Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake talks with Recode's Jason Del Rey about using personalized data science to help consumers find clothing that fits and looks good. Stitch Fix's personal shoppers sometimes rely only on the numbers but usually use their intuition as the "last mile" between buyers and the right clothes, which are delivered in a try-on box. Lake says recent expansions into men's and plus-size fashion are helping the company grow. She also talks about what she has learned from ...
Mar 21, 2017•28 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Walker & Company Brands founder and CEO Tristan Walker talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the company's attempts to tap into the "wide-open opportunity" of making health and beauty products for people of color. Walker discusses the difficulties he has faced in raising money, due to a combination of investors' general aversion to e-commerce companies and specific skepticism about how many people can benefit from a product like Walker's Bevel razor. He also explains why he's planning to keep t...
Mar 21, 2017•39 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 20th Century Fox CEO Stacey Snider talks with CNBC's Julia Boorstin about the movie studio's investments in new technologies, including virtual reality and augmented reality. Snider says seeing a movie she envies, like Disney's "The Jungle Book," is a powerful motivator for exploring new techniques. She says studios need to respond to the changing demands of the movie-watching audience by reconsidering — but not breaking — standard theatrical release windows. She says the goal of Twentieth Centu...
Feb 15, 2017•39 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast Google SVP Philipp Schindler talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about YouTube's original programming initiative and how the company compares it to Netflix's and Amazon's. Schindler says the key differentiator is YouTube's existing fanbase, which spends more than 50 percent of its time watching video on mobile devices. He also discusses some "megatrends" in technology, including machine learning and new types of devices like wearables, which he says are coming together into an "age of smart assista...
Feb 15, 2017•37 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast National Geographic Channel CEO Courteney Monroe talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about how the iconic magazine and TV brand is trying to shift its business "from reverence to relevance." Initially unimpressed with NatGeo's TV programming, Monroe — an HBO veteran — was tasked by 21st Century Fox with imagining a more ambitious HBO-esque lineup. Its first scripted series, "Genius," is directed by Ron Howard and will adapt Walter Isaacson's biography of Albert Einstein. She says the company is thin...
Feb 15, 2017•31 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan talks about "the 3 o'clock wakeup call," the ruthless drumbeat of economic, technological and political disruption in the media business. He shares some strategies for responding to that disorder, including more careful selection of who you partner with and why transparency between business and the audience is more important than ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 15, 2017•15 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about how the premium cable channel is targeting underserved TV audiences such as African-Americans, women and LGBT people — groups that also happen to be active social media users. Albrecht also hopes to reach new subscribers with less than $50,000 in annual household income, who don't have a credit card but would buy a Starz subscription card at the supermarket. He also discusses how Starz and other premium networks, includ...
Feb 15, 2017•35 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast Fusion Senior Editor Felix Salmon talks about seven mistakes his team at Fusion Media Group committed, including the assumption that millennials could be made to watch TV. Also: Don't let TV people make your website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Feb 15, 2017•12 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast Stratechery founder and author Ben Thompson talks about how the internet has impacted different types of media — text, audio and video — and what other industries such as hotels can learn from that history. He explains the power of bundling in media economics and why companies like Google and Facebook are so disruptive to that practice. After his presentation, he talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about why he started covering tech strategy instead of tech products and how, as a writer based in Tai...
Feb 15, 2017•37 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast Facebook VP of Partnerships Dan Rose talks with CNBC's Julia Boorstin about Facebook's plans to launch a connected TV app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Samsung smart TVs. Rose says Facebook, which has been testing a dedicated "video tab" on the web for months, is hoping to see longer videos than the 30- to 60-second clips that currently dominate the News Feed. Rose also talks about how Facebook is working with news publishers and journalists to combat "fake news" and support news literacy. He...
Feb 15, 2017•35 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast Ashley McCollum, the general manager of BuzzFeed's hit food video series Tasty, and Red Rooster Harlem owner Marcus Samuelsson talk with Recode's Peter Kafka about the changing format and audience for foodie entertainment. McCollum explains how Tasty was developed, how it reached 500 million viewers per month and how it makes money through branded content. Samuelsson, who had appeared on cooking TV shows in the past, came to Tasty last year to teach viewers how to make southern fried chicken; he...
Feb 15, 2017•33 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast The Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron talks with Recode's Kara Swisher and The Verge's Walt Mossberg about how the Post has been covering the Trump administration, including recent reports that triggered the resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. Baron says that in the Trump era, political journalism must be less "access-driven," and reporters should shine a light on the upheaval in Washington, D.C. He responds to White House claims that the press is the "opposition p...
Feb 15, 2017•47 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Apple SVP Eddy Cue and Propagate Content co-CEO Ben Silverman talk with Recode's Peter Kafka about Apple's first TV programs, "Planet of the Apps" and "Carpool Karaoke," which will be distributed on Apple Music. "Planet of the Apps" tells the story of several software developers competing for $10 million in venture capital investment; "Carpool Karaoke" is a spinoff of the popular comedy segment from "The Late Late Show With James Corden." Later in the interview, "Carpool" producer Ben Winston jo...
Feb 14, 2017•1 hr 9 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast AwesomenessTV CEO Brian Robbins talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about selling his company multiple times and making media aimed at teens. Robbins says Generation Z, which is more serious, multicultural and politically engaged than millennials, wants to see itself reflected more on the screen, and is actively creating content, not just consuming it. He discusses why it's important for people in media to talk about politics, how he looks at platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube, and why h...
Feb 14, 2017•38 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Blumhouse Productions founder Jason Blum talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about making horror movies with directors such as M. Night Shyamalan and Jordan Peele. Blumhouse promises those filmmakers total creative control over movies like "Insidious," "The Purge" and "Split" in exchange for lower budgets. Blum calls his studio an "outsider in the Hollywood system," with a model that most other studios have struggled to replicate. Horror works better than other genres, he says, because you don't nee...
Feb 14, 2017•41 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast BuzzFeed UK Editor in Chief Janine Gibson talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about how shifts in both politics and the media business are changing journalism. She explains some of the differences in coverage of Brexit and Donald Trump, both of which saw intense scrutiny and criticism aimed at the media. Gibson also discusses the rise of fake news and why WikiLeaks — an organization she worked with often at the Guardian — seemingly became more raw and antagonistic in 2016. Learn more about your ad c...
Dec 12, 2016•33 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new not-yet-launched publication Axios, which will center on business, technology, politics and media. VandeHei argued that journalists spend too much time talking to each other, and that there is public demand for media that is smart, short and shareable. Axios will initially be supported by advertising, but VandeHei says he envisions an eventual shift to premium news subscriptions that cost $10,000 or more. Learn more ...
Dec 12, 2016•36 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast Turner CEO John Martin talks with Recode's Peter Kafka about the impact of the 2016 election on Turner-owned CNN. Martin says President-elect Donald Trump has been good for business (profits are up), even though Trump regularly tweets about his dissatisfaction with the company's flagship cable news channel. Martin notes that CNN, which he says tries to be less partisan than rivals Fox News and MSNBC, won't change its journalistic mission post-election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit pod...
Dec 12, 2016•34 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the company's complicated relationship with Microsoft, which has been both a partner and — increasingly of late — an enemy to the CRM giant. Benioff wants government regulators to more rigorously challenge M&A like Microsoft's acquisition of LinkedIn, which he says is an example of too much data being consolidated in one company. He also talks about how Twitter, a company Salesforce had considered buying, helped elect Donald Trum...
Nov 28, 2016•1 hr 2 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner talks with Recode's Kara Swisher and Kurt Wagner about the skills workers will need as technology continues to disrupt businesses in all industries. Weiner argues that the U.S. focuses too much on four-year college degrees and not enough on vocational training and certification. His desire to rethink skills training may be in part because LinkedIn now owns online education platform Lynda. He noted that, according to the World Economic Forum, new tech will displace more t...
Nov 28, 2016•38 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast NBBJ partner Ryan Mullenix and Fuseproject founder Yves Behar talk with Recode's Kara Swisher and Johana Bhuiyan about the changing needs of workers across the country and how new types of offices might reflect that. Mullenix is working with companies like Amazon and Samsung to rethink corporate offices, while Behar is trying to launch co-working spaces, called Canopy, which will be located closer to where people live. Behar says even iconic elements of the office like the conference room should...
Nov 28, 2016•41 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Stripe president and co-founder John Collison talks with Recode's Jason Del Rey about what's next for the online payments company, including international expansion and its experiment in machine learning, dubbed "Radar." To help it combat fraud, Stripe shows its users why Radar flagged a certain purchase as untrustworthy. Collison also discusses how he evaluates Apple Pay and Android Pay and why Stripe is interested in emerging technologies like Amazon Alexa. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
Nov 15, 2016•41 min•Ep 25•Transcript available on Metacast Forerunner Ventures founder and managing partner Kirsten Green talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her investments in companies like Dollar Shave Club and Jet.com, which just sold for $1 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively. She says at least five of the e-commerce companies Forerunner invests in have brick-and-mortar stores, and that the visitors to those stores are some of their best customers. Green also discusses how commerce companies and retail stores might compete with Amazon by offe...
Nov 15, 2016•39 min•Ep 24•Transcript available on Metacast Hillary for America Chair John Podesta talks with Recode's Kara Swisher and Vox.com's Ezra Klein about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's strategy for defeating presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump in the 2016 election. Podesta also argues that rival Senator Bernie Sanders has not permanently damaged Clinton's chances and predicts that the campaign will be able to unite Democrats before November. Podesta also discusses the continuing backlash to Clinton's use of a private email serv...
Jun 03, 2016•42 min•Ep 23•Transcript available on Metacast Former General Magic executive Joanna Hoffman, former Aereo CEO Chet Kanojia and Y Combinator partner Dalton Caldwell talk with Recode's Peter Kafka about thier past entrepreneurial efforts that failed. They explain why they failed, with reasons ranging from unready technology to Supreme Court intervention, and how they moved on in different ways. Central to the discussion: How these entrepreneurs and others define what success means for them and whether that definition changes over time. Learn ...
Jun 02, 2016•39 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast Tinder co-founder Sean Rad talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how being fired and temporarily replaced as CEO helped him learn how to be a better CEO. Now back in the top leadership role, he says Tinder currently has more than one million paying users. Rad notes the dating app is experimenting more with advertising, which is delivered via its same iconic swipe-right or swipe-left mechanism. He explains a new product for groups of friends being tested in Australia called Tinder Social that wi...
Jun 02, 2016•32 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast Devin Wenig, CEO of eBay, talks with The Verge's Walt Mossberg and Recode's Jason Del Rey about how he's trying to make the online commerce giant less, not more, like Amazon. He says the line between retail and ecommerce is disappearing, noting that the site has 165 million customers with $90 billion worth of goods sold per year. Wenig also discusses why eBay doesn't support Apple Pay and details his fascination with artificial intelligence. Plus: Same-day delivery is not the holy grail for ever...
Jun 02, 2016•39 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast Gawker Media CEO Nick Denton talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about what happened when he discovered that venture capitalist Peter Thiel was funding a lawsuit against Gawker by the professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. Denton acknowledges that news reporting can damage people's lives, and says Gawker has sometimes overreached, but defends the way his company chooses what to write and publish. He argues that tech billionaires such as Thiel should be held to account for their power and influence over ...
Jun 02, 2016•48 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast SpaceX CEO Elon Musk talks with Recode's Kara Swisher and The Verge's Walt Mossberg about his plans to send a one-way rocket to Mars in 2018. He estimates colonists could start arriving on the Red Planet by 2025. Musk also talks about the proliferation of electric vehicle initiatives that compete with his other company, Tesla, and why autonomous cars will become the norm. He says he doesn't see Google as a competitor, but that "Apple will be more direct." Plus: Why Musk wants more people to have...
Jun 02, 2016•1 hr 27 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast Impossible Foods CEO Pat Brown and acclaimed professional chef Dominique Crenn talk with Recode's Peter Kafka about their efforts to change how people think about food. Brown's company has developed a plant-based meat alternative to beef that he says can outperform on taste while also having a substantially smaller impact on the environment. Crenn, meanwhile, chose not to serve any animal meat in her second San Francisco restaurant because of concerns about climate change and the meat industry's...
Jun 02, 2016•32 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast 
