Hardware Podcasts

Gimlet Media: Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber

How I Built This · 21 Oct 2019 · 1h 20m

What this episode covers

Alex Blumberg and Matt Lieber, co-founders of Gimlet Media, recount their journey from public radio producers to building a podcast network that sold to Spotify for roughly $200 million. Blumberg details his transition from NPR, where he co-created Planet Money, to launching Gimlet after struggling to find investors as a solo founder. Lieber explains how he joined Blumberg, bringing business strategy to complement Blumberg's editorial vision, and how they navigated early funding, naming, and scaling challenges to become a profitable media company.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Gimlet Media, Spotify, NPR
Products
Planet Money, This American Life, Startup, Reply All, Homecoming, Oesh Shoes, 99% Invisible

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Builder Circle · 11m

    The Pilot: Unveiling the Blueprint of "The Builder Circle"

    Sera Evcimen, host of The Builder Circle, explains her motivation for launching the podcast after mentoring startups at Techstars Paris and working on technologies like CubeSats and ion thrusters. She outlines the show's format, which includes case studies with founders like Bridget Hunter Jones and expert discussions with industry veterans such as Scott Miller. The episode details the podcast's unique value proposition, including 50-minute episodes with TL;DL summaries and a focus on actionable advice and failure analysis rather than just success stories.

    Starting a product companyValidation & product-market fit
    5 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 48m

    Founder + Funder: Fundraising, Founder-Investor Fit, and Building the Next Big Breakfast Brand with Emily Groden of Evergreen and Brian Bernstein of Rich Products Ventures

    Emily Groden, Founder and CEO of Evergreen, and Brian Bernstein, Principal at Rich Products Ventures, discuss the journey of building Evergreen from homemade waffles into a nationally distributed frozen breakfast brand. They detail the fundraising process, emphasizing the importance of founder-investor fit, operational alignment, and building relationships long before capital is needed. The conversation covers Evergreen's product expansion from mini waffles to pancakes and protein products, as well as the diligence and strategic value provided by a corporate venture fund.

    Fundraising & investorsValidation & product-market fit
    8 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 54m

    Shark Tank, Sea Moss, and an Ocean of Potential with Alexiou Gibson (2022)

    Alexiou Gibson, founder and CEO of The Transformation Factory, explains how his Sea Moss Gel product scaled to $3.5 million in revenue in 11 months, leading to a $600,000 deal with Mark Cuban and Kevin Hart on Shark Tank. He details his journey from a NASA biomedical engineer to an entrepreneur, highlighting the pivot from giving away product to healthcare workers during the pandemic to a commercial Etsy store. Gibson discusses the operational challenges of rapid growth, including hiring his first marketing director, managing a 50-person team, and securing shelf-stabilization technology to enter retail and Amazon channels.

    Crowdfunding & preordersScaling production
    8 chapters

  • The Amp Hour · 1h 59m

    Jeri Ellsworth and the demise of CastAR

    Jeri Ellsworth, founder of Cast AR, details the company's rise and fall, explaining how a $15 million Series A from Playground Global led to rapid scaling, loss of founder control, and eventual shutdown due to misaligned leadership and poor fundraising strategy. She describes the chaotic product development, including multiple failed prototype iterations (Proto-1 through EVT) and endless rebranding exercises, before purchasing the assets for pennies on the dollar to launch a new venture. The episode highlights critical failures in board governance, investor relations, and hardware execution, offering lessons on choosing strategic investors and maintaining founder control.

    Starting a product companyFundraising & investors
    9 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 44m

    #100 Toasting to 100 Episodes of The Startup CPG Podcast with Our Favorite Moments

    Host Jessi Freitag counts down the top 10 moments from 100 episodes of The Startup CPG Podcast, featuring insights from founders like Seth Goldman of Honest Tea, Alexiou Gibson of The Sea Moss Transformation Factory, and Rosa Li of wildwonder. The episode highlights strategic decisions in fundraising, marketing, and product launches, including Sandra Velasquez’s Shark Tank experience with Nopalera and the collaboration between Partake Foods and Ben & Jerry’s. It emphasizes the importance of resilience, storytelling, and direct outreach in scaling consumer brands.

    Crowdfunding & preordersFundraising & investors
    10 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by How I Built This. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.