Innovantage Podcast

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲? 𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗦𝗮𝗶𝗸𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗸𝗮𝗶𝘁ė 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀.

Justina Saikauskaitė is a Fractional CMO and Brand Strategist helping startups and challenger brands turn chaotic marketing into brand-led strategy that supports revenue growth. Her experience spans positioning, go-to-market strategy, brand and product launches, and fractional marketing leadership across agency, in-house, and freelance roles.

Strong branding is less about having the perfect creative idea and more about making deliberate choices, testing whether they work, and committing long enough to become recognizable. From sharper positioning to smarter use of AI, the practical takeaway is simple: more marketing activity means little when people cannot understand, remember, or trust the brand behind it.

Introduction 0:00
What actually makes a brand noticeable and memorable 0:28
Why looking like your competitors kills your brand 4:57
Can you trust AI to analyze your competitors 7:02
Being boring became a brilliant brand strategy 8:57
When should startups actually start investing in brand 13:21 
The marketing mistakes that keep startups from growing 16:00
How to balance brand and performance marketing 18:29
Why B2B and B2C need different marketing strategies 20:36
How startups can find the right audience faster 23:14
AI is changing marketing and brand reputation 26:28
More leads won’t always solve the problem 34:14
One message can be enough for small companies 36:38
The future of mass reach through smaller niches 40:55
Traditional branding is coming back 42:57
Message for founders 46:56
Where to find Justina 49:45

Connect with our guest
Justina Saikauskaitė – https://www.linkedin.com/in/justina-saikauskaite/  
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

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🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
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How is AI changing the relationship between business and technology — and what happens when even great tech fails to deliver business value? On the Innovantage Podcast, Gediminas Zalys from Accenture UK & Ireland unpacks what digital transformation actually looks like inside large enterprises.

Gediminas Zalys is an engineering leader focused on AI, machine learning, and business transformation. With experience spanning engineering, consulting, entrepreneurship, and enterprise technology at Accenture, he has seen both sides of the equation: ambitious technology built without the right business case, and business decisions transformed by what new technology suddenly makes possible.

0:00 Introduction
0:27 How Gediminas became an engineering leader at Accenture
5:16 What is Accenture Song and why does it exist?
13:39 Consulting across completely different industries
23:31 How to handle business pushback
32:19 How great technology failed billion-dollar brands
38:38 Can technology change the direction of a business?
43:33 When emotion beats rational business decisions
45:28 Why Gediminas’ restaurant startup failed
50:11 How AI is disrupting the corporate world
54:48 Is SaaS really dead?
58:29 How enterprises need to transform for AI
1:03:31 The future of business and technology
1:08:30 Where to find Gediminas

Connect with our guest
Gediminas Zalys – https://www.linkedin.com/in/g-zalys/   
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
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Sales and recruiting rarely get discussed together, even though they shape each other constantly. This episode, Max sits with Edvin Vosylius, founder of European Sales Headhunting Agency, a Vilnius-based recruitment agency focused specifically on sales talent, to unpack how those two functions collide in practice.

Edvin brings 19 years of hands-on sales experience to the table, having worked as a rep, a head of sales, and a chief sales officer before building a business around placing salespeople for a living. That path, including a failed corporate venture and a startup collapse, shapes everything he now looks for when hiring or advising others in the field.

In this episode, hear about mid-market versus enterprise sales, the mechanics of building a profitable recruitment agency, the traits recruiters look for in top salespeople, and how AI is reshaping CVs and interviews.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:00 How Edvin founded a recruitment agency
3:56 Why mid-market deals beat enterprise sales
9:27 Is the agency business still relevant?
15:00 What companies get wrong about hiring salespeople
21:07 Different types of salespeople explained
24:41 How to identify a great salesperson?
29:31 Why great salespeople fail in new industries
33:16 Do you really need to start a business?
51:06 How recruitment agencies actually make money
56:11 Advice for salespeople and hiring managers
57:48 AI in sales
1:03:30 Where to find Edvin

Connect with our guest
Edvinas Vosylius – https://www.linkedin.com/in/edvinasv/  
HEMES – https://www.wearehemes.com/ 
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
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What does it take to build a defense tech startup, raise €1.1 million, and manufacture drone technology in Europe? In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, Elvinas Kukys, CEO and Co-Founder of Luna Robotics, shares how the Lithuanian hardware startup is building advanced vision systems for unmanned platforms without relying on Chinese supply chains or unnecessary AI.

Drawing on his military background and startup journey, Elvinas explains how Luna Robotics grew from an idea into one of Lithuania's emerging defense tech companies, developing dual-use technology designed for both military and civilian applications.
Learn what investors actually look for, how to become better at pitching, when bootstrapping becomes a mistake, and why building a hardware startup requires a different mindset than chasing the latest AI trend.

Introduction 0:00
Luna Robotics and Elvinas' journey  0:31
How AI hallucinates drone camera images  05:51
Why Luna Robotics is China free  07:34
Manufacturing hardware in the Baltics  09:52
How Luna Robotics raised €1.1 million  15:34
Mastering the art of startup pitching  21:41
Why you shouldn't bootstrap too much 27:13
Building a startup with dual use technology  33:33
Never build custom features for only one customer 38:15 
What metrics investors actually pay attention to 46:20
Lithuania's defense tech boom and AI's future  50:23
Advice to my 20 year old self   56:33
Where to find Elvinas 57:37

Connect with our guest
Elvinas Kukys – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekukys/ 
Luna Robotics – https://www.lunarobotics.eu/ 
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Innovantage Podcast.

Why do 70% of mergers and acquisitions fail after closing? 
In this episode of the Innovantage Podcast, integration strategist Sabine Janssens shares what separates successful M&A integration from value destruction, why the first 100 days are critical, and how companies can turn acquisitions into long-term growth.

Sabine Janssens has led more than 40 M&A integration projects over the past four years and developed a pragmatic 100-day integration model used in buy-and-build environments. Drawing on decades of strategic marketing and integration experience, she works with acquiring companies to align strategy, operations, technology, and people after the deal closes.

Rather than treating integration as an operational checklist, this episode explains how to preserve business value, avoid the mistakes that derail acquisitions, manage IT integration without disrupting customers, and keep founders, employees, and leadership aligned throughout the transition.

0:00 Introduction
0:29 Sabine's journey into 40+ M&A integrations
4:51 Which industries see the most M&A activity
6:37 Why only 30 percent of acquisitions succeed
12:46 Early warning signs an integration is failing
16:27 Why the first 100 days matter most
21:52 Common challenges when integrating IT
26:03 Biggest IT integration mistakes
31:28 What founders experience after selling
45:56 The hidden cost most companies underestimate
54:14 The biggest misconception about M&A
56:50 Where to find Sabine

Connect with our guest
Sabine Janssens – https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabinejanssens/ 
Connect with Max 
Max Golikov –  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxim-golikov/  

🎧 Listen Now
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/19M3HKc1pbeTkYcOeOkJc0?si=aab60a9ec2864ba2 
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/pl/podcast/innovantage-podcast/id1749330437 

Follow for More Insightful Episodes
Innovantage Podcast:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/innovantage-podcast/ 
Sigli:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/sigli/     
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/sigli.gang 
Did something surprise you in this conversation? Drop a comment below — we read every single one.
Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode of Innovantage Podcast.