Liz Jenkins, the COO of Hello Sunshine talks about how the media company looks to put women at the center of the narrative. The L.A.-based company was founded by actor Reese Witherspoon and dedicated to female authorship. Their stories aspire to be both fun and informative and to spread contagious joy through the women at the heart of their storytelling. Liz, who joined the company as its CFO in 2018, talks about the career path that took her from investment banking to the entertainment industry...
Mar 25, 2022•45 min
With her longstanding Wall Street career (Citigroup, Merrill Lynch) and unique perspective as a woman in a predominantly male industry, Sallie Krawcheck is tackling a question that has mystified investment banks for decades: how to successfully market wealth management services to women. As CEO of digital financial investment platform Ellevest, she sees diversity as the greatest advantage in cracking the code. Krawcheck encourages each employee to bring their "whole self" to work, and emphasizes...
Mar 11, 2022•28 min
Ryan Serhant, one of the most visible real estate brokers in media, chats with Spencer about his inventive approach to sales on this episode of Office Hours. Ryan is known as one of the stars of Bravo’s Emmy-nominated "Million Dollar Listing New York," and its spin-off show "Sell It Like Serhant ." Ryan tells the story of how he wound up working as a real estate agent after arriving in New York to support his dream of becoming an actor. It started as a way to cover his rent and living expenses. ...
Feb 25, 2022•46 min
Spencer speaks with Calvin Selth , program manager for AnnenbergTech at the Annenberg Foundation on this episode of Office Hours. In his role at the foundation, Calvin leads operations and program management for PledgeLA , a collective of more than 220 tech companies and venture capital firms hosted in partnership with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. PledgeLA's mission is to connect civic, private sector and nonprofit partners to increase access to jobs and capital for underrepresented communities. Ca...
Feb 11, 2022•39 min
Paul Hanges, CEO of JibJab speaks with Office Hours host Spencer Rascoff about how the L.A.-based digital entertainment studio has attained success beyond its viral videos by moving into the eCards space and using its unique blend of satirical humor to compete with rivals Hallmark and American Greetings. Founded in 1999 by brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, the company first achieved widespread attention during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Their video of candidates George Bush and John...
Jan 28, 2022•29 min
Steven Wolfe Pereira , CEO of Encantos talks with Spencer about how the EdTech start-up uses "storyteaching" to help kids learn 21st-century skills. With diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) baked-in to the Public Benefit Corporation's mission, Encantos seeks to unlock talent from creators around the world to help build inclusive Storyworlds around the characters that make up its Intellectual Property. The platform, co-founded with author/illustrator Susie Jaramillo, who serves as President ...
Jan 14, 2022•40 min
Russ Glass, CEO of Headspace Health, a digital mental health and wellbeing platform, speaks with Spencer about his involvement overseeing the surge in the Telehealth market after the merger of Headspace and Ginger. Glass, a serial tech entrepreneur—who was also formerly Founder of Bizo, Inc., aqcuired by LinkedIn— speaks candidly about his successes and failures with previous start-ups and why he believes that there is such overwhelming demand for the healthcare services that Headspace offers....
Dec 30, 2021•38 min
Allison Ellsworth and her husband Stephen, formerly employed in the oil and gas industry, quit their jobs to bet on themselves and and started a health-based soda alternative. Their concept, a prebiotic drink called Poppi masks the strong taste of apple cider vinegar using less than 6 grams of sugar to help support gut health. The Texas based start-up was funded by Rohan Oza after the couple went on Shark Tank who helped them work on a rebrand. Allison, who was 9 months pregnant shares how the c...
Dec 17, 2021•30 min
This conversation explores the L.A. tech scene and venture investing featuring two of the industry's leading voices. Spencer Rascoff and Dana Settle discuss Pacaso and Greycroft while sharing their thoughts on L.A.'s evolving ecosystem. Dana Settle is a founding partner of Greycroft, where she heads the firm’s West Coast office out of Los Angeles. Prior to joining Greycroft, Dana spent several years as a venture capitalist and advisor to startup companies in the Bay Area, including six years at ...
Dec 03, 2021•24 min
In this fireside chat with dot.LA and Pacaso co-founder and chair Spencer Rascoff, Jam City President and co-founder Josh Yguado explores what the acquisition of Ludia means for the future of Jam City and mobile gaming. The discussion covers what it means to sit at the intersection of traditional entertainment and mobile gaming and why L.A. is the perfect place for this work. Jam City is reimagining the future of mobile gaming. Already an award-winning company behind the world’s most enduring mo...
Nov 19, 2021•22 min
My friend, serial entrepreneur and legendary real estate coach, Tom Ferry, shares his career trajectory from sales to coaching phenom, the single biggest pitfall for work performance and his take on California’s business climate.
Apr 01, 2021•27 min•Season 4Ep. 28
Chris Webb rejected attending college in favor of diving into a finance career at eighteen years old. Now, he’s the CEO and co-founder of ChowNow, an app and online ordering system for restaurants that doesn't charge the onerous fees required of other delivery services. Hear Chris share how his education steeped in Wall Street and his mother’s surprise restaurant investment came together to ultimately inspire ChowNow.
Mar 25, 2021•28 min•Season 4Ep. 27
Shoeboxes full of invoices and receipts ignited the idea of Service Titan for Ara Mahdessian, the company’s CEO and cofounder. An Armenian immigrant from Iran, Ara came to the U.S. with his family as a young boy. He watched his parents assimilate to their new country while toiling into late hours of the night in order to give their family a good life. Their hard work paid off. Ara attended Stanford where he studied software engineering. He and his cofounder, Vahe Kuzoyan, also a software enginee...
Mar 18, 2021•26 min•Season 4Ep. 26
Before PayPal, there was Bill Point, a company cofounded in the late 90s by Keith Richman, now cofounder of Boosted Commerce, which buys top-rated companies on Amazon and other e-commerce ecosystems and helps take them to their next level. Hear how the arc of his serial entrepreneurship follows the trajectory of the internet, what Boosted looks for in their acquisitions and what Boosted offers their companies to help them grow.
Mar 11, 2021•29 min•Season 4Ep. 25
As a self-taught teenage computer programmer in Brazil, Henrique Dubugras launched his first company, Pagar.me at age 16. After he sold it, Henrique was accepted and enrolled at Stanford, but dropped out early to follow his entrepreneurial instincts. This led him to co-found Brex with Pedro Franceschi, a business-to-business fintech unicorn disrupting the century old industry of banking small businesses.
Mar 04, 2021•37 min•Season 4Ep. 24
Birds were the first dwellers Austin Allison, CEO and co-founder of Pacaso, served with his boyhood bird-house business. Now, with Pacaso, the serial entrepreneur aims to democratize second home ownership by enabling people to co-own an amazing second home --- for 1/8 the cost. Hear his take on what it meant to have his first company acquired, his number one tip on how to keep his crew focused and how to best navigate what seems like weekly iterations of the start-up environment.
Feb 25, 2021•27 min•Season 4Ep. 23
If there’s one thing to be learned from CEO and co-founder of Health-Ade, Daina Trout, it’s to pay attention to the opportunity in front of you and be prepared to pivot. Hear how Health-Ade Kombucha evolved from a hair-loss remedy to a huge brand of healthy drinks, learn about Daina and Spencer’s philosophy around hiring and gain insightful learnings around fundraising.
Feb 18, 2021•27 min•Season 4Ep. 22
Hear from GOAT cofounder and CEO Eddy Lu about big, public and most importantly, resolved founder fights, insight on when to know it’s time to pivot or quit, how GOAT differentiates itself from other sneaker e-commerce sites -- and one of GOAT’s early and clever growth hacks to convince consumers the company had more merch than they actually did.
Feb 11, 2021•28 min•Season 4Ep. 21
The burgeoning Los Angeles start-up and tech scene led to the founding of dot.LA one year ago. Today, we hear from its CEO and Spencer’s cofounder, Sam Adams, on how its mission both celebrates and holds accountable the burgeoning Los Angeles tech and start-up scene, how it’s baked DEI into its mission -- and why LA is the place for entrepreneurs to dig roots.
Feb 04, 2021•17 min•Season 4Ep. 20
Ynon Kreiz served on the board of Mattel before stepping in as CEO in 2018. Hear about how Mattel is leverage its massive brand portfolio across multiple platforms, from toys to films, how Mattel is working towards environmental sustainability and the priority Mattel places on DEI. Also, hear the answer to a burning UNO game question hotly debated in Spencer’s family.
Jan 21, 2021•25 min•Season 4Ep. 19
A free-flowing conversation packed with entrepreneurial lessons with serial entrepreneur, Beauty Counter founder, Gregg Renfrew. Hear what to look for in an investor, ideas about scaling, her passion for multi-channel business -- and why people should get rid of non-stick pans.
Jan 07, 2021•30 min•Season 4Ep. 18
Cameo’s highly-anticipated 2017 launch tanked. Its only talent was furious. But the startup persisted, and through grit has grown massively. Hear Steven Galanis, founder and CEO of Cameo, share the colorful story of the young company’s turnaround, how Galanis breaks down the best way to handle employee dysfunction and how he built up Cameo’s roster of tens of thousands of celebrities and influencers ready to send custom-crafted messages.
Dec 17, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 17
Bill Gurley, Legendary Silicon Valley venture capitalist, is a general partner at Benchmark and famously known for investing early in trailblazing companies including Uber, GrubHub, my company, Zillow and so many others. Hear a conversation he and I had at the recent dot.LA Summit where we discuss marketplace-based companies, how work-from-home will accelerate business opportunity and why startups, though they might be attached to their autonomy, should pick up the phone when a big company calls...
Dec 03, 2020•50 min•Season 4Ep. 16
Huge musical success is not enough for the electronic musical group, The Chainsmokers, made of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart. As part of their hunger to grow and learn, they've started their VC firm, Mantis, where they focus on investing in Seed and Series A startups. Hear about how they see the similarities between building startups and making music, the value add they give to companies beyond their fame and reach, how they write their songs and the why behind what might be considered a controvers...
Nov 12, 2020•34 min•Season 4Ep. 15
How tough is it to infuse a retail website with entirely new products every day? Very. Nonetheless, that’s what Zulily, an ecommerce site that sells unique retail brands primarily to women, did when it went live in 2010. Ultimately, Zulily sold for $2.4 billion in 2015. Hear Darrell Cavens, founder and former CEO of Zulily, Spencer and Harvard Professor Jeffrey Rayport discuss the why behind Zulily’s astonishing success and some granular lessons learned born of a company that grew incredibly big...
Oct 29, 2020•30 min•Season 4Ep. 14
It’s not easy to turn around a company. But some executives seek out that challenge. An experienced turnaround expert, Brad Stewart is the relatively new CEO of Fair, an app to lease used, affordable cars for as long as desired. Brad started out in management consulting before becoming CEO of then-struggling XO Jet. After seven successful years at XO Jet, Brad now brings to Fair a wealth of experience. Hear his insight on the steps he takes to fix companies, the unique issues facing Fair and the...
Oct 15, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 13
Years of work experience, largely solving business problems for his family, gave Jiake Liu a fundamental understanding of how to run a successful business. It also fed his entrepreneurial thirst and ultimately led to his cofounding and leading Outer, an outdoor furniture and lifestyle company. Hear some hard-earned lessons from Jiake about startups, his Shark Tank pitch day experience and how he maintains investor relationships even if they pass on investing -- like Spencer did.
Oct 01, 2020•28 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Too many fashion options is a pain point Terry Boyle, cofounder and CEO of Behold, aims to solve with his newly launched retail platform. Hear how Terry, who’s been in fashion tech for over ten years with most of that time spent at the venerable Nordstroms, is competitively positioning and running his trailblazing company.
Sep 17, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Inspired in the midst of the MeToo awakening, Claire Schmidt founded All Voices. It’s a platform that allows employees to anonymously share feedback with company administration without fear of reprisal. Hear Schmidt, CEO, share the problems All Voices is trying to solve, how the communication process works -- and an early lesson learned that forced All Voices to quickly make a radical pivot. And yes, All Voices uses All Voices!
Sep 03, 2020•17 min•Season 4Ep. 10
On a mission to improve healthcare for every American, by offering steeply discounted prescription drugs, Doug Hirsch, cofounder and CEO of GoodRx, speaks with Spencer about how he built the business with a slow and steady attitude, how paranoia keeps him on his toes -- and why naivete is an entrepreneurial strength.
Aug 20, 2020•32 min•Season 4Ep. 9
