This Week in Startups
Episodes
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
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
0:47 Jason intros Open Office Hours 2:15 Trevor from Moovin (on-demand software to rent professional furniture) asks Jason to share some hacks on how...
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!
31 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:49 Jason intros Open Office Hours Live at Neyborly 1:09 Sebastian from Tailpath asks Jason how to generate consumer habits to drive demand 18:37 ...
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!
27 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
LINKS to brackets: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zqc-2vDRl7e86USf4okiX8DRcXPzX1HW || https://www.canva.com/design/DADuVKZjuc4/9Qt3B4m4DU-Z_...
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!
24 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:52 Kenny from Bacarai asks Jason how to start a flywheel with paid pilots as a pre-revenue company in the group airfare space 13:30 Elyse from Bloo...
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 cybers
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:48 Jason intros Gil and asks about his lengthy background in cybersecurity 3:02 What experiences inspired Check Point? 8:31 Gil explains how he ra...
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
17 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:52 Jason intros TWiST Live guest and one of his first investments Marco Zappacosta & Marco describes how they met in 2010 2:28 What did Thumbtack l...
E1009: #StartupTuneup! Startmate Founders pitch Jason: AR presentation platform, experiential marketing, wearables that help menstrual cramps, education thru e-sports & more!
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:58 Jason welcomes the Startmate companies to the TWiST Studio 1:36 Zac from JigSpace pitches an AR platform for educational presentations 11:56 Te...
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
10 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:08 Jason intros Joel Flory 2:12 What is VSCO? How is it different than Instagram, Facebook & other photo-sharing apps? 4:33 How does VSCO grow at ...
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
06 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:51 Jason intros Josh Browder & DoNotPay 2:48 Starting DoNotPay in college 6:12 How much $ has DoNotPay saved citizens since launching in 2016? 7:...
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
03 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:44 Jason intros Luke and describes how he found out about Farmer's Fridge 5:01 How did Luke overcome barriers of making a vending machine feel like...
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
29 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:04 Jason intros Alexandr 2:19 Alexandr shares his personal startup history 5:17 How & why did Scale start? 8:26 What is the best example of Scale...
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
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:06 Jason intros the Pegasus concept & Yousician's Chris Thür 3:52 Chris explains Yousician 5:22 How did Yousician start and what did Guitar Hero ...
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
22 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:05 Jason intros Alex Mather 2:08 Why did Alex launch a paid subscription publication in a seemingly dying industry? 4:32 How & where did The Athle...
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
19 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:08 Jason intros Andy Rachleff 2:20 Where is Wealthfront at currently? 4:44 How are traditional money managers allowed to get away with so much? 1...
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
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:03 Jason's thoughts on the exploding DTC movement 4:10 How Jason discovered Eight Sleep 7:15 Jason intros Matteo Franceschetti 8:18 Matteo descri...
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
12 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:10 Jason intros episode 1000 + Brian Alvey & Lon Harris 3:58 "Money is the Root of All Evil" theme song 5:22 What were the first few episodes of T...
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
08 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:53 Jason intros Brian Chen 1:15 Brian demos ROOM’s collaboration with Calm 2:42 How did ROOM get their room.com domain name? 3:49 Upside & down...
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
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:53 Jason intros Sajith Wickramasekara 1:40 What does Benchling do? 2:24 How did Sajith get into life science? 6:55 Benchling's value proposition ...
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
05 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:52 Jason intros Brian Halligan 1:35 Brian describes how his job has changed as HubSpot has scaled 3:33 Jason asks Brian about buying Jerry Garcia'...
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
01 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:58 Jason intros Alex MacCaw 2:26 What is Clearbit? 8:53 What are some Clearbit use cases? 12:48 Benefits of cashflow positivity in terms of fundr...
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 su
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:55 Jason intros Lidia Yan 5:03 Lidia describes getting into the trucking industry and why NEXT focuses on "drayage" 13:29 How NEXT has revolutioni...
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
29 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:03 Jason intros Phil Libin from LAUNCH Scale 2019 1:51 Phil Libin on "The State Machine that Answers All Growth Questions" 32:40 Jason joins Phil ...
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
25 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:48 Jason intros Rahul Vohra 3:21 Rahul gives a talk on building a "Product-Market Fit Engine" 29:42 Rahul takes questions from the LAUNCH Scale au...
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
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:50 Jason intros Tim Junio 1:44 Tim explains what Expanse does and how "attack surface inventory" is the first step in their cybersecurity platform ...
E991: #StartupTuneup with Urban-X: Waste-reducing marketplaces, traffic liability reduction, recreational sharing spaces, firefighter safety software & energy cost saving AI
22 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:41 Jason intros the #StartupTuneup with Urban-X companies 2:33 David Rodriguez pitches Food for All: food marketplace to reduce waste & help restau...
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
18 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:45 Zander’s take on the recent volatility in the public markets 3:38 What are the lessons learned from the WeWork disaster in terms of corporate ...
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
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:52 Jason intros Culture Amp's Didier Elzinga 2:44 How Didier's prior career in Visual Effects led him to start Culture Amp 8:24 Issues with yearly...
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 Dolla
15 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:51 Jason intros Aileen Lee 1:36 Aileen on her time at MIT, early bias against women in math 5:56 What brought Aileen to San Francisco & working at...
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 – E
12 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:51 Jason intros Upgrade CEO Renaud Laplanche 2:07 Renaud goes over the idea of his previous startup, LendingClub, and taking it public 9:57 What h...
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 si
11 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:00 Want to work at LAUNCH? gettheseat.com 2:28 Jason intros StockX's Josh Luber 3:14 When did the sneaker crazy start? 6:37 What is StockX? 9:19...
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
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:00 Jason intros #AskJason and today's questions 1:47 How to differentiate a great founder from an okay one? - Darius 7:40 Dealing with the lack of...
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
04 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:47 Jason intros Catharine Dockery 4:29 How Catharine came up with Vice Ventures 7:00 What was the response when Catharine began raising her first ...
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 mini
04 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:51 Jason intros Shan-Lyn Ma 3:17 Starting Zola and competing in a crowded space 5:14 Jason and Shan go through LAUNCH President Sam's Wedding Regi...
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!
01 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:10 Jason intros Hong Quan from Karmic Bikes 2:55 What is the OSLO bike? 4:10 Why are there separate classifications for e-bike laws? 9:15 What do...
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
27 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
1:00 Jason Demant intros Roy Bahat 3:14 Roy's thoughts on raising venture capital 4:14 Debunking the myth of pitching VCs 9:24 Two questions VCs as...
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 cri
25 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
0:51 Jason intros Mattieu Gamache-Asselin 2:52 Changing from ScriptDash to Alto Pharmacy 4:19 Meeting and working with Twitch founder Justin Kan in ...
FLASHBACK: The future of remote work, juggling APIs, and dream integrations with Wade Foster of Zapier | E2221
01 Jan 1970
Contributed by Lukas
This Week In Startups is made possible by:Goldbelly - Goldbelly.comEvery.io - http://every.io/Zite - zite.com/twistToday’s show:Today, Zapier’s a ...