Ian is the author and illustrator of Olivia , a children’s book series about a pig. His first book, initially a gift for his niece Olivia, was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 2000. Ian is a set and costumer designer for opera and dance, as well as the creator of more than 30 covers for The New Yorker Magazine. Ian speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched his art career, from scratch. Listen to the interview...
From joining gyms to taking Yoga classes, finding a workout that was both effective and satisfying did not come easily to Elizabeth and Julie. Unable to discover a cardio program that motivated and inspired (as well as burned calories), Julie and Elizabeth set out to create a new kind of routine. Fusing elements of indoor cycling with upper body workouts, the two opened a small studio on the upper west side of Manhattan. They soon found themselves attracting media attention, serving celebrities,...
MongoDB —an open source database company that focuses on helping companies manage their data—is just one of the several companies that Dwight has successfully launched. He is also the co-founder of Doubleclick , the ad serving platform (acquired by Google for $3.1Bn); Gilt Groupe , the online fashion company; Business Insider , the news web platform, among others. Dwight speaks to Jessica Harris about his role in launching a number of successful New York City start-ups, from scratch. Listen to t...
Coursera offers online courses to the public through partnerships with leading universities internationally. Coursera was launched in 2012 and reached its first one million users faster than Facebook or Twitter. Coursera is one of a number of companies offering massive open online courses– or MOOCs– to address a growing global population and the rising costs of on-campus higher education. Daphne speaks with Jessica Harris about Coursera’s role in pioneering the landscape of higher education, fro...
Arianna launched the Huffington Post , the online media platform, in 2005. The company was acquired by AOL in 2011 and was the first online-only news organization to win the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2012. Arianna has written more than a dozen books on topics including feminism, Maria Callas, Picasso, and Greek mythology. Her most recent book, Thrive , is about well-being. Arianna speaks with Jessica Harris about how she helped legitimize the blogosphere by building the Huffington...
SolarCity is a clean energy company that sells solar energy to consumers. SolarCity has installed solar panels for companies including Walmart , Intel , and eBay , among others. Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind PayPal , Tesla electric cars and SpaceX , is Lyndon’s cousin and the company’s chairman. Lyndon founded the company with his brother, Pete, in 2006. SolarCty went public in December 2012. Listen to the interview...
Opower is a software company focused on energy efficiency. Opower works with utilities to monitor how much energy a consumer uses and gives households and businesses incentives to lower their consumption. The idea is that through the use of behavioral science techniques such as peer proof, people will feel compelled to consume energy more responsibly. Dan started Opower in 2007 with his Harvard classmate Alex Laskey. Opower went public in April, 2014. Prior, Dan launched Edusoft , a software com...
Despite his elite background in India, Bunker Roy chose an unconventional path dedicating his life to educating India’s impoverished population. Influenced by Ghandi’s approach toward self reliance at the village level, the Barefoot College is an organization that teaches practical skills including solar engineering, architecture and water purification, to mostly illiterate women and men. Upon completion of their six month education at the Barefoot College, students bring their newly attained sk...
Zainab Salbi grew up in Iraq with close ties to Saddam Hussein. Her father was Saddam’s personal pilot, causing her family to be victims of psychological abuse by the dictator. When Zainab was living in the United States as a young adult, she was again involved in an abusive relationship. Her understanding of women in extremely harsh conditions eventually led her to start Women for Women International , an organization that provides support to women in war zones worldwide. Zainab tells Jessica H...
African Leadership Academy (ALA) is an institution focused on developing Africa’s next generation of leaders. ALA provides practical leadership education, networking and mentoring opportunities for its students, as well as financial incentives to remain on the African continent. Fred started ALA when he was 27 years old. Fred speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched ALA, from scratch. Listen to the interview...
Jack is a serial entrepreneur who has started two companies — Twitter and Square — that, on the face of it, seem entirely different. Twitter is a social networking service; Square is a mobile payments company. But Jack believes that their shared purpose is to make each of their related tasks — communicating and transacting — easier. Twitter gets messages from point A to point B just as Square gets money from point A to point B. Twitter has over 500 million users and gained global recognition whe...
Nest Labs is focused on helping to create the next-generation home by making energy-saving smart digital assistants. Tony calls Nest’s first product, the Nest Learning Thermostat, “a smartphone in disguise.” Prior to launching Nest, Tony worked at Apple where he led the team that developed the iPod and iPhone. He was a special advisor to Steve Jobs until late 2009. Nest was sold to Google in January, 2014 for $3.2 Billion. Tony speaks with Jessica Harris about his leadership role at Apple, and h...
Marc and Vinnie have been close friends since they were elementary school classmates in New Jersey. Mark and Vinnie spent their earlier careers in finance and law respectively, before becoming business partners in their late twenties. In addition to Diapers.com , the online retail site specializing in baby products, they have started a number of other e-commerce businesses including Soap.com , focused on cleaning supplies, Wag.com , focused on pet products, and Yoyo.com , specializing in toys. A...
IEX is an alternate trading platform whose mission is to ensure fair trading in the US equity capital market system. IEX was launched specifically to counter the behavior of high frequency traders who take advantage of the information arbitrage made possible by electronic trading. Prior to starting IEX, Brad worked at Royal Bank of Canada where he first discovered the market imbalance generated by certain high frequency traders. Brad and IEX are featured in Michael Lewis’ book, Flash Boys, about...
Chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller bought the French Laundry, a restaurant in Napa Valley California, and turned it into one of the leading fine dining establishments in the world. The French Laundry and Per Se, located in the Time Warner Center in New York City, have both been awarded three Michelin Stars. Thomas has won consecutive “Best Chef” awards from the James Beard Foundation and “Chef of the Year” award by the Culinary Institute of America, among other accolades. He is the author of mu...
Have you ever had a creative project you were eager to get off the ground but you didn’t have the funding to make it happen? Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter , has helped to develop an online solution that involves the crowd’s participation. Kickstarter connects artists and innovators with potential funders who simply learn about projects by visiting the website. Yancey, a former music critic, tells Jessica Harris the story of how he and a friend hatched their crowd-sourcing idea in a...
“Hands which help are better than the lips that pray” are the words that hang in Dr. Devi Shetty’s office with a picture of Mother Theresa, a former patient of his. Dr. Shetty is a cardiac surgeon who pioneered low cost cardiac surgery for India’s poor population. Dr. Shetty founded the Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital in Bangalore India in 2001. Doctors at Narayana Hrudayalaya perform over 7,000 heart surgeries per year without comprising quality. Through its scalable, low cost model, the hospital...
Bre co-founded Makerbot Industries in 2009 after working as a public school teacher in Seattle, Washington. Makerbot makes 3-D printers that make actual objects. Instead of producing ink on paper, a Makerbot makes items ranging from bottle openers and toys to homes for hermit crabs(!). Bre talks to Jessica Harris about how he launched Makerbot Industries, from scratch. After this interview was recorded, Makerbot was acquired by the 3D Printing company Stratasys in a stock deal worth approximatel...
Yelp provides user-generated reviews of local businesses through its website and mobile app. Its contributors provide their opinions on a variety of businesses, ranging from clothing stores to restaurants. Prior to launching Yelp, Jeremy worked at Paypal. Yelp went public in 2012. Jeremy speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched Yelp, from scratch. Listen to the interview...
Rob Kalin initially started Etsy—the online marketplace for handmade goods—as a way to sell his own furniture in 2005. The company has become a vehicle for more than one million artisans who sell their products—ranging from knit-wear to musical instruments to clocks—through the site. Rob speaks with Jessica Harris about how he built Etsy, from scratch. Listen to the interview
Dr. Rodney Brooks is the co-founder of Rethink Robotics, a company that makes robots for the manufacturing industry. Rethink’s first robot, Baxter, was introduced in October 2012 with the goal of increasing US manufacturing productivity. Prior to Rethink, Dr. Brooks co-founded iRobot, which makes robots for the consumer and defense industries. iRobot’s first consumer product was the Roomba, a vacuum robot, introduced in 2002. Dr. Brooks is professor emeritus at MIT, where he was on the faculty f...
Zulily is an e-commerce company focused on products for mothers and their children. The company offers daily flash sales of boutique and leading brands at discounted prices. Darrell launched Zulily in 2009 with Mark Vadon, the founder of the online diamond merchant Blue Nile. Darrell speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched Zulily, from scratch. Listen to the interview...
David developed an interest in computer programming when he was 11 years old. Instead of finishing high school he started working, and innovating, in the online community. Tumblr is a leading micro blogging and social media tool where creators can upload images, video, audio clips and bursts of text. The site– with more than 50 million creators serving 140 million people monthly– was an outgrowth of David’s own interest in improving his personal online expression. The company was sold to Yahoo i...
Jeffrey Hollender set out to build a company that was both profitable and environmentally sustainable. Seventh Generation makes cleaning and sanitary products that focus on resource conservation and eco-friendly business practices. Jeffrey is the author of several books and an advocate of corporate and environmental responsibility. Jeffrey discusses with Jessica Harris how he has helped to pioneer safer cleaning, from scratch. Listen to the interview...
Some sculptors work with materials like bronze or marble, which last forever; but others build sculptures made of ice or snow, which last only a few moments. Who are some of the sculptors producing ephemeral art? Jessica speaks with one such pioneer, Andy Goldsworthy. Andy’s outdoor sculptures have been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, The National Gallery in Washington DC, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among others. Andy discusses how he has built a succes...
Netspend was the first prepaid debit card company focused on the “underbanked” population in the United States. Launched in 1999, Netspend targets people who do not have access to credit cards or hold bank accounts. Bertrand and Roy started the company out of their one bedroom apartment in Austin, Texas with $750. They later raised almost $1.5 Billion in an IPO in 2010 and sold the company in early 2013 to Total System Services for approximately $1.4Bn. Bertrand and Roy are also the co-founders ...
City Year is an organization focused on addressing the national dropout rate; one million American students drop out of high school annually. City Year’s corps members serve as tutors, mentors, and role models in America’s most challenging schools. City Year also played a role in the national service movement, helping to establish youth service programs, such as Americorps. Prior to starting City Year in 1988, Michael clerked for then Judge, later Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Michael sp...
Infosys is a leading global information, technology and consulting company with more than 150,000 employees and $7 Billion in revenue. Nandan started Infosys in 1981 in Bangalore, India with 6 colleagues. Nandan then served as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which through its project Aadhaar is seeking to provide unique identification numbers to close to a billion Indian residents. This biometric ID system aims to revolutionize the distribution of social ben...
TaskRabbit is an online service that allows users to outsource small tasks to individuals known as TaskRabbits. These TaskRabbits are freelance workers who have been background checked, and they perform small jobs ranging from grocery shopping to furniture assembly. Leah started the company in 2008, and the service is available in leading cities including Boston, Seattle, New York and San Francisco. Leah is a software engineer who formerly worked at IBM. Leah speaks with Jessica Harris about how...
NJOY is an electronic cigarette company that produces the flagship product NJOY King. E-cigarettes are non combustion cigarettes that contain nicotine and strive to have the look and feel and plume of a traditional cigarette. Craig’s brother Mark discovered ecigarettes in China, and the family started the company in 2006. Craig is a patent lawyer and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Craig speaks with Jessica Harris about his family’s pioneering role in the e-cigarette industry, from s...
