In this episode of Gaining the Technology Leadership Edge, Mike welcomes Scott Ponywas, a seasoned executive and entrepreneur with deep experience in travel, daily deals, and growth strategy. Scott is the founder of Exec, a premium membership platform offering executives access to over 400 travel, business, and lifestyle benefits.
Scott shares how Exec was built during the uncertainty of COVID, leveraging industry disruption to negotiate elite hotel upgrades, airline perks, and luxury travel benefits at scale. The platform now supports more than 20,000 members, serving individual executives, leadership teams, and exclusive professional organizations.
The conversation also dives into Scott’s earlier venture, Campus Dibs, once the largest college daily deal site in the country. He explains how early skepticism from local businesses was overcome through trust-building campaigns, including a standout pilot with a college pizza shop that turned into a powerful referral engine. These lessons shaped his long-term approach to partnerships and marketplace growth.
Scott reflects on the most persistent challenge in his career: new user acquisition. Whether building daily deal networks or executive benefits platforms, educating the market and earning trust has always been harder than expected.
Listeners will learn:
How premium membership marketplaces are built
Why trust matters more than pricing in partnerships
Lessons from the rise and consolidation of daily deals
How executive perks can drive retention and satisfaction
