Alan Gregerman is the President and Chief Innovation Officer at VENTURE WORKS Inc, a consulting firm that helps organizations create innovative strategies, products, and services. He is a keynote speaker, award-winning author, and business consultant who helps companies and organizations unlock their teams’ genius zones. For over 25 years, Alan has designed and delivered high-impact keynotes for organizations, including Google, Marriott, Verizon, Mercedes-Benz, Kaiser-Permanente, Citibank, and Lockheed Martin.

With the speed of innovation, businesses often fall into the trap of relying on what they already know. While past expertise can bring incremental improvements, it rarely sparks the kind of breakthroughs that transform industries. How can companies avoid getting stuck in the comfort of their knowledge and uncover fresh ideas to stay relevant?

Innovation expert Alan Gregerman encourages brands to embrace enlightened ignorance, a mindset that values curiosity, humility, and openness to the unknown. Outsiders often disrupt industries because they see problems without being blinded by past experiences. Alan also emphasizes the importance of balancing iteration with innovation, continually raising the bar for customer expectations, and finding creative ways to differentiate in increasingly competitive markets. He pushes leaders to reevaluate their expertise and adopt a mindset of constant learning.

In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with Alan Gregerman, President and Chief Innovation Officer at VENTURE WORKS Inc, about how enlightened ignorance can catalyze innovation. Alan discusses why outsiders often spark breakthroughs, how businesses can balance iteration with bold innovation, and why raising customer expectations is crucial to long-term growth.

DeDe Halfhill is the Founder and Principal Consultant at TAIOH Partners, a leadership consulting firm. As a retired US Air Force Colonel, keynote speaker, and advisor, she has over 25 years of leadership experience, including advising the Commander General in Iraq and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. DeDe has developed the Master the Unseen™ framework — the hidden and emotional dynamics shaping alignment, trust, and momentum in teams.

Leaders often believe that data, KPIs, and dashboards tell the whole story of their organization. Yet, beneath the numbers are unspoken emotions and hidden dynamics that drive or derail performance. When leaders avoid difficult conversations or overlook the emotional undercurrents within their teams, they risk making costly mistakes and missing opportunities. How can leaders confront these invisible forces and lead more effectively?

Retired Air Force Colonel and leadership advisor DeDe Halfhill emphasizes the importance of curiosity, reframing negativity, and making team members feel seen and heard. Leaders can engage in coaching techniques to uncover the fear behind resistance, promote accountability, and recognize when their strengths and ideas can become liabilities. By addressing emotions directly and building trust outside of crisis moments, leaders can foster resilience and connection and boost performance.

In today’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, DeDe Halfhill, Founder and Principal Consultant at TAIOH Partners, joins William Harris to discuss uncovering the leadership blind spots that can derail performance. DeDe talks about reframing dissent as care, the identity crisis leaders often face after major transitions, and the importance of acknowledging humanity in the workplace.

Jon Sneider is the Founder, President, and Executive Producer of Wild Gravity, an award-winning creative production company. With more than 25 years of experience in marketing and advertising on the agency and client sides, he’s held senior roles at L.L.Bean, Microsoft, and Redfin. Jon is also the author of Hacking Advertising, which talks about building effective advertising campaigns.

Many businesses still rely on large agencies to produce their advertising, only to face bloated costs, long timelines, and diluted creative. The traditional agency model often creates inefficiencies, with multiple vendors and layers of approval that hinder the process. How can companies deliver world-class ads without sacrificing quality?

Advertising veteran Jon Sneider has created an approach to challenge traditional advertising inefficiencies. He maintains that small, expert teams eliminate unnecessary hierarchies and deliver stronger results with less overhead. By focusing on breakthrough, brand and message recall, likability, and purchase intent, companies can create effective ads that scale industries. Additionally, combining AI with human expertise accelerates production while retaining high-performing creative.

In this week’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris hosts Jon Sneider, Founder, President, and Executive Producer of Wild Gravity, to talk about reinventing advertising for efficiency and impact. Jon shares examples from high-performing insurance campaigns, his experience managing sales teams and advertising budgets at large corporations, and how growing up before the internet fueled his creativity.

Jeff Webb is the Founder and President of the International Cheer Union (ICU), the world governing body for cheerleading. Under his leadership, the ICU has grown to represent over 116 national federations and achieved recognition by the International Olympic Committee. Jeff also founded the Universal Cheerleading Association and Varsity Brands (formerly Varsity Spirit), where he elevated cheerleading into a global sport before selling the company for $2.5 billion.

Cheerleading has become a widely recognized global sport, but scaling it into a multibillion-dollar category was no easy feat. From undercapitalization to supplier failures and resistance from industry leaders, it required resilience, creativity, and bold leadership. How did the king of cheerleading transform his niche passion into a worldwide movement recognized by the Olympic Committee?

Modern cheerleading pioneer Jeff Webb reinvented team uniforms to match athletic performance and created competitions that captured TV audiences. He emphasizes the importance of staying close to the field, practicing continuous improvement, and cultivating a strong culture through rigorous hiring and leadership standards. By treating cheerleading like other popular global sports, Jeff scaled it into a distinct category.

Join William Harris in today’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as he chats with Jeff Webb, Founder and President of the International Cheer Union (ICU), about how he built cheerleading into a global sport. Jeff discusses how he created a new market through innovation and shares leadership philosophies and hiring practices.

Rishabh Jain is the Co-founder and CEO of FERMÀT, the leading e-commerce experience platform. Before co-founding FERMÀT, he held leadership roles at LiveRamp, where he launched and scaled three new ventures, including a multimillion-dollar healthcare business. Rishabh also co-founded startups in solar energy and laboratory data sharing.

Mid-market e-commerce brands are feeling the strain as tariffs raise costs and acquiring new customers becomes more expensive. With CACs climbing on major ad platforms and inventory risks increasing, many operators face tough trade-offs between growth and operational stability. How can they adapt strategies to maintain margins during economic uncertainty?

According to e-commerce growth strategist Rishabh Jain, brands are adapting by investing in channels like email and SMS to maximize existing customers. He warns against relying too heavily on multi-touch attribution and instead recommends using multiple data sources, monitoring cash flow closely, and aligning on-site experiences with each audience segment. Rishabh also advises expanding into new audience cohorts, designing purposeful bundles, and gradually adding products to support long-term growth.

Join William Harris in the latest episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as he chats with Rishabh Jain, Co-founder and CEO of FERMÀT, about practical strategies for scaling e-commerce brands in a volatile market. Rishabh explains how mid-market brands can survive market pressure, replace flawed measurement with practical insights, and adapt site experiences for various audiences.

Erik Christiansen is the Co-founder and CEO of Justuno, a conversion optimization SaaS platform. With over 20 years of experience in e-commerce and tech, he specializes in sustainable growth and product development. Before co-founding Justuno, Erik scaled Sierra Snowboard from $0 to over $20 million in annual revenue.

Many website visitors leave without purchasing, and abandoned carts represent millions in lost revenue for e-commerce brands. Even as traffic and ad spend grow, conversion rates often stagnate, and customer acquisition costs continue to rise. How can online retailers capture more value from existing website traffic?

According to e-commerce expert and entrepreneur Erik Christiansen, improving on-site conversions can unlock immediate revenue gains. His three-step revenue approach, which includes capturing, identifying, and converting leads, prioritizes real-time engagement, visitor segmentation, and actionable promotions. Additionally, techniques like cart abandonment campaigns, shopper preference pop-ups, and high-quality SMS collections boost conversions and strengthen margins by maximizing the lifetime value of each visitor.

In this week’s episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris chats with Erik Christiansen, Co-founder and CEO of Justuno, about driving revenue through smarter on-site conversions. Erik also discusses creative cart abandonment strategies, the difference between vanity metrics and meaningful KPIs, and why hands-on entrepreneurship builds resilience.

Andrew Christison is the Co-founder and CEO of Retencity, a full-service customer lifecycle and loyalty marketing agency. Under his leadership, Retencity has worked with fast-growing brands like epres, Revision Skincare, and Diamond Art Club. The agency is also a member of 1% for the Planet and has planted over 80,000 trees and served over 100,000 meals through food banks across the US. Before Retencity, Andrew was the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Sendlane.

Many e-commerce brands struggle to scale sustainably because they rely on short-term tactics like discounting or top-of-funnel traffic generation, neglecting the long-term impact of customer retention and lifecycle marketing. Even brands generating $10 million in annual revenue can lack the infrastructure and strategy to nurture lasting relationships with their customers. How can companies rethink their tech stacks and messaging to build genuine brand intimacy and retention that drives growth?

As an expert in lifecycle marketing and customer relationships, Andrew Christison maintains that brands can shift from transactional messaging to experience-driven communication. This requires building trust from the first interaction by treating email and SMS acquisition like the beginning of a meaningful relationship rather than a sales funnel. Brands can also employ zero- and first-party data to personalize messaging over time and integrate tech stack automations, like back-in-stock notifications, to address hidden retention gaps. Additionally, aligning your marketing calendar to seasonality, customer lifecycle stages, and weather patterns can guide more relevant and timely campaigns.

Tune in to the latest episode of the Up Arrow Podcast as William Harris chats with Andrew Christison, Co-founder and CEO of Retencity, about creating customer retention strategies that drive growth. Andrew explains why authenticity matters more than automation, how to balance list quantity and quality, and how he diagnoses retention issues in growing brands.

Rand Fishkin is the Co‑founder and CEO of SparkToro, a software company he launched in 2018 to make audience and market research more accessible to marketers and creators. He previously co‑founded Moz (originally SEOmoz) in 2003 and helped scale it into a leading SEO software company before stepping down as CEO in 2014. Rand authored Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World, co‑authored The Art of SEO, and is widely recognized for his Whiteboard Friday video series and keynote speaking at over 100 international events.

Modern marketers face a harsh reality: The tools they once relied on to track performance — like attribution models — are now deeply flawed. As data becomes increasingly fragmented across devices, platforms, and privacy barriers, understanding what truly drives customer behavior has grown more complicated than ever. How can brands measure success when attribution data can no longer be trusted?

Rand Fishkin, a digital marketing and audience research specialist, offers a compelling case for abandoning rigid attribution models in favor of more human-centric, lift-based measurement. He recommends marketers return to fundamentals and observe customer behavior across multiple touchpoints, test messaging across regions or channels, and evaluate net impact over time. Rand encourages brands to shift focus from granular ROI tracking to identifying where their audience spends time and investing in channels, like podcasts and blogs, where competitors aren't yet visible. He also cautions against over-optimizing for paid media and emphasizes the power of brand presence and share of mind in an era dominated by AI-driven discovery.

In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris interviews Rand Fishkin, Co-founder and CEO of SparkToro, about how marketers can adapt to the changing digital landscape. Rand explores why traditional attribution is breaking down, how audience research unlocks new opportunities, and the flaws in post-purchase surveys. He also dives into AI’s role in SEO, the influence of brand mentions over backlinks, and the importance of leading with transparency and kindness.