Episodes
The D’Amelio family—Marc, Heidi, Dixie, and Charli — have taken their social media fame and passion for content creation and parlayed it into a lifestyle media empire. The family members have a combined Instagram following of 72.1 million and 228.7 million on TikTok (and counting). They recently launched their own venture and cross-platform company, D’Amelio Brands, with their first brand launch, D’Amelio Footwear, debuting in May with plans to launch a skincare line ZitsAllright...
Published 10/20/23
Today, instead of listening to one guest, you’re going to hear from multiple renowned founders about a specific challenge that we all face on our entrepreneurship journey. The guests will share their stories, solutions, and how you can learn to build your business better.  In this episode, we’re focusing on the challenge of finding the right business partners– everything from co-founders to influences–featuring:  Jean Oelwang, founding CEO and President of Virgin Unite and author of...
Published 10/13/23
If you’re young and looking to start a business with a friend, here’s the pathway to do it successfully. Chris Savage and Brendan Schwartz were friends at Brown University when they began dreaming about working together. After quitting their jobs, they created Wistia, a complete video marketing platform that helps teams create, host, and measure the impact of their videos — all in one place. Now, almost two decades into their business, Chris and Brendan still love working together and are...
Published 10/06/23
Today, instead of listening to one guest, you’re going to hear from multiple renowned founders about a specific challenge that we all face on our entrepreneurship journey. The guests will share their stories, solutions, and how you can learn to build your business better.  In this episode, we’re focusing on the challenge of overcoming failure featuring:  Amy Porterfield, founder, author, and host of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast. Jessica Rolph, co-founder and CEO of...
Published 09/29/23
Brad Pedersen says the best gifts come wrapped in ugly paper. And he’s seen some ugly paper. From going bankrupt three times to getting fired from his company after a merger, Pedersen has persevered through eras of defeat. Now, he’s helping lead two startups tackling our world’s greatest challenge–climate change. So, if you’re facing rock bottom in your business, Pedersen knows how you feel. In this episode, he’ll share how he emerged stronger through the darkest moments of his...
Published 09/22/23
Evan Goldberg is the founder of the very first cloud software company, NetSuite. After his first failed attempt at a tech startup, he invested $2,000 into building a cloud accounting software that eventually transformed into the world's leading cloud-based business management software. Evan says his success in businesses through uncertain economic times and 25 years of tech evolution comes down to consistency.  Listen to Nathan and Evan discuss: 1998: The craziest year of his life His...
Published 09/15/23
For over 25 years, Philip Fierlinger has created digital products and experiences that have set new design, business, and technology standards. He was embedded in the Silicon Valley community since it started, crossing paths with the people who created products synonymous with today. In 2006, he co-founded the ASX-listed online accounting platform Xero. Three years ago, he launched the food service marketplace Upstock, a B2B marketplace for the hospitality and food service industry. He shares...
Published 09/08/23
Are you camera shy? Talia Datt says if you’re a founder, you need to be in front of the camera because it’s the most effective way to build an audience is on social channels like TikTok. In her new foundr course, she’ll teach how to make a social media content strategy that leads to growth and profits. Datt is the CEO and founder of The Social CliQ, a full-service digital marketing agency with a social media-first approach to online platforms. They leverage their group of 3,000 TikTok...
Published 09/01/23
Sebastian Siemiatkowski says financial uncertainty is the best thing that can happen to you. Siemiatkowski is the CEO and co-founder of Klarna, the world’s biggest “buy now pay later” company, bringing consumers a low-cost and low-risk alternative to traditional high-cost credit. Sebastian came from humble beginnings and built Karna into a finance and banking industry disruptor that now has over 150 million users worldwide. Learn how he’s overcome negative public perception, co-founder...
Published 08/25/23
In just nine years, Nik Mirkovic and Alex Tomic built their smile care brand into a category disruptor on track to earn over a billion in annual revenue by next year. Mirkovic and Tomic don’t want shortcuts, so they’ve remained bootstrapped since they started Hismile at ages 19 and 20. Hismile’s teeth-whitening kit has become an internet sensation, making the brand a favorite among influencers and celebrities. But the co-founders aren’t resting on success. They want to make Hismile a category...
Published 08/18/23
Amy Porterfield’s first two years of starting her own business were brutal. She was burnt out, confused, and contemplating going back to her job working for Tony Robbins. 14 years later, her marketing business has earned more than $82 million in revenue, she’s served more than 50,000 students in her online courses, and her Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast receives over one million monthly downloads. Then she decided to write the book she wished she had after going off alone. In the New York...
Published 08/11/23
Linden Tibbets believes that with each new tech wave, problems will arise for entrepreneurs to solve. He says the recent AI frenzy will create opportunities for startups, creators, and early-stage businesses to differentiate and scale faster. In 2010, Tibbets rode the wave of API technology by creating IFTTT (if now, then later), an online platform that empowers you to do more with your favorite apps and smart devices by helping them automate and integrate so they can work together...
Published 08/04/23
Holly Thaggard is passionate about sun protection. That passion drove her to create her multimillion-dollar skincare company, Supergoop!, which started turning the world of suncare products on its end when it launched in 2007. Last year, Supergoop! reached $250 million in sales. She combined her sunscreen with a curriculum on the importance of sun protection, which she launched in private schools. At the same time, she kept building a luxurious yet fun brand that consumers really wanted to...
Published 07/28/23
James Chin Moody became an entrepreneur by accident. While on sabbatical from his engineering career, he developed a donate marketplace inspired by trying to donate outgrown baby clothes to those in need. While optimizing local delivery logistics, he unintentionally created a model that rivaled the national post office. In 2014, out of that happy accident, Sendle was born, unlocking the power of big business delivery networks for small businesses to make delivery simple, reliable, and...
Published 07/21/23
There are not many interviews where Nathan Chan is speechless, but this is one of them. If you want to learn how to find product market fit, build a successful team, and create a lasting business, then Uri Levine has the map. Levine is the co-founder of two unicorn startups–Waze and Moovit. He’s been a founder, investor, and chairman for more than ten successful startups focusing on solving big problems. His new book “Fall In Love with the Problem, Not the Solution-a Handbook for...
Published 07/14/23
Manuel Mueller started his first mattress company when he was 19 years old, and since then, he has never stopped iterating to create the perfect mattress. In 2013, he launched sleepwear company Emma, one of Europe’s fastest-growing sleep innovation companies, with mattresses, beds, and pillows sold in over 30 countries to 4 million customers. Learn the marketing strategies and mindset that allowed Emma to endure the DTC mattresses boom and continually have 30% year-over-year growth.  Listen...
Published 07/07/23
Ali Ghosdi was a reluctant founder. He planned to become an academic researcher and professor, not lead a successful tech startup. In 2013, alongside six other co-founders, Ghosdi helped build an open-source data product called Apache Spark, a best-of-breed future predicting code. The research project eventually became a business called Databricks. In 2016, he was picked as CEO and helped transform the open-source startup into a technology enterprise with a $38 billion valuation. Databricks...
Published 06/30/23
If your business or brand has a podcast, listen up. In this episode, we’re diving into the current state of podcasting with Max Cutler, Parcast founder, Spotify’s former head of talk creator content, and The Hollywood Reporter’s most powerful people in podcasting. Cutler became a podcast pioneer when he bootstrapped his true crime network, which sold to Spotify in 2019 for $100 million according to the Financial Times. As a Spotify executive, he signed and produced the most popular podcasting...
Published 06/23/23
Michelle Zatlyn and her co-founders were outsiders when they moved to Silicon Valley to launch their web security startup. It was 2009, in the middle of a recession, but the team knew their visceral early-user feedback validated the need to be bold. In 2010, Cloudflare launched its first freemium product and hasn’t looked back. Today, Cloudflare has four million customers worldwide, surpassed a $1 billion revenue run rate, and employs 3,200 team members. Zatlyn currently serves as the...
Published 06/17/23
Since 2006, Immad Akhund has been investing in and building startups. But he always struggled with working with traditional banks to run his startups, especially as a non-US resident. He figured someone else would solve it, but the issue was still on the table by the time he exited his fourth startup in 2017. So, he launched Mercury, a bank for startups that now is a fintech unicorn valued at $1.62 billion. On the side, Akhund also is an angel investor of 240-plus startups, many of which are...
Published 06/09/23
Your first product won’t always be your best seller. Jessica Rolph’s organic baby food business Happy Family Organics failed twice before finding product market fit and scaling from $0 to $63M in sales. After exiting HappyFamily in 2016, Rolph launched Lovevery, a subscription brand that sells early-childhood development play kits and solutions. Lovevery has 300,000+ active subscribers and has been named one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies.”  Listen to Nathan and Jessica...
Published 06/02/23
Adrian Grenier was a rebellious artist before he was known for his acting roles in Entourage, Devil Wears Prada, and Clickbait. Now he’s a rebellious entrepreneur, investor, and activist. Learn how Grenier’s disenchantment with fame and wealth led him to start and support social impact businesses through DuContra Ventures and Earth Speed Media with co-founder and co-CEO Bia Carminati.  Listen to Nathan and Adrian discuss: His trajectory from punk rebel artist to movie star How mortality...
Published 05/26/23
For ten years, we've interviewed hundreds of elite entrepreneurs who’ve started and grown the world's most successful businesses. The reason we connect with these dynamic founders is to break down their wisdom, experience, and inspirational stories to help accelerate your growth as an entrepreneur. In this episode of The Foundr Podcast, we're instead sharing the stories of everyday founders like you who are students in our foundr+ community. Foundr+ is our comprehensive platform designed to...
Published 05/19/23
Partnerships can be tricky, especially when you’re starting a business. For ​​Jean Oelwang, creating meaningful partnerships has been her focus for nearly 30 years. Oelwang is the founding CEO and President of Virgin Unite, an entrepreneurial foundation that builds collectives, incubates ideas, and re-invents systems for a better world. She’s worked with partners like Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel, Archbishop Desmond and Leah Tutu, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Ben and Jerry, and the...
Published 05/12/23
David Lester learned a lot from his first venture. After spending a decade in the beverage marketing industry, he teamed up with his co-founder Ben Goodwin to work on formulating a soda that’s good for you. After three years, they sold their first business but didn’t feel they’d gotten the product correct. So, they returned to their research for two years and discovered the right product market fit. In 2016, Lester and Goodwin launched OLIPOP PBC–a new kind of soda with the benefits of...
Published 05/05/23