33voices

Kevin Lavelle and Jenna walk through Mizzen+Main’s founding story, from storing inventory in their bedroom to partnering with Houston Texans defensive end JJ Watt and being sold in over 450 retailers across the U.S.. Kevin shares how gratitude helped him survive early challenges, like days when no sales were made, and navigate growing pains when customer demand outpaced the team's ability to scale processes. He opens up about his personal evolution as a leader, how vulnerability directly influen

Peter Reinhardt and Jenna discuss how Segment empowers companies to harness their data to create a ‘memory’ of every customer. We walk through the team’s journey to product-market fit, from deciding to drop out of MIT through the turning point when Y Combinator Founder Paul Graham asked them: 'So, you have spent $500,000 and you have nothing to show for it?' Peter then shares how increasing their customer pain meter to an 11 out of 10 helped them land on the right product. We close chatting about

Rachel Drori and Jenna walk through Daily Harvest’s founding story, from making and delivering everything on her own to acquiring over 100,000 subscribers across the U.S. Rachel takes us behind the scenes at Daily Harvest’s R&D lab, explains the evolution of the frozen food aisle, and why her team believes that frozen food is the perfect way to solve our modern eating dilemma. We also chat about key lessons from Rachel’s journey including: Having the self-restraint to pitch only a small part

Kathryn Retzer, Patrick Herning, and Jenna discuss 11 Honoré's multi-dimensional approach to advancing the size inclusive fashion movement, from assembling the world’s best luxury brands on a single discovery platform to equipping upcoming brands with the resources and support they need to add to their collections. We walk through how the team is fundamentally shifting the view of the size inclusive customer by demanding that she is seen and respected as a woman who deserves equal access to luxury produc

Rei Wang, Yasyf Mohamedali, and Jenna discuss how Dorm Room Fund is creating a national community and platform to support student entrepreneurs and investors. Rei and Yasyf share a few of the moon shot ideas student founders are pursuing (including a robotic kitchen!) and their commitment to social impact, as well as how DRF aims to design the program to foster that spirit of courage and fearlessness. Rei and Yasyf give us an inside look into their new product VCWiz, which acts like a founder’s fundr

Moe Abdou is joined by Kapil Gupta, MD to explore deeper why only a few can make greatness routine. 

Munjal Shah and Jenna discuss Health IQ’s pivot from being a daily health quiz into a life insurance company and how they’re helping the health conscious save up to 33% on their life insurance. For the core of our conversation, we walk through five counterintuitive strategies Munjal chose not to scale up to 140 people and how they helped Health IQ grow even faster: Meeting and interviewing nearly every candidate, the company wide daily stand-up they’ve maintained where every person contributes, their

Christiane Lemieux and Jenna discuss how The Inside is evolving design so we can change our homes to reflect our lives. We chat about the future of customization, e-commerce, and why entertainment is crucial to retail 2.0. We then walk through Christiane's entrepreneurial journey from founding Dwell Studio to partnering with Wayfair, how those lessons influence her building The Inside, and tips to avoid shiny objects syndrome while still leaving room for serendipity. We also discuss her personal journe

Jake Kassan and Jenna chat about MVMT’s founding story, from maxing out their credit cards to launch their all or nothing Indiegogo campaign to becoming the leading millennial watch brand. Jake shares entrepreneurial stories, beginning from his first business selling lollipops in elementary school to running two e-commerce startups as a teen, and how they prepared him to help scale MVMT to $80 million in revenue in five years without any outside investment. Reflecting on those experiences, we break d

George Arison and Jenna discuss Shift’s founding story and the team’s plan to become a full service platform to purchase, finance, sell, and maintain our cars. We then walk through key lessons George has learned articulating and refining company values, finding the right CEO-COO relationship, and how to evaluate investors and board members and build a strong relationship with them.

Jennifer Bett Communications' Founder Jennifer Bett Meyer, Managing Director Melissa Duren Conner, and Jenna discuss how today’s leading consumer startups like Lunya, M.Gemi, and Parachute are navigating the new world of PR. Jennifer and Melissa break down the elements of quality PR that drive ROI, emphasize the importance of startups deploying a diverse press strategy, covering multiple story angles and publications, and explain how to assess media outlets based on how they can help you co

Semil Shah and Jenna chat about his first investments at Haystack in companies like Hired and Instacart and reflect on a few big bets taken by portfolio companies like Wag and Managed by Q. We discuss the realities of being a VC such as creating space to let your mind rest so your subconscious can kick in evaluating investments, the challenge of saying ‘No’ to founders you admire, as well as developing a willingness to concentrate risk to have outsized returns. We also walk through key insights from Sem

Carolyn Witte, Felicity Yost, and Jenna discuss how Tia aims to be women’s translator to understand their healthcare and their latest feature The Vagina Benefits, specifically designed to decode women’s unique health insurance needs and rights. Carolyn and Felicity share Tia’s efforts changing the conversation around women’s health and how they’re finding the right voice, balancing the education of your OBGYN with the comfort and trust of chatting with your best friend. We also walk through their

Acclaimed management thinker, Morten Hansen joins Moe Abdou to explore the modern framework for individual greatness at work.

Peter Rahal and Jenna discuss how the nature of RXBAR's product influences their culture — the constraints are a mindset — and why every team member makes bars. We chat about your values as your constitution and how to turn them from principles into practice. Peter walks us through the company’s founding days from making bars in his parents’ kitchen to running the business from his cell phone for 18 months and feeling miserably uncomfortable clawing for growth as a CPG brand. We also dive deep into