Finding Founders

This is Finding Founders, I’m Samuel Donner, and today we’re exploring the story of Katie Longmyer--a young cello player who went from nightclub doorkeeper to producing a Made in America festival with a crowd of over 80,000 people. Katie’s story is a whirlwind, taking us through her ascent in the D.C. nightlife scene to landing a gig at Warner Media, to producing events as massive as Brooklyn Electronics Music Festival. But as much as it’s a story about her, it’s also a story about her community, the people who supported her, and the people who she sought to uplift. Today’s episode is jam-packed, but before we step into the big leagues we’re going to wind back to humbler beginnings, to Katie’s traditional Southern home just outside of Washington D.C. DM me on Instagram: @samueldonner or @findingfounderspodcast findingfounders.co --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I tell Diane the story of how a bad founder relationship at Tinder, led to one of the founders leaving to start her own company. That company would later become Bumble. Diane joins me in this conversation with years of business and coaching experience. She co-founded a business in the back of a house, grew it to $50 Million in 6 yrs and sold it to a public company and she tells us how to have great relationships with our founders and the people around us. If you are interested in finding out more about Diane, go to her website: https://dianeprince.co/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we discover the story of James Andrews, a successful NYC record label exec and entrepreneur who was integral in hip hop's rise and currently forming novel creator communities. From wayward beginnings growing up in Palo Alto to learning how to network the Hollywood scene, James’ career spans a myriad of successes. From meeting Whitney Houston and Beyonce, to the founder of Uber, James knows what it’s like to be surrounded by fame and recognition. Yet, he’s also familiar with the setbacks of being an entrepreneur, and teaches us how to persevere by placing family first, having confidence in one’s passions amidst doubts, and how to possess a keen, independent mind towards the future through the power of community. Audio Collective: https://audiocollective.co The Authenticated: https://theauthenticated.mn.co Recommended documentary The Black Godfather: https://www.netflix.com/title/80173387 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I tell the story of Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist who was the first person to ever synthesize and ingest LSD. Clancey gives his own perspective on the substances and how we can integrate intense experiences to positively affect our lives. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to emerging psychedelic therapies, how did we get here and where we are going? In this episode, we dive into the historical context of neuroscience and ethical implications of psychedelic experimentation, in conversation with author and bioethicist Jonathan Moreno. Jonathan Moreno grew up on the frontier of psychotherapy. The first 20 years of his life were spent as the center of a “laboratory of ideas” surrounded by psychiatric patients and psychotherapists at his parent’s institute. His fascination with studying consciousness in treatment began there and took him on the journey to receiving his Ph.D. in philosophy, studying bioethics and military experiments, and eventually psychedelics. You will learn about the unlikely interaction of psychedelics and national security, as well as how the historical context of human military experiments contributes to our current understanding of consciousness. Just press play. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we hear the story of Julie Holland and her road to redefine psychedelics and psychotherapy. Julie grew up a tomboy, and was super bright for her age. Her intelligence led to curiosity, and she began experimenting with drugs and alcohol at 12. This only fed her interest in the psychology of psychedelics. Through her own research, she learned how the altered mind can change how one perceives the world. She speaks of how her experiences with PCP made her realize the importance of drug policy and harm reduction. This leads up to her college years where she dove into the science of these drugs. After school, Julie worked at Bellevue and her book, “Weekends at Bellevue” is based on her experiences of working at this psychiatric ward for nine years. She saw people who were in permanently altered states and empathized with them. Since leaving Bellevue, Julie joined the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and has continued her research on Psychedelics. So join us and hear this story of how the future of psychedelics in medicine may be closer than we ever imagined. Links From the Episode Twitter: https://twitter.com/BellevueDoc?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliehollandmd/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Weekends.at.Bellevue Audible for Weekends at Bellevue: https://www.audible.com/pd/Weekends-at-Bellevue-Audiobook/B002V1CCBQ?source_code=GO1DH13310082090P1&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1262685&ds_rl=1263561&ds_rl=1260658&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1a6EBhC0ARIsAOiTkrEMhdqDY6E-ZjTtPIXrogF5GyheqCpIAMReZvP26WQIXzUhACGimDIaAmRkEALw_wcB MAPS Website: https://maps.org/news/multimedia-library/2814-dr-julie-holland-on-treating-ptsd-with-mdma-and-cannabis --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we tell Tom Kereszti a story about how Alexander the Great motivated his men to cross a hostile desert landscape using servant leadership. Tom is the perfect person to tell this story to because his approach to leadership comes from a lifetime of international experience. He has built and led executive teams in Fortune 500 companies in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States. His accomplishments include establishing global alliances, acquiring companies, leading successful start-ups, and creating brands. He also recently released a book called C-Suite and Beyond, that you can buy now on Amazon. Follow us on instagram @findingfounderspodcast findingfounders.co --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we sit down and hear from Douglas George, who was one of the first producers and distributors of LSD in the US. Coming from humble beginnings in Iowa, George attended college as a physicist in Riverside before deciding he wanted to change the way that people thought about existence. Developing an interest in hallucinogenic drugs, George pushed aside his physics backgrounds and focused on producing a compound that was new to the world. Living in Hermosa Beach in Southern California, he tapped into the counterculture wave of the psychedelic experience by traveling up and down the coast handing out his own LSD. George did everything in the vain of scientific discovery as well as opening the public’s mind about the reality they lived in. Meeting Owsley Stanley in the early 1960s, George’s LSD was one of the main causes of the famed counterculture movement that sprouted up in San Francisco. George’s motivations were always scientific, but that didn’t stop him from meeting and interacting with some of the icons of the Counterculture Movement on his journey. A journey that took him to new horizons, brought existential discoveries, and changed his brain in a way he never could have imagined. Links From the Episode Paul Bindrim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bindrim Owsley Stanley:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owsley_Stanley The Psychedelic Timeline: https://psychedelictimes.com/psychedelic-timeline/ Methedrine (Methamphetamine): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine LSD Dendrite Connection <Psychedelics Promote Structural and Functional Neural Plasticity - NCBI (08/08/2018)>: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6082376/ Grateful Dead: https://www.dead.net/ Alan Watts: https://alanwatts.org/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we sit down with Johnny Harris, an international multimedia generalist based in Washington DC. Johnny was born in Ashland, Oregon in 1988 and attained a BA degree from BYU. His passion and career focus aims at connecting high quality media arts with foreign affairs. He utilizes media in making complex world issues more relatable and easier to understand. Johnny’s work with vox.com in reporting on interesting trends and domestic and global stories pioneered their series, Vox Borders. He is the co-founder of Bright Trip, a video-based educational platform. Johnny is an Emmy-nominated video journalist who has spent the last 5 years reporting on and sharing human centered stories of borders around the globe. He has a passion for taking the overwhelming and the complex – and using his visual style of motion graphics and cinematic visuals to distill it into a comprehensive, relatable, and understandable message. This is an exposé on self-discovery, feeling — but not seeking validation, and exploring ones unapologetic experimental creativity. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we tell a story of how Dollar Shave Club turned a viral video into a billion dollar company. This video would usher in a new era of businesses built off of engaging sales videos. And to figure out a little more of how it all works, we talk to Jospeh Wilkins, founder of FunnySalesVideos.com. He tells us how viral videos have changed, and how we can create a viral video today. findingfounders.co --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/finding-founders/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices