Rocketship.fm

While carpooling isn't new, Waze Carpool is a fresh way to share the road and the cost of commuting. A cost-effective alternative to rideshare services, Carpool lets you choose to drive or ride with people already going your way. Use the Waze app to drive, and the Waze Carpool app to catch a ride. Today we talk with Rapha Cohen about the development of Carpool. SIEMENS download their free webinar on Building a sound, digital foundation for hardware startups today. Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Earth Class Mail scans and digitizes you physical mail and makes it available to you on mobile or desktop or even Google Drive or Dropbox. Rocketship listeners get 25% off their subscription for the first 3 months by going to earthclassmail.com/rocketship. Rocketship is brought to you by The Podglomerate. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate netw

Tesla, Inc., formerly (2003–17) Tesla Motors, American electric-automobile manufacturer. It was founded in 2003 by American entrepreneurs Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning and was named after Serbian American inventor Nikola Tesla. Tesla Motors was formed to develop an electric sports car. Eberhard was Tesla’s chief executive officer (CEO) and Tarpenning its chief financial officer (CFO). Funding for the company was obtained from a variety of sources, most notably PayPal cofounder Elon Musk, who contributed more than $30 million to the new venture and served as chairman of the company, beginning in 2004. In 2008 Tesla Motors released its first car, the completely electric Roadster. In company tests, it achieved 245 miles (394 km) on a single charge, a range unprecedented for a production electric car. Additional tests showed that its performance was comparable to that of many gasoline-powered sports cars: the Roadster could accelerate from 0 to 60 miles (96 km) per hour in less than 4 seconds and could reac

Veil is a near-future climate change techno thriller, but how does a high researched, science based fictional book like this come into existence? Today we follow Eliot Peper and through his process of building a physical product and releasing something that can't be updated with a hot fix pushed to production. We walk through his writing, editing, rewriting process and the discipline it takes to 'make progress everyday.' We also explore his philosophy around releasing a book and how he knows when he's 'done.' The premise of Veil is when Zia León's mother dies in a heat wave that kills twenty million, she abandons a promising diplomatic career to lead humanitarian aid missions to regions ravaged by drought, wildfires, and sea level rise. What Zia doesn't know is that clandestine forces are gathering around her in pursuit of a colossal secret: someone has hijacked the climate, and the future of human civilization is at stake. To avoid a world war that appears more inevitable every day, Zia must build a coalitio

Amazon Echo (shortened to Echo) is a brand of smart speakers developed by Amazon. Echo devices connect to the voice-controlled intelligent personal assistant service Alexa, which will respond when you say "Alexa". Users may change this wake word to "Amazon", "Echo" or "Computer". The features of the device include: voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, and playing audiobooks, in addition to providing weather, traffic and other real-time information. It can also control several smart devices, acting as a home automation hub. The smart speaker needs to use Wi-Fi to connect to Internet, there is no Ethernet port. According to confirmed reports, Amazon started developing Echo devices inside its Lab126 offices in Silicon Valley and in Cambridge, Massachusetts as early as 2010. The device represented one of first attempts to expand its device portfolio beyond the Kindle e-reader. The Echo featured prominently in Amazon's first-ever Super Bowl broadcast television

When Rob Walling launched Drip, he was doing $7K in monthly recurring revenue. But he quickly realized that his revenue had already flat-lined and that he had a high customer churn problem. He was competing with behemoths like Mail Chimp and Marketo with a team of just 3 engineers. Drip started as a simple opt-in pop-up with an autoresponder. It then evolved into an email service provider, to finally become a marketing automation platform. That’s when it hit real product-market fit and churn immediately started plummeting. Rob sold Drip to Leadpages almost 3 years ago. Recently, he started TinySeed, an early stage VC fund and remote accelerator that aims to fill a gap in the market by providing funding to SaaS companies who don’t aim for the 100 million dollar goal. This episode is brought to you by: SIEMENS download their free webinar on Building a sound, digital foundation for hardware startups today. Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web

Tenor is an online GIF search engine and database that was acquired by Google in 2018. Over the life of the company they instilled a culture in relentless pursuit of growth - forgoing even putting their company name on their office door. Today we talk with David McIntosh about how he built a product and company that now hosts over 300 Million monthly active users to use their pop culture and social information gif search engine. This episode is brought to you by: SIEMENS download their free webinar on Building a sound, digital foundation for hardware startups today. Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Earth Class Mail scans and digitizes you physical mail and makes it available to you on mobile or desktop or even Google Drive or Dropbox. Rocketship listeners get 25% off their subscription for the first 3 months by going to earthclassmail.com/rockets

In 2003, Apple was working on new types of inputs for the Mac. The plan was to get rid of the mouse and keyboard, and the team began to experiment with multitouch — rotating and zooming on-screen with a few careful flicks of the finger. One of the first prototypes of a finger-controlled tablet was known as Model 035, a large white tablet that looked something like a clunky precursor to the iPad. But at the same time, the mobile phone race began to take over and Apple made an important decision to change direction, that would revolutionize phones forever.  This episode is brought to you by: SIEMENS is running a new, free webinar on July 29th at 2 pm ET called Building a sound, digital foundation for hardware startups. You can register here. Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Earth Class Mail scans and digitizes you physical mail and makes it availab

From Maximum Security Prison To CEO, Marcus Bullock, is now building Flikshop as a way for incarcerated individuals to stay connected to their families and loved ones. He knows first hand the impact a picture from the outside can make on those incarcerated. But this story is as much about our criminal justice system as it is about Marcus's journey. This episode is brought to you by: SIEMENS is running a new, free webinar on July 29th at 2 pm ET called Building a sound, digital foundation for hardware startups. You can register here. Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Earth Class Mail scans and digitizes you physical mail and makes it available to you on mobile or desktop or even Google Drive or Dropbox. Rocketship listeners get 25% off their subscription for the first 3 months by going to earthclassmail.com/rocketship. Rocketship is brought to you

Facial recognition startup Kairos, founded by Brian Brackeen, was one of the only companies in it's space with a black CEO, and it turned out to be their secret weapon... until the Trump Administration came knocking and wanted to use their ability to more accurately recognize illegal immigrants and deport them. Brian refused, but his board revolted and sued him to remove him as CEO. This is the story of a founder who refused to compromise on his values. This episode is brought to you by: SIEMENS is running a new, free webinar on July 29th at 2 pm ET called Building a sound, digital foundation for hardware startups. You can register here. Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Earth Class Mail scans and digitizes you physical mail and makes it available to you on mobile or desktop or even Google Drive or Dropbox. Rocketship listeners get 25% off their s

Hey! a new email platform, many opinions...and it's creators, Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson (known to the internet as DHH, the creator of Ruby on Rails) and the Basecamp team, have even more. Hey! launched just a couple weeks ago to a flurry of controversy. From it's firm stance on tracking pixels (perceived as spy devices) to it's pre-launch fight with Apple over revenue splits, Hey! is probably the most exciting thing to happen to email since the launch of gmail over 16 years ago. Today we take you through the ideation and launch of Hey! through the eyes of it's creators Jason Fried and DHH. This episode is brought to you by: Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Logi Analytics is the leading platform for embedded analytics. Take your dashboard and reports to the next level. Rocketship listeners get free access to the Logi Analytics library

How did Matt Hooper build a company singing about Blockchain? Today we explore the product journey of Live from Tomorrow! a live show that's been running in New York City for the last two years and has recently been turned into a podcast as an epic musical comedy about innovation in tech and business. There's really nothing like it out there. Recorded in the style of a cast album, the show seamlessly combines studio recordings with live performances and interviews. The five-episode, two-act inaugural season tells the extraordinary story of our lead, Matt Hooper, as he launches his new venture – a variety show-within-the-show that is called, yes, Live! From Tomorrow.  This episode is brought to you by: Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Logi Analytics is the leading platform for embedded analytics. Take your dashboard and reports to the next level.

Walker & Company Brands, a startup making health and beauty products for people of color, was acquired by consumer giant Procter & Gamble in 2018. The company was founded in2013 by Tristan Walker,  who previously led business development for Foursquare, and who aimed to create products that would better serve the needs of people of color with coarse or curly hair. Walker & Co. started out with its Bevel shaving products for men, then launched Form, a collection of hair products for women. Today we bring you the Journey of Tristan Walker in building Walker & Co and taking the company through an acquisition. This episode is brought to you by: Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Logi Analytics is the leading platform for embedded analytics. Take your dashboard and reports to the next level. Rocketship listeners get free access to the Logi Analytics lib

This episode originally aired on Jay Clouse's podcast Creative Elements. Rocketship.fm Host Michael Sacca is the VP of Product at Dribbble and cohost of Rocketship.fm. He started his career 15 years ago as a Product Designer, eventually founding a cutting-edge product agency that built applications for Scholastic, GE, Nike, Siemens, Kobe Bryant and more. In this episode we talk about building an agency, launching software products, working a 9-5 job, creative outlets, and the role that Constraints play in all of our decisions. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.    Since you're listening to Rocketship, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like 

Hamilton founded Backstage Capitol, a venture capital firm, in 2015, when she was homeless. The firm seeks to address funding disparities in the technology industry by investing in companies started by undervalued but high-potential entrepreneurs who are women, people of color, and/or LGBTQ. To date, Backstage Capital has raised more than $10 million and invested in more than 130 startup companies. This episode is brought to you by: Digital Ocean is a cloud provider that makes it easy for entrepreneurs and startups to deploy and scale web applications with no issues and unplanned costs. Get started for free at do.co/rocketship. Logi Analytics is the leading platform for embedded analytics. Take your dashboard and reports to the next level. Rocketship listeners get free access to the Logi Analytics library of product demos by going to logianalytics.com/rocketship. Earth Class Mail scans and digitizes you physical mail and makes it available to you on mobile or desktop or even Google Drive or Dropbox. Rocketshi

Kimberly Moore, CEO and Co-Founder of Go Together, is an entrepreneur completely passionate about building one of the most exciting companies in the mobility space. Go Together, an early stage startup, is on a mission to get people where they need to go through their trusted networks and via any transportation option available. First starting with education and political engagement. Two industries ripe for disruption in the transportation space. Go Together’s first product in the market is in 49 schools across the country and helps children attending the best school for them to succeed in life and removing transportation as the obstacle. Kimberly tells us her story of leaving Verizon Wireless right before her promotion to Vice President, her journey as a black woman founder and what VC's need to know about their own bias. This episode is brought to you by: Product Institute is an online course for new and tenured product managers. Head to productinstitute.com and enter the code ROCKET at checkout, you'll rece

Diversity can be a difficult issue to discuss, but the truth is the tech industry has a problem. Even a brief look at the data collected by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reveals huge racial disparities in the tech workforce compared to the private sector overall. Tech companies and investors should be concerned: Evidence strongly suggests that a racially diverse tech sector could translate into stronger financial performance. A McKinsey report on diversity showed a correlation between racial and ethnic diversity and a company’s financial performance. “For every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team,” the report stated, “gross earnings rose 0.8 percent.” So why aren’t our workforces more diverse? Why is it so hard for companies like Apple and Microsoft to build a workforce that better represents the customers they’re selling to? *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage

In Part Two of our look at Diversity in Tech we hear from how Stripe increased their percentage of underrepresented candidates in their internship program from 10% to 40% in one year. How Crowdfunder fixed their gender pay gap problem and how VC Arlan Hamilton is investing millions into underrepresented founders at Backstage Capital. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy.    Since you're listening to Rocketship, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Creative Elements and Freelance to Founder.

Shift is an online, peer-to-peer, marketplace for buying and selling used cars. Founded in 2014, Shift is an American company based in San Francisco’s Mission District. As of 2019, the company offers its services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego, California as well as Portland, Oregon. The leadership team includes Co-CEOs George Arison and Toby Russell, also co-founders of Taxi Magic; Sean Foy chief operating officer; and Christian Ohler chief technology officer. Shift was born out of a problem that the founders understood first hand and today we bring you their story. Want an ad free experience? Subscribe today at glow.fm/rocketship and get a private feed you listen to where ever you listen to podcasts. This episode is brought to you by: Product Institute is an online course for new and tenured product managers. Head to productinstitute.com and enter the code ROCKET at checkout, you'll receive $200 off your subscription. Participate builds and hosts online learning communities that inspi

PayPal was originally established by Max Levchin, Peter Thiel, and Luke Nosek in December 1998 as Confinity, a company that developed security software for handheld devices. In March 2000, Confinity merged with X.com, an online banking company founded by Elon Musk. After watching PayPal become the premier choice of Internet auction shoppers, online marketplace giant eBay acquired PayPal for $1.5 billion in October 2002, then in 2015 PayPal was spun off into an independent company, but it continued to be used by eBay. While the companies history was often rocky it's effects will ripple for generations from the impact of it's early team, known as the PayPal mafia. Want an ad free experience? Subscribe today at glow.fm/rocketship and get a private feed you listen to where ever you listen to podcasts. This episode is brought to you by: Product Institute is an online course for new and tenured product managers. Head to productinstitute.com and enter the code ROCKET at checkout, you'll receive $200 off your subscri

Earth Class Mail was founded over 16 years ago with the ambitious mission of “taking over the post office of the world." They were one of the first startups to launch on national television with their own slickly produced 8 part TV series focused on their CEO Ron Wieners fund-raising journey. But the journey hasn't always been smooth, they company was acquired in 2014 through a Bankruptcy resolution and then again in 2016. Today the product and team appear stronger than ever, publicly reporting 20% growth in 2018. We'll take you through their massive rise, eventual fall and a complete rebuild in a story that hasn’t yet been told in its entirety like we’re going to bring to you today. We've collected exclusive interviews with Ron Wiener himself, Venture Capitalist and eventual acquirer through Bankruptcy, Jonathan Segal and his appointed CEO Doug Breaker. Today we bring you the Product Journey of Earth Class Mail.  Want an ad free experience? Subscribe today at glow.fm/rocketship and get a private feed you lis