S12 Bonus: Skillset Mismatch: Fusing Labor Market Signals with Program Catalogs to Build a Real-Time Economic Intelligence Layer with Sushma Vadlamannati, Founder & CEO of zScale

Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders

Noah Labhart - Startup Founder & CTO

News, Entrepreneurship, Business, Technology, Careers, Tech News

5.0 • 217 Ratings

🗓️ 11 June 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sushma Vadlamannati is originally from India, and moved to the states over 25 year ago to pursue her bachelors in at Texas Women's University. She comes from a nontraditional founder background, spending 15 years in the Fortune 100 companies, leading large programs with large budgets. About 5 years ago, she started advising startups and angel investing, which led her into the startup world. Outside of tech, she has 2 daughters and loves to do arts and crafts. In fact, she uses scrap material she finds at home to build miniature scenes and creations. Sushma is very familiar with the startup scene in Texas. As such, she has a keen understanding of the recurring problems for startups - the local talent pool. In addition to this, she noticed the disconnect between schools, workforce opportunities, and students/workers themselves. She decided to pivot into to building this intelligence layer. This is the creation story of zScale. Our Sponsors: * Check out Cash App and use my code CASHAPP10 for a great deal: https://click.cash.app/ui6m/mt82fpxl #CashAppPod. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. See terms and conditions at https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/card-agreement. Cash App Green, overdraft coverage, borrow, cash back offers and promotions provided by Cash App, a Block, Inc. brand. Visit http://cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. * Check out Plaud AI and use my code CODESTORY for a great deal: https://plaud.ai Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by The Built. A new podcast from the guys behind Cincera,
0:04.7	Michael Sullivan and Ian Myers. They built their company by figuring out clever solutions to a few
0:09.8	important ad tech problems in their industry. And that's exactly what this show is about.
0:15.2	Mike and Ian interview some of the smartest tech minds in the biz to hear about how they
0:19.8	identified opportunities, solve their hardest challenges, and grew their businesses in the biz to hear about how they identified opportunities, solve
0:21.6	their hardest challenges, and grew their businesses in the process.
0:26.3	Listen to the build with Michael Sullivan, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:35.3	So early on, I got too attached to the coverage.
0:38.3	As I mentioned before, I was focusing on breadth rather than depth.
0:42.3	So I actually spent real time trying to make the map light up across the whole state.
0:48.3	Because a full map looks impressive in a demo.
0:51.3	Then I showed an early version to someone in economic development and they
0:56.6	basically said, this is wide but can it answer my question about my county better than the
1:03.2	analysts I already have? And right then it couldn't. I built for the impressive thing
1:10.3	instead of the useful thing.
1:13.3	I'm Sushma Vadlamanati, founder and CEO of Z-scale.
1:20.4	This is Code Story.
1:23.2	A podcast bringing you interviews with tech visionaries.
1:26.2	Since six months moonlighting. There's nothing on the backhand. Who share what it takes to change in industry. I don't exactly know what to do next. She took many guys to get right. Who built the teams that have their back. A company is its people. The teams help each other achieve more. Most proud of our team. Keeping scalability top of mind. Yes, we've been fighting it as we grow. Total waste of time. The stories you don't read in the headlines. It's not an easy thing to achieve, mine too. Took off the shelf and dusted it off and tried it begin. Dry the ups and downs of the startup life. You need to really want it.
2:01.7	It's not just about technology.
2:03.2	All this and more on Code Story.
2:07.1	I'm your host, Noah Labart, and today, Hoshushma Vait Lamanati has built the economic
	...

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