Inspired with Alexa von Tobel

Julia Hartz, Co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, shares Eventbrite's success, maternal instinct during the pandemic, and fear of phone calls. The podcast discusses the founding of Eventbrite, building a company during a recession, Julia's upbringing, managing stress, and the importance of humility in leadership.

In 2019, serial founders Leif Abraham and Jannick Malling came together to launch Public.com, the popular investing platform that allows everyone to invest in stocks, ETFs, crypto, and alternative assets. They set out to build a community around the stock market, and in just a few years, they've scaled to 3 million members. Leif started as a fintech outsider, but took his entrepreneurial experience and accolades—a double Cannes Lions Grand Prix winner who was named one of the Top 10 Minds in Digital by Adweek—to create a fintech platform that members love. Leif shares how they work to build an emotional connection with users, why it's important to have a "black swan" playbook to prepare for major market events, and why he believes in playing the long game with business relationships.

Do you know your neighbors? When Nextdoor was founded in 2008, 50% of Americans knew one or none of their neighbors. Fast-forward and Nextdoor now connects 81 million neighbors across 11 countries, building both digital and real-world connections. Sarah Friar joined Nextdoor as CEO in 2018 and took the company public in 2021 under the ticker symbol KIND. Sarah shares how her childhood in Northern Ireland during The Troubles gave her a lifelong belief in the local power of community, how Nextdoor leverages AI to encourage kindness on the platform, and why one of the company's biggest moments to date was bringing together 18 million people in person around the Queen's Jubilee. 

For anyone who's ever smelled one of her iconic scents, Jo Malone needs no introduction. Described as an "English scent maverick," Jo has created some of the world's most-loved fragrances. Her first company, Jo Malone London, gained cult status around the world and was sold to Estée Lauder, and in 2013, she launched her Jo Loves, a global fragrance brand. Jo shares how scent has been a superpower since childhood, how she conquered a bout of anxiety by jumping out of a plane, and why the desire to create led her back to the founder seat.

In 1998, Sara Blakely set out with a big idea to revolutionize the undergarment industry. Overnight, she went from being a frustrated consumer to the brilliant inventor of SPANX. Sara acted as the product's number one salesperson, using her skills honed in fax machine sales to get SPANX everywhere from the shelves of Neiman Marcus to Oprah's Favorite Things. Sara was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world by TIME and was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as the youngest self-made female billionaire. Twenty-two years after starting the company, Sara sold a majority stake to Blackstone and became Executive Chairwoman. Sara shares how SPANX has been profitable since day one, why what you don't know can actually be your greatest asset, and why it's important to bucket your days to spend time on what you're best at.

What does the rise of video-forward platforms like TikTok and Snapchat mean for how we work? That's the question Joe Thomas and his co-founders set out to solve at Loom, the video communication platform for async work. They started Loom in 2015, long before the pandemic, and have scaled the platform to 21 million users and more than 215 million "looms" recorded. Joe shares why it took a few product pivots to find real user traction, why asynchronous work is more inclusive, and why he invests 6 hours on Mondays in one-on-ones with his direct reports.

Julie Rice is no stranger to building massive brands. In 2006, she co-founded the fitness phenomenon, SoulCycle, with her business partner Elizabeth Cutler. They scaled SoulCycle from a small dance studio to 60 spin studios across the country, attracting Equinox as a buyer. Along the way, they realized while people came for the workouts, they stayed for the community. Julie and Elizabeth are back in the founder seat with their newest venture, Peoplehood. They have pioneered a guided group conversation practice designed to create new relational habits. Julie shares why she's working to combat the loneliness epidemic, how it feels to be a second-time entrepreneur, and why her family's weekly observance of Shabbat is key to recharging for the week ahead. 

In 2021, Dave Rogenmoser got access to the OpenAI beta. He quickly spotted a giant opportunity: using GPT-3 to help people write great content more quickly. He co-founded Jasper and in under two years, scaled the company to over 100,000 users and a valuation of $1.5 billion. Today, Jasper is an AI-powered content platform working with increasingly large enterprises. Dave shares how AI-powered content became a must-have for companies, why he believes the world won't be dominated by a singular language model in the future, and why his next entrepreneurial swing after Jasper may be found on the golf course.

Over the course of her career, Divya Gokulnath has gone from teacher to cofounder of the world's largest edtech company. In 2011, she co-founded BYJU'S with her husband, Byju Raveendran, to create a world where every student can learn better. By harnessing technology, BYJU'S has scaled to educate over 150 million students around the world, and the company has become India's most valuable startup. Divya shares why her biggest strength comes from starting as a teacher, how BYJU'S assesses every acquisition through three specific parameters, and why being the founder of a hyper-growth company is like being "an elephant with wings."

John Berkowitz's default is to be in problem-solving mode. So after selling his first company Yodle for $340 million, he was ready to get back in the ring. In 2015, John started OJO, an industry-leading real estate technology company that partners with the top real estate teams and agents to deliver value for millions of consumers. OJO was early to use AI to help people navigate the world of real estate. John shares how the company delivers personalization at scale, why it's important to stay curious, and why he treats OJO as a family business and considers his wife and four kids as an extension of his executive team.