Enterprenuer
Mike Piddock, the founder and CEO of Glisser, is an award-winning tech platform that powers unique company events anywhere.
Glisser allows companies to create engaging events for their partners, customers, investors, employees, and customers.
Glisser goes beyond screen sharing and video to create engaging, high-participation events of any size.
Planners can make every event memorable with best-in-class virtual or hybrid event tools. Informa, KPMG, and Uber are just a few of the clients.
Before forming Glisser, Mike was a Chief Market Officer in the telecoms, financial services, and media industries.
He was responsible for budgets of multi-million dollars with a heavy weighting toward client and employee events.
Following this, Mike worked as a Chief Marketing Officer at Octopus Investments (a London fund manager and venture capital firm).
He was responsible for helping to grow assets under management from PS500m up to PS4billion in just five years.
From where did the idea of Glisser originate?
Before forming Glisser, I was involved in B2B marketing in various industries.
There has been a quiet revolution within marketing in the last ten years.
The sector became much more data-driven. As Google Ads took over direct mail and print, the ‘Mad Men” became ‘Math Men.
Events and conferences were often the enormous B2B marketing budgets.
However, it wasn’t easy to measure and track them effectively.
I was looking for a way of better analyzing my events. The product has a wide range.
How do you make your day more productive?
I enjoy a fast pace of work and love being active.
I schedule anchor meetings in my day, with small blocks of work between them.
This allows me to strike the right balance between working and thinking and collaborating.
These meetings are more focused on the direction set at the beginning of the week but more reflective and relaxed at the end. ).
How can you bring your ideas to life?
My team would probably say that I use analogies. Sometimes, they are stretched too far.
Work with people with different skill sets, personalities, and experience levels.
A simple analogy can be a great way to bring them together, provided they can all understand the reference.
Which trend is your favorite?
How COVID will change the way we work is exciting to me.
I am interested in how companies react when they can return to work and what impact this can have on areas in the UK and around the world that are now able to retain their talent.
People who can live far away hurt regional service providers and other things such as town planning, technology use, and events.
I guess that I am just excited about how we rebuild and how we do it better.
Which habit makes you more productive as an entrepreneur than another?
I am happy to be able to manage my mental health, balancing out the bad days and enjoying the good times.
It is essential to take a step back from the moment and see things differently. The journey is something I genuinely enjoy.
What advice would your younger self give you?
Learn how to code.
We need to hear something you believe that is true and that nearly everyone agrees with.
The remake of The Italian Job was better than the original.
What is one thing that you recommend to everyone as a successful entrepreneur?
You can often find something that could be used to improve your business by looking beyond your industry, such as marketing trends, business models, product ideas, customer behavior, and business models.
Which strategy has been most successful in growing your business?
We have always attempted to understand the needs of our customers. Not just right now but in the future.
Then we can position ourselves for their arrival (did I mention that I love an analogy?).
For example, we discussed the GDPR’s impact on events a year after it was implemented.
This campaign remains our most successful to date, as it shaped our product roadmaps and content strategies.
How did you overcome that failure as an entrepreneur?
I regret most not having hired a few great people who would have made a great addition to our team.
To avoid it happening again, I have emphasized the interview technique.
Which business idea would you be willing to share with our readers?
Drop-shipping is a business that sells valuable gadgets and tools that can be used at home.
Companies can add staff members to the company, and they will receive equipment and perks.
We did that for our staff (read our blog here: https://blog.glisser.com/best-wfh-items-essentials-setup-2021), and it was a manual process.
Which was the most expensive $100 you spent recently? Which and why?
Peloton shoes were purchased for me to use my wife’s bicycle. It’s been great during a lockdown.
I am more motivated to beat my PR (or PB, as we say here in the UK).
Maybe my approach to building my business is similar.
Which piece of software or web service can you use to help you be more productive?
Otter.AI is an excellent way to transcribe my thoughts quickly – I love it for interviews like these so I can answer in my own words.
Which book would you recommend to our community? Why?
This question is tricky because I wouldn’t say I like business books.
I enjoy book reading as a relaxation and leisure activity.
Instead, I read blogs and other online content all the time.
Jason Lemkin from SaaStr is my go-to.
Which quote is your favourite?
All men (sic), dream, but not equally
T.E. Lawrence
What are the Key Learnings “Mike Piddock” could offer to Enterprenuer readers?
For inspiration, look outwards and ahead.
Take control of your time and your mental state.
With clarity of thought and decisive action, act with conviction
Be your motivator
Act, dream, and dream.
