Creating a successful business is a huge feat, but even founders with profitable exits struggle when they first break into tech. Bryan Clayton co-founded Greenpal, the Airbnb for lawn mowing, after he sold his first business. But, his first business was a landscaping company, which meant that even as an experienced entrepreneur, he was a newbie in tech.
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Money isn’t enough to hire the best product teams. If you want to hire great people to build your product, you need to convince them that your vision has potential. To do this, techies and non-techies alike need to come prepared.
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Jennifer Byrne studied Psychology at university and went on to become the Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft US. Listen to this episode to learn how this liberal arts graduate transitioned into tech and became one of the most senior people in the industry.
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Lots of smart people want to transition into careers in tech, but don’t know how to get started. If that sounds like you, then listen to how Alexandra Soroko went from finance to tech leadership.
Today, Alexandra is Head of Merchant Sales at Visa in France, and connects fintech companies, banks and Visa’s technologies to help some of the world’s largest companies process payments. In her role, she combines tech knowledge, marketing and finance skills. She started her career at JP Morgan, but didn’t let her lack of tech skills stop her.
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The number of technology oriented jobs is predicted to rise to 190 million in 2025, according to Microsoft. But, if you're a non-techie, how do you get in on that?
In this episode, you'll hear how three people transitioned into successful careers and tech, and learn how to apply their tactics to your career transformation.
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Consumer facing tech businesses like Uber aren’t just competing with other firms that provide a similar service. They’re competing with everything that vies for your attention.
This is why B2C tech businesses tend to be more innovative, better at design thinking and take inspiration from a wider pool than their enterprise tech counterparts.
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95% of new products fail, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen. But, usually this isn't because they are badly made, but because they don't solve the right problem.
Before you delve into product development, define the problem you are solving. In this episode, you'll learn from Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg, author of What's Your Problem and Innovation As Usual, about how to reframe problem solving in business and in life.
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To learn key technology...
Working in innovation at a large company can be a great way to join the tech boom for non-techies. But what do you do when you get there?
Innovation leaders have a wide range of backgrounds. Some have deep tech expertise, and others are marketing pros. The innovation path a company has chosen determines the background of the person who'll lead it.
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What’s technology for? Tech products can make our lives better and make businesses a lot of money. But, without a focus on the user and on the business, technology is an academic project at best, or just an expensive hobby.
In this episode, you’ll hear from Elisabeth Bohlmann, VP of strategy at December Labs, a product and development studio that works with corporates like Google, and start-ups to validate ideas and build products.
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Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, and Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of VC fund A16Z, both started their careers as Product Managers (PMs).
PMs rise to leadership positions in the tech sector, because the job combines user perspectives, business needs and technological capabilities. Whatever you want to do in the tech sector, learning how product managers think will help you succeed.
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