Alabama’s ecosystem of innovation is built on the strength of its entrepreneurs, workforce, policymakers, and community leaders. Leading economic development at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Carter Wells has long worked at the intersection of these stakeholders, fueling innovation, collaboration, and impact across 45 biotech companies in the state. In this custom episode, learn how Carter connects Alabama’s best institutions, organizations, and people behind HudsonAlpha’s mission — an...
Oct 02, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you were on YouTube in the Golden Age of BuzzFeed videos, there’s a good chance you remember the Try Guys, a group of four friends, who hosted a hugely popular series about trying new experiences. Like many BuzzFeed creators, the four eventually left to start their own production company, 2nd Try. But a couple years ago, the ‘guys’ were thrust into the spotlight when one of them was caught having an affair with an employee and left the company. We got to talk with two of the original guys, Za...
Sep 26, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, we’re recording the show at Fast Company’s Innovation Festival using a modular soundproof booth from ROOM. ‘Fast Company’ senior staff editor Jeff Beer, who covers advertising and branding, returns to talk about the latest ads and over-the-top videos from brands including Pepsi, the NFL, and Progressive—and the nearly-11-minute-long promo video, ‘ManningCast: The Musical.’ Also, how are brands responding to the backlash against DEI, and who’s going against the trends? Plus, Robinhood ...
Sep 19, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Fast Company Innovation Festival begins next week for the 10th year, and to celebrate the anniversary, we’re highlighting 10 of the most innovative people in various industries and sectors. ‘Fast Company’ editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan chats about how the list was chosen, and what’s remarkable about each person. And Glossier CEO Kyle Leahy shares about how the brand with such a strong cultural link to millennial fashion works to reach all generations of makeup fans. Tickets are still availa...
Sep 12, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in Paris. French authorities detained and charged him in connection to an investigation related to a dozen different charges, including money laundering and child abuse. Telegram has become notorious for its laissez-faire approach to moderation and celebrated by right wing groups as an anti-government, anti-liberal home for channels and messaging. The platform is used by everyone from French and Russian government officials to the Ukrainian milita...
Sep 05, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this custom episode from FastCo Works and Williams, Kathleen Koch chats with Williams executive VP of corporate strategic development Chad Zamarin. They break down the rapid growth of energy demand due to the rise of data centers and AI and the need for clean tech—and what the U.S. needs to do to keep pace.
Sep 04, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Will Packer is a film, television, and podcast producer who has worked in Hollywood for more than 20 years, making movies like ‘Ride Along,’ ‘The Wedding Ringer,’ and ‘Girls Trip.’ He also has a book on the way next year, ‘Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big,’ about the stories and lessons he’s learned in the entertainment industry. Will’s latest show, ‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist,’ premieres September 5 on Peacock, and tells the story of Muhammad Ali’s fa...
Aug 29, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week in a major shakeup, Starbucks announced the appointment of Brian Niccol as its new chairman and CEO. Niccol, then CEO of Chipotle, will succeed Starbucks’s Laxman Narasimhan, who is stepping down immediately from the position he’s held for only 17 months. For a company that has aggressively claimed it does not make fast food, this could signal a shift in how Starbucks views itself . . . and how it attempts to regain the 20% in market cap that it’s lost. ‘Fast Company’ contributing writ...
Aug 22, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, we’re taking a look at what some top brands are doing in the sports and entertainment space. This is part of our ongoing monthly series, Brands that Matter, with ‘Fast Company’ senior staff editor Jeff Beer who covers advertising and branding. Then, we chatted with ‘Fast Company’ contributing writer Nicole LaPorte about the Gap new CEO. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, Gap was synonymous with denim and khakis. But the rise of fast-fashion brands such as Zara and H&M, shift from shopping in ...
Aug 14, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Cofounder and CEO of 23andMe, Anne Wojcicki, wants to take the public company private. Founded in 2006, the DNA-testing startup was valued at $6 billion in 2021. Now, it’s trading for less than a dollar. So what happened? ‘Fast Company’ senior writer Ainsley Harris breaks down 23andMe’s history, and why the company faces an uncertain future. Also, actor Edward Norton chats with ‘Fast Company’ staff writer David Salazar about his startup, Zeck. After decades of serving on nonprofit and corporate ...
Aug 07, 2024•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Gallup poll published last July found that just 36% of Americans had “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education. That’s a 10% drop from 2018, and more than a 20% drop from 2015. Enter the University of Austin, which claims to be a new type of higher education institution that offers students “the fearless pursuit of truth.” The privately funded nonprofit has reportedly received $200 million in private donations, much of it from prominent right-wing investors. ‘Fast Compa...
Jul 31, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast With President Biden out of the presidential race and support gathering behind Vice President Kamala Harris to take his place as the Democratic nominee, Silicon Valley’s influence on the candidates is more obvious than ever.Back when Harris ran for California District Attorney, she received donations from tech investors and venture capitalists including Sheryl Sandberg and Reid Hoffman, both of whom have already endorsed her for president. On the Republican side, JD Vance worked for prominent VC...
Jul 24, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, Amazon announced it hit a goal of 100% renewable electricity seven years early. But a report from an Amazon employee group argues that this claim is misleading. They say that only a fifth of the company’s data centers in the U.S actually run on clean power. Meanwhile, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and a host of other companies continue their development of AI—yet another huge energy demand. A recent report by Goldman Sachs says utility companies will need to spend nearly 40% more in the ...
Jul 17, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Temperatures are hitting all-time highs, with some cities reaching 25 degrees above average. Last week, the Biden Administration announced a proposed rule that would create heat protections for certain workers, including delivery drivers. But with companies like Grubhub and UberEats classifying delivery workers as “independent contractors,” what does that mean for some of the people most vulnerable to extreme heat? ‘Fast Company’ staff writer Jess Bursztynksy gives us the latest on the state of ...
Jul 10, 2024•40 min•Ep 58•Transcript available on Metacast Brooklyn-based art collective MSCHF has a long history of expertly harnessing pop culture humor to poke fun at big corporations. Their latest project is a game built on top of Venmo, where players buy in for $10 and participate in hourly votes to eliminate each other, and a daily vote to pick a winner. The first player chosen to win by 100% of the votes will win a prize pot of over $119,000. Fast Company Global Design Editor Mark Wilson breaks down MSCHF's history and how they combine artistic c...
Jul 03, 2024•48 min•Ep 57•Transcript available on Metacast In a recent viral LinkedIn post, Cap X Media’s CEO Matthew Baltzell poses in a backwards baseball cap and details his experience firing an employee for the first time. He talks about the process, what he learned, and asks for feedback from readers. One commenter wrote, “This LinkedIn post is a disgrace,” while another said, “You brought pain into someone’s life and then turned it into a ‘gold star for me’ moment. They’re certainly appalled by this on other (less weird) social platforms.”But plen...
Jun 26, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Back in April, President Biden signed a law that would ban TikTok unless its parent company, ByteDance, sells the social media app. The company was given about nine months to a year to find an American buyer. So, today we’re going to dive into the race to buy the social media app . . . specifically looking at one billionaire who’s spearheading a bid: former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Fast Company Senior Staff Editor Max Ufberg sat down with McCourt a few weeks ago to discuss his in...
Jun 20, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast A nonprofit founded by right-wing billionaire Charles Koch was a "key contributor" to a recent video produced by the popular content creator MrBeast. The video, titled "We Schooled Hundreds of Teachers," was uploaded on April 30th to "Beast Philanthropy," a second channel MrBeast uses to showcase charity work. MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, lists the organization Stand Together as one of the main financial sponsors. Stand Together was founded by Koch in 2003 as The Seminar Network ...
Jun 12, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last September, CollegeHumor rebranded as Dropout. The 25-year old comedy platform made the move after a surge in subscriptions to the company's streaming platform, Dropout TV. After decades of struggling to find profitability, this became the centerpiece of its business model. “Truthfully, as a high school dropout, I never really connected with the brand name CollegeHumor,” said Dropout CEO Sam Reich. "We promised ourselves we would only do away with the name when we felt that Dropout was popul...
Jun 05, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, an article by ‘Fast Company’ senior writer Ainsley Harris riled up a small but very online part of the tech community. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk, Anduril Industries founder Palmer Lucky, Y combinator CEO Garry Tan, and even MrBeast, along with many others, were all reacting to her article, ‘Tech bro podcasts are obsessed with alpha men, and it’s dangerous for the rest of us.’ We talked to Ainsley and had her explain why so many ‘techno-optimists’ fell in love with ...
May 29, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast By now, we’re used to talking to AI chatbots, and we’re used to googling something to find an answer. Last week, though, Google launched a new feature that combines the two called AI Overviews. The feature—which many users are already trying to turn off—is designed to reduce the number of searches users have to make. But the idea of combining a chatbot, search tool, and encyclopedia has actually been championed and refined by a two-year-old startup called Perplexity. The ambitious startup, which...
May 22, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast The WNBA’s 2024 season comes on the heels of a recent groundswell of interest in women’s basketball. Last year was the WNBA’s most-watched regular season in over two decades and the recently wrapped NCAA tournament has brought a new generation of fans to the sport. The women’s March Madness final averaged 18.7 million viewers, while the men’s final averaged just 14.82 million viewers. Basically, the WNBA is a hot commodity and brands are noticing. Fast Company Staff Editor AJ Hess joined us to e...
May 15, 2024•58 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s May! We’re enjoying the spring weather and getting ready for this summer. So, we wanted to chat with some Fast Company folks who have their ears to the ground on what’s going to be a hit this summer. Fast Company Associate Editor David Salazar and Senior Staff Writer Liz Segran joined us to share their ideas—and a big shout-out to our interns, Ellie Stevens and Leila Frankina, for their help. Then, we sat down with Airbnb's Chief Business Officer Dave Stephenson where we chatted about the s...
May 08, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast InVision was once a prominent player in the design software space. But the company that was once valued at $2 billion announced it will be discontinuing its design-collaboration services by the end of this year. The cofounders, Clark Valberg and Ben Nadel, originally designed the software as a prototyping tool for designers but it quickly gained popularity and ultimately achieved unicorn status after raising $100 million in 2017. This was followed by another milestone when it raised $115 million...
May 01, 2024•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Fast food workers in California are seeing an increase in their paychecks. This is because of a recent minimum wage law that went into effect earlier this month. The law requires fast food chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks to pay workers $20 per hour. It will also affect restaurants that have at least 60 other locations nationwide. Opponents of the law say it will lead to layoffs and store closures . . . but for fast food workers who have been fighting for better pay, this could mean being ab...
Apr 24, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Boeing has been in the news recently . . . Between a door plug blowing off mid-flight and sudden nose dives causing injuries, the company has been in very hot water. ‘Fast Company’ contributing writer Clint Rainey joined us to explain what’s really going on at Boeing and how it plans to address safety and quality concerns. For more on our Boeing coverage. Then, we spoke with Ghia founder and CEO Melanie Masarin and Nowadays cofounder and CEO Justin Tidwell to understand what’s behind all the dem...
Apr 17, 2024•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast Two weeks ago, the former Republican National Committee boss Ronna McDaniel was hired and then fired as an MSNBC contributor. This came about after pushback from staff, including complaints that she had touted Donald Trump’s debunked claims of voting malfeasance in the 2020 election. At the same time, there was backlash from people on the right who chalked up her dismissal as proof of left-wing media bias. Presiding over the chaos was NBCUniversal News chairman Cesar Conde, who has been trying t...
Apr 10, 2024•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Truth Social went public last week. The company disclosed its finances in an SEC filing that revealed it had brought in just over $4 million in revenue while losing more than $58 million in 2023. Those numbers don’t seem to make sense. ‘Fast Company’ senior staff editor Max Ufberg joined us to break down what is responsible for the dire state of that business. Also, tweens and teens experimenting with makeup and skincare is nothing new, but there’s a new trend happening where tweens are showing ...
Apr 03, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Y Combinator has become arguably the most powerful force in tech. It touts that five-and-a-half of the startups that have participated in it have become unicorns . . . which is at least double that of rival accelerators such as TechStars and 500 Global. But it started suffering from exactly the kind of corporate bloat that its founder Paul Graham abhorred. Current president and CEO Garry Tan—who also happens to be a YC alum—took over last January and promised to reclaim YC’s roots and focus on s...
Mar 27, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast The impact of AI on finance departments will be huge.
Mar 25, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
