The Human Connection Podcast

Is your business’s growth stalled? Employee churn eating into your profits? Struggling with customer retention? 

You need stronger connections.

Every Tuesday, connect with an expert who’s sharing actionable advice for building stronger relationships with your customers, clients, and stakeholders. Hosted by Karl Pontau, a storytelling super-connector, content system strategist, and survivor of two childhood brain tumors, this podcast’s mission is to fix the underlying cause of workplace and societal dysfunction: the lack of human connection.

Learn more at www.thehumanconnectionpodcast.com

Podcast Host

Squash and Stretch Productions

My heroic mission involves guiding teams to bring visionary Content Systems and strategies to life. By fostering a creative environment where complex ideas transform into compelling visual stories, I've helped clients achieve remarkable results. What drives me is connecting clients' missions with audiences through visually striking content that sparks action. By nurturing talent and overseeing seamless workflows, I ensure our work not only captivates but also delivers on strategic goals.

▶️Led Enovix’s team to clearly and concisely explain the value of their innovative battery tech - taking them from a 45 minute explanation to a 2 minute video – supporting their $1.13B SPAC event and their $250 million contract with the US Army. Optimized creative strategy and message to grab and hold viewer’s attention. Navigated around two major holidays and an unexpected scope change to deliver on time and under budget.

▶️Recruited and managed the team, budget, and timeline for a collaborative animation project that convinced the San Jose City Council to require life-saving firefighting tech in high-rises, catalyzed adoption in 18 other cities, and contributed to a $100M IP sale for my client. 

▶️Designed flexible content system for La Familia's anti-Fentanyl campaign, enabling rapid pivot when major challenge arose; directed production and content adaptation while production team saved two lives through Narcan administration during new on-site shoot; final campaign successfully deployed regionwide.

Freelance Art Director / Senior Digital Creative Producer

SAE Expression College

As a Brand Story Coach, I've helped entrepreneurs translate their knowledge into actionable ideas for their ideal consumer. Additionally, in the classroom, I've had the joy of shaping future creatives. Through developing curricula and adapting to diverse learning styles, I created supportive environments where innovation thrives and students discover their creative potential.

▶️Advised a local coach on connecting client challenges to his solutions, boosting referrals and sales through improved value communication.

▶️Mentored college students at SAE Expressions in advanced motion graphics, editing, and branding, guiding them through complex software challenges to enhance their technical proficiency and creative output. 

▶️Inspired young minds aged 9-17 at iD Tech Camps, fostering creativity and teamwork while leading students through courses including web design, animation, and robotics.

Storytelling Coach / Teacher / Mentor

GuideSpark

My leadership journey began as a production team member, where I discovered my passion for contributing toward a shared vision. I learned that great leadership creates harmony in both team dynamics and the final product. I also learned that my favorite projects are socially impactful and profitable. Each project laid the foundation for my skills in leading cross-functional teams, managing end-to-end production, and turning creative challenges into opportunities for growth and connection. 

▶️Fostered open communication between animators and VFX coordinators and ensured director feedback was thoughtfully implemented as Animation Coordinator for The Glass Butterfly.

▶️Created intricate 3D facial animations for a confidential project, honing my ability to deliver exceptional work on time and under budget while honoring client trust at FlickerLab.

▶️Collaborated with a remote team to explain organizational change strategies and processes that help companies be more agile at Fire Tribe, Inc. 

▶️Contributed to a local team that created 1,700+ accurate employee benefit animations in 3 months at GuideSpark.

▶️Championed i-GATE's vision for a thriving Tri-Valley startup community that now brings new tech from local labs to the marketplace.

Contract Motion Designer

Health/Med Tech companies and nonprofits have vital - yet difficult - stories to tell. 

So, they struggle to explain their value and attract their best clients.

What makes a story difficult?

Stories that…

😨Cover emotionally triggering subjects... (Cancer, Overdoses, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome)
😵Focus on complex or abstract ideas... (Battery tech, Air Tank Refill Systems)
😳Reveal deeply personal experiences... (Founder Stories, Mental Health, Loss)

...are all difficult to effectively tell.

But, I am uniquely equipped to solve these challenges because I:

💗 Show empathy and compassion for clients, team members, and audiences via active listening
🧠 Bring a deep understanding of human decision making and behavior to every project
🚀 Employ an entrepreneurial mindset honed from running my small production agency

I was inspired to focus on these skills after overcoming two malignant brain tumors when I was 15, and am forever grateful for my family, friends, and medical team for showing me what can be accomplished when people care for each other, clearly communicate, and work towards a common goal. 

Once you optimize your story, you’ll need to get it in front of your audience.

That takes a Content System.

These:

💡 Starts with a comprehensive Content Strategy
📚 Delivers a custom asset library for your brand
📲 Generates adaptive content for multiple platforms
💰 Results in greater cost savings and ROI over time

For example:

🎉 Led Enovix’s team to clearly and concisely explain the value of their innovative battery tech - taking them from a 45 minute explanation to a 2 minute video – supporting their $1.13B SPAC event and their $250 million contract with the US Army. Optimized creative strategy and message to grab and hold viewer’s attention. Navigated around two major holidays and an unexpected scope change to deliver on time and under budget.

🥂 Recruited and managed the team, budget, and timeline for a collaborative animation project that convinced the San Jose City Council to require life-saving firefighting tech in high-rises, catalyzed adoption in 18 other cities, and contributed to a $100M IP sale for my client.

If you are interested in discussing how I can add value to your team and accelerate your company's growth, please email me at kpontau@gmail.com or send a DM.

Let's talk!

(I’m open to contract or full time employment.)

Karl Pontau

The CEO Success Coach

I was a CEO for 25 years, a venture capitalist for 5 years, and was trained by an outstanding CEO coach for 17 years. I’m a board member and an expert in AI. I received my MBA from Harvard Business School.

I’m committed to my CEO clients’ success. 

Please visit www.glenngow.com. 

- "The value per minute you provide is astronomical." - Sameer Ahuja, President, GameChanger
- "Glenn is an exceptional coach. His impact on my professional development has been nothing short of transformative." - AJ Bruno, CEO, QuotaPath
- “Glenn is definitely world-class.” - Albert Navarro, CEO, MetricLock
- “I feel I have superpower eyesight with you in my corner.” - Michael Kadisha, CEO, Treedom
- “He helped me raise $3M” - Darren Marble, co-CEO, Crush Capital
- “Glenn proved his value in every coaching session.” - Olin Hyde, former CEO, LeadCrunch
- "It has been very valuable working with you!" - Cynthia Tusan, CEO, Idea Lab
- “Every coaching session with Glenn has been extremely valuable.” - Jeff Strnad, CEO, DOOR USA
- “I have become a better CEO through Glenn’s guidance and counsel." - Liam Nguyen, CEO, PixelCanvas
- “Glenn deeply cares about our success.” - Srinivas Akella, CEO, Wootcloud
- “I credit a lot of my success in navigating challenging times to Glenn.” - Allan Njoroge, CEO, Actriv Healthcare
- "The value Glenn provides in each meeting is so significant, it's hard to keep up." - CEO, Software Company
- “Glenn provided me with new insights that have helped me and the company tremendously." - Simon Law, CEO, LoginID
- "Glenn's coaching has made a huge difference in how quickly and confidently we've been able to grow." - Rick Jones, CEO, WorkReels

Soteria Intelligence

Glenn contributes to corporate strategy, risk, and governance. Soteria is an AI-based company delivering the next generation of social media and digital customer experience solutions.

Board Member

Stanford University

Mentor and advisor to graduate students in the Management Science & Engineering Program -- the Technology Venture Formation course. 

Mentor to students in the course "Designing Decentralized Applications on Blockchain".

Advisor, Stanford Technology Ventures Program 

Clear Ventures

I coached the CEOs of our portfolio companies on growth strategy, organizational structure, target market definition, culture, fundraising, and more. Each of the CEOs I have coached has successfully moved their companies to the next stage of growth.

Marketing Partner

acuteIQ

As a board member, I advised CEO on strategy, corporate structure, product roadmap, market adoption, and positioning. acuteIQ is a customer acquisition platform that uses artificial intelligence and first-party data to deliver a 4X improvement in performance. Company was acquired.

Crimson Consulting Group

Ran this highly successful strategy consulting firm, while serving as Chairman of the Board. The company helped Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Oracle, SAP, Seagate, VMware and many start-ups become even more successful through strategic marketing consultation. 

Engagements included: 

For an education client, helped them save millions in advertising spend and redirected their marketing dollars to the highest impact marketing activities, greatly increasing their return on marketing investment

Helped Cisco create a global go-to-market approach for the SMB market, resulting in over $250M of incremental revenue within the first three years

For IBM, drove a Business Partner Acceleration Program that achieved 138% of pipeline target

For Microsoft, created a “competitive migration” program which helped move $100M in incremental revenue to their platform within a year

For Google, developed and executed a demand generation program, doubling the number of leads for the sales organization

For Seagate, recommended the technology architecture and products for the divisional demand center. Then, implemented the systems to start creating new pipeline. This effort helped Seagate sell the division at a higher price than anticipated.

Launched over 100 products / companies, starting with the strategy and ending with the tactical execution. 

Produced a popular podcast called Moneyball for Marketing. This included interviewing over 300 CMOs on the topic of Big Data and Marketing Automation.

Wrote the book Revenue and the CMO – How Marketing Will Impact Revenue Through Big Data and Social Selling.

Chairman of the Board and CEO

Checkd.in

As an advisory board member, advised CEO on transition from a professional services firm to a subscription-based revenue company. Checkd.in is a company collects consumer data from celebrity fans to enable pinpoint targeting, resulting in massive improvement in revenue across multiple venues and channels. Company was acquired.

Advisory Board Member

Ventra Systems

As a board member, contributed to strategy, governance and compensation issues. Ventra is a revolutionary water processing system to remove toxins from groundwater. The company was acquired.

Oracle

Was hired by Silicon Valley legend Tom Siebel (founder of Siebel Systems) to be the first marketing person in the sales organization. Focused on vertical / industry marketing.

Various Sales & Marketing Management Roles

Verizon

Sales

I was a CEO for 25 years, a venture capitalist for 5 years, and was trained by a CEO coach for 17 years. I’m a board member and an expert in AI. I received my MBA from Harvard Business School.

I’m committed to my CEO clients’ success. 

Please visit www.glenngow.com. 

Some references from my CEO clients:
- "The value per minute you provide is astronomical." - Sameer Ahuja, President, GameChanger
- “Glenn is definitely world-class.” - Albert Navarro, CEO, MetricLock
- “I feel I have superpower eyesight with you in my corner.” - Michael Kadisha, CEO, Treedom
- "Glenn is an exceptional executive coach. His impact on my professional development has been nothing short of transformative." - AJ Bruno, CEO, QuotaPath
- “He helped me raise $3M” - Darren Marble, co-CEO, Crush Capital
- “Glenn proved his value in every coaching session.” - Olin Hyde, former CEO, LeadCrunch
- "It has been very valuable working with you!" - Cynthia Tusan, CEO, Idea Lab
- “Every coaching session with Glenn has been extremely valuable.” - Jeff Strnad, CEO, DOOR USA
- “I have become a better CEO through Glenn’s guidance and counsel." - Liam Nguyen, CEO, PixelCanvas
- “Glenn deeply cares about our success.” - Srinivas Akella, CEO, Wootcloud
- “I credit a lot of my success in navigating challenging times to Glenn.” - Allan Njoroge, CEO, Actriv Healthcare
- "The value Glenn provides in each meeting is so significant, it's hard to keep up." - CEO, Software Company
- “Glenn provided me with new insights that have helped me and the company tremendously." - Simon Law, CEO, LoginID
- "Glenn's coaching has made a huge difference in how quickly and confidently we've been able to grow." - Rick Jones, CEO, WorkReels

I was founder and CEO of Crimson Consulting Group, where I ran the company for 25 years. My work includes:
• Apple: launch new products into new markets, 
• Facebook: leverage marketing technology, 
• Microsoft: a “competitive migration” program creating $100M in incremental revenue, 
• Cisco: a global GTM approach resulting in $250M of additional revenue
• Google: doubling the number of leads for the sales organization

Areas of expertise:  
- Strategy development
- Coaching CEOs
- Board membership
- Board of Directors
- Board Service
- AI Governance
- Board Governance
- Speaking
- Leadership
- Data Privacy
- Digital Transformation
- AI
- Artificial Intelligence
- Machine Learning
- Natural Language Processing
- Deep Learning
- Robotics
- Computer Vision
- Deep Fakes
- ChatGPT
- Generative AI

taplio

The Battle

Karl Pontau

Glenn Gow

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