[SaaS Series] Human Wisdom in an AI-Driven World With Henry Park

Henry Park is the Co-founder and CEO of Pandoblox, a Platform-as-a-Service company unifying data, IT & security to make mid-market companies AI-ready. A serial tech entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience, he has navigated major shifts like VoIP, cloud, and blockchain. He is also the Founder of Guerilla Community Movement, a nonprofit supporting at-risk youth through mentorship and rite of passage programs. Henry holds a degree in economics from UC Irvine, with a background in psychology, and an executive MBA from Tuck University.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [4:02] Henry Park shares the vision behind the first citywide rite of passage for at-risk youth
• [6:54] How mentorship and tree planting empower the next generation
• [12:04] Pandoblox’s pivots through blockchain, cloud, and AI
• [17:16] Why mid-market companies struggle with traditional SaaS solutions
• [21:47] The rise of the services software model
• [27:17] Creating a single source of truth for mid-market company data
• [30:19] When fast-growing businesses should leverage the Pandoblox platform
• [41:53] How embracing AI reshaped Pandoblox’s team and culture

In this episode…

Sometimes the most important question about AI is not what it can do, but what it should never replace. As businesses race to automate decisions, workflows, and data operations, how do leaders keep human wisdom at the center?

For Henry Park, the answer starts with building AI around people, not the other way around. He explains that his journey led him to build solutions focused on outcomes, not just tools, introducing a “service as software” model that removes complexity for growing businesses. He highlights how listening closely to customers and adapting through major tech shifts enabled long-term relevance. This approach helps companies leverage data and AI without heavy internal resources. He also emphasizes the role of mentorship in shaping both individuals and organizations, creating ripple effects beyond business.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, host Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Henry Park, Co-founder and CEO of Pandoblox, to discuss human-centered AI for mid-market growth. They explore how to adapt to tech shifts, solve mid-market SaaS challenges, and build outcome-driven platforms. Henry also shares insights on mentorship, leadership, and creating impact beyond business.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Henry Park on LinkedIn
• Pandoblox
• Guerrilla Community Movement
• Rite of Passage
• 3GC Group
• Hallmark Media
• Archangel Ancient Tree Archive
• The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet by Jim Robbins
• ChatGPT
• NetSuite
• Salesforce
• Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle

Special mention(s):

• David Milarch on LinkedIn
• Jake Milarch on LinkedIn
• Pat Turpin on LinkedIn
• Deron Quon on LinkedIn
• Craig Cooke on LinkedIn
• John Dennis Liu on LinkedIn

Related episodes:

• “Automation Solutions with Wade Foster Founder of Zapier” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “Pipedrive: Brain Surgery, Married, & Moved Company from Estonia to U.S. All at Once – with Urmas Purde [Inspiration]” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[SaaS Series] Tips To Thrive in the SaaS Space With Sujan Patel” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “[SaaS Series] Revolutionizing Online Forms and Productivity With Aytekin Tank of Jotform” on Inspired Insider Podcast
• “How Tom Vozzo Went From President of a Billion-Dollar Company to CEO of Homeboy Industries, The Largest Gang Rehabilitation and Re-Entry Program in the World” on Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable moments:

• “The highest energy you can live out is love. It’s the most powerful one you can have.”
• “What we’ve learned matters when we give it back. You can’t take anything with you.”
• “Our solution covers design, implementation, and AI management in one subscription.”
• “Entrepreneurs survive by having vision and truly listening to their customers.”
• “Challenges push you beyond comfort. That in itself is a rite of passage.”

Action steps:

1. Seek out mentorship and community support: Connecting with mentors or supportive groups provides guidance, accountability, and clarity during challenging or transitional seasons.
2. Focus on self-awareness and authenticity: Staying true to your values builds resilience and helps you move forward with clarity, even after setbacks.
3. Set clear goals and desired outcomes: Define the results you want first so you can choose the right tools, strategies, and roles without wasting time or effort.
4. Embrace lifelong learning and upskilling: Continuously developing new skills, especially around evolving technologies like AI, keeps you adaptable and competitive.
5. Give back and serve others: Supporting others through mentorship or community work creates a meaningful impact and strengthens your growth as a leader.

Episode Transcript

Intro 00:15

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz 00:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here. I am the Founder of InspiredInsider.com, where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different. I have Henry Park of Pandoblox. You can check them out at Pandoblox.com. Henry, I’m excited to have you. I want to formally introduce you, but I always like to point out more episodes of the podcast people should check out. You know, we were talking before we hit record about SaaS, traditional software versus services, AI services, and software, which Henry considers Pandoblox. And we’re going to get into that. But when I think of some of the. So this will kind of be part of the SaaS series. Henry. Some of the other episodes. One of the co-founders of Zapier was in a good episode with Wade Foster, talking about the journey. One of the co-founders of Pipedrive. Also, I think at the time, they were like 10,000 customers. Now they think they’re over 100,000 customers.

So that was an interesting conversation, and Mailshake and two talked about getting to 70,000 users, and Jotform was another good one. Henry. They were talking about the freemium model. And getting to 25 million users is just interesting. There are ups and downs, right? And so it wasn’t just a straight-up and to the right situation. So it’s always good to hear those challenges as well as the upside. So check those out on InspiredInsider.com. This episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25, we help businesses connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. We do that in two ways. One, we’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. So we do strategy, accountability, and the full execution of production number two. An easy button for a company’s gifting.

So we make gifting stay top of mind. Could be clients, partners, or prospects. It could be staff from a cultural perspective. So it’s not like we send like these tchotchkes with our name on it or anything. We like to send food. I like getting food. So people just send us their addresses or their best partners and clients, and we send something every 3 to 4 months for five years or so. So, you know, I consider the number one thing in my life to be relationships. And I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships. And personally, I found no better way over the past decade to profile the people I admire in the podcast and send them sweet treats in the mail. So check out Rise25.com or email [email protected].

I’m super excited to introduce Henry Park. He’s the Co-founder and CEO of Pandoblox. He’s a two-time technology entrepreneur with over 22 years of experience building and operating enterprise technology platforms. We’ll talk about, you know, Henry, it’s interesting because you’ve led the company through three major technology shifts, you know, voice over IP, cloud, and blockchain, and getting into it. But you have a really rich background in mergers and acquisitions and plastics and rubber of all things competing brands against, you know, companies like Goodyear, Procter and Gamble, many more. And also, I do want to mention your non-profit, which we will talk about as well. And that’s, you know, Guerrilla Community Movement. So, Henry, thanks for joining me.

Henry Park: 03:27

Thank you for having me.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 03:29

I want to dig into Pandoblox, but I, I mean, we were talking before that you are on a high for Guerrilla Community Movement. I will mention that I had I did have Tom Vozzo on a couple of years ago, who was CEO of Homeboy Industries, which is one of the largest, most successful gang intervention rehabilitation reentry programs. And talking about that. So I’d love for you to talk about starting. You know, Guerrilla Community Movement, why you started it, and a little bit about it.

Henry Park: 04:02

Yeah. Guerrilla Community Movementis focused on at-risk youth and really getting them the kind of mentorship and guidance to really get them through that tough period of becoming an adult and becoming independent. The difference between Homeboy Industries and the US is that Homeboy Industries focuses on them. After they get incarcerated, we focus on getting them help, getting them help before they get incarcerated. That’s the hope. And so what we’re doing is starting the very first city-wide rite of passage program. So it was, you know, we’re talking about village-type rites of passage and indigenous tribal rites of passage. There’s a lot to it. You know, the rites of passage aren’t just about physical endurance and going through a lot of your fears and trauma. It has a lot to do with energy work and, you know, grounding yourself to Mother Earth.

And so all of those things are incorporated into our Rite of Passage program. And we’re, we’re, we just launched it. The. Hi. I’m in; we just launched it on Earth Day. We had a very prominent family who wanted to remain anonymous and donated 100 ancient trees. These are trees that were cloned from a 3000 year old redwood that’s twice as big as General Sherman. And they were there, and the kids got to plant them and name them. And now this is a multi-generational effort because the trees that they planted are going to be living for the next 3000 years, and they’re going to pass it on down from one generation to another. And so it was just the most spiritually uplifting, energetically high event that I could have imagined. To really help that risk youth, I. I used to be one.

So at 17, I left my family and was out in the streets doing a lot of dumb things and learning, learning how to survive out there. And, you know, I think everything happens for a reason. For me, that period in my life was very challenging. That was my rite of passage. But through it, you know, I came out and was able to go to college and do all the things that I did that led me to becoming an entrepreneur. But, you know, all along the way, it’s really important to take everything that we’ve learned and give it back because you know, that cycle of life, you know, you can’t take anything with you when you die, right? So, so, you know, it’s really important. And yeah, thank you for making space to talk about it.

Dr. Jeremy Weisz: 06:54

Yeah, no, thanks for sharing that. And you know, if you’re listening, we’re on the website. You can watch the video part. We’re at theguerrillamovement.org. You can check it out, see how you can help, and contribute. It looks like there’s a variety of things. You can see the rite of passage, which looks, you know, which we were showing the big, big trees there. But there are a lot of training programs and other things you have on here. I’d love to hear a little bit, Henry, like through that time, because looking at your accolades and journey, you would never have guessed that, right? What was the toughest part about that part of your life, like part of your life, and how did you then just get onto that path of, you know, I was looking at your background, you know, economics, psychology at UC Irvine. Like you just would never know that you went through that, that challenging period.

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