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Interview with Dan Berger, CEO of Social Tables

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This company has the solution to creating event layouts in the fastest and easiest way imaginable. Dan Berger created a company with the vision to make planning corporate meetings and events as easy as possible. After a long and strenuous process, Social Tables was created. Social Tables is cloud-based, meaning your entire team can come together online to create and manage events from any location, on any device. Social Tables requires no training for you or your team to learn the software. Social Tables is launched and in full force bringing you less hassle, better expectations, and a meeting and events strategy that works.

How have you gotten where you are today? Tell me a little about your story. Where and when did the initial idea for Social Tables come to mind?

Dan Berger: I’ve always been into technology. First hardware (I built computers as a kid) and then software (I developed websites later on). I’ve also always been into events—professionally and in my personal life. The idea came to me when I was going to a wedding and I wanted to see who was going to be at my table. I built a basic app that let planners publish seating charts and that’s what we’ve been iterating on going on five years.

trackmaven

Moving forward, in terms of Social Tables, what exciting new projects are you working on?

D.B.:  Two very exciting things. First, we’re currently migrating over to our 3.0 stack, which is the next generation of our platform. It’s API first, beautifully designed, and better performance. Second, we’re building more products that help planners and suppliers collaborate on meetings.

Related article: “DIGITAL SOCIAL INNOVATION: EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO GIVE“

What would you say is your overall goal for your company, and how do you plan on accomplishing this goal.

D.B.: We want to play our part in making corporate meetings and events more successful. To that end, we have software that helps planners discover space while allowing suppliers to collaborate with their clients. We believe that these kinds of technology products will inspire more successful face-to-face experiences.

When it comes to your team, what communication strategies do you use to get them going?

Dan Berger: Many! We have a monthly all-hands called Global Takeover Congress. We have Friday night Town Halls where the engineering team showcases what they’ve built throughout the week and where I take questions from the company. We use Slack for communication, email for company newsletters, TinyPulse for measuring employee sentiment and dishing out virtual cheers, and Confluence for departmental blogs. What I’ve learned is that if leaders are committed to radical transparency and open-book management, which I am, then they need to leverage multiple communication channels. This is especially important in a growing company that is predominantly filled with millennials.

For a full mindmap containing additional related articles and photos, visit #SocialTables

Blood sweat and tears, tell me a story about the most challenging adversaries you have faced since being CEO?

Dan Berger: Every day is a struggle for one reason or another… and every struggle makes you want to win even more.

IN THE PHOTO: DAN BERGER, SOCIAL TABLES CEO PHOTO CREDIT: SOCIAL TABLES

On a personal level, what are your values and how do you tie them into leading your company?

Dan Berger: My values are very much reflected in the values of Social Tables. I think that’s a given for most authentic companies. For example, here are some of my values and the comparable company values. I value operational excellence (as a company, we’re “committed to quality”). I value direct feedback (as a company, we’re “always honest”). I value constant learning (as a company, “every day is a school day).

What makes Social Tables better than all the brands you are in direct competition with?

Dan Berger: Our Employees.

Recommended reading: “HOW MARKETING HELPED SOCIAL TABLES INCREASE LEADS AND REVENUE 400+%” 

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Correction (8/17): A previous version of this post included multiple variations of Social Tables. This has been corrected.
All photos courtesy of Social Tables.
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I am currently a rising sophomore at High Point University studying Strategic Communications. I believe that media, specifically social media is the future for my generation. I am interested in finding new ways to connect products and causes with consumer's passions. While I build my academic foundation in communications I am also pursuing real world work experiences in social media, brand experiences and digital content creation.

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Food, Impact, Uncategorized

The food industry is coming under increasing scrutiny for its environmental impact, from greenhouse gas emissions, to excessive and detrimental land and water usage, to chemical pollution. Given the challenge of feeding a growing world population whilst simultaneously needing to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts, clearly we need to look at alternatives to “dinner as usual”. The contribution of livestock to global greenhouse emissions is estimated at between 14.5 – 18%. Fortunately, there are companies who are tackling this challenge head on and looking at how emissions from food production can be reduced. With consumer interest increasing in alternatives to meat and other protein sources, we’ve spoken to the founders of three companies. From the seemingly futuristic to the rediscovery of superfood trees, each company tackles this new drive in consumer interest in different ways.

Solar Foods, Finland

Dr Pasi Vainnika is the CEO and co-founder of Solar Foods. The slogan of the company is “Food out of thin air”. Pasi was formerly in charge of the single largest renewable energy program in Finland. However, when he found out that 20-25% of the emissions come from food, he realized that emissions from this sector needed to be addressed, as well as those in the energy sector. But with the growth in affordable and renewable energy – particularly solar energy– it led him and his team to question the possibility of producing food solely from energy, carbon dioxide, and water. It turns out, the answer is yes. Solein is a unique single cell protein. It is produced using a fully natural fermentation process like that of the production of yeast or lactic acid bacteria. The powder, which is produced from the process, is 50% protein, 5-10% fat and 20-25% carbohydrate. Most likely, the first product to reach the consumer market will be a replacement in existing plant-based foods. For example, using Solein in shakes or as an alternative to dairy in milks, yogurts, and even in breads and pasta. In the future, a lasagna could include the protein in all aspects of the recipe: the sauce, in the pasta sheets, and in the filling. Further into the future, there is also the possibility that it could be used as the basis for cultured meat production.
In the Photo: Solein Can be used in smoothies as a protein alternative. Photo Credit: Shawn Fields - Unsplash
To produce a kilo of the protein powder takes 10 liters of water in comparison to the 2500 liters of water for a kilo of soy or 15,500 liters for a kilo of beef. Electricity is the main raw material, and the plan is to source this from renewable energy sources. Additionally, Solein binds carbon dioxide rather than emitting it, easing pressure on land use. The product is currently going through regulatory checks and testing at the moment, with a plan to launch in 2021. NASA and the Soviet Union space programs had started to investigate in similar protein production for their expeditions in the past, but Solar Foods has brought it down to earth.

Higher Steaks, United Kingdom

Whilst some people are switching to plant-based diets and others have reduced their meat consumption, some others still want to keep meat in their diets but are looking for more environmentally friendly options. This is where lab-based meat comes in. Benjamina Bollag, CEO and co-founder of Higher Steaks, a UK-based company, believes that it is important to provide alternatives to meat with a lower carbon footprint, but that taste as close as possible to the real thing. She believes that the change required in human behavior to cut emissions will not happen fast enough otherwise. This approach is confirmed by research they have conducted. 52% of respondents confirmed that they would switch from conventional meat to the Higher Steaks alternative, with 21% saying they would prefer a plant-based diet. There are different ways of producing lab-based meat. The process that Higher Steaks is developing is based on pluripotent stem cells, which are taken from a small skin patch or blood sample. The meat that is grown is then shaped into products. Currently, Higher Steaks is working primarily on pork products.
In Photo: Higher Steaks will eventually release pork as its first lab-cultured meat. Photo Credit: Yvonne Lee Harijanto - Unsplash
The company has yet to conduct a lifecycle assessment of the lab-grown meat, but given the high levels of environmental impact from meat production, it should be safe to say that Higher Steaks products will be more sustainable. In addition, as Benjamina explains, other advantages include the avoidance of antibiotic use, resulting in a product which is better for the consumer as well. The level of fat can also be adjusted, depending on consumer preference. The company is working to have the first products in shops within 3-5 years.

Barukas, Brazil

Barukas proves that you don’t always to have to look to the future for more sustainable food sources. Sometimes it is about rediscovering and making available a food source which has been around for a long time to a wider audience. The baruzeiro tree, native to Brazil, has been a long-time source of nutrition for people living in the Cerrado, the vast savannah at the heart of Brazil. The tree produces a fruit, which contains the baru nut. It was the nutritional profile of the baru nut that initially attracted Seth Tuckerman, who had formerly been the COO of Beachbody, a fitness business. The nuts are high in protein, fiber, minerals, and are lower in fat than typical nuts. The taste is often described as a cross between peanuts and almonds. In fact, Tuckerman’s immediate thought on tasting them was “low calorie almonds”. Tuckerman’s passion is not only about the positive health benefits, but also about the trees and the mutual benefits for the communities where they grew.
In Photo: Baruzeiro tree. Photo Credit: Barukas
Tuckerman became a co-founder of Barukas Incorporated. They are on a mission to plant 20 million baruzeiro trees – as a start. The trees need little water and – as native trees – they are already ideally suited to the Cerrado conditions. First, Barukas must prove that there is a market for the fruit of the existing trees. As such, the company is encouraging those living in the Cerrado to collect the nuts by guaranteeing to buy them, then creating customer demand for the nuts. Collecting the fruit from existing trees helps to preserve them from being cleared for intensive and invasive agricultural methods such as soy plantations. Likewise, planting new trees helps to reverse the deforestation of Cerrado. A report by the Climate Observatory estimated that the destruction of surface vegetation in the Cerrado released 248 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2016. This is roughly two-and-half times the annual tailpipe emissions from all cars in Brazil.
In Photo: Closer look at the baruzeiro tree. Photo Credit: Barukas.
From talking with these three pioneers, it is now clearer than ever that we need multiple solutions to address how to sustainably feed a growing population. We need to cut the carbon emissions and reduce other environmental impacts such as water and land use associated with food production. Some of these solutions are a little way off in the future, but others are available now. We are what we eat, but our choices will increasingly determine what kind of future we will live in as well.   EDITOR’S NOTE: The opinions expressed here by Impakter.com columnists are their own, not those of Impakter.com.
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