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This week I talk with Leah Culver, Founder of Breaker! In this episode we talk about starting companies, jumping in to things you have no idea how to do, how social networks have been a part of much of Leah’s work, the resurgence of podcasting and more!
Show Notes:
- 2:15- Early childhood- loved to build and make things
- 3:30- Entrepreneurial spirit
- 4:30- Beta testing for the family
- 5:31- Do you come from a tech savvy family?
- 6:27- Early adoption of the computer
- 6:51- The beauty of having two phone lines
- 9:10- Chores before play. Work smarter, not harder.
- 10:30-Breaking things down into small tasks
- 11:00- Project-based education
- 12:00- Montessori schools and time management
- 12:45- Procrastination
- 14:00- Sparked interest in high school making web pages
- 15:05- Starting with web design and switching to programming
- 18:30- The move to San Francisco, working for startups, and being recruited to do first startup as a founder
- 19:07- Pownce- Approached by Daniel Burka & Kevin Rose needing someone to build this idea “I didn’t know I could actually build it but I was like ‘I’m sure I could figure it out!’”
- 20:56- Moving from Minnesota to the Bay Area and connecting with a Silicon Valley well-known culture
- 20:27- “The Vloggies” and networking
- 22:40- Common mentality amongst engineers, designers, founders, etc.; Blind optimism. “Sure! I’ll figure it out”
- 23:20- Selling Pownce
- 24:37- Acquisition by Six Apart and working there for over a year
- 24:50- Left Six Apart to build an iOs app leading up to SXSW then continued doing contract work
- 26:00- Started Convore- 2nd startup- with Eric Florenzano
- 27:00- Working for yourself vs. working for someone else
- 28:43- Learning how to be a better employee as a Founder
- 29:37- Breaker started as a side project then eventually “came to be”
- 31:15- The difference from now and 10 years ago
- 32:35- “I want to have a crazy idea and then see the idea exist in the world in some form”
- 33:40- Life Stages
- 35:40- Podcasting and it’s recent resurgence
- 38:02- Breaker’s take on finding podcasts
- 38:55- What keeps bringing you back to social based products?
- 40:20- Social aspect of the internet
- 41:26- “The internet itself is inherently social. When you’re connecting machines, you’re connecting people”
- 42:30 — The next year at Breaker
- 44:50- Biggest barrier to podcasting becoming more mainstream
How to reach Leah: Leah Culver, Twitter, Breaker (Leah)
