The Growth Show

If everything on earth is connected, what does that mean for humanity? This week we’re digging out one of our favorites from the archives. In this episode, Linden Tibbets, CEO of IFTTT, outlines a vision of the world where everything is so connected, that moving across the different systems in your life is as easy as rearranging books on a shelf. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you work in some kind of office, you’ve probably spent a good amount of your time in group brainstorms. Sometimes they work, but often you’re left with a ton of really great ideas - and no action. Jake Knapp is probably the most vocal critic of the group brainstorm. He’s the creator of GV's (Google Ventures) sprint process, and the author of “Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days” in which he lays out a five-day alternative to group brainstorms that actually has

One criticism of the gig economy is that it takes advantage of employees. Companies like Uber or Lyft classify their employees as independent contractors, disqualifying them from benefits. But Hello Alfred, a personal butler service, started by thinking about work differently. When they launched, they made their workforce all eligible for health insurance, 401Ks, and paid family leave. In this episode, co-founders Marcela Sapone and Jessica Beck explain how their model works and scales.

Back in 2011, Kathryn Minshew and Alexandra Cavoulacos founded the online career resource The Muse. Six years and 50 million users later, they decided to team up again to write a playbook - The New Rules of Work - for people looking to plot a course for their career and execute on it. In this episode, we talk to Kathryn about what getting taken down by government agents while working at the US Embassy in Cyprus taught her about what she truly valued, and why you should always wear pants.

Many women find themselves at a point in their career where they’re just stuck. Sometimes it has to do with moving up the ranks in a company, returning to the workforce in general, or even striking out in their own venture. That inflection point is why Lisa Skeete Tatum created Landit, which provides career coaching and a playbook for women trying to reach the next step in their career.

It seems like every company is trying to come up with an AI and machine learning strategy. Monica Rogati is an independent data science advisor, and she has some news: You can’t just lock a few data scientists in a room and expect them to sprinkle “magical machine learning dust” on everything. In this episode, she explains how a company can develop a successful data strategy, build a strong data team, and hire (and retain) talented data scientists.

There are a lot of different ways to move in your career. You can quit and move on to a new company. You can completely reinvent your job, or even reinvent your company. Rachel Blumenthal has moved in her career pretty much every way you can think of. Today, she’s the CEO and Founder of Rockets of Awesome, a children’s clothing membership. In this episode, she tells us how she knew when it was time to move on, how she did it gracefully, and some of the lessons she learned along the way. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many ecommerce companies face the same two problems: the cost of keeping inventory, and the money they have to swallow when a customer returns an item. Shan-Lyn Ma, the CEO and co-founder of Zola, has dodged both of those problems. Zola is an update on the wedding registry. In today’s episode, Shan-Lyn tells us about what she learned from her time working at the shopping website Gilt, her view on the future of ecommerce, and why it’s a good thing if a customer gets emotional when you’re doing user res

Julie Zhuo was Facebook’s first intern back in 2006. Today, more than a decade later, she’s their VP of Product Design. You can thank her for the newsfeed, “Reactions”, and a lot more. On today’s episode, Julie tells us how she got to where she is today -- despite having no formal background in design -- why her goal is for her team’s work to be “invisible”, and why changes to your product (even changes that make it better) are still incredibly hard to get users to like.

The process of buying and selling used furniture is painful. It’s hard to know what you’re getting and who you’re getting it from. Reham Fagiri started AptDeco to solve that problem. The company has morphed from a scrappy team poaching furniture sales from Craigslist to operating an end-to-end buying, selling and delivery service. In this episode, she talks about how she got AptDeco off the ground and how she deals with the sometimes “explosive” problems she faces.

A few months after Sara Mauskopf launched her first company, her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. With an infant at home and investors looking for results, Sara had to find a new definition of what “normal” looked like. In this episode, Sara talks about how she started her company while supporting her husband through his illness, why having a co-founder is so important for stability, and what companies get wrong when they try to create products for parents.

Just 10 weeks into her maternity leave, Vera Fischer was laid off after her company went through a major reorg. Now, 13 years later, she shares how she launched her successful all-in-one advertising and marketing agency, 97 Degrees West. This episode includes Heliotrope and Shift of Currents by Blue Dot Sessions, licensed under a Creative Commons license.

Happy Valentine’s Day! This holiday has everything to do with relationships. And there’s one type of relationship that we talk about a lot on this show: co-founders. In the spirit of the day, we’re bringing back one of our favorite episodes with the co-founders of Gimlet Media. Alex and Matt tell us why they decided to document their entire experience starting Gimlet in a podcast called StartUp, how they got away with “sucking” at marketing and how they got listeners to love (like, really love) th

In 1949, Andreas Weigend’s father was imprisoned in East Germany by Soviet occupying forces who thought he was an American spy. A decade later, when Andreas tried to find the Stasi file on his father, he instead found one about himself. In his new book “Data For the People: How to Make Our Post-Privacy Economy Work for You,” he works to help people understand how they can use their personal data to their benefit.

Before Doug Landis stepped into his current role as the Chief Storyteller at the file-sharing company Box, he was a Senior Director of Sales at Salesforce. In our last episode from INBOUND 2016, Doug explains why having a story to tell your customers is important, why there’s so often a divide between sales and marketing teams, and why it’s important to let out your “weekend self” sometimes. This episode features the song “Beats - Here I come” by SK, available under a Creative Commons Attribu

It was 2005. Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos borrowed a camera, rented a car, and set out to cover a murder trial in the small town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. They didn’t realize they were embarking on a decade-long journey to create the Netflix hit series ‘Making a Murderer.’ This week, in our third episode from INBOUND 2016, Moira and Laura give us a behind-the-scenes look into their process. This episode features the song “Let's get it” by J-K, available under a Creative Commons Attribution li

Sarah Cooper finds the satire in a normal office job in her blog - The Cooper Review. Today, Sarah is a full-time comedian. This week, in our second episode from INBOUND 2016, Sarah tells us how she makes typical life hysterical and what companies get wrong when they try to make content for regular people. This episode features the song “Sorriso (Parvo)” by J-K, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

This week is the first of our episodes from INBOUND 2016. First up is Alec Baldwin -- actor, comedian, and most recently, Donald Trump impersonator on Saturday Night Live. In this episode, he tells us why the role of Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock was the best job he’s ever had, how he prepared to play Trump, and why he almost didn’t take the gig in the first place. This episode features the song “Can't Shake You” by Mise, available under a Creative Commons Attribution license.

Daniel Pink has been a leading voice in business for more than two decades. He’s written five best-selling books about work and management, including “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” and “To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.” In this episode, Dan tells us what most managers get wrong when they try to motivate their employees, why feedback is key for younger employees, and why he thinks robots won’t be taking away everyone’s job anytime soon.

We’re looking back on a few of our favorite moments from the show this year. In this episode, we hear from basketball legend Bill Walton about his time working with coach John Wooden, author Charles Duhigg on why the making of the movie ‘Frozen’ was so chaotic, and a few other favorite past guests. Cheers to a great 2016! Thanks for listening.