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Topic: Branding
Podcast: Episode 122: Must Listen

Brand while you build

Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal & Warby Parker’s Dave Gilboa
Some aspects of your brand will be defined by what customers tell you; others, by what you tell them. In their stories of how they scaled Warby Parker from scrappy e-commerce site to comprehensive eyewear and eye care juggernaut, co-founder and co-CEOs Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa give a master class in how to articulate crystal-clear brand values while also building and iterating based on fast customer feedback. Their lesson? Branding isn’t static. It’s a conversation.
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Podcast: Rapid Response

Stay scrappy, deliver fast

Gopuff’s Yakir Gola
Has Gopuff cracked the code of instant delivery — a field where even Amazon has struggled? Co-founder Yakir Gola talks about the challenge of owning the customer journey from app to warehouse to doorstep, and the reasons why being outside Silicon Valley is giving Gopuff a big advantage as it expands across the United States and around the world. Yakir talks with host Bob Safian about why moving fast is only one piece of the growth puzzle.
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Podcast: Episode 103: Must Listen

How to harness risk

New Georgia Project’s Stacey Abrams

For some entrepreneurs, risk is just part of the game. But for the reluctant entrepreneur, risk can feel more like a necessary evil. Stacey Abrams shares stories of how harnessing and balancing risk can be the key to your success.

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Podcast: Rapid Response

The truth about what we watch

Nielsen’s David Kenny
How do you respond when your own users resist your data? That question is top-of-mind for Nielsen CEO David Kenny. For decades, Nielsen has measured ratings and demographics across TV and media. But as industry norms shift to streaming, Kenny has had to revamp expectations, taking heat from traditional customers. As he notes, nostalgia is the opposite of optimism – it assumes a known past is better than an unknown future. Kenny is choosing optimism.
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Podcast: Rapid Response

A crucible moment

Instacart’s Apoorva Mehta
Five years of growth in five weeks. That's how Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 accelerated Instacart's business. A year later, the company faces another "crucible moment," says Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta – to amplify the appeal of tech-enabled shopping, even as in-store buying revives.
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Podcast: Rapid Response

A pandemic is not a business model

Blue Apron’s Linda Findley Kozlowski
As the pandemic set in, cooking at home got a renewed boost, and meal kit outfits saw a rise in demand. But a year in, the trend toward at-home dining faces a new inflection point. Linda Findley Kozlowski, CEO of meal-kit pioneer Blue Apron, is on the frontlines of understanding which pandemic-fueled behaviors will persist.
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Podcast: Rapid Response

The trampoline effect

Morning Brew’s Alex Lieberman
Ad revenue for Morning Brew's newsletter dried up when the pandemic hit, but its audience remained devoted. Morning Brew CEO Alex Lieberman, who started the business with co-founder Austin Rief as undergraduates at the University of Michigan, leaned into the brand's distinctive personality, fueling a sharp rebound. Next step? Selling a majority interest to Business Insider for a reported $75 million. An authentic voice, he says, is a shortcut to business success.
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Podcast: Episode 80: Must Listen

What investors really look for

Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban
No one knows the fundraising game like Mark Cuban, serial entrepreneur, investor, and star of Shark Tank. For founders, identifying the right source of capital, under the right terms, can provide a thermal updraft. But as Cuban explains, there are always strings attached when you bring on a financial partner -- and those strings can pull you crashing down if you don't understand them properly. Cuban shares what investors look for in a founder, and what entrepreneurs should be looking for in return.
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Podcast: Episode 77: Must Listen

How acquisitions become an ecosystem (Part 1)

Disney’s Bob Iger
An acquisition shouldn’t be a fight to the death. No one knows this better than Bob Iger, executive chair and former CEO of the Walt Disney Company. In this special two-part episode, Iger takes us through how he supercharged the House of Mouse by acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox.
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