A few months after Sara Mauskopf launched her first company, her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. With an infant at home and investors looking for results, Sara had to find a new definition of what “normal” looked like. In this episode, Sara talks about how she started her company while supporting her husband through his illness, why having a co-founder is so important for stability, and what companies get wrong when they try to create products for parents.
Feb 28, 2017•21 min•Season 1Ep. 123
Just 10 weeks into her maternity leave, Vera Fischer was laid off after her company went through a major reorg. Now, 13 years later, she shares how she launched her successful all-in-one advertising and marketing agency, 97 Degrees West. This episode includes Heliotrope and Shift of Currents by Blue Dot Sessions, licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Feb 21, 2017•17 min•Season 1Ep. 122
Happy Valentine’s Day! This holiday has everything to do with relationships. And there’s one type of relationship that we talk about a lot on this show: co-founders. In the spirit of the day, we’re bringing back one of our favorite episodes with the co-founders of Gimlet Media. Alex and Matt tell us why they decided to document their entire experience starting Gimlet in a podcast called StartUp, how they got away with “sucking” at marketing and how they got listeners to love (like, really love) ...
Feb 14, 2017•31 min•Season 1Ep. 121
In 1949, Andreas Weigend’s father was imprisoned in East Germany by Soviet occupying forces who thought he was an American spy. A decade later, when Andreas tried to find the Stasi file on his father, he instead found one about himself. In his new book “Data For the People: How to Make Our Post-Privacy Economy Work for You,” he works to help people understand how they can use their personal data to their benefit.
Feb 07, 2017•15 min•Season 1Ep. 120
Before Doug Landis stepped into his current role as the Chief Storyteller at the file-sharing company Box, he was a Senior Director of Sales at Salesforce. In our last episode from INBOUND 2016, Doug explains why having a story to tell your customers is important, why there’s so often a divide between sales and marketing teams, and why it’s important to let out your “weekend self” sometimes. This episode features the song “Beats - Here I come” by SK, available under a Creative Commons Attribu
Jan 31, 2017•20 min•Season 1Ep. 119
It was 2005. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos borrowed a camera, rented a car, and set out to cover a murder trial in the small town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. They didn’t realize they were embarking on a decade-long journey to create the Netflix hit series ‘Making a Murderer.’ This week, in our third episode from INBOUND 2016, Moira and Laura give us a behind-the-scenes look into their process. This episode features the song “Let's get it” by J-K, available under a Creative Commons Attribution li
Jan 24, 2017•22 min•Season 1Ep. 118
Sarah Cooper finds the satire in a normal office job in her blog - The Cooper Review. Today, Sarah is a full-time comedian. This week, in our second episode from INBOUND 2016, Sarah tells us how she makes typical life hysterical and what companies get wrong when they try to make content for regular people. This episode features the song “Sorriso (Parvo)” by J-K, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Jan 17, 2017•16 min•Season 1Ep. 117
This week is the first of our episodes from INBOUND 2016. First up is Alec Baldwin -- actor, comedian, and most recently, Donald Trump impersonator on Saturday Night Live. In this episode, he tells us why the role of Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock was the best job he’s ever had, how he prepared to play Trump, and why he almost didn’t take the gig in the first place. This episode features the song “Can't Shake You” by Mise, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Jan 10, 2017•24 min•Season 1Ep. 116
Daniel Pink has been a leading voice in business for more than two decades. He’s written five best-selling books about work and management, including “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” and “To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.” In this episode, Dan tells us what most managers get wrong when they try to motivate their employees, why feedback is key for younger employees, and why he thinks robots won’t be taking away everyone’s job anytime soon.
Jan 03, 2017•23 min•Season 1Ep. 115
We’re looking back on a few of our favorite moments from the show this year. In this episode, we hear from basketball legend Bill Walton about his time working with coach John Wooden, author Charles Duhigg on why the making of the movie ‘Frozen’ was so chaotic, and a few other favorite past guests. Cheers to a great 2016! Thanks for listening.
Dec 27, 2016•24 min•Season 1Ep. 114
Getting turned down is painful, whether it’s in your personal or your professional life. After a particularly harsh rejection, Jia Jiang decided to go out and face that pain head on. He purposefully tried to get rejected every day for 100 days in a row. In this episode, Jia tells us about how this experiment led him to fly a plane, drive a police car, give a college lecture, buy some specialty donuts, and much more.
Dec 20, 2016•23 min•Season 1Ep. 113
While most publications are trying to keep their articles short and sweet, Tim Urban from 'Wait But Why' regularly dives deep on his topics, writing thousands of words on a given subject. He also illustrates every post - not with modern, sleek graphics, but with hand-drawn stick figures. In this episode, he explains just how he racks up a million pageviews regularly, how he builds and maintains his audience, and why not being an expert on something might make you better at teaching other people ...
Dec 13, 2016•22 min•Season 1Ep. 112
When seed stage venture capitalist Hunter Walk is evaluating whether to invest in a company, he doesn’t look at the product. To him, it’s all about finding a great team. Before Homebrew, he worked at YouTube and Google - and even worked for a time on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. In this episode, Hunter explains why Conan was the first startup he worked for, how he identifies great companies when there’s no data to evaluate, and the three factors every company needs to be successful when taking...
Dec 06, 2016•21 min•Season 1Ep. 111
There are so many advantages to starting a company that didn’t exist 10 years ago, but founders and CEOs face more competition than ever. At Alchemist Accelerator, Ravi Belani has helped budding companies navigate these changes - and as a result, has many lessons to share. In this episode, Ravi gives some concrete advice about how to break into the startup scene in 2016, explains why growth purgatory is much worse than hell, and why persistence is more important than intelligence.
Nov 29, 2016•20 min•Season 1Ep. 110
Chris Messina invented the hashtag and the concept of coworking spaces. Today, he works for Uber as a Developer Experience Lead. In this episode, Chris explains that the best thing you can do is to give your work away for free, why conversational interfaces will become commonplace by 2020, and how having an open source philosophy can make the internet a more diverse place.
Nov 22, 2016•30 min•Season 1Ep. 109
A former journalist turned communications strategist, Karen Wickre has lead communication efforts for both Google and Twitter. Today, she advises other prominent companies on building an effective communication strategy. In this episode, she tells us where companies go wrong when trying to work with journalists, how to avoid mind-numbingly bad copy, and how content creators should work with the rest of the company to convince the rest of the company that their work is vital.
Nov 15, 2016•14 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Buying clothing secondhand is nothing new -- but the way Anthony Marino is growing threadUP is. Before moving to thredUP, Marino worked for Virgin, under Richard Branson. He says thredUP is building many of Branson’s sensibilities into their growth strategy: Get the economics right first, then build your brand. In this episode, he talks about his personal crash course in ecommerce, how he innovates in a longstanding industry, and why consensus hiring is such a mistake for a growing company.
Nov 08, 2016•18 min•Season 1Ep. 107
Hiten Shah has co-founded several successful businesses (Kissmetrics, Crazy Egg, and Quick Sprout), and advises an impressive roster of high-growth companies in his spare time. In this episode, Hiten shares some of his first-hand knowledge with us. He talks about how to avoid the common growth trap new companies fall into, what makes a great founder, and what you need to do to run a successful remote company. He even tells us a secret to parenthood!
Nov 01, 2016•19 min•Season 1Ep. 106
Have you ever been tortured by an idea? Amy Chang, CEO of Accompany, knows this feeling well. In fact, it’s what drove her to leave her seven-year stint at Google to start something new. In this episode, Amy shares her thought process behind some of her bolder decisions - from leaving Google to raising $20 million in three years with a product in beta - and the lessons she learned along the way.
Oct 25, 2016•30 min•Season 1Ep. 105
While at Stanford University 12 years ago, Ramit Sethi made a big promise to the readers of his blog: He would teach them to become rich. Though he may regret his website’s name today, no one can question the following his blog, subsequent best-selling book, and numerous spin-off projects have amassed. In this episode, Ramit shares his story of turning his side project full-time, along with his advice on receiving feedback, dodging the typical new entrepreneur pitfalls, and mastering the art of ...
Oct 18, 2016•28 min
Earlier this year, all looked rosy at Buffer. But one day, Buffer’s CEO Joel Gascoigne and the rest of the management team realized their math didn’t add up. Buffer would be out of money in just five months. After running the numbers, the path seemed clear: They had to lay off 10% of their staff. In this episode, Joel shares how he navigated this tough decision, pivoted after realizing he made a mistake, and restored the company's faith in their vision through radical transparency.
Oct 11, 2016•19 min•Season 1Ep. 103
Getting teams across an organization to work together fluidly, transparently, and productively can be a serious challenge - but it’s one Michael Pryor, CEO of Trello, is on a mission to solve. And for all measures, his company is on the fast track to solving it. In this episode, Michael shares the lessons he learned turning a side-project into an international company, and the tough things he had to learn along the way.
Oct 04, 2016•29 min•Season 1Ep. 102
Rob Go, Co-Founder of NextView Ventures, knows what the future of business looks like. In fact, he’s invested in it. As an early-stage VC, he’s backed many companies that made it big. In this episode, Rob shares his thoughts on what it takes to get traction for your product and what else he looks for in companies he invests in.
Sep 27, 2016•30 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Today, we're bringing back one of our listeners' all-time favorite guests: Guy Kawasaki. In January 2015, Guy came on the show to talk about some of his counterintuitive social media strategies. Today, he joins us to talk about what's changed since then: the Snapchat vs. Instagram Stories debate; making the most of Facebook Live; and lessons from his book, The Art of the Start 2.0, on building great businesses.
Sep 20, 2016•35 min•Season 1Ep. 100
Julie Herendeen, a pioneer of the freemium model, knows better than most that sometimes your best marketing is free -- freemium to be exact. Julie’s experience has earned her the trust of top companies looking to implement a freemium model -- and in this episode, we get to cover just that. Julie schools us on how to avoid common pitfalls, induce virality, and succeed using the freemium model - in addition to the lessons she’s learned along the way.
Sep 13, 2016•30 min•Season 1Ep. 99
We all have habits -- some good, some bad. But why are some habits easy to form and others impossible to break? Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, has spent years trying to figure out what makes some products and behaviors more habitual than others. In this episode, Nir shares his findings on the secrets to creating habit-forming products and how to leverage these behaviors in your business, career, and life.
Sep 06, 2016•33 min•Season 1Ep. 98
We all want to create content people remember (and hopefully, act on). But what makes some pieces of content easier to remember than others? The Neuroscientist Carmen Simon has researched just that and shared her findings in her book, Impossible to Ignore. In this episode, Carmen shares her researched-backed insights on how to create content that leaves a lasting impression.
Aug 30, 2016•32 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Henry Ward, CEO of eShares, thinks that if you want to build a great product, a great team, and a great company, you've got to get real with yourself on what you're bad at. In this episode, we talk with Henry about some of his weaknesses, and hear his perspective on management, feedback, organizational structure, and a few other hot-button issues he's blogged about on Medium.
Aug 23, 2016•36 min•Season 1Ep. 96
What if one moment could change the course of your entire business? That pivotal moment came to Mike Brown, Founder of Death Wish Coffee, in the form of a free Super Bowl ad. In one night, their small business became a household name, all because they won a contest with Intuit. In this episode, Mike shares the story behind winning the $5-million-dollar ad slot, what it meant for the business, and how they dealt with quadrupling in size and revenue.
Aug 18, 2016•36 min•Season 1Ep. 95
Lorrie Norrington knows how to grow a company. She’s racked up over 30 years of experience as a senior business executive building companies like DIRECTV, GE, Intuit, and eBay. In this episode, Lorrie shares lessons from her storied career on the benefits of taking enough time to analyze your problems, leading your team with transparency, and watching what your customers do (not what they say).
Aug 16, 2016•41 min•Season 1Ep. 94
