August 2021 Demo Day Recap

Our August 2021 Demo Day was a tech sales competition for the ages!

Uvaro recruits train for 12 weeks to become the best tech salespeople on both sides of Silicon Valley. These champions test themselves daily to learn the skills of tactical prospecting, discovery, objection handling and weaving in customer stories as they build their sales prowess.

These talented recruits now get 15 minutes, uninterrupted, to deliver a specific type of software demo. The elusive August 2021 Demo Day...

Event Recap: August Demo Day

Event Transcript:

Joseph Fung: Hey everyone, welcome to the Uvaro Demo Day, this is going to be a lot of fun, we have a fantastic group of competitors, judges, we're going to kick off some amazing careers. Today, we're going to do some quick introductions and house rules that we're going to invite you into the Zoom Room, and you'll get a chance to meet everybody in person. But first off, let me give you a quick idea of what to expect.

First off our amazing panel of judges. We couldn't do this without them. They're giving of their time, their advice, their expertise, they're going to make today's session more effective, but they're also going to help all of our competitors succeed in their careers. If you're ever interested in joining as a judge, or as a guest speaker, please hit us up at uvaro.com.

You can contact us join in or just hit us up on LinkedIn, or any of the social media networks, we're super accessible. But we'll get them to introduce themselves in a moment. What I'd also love to do is introduce you to the four competitors. And you can see the four competitors we have lined up today, this is going to be a lot of fun, we've got a good variety of applications that they're demoing, we're putting them through an intense 15-minute pitch competition. And I gotta say, this is really hard, because normally a full discovery a quick demo, that's like a 30-minute meeting.

And we're saying get it done in 15 minutes in front of a massive studio audience. So the pressure is high is going to be the toughest sales call they've had, but you're going to see some amazing performances. Also, because I know you're thinking it. This is not the order they're presenting it. They don't know the order yet. So stay tuned, you'll see who's up first, second third, as we go and reveal the order. But first, let me give you the house rules both as the audience and the competitors, then we're going to invite you right into the zoom session. So for the house rules for the audience, you see them here. This really applies to those who are really on zoom. So if you're in the Zoom Room right now, stay tuned for this. Please keep your microphone on, mute your camera on these things, make it easier for the competitors and avoid distractions. Also, please use the chat. If you're tuning in to things on YouTube, you can see the zoom chat there. And you'll see commentary from our judges from their peers from our team. And if you have comments on YouTube, we'll be pulling them into the chat as well.

So yeah, please do engage. While you are participating in the chat, we ask that you remember, we're launching amazing careers here. These professionals have not sold software before. So this is a huge opportunity to give constructive feedback. But most importantly, it's an opportunity to build up suggestions are always welcome. But please keep in mind, it's building up not tearing down. And then the last piece, whether you're in zoom or on YouTube, share that link. For these events. The best way to help these folks and launch their careers is to share the streaming like so please feel free to share. That's it for the audience. It's nice and easy. You're in for a ride for our competitors.

Here are the key rules. Please keep these in mind because they'll make it easier for us to help you. Be sure to introduce what you're selling and who you're selling it to. So yes, we want your name. We want the product, but let us know who you're selling it to. We've got Greg as the buyer, but he's got to wear four different hats as he goes through today's session.

So let our audience know who Greg's role playing today. Before you kick off, as well. You get 15 minutes, we start the timer after your introduction. And yes, you will be gone. So we're going to cut you off at 15 minutes. Don't worry, we're going to hop in, we'll let you know you've run out of time. And our judges are scoring on your process your salesperson skills. So don't worry too much. If you hit the 15 minutes, all it means is you might run out of opportunity to close your next step and that you'll get judged on. So stay tuned for that. At the end of each pitch, judges will have two minutes to finish their notes.

That also gives us some time to say who's up next. So they get a little bit of time to prep. And then there'll be a five-minute break in a minute. Lets people refresh got some water top up on caffeine. And then finally at the end we get feedback and yes Today we will announce the demo champ so make sure you stay tuned into the end Cuz you get to hear who walks away with the crown, the prize, the bragging rights, all of that, and they'll be up on our wall of champions shortly after today's session. So, most importantly, we want to get things started.

You've heard me long enough. For everyone that's joining us on YouTube. We're gonna invite you right into the audience. For those of us that are in the zoom, I'm going to stop sharing. We're going to load it up and let's bring the YouTube audience right in. There we go. Everyone in the zoom, Can you wave? Our streaming audience?

They're awesome. Okay. I said we start off with some introductions. We'd love to get the judges to introduce themselves. And let's do it in the same order that they were on the slides. Maria, can you kick us off with your introduction?

Maria Bross: Hey, y'all, I'm Maria Bross. I'm the North American Sales Manager at Rock Content. And something I've tried in 2021. Something new is karaoke! My team dragged me to to a team bonding event of karaoke, and they probably didn't want to hear me sing. I'd never done it before, but it was super fun.

Joseph Fung: I love that one. Thank you for sharing, because I see the team laughing. It's likewise they don't want to hear me sing. So I'm in the same boat as you. Thank you for being so honest. And I admit I'm the same. Let's get the ball rolling. Tariq can you introduce yourself and the same thing, something new that you did in 2021?

Tariq Esmail: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Joseph. Hi, everyone. My name is Tarik and I am the Head of Sales at Accord. And in 2021, my wife and I had our first kid, a little boy named Rico.

Joseph Fung: That's awesome. New family members are great. I want to continue the introductions, but I'm gonna do a brief pause first. We always want to give each competitor two minutes to prepare. So here's the heads up for a first competitor. First one up will be Lamia. So you've got a couple of minutes to get yourself ready. But let's continue on with the introductions. Jacob, could you carry us along?

Jacob Fink: Hi everyone and to the Uvaro team. Thanks for having me. My name is Jacob Fink. I am the Director of Strategic Pursuits for Nulogy and Co-founder of Torch Sales Consulting one thing that I tried new in 2021 would be making pasta from scratch. It was surprisingly easy and a lot of fun. So I would recommend it.

Joseph Fung: I feel like that last comment surprisingly easy is really just setting us up for some very embarrassing home videos. I feel like I have to follow up with this and then you know call you out on it. I am not confident in my passive making abilities.

Jacob Fink: I’ll give it a go. I have more faith in you than you do yourself.

Joseph Fung: Any recommendations? What's an easy one to start with?

Jacob Fink: You know, to get to the type I'm not so sure but I would go for linguini. Okay, basic, no filling is nothing too crazy.

Joseph Fung: Okay, I get a report back let you know it goes Jordana can you do your introduction? Let us know what something new you tried.

Jordana Zeldin: Yes. So I'm Jordana Zeldin, I am the founder of a little coaching and training company called Spriing training. And I have been learning to play the ukulele before anyone.

Joseph Fung: Wow. Did you enjoy to play any stringed instruments before?

Jordana Zeldin: No no, everyone probably knows the ukulele, somewhere over the rainbow.” So I love that song. I really want to learn to play that song. And if I can play that song, I'll be happy but it's opened up a whole world of other other good songs. Neil Young, The Beatles, so…

Joseph Fung: Wow, there we go. Okay, so we'll get some past. I'm making an ukulele and I'm still gonna keep dodging the singing because none of my team wants to hear that. But the others who can go Okay.

Thank you for the honesty I hear. I see the head shaking and smiling. The team is on board with avoiding me singing. I got it. Thank you. Okay. Let's dig into ah, Lamia. Again, be sure to introduce yourself, what you're selling, who you're selling it to. As soon as you're done with your introduction, feel free to dig in.

We'll put the 15 minutes on the clock. Any questions? Any concerns before we get going? Good. Awesome. I get to mute myself. The floor is yours.

Lamia Tasnim: Alright, so my name is Lamia and I am going to be selling Statflo TextKit to VP of sales of a telecommunications company. So why all? Right. Let me get my timer. Hi, guys.

Greg Boyd: Hello Lamia. I almost committed a sin by keeping myself on mute. But I avoided that. Fortunately.

Lamia Tasnim: No problem. Everybody struggles with the font and sometimes I do that too. How are you doing today?

Greg Boyd: Um, well, thank you. It's good to have an opportunity to speak with you again. Thanks for reaching back out.

Lamia Tasnim: That's good. By the way, welcome back. I got a chance to look through your Facebook page. And I saw that you got back from Disney World, with your wife and kids. How did that go?

Greg Boyd: You know, I never had the chance to go to Disney as a kid. And so I figured I, rather than doing the harm that my parents did to me, to my children, I thought I would kind of see it through their eyes. And I think it was twice as good. Because they got the benefit of seeing what I never got to see. And then I gotta see it through their eyes. It was tremendous. Thank you for asking. Have you ever been to Disney? Have you been? Yeah,

Lamia Tasnim: Yes, I went about a year ago. But you know, it almost feels like I went last one. Because you know, you're used to quarantine, I didn't really get to be with any other place. And honestly, that was one of the best experiences. I'm still a kid at heart. And I took about 500 pictures, I would say, tend to take pictures.

Greg Boyd: Oh, my goodness. I think I've got an external hard drive for Disney. That'll have. Yeah, absolutely. relatable. Yeah, it was a lot. There's a lot that was just wonderful. Yeah, it was a wonderful trip. And everyone seemed to enjoy it. And we were able to bypass a lot of the lines. Maybe that is one of the few upsides of travelling as we come out of the COVID times not as good of a lineup.

Lamia Tasnim: I actually got to add to the waiting in line for so long. But overall, it was an amazing experience. But thank you for sharing. Also, I want to first of all, thank you for your time today. And you know, I know you have a busy schedule. I've been so excited for this call. Greg, I know that we scheduled this meeting for 15 minutes. Are we still good at that?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, I do have a hard stop in about 12 or 13 minutes to step into something. But the 15 to 15 minutes is all we got. We're good to go.

Lamia Tasnim: Okay, perfect. Okay, so last time, we talked, we briefly discussed your company, and your structure and your goals. So in today's call, my sole objective is to get a deeper understanding of your team's outreach process, as well as your training strategies for customer engagement. Is there anything else that you would want me to cover up?

Greg Boyd: No, I think that's, that's great. I imagine we won't be able to get too deep. But I'd love to see a bit of the product, of course, just to understand what we're looking at.

Lamia Tasnim: Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do. So the quote at the end of our discussion, I'm going to ask you whether you see as being a great fit. But honestly, Greg, there's no pressure at all. If you don't see us being a great fit, we can always start off with friends. How does that sound to you?

Greg Boyd: Sounds great.

Lamia Tasnim: Right? So I want to make this clear, you have my undivided attention. But I'm going to be taking notes on the side. So if you see me looking away, it's probably because of the most not because of not paying attention.

Greg Boyd: Okay. No problem.

Lamia Tasnim: Okay. To start off, I'm going to ask you two questions. So Greg, what is your current sales outreach process look like?

Greg Boyd: It is a bit. I mean, it's and I hate to say this direct stroke, I wouldn't do this to my boss, but I'll say it to you. It's a bit scattershot. I mean, we're in a market right now. We're just trying to seek growth. And so we have some cadences that we follow and processes that we follow. But we have a whole team of people doing different things. So different types of reach outs, or outreaches. were primarily in terms of the tools, I mean, we're big on LinkedIn, as a cadence, tool, email, phone.

We're using Salesloft as a tool to help manage that process. But we're still seeing team members trying different approaches and changing their approach, which makes it tough for us to measure what's working or not working. So from a data perspective, are struggling with that a little bit. And then I think the other thing that I'd say is that we have in an effort to, to just make some inroads into new clients, or we have individuals doing different things to try to stand out. trying different approaches. And again, that is great that we're getting some creativity, but it's making it unclear what, what is a good result and what was not.

Lamia Tasnim: Okay. Okay, so, you know, what, I've been in touch with some of your peers in the industry. And the one thing that I'm hearing over and over again, is that they're not able to create engaging communication with the prospect using email or any kind of text messaging platform. Does that resonate with you?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, absolutely. I'd say that, that would sum it up. Ah,

Lamia Tasnim: Okay, perfect. So, you know, it's fair, I think it's fair for me to say that your conversion rate is directly linked to the quality of your communication, am I right?

Greg Boyd: Um, I'm going to say yes, I'm gonna say yes, because I think so. But I think to that point of there being something because of inconsistency I think that we have people who have strong months, who I would say have a great communication style and a great approach. But then they have cold, cold months as well, leveraging what appears to be the same approach. So there's just inconsistency, I think in performance as people are trying different approaches.

Lamia Tasnim: Okay, so with such heavy emphasis on, you know, customer engagement, do you have any tools that you use to optimise your outreach or, you know, track the communications within your team.

Greg Boyd: So the primary tool we're using for that, for scheduling and then tracking our communications is Salesloft, and then we have HubSpot as a CRM that they just communicate with each other. So you'll have messages getting sent over HubSpot and activities tracked and in both bathrooms, but Salesloft is a way to control or set up an executed cadence.

Lamia Tasnim: Okay, perfect. You know, Greg, I know that you're a great leader, and I understand that it might affect you on a personal level, how does it affect you? How does it really make you feel?

Greg Boyd: I think that I'm a big fan of creativity and people and people trying to find ways to crack into accounts. But I would say that it's causing some stress, because the inconsistent results, the bumpy results, are making it tough for me to hire effectively to know where we go next. And when we start to have problems. It's, I don't really know, necessarily, which way to go, and what approach what different sorts of approaches we should be taking from A to be creative with, with how we capture prospects attention.

Lamia Tasnim: Okay, you know what, that sounds really frustrating. And I feel like it's very time-consuming to figure out what approach you take to get the best result. You know, at this point, I think I have a clear understanding of some of your more immediate issues. I actually remember a customer that partnered with us who had a similar situation. Let me show you how they navigated this problem using our platform. Do you mind if I share my screen?

Greg Boyd: No, that'd be great.

Lamia Tasnim: Can you give me one second, while I get that started? Are you able to see my screen?

Greg Boyd: I can, yes. Okay. Okay.

Lamia Tasnim: So, since you are a company that focused on a lot of customer engagement, in case you are reaching out to, you know, you mentioned that you met and you use a lot of different methods of reaching out to customers. So one, one aspect in our platform that we like to focus on is message templates. These are basically personalised conversation starters that will get you started conversation very easily and effectively. And you know, it is very customizable. So all you have to do is choose a template that goes more so with the campaign that you're looking to serve, and also according to your prospect, you can tailor your conversations according to that, right. So all you gotta do is choose a template that goes more with your situation. And all you have to do is switch up the different information.

So for example, the customer name, the company that they're working in, or even the location, right, so all these small things that you need to do, you might need to change. But the main idea is that you can easily get started and I know that a lot of reps will be struggling with how to start a conversation and, you know, first impressions make a big difference, right? First impressions of what gets you started and determines whether or not you will get a response. Right. So it obviously directly affects your revenue and attracts new clients. So yeah, I will say that the first impression, and the first message that you send out to your customers really make a difference. So also, as you can see on my screen, right, we also have a mark filtering system that basically ensures that your conversation is very professional. And, you know, it makes a way for you to highlight whether there is any kind of error. So for example, grammar, spelling, anything that can contribute to professional conversation.

So I'm going to, I'm going to skip through a few of my slides only because these don't really correlate with your problem. So I want to focus on this specific aspect of that flow, you are actually able to see and monitor your reps progress. And you can actually go through every single step that they are taking while going for the outreach. Right. So for example, I'm not sure if you just see sorry about the quality. You can see that they reached out and then they booked a meeting. And you can literally see the specific things that they conducted throughout the week. And as a coach or as a leader, what you can do is you can directly focus on each step and be like, you know what, here's something that we need to improve on. I'm going to get my rep started. on that, right. So I guess this is one thing that helps you as a leader to create reports. And I know you mentioned that you have other platforms like sales, loft and HubSpot, that you use to generate analytics.

But I would say that having everything all in one platform is much easier than, you know, switching to different platforms and generating results, right. So on top of what you can do is you can reach out to the customers as well as keep track of what you're doing. So far. Does that resonate with you?

Greg Boyd: Absolutely. I think that the combination of having a new way to reach combined with the reporting on the back end is, it is a complete eye opener. I think that I understood that.

Yeah, we can send text messages. That's great. But how can we track and report this is very helpful, a question that I do have about this. So is, we do have some of our reps who send text messages to prospects, but I think that's unconventional, I just not something that I grew up doing. And I'm wondering what sorts of experiences you're seeing your customers have, in terms of how does, how does this work? And how effective is this? And how open are prospects to receiving messages in this way?

Lamia Tasnim: Okay, so that was actually something that I was gonna address in my next step. So as you can see, our customers have been successful. And the results that we have experienced so far are great. We have experienced a 90% read rate, as opposed to, you know, going on a manual approach, this is much higher.

And also we have received 42% of response rate from the conversations that were conducted through text hits. So as you can see that everything, all the features that I mentioned so far, has played a big role in, you know, gaining new clients and keeping the conversation engaging. So yeah, definitely, there are significant results that you will be experiencing, and hopefully I can help you relieve that stress that you're going through right now.

Greg Boyd: Yeah. Well, this is interesting. So I'm mindful that I've got to step into something in a couple minutes here. This has been helpful so far, though, what do you suggest we do next?

Lamia Tasnim: Right, I’m going to stop sharing my screen. So I think that so far, we see a great partnership between us. I want to ask you for us. Do you think it makes sense for us to move forward and discuss the next step?

Greg Boyd: Absolutely. I think I was talking a lot about the reporting side, and I didn't see how they could connect. This is clear that there's more to dig into here. So I would like to keep the conversation going.

Lamia Tasnim: Perfect. So what I would do is I would like you to sit with one of our product specialists for a half an hour deeper dive into your platform. So do you have a calendar? Do you have your calendar open in front of you, Greg?

Greg Boyd: I, I do. I'm just about to step into something, though. So do you mind just sending me over some times perhaps, and then I can just get back to you and on that?

Lamia Tasnim: Yeah, I have two options available for next week. I'm going to be sending you the invite. Could you double check your email address with me? It will be Greg dot the one I haven't requested Greg.boyd@uvaro.com. Is that right?

Greg Boyd: That's right. Yep, that'll work. Right.

Lamia Tasnim: Okay, I sent you the invite, please kindly accepted and I'm so excited to start our journey with you. Thank you so much for your time today.

Greg Boyd: Okay, well, thanks, Lamia. I appreciate the time. We'll talk to you next week.

Lamia Tasnim: All right, bye bye.

Joseph Fung: Lamia, how are you feeling now that you're out of the hot seat?

Definitely still really nervous. I can't believe I said that. I was actually scared that I'm gonna go forth and boom I did. But I hope I didn't sound too nervous. I tried my best. Thank you, Greg, for keeping going with me.

Joseph Fung: Oh, it was some great use of time. I think I had him almost a full minute and a half left on the clock there. You're sitting in a good spot. Lots of you hit all your bases. You got to see your demo. good use of timing. Well done.

Lamia Tasnim: I kept checking my time just to make sure I'm not going to once so yeah, that helps a lot.

Joseph Fung: We'll see how everybody else does. I've got some fun buttons here with the sound effects and gongs. I'm always excited to use them but you didn't even give me the chance. Not even close.

Lamia Tasnim: I'll try my best to avoid that.

Joseph Fung: That's good stuff. So you're scared about going first. We often hear folks feared about being last but we've got Rob up next. Rob, how are you doing? How are you feeling about second? Let me so far?

Rob Whitney: This is a high bar that Lamia has set, it was really high quality. So I'll try my best.

Joseph Fung: Nice to get into putting in some more notes to our judges when you've got your scores in your notes. And you can give me a quick thumbs up just so I know we're we're getting clear, that'll be helpful. For those that are tuning in on the stream, one of the things that's always interesting to share is how each cohort has an interesting and unique culture and dynamic. And one of the things that really stuck out with this group, and I mean, you could hear it out in Rob's comments, is how well the group jelled so quickly.

No worries, we, when we jump into class, we're checking in with our guest speakers and in our instructors. One things that always came out is it felt like, you know, hopping into a group of friends that were just chatting, and that mutual support, I think is a real Hallmark for this group. So I'm excited to see how that translates into the competition. This is going to be fun. Quick checking in it looks like most of those scores are in and solid. Jordanna & Maria, how are you feeling about scores? You're good?

Jordana Zeldin:Just finishing up. Yep, we're good.

Joseph Fung: Good stuff. So Rob, again, as a reminder, what you're selling and who you're selling it to, so we know who Greg is this time. But I'm going to mute myself. The mic is yours right after the intro. Feel free to dig in. I'll put the timer on the clock. All mute, and it's all yours.

Rob Whitney: Okay, thanks, Joseph. Okay, so I am Rob, I am representing the company Coinbase. It's a cryptocurrency hub for a trading platform, as well as an exchange, Greg is the I guess you'd say the top dog in his family office.

Great. You currently manage assets, about 500 million. And you are responsible for seeing that money lent out in the best way to the best customers, and to keep your customers happy. And recently, you filled out a survey that basically was talking about how your customers are a little bit concerned with a few items. Number one, the high transactional fees. And so a higher cost of doing business, as well as the difficulty getting money globally, quickly. So those are the two kinds of issues that have bubbled up in the survey. So I'll just start when you guys are ready? Okay, let's start with him. Hi, Greg.

Greg Boyd: Rob, good to be speaking here again.

Rob Whitney: Great, great. Yeah, no, I was calling from Coinbase. Again, I just wanted to, you know, follow up with the information that you provided in your survey. I noticed that you guys had filled out a survey, and there's a few issues that came to our attention. You are one of the larger family offices in your city. And so I just like to reach out, because I think we have some pretty effective strategies, we can help you with those issues.

Greg Boyd: That's great. I'd like to hear more. I mean, I, we've got a big book of business, and a lot of growing demand for investment in different cryptocurrencies and the different opportunities that presents. But there's such complexity, as you well know, in the marketplace, that I'm struggling to keep on top of it all, and I've got clients who seem to think that they've got a better handle on things than we do. So we need to make sure we're staying a step ahead.

Rob Whitney: For sure, for sure. I just want to also mention I noticed on your LinkedIn page, your family office has contributed a rather large donation to the United Way. So that's Yeah, that was good. Congratulations. I've been supporting them since you know, you know, since walking around Halloween with those little cardboard boxes. So that's a good, you know, a good solid charity that I think that you can be proud of as well.

Greg Boyd: Yeah, thank you. That's, it's something that is near and dear to us. centralised funds, and then distributed out, right. I think we see them doing that. And, and we feel that we're trying to do the same sort of thing.

Rob Whitney: Great.

Greg Boyd: So, yeah, we like to think that we're doing it for good to rob, I think and hopefully you can help us with that.

Rob Whitney: Yeah, for sure. For sure. So I guess the first, the first notice, that I just want to present to you is I've got this schedule for 15 minutes, so that's okay. I'd like to see if you have that time available. First of all.

Greg Boyd: Just 12 to 30 minutes now, but read probably seven Something but absolutely.

Rob Whitney: Okay, good. Okay, so the first thing that I'd like to ask is about the customer feedback. There were two really big points that you highlighted. In terms of, I believe it was fees and transferring money globally, is it? Would you like to expand on that a little more on the first part, the fees section?

Greg Boyd: Sure. I mean, the, I mean, we were using a number of different trading platforms in order to facilitate transactions. And so we're not well positioned to optimise our ability to keep our costs low on behalf of our clients. We're just not, we're not. We're not we have not set ourselves up for success in the long run for that it's already costing us too much discussing our customers too much when they're trying to make any of those trades or transactions themselves independently.

And then that, that also flows to us that they're not happy with some of the fees that they're seeing come off. They're the principal. That's just, I think, some inefficiency, that we've gotten our business from using a number of different platforms in response to the dynamics of the market with different currencies cropping up in different exchanges that we need to stay on top of the other pieces, then just when people want to make a change, or when we want to rebalance a portfolio on behalf of a client.

It just takes time. And in this market, I mean, a day is a big deal. A couple hours can be a big deal. And so we need to make sure we're set up with a centralised way to operate, and we're just not right now. So that's a struggle for us. Yeah, that's, that's a pretty good summary. I mean, that's a little bit more detail on what we've already shared. But I hope that's helpful.

Rob Whitney: Yeah, for sure. And I think you also mentioned that some of your customers, you know, we're talking about sometimes bridge financing for real estate development deals, or capital being able to be implemented into businesses across the world globally.

I think you mentioned also that that was, seems to be a little bit of a difficulty moving anything over $5 million quickly. Currently, it takes a long time for some of these people to receive their funds. As you know, there are many intermediaries. How is that? How does that affect your customers, your business in terms of when they need their money quickly? How does that what does that look like when it comes to the granular details of

Greg Boyd: I think that that's probably what led me to be open to this conversation, we just lost a large client, as a result of some of the time it took, they felt that they could have this managed more quickly and effectively by just another office. And they kind of left with 12-13 million in assets, which is substantial for our fund. And so we're, we're very keen on not having that happen.

Again, we've had these complaints, and it's just been something that we've accepted and had our clients accept. This is just part of what is involved in moving large sums of money from one market or investment to another. The tolerance for that lag is, is gone. And for us, we've felt the pain of that. So it's time for us to take some action.

This seemed like a conversation that might be helpful. So certainly be keen to understand a little bit more of how and what it looks like, to the in what you offer that that might be able to, to help us avoid any more of the sorts of challenges in the future.

Rob Whitney: Yeah, for sure. In terms of, you know, when you're looking at customers, especially in a private lending institution, such as you run, one of the things you always want to make sure it's is that, you know, you're not losing customers, are you? How does that affect it because, as we know, a family office has a different dynamic than a bank. There's a lot of different sensitivities, and you know, it's any family run business, it has different dynamics, how does that affect us in terms of these challenges? What would that look like in terms of the family dynamic? And how could that possibly affect that?

Greg Boyd: Well, you know, the expression is not personal, it's business. But I think you're hitting the nail on the head that in this environment, an office like this. I mean, the clients who we work with, in many cases, it is personal. Certainly we have clients who we don't know and don't have connections to and even how we operate work. gets a team. It.

You know, it's not, it's not just business, there's more to it. And so when we lose a client, or when something doesn't go right, that doesn't just affect us as a business. I mean that as a personal repercussion, these are people who we've spent time with or have connections to perhaps outside of just our day to day and you know, that can be draining if you're not exceeding expectations.

Rob Whitney: Excellent. Yeah, um, you know, especially being so close together and having to, sometimes you have to separate the business hats from the, from the Father side and brother hat. And I can see that that can be a challenge in any sort of structure like that. So what I like to do is, I think we have some strategies here, that would be very helpful in terms of overcoming these high transactional fees, and somewhat long onerous processes of moving money internationally, it can be very challenging. So I'm going to share my screen here. You can see that

Greg Boyd: Yeah, I got it. I can see. I can see, clearly I see it's moving on screen. I don't know if that's you or what you're sharing.

Rob Whitney: Yeah, no, this is this is basically I'm going to give some broad strokes about how we can help you. And I think you'd be very excited about what we've got here. As you know, or may have heard Coinbase is like the central hub, it's the world leader in cryptocurrency exchange, it's basically where everyone goes, for most of the world goes rather to store trade and interact with cryptocurrency. You've probably heard or read some of the latest articles. Crypto is the future. And in fact, sometimes in cash in North America, we think, you know, what is this digital currency?

Well, if you think about it, a lot of currencies are digital. There's not that physical amount of cash for every dollar a bank lends out; the fresh fractional reserve system says that they can magically create $10 that are virtual dollars in a sense, or zeros and ones on the Bank of Canada central bank's ledger. So we're already familiar with the idea of quote-unquote, virtual dollars and all cryptocurrency is the culmination of the manifestation of that idea in a much more secure platform.

So you know, you may have heard so, you know, I know you're familiar with Cathy wood Ark invest. She's very bullish on us. And in terms of our stock price, we're on a solid foundation as in terms of company, and we're, you know, this train is headed to us. And it's coming full steam ahead. So what we'd like to do is position you to make sure that you know, everyone is fully engaged in terms of the platform and being able to come out of this on top. So specifically the fees, where we're going to take you from like a two to 5% fee for these large transactions, we're going to bring you down to basically a point 5% fee.

Now, what that's going to do for you is you can add a little extra onto that if you want. But what we're going to do is we're going to give you the room to basically give your customers a better profit, or sorry, yeah, a better profit. And then what at the same time, you're going to be increasing your customer volume. How does that sound?

Greg Boyd: That I mean that. That sounds tremendous. Right? I love that. I have a question, though, with any sort of financial product when we start presenting that back to clients. I'm wary of how this appears. So I'm curious, how can you actually offer us that I'm curious how you can offer us that sort of benefit?

Rob Whitney: Yeah. Oh, for sure. You mean in terms of your asking how it's going to look to your customers? Correct?

Greg Boyd: Just curious. I'm going to need to be able to convey the reason behind the drop in fee. For sure. So I'm just curious, know what kind of context you can get to that.

Rob Whitney: Well, we the idea behind our philosophy here, Greg is this is coming whether we like it or not all the major banks in Canada are now speaking about creating their own digital currencies or digital crypto. It's already happening with JP Morgan Chase, they're already starting to implement that in the States. So we think this is coming whether we like it or not. So if we don't adjust our position ourselves, you're going to lose customers. Regardless, this is our thinking.

This, we're at the kind of the inception point of a whole new revolution. And, you know, there's talk now a lot of customers are, they're done with the banks, they don't want to deal with them anymore. So rather than losing a whole chunk of your client base, what we want to do is take, say, 10% of the customers that are making, you know, a big deal about it, and we got to get them onto this platform. Now, what we've done is we've created a new customer service division that's going to be solely dedicated to your financial institution. But we're going to help you integrate that, and help that translate to what that means to your customers.

The other thing that we do is we instantly rather than sometimes weeks, or sometimes, days or weeks, we're going to instantly be able to transfer money across the world. So across jurisdictions, we're going to cut through the bureaucracy, we're going to basically make it a seamless process with lots of encryption and security. So does that answer your question regarding how we're going to be messaging that to your client base?

Greg Boyd: I think that gives me a starting point, for sure. I think this is helpful, Rob, just to get some context. Sure. I do have to step into something in just a moment or two here. So I think we will have a conversation. Do we need to continue? Looking interesting. So what would you suggest we do from here? Well,

Rob Whitney: I think based on what we've talked about so far, great, I think I'd like to schedule a meeting with one of our account executives, and we're also going to bring on if you want to bring anyone else into the meeting. For example, I believe you have an IT person that works with your security that we do. Okay, if you want to, is there any? Would you like to add them to the call?

Greg Boyd: Sure. I, if you have guidance on who to include, so it and any others, you let me know who we should have there, and we can get them involved?

Rob Whitney: Okay, I've got two if you want to open your calendar. I have two appointments for next week. They're both at 2pm. One for Tuesday, Tuesday and one for Friday.

Greg Boyd: Looks like that might work for Friday. But just send send me some times and I'll I'll get back to you on that. Does that sound?

Joseph Fung: Good timing. So sorry, Rob. We're at 15 minutes. Well done. You take a breather, great job. Oh, there you go. Hello, it's off. How are you feeling about it now Rob.

Rob Whitney: That was That was good. I felt like I just had a huge workout.

Joseph Fung: Putting in the exercise, putting in the reps do the work. That's a good call. I'm going to come back check it on you but we did say we'd give everybody a couple of moments for topping up caffeine and drinks. For anyone that's tuning in on YouTube.

We're gonna give you a quick five minute intermission. But we'll have you back and we'll have our last two competitors and we'll let you know who they are once you're back in. So we're gonna give you a quick intermission and we'll walk you back soon.

INTERMISSION

Joseph Fung: Hey everyone, welcome back, we're gonna have a lot of fun, we've got two last competitors. And number three that's coming up is getting ready as Marcella. So she'll be jumping in shortly. This is a lot of fun. This particular class, we talked a bit about how there's so much support, you know, good kind of jelling a friendship style, but one of the other things that really stood out was the amount of peer coaching that we saw throughout the whole programme, in terms of kind of sharing of advice, sharing of energy of past experience, a tonne of different backgrounds.

And, you know, for me, I think one of the things that stood out is that we've got a number of not just competitors, but members of the class who have some very specific objectives in terms of what they want to accomplish. And a lot of folks come in not sure where they're going to go, but there's a number of members of this class who have some very big ambitions and that's been really cool to see because it's, it's helped, I think, elevate everybody.

So personally, I'm really excited to see these last two competitors. Marcella before I mute myself and give you the floor, the podium, the Zoom Room controls, any any questions you get to go, I'll set up. Okay, awesome. And then quick check from judges, you got your score sheets still up your solid, okay? Good stuff. Then again, reminder, what you're pitching, who you're pitching it to like who Greg is. And as soon as you finish the intro, I'll put the timer on the clock. So feel free to flow right into that, I can unmute myself, and the floor is yours.

Marcela Orruego: Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for being here today. My name is Marcela. I'm the product that I'll be selling. It's the platform called BambooHR, which is an HR platform. Basically, also, my buyer and prospect is a head of HR, which is Greg. Their current issue is that they have a paper based process, which is very time consuming. And for those of you who don't know exactly what bamboo HR is, it's an all in one, HR software data collection. It keeps and maintains that I am a team collaboration. So that's a little bit about the product. So I guess the timer is on. Okay. So, hi, Greg. How are you doing?

Greg Boyd: I'm well, Marcela, how are you?

Marcela Orruego: Good. It's nice to finally put a name to a face.

Greg Boyd: Yes, it's good to see you. Nice to be speaking with you again.

Marcela Orruego: Yeah, no, it was nice. Thanks for reaching out. That was very interesting that you submitted the application. And also thanks for reaching out to me just to schedule this call. I just wanted to make sure we are good to go. But before that, where are you? It looks so nice out there.

Greg Boyd: Yeah, we have a family, we have a family place. And it's been about 45 minutes north of Huntsville. So I've been coming up here all my life. And now I get to bring my kids here, which is kind of a trip for me and my parents, that's for sure.

Marcela Orruego: That's very nice. He's always, you know, that is always good. And I'm coming with this because yesterday, I actually spent the day with my cousins. But my uncle was saying, it's always good to get the kids with you when they are younger. Because once they are like a little bit teenagers stage, that's the time you can take them anywhere, right? They kind of have their own thing going on. And they are like No, I'm saying so it's good that you're enjoying family time right now.

Greg Boyd: Yeah, we just reversely put them in a bundle, and then they get to go. We're wherever we redirect them to. Yeah, that might be true that I said to my partner the other day that I'm looking forward to more adult problems, because there's been a lot of a lot of energy around the cottage these past few days.

Marcela Orruego: Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, but I'm glad. I'm glad that you're enjoying it. Yeah.

Greg Boyd: Thank you. Hey, well, it's good to be speaking with you.

Marcela Orruego: Yeah. Thanks, Greg, just before we start, I just wanted to set a quick agenda for us. So the main thing I would be doing is just to ask you a couple of questions, just so that I can understand a little bit more of your organisation and your role, and how I can help you. Really that's the main point right here. Also, how I'll show you how the platform can help you and what's the part that applies to you.

You can interrupt me at any point in time, feel free. If there is anything else you want to add, please let me know. I'm happy to help you out with that. But at the end of the day, I will be looking to schedule a deeper dive demo with my account executive, his name's Alex. And then we can see whether we're a good fit or not. And if we're not, then we'll just part this friend. How's that time for you?

Greg Boyd: That sounds great Marcela.

Marcela Orruego: Okay. Just making sure if 15 minutes is okay for you. Yep. Just I'll try to keep it short. I promise.

Greg Boyd: Yeah, no, this is great. Just a way to get the conversation started. I've got something here to step into in about 12 minutes now. So no worries. Just a quick intro would be great..

Marcela Orruego: Okay, yeah, no problem. And also, I'll be taking notes, just so I make sure that I pass this. I have the good notes on file to pass on to my API. So let me know Is that okay?

Greg Boyd: That's no problem at all.

Marcela Orruego: Perfect. So why don't you tell me what made you looked into BambooHR?

Greg Boyd: So we have, I guess we have a whole whole slew of our processes that are managed offline right now for going through. We're going through growth as a business and so we're, we're needing to hire and bring people on to the business or into the business and that process is very messy with how running things down because it's all offline. Somewhat ironically, we're needing to grow our team as well, to manage that. And because none of our processes are managed or standardised.

We're not in a place where we can see what everybody is, what everybody is doing, or we're creating inefficiencies. So it's almost like we need to hire more people to solve the problem that seems crazy. From a human resources perspective, that's not the way to approach problem solving. So it's a combination, I'd say, just to summarise offline processes, really messy onboarding, and then collaboration across our team is, is, is really inefficient right now. So I need a solution. And thought we'd start by learning more about what you have to offer.

Marcela Orruego: Okay, no, no, I totally understand where you're coming from. I get that a lot from our customers where they say, you know, we have too many things going on. A lot of the processes are paper based, which obviously, you know, what, in today's today's world, it's very hard to just print stuff out, you know, like, it happened to me the other day, it was so frustrating, I had to print something out. I my printer wasn't working, and it's just not working. So I get what you're coming from. And like I said, I understand that you need to streamline your process. And for sure, I in on that note, what's your Do you have any process in place right now? Like, if you can walk me through so I can better understand?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, that is a great question. Somebody once told me that it's not a process if nobody follows it. But so we have a lot of intention around our process. But I wouldn't say that it's processed yet, because we're not all working to the same through the same sets of steps. So I mean, I could go in any number of directions, but just for the sake of time, I'd say we have documented processes.

They're not being well followed today. And I think where it's hitting us the hardest now is our onboarding for new hires, it is terribly, terribly messy. And that's going to have some serious long term impacts to us from just a retention of talent perspective, if they have a bad first impression that's really gonna be impactful to the business long term. So we have other problems. But I summarised that that's probably our biggest one.

Marcela Orruego: No, I totally get that. So if I hear you, well, you have processes that are not being followed your onboarding, it's a little bit messy, so that that's definitely frustrating. And your talent retention adds risk. And obviously, you know, being on a, on an industry like yours, you have to make sure that that's your talent, it's the best, and then you're acting quick on it. So yeah, no, definitely I see where we can definitely help out. But before we move forward, I just wanted to ask something else. In a perfect world, how do you see your role? What would you be doing, let's say dream about that, if you had more free time.

Greg Boyd: So I think the perfect world would be in the context of this role if we've got, we've got processes that are well understood, and a system to operationalize those. So people know what the next steps are. Our team is not abandoning the process because they're bad employees, or because they don't have good intentions, their bidding process, because it's not clear for them what they need to do next. So they're just doing their best, but they're not following and doing what we would prefer for them to do. That is context. A perfect world, for me, would be processed that are in a system that lay out what needs to happen next. So for all of our processes, but primarily in onboarding, so that we can have different members of the team step in and execute where they need to create some efficiencies and a better experience for the people working in the business.

Marcela Orruego: No, totally. Yes, I can see how that can be frustrating. I can see how having the overlap and too many cooks in the kitchen communicating can lead to a very messy process. So if you don't mind me, I would like to share my screen with you. I'm a visual person myself. So I'm like, you know, I kind of share it. Have something with you so that you can see what BambooHR is a little bit more. Is that okay with you?

Greg Boyd: That would be perfect.

Marcela Orruego: Okay, just bear with me for a moment while I pull up my screen. Alright, hey, you know it's there. It's just taking a bit of time. Let me just log in to see I'm so how's your day going? are you guys doing what you call that fire bonds a fire pit over there.

Greg Boyd: Oh bonfire. Yes. Yes, yes. That's on the docket for tonight. It's been requested. I broke a guitar string the other night though, Marcela. So I need to come. I need to figure out how to play down a string.

Marcela Orruego: Oh, no. Oh, see? Oh, well, you'll do fine. I'm sure you'll do fine. As long as you don't give them too much sugar. That's the deal. Yeah. So, Greg. So can you see my screen right now?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, it looks great.

Marcela Orruego: So this is the hiring process for one spot. Basically, you can see your applicants, you can see their information, their resume all in one. What I love about this is the note, which it's based on collaboration. So basically, you know, you probably will have a hiring manager who's looking into add somebody else to their team, then they'll be you know, they'll. So basically how it works, and how usually people that I work with they have is there, the people in HR will schedule a meeting, you have the HR, the manager was probably looking at interview and, or just to do a quick screening, that communication happens all here.

Like there wouldn't be a bunch of emails going back and forth, or broken, telephone or missed meetings. Okay, so that's all in here, you can easily access and see if also, any email communications you have with the applicant and just between the HR team will be here. There are also workflows that will allow you to say, who has to take care of what, when it comes in terms of the onboarding process as well. So it makes it very easy for not just the HR team before the employee coming on board, to follow up process wherever they will everyone knows what they need to do. There will be reminders that will be sent out to you. So Greg, from what I'm explaining to you from what have you seen, the platform is pretty intuitive. How do you feel about it?

Greg Boyd: This is looking it is just looking like the direction we need to move in. We can collaborate share notes, we can see, we can just see what other people are saying, we're not tripping over each other. This is absolutely a step in the right direction to help facilitate that communication within the team. This is great.

Marcela Orruego: I'm happy, I'm happy they find enlightenment. And I just wanted to point this out right here. I love the rating. That's like one of my favourite features about the platform. I feel like yes, let's give five stars just because I like the rating stuff. Right going. But out of out of old jokes. I'm happy that you're finally like, man, how would you feel if we do a deeper dive next week?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, you made a note, you mentioned workflows, you said that I'm loving what I'm seeing on screen but would love to dive deeper into that just so that I can get some clarity to how we build that and reflect that understanding the reporting better would be great too. So let's move ahead with the meeting. What would you suggest that involve in a conversation?

Marcela Orruego: Yes, definitely. So um, I think you should involve whoever is a power user of you or HR whoever is involved in them warrant this gets like the person who is generally charged with scheduling all the meetings will be fantastic to be in. Also, I'll say it just because you know there might be some implementation going on. So it's pretty important that they are involved from day one. And bring yourself! bring yourself definitely bring yourself we want you there. Also, if preferably is being run by somebody else that is not HR. It'll be important that you bring them on as well, just to make sure that they understand the platform a little bit better. Um, that being said, I have openings with Alex, which is the Account Executive next week, on Wednesday at around 1pm. How's that sound to you?

Greg Boyd: Okay, that could work. I'm just going to need to align everyone on the team that you mentioned. So why don't you send me over? Just the times that you and they have that space available? And then I can, I can work with my team to try to get that set up.

Marcela Orruego: Okay. Sounds good. So just to make sure I have your email, right. It's great at real estate, Greg, dot com?

Greg Boyd: That's, that's me. Yes.

Marcela Orruego: Perfect. So I got it, right. I'm sending you an invite for Wednesday, next week at 1pm. You can forward the invitation to anybody, so it's okay. Wherever you feel free, just forward the invitation and you can touch base with me at any point in time if you need to contact me or just say Hi, I'm around for you.

Greg Boyd: Okay, I'll pass on the invite. That's that. That'll be helpful.

Marcela Orruego: Thank you ready, Greg. Take care and have a good one. All right. Take care for your time. Take care. Bye now. Thank you.

Joseph Fung: Wow, well done. I think there was what five seconds left on the timer there. So there you go. I was close. watching the clock there. Nice. How do you feel now that you're you're wrapped up and you're finished with the demo in the call?

Marcela Orruego: I'm better.

Joseph Fung: You better equipped as an HR professional now.

Greg Boyd: Oh my goodness, bring it on. Bring it on.

Joseph Fung: Nice. I gotta say one of one of my favourite parts of that was watching you keep the rapport going while you're navigating, logging back in can see those comments in the chat you know, silences Okay, would have been okay to wait but that was very warm, you know, well done managing that that was really well. I see the kind of notes firing in his scores still coming in. So you know, great, great jobs on multitasking.

We've got one last competitor and we're making amazing timing. I'm disappointed if I have only been able to use the gone one time so far. What's the phrase got like an itchy Gong finger like being able to use the soundboard. So we'll see how things go with our last competitor. Reminder the judges as you get your notes. If you give me a quick thumbs up that way, I know that we're good to continue because I want to make sure that you're solid for our last competitor. are feeling like we're in a good spot here. Okay, shaking off the cobwebs, getting ourselves ready to go. Abbey, How are you feeling?

Abbey Messich: I'm good. I'm ready.

Joseph Fung: Awesome. And you're you're the anchor, you're bringing it home you know. You’re the last competitor of the day. The day is gonna be a lot of fun. I could see you've been given coast, right? So you could share your screen. Quick reminder on how it's gonna go. Introduce yourself who you're selling to. And then as soon as you're done, I'll put the 15 minutes on the clock, so it's all yours. I'm going to mute myself and give you the mic. Go for it.

Abbey Messich: Thank you. Hi, everybody. My name is Abbey, and I am selling HireVue which is a virtual video interviewing software. And for Greg, he is going to be the head of talent acquisition at a company of 2500 people and growing and just hiring for them has become a little bit cumbersome. So that's why he is talking to me today. And then I think I am ready to go. Alright. Hi, Greg. How are you?

Greg Boyd: I'm well, Abbey. It's good to be speaking to you again. Thanks for booking some time.

Abbey Messich: Yeah, no problem. I saw your post about getting back from vacation. How was that?

Greg Boyd: It was great. Yeah, it was nice to have some time just to regroup. Yes, it was very nice. Thank you for asking.

Abbey Messich: Where did you guys end up going?

Greg Boyd: A family cottage actually spent some time at a family cottage. And it was nice just to have a little bit of time. Just on the water. Get some sunshine? We don't have much of that in Canada. So when we have it we got to take advantage of it.

Abbey Messich: Yeah, we don't have here in Pittsburgh either so!

Greg Boyd: Yes, actually, that's fair. Climate isn't all that different looks. We try to own the chip on our shoulder from the bad weather but I think our friends in the US have plenty of that. Especially in the northeast.

Abbey Messich: Yeah. Oh, we definitely do. Well, I am glad to hear that you guys had a nice time. So I really appreciate you taking some time to talk with me today. Are we still good for 15 minutes?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, that sounds good. Just, you know, 13 or so minutes, and then I'm going to step into something here, but this would be a great way to get the conversation started.

Abbey Messich: Alright, so I'm going to actually try to get you out of there a little bit beforehand. So um, what I want to do with this call today is just discuss a little bit more about your hiring process and how hirevue can save you time and money. And I'm just going to ask you a few questions about how our platform can best help you.

Greg Boyd: Sure that Sounds Sounds great.

Abbey Messich: And then if you feel like we're a good fit, we can book a deeper dive demo. And then if not, we can just part as friends how's that sound?

Greg Boyd: Sounds right in line, can always use another friend Abbey. So this is good. But hopefully, we're not parting ways today. I'm really hopeful. You got something that can help a step?

Abbey Messich: Yeah, I hope so. I think so. So, um, you know, I've heard from a lot of hiring managers and recruiters that gaining some time back in their day by removing tasks that slow them down is really important to them. Is that something that's true for you?

Greg Boyd: I would say so. Absolutely. I mean, the amount of time that goes into just being on a call for screening and interviewing itself is cumbersome. But then you add the prep, and then the note taking the follow up coordination with the team. And it is. I mean, it's a lot, and it's a lot of burned resources.

Abbey Messich: Yeah, um, I'm sure so what what is your hiring process typically, like? And what do you think is the most frustrating part?

Greg Boyd: Oh, well, we're growing company. And as part of that we have a lot of interest in, in what we do. In some cases, there's a lack of understanding for the roles that we post, I think we are good at writing clear and crisp job descriptions, but there are still lots of people who just apply, they hit the Apply button. And, and so our, our process, I mean, it starts with a heavy screen out a way to just get the right people into conversations. And then we move to a an initial screen of that somebody on my team, and then we go to team based interviewing. After that, where we involve the people in your in the team where people will be going to work. We'll do a series of interviews, and they're, they're all connecting with each other to triangulate, share feedback, before we make hiring decision.

Abbey Messich: Oh, wow. Okay, that's a lot. And that sounds like a total headache.

Greg Boyd: Yeah, I would say that it's, it's important to hire slow. That's something that we value just in principle. By that we mean, we want to take our time to be thoughtful about it. But it's turning out that we're hiring slowly, by accident, and that our processes just grind to a halt and slow down. And the collaboration, while important, is gonna use the word cumbersome. Yeah,

Abbey Messich: Oh, my gosh, I can't even imagine. So with it, you guys have to take so much time, and it'd be so involved with all the hiring? How is that impacting your business?

Greg Boyd: I'd say that we're, I mean, our average time to close reps is increasing for the business. So we were a shared service to the organisation. And so we get measured on internal metrics, and to our business partners, and we are always striving for two to four weeks on time to close a wreck. And we're creeping to the top end of that metric right now, just because our processes are slow. So that's having an impact on the business's ability to execute. We have a mountain of applicants and applications, but it's just taking us far too long to execute and getting the right people into the roles.

Abbey Messich: Wow, that's my gosh, that is I can't even imagine how crazy this all is for you. I've never been in talent acquisition and it just sounds like I don't know if I could do it. But um, you know, with all this, you know, pressure and all the time that it's taking you guys how does that make you feel? And does that cause a lot of unnecessary stress?

Greg Boyd: I mean, it's you're, you're definitely putting your finger on something that has has is a loaded point, I guess. I mean, I'm spending that time on holiday. But it's tough to really step away, right. And the team's asking for input and feedback. And it's just on my mind all the time to be honest with you. Right. I am and so yeah, it's impacted me personally, for sure. We're not delivering on what we need to. And I think that's having an impact on not just the business, but on me. I mean, we've got to, we've got to deliver, or people are going to get replaced, for sure. And so I've got to, I've got to find a way to fix this problem, for sure.

Abbey Messich: Well, I am really hoping that we can help you do all that. So is it cool? If I share my screen with you?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, I'd love to see love to see what she have to see how it might fit what we're really looking to improve.

Abbey Messich: Okay, all right. Give me one second. Okay, so can you see my screen?

Greg Boyd: Yeah, we got it.

Abbey Messich: All right, Greg, I'm going to take you on a little bit of a journey here. So I punched in some numbers, I did a little bit of research on your competitor. And I put in how many applicants you get, how many people are involved in the process, how much money they spend on software, that kind of stuff. And if you look on the right side of the screen, this actually would show you how many hours you could save annually, and the amount of money that you would be able to save.

Greg Boyd: Okay.

Abbey Messich: So, um, if we were to give you back some of those numbers, and save you some time and ease your stress for you and your whole staff, how would that work for you?

Greg Boyd: That looks great. I'd love to Yeah, look to understand better? How does it help? How can I get those savings? Because that would be? That'd be fantastic to deliver back to the business? How do we get there? Very curious.

Abbey Messich: So by using this software, you're gonna get the quality candidates that you really want, because these assessments are backed by a trained psychologist. And they create the assessments based on what your needs are for the jobs and the positions. So it combines the interview and the assessment until one, and then it takes only about 20 minutes or so for your potential employees to use this stuff. So it'll free up a lot of time for you and for them as well.

Greg Boyd: Okay, interesting. That is interesting. I mean, is there a lot of setup involved in that? I mean, we're in a spot where we're growing quickly. Software is something we want to plug in, we see that there's a need to plug in a platform here. But I'm very mindful of how much work in time it might take for us to put a system in. So just curious if we're going to put a system in that can get us that sort of benefit. And how long is that going to take us to, to get it up and running and for us to be able to execute? Because we've got this problem now?

Abbey Messich: Well, so for the implementation, it honestly, really depends. There's no standard time in every company. But if you were to book a longer demo, we could dig into more of that with my AE.

Greg Boyd: Okay. Yeah, I would certainly be open to that. I mean, delivering that kind of savings would be of interest. So I think that there's, I think that there's probably some interest in digging a little bit deeper to learn some more. Who do you suggest we get involved in a conversation like that?

Abbey Messich: Okay, so from what you've told me, I think we're going to be a good fit. So I want to book you with a deeper dive demo with my Account Executive John. And then do you have your calendar in front of you?

Greg Boyd: I do. I do have mine in front of me.

Abbey Messich: Yeah. Okay. So I have a couple of times I have next Tuesday. At 11 and then Friday at one.

Greg Boyd: Okay, I think Friday generally is gonna be a better day for the team. That'll generally be better. So could you send me your prep some times that you and john would be available, and then I can look to, I can look to, I can look to see when people would be available and then get that booked in?

Abbey Messich: Yeah, so what I'll do is, um, if it's easier, I'll just book you for Friday at one, just to have you in that spot, because I know John can get booked up pretty quickly. And then if anything changes, just let me know. And then we can adjust it accordingly.

Greg Boyd: Okay, that works for me. We can work toward that. So if and then if you can send me or that list of who we should involve. I'll just like to forward that that invite around to them will change if we need to have a sound Abbey.

Abbey Messich: Okay. Yeah, that sounds perfect. And is your email still greg@uvaro.com?

Greg Boyd: That is, yes.

Abbey Messich: All right. I will send that out to you. And I look forward to talking with you next week.

Greg Boyd: All right. Thanks, Abbey, all look forward to the conversation. Thank you so much.

Abbey Messich: All right. Thanks, Greg. Have a good day.

Greg Boyd: All right. Take care. Bye.

Abbey Messich: Bye.

Joseph Fung: Wow, awesome. Well done. That was efficient. I had two minutes. 50 seconds left. I think that's a new record. That was impressive. You kind of ripped through that. And like, throwing up what were the dollar figures there? It was like what $500,000 in savings? I think that kind of ended a bunch of questions and you know, uncertainty. So that was a that was a pretty, pretty strong move there. That was impressive. How are you feeling now that you're out of the hot seat?

Abbey Messich: Oh, definitely. I'm better. I'm actually very relieved. That was pretty nerve wracking. But I'm glad I did that.

Joseph Fung: Nice. And I mean, you were really kind of digging into the pains and the problems that you solve. But you've never used something like Hirevue. Before. Right. Like that's, that's just like a fresh pick. Right?

Abbey Messich: Well, I mean, I actually did use it just to like, for an actual job that I haven't actually used it on like, yeah, like the recruiter side of things.

Joseph Fung: Candidate that Yeah, yeah. There we go. This is awesome. We want to make sure that we're giving our judges a couple of minutes to toss in some scores and some notes. While they're doing that. Greg, I imagine you're breathing a sigh of relief now that you don't have to wear so many hats. Any general comments, thoughts, feedback, you want to share about the four pitches?

Greg Boyd: Sure. Yeah. Thank you, everyone. So to each of you into this whole group of 21, five, so our maker, just congratulations to each one of you just an awesome representation of what you've learned and worked so hard together to develop. So way to go everybody! Lamia, your opening, and how you and how you sought out the pain and then pivoted to the pain points in the demo was amazing. I've not seen that done in this format that was so great to say.

Oh, you didn't want to see that we'll go to that was really cool. Rob, as I said, I think you've taught me about crypto. And he did it in a very concentrated way that was smooth Marcela. I felt like also that was a conversation interwoven into a demo. And you just did that very naturally. I think you're. I don't know if BambooHR is watching this, but if you literally touch on staff or something. And then Abbey, the empathy. Oh my gosh, I was almost laughing to myself. I thought you were gonna cry. I'm like, I'm okay. That's amazing. But to each of you. Great. Yeah, just great work. That was really a job well-done everybody. And to, again, every one of you. This is nerve-racking and to see the group here to support you and to be supportive of each other. Well done. Hold on to each one of you.

Joseph Fung: Good stuff. This is awesome. I know that you you've got some judges lined up to speak to specific competitors and are here for walking us through that, Greg, let's get some feedback from our guest judges.

Greg Boyd: Let's do it. So first up, Maria, if you're there, Maria would love to have you share some feedback on Lamia’s presentation.

Maria Bross: Yes, hi, everyone. Um, first of all, she I thought she did an incredible job. It was super engaging in terms of like the opening in her intro. I don't think I would change one thing about it. I think it was a perfect opening up front of the contract where she said expectations. She confirmed time she was eight To ask her for buy into it like, was there anything that you were hoping to cover today, do you think is always a great way to open up the conversation. And what I really love too about her was her transition from, from that discovery and the intro to the demo portion of it, I'm just moving out into the discovery section. I really loved that aspect of it, I think she sold that next step as sharing like what other other customers are doing that are experiencing the same pain point, which was huge, versus taking a look at the software that she has. So I thought that that was a real big differentiator for her in that the person would be engaged, versus just looking at features and stuff in a piece of software.

So I really love that. And then the closing as well, she did a great job of planning next steps, confirming who would be there and sharing what to expect in that next call. So I think a tonne of positive I think that she did an incredible job. The one thing I think that across the board that we all can work on like that's an opportunity for all of us, including myself and my own sales team is, is really around digging a little bit deeper into those pain points, asking those follow up questions to really quantify the pain. So like taking something that's super vague and being able to ask the follow up question to really define it a little bit more. But overall, I think you did great. You got into pain. You got next steps, I mean, beautiful transitions. And again, to Greg's point, you focused on the relevant pieces first, like you weren't just going through your slides, you're able to pivot which is really difficult to do, especially when you've done so much preparation. So great job.

Greg Boyd: All right. Awesome. Thank you for that. Maria. Next, we've got you, Tariq, if you could speak to rob and the dominant he did. Great.

Tariq Esmail: Yeah, absolutely. Rob, I think you did a really great job. Some of the things that stood out to me was, first off, you're calm, cool, very collected, really put me at ease. It showed a high level of professionalism, and sometimes there could be some tension in these intro conversations, you really put everyone at ease and had a great pace to it. The other thing that I loved is you're clearly excited about what you are representing. You seem like an evangelist of cryptocurrencies and that shone through that it's something that you're passionate about. And I love someone who does represent a product that they actually do care about. So that was fantastic to see. But I think the thing that I loved most was, during the discovery, you not only got Greg to talk about a quantifiable problem, a quantifiable business problem losing a multimillion dollar customer, but also then going one step further and getting to the more personal emotional pain of losing that customer in a family business. I think that's really, really great form and technique. So great job.

Greg Boyd: Nice. And that's great feedback. Thank you. Tariq. Next, we're gonna go to Jacob. Jacob Fink, can you give some feedback for Marcela, please?

Jacob Fink: Yeah, absolutely. I think to start Marcela, I thought you did a really great job overall, one thing that stood out to me throughout your entire performance is that you made it super personable, I think that you were very memorable, and you're able to weave in, and I think Greg alluded to that, but I haven't written all over the place as well, that you're weaving in your personal thoughts and feelings throughout the entire process. So I thought that was great, did a great job of asking some open-ended questions. And I also got to say Greg was a dream prospect, and that he was just giving all sorts of great paints that you could latch on to which were awesome. And you tie that in really well, to what you ended up choosing to demo, which actually was a really nice linkage there. One thing I would say is, I think that the some of the pains were so clear in terms of what the issues were, but there's an opportunity to dig in even further and understand to what extent they're having customer retention issues or how much time is being spent because it's such good pain to latch on to. But as I said, you did a really good job in terms of time to demo back to the pains reiterating what the teams were that you heard. So that was great. And the only thing that I might change about the demo would be said, because there's such a specific use case that you've dug into and maybe talk more about the other aspects or components of bamboo, that could help support Greg, and then dive into that specific use case. And then a really great close as well. So be really explicit about what the next steps were and you can be clear about that upfront, which I appreciate You did as well. And then you locked everything. So great job overall. It's really well done.

Greg Boyd: All right. Thank you, Jacob. Finally, last but certainly not least, Jordana your Zen office. Lets see what you’ve got for Abbey! Yeah, absolutely.

Jordana Zeldin: Abbey, there was so much great stuff and what you did, I really appreciated the way that you very clearly set up what the what was going to happen in the meeting, right, and then took the opportunity to take the temperature of like, there's anything else that you want to make sure that we talk about, like, feel free to jump in, I thought that was really great. I was very impressed by how quickly you were able to find Greg's pain. And what I noticed, like Greg called out, is that there was a lot of empathy, like you were really feeling what was going on. The one thing I think, and this is for all of us, I think that I want to caution everybody against is I think there's a fine line between empathising with someone's pain, and then making them feel like oh, my God, things are really screwed up in my organisation. It's a very delicate balance. And I can see that you're someone who skews empathetic. So feeling the pain and then grounding it in something like this is something we see a lot, or it might feel overwhelming. But this is not uncommon. I think it's going to help Greg to perhaps feel like the situation is not so dire. In terms of how you can set expectations for what was to come next, I thought you did a really good job there. The one other opportunity that I saw, and this is on the heels of something you did so well, is you said, and I think we all call this out, like I want to take you on a journey. And I was like, Oh my god, what's the journey going to be? And then what was so amazing, if you had this incredible cost savings to reveal, like 500 grand or something, I would love to see you investing more in that journey. And a way to do that that comes to mind is something like you know, sometimes all of you know all of our work in HR can feel so overwhelming, it's really hard for us to put a number to it. What we've got here is a calculation that can help you really quantify and get clear about these kind of more qualitative and ambiguous pain. So I'm curious, how many hours are you spending and like to walk through the process of building the equation. So then there's like, a really astounding, powerful reveal in that 500k number, which is meaningful. So all told, a really great job was set up and next steps, and there's an opportunity to really turn up the volume on the storytelling that may be turned down the volume on the empathy of that, but well done.

Greg Boyd: Thank you. Jordana. So yesterday, it was, it was Yeah, there was that moment, that moment where I honestly felt as the fake prospect that I had a problem to fix. However, you put me in those shoes very well. So great, great feedback from our judges. Thank you, to you, Joseph.

Joseph Fung: This has been awesome. I mean, great feedback. I'm, I'm sitting here taking some notes across a bunch of those. I think there's a lot that we can learn as well. So thank you for Awesome, awesome feedback. Greg, how are you doing on scores and notes? Do you have a winner identified?

Greg Boyd: You know what, I think the scores have stopped tabulating. Okay, all of the fancy charts and graphs and sorted themselves out. I do have a winner calibrated for demo day.

Joseph Fung: Okay, then before we get to revealing it. Because we are live streaming on YouTube, I've got the obligatory Be sure to like and subscribe and share. There's still communities in lockdown, so send it to your neighbours, they don't have anything else to do. But for announcing the winner. I'd ask everybody in the Zoom Room, we're going to break the house rules if you could take yourself off mute. So that when we announce that you're clapping, we can hear it. That would be really good. And as people are popping off mute, Greg, are you good for pulling us in revealing let us know who was crowning demo champion today?

Greg Boyd: Absolutely. It is always a privilege. And once again, an absolute privilege to announce our demo day champion for this cohort is Lamia Tasnim!

Lamia Tasnim: *disconnected.* Thank you, thank you so much. It was so unexpected. I did not see this happening at all. And someone that overthinks everything all the time. So I was thinking I did not do a great job at all. And there was only feedback that I was receiving. So I was like, Oh no, I think I didn't do a great job but thank you. So once everyone for this opportunity, thank you so much judges, for all the feedback and all the kind words, I cannot explain how I'm feeling right now. But thank you, thank you for this opportunity. And

Joseph Fung: oh, no, or Wi-Fi again. Up the mic. Oh, there we go. Good thing that it didn't happen mid-competition. Ah, there we go. So, well, we'll have Lamia back shortly, with our Wi-Fi.

We do promise that will get people out in a timely manner. I got a couple of housekeeping things ago, then we'll let the folks on YouTube go. And I've got some closing comments for everyone. So if you can bear with me with a couple of closing comments, as we've got some housekeeping. Let's tidy those up. So for those who are joining us on YouTube, we do have a number of upcoming events coming up, too. So if you enjoyed our demo day, our next Demo Day is coming up on September 2, that's six to 8pm. Eastern, and you could join us again for another round of competition. But also our step into tech masterclass is coming back. So coming up as a one night event in August each Wednesday 6pm to 8pm. Eastern, if you have anybody in your network that is saying, Hey, I'm considering getting into tech, and I'm not sure what it looks like. We're offering a one-night free Crash Course to give people an idea of what that's like. And you can register for any of these events at uvaro.com/events, and anybody who's tuning in, if you're growing your sales teams, and you'd like an introduction to anyone who competed today, anyone in the graduating class, or anyone who's looking to join a tech sales team, drop us a line, you can hit us up and visit our website at uvaro.com/talent or just ping us, hit us on YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, we're available and happy to make an introduction.

That's exactly why we're here. So happy to make that happen. And, of course, to everybody who competed. Congratulations, getting through the 12-week crucial ball is a tough, tough journey. And you've just faced the toughest sales pitch you've ever had to face. And we couldn't be here without your dedication and your effort. And likewise to our judges a massive thank you because we couldn't help folks grow, watch amazing careers, and see the success they have without your time and your help. So thank you to everyone who's given their time today and throughout the 12 weeks, because it is incredibly valuable. For folks on YouTube. We're gonna let you go.

Thank you so much for tuning in. And we'll see you at the next demo day