Victoria Guido

521: Insusty: Pioneering Sustainability Rewards for Environmental Action

April 18th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  39 mins 12 secs

Hosts Will Larry and Victoria Guido talk with Sanghmitra Bhardwaj, CEO of Insusty, about her journey from a Himalayan village to founding a company in France that drives sustainable actions through a rewards program. They explore how Insusty fosters environmental stewardship by rewarding actions like volunteering and donating to overcome the high costs of sustainable living. The discussion also covers the broader impacts of sustainable practices in technology and business, Sanghmitra's experiences as a solo female founder, and her plans for enhancing Insusty's platform.

520: Breaking New Ground in Maternal Mental Health with Mevi

April 11th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  41 mins 13 secs

Hosts Will Larry and Victoria Guido chat with Zamina Karim, CEO and Founder of Mevi, about her innovative community-driven motherhood wellness app designed to revolutionize maternal health by addressing new mothers' emotional and practical needs. Zamina discusses her journey of overcoming postpartum anxiety and depression, the challenges of solo entrepreneurship, and the critical role of empathy in creating supportive communities for mothers. The conversation also explores the changing landscape of startup funding, the significance of adaptability, and the potential of technology to improve maternal health outcomes significantly.

518: The Standard of Self-Care: Unlocking Personal Growth with Chris Pallatroni

March 28th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  41 mins 20 secs

Host Victoria Guido chats with Chris Pallatroni, who unveils the journey behind creating The Standard, a unique platform for sharing self-care stories. Chris highlights how his love for gardening and dedication to mental wellness shaped the platform's ethos and addresses the challenges of melding technology with human connection to foster a community of support and growth. The Standard aims to inspire and connect individuals by sharing personal triumphs to make mental health struggles feel less isolating.

517: Building Better Design Systems with Luro's Trent Walton

March 21st, 2024  |  Season 14  |  44 mins 59 secs

Trent Walton, CEO of Luro, joins hosts Victoria Guido and Will Larry to discuss his transition from a typography enthusiast to co-founding Paravel and eventually creating Luro. This no-code platform enhances design systems for better adoption, collaboration, and organizational alignment. Emphasizing a holistic approach that merges design and development, Luro addresses the challenges of traditional design systems by making them more accessible and integrated with performance and accessibility metrics. This solution fosters a more collaborative and efficient team environment, streamlining product building and maintenance across disciplines.

516: Innovating Fashion: Charlotte Holt's Tech-Driven Approach

March 14th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  28 mins 17 secs

Hosts Will and Victoria interview Charlotte Holt, Founder of The Fashion Library, a London-based wardrobe rental resource for stylists. Charlotte discusses her journey from stylist to entrepreneur, highlighting The Fashion Library's mission to address environmental and financial challenges in the fashion industry by offering a rental platform. She emphasizes the importance of technology in driving sustainability and outlines her vision for the future growth of The Fashion Library.

515: Healing Minds, Changing Lives: The Meru Health Experience

March 7th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  36 mins 42 secs

Kristian Ranta, the founder of Meru Health, shares insights into the company's transition from wellness to healthcare, emphasizing the role of intuition in entrepreneurship. He discusses challenges in regulatory compliance and insurance reimbursements while highlighting Meru Health's holistic mental health approach and plans for global expansion.

513: Custom Fit, Global Impact: MADE TECH's Apparel Innovation with Dustin Butcher

February 22nd, 2024  |  Season 14  |  37 mins 11 secs

In this episode, Victoria Guido chats with Dustin Butcher, CEO and Co-Founder of MADE TECH, about revolutionizing performance apparel with custom and made-to-measure automation technology. From personal frustrations with ill-fitting gear to pioneering a technology that offers 100% size inclusivity, Dustin shares how MADE TECH is enhancing individual performance and comfort and pushing the industry towards more inclusive and sustainable practices by partnering with established brands.

512: Unboxing thoughtbot's Revolutionary Design Sprint Kit

February 15th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  34 mins 33 secs

In this episode of the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots podcast, hosts Will Larry and Victoria Guido are joined by thoughtbot's senior designers, Rami Taibah and Ferdia Kenny, to discuss the innovative Product Design Sprint Kit. This tool compresses the design process into a focused five-day sprint, facilitating the efficient transition from idea to user-tested prototype. The conversation highlights the kit's development, its open accessibility, and its impact on product strategy through iterative design and user feedback. Real-world examples illustrate how these design sprints can lead to crucial product refinements, showcasing the critical role of user testing in product development.

511: Tele911: Pioneering Remote Emergency Care with Dr. Ramon Lizardo

February 8th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  35 mins 59 secs

Host Victoria Guido dives into the transformative world of Tele911 with its CEO, Dr. Ramon Lizardo. They explore how Tele911 is revolutionizing emergency healthcare by enabling paramedics to provide on-site treatments with remote guidance from doctors via iPads, significantly reducing the need for hospital visits. Dr. Lizardo discusses his motivations, the challenges of innovating within digital health, and how the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the acceptance and growth of Tele911, emphasizing the importance of a values-driven approach in navigating the expansion and ensuring data privacy.

510: The Forecastr Formula :Steven Plappert’s Path to Startup Success

February 1st, 2024  |  Season 14  |  32 mins 4 secs

Victoria Guido interviews the CEO of Forecastr, Steven Plappert, about the company's journey and mission to assist non-finance savvy founders with financial modeling. Steven shares insights on balancing growth with financial health and the strategic introduction of a human element into Forecastr's software. He also discusses the company's goals, including cultural strength, profitability, and growth, as well as the crucial role of work-life balance in entrepreneurship. He and Victoria discuss how Forecasts and Thoughtbot integrate this philosophy into their culture.

509: Revolutionizing Learning in Web Development with Wes Bos

January 25th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  37 mins 48 secs

Hosts Will Larry and Victoria Guido are joined by Wes Bos, a full-stack developer, course creator, and podcaster. Wes shares his web development journey, from blogging and creating a successful book on Sublime Text to developing his popular online courses and hosting the Syntax podcast. He talks about the spontaneous start of his teaching career, his approach to creating content that is both approachable and practical, and the importance of making web development accessible to all learners.

508: Drumming Up Connections: Jessica Wallace on Networking in Real-Time

January 18th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  30 mins 13 secs

Host Victoria Guido talks with Jessica Wallace, CEO of Flok22, about her journey from hairdressing to tech entrepreneurship and the creation of Flok22, an app for real-time networking. They share a mutual passion for music and discuss the challenges and successes in developing Flok22, emphasizing its impact on modern networking and personal connections in the tech world.

507: Scaling New Heights: Innovating in Software Development with Merico's Founders Henry Yin and Maxim Wheatley

January 11th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  44 mins 42 secs

Host Victoria Guido, Henry Yin, and Maxim Wheatley of Merico, with special guest co-host Joe Ferris of thoughtbot, delve into Merico's evolution from focusing on open-source funding to creating Apache DevLake, emphasizing community-driven development and transparency. They also explore the integration of AI in software engineering, underscoring AI's role in enhancing productivity and the significance of data-driven approaches in team management and software delivery.

506: A Breath of Fresh Air: Wendy Lawson's Mission for Accessible Lung Care

January 4th, 2024  |  Season 14  |  35 mins 8 secs

Wendy Lawson is the Founder and CEO of Exhale Lung Rehabilitation, a company offering online lung rehabilitation and remote therapeutic monitoring services. She explains her background in chronic disease epidemiology, her dedication to helping those with lung disease, and highlights the challenges in making lung rehabilitation accessible and effective, especially in remote or rural areas. The pandemic created a demand for online medical services, and Exhale took the opportunity to address this need by leveraging technology to provide remote services to those who needed them most.

504: Spare with D'ontra Hughes

December 14th, 2023  |  Season 11  |  32 mins 57 secs

D'ontra Hughes is the Founder and CEO of Spare, which uses tech to solve cash management problems for unbanked small businesses and enterprises. D'ontra shares his entrepreneurship journey, driven by realizing the financial industry's impact on less privileged individuals.

D'ontra highlights a significant issue in the banking sector where the poorest people are often charged the most in fees, perpetuating poverty. Spare addresses the high fees unbanked individuals face when accessing their money. D'ontra's entrepreneurial journey involved various challenges, including learning from customer feedback, understanding the importance of data-driven decisions, and navigating the competitive startup environment.

The conversation also covers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Spare, leading to a strategic shift and a focus on regions with high cash circulation. D'ontra emphasizes the importance of strategic planning, data analysis, and a systematic approach to business growth. He also discusses the personal aspects of being a CEO, stressing the importance of maintaining personal relationships and self-care.

502: OKRs and Business Coaching with Evan Hammer

November 30th, 2023  |  Season 11  |  36 mins 53 secs

Today's conversation revolves around the importance and challenges of goal setting within organizations. It highlights how identifying and articulating real problems can be transformative, turning abstract desires for growth into concrete plans for improvement. Host Victoria Guido and special guest Evan Hammer discuss the nuances of leadership and organizational self-awareness, emphasizing the need for honesty and a growth mindset when addressing weaknesses. They touch on Evan's role as an OKR Coach in fostering alignment, focus, and excitement around goals, particularly in small to mid-sized companies.

Evan shares his enthusiasm for goal setting and believes his passion can inspire others. He points out the positive outcomes when employees engage with goals that address problems they care about. Victoria and Evan agree that success is not solely measured by hitting OKRs but also by engagement and alignment within the team. They discuss the ideal organizations for Evan's work, which include small to medium-sized companies seeking to improve focus and alignment, as well as start-up teams needing more straightforward goal statements and go-to-market strategies. Evan also recounts his experience as a Techstars mentor, noting that a common issue across companies is the lack of clear goals, and he emphasizes the power of focus as a lever for growth.