Shows
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#98 3-time founder Craig Walker — From Selling Door-to-Door to 3-time founder; Building Google Voice; and the Real Trade-offs of EntrepreneurshipCraig Walker is the founder and CEO of Dialpad, a business communications platform powered by AI. A former M&A lawyer turned serial entrepreneur, Craig previously co-founded GrandCentral (acquired by Google and relaunched as Google Voice) and sold his prior company to Yahoo. In this episode, Craig shares how his career unfolded from door-to-door dictation sales to running a 1,500-person company, and how AI became central to Dialpad’s strategy long before the hype cycle.Craig opens up about the loneliness of leadership, his bet-the-company acquisition of TalkIQ, and the hardest day of his career when four hi...
2025-08-111h 02
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#97 Brad Feld, Founder of Techstars - Lessons from Techstars, why you should have “random” meetings, and the value of the “Give First” mentality.Brad Feld has spent over 40 years building companies, mentoring founders, and investing in the startup ecosystem. He’s the co-founder of Techstars, a prolific venture capitalist, and the author of nine books. In this episode, Brad opens up about the mental reset that came with turning 60, why he stopped chasing “more,” and what led him to dust off a book draft about mentorship that had been sitting on the shelf. We go deep into his new book Give First, his belief in non-transactional generosity, and why he thinks founders should lead from curiosity, not ego.Brad al...
2025-07-291h 08
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#96: David Heinemeier Hansson, Co-Owner of 37signals— Creating with first principles, acting with courage, and working in a world with no managers (Repost)David is the creator of Ruby on Rails, Co-Owner of 37signals, best-selling author, Le Mans class-winning racing driver, antitrust advocate, investor in Danish startups, frequent podcast guest, and family man.He writes regularly on HEY World and speaks on The REWORK Podcast. Hundreds of thousands of programmers around the world have built amazing applications using Ruby on Rails, an open-source web framework he created in 2003, and continues to develop to this day. Some of the more famous include Github, Shopify, Airbnb, Square, Coinbase, and Zendesk.For my newest episode of From Start-Up to G...
2025-07-171h 20
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#95: From Startup to Grown-Up: Bob Young, co-founder of Red Hat - The origin of Open Source; the key to life and startup success, and how failure can fuel you.Bob Young co-founded Red Hat, the first company to build a successful business around open source software, and helped shape the modern internet in the process. In this episode, Bob shares the story of how Red Hat went from a CD in a Ziploc bag to a billion-dollar business that inspired GitHub, Coinbase, and much of the cloud infrastructure we use today.But this conversation is about more than just software. Bob opens up about betting his family’s finances on Red Hat, the moment he realized he wasn’t meant to be a public company CEO, and...
2025-07-011h 15
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#94: From Startup to Grown-Up: Jonathan Wolf, co-founder and CEO of ZOE - The growth of a founder, the most important leadership skills, and how to raise 7 million euros in 3 weeks.Jonathan Wolf is the co-founder and CEO of ZOE, the science-based nutrition company using data to transform how people eat. In this candid conversation, he joins Alisa to explore what it takes to build a mission-driven company, how to lead with more clarity and transparency, and why the way we eat is more broken and more fixable than most people think.ZOE’s origin story is as unconventional as it is inspiring. After scaling Critéo into a billion-dollar business, Jonathan stepped away with no plan and plenty of questions. That wandering period led him to microbiome res...
2025-06-171h 15
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#93: From Startup to Grown-Up: Kass and Mike Lazerow, Serial founders; co-founders of Buddy Media (sold to Salesforce for $750M) - How to survive a failed acquisition, stay married to your co-founder, and enjoy the journey of entrepreneurship.Kass and Mike Lazerow are serial entrepreneurs, seasoned investors, and co-authors of the upcoming book Shoveling Sh!t: A Love Story About the Entrepreneur’s Messy Path to Success. They join Alisa to share an unfiltered look at what it really takes to build companies, navigate chaos, and stay married through it all.Known for founding Golf.com and Buddy Media, which they sold to Salesforce for $745 million, Kass and Mike have also backed more than 100 early-stage startups. Their portfolio includes Scopely, acquired for $5 billion, and Liquid Death. In this conversation, they recount the wild highs and lo...
2025-06-031h 28
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#92: From Startup to Grown-up: David Ko, CEO of Calm — from gaming to mental health, tools to combat burnout, and the rituals you can use in your own meetingsDavid Ko is the CEO and board member of Calm, the #1 app for sleep, meditation, and mindfulness. A former healthcare executive and tech operator, David previously served as COO of Zynga, held senior roles at Yahoo!, and founded a healthtech company acquired by Calm. He is the bestselling author of Recharge, and has been recognized by TIME, LinkedIn, RockHealth, and NYU Stern for his leadership in digital health.What you’ll learn:How David transitioned from gaming to healthcare through mission-driven insightThe real story behind Calm’s evolution from sleep and meditation to global ment...
2025-05-1952 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#91: From Startup to Grown-up: Mike Seckler, CEO of Justworks — how to run a great board process, how to avoid self-inflicted wounds, and the value of taking big risks early in your careerMike Seckler is a two-time entrepreneur and tech startup founder who led a company through the dot-com boom and bust, and now leads the charge as CEO of Justworks, the HR tech company focused on uplifting small businesses. In this conversation, he shares hard-earned lessons from building one of the earliest SaaS HR startups, navigating turbulent markets, and guiding Justworks through major transitions. We dive into founder resilience, building high-functioning boards, scaling culture in a hybrid world, and why mission-driven support for small businesses matters now more than ever.What You’ll Learn:...
2025-05-061h 21
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#90: From Startup to Grown-Up: Jeff Byers, Co-founder and CEO of Momentous — Transitioning from NFL player to CEO, managing cultural clashes during a merger, and navigating the high-pressure world of growth-stage leadershipJeff Byers is the co-founder and CEO of Momentous, a high-performance wellness company delivering science-backed products used by elite athletes, military operators, and high-performers worldwide. A former NFL player and two-time USC football captain, Jeff brings both personal and professional insight to optimizing performance and building values-driven companies.What you’ll learn:Why Jeff says effort and attitude are the only things you can control—and how they ground him in tough momentsThe cultural clash behind merging two wellness companiesHow “speed over consensus” became a core value at MomentousWhy returning to in-person work cost talent b...
2025-04-211h 11
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#89: From Startup to Grown-Up: Kevin Evers, author of There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift — unpacking Taylor Swift’s rise to the top; when to take big risks; and how to build a rabid fan baseKevin Evers is a Senior Editor at Harvard Business Review, where he shapes groundbreaking research and develops award-winning and bestselling books on high performance, creativity, innovation, marketing, and digital disruption. He’s also written popular essays on brain science, persuasion, unpredictability, and the power of storytelling.Kevin holds degrees in English and Film Studies, and his forthcoming book with HBR Press, There’s Nothing Like This, offers a strategic analysis of Taylor Swift’s unmatched ability to evolve her brand without losing her audience.Episode Highlights & Timestamps00:00 - IntroductionAlyssa Cohn i...
2025-04-0854 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#88: From Startup to Grown-Up: Eddie Kim, Co-founder and CTO of Gusto - Wearing different “hats” as a leader; learning to get his hands off the keyboard and enable others instead; and how to build a growth mindsetEddie Kim is the CTO and cofounder of Gusto, which serves 400,000+ small and medium-sized businesses nationwide by helping them onboard, pay, insure, engage, and provide benefits for their teams, in one integrated, friendly, and easy-to-use platform. Eddie’s career has been shaped by chance encounters, a passion for software, and a deep commitment to growth. Before Gusto, he launched his first company—an experience that ultimately led him to reconnect with his future co-founder, Josh Reeves.In this episode, Eddie opens up about co-founder dynamics, leadership struggles, scaling a company, and the surprising tools he uses to stay...
2025-03-2543 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#87: How Daniel Yanisse Scaled Checkr to $700M+ and Overcame the Post-Hypergrowth CrisisIn this episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up, host Alisa Cohn sits down with Daniel Yanisse, co-founder and CEO of Checkr, to discuss the exhilarating rise and the challenges of sustaining a high-growth company. Checkr revolutionized the background check industry, scaling from a $1M revenue run rate in just three months to processing millions of background checks annually. But with hypergrowth came intense operational, cultural, and leadership challenges.Daniel shares how he navigated:Hiring at hyperspeed—and why some employees quit on day one.The "hangover" after hypergrowth—losing key executives and investor pressure.How to hire...
2025-03-1142 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#86: Peter Attia, MD, Founder of Early Medical — improving your lifespan and healthspan, the centenarian decathlon, and the process of making major life changes (Repost)Peter Attia, MD, is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan. He is the host of The Drive, one of the most popular podcasts covering the topics of health and medicine. Dr. Attia received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine and trained for five years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in general surgery, where he was the recipient of several prestigious awards, including resident of the year. He spent two years at the National...
2025-02-2544 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#85: Isabelle Freidheim, Founder of Athena Capital — The benefits of being an only child, creating opportunities for women in finance, and unlocking hidden talentIsabelle Freidheim is the founder and managing partner of Athena Capital. She is the youngest chairman of a publicly traded company in the U.S. In her role as managing partner of Athena Capital, Freidheim oversees the company's strategic direction and leads its efforts in identifying and investing in technology companies.Freidheim is an entrepreneur and investor with more than 15 years of experience in venture capital, private equity, SPACs and IPOs. She founded Athena in 2020. Athena Capital invests at the intersection of private companies preparing to go public or considering M&A exits. Athena’s platform includes bo...
2025-02-111h 09
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#84: Ethan Evans, Executive Mentor and Former Amazon VP — Managerial myths debunked, how to create a safety net for your career, and why everyone should write onlineDuring his 15+ years at Amazon, Ethan Evans helped invent Prime Video, Amazon Video, Amazon Appstore, Merch by Amazon, Prime Gaming (formerly Twitch Prime), and Twitch Commerce. He led global teams of over 800 and holds more than 70 patents. Ethan has reviewed 10,000+ resumes, conducted 2,500+ interviews, made 1,000+ hires, and was an Amazon Bar Raiser and Bar Raiser Core Leader, responsible for training and maintaining Amazon's group of interview outcome facilitators.Ethan helped advocate for and draft the Amazon Leadership Principle (LP) “Ownership” — the words, “They never say ‘that’s not my job.’” are Ethan’s (read the story).At Amazon, Ethan p...
2025-01-2851 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#84: Robert Glazer, Founder of Acceleration Partners — The absurdity of two weeks notice, how to get people to tell you the truth, and how good parenting is like good leadershipRobert Glazer is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of global partner marketing agency, Acceleration Partners. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of BrandCycle. A serial entrepreneur, Bob has a passion for helping individuals and organizations build their capacity to elevate.Learn more about Bob and his latest book, Rethinking Two Weeks' Notice | Websitehttps://robertglazer.com/two-weeks/Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5...
2025-01-141h 01
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#83: Chip Conley, Founder at Modern Elder Academy — Using regret as fuel; how and why founders need to shift their identities; how to manage people older than you; and his favorite interview question (Repost)Chip is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy (MEA), where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and forthcoming campuses in Santa Fe, NM. His five books have made him a leading authority at the intersection of psychology and business. Chip had tons of wisdom to share in this talk, including how to use regret as fuel for the future, what founders can learn when they shift their identities, how to manage people older than you, what Chip learned from the people that he mentored, and h...
2024-12-311h 14
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#82, Gary Vaynerchuk, Serial Entrepreneur and Chairman of VaynerX — The importance of kind candor, how to get over your insecurity, and why you need to embrace social media (Repost)Gary Vaynerchuk, also known as "GaryVee," is a serial entrepreneur, the Chairman of VaynerX, and 5x New York Times Best Selling Author. He is a leading global mind on what's next in culture, relevance, and the internet. Gary possesses an uncanny ability to recognize trends and patterns early to help others understand how these shifts impact consumer behavior. He is one of the most forward-thinkers in business. Gary's approach sits at the intersection of business and culture. He keenly understands how to bring brand relevance to the forefront. “It's not a hokey thing to say you ha...
2024-12-1730 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#81: Colin Bryar, Co-Author of "Working Backwards;" former Chief of Staff to Jeff Bezos — How Amazon built its processes, the birth of the 6-page memo, and how to instill psychological safety in a competitive cultureColin Bryar is a business advisor and technology leader whose career has focused on optimizing business strategy, technology, and operations. He is a former top-level executive at Amazon, where he spent more than 12 years – much of it in the early aughts during the company’s period of unmatched innovation – serving as a tech VP, leading the operations for IMDb.com, as well as shadowing and working directly with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to help with all aspects of Amazon's business including strategy, technology, and operations.Bryar is also the co-founder of Working Backwards, LLC where he coaches and ad...
2024-12-031h 22
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#80: David Heinemeier Hansson, Co-Owner of 37signals— Creating with first principles, acting with courage, and working in a world with no managersDavid is the creator of Ruby on Rails, Co-Owner of 37signals, best-selling author, Le Mans class-winning racing driver, antitrust advocate, investor in Danish startups, frequent podcast guest, and family man.He writes regularly on HEY World and speaks on The REWORK Podcast. Hundreds of thousands of programmers around the world have built amazing applications using Ruby on Rails, an open-source web framework he created in 2003, and continues to develop to this day. Some of the more famous include Github, Shopify, Airbnb, Square, Coinbase, and Zendesk.For my newest episode of From Start-Up to G...
2024-11-191h 20
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#79, Shegun Otulana, Founder and CEO of Harmony Venture Labs—From Nigeria to unicorn founder; bootstrapping a profitable business; learning to embrace feedbackShegun Otulana is a seasoned entrepreneur, advisor, mentor and investor. Drawing from his experience as a bootstrapped startup founder who found incredible success, his mission is to empower the next generation of builders by sharing his lessons learned to guide their entrepreneurial journeys. In addition to mentoring founders in his community – many of whom have gone on to launch successful companies – he also enjoys sharing his insight with startup leaders, business associations, academic institutions and other growth-minded groups.In 2013, Shegun founded TheraNest and its parent company, Therapy Brands, a software platform for mental, behavioral, substance and physical reha...
2024-11-051h 11
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#78: Jake Schwartz, Co-Founder and former CEO of General Assembly—Navigating startup chaos, what a startup and the Beatles have in common, and the wisdom of looking back on the journeyJake Schwartz is a serial entrepreneur, investor and advisor. Until 2020, Jake Schwartz served at CEO of General Assembly (GA), the global leader in education and career transformation, which he co-founded in 2011. He grew GA to over 1,000 employees on five continents. In 2018, GA was acquired by The Adecco Group. Jake Schwartz co-founded and serves as Chair of Brave Health, a mission-driven company focused on expanding access to high-quality, affordable care for mental health and addiction. Jake Schwartz was named E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 and one of Crain’s “40 under 40” in 2015. Jake holds a BA from Yale and an MBA...
2024-10-221h 13
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#77: Jake Kloberdanz, One Hope Winery Co-founder — Building “Girl Scout Cookies” for adults, building community, and scaling philanthropyJake Kloberdanz is the founder of ONEHOPE, a pioneering wine brand with a mission to create a positive social impact. Under his leadership, ONEHOPE has donated tens of millions of dollars to over 40,000 non-profits and grown from zero to producing over one million bottles per year. The company boasts a world-class vineyard in Napa Valley and has garnered more than 30 wines with 90+ point ratings. Recognized as one of the fastest-growing private companies by Inc. Magazine, ONEHOPE has raised over $100 million in funding. Jake has been honored as a "Top 40 Under 40" by Wine Enthusiast and a "Top 30 Under 30" by Forbes...
2024-10-081h 22
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#76: Susan McPherson, Founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies — Investing in dormant ties, networking superpowers, and converting nerves into strengthSusan McPherson is a serial connector, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert. As the founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, a communications consultancy focused on brands and social impact, she brings over 30 years of experience in marketing, PR, and sustainability communications. Susan is the author of The Lost Art of Connecting and a sought-after speaker at major events like the Massachusetts Conference for Women and Techonomy. She has contributed to outlets like Harvard Business Review and Fast Company and has appeared in NPR, CNN, and USA Today. Susan invests in and advises women-led startups and is involved in several...
2024-09-2441 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#75: Jeff Shiner, CEO of 1Password — Earning the right to lead, how to thrive while bootstrapping your company, and how to hire senior executivesJeff Shiner is the CEO of 1Password, a leader in human centric security and privacy. Since joining in 2012, Jeff has grown the company from 20 people to a 900-employee global organization with a $6.8 billion valuation. Today, 1Password enables over 100,000 businesses and millions of individuals to navigate the digital world without fear or friction when logging in – and in less time. The company has been recognized on the Forbes Cloud 100 list and Quartz’s Best Companies for Remote Workers. Prior to joining 1Password, Jeff held leadership roles at IBM Canada and Rosetta and has a demonstrated history of growing technology companies. Jeff...
2024-09-101h 09
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#74: Seth Godin, Author and Marketing Strategist — showing up for yourself, creating conditions for your best work, and how to deal with massive rejection (Repost)Seth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 20 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It's Your Turn (And It's Always Your Turn). His book, This is Marketing, was an instant bestseller in countries around the world. Though renowned for his writing and speaking, Seth also founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!).By focusing on everything from effective marketing and leadership, to the spread of ideas and changing everything, Seth has...
2024-08-2748 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#73: David Savage, Group Technology Evangelist at Nash Squared and host of TechTalks podcast — How to become an "intrapreneur," the importance of consistent behavior over vanity metrics, and how to learn to trust yourselfDavid is Nash Squared's Group Technology Evangelist. He crafts podcasts, hosts video debates, speaks, moderates conferences, and chairs keynote stages. He's a passionate advocate for technology, dissecting its challenges and opportunities. David has worked at Nash Squared since 2007, where he has developed a deep understanding of the technology and talent markets. Recognised as Computing's Digital Ambassador of the Year (2018), he brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to every conversation. Since 2015 he has been editor and host of Tech Talks, a show about leadership and technology currently ranked as one of the most popular podcasts in the w...
2024-08-131h 01
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#72: Kim Scott, Author of Radical Respect and Radical Candor — Building your team’s muscles to address discomfort, cutting through workplace politics, and why you need a purple flagKim Scott is the author of Radical Respect and Radical Candor. Kim was a CEO coach at Dropbox, Qualtrics, Twitter, and other tech companies. She was a member of the faculty at Apple University and before that led AdSense, YouTube, and DoubleClick teams at Google.Being able to hold a candid and caring conversation with someone is an essential part of leadership. My next guest on From Start-Up to Grown-Up is Kim Scott, bestselling author of Radical Candor and her new book, Radical Respect.Kim delivers a masterclass in building respect and kindness a...
2024-07-301h 22
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#71: Matt Reustle, CEO of Colossus — Lessons from a first-time CEO, how to analyze a career pivot, and the art of a great questionMatt Reustle is currently the CEO of Colossus, a business that creates, curates, and distributes top-quality content for investors and entrepreneurs. He is the primary host of the Business Breakdowns podcast. Prior to Colossus, Matt worked in institutional investing. Most recently on the investment team at Raven Capital Management. Matt spent the first decade of his career at Goldman Sachs splitting his time between the Sales & Trading and Research divisions.If you’re thinking about a career pivot, if you’re trying to be a great leader in your company, or if you’re interested in podcasting, check...
2024-07-161h 16
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#70: Mike Michalowicz, Author and Entrepreneur — The right way to hire; practical exercises for team retention; and how to come back from rock bottomMike Michalowicz is the entrepreneur behind three multimillion-dollar companies and is the author of several business books, including Profit First, Clockwork, The Pumpkin Plan and his newest book, All In.Mike is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal and business makeover expert for MSNBC. He regularly travels the globe as an entrepreneurial advocate.We are going all in on the newest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up with author and entrepreneur Mike Michalowicz!Mike is a great story-teller and you’ll laugh out loud and come away with some great wi...
2024-07-021h 11
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#69, Rahul Vohra, Co-Founder and CEO of Superhuman — How to craft core values, tactics for implementing culture to help you achieve company goals, and the importance of moving quicklyRahul Vohra is the Co-Founder and CEO of Superhuman. He is also a Technical Advisor at Boldstart Ventures, an investor and advisor at Partender, and an investor of sendwithus and Easy Post. He received his bachelor of arts in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge. Rahul shares the lessons he learned from being a serial entrepreneur, how and why he learned to meditate, what he does to build trust with his team, and the pros and cons of being a celebrity founder. Rahul shared so many great insights the first time he was on the show I...
2024-06-1851 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#68, Gina Bianchini, Co-Founder and CEO of Mighty Networks — The secret to building communities, managing self-worth as a CEO, and why humor is a leadership superpowerGina Bianchini is the CEO & founder of Mighty Networks, a digital business platform that powers what it calls people magic. People magic is advanced technology and AI that connects the most relevant and interesting people to each other in the context of community, courses, events, and paid memberships.She’s also the author of the 2022 Wall Street Journal best selling book, Purpose: Design a Community & Change Your Life. Mighty is trusted by brands from TED to Tony Robbins, Mindbody, LAUNCH by Mel Robbins, Esther Perel, Matthew Hussey, Jim Kwik, BODi, Gym Launch, and Fortune.Meet the next gu...
2024-06-041h 06
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#67, Gary Vaynerchuk, Serial Entrepreneur and Chairman of VaynerX — The importance of kind candor, how to get over your insecurity, and why you need to embrace social mediaGary Vaynerchuk, also known as "GaryVee," is a serial entrepreneur, the Chairman of VaynerX, and 5x New York Times Best Selling Author. He is a leading global mind on what's next in culture, relevance, and the internet. Gary possesses an uncanny ability to recognize trends and patterns early to help others understand how these shifts impact consumer behavior. He is one of the most forward-thinkers in business. Gary's approach sits at the intersection of business and culture. He keenly understands how to bring brand relevance to the forefront.“It's not a hokey thing to say you ha...
2024-05-2129 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#66, Mary-Catherine Lader, COO of Uniswap Labs — How you know you're ready to take on more risk, why you should create anti-values, and the importance of communityMary-Catherine Lader is the Chief Operating Officer of Uniswap Labs. She previously was a Managing Director at BlackRock, and Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s Digital Wealth business and head of its climate tech business, Aladdin Sustainability. She began her career as an investment analyst with Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group and served on the staff of the World Economic Forum’s Davos gatherings for a decade. In our talk, you'll hear about:➡️ Decentralized Leadership: How Uniswap's unique autonomous governance structure influences their products and corporate journey.➡️ The Uniswap Approach: How they balance the drive...
2024-05-071h 05
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#65, Gregory Galant, Co-Founder and CEO of Muck Rack — Pros and cons of bootstrapping, building a scrappy culture, the importance of building a networkGregory Galant is the co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack, a platform enabling PR teams to work together to find the right journalists for their stories, send customized pitches, build meaningful relationships with the media, monitor news and quantify their impact. It’s used by thousands of organizations, including Taco Bell, Pfizer, Golin, International Committee of the Red Cross, Knight Foundation, Kauffman Foundation and Penguin Random House. Muck Rack is also the solution of choice for journalists, who use Muck Rack’s free, automatically updated portfolios to showcase their work and provide information about what stories they’re looking for. G...
2024-04-231h 20
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#64, Kristi Herold, Founder and CEO of JAM — Pivoting during a crisis, leading through playfulness, and creating joy in the workplaceKristi Herold is the CEO of JAM, a global business connecting people through play, and one of the largest recreational sports leagues in the world. Since 2020, JAM has produced 3,500+ corporate team-building events in over 30 countries. Kristi consults and speaks on how to move a culture from surviving to thriving. Her bestselling book, "It Pays to PLAY," is a rich resource to help organizations playfully connect with their teams and improve retention, engagement, and overall workplace culture.Here are three takeaways from our talk:- Pivot with Purpose When faced with adversity, like the 18...
2024-04-0956 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#63, Matt Abrahams, Author and Lecturer at Stanford University — Embracing vulnerability in leadership, the art of feedback, and how to personalize your pitchIf you've ever found yourself stumbling over words in a high-stakes presentation or wondering how to turn a dinner party into a deeper connection, this is the conversation you need to hear. Plus, for all the leaders out there, we have expert insights on managing emotional reactions to feedback and fostering a culture of open dialogue for transformative organizational growth.Prepare to enrich your entrepreneurial toolkit and communicate with confidence, empathy, and a little bit of small talk finesse. Matt Abrahams is a leading expert in communication with decades of experience as an educator, author, p...
2024-03-261h 05
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#62, Sal Di Stefano, Co-Founder of Mind Pump Media — How authenticity drives growth, how you know you have the right cofounders, why being right is not the goal, and how physical strength drives your leadershipGet pumped for this episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up!I sat down with Sal Di Stefano, the co-founder of Mind Pump Media. You’ll learn how he and his co-founders propelled a fitness podcast into a multifaceted business empire.I loved his perspective on embracing the journey, how authenticity drives growth, and the importance of NOT being right.This is a health-conscious conversation for your body and your mind, you’re going to gain so much from it!Sal Di Stefano is a personal trainer and co-founder of Mind Pump Media...
2024-03-121h 26
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#61, Rob Ryan, Co-Founder of Ascend Communications — Embracing a bootstrap mentality, picking the right spouse, and handling the mental and physical toll of entrepreneurshipMy guest for the latest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up is Rob Ryan, Co-Founder of Ascend Communication. Ascend was acquired by Lucent Technologies in 1999 by Lucent Technologies.Rob is a fount of knowledge about entrepreneurship and courageous leadership. He’s also a great story teller and a hoot! Check out this clip for a sneak peek into our talk where Rob talks about something important for your company’s long term success: profits. As an early internet pioneer, Rob Ryan served as principal architect in developing the V.32 Modem. He also developed the ethernet blue...
2024-02-241h 11
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#60, David Meltzer, Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and Peter Goldstein, Entrepreneur and author of The Entrepreneur's IPO — The surprising way money impacts your life, the three forms of ignorant arrogance, and how to prepare to take your company publiThis new episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up features a dynamic tag team of David Meltzer, the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and Peter Goldstein, entrepreneur and the author of “The Entrepreneur’s IPO”!You’ll hear about David’s complete rebirth in his life and career journey as he shares the surprising ways that money impacts your life, and Peter shares solid gold advice about how you can prepare to take your company public.David Meltzer is the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing, and a legendary sports executive. He formerly served as CEO of the renowned Leigh Stei...
2024-02-1332 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#59, Jim McKelvey, Co-Founder of Block (formerly Square)— Building a team of missionaries, what true innovation takes, and the importance of timingHow do you find your new idea?What does it take to attract a team of true believers?And what does glass-blowing have to do with entrepreneurship? Hint: the key is timing.All of these questions are answered in my newest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up with Jim McKelvey, the Co-Founder of Block (previously known as Square)!Jim McKelvey is best known for co-founding Square, now called Block. He also founded LaunchCode.org, which has provided free training and jobs for thousands of aspiring programmers. He is the fo...
2024-01-301h 08From Start-Up to Grown-Up#58, Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-Founder of Gusto — Upholding the platinum rule, taking control of your attention, and a framework for hiring people who are in love with your problemIf you’re looking for inspiration to upgrade your leadership for 2024, you’ll want to listen to my conversation with Josh Reeves, CEO and Co-Founder of Gusto on the newest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up.These are just three topics from our talk that are fantastic guides to follow into the new year:➡️ The key to hire the right people for your company ➡️ The one rule that will help you manage everyone. ➡️ The most important meeting to add to your calendar (hint: it’s with yo...
2024-01-021h 11From Start-Up to Grown-Up#57, Jon Beckstrand, CEO of MasterControl — Developing a leadership code, how to look forward to hard conversations, and ways to repurpose stressDoes your company have an employee bill of rights?Jon Beckstrand put one together for his team as CEO of MasterControl.That’s just one of the strategies that Jon has used at MasterControl to grow the company and successfully execute a pivot. We talked about his leadership philosophy, his tools for learning, and how he’s come to embrace having difficult conversations. Listen to the rest of it for helpful strategies you can use right now to become a better leader. Jon Beckstrand is respon...
2023-12-191h 15From Start-Up to Grown-Up#56, Bob Muglia, Former CEO of Snowflake — Having a values-based vs. performance-based company, rooting out dysfunction, and getting fired by Steve Balmer twiceWhat is the real impact of one bad apple on your team?What’s it like to work directly with Bill Gates? What’s your playbook for coming in as CEO of a promising company - like Snowflake - and taking them from 0 revenue to $100M in 5 years? On this episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up, Bob Muglia, the former CEO of Snowflake and author of The Datapreneurs: The Promise of AI and the Creators Building Our Future, answers all of these and more. You’ll learn about his time at Microsoft, including getting...
2023-12-051h 08From Start-Up to Grown-Up#55, Jerry Colonna, Author and Executive Coach — the distinction between vulnerability and honesty, the power of radical self-inquiry, and why you need to heal core wounds to be a great leaderNot all feedback is created equal. Giving positive feedback offers far more benefits than simply showing gratitude for someone’s work. It also helps as a vital step to personal self-discovery and self-inquiry. This is a central theme of Jerry Colonna’s brand new book, Reunion: Leadership and the Longing to Belong.Jerry joins me on the newest episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up to discuss the process of radical self-inquiry, why it’s essential for you to do if you want to grow, and the difference between honesty and vulnerability.Jerry he...
2023-11-211h 07From Start-Up to Grown-Up#54, Jim Kwik, Brain Coach and Author — How to find your dominant question, what we can learn from trauma, and the framework to move your vision forwardWe often ask each other “What’s your why?”Go a step deeper and ask: “What’s your dominant question?”Jim Kwik is a brain coach and the author of the #1 WSJ bestseller, “Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life.” One of the many fascinating things we discuss is the idea of the dominant question - why it’s so important and useful if you want to do big things in this world.Listen to this brand new episode of From Start-Up to Grown-Up to hear all about the most important...
2023-11-0752 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#53, Gareb Shamus, Founder of ACE Comic Con— Going from passion to product, how to keep yourself in the game, and why inclusion fosters new businessesGareb Shamus is a visionary in the Superhero and character-based franchise worlds. Throughout the last 30 years, he’s made a tremendous impact on geek and nerd culture and formed relationships with an unrivaled collection of artists, writers, toy developers, game designers, and celebrities. Gareb founded Comic Con as we know it today, producing 180 events with millions of tickets sold, reaching billions of people worldwide. He is also the founder of Wizard, ToyFare, and Anime Insider magazines with over 100 million issues sold in 75 countries His most recent endeavor, ACE Universe, achieved instant success having produced seven events over two years wi...
2023-10-241h 18From Start-Up to Grown-Up#52, Joe Landolina, Co-Founder and CEO of Cresilon— Starting a company in his dorm room, finding the right investors; and the importance of transparent communicationAt 17 years old, inventor and entrepreneur Joe Landolina invented a medical breakthrough that is transforming at-home and in-patient wound care. Landolina conceived an adhesive hemostatic gel composed of plant-based polymers that could adhere to a wound site and simultaneously support the natural clotting process. To refine and manufacture the gel technology he invented, Landolina with his partner Isaac Miller founded Cresilon (formerly Suneris), which has since grown into a medical device company headquartered in Brooklyn, New York. As Chief Executive Officer, Landolina is now gearing up to take the company's proprietary product VETIGEL to the veterinary market-offering a...
2023-10-101h 13From Start-Up to Grown-Up#51, Joel Jackson, Co-Founder and President of Lifeforce — Working with celebrity founders, taking in feedback without getting defensive, and frameworks for learning from experienceJoel Jackson is co-founder and President of Lifeforce, the first clinically integrated health optimization platform. He is a Canadian entrepreneur and executive who has led technology organizations across healthcare, consumer goods, and wellness. Most recently, Joel was CTO of Upgrade Labs, a personal optimization and recovery company based in Santa Monica, California. Prior to Upgrade Labs, Joel led the engineering team for The Honest Company, a direct-to-consumer company focused on improving the health and sustainability of baby products.How do you manage working with someone who has a larger-than-life personality?Joel Jackson, Co-Founder and President...
2023-09-251h 14From Start-Up to Grown-Up#50, Jerry Neumann and Elizabeth Zalman, Authors of Founder Vs. Investor — Learn to love fundraising, handle board dynamics, and how to speak VCLiz is an infrastructure and information security expert. She is a two-time founder / CEO of venture-backed companies, building the first to a successful exit and the second to a multi-hundred-million-dollar business. Elizabeth has raised more than $100 million in venture capital from the most renowned investors in the world, and is a frequent speaker and guest at industry events and tech podcasts.Jerry Neumann has been an investor and early-stage advisor to groundbreaking technology companies for more than 25 years. He has been called one of New York’s “50 Most Important VCs” by Business Insider. Jerry also teaches innovation and entrep...
2023-09-111h 15From Start-Up to Grown-Up#49, Joe Thomas, Co-Founder and CEO of Loom — Why it’s essential to track your time; how to get better at fundraising; getting your head right to make good decisions; and how to decide to keep building your company, even if it means sleeping on a mattressJoe Thomas is the CEO and co-founder of Loom, the video communication platform for async work. Joe leads Loom in its mission to empower effective communication, wherever work happens. Prior to Loom, Joe served as Director of Product at MyLife.com and Director of Operations at MediaPass. He also co-founded Redesign Agency while in college at Indiana University.While leading Loom, Thomas has been recognized by Forbes 30 Under 30, Forbes Cloud 100, and America's Best Startup Employers.When Joe Thomas started working on Loom, he and the team pivoted 3 times in 9 months. But they finally got the...
2023-08-281h 13From Start-Up to Grown-Up#48, Vishal Sunak, Founder and CEO of LinkSquares — Decision-making frameworks, the most potent management technique, how to build a fierce network from scratchVishal Sunak is the founder and CEO of LinkSquares, the trusted legal technology partner for over 1,000 in-house teams, including Wayfair, ProPharma, TIME, The Boston Celtics, and Commvault. LinkSquares’ market-leading, AI-powered contract lifecycle management and legal task management solutions surface business intelligence with speed, accuracy, and scale. Vishal is widely recognized as a thought leader in the legal technology space, where he has worked tirelessly to improve outcomes for legal teams, while elevating their visibility within the enterprise.In 2021, Vishal was named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year, one of the most competitive business awards for ambitious leaders wh...
2023-08-1446 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#47, Randy Komisar, Entrepreneur and Investor — Lessons learned from a professional gambler, the role of luck your career, and the key decisions that drive the quality of your lifeRandy Komisar is an entrepreneur and investor at Kleiner Perkins.Previously, he was a co-founder of Claris Corp., served as CEO for LucasArts Entertainment and Crystal Dynamics, and acted as “virtual CEO” for such companies as WebTV and GlobalGiving. Randy also served as CFO of GO Corp. and as senior counsel for Apple Computer, following a private practice in technology law.Randy is a founding director of TiVo and serves on the Roadtrip Nation Advisory Board and Orrick’s Women’s Leadership Board. He is the author of the best-selling book,The Monk and the Riddle, as well as...
2023-07-311h 09From Start-Up to Grown-Up#46: Anouck Gotlib, Cofounder and CEO of Belgian Boys — Building a company when you’re a creative, dealing with your cofounder when he’s also your spouse, and the power of a walk out songAnouck Gotlib, the Cofounder and CEO of Belgian Boys - a sweet snack company out of Brooklyn, NY, - started her career in fashion. With no business background, she ended up cofounding Belgian Boys with her husband and did a whole bunch of learning by doing. In this episode of From Start-up to Grown-up, hear about her fascinating journey, her very fresh approach on mundane things like the company handbook, and how her mission to spark moments of happiness gets brought to life. Anouck also talks about how her work with her coach has helped her, and wh...
2023-07-1757 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#45: Carolyn Rodz, Cofounder and CEO of Hello Alice — How to transform setbacks into learning, the best question to ask future employees, and how to build a strong cofounder relationshipAn investment banker turned three-time award-winning Latina entrepreneur from Bolivia, Carolyn serves as the Cofounder and CEO of Hello Alice (helloalice.com), a smart technology that helps business owners find the right path to start and grow their companies. Carolyn is a long-time advocate for underestimated founders and believes technology-driven data will prove the business case for inclusion. During her time at Hello Alice, Carolyn was recognized as a "17 Women to Watch," by Inc. Magazine, and selected by Mayor Turner of Houston to co-chair the Women and Minority Small Business Task Force in 2019.This episode is a...
2023-07-031h 07From Start-Up to Grown-Up#44: Lauren Bush Lauren, Founder and CEO of FEED — Building a business while making an impact, when not to take advice, learning to be direct, and how public service shaped her leadershipLauren Bush Lauren is the founder and CEO of FEED, the impact-driven lifestyle brand, making products that help feed the children of the world. A native of Texas, Lauren attended Princeton University where she majored in Anthropology. As a sophomore, Lauren had the opportunity to travel with the UN World FOOD Programme. While visiting regions across Central America, Asia, and Africa, Lauren witnessed firsthand the realities of poverty and hunger that people are facing all over the world. Using this experience as an inspiration, Lauren found FEED as a tangible way for her peers to make an impact in...
2023-06-121h 03From Start-Up to Grown-Up#44: Lauren Bush Lauren, CEO of Feed — Building a business while making an impact, when not to take advice, learning to be direct, and how public service shaped her leadershipLauren Bush Lauren is the founder and CEO of FEED, the impact-driven lifestyle brand, making products that help feed the children of the world. A native of Texas, Lauren attended Princeton University where she majored in Anthropology. As a sophomore, Lauren had the opportunity to travel with the UN World FOOD Programme. While visiting regions across Central America, Asia, and Africa, Lauren witnessed firsthand the realities of poverty and hunger that people are facing all over the world. Using this experience as an inspiration, Lauren found FEED as a tangible way for her peers to make an impact in...
2023-06-121h 16
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#43: Seth Godin, Author and Marketing Strategist — showing up for yourself, creating conditions for your best work, and how to deal with massive rejectionSeth is an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker. In addition to launching one of the most popular blogs in the world, he has written 20 best-selling books, including The Dip, Linchpin, Purple Cow, Tribes, and What To Do When It's Your Turn (And It's Always Your Turn). His book, This is Marketing, was an instant bestseller in countries around the world. Though renowned for his writing and speaking, Seth also founded two companies, Squidoo and Yoyodyne (acquired by Yahoo!).By focusing on everything from effective marketing and leadership, to the spread of ideas and changing everything, Seth has...
2023-05-3048 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#42: Matt Biilmann, Co-Founder and CEO of Netlify — career pivoting, marketing for mass adoption, and growing company culture remotelyMatt Biilmann is the Co-Founder and CEO of Netlify. He was trained to be a musician and music journalist, but early into his career, he pivoted to programming. Among his creations was a content management system that helped web design agencies to build websites. The idea evolved into Netlify, which he launched with childhood friend Chris Bach in 2014. Netlify helped pioneer the movement to decouple front-end web development from back-end server management. Mattel, Unilever, and Verizon have all used Netlify to launch websites.This was a fantastic conversation about Matt's career journey from his former studies in...
2023-05-151h 07From Start-Up to Grown-Up#41: Alex Zaccaria, Co-Founder and CEO of Linktree — finding a need in the market, when to take venture money, preparing for board meetings, and the value of conferencesAlex Zaccaria is the Co-Founder and CEO at Linktree, the link-in-bio category creator which enables creators, brands, artists, publishers, agencies, and businesses of all sizes to curate an online ecosystem, engage with their audience, and monetize their passions.Find out more about Linktree | WebsiteFor more stories and advice on founders and CEOs, head to alisacohn.comTo stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter.If you like what you hear, please subscribe to the podcast!Connect with Alisa!
2023-05-0146 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#40: Peter Attia, MD, Founder of Early Medical — improving your lifespan and healthspan, the centenarian decathlon, and the process of making major life changesPeter Attia, MD, is the founder of Early Medical, a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of lengthening their lifespan and simultaneously improving their healthspan.He is the host of The Drive, one of the most popular podcasts covering the topics of health and medicine.Dr. Attia received his medical degree from the Stanford University School of Medicine and trained for five years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in general surgery, where he was the recipient of several prestigious awards, including resident of the year.He...
2023-04-1744 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#39: Alex Lieberman, Cofounder and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew — Mental health for founders, having a framework for decision-making, and deciding when it's time to leave your job to start a companyAlex Lieberman is the Cofounder and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew, a media brand that empowers modern business leaders with need-to-know content that is engaging and timely. Since its founding in 2015, Morning Brew has provided millions of users with the most important news from Wall Street to Silicon Valley.Alex was someone ahead of the curve, thinking about the future of content delivery when he started Morning Brew from his dorm room. In our conversation, we discuss the importance of mental health for founders, what it was like to sell his company, his decision-making framework...
2023-04-031h 16From Start-Up to Grown-Up#38: Matthew Scullion, Cofounder and CEO of Matillion — Creating the right company culture, how to know your pivot is working, micro confidence vs. macro confidence, and the biggest obstacle in building a companyMatthew is the Cofounder and CEO of Matillion. He cofounded his first startup at age 18. Before starting Matillion in 2011, Matthew worked in commercial IT and software development for 15 years at a number of British and European systems integrators. A native of Altrincham, England, near Manchester, Matthew now spends half his time in the United States – primarily in Denver (Matillion’s U.S. headquarters), Seattle, New York, and in the Bay Area, at the beating heart of the enterprise software industry.I am a big advocate for developing healthier company culture, and we dive right into this conversation with...
2023-03-2044 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#37: Robert Glazer, Founder and CEO of Acceleration Partners — the importance of values and purpose, how to build your team's capacity, and why you should start your ideas even if they aren't readyRobert Glazer is the Founder and Chairman of the Board of global partner marketing agency, Acceleration Partners. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of BrandCycle. A serial entrepreneur, Bob has a passion for helping individuals and organizations build their capacity to elevate.Key highlights:His company, Acceleration Partners (02:53)How Robert ended up building an email list, writing blogs, writing books, podcasting, and how he fits it all together (06:14) Why clarifying values and purpose is important to you and your company (13:53) Activities and exercises to help you clarify your core values (18:27) What prompted Robert to...
2023-03-0655 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#36: Hubert Palan, Founder and CEO of Productboard — the challenges of scaling leadership, tactics for fundraising, and finding a work/life balanceHubert is the founder and CEO of Productboard.com, a platform for strategic product design and management headquartered in San Francisco, California. Prior to Productboard, Hubert was the Vice President of Product Management at GoodData, where he managed GoodData’s disruptive platform business, built the whole front-end product management and UX team from the ground up, and established and embodied modern principles of user experience design. Hubert also once worked in management consulting as well as trained 20 national park managers in Vietnam on marketing and strategy.In our conversation, filmed live at Web Summit in Portugal, Hubert di...
2023-02-2249 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#35: Padma Warrior, Founder and CEO of Fable — The reverse journey of grown-up to start-up, what to unlearn to become a founder, how to get your initial hires onboard, and rituals that build culturePadmasree Warrior is the Founder, President and CEO of Fable, a mobile-first company that brings stories to everyone, anywhere. Previously, Padma was the Chief Executive Officer of NIO U.S., Chief Development Officer and Board Member of NIO Inc., a manufacturer of smart, electric, and autonomous vehicles. In this role, she scaled the company from start-up to a successful IPO NYSE:NIO in 3 years.Our conversation was truly fascinating! We discuss her reverse journey from grown-up to start-up, what she had to unlearn from a large corporation to become a start-up founder, how you can get your...
2023-02-041h 05From Start-Up to Grown-Up#34: Nick Sonnenberg, Founder and CEO of Leverage — Bootstrapping your business; risk and how to build confidence; how to make your business more efficient, and how to come up for airNick Sonnenberg is the Founder and CEO of Leverage, a business efficiency consultant, Inc. columnist, and author of the book, Come Up For Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work. As a serial entrepreneur with a passion for productivity and a background in data science, Nick’s mission is to create companies that disrupt the way people work by leveraging the power of remote teams, digital tools, and automation.His primary focus is to help teams operate more efficiently through his CPR® Business Efficiency Framework, a proven system for leaders, managers, and...
2023-01-2457 min
From Start-Up to Grown-Up#33: Chip Conley, Founder at Modern Elder Academy — Using regret as fuel; how and why founders need to shift their identities; how to manage people older than you; and his favorite interview questionChip is the founder of the Modern Elder Academy (MEA), where a new roadmap for midlife is offered at a beautiful oceanfront campus in Baja California Sur, Mexico, and forthcoming campuses in Santa Fe, NM. His five books have made him a leading authority at the intersection of psychology and business. Chip had tons of wisdom to share in this talk, including how to use regret as fuel for the future, what founders can learn when they shift their identities, how to manage people older than you, what Chip learned from the people that he mentored, and h...
2023-01-051h 13From Start-Up to Grown-Up#32: Julia Boorstin, Senior Media and Tech Correspondent CNBC — The confidence dial, empathy as a strategic skill, and why playing sports makes for better leadersJulia Boorstin is CNBC’s Senior Media & Tech correspondent based at the network’s Los Angeles bureau, where she reports and conducts CEO interviews across CNBC programming, and plays a key role on CNBC’s bicoastal tech-focused program TechCheck, delivering reporting, analysis, and interviews around streaming, social, and the convergence of media and technology. She is also the author of When Women Lead. In 2013, she created and launched the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting the private companies transforming the economy and challenging companies in established industries. Additionally, she reported a documentary on the future of television for th...
2022-12-1440 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#31: Mid-Day Squares - Creating fans and not customers, building a company as a family, and the power of social mediaLezlie Karls, Co-founder, and CEO started MID-DAY SQUARES with her husband Nick Saltarelli, and brother Jake Karls. After being rejected by every major grocery store buyer, she persuaded her husband to leave his tech startup and help her sell online direct to consumers. Together, they wanted to bring delicious tasting, clean, high-protein afternoon snacks to people on the daily life grind.Join in on our conversation as we discuss how they want to create fans instead of customers, how they've leveraged the power of social media, and built a strong startup together as a family of co-founders.
2022-12-051h 01From Start-Up to Grown-Up#30: Rob Kramer of PurposeLab — Building resilience, an unconventional career path, and working with the KardashiansRob Co-Founded PurposeLab with Andrew Skinner back in 2009 from a simple idea: build technology and invest in companies driven by impact and purpose. They partner with like-minded founders with domain expertise who love to create impact, and who need a tech partner that can ideate, design, and build beautiful consumer and enterprise software products. PurposeLab has evolved into a product development and venture studio that invests in brilliant entrepreneurs striving to disrupt the status quo. Rob is also the Co-host of the Hell & Wellness Podcast with Matt Ruby.We discuss how to bounce back from i...
2022-11-2858 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#29: Dan Zavorotny, NutrisenseDan Zavorotny is a healthcare technology entrepreneur whose latest venture, NutriSense, involves CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) technology as a tool for preventative health, weight management, and increased physical performance. His team has helped tens of thousands of individuals, ranging from type II diabetics to world record-setting athletes by optimizing their health and wellness with a data-driven approach.Prior to his entrepreneurial career, Dan worked as a global healthcare consultant at KPMG and has had the privilege of traveling to over 100 countries.We discuss establishing trust as co-founders, the culture shift going from a large corporation...
2022-11-081h 15From Start-Up to Grown-Up#28: Melissa Daimler, UdemyMelissa Daimler helps leaders design, operationalize, and scale their culture. She currently serves as the Chief Learning Officer for Udemy, where she develops learning strategies for both customers and employees. Melissa brings over two decades of experience across Learning and Development, Talent Management, and Organizational Development. Prior to Udemy, Melissa created and built Learning, Organizational, and Talent Development functions for Adobe, Twitter, and WeWork. Melissa is a speaker, panelist, and contributor to broad industry publishers including Harvard Business Review, Huffington Post, Chief Learning Officer, and Chief Talent Development Officer magazines. She has served as a board...
2022-10-191h 02From Start-Up to Grown-Up#27: - Andy Karsner, X (a division of Alphabet)Andy Karsner is a true renaissance man! His entrepreneurial leadership has been associated with both venture capital and private equity portfolios throughout the past decade. With responsibilities in guidance and holdings for some of the most successful technology startups, from solar energy to biotech, Karsner is currently a senior strategist at X, the moonshot factory, where he brings an entrepreneurial focus to economic competitiveness, global security, and environmental sustainability. He was the Managing Partner at Emerson Collective where he founded and led Elemental, an environmental practice. He has also served in the US Department of Energy as the Assistant...
2022-09-2944 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#26: Maëlle Gavet, TechstarsMaëlle Gavet is the CEO of the global investment business Techstars, focused on supporting entrepreneurs, and is one of the most well-known startup accelerators around the world. One of the tech industry’s brightest stars, Maëlle has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, one of Fortune’s 40 Under 40, one of the Most Creative People in Business by Fast Company, and was fifth among Time magazine’s List of the Top 25 ‘Female Techpreneurs’. She has spoken regularly at the leading technology industry events and her writing has appeared in Wired, the Harvard Business Review, the...
2022-09-141h 00From Start-Up to Grown-Up#25: Larry Gadea, EnvoyLarry Gadea is the Founder and CEO of Envoy, a workplace platform that helps companies welcome visitors, keep employees safe, book desks and conference rooms, and manage deliveries in over 16,000 locations around the globe. Larry started his career as a software engineer at 17, having been recruited by Google out of high school. He later joined Twitter as one of the early people driving its ability to scale. Wanting to build a similar global company, in 2013 Larry went on to build the initial website and app for what eventually became Envoy. I am thrilled to welcome Larry onto th...
2022-08-2942 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#24: Carolyn Childers, ChiefCarolyn Childers is the CEO and Co-Founder of Chief. She is an experienced leader and operator, having successfully scaled several early-stage businesses. Prior to founding Chief, Carolyn was SVP of Operations at Handy. Previously, Carolyn led the launch of the site Soap.com (Quidsi) and acted as its GM through its acquisition by Amazon. Carolyn also had roles at Victoria’s Secret and Avon Products where she worked on strategy and business development. She started her career in finance where she spent over three years in investment banking at Deutsche Bank. Carolyn has an MBA from Harvard Business School an...
2022-07-2555 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#23: Scott Belsky, BehanceScott Belsky is an executive, entrepreneur, author, and investor (and all-around product obsessive). He currently serves as Adobe's Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President, Creative Cloud. Scott's passion is to make the creative world more productive, connected, and adaptive to new technologies. Scott co-founded Behance in 2006, and served as CEO until Adobe acquired Behance in 2012. Millions of people use Behance to display their portfolios, as well as track and find top talent across the creative industries. After Behance's acquisition, Scott helped kick off Creative Cloud’s services and reboot Adobe's mobile product strategy and led Behance until 2016, when he...
2022-07-1144 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#22: Sarah Dorsett, NanitSarah Dorsett is CEO of Nanit, a high-growth baby tech company that supports the new parent journey with products that connect parents to their child’s development through powerful insights that improve the sleep and well-being of the entire family. Under Dorsett’s leadership, Nanit has been named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500, and CNBC’s Upstart 100 list of most promising startups. An ecommerce leader with more than two decades of experience scaling retail businesses, Dorsett previously served as Vice President of Ecommerce at Bed Bath & Beyond and held executive roles at Bloomingdales.com, Centur...
2022-07-0547 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#21: Alexi Robichaux, BetterUpAlexi Robichaux is the Co-Founder and CEO of BetterUp, the first leadership development platform to connect coaching to sustainable behavior change. Prior to BetterUp, Alexi was Director of Product Management at VMware. Alexi is Chairman of Youth Leadership America (YLA), a nonprofit he co-founded in 2003, to foster peer-to-peer leadership development and civic engagement in high school students. YLA has collaborated with leading companies including Disney, Google, and Hilton Hotels to coach and mentor future leaders.This episode is chock-full of so many stories! We literally dive right into it, talking about what Navy Seals taught him about...
2022-06-141h 22From Start-Up to Grown-Up#20: Oleg Rogynskyy, People.aiOleg Rogynskyy is the Founder and CEO of People.aiI was introduced to Oleg by Robin Matlock, who has also appeared on this podcast! Oleg is an incredibly thoughtful and intentional leader in how he builds his company. In our conversation, we talk about specifics for board management, why he hires people that are "way out of his league," and his strategy to maintain and grow his extensive network.To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter!If you like what you h...
2022-05-2351 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#19: Jon Stein, BettermentJon Stein is the Founder and Chairman of the Board at Betterment.Jon was the first person I interviewed for my book, From Start-Up to Grown-Up! We start at the beginning of his journey that led him to founding Betterment, then discuss how important culture is to the success of the company. Later on, we got into why he stepped down as CEO, and how he would end up finding his successor.To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter!If you like...
2022-05-091h 06From Start-Up to Grown-Up#18: Paul English, Boston Venture StudioPaul English is the co-founder and CEO of Boston Venture Studio.Paul has been a founder for multiple companies and organizations, one of his companies being Kayak. Paul shares how he found his co-founder Steve Hafner and how they decided to build Kayak together. He is also a master of the hiring process, and shares step by step his process for determining whether to hire someone and how he does it within seven days of hearing their name!To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for h...
2022-04-251h 11From Start-Up to Grown-Up#17: Kara Goldin, Hint Inc.Kara Goldin is the co-founder and CEO of the beverage company Hint Inc.She discusses co-founding Hint with her husband Theo, why and when she decided to bring in outside investors after bootstrapping for so long, and why singer-songwriter John Legend became an investor.To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter!If you like what you hear, please subscribe to the podcast!Learn more about Hint at drinkhint.comFor more stories and advice on founders and CEOs, head...
2022-04-121h 04From Start-Up to Grown-Up#16: Julien Smith, PracticeJulien Smith is the Founder and CEO of Practice, a WSJ bestselling author, and former CEO and Founder of Breather.He discusses what he learned stepping away from his former company, Breather, how he strengthens his co-founder relationships, and the insight he gained watching another CEO operate.To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter!Learn more about Practice at practice.doFor more stories and advice on founders and CEOs, head to alisacohn.comConnect with Alisa! ...
2022-03-281h 06From Start-Up to Grown-Up#15: Ilan Twig, TripActionsIlan Twig is the Co-Founder and CTO of TripActions.Ilan talks about how his first company was acquired after nine months, how the pandemic nearly ruined their business, how they leaned on their mission and culture to create and survive, and why a diagnosis helped define his leadership style.To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter!Learn more about TripActions at tripactions.comFor more stories and advice on founders and CEOs, head to alisacohn.comConnect with Alisa!
2022-03-171h 04From Start-Up to Grown-Up#14: Sid Viswanathan, TruepillSid Viswanathan is the Co-Founder and President of the digital health platform, Truepill.This was such a rich conversation! We talked about how he was reverse-pitched on his first startup, founder market fit, how company culture evolves as your business grows, and how when he solves a problem, it's a failure.To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter!Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...
2022-02-1654 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#13: Ragy Thomas, SprinklrRagy Thomas is the Founder and CEO of the social media and customer management company, Sprinklr.We really got into it in this discussion, from how he grew up in a family that looked down on business, becoming a multi-time entrepreneur, his abundance mindset, and the advice that changed his life.To stay up to date on future episodes and learn more from Alisa, sign up for her newsletter!Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com...
2022-01-2554 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#12: Rahul Vohra, SuperhumanRahul Vohra is the Co-Founder and CEO of Superhuman.Rahul Vohra is the Founder and CEO at Superhuman. According to Crunch Base, he is also a Technical Advisor at Boldstart Ventures, an investor and advisor at Partender, and an investor of sendwithus and Easy Post. He received his bachelor of arts in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge.Rahul shares the lessons he learned from being a serial entrepreneur, how and why he learned to meditate, what he does to build trust with his team, and the pros and cons of being a celebrity...
2022-01-101h 04From Start-Up to Grown-Up#11: Robin Matlock, VMwareRobin Matlock was the former CMO of VMware, an independent Board Director of startups including People.ai and Cohesity.Robin is a seasoned Silicon Valley GTM executive with over 30 years of marketing, sales and business development experience in the enterprise software and services market. Currently an Independent Director with Iron Mountain (NYSM: IRM), serving on Technology, Compensation and Risk/Safety Committees. Advisor to People.ai, a fast growing AI and Revenue Acceleration company, and Calamu, an early-stage disruptor in the data security market.She talks about her own career growth and about the importance of...
2022-01-0355 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#10: Greg Galant, Muck RackGregory Galant is the co-founder and CEO of Muck Rack, a platform enabling PR teams to work together to find the right journalists for their stories, send customized pitches, build meaningful relationships with the media, monitor news and quantify their impact. It’s used by thousands of organizations, including Taco Bell, Pfizer, Golin, International Committee of the Red Cross, Knight Foundation, Kauffman Foundation and Penguin Random House. Muck Rack is also the solution of choice for journalists, who use Muck Rack’s free, automatically updated portfolios to showcase their work and provide information about what stories they’re looking for.
2021-12-201h 09From Start-Up to Grown-Up#9: David Sax, AuthorDavid Sax is the author of The Soul of an Entrepreneur.An award winning writer, journalist, and keynote speaker, David has been at the forefront of reporting and dissecting the intersection of business and culture for nearly two decades, including four internationally bestselling books, articles and appearances in nearly every major global news outlet, and dozens of keynote speeches to audiences around the world.We talk through the startup myth, what entrepreneurship really looks like, the emotional and personal journey about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and the highs and lows of...
2021-12-0851 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#8: Rick Nucci, GuruRick Nucci is the Co-Founder and CEO of Guru.Rick Nucci is co-founder and CEO at Guru. Rick brings twenty years of experience in creating category-leading software solutions and companies. Prior to Guru, Rick was the founder and chief technology officer of Boomi, which defined and led a new segment as the first-ever cloud integration platform-as-a-service. Boomi was acquired by Dell in 2010, where Rick went on to run the Boomi business for Dell as its general manager, helping grow the organization into the industry leader it is today. Rick frequently speaks at industry events about startups, SaaS...
2021-11-3048 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#7: Jennifer Dulski, Rising TeamJennifer Dulski is the Founder and CEO of Rising Team and author of the WSJ bestselling book Purposeful.Jennifer Dulski has a wide range of executive experience including leadership roles at Facebook, Google, and Yahoo!, and founder, CEO, and president roles at early stage and scaling startups. She is currently CEO and founder of Rising Team, a company that provides tools, data, and community to turn managers into amazing coaches that build happier and more successful teams.Prior to Rising Team, she led Facebook Groups, used by more than 1.5 billion people each month to create...
2021-11-2250 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#6: Jeff Wald, WorkMarketJeff Wald is a serial entrepreneur, Board Member, Best Selling author, Keynote speaker and investor. Jeff is co-founder and Chairman of two new technology startups, Bento Engine (toolkit for financial advisers) and Sonero (AI tool that provides summaries and action items from meetings). Jeff’s previous company, Work Market, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage freelancers was acquired by ADP in 2018, where he served on the Senior Leadership Team until 2020. Mr. Wald has founded several other technology companies, including Spinback, a social sharing platform (eventually purchased by salesforce.com). He began his career in financ...
2021-11-151h 10From Start-Up to Grown-Up#5: Sadie Lincoln, Barre3Sadie Lincoln is the co-founder and CEO of the fitness franchise company, Barre3. Sadie is on Inc.’s Female Founders 100 list and the MO100 Impact list, has been featured on NPR’s How I Built This, and speaks regularly on the topics of mindful leadership, the power of body wisdom, and the movement to redefine what success in fitness means. Beyond running her company and being a global spokesperson, Sadie still enjoys teaching barre3 classes to many of her founding clients in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.In this episode, Sadie shares how...
2021-11-0842 minFrom Start-Up to Grown-Up#4: Chris Hsu, AziboChris Hsu is the CEO & Co-Founder of Azibo, a VC-backed real estate fintech startup focused on simplifying the rental property experience. Prior to Azibo, Chris served as an Advisory Partner at a16z and previously was CEO of Micro Focus, a $4B enterprise software company. He also was COO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, where he successfully led the largest corporate separation in history. Chris spent the earlier part of his career in leadership roles at top consulting firms, including KKR and McKinsey. A military veteran, Chris graduated as a Distinguished Cadet from the United States Military Academy at West...
2021-11-011h 02From Start-Up to Grown-Up#3: Jake Stein, Common PaperJake Stein is the cofounder and CEO of Common Paper. Previously, he was the co-founder of RJMetrics (acquired by Magento, then Adobe) and Stitch (acquired by Talend). Before RJMetrics, Jake worked in venture capital, started a landscaping business in high school, and was the 44th ranked table tennis player under 21 in New Jersey; achievements of which he is equally proud.In this episode, Jake discusses the pros and cons of distributed teams, the questions that he and his co-founder asked before they started their company, and the challenges he ran into once his former company was acquired...
2021-10-191h 01From Start-Up to Grown-Up#2: Zvi Band, ContactuallyZvi Band is the co-founder and CEO of Contactually, which has been acquired by Compass. He is also the author of Success is In Your Sphere. His new venture is called Talk Social, which is focused on bringing humanity back together.In this episode, Zvi and I had a conversation about how he got onto the path of entrepreneurship, how he learned to see himself as the leader, and the limits of transparency. Zvi and I also get into a real talk discussion about co-founder dynamics, mental health, and his surprising advice to founders who are getting...
2021-10-151h 04From Start-Up to Grown-Up#0: A Welcome Message from AlisaLearn about Alisa's new podcast, From Start-Up to Grown-Up, where she interviews founders about the journey from their beginnings as a fledgling business to thriving companies that are leading the way.Connect with Alisa! Follow Alisa Cohn on Instagram: @alisacohn Twitter: @alisacohn Facebook: facebook.com/alisa.cohn LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisacohn/ Website: http://www.alisacohn.com Download her 5 scripts for delicate conversations (and 1 to make your life better) Grab a copy of From Start-Up to Grown-Up by Alisa Cohn from Amazon
2021-07-1501 min