From Scratch with Jessica Harris

Gary Goldberg was a producer and writer for television and film. His TV sitcoms included the 1982 hit show Family Ties, starring Michael Fox, as well as Brooklyn Bridge and Spin City. Gary was the author of the memoir Sit Ubu Sit. Ubu Productions, founded in 1981, was named after his black labrador retriever Ubu. Gary spoke with Jessica Harris about how he launched his writing career, from scratch. He died shortly after this recording in June, 2013. Listen to the interview

Fadi Ghandour is one of the leading entrepreneurs of the Middle East. Fadi and his family moved from Lebanon to Jordan where his father eventually became head of Royal Jordanian Airlines. Adopting his father’s business sense and knowledge of the aviation space, Fadi recognized and filled the need for dependable logistics transportation and delivery services in the Arab world. Aramex has been referred to as “the Fedex of the Middle East.” Fadi speaks to Jessica Harris about how he grew Aramex from a scrappy startup to the first company from the Arab world to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Enigma is a company that uses the internet to make public data available and understandable to users. Enigma links across various databases to uncover relevant facts that a user might not notice by looking at a single data set. The universe of data sources to choose among includes SEC filings, public health records, government spending contracts, sales tax receipts , among several others. Marc speaks with Jessica Harris about how Enigma is making public data more accessible, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Patrick Collison, co-founder of Stripe, discusses launching the company from scratch. Topics include evolving from Dev Payments to Stripe, rural upbringing in Ireland, early fascination with technology, and building connections for early success.

Beyond Meat makes meat using plant protein instead of animal protein. The goal is to make a healthier product that looks, tastes, feels, and smells like chicken or beef using fewer natural resources. Ethan speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched Beyond Meat, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Shazam is an app that identifies the music or TV show around you simply by holding up your phone to the sound. Shazam was one of the first apps available in the Apple app store in 2008. Now, a hundred million people per month use the service. Chris speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched Shazam, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Since the 1970s, The Children’s Television Workshop—now called the Sesame Workshop—intended to help low-income children become better prepared for school by using television as a tool. The Sesame Workshop’s shows—including Sesame Street, The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact—ended up being much more far reaching, teaching and entertaining children from all backgrounds, internationally. Jessica Harris speaks with television producer Joan Ganz Cooney about the early days of educational programming, and how she helped to revolutionize children’s television, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Biolite is a company that produces clean, portable stoves for cooking off the grid in developing countries as well as for camping. The stove reduces toxic smoke emissions by 90 percent by using its own heat waste to generate energy. Biolite is targeting a global public health challenge of smoke pollution caused by cooking over an open fire. According to the World Health Organization, more than seven million people die annually from smoke originating from open cooking fires. A USB port on the stove can also charge a cell phone or other portable device. Jonathan speaks with Jessica Harris about how he is providing cleaner cooking solutions and electricity access in more than 70 developing countries, from scratch. Listen to the interview

Nolan is considered one of the pioneers of the video game industry.  Nolan developed the first coin operated game (Computer Space), as well as Atari’s popular debut game, Pong.  Nolan also founded Chuck E. Cheese’s, a game centric restaurant chain.  He is the author of Finding the Next Steve Jobs.  He and his partner Al Alcorn gave Steve his first job at Atari before Steve started Apple Inc. in 1976. Nolan speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched Atari, from scratch. Listen to the interview

athenahealth is helping to build the internet architecture for the healthcare industry. It is a cloud based software enabled company that helps physicians manage patients’ electronic medical records, among other services. The company was initially focused on childbirth services in San Diego before transitioning into a digital management company for the healthcare industry. Jonathan speaks with Jessica Harris about how he built athenahealth, from scratch. Listen to the interview