42 episodes

SphereCast is a podcast all about technology — technology advice, technology inspiration, and how real entrepreneurs have used technology to build their businesses from the ground up. If you’re wondering how technology can support your business goals, rest assured. Our guests have been there and done that.

SphereCast Sphere Partners

    • Technology
    • 5.0 • 2 Ratings

SphereCast is a podcast all about technology — technology advice, technology inspiration, and how real entrepreneurs have used technology to build their businesses from the ground up. If you’re wondering how technology can support your business goals, rest assured. Our guests have been there and done that.

    Passion Meets Tech — Emilia (Gyoerk) De Stasio

    Passion Meets Tech — Emilia (Gyoerk) De Stasio

    This week, the SphereCast speaks with Emilia De Stasio, COO and Founder at Artscapy. The mission of Artscapy is to lower the barrier to entry into art collection. Within the platform, users can both purchase contemporary art and track the art pieces they own, including documentation and value. Artscapy is merging the worlds of fine art and complex technology — such as blockchain technology — to make the art world more welcoming to new audiences.
    Emilia has always had an interest in art and art collection — a common thread through a relatively uncommon career path. Emilia thought she was destined for a job as an economist and pointed her life plans in this direction. However, when economics didn’t pan out as expected and through several twists and turns, Emilia began building a business to drive traffic in the direction of that one common thread — art. For Emilia, Artscapy is a place where her passion meets tech. And on the podcast, she dives into both the passion and the technology as she reflects on her time as an entrepreneur.


    Noteworthy Quotes:
    ”Our mission is to democratize the art world — to make it accessible. To make it possible for anyone to come in and learn about art. Overcoming those initial barriers to entry. That initial intimidation.”
    “A key to building any sort of tech business is being in it from the beginning. Understanding what’s the backbone of the business.”
    “Many people who are interested in building a tech business think, ‘Okay, I need to build every single thing from scratch.’ And that’s not necessarily true. One of the key strengths of a good entrepreneur is finding out how to optimize solutions. Aggregating different solutions. Bringing in the skeletons built by others and expanding on that.”
    ”Working within a startup, I’ve never worked as much as I am now. But I’ve never been happier than I am now.”
    “Don’t get too worked up around what you think you need to be doing. Or that there’s only one path for you and that you need to pursue it ad nauseam… In life, the places where you can add the most value develop over time.”
    “The beauty and the curse of entrepreneurship is that no day is the same. There’s always a challenge. There’s an infinitely growing to-do list. It’s a living, breathing animal that needs love, care, sweat, tears. And that’s also the beauty of it.”
    “There are different routes to entrepreneurship. At the end of the day, if you can drive your business forward while also staying sane, that’s what matters.”


    Bullet List of Resources – 
    Emilia De Stasio
    LinkedIn


    Artscapy
    Company WebsiteInstagramLinkedIn

    • 52 min
    It Pays to Be Nosy — Andy Bray

    It Pays to Be Nosy — Andy Bray

    This week, the SphereCast interviews Andy Bray, Chief Financial Officer at Sermo. Sermo is a social platform, connecting more than 1.3 million healthcare providers across 150 countries. This physicians-first online community allows clinicians to communicate about issues that are important to them and their patients. In no other industry is mind-share more important than healthcare, as sharing expertise can literally mean saving lives. The sum is much greater than its parts.
    Bray has held financial positions in various companies across many different industries — including an early run at one of the “Big 4” accounting firms. Having seen and experienced much over the course of his seasoned career, he offers a unique perspective on what makes a “good” finance department. But one prevailing attribute that spells success in a financial professional? Nosiness. On the podcast, Andy deep dives on the value of curiosity in finance, offers some insightful leadership advice, and much more.


    Noteworthy Quotes:
    ”To be a strategic CFO, you absolutely need a strong team. The most important parts of your FP&A team are the people that you have in it. And they need to have an analytical mindset and a curiosity. You need to be nosy and understand what’s going on inside of the company. To look beyond the numbers.”
    ”Excellence is not perfection.”
    ”Agility is just huge and is such a key attribute. It’s massively linked to your culture. If you want agility and to be agile, it’s important to live that culture and harness that.”
    ”As a leader, you have to be respectful of people’s time. You get to meetings on time. You don’t change things at the last minute. You don’t move things around… You have to put your team first.”
    ”As a leader, listen more than you talk. That’s key. Listen and understand different perspectives, facts, and viewpoints. And once everything has been put forward, make the right decision based on that data.”
    ”Don’t be afraid to make career decisions that aren’t orthodox. Everyone has a long career, and going down the route that is nontraditional is hugely beneficial. And sometimes people think it’s risky. But that risk is never as great as people fear it is.”
    ”As a leader, you have to be focused on what needs to be done. Especially when people are going off in many different tangents.”


    Bullet List of Resources – 
    Francois Casanova
    LinkedIn


    Sermo
    Company WebsiteFacebookTwitterLinkedIn

    • 48 min
    The Scalable CEO — Francois Casanova

    The Scalable CEO — Francois Casanova

    This week, the SphereCast speaks with Francois Casanova, Founder and CEO at Fitogram. Fitogram is a digital service that takes the pain out of administrative logistics for fitness professionals and business owners. Fitogram offers comprehensive online booking, payment processing, customer management, and accounting — all in an easy-to-use SaaS platform. In its own words, Fitogram believes that “nothing should stand between people and their passion for sports.”
    In 2012, Fitogram began as a humble Germany-based startup. Since its inception, the company has grown its customer base to tens of thousands of fitness providers across more than 11 European countries. With the growth, Francois’s role has shifted from a fully hands-on CEO to more of a visionary, casting direction for the company and trusting his team to see the vision to reality. On the podcast, among many other things, Francois discusses entrepreneurship, leadership, and trusting your team to do what’s right.


    Noteworthy Quotes:
    "Now, my role in management is to serve the company. I don't see myself as a leader. I see myself as a servant of the business. The team is really doing the big chunk of the work at this point. And that has been a massive switch... That helped us unlock so much potential and growth."
    "When you're the CEO, you feel that you need to help and need to be involved and need to know everything. But you can't. Definitely not... My role has to be as a [visionary]."
    "A good leader is a good listener. It's about understanding and listening your team and your market. Really taking the time to do that is very important."
    "I've been part of an entrepreneurial club for a long time now. And we organized an event called Leap and the Net Will Appear. And I think that's very true for every entrepreneurial journey. If you really work hard and go in the right direction, you make stuff happen."
    "You cannot underestimate the value of a good customer journey."


    Bullet List of Resources – 
    Francois Casanova
    LinkedIn


    Fitogram
    Company WebsiteInstagramYouTubeLinkedIn

    • 39 min
    Scaling Live Music Experiences — Yuli Levtov

    Scaling Live Music Experiences — Yuli Levtov

    This week, the SphereCast team interviews Yuli Levtov, Chief Technology Officer at Volta XR. Volta is a self-serve XR creation platform that makes producing innovative digital experiences accessible to all. Prior to Volta’s platform, truly engaging digital experiences were reserved for the makers with extensive resources and extremely deep pockets. With Volta, that is no longer the norm. Volta is initially focused on extending its services to the music industry — effectively offering limitless scale to live music performance — but has plans to extend into other verticals as well.
    For Levtov, Volta is a dream convergence of two of his highest passions — music and technology. And Yuli can rest easy, knowing that he’s doing the good work of making great technology — and, by extension, great live experiences —  accessible to more people. On the podcast, Yuli lays out his history with Volta XR, recounts some of its early challenges, and discusses some learnings made along the way.


    Noteworthy Quotes:
    "When you have limited resources — as every startup does, by definition — it's very tricky to know exactly where to be directing the resources. There are lots of interesting options on the table — lots of ways the product could go."
    "Productivity comes in different ways. You have to work smarter, not harder."
    "Be more structured around personal development... If you want to be a CTO or a founder or an entrepreneur or something like that, the ability to pull in bits of expertise from different subject areas makes for something greater than the sum of the parts. In order to do that, you have to take a keen interest in learning."



    Bullet List of Resources – 
    Yuli Levtov
    LinkedIn


    Volta XR
    Company WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitterYouTube

    • 40 min
    Sticking to our Core — Gandolf Finke

    Sticking to our Core — Gandolf Finke

    This week, the SphereCast team speaks with Gandolf Finke, Founder and MD at Mika. Mika is a digital companion platform that walks with cancer patients through every step of their difficult journeys through sickness. The app offers up personalized evidence-based content, including digital interventions and trusted education. Prior to his work at Mika, Finke spent time as a consultant with a large global firm, primarily focusing on healthcare organizations.
    Cancer in no stranger to Gandolf. Several instances of cancer that personally impacted him ultimately drove him towards creating a solution like Mika. Easing others’ difficulties with this horrible disease is at the core of Mika’s mission, and Finke is dedicated to maintaining focus on this objective. In fact, in a world where the norm for digital apps is to sell personal data, Mika has drawn a line in the sand and has chosen to forego short-term monetary gains for the good of its users. On the podcast, hear the full inspirational story and pick up some solid entrepreneurial advice along the way.


    Noteworthy Quotes:
    "One really important aspect for us is to stick to our core... In the digital healthcare industry, it's very easy to get pulled into, 'Why don't you create this great tool that takes all of the data from patients and then monetizes on that and sends it to pharma companies?' And I get it. Totally fine. But we took a conscious decision against some of these demands. We believe, at our core, that we want to empower the people that are using Mika that are impacted by cancer.”
    "When building a business based on a nontraditional model, you very much relay on the story that you can tell. If you don't have a great story that's valuable and helpful, you can't find people to give you money."
    "A huge challenge for my company in our journey is constantly questioning and iterating around what we're doing. Are we doing the right thing? Is it really working how we want it to? What are the proof points?"
    "Being an entrepreneur is about facing challenges and dealing with them. There were tough times. There were easy times. And you have to celebrate the highs and, somehow, manage to go through the lows."
    "In order to hire the right people, you have to have a very clear understanding of what you actually need. Write it down, and be very strict in grading people against that."
    "Human resources is different now. People look at their employer differently now than they would have 30 years ago. It's no longer a, 'I'm going to join this company and work there for the rest of my life.' It's much more of a, 'I want to work on things that are purposeful. I want to pursue things outside of work.' So you have to adjust how you operate the company accordingly."



    Bullet List of Resources – 
    Gandolf Finke
    LinkedIn


    Mika
    Company WebsiteInstagramFacebookLinkedIn

    • 35 min
    Trust Your Intuition — Emma Kay

    Trust Your Intuition — Emma Kay

    This week, the SphereCast team interviews Emma Kay, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at WalkSafe. The WalkSafe app visualizes real-time crime reports by plotting these incidents clearly onto a map, allowing users to build a detailed understanding of local area crime patterns and plan safer walking routes. The WalkSafe app also features loads of other pro-safety functionality, keeping users safe while out and about.
    Emma was inspired to start this business after speaking with her brother about her fears — and other women’s fears — of walking alone. And she was ultimately brave enough to take a step out as a female entrepreneur. But a key part of Emma’s journey was finding a belief in herself — by proving to herself that she had what it takes and that her gut instincts were right and true. Only then did she experience true success. On the podcast, hear Emma’s entire entrepreneurial journey and how she hopes her story inspires other women to find their voices and trust their intuitions.


    Noteworthy Quotes:
    "I've learned that my intuition is right. And if I fundamentally believe in something and feel very strongly about something, I need to stand up for what I believe in and speak about it."
    "You can't pull from an empty cup. I'm trying to learn that. I want to say 'yes' to everything... And I'm always striving for perfection. Taking time to prioritize is really important. What can wait? Asking the question is the best course of action."
    "As a leader, it's important to know where your strengths and weaknesses lie and where you can learn from someone else."
    "We fundamentally believe in keeping the majority of our app free for the user. We believe that personal safety is a basic human right — one that everyone should feel."
    "I truly feel that our users' voices are really important. We have spent a lot of time fine-tuning things, and we will continue to do that to keep evolving the app and making the best it can be."
    "With a startup, you're always learning. The power of hindsight is always there."



    Bullet List of Resources – 
    Emma Kay
    LinkedIn


    WalkSafe Ltd.
    Company WebsiteInstagramTwitterFacebookLinkedIn

    • 37 min

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