Episode 53: Quality Time Podcast: Voice of the Customer, Voice of the Team with Rich “Raz” Razgaitis
On this episode of Quality Time with MoreSteam, we welcome back Rich “Raz” Razgaitis to the show. Host Dan Swartwout has known Raz since the second grade. Raz was also the second guest ever on Quality Time with MoreSteam. That was two years ago, and as you will learn, a lot has happened since then.
Raz is the co-founder and CEO of FloWater, a company on a mission to restore clean drinking water across the United States. Raz’s mission is the same. But two years later, the company has grown a lot. (Oh, and since that last episode, Raz has been named EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mountain West. Not bad.)
Raz and Dan dig into what it actually takes to scale a business the right way. How do you rebuild a team after a crisis forces you to downsize? How do you design a hiring process that shows you something real about a candidate? Raz looks for two things in a potential employee: competency and chemistry. He explains exactly what he means by both, and why getting one without the other can cost you.
Raz also shares the story of a tagline his team spent months developing that his customers completely ignored. It turns out the customers had already written a better one themselves. This episode is a great reminder that voice of the customer cannot be manufactured in a conference room.
Because they’ve been friends for over 40 years, the conversation between Dan and Raz is just as fun as it is informative. They talk about Raz’s children's book, Clean Water is Awesome: No, Really!, which shot to number one like a bullet. And Raz shares how cooking dinner sometimes means more than just cooking dinner. Raz and Dan’s second grade teacher, Ms. Blume, would be proud of this episode. We think you’ll like it, too.
In this episode you'll hear about:
2:34 - Reintroducing Raz and FloWater
7:16 - Crossing one billion plastic bottles saved
10:25 - Redesigning processes while rebuilding the team
13:44 - Competency and chemistry
18:53 - Finding the right chemistry fit
23:31 - Continuous improvement in the interview process
32:29 - Learning the Voice Of The Customer while building a business
40:49 - Standardizing processes to ensure quality at every station
46:13 - Entrepreneur of the Year
47:13 - Clean Water is Awesome: No, Really!
50:23 - Steak dinners
Additional Resources
"Raz" (Rich) Razgaitis on LinkedIn
Clean Water is Awesome: No, Really!
Quality Time With MoreSteam on Facebook
Quality Time With MoreSteam on Instagram
Quality Time With MoreSteam on LinkedIn
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A Few Words of Timeless Advice: Why Voice of the Customer is Important
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Host • MoreSteam
Dan Swartwout is the host of Quality Time with MoreSteam. A lifelong Central Ohio resident, Dan is a double Buckeye. He earned both a BA and a law degree from The Ohio State University. Before joining MoreSteam, Dan had a long career as a host, comedian, and master of ceremonies. For 17 years, Dan was the studio audience host for the Ohio Lottery game show Cash Explosion. Dan was also the host of CBuzz, which was a collaboration between the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, WWCD 92.9, and the Columbus Dispatch. On CBuzz, Dan interviewed some of the most prominent entrepreneurs in Central Ohio. From 2002-2020, Dan toured the country as a standup comedian. Tracks from his comedy CD have been played over 5,000 times on Sirius/XM satellite radio. Now, Dan brings his experience and enthusiasm to Quality Time with MoreSteam -- it's business and fun, together.
CEO and Co-Founder of FloWater • FloWater
Rich “Raz” Razgaitis is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FloWater, where he leads the Denver-based company in its vision to create a new distributed and decentralized water platform.
