Product Hunt Radio

Charles Hudson is founder of Precursor Ventures and a partner at SoftTech VC. This episode is about startup investing We talk about what makes a great investor, how Charles evaluates founders, how he raised a fund, advice to aspiring investors and more. We also talk about his past experiences at the CIA, Google, diversity in tech, the events business, and much more. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @chudson Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Jason is the founder and CEO of Basecamp. In this episode we talk about building a company that lasts 40 years, what it’s like to build a remote team, how he thinks of the professional year in terms of seasons, daily rituals, and how he defines success. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @Jasonfried Constructive Criticism to @ErikTorenberg

Sierra DeMulder is a renowned spoken word poet who’s just released her third book, Today Means Amen. In this episode we talk about what it means to be a poet today, how a poet makes a living, the craft of writing, editing, performing, and then themes in her work, which include relationships, mental health, shame, humor, and much more. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @Sierrademulder Constructive Criticism to @Eriktorenberg

This week's episode is with Justin Boreta of the Glitchmob, an electronic music group from LA, and the team that helped him make the app Hyperspektiv We talk about what inspired him to make the app in the first place, how he balances art and business, how he defines and measures success, the impact meditation has had on him, and much more. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @boreta Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

We're trying something new. We asked the Product Hunt community on Anchor, a new platform for bite-sized audio conversations, "what's the first thing you built?" Here are some of the answers. Enjoy. :) P.S. Check out Anchor. It's fun. https://www.producthunt.com/tech/anchor-4

This week’s episode is with Auren Hoffman. Auren is a prolific entrepreneur and investor, having started and sold Live Ramp and invested in Thumbtack, Brightroll and many more. In this episode we get into a lot - the concept of who you know vs what you know, preserving optionality regarding career, competing with computers, the future of college, how to pick life partner, how to hire good people, how to give valuable feedback, navigating acquisitions, and much more. Auren is a fascinating thinker and has a lot to say. if you like what you hear tweet @auren to let him know, and do read his fantastic answers on Quora.

Mitch Kapor is a successful entrepreneur, perhaps best known for founding Lotus, and investor, having founded Kapor Capital which focuses on tech startups that have strong social impact This episode we talk about Mitch's come up story, the world of impact investing and how Kapor measures impact, the ed-tech space, the role of government in tech and much more. This interview was recorded last year at the Launch Festival. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @mkapor Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

G-Eazy is a rapper from Oakland California. In this (short) episode we talk about his interest in tech, the intersection of tech and music, community building, brand building and much more. This interview took place last year as a part of the Launch Festival. Edited by @Alexkontis Lavish Praise to @G_Eazy Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Brad is the founder of General Assembly and now Common, which aims to do to co-living what WeWork has done for co-working. In this episode, we talk about his come-up story, lessons learned from General Assembly, what the real estate industry is like especially as it applies to tech, why he prefers being an operator to an investor, and much more.

This week’s episode is with Sam Lessin. Sam is partner at slow ventures and founder of Fin, which aims to eclipse Siri by building something like the technology from the movie "Her". Sam has made a name for himself both as an operator and investor, having started and sold Drop to Facebook and invested in companies such as Venmo, Birchbox, and Makerbot. In this episode we discuss his philosophy behind angel investing, product management, his college friendship and connection with Mark Zuckerberg, and why, if he was to give a controversial TED Talk right now, it would be about the end of capitalism. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @lessin Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Terry Gross has been hosting Fresh Air on NPR for over 40 years. She's done over 13,000 interviews, and is, in many people's opinion, the best interviewer alive. We talk about how Terry got her start, how she met her husband, her experience in therapy, the craft of interviewing, and much more. As a student of the craft, it was an absolute honor to have Terry on the podcast. If you like this epiode, tweet @NPRfreshair and let them know. If you haven’t listened to Fresh Air, I recommend starting with the interviews of Maurice Sendack, Louis CK, Marc Maron, or any other guests that interest you. Edited by Jenna Weiss Berman Lavish Praise (& Money) to @NPRFreshair Constructive Criticism to @erikorenberg

This week’s episode is with Danielle Morill, co-founder and CEO of Mattermark. We dive into her Mattermark story — company building, fund-raising, scaling, etc -- and then we get into her own personal story — what it’s like to start a company with her husband, her personal/professional rituals, her intellectual heroes (Ayn Rand being one of them), and much more. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @DanielleMorrill Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Ramit Sethi is the author and founder of IWT (Iwillteachyoutoberich.com) and GrowthLab (growthlab.com). Ramit applies behavioral psychology to help others lead a rich life, not only rich in finance but also in health, fitness, relationships, career & more. In this episode Ramit shares his come up story, how he’s built and scaled his business over time, how he changed his psychique, how he measures success, how being an immigrant shaped his perspective, his philosophy behind teaching, accountability. and much more.

Bryan Johnson is the founder of Braintree and the OS fund, which invests in science and tech startups aiming to radically improve peoples quality of life. This episode we talk about the Braintree story, advice for entrepreneurs, how he grew up Mormon and then changed his belief system, becoming a father, the future of education, medecine, technology and more. Brian is both a fascinating thinker & a proven entrepreneur, and it was a pleasure having a very candid conversation with him about his life and where the world is headed. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @Bryan_johnson Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Jeff Raider is the co-founder of Warby Parker and Harry's. This episode goes deep in the weeds of building a company and building a brand . We talk about Jeff’s journey building 100 year brands at Warby Parker & Harry’s, mistakes and lessons learned from building and scaling those companies, his philosophy on hiring and firing, and much more. Edited by @AlexKontis Lavish Praise to @JeffreyRaider Constructive Criticism to @Eriktorenberg

Josh is an entrepreneur, investor, and founder of First Round Capital. We talk about his come up story, starting half.com and selling it to ebay, how he started First Round, how he learned how to invest, advice to entrepreneurs, and much more. For anyone looking to learn how to invest, Josh is one of the best in the game and drops a bunch of gems in this episode.

Sarah Tavel is a partner at Greylock, previously ran product at Pinterest, and is one of my favorite investors in the Valley. We talk about her story at Pinterest - why she joined, how it scaled, and how she transitioned from PM to VC. She shares career advice talk about career advice — when to join a company, when to move on, and how to identify a rocket ship. And then we discuss investing and how to get good at it. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @sarahtavel Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Patrick Collison, cofounder of Stripe, is one of the most impressive and interesting CEOs in tech today. We delve into Patrick's story - how he came from Ireland, pursued Stripe while on leave from College, and then built and and scaled his company internationally. Patrick shares advice for entrepreneurs, thoughts on education, immigration, and a whole host of other topics. If you enjoyed the Tyler Cowen or Ezra Klein episode, you’ll also enjoy this one. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @patrickc Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Ezra is a journalist and founder of one of the most interesting media platforms today, Vox. In this second episode with Ezra Klein, we discuss politics: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Obama's legacy. We talk entertainment: highbrow vs lowbrow, and then I ask him a set of broad questions--namely where he differs intellectually from thinkers like Peter Thiel, Tyler Cowen, Elon Musk, Marc Andreessen, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and more. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @ezraklein Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Ezra Klein is a journalist and founder of one of the most interesting media platforms today, Vox. Our talk was so good I had to break it down into two episodes. In this first episode, we cover Ezra’s start in journalism, how he transitioned from journalist to manager, and then we get into the future of news media platforms and what it will mean to be a journalist in 2020. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @ezraklein Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Des Traynor is the co-founder of Intercom. In this episode we get deep into the weeds of startup land. We discuss product market fit, advice to entrepreneurs, hiring, firing, productivity, and a lot more. Des is one of the best growth and product founders in the game, and drops gems in this episode. Edited by @alexkontis Lavish Praise to @destraynor Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Emmet Shear is the CEO and Co-Founder of Twitch.tv and a partner at YCombinator. We talk about the story of Twitch.tv -- and how it evolved from Justin.TV -- how he became a YC Partner, and then we have a broader talk about capitalism, social inequality, and how technology can reduce it. Edited by @AlexKontis Lavish Praise to @eshear Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Alysia Harris is a world renowned spoken word poet. This episode we talk about the the craft of poetry -- how Alysia writes poems, how she advises others who want to write poems -- We talk about the economics of poetry -- how Alysia merges art & business and the tensions therein -- we talk about the artist’s role in society, and then, for good measure, we sprinkle some talk about religion, metaphysics, diversity and much more. Edited by @Alexkontis Lavish Praise to @poppyinthewheat, @libashton Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Cal Newport is a computer scientist, professor, and author of five books. In this episode we explore his book "Get So Good They Can’t Ignore You" which talks about the importance of mastery, and the follies of blind pursuing your passion. We also talk about his new book. Deep Work, which comes out today, January 5th. His book explores the concept of deliberate practice and shares strategies for how to construct an environment where one can perform deliberate practice consistently. Edited by @AlexKontis Praise to Calnewport.com/blog Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg Check out Deep Work below. I highly recommend it. http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/dp/1455586692

Jeff Atwood is a prominent entrepreneur and developer, having founded Stack Exchange and, more recently, Discourse. In this episode we get deep into the weeds on community building - Jeff's one of the best in the game. Edited by @Alexkontis Lavish Praise to @codinghorror Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Kanyi Maqbuela is a partner at Collaborative Fund. In this episode, we discuss Kanyi’s personal story going from Stanford drop out to VC, how he’s navigated failures, built mentor relationships, and we also go broad: We talk about tech and the intersection of education, academia, non-profit, government, culture, philosophy, and much more. Edited by @Alexkontis Praise to @Km Constructive Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Arielle Zuckerberg is a former Product Manager at Humin and Wildfire, and a new partner at Kleiner Perkins. We talk about the transition from product manager to angel investor to working at Kleiner, how her life has changed due to her last name (Zuckerberg), her senior thesis on the morality of artificial intelligence, and much more

Chris Sacca is one of the most successful angel investors of all time. He's invested in Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Kickstarter, among many others. Before that he led special projects at Google and worked as a lawyer at Fenwick. He shares what it was like working with Larry & Sergey at Google, working with Ev Williams and Jack Dorsey as one of the first investors in twitter, becoming a guest shark on Shark Tank, interviewing Edward Snowden, and asking President Obama the tough questions while working with him in his two campaigns. edited by Alex Kontis praise to @sacca criticism to @eriktorenberg

Ryan Leslie is one of the most interesting rappers and artists in the music industry. He graduated from Harvard at age 20, has grammy nominated songs, including one with Kanye West, and recently created the Super Phone, which is backed by Ben Horowitz, Betaworks and others. We talk about Ryan's story coming up in the rap game and the tech game, the future of the music industry, how he thinks about building his audience, and much more. Edited by Alex Kontis Praise to @ryanleslie Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Tracy Chou has been a super early employee at Pinterest and Quora and has become one of the most respected voices in the diversity in tech conversation, both in terms of gender and in terms of race, We talk about 1) her experiences being both a women in tech and asian in tech, 2) what’s it meant for Tracy to become a public figure, 3) how she evaluates who she spends her time with and why, 4) having a social impact beyond tech and more. Edited by @Alexkontis Praise to @triketora Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Interview with Alexis Madrigal, long-time tech journalist and media entrepreneur. We discuss tech, media, writing process, mentorship, Grantland, legacy, and more. Lead interviewer: Jonah Bromwich Edited by Alex Kontis

Matt Mullenweg is the Founder of Wordpress. In this episode we talk about daily rituals, how he started Wordpress, how being a successful CEO early on has affected his relationships, how he thinks about hiring, investing, and evaluating people. Edited by Alex Kontis Praise to @photomatt Criticism to @eriktorenberg

Peter Diamandis is author of BOLD and co-founder of X-Prize, Singularity Institute, and many others. We chat about Peter’s story, lessons learned from Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Larry Page, and what’s enabled him to succeed across industries, everything from space travel to human longevity to education of the future. Edited by Alex Kontis Feedback to @eriktorenberg

Tucker Max is the founder of Book in a Box and the author of a new book on relationships, "Mate". http://bookinabox.com http://www.amazon.com/Mate-Become-Man-Women-Want/dp/0316375365

Keith has been an early executive at startups such as Linkedin, Paypal, Square, and has been an early investor in companies such as Youtube, Airbnb, Palantir, Quora, Yelp, and much more. In this episode we discuss Keith’s story, his thoughts on career strategy, his philosophy on hiring and why its similar to drafting athletes, and much more. This was recorded during the LAUNCH conference earlier this year. Edited by Alex Kontis Feedback to @eriktorenberg Praise to @rabois

We just launched our new podcast vertical! www.producthunt.com/podcasts The Product Hunt Team -- Ryan Hoover, Alex Carter, and Erik Torenberg -- sit down and discuss podcasts with Nick Quah, podcast connoisseur and writer of Hot Pod, the defining podcast industry newsletter. Edited by Alex Kontis.

Mahbod Moghadam is a cofounder of (Rap) Genius who recently resigned last year. This episode is a bit like a therapy session: We discuss Mahbod's relationships, his perception of his actions, his thoughts on tech, hip-hop, and much more. Mahbod is currently a cofounder of Everipedia which is "Thug Wikipedia". We conducted the interview before he founded it. www.everipedia.com edited by Alex Kontis feedback to @eriktorenberg

In this episode we have Mike Shinoda, star of popular Linkin Park and Fort Minor. Linkin Park has recently launched a Venture Capital firm. We talk about everything tech - how and why Mike got into tech, what he wants to achieve, what he invests, but we also talk about his art - how he thinks about making art vs making a business off his art, how he deals with success and still pushing it - and a lot more. But the one thing I’m curious when you’ve tried so hard, and got so far, in the end, does it really even matter? Does it?

This episode I’m doing something a little different. It's with Mariquel and Gaston two entrepreneurs who run a business called Hickies, which is a shoelace replacement that allows you to to put on your shoes without tying them ,Bbt this episode has nothing to do with their business. It has nothing to do with tech. it has everything to do with relationships. We talk abut how they met, how Gaston courted Mariquel for 6 years, how, once they got together, they decided to build a business together and how that impacted the relationship, and how they’ve continued to build and strengthen their relationship . This is an experiment. I’ve wanted a more formal excuse to pry into peoples romantic and sex life and I’m curious if other people enjoy it. If you do, tweet me and let me know. If you think is this is lame, also tweet me. I’m just not gonna take silence anymore. I’m not gonna do it. Let me know what you think @eriktorenberg. Edited by Alex Kontis.

Ann Friedman is a journalist who writes about gender, tech, politics, and social issues in her weekly column for New York magazine. She also co-hosts the podcast Call Your Girlfriend with her friend Aminatou Sow. In this episode we talk about how to be a journalist in 2015, how anne’s podcast with her best friend has effected their relationship, and what it means to be an ethical tech consumer. Edited by Alex Kontis For constructive criticism on the episode, message me @eriktorenberg For lavish praise, message @annfriedman

Steven Johnson is the author of many books, some of which Future Perfect, Where Good Ideas Come from, Mind Wide Open, and How We Got To Now. This episode is all about innovation, where it occurs in our own lives, where it occurs in communities, and how he keeps finding it in his own life. Innovation is one of those terms like "authentic" that has essentially been co-opted. It’s been used so much to describe nearly everything that it’s almost lost its meaning. But Steven’s been writing about innovation for two decades and has interesting and defining things to say about it. Edited by Alex Kontis For any feedback, message me by @eriktorenberg See more Steven Johnson at www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/ and message him at @Stevenbjohnson.

Jane McGonigal is an author and game designer who believes that playing games and adopting gameful mindset can help improve our health, relationships, and her new book, Superbetter, explains how. In this episode we talk about Superbetter and how it works, we talk about not judging games by their content but by how the game is played, co-operative games vs competitive games, the intersection of games & therapy and more. Check out her book here: http://www.amazon.com/SuperBetter-Revolutionary-Approach-Stronger-Resilient-Powered/dp/1594206368 Edited by Alex Kontis For feedback, message me @eriktorenberg

Troy Carter is the founder of Atom Factory and Smashd Labs. Artists he's managed include Lady Gaga, John Legend, Miguel, and many others. Startups in his portfolio include Uber, Dropbox, Spotify, and many others. In this episode we talk about the convergence between entertainment and tech, the music industry, and how Troy wants to be for entrepreneurs what Nike was for athletes. Edited by Alex Kontis For feedback, message me at @eriktorenberg

Chris Schroeder is a successful founder, investor, and now author of "Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution remaking the Middle East" which chronicles startup stories in Cairo, Gaza, Damascus, and other countries throughout the region. In this episode we discuss his book, the role governments play in innovation, the intersection between tech and politics (both in the Middle East and in Washington where Chris lives), the future of cities and much more.

Robert Greene is the author of books such as Mastery, 33 Strategies of War, Art of Seduction, the 48 Laws of Power, and the 50th Law (w/ 50 cent). including mastery, strategies of war, art of seduction, laws of power, one of which is with rapper 50 cent This episode we talk about the ideas in his books (power, mastery, seduction) what in his personal life has inspired the books, but we also talk meditation, writing, not having kids, and bunch more. Edited by Alex Kontis For any feedback, tweet me at @eriktorenberg

James Currier is a prominent entrepreneur and investor. He was one of the earliest to build social networks, starting Tickle in 1999 and then selling it in 2004 He’s since advised/invseted in a bunch of startups including Goodreads, Honeybook and Meerkat, among many others. and most recently started NFX Guild, which is an invite only accelerator program for networks effects businesses. In this episode we discuss what James looks for in founders, common advice he finds himself giving, the concept of personal brand, his involvement in Goodreads and Meerkat, and more. Edited by Alex Kontis For any feedback, tweet me at @eriktorenberg http://nfx.com/

Felix Salmon is a senior editor at Fusion. He's of the rare writers who really understands both media and technology and the businesses and cultures behind both of them. In this episode we discuss media skepticism towards the tech industry, why there’s such an obsession with scale, why good things come from wasting time instead of optimizing it, the future of news delivery and brands, and much more. Edited by Alex Kontis Would love to hear feedback at @eriktorenberg

Kevin Kelly is perhaps most known for being a founding team member of Wired Magazine and for starting the Long now Foundation, which aims to solve problems in a ten thousand year time frame. More than a few people refer to Kevin Kelly as the most interesting person in the world. In this podcast we talk about what happens then robots take our jobs, how success to Kevin means doing things that only you can uiquely do, How Kevin didn’t have his first job till he was 35, and his first drug experience at 50, and a ton of other things. Check out his graphic novel, the Silver Cord, here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Silver-Cord-Kevin-Kelly/dp/1940689015 Edited by Alex Kontis Feedback to @eriktorenberg

Joe Greenstein founded Flixter, the popular movie discovery platform, for nearly a decade before selling it and since has founded Innerspace, a YC company that helps other companies build great companies + company cultures in addition to great products. Joe shares the struggles in his personal life building his company, the tension that comes with selling a company, him wanting to become a father, and much more. Check out Innerspace: http://www.helloinnerspace.org Edited by Alex Kontis Any feedback on the episode to @eriktorenberg

Ben is the co-author of The Start-up of You and The Alliance with Reid Hoffman, served for two years as Reid's chief of staff at LinkedIn, and has founded many different companies in Silicon Valley. In this podcast we chat about career strategy, what it means to live in "permanent beta", loneliness in San Francisco, and much more. Ben's blog: http://casnocha.com/blog The Alliance: http://www.amazon.com/The-Alliance-Managing-Talent-Networked/dp/1625275773 Edited by Alex Kontis Any feedback please let me know at @eriktorenberg