The Founder Hour

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Rob Dyrdek | Entrepreneur, Actor, Reality TV Personality, and Former Skateboarder Sep 21, 2021

Show notes

Rob Dyrdek is an entrepreneur, actor, producer, reality TV personality, and former skateboarder. You might recognize him from the hit reality TV shows Rob & Big, Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, and Ridiculousness.

He’s currently the founder and CEO of Dyrdek Machine, a venture creation studio that fuses art, science, and magic to create meaningful businesses that stand the test of time and impact the world.

We had a blast chatting with Rob and getting to know more about him and his personal story, as well as his incredible entrepreneurial journey over the last 30 years and the lessons he’s picked up along the way.

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Jeff Fluhr | Co-Founder & Former CEO of StubHub Sep 14, 2021

Show notes

Jeff Fluhr is the co-founder and former CEO of StubHub, the world’s largest online ticket marketplace for sports, concerts, theater and other live entertainment events. He’s also a General Partner at Craft Ventures, investing in marketplace and ecommerce companies such as Twilio, Warby Parker, and ZocDoc.

Jeff began his career working for the Blackstone Group in New York. While at Stanford Graduate School of Business, he entered the annual business plan competition with the idea of creating a trusted and transparent marketplace where fans could buy and sell tickets for sporting events and concerts.

He dropped out of school and co-founded StubHub in March 2000. By 2007, StubHub had over 400 employees, more than $600 million of gross merchandise volume and partnerships with many professional and college sports teams. Jeff served as CEO of StubHub until it was acquired by eBay for $310 million in 2007.

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Ryan Smith | Co-Founder of Qualtrics & Owner of the Utah Jazz Jul 27, 2021

Show notes

Ryan Smith is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Qualtrics, a cloud-based subscription software platform for experience management, which he dropped out of college to launch in 2002 with his father and brother. In 2018, it was announced that Qualtrics would be acquired by SAP for a reported $8 billion, and in 2021, Qualtrics was listed publicly on the Nasdaq.

Along with being a successful tech entrepreneur, Ryan Smith is also the majority owner of the NBA franchise, the Utah Jazz, which he purchased just last year.

We spoke with Ryan all about his upbringing and what his childhood was like, what inspired him to start Qualtrics with his father and the early days of building the business, how he felt when the company was acquired, his thoughts on entrepreneurship, why he decided to buy the Utah Jazz, and much more.

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Tracy DiNunzio | How Tradesy is Changing the Rules of Luxury Fashion Jul 20, 2021

Show notes

For our 200th episode (!!!), we sat down Tracy DiNunzio. Tracy is the founder and CEO of Tradesy, the largest online resale marketplace for buying and selling luxury designer fashion. Their mission is to make the world’s most-wanted fashion brands accessible and sustainable.

We spoke with Tracy all about her upbringing and early career, how she came up with the idea for Tradesy, her thoughts on the future of the fashion industry and sustainability, and much more.

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Justin McLeod | Hinge and the Future of Online Dating Jul 13, 2021

Show notes

Justin McLeod is the founder and CEO of Hinge, one of the most popular dating apps in America with a focus towards long-term relationships rather than just hookups.

We spoke with Justin all about his upbringing and early career, battling with addiction, his personal love story with his wife Kate, how he got the idea for Hinge and the early days of building the company, his thoughts on the current landscape of dating and the future, and much more.

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Wolfgang Puck | World-Famous Chef and Restaurateur Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

Wolfgang Puck is a world-famous chef, restaurateur, actor, and a name that’s become synonymous with the best of restaurant hospitality and the ultimate in all aspects of the culinary arts. Over the last 40 years, he’s built a brand that encompasses three companies: Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group which includes his flagship restaurant Spago, Wolfgang Puck Catering, and Wolfgang Puck Worldwide, Inc.

In this episode, we cover a ton of topics including his childhood growing up in Austria, how he built his hospitality empire, his thoughts on the future of restaurants, and much, much more.

Please enjoy our conversation with Wolfgang Puck!

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Alberto Perlman | Co-Founder and CEO of Zumba Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

Alberto Perlman is the co-founder and CEO of Zumba, an exercise fitness program that was created by Columbian dancer and choreographer Beto Perez with whom he started the business. After discovering Beto’s fitness class in Miami, they got together and created what would become an internationally renowned program with over 14 million students across 185 countries.

We spoke to Alberto all about his tough upbringing growing up in Bogota, Colombia, immigrating to America for college, his early career and being unemployed following the Dotcom crash, what inspired him to launch Zumba, the early days of the business and how it became such a success, and much more.

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Dennis Crowley | How Foursquare Made It Easier to Navigate the World Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

Dennis Crowley is the co-founder and former CEO of Foursquare, a technology company he founded in 2008 that rose to prominence with the launch of its namesake local search-and-discovery mobile app which popularized the concept of real-time location-sharing and checking-in. What started off as his thesis in his grad school program eventually became a company growing at 1 million users per month. Prior to Foursquare, he founded another company called Dodgeball which was acquired by Google in 2005.

We spoke to Dennis all about his upbringing and being a tinkerer from a young age, what led him on a path to entrepreneurship, how he felt after Google acquired his first company, some of the challenges he’s gone through while building a successful career in tech, the advice he got from Mark Zuckerberg, what he’s up to now, and much, much more!

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Alli Webb | Co-Founder of Drybar and NYT Best-Selling Author Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

Alli Webb is an entrepreneur, NYT best-selling author, podcast host, and the co-founder of Drybar, a chain of salons that solely provides a hair styling service known as blowouts. She’s also a founder of multiple other companies such as Squeeze and, most recently, Becket + Quill.

In 2010, Alli opened the first Drybar in Brentwood, CA. Over a decade later and 150+ locations across the country, Drybar has exploded into a nationally recognized and highly sought-after brand.

We spoke with Alli about what her childhood was like growing up in South Florida, where she gets her obsession with hair, the story of how Drybar came about, how she approaches fear and uncertainty, what it was like to transition out of her leadership role at the company, what she’s working on now, and much more.

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