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Topic: Co-founding
Podcast: Episode 138: Must Listen

Find co-creators everywhere

Exploding Kittens Inc.’s Elan Lee

Elan Lee reveals how he cultivated a community around Exploding Kittens by transforming casual colleagues, partners, and customers into key stakeholders.

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Podcast: Episode 133: Must Listen

Evolve your vision

Imagine Entertainment’s Ron Howard

Celebrated filmmaker Ron Howard has a remarkable ability to maintain his vision of creating captivating and deeply human stories — while strengthening how he delivers this vision by incorporating changes in technology, audience tastes, and styles of filmmaking.

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Podcast: Episode 131: Must Listen

Better metrics for better culture, part 2

Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Kapor Capital’s Dr. Freada Kapor Klein
In part 2 of this episode with veteran founders and investors Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein, we get into the data of building human-centered cultures. In part one, we heard how Mitch and Freada went all-in on investing their values, committing 100% of new investments in “gap-closing” companies that aim to improve society, even as they aim for scale and liquidity as well. Now, Mitch and Freada can share how that’s played out in practice, with both positive examples … and some negative ones as well. (Yes, they were early investors in Uber!)
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Podcast: Episode 130: Must Listen

Better metrics for better culture, part 1

Kapor Capital’s Mitch Kapor & Kapor Capital’s Dr. Freada Kapor Klein
Can you build with conscience and still succeed? Mitch Kapor & Dr. Freada Kapor Klein certainly think so. As tech industry veteran founders and investors, Mitch and Freada have long embraced non-traditional metrics that put humans at the center. Mitch co-founded Lotus, the 1980s software giant, and hired Freada to help make the company “the most progressive employer in the U.S.” And years later, their early-stage VC firm, Kapor Capital, aligns their portfolio with their values, investing in companies that close gaps in access and opportunity. Human-centered metrics don’t just improve cultures — they improve the bottom line.
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Podcast: Episode 124: Must Listen

The co-founder effect

Rothy’s Stephen Hawthornthwaite & Rothy’s Roth Martin
Running a business can be a lonely job. The long hours, the existential threats — it can feel like the weight of the entire company is on your back. That’s where the transformative power of co-founders comes in. Co-founders provide more than added manpower; they bring fresh perspectives and talents that help businesses conquer problems at speed. And the co-founder effect extends beyond the people who started the company: The lessons hold true for every team member that contributes in a foundational way. The more voices you add, the more resilience you build in yourself, and your organization.
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Podcast: Must Listen

How to unite a team around a shared mission: A story from Spark & Fire

Silk Road Ensemble’s Yo-Yo Ma
What can an entrepreneur learn from a world-class musician? How to create a world-class team, and unite around a clear mission. In this special crossover episode with our sister podcast, Spark & Fire, you’ll hear world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma tell the story of co-founding The Silk Road Project — a musical collective that brings together musicians from wildly different traditions to write and perform original music.
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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: Masters of Scale

How to stay inspired while remote? Is there a co-founder advantage?

Can a small entrepreneur make an impact within a massive, complex system, like healthcare or education? What's the best framework to amplify the positive side of having co-founders and avoid the negatives? Reid Hoffman and Bob Safian answer these and more questions from small business owners in the Masters of Scale community. Plus: in our Need to Know segment, Reid & Bob take on a burning question: How can Black founders beat the odds and find funding?
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Podcast: Episode 116: Must Listen

How to take creative leaps — and land them

Future Shape’s Tony Fadell
Creative energy is the raw fuel of entrepreneurship, but if you fail to direct that energy effectively, you risk chasing multiple ideas and delivering none. Tony Fadell learned this lesson time and again through his journey to co-create the iPod, iPhone, and Nest. He shares how he struck the tricky balance of channeling his creative experimentation into world-changing products.
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