50 min•Ep 32•Transcript available on Metacast In this talk from BoS USA 2013, Mikey Trafton looks at how to attract the best talent, how to interview, how to make an offer of employment that will know the candidate’s socks off, and so much more. Recorded live at Business of Software USA Conference in 2013. For more great talks, and the prequel talk Mikey gave in 2012, go to businessofsoftware.org/videos
Aug 18, 2020•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast How do you see innovation and how do you harness it effectively to make it work? How do people learn, and how can they work better? Every innovator comes across daily problems that they don’t know how to answer or where to even start thinking about the answer. In this fast-paced talk from BoS USA 2018, jobs-to-be-done expert and lifelong innovator Bob Moesta helps give you the skills to make all your innovation outcomes more predictable, and successful. Bob has honed these key skills from his li...
Aug 11, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep 30•Transcript available on Metacast After years of smuggling creativity into the corporate sector without getting busted, Tania Katan has learned that we don’t need to be in a job that is distinctly creative in order to be distinctly creative in our job. In fact, no matter how tedious the task, or how buttoned-up the office environment, we can all learn to conjure imagination anywhere, anytime. Full of hilarious stories, and wacky, battle-tested exercises for flexing your creative muscles you’ll learn tools and strategies for taki...
Aug 04, 2020•51 min•Ep 29•Transcript available on Metacast Innovation is hard. It takes more than a clever idea to make a business. Tendayi Viki works with entrepreneurs in startups and large corporates who are looking to innovate. Here he presents 8 business model questions to consider when attempting to innovate, followed by a Q&A with some great questions about innovating in a large corporate. Recorded live at Business of Software Conference Europe 2018. For more great talks, visit businessofsoftware.org/videos
Jul 28, 2020•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast How would you feel about being posed the contention that prioritisation is really about saying no to good ideas because there’s always too many of them? There’s always more of them than we can handle and we’ve got to focus not just on the good ideas but on the truly great ideas. In this BoS Talk from Product Guru Bruce McCarthy, he will walk you through the ins and outs of prioritisation and why they are important and where we can improve our prioritisation in our companies. Recorded live at Bus...
Jul 21, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Isa Watson talks about some of the ways that companies can provide a better environment for humans to work and share how she came to realize that in her startup, she had to bring her ‘best self’ to the business every day. Recorded live at Business of Softare Conference USA 2018, in Boston, MA. For more great talks, visit businessofosftware.org/videos
Jul 14, 2020•47 min•Ep 26•Transcript available on Metacast 
