The Curious Creator Podcast

Jonathan Milanes

Welcome to The Curious Creator Podcast – a space for honest conversations about life, creativity and the journey of building something meaningful. I’m Jonathan Milanes. In each episode, I interview entrepreneurs from all walks of life—creatives, makers, thinkers, and builders—to explore their stories and lessons learned. If you’re someone who’s curious, reflective, and figuring it out as you go, this show is for you.

  1. 05/09/2025

    Building a Music Career and Finding Your Path as an Entrepreneur in the Music Business | EP 16

    Did you know that music and technology go hand-in-hand? In fact, most of what we know about the ‘music business’ today was ignited because of technology – and that’s exactly the topic me and Daria Gassanova discuss in episode 16 of The Curious Creator podcast. If you don’t know by now, I am also a musician, so I’m highly fascinated with Daria’s background and how she managed to evolve through the intersection of her love of music, technology and of course, entrepreneurship. That’s exactly what we talk about, including: - Daria’s journey from being a musician to an entrepreneur (music export Ukraine) and how it's led to her being a product manager Kobalt Music   - How social media platforms have changed the way the music industry discovers talent and what makes for a great discovery (from an A&R POV) - How to define and manage what being a successful independent musician is (songwriter, musician, artist, singer or music producer) and the approach indies should take when navigating the new music business - How important it is to follow your passion and how to integrate multiple interests and skills to find your Ikigai (your best self and calling) If you’re an entrepreneurial creative (of any sort), this is a must-watch. Lots of interesting nuances to our conversation, and one I would gladly do again. 01:35 Daria's Background  02:41 Being a Product Manager 06:16 Technology & Music Publishing 08:37 Musical Roots and Inspirations 11:06 Cultural Influence and Music 15:27 Building a Fan Community 19:20 The Business Side of Music 23:26 The DIY vs. Major Label  30:40 Defining Success in the Music Industry 36:48 Discovering Artists 40:03 The Impact of TikTok and AI  50:10 Navigating Career Paths 58:28 Embracing a Multifaceted Career https://www.linkedin.com/in/daria-gassanova-a3b701124/ https://www.kobaltmusic.com/ #musicindustry #musicbusiness #independentartist

    1h 4m
  2. 04/29/2025

    How AI will affect marketers, entrepreneurs and the economy (a data scientist/founder's perspective) | EP15

    Episode 15 of the Curious Creator podcast is a raw/unfiltered discussion on the topics of Artificial Intelligence (how it's evolving), the journey of entrepreneurship (building a startup) and how creative production/analytics tools can help agencies and brands scale their performance marketing campaigns. Don't miss this one! I'm kindly joined by two guests, (Ankuj Arora) and my co-host (Ja Yue). Ankuj Arora - Founder of Morphiq and Ex-AI Lead at Smartly.io   Ja Yue - Performance Marketing Leader and Consultant This is a refreshing episode for me, as it's my first physical podcast episode (which I definitely prefer over remote recordings), and I get to ask burning questions related to the intersection of AI and marketing. If you're still not sold, here are other topics we discuss: - When will AI have consciousness and be fully autonomous - How Ankuj became a Data Scientist coming from a Computer Science background - His lessons and takeaway from going through various accelerators and building a SaaS startup - Anukj's experience at Smartly.io and how it influenced his new ventures 00:00 Intro (Mini vlog) 01:51 Meet Ankuj and Ja 05:57 Evolution of AI and Data Science 11:45 OpenAI's Impact  19:51 The Consciousness Debate 31:39 Explaining AI to Non-Technical Audiences 34:00 Smartly & Creative Intelligence 42:49 Introducing Morphiq 46:48 The Vision Behind Morphiq 52:12 Value Proposition of AI in Analytics 54:16 Transparency and Trust in AI Systems 57:34 Morphiq's Situation 01:01:04 Bootstrapping vs VC 01:14:54 Lessons from Entrepreneur First 01:26:45 Pitching Morphiq to Agencies and Clients 01:30:39 Media Buyers and Creative Teams 01:33:57 AI's Role in Creative Production and Media 02:03:51 Personal Reflections  Shownotes https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankuj-arora-ph-d-94777421/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayue/ https://morphiq.xyz/  https://www.smartly.io/  https://www.joinef.com/ #AI #Entrepreneurship #SaaS

    2h 9m
  3. Matt Burns On Why Communities are the Next Big Frontier in Modern Marketing | EP 13

    02/12/2025

    Matt Burns On Why Communities are the Next Big Frontier in Modern Marketing | EP 13

    In this episode, we delve into the future of marketing and community building with Matt Burns, former first employee of monday.com and current founder of Digital Gravity. Matt shares his insights on the intrinsic relationship between marketing and community, the importance of building trust and connections, and the evolving role of AI in shaping our informational landscape. Learn about effective strategies for building and maintaining communities, the significance of having a mission and values, and how to create meaningful human connections in a digital age. Whether you're a marketer looking to elevate your community-building efforts or simply interested in the future of digital interactions, this episode is packed with valuable takeaways. Chapters 00:00 Trailer 01:15 Introduction 03:25 The Importance of Trust 05:53 Defining Community Building 09:51 Small, Intentional Communities 17:51 Start Your Own Community 20:20 Offline and Online Communities 34:58 Pricing Strategies 42:24 Building a Community 01:00:03 Mission and Values 01:15:35 Future Predictions #circlecommunity #skool #communitybuilding 🎥 Subscribe to the Channel: https://bit.ly/4chHYBD 💎 Become a Futurist Marketer: https://futurist-marketers.pro/ 🤳 Want to contribute content? https://www.futurist-marketers.pro/contact 🎮 All Our Gear (Affiliate Links): https://kit.co/jonathanmilanes 🙏 Support the Platform: https://bit.ly/3yBKRPI 💡 My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmilanes/ 🚀 Need a Performance Marketing Agency? https://proverve.io/

    1h 20m
  4. Maxim Tanevskiy on Advanced Sales Techniques for B2B SaaS Startups & Finding GTM Efficiency | EP12

    01/27/2025

    Maxim Tanevskiy on Advanced Sales Techniques for B2B SaaS Startups & Finding GTM Efficiency | EP12

    The Futurist Marketers pod is back! Our guest for EP12 is Maxim Tanevskiy - he is currently the Chief Business Officer at Ex-human and is a GTM/Sales Expert. I’m personally excited for you lovely people to watch it, especially knowing that sales is a must-have skill (always has been!). Topics we talk about include: - Turning your sales approach into a revenue system (especially in the B2B SaaS context) - The differences and nuances between a salesperson and a business development representative (and why the other may be valuable) - How Maxim learning Mandarin (Chinese), helped him close a 7-figure deal (and how to approach working with clients from different cultures) - His predictions in the world of sales + AI BDRs/SDRs (including the potentiality of AI committees) - Finding out your GTM efficiency, growth rate and how to engineer a GTM sales process - Everything from social selling to empathetic conversational AI and more. As always, enjoy the show and share the session with your friends/network (they’ll find this show valuable, I promise). Chapters 01:03 Introduction 01:45 Travel and Work Lifestyle 05:40 Sales vs. Business Development 06:19 Evolution of Sales Tech 13:52 Building a Revenue System 26:18 Chinese Language and Culture 32:02 Leveraging Language Skills in Sales 33:02 Cultural Nuances in Business 35:35 Scaling B2B SaaS Startups 37:10 Importance of Market Size and Product-Market Fit 43:23 Challenges and Lessons in Sales 49:01 The Role of AI in Sales 53:25 Sales Techniques and Personal Development 59:29 Closing Thoughts Reference Links https://exh.ai/#home https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-tanevskiy/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/s-strategy/ https://www.apollo.io/ https://meddicc.com/meddic-sales-qualification-and-frameworks Never Split the Difference Book (Affiliate Link): https://amzn.to/4hqILTv

    1h 3m
  5. Digital Marketing Measurement in 2025: Chris Mercer on Data Strategy and Customer Behaviours | EP11

    12/11/2024

    Digital Marketing Measurement in 2025: Chris Mercer on Data Strategy and Customer Behaviours | EP11

    Digital marketing measurement is a topic that’s mostly kept under wraps, especially when you have opposing perspectives on the matter. The subject extends into so many areas from data strategy to data analysis and user behaviour/psychology, that getting strong conclusions is always tricky. In episode 11 of the podcast, I talk with Chris Mercer, who has been in the field of digital marketing measurement for 13+ years and is the founder of Measurement Marketing and Profit School. In the episode, we discuss all things digital marketing measurement, data analysis, funnels and much more including: - The importance of strategy over marketing measurement tools (software) - How information is becoming a commodity and the untapped power of community and a strong brand to alleviate the drove of AI content coming our way in 2025 (if not already) - The framework he uses when thinking about digital marketing measurement and data: 1) acquire 2) store 3) visualise 4) understand - The launch of his community and how it can help marketers upskill in data measurement and analysis - How data should be seen as a conversation between a customer (the user) and our website/mobile app + how to respond to this Enjoy the podcast and if you’ve found value, help your peers and repost/share it 👌 Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:57 Measure Summit Event 07:10 Evolution of Measure Summit 08:13 The Importance of Competitor Collaboration 10:15 Mercer's Journey into Digital Marketing 12:38 Shift to Conversion Optimization 17:28 Measurement Strategy 20:44 Understanding User Behavior 27:06 The Importance of Measuring User Behavior 27:54 Essential Tools 34:48 Challenges in Digital Tools 42:17 Predictions 48:09 Closing Thoughts #DigitalMarketing #DataAnalysis #DigitalMarketingMeasurement Show Notes https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismerceronline/ https://measurementmarketing.io/ https://my.measureu.com/feed https://profitschool.com/ https://measuresummit.com/ https://clarity.microsoft.com/ https://tagmanager.google.com https://developers.google.com/analytics https://www.kissmetrics.io/ https://lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/navigation/reporting https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianjuenemann/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/measureschool/about/ https://measureschool.com/ 🎥 Subscribe to the Channel: https://bit.ly/4chHYBD 💎 Become a Futurist Marketer: https://futurist-marketers.pro/ 🙏 Support the Platform: https://bit.ly/3yBKRPI 🎧 Listen to the Podcast: https://pod.link/1756442938 📚 Join the Newsletter: https://newsletter.futurist-marketers.pro/ 💡 My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanmilanes/ 🐥 My Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/jonathanmilanes 🚀 If you need a Growth/Performance Marketing Consultant: https://proverve.io/ Enjoyed and found value in the video? Why not subscribe and get first-hand visibility of all our new releases!

    51 min
  6. The Importance of Personal Projects as a Candidate: Kate O’Shea on The Process of Recruitment | EP10

    11/27/2024

    The Importance of Personal Projects as a Candidate: Kate O’Shea on The Process of Recruitment | EP10

    16+ years of experience in recruiting for digital marketers and performance marketers (paid media). That’s the reason why I wanted to have Kate O'Shea on the podcast - it always fascinates me what happens during the end-to-end process of recruitment and what makes a candidate stand out. That’s just one of the many high-impact conversations we had, and now it’s available for you. In episode 10, we discuss: ✅ What the market is like in 2024, and how it compares to last year and how it may be in the 2025/the future ✅ Why Q1 of the year tends to be a great time to change roles and look for new opportunities ✅ Red flags you do during your screening process that turn recruiters off ✅ Why having personal projects outside of your main day job is a must for standing out in a pile of CVs (hey, I’ve preaching this since day one) ✅ Why it is important to be transparent and to be clear from both the employer's and candidate's perspective Please do enjoy the podcast 🙏 PS. If you’ve found (or finding) value in any of the content Futurist Marketers produces, please do repost it to your network and let’s share the knowledge 👌 #Recruitment #MarketingRecruitment #DigitalMarketing #JobSearch #CareerAdvice #JobInterview #HiringTips #MarketingJobs 00:00 Trailer 01:56 Current Market Trends and Predictions 08:31 The Recruitment Process: End-to-End 15:14 Managing Expectations in Recruitment 22:24 Salary Negotiations and Final Steps 24:51 The Importance of Transparency in Hiring 26:11 What Makes a Great Initial Interview 29:57 Red Flags in the Hiring Process 34:16 Building Your Personal Brand 36:13 Advice for Job Seekers 42:56 The Future of Recruitment Shownotes https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateppc/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/keo-digital-ltd/ https://techcrunch.com/ https://www.crunchbase.com/

    47 min
  7. The Value of Soft Skills & Constant Learning: Alain Abou-Atmeh on Digital & Growth Marketing | EP9

    11/20/2024

    The Value of Soft Skills & Constant Learning: Alain Abou-Atmeh on Digital & Growth Marketing | EP9

    Why soft skills are needed in an age of AI and automation. That’s one of the topics I and Alain Abou-Atmeh talk about in episode 9 of the podcast - but there’s more, we also dive in on: ✅ The challenges of being a marketer when you’re doing multiple roles at the same time ✅ The core difference between digital marketing and growth marketing (goldmine mental model here!) ✅ How he combines marketing fundamentals and integrates it with AI usage (practical example shown if you listen) ✅ What makes Growth Tribe different when it comes to what they teach and the value of showing practical use cases for what they teach ✅ Some aspects of self-development and continuous learning in times of high competition Please do enjoy the podcast 🙏 PS. If you’ve found (or finding) value in any of the content Futurist Marketers produces, please do repost it to your network and let’s share the knowledge 👌 #Growth #GrowthMarketing #DigitalMarketing #GrowthTribe #PersonalDevelopment 00:00 Trailer 02:20 Freelancing to Growth Tribe 09:20 The Role of Soft Skills 21:12 Teaching Growth Marketing 23:56 Growth Marketing in Real-World Scenarios 26:19 The Power of AI in Marketing 28:02 The Importance of Fundamentals in Marketing 29:10 Challenges in Growth Marketing 34:50 Favorite Growth Marketing Tools 38:47 Continuous Learning and Staying Updated 42:09 The T-Shaped Marketer Show notes https://www.linkedin.com/in/growthmarketingtrainer/ https://www.crystalknows.com/ https://sparktoro.com/ https://www.semrush.com/ https://www.lyssna.com/ https://www.stackedmarketer.com/ https://feedly.com/ https://www.howtoweb.co/ https://growthtribe.io/ Be Water, My Friend - https://amzn.to/3A6wdkv (affiliate link) How to win friends and influence people - https://amzn.to/40mqhhF (affiliate link) The Laws of Human Nature - https://amzn.to/3YDMWVF (affiliate link) Hacking Growth - https://amzn.to/3C1ovIN (affiliate link) https://growwithward.com/aaarrr-pirate-funnel/

    48 min

About

Welcome to The Curious Creator Podcast – a space for honest conversations about life, creativity and the journey of building something meaningful. I’m Jonathan Milanes. In each episode, I interview entrepreneurs from all walks of life—creatives, makers, thinkers, and builders—to explore their stories and lessons learned. If you’re someone who’s curious, reflective, and figuring it out as you go, this show is for you.