This Week in Startups - Jason Calacanis

ByteDance limits daily app time for kids in China + Next Unicorns: Orbital Insight’s Kevin O’Brien | E1286 Sep 20, 2021

In news, Jason covers Bytedance's decision to institute a 40 minute limit for kids on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok (1:56) and hits on the real estate situation in SF and implications for the startup community (15:02). Then, Orbital Insight's CEO Kevin O'Brien joins for the next installment of our Next Unicorns series (21:38) discussing how to make sense of billions of satellite images and pieces of sensor data to form a comprehensive view of the world.

Head of Instagram comments on teen impact, Jay-Z’s NFT lawsuit + Sourcegraph’s Quinn Slack | E1285 Sep 18, 2021

First, Jason reacts to comments from Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri on the impact of Instagram on teen girls and comparing the risks of social media to the automobile industry (1:50). Then, Jason breaks down OpenSea's update on their front-running employee (11:55), and Jay-Z's NFT lawsuit (15:40). Finally, Sourcegraph CEO Quinn Slack joins to discuss growing his universal code search engine, selling a high-ticket SaaS product and more (21:48)!

Rapid Fire News: App Annie fraud, Instagram’s negative impact, Discord valued at $15B & more | E1284 Sep 17, 2021

Full news show! First up, Jason covers the App Annie fraud (1:59), then he shares thoughts on Facebook's leaked documents showing they knew Instagram was detrimental to teen girls' mental health despite claiming the contrary (13:55). He also touches on Discord's $15B valuation (25:56), Mailchimp selling for $12B (33:40), and answers some livestream questions (40:35)!

OpenSea admits employee was front-running featured NFTs + Goldbelly CEO Joe Ariel on food e-commerce | E1283 Sep 15, 2021

First, Jason breaks down NFT platform OpenSea admitting one of their employees was front-running featured items (2:02). Could this tip off the SEC that NFTs might be securities rather than collectibles (12:01)? Then, Jason talks to Producer Rachel about TWiST Meetups (18:24). Finally, Goldbelly CEO Joe Ariel joins to talk about his high-end food marketplace, being the first mover in a blossoming category, the food e-commerce market & more. (30:15)

“Amazon Unbound” author Brad Stone on the mind of Bezos, the future of Amazon & more | E1282 Sep 14, 2021

Brad Stone, the author of "Amazon Unbound", joined to talk about Elon Musk (09:44), Amazon's workplace environment (23:25), the importance of Prime (27:17), which tech companies are most dangerous for society (51:13), & more!

Growth stocks, Inflation impacts, SPACs & more with Beth Kindig & Knox Ridley from I/O Fund | E1281 Sep 10, 2021

Beth Kindig and Knox Ridley from the I/O Fund came on to discuss with Jason their top growth stocks, market indicators, how to manage risk in an all tech portfolio, potential big tech spin outs, Roku's incredible expansion and more!

News! Fireproof homes, Amazon’s college plan, Facebook copies Snap, Notion Acquires Automate.io & more | E1280 Sep 10, 2021

Rapid fire news episode. First, Jason covers how a fire proofed home survived the Caldor fire, Amazon's plan to provide college for all its employees, Facebook copying Snap's glasses, Notion acquiring Automate.io & more. At the end, Jason takes a few questions from listeners and shares a story from when he ran Silicon Alley Reporter.

Coinbase battles SEC over Lend + How DeFi interest rates work with Genesis’ Matt Ballensweig | E1279 Sep 09, 2021

Coinbase CEO Brain Armstrong took to Twitter to call out the SEC for what Coinbase considers unclear guidance & hostility around their Lend product, Jason breaks down the situation (1:43). Then, to better understand how DeFi lending works Jason interviews Matt Ballensweig the Head of Institutional Lending at Genesis, a crypto prime brokerage (9:51). We close with three "Ask Jason" questions (50:23).

BAYC at Sotheby’s, Loot, Tether Canada ban + 8VC’s Joe Lonsdale: Palantir, China, Cicero | E1278 Sep 07, 2021

First Jason covers the $19M Bored Ape Yacht Club bid on Sotheby's & the Loot NFT collection launched by a Vine co-founder (1:42), and briefly covers Tether being banned from Canadian exchanges (11:07). Then serial founder and investor Joe Lonsdale joins (19:53) to discuss his companies (Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov), his new podcast "American Optimist," what regulations need to be fixed in the US, China's bold moves & more.

Adrian Grenier: launching a new fund + FounderU: balancing product vision & customer feedback | E1277 Sep 03, 2021

First, Jason discusses how to balance product vision with customer feedback in a FounderU segment (0:57). Then, actor and investor Adrian Grenier joins to discuss the launch of his new fund DuContra Ventures (20:52), the importance of saying "No" (33:24), acting (41:23) and more!

Next Unicorns: Miso Robotics’ Mike Bell, $3 an hour fry cooks + MorningBrew’s Dan Toomey on TikTok | E1276 Sep 02, 2021

Jason chats with Miso Robotics CEO Mike Bell (1:07), about automating food preparation, filling the labor gap, the consequences of robots, growing with crowdfunding and more. Then, TWIST Producer Rachel Braun interviews Dan Toomey about the strategies he uses to run the Morning Brew TikTok account.

Bored Ape Madness with The Infatuation’s Andrew Steinthal + Breaking into VC with Nicole DeTommaso | E1275 Sep 01, 2021

The Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs have been going crazy in the secondary market, Jason brings on collector and co-founder of media site "The Infatuation" Andrew Steinthal (2:04) to chat about why he bought in, why he's not selling, and the overall mechanics of the community. Then, TWIST producer Rachel interviews the Nicole DeTommaso of Harlem VC (33:25) about how she broke into venture capital with a pitch deck!!!

Elizabeth Holmes Theranos fraud trial kickoff + Blokable’s Aaron Holm: how to scale housing | E1274 Aug 31, 2021

First, Jason covers the kickoff of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' fraud trial (1:48). Then, Blokable Co-CEO & Co-Founder Aaron Holm joins (16:37) to discuss solving the housing crisis, the Phoenix Rising project (27:05), why vertical integration is the key to making modular affordable, green materials (40:53), why LA's homeless housing project went way over budget (46:46) & more.

CCP closes foreign IPO loophole + Audius’ Roneil Rumburg: decentralized project crash course | E1273 Aug 27, 2021

First Jason covers the CCP banning US IPOs for big tech companies, closing the VIE loophole (1:50), then Audius Co-Founder Roneil Rumburg joins (18:44) to talk about his "decentralized SoundCloud," how decentralized crypto projects actually work for investors and executives, and more!

HeadSpin accused of $80M fraud, housing startup irks NIMBYs + Not Boring’s Packy McCormick | E1272 Aug 26, 2021

In the news segment, Jason covers unicorn SaaS Startup called HeadSpin has been accused of a massive fraud by the SEC and DOJ (2:06), and Pacaso real estate startup offering fractional ownership of vacation homes is causing outrage in wine country (17:35). Then, Jason interviews Not Boring's Packy McCormick (34:41), about his time at WeWork competitor Breather (36:14), turning his newsletter into a venture fund (59:12), and Packy's vision for crypto - it's one of the best explanations we've heard (1:03:17).

Rapid Fire News: OnlyFans reverses course, Circle to clean up USDC reserves, Warby Parker S-1 | E1271 Aug 25, 2021

In today's news show, Jason covers OnlyFans being back to business as usual (1:31), the stablecoin Circle cleaning up commercial paper from their USDC reserves (16:49), and does a break down of Warby Parker's S-1 as the company prepare to go public via direct listing (30:30).

Rapid Fire News: Facebook “cleans up their house,” Tyga takes on OnlyFans, Jack Ma vs. CCP | E1270 Aug 24, 2021

In this news episode Jason covers Facebook finally revealing their Q1 transparency report after they originally shelved the report for PR purposes (2:08), Tyga deleting his OnlyFans account and announcing he will launch a competing platform (23:59), the WSJ's coverage of where Jack Ma is now (36:19) & more!

Rapid fire news: OnlyFans bans sexual conduct + Boston Dynamics, Disney & Tesla bet big on robots | E1269 Aug 20, 2021

Jason breaks down the OnlyFans' pivot away from sexual conduct (1:54), then he covers all the robot highlights from this week, Boston Dynamics robots doing backflips (23:34), Disney creating AI characters (31:25), and Tesla's announcement of "TeslaBot" (38:21) & more.

Robinhood earnings breakdown, Amazon launching department stores + Mark Suster deep dives VC | E1268 Aug 19, 2021

Jason breaks down the 2 metrics he uses to to assess Robinhood's Q2 earnings (1:43) and Amazon entering Department Store retail (16:39). Then, Mark Suster from Upfront Ventures joins (24:07) to discuss venture metrics, community as a moat, why high valuations don't necessarily mean a bubble & more.

Noodlegate, the end of cancel culture? + Next Unicorns: OpenGov CEO Zac Bookman | E1267 Aug 18, 2021

Jason opens the show with a brief recap of "Noodlegate" and the end of cancel culture (2:09). Then he chats with OpenGov CEO Zac Bookman for the latest installment of our Next Unicorns series (14:10) about what makes governments ineffective (25:46), preventing corruption (30:37), the challenges selling into governments (35:54), how some states like Idaho & West Virginia have made their detailed budgets public on the cloud and more!

Casey Newton’s Superhuman misfire, Apple’s backdoor, 5G crypto network, WhatsApp’s Taliban problem | E1266 Aug 17, 2021

Podcasting from Italy after a 2-week break of news, Jason covers Casey Newton's failed dunk on Superhuman's $75M raise (2:58), the privacy implications of Apple's approach to preventing child porn distribution (23:14), the Helium Networks internet project (35:02), crypto regulation (43:03), and how WhatsApp is handling Afghanistan (49:45).

Next Unicorns: Splice CEO Steve Martocci, building the Github for music | E1265 Aug 13, 2021

Steve Martocci, the CEO of Splice (also co-founder of Blade & previously sold GroupMe to Skype) joins for our Next Unicorns series to discuss how music rights work (10:07), growing a high-quality marketplace (21:59), AI music creation (36:10), & more

How to secure follow-on investment for your startup (FounderU) + Ask an Angel with Zach Coelius | E1264 Aug 12, 2021

Jason discusses how founders can secure follow on funding (1:57), then is joined by investor Zach Coelius to answer listener questions on technical co-founders (38:21), successful founder traits (40:41), founder red flags (46:07), why startups fail diligence (56:17) and more.

How to come up with a startup idea (FounderU) + Ask an Angel with Zach Coelius | E1263 Aug 11, 2021

Jason does a Founder University segment on how to generate startup ideas (1:55), then Zach Coelius joins to take some "Ask an Angel" questions: what data points are most valuable when iterating on product (29:03), what skills are most important to be a success in VC (36:410), what skills are most important to be a success in VC (42:51).

Nick Kokonas of Tock & Alinea, flipping the low-margin restaurant model | E1262 Aug 10, 2021

Nick Kokonas joins to discuss his his company Tock (10:50), his world-class restaurant group Alinea (0:54), how restaurants can improve their operating leverage (18:05), digital experiences augmenting hospitality (39:41), why tipping needs to be replaced (44:50), the labor supply (56:16), inflation (1:00:27), employee health and more!

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman on the current state and future of the US housing market | E1261 Aug 06, 2021

Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman joins to discuss the current U.S. housing situation (05:05), homebuilding rates, San Francisco (23:43), remote work (28:22), generational work-life balance differences (35:24), Redfin's approach to real estate (46:52), regulation, DOJ & MLS (58:33), & more.

Bootstrapping vs. taking Venture Capital (FounderU) + Ask An Angel with Zach Coelius | E1260 Aug 05, 2021

In a Founder University segment, Jason compares running a bootstrapped vs. venture-backed company (1:17), discusses 'pegasus' companies (11:09), advises what types of businesses should take VC (23:59), and explains what motivates VCs (33:27). Then Zach Coelius joins to take some listener questions (38:48).

How to a Grow Consumer SaaS App to 225K Paying Customers – Next Unicorns: Fitbod CEO Allen Chen | E1259 Aug 04, 2021

Fitbod CEO Allen Chen joins to discuss how they got funded & why they haven't deployed their capital (01:06), the importance of being user-centric when building a consumer app (17:44), how Allen plans grow to 1 million customers (29:14), & more!

Creating a new venture fund: formation, follow-on strategies & more with Acquired | E1258 Aug 03, 2021

Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal from Acquired join to discuss David's new venture fund Kindergarten Ventures (00:56), how to structure a VC fund (12:16), Jason's super pro-rata strategy (30:17), podcasting (35:50), and they tease the next episode on "The Mount Rushmore of Venture Capital" (56:11) & more!

News! Robinhood/Duolingo IPOs, Big Tech earnings, China & more with TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm | E1257 Jul 30, 2021

Alex Wilhelm from TechCrunch joins Jason to chop up this week's news. They cover Robinhood & Duolingo's IPOs (3:40), consumer subscription businesses (25:09), Google's growth (28:25), the startup funding landscape (38:51), Amazon (42:46), China's actions against tech (47:35), Apple (1:04:19) & more!

Nikola’s Trevor Milton indicted for fraud, Robinhood IPO + GRIN CEO Brandon Brown | E1256 Jul 29, 2021

Jason covers the Grand Jury indictment of Nikola founder Trevor Milton for making false claims to investors (1:50) and gives short recap of Robinhood's IPO (18:55). Then, Brandon Brown joins to discuss his company GRIN (25:40), the influencer economy, shifting advertising trends, social media platforms and more.

Youtube vs. Netflix, Google’s $230B run rate + Next Unicorns: OpenSea’s Devin Finzer on NFTs | E1255 Jul 28, 2021

Jason breaks down Google's earnings and compares Netflix & Youtube (3:22). Then, in our Next Unicorns series, Devin Finzer (27:01), the Co-Founder and CEO of OpenSea (an NFT marketplace) joins to discuss the innovations that helped NFTs take off (37:58), the future of collectibles & more.

Rapid Fire News: China’s techlash continues, Tesla’s incredible Q2 earnings, Tether holders move to USDC & more | E1254 Jul 27, 2021

Jason covers China reigning in big tech (2:03), Tesla’s incredible Q2 earnings crossing $1B in profit (25:30), a $300M market movement from Tether to USDC (33:24), and gives a breakdown of a Binance Crypto Pump Telegram group (37:43).

Emergency Pod! Tether executives facing DOJ bank fraud probe (via Bloomberg) | E1253 Jul 27, 2021

Tether executives are reportedly facing a DOJ criminal probe for bank fraud! Jason breaks down Bloomberg's report (1:31), Tether's response (10:34) and assesses potential implications for the wider crypto ecosystem, including if this had anything to do with Sunday night's Bitcoin surge. (16:29)

Dfinity’s ICP crypto complaint, Snap/Twitter earnings, China’s e-learning crackdown & more | E1252 Jul 23, 2021

In this rapid fire news episode, Jason covers a16z-backed Dfinity's crypto class action complaint (02:46), Snapchat and Twitter's massive earnings (19:33), the CCP considering turning it's ed-tech sector non-profit (34:15), Alphabet's new company (40:23), San Francisco's 17M sq. ft. of vacant office space (47:22), and then reflects on some old Disney+ predictions (58:28).

China punishes Didi, Twitter’s new feature, UAE makes it rain + Do Kwon of Terraform Labs | E1251 Jul 22, 2021

Jason covers China's increasing penalties for Didi (2:52), Twitter's test of a downvote feature (12:13), and how the UAE was able to induce rain with electricity (17:32). Then Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform labs joins (22:38) to discuss his stable coin project TerraUSD (31:18), the underlying cryptocurrency LUNA, and shed light on Tether as crypto insider (59:56).

Reacting to Tether’s CNBC interview, Netflix earnings + Vincent’s Slava Rubin on alt assets | E1250 Jul 21, 2021

In the news segment, Jason reacts to the Tether CTO & General Counsel's interview on CNBC (2:22) and digs in to Netflix's latest earnings report (37:35). Then, Vincent founder Slava Rubin joins to discuss all things alternative assets (44:26), his work founding Indiegogo, Launch’s investment, trading cards (1:17:19) & more.

Bezos goes to space, Robinhood IPO, USDC attestation + Flock Safety’s Garrett Langley | E1249 Jul 21, 2021

In news Jason covers Bezos reaching space (2:32), Robinhood's S-1/A (13:28), Circle's new USDC attestation (22:25), crypto crackdown in Asia (36:06), Zoom buying Five9 for almost $15B (46:00) Keith Rabois' OpenStore (47:11). Then for our Next Unicorns series, Jason interviews Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langely, about reducing crime in American cities and neighborhoods (50:18).

Rapid Fire News: AI voices after death, DOJ investigates Lordstown Motors, COVID adaptation | E1248 Jul 16, 2021

Jason covers Anthony Bourdain's amazing AI deepfake voice in "roadrunner" & potential startup ideas for the technology (01:49), the investigation into EV startup Lordstown Motors (12:27), and the way businesses are reacting to how COVID is being managed in FL & CA (42:11).

Rapid Fire News: FB’s right-wing algo, Tether update, giving Cuba internet, Powell on stable coins & more | E1247 Jul 16, 2021

News episode, Jason covers CrowdTangle's data headache (01:56), how the White House wants to crack down on social media misinformation (13:34), Florida Gov. DeSantis proposal for providing internet to Cuba (17:17), a $1B fund for creators (21:32), our Tether investigation (25:07) & more!

The Next Unicorns: Adena Hefets CEO of Divvy Homes, forging a new path to home ownership | E1246 Jul 15, 2021

To kick off this season of "The Next Unicorns," Adena Hefets, CEO of Divvy Homes, joins to discuss how they are helping Americans blaze a path to owning a home (2:51), if we are in a real estate bubble (25:37), the American home shortage (34:53) and more!

Education’s war on excellence, AWS atrophy, France fines Google + AppHarvest’s Josh Lessing | E1245 Jul 14, 2021

Jason covers the war on excellence in public education (2:05), signs of AWS maturity (19:04), France's $592M antitrust fine for Google (30:28). Then discusses AI Farms with AppHarvest CTO Josh Lessing (47:43) covering building with robots (1:16:03), improved crop yields (1:24:43), climate change & more.

China cracks down on US IPOs, winning founder qualities, Ask Jason: accelerators, investing | E1244 Jul 13, 2021

Jason covers the CCP crackdown on Chinese tech companies listing in the US, shares how he spots winning founders (14:02), then answers Ask Jason questions: finding a technical co-founder (36:47), signals for startup success (39:29), advice for new angel investors (45:18), and more.

Biden targets big corporations + Tether Investigation with Bitfinex’ed | E1243 Jul 09, 2021

Jason covers Biden's executive order seeking to increase competition and weaken the power of Big Tech (2:21). Then, we continue our Tether Investigation with @Bitfinex'ed (18:16), covering how Tether works (36:09), and why he believes there is massive risk to the crypto markets (48:55) & more!

Nextdoor SPAC breakdown, Pelosi trading options + Morning Brew’s Alex Lieberman | E1242 Jul 08, 2021

First, Jason breaks down the highlights from Nextdoor's SPAC announcement (1:48) and covers the profits made by politicians trading tech company options (16:26). Then, Alex Lieberman, Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Morning Brew, joins to talk about growing a newsletter business (45:34), expanding as a media company (49:51), angel investing (57:19) & more!

Barclays blocks Binance, China pauses Didi downloads + Steezy CEO Evan Zhou | E1241 Jul 06, 2021

Jason covers the red flags emerging around Binance (2:34), the Chinese government's swift action against Didi relating to data privacy (16:40). Then Steezy Founder & CEO Evan Zhou joins to discuss how simple an MVP can be (27:44), growing & monetizing a consumer SaaS company (32:56) & more.

Emergency Pod! Robinhood files to go public: S-1 breakdown | E1240 Jul 02, 2021

Robinhood is going public! Jason breaks down their recently filed S-1 and covers the most important metrics (1:56), comparisons against other major brokerages (8:45) and more!

How to nail Monthly Investor Updates (FounderU) + Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly | E1239 Jul 01, 2021

First Jason explains how to deliver great investor updates & the benefits of doing them well (1:36). Then, Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Jason Kelly joins to discuss the expanding capabilities of synthetic biology (24:48), how Ginkgo is currently helping customers make products more effectively (35:58), the ethics & risks of editing DNA (51:53) & more!

Sam Altman’s “Worldcoin,” Facebook hits $1T + Alchemy’s Nikil Viswanathan on “AWS for Blockchain” | E1238 Jun 29, 2021

In the opening News segment Jason covers Sam Altman launching a new cryptocurrency "Worldcoin" (2:18), and Facebook becoming the fastest company to ever reach a $1T market cap (11:16). Then, Alchemy CEO Nikil Viswanathan joins for an interview on his "AWS for the blockchain" (20:44), the limitations of the blockchain (29:24) & more! Podcast Notes: https://bit.ly/1238notes

News! Peter Thiel’s $5B Roth IRA, Black creators strike on TikTok, BuzzFeed SPAC, Microsoft goes anti-Apple PLUS Ask Jason | E1237 Jun 25, 2021

News episode Jason talks about Peter Thiel’s multi-billion dollar Roth IRA (1:27), Black creators striking on TikTok (13:32), BuzzFeed's SPAC (24:15), Microsoft's dig at Apple (31:28), and two Ask Jason questions (41:59)!

The power of the SOD/EOD plus Bill Maris on early Google stories, origins of GV, bioterrorism & more | E1236 Jun 24, 2021

First, Jason does a "Founder University" segment on the benefits of remote managing using a SOD-EOD format (1:31). Then Bill Maris joins to discuss what working at Google was like when Bill started GV (25:28), why Google didn't win on social (38:49), bioterrorism risks (1:07:39) & more.

China moves crypto mining to US + Overtime’s Dan Porter on GenZ basketball league & network | E1235 Jun 22, 2021

Jason covers the recent Chinese Bitcoin mining migration (1:56). Then, Dan Porter the CEO of Overtime joins to discuss how Overtime is building a next-generation sports network across Youtube, Twitch, & social media (15:12) and launching Overtime Elite a new basketball league where 16-18-year-olds can earn $100-$500K to prepare for the pros.

What startups need to succeed | Scaling Your Startup S2 E10 with Intercom’s Des Traynor | E1234 Jun 18, 2021

Intercom CEO Des Traynor discusses why startups need to grow fast (7:44), how to execute at speed (10:48), build an effective culture (33:35) & more!

GameStop poaches Amazon execs, Streaming stalls + Genies CEO Akash Nigam on Avatars & NFTs | E1233 Jun 16, 2021

Jason kicks off the episode with the news: an update on the Tether (02:02), how Gamestop poached Amazon talent (06:17), and the first-ever decline in the average number of streaming accounts per household (19:04). Then, Akash Nigam joins to discuss his company Genies, why everyone will have an avatar, the metaverse, NTFs & more (25:10).

Tether: Crypto’s Black Swan? Plus Alternative Asset Roundtable featuring the founders of Masterworks, Fundrise & Rally Rd | E1232 Jun 15, 2021

Jason kicks off the episode with research into the claims against Tether Limited, the company behind USDT, the world's largest "stablecoin" and 3rd largest cryptocurrency (1:30). Then Jason is joined by 3 founders of Alternative Asset investing platforms (25:49), Chris Bruno of Rally, Scott Lynn of Masterworks, and Ben Miller of Fundrise. They discuss inflation, supply & demand, expanding company roadmaps (59:56) and more!

Zymergen CEO Josh Hoffman on Biofacturing PLUS Founder U Startup Math | E1231 Jun 11, 2021

Jason opens with a Founder University segment on "Startup Math" (1:48), then interviews Zymergen CEO Josh Hoffman on Biofacturing (16:45), how DNA sequencing & machine learning are enabling materials science advancements (26:35), what human capital is needed for the industry (42:53) & more. Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/1231notes

News! The cult of Bitcoin maximalists, Bezos is going to space, & Facebook’s smartwatch | E1230 Jun 11, 2021

First up, Jason covers "Bitcoin Toxicity." Are Bitcoin maximalists exhibiting cult-like behavior? (1:19) Then, he assesses the risks of Bezos going to space: is the potential upside worth the risk of ruin? (36:16) Finally, he wraps with news of Facebook's rumored smartwatch. Have Apple's recent privacy measures forced Facebook's hand into the wearables space? (40:59)

Customer Success | Scaling Your Startup S2E9 with Statusphere’s Kristen Wiley & Techmate’s Nicole Beals | E1229 Jun 09, 2021

Customer success is key to startup success. First, Statusphere CEO Kristen Wiley shares strategies from managing two customer success teams in B2B and B2C. (1:00) Then, find out why customers churn from Techmate COO Nicole Beals, who also shares how Techmate increased their customer retention rate from 70% to 98%. (27:07) To wrap, Jason leads a Q&A covering compensation, productizing customer moments, and more. (40:41)

Aurora CEO Chris Urmson on building the roadmap to fully autonomous vehicles | E1228 Jun 08, 2021

Chris Urmson the CEO of Aurora, a leading self-driving company, joins Jason to recount the history of autonomous vehicles (1:06), the roadmap for removing human drivers (16:47), what technology problems are left to solve (38:25) and more!

Apple’s WFH blowback, navigating current startup valuations PLUS Sugar’s Fatima Dicko | 1227 Jun 08, 2021

Jason gives his take on the letter from a group of employees to Tim Cook about Apple's return to work (1:00), then Fatima Dicko the CEO and Founder of Sugar discusses pivoting in the pandemic (25:54), what amenities apartments will offer in the future (45:39), and more. Then Jason wraps with a "button" on investing when valuations are high, where there is value to be found, and more (58:44). http://bit.ly/e1227tnotes

Katerra’s collapse, Bill Ackman’s SPAC merger plus Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi | E1226 Jun 04, 2021

Jason covers the bankruptcy of the Softbank-backed construction startup Katerra, Bill Ackman's Universal Music SPAC, then interviews Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi about portable benefits for independent contractors, the expanding UberEats business, local commerce and more!

Launching Twitter Blue with Twitter’s Head of Product Kayvon Beykpour | E1225 Jun 03, 2021

Kayvon Beykpour, Twitter's Head of Product shares the strategy behind Twitter's recent feature releases, what structural changes enabled Twitter to increase product velocity, how they segment composers & consumers, the Twitter blue launch & more!

Low-Burn | Scaling Your Startup S2 E8 with Neyborly’s Ben Seidl & Xendoo’s Lil Roberts | E1224 Jun 03, 2021

A low-burn rate gives startups the agility they need to succeed and weather unforeseen challenges. Two CEOs join Jason to discuss how founders can make the most of their limited capital. Ben Seidl of Neyborly covers managing burn rate (2:58), Lil Roberts of Xendoo shares the steps needed to maintain financial health, then Jason joins for a Q&A on how to create a slingshot business(48:48), the appropriate level of runway (55:02) & more.

Citizen App’s bounty blunder, “digital bodyguard” service + Coinbase launches “Fact Check” | E1223 May 28, 2021

Jason breaks down the Citizen App's recent mistake of putting a $30,000 bounty on an incorrect arson suspect (01:39), assesses the merits of an "Uber for private security" (17:15), and covers Coinbase's launch of their self-titled "Fact Check" media arm (37:32).

Acquired.FM’s Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal on Berkshire vs. Bitcoin, Amazon acquires James Bond IP, and more! | E1222 May 26, 2021

Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal of Acquired join Jason to talk about Bitcoin's recent price action (5:55), the cognitive dissonance of liking both Bitcoin and Berkshire (14:27), Amazon's acquisition of MGM (39:34), and more!

Culture | Scaling Your Startup S2 E7: 15five’s David Hassell & Balloon’s Amanda Greenberg | E1221 May 25, 2021

Two CEOs join to talk about intentionally creating and maintaining a workplace culture that delivers high performance. First, 15five's David Hassel shares how to build culture at scale (1:49), then Balloon's Amanda Greenberg shares a process to help leaders navigate hybrid work (26:00). To wrap, Jason joins for a Q&A session covering workplace political speech, compensation, remote work, and negotiations (42:00).

US initiates crypto regulation, Robinhood IPO access, Slack as a Trojan Horse PLUS Magic Spoon CEO Gabi Lewis | E1220 May 21, 2021

Jason hits the recent restrictions on crypto from the U.S. and China, Robinhood allowing users to get in at IPO prices, and Antonio García Martínez's chat with Kara Swisher (1:15). Then in the main segment, Magic Soon Cereal Co-Founder Gabi Lewis discusses the difference between a good product and product-market fit (25:47), how Magic Spoon does influencer marketing (45:25), classic cereal flavors & more!

Emergency Pod! Huge Bitcoin correction, Robinhood IPO rumors, Squarespace direct listing | E1219 May 20, 2021

Emergency pod! Bitcoin sees a major correction due to China's crack down (1:46). What are the chances it could it go to zero, and could China banning crypto be a blessing in disguise? Robinhood is rumored to be going public next month (14:14), what will their market cap be at IPO? Plus Squarespace goes public via direct listing (26:10)!

Marketing SEO & Conversion Funnels | Scaling Your Startup S2 E6: Gravitr’s Doriane Mouret & Outlaw’s Danielle Vincent | E1218 May 19, 2021

This episode is full of tactical advice for improving your marketing operations. Gravitr's Doriane Mouret explains how to improve your conversion funnels (3:28), Outlaw's Danielle Vincent shares how to improve your SEO (33:45), then Jason joins for a Q&A covering the right cadence, location, and quality of content to publish (47:21).

Amazon in talks to acquire MGM, AT&T offloading Warner Media, Dapper Labs lawsuit plus NYT’s Taylor Lorenz on creator economy, Clubhouse & Jake Paul’s venture fund | E1217 May 18, 2021

Jason covers Amazon's talks to acquire MGM, AT&T's spin-off of WarnerMedia to Discovery, and Dapper Labs lawsuit about the nature of NFTs (1:00). Then, NYT journalist Taylor Lorenz joins to discuss the implications of social media & its more reckless influencers (15:21), why she prefers to write for the New York Times instead of a lucrative Substack offer (48:50), and more!

Emergency Pod! Twitter is reportedly building a paid subscription called “Twitter Blue” | E1216 May 18, 2021

Jason shares insights on the Twitter Blue leak (1:40) then breaks down recent product innovations, Twitter's 2021 acquisition spree, and what it all means (15:05). Check out the pod notes: https://bitly.com/e1216notes

Ask an Angel PLUS Antonio Garcia Martinez vs. Apple with Zach Coelius | E1215 May 15, 2021

Zach Coelius joins Jason to answer live listener questions (1:09), and then the pair discuss Apple's recent debacle in firing Antonio Garcia Martinez after being pressured by employees (42:43). Check out the pod notes here: https://bitly.com/e1215notes

Product | Scaling Your Startup S2 E5 with Superhuman’s Rahul Vohra & Fitbod’s Jesse Venticique | E1214 May 15, 2021

This episode reveals the product strategies of two of Jason's high-performing portfolio companies, Superhuman & Fitbod. First, Superhuman's Founder & CEO Rahul Vohra shares his 7 principles for improving products with game design (01:40), then Fitbod's CO-founder and Product Head Jesse Venticique describes how to optimize your product hook (20:08), and to wrap up, Jason brings the two together for a Q&A session (36:44). Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/e1214tnotes

Oura CEO Harpreet Rai on improving sleep, NBA partnerships, hardware & more PLUS the Instagram Kids debacle | E1213 May 13, 2021

Jason gives his take on Facebook's Instagram Kids initiative (0:53), then, Ōura's CEO Harpreet Rai discusses how sleep & recovery scores are calculated (25:09), how Oura works with the NBA & enterprise to keep organizations healthy (50:49), and more! Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/e1213tnotes

Precursor Ventures’ Charles Hudson & Jason give candid feedback on startup pitches at Founder University | E1212 May 11, 2021

Jason & Charles Hudson from Precursor Ventures take 8 pitches from founders and give feedback on how the pitches were structured (13:10) and their business models (38:48). Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/twist1212

Facebook’s Oversight Board rules on Trump ban plus how to reverse engineer TAM & more | E1211 May 07, 2021

Jason covers the Facebook Oversight Board's decision on Trump (15:49), gives a potential solution for bad actors on social media that are of public consequence (39:25), provides a concrete way to reverse engineer TAM (55:00), and more!

Fundraising | Scaling Your Startup S2 E4 with Density’s Andrew Farah and SoleSavy’s Dejan Pralica | E1210 May 06, 2021

Two startup CEOs share their approach to fundraising, Andrew Farah explains the strategy he used to raise $100M for Density (03:58), Dejan simplifies his community-forming principles for SoleSavy (38:27), and both give tactical lessons from the mistakes they made along the way (46:23)! Deck: https://bit.ly/3b8gz8g

Crafter’s Morgan Spenla on delighting makers with memberships, materials, and a marketplace | E1209 May 05, 2021

Morgan Spenla shares why her company Crafter delivers a wonderful experience to makers (01:06), how they monetize (15:04), why she hires customer support from Starbucks (48:07), and more!

Breaking down Basecamp’s tumultuous week, politics at work & more | E1208 May 05, 2021

Jason weighs in on Basecamp's ban of political discussion at work (10:57), the ensuing employee exodus (22:40), shares his policy for his companies (26:32), answers a listener's question about how to surround yourself with great people (40:09), and more! Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/e1208Tnotes

How Tiger Global is outpacing VC with better, faster, cheaper, capital ft. Founders Fund’s Everett Randle | E1207 Apr 30, 2021

Tiger Global, a crossover hedge fund, is moving at an unprecedented speed and scale in venture capital. Everett Randle of Founder's Fund joins Jason to break down Tiger Global's strategy, discuss the implications for the investing ecosystem (13:14), explain his "Walmart of VC firms" mental model (24:42), and more! Pod Notes: http://bit.ly/E1207Tnotes

Sales | Scaling Your Startup S2 E3 with GRIN’s Brandon Brown and LeadIQ’s Mei Siauw | E1206 Apr 29, 2021

A high-functioning sales machine is a way to predictably scale revenue quickly. Two 8-figure B2B SaaS CEOs share the lessons they've learned from building effective sales teams including how to create an effective sales motion (2:49), structure a sales pod (12:00), hire a great VP of sales (15:10), train SDRs into AEs (28:55), deal with average performers (47:54), and more! Slide Deck Slide Deck: http://bit.ly/SYS-S2E3-Deck

Arlan Hamilton on raising $5M in crowdfunding, empowering & educating underestimated founders | E1205 Apr 27, 2021

Arlan Hamilton of Backstage Capital discusses her $5M crowdfunding raise on Republic (04:16), what's "popping" in her current portfolio (20:06), her founder education course (49:46), and more! Check out the pod notes here: http://bit.ly/1205podnotes

Emergency Pod! Tim Cook vs. Mark Zuckerberg: Apple and Facebook go to war over privacy updates | E1204 Apr 27, 2021

Jason dives deep on Apple vs. Facebook: the numbers, the philosophical differences, the potential outcomes & more! (5:05) Check out the full pod notes here: http://bit.ly/e1204podnotes

Altimeter’s Brad Gerstner on taking Grab public in largest SPAC ever, fixing broken IPOs | E1203 Apr 23, 2021

Crossover technology investor Brad Gerstner discussed Altimeter Capital taking Grab public in the largest SPAC ever (38:55), why the IPO process is broken and how to fix it (12:55), and the responsibility of people with platforms to encourage responsible retail investing (22:12). As well as, how $2000 for every American invested in the public markets at birth would display the power of capitalism to improve lives (50:50) and more!

Social Marketing | Scaling Your Startup S2 E2 with Mehak Vohra and Kate Bradley-Chernis | E1202 Apr 21, 2021

Jason is joined by two outstanding CEOs running marketing companies, Mehak Vohra (Skillbank) & Kate Bradley-Chernis (Lately). Mehak shared the strategies she used to drive signups for Skillbank on TikTok(2:57). Kate shared her top business writing techniques (18:48), how to create engagement for B2B sales on LinkedIn (24:15), and more! To see the deck discussed in this episode go to https://bit.ly/3tA7sVb

Emergency Pod! Jason reacts to the Apple event: M1 iMac & iPad Pro, AirTags, Podcasts & more | E1201 Apr 21, 2021

Jason reacts to all of Apple's most notable product releases from their Spring Loaded event: Apple Podcasts redesign (2:43), AirTags (13:09), M1 iMac (20:08), M1 iPad Pro (25:15) & more!

MetaKovan on financing digital art & buying Beeple’s $69M NFT, plus Clubhouse facing new competition in social audio | E1200 Apr 20, 2021

First Jason discusses Clubhouse's facing new competition in social audio from Reddit and others (2:44). Then, he asks Crypto investor & entrepreneur MetaKovan why he bought Beeple’s "Everydays" NFT at a Christie's auction for $69M (23:30), what crypto assets he is invested in (28:29), and more!

Jason’s EOW (End of Week) | 4/16/20 Apr 17, 2021

New format! Jason's EOW (End of Week): Jason wraps up the week covering some current events he's interested in, explaining things he's been working on (0:00), and answering fan questions live (14:56).

Republic CEO Ken Nguyen on making early-stage investing for everyone | E1199 Apr 16, 2021

Kendrick Nguyen of Republic, an early-stage investing platform, talks about the power of the retail investor crowd, how startups can convert their followers into investors (13:05), Republic's diligence process for deals on their platform (47:46), and more!

Throwback! Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong from November 2017 Apr 15, 2021

Jason reflects on Coinbase's monumental direct listing (0:00), then tosses to a November 2017 interview featuring Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (6:21). Check out the pod notes here: https://rb.gy/1vlx74

Growth | Scaling Your Startup S2 E1 with Growth University’s Craig Zingerline and Fitbod’s Allen Chen | E1198 Apr 14, 2021

Growth experts Craig Zingerline (Growth University) and Allen Chen (Fitbod) cover how startups can grow their user base, including tactical tips and best practices on building a growth model, acquiring and activating customers, retaining users, measuring performance and more. Check out the deck here: https://rb.gy/fb94ib

Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou on powering NFTs, NBA Top Shot, & CryptoKitties | E1197 Apr 13, 2021

Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou discusses his vision for NFTs and why he created Flow blockchain, how he used CryptoKitties' success to secure the NBA Top Shot partnership (12:26), how building platforms on the blockchain can potentially erode Facebook's power (43:25) and more!

Building a production location marketplace with Hank Leber, Co-Founder of Giggster | E1196 Apr 09, 2021

Hank Leber, co-founder of Giggster, talks about growing their production location marketplace, onboarding 10,000 locations from a totally offline process and building "Airbnb for professional locations" (0:00). He shares Giggster's fundraising history and the impact of raising at Remote Demo Day (17:35), and also dives into common use cases and more (30:05)! Check out the advanced pod notes here: https://bit.ly/twist-notes-giggster FOUNDERS! Apply to pitch 7000+ angel investors at Remote Demo Day here: https://remotedemoday.com

Snack App’s Kim Kaplan PLUS 3 key metrics that matter for consumer, enterprise SaaS & marketplace startups | E1195 Apr 06, 2021

First, Jason answers fan questions on attracting VCs and the 3 key metrics for consumer, enterprise SaaS and marketplace startups (1:32), then Snack App CEO Kim Kaplan joins to talk about her new Tinder-meets-TikTok dating app (15:21). For in-depth podcast notes, click here: https://bit.ly/E1195-TwistNotes

This Week in Startups Australia hosted by Mark Pesce | Season 9 Episode 1 with Jason Calacanis Apr 06, 2021

Season 9 Episode 1: TWISTA Patron Saint Jason Calacanis joins us to kick off series 9 with a deep dive into the post-pandemic startup world – and the virtuous cycle of successful startups.

Early angel investing blind spots, thoughts on the creator economy PLUS Canny.io’s Sarah Hum | E1194 Apr 02, 2021

Today's show features a throwback format, where Jason answers a fan question about his early blind spots in angel investing (1:54), is joined by Canny.io Founder Sarah Hum (9:08), and then shares his thoughts on the growing "creator economy" (34:22). Check out the advanced pod notes here: https://rb.gy/mqxls8

Common First-Time Founder Mistakes Part 2! with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Apr 02, 2021

Wilson Sonsini Partner Becki DeGraw joins Jason for another discussion around common first-time founder mistakes. Topics include avoiding founder legal disputes, no vesting on shares, IP protection, super-voting shares and more! Check out the full Startup Basics series at https://thisweekinstartups.com/basics

Emergency Pod! SPAC Overload: Understanding 2021’s unprecedented SPAC market | E1193 Apr 01, 2021

Check out Jason's SPAC Deck: https://rb.gy/9txa6c FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis Show notes: 0:00 Jason intros today's Epod: SPAC Overload! 1:29 OurCrowd - Sign up for a free account at https://www.ourcrowd.com/twist 2:55 Current state of SPACs - how did we get here & how do SPACs work? 9:12 Comparing SPACs, IPOs & Direct Listings 13:19 SPAC renaissance starting in 2020, comparison vs. S&P 500, understanding the recent pullback 16:59 Top SPACS by market cap, revenue, speculation & top active & upcoming SPACs 26:22 Wrap up!

Emergency Pod! uBiome: Anatomy of an Alleged Fraud with Wall Street Journal reporter Amy Dockser Marcus | E1192 Mar 31, 2021

Jason and WSJ Reporter Amy Dockser Marcus break down the alleged uBiome fraud! Check out the Pod Notes here: https://rb.gy/tjw046

Startup Bracketology: selecting the world’s best private company with Acquired FM PLUS future of VC | E1191 Mar 26, 2021

Common First-Time Founder Mistakes with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Mar 26, 2021

Emergency Pod! Microsoft in talks to buy Discord for $10B+; breaking down their thesis, Discord’s business & more | E1190 Mar 26, 2021

Ask an Angel with Zach Coelius: Starting your angel career, building marketplaces & more | E1189 Mar 25, 2021

Joanne Wilson on spotting a bubble, NYC’s post-pandemic reset, portfolio management in an unsustainable market & more | Angel S5 E10 Mar 24, 2021

Blogger, businesswoman, angel investor and Gotham Gal Joanne Wilson joins Angel to catch up with Jason. They discuss portfolio management in a peak market, spotting a bubble, funding underestimated founders and more! Check out the full pod notes here: https://rb.gy/dnh55t

Sahil Lavingia on Gumroad’s groundbreaking equity crowdfunding raise, lessons from a decade-long startup journey, insights on rolling funds & more | E1188 Mar 24, 2021

Cade Metz on his controversial Slate Star Codex article, new book “Genius Makers,” dangers of algorithmic moderation, a16z vs. legacy media & more | E1187 Mar 19, 2021

Ask an Angel with Zach Coelius: changing VC landscape, pitch deck punch-ups, Tesla’s future & more | E1186 Mar 19, 2021

Stock option grants deep dive with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Mar 18, 2021

Paul Judge on helping lead SoftBank’s $100M Opportunity Fund, future of fundraising, importance of “building your Olympic Team” & more | Angel S5 E9 Mar 18, 2021

Kevin Rose on his product philosophy, Reddit & Digg’s inverse journeys, Twitter’s recent innovations & more | E1185 Mar 16, 2021

Tobi Lütke on Shopify’s impact on the creator economy, COVID forcing focus, early Internet breakthroughs, evolving as a remote manager & much more | E1184 Mar 14, 2021

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke joins Jason for a conversation covering how software compounds innovation, pandemic lessons, making entrepreneurship trivial on the internet and more! Pod notes here: https://rb.gy/zihcmw

How to run an efficient board meeting with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Mar 12, 2021

Garry Tan on lessons from past startup failures, power of community funnels, Alexis Ohanian’s departure & more | Angel S5 E8 Mar 11, 2021

Harlem Capital’s Henri Pierre-Jacques on funding underrepresented founders, insights from raising first fund & getting Apple as an LP, Black culture’s impact on social apps | E1183 Mar 10, 2021

Keith Rabois on Miami vs. Bay Area, cognitive variety, America’s self-examination & more PLUS Keith’s Best Twitter Dunks | E1182 Mar 05, 2021

Matt Mullenweg on pioneering remote work, investing in open-source, crypto & more | Angel S5 E7 Mar 04, 2021

Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum on the future of healthcare post-COVID, starting a company to SPAC’ing in 36 months | E1181 Mar 03, 2021

Founders from LAUNCH Accelerator’s 20th Cohort join Jason to talk fundraising, growth, pitching & more | E1180 Feb 27, 2021

Ask an Angel with Zach Coelius: early-stage valuations, product roadmaps, startup killers, Twitter gets its groove back & more | E1179 Feb 27, 2021

Reid Hoffman on the Joby Aviation SPAC, lessons from early Airbnb & Facebook bets, passing on Stripe & SpaceX, investment thesis & more | Angel S5 E6 Feb 25, 2021

Emergency Pod! Deconstructing the grift: Clubhouse coaching scams with Coffeezilla | E1178 Feb 25, 2021

“Crisis” Director Nick Jarecki on the opioid problem in America, post-COVID film distribution & more | E1177 Feb 23, 2021

Ask Jason! All-In origins, avoiding common investor mistakes, defining “lifestyle” business vs. venture scale & more! | E1176 Feb 20, 2021

News! Bitcoin hits $50K, monetizing Clubhouse, drafting the Mount Rushmore of Tech CEOs & more with Acquired FM | E1175 Feb 19, 2021

Mark Cuban on the resurgence of retail investors, NBA’s potential entry into wagering & digital assets, DeFi & much more | Angel S5 E5 Feb 18, 2021

Andrew Wilkinson on bringing the Buffett approach to startups, WeCommerce, Slack & more | E1174 Feb 17, 2021

Box CEO Aaron Levie on the developing cloud storage market, Twitter jokes, Clubhouse vices & more | E1173 Feb 12, 2021

Budgets, models & what investors are looking for with Scott Orn | Kruze Consulting Startup Finance Basics Feb 12, 2021

Howard Lindzon on public vs. private investing psychology, “great unbundling” of index funds, Robinhood & more | Angel S5 E4 Feb 11, 2021

Ask an Angel with Zach Coelius: is moving to SF still worth it, bubble/recession potential, post-COVID funding & more | E1172 Feb 10, 2021

Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ Bob Mumgaard on trying to solve climate change via nuclear fusion technology | E1171 Feb 06, 2021

Five things you need to nail to scale with Scott Orn | Kruze Consulting Startup Finance Basics Feb 05, 2021

Emergency Pod! Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO: Reasons, reactions & more | E1170 Feb 04, 2021

Elad Gil on his product-market driven thesis, importance of market pull, entering the “go public sooner” decade | Angel S5 E3 Feb 04, 2021

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen on “going big” with $1B funding round, insights from scaling globally, lessons from the pandemic | E1169 Feb 03, 2021

No Rules Rules Co-Author Erin Meyer: Netflix’s “keeper test”, comparative turnover, navigating global business cultures – Part 2 | E1168 Jan 30, 2021

Startup taxes deep dive with Scott Orn | Kruze Consulting Startup Finance Basics Jan 29, 2021

Emergency Pod! WallStreetBets vs. Suits, breaking down the GameStop fiasco & more | E1167 Jan 28, 2021

Intercom’s Des Traynor on the importance of pricing, product-market fit metrics & more | Angel S5 E2 Jan 28, 2021

No Rules Rules Co-Author Erin Meyer on how Netflix cultivates outlier performance & re-aligns values towards innovation – Part 1 | E1166 Jan 27, 2021

Outer CEO Jiake Liu on standing out in DTC, go-to-market innovations, pitching at Remote Demo Day & more | E1165 Jan 23, 2021

Emergency Pod! Facebook hands off Trump’s indefinite ban to the Oversight Board | E1164 Jan 22, 2021

How to ace diligence & avoid common mistakes with Scott Orn | Kruze Consulting Startup Finance Basics Jan 22, 2021

David Tisch shares insights from 350+ early-stage investments in companies like Plaid & Roman, importance of reputation, dealing with sharp-elbowed investors & more | Angel S5 E1 Jan 21, 2021

Frame.io CEO Emery Wells on helping the film industry go remote, how distributed work is changing movie studios & more | E1163 Jan 19, 2021

“Early-stage startups we love right now” with Indie Hackers’ Courtland Allen & Pioneer’s Daniel Gross | E1162 Jan 15, 2021

DocSend CEO Russ Heddleston on pitch deck insights, leaning into criticism & more | E1161 Jan 13, 2021

Coda CEO Shishir Mehrotra on the productivity renaissance, enabling the maker generation, insights from early years of YouTube & more | E1160 Jan 12, 2021

Joel Greenblatt on understanding market factors, improving public education, reducing income inequality & more | E1159 Jan 08, 2021

Andy Rachleff on management theory, Reed Hastings’ genius, lessons from passing on Netflix & more | E1158 Jan 05, 2021

E1157: TWiSTYs 2020 – Jason gives awards for the best, funniest, wettest beak & more! Dec 25, 2020

E1156: Emergency Pod! Ripple sued by SEC over XRP cryptocurrency, breaking down the SEC Complaint Dec 23, 2020

E1155: Daryl Morey on his eventful 2020, adapting to paradigm shifts, taking the Sixers job, building a winning organization & more Dec 22, 2020

E1154: Breaking the low-code stigma amongst developers & adjusting your market with Retool’s David Hsu | Rising Stars of SaaS 10 Dec 16, 2020

E1153: Dave Portnoy on the business of Barstool, talent acquisition, Call Her Daddy controversy & more Dec 15, 2020

E1152: Keith Rabois on leaving Silicon Valley for Miami, Roaring Twenties 2.0, IPO spree & more Dec 15, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of December 7th, 2020 Dec 12, 2020

E1151: Tech stock deep dive with Alex Wilhelm & Beth Kindig: Airbnb & DoorDash IPOs, Zoom’s pricing power, post-pandemic outlook, top picks & more Dec 11, 2020

Employment Agreement deep dive: IP assignment, offer letters, side hustles & more with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Dec 10, 2020

E1150: Creating a better presentation software, competing with PowerPoint, Keynote & Google Slides & achieving great design with Pitch CEO Christian Reber | Rising Stars of SaaS 9 Dec 09, 2020

E1149: Brad Feld on building startup communities, reconciling anxiety as an early-stage investor & remembering Tony Hsieh Dec 08, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of November 30th, 2020 Dec 05, 2020

E1148: Apps Without Code Founder & CEO Tara Reed teaches aspiring entrepreneurs how to bootstrap startups to profitability Dec 04, 2020

All-In E14: Salesforce acquires Slack, DeepMind’s AlphaFold breakthrough, Trust Fund Socialists & more Dec 04, 2020

Understanding Financing Structures: SAFEs, Convertibles Notes, Priced Rounds & more with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Dec 03, 2020

E1147: “Godfather of SaaS” Jason Lemkin on 2020’s cloud software boom, public CEO mindsets, how Zoom conquered the competition & more | Rising Stars of SaaS 8 Dec 02, 2020

E1146: LAUNCH Accelerator Cohort 19 founders reflect on their journeys thru the program: Blush (custom illustration tool), Palabra (no-code email automation) & Rolebot (AI hiring platform) Dec 02, 2020

E1145: Emergency Pod! Salesforce is reportedly acquiring Slack: winners, losers, ramifications & more! Dec 01, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of November 23rd, 2020 Nov 26, 2020

E1144: How Income Share Agreements (ISAs) are solving education financing & aligning incentives in a broken system with Meratas CEO Darius Goldman | Rising Stars of SaaS 7 Nov 25, 2020

All-In E13: SPACsgiving Special! Plus: More promising vaccine news, innovation vs. regulation, reforming higher ed, morality of challenge trials Nov 25, 2020

Negotiating a Term Sheet: Deal killers, what terms are worth fighting for & more with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Nov 24, 2020

E1143: Indie Hackers Founder Courtland Allen is creating a community for the next generation of builders to chase the “new American Dream” Nov 23, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of November 16th, 2020 Nov 21, 2020

E1142: Emergency Pod! Jason breaks down & ranks his top 4 IPO candidates: Airbnb, Affirm, Robinhood & Roblox! Nov 21, 2020

E1141: CircleUp’s Ryan Caldbeck on the mental & physical toll of being a founder, why he stepped down as CEO & shared his struggle publicly Nov 20, 2020

Avoiding Co-Founder legal disputes & C-Corp vs. LLC with Becki DeGraw | Wilson Sonsini Startup Legal Basics Nov 20, 2020

E1140: Dishcraft Robotics CEO Linda Pouliot on scaling Robots-as-a-Service | Rising Stars of SaaS 6 Nov 19, 2020

E1139: Loop CEO Brian Gannon shares secrets to scaling a hardware startup & launching the Loop 2 + bonus Ask Jason! Nov 18, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of November 9th, 2020 Nov 14, 2020

E1138: Ask Jason! Benefits to growing a company internationally, Apple’s new chip impact, investing in solo founders & more! Nov 13, 2020

E1137: Making coding accessible for all with Repl.it CEO Amjad Masad | Rising Stars of SaaS 5 Nov 11, 2020

All-ln E12: Biden wins, Pfizer vaccine, markets rip, Trump’s next act, COVID endgame scenarios & more Nov 11, 2020

E1136: SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce on evolving accreditation laws, SPACs, importance of capital markets in wealth creation, spotting fraud & more Nov 10, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of November 2nd, 2020 Nov 07, 2020

E1135: Density CEO Andrew Farah on launching the Open Area sensor, $51M Series C, impact of increasing spatial efficiency, risk-taking & more Nov 06, 2020

E1134: Deep dive on the food delivery wars with ChowNow CEO Chris Webb | Rising Stars of SaaS 4 Nov 05, 2020

All-In E11: Election Night Special featuring surprise guests! Nov 04, 2020

E1133: Podcast & blogging pioneer Dave Winer on inventing new forms of media, tribalism on social media, tales from Silicon Valley’s Golden Age & more Nov 03, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of October 26th, 2020 Oct 31, 2020

E1132: News! Jack Dorsey vs. Ted Cruz, Google’s antitrust lawsuit, Expensify email, Amazon deep dive & much more with Acquired’s Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal Oct 30, 2020

E1131 Bringing barbershops into the digital age with Squire CEO Songe LaRon | Rising Stars of SaaS 3 Oct 29, 2020

E1130: “Billion Dollar Loser” Author Reeves Wiedeman on WeWork’s epic rise & crazy collapse, Adam Neumann’s unique behavior, hypocrisy, red flags & more Oct 27, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of October 19th, 2020 Oct 24, 2020

E1129: Ring Founder Jamie Siminoff on launching the Always Home Cam – an autonomous indoor drone, taking his company from bad reviews to a billion-dollar acquisition by Amazon & more Oct 23, 2020

E1128: Emergency Pod! A Quibi postmortem – Diving into the numbers, what went wrong, lessons learned & more! Oct 23, 2020

E1127: Data privacy deep dive with Transcend CEO Ben Brook; tracking pixels, GDPR, privacy as a selling point & more | Rising Stars of SaaS 2 Oct 22, 2020

E1126: Capital Allocators Host Ted Seides goes deep on endowments, LP turnover, public/private market insights, ESG investing & more Oct 20, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of October 12th, 2020 Oct 17, 2020

E1125: LAUNCH Accelerator Cohort 18 founders reflect on their journeys thru the program: Fluent Forever (language learning app), SupportPay (child support management solution) & v.one (no-code app building platform) Oct 16, 2020

All-In E10: Twitter & Facebook botch censorship (again), the publisher vs. distributor debate & more Oct 16, 2020

E1124: Reducing response times for first responders & revolutionizing outdated systems with RapidDeploy CEO Steven Raucher | Rising Stars of SaaS 1 Oct 14, 2020

E1123: Emergency Pod! Jason reacts to the iPhone 12 fail & Apple jumping the shark; theories on the lack of innovation: is something big in the works or has Apple lost its magic? Oct 14, 2020

E1122: Running Tide CEO Marty Odlin is helping solve the Climate crisis by using kelp to sequester carbon in the ocean, shares insights on generational shifts in climate response & more Oct 13, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of October 5th, 2020 Oct 10, 2020

E1121: Mark Suster on investing in human-computer interfaces & sustainability, what he looks for in founders, SPACs impact on early-stage investing & more Oct 09, 2020

E1120: Shift Co-CEO George Arison on going public via SPAC, lessons from building Uber’s predecessor & innovating in the massive used car market Oct 07, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of September 28th, 2020 Oct 03, 2020

All-In E9: Trump has COVID, First debate reactions, Coinbase letter response & more Oct 03, 2020

E1119: Wonderschool CEO Chris Bennett is creating a marketplace for early childhood education & microschools, giving teachers greater access to entrepreneurship & iterating in education Oct 02, 2020

E1118: Emergency Pod! Two former Apple executives are building the iPhone killer – breaking down the leaks, patents & scoops regarding Humane’s product Oct 01, 2020

E1117 The Next Unicorns E20: Citizen CEO Andrew Frame on creating a safer world through access to public data, reforming policing via transparency & more Sep 30, 2020

E1116: Cabana CEO Scott Kubly is building a fleet of hotels-on-wheels, shares insights on scaling an asset-heavy business, providing unique & flexible experiences to customers & more Sep 29, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of September 21st, 2020 Sep 26, 2020

E1115: Emergency Pod! Collapsing state of media corporations, thoughts on Casey Newton, Andrew Sullivan & Bari Weiss departures, top talent leaving for Substack & more Sep 26, 2020

E1114: #AskJason! Silicon Valley exodus, product vs. branding, expanding into adjacent markets, avoiding burnout & more Sep 25, 2020

E1113 The Next Unicorns E19: Loom CEO Joe Thomas is building video for work, shares insights on creating new behaviors, support as a competitive advantage & more Sep 23, 2020

E1112: Emergency Pod! Nikola fraud allegations, Trevor Milton resigns, Jason reflects on Trevor’s answers Sep 22, 2020

All-In E8: TikTok + Oracle, how privacy loss will impact society, economy & COVID outlooks for 2021 & beyond, California wildfires & more Sep 19, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of September 14th, 2020 Sep 18, 2020

E1111: Brewster Kahle on archiving the entire Internet, creating the Wayback Machine, protocols over platforms, microschools & more Sep 18, 2020

E1110 The Next Unicorns E18: Ghost Locomotion CEO John Hayes builds self-driving kits for consumer vehicles, shares insights on cameras vs. Lidar, targeting highways, 5G’s impact on self-driving & more Sep 17, 2020

Apply to pitch thousands of angel investors at Remote Demo Day – Coming September 30th Sep 16, 2020

E1109: Ritual CEO Katerina Schneider on creating pure & effective vitamins, standing out in a crowded DTC market, utilizing subscriptions & more Sep 16, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of September 7th, 2020 Sep 12, 2020

E1108: SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie on leading a public company through COVID, championing diversity from the top down, role of a modern CEO & more Sep 12, 2020

E1107 The Next Unicorns E17: Caffeine CEO Ben Keighran on reimagining live TV for younger generations, what makes Apple’s design team so special, remembering Steve Jobs & more Sep 09, 2020

All-In E7: California’s collapse, how SPACs are opening the markets for growth stocks & more Sep 09, 2020

E1106: Desktop Metal CEO Ric Fulop shares insights from taking two companies public, traditional IPO vs. SPAC, future of Computer-aided design & more Sep 08, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of August 31st, 2020 Sep 05, 2020

E1105: Unpacking the US/China Relationship with Foreign Policy & Technology Expert Jacob Helberg Sep 04, 2020

E1104 The Next Unicorns E16: Degreed’s David Blake on reimagining lifelong education, ending credentialism, benefits of early apprenticeship & more Sep 03, 2020

E1103: Domm Holland on launching Fast to the public, creating a one-click checkout for the entire Internet, taking on Apple Pay & more Sep 02, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of August 24th, 2020 Sep 01, 2020

E1102 The Next Unicorns E15: Zero Mass Water CEO Cody Friesen is perfecting drinking water with hydropanels, aiming to create essential resource UBI for the world Aug 29, 2020

E1101: News! Apple vs. Epic Games, TikTok CEO resigns, SPACs, Unicorn IPOs & more with Acquired’s Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal Aug 28, 2020

E1100: Clearview AI CEO Hoan Ton-That on facial recognition advancements, balancing privacy & security, engaging with controversy & more Aug 25, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: Week of August 17th, 2020 Aug 22, 2020

E1099: Basecamp Co-Founder Jason Fried on building Hey, making email exciting again, Hey vs. Apple & more Aug 21, 2020

E1098 The Next Unicorns E14: Cockroach Labs CEO Spencer Kimball on the coming paradigm shifts in tech, competing against AWS & more Aug 19, 2020

E1097: Understanding the travel collapse & how media can thrive going forward with Skift CEO & Founder Rafat Ali Aug 18, 2020

Best of This Week in Startups: August 10th-August 14th, 2020 Aug 15, 2020

E1096: Podcasting State of the Union featuring Overcast’s Marco Arment & Oxford Road’s Dan Granger Aug 14, 2020

E1095 The Next Unicorns E13: Roofstock CEO Gary Beasley is creating the real estate cloud, opening residential investing to millennials & more Aug 12, 2020

E1094: Thrasio Co-CEO Josh Silberstein acquires & operates 60+ Amazon brands, shares insights on mastering the marketplace, competing with AmazonBasics & more Aug 11, 2020

E1093: Keith Rabois on China’s grand plan, TikTok, Taiwan, Big Tech & more Aug 07, 2020

E1092 The Next Unicorns E12: Homebound CEO & Co-Founder Nikki Pechet is solving the home building process by increasing customer experience, helping victims of natural disasters rebuild efficiently Aug 05, 2020

E1091: LAUNCH Accelerator Cohort 17 founders reflect on their journeys throughout the program: Nude Barre (DTC hosiery made for women of all shades), Techmate (On-demand tech support for remote & satellite employees) & Solo (Trucking-as-a-Service) Aug 04, 2020

All-In E6: Big Tech antitrust aftermath, potential effects of an M&A clampdown on Silicon Valley & more Aug 01, 2020

E1090: Nikola Founder Trevor Milton on competing with Tesla, hydrogen over battery, going public as a pre-revenue company & more Jul 31, 2020

Emergency Pod! Jason Calacanis reacts to Big Tech hearings: Grades for Bezos, Cook, Pichai & Zuckerberg Jul 30, 2020

E1089 The Next Unicorns E11: insitro CEO Daphne Koller is revolutionizing drug discovery via machine learning & data, shares insights on remote education from time at Coursera & more Jul 29, 2020

E1088: Building Zero Fasting with Kevin Rose, properly pricing consumer apps, benefits of fasting & more with Big Sky Health CEO Mike Maser Jul 28, 2020

E1087: Democratizing art as an asset class, indicators of a rapidly appreciating piece of art & more with Masterworks CEO & Founder Scott Lynn Jul 24, 2020

E1086: Supporting founder mental health at Freestyle Capital with Josh Felser, Caren Maio & Mani Kulasooriya Jul 21, 2020

E1085: Chris Atoki shares his inspiring story: from homeless to homeowner in 4 years through grit, technology & hustle Jul 17, 2020

E1084: David Sacks on “The Cadence”: an operating philosophy he developed at PayPal which helped him lead Yammer to a billion-dollar exit without a COO Jul 14, 2020

All-In E5: WHO’s incompetence, kicking off Cold War II, China’s grand plan, 100X’ing America’s efficiency Jul 11, 2020

Founders: Pitch Thousands of Angel Investors over Zoom at Remote Demo Day! Jul 10, 2020

E1083 News: Trump considers TikTok ban, Twitter leaks subscription platform, Clubhouse drama, Harvard price gouging & more with Morgan DeBaun & Alex Wilhelm Jul 09, 2020

E1082: OfferUp CEO & Co-Founder Nick Huzar on creating liquidity in a marketplace, acquiring their largest competitor in Letgo, location-based pay & more! Jul 07, 2020

E1081: SevenRooms CEO & Co-Founder Joel Montaniel on raising $50M Series B during COVID, taking on large incumbents, helping restaurants leverage data to maximize customer experience Jun 30, 2020

Learn how to be an Angel Investor from Jason Calacanis at Angel.University Online! Jun 30, 2020

E1080: Arlan Hamilton on launching Backstage Crowd, disrupting VC with syndicates, how the tech industry can be better for underrepresented founders & more Jun 26, 2020

E1079: The Power of Accelerators E10 Daniel Gross, Founder of Pioneer on gamifying the startup process, importance of mentorship in tech & more! Jun 24, 2020

E1078 Pomp Podcast Crossover: Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano on most exciting crypto projects, Hey vs. Apple, Robinhood/Barstool traders, Zuck vs. Bezos, Jason’s Bitcoin position & more! Jun 23, 2020

All-In E4: Politicizing the pandemic, Police reform, Biden’s ideal VP, Twitter vs. Facebook on free speech & more with David Sacks & David Friedberg Jun 21, 2020

E1077: “Alchemy” Author Rory Sutherland on the Darwinian approach to business, analyzing outliers, why eccentric CEOs have a psychological advantage with customers & more! Jun 19, 2020

E1076: The Power of Accelerators E9 Sunny Madra, Head of Ford X on innovating mobility for a post-COVID world, going from idea to product at a large corporation & more Jun 18, 2020

E1075: Cendana Capital’s Michael Kim on investing in Seed funds as a serial LP, Robinhood as an acquisition target, greatest Seed funds of all time & more Jun 16, 2020

E1074 News: How VC can do better for underrepresented founders, Zoom shuts down Chinese pro-democracy accounts, Wall Street Bets, Reddit appoints YC CEO Michael Seibel to BoD & more with Lolita Taub & Tom Uebel Jun 12, 2020

E1073: The Power of Accelerators E8 Mike Jones, CEO of Science shares insights on what makes a great Direct-to-Consumer Founder, investing early in Dollar Shave Club, economics of a venture-studio & more! Jun 10, 2020

E1072 Ask Jason: Growing as a leader, managing more experienced employees as a young CEO, Consumer SaaS pricing tips, bull markets post-COVID & more Jun 09, 2020

Announcement: Learn how to become a professional angel investor at Angel.University Online Jun 09, 2020

E1071 Ask Jason: Black Lives Matter, Post-COVID tech hubs, Founder/VC disputes, bringing manufacturing back to the US, pre-selling SaaS products & more Jun 05, 2020

E1070: The Power of Accelerators E7 Ravi Belani, Managing Director of Alchemist Accelerator on why the best entrepreneurs love the process, risk-taking, sourcing & investing in Justin.tv at DFJ & more Jun 03, 2020

E1069: Alexis Ohanian on Reddit’s crypto origins, turning VC into a team sport at Initialized, improving as an investor, fatherhood & more Jun 03, 2020

E1068 AMA: NEA’s Ben Narasin takes questions from founders: most important content in a pitch deck, COVID’s impact on dealmaking, traits he looks for in founders & more! May 30, 2020

E1067: Garry Tan, Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Initialized Capital, on dealing with downstream investors as a Seed-stage firm, software companies acting as governments, possibility of building IPO-level companies while fully-distributed & much more! May 29, 2020

E1066: The Power of Accelerators E6 David Brown, CEO & Co-Founder of TechStars on leading the virtual accelerator trend, benefits of going global, sustained vs. temporary changes from COVID & more! May 27, 2020

E1065 AMA: Slice CEO Ilir Sela answers questions from founders: tips on selling into scattered markets (like Mom & Pop shops), COVID’s impact on the restaurant industry, scaling Slice’s $43M Series C & more! May 21, 2020

E1064: News Roundtable! Sam Parr & Zach Coelius on Barstool Sports vs. Call Her Daddy, SoftBank’s $17B loss, TikTok poaches former Disney exec as CEO, Facebook launches Shops & more! May 21, 2020

All-In E3: Modern Cold War between US & China, economic recovery, potential mass migration out of San Francisco, pandemic politicization & more with David Sacks & David Friedberg May 21, 2020

E1063: The Power of Accelerators E5 Joshua Baer, CEO & Founder of Capital Factory shares lessons from investing in 400+ startups, best practices for transitioning accelerators to remote, insights on SXSW cancellation & more May 20, 2020

E1062: News Roundtable! Acquired.FM Co-Hosts Ben Gilbert & David Rosenthal on Clubhouse’s pre-launch $100M valuation, Joe Rogan to Spotify, Uber layoffs, food delivery wars, Facebook buys GIPHY & more! May 20, 2020

E1061 AMA: Hustle Fund Co-Founder & General Partner Elizabeth Yin answers 50 questions from founders! May 19, 2020

E1060 AMA: Range CEO & Co-Founder Dan Pupius answers questions from founders: meeting & collaborating with Evan Williams, divvying up time while building a remote team, product development advice, benefits of co-founders & more May 14, 2020

E1059: The Power of Accelerators E4 Sean O’Sullivan, Managing General Partner of SOSV on running capital intensive accelerators in hardware, life sciences & food science, unique follow-on strategy, cell-based meat going mainstream, China-based vs. US-based accelerators May 13, 2020

E1058: Slice CEO & Founder Ilir Sela helps local pizzerias compete with chains by digitizing orders & small fees, shares insights on raising $40M+ Series C during pandemic, “reverse franchise model”, viral GrubHub invoice, helping front-line workers & local pizzerias with Pizza vs. Pandemic May 12, 2020

E1057: Founders Fund General Partner Keith Rabois on stock market bounce back, domain expertise being overrated, US/China issues, 2020 election, recipe for startups success, chaos making way for a new generation of entrepreneurs & much more! May 12, 2020

E1056 AMA: StartX & Nexus Events Founder Cameron Teitelman answers questions from founders: how universities with no entrepreneurial culture can mimic Stanford, building flexible & sustainable culture during COVID, scaling Nexus Events rapidly & more! May 12, 2020

E1055: Hustle Fund Co-Founder & General Partner Elizabeth Yin on her unique portfolio strategy, attracting first-time LPs, optimism for post-COVID fundraising, dealing with pro rata as a smaller fund & more! May 08, 2020

AMA 2: All Turtles CEO Phil Libin answers questions from founders: should early-stage founders prioritize data or instincts, building global products, ML risks, thoughts on remote work May 08, 2020

UPCOMING: Register for Angel.University Online at Angel.University/Events May 07, 2020

E1054: The Power of Accelerators E3 Siobhan Dullea, CEO of MassChallenge on running a non-profit accelerator, accepting hundreds of companies per year, what makes a great application, why East Coast investors are more conservative & more! May 06, 2020

E1053: Ask Jason! Catching‌ ‌an‌ ‌investor’s‌ ‌eye‌ ‌with‌ ‌a‌ ‌cold‌ ‌email‌, what founders/investors often overlook during pitches, COVID’s impact on Jason’s deal flow, domain name hacks & more! May 05, 2020

TEASER: Inside Transportation E3: Sandy Munro Talks Electric Vehicles, Tesla Model Y + More May 02, 2020

E1052: Range CEO & Co-Founder Dan Pupius shares best practices on building culture as a remote team, insights from working on Google+, importance of asynchronous communication on distributed teams, Holacracy & more! May 02, 2020

AMA 1: freeCodeCamp’s Quincy Larson answers founder and developer questions Apr 30, 2020

E1051: The Power of Accelerators E2 Cameron Teitelman, Founder & Chairman of StartX on optimizing Stanford’s entrepreneurial landscape, thesis on peer-support groups’ correlation to founder success, why growth-stage founders join StartX & more! Apr 29, 2020

E1050: PlayVS CEO & Founder Delane Parnell shares his incredible journey from the projects to raising almost $100M to build the esports platform of the future, breaking through as an outsider in tech, using leverage & partnerships to create a moat, his top 5 entrepreneurs & more! Apr 28, 2020

SNEAK PREVIEW! Inside Transportation E2: EV Companies Take PPP Loans, Virgin Australia collapses, Levandowski v. Uber Apr 27, 2020

E1049: freeCodeCamp Founder Quincy Larson shares insights on democratizing developer skills, which programs to learn to land a coding job, if anyone can learn to code, maximizing earning potential & more! Apr 24, 2020

E1048: The Power of Accelerators E1 Steve Barsh, Managing Partner of Dreamit Ventures on top portfolio companies, focusing on specific verticals, tips for nailing accelerator interviews, follow-on philosophy & more Apr 22, 2020

E1047: Ask Jason Slack Special! Sourcing talent during a crisis, building strong culture & motivating remote teams, investing in distributed startups, importance of market timing & more! Apr 22, 2020

E1046: News Roundtable! TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm & Slow Ventures’ Sam Lessin on COVID’s potential privacy risk, private/public investor outlooks, remote work challenges & at-risk early-stage investors Apr 17, 2020

E1045: 15Five CEO & Co-Founder David Hassell shares insights on remote work: transitioning from in-person to remote, tips for keeping employees engaged, defining trust & more! Apr 15, 2020

SNEAK PREVIEW: E2 All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya & Jason Calacanis: Rebooting the economy, understanding corporate debt, steps to avoid a depression & more with David Sacks Apr 11, 2020

E1044: Ask Jason! Starting a company in an economic crisis, bringing on & compensating startup advisors, scaling diligence as an angel investor, Jason’s thoughts on solving the unemployment surge & more! Apr 10, 2020

E41: “Angel” Podcast: Shawn Carolan, Managing Partner at Menlo Ventures shares insights on his early investments in Uber, Roku, Siri & JUMP Bikes, adjusting his approach in response to hundreds of new venture funds with billions in dry powder & more! Apr 10, 2020

E1043: News Roundtable! Bloomberg Beta’s Roy Bahat & Coelius Capital’s Zach Coelius on how tech is helping during the crisis, how startups should approach SMB loans, when VC funding will bounce back, Notion’s $50M raise, Zoom’s security issues, Luckin coffee & more! Apr 07, 2020

E1042: Balaji Srinivasan (@balajis) shares insights on Recode incident, need for decentralized citizen journalism, techlash through the years, potential COVID-19 endgames: bull, bear & base case scenarios Apr 03, 2020

E40: “Angel” Podcast: Jeff Richards, Managing Partner at GGV Capital shares lessons for founders & investors from 2008 recession & Dot-com bust, criteria for taking on venture debt, valuing companies in a down market & more Apr 01, 2020

E1041: The Lean Startup’s Eric Ries gives tactical advice for founders during an economic downturn: obligations of leadership, extending runway, handling layoffs with grace, finding new revenue opportunities, capitalizing on silver-linings & more! Apr 01, 2020

E1040: Figma CEO & Co-Founder Dylan Field shares insights on crucial moments in Figma’s creation, overcoming SaaS burnout, active vs. passive user-pricing, getting Greylock & Sequoia to invest after they initially passed & more! Mar 27, 2020

E39: “Angel” Podcast: Sarah Guo, General Partner at Greylock Partners shares insights on Greylock’s “Zero to One” investment thesis, sharpening her decision-making skills, ranking team, market & product as investment criteria & the changing landscape of VC Mar 25, 2020

E1039: Independent Journalist Vincent Woo reflects on his piece, “Lambda School’s Misleading Promises”, shares insights on what drew him to the story, where Lambda School went wrong, how they can be better & more Mar 24, 2020

E1038: News Roundtable! Index Ventures’ Sarah Cannon & TechCrunch’s Alex Wilhelm on COVID-19’s impact so far: lessons learned, Sarah’s stimulus plan, endgame scenarios & more Mar 21, 2020

E1 All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya & Jason Calacanis: US Response to COVID-19 & Impact on Startups, Venture Capital & Public Markets with David Friedberg Mar 19, 2020

E38: “Angel” Podcast: David Cowan, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners shares insights on owning up to his anti-portfolio, understanding sunk cost, top traits for becoming a VC & best Founders & CEOs he’s ever worked with Mar 18, 2020

E1037: LAUNCH Accelerator Class 16 Founders of BasicBlock (payment solution for truckers), DaoCloud (lead-gen for health & wellness practitioners) & Lately (AI-powered social media writing software) reflect on their journeys through the program Mar 17, 2020

EMERGENCY POD: E0 All-In with Chamath Palihapitiya & Jason Calacanis: COVID-19 Political, Economic & Social Ramifications featuring The Production Board’s David Friedberg (frmly Founder/CEO, The Climate Corporation) Mar 15, 2020

E1036: #AskJason Special! When to join a startup to maximize equity & job security, types of companies that will thrive in an economic downturn, legendary founder & investor traits, tips for starting a podcast & more! Mar 13, 2020

E37: “Angel” Podcast: Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed shares benefits of celebrity founders like Lady Gaga & Gwyneth Paltrow, insights on investing in consumer & power of “Force of Nature” product people Mar 11, 2020

E1035: SoftBank Managing Partner Jeff Housenbold on deploying the $100B Vision Fund, getting recruited by Masayoshi Son, counseling founders to manage massive capital, creating moats, reasons for shift toward profits, lessons from WeWork & more Mar 10, 2020

E1034: Formlabs CEO & Co-Founder Max Lobovsky shares insights on hitting $100M in revenue as a 3D printing platform, most lucrative use cases, growing organically, best 3D printing examples in science fiction Mar 06, 2020

E36: “Angel” Podcast: Ajay Agarwal, Partner at Bain Capital shares insights on culture evolving from sales-driven to product-driven, why enterprise software is the ideal business, best investments & anti-portfolio Mar 04, 2020

E1033: News Roundtable! Lambda School CEO Austen Allred & General Catalyst Partner Katherine Boyle on Lambda School controversy, Techlash & late-stage journalism, Robinhood down as Dow jumps & more! Mar 03, 2020

E1032: News Roundtable! Robinhood Snacks’ Duo Jack Kramer & Nick Martell on Coronavirus’ impact on public markets, Iger out at Disney – Buy or Sell?, link-baiting Tesla crash, defining Cult Stocks & more! Feb 27, 2020

E35: “Angel” Podcast: Sarah Tavel, Partner at Benchmark shares insights on getting recruited by Peter Fenton, disrupting VC gender norms from the inside, transitioning from operator to investor & more Feb 26, 2020

E1031: Zumper CEO & Co-Founder Anthemos Georgiades makes renting an apartment as easy as booking a hotel, shares insights on monetizing marketplaces, diversifying revenue streams to limit downside, Airbnb’s effect on the rental market & more! Feb 25, 2020

E1030: News Roundtable! Zapier CEO Wade Foster & Early-Stage Investor Monique Woodard on Tech Journalists vs. Founders/VCs, Twitter’s fake news detection, Kickstarter union, Blue Apron plummeting, Lambda School controversy & more! Feb 22, 2020

E34: “Angel” Podcast: George Zachary, General Partner at CRV shares insights on cancer scare shifting his focus to investing in health-tech, passing on Google at MDV, CRISPR & “designer babies”, coronavirus threat, origins of Sand Hill Road & more! Feb 19, 2020

E1029: Basecamp Co-Founder & Author David Heinemeier Hansson (@DHH) debates Jason on reining in capitalism, benefits of state-run education & healthcare, big-tech disappointments, work-from-home paradigm shift, wealth tax & more! Feb 18, 2020

E1028: Laura Huang, author of “Edge: Turning Adversity into Advantage” shares insights on overcoming disadvantages to create an edge, being bitter vs. getting better, structural bias in tech & more Feb 14, 2020

E33: “Angel” Podcast: Dan Rose, Chairman at Coatue Management is leading a $700M early-stage fund, shares insights on working with Bezos & Zuckerberg during pivotal years at Amazon & Facebook, 100+ angel investments, standout founder traits & more Feb 12, 2020

E1027: Orreco CEO & Founder Dr. Brian Moore built a platform that optimizes performance of elite athletes, shares cutting-edge benefits of blood sampling, biomarkers, inflammation reduction, glucose monitoring & more! Feb 11, 2020

E1026: Cocoon Co-Founders Sachin Monga & Alex Cornell are building an intimate app to connect close circles, share insights on key standout features, raising money as a messaging app, breeding trust via strong domain names, ideal customers & more Feb 07, 2020

E32: “Angel” podcast: Season 4 Premiere! Sarah Cannon, Partner at Index Ventures, shares insights on investing in the future of work, underrated emerging startup markets, going from the Obama Administration to Venture Capital, increasing upward mobility in America, fixing the gig economy & more! Feb 05, 2020

E1025: #StartupTuneup @ Founder.University Part 2!: 6 founders pitch to Jason & Dave Samuel of Freestyle Capital on AI driving assistance, sleep-aid wearables, marijuana, B2B food analytics & more! Feb 04, 2020

E1024: #StartupTuneup @ Founder.University: 6 founders pitch to Jason & Dave Samuel of Freestyle Capital on merging communication networks, athlete performance tracking, DTC women’s clothing, smart tabletop gaming systems & more! Feb 04, 2020

E1023: News Roundtable! Machine Zone CEO Kristen Dumont & The Register’s Iain Thomson on Bezos phone hack, Tesla valuation skyrocketing, DJ Elon, Coronavirus, Barstool Sports funding, unions, proposed Uber/DoorDash merger & more! Feb 01, 2020

E1022: One Drop CEO & Founder Jeff Dachis helps people with diabetes manage & improve their blood-sugar levels, shares insights on making data actionable, recent strategic partnership with Bayer, issues with US healthcare & potential life-expansion Jan 28, 2020

E1021: Bubble Co-CEO & Co-Founder Emmanuel Straschnov built a no-code platform to empower the next generation of programmers, shares insights on bootstrapping to over 300k users, developing skills while scaling & more Jan 24, 2020

E1020: CEO/Investor Coach & Author Matt Mochary shares insights on developing his coaching method, understanding & overcoming primal fear, addressing imposter syndrome & more Jan 21, 2020

E1019: Mahmee CEO & Co-Founder Melissa Hanna is helping new moms navigate thru postpartum care, shares insights on getting Serena Williams & Mark Cuban to invest, improving the experience for mothers of color & adding structure to a fragmented industry Jan 17, 2020

E1018: #AskJason! Avoiding first-time founder mistakes, causes of big-tech layoffs, participating in a Series A as an Angel, running a US-based startup as an international student, importance of having a strong lead investor & more! Jan 14, 2020

E1017: Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: scaling as a solo founder, reducing churn, raising capital in a heavily regulated field, pivoting from one-time payments to SaaS & more @ WSGR Jan 10, 2020

E1016: Substack CEO & Co-Founder Chris Best empowers writers via his email newsletter platform, shares insights on driving change in the attention economy, raising $15M from a16z, providing value to retain talent & more Jan 07, 2020

E1015: Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: gaining interest from investors, scaling while bootstrapping in a niche market, automating operations tasks, acquiring national customers & focusing on customers in the cannabis compliance space @ WSGR Jan 03, 2020

E1014: Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: targeting a specific segment of customers, overcoming past failures in a market, developing new nuclear energy, competing against a major incumbent & more! Dec 31, 2019

E1013: Decade Wrap-Up Roundtable! Garry Tan, Initialized Capital & Zach Coelius, Coelius Capital on the biggest hits & misses of the past decade: Trump, Theranos, Streaming, Mindfulness, Crypto, Tesla, WeWork, Amazon Prime, Vaping & more! Dec 27, 2019

E1012: Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: goal-setting, starting a sales flywheel, converting bounced customers, capitalizing on investor feedback & more! Dec 24, 2019

E1011: Check Point CEO & Co-founder Gil Shwed shares insights on being the “Godfather of Cybersecurity”, growing Check Point into Israel’s most impactful tech company, pricing & developing products for an emerging market, best practices on protecting data from hackers & the next generation of cybersecurity Dec 20, 2019

E1010: TWiST Live! Thumbtack CEO & Co-founder Marco Zappacosta shares insights on pivoting to optimize for consumer experience, starting a company during the great recession vs. 2019, fundraising tips & the future of Thumbtack Dec 17, 2019

E1009: #StartupTuneup! Startmate Founders pitch Jason: AR presentation platform, experiential marketing, wearables that help menstrual cramps, education thru e-sports & more! Dec 13, 2019

E1008: VSCO CEO & Co-founder Joel Flory is building a photo-sharing platform free of ads, likes & comments to empower creators, shares insights on appealing to Gen Z, expanding their global reach & the magic of subscriptions Dec 10, 2019

E1007: DoNotPay CEO & Founder Josh Browder built an AI lawyer to fight corporations & governments, demos product features & how it helps consumers, shares insights on following in footsteps of his father Bill Browder, & future of consumer empowerment Dec 06, 2019

E1006: Farmer’s Fridge CEO & Founder Luke Saunders is creating a connected network of vending machines offering fresh & healthy meals, shares insights on creating a restaurant-like experience, solving food-supply chain issues, capitalizing on grassroots marketing & real-world virality & using sales data to create the most appealing menu Dec 03, 2019

E1005: Scale AI CEO & Co-founder Alexandr Wang creates training data for all AI applications to improve machine learning, shares insights on the future of autonomous vehicles, China’s AI advantages over US, importance of humans focusing on higher-value work & next major trends in AI Nov 29, 2019

E1004: Yousician CEO & Co-founder Chris Thür created an interactive platform to master musical instruments, shares insights on acquiring 1M+ users, increasing retention through gamification, using profitability as leverage while attracting investors as an international startup Nov 26, 2019

E1003: The Athletic CEO & Co-founder Alex Mather is building a paid online sports media publication, shares insights on attracting investors in a seemingly dying industry, managing 500+ remote writers, creating interesting angles through unique coverage & more Nov 22, 2019

E1002: Wealthfront CEO & Co-founder Andy Rachleff on hitting escape velocity at Wealthfront, pioneering “self-driving money” for consumers, shares insights on product-building in 1980’s vs. today, best investor attributes, & the future of NextGen banking Nov 19, 2019

E1001: Eight Sleep CEO & Co-founder Matteo Franceschetti pioneered “sleep-fitness” with smart heating & cooling technology; shares insights on product iteration, delighting customers, innovating in D2C, raising $40M from LAUNCH, Founders Fund, Craft & more Nov 15, 2019

E1000: 1000th Episode Retrospective! Jason & TWiST lifers Lon Harris, Brian Alvey, & Tyler Crowley re-live favorite moments & guests, highlighting innovations in podcasting & tech over the last decade, hitting global trends & what’s in store for the next 1000 Nov 12, 2019

E999: ROOM CEO & Co-founder Brian Chen is building phone booths for the modern office, shares insights on maximizing open floor plans, partnering with Calm to reduce stress at work, maintaining capital efficiency as a hardware startup Nov 08, 2019

E998: The Next Unicorns: Benchling CEO & Co-founder Sajith Wickramasekara is increasing efficiency for scientists with a cloud-based platform, gives insights on recent life-science innovations, ethics of gene therapy & defining the line between quackery & brilliance – E10 of 10-ep miniseries Nov 06, 2019

E997: HubSpot CEO & Co-founder Brian Halligan shares insights on the origin of inbound marketing, how The Grateful Dead inspired HubSpot, importance of customer experience, managing employees in the Glassdoor Era & more Nov 05, 2019

E996: Clearbit CEO & Co-founder Alex MacCaw is creating god-mode for marketers with Clearbit X, gives insights on dynamic customer targeting, prioritizing profitability over valuation, GDPR’s adverse effect on Facebook & Google, value of aggregated data & benefits of CEO coaching Nov 01, 2019

E995: The Next Unicorns: NEXT Trucking CEO & Co-founder Lidia Yan brings trucking into the digital age with her two-sided marketplace, shares insights on finding & focusing on an untapped market, owning & innovating drayage, navigating the trucking industry as a woman & scaling the right team for success – E9 of 10-ep miniseries Oct 30, 2019

E994: All Turtles CEO Phil Libin shares his state machine that answers all growth questions; Future of Early-Stage VC w/Pete Flint (NFX), Rebecca Lynn (Canvas Ventures), Dave Samuel (Freestyle Capital); plus LAUNCH Scale Partner Talk w/Lever CTO Nate Smith Oct 29, 2019

E993: Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra shares the formula for his Product-Market Fit Engine; Future of Angel Investing w/Jeff Clavier (Uncork), Ben Ling (Bling), Clara Brenner (Urban Innovation Fund); plus LAUNCH Scale Partner Talk w/Help Scout VP of Sales Tim Thyne Oct 25, 2019

E992: The Next Unicorns: Expanse CEO & Co-founder Tim Junio reduces exposure to online threats by providing “attack surface visibility”, shares insights into current threats from China & Russia, potential 2020 election tampering, reasons for cybersecurity optimism & more – E8 of 10-ep miniseries Oct 23, 2019

E991: #StartupTuneup with Urban-X: Waste-reducing marketplaces, traffic liability reduction, recreational sharing spaces, firefighter safety software & energy cost saving AI Oct 22, 2019

E990: SurveyMonkey CEO Zander Lurie on driving growth by listening to customers & employees, importance of a strong & diverse board, direct listings v. IPOs, lessons learned from WeWork; plus LAUNCH Scale Partner Talk featuring Yosiat Gimbernard from Odoo Oct 18, 2019

E989: The Next Unicorns: Culture Amp CEO & Co-founder Didier Elzinga is building an employee analytics platform that keeps workers satisfied & motivated, shares insights on the changing role of culture, what modern employees value & maintaining culture while scaling – E7 of 10-ep miniseries Oct 16, 2019

E988: Aileen Lee, Founder & Managing Partner of Cowboy Ventures, pioneered actionable change to diversify tech & VC, shares early days innovating in e-commerce, insights on current funding landscape, dangers of prioritized growth over sustainability, & lessons learned from backing winners like Dollar Shave Club from LAUNCH Scale 2019 Oct 15, 2019

E987: The Next Unicorns: Upgrade CEO & Co-founder Renaud Laplanche is empowering users to better understand credit through his consumer credit platform, announces the Upgrade Card, shares insights on taking LendingClub public & how startups have changed since he started his first company in 2000 – E6 of 10-ep miniseries Oct 12, 2019

E986: StockX Co-founder Josh Luber is building a stock market for things, shares insights on the two cultural shifts that brought sneaker culture mainstream, attracting Mark Wahlberg, Eminem & Steve Aoki to invest along with Google Ventures & Marc Benioff & growing a unicorn out of a sneaker-data site Oct 11, 2019

E985: #AskJason! Recognizing great founders as an investor, dealing with a lack of updates, raising capital through crowdfunding, the ideal makeup of today’s founder, how Angel Investing has changed since the release of “Angel”, standing out in slow-to-adapt markets Oct 09, 2019

E984: Vice Ventures Founding Partner Catharine Dockery raised $25M to invest in vices: marijuana, sextech, gambling, alcohol, vaping; shares insights on hacking her way into VC through cold emails & a strong investment thesis, capitalizing on early markets hungry for investment Oct 04, 2019

E983: The Next Unicorns: Zola CEO & Co-founder Shan-Lyn Ma shares insights on growing her all-in-one wedding platform in a $100bn market, adapting to changes in wedding demographics, balancing growth and profitability while keeping her team focused, raising moral standards in tech – E5 of 10-ep miniseries Oct 04, 2019

E982: Karmic Bikes Founder Hong Quan on creating the “Tesla of E-Bikes” with OSLO, bootstrapping through Kickstarter, lowering costs as a strategy, insights on U.S. resistance to widespread E-Bike adoption, & why this vehicle is the future of transportation, plus Office Hours with Jason! Oct 01, 2019

E981: Roy Bahat, Head of Bloomberg Beta, shares the myths of venture capital, the great value of founders turned investors, why VCs reject startups, searing insights on fundraising & valuations, and predictions on the future of enterprise, AI, work & automation @ LAUNCH Accelerator Sep 27, 2019

E980: The Next Unicorns: Alto Pharmacy CEO & Co-founder Mattieu Gamache-Asselin is working to fix the broken US pharmacy system by removing friction & aligning incentives among patients, doctors & insurers, shares insights on trading short-term profits for long-term success, combating the opioid crisis, early days meeting Justin Kan, & innovating in a difficult market – E4 of 10-ep miniseries Sep 25, 2019

E979: Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: Understanding investors in your market, proving a business is venture-scale, balancing growth & spend, changing consumer behavior via advertising Sep 24, 2019

E978: #StartupTuneup Japan! Millennial-targeted modernized homes, SaaS for “desk-free” workers, women’s lifestyle app development, investor evaluation database, connecting space satellites & antenna owners, food services for international visitors – with angel investor Kotaro Chiba Sep 20, 2019

E977: The Next Unicorns: Standard Cognition CEO & Co-founder Jordan Fisher is making autonomous checkout available anywhere through camera computing, raised $86M to compete against Amazon Go, potential for other market opportunities, empowering both costumers and retailers — filmed at the Standard Store in SF — E3 of 10-ep miniseries Sep 18, 2019

E976: Shoot My Travel CEO & Co-founder Valerie Lopez is building a global on-demand photography startup, doubling revenue YOY with minimal funding, sharing lessons from the LAUNCH Accelerator & the importance of delighting customers Sep 17, 2019

E975: Machine Zone CEO Kristen Dumont on growing her mobile gaming unicorn, journey from advisor to COO to CEO, iterating to the best business model, creating exciting content for a global market, attracting celebrity talent, & optimizing for employee productivity at the highest level Sep 13, 2019

E974: The Next Unicorns: Grove Collaborative CEO & Co-founder Stuart Landesberg grew his natural household goods startup to $100M+ in revenue as a B Corp, brings natural products to underserved markets, successfully competes against Amazon as a first-time founder – E2 of 10-ep miniseries Sep 12, 2019

E973: Webflow CEO & Co-founder Vlad Magdalin shares insights on growing his no-code startup to $20M in revenue, securing recent $72M round, maintaining profitability while scaling, & pioneering the “Pegasus” movement of startups that skip funding rounds thanks to massive growth Sep 10, 2019

E972: “Robbed of Equity”: Toptal denies any shares to employees & investors. Amir Efrati of The Information on breaking the story, founder Taso Du Val’s stock hoarding, unusual tactics & changing landscape of startup-investor relations; then former employee Scott Ritter on his ~8-year tenure, not receiving earned share worth $2m & life after Toptal Sep 06, 2019

E971: The Next Unicorns: Checkr CEO & Co-founder Daniel Yanisse built the first API for background checks, shares insights on scaling to 10,000+ customers, bringing transparency & fairness to hiring, growth v. profitability, the future of gig economy & the changing role of the modern tech CEO – E1 of 10-ep miniseries Sep 04, 2019

E970: Revel CEO & Co-founder Lisa Marrone is building communities for women over 50, creating networking opportunities & solving loneliness through curated collaborative events, shares insights on inspiration, virality, scaling strategies, and pricing; plus Office Hours with Jason Sep 03, 2019

E969: News Roundtable! Molly Wood, Marketplace & Alex Wilhelm, Crunchbase News on WeWork IPO, obfuscation & the consequences of too much money, Peloton appeal, Jeffrey Epstein & the culpability of tech elite, TikTok data mining Americans & other China-US rivalry concerns, Long Term Stock Exchange explained, JUUL danger Aug 31, 2019

E968: Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: acquiring enough customers to successfully fundraise, when to raise prices, hype vs. metrics in the seed stage, avoiding dying markets & more Aug 27, 2019

E967: Twilio CEO & Co-Founder Jeff Lawson on growing Twilio to 160,000 customers & a billion-dollar run rate, innovating in a trillion-dollar market, learning from Bezos, strategic timing of Twilio’s IPO, the importance of focusing on customers over competition & always waking up with a Day 1 mindset Aug 23, 2019

E966: Scott Harrison, charity: water Founder & CEO shares journey from club promoter to entrepreneur & philanthropist, raising $400M to bring clean & safe water to 5000 new people every single day, scaling with SaaS model & equity sharing, solving for global water shortage & combating charity distrust with 100% of donations going toward saving lives Aug 20, 2019

E965: Kim Scott, author of “Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity,” shares secrets of great leadership through giving & getting honest feedback, lessons learned running Google’s AdSense & working with Sheryl Sandberg, strategies for rooting out toxic behaviors to create a sustainable healthy workplace culture Aug 16, 2019

E964: PodShare Co-founder & CEO Elvina Beck builds co-living communities where tenants trade privacy for access to the most desirable locations at a low-price point, shares insights on bootstrapping to profitability, using Pods to tackle homelessness, & creating a new market for fluid, transferable real estate Aug 13, 2019

E963: Cameo CEO & Co-founder Steven Galanis allows celebrities to monetize their fame by delivering personal messages to fans, shares his unique founding story, new $50m raise by Kleiner Perkins, insights from massive growth, expanding into global markets & leading the future of influencer-fan interaction Aug 09, 2019

E962: Sophia Amoruso, Girlboss CEO & Co-founder, shares the evolution of #Girlboss from book, podcast & TV series to recently launched digital network for ambitious women, her personal journey from a “freegan” dumpster diving anarchist to successful entrepreneur, tough lessons learned from Nasty Gal, & the inspiring growth of female founders Aug 06, 2019

E961: Open Office Hours LIVE! Jason helps founders with their biggest challenges: pitching to avoid being pigeonholed, expanding in slow markets, scaling past grass-roots beginnings, marketing beyond traditional channels & more Aug 02, 2019

E960: The Future of Angel Investing with Paul Judge (TechSquare Labs), Elizabeth Yin, (Hustle Fund), Shaun Abrahamson (Urban Us); The Metrics that Matter with Allen Chen, Co-founder & CEO of Fitbod @ LAUNCH Festival Sydney Jul 30, 2019

E959: Hipcamp CEO & Founder Alyssa Ravasio announces new $25m raise from Andreessen Horowitz to scale her camping, glamping & outdoor recreation platform, shares insights on developing talent, staying on mission, the importance of brand, & evolving as an entrepreneur from being the solution to building it Jul 26, 2019

E958: Matt Horiuchi, Director of User Acquisition at Calm, breaks down “Growth, Paid Marketing & Attribution”: best strategies for understanding LTV/CAC, where your customers are coming from, most effective channels, creating the right messaging, & optimizing competitive analysis @ Founder.University Jul 23, 2019

E957: Luminous Computing CEO & Co-founder Marcus Gomez is building the world’s largest supercomputer that fits in the palm of your hand, allowing AI to go supernova by giving everyone the compute to scale anything, raises $9m seed from Bill Gates, Gigafund, Travis Kalanick & others working to steer the future of AI toward common good Jul 19, 2019

E956: Scaling Your Startup, “Culture”: Creating your culture, hiring, diversity & inclusion, high performance, scaling culture, work environment & tools with Jason Calacanis & LAUNCH Managing Directors Ashley Whitehurst & Jacqui Deegan — E10 of 10-ep miniseries Jul 18, 2019

E955: Office Hours Sydney! Australian founders present universal startup challenges: finding the right geo, fundraising & pivoting in niche market, gaining traction in hardware/software, effective messaging for a noble vision & more with Jason & investor Mike Savino Jul 16, 2019

E954: Gentry Underwood, Co-founder & CEO of Navigator, demos new AI assistant for meeting efficiency & teamwork, insights from selling Mailbox to Dropbox for $100M just 37 days after launching, SaaS burnout in SV, desktop v. mobile cognition, mastering form emerging from functionality Jul 12, 2019

E953: Neyborly Co-founder & CEO Ben Seidl shares journey from nearly shutting down to $1m in revenue, optimizing LAUNCH Founder.University, Accelerator & Jason’s Syndicate, redefining a massive market & leveraging the retail apocalypse to create a network of flexible real estate Jul 09, 2019

E952: MasterClass Co-founder & CEO David Rogier on shaping the future of online learning with life-changing & accessible classes taught by world’s top talent, landing Dustin Hoffman as 1st to scaling to over 60 celebrity courses, lessons in raising & deploying funding, early inspiration & lifelong love of education gifted by grandmother who fled Nazis in Poland @ LAUNCH Festival Sydney 2019 Jul 05, 2019

E951: News Roundtable! Antonio Garcia Martinez (“Chaos Monkeys,” WIRED) & Zach Coelius (Coelius Capital) take on Facebook content moderation, crypto play with Libra & the currency of audacity, Ive departs Apple, trade & surveillance war with China, obliteration of objectivity, forecasts on the death of physical labor, rise in immersive VR & sensory enhancement implants Jul 03, 2019

E31: “Angel” podcast: Samantha Wong, Partner at Blackbird Ventures (Canva, Culture Amp), shares insights on the growth of Australia’s startup ecosystem, valuations outside of SV & benefits for investors, focusing on deep tech & “science nonfiction,” backing founders with an unstoppable force, & how immigration laws impact entrepreneurship Jul 01, 2019

E950: Ethos Co-founder & CEO Peter Colis makes life insurance accessible to everyone, leverages data to eliminate friction & simplify the traditional complications, enables 99% of customers to obtain an affordable policy in 10 minutes with no medical exam or blood test Jun 28, 2019

E949: Pony.ai co-founder & CEO James Peng shares insights from scaling his global self-driving unicorn, developing Level 4 & 5 autonomous tech to make any car operate safely in all conditions without human intervention, visions for trucking & ride-hailing, creating collaboration between U.S. & China, how the cultures compare, & other lessons innovating in our driverless future Jun 25, 2019

E30: “Angel” podcast: Part 2. Dave Morin of Slow Ventures (250+ investments inc. Slack, Pinterest, Twitter), shares insights on favorite business models & products, backing founders with a tangible sense of inevitability, the rise of two internets, democratization of passion, & an optimistic future with the advancement of self-care tech Jun 24, 2019

E948: HackerOne CEO Mårten Mickos shares insights on how he grew his bug bounty army to 400,000 strong by providing a path to hack for good, most common security vulnerabilities, worst security breaches, hacking the Pentagon, protecting the open source that unites us & scaling a company culture that defaults to disclosure Jun 21, 2019

E29: “Angel” podcast: Dave Morin of Slow Ventures shares insights from 250+ investments (Slack, Pinterest, Twitter), architecting Facebook & building Path, promoting mental health with Sunrise, combatting the internet’s true tax of depression & how founders can get help – Part 1 Jun 19, 2019

E947: Mike Ghaffary, General Partner at Canvas Ventures, shares “Strategic Advantages” @ Founder.University & shows how startups can identify, evaluate & strengthen defensibility in their markets Jun 18, 2019

E946: Part 2! Jerry Colonna, legendary investor & executive coach, shares new book, “Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up,” insights on absolute complicity in creating our own conditions & strategies we need to overcome self-imposed limitations in business & in life Jun 14, 2019

E945: Scaling Your Startup, “Delighting Your Customers”: Talking to customers, tracking NPS & product-market fit, maintaining focus, getting feedback, tactics & tools for customer success with Jason Calacanis & LAUNCH Managing Directors Jason Demant & Jacqui Deegan — E9 of 10-ep miniseries Jun 12, 2019

E944: Jerry Colonna, legendary investor & executive coach, shares new book, “Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up,” insights on absolute complicity in creating our own conditions & strategies we need to overcome self-imposed limitations in business & in life – Part 1 Jun 11, 2019

E28: “Angel” podcast: Ryan Hoover, Founder of Weekend Fund & Product Hunt, shares lessons from building his early-stage fund, harnessing excitement for new markets, betting on founders with strong perspectives & unique qualities, & bringing his expertise & passion for creating communities to venture capital Jun 10, 2019

E943: Qualtrics CEO & Co-Founder Ryan Smith shares insights from building his data powerhouse, bootstrapping to profitability, refusing VC & foregoing IPO to sell for $8b, keeping focus, going all in, democratizing information & creating the new category of experience management Jun 07, 2019

E942: #StartupTuneup @ Founder.University: 9 founders pitch to Jason & Dave Samuel of Freestyle Capital on AI transport platform, content creation, keto cookies, adventure subscription, restaurant delivery, on-demand consulting, video & event marketing Jun 04, 2019

E27: “Angel” podcast: Mamoon Hamid, Partner at Kleiner Perkins & expert early investor (Slack, Box, Intercom) on evolving from growth to venture, lessons from founding & leaving Social Capital, exceptional founder qualities, wisdom of complementary teams, & the winning formula of hard work & timing Jun 03, 2019

E941: #AskJason Call-in: Getting ready for investment, social media transparency & brand protection, finding angels that bring value, common pitching mistakes, intangible qualities investors look for in founders & more May 31, 2019

E940: Scaling Your Startup, “Marketing”: Finding North Star, social channels & content to grow audience, retargeting, converting customers & understanding marketing tools with Jason Calacanis, LAUNCH Managing Director Jacqui Deegan & LAUNCH President Samantha August — E8 of 10-ep miniseries May 29, 2019

E939: Canva CEO & Co-Founder Melanie Perkins shares insights from growing her Australian college startup into a global unicorn with over one billion designs & 15m monthly active users, breaking into Silicon Valley, landing the first investment from Mary Meeker’s Bond, & realizing her vision to be one of the world’s most valuable companies, doing the most good one can do May 28, 2019

E26: “Angel” podcast: Ben Ling of Bling Capital (prev. Khosla Ventures), shares strategies from 100+ investments & 9 unicorns, qualities of great founders & teams, assessing market opportunities, the art of startup valuations, Google’s early days, the future of AR/VR, & lessons from leading change in consumer behavior May 27, 2019

E938: TripActions Co-Founder & CEO Ariel Cohen shares insights from growing his business travel unicorn 600% YOY, harnessing AI & ML to upend antiquated infrastructures, the art of finding product-market fit & scaling rapidly with core values & culture built on service & efficiency May 24, 2019

E937: Scaling Your Startup, “Fundraising: Diving into the Details”: Ideal numbers, finding investors, refining your deck, what to do during & after your first meeting, term sheets & due diligence with Jason Calacanis & LAUNCH Managing Directors Ashley Whitehurst & Jason Demant — E7 of 10-ep miniseries May 23, 2019

E936: #StartupTuneup with Urban-X: Founders innovating in construction robotics, shuttle service, AI & real-time heavy equipment optimization & electric car subscription get candid feedback from Jason May 21, 2019

E25: “Angel” podcast: Chris Redlitz, General Partner of Transmedia Capital, shares success of The Last Mile program teaching tech to incarcerated populations, insights from investing/advising in 90+ startups, nurturing networks & deal flow, evolution of syndicates, urgency of smart money first, & backing founders with passion, presence & perseverance May 20, 2019

E935: Segment Co-Founder & CEO Peter Reinhardt shares insights from pioneering customer data infrastructure (CDI) to unseat CRM, lessons from first failed product launch & critical pivots, the importance of customer pain as your startup’s North Star, & building the unicorn that actually protects customer privacy May 17, 2019

E934: Scaling Your Startup, “Staying Lean”: Creating low-burn culture, raising for runway, optimizing with hacks, firing fast & what to do when it hits the fan with Jason Calacanis, LAUNCH Managing Director Jason Demant & LAUNCH President Samantha August — E6 of 10-ep miniseries May 16, 2019

E933: Scaling Your Startup, “Sales”: Hiring salespeople, ideal compensation, prospecting, nurturing & closing leads, upselling & utilizing sales tools with Jason Calacanis, LAUNCH Managing Director Jacqui Deegan & LAUNCH President Samantha August — E5 of 10-ep miniseries May 15, 2019

E932: Office Hours with Jason! Founders present their most pressing challenges: B2B pricing, focusing on customer retention v. traction, scaling on-boarding, upselling, productizing advice May 14, 2019

E24: “Angel” podcast: Mitch Kapor, Partner at Kapor Capital, shares stellar return results of their portfolio’s first-ever Impact Report, investing with purpose to close gaps & back entrepreneurs with distance traveled, insights on Uber’s IPO, fixing the gig economy, promoting diversity in Silicon Valley & creating long-term value v. short-term gains May 13, 2019

E931: JFrog Co-Founder & CEO Shlomi Ben Haim shares lessons from growing his DevOps unicorn, helming massive growth, hitting essential milestones from Series A through D, integrating valuable acquisitions, & leading the future of security May 10, 2019

E930: Scaling Your Startup, “Team”: First hires, outsourcing, HR, org structure, compensation, firing & other tough choices with Jason Calacanis, LAUNCH Managing Director Ashley Whitehurst & LAUNCH President Samantha August — E4 of 10-ep miniseries May 09, 2019

E929: Scaling Your Startup, “Business Model & Turning on Revenue”: Charging customers, revenue streams, unit economics, considering competitors, key metrics & more to build your business, with Jason Calacanis & LAUNCH Managing Directors Jason Demant & Jacqui Deegan — E3 of 10-ep miniseries May 08, 2019

E928: Adam Foroughi, AppLovin Co-Founder & CEO, shares insights on the mobile gaming boom, early bootstrapping to profitability, massive opportunities in 5G, handling fraud, privacy, parenting, commitment to culture & other lessons from building his app-discovery unicorn May 07, 2019

E23: “Angel” podcast: Matt Ocko, Managing Partner of Data Collective, invests in deep tech with an algorithmic edge, shares decision-making in difficult markets, building a world-class team, the state of Seed in 2019, being brave & taking risks to create a utopian future May 06, 2019

E927: Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO of StyleSeat, shares the goals, product & measurement strategies in growing her beauty & wellness marketplace to 18m clients in 16,000 cities across the US @ Founder.University May 03, 2019

E926 Casey Neistat, Legendary Vlogger & Founder of 368, shares journey from leaving home at 15 to leading YouTube’s creative pioneers, the evolution of social media & continued quest for authenticity, challenges of success, cultivating gratitude, & starting a new community for artistic collaboration Apr 30, 2019

E22: “Angel” podcast: Charles Hudson, Managing Partner of Precursor Ventures, shares strategies on the great rewards & risks of pre-seed, betting on founders with unique insight, analyzing market structure vs. size, importance of mobilization to increase SV diversity, & the art of making early deals without data Apr 29, 2019

E925: Founder.University #StartupTuneup: 6 startups innovating in online fitness, data-less tipping, rapid customized merch, rechargeable batteries, smart investments & cross-border ecommerce get candid feedback from Jason & Julie Lein, Urban Innovation Fund Apr 26, 2019

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