WEBVTT
1
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:02.319
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
2
00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:03.960
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
3
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.919
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
4
00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.160
make no recommendations or endorsements radio show, programs, services, or
5
00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:13.039
products mentioned on air or on our web. No liability
6
00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:15.720
explicitor implied shall be extended to W four CY Radio
7
00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.519
or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
8
00:00:18.519 --> 00:00:20.879
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
9
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:22.000
W FOURCY Radio.
10
00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:33.359
Churchill said, those who failed to learn from history are
11
00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:36.759
condemned to repeat it. Kevin helen n believes that certainly
12
00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:41.320
applies to business. Welcome to Winning Business Radio here at
13
00:00:41.560 --> 00:00:45.560
W four CY Radio. That's W four cy dot com
14
00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:50.159
and now your host, Kevin Helena.
15
00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:54.000
Thanks everybody for joining in again today.
16
00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:57.000
I'm Kevin Hallan and welcome back to Winning Business TV
17
00:00:57.240 --> 00:01:01.119
and Radio. We're on W four cy dot com. We're
18
00:01:01.159 --> 00:01:05.200
streaming live on talkfotv dot com. That's the number four,
19
00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:09.079
and we're streaming live on Facebook and YouTube at Winning
20
00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:12.519
Business Radio as well as we're available in podcast after
21
00:01:12.560 --> 00:01:15.640
the live show on pretty much wherever you get your
22
00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:23.799
wow blank your podcast content. The mission of Winning business
23
00:01:23.879 --> 00:01:26.400
radio and TV, as regular viewers and listeners know, is
24
00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:29.760
to offer insights and advice to help people avoid the
25
00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:32.519
mistakes of others, right to learn best practices. Those are
26
00:01:32.519 --> 00:01:35.719
the how tos, the what tos, the what not tos,
27
00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:38.760
to be challenged and hopefully to be inspired by the
28
00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:43.560
successes of others. Those are consultants, coaches, advisors, authors, founders
29
00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:47.920
and owners, entrepreneurs, people with expertise. But you know, virtually
30
00:01:47.959 --> 00:01:50.400
every successful person that I've ever talked to has had
31
00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:52.959
some form of failure in their lives and careers.
32
00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:54.480
So I say this every week.
33
00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:56.680
While we all have to get our knees scraped once
34
00:01:56.719 --> 00:01:58.719
in a while, I'm driven to keep those scrapes from
35
00:01:58.799 --> 00:02:01.840
needing major surgery. Let's endeavor to learn from history so
36
00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:04.120
we don't repeat it. I've spent the better part of
37
00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:07.239
my career equipping businesses to grow, and that's from solopreneurs
38
00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:10.400
to small and medium sized companies all the way up
39
00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:13.439
to the fortune fifty. I've seen some of those companies
40
00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:16.439
win into varying degrees. I've seen some fail, and I've
41
00:02:16.439 --> 00:02:18.599
had the opportunity to rub elbows with some of the
42
00:02:18.680 --> 00:02:21.840
highest performing people around and with some who probably should
43
00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:24.680
have found other professions. And in my own businesses, I've
44
00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:27.680
had lots of success, but failures too, and I like
45
00:02:27.719 --> 00:02:30.159
to think I've learned a lot from those successes. So, yeah,
46
00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:31.759
you're going to hear from me, but you're going to
47
00:02:31.800 --> 00:02:34.319
hear from guests mostly, and today is no exception. My
48
00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:39.719
returning guest is Surgu Simmel business Coach, Growth Business growth coach.
49
00:02:39.759 --> 00:02:43.439
I really can read. Here's his bio. Surg You Simmel
50
00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:47.800
guides founders, owners, CEOs of small to mid sized businesses
51
00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.639
and their leadership teams on growing their business faster, easier.
52
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.599
And I love this with more joy than ever that
53
00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:59.159
was thought possible into the AI economy. He was born
54
00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.960
and grew up in in Bucharest, Romania. He spent his
55
00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:06.199
childhood years studying both music and mathematics. In nineteen eighty one,
56
00:03:06.360 --> 00:03:10.439
he defected from communist Romania and ended up in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
57
00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:11.560
We're going to hear about that.
58
00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:15.039
He started his career as a software technologist back in
59
00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:18.039
graduate school as a master's in computer science from the
60
00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:20.960
University of Minnesota. One of his two areas of focus
61
00:03:21.159 --> 00:03:25.120
was artificial intelligence in nineteen eighty one. In nineteen ninety one,
62
00:03:25.719 --> 00:03:28.599
Sergiu co founded his first startup, a software company that
63
00:03:28.639 --> 00:03:32.319
produced an advanced database server. In ninety five, he co
64
00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:36.280
founded his second business, providing technology based compliance services to
65
00:03:36.319 --> 00:03:40.439
the financial industry, before being sold about two decades later.
66
00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:43.080
This company had grown to a thirty four million dollar business.
67
00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:47.199
In nineteen ninety eight, Surgiu created his own practice, serving
68
00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:50.840
as a fractional chief products officer for seven SaaS companies
69
00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.840
in a variety of industries. During this period, he founded
70
00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.759
his third startup, and e learning company that pioneered the
71
00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:01.080
use of telesseminars for providing educational comment and in twenty
72
00:04:01.159 --> 00:04:04.400
thirteen he shifted his focus toward business coaching, becoming the
73
00:04:04.439 --> 00:04:08.599
first EOS implementer in New England. Over the past thirteen years,
74
00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:12.039
he's worked with over seventy five businesses from twenty to
75
00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:15.240
one thousand people in size, several of whom ended up
76
00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:19.639
executing successful exits while starting with thes. Over time, Sergiu
77
00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:23.360
enlarged his toolbox to other business operating systems, including Pinnacle,
78
00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:26.399
Scaling Up and ninety OS, as well as a wide
79
00:04:26.439 --> 00:04:29.600
variety of other bolt on services. From Colby to red teaming,
80
00:04:30.199 --> 00:04:34.360
to executive coaching to positive intelligence. As a perpetual learner,
81
00:04:34.759 --> 00:04:38.519
Surgiu has acquired over ten such certifications. If you know him,
82
00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:42.120
that's no surprise. Since twenty twenty four four, excuse me,
83
00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.040
Sergiu has immersed his work into the rapidly changing world
84
00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.959
of generative AI, developing and delivering several services aimed at
85
00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:53.399
both upskilling business leaders in collaborating with AI, as well
86
00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:56.600
as working as an AI consultant, guiding small to medium
87
00:04:56.680 --> 00:05:01.120
sized businesses through their process of transforming them into AI
88
00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:05.680
forward companies through his partnerships with Humans plus AI and
89
00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:10.120
more recently with WSI, a Toronto based AI consulting and
90
00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:13.439
training company. Here's what the part I love. His professional
91
00:05:13.480 --> 00:05:17.720
mission is to restore joy in humane performance for entrepreneurial leaders.
92
00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:21.879
His passion is to impact people into living meaningful, full
93
00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:24.600
expressed lives. He lives in the city of Boston. He's
94
00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:27.600
the proud father of two grown daughters. I love this too,
95
00:05:27.680 --> 00:05:30.399
and he's madly in love with his two grandsons. SERGEI,
96
00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:32.639
welcome to Winning Business Radio and TV, and thanks for
97
00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:33.240
being here.
98
00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:36.000
Thank you very much for having me again.
99
00:05:36.120 --> 00:05:39.000
Kevin of course, of course you're always fun to talk to.
100
00:05:40.079 --> 00:05:42.360
Tell us about your daughters first, and then of course
101
00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:43.439
your two grandkids.
102
00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.519
Well, it so happens that the day after tomorrow, I'm
103
00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:51.079
driving down from Boston to New York City and Long
104
00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:56.800
Island my daughter, So, my eldest daughter lives in the
105
00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:00.959
city in Chelsea, and my younger daughter lives in Long
106
00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:05.759
Island with her husband and the two munchkins as I
107
00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:08.480
call them, ten and eight years old.
108
00:06:09.000 --> 00:06:11.560
That's great, and I know they're You're the apple of
109
00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.360
their eyes too, So I want to know, and I
110
00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:19.040
know that viewers and listeners want to know a bit
111
00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.480
about your background. You know, I want to certainly talk
112
00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:23.639
about the AI work that you're doing, because it's fascinating,
113
00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:26.079
But how did you come to the fact tell us
114
00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:27.639
about that story and that journey.
115
00:06:28.199 --> 00:06:32.079
M Well, actually it all started when I was in
116
00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:37.839
high school. And you know, obviously this show is only
117
00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:41.040
an hour long, so you know, it will take a
118
00:06:41.079 --> 00:06:45.120
couple of hours to actually explain the whole context. But
119
00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:49.199
to make a long story short, it was basically a
120
00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:54.639
kind of a sudden realization that not only I, you know,
121
00:06:55.399 --> 00:07:00.920
really didn't like the communist regime, and a place where
122
00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:07.240
it was run by actually really harsh dictator, but also
123
00:07:07.319 --> 00:07:10.160
that you know, sort of like I had a feeling
124
00:07:10.199 --> 00:07:12.839
that I really don't belong there. So I started the
125
00:07:12.839 --> 00:07:15.680
process actually trying to get out of the country, and
126
00:07:16.920 --> 00:07:19.439
one way was to get a what was called an
127
00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:22.079
exit visa to go and visit some other country and
128
00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:26.160
then effactm there. It took about seven years, so I
129
00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:31.040
was already in the university. The computer science program was
130
00:07:31.079 --> 00:07:33.519
a five year program. So finally when I was in
131
00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:38.279
the fourth year, I received a visa and will be
132
00:07:39.160 --> 00:07:42.639
on July twenty second of this year, will be exactly
133
00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:48.279
forty five years since I boarded that plane, was an
134
00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:55.680
Alitalia flight from Bookers to Rome, Italy, and never look back.
135
00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:00.720
Wow, that's crazy, and you know it's twenty too, and
136
00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:03.399
I don't think people think back what it was actually
137
00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.199
like back then. So all right, I want to hear
138
00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:08.439
a little bit about I want you to share because
139
00:08:08.439 --> 00:08:11.120
I know it somewhat anyway about your musical background.
140
00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:16.519
Well, so it was interesting. So when I came to
141
00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:18.560
this I'm going to start actually in a different place.
142
00:08:18.600 --> 00:08:22.399
When I came to this country, I ended up in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
143
00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:26.000
because that's why where I had my consest family, I
144
00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:30.720
mean beyond my parents back in Romania, which was basically
145
00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:35.399
my uncle, my mother's brother, and my aunt. And they're
146
00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:41.279
only one daughter, so you know, first cousin. So going back,
147
00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.399
you know, quite a few years prior to that, when
148
00:08:45.399 --> 00:08:49.399
I was six years old, my cousin, who's about five
149
00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:52.639
years older than I am and with whom we relate
150
00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:58.559
like siblings because we are both actually only children, left Romania.
151
00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:03.399
There was nineteen six four, so and she was a
152
00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:07.600
She went to music school and she was playing violin.
153
00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:10.200
So I turned to my parents and I said, you know,
154
00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:12.840
I mean she was my idol. I mean I was,
155
00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:15.440
you know, as you can imagine, and of course at
156
00:09:15.440 --> 00:09:20.480
that age, since I was five years younger, well obviously
157
00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:23.399
you know, we couldn't relate to well. So she I
158
00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:25.960
was trying to follow her everywhere, and she was probably
159
00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:32.200
extremely annoyed by by it. But after she left, I
160
00:09:32.320 --> 00:09:34.240
desired I asked my parents, you know, I want to
161
00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:37.080
go and play an instrument. It was sort of like
162
00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:40.840
to me in a sense, I was following her track.
163
00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:46.159
So that's how I ended up playing well, initially violin,
164
00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:50.799
simply because it was you couldn't find a half or
165
00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:55.120
three quarters of size while viola, So I had to
166
00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:58.000
start with violin, and then I think about two or
167
00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.039
three years later, I switched to that I wanted to play,
168
00:10:01.320 --> 00:10:05.799
which was viola, and you got pretty good, well I got,
169
00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:10.240
you know, so it's interesting. The instrument was cool, but
170
00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:13.000
what was really attractive to me was the rest of it.
171
00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:18.879
Music theory, music history. I was playing an orchestra. I mean,
172
00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:22.559
all this kind of understanding music in a way that
173
00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:28.639
was beyond just you know, enjoying a good tune.
174
00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:31.159
In graduate schools.
175
00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:34.519
In your bio, one of your two areas of focus
176
00:10:34.679 --> 00:10:37.639
was interestingly AI, were you ahead of its time or
177
00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:39.799
was the program out of the time?
178
00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:45.000
Not really, I mean Artivisional intelligence is a subject that
179
00:10:45.960 --> 00:10:50.120
you know, most people don't realize. It's probably about fifty
180
00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:54.360
five plus years old. So there have been since the
181
00:10:54.440 --> 00:11:00.360
early times of computers, people have tried to start eating
182
00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:04.879
the way humans think, and there were various kinds of models.
183
00:11:05.720 --> 00:11:10.440
Some of them were but in those days we were
184
00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:14.879
calling expert systems rule based systems. People were trying various
185
00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:18.720
ways to actually emulate that, and one of them was
186
00:11:18.759 --> 00:11:25.679
to actually imitate what we think how the brain works,
187
00:11:25.799 --> 00:11:30.440
which is a network of small things that get connected,
188
00:11:31.279 --> 00:11:34.720
otherwise known as the neural network. So I remember actually
189
00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:38.759
taking a graduate course in neural networks. Now, neural networks
190
00:11:38.840 --> 00:11:44.440
happened to be actually the kind of background model for
191
00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:51.639
what became, you know, forty forty plus years later, generative AI.
192
00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:55.639
So we're going to get to those definitions in a
193
00:11:55.679 --> 00:11:59.559
few minutes. You started out here after graduate school in
194
00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.799
the software industry with companies like Myang, Samsung, and Oberon,
195
00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:07.799
spent some time there, and then you founded Panovskat Development Corp.
196
00:12:08.200 --> 00:12:08.480
Group.
197
00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:11.879
Excuse me, So I want to know, as as an entrepreneur,
198
00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:14.759
as a founder, what was behind your decision to start
199
00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:15.879
your own company at that time.
200
00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:20.120
So prior to that, I was working for all these startups,
201
00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.840
including one, and I met at a at a you know,
202
00:12:25.240 --> 00:12:30.440
kind of conference, a guy that ended up being my
203
00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:35.720
business partner, who was a brilliant and brilliant technologist, and
204
00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:39.679
he had invented a technology that was not really commercialized
205
00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:42.159
there and so forth. So we started talking and I
206
00:12:42.200 --> 00:12:44.639
got very interested in that. It was kind of capture
207
00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:48.200
my imagination. So we actually started working together and we
208
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:57.039
started publishing papers about it, et cetera. And eventually we
209
00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:03.559
got a solicitation from Xerox Corporation. They were interested in
210
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.240
embedding this into one of their new yorest products. And
211
00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:11.120
you know, there is this history because you know, we decided,
212
00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.919
oh so we should you know, create a business around it.
213
00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:19.679
So I quit my job, and he had a consulting practice,
214
00:13:19.720 --> 00:13:25.720
so quit anything and we started actually the business. And
215
00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:29.759
this was my first quarter of a million dollar sale
216
00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:33.240
at the time to Zerox, so we it was kind
217
00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.720
of an EO O M type of.
218
00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:38.279
Arrangement licensing license.
219
00:13:38.600 --> 00:13:38.720
You know.
220
00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:41.960
I ended up going to California quite a few times
221
00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:45.240
to actually train them on how to use it. That
222
00:13:46.120 --> 00:13:50.080
that was the kind of a genesis of my first startup.
223
00:13:50.600 --> 00:13:53.840
So then the second little while later, the second startup
224
00:13:54.159 --> 00:13:57.200
your founded that you founded New River Investors Communications.
225
00:13:57.240 --> 00:13:58.240
Tell us a bit about that one.
226
00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:03.200
Well, that was actually sometimes I have to actually write
227
00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.440
a short novel about it, because it's kind of interesting.
228
00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:10.000
That was a business that was created in the exactly
229
00:14:10.200 --> 00:14:15.120
opposite way at which we actually teach entrepreneurs to start businesses.
230
00:14:15.320 --> 00:14:17.759
You know, we teach people, you know, find a problem
231
00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:21.600
that people have and then develop something that will solve
232
00:14:21.639 --> 00:14:24.039
the problem. Then you have a business, and then you
233
00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:27.480
test it and see if there is attraction. What I
234
00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:30.960
did it was exactly the opposite. So a friend of mine,
235
00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:34.159
remember this is the year was ninety four ninety five.
236
00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:36.600
At the time, you could buy a computer, but you
237
00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:40.679
had to buy separately a browser, you know, Netscape that
238
00:14:40.759 --> 00:14:43.919
came on a city RAM or something like this. So
239
00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:48.960
I licensed a very interesting technology that allowed me to