Founder Chats

Ownership Mentality: How to Tackle Problems Proactively as a Growing Team with Jon Penland

Kinsta

In this week’s episode, we talk to Kinsta COO Jon Penland from about creating a positive company culture, hiring for mentality over experience, and re-allocating tasks within a growing team.

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The Advantages of Open Source Platforms with Douwe Mann

Meltano

In this week’s episode, we talk to Meltano cofounder and CEO Douwe Mann about his journey building Meltano, the benefits of open source platforms, and embracing user collaboration.

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Cutting Time Wasters and Using Resources Efficiently with Bryan Clayton

GreenPal

In this week’s episode, we talk to GreenPal co-founder and CEO Bryan Clayton about hiring smart, reducing waste, and allocating resources where they really matter.

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How to Develop the Products Your Customers Actually Need with Aran Khanna

Archera

This week we talk with Aran Khanna, founder of Archera about how to develop the product your customers actually need, understanding the net societal impact of your product, the future of automation in the cloud and more!

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Selling Online Businesses and Growing a Global Team with Justin Cooke

Empire Flippers

This week, we talk with Empire Flippers Founder and CMO Justin Cooke about how to bounce back after a business fails, working with a remote team based all around the world, fetching the best price for your SaaS business & more!

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Innovating the Translating Industry with Matija Kovač

Taia Translations

We talk with Taia Translations cofounder Matija Kovač about growing from 2 to 30+ team members, pivoting from a translation service business to SaaS, how to prioritize dev resources with shareholder feedback and more!

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Eliminating Passwords with Reed McGinley-Stempel

Stytch

We talk with Sytych cofounder Reed McGinley-Stempel about the unique challenges of building an API company, addressing a pain point felt by both customers and developers, how the framework of “go slow to go fast” helped Reed build a strong foundation for his team + infrastructure, and more!

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How Leaders Should Use Data with Benn Stancil

Mode Analytics

In this episode, we talk with Mode Analytics cofounder Benn Stancil about his journey from a government think tank to Mode, balancing data with other instincts, why leaders should use data to make decisions, not consensus, and more!

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From 0 to 100K Customers with Mike Potter

Rewind

In this episode, we talk with Rewind co-founder Mike Potter about growing his team from 2 to 110 people, handling price increases, why so many SaaS founders underprice their products and more!

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Serial Entrepreneurship and Customer Development with Jeff Solomon

Markup Hero, Thinklogic, Velocify

This week, we talk with Jeff Solomon, founder of Makeup Hero and five other startups. We discuss the power of convincing others, the right way to approach customer development for startups, his start working at Ultra PRO & more!

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Building a Better CRM with Jeroen Corthout

Building a Better CRM with Jeroen Corthout

In this episode we talk with Salesflare cofounder Jeroen Corthout about identifying the value of a product, gathering actionable customer feedback, how Jeroen’s engineering background influenced his decision to be an entrepreneur and more!

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Building a Customer-Centric Brand with André Monteiro

Verb Energy

In this episode, we talk with Verb Energy co-founder and CTO André Monteiro about launching a startup in college, building a text-based platform to humanize the ordering process, turning customer conversations into a successful relaunch and more!

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Writing a New Startup Narrative with Rand Fishkin

SparkToro

In this special part II episode, we talk with SparkToro cofounder Rand Fishkin about his chill work philosophy, alternative ways to fund a business, the power of intention for founders, and more!

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Pivoting 2x to find product market fit with Spencer Coon

Beamer

In this episode, we talk with Spencer Coon about his start in investment banking, decision to leave banking and start a SaaS, and how he pivoted multiple times to find product market fit.

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Scaling a values-led podcasting platform with Craig Hewitt

Castos

In this episode, we talk with Castos founder Craig Hewitt about building a remote team, acquiring other companies strategically, the EOS framework & who it works best for, and more!

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The Road to SaaS From the Music Industry with Marc Brown

Byta

In this episode, we talk with Byta founder Marc Brown about innovating in music tech, building from a DIY background, and how his experiences in the music industry shaped his mindset as a startup founder. 

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Evolving a Fantasy Sports Business with Peter Schoenke

RotoWire

In this episode, we talk with RotoWire cofounder and President Peter Schoenke about the evolution of fantasy sports, growing RotoWire since the 1990s, and the industry’s response to sports betting legalization.

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Santi Bibiloni

COR

In this episode, we talk with Santi Bibiloni, a Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of COR. He shares journey from WordPress blogging to building an AI-powered profitability tool, how he got to the US from Argentina, and dive deep into COR’s sales process.

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Brian Parks

Bigfoot Capital

Founder Chats is back! In this episode, we talk with Brian Parks, Founder and Managing Partner of Bigfoot Capital. Hear his story of transitioning from working at a local bank to running a tech company, his tips on managing your capital stack, and a whole lot more.  

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Jeff Sheldon

Ugmonk

This week I talk with Jeff Sheldon, Founder of Ugmonk! In this episode we talk about being a creative kid, doing t-shirt design contests, launching his own brand, working with family, staying small on purpose, having an extremely successful kickstarter campaign, turning down opportunity, the future of Ugmonk and more!

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Mike Cheung

Tinkering Monkey

This week I talk with Mike Cheung, Founder of Tinkering Monkey! In this episode we talk about being a maker as a kid, design school, getting laid off, creating 1000 wooden iPad stands by hand, making connections to create signage for huge tech companies, how to balance tools versus skills and a lot more!!

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Ankur Nagpal

Teachable

This week I talk with Ankur Nagpal, Founder of Teachable! In this episode we talk about living in the Middle East, moving to America at 17, starting a Facebook apps business making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month, building on platforms vs creating platforms, reverse engineering growth and a lot more!

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Nick Francis

HelpScout

This week I talk with Nick Francis, Founder of HelpScout! In this episode we talk about being an entrepreneur as a kid, how a laptop change Nick’s world, working in the music industry, working with his co-founders for six years before starting HelpScout, becoming a B-Corp, focusing on culture and brand and so much more!

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Khash Sajadi

Cloud 66

This week I talk with Khash Sajadi, Founder of Cloud66! In this episode we talk about growing up in Iran, how hobby electronics became a conduit for building software, selling software as a teenager to realtors and dentists, learning the value of unit economics, the importance of scheduling your day and more!

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Zac Smith

Packet

This week I talk with Zac Smith, Founder of Packet! In this episode we talk about being a kid entrepreneur, dropping out of school to play music, going to Juilliard, stumbling upon cloud hosting, starting an infrastructure business and more!

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Hiten Shah

CrazyEgg, Kissmetrics, FYI

This week I talk with Hiten Shah, Founder of CrazyEgg, Kissmetrics, FYIand lots of other things! In this episode we talk about his first businesses (which involved frat party arbitrage), building companies with complex technology problems, a lawsuit that drug on for years, how to prioritize time, using customer love as a growth metric and more!

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Rand Fishkin

Moz and SparkToro

This week I talk with Rand Fishkin, Founder of Moz & SparkToro! In this episode we talk about transparency, making community a part of your business, producing content, alternatives to the typical VC route of funding, writing a book, what’s coming with SparkToro and a whole lot more!

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Claire Lew

Know Your Team

This week I talk with Claire Lew, Founder of Know Your Team, where they build software and and produce resources to help you become a better manager! In this episode we talk about culture shock of moving a lot as a kid, how painting and art play a part in being a better leader, how an intervention at her first company led to what she’s doing today, how a random meeting with the guys at Basecamp led to her becoming the CEO of Know Your Team and a whole lot more!

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Benjy Boxer

Parsec

This week I talk with Benjy Boxer, Founder of Parsec, a game streaming company! In this episode we talk about gaining startup experience working at other companies, managing risk, maintaining personal momentum, the importance of celebrating small wins, building a consumer-facing technology company and more!

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Steli Efti

Close.io

This week I talk with Steli Efti, Founder of Close.io! In this episode we talk about growing up as an immigrant kid in a factory town, discovering books at 16, starting a slew of businesses like a DVD rental company and a hypnosis hotline, discovering sales, building a remote team and more!

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Leah Culver

Breaker

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!

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Josh Pigford

Baremetrics

This week I talk with…myself! This was a live-streamed episode where I walked through the entirety of my past 15 years of business, in which I’ve started, built, and shut down over 50 different projects! In fact, you can see the full list I covered right here in this Google Spreadsheet! I walked through how that many projects came to be, why I started each, how I failed at most of them and the stories behind how many of them got sold and a lot more! I also did an extensive Q&A session at the end. Hope you enjoy!

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John Sheehan

Runscope

This week I talk with John Sheehan, Founder of Runscope! And this week is slightly different from previous episodes in that we quickly jump in to the story of Runscope itself. Runscope’s story includes running out of money, laying off their entire staff, going through an acquisition two separate times, buying back shares from investors and all sorts of fun steps in between!

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Ryan Hoover

Product Hunt

This week I talk with Ryan Hoover, Founder of Product Hunt! In this episode we talk about growing up in Oregon, how video games shaped his future, the origins of Product Hunt, how Ryan was intentional about keeping Product Hunt a positive community, mistakes he’s made along the way and more!

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Ryan Carson

Treehouse

This week I talk with Ryan Carson, Founder of Treehouse! In this episode we talk about moving to England on a whim, learning how to manage a team, starting a conference company, how Ryan found his true calling, what’s wrong with education today and more!

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Jesse Genet

Lumi

This week I talk with Jesse Genet, Founder of Lumi! In this episode we talk about being a tinkerer as a kid, getting in to screen printing in high school and how that has been a common thread in every business for 15 years, being on Shark Tank, shutting down a successful business, the role of printing processes in human history and more.

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Rob Walling

Drip

This week I talk with Rob Walling, Founder of Drip! In this episode we talk about growing up in the country, learning programming, getting in to entrepreneurship as a kid, buying existing businesses and improving them, the origin of Drip and its acquisition by LeadPages and more!

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Eoghan McCabe

Intercom

This week I talk with Eoghan McCabe, Chairman and co-founder of Intercom! In this episode we talk about creativity, exploration of knowledge, how Eoghan and his co-founders met, the full story of how Intercom got started, how the problem they’re solving has changed over the past 7 years and more.

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Zach Klein

Vimeo and DIY

This week I talk with Zach Klein, Founder of Vimeo & DIY! In this episode we talk about the origin stories and how Zach got involved with CollegeHumor, BustedTees, Vimeo, DIY.org and JAM, how Zach started an online reptile pet store as a high school kid, how everything he’s done has a common thread that ties back to his days spent on AOL growing up and a lot more. Enjoy!

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Joel Gascoigne

Buffer

This week I talk with Joel Gascoigne, Founder of Buffer! In this episode we talk about how gaming ultimately led to interest in technology, how his time in university introduced him to startups, how Buffer got its start, how transparency became part of the fabric of their company, how Joel’s approach to building Buffer has changed drastically and a lot more! Enjoy!

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Amit Gupta

Photojojo

This week I talk with Amit Gupta, Founder of Photojojo and a dozen other things! We talk about dropping out of college, working with Seth Godin, starting Photojojo, being diagnosed with leukemia, beating the 1:20,000 odds of finding a stem cell donor, how community has played a role in business in life and what Amit is up to now!

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Kyle Racki

Proposify

This week I talk with Kyle Racki, Founder of Proposify! We talk about Kyle’s journey from quiet, artsy kid in high school to founder of a company aiming to hit $10M in annual revenue this year! Hear how focusing on a side project ultimately took a year and a half of no growth to doubling customers every month and lots of other interesting bits along the way.

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Cat Noone

Iris

This week I talk with Cat Noone, Founder of Iris! We talk about growing up in Brooklyn, getting your first computer, pursuing medicine and then dropping out of college, having an advisor copy your product, being an entrepreneur and a parent and lot more! Enjoy!

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Sahil Lavingia

Gumroad

This week I talk with Sahil Lavingia, Founder of Gumroad! In this episode we talk about dropping out of college, being the second hire at Pinterest, the history of Gumroad, raising millions of dollars, laying off 75% of the team, profitability, the future of work and more! Enjoy!

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Luke Beard

Exposure

This week I talk with Luke Beard, Founder of Exposure, a visual storytelling platform! In this episode we talk about moving from a small town in England to San Francisco on a whim, working on products like Hipstamatic, Buffer and Zerply and transitioning from product designer to product founder. Enjoy!

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Mathilde Collin

Front

This week I talk with Mathilde Collin, Founder of Front. We talk about growing up in France, what inspired her start Front, what business school didn’t teach her, what her experience with Y Combinator was like, early growth tactics and more! Enjoy!

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Brad Smith

Virb and Simplecast

This week I talk with Brad Smith, Founder of Virb and CEO of Simplecast, among many other things. Brad’s started and been involved with so many things it’s hard to cover them all! In this episode we talk about how he started a design agency out of the ashes of a web division inside a pager company, starting a social network, taking big bets with a massive company pivot, getting acquired, losing your company literally overnight, the future of podcasting and so much more. Enjoy!

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Ashley Baxter

With Jack

This week I talk with Ashley Baxter, Founder of With Jack. We talk about growing up in Scotland, inheriting her dad’s insurance company, the role of design in building great products, using your audience to influence the types of businesses you start and lots more! Enjoy!

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Amir Salihefendic

Doist

This week I talk with Amir Salihefendic, Founder of of Doist, which makes Todoist and Twist! Amir and I talk about growing up in Bosnia, being a refugee in Denmark and how that’s influenced his views on building a remote company, along with building multiple products to solve a large problem plus so much more. Enjoy!

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Brennan Dunn

RightMessage

This week I talk with Brennan Dunn of RightMessage! Brennan and I talk about product personalization, pricing, getting your first customers, agency work, info products and so much more! Fun fact: Brennan once tried to start an airline…and yes, we talk about that. Enjoy!

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David Darmanin

HotJar

This week I talk with Dr David Darmanin of HotJar! David and I talk about how growing up in Malta, getting into entrepreneurship, how being a generalist has helped David over the years along with the ups and downs as David has grown a fully remote team to build HotJar to a $10M a year company. Enjoy!

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Nathan Barry

ConvertKit

This week I talk with Nathan Barry of ConvertKit! Nathan and I talk about being a maker as a kid, graduating high school at 15, being inspired by working in fast food, deciding when to pack it up or buckle down and much more! Enjoy!

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Brandon Foo

Polymail

This week I talk with Brandon Foo of Polymail! Brandon and I talk about how math has influenced him as a startup founder, about having a huge influx of new users thanks to being one of the top upvoted products on Product Hunt ever, balancing feedback from consumers when you’re building a business product and much more! Enjoy!

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Des Traynor

Intercom

This week I talk with Des Traynor, co-founder of Intercom. Des and I talk about his path to co-founding Intercom, turning education on its head, how hiring is broken, the great re-bundling of software, the role of high-quality content in company growth and so much more.

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Adii Pienaar

WooCommerce & Conversio

This week I talk with Adii Pienaar, founder of WooCommerce and Conversio. We discuss growing up in Cape Town, how Adii’s entrepreneurial father and teacher mother influenced his career path, how entrepreneurship gave him a sense of belonging and so much more. Enjoy!

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Walter Chen

iDoneThis & Animalz

This week I talk with Walter Chen from iDoneThis & Animalz. Walter grew up a reluctant math wiz and became a lawyer primarily because he didn’t know what else he wanted to do. Soon after actually becoming a lawyer he realized that wasn’t his jam and quit to go on and found multiple startups. Walter’s an amazing content marketer and we learn how he used that to grow iDoneThis and ultimately to start Animalz, his content marketing agency. Enjoy!

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Isaac Oates

Justworks

This week I talk with Isaac Oates of Justworks. Isaac’s journey from Amazon to Etsy to starting Justworks is fascinating and I think you’ll love it. Enjoy!

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Chris Savage

Wistia

This week I talk with Chris Savage of Wistia. We talk about growing up surrounded by computers and coding, how film making helped birth Wistia, what the key parts of success have been and how to stand out in the crowd of video space. Hope you enjoy.

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Michael Pryor

Trello

This week I talk with Michael Pryor of Trello. We talk about learning to code from computer magazines, working in a grocery store freezer, co-founding Fog Creek 17 years ago, coming up with the Trello concept, getting acquired for a huge sum of money, what it’s like working at a public company and so many other things. Hope you enjoy it!

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James Smith

BugSnag

This week I talk with James Smith of BugSnag, where they do application error monitoring. We talk about breaking computers as a kid, using open source as a way to get initial traction, marketing to developers, the role of data in decision making a bunch more. Hope you enjoy it!

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Jesse Mecham

YouNeedABudget

This week I talk with Jesse Mecham of YouNeedABudget, where they help people get out debt and get control of their money. We talk about how he majored in accounting on whim, sold downloadable spreadsheets to pay rent, switching from a one-time payment setup to subscription and so much more. Hope you enjoy it!

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Colin Nederkoorn

Customer.io

This week I talk with Colin Nederkoorn of Customer.io, where they help companies automate customer lifecycle emails and campaigns. We chat about growing up in Singapore, watching his dad run an international shipping logistics company, working nearly a dozen different jobs before founding Customer.io, and biking across the country. Such an interesting story. Hope you enjoy it!

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Spencer Fry

Podia

This week, I chat with Spencer Fry, founder and CEO of Podia. In this episode we talk about starting businesses while in college, being a non-technical co-founder, the pros and cons of having co-founders and the appeal of entrepreneurship!

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Wade Foster

Zapier

This week, I chat with Wade Foster, co-founder and CEO of Zapier. In this episode we talk about the business impact of features, how to make use of partnerships, the benefit of Y Combinator, managing a huge fully remote team, content marketing, and more!

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JD Graffam

SimpleFocus

This week, I chat with JD Graffam, founder of SimpleFocus and serial buyer of small SaaS companies. In this episode we talk about building an agency and transitioning in to buying up smaller SaaS products and turning them in to money making machines!

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Todd Garland

BuySellAdds

This week, I chat with Todd Garland, founder of BuySellAds. In this episode we talk a whole lot about advertising on the web, the ad industry as a whole, ad blocking, niche ad networks and growing a bootstrapped business!

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Natalie Nagele

Wildbit

This week, I chat with Natalie Nagele, co-founder of Wildbit, makers of Beanstalk, Postmark and Deploybot. In this episode we talk about Wildbit’s 15-year history, building a remote team, shunning the traditional “open” office space, juggling multiple products, profit sharing, building a family business and a whole pile of other things!

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Aaron Epstein

Creative Market

This week, I chat with Aaron Epstein, founder of Creative Market, which is a online marketplace for design assets (icons, photography, illustrations, etc). In this episode we talk about Creative Market’s origin, growth and acquisition, building communities, Y Combinator, design and more!

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John O’Nolan

Ghost

This week I chat with John O’Nolan, Founder of Ghost, a publishing platform for professional bloggers. John’s got a really interesting origin story for Ghost (it was a crowdfunded on Kickstarter). Ghost is a startup, but operates as a non-profit incorporated in Singapore with their entire team spread across the globe. In this episode we talk Kickstarter, building open-source software, running a non-profit software company and much more. Enjoy!

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James Gill

GoSquared

This week I chat with James Gill, Founder of GoSquared, which offers real-time web analytics, among other things. James has been working on GoSquared for over 10 years…starting the company when he was a wee lad at the age of 15. In this episode we talk building analytics companies, the role of design, expanding your product outside of your initial idea, the benefits of “real time” analytics and so much more. Enjoy!

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Laura Roeder

Edgar

This week on Founder Chats I talk with Laura Roeder of Edgar! We talk building audiences, using audiences to launch products, parenting, the benefits of networking, growing a company, starting a company with your spouse and more!

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David Cancel

Drift, Performable, Compete plus many more

This week I sit down to chat with Drift founder, David Cancel. David has been founding things for over a decade and has been a part of great companies like Compete, Lookery, Ghostery, Performable, HubSpot and more! In this episode we talk about transparency, bootstrapping & VC, being a lifelong learner, creating products, competition, psychology, when it’s time to move on, enterprise vs SMB and so much more!

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