Pivot With Purpose Season 6 Episode 18 Sam Pantazopoulos Full Transcript
Meghan Houle (00:02.092)
Hi, Sam, welcome to the Pivot With Purpose podcast. Thanks so much for being here with us today.
Sam Pantazopoulos (00:07.736)
I'm so excited, thank you for having me.
Meghan Houle (00:10.742)
Well, no, it's my pleasure. And I love how our worlds collided as we were chatting a little bit earlier just with all things retail and, you know, big juicy pivots and all that you support with your company, Visor. So I can't wait to dive in and hear about your creation and your clients and your passions and your purpose. So lots of fun things to dig into. before we get started, I always love to check in with all of my guests, like
what's going on in your world now, what's really lighting you up. Like we're kind of getting close to the end of summer, which we kind of are. I mean, it's like Labor Day weekend soon, but I'm so sad. I feel like the year goes by slow and then fast, and then the summer's always whizzed by. So I hope you're enjoying it. But where are we catching you in the here and now? Tell us a little bit about what's going on in Sam's world.
Sam Pantazopoulos (00:59.638)
No, totally enjoying it. I'm one of those weird people that loves like the beginning of the year, Mondays, anything fresh. But as we come to the end of summer, I've been spending the last few weeks in this really small town in Wisconsin with my family. It's been great just doing like really long walks every morning, spending time on the water. So very peaceful, relaxed and great energetically.
Meghan Houle (01:22.498)
I love that. I was listening to a podcast earlier this week where you talk about taking yourself out of a space that is really comfortable for you and putting yourself in a new kind of energy. It's sort of this grow where you thrive, which a lot of times people just need to take, whether it's your home office or the actual office or somewhere where you're just maybe feeling uninspired.
or exhausted or whatever. It's so fun to be able to like get out and get into a new space. And you probably from there build lots of energy and creativity and magic. And just being in nature is so inspiring for me too. I'm right there with you. So I'm actually super jealous. As I sit here in Boston with like cars honking behind me. So I will try not to ruin your vibe, Sam, I promise. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (02:13.974)
No, not at all. Yeah, changing, changing your environment, everything. So whether it's just like a coffee shop or when I was little, even I would drag furniture around my room to get a new vibe and a new setup. anything like creative and giving you a new aesthetic to look at, I find helps me with new ideas. I don't know if there's a connection, but I find it helpful.
Meghan Houle (02:23.698)
my god, me too!
Meghan Houle (02:34.782)
No, it really isn't. I love that you just said that. I used to write down on a piece of paper the specs of my room, and then I would graph out a little architect, like, if I moved my bed here, I would have so much more space. I used to do that all the time. my God, we're kindred spirits. I love it. That's so cool. Yes. So tell us, diving into your background experience, talk to us a little bit about here and now professionally.
Sam Pantazopoulos (02:52.314)
That's all right.
Meghan Houle (03:01.27)
I know you're a co -founder of a really amazing company. So let's talk a little bit about what you're leading and then would love to like hear about some of those pivots that got you to where you are. But what inspired you to co -found Vizor and how did you identify this need for a platform that really bridges the gap between online and offline shopping experiences, right? Tell us a little bit more about that.
Sam Pantazopoulos (03:24.932)
So in terms of background, I had the idea to start Vizor in college. So really limited from that perspective, but I knew I wanted to start a business. I grew up in a really entrepreneurial family. So my dad had a carpet cleaning business. My cousin's my co -founder. His mom had like a licensing firm. So we grew up in that environment where people were making their own schedule and they were building something from scratch. And I just kind of knew that was something that interested me.
It wasn't until I was in school that I participated in this social venture incubator where I had the original idea for Vizor, which was actually a consumer app that we launched right out of school and it would allow people to earn healthy rewards and make an impact by working out. So that was kind of like the core concept of the business. It has dramatically evolved since then. So I love that we're here to talk about pivots because we made a pretty significant one.
Meghan Houle (04:12.078)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (04:21.229)
moving into the B2B space, but we originally started as a consumer app and then realized the technology that we had developed had a much broader application if we went directly to businesses and had an enterprise solution rather than a consumer product.
Meghan Houle (04:37.327)
Okay, yeah, we'll definitely dive into that, but where did you start off early on in your career and then, you know, in the pivotal moment to create it? I mean, it sounds like early on you had this idea, but do you feel like what you were going to school for led you to do this or was your heart set on something else and you're like, nope, this is my pivot. Like I'm riding on this idea. What was that like for you?
Sam Pantazopoulos (05:00.442)
So I went to school to study business. I went to the University of San Diego. I studied business administration, which ended up, I mean, as a great career path if anybody listening in wants to do something in the startup space, it teaches you a little bit of everything. So I was working in management and marketing and operations and finance and economics, kind of like a little tapas of everything that you would need to loosely know to start a business.
Meghan Houle (05:02.766)
Mm
Sam Pantazopoulos (05:26.34)
But the competition I ended up doing in school was really focused on startups and innovation. So what's your concept? How do you make a pitch deck, a business model canvas? How do you bring it to life? In terms of the actual concept, that was more from personal experience. I hated working out and I wanted something that would motivate me to do it. But my professional experience was quite limited at that point. I mean, I'd done a handful of internships. I'd interned at a startup.
which was a really good learning experience. But I was just kind of at that fork in the road. You do I want to go find maybe a consulting job or a job in big tech, or do I want to work for a startup or start my own? And the more I wrestled with that decision and like had different interview experiences and met with different people, the more clear it became. The startup path was most interesting to me. So I decided to do it, you know, the day after graduation.
Meghan Houle (06:19.566)
Yeah. Yeah. You're like, let's do it. Well, so interesting to hear about in navigating those conversations as I was talking to you a little bit about what I do on the recruiting side and hiring and job matchmaking, all of it. I mean, I always say to my candidates I work with clarity of what is next comes from engagement, right? Have conversations, see what lands, see what doesn't.
But at some point in this entrepreneurial journey, there's always, I would say sometimes a linking theme when you're feeling like you really wanna start to build something on your own versus getting swallowed up into like a corporate company or however it is. And we know it's not for everyone, what was sitting with you that really just led you to this like decision after meeting with other companies or talking to people that you're like, I just wanna do this on my own.
Was there something that you're just like, I don't want to be told what to do. I don't want to go into an office. I mean, that's usually, we don't want to be told what to do, Sam. Let's be honest.
Sam Pantazopoulos (07:15.21)
totally. think yeah, you explained it perfectly. I was applying for jobs. So my junior year was after I had had the original idea of the company, but I wasn't really sold to do it full time at that point. So I was interviewing with different organizations and had spent some time. I remember in like the Google office and the Salesforce office through something that had been organized through my college.
Meghan Houle (07:37.272)
Mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (07:37.598)
And talking to people that were working at these companies and saying, Hey, this is kind of what I want to do. I would love to do something innovative and creative and have the opportunity to be on the forefront of new products that you're building. And as I was explaining that to the people who I was speaking with, they were like, Hey, you're kind of junior to come in and do that here. You're going to have to. Exactly. You're going to have to build your way towards those kinds of opportunities and.
Meghan Houle (07:58.08)
geez, that term, the junior. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (08:08.11)
I understood that, it made sense to me, but if you had this startup path where you could just jump in and start learning right away, why would you not do that? And I kind of wrestled that against maybe an MBA program similarly, why learn about a business if you could just start building one? And I think all signs really pointed to, okay, we're gonna figure it out as we go and I hope it goes well.
Meghan Houle (08:30.892)
Yeah, no, that's awesome. And just starting and like jumping in head first into the unknown. But when you have an idea and you're just so passionate about it, you got to go for it. And some people don't. So I'll give you a lot of credit. So let's talk about Vizor. What did it originally start out to be? And how is that pivoted to where it is now? Would love to hear that early beginnings. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (08:55.034)
So Vizor started, so Vizor is short for incentivize. Incentives is kind of like the goal of everything. So it was how do we use incentives to motivate people to develop healthier habits? And the incentives that we had was if you completed some kind of challenge, some fitness challenge, you could donate a meal and then you could earn healthy rewards for yourself. We worked with everyone from SoulCycle to restaurants to power this kind of ecosystem approach.
Meghan Houle (08:58.722)
Mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (09:22.97)
went to scale that nationwide in March of 2020 and all restaurants shut down because of COVID.
Meghan Houle (09:30.606)
March of 2020. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (09:34.596)
Came for everyone, introduced some unforeseen challenges, certainly, but it redirected us on the path of retail. So if you could work out, donate, and then get rewards from a grocery store, that felt really aligned with the ecosystem that we were building. So you could go to a Walmart, for example, and get a free ollie pop after you'd completed your challenges. And as we were building this kind of dual marketplace, we were realizing just how hard that is to pull off.
So it's the classic kind of Uber problem of you have your drivers and you have your riders and how can you grow both equivalently so they can support one another. And we realized that the incentive technology we had was actually being capped by our ability to grow the user base and made the decision to put that tool out on the open internet. So now how it works is we work with brands, they're able to work with us to create these incentives, but they can distribute them.
through a variety of channels. And it's really become an omni -channel approach to help drive these rewards in retail versus having it in a closed ecosystem like an app that you have to download.
Meghan Houle (10:35.022)
Mm -hmm.
Meghan Houle (10:44.514)
Yeah, wow, that's really cool. Well, was there a pivotal moment when you realized Vizor could really revolutionize the retail marketing space and like what have been maybe some of the successes that you've seen coming out of it with some of your clients?
Sam Pantazopoulos (10:59.738)
For us, I am really involved with the product. So I do a lot of user interface design and love working with that side of the business. And I think just the simplicity of being able to go into a Ralph's near me to get this offer, like everything about it just kind of fit from a consumer perspective and realizing that there were easier ways to distribute it. So it was really customer led with a lot of our brands saying, hey, we absolutely love what we're doing here.
you know, is there an opportunity for us to maybe use this in SMS? Is there an opportunity for us to use this in influencer? Is there an opportunity in paid media? And as we started talking about that, we realized, hey, this opportunity is getting bigger and bigger and bigger of ways that this technology can be of service and we should explore those. And the more we explored them, the more clear it became, like that was definitely the path.
Meghan Houle (11:54.744)
Yeah, that's awesome. So many ways and different platforms and opportunities to use it to really benefit clients to drive that consumer engagement, sale, purchase, all of it. So I love that. And I guess as an entrepreneur with multiple accolades, what has been the most significant challenges you feel like you faced in building Vizor and what are you really proud of that you've been able to overcome in this journey?
Sam Pantazopoulos (12:21.676)
Multiple accolades is generous. Thank you.
Meghan Houle (12:23.79)
You are, yeah. I'm always the biggest hype girl. I got you Sam, but yes, you're pretty amazing. So, mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (12:31.77)
yeah. I think the biggest hurdles have been evolving at the same pace of the business. having to learn the skills while you're kind of navigating them, whether that's, hey, we have to build a new process or we're growing our team, we're raising capital, people management, there's kind of something new every single day. And for the company to keep going in the direction of where you're trying to get it to go.
Meghan Houle (12:44.888)
Yeah. Wow.
Sam Pantazopoulos (13:00.91)
you have to, as a leader, be ahead of that as much as you can. And I think that is the challenge when you're learning those same skills at the same time you're trying to implement them. But in doing so, that's also kind of the greatest gift because you're given this opportunity to expand your skillset, to be learning every day. And for me, that's what I love, like the energy of new and being able to explore and startups are such a great vehicle for that. And any kind of like professional personal development, I always say.
Meghan Houle (13:26.829)
Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (13:30.916)
you're interested in personal development, throw yourself off the defense.
Meghan Houle (13:33.742)
Yes, amen to that. Been in many deep ends for sure, but no, that's such great advice. And in the journey too of creating and shaping teams, I mean, I'm sure that it's shaped your approach to leadership and business strategy as well. So what are some lessons that you've learned along your journey that have shaped that leadership and business side of you as well?
Sam Pantazopoulos (14:00.964)
The people side of it, I think is the most exciting and also the most evolving. So working with people on our team to figure out how are we going to tackle whatever the problem is that we're trying to solve? And then also, how are we going to put our best foot forward in doing that? So we do a lot internally on mindset and what are things that we can be preparing ourselves for in advance? So when this challenge or situation arises, we are prepared.
One of the really, really big ones that I like to say over and over is not to fight invisible enemies. And I'm sure I heard that somewhere, so I won't take credit for it, but we use it a lot where just kind of this concept that our brain will believe whatever story we tell it. And you have to be really, really careful not to tell it a story that's going to drain all of your energy unnecessarily.
So say there's a challenge with the product not working exactly as you hoped it to, or there's a client issue that we're trying to deal with, just waiting until you get all of the context and you actually talk to somebody and you figure out exactly what's going on. And then making your plan from there versus cat, catastrophizing, is that the word? Catastrophizing all of the things that could go wrong and coming up with all of these contingency plans.
Meghan Houle (15:18.978)
Yeah. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (15:25.146)
So by the time you show up for that situation, you've already drained 90 % of your energy.
Meghan Houle (15:29.634)
Yeah, you're like, it's not gonna work out. You're like, let's not focus on that. So I hear that. Yeah, that's great. I love that. How big is your team and where are you guys based? Are you remote? Like what's your work situation? I guess you would say, yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (15:44.922)
So we're up to 17 now and we're based in San Diego. We've gone back and forth on the remote hybrid and office situation, especially with the COVID years. But we actually recently just got an office back in San Diego and everybody's super excited to be able to work with one another and kind of have that collaboration space because we've been remote for the last year and people are close and I think they like the opportunity to work together. So we try to like create that.
Meghan Houle (15:46.848)
Okay, wow, that's awesome.
Sam Pantazopoulos (16:15.14)
We're one of those companies, it's strange, where people were really pushing me to get back in the office. So I had to find.
Meghan Houle (16:20.266)
Yeah, no, it's great. Well, it seems like, you you obviously seem so fantastic and I have no doubt you're creating a super amazing culture. And I think when you have that.
And I just also feel like things are so much easier done in person, Sam. Like, please get me off video. Like, it's so exhausting. I feel like people are just so fatigued. Like, great, I was at home, cool. I can like do laundry and the dishes and like workout in my house. But like now we're like, no. I actually like gave, I feel like everyone has, but like I gave away my home workout stuff. I'm like, I want to be in person too. And I feel like in real life, whether it be events or just things like, definitely 2024 is really like.
really the uptick of that, even though we've been doing it for the past couple of years. I do feel like people are super motivated to kind of get back into routine and just like we were saying before, a change of scenery from your own house or space and being with people, not feeling alone, making really great decisions, celebrating successes is important. And I love San Diego. I've never been there. My husband's like, we need to go to San Diego. I'm a big California girl, even though I'm East Coast based. So I'll just come visit you too in your office. right?
Sam Pantazopoulos (17:28.174)
you have to come. We'll show you around our office in La Jolla. So right by the water. It's like a great, great spot. Plenty of coffee shops. Run into people.
Meghan Houle (17:35.362)
Perfect. Perfect. It'll be Megan Hall Satellite Office. Fine, sold. You know, don't have to force it. No one's going I love that. Well, what are some of your core values would you say in your business? Because it's so important, you know, as you're framing the business offering, you know, to really hire, recruit, retain. Again, going back to my like recruiting expertise, like the people piece is so important and you retain them because of the culture that you create. So what are some of those core values that you hold?
in creating this culture and then the leadership and others.
Sam Pantazopoulos (18:10.202)
great timing because we actually just defined them. So we had them loosely, but once we had 50 employees and I just kind of decided, you know, I think it's time for us to really formalize this. If we don't have it written out somewhere, it's hard to have it permeate through the culture in like a meaningful way. So my co -founder and I sat down and we said, let's come up with our values and get them written down so we know exactly what they are. And they spell out visor. So.
Meghan Houle (18:11.906)
You
Meghan Houle (18:15.928)
Mm
Meghan Houle (18:26.798)
Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (18:38.958)
really easy for people to remember. But the first is vision. I think being able to kind of see the forest through the trees, like how do you look at the big picture? Don't get too caught up in the details, but be aware of them. And then also like know where you're driving towards. Kind of that North Star is really kind of the ethos of us as an organization. The second is I integrity. So just kind of being aligned with.
Knowing what your values are, putting your best foot forward, showing up that way in all situations, both internally and externally. Third is zeal. So enthusiasm, having excitement and optimism. Like we get to work on the things that we're working on. We have tremendous opportunities and we get to do it together. So being mindful of that and putting gratitude kind of at the front and center. The third or fourth is empathy. E, really trying to
Meghan Houle (19:18.277)
Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (19:37.018)
hone in on that idea of look at the situation through the person that you're interacting with eyes first, and then come back and color it in with your perspective. So whether that's a teammate that you're working on something with, whether it's a client, whether it's some kind of external stakeholder, first understand like, how are they feeling? What are they having to navigate? Why is this important to them? And then kind of complement that in with any context you can add. And I think
you're able to be better of service than if you go straight through your perspective from the outset. Not always the easiest to do. So just having to like remind yourself to do that. And then the last one is our respect, just having respect for everybody that we interact with both internally and externally. It's just like the foundation. I think of how we try to show up. So those are our like company core values. They're official, they're all written out and we reflect on them often.
Meghan Houle (20:34.38)
Love that. Yeah. The E is pretty powerful and I'm gonna I'm like, ooh, I'm downloading, Devine downloading that now because I definitely feel it and I'm sure you have seen it in the world that you've lived in and just tech and sort of entrepreneurs and working with founders. Like a lot of times decisions or things that can happen in your business are so tied to everything you have going on in life that it's a very emotional process.
And within that, there's a lot of very quick reactive outcomes that can come, whether it's energy or a bad email that comes through that you're like, that tone was terrible. So I feel like in dealing with those personalities or tough situations, if someone's maybe feeling or putting out some of those negative vibes on the other side,
That's really great advice of like looking at it through like their lens before you're so quick to react. I've definitely have used some self -awareness moments over the past year or so to like take a step back, take a breath, you know, don't respond right away and then, you know, really collect your thoughts and put together a response. However, you know, you're doing it in a productive way, effective communication, right? So I really love that.
No, that's so great. So I love those values. I'm glad I caught you at a good time to walk through them. So how did you know I knew? I'm psychic. But no, in terms of Vizor too and the retail industry, so going into an industry I know and love and certainly super tapped into, we know it is constantly evolving. So how do you feel Vizor is staying ahead of the curve? And what role do you feel that these omni -channel platforms like yours
play in the future of retail marketing as we know is ever changing too. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (22:27.0)
Yeah, I'm excited to learn more about the work you've done in retail because it's such an interesting space and one that we didn't really expect to find ourselves in the middle of and then found ourselves in the middle of. So we brought, I think, kind of this digital first, consumer first perspective to what we were trying to build in the industry that gave us like a little bit of a different mindset or view towards it. I was really surprised entering retail at how legacy
Meghan Houle (22:38.776)
Mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (22:56.482)
a lot of the solutions were and kind of how things were operating coming from the digital world. Because in digital, with D2C brands, for example, you have complete visibility into what's happening. So if you're running some kind of ad campaign on Facebook, you're able to see, that an effective use of my spend? know, who was coming to Shopify? Who's checking out? You really have access to the full funnel.
And from there, you can make really data -driven decisions to be mindful of your budget and to grow your business. And we kind of come into this world where we realize that's not really the case in a lot of retail marketing. It's really challenging to attribute your marketing efforts to in -store sales. That was really mind blowing for me because I was coming from the startup world where every penny that we spent mattered.
Meghan Houle (23:48.61)
Right. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (23:49.818)
Wasting $1 ,000 on a marketing campaign was just not something that we did even with our consumer app. I mean, we grew that to like 150 ,000 people organically because we didn't have the budget to invest in marketing. So it was really foreign to me, this idea that a lot of money would be spent without really clear attribution into how it was driving sales. That ended up being like this really, really big opportunity. And I think this growth that's happening in the retail space right now.
which is people are trying to, and I should rephrase, people have been trying to solve that problem forever, but it didn't really have the tooling or the ability to do so. And that's what I think a lot of us and other new emergence are trying to address, which is how do we help close the gaps a bit and provide visibility? So the teams are empowered to do everything else they're trying to do, which is figure out how do I market this brand? How do I grow household penetration? How do I.
Meghan Houle (24:25.464)
Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (24:48.11)
do all of that in a cost efficient way. So really underpinning those efforts that have been going on forever.
Meghan Houle (24:55.19)
No, it's so true. And I think it is so hard. mean, I am working all across luxury fashion and beauty, lifestyle, specialty, consumer goods, both like brick and mortar to all direct to consumer. Yeah. I mean, there's definitely a lot of brands that are way more in that traditional space that it's like all about the ad campaigns and like the beautiful photos and things. And that's not an ROI. That's an investment of just like, you know, almost.
this aspirational, beautiful, you see it, someone's carrying it, you're like, I need that bag or I need that. yeah, it can be a lot of spend for very hard metrics to track. So I'm glad that you're flipping the script there. And I think for the online shopping where so many people are, like I was saying before, out and wanting to be in stores and back in malls and shopping and lifestyle centers and the experiences of just being out and shopping, what strategies have you found most effective?
to drive online shoppers in store that maybe some of your clients are using as well, or just in general, because I feel like online is amazing. But if you have brick and mortar too, you want people to be coming in. So it's just that balance, right? Say I'm always like, how do we take care of all the clients? Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (26:09.818)
No, 100%. Yeah, because our so the brands that we're supporting definitely have an online footprint. But the majority of their business is happening in retail, like we're working with consumer goods, really heavily indexed in food and beverage. So these are maybe you know, about like a juice, a bottle, a single unit, a box, a multi pack that are high velocity on shelf products. So we're really trying to support that purchase in brick and mortar.
But recognizing too that the internet is everywhere. I mean, if you're riding on the subway in New York, if you're sitting at the airport waiting for your plane, if you're watching Hulu and you see a streaming ad with a QR code, there are all of these ways that the internet has completely pervaded our day to day. And brands having touch points across all of them is really important because a lot of people aren't making their final decision at the shelf anymore.
they've actually kind of made that prior based on research they've done about the brand to your point, who they see carrying it or drinking it and all these things. So capturing the online shopper is priority number one, but then how do we get the online shopper to not purchase online? That's kind of the divide that I think we're trying to walk the line of that.
Meghan Houle (27:30.488)
Interesting. Yeah. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (27:33.284)
Having an online presence and having an effective online presence, think is more important than ever in driving sales in store.
Meghan Houle (27:41.228)
Yeah. Well, and tell us for a lot of my listeners and I mean, they are CEOs, business owners for sure, lots with brick and mortar footprints. Like what is the journey like when you're presenting visor to a client? You know, what is it like to like work with you guys? What does that look like for them in terms of like how they navigate it? Do you have that like agency support or you know, you're kind of doing like onboarding and training. Talk to us about how.
Anyone can work with you that could use your services. Yeah, just so curious there of what that journey looks like.
Sam Pantazopoulos (28:13.282)
Yeah, so we're a platform, but we try to be really high touch. So kind of white glove, work with the clients, figure out exactly what their use cases are. What are your marketing plans for this year? What are your goals for this year? What retailers are you trying to support? What channels are you going to be using? And once we really understand their strategy, we can figure out where overlaying these offers could be helpful. So even if it's a PR strategy, it
Meghan Houle (28:15.074)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (28:40.366)
Whatever they're trying to use, there's usually a place where they could be leveraging these offers to convert that online shopper to an in -store shopper. So we'll work with a brand to figure out what kind of offers do you want to run? That really varies. Depends on the retailer and what kind of discounts and promotions make sense for their business based on margins and things like that. understanding what kind of offers and promotions are you interested in running?
Meghan Houle (28:49.23)
Okay.
Meghan Houle (28:56.078)
Mm -hmm.
Sam Pantazopoulos (29:08.481)
Okay, let's get this set up for you. How do you want to get these out in the wild? Let's help you with that distribution planning. Although the brands are responsible for the distribution, we kind of help in supporting that effort. And then now that we've been distributing these offers, how are they doing? How do we want to adjust our strategy moving forward? And all of that data kind of lives in their platform where they're able to see it in real time. But again, bringing in that kind of white glove. Hey, we noticed this in the data.
Meghan Houle (29:29.538)
Yeah. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (29:36.462)
There seems to be a huge opportunity on this channel, which you should maybe scaling that up. These two over here, I'm not too bullish on, like maybe we cut that effort so we can put our resources here and try to save something down the line.
Meghan Houle (29:51.11)
And so in terms of redemption, it would be like a promotion or like a special discount, right? That some stores are offering where it's like, get this discount, go into a store, purchase this, this is what you'll get, right? So it's like something like that of a promotion or redemption, if I'm understanding it correctly too, just for the listeners as well. Yeah, yeah, cool.
Sam Pantazopoulos (30:10.841)
Exactly. So an example would be, say you're following your favorite influencer on Instagram and they're holding up an Ollipop. Hey, love Ollipop. Want to try it? Click this link for free. You would click that link. You get a barcode. You go into a grocery store near you that participates in our network. You could scan that barcode and you leave with a free Ollipop.
Meghan Houle (30:36.622)
Do you have any like Airwon, Hailey Bieber smoothie barcodes? Just asking her friend. I'm just kidding.
Sam Pantazopoulos (30:42.778)
That's a hot request that came in and we should probably check it.
Meghan Houle (30:46.798)
Megan will ask for her first notice. It's so wild. So I was in LA a couple weeks ago and you know, visiting clients, doing the Rodeo Drive thing, like clueless, share Harwood style. I'm like, yes, here I am. And I'm like, okay, my friend, and we had this like whole like great lunch at the hideaway, like on Rodeo. It's like this amazing Mexican food. So if anyone's there, like definitely check out hideaway. And I was like, we need to go to Aero on.
I'm like, I don't care if I've already eaten honeyed this smoothie. Sam unhinged is the word I would use. It's like Uber Eats, but like frightening in person. You know, we're like now with like Uber Eats, everyone's like wild and like here in Boston, there's all the scooters out front of like Chick -fil -A and all the places that are like the hot Uber Eats hits. Just like waiting for the orders to come in.
like you guys, Air One, and I had to do a test study for my Insta community. Like, how did it taste? I'm like, it's actually pretty good. But now there's so many choices. I went in there, I'm like, do I want the Beaver smoothie? Or there's so many other choices. But it is wild. I was like, wow, look at all these people. But then that's Hailey's brand, right? And I mean, she's doing such incredible things. I'm like a skincare beauty girlie.
Sam Pantazopoulos (31:56.826)
It's going really good.
Meghan Houle (32:04.758)
And I love how she's built, but that's a power of brand influencing. It's pretty powerful. Who are some of your favorite people that are doing really great things or that you're just really inspired by right now from a founder to a founder? Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (32:19.322)
I mean, first of all, I will just second the Erawan hot bar. Fabulous. It is worth it. If you're in LA, I think you need the experience. If nothing else, I'm the big Erawan. That said, I think from the things I've been inspired by lately, it's actually like a really kind of random assortment of people from an entrepreneurial landscape. I've always been a huge, huge fan of Sarah Blakely. So love her content.
Meghan Houle (32:24.44)
So good.
Meghan Houle (32:46.702)
love her. Okay, what do we think about sneaks? Did you? I do too. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (32:50.442)
I like them. I think it's like an Ivy Park kind of Beyonce street wear up and coming trend. I think it will take a minute to hit because they're not inexpensive, but I do like it and I think it's creative and inventive. So I was a fan.
Meghan Houle (32:57.166)
Totally.
Meghan Houle (33:00.812)
Yes, agree. No.
Meghan Houle (33:08.598)
Yeah, no, same. And for like a psychopath like me who like runs, they always say in the streets in New York when you know somebody has unreasonable footwear that they're running around in, they're probably not from New York. That's me. I mean, I've really gotten a lot better in my shoe choices, but like you have to look cute, Sam. So I'm not compromising on cute, okay? But I'm like, ooh, like I feel like these sneaks, I could probably run around in New York. And yes, I'm that crazy person in the winter that...
has like the extra big bag that I'm wearing boots, but like outside of the office I'm running into that I'm changing like Superman, my shoes on the street corners of New York, probably in a snowbank where I'm like, these could be like super helpful. So I don't know, we might need a little case study. There are more to come, more to come, less than our same and I will divide and conquer that. But then so seriblicely love her. Who else? Yeah, who else is on your list? Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (33:48.41)
I'm totally with you.
Sam Pantazopoulos (33:55.258)
Jamie, current Lima, she's the founder of the cause model. She just launched a podcast for people who haven't heard it. It's really, really good. I've been listening. It's like a double episode situation where she splits it into, but I've been listening to it like every morning on my walks here and she's been, she's great. I've heard her speak live too, which is really cool.
Meghan Houle (33:58.88)
Yes, obsessed, yes.
I love you.
Meghan Houle (34:17.575)
Ugh, I love her. I know there was an event where she was speaking. I missed it. I will see her in person soon. That's a goal. But I have my worthy book sitting right next to me. I feel like it was definitely, and I buy it for like all my coaching clients, but she's so incredible and I love that space. So we are, we are kindred spirits, Sam. No, we're besties now. You're not gonna be able to shake me after this podcast, I think. Yeah, lots of similarities. That's why we have, I mean like birds of a feather. Girl, we stick together.
Sam Pantazopoulos (34:38.906)
I'm seeing the similarities.
Meghan Houle (34:45.194)
So focusing on you, as we were saying, you're multi, accolades. I know you've been recognized for a lot of incredible awards. You've been honored as a rising star, entrepreneur of the year. What does that social entrepreneurship mean to you in terms of how it's influenced your business philosophy and how are you excited to continue to push boundaries in your field?
Sam Pantazopoulos (35:11.396)
For me, that's really the core of any of it and why I'm excited about the growth side of it. I've always believed you have so much ability to impact if you have a community of people, if you have a resource bank, if you have the ability to just move from somewhere. So from a young age, I remember I did something in school. was trying to save the dolphins and I did an online petition.
Meghan Houle (35:38.976)
Love that. Yeah, as you should. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (35:40.698)
I made this like YouTube video and a website and our online petition got signatures from 78 countries in a matter of a month. And that just totally expanded my worldview where I was like, hey, if you get enough people aware and kind of moving in one direction, then you can really start to work about things that you care about and that are passion projects for you. So I would say like, I love building a business. I'm so excited about it. I love the personal development aspect of getting to work
Meghan Houle (35:48.098)
Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (36:10.37)
team and also for myself. I love what we're able to do in the community. But what I want to do next is like, how do I use the resources that we're able to create in a way that's of service? Like for me, that's really the driving goal. So always kind of revisiting that and also trying to balance. You don't need a massive community or a massive platform or a massive amount of resources to make an impact. I think it helps, but it's not necessary. So how can we be accelerating our efforts and be doing that?
from day one versus waiting until some later point in the future to start.
Meghan Houle (36:45.482)
No, no, I totally align with that. And thank you for sharing. And it's so beautiful. mean, being in service of others and I think going into a business to really serve is how it's a recipe for success. You know, you can't start businesses thinking you're going to make all this money. That's not the energy to put behind it at first as we know it's not about that. But that you're so passionate about this product and you believe in it so fiercely, then everyone else gets excited. And then of course, it's an incredible product.
product that does really amazing things for clients and changes lives. And it's just, it's a beautiful journey, but you got to be in it for the right reasons, you know, for sure. And I love it so much. And I guess looking ahead, as you see next big trends in retail marketing, how do you feel like Visor's position to capitalize on that in the future within marketing? Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (37:38.532)
think we're in this really unique season right now where a lot of people are becoming aware that this is a really big problem. And at the same time, there are solutions that are coming out that can resolve it. So we're at this interesting nexus of those two forces. And at the same time, I think we're taking a really unique approach to how we're trying to solve the problem. Where I recently was doing this talk about product market fit, but it's like,
Product market fit is an evolving thing in my mind. We certainly have it, I believe, this product that we're building today. And it's like, how do we build that as a foundation to continue solving problems for the customers that we have? So learning more about, hey, what's your full funnel challenges in getting these incentives redeemed? How can we build complimentary products that can help resolve that from first touch point all the way to sale? So I think for us, we're just going to keep
identifying problems and working with our clients to find ways to solve them and hopefully doing it in a way that's productive and helps them grow.
Meghan Houle (38:44.728)
Yeah, I love that so much. And I feel like for you, couple more questions before I let you go. I mean, in the whole process of creation and pivoting, what do you feel like you've learned the most about yourself or just a big lesson that you've taken away? Not like you've pivoted through seven jobs, but like, you you've lived seven lives when you've built a company, people, like, trust me about that. And I'm sure who you are today is not who you were even a year ago.
Right, Sam? We're like always pivoting, always learning, which I know you already kind of talked through, but yeah, what are you really, what have you learned about yourself or just something you're most proud of in this journey of pivoting and creation?
Sam Pantazopoulos (39:26.49)
think the pivot journey teaches you so much about how much is out of your control and getting really comfortable with that. So I really agree with what you said that you're a different version of yourself every year and being comfortable enough to kind of let that version of you die. So the new version of you can be born. That process is challenging. think for anybody.
especially if you're trying to do it in a really short time period. But I've really just tried to get comfortable with releasing things and saying, hey, you this style of thought, this mindset that doesn't work for me anymore, this habit that doesn't work for me anymore. The way I'm spending my time, that doesn't work for me anymore because I'm feeling called in this other direction or pulled over here. So rather than like hold on to it for too long or try to rationalize why it should work for me.
I've tried to get really, really comfortable with just letting it go and moving on. probably almost like a hundred days ago now, I stopped drinking alcohol. That was like a big thing recently where I had wanted to do it for a long time, but had never really committed. And then this day came where I was like, Hey, this really isn't aligned with everything that I'm trying to do between my health and wellness and sleep and what I'm trying to do with the company and finances. I think it's time for that to go.
So it's just kind of a decision, but in doing that, it shifts so many other things of how you spend your time and what you're doing and just being comfortable with kind of letting things die so new things can grow.
Meghan Houle (41:04.758)
Absolutely. And you're not alone in that. mean, a lot of a lot of lot of people I know that are on this that alcohol free journey. And I agree with you. I mean, I am a big fan of Napa. So with the amount of wine, Sam, if you saw that was in my house, you'd be like, are we OK here?
But it's their investment lines, people. But I think even as you get old, I'm not old, but older. I the way you process alcohol, the way, and this could be a whole other podcast, so I don't know. Maybe it's our double episode of the alcohol effects. But no, I I agree. think that when something doesn't matter, that it's just not a line that's contributing to like...
negative health things or whatnot. mean, I'm a terrible sleeper. And I know on the days where sometimes like I do, like, let's have wine. Yeah. The next morning you're like, my God, I'm so tired. And it does not get easier as you get older, So protecting yourself and the boundaries that you have for your health and your lifestyle and your business. So that's really amazing and good for you. And I think, yeah. me too.
Sam Pantazopoulos (42:08.25)
with you though, I love champagne, like love champagne, love a nice glass of wine. But I did this journaling project last year, where I tracked on a daily basis, like what's my mood? What's my number on a scale of one to 10? Did I work out? Did I drink alcohol? Was I traveling? And just kind of like track these things over time. And it was 365 days, I would like write a letter to myself each day. And it was so overwhelmingly clear in the numbers that like, the
Meghan Houle (42:17.528)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (42:21.73)
Yeah.
Meghan Houle (42:33.23)
Love it.
Meghan Houle (42:37.325)
Yep.
Sam Pantazopoulos (42:38.232)
days after I was consuming alcohol, my mood was so much lower and like all these things that once I was aware of that, I was like, okay, now is the time to take action on this understanding for me.
Meghan Houle (42:49.474)
Yeah, no, you're not wrong. No, and I'm right there with you. So, you know, definitely something I consider too and on the days, you know, those weeks where you're just like, you feel good, you feel clean. You're like, I'm not going out with friends. Thank God. But I'm totally with you there. So that that in itself is really cool. And that's a cool exercise. So maybe somebody listening to take on I might try that as well. But also, like, how do you fill up your cup in other ways?
as a co -founder and knowing that it's very easy for us to work 24 -7 and be always on and pouring into everybody else. I've been on this journey of like making sure the energy that I put out, I am trying to refill for me in some way and definitely setting some pretty serious boundaries, whether it is like working out or something that fills into me so I'm not just like stuck behind screens on calls.
getting blasted all day long with like inquiries and people screaming or whatever happens in the day, which I'm sure like, you know, is the same things that you have to balance too. How do you fill up your cup and like, what are some of your like fierce boundaries that you would just hold true as like non -negotiables for you?
Sam Pantazopoulos (43:53.786)
And I'm oversimplifying, like lot of these things were long journeys for me. So take this one with a grain of salt. But I started the company when I was 20, 21, and really believed, like bought into the story, you need to kill yourself for this to work. And I had seen enough, know, media messaging and narratives about that, but I just thought that was reality. And I was working around the clock, I was completely burnt out. My health was a mess.
Meghan Houle (43:58.934)
Yes, same.
Meghan Houle (44:04.568)
Wow. Yeah.
Meghan Houle (44:11.576)
Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (44:22.778)
And probably at 25, 26, I was like, we need to do something about this. This is not sustainable. And I didn't believe it was necessary, really. Like I'd seen enough counter examples of people who weren't doing that, that were, you know, moving faster than me, eclipsing me. I was like, how is this possible? Maybe my strategy's wrong. And around 25 is when I said, okay, we need to find some other ways that we're going to spend our time. And I got really into writing.
So like that letter thing I was doing, started writing poetry that led to music. So I learned piano, I started guitar lessons. I'm trying to learn how to sing, even though I'm not good yet. But that's been so fun because it's such a different way to like spend time and energy than to your point responding to Slack messages and being on Zoom calls. Like picking up a guitar in a field is probably the direct opposite of that energy.
Meghan Houle (45:13.198)
Mm -hmm.
Meghan Houle (45:18.71)
Amazing. Yeah.
Sam Pantazopoulos (45:20.442)
Music's been really healing for me and I always encourage people. If there's something that you wanted to do when you were really little, like I bought my first guitar when I was eight and I never learned how to play it, there is some key or secret to that for you in that. So I don't care if you're like 70 years old, take the ballet class. It's totally worth it. And I think we'll give you all the value that you're looking for.
Meghan Houle (45:46.486)
Yeah, and I feel like now there's so many really amazing options available where we know no matter what age or where you're at in life, fuel back into yourself. Yeah, like you said, something maybe that you really loved at an early age that you just didn't feel like you had time for. And now whether it's dance or art or creative, it's so important to have other outlets. So that's really cool. Did you bring your guitar with you?
Sam Pantazopoulos (46:14.232)
I did.
Meghan Houle (46:14.316)
right where you are right now. you playing in the fields? Well, can you post a picture for me and just do that? Thanks. I need to see it IRL, okay? Or IRL it didn't happen. Well, that's amazing. And one last question. So if you could give a piece of advice to an inspiring entrepreneur looking to make their mark in tech or retail space, what advice would you give them?
Sam Pantazopoulos (46:19.08)
I'm gonna make sure to start out.
Sam Pantazopoulos (46:38.616)
I would say that the secret to success is to go for it one more time. So once you start, think that there are so many things that can be discouraging in your path. Are there people saying, hey, I don't think this is going to work or getting a rejection or not being able to find the capital, but every day that you go to sleep, you know, a new day resets. So just say, hey, I'm just going to do this one more day.
and just take it day at a time and time has a way of working out situations for you as long as you continue to show up.
Meghan Houle (47:19.122)
Well, what's the best way, Sam, for people to find out more about Visor? And of course, like everyone head to the show notes and we'll get all the links in there. Connect with you, engage with you. Yeah, if there's clients that want to work with Visor, like what are some of the best ways to find, learn more, and obviously reach out and maybe work with you or follow you.
Sam Pantazopoulos (47:39.554)
We would love to chat with you, which is www .joinvisor .com, V -I -Z -E -R. And then terms of connecting with me personally, probably LinkedIn is the most active place I hang out and would love to chat with anyone.
Meghan Houle (47:50.03)
Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. Love LinkedIn. Definitely such a great like professional platform where you can make a lot of meaningful business and professional connections. So we'll link everything up there, Sam. And thank you so much for taking the time out of a journey in space where I know it sounds like you're taking time for yourself, but we really appreciate you coming onto the podcast. I'm so excited to stay in touch, come and visit you in San Diego.
I love all the things that you're building with Vizor. I know you're helping so many clients really drive amazing revenue for their businesses and in awe and inspired by you. So I really appreciate all your time and can't wait to see what's next for you.
Sam Pantazopoulos (48:28.42)
Thank you so much. Your next Erewhon smoothie is on me.
Meghan Houle (48:31.938)
Okay, perfect. I can't wait for that redemption code. Thank you.