FOUNDER | INVESTOR | COACH
Mario’s Random Thoughts
I am a technologist and capitalists focused on the human side of the equation. This page has random thoughts and quotes that I like. My blog postings are about Entrepreneurship, search funds, investing, organizational psychology, AI, CEO scars, company operating frameworks, coaching, vulnerability and leadership.
ETA CEO – Strategic Planning for 2025
As we approach the end of 2024, it's the perfect time to reflect on your recent acquisition and set the stage for a successful 2025. Your priorities in the first 90 days are to learn the business, build trust with the employees, and reduce customer/employee churn. If...
Great nuggets of wisdom from the book “Leadership is a Relationship” by Mike Erwin and Willys DeVoll
In “Leadership is a Relationship: How to Put People First in a Digital World,” authors Michael Erwin and Willys DeVoll argue that strong leadership hinges on building relationships. They believe the digital age has weakened interpersonal connections, and successful...
Unmasking AI with Dr. Joy Buolamwini
I recently listened to the Dare to Lead with Brené Brown podcast episode interview with Dr. Joy Buolamwini, author of Unmasking AI. They discuss gender classification products, bias in algorithms, and Brown’s perspective on technology as an artist, poet, and...
4 easy tips to delivering value with Advanced Analytics initiatives
If there is something I hate to see in presentations is the word “Could” on PowerPoint slides to describe a successful project that uses advanced analytics technologies like Machine Learning. “The pilot was successful. We COULD impact the business by...
Why Covid is the perfect crisis to accelerate your transformation to a data-driven enterprise. Can DataOps help you get there?
The Covid pandemic crisis is transforming the way we live and work. Enterprises are relying more than ever on their digital infrastructure as millions of employees shift from working in offices to working at home. Leaders are simultaneously placing new importance on...
Why are Digital Transformation failure rates so high? My two cents from battle field scars
In a recent McKinsey study, the authors stated that less than 30% of digital transformations have achieved success. Based on my experience in the past 8 years deploying advanced analytics / Machine Learning solutions to large “heavy industry” enterprises, I would...
Challenges of being early in Auto Machine Learning platform capabilities
When Predikto was born in 2013, we wanted to deliver actionable insights using advanced analytics (Machine Learning) to predict failures in large industrial equipment to help move from reactive maintenance to proactive maintenance. We were solving the entire problem,...
Easy and Effective Employee 365 Rating System for a Startup
While running Predikto, we were struggling with team alignment and ensuring everyone had the right skills and was in the right seat. We had about 20 people on the team and we lacked a systematic way (and data) behind people performance. I had worked at PwC, IBM,...
Sell at the top and wow at the bottom
While at Predikto, one of the mistakes we made is that we focused too much on middle management from a sales and product fit perspective. I have seen companies like IBM, Palantir, AWS, and Microsoft do a great job selling at the top. They try to get into the C-suite...
B2B Startups should sell the pilot and not the large software license deal
While running Predikto, a B2B predictive analytics startup selling to Fortune 500s, we quickly realized that we had to sell a low risk targeted pilot in order to land the customer and then expand. Our product was a machine learning automation platform to predict...
