Hardware Podcasts

Advice Line with Leah Solivan of Taskrabbit (September 2024)

How I Built This · 20 Mar 2025 · 49m

What this episode covers

TaskRabbit founder Leah Solivan joins Guy Raz to advise three founders: Kate Pitner of Poppy Notes, Shahn Dhand of My Love Your Love, and Alan Ward of Dynabuddy. They discuss strategies for finding product-market fit, user acquisition, and scaling in crowded digital markets. Key decisions include creating niche 'wedges' for Poppy Notes, softening onboarding for My Love Your Love, and targeting homeschoolers for Dynabuddy. The episode highlights the importance of focus, timing, and technology in launching new services.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
TaskRabbit, IKEA, Hallmark, U.S. Bank
Products
Poppy Notes, My Love Your Love, Dynabuddy, Paperless Post, Evite, Canva, Slack, Dropbox
Also
Visa

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

  • Built 2 Scale · 20m

    Tool of the Week Segment | Episode 31

    Hosts Matt Perrott and Scott Wilcox discuss strategies for founders, starting with a recommendation of David Senra's 'Founders' podcast, which distills biographies of figures like Elon Musk and James Dyson. They emphasize the importance of curating one's content diet to avoid doom-scrolling and the necessity of knowing oneself before hiring. The conversation concludes with advice on clarifying vision in writing and prioritizing three foundational roles: Product (CTO), Brand (CMO), and Distribution (Head of Sales).

    Leadership, teams & cultureHiring & workforce
    6 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 51m

    #79 First Hire Series: Behind the scenes on hiring with Sweet Nothings

    Jake Kneller, CEO and co-founder of Sweet Nothings, and Lucy King, VP of Marketing, discuss the company's hiring trajectory from a two-person garage operation to a 13-person scaling team. They detail the strategic decisions behind their first hires, including Gavin Myers for retail expertise and Lucy for marketing, emphasizing the importance of hiring for a 'no job too small' attitude over pedigree. The episode covers their remote culture, goal-setting frameworks, and the reality of managing early-stage growth with products like Spoonable Smoothie Cups and Nut Butter Bites.

    Hiring & workforceLeadership, teams & culture
    9 chapters

  • Core77 Podcast · 54m

    Afterschool Podcast, Episode 9 - Rusty Meadows (10/21)

    Rusty Meadows, manager of the temporary tattoo company Tattly and founder of the Nearly Impossible conference, discusses the evolution of his business and the new event. He explains how Tattly emerged from a failed online store idea to focus on design-led temporary tattoos, navigating early challenges in shipping, packaging, and wholesale sales. Meadows details the structure of the Nearly Impossible conference, designed to help makers solve specific physical product hurdles through shared stories and expert labs.

    Starting a product companyLogistics & fulfilment
    7 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 56m

    #169 - "How to Take Advice" with Nikhil Arora

    Nikhil Arora, co-founder and co-CEO of Back to the Roots, discusses the nuances of receiving and giving advice while scaling his organic gardening brand from a college project to a $100M retail business. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a 'North Star' purpose, the critical role of his co-founder relationship with Alejandro Velez, and the necessity of resilience in entrepreneurship. Arora shares specific lessons learned from mentors like Jony Ive and Michael Pollan, as well as costly mistakes involving rushed product launches and underestimating retail costs.

    Validation & product-market fitLeadership, teams & culture
    12 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.