In this Influence podcast we interview the passionate, technical, and articulate Owen Fuller who grew up in Alaska where he learned how to work hard, before coming to BYU to study history and earn a bachelor’s degree in communication and advertising. Owen is a true entrepreneur and innovator with a successful history of building and growing some impressive technology and marketing companies here in his adopted state of Utah. We hope you enjoy his unique insights in this podcast!
Owen is the Chief Evangelist at Boombox. Boombox with its sister products, Qzzr and Pollcaster, make it easy to create, embed and share interactive content with the world. He was asked to join the executive team at Boombox when Josh Little and Bucky Flowers heard of the success of Fit Marketing and asked Owen and his team to develop their own product called Qzzr. They have never looked back! Even though Owen and the team at Boombox have had a long string of successes with leading clients like Yahoo, NBC, Red Bull, LinkedIn, ESPN, and Ogilvy, he is amazingly humble and compelling at the same time!
Prior to Boombox and Qzzr, Owen founded and doggedly grew Fit Marketing into a top inbound digital marketing agency that doubled in size every year for five years. Fit Marketing became one of Utah’s fastest growing companies, and was recognized two years ago as the 10th fastest growing company in Utah under five years old, before being acquired by Stryde.
In this Influence Podcast interview, we know you will sense the extraordinary determination and talent of Cydni Tetro and Sara Jones, two successful entrepreneurs who, in their “spare time” co-founded the Women Tech Council nine years ago, a scrappy not-for-profit that now has more than 10,000 members!
With a degree in computer science and an MBA, both from BYU, Cydni is a successful technologist and marketing guru who has built a career with some of the world’s largest brands like Disney, Microsoft, Marvel, Star Wars, Facebook, MLB, MLS, Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Target, Walmart, and Toys R Us. She is the founder and CEO of 3DplusMe, a 3D printing software platform, that was recently acquired by WhiteClouds and is an Operating Partner at Mercato Partners, a leading growth equity firm. Recognized as a respected patent attorney and shareholder at Workman Nydegger for almost ten years, Sara went on to become the Vice President of Strategic Development at Patent Law Works, before becoming the CEO of ApplicantPro, an HR SaaS company providing recruiting tools to over 3,000 clients, where she led the company to profitability and a high valuation. Sara graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University law school and holds a B.S. in chemical engineering, with honors, from the University of Utah. Cydni Tetro and Sara Jones have already had a long-lasting influence on so many women (and men) in our growing ecosystem. Perhaps more than anything else, they continue to show others how to have fun while doing hard things that make a big difference.
We live in a careless world, and it’s not very often that you find a company that is innovative but has a heart, financially successful but is focused on giving. In this Influence podcast we highlight just such a company, Cotopaxi! Please enjoy this interview with Cotopaxi’s founders, Davis Smith and Stephan Jacob who co-founded this company that is attracting so much attention from outdoor industry leaders like Patagonia and numerous investors because of the success of their business and their focus on doing good!
Davis Smith and Stephan Jacob both earned degrees from impressive schools, BYU and Stanford (Davis), Universitat Mannheim and University of South Australia (Stephan) before they met each other at University of Pennsylvania –The Wharton School. They are true entrepreneurs who, following stints at Alta Ventures, PoolTables.com, and Baby.com (Davis) and McKinsey, Bain, and Kembral (Stephan), decided to “create innovative outdoor products that fund sustainable poverty alleviation and move people to do good”. We were inspired by our interview with Davis and Stephan, two leaders that inspire others and are making a difference in the world.
There is a healthy dose of perseverance and inspiration in this podcast that features Tom Stockham, the CEO of eXperticity, a high-growth SaaS and analytics company that “collects category influencers and connects them with the world’s top brands.”
Tom received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Stanford University, before further developing his foundational business and problem solving skills as a consultant within Boston Consulting Group’s retail practice. Following BCG, Tom was the General Manager of Citysearch where he was successful in his efforts to significantly increase revenues for one of the Internet’s earliest businesses focused on “local information.” Later as President of Ticketmaster, Tom led the company’s transition to electronic ticketing and greater growth. Tom helped create one of the Internet’s leading subscription businesses as the CEO of MyFamily.com (Ancestry.com).
Please enjoy this podcast that provides a glimpse into Tom’s innate talent and passion. More than a successful CEO, entrepreneur, advisor, and private investor, Tom is an innovative technology leader that is committed to solving problems and building companies and people!