🇺🇸 United States Episodes

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) host the podcast together today with no guest. In today’s episode you’ll hear: An update on Sam’s whereabouts and how he ended up buying a house in Austin (0:30), Shaan pitches an idea about “Class Pass for Billionaire’s Houses” (5:30), the best ad read in the history of MFM and how to growth hack your ads (11:00), Sam and Shaan talk about the pros and cons of a business like Baremetrics (14:25), Shaan contemplates publishing his total financial snapshot over the past year (20:35), Shaan pitches an idea on a Shopify app that connects all DTC brands (26:40), how Italic made smart deals with luxury Chinese suppliers (37:45), Sam and Shaan think someone should gamify a Facebook Ad learning program (42:37), Why Mario Level One is genius (51:27). Thank you to Lemon.io for sponsoring today's episode! They are offering a 15% discount for the first 6 weeks of work for all MFM fans. Go to Lemon.io/mfm to claim the offer! Companies mentioned: - Simon's Escapes: https://www.simonescapes.com/ - Inspirato: https://www.inspirato.com/ - Sponstayneous: https://www.sponstayneous.com/ - List of open startups: https://openstartuplist.com/ - Coop Commerce: https://www.coopcommerce.com/ - The Fascination: https://thefascination.com/ - B8ta: https://b8ta.com/ - Italic: https://italic.com/ - The genius of the first level of Mario: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRGRJRUWafY Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Lakes v. warehouses, analytics v. AI/ML, SQL v. everything else... As the technical capabilities of data lakes and data warehouses converge, are the separate tools and teams that run AI/ML and analytics converging as well?

How do you stand up to authoritarianism? And what does it mean to be “fearless”? In this powerful talk, housewife-turned-politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya describes her unlikely bid to defeat Belarus’s long-time autocratic leader in the nation’s 2020 presidential election. Painting a vivid picture of how small acts of defiance flourished into massive, peaceful demonstrations, she shares a beautiful meditation on the link between fearlessness and freedom, reminding us that we all have what it takes to stand up to injustice -- we just need to do it together. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Hinchcliffe is a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor. He's also the co-host, along with Brian Redban, of the podcast and live-streaming YouTube show Kill Tony. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Superstar past guest and Superhuman CEO Rahul Vorha joins us for a deep dive on how Superhuman applies concepts from game design to building productivity software. We're not talking points and badges — we mean hardcore, Unreal Engine-style technical innovations and Fortnite-level understanding of fun and mastery. It's a topic where Rahul has serious cred: before Superhuman and Rapportive, he worked as a game designer on RuneScape, the pioneering browser-based MMORPG. This is a topic every founder, engineer, product and even sales person should listen to. Tune in! You can listen to Part I of our Superhuman story with Rahul here: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/superhumanSponsors:Rippling: https://bit.ly/acquiredripplingStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25Odd Lots: https://bit.ly/acquiredoddlotsServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCPlaybook Themes from this Episode available on our website at  https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/special-superhuman-part-ii-designing-software-to-feel-like-a-game-with-rahul-vohra ) 

My guest today is Todd McKinnon, co-founder and CEO of Okta, the leading provider of identity management for enterprises. Todd started Okta in 2009 after realizing that enterprises would need a robust solution for identity management in a world where everything was quickly moving to the cloud and today counts over 7,000 enterprises as customers. Our conversation focuses on how Todd decided to leave Salesforce to start Okta, the painful early years of growing the business, how companies can create and define a new market, the different roles he's had to play as the company grew and went public, and the frameworks he's put in place to continue to innovate and test new things as public business. I hope you enjoy our conversation.  This episode is brought to you by Microsoft for Startups. Microsoft for Startups is a global program dedicated to helping “enterprise-ready” B2B startups successfully scale their companies. If you’re a founder running a B2B company targeting the enterprise, you should definitely check them out.  For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (2:19) – (First question) – Best slide in his presentation for starting Okta (5:21) – The early days of Okta and what they were trying to do (8:36) – Challenge of building the company from an engineering perspective (10:32) – First version of the Okta product (11:03) – An overview on identify management (13:55) – The major innovation in the early days of the product (16:11) – The early struggles of starting a company (18:49) – Becoming a default mode solution (20:39) – Most interesting ways the company has grown its services (22:10) – Future of platform businesses (24:24) – Expanding into an infrastructure business (25:59) – Important shifts that they are paying attention (28:21) – Future of our digital identity and Okta’s potential role (32:20) – The chapters of Okta’s story so far (35:03) – Challenges they had to overcome in growing the company (37:31) – Recruiting the right talent and fostering it early on (39:12) – Biggest mistakes he’s made with the business (41:06) – Benefits of extreme focus vs having a broader view of the problems (43:35) – Innovating within Okta (46:02) – How software businesses define cost of revenue and cost of goods (48:23) – Lessons they’ve learned about selling the services of a small company into the largest company (49:54) – Lessons from working with bad clients/customers (51:06) – Their inside view into the future of business today             (51:10) – Jeff Lawson podcast Episode (52:36) – Best way to maintain the growth of Okta over the long term (53:30) – Lessons he would give to business students today (54:51) – Being scared as a founder (55:27) – Kindest thing anyone has done for him   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

In-office engagement or remote flexibility? We don't need to choose, says Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston. Facing the biggest shift in work habits in half a century, Houston has embarked on a radical experiment to reimagine how work gets done. The company's recently announced Virtual First plan dedicates all in-office activity to creative, team-based efforts, rebranding its offices as Dropbox Studios. Individual work will happen offsite, either at home or a self-chosen co-working space. Project teams set their own schedules. The unique opportunity of this moment, Houston says: How do we make work better? Yes, he admits, remote work feeds Dropbox's business, which now includes a collaboration with Zoom as part of a re-thought product roadmap. If Dropbox is going to design for the future of work, says Houston, then its own workforce needs to live in that future, right now.Read a transcript of this episode at https://mastersofscale.comSubscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Diana Rodgers is a dietitian, author and a film producer. The case for veganism is often made, today we get to hear the other side of the argument. Expect to learn whether vegans or meat eaters live longer, the environmental, nutritional and ethical reasoning behind Diana's justification for eating meat, if you truly can get all your nutrients from plants and supplements, who meat has become a scapegoat for and much more... Sponsor: Get 20% discount & free shipping on your Lawnmower 3.0 at https://www.manscaped.com/ (use code MODERNWISDOM) Extra Stuff: Check out Sacred Cow - https://www.sacredcow.info/ Follow Diana on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SustainableDish  Get my free Ultimate Life Hacks List to 10x your daily productivity → https://chriswillx.com/lifehacks/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Join the discussion with me and other like minded listeners in the episode comments on the MW YouTube Channel or message me... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ModernWisdomPodcast Email: https://www.chriswillx.com/contact  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Business is screwed if we don't fix climate change," says economist Rebecca Henderson. In this bold talk, she describes how unchecked capitalism destabilizes the environment and harms human health -- and makes the case for companies to step up and help fix the climate crisis they're causing. Hear what a reimagined capitalism, in which companies pay for the climate damage they cause, could look like. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stand-up comedian, radio personality, and political commentator Dave Smith is the host of the Part of the Problem podcast and a co-host of The Legion of Skanks podcast, both part of the GaS Digital Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Shaan Puri (@ShaanVP) and Sam Parr (@TheSamParr) host the podcast today with special guest Nick Huber (@sweatystartup), self-storage investor. In today’s episode you’ll hear: Nick’s background and how he started his real estate empire (1:25), Shaan asks Nick to summarize how someone makes money in real estate (6:55), Nick explains how he gets deals (13:00), Nick shares how he bootstrapped his business from his dorm room (17:30), Nick tells the story of telling his dad he was starting a moving company when graduating from an Ivey League school (27:00), Sam makes an observations about people from India owning a lot of hotels (36:00), Nick gives some other “low tech” personal services ripe for innovation (43:00). Thank you to our sponsor this episode, EPOS! EPOS are fantastic headsets that make it easy to work flexibly across situations and locations, with portable headsets including hassle-free device compatibility. If you are an IT manager running a big department or a head of a growing company looking to give your employees the best headset solution to work from home, check out eposaudio.com/millions for a free trial! Have you joined our private FB group yet? It's a page where people share each others million dollar ideas or what they're already working on: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ourfirstmillion.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

From the June 24, 1992: Spiritual leader, activist and author Marianne Williamson joins The Oprah Winfrey Show to discuss her New York Times best-selling book A Return to Love. She explains her concepts of love and inner peace, and what she considers “a real miracle:” perspective change. Marianne also answers questions from the audience.

Follow the crew: https://twitter.com/chamath https://linktr.ee/calacanis https://twitter.com/DavidSacks https://twitter.com/friedberg Follow the pod: https://twitter.com/theallinpod https://linktr.ee/allinpodcast Show Notes: 0:00 Besties reflect on the election night special, comparing Trump's case to Al Gore's in 2000 4:44 Was this election devastating for extreme-ism in politics? 12:13 Pfizer vaccine, withholding the vaccine from the political news cycle 21:54 COVID endgame scenarios 28:45 Public markets ripping, gridlock great for the economy 34:43 Analyzing exit polls, death of identity politics 50:57 Biggest loser of the election: Journalism 57:43 When will Trump concede? What will his next move be? 1:07:37 San Francisco's collapse - will it eventually go bankrupt?

Kermit Pattison is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, GQ, Fast Company, Runners World, and many other publications. His new book, Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind, is available now. https://www.harpercollins.com/products/fossil-men-kermit-pattison?variant=32117911748642 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2014, Erika Cheung made a discovery that would ultimately help bring down her employer, Theranos, as well as its founder, Elizabeth Holmes, who claimed to have invented technology that would transform medicine. The decision to become a whistleblower proved a hard lesson in figuring out how to do what's right in the face of both personal and professional obstacles. With candor and humility, Cheung shares her journey of speaking truth to power -- and offers a framework to encourage others to come forward and act in the service of all. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ellen Ernst Kossek, management professor at Purdue University, is researching how the pandemic is putting an enormous strain on working parents and the new challenge that poses for their managers. She shares how supervisors can offer much-needed consistency and predictability for working parents on their teams. She also outlines specific ways to give working parents more flexibility while still holding them accountable. Kossek is the coauthor, with Kelly Schwind Wilson and Lindsay Mechem Rosokha, of the HBR article "What Working Parents Need from Their Managers."

My guests today are Jason Karp and Rohan Oza. Jason is the founder and CEO of HumanCo, a holding company focused on building businesses that help people live healthier lives. Jason formerly ran the hedge fund Tourbillon Capital and was an audience favorite when he was on the podcast several years ago. Rohan is the co-founder of CAVU Venture Partners, one of the fastest-growing venture funds in the CPG space. Before Cavu, Rohan focused on supercharging brands like Vitaminwater and Smartwater at Glaceau which was acquired by Coca Cola for over $4b dollars. You may also recognize his name as a recurring Shark on ABC's Shark Tank. Our conversation covers how to think about investing in brands, what makes for a great brand, how partnerships with influencers and celebrities can turbocharger a brand,  how brand ultimately gives you pricing power, and how Rohan and Jason try to add, in their words, sizzle, to the brands they work with. I really enjoyed this conversation with two of the smartest people I know on brands and brand strategy and hope you will too.    This episode is brought to you by Koyfin, one of the fastest growing fintech startups. I discovered Koyfin earlier this year when I asked twitter for the best Bloomberg alternative, and the overwhelming winner was an intriguing new product called Koyfin.  Koyfin has tons of high-quality data, powerful functionality, and a nice clean interface. If you’re an individual investor, research analyst, portfolio manager, or financial advisor, you should definitely check them out. Sign up for free at koyfin.com   Ladder Teams is a modern personal training experience with expertly designed workout plans, 1x1 access to some of the best coaches in the world, and the power of community, all delivered to your phone.  If you’re looking to switch up your fitness routine at home or if you are back at the gym and looking to refresh your training plan Ladder Teams has a program for you. Check out https://ladder.fit/Patrick to download the app and get started.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes (2:58) – (First question) – Exploring the early part of Rohan’s career with Mars (4:53) – First time changing a brand’s image (6:40) – Jason’s transition since his last appearance on the podcast (9:47) – What parts of a brand excite Rohan as an investor (11:33) – The marketing machine once you find a brand (13:13) – Options in the retail strategy (19:07) – Biggest errors early in a brands lifecycle (21:04) – The shift where consumers care more about the makeup of a product than just the brand (26:20) – Finding the fanatical few in the early part of a brands lifecycle (31:03) – How the role of celebrity has changed in shaping brands (33:01) – The importance of how a brand makes consumers feel (36:15) – Will distribution drive market changes in the future (38:17) – Driving revenue multiples for products (48:33) – Categories in health and wellness ripe for disruption (52:20) – How scalable health and wellness brands are as public companies (55:00) – Challenges that older brands have in today’s environment (56:46) – Kindest thing anyone has done for Rohan   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club and new email newsletter called “Inside the Episode” at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

Great branding is about identity – and it’s about matchmaking too. No one knows this better than the legendary co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight. When he and his partner, Hall of Fame track coach Bill Bowerman, started the sneaker company, they never tried to force-feed customers a product just to drive up the bottom line. They focused on one thing: making an excellent product for people who believed in the edgy Nike ethos. Because they knew, when there’s a mismatch between product and market, the bottom usually drops out. Instead, they told the world who the are, and then did everything they could to find their ideal customers. And made history. Cameo appearance: Eddy Lu (GOAT).Read a transcript of this episode at https://mastersofscale.comSubscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this perspective-shifting talk, energy researcher Rose M. Mutiso makes the case for prioritizing Africa's needs with what's left of the world's carbon budget, to foster growth and equitably achieve a smaller global carbon footprint. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jack Butcher talks about how he's built up Visualize Value and "Build Once, Sell Twice", where he's productized his services. Sam and Jack talk about scaling to $1m in revenue in 18 months, plus other opportunities that Jack sees for content creators, how he runs his course, the economics of agencies, and more. To listen to the full episode, head over to trends.co for your $1 trial. You'll get access to future bonus episodes plus our weekly Trends reports, access to a community of entrepreneurs and a lot more!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.