WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.859 Welcome to the Innovation Conversation, a podcast 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:05.360 about innovators, both in business and real life. 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:08.419 Hosted by myself, Ricardo Rescual and Harry McCona. 00:00:08.619 --> 00:00:11.660 This podcast is sponsored by OpenExperts .com. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:14.140 OpenExperts is a place to go if you're looking 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:16.300 to talk with top experts from around the world. 00:00:16.539 --> 00:00:20.879 That is Open -Experts .com. This podcast is also 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:24.539 sponsored by StartupNetworks .co .uk. Startup 00:00:24.539 --> 00:00:26.820 Networks, it's an online forum where you can 00:00:26.820 --> 00:00:28.739 find all the resources you need to learn your 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:31.449 startup. from grants to investors to tips and 00:00:31.449 --> 00:00:33.270 tricks and how to be successful when you start. 00:00:34.829 --> 00:00:37.270 Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Innovation 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:40.210 Conversation. Today we are joined by Tomas Blackjak 00:00:40.210 --> 00:00:43.909 from Lead, Tomas, welcome. Thank you for having 00:00:43.909 --> 00:00:47.049 me and hello, Ricardo. It's a pleasure having 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:49.070 you here. Would you like to introduce yourself 00:00:49.070 --> 00:00:53.000 to our audience? Yes, I can introduce myself. 00:00:53.619 --> 00:00:55.560 So basically, my name is Tomáš, as you already 00:00:55.560 --> 00:00:58.840 mentioned, and I'm from Czech startup called 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:03.320 LeadSpeaker. And I am responsible for operation 00:01:03.320 --> 00:01:06.620 and product development. And basically, LeadSpeaker 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:10.459 is a company that's building lead generation 00:01:10.459 --> 00:01:15.400 platform. And basically, a lead generation platform 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:20.920 powered by AI and that's That's all what we are 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:25.540 doing right now. And how did the company get 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:28.200 started? Because we were talking before and I 00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.140 know it's not the first iteration, so how did 00:01:30.140 --> 00:01:33.760 it happen? Basically the company started seven 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:39.120 years ago. Our main founder, Vlaski, basically 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:43.260 he doing the startup scouting for the tech events 00:01:43.260 --> 00:01:47.069 and for the corporates like Cisco and etc. and 00:01:47.069 --> 00:01:51.609 basically the company began as a startup scouting 00:01:51.609 --> 00:01:57.629 company for accelerators and corporate innovation 00:01:57.629 --> 00:02:02.349 labs and etc. And basically for those campaigns 00:02:02.349 --> 00:02:06.640 we need to find the relevant startups we need 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:10.199 to find relevant contact emails and we need to 00:02:10.199 --> 00:02:12.479 contact them and ask them if they would like 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:15.599 to apply into Accelerator or some innovation 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:20.120 lab and etc. And that was the beginning of everything. 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.319 Basically, first three years when I joined Delete 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:28.740 Speaker, we were more like agency, not a startup. 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:32.300 Basically, we have some our development on our 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:36.479 site already done. but basically we still thinking 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:43.000 about only the startup scouting and how to scale 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.180 the startup scouting in a startup scouting field. 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:52.439 But this industry is really limited and one time 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:56.979 we basically sit with all the people and start 00:02:56.979 --> 00:03:00.620 thinking of how we can scale and what we can 00:03:00.620 --> 00:03:04.539 do as a next. And we take a look what we have 00:03:04.539 --> 00:03:08.439 developed, what we are doing, and start thinking 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:11.139 that everything what we are doing for these startups, 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:16.080 we can do for everyone in B2B business. Because 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:19.340 the process is the same. You need to find relevant 00:03:19.340 --> 00:03:21.759 component, you need to find the relevant people, 00:03:22.159 --> 00:03:28.199 and you need to basically contact them. And that's 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:32.180 how we involve into building some solution for 00:03:32.180 --> 00:03:38.979 the B2B regeneration. And that's the real story, 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:45.840 how we start building the first B2B regeneration 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:50.300 platform. But previously, we basically built 00:03:50.300 --> 00:03:57.939 everything like some part of a technology, but 00:03:57.939 --> 00:04:01.659 also as some type of a managed service. So our 00:04:01.659 --> 00:04:05.539 typical tickets before was in thousands of euros 00:04:05.539 --> 00:04:09.300 and basically clients come to us. Basically we 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:12.740 have a technology and we manage the service for 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:16.540 them. But this was really tough for the scaling 00:04:16.540 --> 00:04:20.480 because when we start the scale, we just for 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:23.399 scaling with some amount of clients, we need 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:28.470 to hire more people. And in some time, that was 00:04:28.470 --> 00:04:32.329 not all. Basically, we cannot keep the scaling 00:04:32.329 --> 00:04:37.389 up like that. So a year ago, we totally squashed 00:04:37.389 --> 00:04:42.649 everything, what we have. We've unfortunately 00:04:42.649 --> 00:04:47.189 fired most of the team members and start switching 00:04:47.189 --> 00:04:53.699 fully into SAS platform and SAS business. And 00:04:53.699 --> 00:04:57.100 at this moment, we have basically built the SaaS 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:03.480 platform for B2B regeneration. And we have first 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:08.680 hundreds of users that play around with our platform. 00:05:09.139 --> 00:05:13.800 And at this moment, the business plan behind 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:18.019 that make us more sense than before. Because 00:05:18.019 --> 00:05:21.240 previously, we was focused to scale really fast. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:25.360 And the only way how to scale how to scale fast 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:29.240 in our point of view was scaled by the people 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:35.279 and also scale basically the higher tickets or 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:38.699 higher tickets or plans. But at this moment, 00:05:39.459 --> 00:05:45.000 when the GPT come and open the APIs and etc, 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:48.839 there is huge, huge potential what you are able 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:54.759 to do. and we start integrating everything. And 00:05:54.759 --> 00:05:58.899 at this moment, basically, the platform is really 00:05:58.899 --> 00:06:02.720 great. And basically, what we plan to do, we 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.980 still planning to involve the AI more and more 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:11.430 into whole generation. And I think in next two 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:15.910 or three months, we will be able to launch and 00:06:15.910 --> 00:06:21.089 show to all our users a full AI -powered sales 00:06:21.089 --> 00:06:24.329 agent that will do the lead generation and pre 00:06:24.329 --> 00:06:28.370 -sale cycles automatically. You mentioned all 00:06:28.370 --> 00:06:30.529 this transformation and change within the business. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:34.519 But I'm assuming these were quite stressful moments, 00:06:34.899 --> 00:06:37.720 right? You know, changing from one product to 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:40.319 the other and then having to let go of people. 00:06:41.240 --> 00:06:43.699 How was, you know, how do you deal with that? 00:06:46.180 --> 00:06:51.459 To be honest, there was a few tough moments. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:06:56.540 Basically, first tough moment was when COVID 00:06:56.540 --> 00:07:02.560 come here and basically all the businesses were 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:07.300 in a lockdown and no one knows what to do. So 00:07:07.300 --> 00:07:10.980 basically in that time before COVID came, we 00:07:10.980 --> 00:07:14.920 just signed up the first investment round. But 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:17.959 after we received the investment, everything 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:22.899 was locked. And basically most of our clients 00:07:22.899 --> 00:07:27.579 and most of the deals was paused because no one 00:07:27.579 --> 00:07:30.540 knows how business goes or how they can operate 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:35.839 etc. And three months after COVID started it 00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:40.839 was pretty tough and it was more about the risk 00:07:40.839 --> 00:07:47.139 management than not about scaling. But after 00:07:47.139 --> 00:07:52.000 three months After three months basically we 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.899 manage everything and also the situation in Europe 00:07:56.899 --> 00:08:03.519 start basically going home and a lot of people 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:07.459 switch into online business and basically a lot 00:08:07.459 --> 00:08:10.360 of companies, a lot of type of old businesses 00:08:10.360 --> 00:08:13.220 like manufacturing companies and etc looking 00:08:13.220 --> 00:08:17.420 for some solution for lead generation. So we 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:21.060 were really great fit for them. So during COVID, 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:26.319 after that, after people start adapting into 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:32.379 online, it was okay for us. But first month was 00:08:32.379 --> 00:08:35.720 really tough because we received the money. We 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:41.200 just need to scale and the whole market was frozen. 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:48.049 But after that, market start be slowly alive 00:08:48.049 --> 00:08:52.190 so we adapt really fast and we start scaling 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:57.470 up basically in one year for 20 clients to 400 00:08:57.470 --> 00:09:01.750 clients or something just like that it was really 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:06.769 fast and basically when we received the investment 00:09:06.769 --> 00:09:10.490 we were team around nine people or something 00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:15.559 just like that and after a year After a year, 00:09:16.779 --> 00:09:19.960 since we received the investment of our team 00:09:19.960 --> 00:09:25.100 around 35 people. So that was a really, really 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:29.139 huge, huge scale. We start building the marketing 00:09:29.139 --> 00:09:32.299 team, we start building the first operation, 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:35.460 we just start building the first processes as 00:09:35.460 --> 00:09:39.720 a normal company. And we keep the scaling up 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:47.190 with those people till So next thing what happened 00:09:47.190 --> 00:09:50.309 and next thing what really influenced us was 00:09:50.309 --> 00:09:57.110 a war at Ukraine because we were in a higher 00:09:57.110 --> 00:09:59.789 ticket sales so basically our typical customer 00:09:59.789 --> 00:10:06.529 value for one customer mean for us lower tickets 00:10:06.529 --> 00:10:10.470 was around 2 ,000 euros and typical ticket was 00:10:10.470 --> 00:10:14.480 around 5 ,000 euros. and basically we managed 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:17.799 for them the regeneration, we were running the 00:10:17.799 --> 00:10:21.179 campaigns for them. Basically it was somehow 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:25.840 the agency plus our technology behind and after 00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:29.519 basically the war on Ukraine started there was 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:34.000 a second issue and the second issue was markets 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:38.480 that sentiment in Europe basically again similar 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:43.179 as COVID. No one knows how market will go and 00:10:43.179 --> 00:10:47.399 everything just stopped. And you couldn't do 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:50.000 a single advertisement anywhere because all the 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:51.980 news were always occupied by the war in the Ukraine. 00:10:52.659 --> 00:10:54.960 So any marketing campaign was completely ineffective 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.659 because you can be the best marketer but the 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:01.000 news on the Ukraine will always go on top. And 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:04.840 that was, to be honest... That was a hell for 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:08.720 us, total hell, because at this moment, we have 00:11:08.720 --> 00:11:15.120 the operations of over 400 active client projects. 00:11:16.419 --> 00:11:20.659 And basically from clients, we just start us. 00:11:21.129 --> 00:11:24.730 Start getting back at this moment. We don't know 00:11:24.730 --> 00:11:28.870 what we can do and the market is not ready So 00:11:28.870 --> 00:11:31.710 we would like to pause the campaign or we would 00:11:31.710 --> 00:11:34.429 like to decline the campaign so basically in 00:11:34.429 --> 00:11:39.370 half year of from almost 400 clients or we go 00:11:39.370 --> 00:11:43.009 only up to 50 or something just like that and 00:11:43.009 --> 00:11:46.399 It was basically really really tough all for 00:11:46.399 --> 00:11:50.340 us because we just scale up the team and we just 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:54.379 need to manage to pay the team members. We also 00:11:54.379 --> 00:11:58.679 have some plans for the scaling up and when this 00:11:58.679 --> 00:12:05.019 start happening we just need to change everything 00:12:05.019 --> 00:12:10.779 and we still are waiting if the market will go 00:12:10.779 --> 00:12:18.190 on or no. But by the end of 2022, we decided 00:12:18.190 --> 00:12:24.129 that the situation is not better and we started 00:12:24.129 --> 00:12:30.789 slowly and during December 2022, we were team 00:12:30.789 --> 00:12:34.330 around 60 team members or something just like 00:12:34.330 --> 00:12:39.029 that. So during December, we needed to fire around 00:12:39.029 --> 00:12:42.330 20 team members and that was a really first tough 00:12:42.330 --> 00:12:48.750 moment because they were pretty good. It was 00:12:48.750 --> 00:12:51.570 really tough to hire them because previously 00:12:51.570 --> 00:12:55.330 before the war at Ukraine in Czech Republic and 00:12:55.330 --> 00:12:59.230 also here in Central Europe was really an issue 00:12:59.230 --> 00:13:02.629 to find out good employees. There was a really 00:13:03.710 --> 00:13:08.889 basically everyone after covid trying to hire 00:13:08.889 --> 00:13:11.669 someone and it was really really competitive 00:13:11.669 --> 00:13:17.690 so we spent a time to hire a team and after that 00:13:17.690 --> 00:13:21.070 we just need to fire first 20 of the team members 00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:26.570 and but we still we still waiting even market 00:13:26.570 --> 00:13:33.200 will better or not and We waited till April of 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:41.200 2023 and in April 2023 nothing better is happening 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:45.000 on our side and basically we still have a tough 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:49.080 to close new deals because everybody was scared 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:53.379 and it was a really high amount of money, but 00:13:53.379 --> 00:14:00.389 no one wanted to buy so it does not make sense 00:14:00.389 --> 00:14:04.029 to invest into marketing, into sales, and into 00:14:04.029 --> 00:14:08.330 those solutions. And basically, in April, we 00:14:08.330 --> 00:14:20.070 just sit with all the people that have some state 00:14:20.070 --> 00:14:26.009 as a lead speaker. And we start thinking what 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:31.870 to do as a next. and we decide to totally change 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:36.529 our business model and we just start counting 00:14:36.529 --> 00:14:40.029 how much money we have on our bank account to 00:14:40.029 --> 00:14:44.409 develop something totally new to survive. It 00:14:44.409 --> 00:14:49.570 was really sad because we just take a look on 00:14:49.570 --> 00:14:52.610 the list of 40 people that we have and we start 00:14:52.610 --> 00:14:57.600 saying how we need those persons. those people 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:02.559 to develop the new new faith and basically after 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:07.779 that we decide to keep only the developers and 00:15:07.779 --> 00:15:10.820 a few salespeople and rest of the team we decide 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:16.539 to fire and basically in this time we fired we 00:15:16.539 --> 00:15:23.929 fired next 20 40 40 people basically That's a 00:15:23.929 --> 00:15:25.370 tough moment, isn't it? Because that's a lot 00:15:25.370 --> 00:15:29.710 of people losing their jobs. Yes, it was really 00:15:29.710 --> 00:15:32.669 tough and also it was really tough to communicate 00:15:32.669 --> 00:15:37.570 with them because those people worked pretty 00:15:37.570 --> 00:15:43.570 well, but basically it was total risk management 00:15:43.570 --> 00:15:47.490 and basically there were people and on the other 00:15:47.490 --> 00:15:51.649 side, okay, we can keep those people next. one 00:15:51.649 --> 00:15:56.389 or two months and wait if something will be better 00:15:56.389 --> 00:16:00.470 or not. And if not, basically we do not have 00:16:00.470 --> 00:16:04.389 all the money to pay those people. So that was 00:16:04.389 --> 00:16:11.309 a really tough moment for us. And basically for... 00:16:11.309 --> 00:16:14.909 In our point of view we just, I think basically 00:16:14.909 --> 00:16:18.450 in that time the decision that we made was the 00:16:18.450 --> 00:16:22.070 best decision that we could have made in that 00:16:22.070 --> 00:16:27.570 time. Because unfortunately we fired most of 00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:31.850 our team. We keep only the developers and a few 00:16:31.850 --> 00:16:35.049 other people. Basically at this moment we are 00:16:35.049 --> 00:16:39.509 the team of 12 people and most of them are the 00:16:39.509 --> 00:16:44.309 technical people. and after that we have two 00:16:44.309 --> 00:16:50.769 salespeople. But it was a let up. And the decision 00:16:50.769 --> 00:16:56.129 that we made was built fully software as a service 00:16:56.129 --> 00:16:59.970 platform. And what we have developed, technology 00:16:59.970 --> 00:17:03.850 from the past, what we are solving, how we are 00:17:03.850 --> 00:17:06.450 solving the lead generation campaigns. Previously, 00:17:06.769 --> 00:17:10.380 we just took those technologies and start building 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:14.819 the interface and slowly and slowly integrating 00:17:14.819 --> 00:17:18.779 the technology that we have and at this moment 00:17:18.779 --> 00:17:22.960 we have the least vector platform and we are 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:26.400 still surviving and we starting the scaling up 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:29.839 again but it was a it was a really tough it was 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:34.680 a really tough moment and i hope that i will 00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:38.369 be a void for For now, all the similar moments 00:17:38.369 --> 00:17:42.450 that we have basically a year ago. I was wondering, 00:17:42.710 --> 00:17:44.690 when you're making these decisions, which are 00:17:44.690 --> 00:17:47.849 hard decisions, what were the investors saying 00:17:47.849 --> 00:17:50.170 to your company? Were they saying, you know what? 00:17:50.250 --> 00:17:52.210 You need to make the cuts. We'll back the idea. 00:17:52.329 --> 00:17:55.210 We believe in you as a team, but there are changes 00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:57.609 that need to happen. How was that managed? Because 00:17:57.609 --> 00:18:01.500 that's the hard thing, isn't it? Basically, the 00:18:01.500 --> 00:18:06.500 investors support us because also for them it 00:18:06.500 --> 00:18:13.759 was lose the whole company or basically agree 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:17.720 what we are doing and help us with some type 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:21.660 of transformation. And I need to say we have 00:18:21.660 --> 00:18:26.140 really great investors because in tough time 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:30.690 they help us. They sent us some additional money 00:18:30.690 --> 00:18:36.150 that basically helped us to execute and build 00:18:36.150 --> 00:18:39.990 the platform that we have right now. And with 00:18:39.990 --> 00:18:47.049 different investors, I think LeaseFaker, basically 00:18:47.049 --> 00:18:51.609 with different investors, LeaseFaker cannot survive 00:18:51.609 --> 00:18:55.529 basically because investors in tough time really 00:18:55.529 --> 00:18:59.230 help us. and at this moment also trying to help 00:18:59.230 --> 00:19:08.049 us and advise how to do it. I was wondering because 00:19:08.049 --> 00:19:10.130 you guys are based in Czech Republic, right? 00:19:10.509 --> 00:19:14.109 How is the ecosystem there? Is it easy to launch 00:19:14.109 --> 00:19:18.109 a company? Are people willing to invest or actually 00:19:18.109 --> 00:19:20.690 it's quite the opposite where there's a lot of 00:19:20.690 --> 00:19:23.410 taxes and it's quite hard to launch something? 00:19:29.990 --> 00:19:35.470 Basically, here are two points of views. On the 00:19:35.470 --> 00:19:40.170 one, basically, we have a really strong ecosystem, 00:19:40.890 --> 00:19:43.970 a really big ecosystem. We have the big companies 00:19:43.970 --> 00:19:50.049 like Freightboard, like Make, etc. And we have 00:19:50.049 --> 00:19:55.710 also really big VC investors, for example, Credo 00:19:55.710 --> 00:19:58.910 Ventures, Reflex Capital, Kaya Ventures, JNT 00:19:58.910 --> 00:20:03.650 Ventures and etc. Basically those investors are 00:20:03.650 --> 00:20:11.210 big with comparing with other countries that's 00:20:11.210 --> 00:20:17.150 surrounding the Czech Republic. But about everything 00:20:17.150 --> 00:20:24.289 there is still a lot of paperwork. But here, 00:20:24.589 --> 00:20:27.809 the startup ecosystem somehow works. It can be 00:20:27.809 --> 00:20:33.829 better, but it can be also much worse. And at 00:20:33.829 --> 00:20:36.950 this moment, the Czech government start working 00:20:36.950 --> 00:20:42.829 on improvement, like laws about the startups, 00:20:43.450 --> 00:20:46.450 about the employee stock options, et cetera. 00:20:47.069 --> 00:20:51.569 So basically, the government slowly optimize 00:20:51.759 --> 00:20:56.779 optimize here the startup ecosystem and how startup 00:20:56.779 --> 00:21:01.119 ecosystem works. But with comparing with countries 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:04.839 like USA, where the startup ecosystem is developed 00:21:04.839 --> 00:21:08.660 over 20 years or 30 years, you cannot compare 00:21:08.660 --> 00:21:12.519 the paperwork and etc. We just need to take a 00:21:12.519 --> 00:21:18.220 look that startups are new in Central Europe 00:21:18.220 --> 00:21:23.789 and Basically, those investors and those startups 00:21:23.789 --> 00:21:27.609 is the first generation of startups. And we have 00:21:27.609 --> 00:21:32.009 there something as a startups over 10 years or 00:21:32.009 --> 00:21:36.730 maybe 15 years. So everything is developing and 00:21:36.730 --> 00:21:39.390 everything is slowly improving. Interesting. 00:21:39.890 --> 00:21:42.710 Now we talk a lot about how many changes you 00:21:42.710 --> 00:21:45.470 had in the company, how hard it was to transform 00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:48.089 from the original idea to what you have right 00:21:48.089 --> 00:21:52.150 now. How do you keep yourself balanced throughout 00:21:52.150 --> 00:21:54.109 all this? Because this is a lot of stress we're 00:21:54.109 --> 00:21:56.630 talking about, right? This is not easy. So how 00:21:56.630 --> 00:22:03.609 do you keep yourself in balance? Basically, in 00:22:03.609 --> 00:22:09.809 the first transformation, I was totally unbalanced. 00:22:10.390 --> 00:22:17.480 Basically, I ate a lot of junk food and I I basically 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:22.380 drank a lot of coffees and basically a lot of 00:22:22.380 --> 00:22:27.500 energy drinks and from a guy that weighted around 00:22:27.500 --> 00:22:34.460 80 kilograms I gained to 120 or 114 or something 00:22:34.460 --> 00:22:41.119 just like that. That's a lot of junkies. So but 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:47.220 after that I just started I just start work with 00:22:47.220 --> 00:22:51.859 myself because when I was in this unpleasant 00:22:51.859 --> 00:22:58.220 situation I made a lot of bad executions and 00:22:58.220 --> 00:23:03.140 basically at this moment I just totally switch 00:23:03.140 --> 00:23:08.500 my mindset and my priority at this moment is 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:13.319 each day to do something for myself. And for 00:23:13.319 --> 00:23:19.000 me, I'm visiting the gym almost every day. So 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:24.059 the workout is one thing that still keeps me 00:23:24.059 --> 00:23:28.839 sharp also in the work because it's helping me 00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:32.539 to reduce stress. After that, I practice the 00:23:32.539 --> 00:23:37.079 cold showers each morning. That's the other really 00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:41.859 helpful thing. and after that one or twice per 00:23:41.859 --> 00:23:45.640 week I'm doing the sonas and basically those 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:49.839 are the things that I'm doing and I see on myself 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:55.660 that I have more energy also when some shit happens 00:23:55.660 --> 00:24:07.119 at work I'm more basically I'm not that I don't 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:13.740 know how to say it properly. Basically, I... 00:24:13.740 --> 00:24:16.420 You can deal with stress better than... Yeah, 00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:20.380 that's the right word. Sorry for that. Basically, 00:24:20.579 --> 00:24:24.099 I'm dealing with stress much better. And also, 00:24:24.099 --> 00:24:30.319 I'm trying to eat healthy. So, that's the four 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:34.339 points of what I'm doing for myself. And I think 00:24:34.339 --> 00:24:38.559 that's really important. uh for uh for everyone 00:24:38.559 --> 00:24:42.859 that's trying to build something new uh to keep 00:24:42.859 --> 00:24:48.119 uh keep yourself so in a in a sharp and keep 00:24:48.119 --> 00:24:51.720 yourselves health uh and uh basically when you 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.559 when you will eat the junk food every day uh 00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:58.660 and uh when you will sit in only under computer 00:24:58.660 --> 00:25:02.019 uh unfortunately this is not sustainable and 00:25:02.019 --> 00:25:06.609 uh in some time it's done in start to take some 00:25:06.609 --> 00:25:10.490 tax back and usually the tax back that is taking 00:25:10.490 --> 00:25:15.509 is a bad execution or you are everyday retired 00:25:15.509 --> 00:25:20.930 and etc. That's a common theme. We talk with 00:25:20.930 --> 00:25:24.990 me and my co -host Harry. We end up talking with 00:25:24.990 --> 00:25:27.069 a lot of founders and they all say the same thing 00:25:27.069 --> 00:25:28.930 which is actually you should take the time for 00:25:28.930 --> 00:25:31.960 yourself. Because it's a bit like a car if you're 00:25:31.960 --> 00:25:33.599 not taking care of the car it's not gonna run 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:36.180 anymore is it i need to change your every once 00:25:36.180 --> 00:25:37.980 in a while change the brake pads all those things 00:25:37.980 --> 00:25:40.859 and i think we always forget to do that as as 00:25:40.859 --> 00:25:42.539 you know when running business because i don't 00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:44.279 have time to do that actually that is the most 00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:46.980 important thing. Because if you're not able to 00:25:46.980 --> 00:25:49.180 produce anymore because you haven't fed yourself 00:25:49.180 --> 00:25:51.859 properly haven't taken care of your health. That's 00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:53.720 the end of the business right that's it yes. 00:25:54.309 --> 00:25:57.450 I was running how important is for you to have 00:25:57.450 --> 00:26:00.130 a good circle of people around you like because 00:26:00.130 --> 00:26:01.910 there's that saying you know we're the with the 00:26:01.910 --> 00:26:03.589 some of the five people that surround this so 00:26:03.589 --> 00:26:05.309 is it have you found that to be true in your 00:26:05.309 --> 00:26:28.900 case. And I was also in a situation where I have 00:26:28.900 --> 00:26:33.539 around me some toxic people. Also here at work 00:26:33.539 --> 00:26:37.119 we just have a few toxic employees and they are 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:43.240 only taking us the energy. But they had really 00:26:43.240 --> 00:26:46.640 great performance. So basically we were in a 00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:49.680 position when we saw for example they have really 00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:53.440 high cells. or they have really high delivery 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:57.720 but the rest of the team was totally bored, totally 00:26:57.720 --> 00:27:01.819 tired for them and we really didn't know how 00:27:01.819 --> 00:27:06.119 to work with that because on one side we would 00:27:06.119 --> 00:27:09.220 like to keep those over performing people but 00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:13.559 on the other side basically those people was 00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:18.470 problematic in a group. and it takes us around 00:27:18.470 --> 00:27:22.369 six months to do some final decision after that 00:27:22.369 --> 00:27:27.269 all the toxic people was a fire and at this moment 00:27:27.269 --> 00:27:31.670 I just need to say that was one of the best things 00:27:31.670 --> 00:27:35.049 that we can do and that's also the recommendation 00:27:35.049 --> 00:27:38.250 when you are building the small company and you 00:27:38.250 --> 00:27:44.480 hire some toxic toxic people doesn't Don't care 00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:49.779 only about the performance. Take care also about 00:27:49.779 --> 00:27:53.039 the relationships. Because by the end of the 00:27:53.039 --> 00:27:59.259 day you can have one over -performance person 00:27:59.259 --> 00:28:03.759 that over -performs everybody else. But next 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:06.460 five team members totally demotivated because 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:11.819 this toxic person basically... is in a group 00:28:11.819 --> 00:28:14.819 with those people. So my advice when you hire 00:28:14.819 --> 00:28:17.900 someone toxic, basically you are able to see 00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:22.019 in one month or two months how those people act 00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:27.819 in a group, in a workspace and etc. So hire fast 00:28:27.819 --> 00:28:33.240 and fire faster. So basically that's my advice 00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:36.160 because it does not make sense to keep those 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:41.539 overperforming people because that is that average 00:28:41.539 --> 00:28:46.119 performers will be under average and only one 00:28:46.119 --> 00:28:49.079 reason will be the one over -performing person 00:28:49.079 --> 00:28:54.420 that you hired because he or she can be toxic. 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:57.339 Interesting. And what were the key lessons you've 00:28:57.339 --> 00:28:59.559 learned in all these years? What were the things 00:28:59.559 --> 00:29:02.200 that you say, you know what, just do things this 00:29:02.200 --> 00:29:04.200 way because that's the right way of doing them. 00:29:04.779 --> 00:29:12.970 What were the key ones? We talked about health, 00:29:13.470 --> 00:29:16.690 we talked about, you know, firing fast when people 00:29:16.690 --> 00:29:19.289 are not right for the company. We also talked 00:29:19.289 --> 00:29:21.150 about how do you deal with, you know, stress 00:29:21.150 --> 00:29:23.309 and stuff like that. What else would you like 00:29:23.309 --> 00:29:25.589 to tell us about, you know, how to manage all 00:29:25.589 --> 00:29:27.410 this? Because it's not it's not an easy journey 00:29:27.410 --> 00:29:33.410 we're on. Basically, first advice. does not make 00:29:33.410 --> 00:29:38.710 sense to take a look for some shortcuts. And 00:29:38.710 --> 00:29:43.730 shortcuts can be some, some boosters for your 00:29:43.730 --> 00:29:47.809 energy, some basically things how to how to how 00:29:47.809 --> 00:29:50.750 to manage stress and etc. And it does not make 00:29:50.750 --> 00:29:55.430 sense. I was in time that I drank 12 cups of 00:29:55.430 --> 00:30:03.700 coffee per day. And it was This situation was 00:30:03.700 --> 00:30:07.660 really really not good and with this is also 00:30:07.660 --> 00:30:11.180 the connected Further business is really important 00:30:11.180 --> 00:30:15.380 to sleep basically try to invest into sleep or 00:30:15.380 --> 00:30:19.759 try to sleep each day at least seven and a half 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:23.240 hour because when you basically doing the night 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:26.559 night shifts also the short term It can looks 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:29.539 like you really boost your company. You really 00:30:29.539 --> 00:30:33.559 belt or something in fast but by the end of the 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:38.000 day you most likely burn out because of that. 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:45.220 So sleep, no shortcuts and energy boosters or 00:30:45.220 --> 00:30:47.700 something just like that. Basically when you 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:50.759 start drinking over two cups of coffee per day 00:30:50.759 --> 00:30:55.059 you should start thinking what you can improve 00:30:55.059 --> 00:31:01.529 in your lifestyle. After that you need also the 00:31:01.529 --> 00:31:06.069 support relationships outside the work because 00:31:06.069 --> 00:31:09.930 when you have a partner when you come at home 00:31:09.930 --> 00:31:13.869 for example after 10 hours at work and they start 00:31:13.869 --> 00:31:16.569 argue with you this is also not good also you 00:31:16.569 --> 00:31:24.930 need also look outside outside the work and try 00:31:25.900 --> 00:31:30.200 Trying to find the things next to work that will 00:31:30.200 --> 00:31:33.700 make you happy because time to time in startup 00:31:33.700 --> 00:31:37.039 of startup life There is a tough years not only 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:40.220 the tough months and you still need something 00:31:40.220 --> 00:31:44.519 in your life that you make you happy and That 00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:47.779 keep your positive mindset. For example for me 00:31:47.779 --> 00:31:52.460 is a work out thing and the saunas and etc and 00:31:52.460 --> 00:31:55.980 go showers So find something just like that, 00:31:56.059 --> 00:31:59.700 that's still keep your mind keep your mind positive. 00:32:00.660 --> 00:32:04.680 Also, when when company is going down or is a 00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:09.740 tough and you also need to stay basically when 00:32:09.740 --> 00:32:13.990 something come come to be tough. uh and uh come 00:32:13.990 --> 00:32:17.390 to be unpleasant you just need to keep uh keep 00:32:17.390 --> 00:32:20.890 going keep going and uh stay and uh after that 00:32:20.890 --> 00:32:24.470 you can overcome all also the toughest or toughest 00:32:24.470 --> 00:32:29.789 things that that happened to you because uh when 00:32:29.789 --> 00:32:33.150 when somebody uh somebody asked us a year ago 00:32:33.150 --> 00:32:37.910 uh if we be there in next year we didn't know 00:32:37.910 --> 00:32:43.440 and uh but we stay and we are here and basically 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:47.160 at this moment each day we have dozens new users 00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:50.900 we have a lot of positive feedbacks we also catching 00:32:50.900 --> 00:32:55.740 big big accounts and that's only only about the 00:32:55.740 --> 00:32:59.319 mindset and about the people around us because 00:32:59.319 --> 00:33:03.240 when somebody after first uncomfortable things 00:33:03.240 --> 00:33:07.630 say okay this does not make sense for me And 00:33:07.630 --> 00:33:10.410 this is not a person that you would like to have 00:33:10.410 --> 00:33:13.470 you in a team or around you if you are doing 00:33:13.470 --> 00:33:16.069 something in a startup or if you are building 00:33:16.069 --> 00:33:19.329 something, something new. Interesting. And what's 00:33:19.329 --> 00:33:21.390 next for a lead speaker? What does the future 00:33:21.390 --> 00:33:26.809 look like? Basically, for the lead speaker, as 00:33:26.809 --> 00:33:31.230 a next, we plan to switch the 100 users or 4 00:33:31.230 --> 00:33:37.250 ,000 users. At this moment, the earliest thing 00:33:37.250 --> 00:33:41.690 that we're planning during the first week in 00:33:41.690 --> 00:33:45.630 June, we plan to launch our product on Epsom 00:33:45.630 --> 00:33:51.440 and get also some some users from the United 00:33:51.440 --> 00:33:57.059 States and not only from Europe, because at this 00:33:57.059 --> 00:34:00.599 moment, our regeneration channels are more focused 00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:05.420 on Europe -based users. So we would like to take 00:34:05.420 --> 00:34:10.219 a look outside of Europe. And basically, after 00:34:10.219 --> 00:34:14.300 that, automate a lot of sales processes as we 00:34:14.300 --> 00:34:19.340 can. testing the first AI agents that are able 00:34:19.340 --> 00:34:24.860 to do whole pre -sales cycles. And you don't 00:34:24.860 --> 00:34:27.139 need to hire intents. You don't need to hire 00:34:27.139 --> 00:34:30.059 basically the SDRs. Only what you need to say 00:34:30.059 --> 00:34:33.179 to AI agent is what you are selling, what is 00:34:33.179 --> 00:34:36.139 your ideal customers, and what is a buying intent 00:34:36.139 --> 00:34:38.820 that you would like to track. So for someone 00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:42.400 can be the buying intent of some. job post for 00:34:42.400 --> 00:34:46.280 someone, it can be some new, some new basically 00:34:46.280 --> 00:34:49.380 published on the website for someone can be the 00:34:49.380 --> 00:34:54.639 LinkedIn post for someone can be some like comments 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:58.119 on some post on a social networks. And at this 00:34:58.119 --> 00:35:03.099 moment, in a time of AI, we are able everything 00:35:03.099 --> 00:35:06.940 scrape on one place with AI to classify if that 00:35:06.940 --> 00:35:10.510 is relevant or not. If it's relevant, find the 00:35:10.510 --> 00:35:13.630 relevant contact details, personalized message. 00:35:13.690 --> 00:35:16.369 For example, I saw a post about this and this 00:35:16.369 --> 00:35:19.030 and this. And basically, that's the something 00:35:19.030 --> 00:35:22.550 that we can help you with. And this is our solution. 00:35:23.050 --> 00:35:27.190 Come to our call. Basically, our goal is make 00:35:27.190 --> 00:35:31.349 the lead speaker should make the sales as easy 00:35:31.349 --> 00:35:36.670 as possible. And that's what we are building. 00:35:37.050 --> 00:35:40.489 But taking us time at this moment, we have the 00:35:40.489 --> 00:35:45.869 generation platform with normal ability to send 00:35:45.869 --> 00:35:48.989 multi -channel multi -channel campaign at the 00:35:48.989 --> 00:35:51.969 leads directly from LinkedIn. We are launching 00:35:51.969 --> 00:35:56.110 some first workflows at Monday, but end goal 00:35:56.110 --> 00:36:00.289 is have fully AI agents that Ideally, take a 00:36:00.289 --> 00:36:03.269 look online on your website, ask for some additional 00:36:03.269 --> 00:36:06.849 questions, and after that, start running the 00:36:06.849 --> 00:36:10.250 pre -sales campaigns for you. The future is bright. 00:36:11.110 --> 00:36:13.429 I was going to ask you, if people want to reach 00:36:13.429 --> 00:36:16.710 out to you, Thomas, how can you do so? Basically, 00:36:16.809 --> 00:36:20.329 you can find me on the LinkedIn, basically Tomáš 00:36:20.329 --> 00:36:24.829 Blačák, or you can also reach me out via email, 00:36:25.090 --> 00:36:28.400 thomas .leedspeaker .com. And for the emails, 00:36:28.619 --> 00:36:32.099 I usually reply until four days. On the LinkedIn, 00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:37.059 I usually reply during one day. So I highly recommend 00:36:37.059 --> 00:36:39.780 basically reaching out via LinkedIn. Okay, sounds 00:36:39.780 --> 00:36:41.679 good. Tomas, thank you so much for your time 00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:44.199 today. I really appreciate it. I also thank you 00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:47.760 for your invitation and for the podcast. So thank 00:36:47.760 --> 00:41:02.239 you. My pleasure. Thank you. This podcast is 00:41:02.239 --> 00:41:06.219 also sponsored by startupnetworks .co .uk. Startup 00:41:06.219 --> 00:41:08.480 Networks, it's an online forum where you can 00:41:08.480 --> 00:41:10.659 find all the resources you need to run your startup. 00:41:11.179 --> 00:41:13.619 From grants to investors to tips and tricks on 00:41:13.619 --> 00:41:16.079 how to be successful in your startup. This podcast 00:41:16.079 --> 00:41:19.199 is sponsored by openexperts .com. OpenExperts 00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:21.219 is the place to go if you're looking to talk 00:41:21.219 --> 00:41:23.420 with top experts from around the world. That 00:41:23.420 --> 00:41:25.980 is open -experts .com.