Guy Nicolucci is a longtime comedy writer, producer and, most currently, professor. He joins this episode of the “Grow Wire Podcast” to dive into his history of comedy writing for the likes of Craig Kilborn, Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien (to name a few). Nicolucci starts off by recalling his first moments with comedy, which often got him into trouble as a high school student (2:50). He then begins his comedy-writing journey, starting with his time writing for Craig Kilborn on “The Daily Show”...

Founders of Comments by Celebs, Emma Diamond and Julie Kramer, take us on their three-year journey running the media company, providing lots of great business takeaways. After defining Comments by Celebs at its core (4:11), Emma recalls how she came up with the idea for the original Instagram handle (7:01), and why this was a career neither she or Julie could have ever imagined (13:15). They explain how they keep up with pop culture in such a fast-paced world (17:42), how they split up duties...

Robbie Page takes us on his journey from playing professional volleyball to founding Tenzo Tea, a matcha green tea company, specializing in organic and ceremonial matcha from Japan. Page takes us back to the beginning, explaining how he and co-founder Steve O’Dell came up with the idea for a matcha green tea company (3:25), which all started when they were playing collegiate volleyball together at the University of California, Los Angeles--an experience that assisted them in...

Morning Brew founders Alex Lieberman and Austin Rief join us to discuss the newsletter’s growth, from business school cheat sheet to two million subscribers. They start off by discussing their start at the University of Michigan (3:12) and why they eventually decided to bring it to the world at large (9:56). They reveal their strategies for growing readership in the early days (12:46) and how they turned that audience into two million subscribers with a 42% click-through rate, more than two...

Kathryn Rose is the CEO and founder of wiseHer, a social enterprise and technology platform providing on-demand expert advice and resources for professionals, which has become a great tool to remain connected, continue growing professional networks, and seek guidance from experts as we all navigate our careers and businesses amid this crisis and moving forward. Rose begins by diving into her career path before founding wiseHer (4:35) and how the idea for the platform emerged after the 2008...

The restaurant industry has been one of the hardest hit industries amid COVID-19, and yet, we’ve seen businesses and leaders across the industry do some incredible things to rise above the ashes. To portray this, we chatted virtually with three restaurant owners, a CMO of a successful chain and an industry expert—all of whom share the same appreciation for the support and unity we’ve seen between restaurants across the nation, in their various communities and right within the walls of their...

Business Insider’s Chief Revenue Officer and Publisher, Pete Spande, joins us on this episode of “The Grow Wire Podcast'' to discuss the company’s growth and success as well as the current state of media and publishing. Spande starts off by explaining Business Insider (4:00) before diving into the company’s business model (8:00) and how it (successfully) diversifies across advertising, subscriptions and areas like licensing, production and affiliate and ecommerce partnerships (14:18). He then...

Chair for Singularity University and a co-founder of eParachute, Gary Bolles, breaks down the future of work. He starts off by defining the future of work in his own words (5:20) before diving into the shift to a working digital economy and what that means for all of us (8:52). He stresses the importance of being a lifelong learner (20:40) and how that coincides with the unbundling of education (24:58) and the breakdown of traditional business strategies and leadership (37:31). Finally,...

Tony Mangieri, founder of Una Pizza Napoletana, takes us on his journey from a Jersey kid with a passion for cooking to one of New York City’s most esteemed chefs. He starts with a unique introduction to himself (4:35) before recalling his start opening a bakery in New Jersey (10:32), which he’ll explain why he pegs it a failure (16:55). Tony then reveals the secret to his dough (22:32) and the many experiments he’s tried with it (29:15). He explains his decision to open pizzerias in New...

Ad Age’s Associate Publisher and General Manager of Marketing and Brand, Heidi Waldusky, joins this episode of “The Grow Wire Podcast” to discuss the current state of advertising, media and publishing. Waldusky begins by diving into her opinions on the industry (4:17) before discussing major media trends like paywalls (12:51) and newsletters (16:30). She also hits on the ideas of engagement as a metric (21:16), click-bait headlines (23:41) and building revenue streams from affiliate links...

Zero Carbon World is the U.K.-based nonprofit with the mission to affordably decarbonize society by reducing the use of fossil fuel and donating free electric car charging stations to big businesses (6:05). Director Cara Naden dives into the organization’s genesis (9:45) and how its grown over the last eight years (12:19). Most importantly, she dives into the devastating facts around carbon emissions (18:25), and why each of us is responsible to help reverse the footprint (20:19). Naden...

Former Head Coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes and Fox Sports Analyst Urban Meyer discusses leadership, culture and building long-lasting success. We start off by discussing his life beyond coaching (4:49) and the struggle in striking a balance between his passion for his career and his personal life (8:44). Meyer then dives into building successful programs across all of the colleges for which he’s coached (11:52) and the role culture played in that (16:21). He also reveals his secret to...

This is the story of Creativity Explored, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that provides space, supplies, professional instruction and exhibition opportunities to artists with developmental disabilities. Hear firsthand from one of the organization’s artists, Rory, who reveals the impact Creativity Explored has on his life (1:25). Then, Development Director, Megan Hover, will take us back to the genesis of the organization (9:08) before diving into the philosophy behind the importance of art...

Elyse Klaidman and Tony DeRose join us to discuss the intersection of art, technology and science as they experienced it throughout 22 years working for Pixar (3:47). Tony was a Senior Scientist at Pixar (8:29), Elyse was an art instructor and director of archives and exhibitions (12:25), and their two worlds collided when they created Pixar in a Box, an online resource exploring the academic concepts that go into creating Pixar films, including art, math, science and engineering (16:39)....

On this episode of the “Grow Wire Podcast,” we’re joined by Lauren Woodman, the CEO of NetHope. She begins by explaining the purpose of NetHope, a consortium of 57 of the world’s largest humanitarian, development, and conservation organizations that work together with top technology companies to overcome some of the world’s largest problems (4:06). Woodman dives into the genesis of the organization (5:00) and its focus on overcoming the core challenges nonprofits faced 20 years ago (7:40) and...

Former professional pitcher and current MLB pitching coach, Jim Brower, dives into the impact of analytics in baseball. First, he takes us back to his early years playing the game (4:01) and through the evolution of his 17-year professional career (9:12). He then explains how he made his foray into coaching (15:52) and dissects the makeup of a successful team (21:08) with one of the key components being analytics (24:08). He unravels the influence numbers can have on players, coaches, medical...

Angel investor and founder of the popular podcast, “This Week in Startups,” Jason Calacanis walks us through the evolution of the internet. He starts off with his own evolution, growing up in Brooklyn (5:07) and attending college at Fordham University where he originally intended to become an FBI agent but where he’d actually kickoff a lifelong obsession with the internet (9:15).  He opens up about starting a Zine in the ‘90s (13:45), helping Sony realize the power of web pages for musicians...

We’re getting intergalactic on this episode with NASA’s Director and System Capability Leader of the Advanced Communication and Navigations Division, Donald Cornwell, who takes us on his journey developing better space communication technology (5:37). But first, he brings us back to his childhood dreams of becoming an astronaut (10:00) and into his NASA internship during his days at the University of Maryland (15:53). Of course, that led to a lifelong career at NASA (minus a few detours that...

We’re getting intergalactic on this episode with NASA’s Director and System Capability Leader of the Advanced Communication and Navigations Division, Donald Cornwell, who takes us on his journey developing better space communication technology (5:37). But first, he brings us back to his childhood dreams of becoming an astronaut (10:00) and into his NASA internship during his days at the University of Maryland (15:53). Of course, that led to a lifelong career at NASA (minus a few detours that...

Ocient co-founder Chris Gladwin joins this episode to take us down his entrepreneurial journey, starting as a child born and raised in Ohio (7:07) to his days at MIT (14:02), including the internship that kicked off his entire career. He dives into his first few jobs: Evaluating information technology products for Martin Marietta (now Locheed Martin) (21:34) and then building ethernet into portable PCs at Zenith Data Systems (24:07). His first startup, Cruise Technologies, stemmed from his...

Ocient co-founder Chris Gladwin joins this episode to take us down his entrepreneurial journey, starting as a child born and raised in Ohio (7:07) to his days at MIT (14:02), including the internship that kicked off his entire career. He dives into his first few jobs: Evaluating information technology products for Martin Marietta (now Locheed Martin) (21:34) and then building ethernet into portable PCs at Zenith Data Systems (24:07). His first startup, Cruise Technologies, stemmed from his...

Ocient co-founder Chris Gladwin joins this episode to take us down his entrepreneurial journey, starting as a child born and raised in Ohio (7:07) to his days at MIT (14:02), including the internship that kicked off his entire career. He dives into his first few jobs: Evaluating information technology products for Martin Marietta (now Locheed Martin) (21:34) and then building ethernet into portable PCs at Zenith Data Systems (24:07). His first startup, Cruise Technologies, stemmed from his...

Former Bears Coach Mike Ditka joins this episode of the “Grow Wire Podcast,” which was recorded during a live event in Chicago—just in time for football season! Hear about the people who helped mold him into a great athlete and subsequent coach (4:43) as well as his thoughts on football today, how the game has changed and how players have transformed (9:08). He reveals some of the players he greatly admires in the league right now and explains why he believes the Bears are headed for the...

Former Bears Coach Mike Ditka joins this episode of the “Grow Wire Podcast,” which was recorded during a live event in Chicago—just in time for football season! Hear about the people who helped mold him into a great athlete and subsequent coach (4:43) as well as his thoughts on football today, how the game has changed and how players have transformed (9:08). He reveals some of the players he greatly admires in the league right now and explains why he believes the Bears are headed for the...