Episode 26 of Localogy’s This Week in Local podcast explores the future of work with Roam Founder and CEO Howard Lerman.

This episode remains largely within the framework of the future of work. We covered everything from the problem with meetings today to the thinking behind the name “Roam”. Also, why do “hub” offices make so little sense in today’s world of work? And what does Howard believe is required for Roam to scale? And of course, how Roam will leverage AI, Apple Vision Pro, and more.

Ultimately, the conversation is all about what’s wrong with our current meeting culture. In Howard’s worldview, it’s not so much that we are having too many meetings. The real problems, says Howard, are that meetings are too long, too unfocused, and involve too many people.

Howard takes pride in the fact that the average meeting on the Roam platform is just over 8 minutes long. He tells us Roam now has 200 paying enterprise customers and a waiting list that his team is working to clear.

Fun fact. Many who have worked with and observed Howard in local (via his former role as the Co-founder and CEO of Yext) over the years may have figured he was a Steve Jobs acolyte. In fact, Howard’s business hero is Walt Disney. 

Early in our discussion, Howard mentions an influence in the creation of Roam was the book Ready Player One. You can find it on Amazon here.

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