What makes MasterClass work? with David Rogier from MasterClass (re-release)

Making DTC western wear work with Paul Hedrick from Tecovas: It probably doesn’t come as too big of a surprise that cowboy boots aren’t typically sold online. So where is the modern cowboy supposed to shop? This week we’re talking to a founder who carved out a DTC market for western wear. Paul Hedrick, the founder of Tecovas joins Dom and Becca to discuss the marketing strategy they came up with to change the perception of shopping for cowboy boots online and how the company has expanded to brick and mortar stores. by Found

47 min listen

Policy is crucial to spread the AI wealth with Steve Case from AOL and Revolution Ventures: This week on Found, we have an interview from TechCrunch's Strictly VC event in DC. Becca sat down with Steve Case, the founder of AOL to discuss policy, innovation, and AI. Case, now the founder of Revolution Ventures, told the live audience that open access not only helped his company back in the 90s but is also why the internet was able to progress in the way that it did. Regulators should aim for the same goal with AI policy despite the potential risks. He argues that opening up access to horizontal AI players like OpenAI and Google would also help expand AI away from being concentrated on the coasts. by Found

21 min listen

Creating cookware that won't poison you with Jordan Nathan: Many pots and pans on the market are coated in teflon, a poisonous chemical that can be harmful when it gets too hot. Luckily, there is an answer on the market — Caraway, a home goods brand that touts itself as being non-toxic but still high quality. Jordan Nathan founded the company after his own experience with Teflon poisoning that left him searching for a better — and healthier option. On this week’s episode of Found, Dom and Becca are joined by Nathan to discuss how he built a brand around aesthetically pleasing non-toxic home goods as we continue to dive into DTC companies. by Found

38 min listen

DTC lawn care that’s good for the planet with Coulter Lewis from Sunday: There is estimated to be 40 million acres of lawn or turf grass in the U.S., making the grass in people's backyards one of the largest crops in the U.S. and yet lawn care products are full of harmful chemicals. So Coulter Lewis decided to start a sustainable lawn care company that will help people learn how to care for their grass in a way that’s good for the planet. Sunday is a DTC that allows consumers to sign up and send in a sample of the dirt from their lawn that is used to pick out what products someone needs and tell them how much and when they need them. by Found

46 min listen

AI that actually makes your job easier with Arvind Jain from Glean: When someone starts two incredibly successful enterprise companies, they must really understand the issues enterprises face and how to solve them. This week on Found, Becca and Dom talk with Arvind Jain, the CEO and co-founder of Glean, an AI-powered work assistant that connects and understands enterprise knowledge. The idea for Glean was born out of Jain’s experience at his previous startup Rubrik.In this conversation they cover: by Found

38 min listen

Creating the 'food as medicine' category with Ashley Tyrner from FarmboxRX: Food is medicine. This week’s guest on Found is Ashely Tyrner, the CEO and founder of FarmboxRx which helps their customers manage their chronic diseases through bespoke grocery boxes In this episode, Becca, Dom, and Ashley get into the logistics of delivering fresh produce to their member and how they have become profitable while accepting SNAP/EBT and partnering with health plans. by Found

39 min listen

Why a16z-backed Wonderschool is acquiring EarlyDay (Equity Interview): This week we're bringing you a conversation from our friends over at Equity. Alex Wilhelm caught up with EarlyDay’s two former CEOs, Emma Harris and Melissa Tran, and their new boss, Chris Bennett at Wonderschool, to chat through the deal, what’s ahead for their sector, and more. by Found

34 min listen

Developing the “male IUD” with Kevin Eisenfrats from Contraline: Clinical trials are ongoing for the first long-lasting, reversible male birth control which is the first innovation in male birth control since the vasectomy hit the scene in 1897. This week’s Found guest is Kevin Eisenfrats, the co-founder and CEO of Contraline, a biotech company developing innovative methods to use hydrogel as a contraceptive. Contraline’s first product, ADAM, is what some are calling the first male IUD. The company will begin clinical trials in the U.S. very soon. by Found

42 min listen

How Midi raised millions for a menopause-focused platform with Joanna Strober from Midi: Most OBGYNs are not specifically trained in menopause, which means that women are left to suffer through their symptoms on their own. This week’s guest on Found is looking to change that. Joanna Strober is the CEO and founder of Midi, a virtual healthcare platform built specifically for women in midlife staffed with healthcare providers specifically trained to care for people going through perimenopause and menopause. by Found

33 min listen

Bringing down sky scrapers' sky-high carbon footprint with Joselyn Lai from Bedrock: Most skyscrapers have sky-high carbon footprints due mostly to inefficient methods of heating and cooling. Today’s guest, Joselyn Lai is the co-founder and CEO of Bedrock Energy, a company that works with buildings to install geothermal systems. They have developed a system to drill the exact amount of boreholes at the precise depth needed to create the most efficient system per building. Today Dom is joined by a special guest host, TechCrunch Climate reporter Tim De Chant. by Found

44 min listen

Building EV charging infrastructure that lasts with Louis Tremblay from FLO: In order to get drivers to convert from gas-powered cars to electric, there needs to be reliable charging infrastructure. Today on Found, Dom and Becca are joined by Louis Tremblay, the CEO and founder of FLO, a company that manufactures electric vehicle charging stations and has been creating charging infrastructure in the US and Canada for the last 15 years. Tremblay also talked about how he intentionally built this company to be a rewarding and fun place to work and what advice he has for new founders trying to do the same. by Found

44 min listen

Giving old wood new life with Ben Christensen from Cambium: If you’re not in construction or in the middle of a renovation, you might not think much about wood waste but in 2018 alone landfills in the US received 12.2 million tons of wood. Most of this is useful material that could be reused, but the lack of infrastructure means the wasted wood can't always reach the developers, woodworkers, and creators who need it. This week on Found, we're talking to a founder who has a SaaS solution for this broken supply chain. Ben Christensen is the founder and CEO of Cambium, a company that is reimagining the wood supply chain and reallocating previously wasted wood to be used in new building projects. by Found

44 min listen

Making healthy food accessible to everyone with Nick Green from Thrive: Between the rising cost of groceries and the all too common food desert, access to healthy and affordable food in America is getting harder to find. Today’s guest, Nick Green is the co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, a membership-based online grocery store that focuses on natural and organic food and household products. Thrive Market isn’t just focused on offering healthy options, they want to ensure everyone has access to them so they’ve become the first online grocer to accept SNAP and EBT benefits. In this episode, Green discusses how it’s possible to build a business that is a shareholder-driven business and a business that cares about the stakeholders. by Found

47 min listen

Only AI can prevent forest fires with Allison Wolff from Vibrant Planet: Every wildfire season seems to be getting more intense than the last but today’s guest is here to tell us that wildfires actually have a good side. Today on Found, we’re joined by Allison Wolff, the co-founder and CEO of Vibrant Planet, a cloud-based planning and monitoring tool for adaptive land management. Wolff discusses why the wildfires we’re seeing today are hotter and spreading more quickly than we can contain and how proper land management can help create the environment needed for the lower, slower burning fires forrest need. by Found

43 min listen

Finding longevity in Fintech with Eric Glyman from Ramp: Of all the work tasks you could automate with AI, submitting expenses would probably be high on the list. Today on Found, we’re talking to Eric Glyman, the CEO and cofounder of Ramp, a spend management platform that is building AI tools to make financial workflows easier for employees and employers. In this episode they talk about what Glyman and his co-founder learned from their first startup and how they see AI changing fintech forever. by Found

38 min listen

Training AI-powered recycling robots with Rebecca Hu from Glacier: Recycling is one facet to solving the climate crisis, but most of us are doing it wrong. Today on Found, Becca and Dom are talking with Rebeca Hu, the CEO and cofounder of Glacier, an AI robotics company that is building robots to accurately sort recycling. They talk about how many of us are wish-cylers who hopefully throw non-recyclables into the bin and how Glacier’s robots are sorting the recycling and making sure all of our recycling mistakes are corrected. by Found

46 min listen

AI could be the solution for bureaucracy with Emilie Poteat from Advocate: Applying for government benefits is a slow, tedious process that often leaves applicants in limbo for several months. Advocate looks to help. Today on Found Becca and Dom are talking with Advocate’s founder Emilie Poteat, the company that helps Americans engage with federal benefits programs through its technology-enabled services platform. In this episode they discuss how the Advocate team is using AI to automate advocacy and get the wait time for people seeking aid to nearly nothing. by Found

41 min listen

Building in the DTC hayday with Ariel Kaye from Parachute: Do you know what brand your bedsheets are? Probably not. Today’s guest Ariel Kaye has been working to change that with Parachute, a DTC bedding and home goods company. Kaye started Parachute in 2013—the hayday of DTC brands. She joins Dom to talk about what it was like building as a solo founder while she’s established a well-known brand and expanded beyond bedding. by Found

34 min listen

Bringing the wedding industry into the 21st century with Shan-Lyn Ma of Zola: This episodes dives into the massive web of the wedding industry with Shan-Lyn Ma, the co-founder and CEO of Zola. Ma talked about why she decided to launch the business after trying to buy a gift for a friend and realizing that wedding registries were still living in the past. Ma spoke about how the company navigated changes in the digital and competitive landscapes over the last decade and how the company powered through the pandemic's impacts on the industry. by Found

47 min listen

Closing the talent gap and mitigating bias in hiring with Tigran Sloyan from CodeSignal: Is it time for the resume’s reign to come to an end? Tigran Sloyan is the co-founder and CEO of CodeSignal, a skills assessment platform used by many tech companies to hire engineers based on their engineering chops rather than their keyword-packed resumes. In this episode, Becca, Dom, and Tigran talk about how traditional resume-based hiring perpetuates biases and limits opportunities for individuals without extensive networks or prestigious credentials and how skills assessment lead to more equitable hiring. They also get into the CodeSignal team’s plans to go beyond assessment to skills development, how AI will play a role in building out these courses, and the way Tigran thinks about equitable hiring on his own team. by Found

50 min listen

Bootstrapping until the business finds a home with Beatrice Dixon from The Honey Pot: Not many businesses start with a seemingly incurable case of Bacterial Vaginosis but today’s guest, Beatrice Dixon, found a company and a cure all in one. The Honey Pot is a plant-based vaginal wellness brand that was co-founded by Beatrice after she launched by selling her products at hair shows. On today’s episode, she tells Becca and Dom how those hair shows lead to the Honey Pot hitting shelves in Target. by Found

45 min listen

Navigating media's ups and downs with theSkimm co-founders: It’s hard to remember a time when newsletters weren’t flooding every inbox but today’s guests were on the forefront of bringing easily digestible news directly to their audience. Today on Found, Becca is joined by Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, co-founders and co-CEOs of theSkimm which is a digital media company, dedicated to succinctly giving women the information they need to make confident decisions. They talked about how they’ve navigated the digital media industry for over a decade, how they pitched this to investors when they were new to the game, and the importance of building a team that aligns with your vision. by Found

32 min listen

Where gut health meets hypergrowth with Ben Goodwin from Olipop: Gut health might be having a moment on TikTok but Ben Goodwin the co-founder and CEO of Olipop knows first hand the monumental impact a healthy microbiome can have on your mental and physical health. Today on Found. Becca and Dom are joined by Ben to talk about how he led the gut-healthy soda brand to amass $200 million in gross sales just five years after their launch. by Found

43 min listen

Taking a DTC brand to IRL stores with Gabi Lewis from Magic Spoon: Grab your spoon and a carton of milk because today on Found we’re talking to Magic Spoon co-founder and CEO Gabi Lewis. Magic Spoon creates cereal flavors that play on our nostalgia for Fruit Loops and Cocoa Puffs with a grown-up high-protein twist. Dom and Becca talk with Gabi about how he and his co-founder prioritized product-market fit and found investors who didn’t think cereal was dead by Found

43 min listen

Lessons from 20 years in the language learning business with Markus Witte from Babbel: On today’s episode of Found, Dom and Becca talk to Markus Witte, co-founder of Babbel, a language learning app that had been operating since 2007. Babbel has become one of the most prominent language-learning apps but their first product was essentially just a vocab game and they quickly discovered that a multi-modal way of learning will always be more effective. Markus also talked about why he decided to step down as CEO and take on the role of chairman and how all four co-founders have worked together to stick to the original mission of Babbel even after nearly 20 years. by Found

38 min listen

Scaling the freemium model with Alex Zaccaria from Linktree: This week Found is going down under. New Zealand-based TechCrunch reporter Rebecca Bellan talked with Alex Zaccaria the co-founder and CEO of Linktree about how they've scaled the freemium model to grow the social media reference landing page startup. Alex also talked about the challenges and benefits of fundraising internationally, the upside to raising in a more difficult climate, and how they see Linktree changing the way creators curate content for their audiences. by Found

29 min listen

What we learned form a year of talking to founders: Welcome to a very special host-only episode of Found. Dom and Becca are breaking down 2023 in startups by looking back on some of our favorite conversations and looking forward to predict some startup trends in 2024. They talked about innovative climate tech companies, AI ethics and fundraising, building good founder relationships, and what next year could look like for startups. Thanks to all our listeners for an amazing year, we’ll see you in 2024! by Found

26 min listen

Making justice more accessible with Charlie Hernandez from My Pocket Lawyer: This week’s episode is focused on Charlie Hernandez and his journey of building My Pocket Lawyer, an online platform that is meant to democratize access to legal advice and guidance for those that might not be able to afford a lawyer. Hernandez talked about why he decided to put his law degree to use to tackle this problem. He also talked about: by Found

43 min listen

Crowdfunding a cleaner mobile power solution with James Wagoner form Joule Case: This episode centers on James Wagoner, the co-founder and CEO of Joule Case, a startup that is creating a cleaner alternative to diesel generators. Wagoner talked about his journey to launching the company after the first company he, and his co-founder, started didn't survive the 2008 financial crisis. by Found

40 min listen

Why does MasterClass work? with David Rogier from MasterClass: There are some companies that just have it, even if we can’t quite figure out what it is—and Masterclass is one of those companies, despite facing an onslaught of skepticism from the jump. Today on Found, we’re talking to David Rogier, the CEO and founder of MasterClass, a streaming platform where you can learn from the world’s experts on a variety of topics, from baking to screen writing to developing empathy. Before David launched MasterClass, he worked as a VC. Through his connections there received a $500,000 seed round before he even had an idea for a company. That was nearly a decade ago, and today Dom, Becca and David talk about how he’s built the company since. by Found

42 min listen

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What makes MasterClass work? with David Rogier from MasterClass (re-release)

What makes MasterClass work? with David Rogier from MasterClass (re-release)

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