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Episode DescriptionAI is fundamentally changing how SaaS companies should think about pricing. When your software makes teams 70% more efficient, charging per seat means you're literally shrinking your own market. In this conversation, product management veteran Lee Bridges explains why seat-based pricing is a burning platform and what comes next. Lee, returning to the podcast after five years, recently led a pricing transformation project that forced him to confront an uncomfortable truth: AI-driven efficiency gains directly reduce the number of seats customers need. His solution? Outcome-based pricing that aligns incentives between vendors and customers while future-proofing against AI disruption. GuestLee Bridges - Cheif Product Officer at Inn-Flow, father, audio engineer, and vibe coder who recently completed a major pricing transformation project for a B2B SaaS company in the field service space. Key Topics CoveredThe Seat-Based Pricing Problem How AI efficiency reduces Total Addressable Market (TAM)The misalignment of incentives between vendors and customersInternal team conflicts created by per-seat modelsWhy "reducing a team from 10 to 3" destroys 70% of your revenue potentialOutcome-Based Pricing Explained The difference between usage-based and outcome-based pricingHow to identify and price meaningful outcomesThe psychology of "you make money when your customer makes money"Avoiding the "nickel and diming" feeling of usage-based modelsReal-World Implementation Case study: Field service sales teams (20 minutes to 90 seconds per quote)Tiered prepayment models with outcome "credits"Combining platform fees with outcome pricingWhen outcome-based pricing works (and when it doesn't)The Future of SaaS and AI Why B2B SaaS isn't going anywhere despite AI hypeThe problem with expecting everyone to be a product managerConsistency, training, and the limits of LLM-generated experiencesVibe coding and no-code tools in practiceNotable Quotes"If you create efficiencies that make a process so efficient that some number of people will no longer be necessary... you reduce the number of potential seats. You reduce the Tam." "If I give you a dollar and you're going to give me $10 back, I'd be insane to not do that as many times as I can." "You're really expecting everyone on Earth to be a product manager. That's just not going to happen." "The most people don't have a high level of agency. They don't know what they want, when they want it, and they don't know how to describe it." Practical TakeawaysEvaluate your pricing model now - If you're charging per seat and building AI features, you're creating a strategic vulnerabilityStart with new products - Test outcome-based pricing with new offerings rather than risking existing revenueIdentify measurable outcomes tied to customer revenue - What metrics does your sales team already use when discussing ROI?Consider hybrid models - Platform fees plus outcome pricing can balance predictability with value alignmentThe complexity trade-off - Outcome-based pricing must remain simple enough to avoid litigation-inducing confusion

[00:01:00] Kerry's journey from personal adversity to leadership expertise[00:04:00] The book's target audience: new managers and struggling leaders[00:08:00] Growing up with six brothers and two sisters across blended families[00:09:00] The pivotal moment: losing her mother at 16 and moving in with her father[00:12:00] Good bosses vs. bad bosses: more than just opposites[00:15:00] Leading with gratitude and the power of compartmentalization[00:18:00] Navigating difficult conversations and layoffs with empathy[00:21:00] Leading different personality types: sales, product, and marketing teams[00:24:00] The myth of self-management in tech and the need for guidance[00:28:00] Working with entrepreneurs and managing multiple priorities[00:34:00] Learning "how men think" and navigating male-dominated environments[00:42:00] Creating inclusive cultures where emotions are acceptable[00:47:00] The power dynamics of leadership and asking for feedback[00:49:00] Kerry's speaking goals and helping organizations build better culturesKey Takeaways: Leadership is more like parenting than marriage - guiding growth without coddlingEvery employee deserves empathy, clear vision, and understanding of their roleThe importance of preparation for difficult conversations, especially layoffsCreating psychological safety where team members can express emotionsLeaders must recognize their power and influence over employees' lives

Ashley Kent - Founder & CEO of Clear Star Creative, a boutique marketing growth agency specializing in venture-backed health tech companies Key Topics DiscussedBuilding a Sustainable Business and Life BalanceManaging a 15-employee company while raising two young children (ages 4 and 6)Finding joy in simple pleasures: working out, good food, and family timeThe reality of being a working mom in a small community where she's often in the minorityWhat Clear Star Creative DoesBoutique marketing/growth agency focused on venture-backed health tech startupsTwo main service phases:"Crawl Phase": Helping companies validate their target audience and go-to-market strategy"Walk Phase": Building scalable marketing and sales systems beyond founder-led salesThe Evolution of Venture CapitalShift from investing in "dreams and ideas" (2015-2020) to requiring tangible resultsVCs now demand sustainable, repeatable business models rather than relying on individual foundersImportance of building "moats" and differentiation in crowded marketsMarketing PhilosophyThree ways CEOs typically view marketing:Core revenue driverSales enablement ("make things look pretty")Brand awareness generatorFocus on impacting business outcomes, not just creating contentTaking a whole customer lifecycle approach from acquisition to renewalAI's Role in MarketingUsing AI as an efficiency tool, not a replacement for human relationshipsCurrent tech stack includes ChatGPT for ideation and image generation, AI note-taking toolsEmphasis on maintaining human oversight and the relationship-driven nature of businessThe Transition from Founder-Led SalesCommon challenge for companies in the $10-50M rangeDifference between lifestyle businesses and venture-scalable companiesBuilding repeatable systems that don't depend on the founder's personal relationshipsProduct-Led Growth in HealthcareHealthcare traditionally being sales-led but slowly adopting PLG approachesThe complexity of implementing PLG - requires buttoned-up systems and user experienceWarning about pulling product resources away from core developmentRecent Business ChallengesAshley candidly shared experiencing her "hardest six months ever": Lost entire core team within two weeksLost major clients within two monthsHad to rebuild while maintaining operations and caring for familyLearning to balance investment in clients' success with her own company's needsHiring and Team ManagementFocus on behavioral interviews and work ethic assessment90-day probationary period to ensure good fitEmphasis on preventing burnout in high-paced startup/agency environmentImportance of setting clear expectations and boundariesParenting and BusinessExposing her daughter to the business world and strong working womenBalancing being present for family while running a demanding businessTeaching children about the value of hard work and financial independenceKey Quotes"I'm in the people business. We are in the services business where we are building relationships." "If we turned [marketing] off tomorrow, would it really impact our business? Probably not... We have to make sure that we are impacting the business in every single thing we're doing." "The strategic person climbs to the top of the ladder, looks over the trees and says, 'guys, we're in the wrong forest.'" "Don't let the facade fool you. It is hard as hell to do this and it will push you in every single capacity." Resources MentionedClay (AI-enabled sales outreach tool)Apollo (sales outreach platform)ChatGPT (AI for ideation and content)Clear Star Creative websiteEpisode TakeawaysFocus over busy work: Strategic thinking means identifying the one thing that will truly move the needleRelationships drive business: Especially in B2B services, human connections remain irreplaceableTransparency builds trust: Being honest about capabilities and limitations creates stronger client relationshipsSystems enable scale: Moving beyond founder-dependent operations requires intentional system buildingResilience through adversity: Even successful entrepreneurs face major setbacks - persistence and support systems are crucialFortune's Path podcast helps service and technology businesses address root causes that prevent rapid growth. Music and editing by Ted Noser.

In this episode of the Fortune's Path podcast, Tom Noser interviews Anderson Williams, Principal for Talent Development at Shore Capital Partners, a private equity firm that partners with entrepreneurs and industry executives to drive growth in micro-cap businesses. Anderson brings a unique perspective from his diverse background as a classroom teacher, entrepreneur, sculptor, painter, writer, and corporate advisor. Topics Discussed:Anderson's role leading talent and leadership development initiatives at Shore Capital PartnersHow Shore Capital works with micro-cap businesses (typically small, family-run businesses) to help them scaleThe Shore Leadership Academy's approach to developing leaders at different stagesHow Anderson's background in fine arts influences his approach to business and educationThe importance of trust and communication as foundations for leadershipThe connection between art, education, and business leadershipHow Shore Capital evaluates potential business partnershipsThe growth strategy of consolidating small businesses to create mid-market companiesKey Takeaways:Shore Capital Partners invests in micro-cap businesses with the goal of helping them scale, focusing on companies where the founders want to remain involved and grow with a strategic partner.The Shore Leadership Academy focuses on developing leadership at all levels, from first-time managers to executives, with a curriculum that progresses from self-development to team leadership to strategic business thinking.Anderson attributes much of his approach to business and leadership to his background in fine arts, particularly how it taught him to see differently, accept feedback, and continually iterate.Trust is described as foundational to leadership, with three distinct dimensions: personal trust, organizational trust, and strategic trust.The best teachers (and leaders) combine authentic passion for their subject with the ability to make content relevant to learners' real-world experiences.Anderson describes education as being about delivery, while learning is about what people do with knowledge - applying it in new and interesting ways.Shore Capital's investment strategy looks for "barbell industries" where there are many small players and a few large ones, creating opportunity to build in the middle through strategic acquisition.Business success ultimately comes from human relationships: "We're humans working together with other humans and human-created systems to provide products and services to solve problems for other humans. And we call it a business."Guest Bio:Anderson Williams serves as Principal for Talent Development at Shore Capital Partners, leading their talent and leadership development initiatives. With a diverse background as a classroom teacher, entrepreneur, sculptor, painter, writer, and corporate advisor, Anderson brings a unique perspective to leadership development. He holds a Master's in Fine Arts from Cranbrook Academy of Art and has been with Shore since 2021.

[00:00:00] - Introduction Tom: Setting up today's discussion points: establishing new standards in software, using tech for effective learning, and the possible conflict between educational system administrators and students.Guest: David Ells, Managing Director of Open LMS, an open-source learning management system provider.Overview of David's background in online learning with over 15 years of experience, including work with the Department of Defense on the Experience API (XAPI).[00:01:09] - Early Career and Entry into Learning Tech David: Shares his accidental entry into the learning tech field after earning a master's degree from MTSU.Initial job at Rustici Software leading to a career in educational technology.Discusses the meaningful impact of developing educational tools and the transformative power of education.[00:03:53] - Importance of Experiential Learning in Hiring Tom: Probes the significance of certifications versus experience in hiring.David: Emphasizes experience and practical application of knowledge as primary hiring factors over certifications.[00:05:35] - Introduction to XAPI Tom: Attempts to describe XAPI.David: Explains XAPI's basics—data format and communication protocol for learning events, allowing detailed tracking of learning activities across various platforms and contexts.[00:07:37] - XAPI's Vision and Development Tom: Shares initial skepticism about XAPI but appreciates its potential.David: Discusses the broader vision of XAPI, including data mobility and creating verifiable credentials for lifelong learning records.Insights on corporate and academic applications and interoperability with different forms of learning content.[00:10:52] - Industry Adoption and Impact of Standards David: Describes efforts to establish XAPI, parallels with existing industry standards, and the critical role of adoption.Historical context of SCORM and the unique challenges and opportunities it presented.[00:15:00] - Rustici Software’s Contribution to XAPI Tom: Questions about Rustici’s role in developing SCORM and transitioning to XAPI.David: Details Rustici’s research and industry contributions leading to XAPI’s development and its collaborative approach.[00:21:00] - Launching and Promoting XAPI David: Discusses the practical and marketing challenges in launching a new standard and gaining adoption.Realizations and reflections on what might have been done differently for better adoption rates.[00:28:10] - XAPI’s Broader Applications and Limitations Tom: Explores XAPI’s potential beyond learning contexts.David: Outlines XAPI’s flexibility, acknowledging both its strengths and weaknesses, and practical applications in data-driven contexts.[00:38:08] - Managing Data with Watershed Tom: Discusses the potential overwhelming amount of data XAPI could collect.David: Describes the importance of filtering data to extract meaningful insights and the role of tools like Watershed in this process.[00:43:42] - Transition to Open LMS David: Talks about his move to Open LMS and the shift in focus to higher education.Differences between corporate and academic markets and the commonalities in learning management needs.[00:45:03] - Comparing Corporate and Higher Education LMS Needs David: Discusses the evolving needs of universities to prepare students for careers and the corporate focus on skills-based training.[00:50:14] - Conflict Between Learners and Administrators Tom: Expresses views on the inherent conflict between learners and administrators.David: Compares this to IT departments versus end-users, discussing the potential synergy with modern SaaS and cloud-based solutions.[00:58:16] - Future of EdTech and Learning Systems David: Envisions a future where learning is skills-based and highly personalized, breaking the traditional degree format.Discusses the potential for more granular and modular learning experiences.[01:00:10] - Collaborations Between Academia and Industry Tom: Asks about formalizing partnerships between universities and industries.David: Discusses the potential for these partnerships, acknowledging existing informal pipelines and the mutual benefits.[01:02:17] - Personal Goals and Vision for Open LMS David: Shares his aspirations for the growth and success of Open LMS.Emphasizes the adaptability of Open LMS and its potential leadership in emerging educational trends.[01:02:54] - Conclusion Tom: Thanks David Ells for the conversation.David: Expresses enjoyment and appreciation for the dialogue and Tom's writing.

JJ: "My my dad was in the music business. He did this thing called mobile recording, where he had this 18 Wheeler truck, in the back of it was a recording studio. And so he would go around the country recording, you know, all kinds of live concerts and albums. And so by the time I got to maybe, I guess, seventh grade, my summers, I was a roadie. So I did that for my summers. And that was really fun for maybe like a week or so. And then I quickly saw that oh, this is pretty hard."JJ: "To be like a techie it was all about you had to be real good at math or something. And so you had to be kind of a math nerd. And I just pictured. "Okay, I'm not that.".. But as it turned out a lot of tech is about at least I've found is more about creativity."JJ: "We've gotten deep into AI. The attitude internally we had at our company was, okay, this is both a threat and an opportunity kind of thing.""Tom: I don't think large language models are going to be with us as, like, a permanent thing. I think eventually they may turn into just like a parlor game. Sort of an amusement. It's just statistically predicting what might come next. That feels like a fatal flaw.  There's a structure problem that is fatal. "JJ: "We went years with  no formal marketing. We were working and lucky to be in a field where there's been some demand.  So just trying to do a good job and live off of referrals. Over time, as we  grew, you  want to shift from being reactive to being proactive. That's what I felt would be good to do. That's when we started investing in  marketing internally. "

"8% of the male population is colorblind, especially to red and green. And so think about the stock market and how that reads, or any kind of financial or big data company and their prevalent uses of green and red.  People see those colors in shades of yellows and beige. ...I think accessibility design is still up and coming.  I think user experience as an industry is still in its infancy... incorporating it into corporate spheres, companies, what does that mean?  I make it a business to help build toolkits on how to define what it is that we do." "Generally people put out surveys at the beginning of a workflow or when someone first drops into their site before login or after login. But where I find that type of survey being really beneficial is after they do something.  So they come there with a certain thing in mind that they want to do.  That is exactly when you should throw up those two questions: a rating scale or an open ended.""Nashville is a place of connectors: "Hey, you know what? I know this person, let me email them for you. There is that love here of  meeting, meeting people  organically.""Design principles are  value statements that describe the most important goals that a product delivers for its users.""With with product led growth, focus on customer acquisition, your expansion and keeping your clients. There's four ways to do that. First: it's with user experience and an intuitive interface. Simplify the user journey. When someone's onboarding, consider how  they quickly understand the value of the product just because of the interaction they're having with the first page or the first few pages, and then make sure that it's a consistent experience across all devices. "The second one is UI. You user interface is really the visual appeal of designing for attention. We touch on this with graphic design. It's bringing clarity and language to guide people through features.  Think of things like feedback, how do you know this is working?""Another one that helps with product led growth is interaction design. Micro-interactions, you know, something that has minimal steps to complete the task or reduce friction and encouraging people to use the product later. A notification  saying, hey, you forgot something! Those are all ways that, you know, kind of brings growth. You don't necessarily think about it.""The last one is showcasing  something that you can use for free. But then explaining: 'hey there's these other features that you might like!' And being exploratory with that."

On the risk of AI programing leading to crummy software: "At the end of the day AI is just a tool, right? And so it's how we choose to use it that could have impacts there. If we allow AI usage to be an excuse to move quickly [when developing software], but sloppily, then yeah, we're going to build more and more software that is is tenuous and has the potential of falling over."On the idea of AI being able to help junior developers become senior developers more quickly: "Unless we are intentional as an industry, we run the risk of replacing the natural apprenticeship that's been in place for a few decades."On AI taking our jobs: "Humans will always seek to work on the things that they're uniquely able to deliver value on, and I think so we'll just keep doing that in software development. But but I am worried about what the path looks like for people to get to that level of expertise."On his new venture Ducky.foo: "Ducky.foo is is the outcome of me wrestling with the disparity that AI assistants are creating in terms of junior developer versus senior developer productivity... Create a human community where more experienced developers can teach and mentor and share their hard won expertise and real world knowledge with junior developers, but do it at scale...it's not novel to think of a community of software developers of different experience levels helping each other out. But I think what is novel is that I think we can hyper scale this type of community by injecting AI into it.""Those with the most going into any kind of innovation tend to be the ones who benefit the most." Ducky.foo is hoping to stop this from taking place with AI innovation, and prevent the fruits of AI innovation from resting in the hands of the wealthy.On the toxicity of Stack Overflow and general trolling: "here's a place where AI does have a leg up. It's infinitely patient, infinitely pleasant. And so I think That's one thing we can borrow from AI as we're building Ducky.foo.”

Key Takeaways“Applying to college is a series of tasks where you need information, guidance, and you need support through your own discernment process. It doesn’t have to be terrible. It doesn’t have to be scary.”“I use the word discern a lot. And I do that intentionally to discern who they are. Because when you start a college as a freshman, you're not the same person you are when you finish as a senior. And we need to get that right environment where it can be flexible and support that kind of academic, social, and emotional growth.”“…what's your philosophy of education? Do you view it as a means to an end, or is higher ed kind of this banquet table, you go and you feast and you try things, and it's just important to know what you don't like as it is to find out what you do like and what you're passionate about. We need to be strategic and intentional with choices for our students.”On her pro bono clients: “Helping them realize their potential, but to also broaden…horizons…look at it through this lens.”“If someone starts off a conversation, I want my child to go to a really competitive school. There's a lot to unpack in that statement. Once we start teasing out those factors…what I'm really hearing is I just want the best for my child. I don't know what that means. I don't have language around this, so I'm going to say an Ivy, I'm going to say, the best, the most competitive and what the most competitive for I'd say the majority of people isn't always the best decision.”If you work with Beth, you’re getting a process, not an outcome. It’s sometimes hard for parents to understand.“Children learn what they live. When they're shown another way. They're always receptive. I always said I can work with any student - parents: That's a different story. Kids are not the issue.”“Sometimes people just need to be reminded that they can do hard things.”

2:12 - Why she became a self-pay patient after two medical bankruptcies.  9:22 - How to navigate self-pay by removing fear-based thinking (I must have health insurance) and negotiate with every single healthcare service you pay for.  11:02 - The freedom that comes with leaving health insurance behind and embracing self pay. 11:58 - How hospital foundations and patient pay advocates have emerged to embrace (somewhat) self-pay. 12:49 - As a high earner, she does not use these foundations, but negotiates to pay her bill. She's also a member of Christian Healthcare Ministries (CHM),  a health cost sharing ministry.  13:20 - How CHM works - you become a member, pay a monthly fee. When a healthcare episode arises, you access CHM to get your healthcare bills paid, or shared.  15:14 - Sloane details the self-pay patient journey, how self-pay doesn't trickle through to all areas of the healthcare industry, and how to educate each sector about self-pay. 22:50 - How to ask for the self-pay rate as a patient. 25:00 - Where Sloane negotiated for care from one provider that was 75% less than what another provider quoted.  26:35 - How physicians are fairly  knowledgeable about self pay, but those in their business offices are not. They are trained to work with insurance. She packs her "patience and grace" to ask them to do something that is unusual.  29:25 - Tom pivots the conversation to how Sloan copes with a diagnosis of a terminal illness (at age 23). She doesn't let it define her, and looks at her condition as a chronic illness.  30:23 - How Sloane and Tom agree that it is the dying person's responsibility to prepare the living  for their own death.  34:14 - Why doctors ignore DNRs (hint: it has to do with litigation).  35:10 - Tom laments that modern Stoics don't talk suicide the way the original Stoics did - it is the last vestige of our wills.  37:50 - Sloane shares her grandmother's advice about friendship: you really only need 6 friends in life; 3 on one side of the casket, and 3 on the other.  38:10 - The extreme rarity of having one really close friend.  40:00 - Shifting to business, how she found herself in Nashville's health tech scene. Pre-pandemic, it was crowded, healthy and vibrant. Backed by Nashville and nationwide private equity and venture capital firms, and also supported by local institutions like the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Nashville Healthcare Council, local family funds, and others, founders were getting a lot of support.  41:13 - When founder-led companies become responsible for creating shareholder value. The trajectory to create shareholder value is a big change, and she learned how sales and marketing played such a significant role in creating that value.  42:35 - Creation of her secret sauce: the strategy/methodology/execution of marketing to build to exit, and understanding how to make quick pivots as needed.  44:02 - What healthcare doesn't talk about post-pandemic: the rise in chronic disease, chronic care. Fortunately, many tech companies have come forward to begin to address this issue, but the exits are not as speedy as they once were. 45:29 - The role of a strategic story in an exit, and how your fly paper is still whether or not you created shareholder value. But healthcare needs to re-think intellectual property. 47:00 - The other way to re-frame and look at shareholder value: the customer relationships you create. If you can own a swim lane in the market, and really own it well, that has enormous value.  48:16 - How mergers often destroy value by devaluing the brand and the culture.  51:24 - Who shaped her marketing philosophy, Marty Neumeier, who was Steve Jobs' brand mentor. She believes, as Marty maintains, that a brand isn't what you say it is, it's what your customer says it is.  54:17 - How she loves founder-led companies, and how she gets so much more out of it than what she put into it. Her emotional paycheck gets cashed every time she sees someone get a check they never thought they would get.          

Takeaways:  Selling into healthcare takes a long time - for good reason.Having worked in both the education and healthcare market selling software, both are difficult markets. While healthcare has more budget than education, both take forever to make a decision.Young entrepreneurs should think about getting some enterprise-level experience before starting a company.How entrepreneurship is like parenthood: you don't know it until you try it.Early technical decisions can have an outsize downstream impact, and is perhaps more important than go to market activity.Moore's most important job as CEO was first to drive revenue, then later to set the company vision and cultivate its culture.In his current role as an advisor, he stresses operational discipline over founders habits.The number one attribute for entrepreneurial success? Being able to work through ambiguity.Managing customers and raising kids both involve cultivating their independence from you.Jason's favorite saying? "People gonna people." It's not just negative - people also do amazing things. But just know that folks will disappoint you at some point.Advice to his 23 year-old self: Push through the hard times and keep people close; don't lose your focus on them.

Takeaways:  Why it's not so much that Eric is a believer in alternative assets, but that he believes in a diversification of investment portfolios. That illiquidity of alternative assets is a feature, not a bug. The legal challenges of getting Alto started took longer than the anticipated technical challenges of simplifying the workflow processes of alternative investments.The 'greater fool' theory in investments.How public markets are no longer being driven by the fundamentals of investing and operating.Alto's three levels of operation: a software business which owns a trust company and also owns a securities company.'Historically good returns' in alternative investments = returns that exceed public market returns.Bitcoin, like money, is an invention based on faith.What comprises 'luck' in business: hard work, opportunity, and a third vector: remaining open to what's happening in the market.The cost - and there is one - to entrepreneurship.

Takeaways Understanding the basics of circuits and quantum computing is essential in comprehending the potential of AI.Transparency and explainability are crucial in AI decision-making to ensure accountability and mitigate bias.Data curation is a critical step in developing AI models to avoid unintended biases and improve accuracy.The application of AI in mortgage and loan decisions requires careful consideration of fairness and ethical implications. Higher education is correlated with earnings, but its correlation with credit worthiness is uncertain.Being completely blind to factors like race and gender in the hiring process may be challenging, but efforts can be made to represent everyone equally.Considering each subpopulation separately and simplifying the hiring process can help ensure fair representation.Ethical dilemmas arise when ignoring correlations that have a strong statistical relationship with outcomes.The application of AI in the hiring process can be effective when combined with human decision-making and a structured, data-informed approach.Chapters 00:00Introduction and Recording Confirmation 00:38Background in Physics and Engineering 03:13Research in Material Design and Quantum Physics 04:26Understanding Circuits and Quantum Computing 06:37Transition from Research to Business 11:14Impact of Ideas and Einstein's Equation 13:14Ethics and Risks of Artificial Intelligence 17:15Applications and Limitations of AI 20:39Ethics and Bias in AI Decision-Making 25:24Transparency and Explainability in AI 29:29Data Curation and Bias in AI Models 34:07AI in Mortgage and Loan Decisions 38:15Fairness and Ethics in Lending 38:41Correlation between Higher Education and Earnings 39:21Challenges of Being Blind to Race and Gender 39:49Considerations for Representing Everyone Equally 40:24Ethical Dilemmas of Ignoring Correlations 41:08Product Development and Answering Ethical Questions 41:29Simplifying the Hiring Process 42:02Data-Informed Recruiting and Hiring 43:14Using Data to Find the Right Match 44:24Simplifying the Workflow for Recruiters 45:16Focusing on Skill-Based Factors in Hiring 46:31The Validity of Resumes in Predicting Performance 47:25Factors in Deciding a Good Hire 48:15The Tricky Nature of Job Descriptions 49:05The Importance of Skills and Job Descriptions 50:03The Value of Experience and Starting a Business 51:09The Role of Emotion in Decision-Making 54:02Introducing Scientific Process into Hiring 55:53The Application of AI in the Hiring Process 56:58The Human Element in Decision-Making 58:16Applying the Scientific Method to Business Problems 59:18Learning from Past Research and Being Skeptical 01:00:45Checking Assumptions and Being Discerning

Norbert talks about how Adidas starts its shoe manufacturing process, beginning with a business unit who outlines the market need in a comprehensive brief. Then, a designer group begins experimenting with colors, materials and textures. "There's 250-350 operations that need to happen to put one pair of footwear together, so it's a long process... taking up to 16 months," says Norbert. Every new material and material supplier is tested, based on internal standards. Once it moves to being manufactured on the production line, further testing and checking take place.  Some analogies and differences - software vs. manufacturing:  multiple suppliers and producers are comparable to software engineers writing code all over a complex systemthe value of eliminating variationunlike software, there's no opportunity to "fix it later" in manufacturing, which makes it essential to build a highly functioning quality processquality and compliance can't be an afterthought in manufacturing software and manufacturing need to focus on root cause analysis to build the most robust quality management processrisk analysis is all about error tolerance 

How can a dog get you through bad times? How does selling door to door to non-English speakers prepare you for a career in finance? What should you look for when investing in real estate? These are some of the questions we ask Rich Boucher, veteran real estate investor, dog lover, and sales expert. Rich is the Senior Director, Capital Markets for Alpha Investing, a private equity real estate firm providing investors with access to institutional-grad assets with compelling, risk-adjusted returns. Rich talks how Alpha investing chooses properties, why they only invest in properties that already exist, why high interest rates haven’t hurt his business, and why he still wants to sell face to face, on this episode of the Fortune’s Path podcast. The Fortune’s Path Podcast is a production of Fortune’s Path, where we help technology businesses create products that generate monopoly profits. Fractional product management. Product leadership coaching. Competitive Intelligence. Find your genius with Fortune’s Path.