Smart People Podcast

Jonathan Poneman - Co-Founder of Sub Pop Records, first to sign Nirvana and Soundgarden. Good bands can be found in any local watering hole.  Great bands are much harder to find even with the digital music era.  But the best bands, the bands that change the way we listen to music, the bands that define a generation - well they are truly a magical find.  And perhaps no band better defines the grunge rock genre of the 90's than Nirvana.  However, if it weren't for this week's guest, Jonathan Poneman, the grunge era may have never heard the melodic, angst ridden voice of the late Kurt Cobain. As you will hear in this episode, Jonathan grew up with the same hopes and dreams that many kids have - he wanted to be a rock star.  However, in his own words Jonathan said, "I lacked the requisite good looks and the talent, so I knew I had to make my living elsewhere within the music industry." Lucky for us, he is apparently very good at discovering and popularizing great music.  When he was handed a cassette from a friend titled "Kurt Cobain", he popped it in his ears and was instantly engrossed.  Jonathan pushed hard and got Kurt signed, eventually the band became known as Nirvana. Join us this week and get the inside look on the Seattle music scene and what it was like to hang out with Kurt Cobain, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Soundgarden.  Jonathan Poneman is a true innovator in the music industry. Sub Pop Records, the label that he co-founded with Bruce Pavitt, has been the launching ground for some of the best bands in the past three decades. Check out the Nirvana song that made Poneman a believer! As Poneman mentions in the interview, this is one of the best artists you have never heard! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Roberts – Author of Zoom: Surprising Ways to Supercharge Your Career and the leading journalist for Fortune Magazine’s extremely popular “40 under 40” list. Although my 18 year old self would never admit it, there is of course plenty we can learn from those that come before us.  It is for exactly this reason that... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Barry Nalebuff – Mission in a Bottle: The Honest Guide to Doing Business Differently — and Succeeding, Co-Founder of Honest Tea, Harvard Professor, Entrepreneur, expert on game theory, negotiation and business strategy. So picture this – While teaching at Harvard University, Professor Barry Nalebuff is running his class through a case study comparing Pepsi and... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Schroeder – Startup Rising – The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East – author, co-founder of healthcentral.com and CEO of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive. Upon interviewing our guest this week, I had a minor revelation.  Jon and I are sitting in our air conditioned, loft studio with our dogs lazily laying about our feet.  The air... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marc Ostrofsky: Author of Word of Mouse: 101+ Trends in How We Buy, Sell, Live, Learn, Work and Play, and NY Times best seller Get Rich Click!: The Ultimate Guide to Making Money on the Internet, entrepreneur, online business mogul, venture capitalist. Some people just have the itch, the drive, the absolute need to create... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dr. Adam Grant – Author of Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success, youngest tenured professor at Wharton, one of BusinessWeek’s favorite professors, and one of the world’s 40 best business professors under 40. According to Professor Adam Grant, at work we all fall into one of the following 3 categories: Takers, Givers, and... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jay Baer – Author of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype (NY Times Bestseller), marketing consultant, entrepreneur (started 5 multi-million dollar businesses from scratch!), named one of America’s top 3 social media consultants. After speaking with Jay this week, we quickly realized how much the world of connecting and marketing has come.  Now... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dorie Clark – Author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, former presidential campaign spokeswoman, professor at Duke University WHERE was this book 10 years ago and why didn’t anyone give me this advice.  Our guest this week, Dorie Clark, hits home with a powerful episode about becoming the person you want to... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Blank – Author of The Startup Owner’s Manual and The Four Steps to the Epiphany, serial entrepreneur, professor. This week we talk to a true pioneer in an industry filled with innovators.  Our guest, Steve Blank, created the “Lean Startup” model that helped facilitate the launch of over 10,000 companies.  This model states that startup... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Louie Schwartzberg – Director, producer, cinematographer. Movingart.com Well, we did it.  We made it to 100.  We joined the century club.  We want you to know, that we couldn’t have done it without you.  100 episodes is something that we never envisioned – hell, I didn’t think I would want to sit in the same... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices