Season 1

Dec. 4, 2025

The Most Overlooked Skill Every Founder Needs in the AI Era

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Tamara Laine, investigative journalist turned two-time tech founder and the CEO and co-founder of MPWR. Tamara brings a rare blend of storytelling...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 27, 2025

The New Growth Metrics That Matter Most to Investors

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Melanie Nabar, Vice President at Volition Capital, to uncover what truly makes a company fundable—and what silently kills deals. With a background...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 19, 2025

Cut 30% of Your Meetings with This Simple 3-Word Framework

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan welcomes back bestselling author and communication expert Chris Fenning, whose latest book Effective Meetings offers leaders a refreshingly simple framework to c...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 12, 2025

What Makes Leadership Human in an Age of AI?

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Valerie Jackson — Harvard College and Georgetown Law alum, former securities lawyer turned C-suite people leader — to explore what it really takes...

Listen to the Episode
Nov. 5, 2025

How to Make Your Brand Stand Out in a Sea of Sameness

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Erik Huberman, founder and CEO of Hawke Media, to unpack why the old marketing playbook is broken—and what actually scales in 2025. Erik shares ho...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 29, 2025

Is Your Business Stuck? Here’s Why You Might Be the Bottleneck

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Sam Goodner, the serial entrepreneur and former CEO of Catapult Systems — Microsoft’s top-ranked consulting partner at the time of its acquisition...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 22, 2025

How AI Can Unlock New Opportunities in Your Business

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan is joined by Christian Ulstrup, founder of Powerline, to explore how AI is transforming business practices. Christian, with over a decade of experience in applie...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 15, 2025

Why Playing It Safe in a Recession Could Kill Your Business

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan lays out a wartime CEO playbook for thriving in downturns, drawing on the same strategies his team used to scale HIRECLOUT and help clients grow through multiple...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 9, 2025

Why Inclusion is the Secret to High-Performance Teams

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Jossie Haines—executive coach, fractional engineering leader, and former engineering leader at Apple, Zynga, Tile, and Life360—to unpack how great...

Listen to the Episode
Oct. 1, 2025

Why Your OKRs Aren’t Working, and What to Do Instead

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Radhika Dutt—MIT-trained engineer, entrepreneur, and author of Radical Product Thinking, to rethink how high-growth companies set direction and me...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 24, 2025

Why Soft Skills Are Now a Hard Requirement for Tech Leaders

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Dr. Reece Akhtar, CEO and founder of Deeper Signals — a leading organizational psychologist and data scientist helping companies unlock human pote...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 17, 2025

How to Sell Without Chasing: Ari Galper’s One Call Sales Method

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Ari Galper, the world’s #1 authority on trust-based selling and creator of the One Call Sale methodology and Ari AI, an AI-powered sales coaching ...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 11, 2025

How a $128K Bet Sparked a $1B Biotech Breakthrough

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Susan Ruediger, Founder and Chief Mission Officer of the CMT Research Foundation (CMTRF), and Laura MacNeill, the organization’s CEO. Together, th...

Listen to the Episode
Sept. 3, 2025

EQ vs IQ vs AI: What Really Matters in Tech Leadership?

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Andrew McVeigh, veteran technology leader and Chief Architect, whose career spans transformations at Hulu, Riot Games, and beyond. Andrew has navi...

Listen to the Episode
Aug. 27, 2025

Why 90% of Business Teams Fail, And What to Do About It

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Chris Hallberg, entrepreneur, business coach, and former military and police leader, known for creating the Business Sergeant Leadership Philosoph...

Listen to the Episode
Aug. 20, 2025

The Myth of Work-Life Balance, and What to Do Instead

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Michelle Niemeyer, a former high-powered attorney turned burnout expert, certified health coach, and creator of The Art of Bending Time. With 33 y...

Listen to the Episode
Aug. 13, 2025

How to Turn Chaos into Opportunity and Lead Through Radical Disruption

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Mark Monchek, founder and Chief Opportunity Officer of Opportunity Lab. A seasoned author, speaker, and advisor, Mark has guided leaders from top ...

Listen to the Episode
Aug. 6, 2025

Why Is Your Messaging Failing, and How Can You Fix It Today?

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Joel Benge, a strategist, author, and the mind behind "Message Therapy." With a rich and unconventional background that spans theater, video game ...

Listen to the Episode
July 30, 2025

The Secret Sauce to Winning Teams—Coach Vermeil Tells All

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with the legendary NFL coach and Hall of Famer, Dick Vermeil—a Super Bowl champion, Rose Bowl champion, and one of the most respected leaders in footba...

Listen to the Episode
July 23, 2025

Stop Waiting, Start Leading: How to Take Back Control

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan dives deep into the core leadership principle of extreme ownership. In this solo episode, Avetis, a seasoned entrepreneur and tech leader, delivers a powerful an...

Listen to the Episode
July 16, 2025

Why Your Startup's Marketing Isn’t Working (And How to Fix It)

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Mark Donnigan, a seasoned virtual CMO and go-to-market strategist known for helping post-Series A tech companies scale with precision. With a back...

Listen to the Episode
July 9, 2025

How to Know When It’s Time to Pivot—And What to Do Next

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan sits down with Russ Hawkins, a seasoned three-time CEO renowned for reviving and scaling struggling startups into profitable, exit-ready companies. With a backgr...

Listen to the Episode
July 2, 2025

Scaling Without Burnout: Why Doing Less Is the CEO Superpower

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, Avetis Antaplyan welcomes Pete Steege, B2B growth strategist, founder of B2B Clarity, and author of the bestselling book Radical Clarity. With decades of experience across startu...

Listen to the Episode
June 25, 2025

Inside the Mind of a 6,000-Person Team Leader

In this episode of The Tech Leader's Playbook, we sit down with Michel Langlois, former Cisco and Juniper executive and author of Beyond the Code. From growing up on a chicken farm in rural Quebec to leading 6,000+ global eng...

Listen to the Episode