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The Business Trendsetter Podcast

Adam Hartung, Manny Teran, Spark Partners

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Ready to create lasting and sustainable business growth? Join our weekly show with hosts Adam Hartung & Manny Teran of Spark Partners. Combined they have created over $3 Billion in customer value and leverage Adam’s deep domain expertise on Disruptive Innovation to teach business leaders how to transform their businesses. Do you want your business to be a market leader or a market laggard? Discover business trends and learn how to leverage them to create lasting business success and become a ...
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Discover the latest trends, gain valuable insights, and explore strategies for growth with The Tech Panel. Our podcast and videocast are designed to keep you informed, help you scale your business, and learn from industry leaders in the tech world. Experts from the most innovative companies worldwide share case studies, experiences, and, crucially, the challenges and lessons learned throughout their journey in technology.
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In the latest episode of The Tech Panel, we sit down with Manny Teran, CEO of Spark Partners, to discuss how companies can achieve rapid growth by embracing trends like AI and making informed decisions. Manny shares valuable insights on why post-mortems are essential for success, the importance of surrounding yourself with the right team, and focus…
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A decade ago Microsoft was well on its way to irrelevancy. Forbes mag christened Ballmer was the worst CEO in America. The Board fired him, and today his replacement has led Microsoft to pre-eminence in tech, atop the AI heap. His lessons for how to turn around a behemoth are relevant for organizations large and small. This podcast explains how Nad…
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Spark Partners has been coaching clients for almost 30 years on how to achieve long-term success. But despite the research, the books, the Forbes (and other) articles and interviews, people are still getting things wrong. The failure cases of 30 years ago are forgotten (Multgraphics, Kodak, Xerox) while new cases – with identical patterns to the ol…
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In this episode of The Tech Panel, we dive deep into the future of healthcare data integration with Jason Beem, co-founder of Halo Connect. Halo Connect is revolutionizing healthcare interoperability by simplifying primary care data integration across on-prem and cloud-based systems. With a powerful combination of SQL and FHIR technology, Halo Conn…
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Intel is looking more like Kodak, Hostess Baking, ToysRUs and GE every day. People wonder “How can a company that is so successful, so innovative screw up its business so badly?” There really is a pattern to what these companies did wrong, which you can avoid. Listen to this podcast, using the Intel case study to explain how leaders fall into the b…
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🎙️ New Episode Alert! Catch the latest episode of The Tech Panel featuring Max from Superpower.com! Dive deep into how Superpower.com is revolutionizing the healthcare industry with cutting-edge diagnostics and proactive health management. 🩺 In This Episode: Medicine 3.0: Discover Superpower.com’s innovative approach to personalized medicine and ho…
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With over 20 years of experience in the tech industry, including roles as a Startup CTO, Co-Founder, and CIO of one of Africa and the Middle East’s largest Mobile Operator Groups, Paul is a seasoned expert in software development. He’s an early adopter of no-code and low-code tools, leveraging them to drive efficiency and spark innovation in digita…
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In this episode of The Tech Panel, we sit down with Julian White from Everlast Networks, a groundbreaking cybersecurity company that’s redefining secure communications. Julian shares insights into how Everlast Networks is tackling the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats with their revolutionary approach to encryption and secure connections. Le…
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Shockingly, YouTube is now the #1 streaming service on televisions – bigger than Netflix – and bigger than broadcast TV. For 17 straight months YouTube has been the winner, with ad sales growing at double digit rates and exceeding $50B/year. This podcast tells the phenomenal story of how Google kept tinkering with the platform until it figured out …
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In this engaging episode, Waymaker.io CEO Stuart Leo sits down with The Tech Panel to reveal powerful strategies for overcoming challenges that businesses of all sizes face. Learn how Waymaker.io’s innovative platform is designed to help companies streamline operations, break through growth barriers, scale effectively and how to change perspective …
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Intel was once the leader in semiconductors by a huge margin. They were half of the “wintel” platform that was the PC business for over 20 years. But now, Intel is on hard times. Sales are down over 30%, profits are down (losses in semiconductors), and plans are to lay off 15K employees while discontinuing the dividend. This podcast delves into wha…
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Most people focus on operating their business better, faster, cheaper. They look for efficiencies in doing what they’ve done. But that is NOT the road to long-term success. That’s just making sure you have an effective Value Delivery System. Success requires knowing your customers’ needs, and then understanding the value you can provide by fulfilli…
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In this engaging episode of The Tech Panel, we sit down with Kalena Stanos the Founder and CEO of Hello Lendy, to explore the latest advancements in the lending industry. Kalena shares her experiences on how she started Hello Lendy, the hurdles she overcame along the way, and the unique challenges and opportunities in lending. She also discusses ho…
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Lots of people somewhat glaze over when told they need to be more involved in AI. The tendency can be to think of AI as requiring very hard core, high end, difficult technology skills that take years of education and application. It’s easy to think that most of us are simply incompetent when it comes to AI, and it’s a challenge beyond most of us. T…
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Do you ever wonder how a business as successful as Kodak could invent digital photography, and then completely lose it and all relevancy? Or how Blockbuster could dominate home video sales, and end up bankrupt? It happens because leaders don’t move early enough to understand customers, and don’t move quickly enough to react to customer needs. This …
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Every small and midsized business leader tells me they know their customer. They are sure that’s why they succeed. But, unfortunately, most don’t know the vast majority of their customers very well, and they are surprised when business turns south on them. They try to raise prices, or cut costs, and they are surprised that customers leave. Or they …
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As business leaders we tend to focus on what we control. But what we don’t control is infinitely larger than what we do control. We can’t control the world, so the smartest thing to do is focus more on the world, so we can adapt and adjust we do control toward greater success. Geopolitics is about as far away from what we can control as possible; e…
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Welcome to The Tech Panel! 🎉 We're thrilled to have you here. Our dynamic podcast and YouTube channel are dedicated to simplifying business technology for leaders and innovators worldwide. In this intro video, you'll discover what The Tech Panel is all about and why you should subscribe to stay updated with the latest in tech. 🌟 About Us: At The Te…
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Everyone sees trends, but most of us are so locked into our current situation that we don’t recognize how to use those trends for better outcomes. We are so stuck doing what we’ve done that we feel little room is available to doing something new. But the good news is that new tools – most of which are free – can help enormously with this overcoming…
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Unbeknownst to most people, 3D printing is a $20B business growing at 25%/year. While most people haven’t used a 3D printer, or even thought about it, it’s really a lot like ChatGPT. It’s a new technology on the scene that took 35 years to develop – and opens the door to enormous innovation, better business practices, lower costs, exciting new prod…
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We at Spark Partners are constantly asked how to know when to invest in a trend. We’re asked how to tell a trend from a fad, and how to know that investing in a trend will pay out. This podcast answers those questions by looking at case examples like Amazon, Apple, Tesla and even making predictions about Nvidia and the future of AI. The key to iden…
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This podcast explains why so many of us make poor business decisions. Quite simply, we tend to look backward rather than forward. We think the future will look like the past, when that is mostly unlikely. We let biases built up over time, and perceptions of today (which are often wrong) drive decisions - instead of data and trends. Good leaders hir…
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For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), intellectual property (IP) can be a hidden goldmine. But how do you capture that value when selling your company? Custom software applications can be a strategic answer. Many SMBs have unique processes or algorithms that give them a competitive edge. Building a custom app allows you to encode these proc…
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Lots of talk about AI, but many small and mid-size businesses still aren’t applying AI. This podcast is a short primer on what’s happening in AI and how to get started. You can do it wrong, and we explain how easy it is to use the wrong data sets. And you can apply it wrong, attempting problems that require adaptability between data sets. Or you ca…
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In the future electricity will be free. How’s that for a forecast? Adam made over 200 forecasts for Forbes mag, and when he stopped writing all 200 were proven accurate. This podcast explains how to do good scenario planning using the electric utility industry as an example. Demand is going up. But supply is challenged by the technology transition …
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In this episode, Manny engages in conversation with Tanner Herbert and Rebecca Crane, both principals of the Signature Group, a longstanding full-service residential real estate company supporting buyers and sellers in Southern Arizona's fast-paced market. Beyond traditional services, their company also engages in wholesale transactions and fix-and…
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Most people think of strategic planning as a periodic exercise, typically done annually (or every 3 years) and reviewed possibly quarterly (or semi-annually.) It’s almost an activity that is undertaken “just because” but which has minimal impact on daily decision making. But successful innovators do strategic planning very differently. They don’t e…
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For years Adam has been a fan of Tesla. Tesla innovated the EV market, overcoming multiple obstacles that traditional auto execs felt were unsolvable. And Tesla’s founder proved to be an innovator of cars, as well as business models. For over a decade Tesla had limited competition, and it grew very quickly. Times have changed. This podcast explains…
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Today, we're joined by Jeanne Cummings, a turnaround CEO with a specialty in guiding founder-led companies towards manifesting their visions. She delves into her unique approach, an 'inside out engagement,' which begins with grasping the founder's vision and extends through conversations with employees and customers. This process offers invaluable …
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Today, we had a conversation with Brendan Staib, the latest addition to the SparkPartners team and a sophomore at the University of Arizona's business school. Understanding the distinct buying patterns of each generation can provide valuable insights on how to sell to each of them and grow your market share. In our discussion, Brendan shed light on…
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This podcast reviews 2 innovators launching new businesses. One we see as very likely to succeed. The other is a lot more questionable. We explain in detail what distinguishes the difference. Adam Hartung made over 300 predictions during the decade he wrote for Forbes. 100% of those predictions turned out to be accurate – a record for Forbes writer…
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April 2, 2024 was the day General Electric died. After 132 years, the behemoth founded on invention and innovation by Thomas Edison is no longer. How could one of the founding members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffer such a fate? After all, just 24 years ago GE – led by Jack Welch – was the most admired company in the USA; and one of the …
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Last week Family Dollar/Dollar Tree revealed it was filing for bankruptcy and closing approximately 1,000 stores. For most of us, these announcements are so common we don’t even notice any longer. Last year 4,600 retail locations closed in the USA. CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens closed 800 stores. This podcast explains how the US became so “overstored…
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In the last couple of weeks the Supreme Court has overturned a lot of precedent. Similar to other headlines, it’s important business leaders use this input to update future scenarios. This podcast reviews how the 3 big precedent changes (New York gun law, reproduction rights and school prayer) all indicate a shift in the high court toward personal …
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GE was founded on April 15, 1892. On April 2, 2024 there will be no more GE. This podcast explains that what took 108 years to build, culminating in Jack Welch’s huge growth spurt from 1980 to 2000, was systematically destroyed by CEO Jeff Immelt and his successors. How? By focusing on earnings rather than growing revenues. This week Boeing was put…
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This podcast interviews Tom Koulopoulos, Founding Chairman of Delphi Group, Executive Director of the Babson College Center for Business Innovation, past Director of the Dell Innovation Lab and contributor to Inc Magazine as well as many other journals. We overview his latest book (#14) “GIGATRENDS” offering insights to the major trends creating op…
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There is a lot of immigrant bashing in the USA these days. Somewhat ironic, given that almost all Americans have an immigrant background. Nonetheless, there is a perception among a lot of people – business leaders included – that immigrants are bad for the economy. This podcast sets out to reverse that thinking. Reviewing ample data from the Congre…
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Starting next week Amazon.com will replace Walgreens on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA.) This 100+ year old index may seem out of date, but it does still have meaning. Being selected for inclusion means a company is relevant and growing, and being opted out is the opposite. We discuss in this podcast how changes in the DJIA and the Dow Tran…
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Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have both confirmed we will have a commercial real estate debacle on our hands soon. Great, they finally figured out what Manny and Adam have been saying for over a year! Better late than remaining ignorant! So what does this mean for you? This podcast explains the risks this is creating f…
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Trends are long-lived customer behavioral changes. Trends cause customers to develop new needs and allow companies to supply new solutions. Thus, trends are loaded with opportunity, and the source of obsolescence. But far too few companies use trends in their planning. This podcast overviews how we verify trends, identify trend reinforcers, and the…
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Do you know WHY people should want to do business with your start-up, without discussing HOW you do it? This #Podcast interviews Jordan Shepley founder of The Headling Lounge. In this interview Jordan describes exactly why people should want to buy her products. Over and again she describes the benefits customers receive, short and long-term. We al…
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Despite the reliability of demographic data, and projections, few business leaders use demographics as part of their future planning. Because most leaders assume demographics won’t change much, and they need to appeal to today’s marketplace. But we are facing a global shift in demographics that is changing business conditions in every market – righ…
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US businesses are struggling to find workers, a topic this podcast has discussed many times. And political divisiveness has been making it hard to implement policies to grow the economy. To grow your business now could well be a good time to consider Mexico, as a final market or as part of your supply chain. This podcast overviews Manny’s recent tr…
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Demographics are one of the most important trends for business forecasting. They are extremely predictable, and offer tremendous insight to future markets. From the 1980’s onward it was clear there would be a demographic problem of aging in the developed world which would create conflicts as major countries started to suffer declining populations. …
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Planning for 2024 and beyond, the biggest factor determining your success is where you invest your resources. Most of us invest in doing more of the same thing, only better, faster, cheaper. But that has diminishing returns, and for most of us will have low payoff. Greater success comes from investing in future trends, breaking out of our Lock-in t…
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Often leaders push their organizations to be “cost conscious.” This almost always leads to bad customer service, which can really, really hurt your business. This podcast digs into how some companies have bad service for years, like Comcast and United Airlines, while profits stall. Others, like Sears and ToysRUs completely fail. Yet other companies…
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Well, McKinsey finally did it. After a full year of analysis they figured out what we’ve been saying on this podcast all along – that a growth strategy outperforms a defensive strategy, even in recessions. Wow, pop the champagne corks. All of you readers already know this, and that their #1 method of growing in 2024 is (wait a minute) using automat…
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Rising Healthcare Costs, Rising Wages – Are American Employers Prepared? Healthcare in America is changing – but oh so slowly. Only in the last year or two has telemedicine become viable. And costs for so many procedures are wildly out of line with costs for similar procedures in foreign countries. Meanwhile, only in America do employers pay for he…
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What can the Heavy Equipment industry tell us about trends? In today's podcast, we talk with Louis Fernandez, an expert in the heavy machinery industry with years of helping companies find expense-side savings from the operations of a company. We draw from his expertise in the industry to learn more about how important heavy machines are to the eco…
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Exxon is making a huge acquisition of Pioneer. Chevron is buying Hess. Kroger bought Albertsons. Cedar Fair and Six Flags are merging. These will all grow the revenues of the acquirer, and revenue growth is a good thing. So are acquisitions a good strategy? This podcast explains why the bulk of acquisitions are done for the wrong reason. They are c…
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