Insights

Susan Linder is not your typical consultant. A cultural anthropologist from the Bronx who hitchhiked through Central American war zones, trained as an AIDS epidemiologist, and stumbled into PR on a blind date, she has spent 30 years proving that the right story - told the right way - changes everything. Today she is the Founder and CEO of Innovation Storytellers and recognized as the world's leading expert on innovation storytelling. Jack and Susan trace her path from answering her dad's tool-sales phone at eight years old to working in Thai brothels in the 1990s and eventually helping Fortune 100 companies like GE, AT&T, and Citi win funding, drive acquisitions, and get their breakthrough ideas across the finish line. Along the way: why fear is a terrible long-term motivator, what it actually means to be the hero of your own story, and why innovation teams keep getting their credit stolen. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction and the koala fingerprint fun fact 00:48 - Scrappy roots: immigrant parents, a station wagon full of tools, and the family business 05:00 - Sitting with the adults: growing up curious and always interviewing 08:00 - Phones, orders, and selling at eight years old 09:00 - Flea markets, freelance gigs, and financing college yourself 13:00 - Discovering cultural anthropology by accidentally inventing it 16:00 - Junior year abroad and hitchhiking through Central American war zones 22:00 - Thailand, HIV, and the storytelling insight that changed everything 29:00 - From the CDC to a blind date with a Forbes editor to the PR world 34:00 - Building Innovation Storytellers: the scrappy evolution from Lotus to today 37:00 - Helping innovation teams pitch the Joint Chiefs, the CFO, and everyone in between 39:00 - Lightning round: ChatGPT jokes, inbox zeros, and the font formatting confession Connect with Susan: https://www.innovationstorytellers.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanjlindner/ https://www.instagram.com/innovationstorytellers/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCId9xpyIaSwD25Z9ZsiZ3-g https://www.facebook.com/InnovationStorytellers Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-tompkins/ https://www.pineapplecf.com https://www.pineappleanalyst.ai https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCalnj5yLU0ZH9y_tVl1J4ng

If you're a fractional CFO or accountant who wants to deliver AI-powered insights to your clients - and get the credit for it - Pineapple Analyst is built for you. In this demo, we walk through how Pineapple Analyst works as your white label AI analyst and CFO dashboard solution, including: - Pre-built QuickBooks dashboards ready in minutes (executive overview, P&L, balance sheet, and more) - An AI analyst your clients can ask questions to - fully customizable with client-specific context - Custom dashboard creation with a simple prompt - no code, no weeks of setup - Full white label branding so your clients associate the insights with you - Multi-client management that scales from 2 clients to 200 You stay the strategic advisor. We stay behind the scenes. Reach out: PineappleAnalyst.ai jack@pineapplecf.com

Jay Rooney is the founder of Spawn Point Marketing, a fractional CMO practice for indie and AA game studios, and the publisher of Game & Word - an award-winning Substack examining video games through interdisciplinary academic lenses. In this episode, Jay breaks down why most indie studios are invisible at launch (hint: they started marketing too late), walks through his 6-component Functional Marketing Framework, and shares the scrappy story of how he grew a mobile game from zero to hundreds of thousands of users without a single dollar in ad spend. Plus: the high school vending machine protest campaign that started it all. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro and fun fact: the AI personalities of Pac-Man ghosts 01:00 - Scrappy or sophisticated? Jay makes his case 01:40 - Growing up between New Orleans, Mexico City, and Miami 03:43 - Life with a foot in two worlds - and the entrepreneurial spark it lit 04:46 - The high school vending machine protest campaign 08:14 - Grades, curiosity, and learning how to think vs. what to think 10:05 - Game & Word: examining games through interdisciplinary academic lenses 14:49 - The $200B gaming industry and why discoverability is the real crisis 15:34 - The 6-component Functional Marketing Framework for indie studios 22:33 - How to get content creators to notice your game (the scrappy way) 27:34 - Wishlist momentum, revenue projections, and getting data-driven 29:25 - Favorite games growing up: Final Fantasy VII, Zelda, and Earthbound 31:37 - The founding of Spawn Point Marketing - sink or swim 36:48 - Getting first clients through inbound only (no cold outreach) 38:36 - Lightning round: desk setup, inbox chaos, and 63,403 unread emails 42:56 - What makes Jay feel sophisticated: buying the house and signing the office lease 43:43 - Three takeaways: start early, stay consistent, own your marketing 48:38 - Where to find Jay and the June 9 webinar Spawn Point Marketing: https://spawnpointmarketing.com Launch Readiness Scorecard: https://scorecard.spawnpointmarketing.com SPM Substack: https://spawnpointmarketing.substack.com Game & Word Substack: https://gameandword.substack.com Jay's Webinar (June 9): https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/building-a-marketing-engine-for-your-game-without-a-cmo-tickets-1988318245396?aff=jay Jay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayrooneysf/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-tompkins/ https://www.pineapplecf.com https://www.pineapplejacktompkins.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCalnj5yLU0ZH9y_tVl1J4ng

If you're a fractional CFO or accountant who wants to deliver AI-powered insights to your clients - and get the credit for it - Pineapple Analyst is built for you. In this demo, we walk through how Pineapple Analyst works as your white label AI analyst and CFO dashboard solution, including: - Pre-built QuickBooks dashboards ready in minutes (executive overview, P&L, balance sheet, and more) - An AI analyst your clients can ask questions to - fully customizable with client-specific context - Custom dashboard creation with a simple prompt - no code, no weeks of setup - Full white label branding so your clients associate the insights with you - Multi-client management that scales from 2 clients to 200 You stay the strategic advisor. We stay behind the scenes. Reach out: PineappleAnalyst.ai jack@pineapplecf.com

Eric Tjoeng grew up in Indonesia in a family of seven entrepreneurs, started his first business venture at age 12 promoting a comedy show, and eventually moved to Australia to build a career starting at Deloitte. After 20+ years in senior executive roles at multinationals - including GM of a $1.4B automotive group - he founded Business Growth and Exit Specialists (BGES) in Sydney, where he now helps small and medium businesses grow strategically and exit successfully. He's 100% sophisticated, and the data agrees. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro and Australia Fun Fact: The Dingo Fence 01:11 - Scrappy or Sophisticated? Eric's Answer 02:45 - Growing Up in Indonesia with 7 Entrepreneurs 05:28 - Age 12 Comedy Show Promoter and First Investment 07:14 - Deloitte, Multinationals, and the SME Shift 10:34 - Why SME Owners Work Hard But Don't Get Returns 13:27 - The Dashboard Formula and Data-Driven Strategy 17:35 - Founding BGES and Getting That First Client 25:40 - The Australia Exit Crisis: 200K Exits, 45K Walk Away With Nothing 31:10 - The BGES Exit Formula and Business Valuation 38:44 - Speed vs. Strategy - Eric's Answer 40:27 - Lightning Round: Inbox, Celebrations, and Vetting Clients 43:39 - Final Verdict: 100% Sophisticated Guest Links: https://www.linkedin.com/in/etjoeng/ https://bges.co Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-tompkins/ https://www.pineapplecf.com https://www.pineappleanalyst.ai https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCalnj5yLU0ZH9y_tVl1J4ng

How to build dashboards so good they eliminate meetings. Thanks for coming to the presentation! More on us and free stuff: pineapplecf.com pineappleanalyst.ai https://hubspot-dashboard.pineapplecf.com/

What does it really take to build a business that creates higher returns AND more joy? Tina Dao, founder of Liberated Leaders, has lived the answer - from baking cupcakes for her dad's hunting camps and negotiating car loans with her grandpa at 17, to leading operations at Amazon, Fitbit, and Walmart before launching her own fractional COO firm. In this episode, Tina and Jack dig into conscious capitalism, the "silver tsunami" of business transitions, why the trades are safer than college right now, and how to know when your company needs to move between scrappy and sophisticated. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro + fun fact: butterflies taste with their feet 00:54 - Scrappy vs. sophisticated: Tina's take on the tension between the two 02:00 - Growing up in Western Colorado with sheep ranchers and serial entrepreneurs 09:04 - First hustles: baking for hunting camps, babysitting, and cleaning houses at 12 13:42 - Negotiating a car loan from grandpa at 17 - with a term sheet 15:32 - A 2.0 GPA, 98s on every test, and why the trades beat college right now 19:06 - US Navy electronics technician to corporate operations 25:32 - Starting Liberated Leaders and the case for conscious capitalism 29:25 - Landing the first client, the family bet, and the real cost of going out on your own 35:15 - Lightning round: scrappy studio, inbox limits, and corporate pet peeves 43:39 - The Liberated Leaders pitch: 5-10x returns, more delight, and the silver tsunami Tina Dao - Liberated Leaders https://www.liberatedleaders.com Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-tompkins/ https://www.pineapplecf.com https://www.pineapplejacktompkins.com/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCalnj5yLU0ZH9y_tVl1J4ng

Custom built dashboards and insights to your exact specifications within our Pineapple Analyst tool! Reach out to beta test: support@pineapplecf.com More details: https://www.pineappleanalyst.ai/