Like Teen Sex; 4 Biggest CEO Threats; Bezos Hacked; Prime Data Win – and Lessons!

Dear ScaleUps, 

Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the competition.

A.I. is like teenage sex. Everyone says they’re doing it, and nobody really knows what it is.”
	Frida Polli, CEO Pymetrics, as quoted in Fortune

Latest ScaleUp News --
Plant Based Player Califia Raises $222 Million; Fortnite Becomes Official High School and College Sport; US Funds Going to Europe – this news and more at ScaleUps.com, your one-stop weekly update.

CMOs, Affiliate Marketing Powers Online Results --
Some of the largest companies are using affiliate marketing/partners to garner leads – and only paying for those that are fruitful. Rob Glazer, author of Performance Partnerships, explains how you can use partners to drive leads in a 1-hour online learning program. Watch a short clip on How Performance Partnerships Can Scale Your Business, published on Growth Institute's Scaling Up Club. If you find value in what you see, you can go through the rest of Robert's lesson through a 14-day free trial of Scaling Up Club. You can check out the clip here.

Prime Data Wins Coveted Wings of Leadership Award (Scaling Up Case Study) --
Notes Steve Falk, President of 40 employee Canadian-based print and direct mail provider Prime Data, “We've been using your Scaling Up book for nearly 4 years now and it:

1. (People) Improved our employee engagement and participation (a recent Globe and Mail/Morneau Shepell for Employee Recommended Workplace award)
2. (Strategy) Built a unique position for our services called ResponsivePrint™ (recognized by this award).
3. (Cash) Improved cash flow while exceeding industry average profit margins.

Concludes Steve, “While every award is exciting, this one is special in that it recognizes our innovation, particularly around ResponsivePrint™, which has been a really successful new product for eCommerce customers. We are a leader with programmatic mail, so we’re thrilled to receive this recognition from our primary mail partner.”

Sub-brand Your Unique Offering and Publish White Papers --
Please note two KEY ideas you might implement from Prime Data’s win of this award:

1. They’ve productized, branded, and trademarked their unique approach to direct mail -- ResponsivePrint™.
2. They’ve written white papers showcasing the positive outcomes of ResponsivePrint™ for firms like Wayfair and Sephora,

To win big you must do things differently from the competition – and branding your approach (especially services firms), even if it isn’t that unique, will set you apart from the competition and give your customers something to reference to others i.e. “we use the Scaling Up methodology.” Then create white papers that showcase how your best customers are benefiting from your branded approach.

A.I. Powered HR --
The fundamental job of machine learning (a more appropriate term than AI) is prediction – and it’s finding its way into HR systems, from helping you hire talent predicted to be the best fit to predicting if you’re about to lose an employee. This Fortune article includes the above quote of the week (note, Fortune now requires you to register one time to view articles – but it’s free!). This is the key paragraph with links:

As a job seeker, you might have your application vetted by a Mya Systems chatbot at L’Oréal or PepsiCo. You could respond to an A.I.-crafted job posting vetted by Textio, perhaps at Expedia Group or ViacomCBS. You could be asked to play Pymetrics games not only at Kraft Heinz but also at Unilever or JPMorgan Chase. You could record one of the automated HireVue video interviews used by Hilton and Delta Air Lines.

Reading through the article it seems Pymetrics might be the most useful application to use, especially those having to sort through hundreds of applications from college grads or applications from Indeed posts.

PwC Survey of CEOs, Top 4 Threats --
This annual PwC survey of CEOs shows a majority-53%-are expecting a growth slowdown this year (hey, better than a recession!). “That’s the most pessimistic they’ve been in the eight years the consulting firm has been asking the question,” notes Fortune. “In addition to slowing growth, the global group of 1,581 CEOs cited regulation, trade conflicts, and cybersecurity as top threats to their business.” Cybersecurity has me most concerned – see article next about Jeff Bezos’ phone being supposedly hacked by the Saudi’s via a video sent to his WhatsApp.

Jeff Bezos’s Phone Hacked? --
This Guardian article explains what Jeff’s cybersecurity team think happened, with damaging info gathered to possibly blackmail Jeff. Wow – a video sent via WhatsApp can do this!  Makes you want to get a “burner phone” – check out this USA Today article on why a burner phone might be useful – negotiating a crucial contract or acquisition – or whatever else you don’t want others to learn about.

Are Your Online Customers Walking Away? --
Your website is like a shop. If there are no sales people to help your online customers, they will walk away to a competitor. LiveAdmins has helped Scaling Up and thousands of other businesses for over a decade proactively greet online customers and engage them in conversation (we appreciate your questions/requests for help each week). And they offer multilingual chat services round the clock, ensuring our visitors are taken care of. For more information.

CEO-BOOTCAMP: spend 3.5 days with Verne, serial entrepreneur John Ratliff, and 6 other CEOs in a beautiful retreat setting, addressing the constraints holding back you, your business, and your industry. Mar 10 - 13; Jul 21 - 24; Aug 18 - 21, 2020.

ORDER a BOX of 20 SCALING UP BOOKS --
Want to save 50% over the price on Amazon? Go to this link. 

EXITING: Looking to sell the business in the next 18 to 36 months? Want to avoid the traps many sellers fall into with today's buyers? You can download the white paper Seven Traps Sophisticated Buyers Deploy Against Unwary Sellers from align5 advisors here

Write Your Own Book --
Whether you want to make it to the bestseller lists or just sell a lot more of your goods or services, with a profound competitive edge over the competition, Book The Business: How to Make BIG Money With Your Book Without Selling a Single Copy is for you!

Request your free copy of this ground-breaking book at advantagefamily.com/scalingup.

COACHING:

Have you ever wondered if working with a coach might accelerate your company's growth, exponentially? Do you have what it takes to move the dial from good to great? The Scaling Up team is prepared to support you. We have helped 40,000 other organizations over the past 30+ years, in scaling up their organizations through coaching, workshops, online training and more.

We would like to offer you a complimentary, personal follow-up from our Scaling Up team to share how we can support you in scaling your organization.

YES! I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT COACHING & RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY FOLLOW-UP (CLICK HERE)

For questions or more information contact us at [email protected]

TECHNOLOGY:

Execute Scaling Up Faster and Drive Accountability -- Drive Execution with Scaling Up Scoreboard, the official software tool for implementing Scaling Up – available online and in a mobile app. The technology behind Scaling Up Scoreboard is proven to help you achieve 3.5x more goals. Learn more at https://scalingup.com/software/ - on your computer, tablet or phone.

Better Book Club -- What's your team reading? Increase your books read per team member. Easy, Proven, and in the Cloud at http://www.BetterBookClub.com.