Binary to Billions

Hosted by Rob Scott

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Binary to Billions unveils the human stories behind technology's greatest successes, exploring the journeys of visionary leaders who've transformed from humble beginnings into category-defining companies. Join host Rob Scott as he discovers the pivotal moments, tough decisions, and invaluable lessons that shape both technological breakthroughs and the people behind them.

1일 전

EP11 – Vlad Shmunis: When Ignorance Becomes a Billion-Dollar Opportunity

In this conversation, Vlad reflects on his early life growing up in Odessa during the Soviet era, and how emigrating to the United States as a teenager fundamentally reshaped his worldview. He shares what it was like arriving in California with engineering parents, navigating a new culture, and gradually discovering a passion for computers at a time when computer science was anything but fashionable. Vlad walks through his early career as an engineer in Silicon Valley, before founding his first company, Ring Zero Systems, in the early 1990s. With no venture capital, no safety net, and a small team literally sleeping in the office, Ring Zero bootstrapped its way to becoming a key supplier to the global PC industry - eventually selling the business to Motorola. That first chapter laid the groundwork for what came next. Vlad and his co-founder began rethinking business communications long before terms like “cloud” or “SaaS” entered the mainstream. RingCentral was built on a simple but contrarian belief: communication features and workflows belong in the cloud, while delivery should remain flexible - spanning VoIP, mobile, and traditional telephony. This architectural choice helped RingCentral succeed while others faded, and ultimately scale into a global leader. Vlad makes a bold case that we are entering a new era of communications - one defined by AI-powered conversations rather than simple call routing. He outlines RingCentral’s vision for “RingCentral 3.0,” where AI agents, real-time assistance, and conversational intelligence transform voice into a strategic advantage, rather than a legacy channel. Contrary to popular belief, Vlad argues that AI is driving a renaissance in voice - increasing call volume, improving customer experience, and unlocking new growth for businesses. Whether you’re a founder building through uncertainty, a product leader navigating platform shifts, or an operator trying to understand what AI actually changes inside enterprise software, this episode offers a rare long-term perspective from someone who has lived through multiple technology cycles. It’s the story of a builder who started with nothing but conviction, learned to trust first principles over hype, and quietly helped shape how millions of businesses communicate every day.

44분
1월 23일

EP10 - Craig Walker: Building the Future of Work, One Conversation at a Time

In this conversation, Craig reflects on his unconventional path from law to venture capital, before being dropped into his first CEO role during the depths of the dot-com crash. Tasked with effectively shutting down a failing VoIP company, he instead rebuilt it from the ground up - cutting costs, reinventing the business model, and ultimately selling the company to Yahoo. That hard-won experience set the foundation for what came next: founding GrandCentral, the startup that would later become Google Voice. Craig walks through how a small team, a bold product vision, and perfect timing led to an acquisition by Google in just 18 months, and his experience scaling a startup product inside a 20,000-person company. Craig shares how his frustration with outdated enterprise phone systems led him to reimagine business communications for the cloud with Dialpad, years before remote work became the norm. He explains their long-term vision for a unified communications platform, why small, empowered teams outperform bloated organizations, and how the company quietly got a head start in AI long before it became fashionable. Craig also makes a bold claim: traditional customer experience, as we know it, is dead. He unpacks why agentic AI will fundamentally reshape CX, and how human-AI collaboration (not full automation) will define the next era of enterprise software. Whether you’re a founder navigating scale, a product leader building for the enterprise, or an operator trying to separate real AI innovation from hype, this episode delivers first-hand insights from someone who’s been on the frontlines of multiple technology waves. This is the story of a builder who has repeatedly crossed from one side of the table to the other, learning when to grind, when to refocus, and when to place the next big bet.

47분
1월 8일

Vasili Triant: Scale, Strategy, and Survival

Join host Rob Scott as he sits down with Vasili Triant, CEO of UJET and a long-time builder at the intersection of cloud communications, contact centers, and customer experience. From the early days of IP telephony to today’s rapidly converging CX, CRM, and AI landscapes, Vasili’s career offers a front-row seat to multiple technology inflection points. In this wide-ranging conversation, Vasili reflects on his unconventional path into entrepreneurship, scaling businesses inside fast-growing companies like ShoreTel, and stepping into the CEO role at LiveOps during a period of deep strategic uncertainty. He shares candid lessons on leadership loneliness, culture change, and why splitting LiveOps into two distinct businesses ultimately unlocked long-term value. The discussion also dives deep into Vasili’s time navigating hyperscalers and enterprise complexity at Cisco, before landing on his journey at UJET - including joining just weeks before global lockdowns in 2020. Vasili unpacks how UJET competes with tech giants, its close partnership with Google, and why he believes much of today’s AI hype is missing the real problems in customer experience. Whether you’re a founder scaling your first company, a CX leader trying to cut through the AI noise, or an operator thinking about market consolidation and long-term strategy, this episode delivers hard-won insights on timing, focus, and building companies that endure. This is the story of a leader who has spent decades fixing, building, and repositioning businesses - and who now sees customer experience standing on the brink of its next major transformation.

41분
2025. 12. 18.

Michael Walrath: From Ad Tech Pioneer to the AI Marketing Revolution

Join host Rob Scott as he sits down with Michael Walrath, pioneering digital advertising entrepreneur and current CEO of Yext. Their sweeping conversation spans the dot-com boom, the rise of programmatic advertising, and the tectonic shifts reshaping marketing in the AI era. From selling banner ads in the 1990s to building the world’s first at-scale ad exchange, Michael’s story is one of vision, timing, and relentless reinvention. In this candid chat, Michael reflects on the leadership lessons he’s learnt from scaling startups into global players, navigating post-acquisition bureaucracy at Yahoo, and identifying new market opportunities during moments of economic upheaval. He recounts the founding of Moat to bring transparency to digital advertising, his role in shaping Yext during the mobile revolution, and why he believes today’s fragmented “answer engine” landscape mirrors previous technological turning points. Whether you’re a founder navigating market disruption, a marketer preparing for the AI-driven future, or simply someone who loves hearing how industries are transformed from the inside, Michael’s journey offers powerful insights into strategy, timing, and adaptability. This is the story of how one entrepreneur helped shape modern digital advertising, and how he’s charting a course through the next great marketing revolution.

44분
2025. 12. 04.

EP7 - Kirin Sinha: Turning AI Research into (Virtual) Reality

Join host Rob Scott as he sits down with Kirin Sinha,founder of Illuminix - the company behind the perception stack powering the next generation of XR, wearables, and physical AI. From entering MIT at 16 to building one of the world’s most advanced computer vision startups, Kirin’s journey is a masterclass in intellectual curiosity and fearless innovation. In this far-ranging conversation, she reflects on the transition from academia to entrepreneurship, the early days of developing mobile AR, and the breakout success of Five Nights at Freddy’s AR, which became a viral global phenomenon. Kirin shares how those early experiments with digital-physical interaction laid the foundation for Illumix’s cutting-edge work with Disney, Six Flags, and MGM - and why she believes contextual computing will redefine how we experience technology. Along the way, she discusses winning against tech giants, raising capital from investors like Lightspeed, Sony, and Mark Cuban, and the new frontier where AI, robotics, and perception meet. Whether you’re a founder building in deep tech, an investor tracking the rise of physical AI, or simply fascinated by how reality itself is being reimagined, Kirin’s story is one of vision, persistence, and purpose. This is the story of how one founder is teaching computers to see like humans - and shaping the next era of real-world computing.

44분
2025. 11. 20.

Danny Jenkins - The Zero Trust Pioneer Who Built a $1.5B Cybersecurity Empire

Welcome to Binary to Billions, where we explore the human stories behind technology's greatest success stories. In this episode, host Rob Scott sits down with Danny Jenkins, co-founder and CEO of ThreatLocker, whose extraordinary journey from bullied school dropout to cybersecurity pioneer embodies the power of turning adversity into innovation. Danny's story begins in Telford, where he was bullied and dropped out at age 15, teaching himself to code and writing scripts to delete his bullies' homework files. From those challenging beginnings, he built ThreatLocker into a $1.5 billion company protecting over 50,000 organizations worldwide—from small businesses to major airports like Heathrow. What You'll Discover: The Bootstrap Battle: How Danny maxed out $150,000 in credit cards, splitting grocery bills across three cards to feed his family while building ThreatLocker—until WannaCry proved his technology could stop ransomware cold. The Malware Gambit: The incredible story of how Danny wrote custom malware in two hours (with a box of wine) to demonstrate to skeptical investors that traditional antivirus was useless—securing his first major funding. Zero Trust Revolution: Why Danny's philosophy that "only trusted software runs, everything else is blocked" has gone from being dismissed as impractical to becoming the industry standard, and how it could "dismantle the economics of cybercrime." The AI Arms Race: Danny's candid take on how artificial intelligence is creating millions of new potential cybercriminals overnight, and why traditional security approaches are failing. Leadership Philosophy: The mindset that helped him launch companies after spinal surgeries, his instant decision-making approach, and why ThreatLocker hires based on attitude over credentials—with no degree requirements for any position. This conversation reveals the brutal honesty behind building a unicorn company—from sleepless nights splitting grocery payments to moments of triumph when hospitals are saved from ransomware attacks. Danny shares why success means he can never quit, the weight of protecting 54,000 organizations, and his mission to change cybersecurity forever. Perfect for entrepreneurs, cybersecurity professionals, and anyone who believes the most audacious moves are exactly what your business needs to survive and thrive. Binary to Billions explores the human stories behind technology's greatest success stories. Hosted by Rob Scott, founder of Today Digital and several B2B tech media publications including CX Today and UC Today.

35분
2025. 11. 06.

Ifty Nasir - How One Man's Mission Changed How We Share Success

Join host Rob Scott for an inspiring conversation with Ifty Nasir, the visionary founder and CEO of Vestd who literally created an entire industry category. Born in Bradford to immigrant parents in a cramped terrace house with nine siblings, Ifty's remarkable journey took him from teenage hustler selling refurbished sewing machines to becoming one of the youngest Vice Presidents at BP, before making the bold decision to walk away from corporate success. That leap of faith led to Vestd - the UK's first regulated digital share scheme platform and the company that essentially invented "ShareTech." Under Ifty's leadership, Vestd has revolutionised how startups think about ownership, helping thousands of founders share equity with their teams and contributing over £1 billion to the UK economy. Discover how Ifty's early entrepreneurial idea for "computer aided real estate" - essentially Rightmove decades before it existed - planted the seeds for his mission to democratise equity sharing. Learn about his transformative experience at Stanford discovering the "ownership effect," his strategic pivot from marketplace to SaaS, and how Vestd went fully remote just weeks before COVID hit. From Applied Financials team members paying off their mortgages through share schemes to building a global platform spanning from the UK to India, Ifty shares the real stories behind creating life-changing wealth for ordinary workers. His philosophy is simple but powerful: giving people a slice of the pie creates better businesses and transforms lives. This episode reveals the grit, vision, and unwavering belief required to build not just a company, but an entire ecosystem that lifts everyone up. Ifty's journey from Bradford to building Britain's equity economy proves that with the right mission and relentless persistence, you really can create an industry that changes how business rewards success.

47분
2025. 10. 23.

Ray Nolan - The Programmer Who Refused to Play by Silicon Valley Rules

In this episode, host Rob Scott sits down with Ray Nolan, the Irish tech legend who turned college dropout into billion-pound business builder—all without venture capital. Ray's story demolishes Silicon Valley mythology with cold, hard pragmatism and customer-funded growth. Starting as a self-taught programmer who abandoned electrical engineering, Ray stumbled from telephone billing software into the global hospitality empire that became Hostelworld. His unconventional approach? Skip the PowerPoint presentations and go straight to customers. Ray convinced hostels to invest €10,000 each for €20,000 worth of future bookings, funding development while creating passionate advocates with skin in the game. The result? Hostelworld grew from €150,000 to serve 12 million monthly users across 170 countries, achieving a €500 million exit in 2009. But Ray didn't stop there. As chairman of Skyscanner, he guided the company from €30 million to €500 million in three years, culminating in a £1.4 billion acquisition. Today, Ray is pioneering AI-powered customer service with eDesk, supporting $25 billion in annual e-commerce sales—with plans to quadruple that within 36 months. His platform has been integrating AI for over five years, long before the current hype cycle, enabling small businesses to expand globally without traditional multilingual support overhead. Ray's leadership philosophy cuts through entrepreneurial fluff: create the vision, make decisions fast, stay brutally pragmatic. His preference for making wrong decisions over no decisions has driven rapid iteration and sustainable growth across multiple ventures. What makes this conversation essential listening is Ray's refreshing honesty about building real businesses with real customers paying real money. In an era obsessed with unicorn valuations and endless funding rounds, Ray proves that customer focus, rapid execution, and relentless pragmatism create empire-scale businesses without sacrificing ownership or soul to venture capital mythology. Subscribe to Binary to Billions wherever you get your podcasts for more stories of pragmatic entrepreneurship that actually work. Connect with Ray Nolan on LinkedIn to follow his AI innovation journey, and share this episode with one entrepreneur who needs to hear that customer financing beats VC hype every time.

50분
2025. 10. 09.

Tomas Gorny - No Exit Strategy, Maximum Impact: Rethinking Entrepreneurial Success

What does it take to transform from a young immigrant surviving on dollars a day to building one of America's most successful unified communications companies? In this powerful episode of Binary to Billions, we sit down with Tomas Gorny, founder and CEO of Nextiva, whose extraordinary journey embodies the American entrepreneurial dream. Born in communist Poland where his village had just one telephone, Tomas dreamed of America from age seven. His father's gift of a secondhand Atari computer sparked a lifelong passion for democratizing technology. At 20, he immigrated to Los Angeles with almost no money, surviving on a few dollars a day while carpet cleaning and building one of the internet's first web hosting companies. By 22, he was a millionaire. Then the dot-com crash wiped out everything. Unable to pay his mortgage, Tomas started over the same day he closed his failed business. With just $6,000 from selling his remaining stock, he bought two servers and launched what became the world's second-largest web hosting company, eventually selling for $4 billion. But Tomas wasn't done. Identifying a critical gap—companies growing disconnected from customers—he founded Nextiva in 2008. For over a decade, he chose to bootstrap rather than take venture capital, growing organically to serve 100,000+ customers before his first VC round in 2021. His philosophy: "Build for value, not an exit." In one of tech's boldest moves, Tomas abandoned a product generating millions to rebuild Nextiva's entire technology stack from scratch, positioning the company for the AI revolution with a unified platform that creates a single source of truth for all customer interactions. Key insights from this episode: How failure became fuel for even greater successThe strategic benefits of patient capital over quick fundingWhy the era of disconnected business applications is endingHow emotional intelligence trumps technical skills for entrepreneursThe loyalty principle that creates unshakeable competitive advantagesAs Tomas puts it: "VoIP is to Nextiva as books were to Amazon"—suggesting this is just the beginning of something much larger. Subscribe to Binary to Billions for more incredible stories of resilience and innovation. Share this episode with someone who needs to hear that setbacks can become setups for something extraordinary.

40분
2025. 09. 25.

Mark Bunnell: Disrupting Telecommunications One Innovation at a Time

Join host Rob Scott as he sits down with Mark Bunnell, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Nuwave Communications Inc., for an inside look at building and scaling a telecommunications company in today's rapidly evolving digital landscape. Mark shares his entrepreneurial journey from the early vision that sparked Nuwave Communications to the operational challenges of growing a telecom business in an industry dominated by established giants. Discover how he and his co-founders identified market opportunities, navigated the complex world of telecommunications infrastructure, and built a company that's making waves in the industry. In this candid conversation, Mark reveals the behind-the-scenes struggles of startup life, the pivotal decisions that shaped Nuwave's trajectory, and the leadership lessons learned while scaling operations. From technical hurdles to team building, funding challenges to competitive positioning, Mark provides authentic insights into what it really takes to succeed in the telecommunications sector. Whether you're a founder facing scaling challenges, a technology leader curious about the telecom industry, or simply interested in the human stories behind business transformation, Mark's journey offers valuable lessons about persistence, innovation, and building something meaningful in a competitive marketplace. This is the story of vision meeting execution in the telecommunications revolution.

38분
2025. 09. 11.

Michael Tessler - From Two-Person Startup to $1.9B Cloud Communications Empire

Join host Rob Scott for an extraordinary conversation with Michael Tessler, the visionary co-founder and former CEO of BroadSoft who literally created the Unified Communications-as-a-Service industry. In 1998, while others focused on hardware, Michael saw the future: enterprise communications would shift to software delivered over the internet. Discover how he and co-founder Scott Hoffpauir grew BroadSoft from humble beginnings into a global powerhouse serving 50 million users across 80 countries, pioneering the revolutionary partner-centric model that worked with telecom carriers rather than against them. Michael shares the pivotal decisions, hidden challenges, and strategic insights that led to BroadSoft's $1.9 billion acquisition by Cisco in 2018. From his engineering roots at Nortel to scaling a 2,000-person global team, Michael reveals the execution principles and leadership philosophy that built an industry. Now as Managing Partner at True North Advisory, he's mentoring the next generation of tech entrepreneurs with hard-won wisdom about partnerships, culture, and knowing when to make the leap. This is the untold story of how one engineer's vision transformed how the world communicates - and the human journey behind building a category-defining company.

46분

11개의 에피소드

Binary to Billions unveils the human stories behind technology's greatest successes, exploring the journeys of visionary leaders who've transformed from humble beginnings into category-defining companies. Join host Rob Scott as he discovers the pivotal moments, tough decisions, and invaluable lessons that shape both technological breakthroughs and the people behind them.

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Hosted by Rob Scott
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2025년 - 2026년
에피소드

11
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