May 15, 2024 - Gray Dot SEO Tory Gray and VC Analysis Benjamin Shestakofsky

School for Startups Radio

Tory Gray – Founder of The Gray Dot Company – SEO Success

We focus on trying to be transparent with our clients
because SEO is not for everyone.

Tory Gray is a highly experienced digital marketing consultant and the Founder of The Gray Dot Company. With more than 15 years of experience in SEO and growth strategy, Tory has helped numerous businesses achieve their goals through digital strategy, with a focus on technical and strategic SEO. Tory’s unique perspective on problem-solving and business growth opportunities comes from her background in both digital agencies and in-house B2C startup environments, in both marketing and product roles. Her approach to SEO strategy is cross-functional, coordinating with product, marketing, and engineering teams to achieve marketing success. As a quoted SEO expert on various media outlets and a senior SEO advisor for several digital agencies, Tory is a respected figure in the industry. Additionally, she is a passionate mentor for WTSEO, a support network aimed at empowering women in the Technical SEO field.
Dr. Benjamin Shestakofsky – Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and Author of Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality

We all know that for VC’s, the system that is in place, is ultimately designed
to maximize the returns to themselves and their limited partners. And so, it
is in their interests to say whatever they need to say to get you to take the
money. It’s in their interest, once they’ve done that, to move things along
the way things will maximize their own benefit. The system is set up this
way, and that’s the reason we need to think about other ways to do things.

As an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Benjamin Shestakofsky is a distinguished faculty affiliate of AI at Wharton and the Center on Digital Culture and Society. His research focuses on the intricate dynamics between work, technology, organizations, and political economy in the era of AI. Dr. Shestakofsky’s scholarly pursuits and teaching interests encompass a wide array of subjects, including the sociology of work, technology and society, economic sociology, qualitative research methods, organizations, and sociological theory. His latest book, “Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality,” offers a comprehensive examination of the role of financiers in shaping the trajectory of technological progress. Drawing upon 19 months of intensive participant-observation research, Dr. Shestakofsky delves into how investors’ pursuit of rapid growth creates organizational challenges, often mitigated by the integration of sophisticated technology with low-wage labor. The book elucidates how the burdens imposed on startups by venture capital, alongside the benefits and costs of the “move fast and break things” ethos, are distributed unevenly across a company’s workforce and clientele. Through its focus on the financialization of innovation, “Behind the Startup” elucidates how the profits generated by tech startups primarily benefit a select group of elite investors and entrepreneurs. Dr. Shestakofsky advocates for a paradigm shift towards reforming the financial infrastructure to foster innovation that serves the broader population, rather than solely focusing on technological fixes. His research contributions have earned him prestigious accolades, including the 2019 W. Richard Scott Award for Distinguished Scholarship from the ASA’s Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work, and the 2021 Star-Nelkin Paper Award from the ASA’s Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology. Dr. Shestakofsky’s scholarly endeavors have been supported by esteemed institutions such as the Upjohn Institute, the Horowitz Foundation for Social Policy, and the UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. His work has garnered widespread recognition and has been featured on prominent platforms, including National Public Radio, the Financial Times, Fast Company, Axios, and publications of the World Economic Forum.