Michael Weare

🚨 The cracks are showing, and this is just the beginning. A Bay Area tech giant, once valued at $12B, has now plummeted to $159M, laying off hundreds in its wake. What went wrong? The inability to adapt to AI’s transformative potential. AI isn’t just a tool; it’s a revolution reshaping industries at lightning speed. Organizations that harness AI for process productivity—streamlining operations, automating workflows, and scaling efficiency—are thriving. Those who don’t? They risk being left behind. 👉 Here’s the takeaway: Evolve now, or risk irrelevance in the next few years. AI-driven process optimization isn’t just a competitive edge; it’s survival. From predictive analytics to operational automation, the potential for innovation is limitless—but only if you act now. 💡 How are you future-proofing your organization against AI disruption? Let’s discuss in the comments!

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At Black Box Intelligence™, we've been closely monitoring California since the minimum wage increase in April, and the findings may surprise you! Explore the trends in sales, traffic, check growth, and staffing, particularly in comparison to the rest of the nation. https://lnkd.in/gkf2mVUf

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👉 Attention Pacific-Northwest founders ✅ Are you building in B2B SaaS/AI? ✅ Have you raised less than $250K? ✅ Had one-too-many VCs tell you you’re too early? I’d love to chat. The Pacific Northwest is home to two of the magnificent seven, the birthplace of some awesome companies (Slack, Outreach, Remitly, Redfin, Auth0 to name a few) and a magnet for great AI/technical talent. Forum Ventures, will be doubling down in this awesome ecosystem and writing more checks into B2B SaaS/AI founders for $100K+ admission to our pre-seed accelerator. Our pre-seed program is highly personalized - not your generic startup school. Here’s what you can expect: 🤝 Hands on GTM and Sales support to get you to $200k+ ARR 🌎 A community of B2B founders who have raised $1B+ in follow-on funding 🚀 An awesome Managing Director who will work alongside your team as a fractional senior operator / co-founder. They’re all former founders and have lived 0-1. 💸 No-bs investors who will help quarter back your seed round and show up through the good and the bad. 👋🏻 PNW founder? Pitch us here: https://hubs.ly/Q02tdP_r0 🙏 Not a founder? Please share with your network or tag a founder below ⬇️ cc Simon Chou Dominic Lau Richard Kerby Casey Van Maanen Ryan Holmes Adarsh Pallian Paul Irving Scott Barker Sara Lindquist John Eng Sarah Studer Jacob Laes Marius Ciocirlan Chris DeVore Brendan Wales Sheila Gulati Jen Haller Kirby Winfield Andy Liu Matt Wang Sanford W Spivey Amy Sallin Erik Benson Annie Luchsinger Lauren Glatter Bryan Hale Brian Glaister Kristopher Alford Jeffrey Manner Julian (Jay) Rhind Connor Edwards Daniel Baraghoush Kaylee Lieffers (Astle)

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I’m a fan of symmetry in story arcs, and in this case a career journey. When I left SunPower to start BrightReps, I convinced my brother Matt M. to join me. Neither of us really knew what we were getting into with trying to build a product and company from scratch. A couple years in, we realized there was still a long and difficult road ahead, and decided that both of us having all our eggs in the startup basket might not be the best idea. Matt joined Workday, while I hunkered down and kept going. One thing I underappreciated when starting a company, especially in B2B SaaS, is the importance of sales. When I met Brittani D., I realized that she was the co-founder we needed to turn our product into a real business. Together we hustled, stayed lean, and got enough traction to join the W21 batch of Y Combinator. Getting into YC had been a dream of mine since before I became an entrepreneur, and the actual experience was nothing short of amazing, 10/10 would recommend. We wouldn’t have made it to that point without Brittani, her energy, tenacity, and relentless confidence. I’m grateful she joined when she did. After YC, we were fortunate to raise money from some great investors, and began building a real business. Judy Loehr led our rebrand from BrightReps to FlowEQ, and we hired an awesome team that truly understands and cares about the value FlowEQ brings to customers. Andrew Wilkinson and Geran Smith know about this value better than anyone being former customers themselves! I’m incredibly proud of the team we built at FlowEQ, with a special shoutout to Kevin Pariso, who I worked virtually side-by-side with over the past 3 years and has grown into an extremely talented engineer. I know our customers are in good hands, but I will miss working with them all. Now back to other side of the arc. I spent my 20s transitioning from finance and discovering my passion for software while at SunPower. For most of my 30s, I worked to turn that passion into a business of its own with FlowEQ. I turned 40 this year, and for this chapter I wanted to take everything I learned about being scrappy, resourceful, and constantly improving, and bring that back into a big company delivering software products at scale. It turns out, my brother had been at this pretty great company like that right in our backyard. This time around, it was Matt who convinced me to join him at Workday. Thank you to everybody who supported us on the journey of turning the idea for BrightReps into FlowEQ, and to the team that’s continuing to take it to the next level. I’m excited to be back to working with family again at Workday, and am looking forward to helping them ship great software at scale!

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(NEW EPISODE) In the ever-evolving landscape of tech startups, few stories are as compelling as Rick Nucci's journey from founding Boomi to launching Guru. A serial entrepreneur with a track record of success, Rick’s career is a masterclass in leveraging market opportunities and navigating the complexities of scaling a business. In a recent interview, Rick shared the intricacies of his entrepreneurial path, offering valuable insights into his experiences, challenges, and the future of technology. He talks about selling Boomi to Dell for $4B, building Guru, and raising funding for it. #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #entrepreneur #business #success #venture #venturecapital #investment #invest #investors #tech #technology #innovation #leanstartup #leanstartups #inspiration #startup #startups https://lnkd.in/eFKdHktS

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In a new episode of Coffee with Sales Engineers, Seismic's Brian Cotter, SVP Sales Engineering, discusses the market shifts he's seeing within the software industry. Brian also chats about adapting sales methodologies, leveraging pre-sales data, and enhancing the roles of Sales Engineers and Account Executives for better market efficiency. Catch the full episode on Apple Podcasts at the link below:

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Amazon Nixes Pre-Meetings for Efficiency 🚀 (So nixes is a North American slang for cancels FYI...) Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is shaking things up with a new strategy aimed at enhancing workplace efficiency. As part of a five-day return-to-office plan (that's right, remote working is over!), he announced the elimination of unnecessary "pre-meetings for the pre-meetings." I wonder what task management software Amazon uses... I think if they used Asana they wouldn't have needed so many meetings in the first place. #Amazon #WorkplaceEfficiency #Leadership ----------------------------------------------- I'm Sam the founder of OpenFi we build the UK’s top Whatsapp AI Sales Agents, that maximise business from your website.

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Attention #Salesforce #TrailblazerCommunity Especially if you are a Non-Profit Admin, Architect, or Business Analyst seeking a common language and a framework to define and guide your #DataStrategy conversations, I hope you can join tomorrow's Data Matters community meeting. Billy's session was one of my favorites at Connections this year. It should be an engaging conversation. Wednesday, August 21, 8:00 am PST, 11 am EST, 8:30 pm IST #DataMatters, #DataGovernance, #DataQuality

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What’s the key to unlocking AI’s true potential? Hint: It’s more than just hiring AI specialists. In his interview with TechCrunch, Gusto’s Edward Kim explains how we’re building an environment where everyone can leverage AI — creating a win-win-win for Gusto, our employees, and our customers. Discover how Gusto is using AI to empower businesses and teams: https://lnkd.in/dCj4brep

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We get it—Previ sounds like it’s almost too good to be true. But trust us, it’s not. Here’s why Previ works and why 90% of employees see real savings: Exclusive Partnerships: Previ partners directly with top brands like T-Mobile and AT&T to negotiate these exclusive, below-market rates. These partnerships allow us to offer pricing that your employees simply can’t find anywhere else. No Strings Attached: Unlike other benefits, Previ doesn’t come with hidden fees or complicated terms. Employees just switch to these deals and start saving—it’s that simple. It's also free for companies to launch. 📲 Real Savings, Real Results: While not everyone may save the same amount, on average, employees save $1,200 per year. That’s more money in their pockets for other priorities, improving their overall financial wellness. 🏆 Previ has been vetted and trusted by PepsiCo, GameStop, HanesBrands, and more. These companies have seen real results, and your team can too.

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Last week, Zach and I headed to Seattle for 2 days of our executive offsite. The goal? To set our vision for 2025. We focused on: → Solidifying our vision, → And allocating resources across our 3 product lines. We answered critical questions like → How can we get our customers to find even more value? → How can we be the rising tide that lifts all boats for our target industries - moving & insurance → How and when can we scale Yembo beyond our first two verticals I think this was our most productive offsite yet! Looking forward to executing on these priorities in 2025 - making ideas into code and into customer life improvements!

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Interesting read, a little too much on the doom & gloom side, it would be better if the writers had more data to substantiate, but not far off from what we have been witnessing in the past 18mos by servicing/working in the HCM space. If there is 1 thing we can garner from this read, is that we are in a highly volatile and uncertain environment for both employers and employees & candidates. Organizations need answers on how to curtail turnover, improve quality of hire, increase hiring velocity, better engage with their candidates and employees, and the questions they are asking can only be answered by robust analytics such as the PeopleInsight platform by HireRoad. Come find me at HR Technology Conference & Exposition to explore in more detail.

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Last week, we heard from a prospect in Alaska that one of our competitors has cut tech support for their base $600/month subscription clients. Instead, clients are given a folder of YouTube videos. It seems this competitor might not prioritize the AK market or smaller operators in general. Sadly, this isn't happening solely in the wholesale. I've been around long enough to know that what you hear isn't always the truth but I felt compelled to state publicly the Apex Trading approach to customer service. 𝑬𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 is one of our founding principles. We don't want our clients to love us, we want them to 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. Clients don't care if we've raised a shit ton of $ (we haven't) or released a banking product they aren't asking for (we won't), they care if we can truly solve their problems while showing we f'n care. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒇f𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕: 𝐋𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 (𝐌-𝐅): Our support is handled by some of our most senior staff who are experts on the platform. Last year, we managed over 2,000 chats with an average response time of 12 seconds and an average chat duration of 15 minutes. This is real, responsive support. 24/7 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐲𝐀𝐈: Our chatbot, WillyAI, is trained on every feature of the platform and offers instant, step-by-step guidance whenever you need it. 𝐃𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫: Every client is assigned an account manager who provides ongoing support beyond the onboarding process. They’re here to assist with any questions or needs you have. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐲: Within our platform, you'll find an interactive Training Academy featuring guides and video tutorials for every feature and tool, ensuring you and your team are well-equipped to make the most of Apex Trading. 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐨: Every client has access to the founders and my contact information. This rarely is needed but one of us is likely available if the team is busy. Long post over. If you're a client please share your experiences!

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Interesting point of view and analogy for supporting hybrid cloud!

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Interesting learnings from RingCentral earnings call. The company reported solid growth with revenue rising 10% to $593M. As a reference, Gartner predicts only a 2.5% UC market growth in 2024. RingCentral's multi-product, multi-route-to-market, industry-focused strategy is yielding results up-market: • Enterprise business ($100K+ ARR) comprises 40% of ARR and is growing double-digit • Over 50% of large wins include Microsoft Teams integration • Over 25% of large wins combine RingEX and RingCX The contact center business reached $390M ARR (+19% YoY). It represents 16% of the company's total ARR and places RingCentral among the top 10 largest contact center providers. New products are enjoying strong growth: • Homegrown RingCX reached 350 customers, doubling new bookings sequentially. • RingSense for Sales has 800 customers, tripling new bookings sequentially. My readers know I track GAAP gross margins closely. RingCentral's continues to improve, crossing the 70% mark. I learned that the company had acquired Mitel's MiCloud Connect and Sky UCaaS assets, helping strengthen its market position. RingCentral's execution DNA continues to impress. #unifiedcommunications #contactcenter #customerexperience

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🎥 Caught up with Marc Harpster yesterday at the Google Marketplace Exchange event in Seattle for a fantastic conversation. Marc is Channel Strategic Initiatives Lead at Google, so we covered a number of new initiatives and innovative work from Google. It was an incredible event with 250+ ISVs and channel partners coming together to share insights and strengthen collaboration within the Google Cloud ecosystem. Here are a few key takeaways from our conversation: 🔹 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀: Marc highlighted Google’s focus on building robust channel programs that enhance the software buying experience for resellers and system integrators. A key feature, launched in July, allows ISVs to create offer plans for resellers, making it easier to deliver software solutions to customers. 🔹 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝘀 (𝗠𝗖𝗣𝗢): One of the event’s standout sessions focused on the success of MCPO, with companies like CDW seeing impressive growth from $250 million to $400 million. Marc emphasized how resellers are leveraging Google Cloud Marketplace to expand their business and the growing importance of channel partnerships. 🔹 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗜𝗦𝗩𝘀: Marc discussed how ISVs can grow their business by collaborating with channel partners, delivering added value through services, support, and analytics. He stressed the importance of aligning ISV solutions with partner capabilities to ensure successful go-to-market strategies. 🔹 𝗣𝗮𝗻𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼-𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: The event also featured a fantastic panel with industry leaders Amit Sinha, President of WorkSpan, John Jahnke, CEO of Tackle.io, and Jon Yoo, CEO at Suger. Marc praised the panel for showcasing the unique value each company brings to the co-sell experience, reinforcing the evolving role of channel partnerships in cloud marketplaces. Thank you Marc for sharing your expertise and insights! (And thanks to Whit Crump for the cameo photobomb! 🤣) Dai Vu, Stephen Orban, Scott Barneson, Pete Henderson, Hans Sidow, Michel F. Geadah, Chelsea Berlucchi, Jin Bae, Denis Morentsov 🇺🇦, Amy Bray, Melody Tabacco, Brian Kane, Kevin Ichhpurani, Paul Stark, Zehra Ladiwala, Vince Menzione, Mahesh Chaudhari, Puneet Mittal, Mayank Singh Bawa, Ashish Shajapurkar, Gagandeep S., Kijoon Lee, Sam Gong, Ibironke Ogunye, Mitchell Green, Asher Mathew, Chris Samila, Jay McBain #GoogleCloud #Marketplace #TechPartnerships #ChannelPartners #ISVs #CloudEcosystem #CoSelling

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Is this the canteen or the office? One of the biggest drivers of San Francisco's real estate boom over the past decade has been Big Tech. From the skyrocketing rents to the scarcity of available space, the 20 biggest tech employers had leased more than 16 million square feet of space (a quarter of the city’s total office stock). Unfortunately, the sector is now the biggest reason for the office bust, and it leaving a dystopian aura that permeates the downtown area and beyond. Back in the 2010s, tech companies were know for their splurging ways spending gobs of money to build glamorous, amenity-filled offices designed to keep workers working late, but also to feed a level of narcissism. They also served to reinforce the "work hard, party harder" image the tech industry for better and for worse had tried to push for so long. Fast forward to 2024, and reversal of fortune for the city's real estate market certainly comes to mind. Now, those same Big Tech companies now hold only 8.3 million square feet of office space. Instead, companies, Big Tech and otherwise, are going small as in satellite offices as they embrace a hybrid workforce or worse, layoffs shrinking the number of workers. Workers may still have free snacks and artisan coffee machines, but chances are ping pong areas, video game rooms and marble floors are no longer part of the interior architecture. Companies like Uber, Airbnb, Dropbox, Meta, and Salesforce once aimed to construct sprawling headquarters and campuses, occupying whole skyscrapers or, in Salesforce's case, what has become an extravagant landmark altering the city's skyline. These days, those companies are scrambling to sublease dozens and dozens of floors, feeding into a San Francisco market that now has nearly 30% of its offices currently vacant. And, that's continued to negatively impact businesses that cater to the office worker crowd. Landlords, developers and frankly anyone who owns a piece of commercial real estate is waiting with bated breath for a reset. Unfortunately, vacancy rates are likely to spike again as leases expire over the next few months and into next year. And the tech industry needs to start hiring again before any chatter about an office recovery can realistically even happen https://lnkd.in/e-JFqw_a #realestate #sanfrancisco #bigtech #workforce #culture #officespace #hybrid #remote

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Partnerships aren't magic. But what they bring you sometimes is… In fact, one of my favorite tactics is running intel plays—chatting with partners to get information we wouldn’t have access to otherwise and making it happen consistently across my team. It’s easy to implement, doesn't require a huge lift, and it can quickly add a ton of value. Now, with the 29k network that resulted from the Crossbeam and Reveal merger, our clients and users will have structured access to their ecosystem intelligence that will help them close deals faster and more often. It's a true "1+1=3" scenario. The Reveal and Crossbeam merger is our next step to help GTM teams leverage partnerships and ecosystem data to boost their sales efforts. We aim to deliver the best of both worlds, making it seamless for our existing customers while providing a top-notch experience for new ones.

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