Discussing Business Transformation on the Disrupt & Innovate Podcast

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Transcript:

are you a business owner stuck in fear

doubt and worry about what the

marketplace will look like in the future

then this show is for you strap on your

seat belt and get ready to disrupt and

innovate here's your host Lisa

[Music]

Levy I am excited to introduce to you

today our guest Danny Nathan he's a

dynamic innovator with a knack for

helping companies create groundbreaking

products services and Ventures

over the Year Danny has worn many hats

he's been called a product person ux guy

designer strategist marketer creative

and even the cleaner for his ability to

navigate complex challenges as the

founder of Apollo 21 Dany has built a

unique company that merges business

consultancy product design and the

Venture Studio

experience Apollo 21 is dedicated to

fostering Innovation driving Venture

driven growth and eliminating barriers

to scale by crafting Technology

Solutions that tackle complex business

and operational issues headon let's jump

into Danny's journey and explore his

approach to Innovation and discover how

he's helping companies unlock their full

potential Dany welcome to the

conversation thanks for having me I'm

excited to be here I am thrilled to have

you here with us today can you share

with us for the audience right I did the

formal intro thing but really what is it

that you're doing today and why is it so

important

now absolutely so uh we help clients

large and small uh do any of three

things we help them assess ideate and

create technology that they might sell

to their customers so helping companies

build applications be that mobile or

desktop or whatever the case may be we

help our clients build software for use

inside their own house so helping to

streamline operations create operational

efficiency

uh anything from data management to

workflow management to AI integration

Etc and then the last thing that we

focus on is helping companies with their

uh Innovation strategy so helping

companies understand what a commitment

to Innovation actually looks like what

the operational and cultural challenges

of that are and then helping put in

place repeatable processes that make

Innovation tangible and actionable

instead of just you know a talking

point and so fundamentally in in ation

is part and partial to what we talk

about here right Innovation is the

reality if we don't evolve and innovate

our businesses will ultimately die yes

so assess ideate and then create the

three basic steps of creating and

driving innovation in any business with

your background you have been in and out

of so many different

experiences can you share with us kind

of the impact with a c with a client

where going through the Apollo 21

experience with you has made a a

material impact on their

business yeah absolutely um one of my

favorite examples we had a client that

we worked with for about a year and a

half that was in the western Sports

space so think Cowboys and rodeos and

things like that that uh are generally

not kind of the place where your brain

first goes when you think technology and

Innovation and uh this was a unique

company that was really aiming to make

an impact and disrupt the uh Western

Sports space and so initially they came

to us and said hey we believe firmly in

the value of data for our business and

we have a bunch of data but it's come

through acquisition and all sorts of

kind of weird ways it's sitting in about

a hundred different csvs on somebody's

computer can you help and so we of

course said yes we absolutely can and

over the course of about six weeks we

took all of that data ingested it

normalized it and then loaded it all

into a foundational technology platform

that we have for our own use called

mission control and that allowed us to

very quickly uh create data views and

the ability to kind of see understand

and check the analytics and insights of

the data that was there and really make

that data actionable and that experience

opened the door then to as I said about

a year and a half's worth of work and we

ended up creating anything from a

marketing operations platform to to a

event production platform specifically

built around rodeo events and ultimately

ended up creating a consumer facing

application that was sort of ESPN for

rodeo and that was born out of our

customer development process and really

we had the opportunity because we had

access to both fans and athletes in the

rodeo space and that gave us a chance to

understand deeply what their needs were

and to create something that closely

aligned to those needs and so uh very

quickly I think within about three

months of launch we were able to Garner

about 50,000 users and perhaps even more

impressively we had a inapp uh session

time of almost 15 minutes so every time

somebody was opening the app they were

spending about 15 minutes consuming

content watching live rodeo events

things of that sort and so it was really

exciting to see how that came to life

and you know those couple of proof

points the uh the very early growth and

the time that users were spending in the

app really helped us understand that you

know we were on the right track to

building something of value so when I

asked the question I really was not

expecting a western Sports example this

is why I use it it's absolutely fabulous

because really

we I'm going to oversimplify right but

riding a horse is not the most technical

technology oriented thing in the

world but what you started to build in a

really short time right to get to the

app to have engagement at like 15

minutes in app is a really deep rich

understanding of the customer journey

and what they were looking for otherwise

you would never have hooked them in so

let's talk a little bit about that part

of your background because that's you

know taking the techn taking data

connecting it to technology that's the

easy part creating a rich customer

experience is something entirely

different so talk to me about how you

focus

on the customer journey and getting that

part

right so at Apollo 21 we are huge

Advocates of the lean customer

development process we love talking to

customers we love getting their

perspective on what's working today and

ideally what's not so that when we are

helping a client build something new or

create some sort of approach to

Innovation we know that it is serving a

customer need and we can help the client

align that to a business need so that

both sides are served and in the example

that I've just offered as I mentioned we

had access to both Rodeo fans and

athletes which really helped us

understand what those core needs were

and led to a couple of really

interesting insights um for example when

we started the process we started with

the expectation of building two separate

apps one for fans and one for athletes

and what we discovered through that

customer development process was that

drawing a line in the rodeo World

between a fan and an athlete is very

difficult it's not like um you know

building something for the NBA for

example where if you don't play

professional basketball you kind of know

that right out of the gate in the world

of rodeo you've got folks that are out

there every single weekend competing in

their Sport and while they may not have

made it to the professional level that

you know the athletes that uh were being

featured in the app were they're out

there participating in Team Roping and

barrel racing events and bull riding

events and so it does them a disservice

to not consider them an athlete and that

Insight really helped because it

ultimately led to the combination of

those two apps the athlete and fan

experiences into a singular experience

that served both of those needs but was

very careful not to draw a hard and fast

line so that um you know the weekend

warrior fan athlete folks didn't feel

left out or like they're experience was

being diminished even though they

weren't on the the quote big stage so if

at the beginning you had asked your

client if the there was a line would

they have said yes we need two

apps they came to us asking us to build

two apps and it was through the

development process that we realized

that perhaps that wasn't the best

approach so I I love that distinction

because one of the things when I work

with clients and I love to talk about

putting our customers at the center of

our universe because whatever we do in

our business whether it's how we invoice

our our how we how we create invoices

how we pay our people if we aren't

taking our end customer into mind when

we're making decisions about how we run

our operations we're throwing money away

and creating waste so customer at the

center of the universe and I

wholeheartedly believe that any client

who says this is what I need I know

it without the data that says that

proves it from The Voice the customer

they will always be wrong I'm guilty of

it we've all done it it's like I know I

know I know I know and if you can't back

it up with the voice of the customer

you're absolutely positively going to be

wrong um and and you proved it with

customer data and that's awesome and

that the athletes and the fans the line

between that it is blurred in that space

because it it's not one of the major

professional career choic where you are

in the NBA you're in the NFL um it's

it's really there's a clear and distinct

line and the they do compete and it is

hard work that they do so oh yeah the

impact of of paying homage and treating

them appropriately is again builds to

that experience and the engagement and

proof that you guys did something right

so that's a fabulous brand it builds

brand Affinity as well because it

establishes our client in this case the

company was called Teton Ridge it

establishes Teton Ridge as a brand that

understands the mindset of the fan and

the athlete and you know had the

wherewithal to come up with the notion

that there isn't a hard and fast line

between them yeah and yeah the the

connection right and then what comes out

of that right the raving fan the loyalty

and the stickiness of the relationship

between the athlete the customer and the

brand is going to be impactful for years

years to come exactly it is not

something that will you know not a flash

in the pan big onetime hype woohoo I

mean that's they get me and I I feel

respected and seen and heard and that's

absolutely that's that's the Holy Grail

of this right fabulous so that's a

really great example of the greatest

success path and it's a fun story to

tell can we go in the opposite direction

right where you had a real mess

something that was you know the client

was

just everything that could go wrong was

going wrong and how you helped them

navigate

through

um yeah so uh we've done a fair bit of

work with financial services clients as

well and one of them came to us with a

very simple ask actually they said we're

drowning an email can you help and that

was it and so we spent about a month of

Discovery working with that client and

to make a long story short what we

discovered was their entire process was

email if you need this email Bob if you

need that email Jane and you can

immediately understand why they were

drowning an email and having trouble

keeping up with it and so uh ultimately

we ended up spending about a year

working with them to build out a custom

internal operations platform that was

geared specifically around their most

used uh processes internally and the

reason that I bring this one up in

particular for you know something that

was challenging is we had anticipated

that that effort would take about three

months and It ultimately stretched out

to about a year um in part because we

were of course highly concerned with

delivering something that would serve

their need and allow them to function

more efficiently into the future um but

what we hadn't anticipated was just the

amount of time and sort of the level of

back and forth with the client to

understand all of the different edge

cases around those three processes and

the level of structure and rigor that

needed to be in place in this case

because the platform that we had built

was dictating the movement of money for

some ultra high net worth individuals

and so everything had to be done right

and tracked to the nth degree if

anything went wrong they immediately

needed the ability to dig into that

piece of software that we built and go

okay this client had a problem with this

transaction where did it go wrong at

what step who clicked the wrong button

and how do we avoid that happening in

the future and so um in that case

ultimately we ended up in a good place

but the downside to it was that it took

far longer than we expected uh to be

frank because we didn't do as well as we

should have kind of understanding the

need at the outset and you can only

understand right the information that

they give so in that I the the things

that resonate for this audience and

things that we talk about often right

people plus process times technology

equals growth in

scale it's a fundamental equation that I

run my my business based on and focusing

the front end the people plus process

right we have to have that right before

the technology can enable for growth and

scale yes and what you were describing

right the email process you know ask Bob

ask Jane right that is not actually a

process right that is that is a whole

bunch of just you know it's it's it's BS

and it it's it's lazy process work and

so I totally understand why going

through that and actually then creating

a system that did this we get the

automation we get the growth we get the

scale but we also get the compliance and

we get the security around understanding

what's actually happening and they were

so critical of what you were doing but

when you stop and think about how many

years of ask you know Bob Jane and

everything else that was going on with

zero

control right it's actually really funny

how critical they were when you put the

lens on oh we're gonna you know make

this easier and we're going to make it

faster and we're going to make it better

and oh by the way in doing that is now

these transactions are secure they're

traceable they're auditable they're

things that the email system process was

never and they had been doing it that

way since the beginning of time right

and so not only did you solve an email

problem right when you in financial

services when you turn it to the

backside and you go to the Auditors and

the compliance and all of that they're

like oh my God we had no idea all of

this happened right because it wasn't

visible right exactly and that's that is

exactly where the difficulty comes in

thank you these are these are good fun

so let's talk about with Apollo 21 what

you're building what it is that you're

looking for in the future what is that

that future look where where how are you

going to be impacting and and making um

an impression three years from now five

years from

now so our goal is is kind of twofold

you know one we love working with

clients to help them solve their

problems and whether that is a small

company or an early stage founder who is

looking to get off the ground or whether

that's a highly established company that

is looking to innovate and bring

something new to Market so that they can

gain uh you know greater market share or

bring something new that will help

establish them into the future um all of

that is just kind of the fun of figuring

out how to solve problems the other side

of our business is uh you know as you

noted to in the introduction we do

operate with a bit of a venture Studio

model as well and so in addition to

building uh software and technology for

our clients we also do so for ourselves

and a perfect example one of the uh

platforms that we released relatively

recently is called meeting cost

calculator and you'll be surprised to

hear that it does exactly what it sounds

like it does but uh we built it with an

eye towards helping teams understand

exactly what the cost and the impact of

their meeting culture looks like so that

they

can kind of figure out what works for

them and help avoid the moment of well

couldn't this have been an email how

much is this meeting costing yada yada

yada and if you do some research into

the meeting space it quickly becomes

kind of scary as to just how much time

and resources are wasted in meetings uh

to the tune of I believe the the thumb

in the air the finger in the air measure

is something like 37 billion every year

in wasted meeting time and it comes out

to like 20 $ 5,000 per person every

single one of us is wasting that much

time and money just sitting in meetings

that we didn't need to sit in so we've

built that kind of tool and are you know

looking for others in similar spaces to

help companies execute and accomplish

work more uh

efficiently oh again fun stuff you

you're touching on things right meeting

Effectiveness is a basic tool of how we

should run our businesses and I know

that I go in and out of client

environments and it doesn't matter the

size of the organization really and

truly use of meetings is mishandled so

regularly and if you you know the other

piece of that equation that I would love

to contrast is like the snapshot of the

individual's calendar right I have seven

different meetings all at the same time

and all of those things right because

with that comes the I don't decline I

don't you know I know showed a half of

them so people were relying on me but

I'm not there to give them the answers

that they need and it spirals into a

culture of way too many meetings and

absolutely nothing getting accomplished

yes it's

painful it is and the outcomes of that

then are individuals within the

organization then have to work outside

of normal working hours to accomplish

the work that didn't get done because of

the stack of meetings or they simply

don't in which case they accomplish less

and either way somebody is upset either

your manager is upset because you're not

getting enough done or you the employee

are upset because you're spending so

much time outside of work hours to do

your work ultimately nobody's happy yeah

and it is it is right it's a symptom

that everybody listening has experienced

oh my God yeah I yeah yeah I I sat in a

meeting there was I had nothing to

contribute I went to a meeting where I

had something to contribute but somebody

else wasn't there and so nothing got

done and we had to reschedule and and it

Spirals and it Spirals and oh my gosh so

I love that not only with the the work

that you're doing right in the work that

you do with your clients that you're

helping them solve problems but in kind

of that Venture Studio space you're

solving problems that you see that you

can then take to your clients and add

value not only for internal but then

external impact Danny if people are

interested in learning more how can they

find you find Apollo 21 and and see what

it's all

about uh three places so one is our

website Apollo 21 it's the number two

number one 1 .io uh we have a bunch of

case studies and articles get published

all the time there so great way to see

what we've done for our clients and more

importantly what the outcomes are uh the

second place is our newsletter which uh

is called innovate disrupt or die and it

is available at innovat disrupt or

die.com that is a Weekly Newsletter we

share a proprietary article three links

that you should be reading and a survey

question and we'll give you the answers

to the surveys the following week and

then the last place if you're interested

in meeting cost calculator it's meeting

cost calculator.com that's fabulous all

of those links will be in the show notes

for the audience so that you can find

them with ease Danny today in our

conversation you know we talked about

you the three-step process and what

you're starting with with aollo 21 it's

about you know assessing ideating and

creating the solutions and for the you

know the to give us a a business that's

focused on Technology Solutions and the

Western Sports story this is going to

like go down in the record books is one

of the most fun conversations I think

I've ever had but you really drove home

the point and the need to ensure that we

understand who our customers are and

what the journey is and with Western

Sports the line between a fan and an

athlete is murky at best and probably

doesn't exist at all because they are

all both fans and athletes gu there are

just fans but the the the clarity to

understand that living in that ambiguity

was going to create the right brand

identity create the connection for the

client with their customers and building

a

15minute interaction rate inside of an

app is just absolutely still

mind-blowing to me so audience members I

think with everything Danny has said

right down to the name of his newsletter

you understand why he was here with us

today and you all know the rules don't

get left behind join me next

time that's it for today's episode

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