The Growth Show

Comedian and podcaster Marc Maron joins us on this episode of The Growth Show -- the first in a series of live interview's from INBOUND 2015.

The founders of Clif Bar could have sold the company for $120M in 2000. Most people would have taken that offer, but instead, Clif Bar wanted to build a brand that would last well beyond their founders -- a brand that would matter for current employees, future employees and their kids. Fast forward to 2015 and that’s exactly what Clif Bar has done.

Jason Fried is the founder and CEO of Basecamp, the co-author of Getting Real, Remote, and The New York Times Bestseller REWORK. He’s a frequent speaker on management, leadership and is always challenging the status quo in a quest to change the way we work.

Scott Meyer is the CEO of Ghostery, a technology company that allows consumers and businesses to create safer, faster, and more trusted digital experiences. Prior to Ghostery, Scott was President and CEO of About.com and held a senior management role at the New York Times. He joins Dave this week to talk about transparency, why he still makes the time to interview every new hire, how he runs meetings with his direct reports and more.

John and Jen Kimmich are the owners of the Alchemist Brewery. Their most popular beer, Heady Topper, has become a sensation up and down the East Coast. It’s been called liquid gold, sacred beer and the greatest IPA people have ever tasted, and craft beer lovers today go to crazy lengths just to get their hands on a case of it. The thing that makes Heady Topper’s popularity even crazier, is that the beer is only sold within a 20-mile radius near Stow, Vermont.

Sue Heilbronner is the CEO and Co-Founder of MergeLane, a startup accelerator in Boulder, CO that discovers, accelerates and invests in exceptional women and the companies they run. We talk about MergeLane and why she started an accelerator focused on women, how she re-invented herself in the middle of her career (she’s gone from Federal Prosecutor to CMO to CEO to investor), and what makes a great leader (based on her work with the Conscious Leadership Group).

Last year, former This American Life producer and Planet Money co-host Alex Blumberg launched a business of his own: Gimlet Media. Today, Gimlet has 20 full-time employees, $2M in revenue, and three shows (including StartUp) that are routinely in the top 30 on iTunes, attracting an audience of over four million people each month.

Jeff Raider is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Harry’s. Harry’s is on a mission to make the shaving process easier: all you have to do is enter the number of blades you want and how often you want to get them, and Harry's will send razors right to your door. Before starting Harry’s, Jeff was one of the co-founders of Warby Parker, and many are now calling Harry’s "The Warby Parker of shaving."

James Freeman is the founder and CEO of Blue Bottle Coffee, a coffee roaster and retailer headquartered in Oakland, California.Best known for their long lines of customers who wait for individually brewed cups of coffee, Blue Bottle has caught the eye of Silicon Valley’s top investors, including Chris Sacca’s Lowercase Capital, Google Ventures, Kevin Systrom (Instagram founder) and Tony Hawk.

90+ Cellars is the fastest growing wine brand in the U.S. yet they don’t own any vineyards, they don’t plant any grapes, and they don’t even own any wineries. Kevin Mehra (President) and Brett Vankoski (Vice President) join Growth Show producer Dave Gerhardt on this episode to share the story behind 90+ Cellars and going from launching the company during the recession to growing 580%.

With only one year left until graduation, Zach Sims decided to drop out of Columbia in 2011 to start Codecademy. Fast forward to 2015 and Codecademy has grown to help more than 25 million people around the world learn how to code.

Veteran tech journalist Ashlee Vance (NYT, Businessweek) joins Mike to talk about Ashlee’s best-selling biography of Elon Musk. Ashlee goes behind the scenes to talk about PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla and SolarCity, Elon’s personality and working style, and why he’s more like Thomas Edison than Steve Jobs.

Carly and Danielle quit their jobs at NBC News without a product and only two months worth of savings in their bank accounts. Today, they’re the founders of theSkimm, which has been called Oprah’s must-read newsletter. And Oprah’s not alone -- theSkimm has grown to over one million subscribers, and the founders are well on their way to turning news into a lifestyle brand.

We’ve got two special guests on this episode of The Growth Show: Harvard Business Review Group Publisher Josh Macht and Venturebeat Editor-In-Chief Dylan Tweney. Dylan steps in as host and talks to Josh about the future of the publishing industry, how Harvard Business Review has grown an audience of millions in an age where traditional media is declining, and they both share their thoughts on why today’s publishers need to diversify their revenue streams and not rely on a single business model.

If you've ever thought about running an event for your business, you don't want to miss this episode. Mike sits down with HubSpot's VP of Brand & Buzz Cindy Goodrich to talk about how INBOUND grew from a small conference to an event with over 10,000 attendees and speakers like Martha Stewart, Seth Godin, Arianna Huffington, Malcolm Gladwell and Amy Schumer.