You know the drill. Quick brush in the morning, neglect the afternoon floss, and win your week with a second brush a few nights a week. Changing habits is hard, especially when it comes to dental care. Simon Enever founded Quip to fix oral care. He talks about the role of messaging in the early years, how customers are helping influence new products, and the company’s recent foray into selling offline.
Apr 10, 2019•30 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Artificial Intelligence. Automation. Bots. Technology has disrupted nearly every aspect of our daily lives. But author Kate O’Neill asks the question, are we steering that technology to create the best future, for the most people? In her latest work “Tech Humanist: How Data and Technology Shape the Future of Meaningful Human Experiences,” Kate explores how we can create more meaningful, intentional, and integrated experiences that better align with businesses and people.
Apr 03, 2019•31 min•Season 4Ep. 4
[Mini Episode] Topo Designs president Jedd Rose believes the outdoor apparel design deserves better. And this week, producer Matt Brown helps us unpack how the company designs for urban and outdoor life. Jedd unpacks the company’s design principles and tells us why the best outdoor gear has more to do with memories than fabrics.
Mar 29, 2019•10 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Hims founder Andrew Dudum knew that less than 10 percent of men feel comfortable talking about their looks and health with their doctor. But even getting people to the doctor meant conflicting work schedules, travel, and countless more headaches along the way. So Andrew decided to not only destigmatize men’s self-care, but make access to prescriptions, products and medical advice easier and more affordable.
Mar 27, 2019•31 min•Season 4Ep. 2
When Ed Razek, the CMO of Victoria’s Secret, made disparaging comments about Heidi Zak’s company ThirdLove, she stood up for herself and all women. Her response? An Open Letter to Victoria’s Secret in The New York Times. We talk with Heidi about the open letter, the aftermath that followed, and share the story of lingeries’ most interesting challenger brand.
Mar 20, 2019•31 min•Season 4Ep. 1
For most shoppers, fair trade, organic, non-GMO products means paying a premium. And the amount of choices? Endless. But conscious consumerism doesn't have to equal uninformed decisions and an empty bank account. Brandless, which charges $3 for a variety of products, is changing this equation. Founder Tina Sharkey talks about her mission to democratize access to high-quality goods, redefine what brand means, and scale the Brandless business alongside its community.
Dec 19, 2018•22 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Culture happens. Whether you plan for it or not, all companies have a culture. An no one knows more about how culture works than New York Times’s best-selling author Daniel Coyle. Daniel talks about his latest work, The Culture Code, where he goes inside the world’s most successful organizations - Pixar, San Antonio Spurs, SEAL Team Six, and more - to find out what makes them tick.
Dec 12, 2018•38 min•Season 3Ep. 12
It was the largest offer in Shark Tank history. Mark Cuban offered Arum Kang $30 million for her dating app Coffee Meets Bagel. But she and her sisters swiped left, and that decision made them the targets of keyboard cowboys who labeled them “foolish” and “greedy”. There was a specter of self-doubt, a discovery of the company’s real values, and a final rise above all the noise. Three years later, Kang feels zero regret for her decision to pass on the Shark’s tantalizing offer.
Dec 05, 2018•23 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Davis Smith grew up like every other kid -- spearfishing piranhas in the Amazon, eating wild coconuts for snacks, and taking family adventures around Central and South America. During these early years, Davis also saw the abject poverty that others lived in first-hand. So he founded Cotopaxi, an outdoor brand committed to alleviating poverty and empowering communities through entrepreneurship.
Nov 28, 2018•25 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Joe De Sena founded Spartan with a single purpose: to change people’s lives. But growing the company has been the toughest race of Joe’s life. Its meant persevering through a near death experience, pivoting after a decade of failing business models, and setting one of the most ambitious growth goals ever.
Nov 21, 2018•39 min•Season 3Ep. 9
[News] Amazon has officially announced the locations for the company’s second headquarters -- Crystal City, Virginia, and Long Island City, New York. But with the announcement comes controversy. HubSpot’s resident news writer Amanda Zantal-Wiener joins us to break it all down.
Nov 17, 2018•8 min•Season 3Ep. 8
If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s how much they loathe insurance companies. And yet, despite every technological revolution, the insurance industry continues to operate basically the same way it did in the Middle Ages. Dan Schreiber, co-founder of Lemonade, saw the fundamental wrong of insurance: If people don’t get paid for claims, insurance companies make more money. So he aligned the company with its customers and created a bot to make the process surprisingly more human.
Nov 14, 2018•25 min•Season 3Ep. 7
[Mini Episode] The robots have arrived. Welcome! First stop: the kitchen. So we asked, is that really all that bad a thing? We sit down with robot restaurateur Michael Farid of Spyce to hear about why standing over hot stoves, endlessly stirring, chopping, and plating food might just be a thing of the past.
Nov 09, 2018•9 min•Season 3Ep. 6
After founding and stepping away from Moz, Rand Fishkin finds himself back in the startup world. Only this time, he’s doing things differently. In this live recording from INBOUND 2018, we talk to The Wizard of Moz about why he now refuses venture capital, how he’s helping SparkToro grow better, and what it’s like to play Dungeons & Dragons with Anita Sarkeesian.
Nov 07, 2018•26 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Beauty is a $450 billion industry. But traditionally, communication on beauty routines and products came from companies, not other customers. That is, until a little blog named Into the Gloss was launched. Using customer insights, the blog launched Glossier -- it’s own line of beauty products. Ali Weiss tells us how Glossier is giving the makeup industry got a much-needed makeover.
Oct 31, 2018•25 min•Season 3Ep. 4
[Mini Episode] Take a look at your Instagram feed. You likely follow a few different influencers. But look a bit closer. Are each and every one of them human? Not if you’re one of the 1.5M followers of Lil’ Miquela. The rise in AI influencers might not be the stuff of nightmares or summer blockbusters, but it’s not that far off. Our producer Matthew Brown talks with Chris Detert of Influential about our human(less) future.
Oct 26, 2018•8 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Movement is the art of change. You pass through one physical location to the next, with decisions at every step. And whether that’s in dance or starting a company, movement is what inspires us. Payal Kadakia's career has taken a number of tough decisions -- some that could have derailed her entire career. We caught up with Payal for a live recording at INBOUND 2018. She tells us how she knew when to start ClassPass, and more recently, when to step down as CEO.
Oct 24, 2018•26 min•Season 3Ep. 2
It’s August 21, 2017. There’s only one thing on people’s minds: The solar eclipse. Every brand under the sun jockeyed for the cultural zeitgeist, but it was MoonPie — throwing a little shade at Hostess — that won the day. The company’s viral tweet “Lol ok” broke brand social records and the ensuing demand sold out stores and shutdown the bakery. Dooley Tombras gives us a look into how how he made a humble snack cake one of the most out of this world brands on social.
Oct 17, 2018•30 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Kristen Kish’s road to Season 10 of Top Chef was winding, to say the least. She tried out business school for a spell, got in way over her head as an executive chef, and ended up working for one of the best-known culinary icons in the world. And the entire time, she was struggling with her own identity. In the last episode of The Turnaround season, we explain why appearing on Top Chef was only the second biggest turnaround in Kristen’s life.
Apr 10, 2018•23 min•Season 2Ep. 7
During the Summer of 2014, customers and employees of Market Basket boycotted the company, demanding that the board of trustees reinstate Arthur T. Demoulas, the beloved president and CEO of the grocery store chain. This week, we tell the story of that protest, which is a good reminder that the people sitting around a boardroom table aren’t the only ones who own a company.
Apr 03, 2018•20 min•Season 2Ep. 6
The World’s Only Curious George Store sits in the heart of Harvard Square. It’s been there, in some form, since 1995. But behind the bright colors and the cheery facade, there’s been a fight raging to keep the store open since day one. In today’s episode, we tell the dramatic and little-known story of literature’s most mischievous monkey.
Mar 27, 2018•24 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Nintendo is known for constantly reinventing the video game landscape. But a few years ago, they had just released their slowest-selling product of all time. Sales were so bad that the president of the company cut his salary in half. And for the first time since entering the video game market, they were operating at a loss. In today’s episode, we look at how they got there. And how they managed to turn things around.
Mar 20, 2018•27 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Before it was banned for nearly a century, absinthe used to be one of the most popular drinks in the world. But somewhere along the way, it got a reputation for making people hallucinate and even go insane. How did it get such a bad reputation? Why was it made illegal in countries around the world for so long? And how did an entire industry come back from such dire straits?
Mar 13, 2018•45 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Mark Hellendrung visited a local pub in his home town in Rhode Island. He was just looking for a drink, but he found himself on a journey to bring back the 125-year-old beer brand locals call ‘Gansett. But how do you balance tradition with innovation? With the weight of an entire community (and generations more) behind him, Mark finally brought The Narragansett Beer Company back home.
Mar 06, 2018•25 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Our new season -- The Turnaround -- is right around the corner, but we wanted to give you a little preview of what’s to come. In this mini-episode, Dan Pink and Steve Blank both return to the show, and we ask them about a turnaround from their own lives. Have a turnaround story of your own? Record a voice memo, and send it to [email protected]. You could end up on a future episode of the show!
Feb 20, 2018•16 min•Season 2Ep. 1
After nearly three years, The Growth Show is officially taking a break. But we’re not stopping, by any means. We’ve already begun production on our next season. We’ll be back in 2018 with all new episodes, telling all new stories of companies bringing themselves back from the brink. Until then, subscribe to the podcast and we’ll see you in the New Year!
Oct 31, 2017•4 min
We spend so much of our life in school -- with classes, teachers, tests, and papers. So when structured learning isn’t around anymore, it can be jarring. Like your training wheels just got removed. Noah Kagan, the Chief Sumo at Sumo.com, has trained himself to keep learning new things all the time. Today on the show, he tells us how he manages to keep learning new skills, whether it’s marketing, mountain biking, or anything in between.
Oct 24, 2017•28 min•Season 1Ep. 157
If you’ve ever applied for a job in tech, you know just how painful it can be. Technical tests consume hours of your time, brain teasers leave you baffled, and culture fit questions juice your stress levels. On top of all this, you’re likely still trying to hold down your current position. Jason Shen, CEO and Co-Founder of Headlight, has spent months asking around to see how companies are hiring today. His results are telling, and they’ve given him an idea of how we should be hiring instead.
Oct 17, 2017•30 min•Season 1Ep. 156
When you’re one of the most recognizable companies on the planet, how do you decide on your next big idea? If you’re Michael McNally, you think about it all the time. Michael is the Senior Director of Brand Relations at LEGO, and he’s gone from building LEGO cities in his basement to rolling the world’s largest LEGO model into downtown Manhattan. Michael tells us how he approaches partnerships, gets his team out of creative ruts, and what it’s like meeting some memorable longtime LEGO fans.
Oct 10, 2017•26 min•Season 1Ep. 155
Every single day at 9:15 AM, Molly Beck reaches out to a new person in her network. And if you’re trying to get to the next level in your career, you might want to consider doing the same thing. Molly is an entrepreneur and the author of a book called ‘Reach Out: The Simple Strategy You Need to Expand Your Network and Increase Your Influence.’
Oct 03, 2017•39 min•Season 1Ep. 154
