Paul Mercer, serial entrepreneur and conqueror of personal medical and business challenges, sincerely believes that a large part of the secret in founding and growing a successful business lies in the thinking. The crystalized vision, the strategy (both financial and operational), competitive and market strategy and planning; clear forward picture of what the business will look like in 5, 10 and more years into the future.

Growth then occurs through passion and the confidence to deliver. Part of the secret sauce in his business is the education that the Portable Power Technology team provides to customers and prospects. For large clients they have become an extension of the R&D or technical department having built deep loyalty, and endeavoring to continually enhance knowledge in the market.

Passion drives success for the entire team and the customers, and the confidence to deliver is founded in a good strategy, plans, cash availability, and fantastic people. Each accomplishment or hurdle overcome builds confidence and enhanced competence to handle the next one, which in turn feeds resilience and injects infectious joy.

Seeing a potential future in community based energy storage and greener lifestyles, as well as ongoing explosion in portable power needs, Paul believes the future is exciting. Solving the challenge of achieving greater energy storage to feed more powerful loads, employing new minerals for onboard storage without taking away from the range of the vehicle, and developing increasingly creative applications will continue to engage his niche and potential.

Tune in to hear about:

• The reason the pain and panic bought by pandemic lockdown became business thrive.
• What is business growth really and why should it be different.
• How large customers provide growth without purchasing more of your products.
• How growth in revenue and profit can be maintained above an annualized 25% despite market circumstances.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Portable Power Technology website

Paul Mercer LinkedIn

Kavita Ganesan has assisted many clients to gain the advantage of split-second humanlike thinking, from a computer. Her secrets even assist when it is hard to get from concept to starting the project due to inadequate data.

She cautious that in many situations AI is wasted, it does not work, and people believe they need AI but in fact do not. However, the examples of the potential value to be derived where AI is appropriately deployed are fascinating, and should spark initiative to identify places to apply AI in every business.

Human-level thinking required? Not a problem. Whether applied broadly or in specifically targeted situations, large companies and small all potentially benefit from deploying AI. Don’t however look for immediate, directly consequential, or automatic positive impact on the bottom-line. Some will see it fast but for many it will evolve over time in financial results, staff or customer satisfaction, quality enhancements, etc.

Use an off-the-shelf tool or build from scratch. The secret to avoid failure lies in adequate preparation … data, validation, resources. Replace part, or the entire, process or system currently deployed, but learn first from The Business Case for AI, A leader’s Guide to AI Strategies, Best Practices & Real-World Applications.

Tune in to hear about:

• Ideas for where to consider artificial intelligence, or use automation.
• How to close the gap between management and data scientists.
• Why AI projects disappoint, and how to ensure success.
• Why all companies potentially derive significant value through technology investment.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

Kavita Ganesa's website and book website

Bryan Clayton used many of the lessons learned in his first business to grow the second, but he did find that the nature of the business has a big impact on how you achieve success. It was difficult to switch from growing a lawn care business to building a technology business because a tech business is mostly inventing something new; never seen or used before.

One of the secrets to growing your business is to focus on one level at a time, and look to gain knowledge or experience from multiple sources in order to build your own ability. Progressively try to move towards working more on your business than in it, but be patient because the early years are a challenge. Success in a technology business can be developed through rapidly releasing a first product, which probably embarrasses the creators but delights the small customer base you have, and using the valuable feedback received to develop a product that the market truly wants.

Employing his superpower – consistency – made Bryan show up every day and persevere on the one or two things his business was working on to get to the next milestone. By doing it over and over, enthusiastically, until successful GreenPal has grown large, and yet Bryan feels they are only getting started. Bryan counsels to stay enthusiastic as you pursue each milestone, do not get side tracked through the highs and lows, and for those who feel they have missed their opportunity in technology – remember what Marc Andreessen thought about his opportunities in technology!

Tune in to hear about:

• The value of the first-year customer base.
• How to close the gap between founder logic and user logic.
• The double-edged sword of external funding.
• Finding a business soul-mate if you need a business co-founder.
• And more.

Mentioned in this episode:

GreenPal app: Apple or Google

Bryan Clayton on Instagram