Portfolio Career Podcast

Clare Purvis, the Founder of WELL, a community for women in digital health, joins the show to discuss how she pulled off her first-ever ticketed Summit. The conference had 70+ women and was focused on peer-to-peer learning. She built the conference similar to the programming in her online accelerator program. Clare has been building her business for a few years. If you're building a community busi...

LinkedIn strategist and community builder Molly Godfrey shares how she's generated $5M for clients using LinkedIn. She shares what types of posts actually work, how to think about top vs. bottom of funnel content, and why consistency (not perfection) is the key to building a business and brand on the platform. Enjoy!

Nicole Kelner shares how a Substack post about finding quiet in NYC became a Rizzoli book deal called Quietest Places in New York City. You will learn more about the book and the ideas in it, in this episode. You will also learn about Nicole built a habit-tracking app called Free Time recently too. She is taking action on her ideas and you can too!

Are you looking to be more self-employed or self-funded? Listen to this episode where I talk about how my portfolio career has evolved over the last six months of working on my own. I am currently kind of paralell pathing two similar work streams. You will learn about the two, three month chapters and how things feel more durable and compounding now compared to a few months ago. Hosting events, co...

I cohosted the first-ever Community Led Growth Conference (CLG) with Zach Hawtof on Friday March 13th. On Monday March 16th, we chatted about it in this podcast episode. We talked about how the conference came together in two months, how it was sold-out, our programming choices, and how a few serendipitous things came together for the conference to happen. The conference was a big success and we w...

Avital Knoller is the Head of Ecosystem at Orchid Security. In this episode, she shares her 10 years of hard-won community building wisdom. You will learn about growing Wiz's community to a Google-acquisition exit, B2B community building, and why she believes we're in the golden age of community building.

Miri Buckland never planned to be a Founder, until a Stanford class project turned into Landing, a social app that grew to over a million downloads without spending a dollar on marketing. After six years of pivots, community building, and ultimately shutting it down, she's back at zero-to-one with Extra, a new email app launching this spring. We talk community-led growth, committing to the pivot,...

In this episode, I talk with Justin Moore, the author of Sponsor Magnet , about how creators can successfully land and manage brand sponsorships. Justin shares insights from his experience running sponsorship challenges and coaching creators, emphasizing that mindset, particularly overcoming money-related fears and childhood financial baggage, is often a bigger barrier than the tactical side of pi...

What does community-led growth look like? A group of founders, marketers, and community builders unpack community-led growth from every angle: why human connection beats performance marketing, how communities create multiple business entry points, and why earning organic growth is slow but worth it. Zach Hawtof, the Founder of Tightknit, and I cohosted this podcast mixer in advance of the Communit...

Simi Shah, the Founder of South Asian Trailblazers, shares how she turned a pandemic-era podcast into a thriving community with live podcast events. Simi shares how she also discovered her "reverse product-market fit” with her agency when people asked her for media strategy advice. You will also learn about personal branding fundamentals, why storytelling is ultimately about empathy and human conn...

Alex Chung, Founding Head of Growth at Goodword, shares her approach to building meaningful professional relationships. She discusses the power of follow-up and follow-through, how she connected with entrepreneur Andy Dunn by offering value first, and why being "a little unhinged" is sometimes necessary to make things happen. Alex also talks about her role blending marketing, sales, and community-...

Lisa Skye is the Founder of SkyeCo and is a prolific community builder. In this episode, she shares her unconventional path from BNI chapter President, to WeWork early employee, to launching SkyeCo, a structured networking community for mostly for business owners. Lisa discusses the outsized impact of being "dangerously consistent” and the benefits of consistently showing up in networking groups....

Rebekah Rombom shares how she transitioned from a nearly decade-long role at Flatiron School to building a fractional executive practice—not by design, but by staying busy with consulting until she realized she didn't need a traditional job. Rebekah emphasizes two powerful principles: clearly articulating what you actually want (so people can help you get there), and consistently doing what you sa...

Chris Schembra, the Founder of 7:47 Club, reveals how he's built a thriving solopreneur business over 10+ years by doing less, not more. Learn why focus equals growth, how asking one simple gratitude question to 808 founders led to a new podcast and eventually new business, and why thoughtful LinkedIn comments generate better leads than posting your own content. Chris also shares practical insight...

In this episode, David breaks down the key insights from Justin Moore's book Sponsor Magnet: How to Attract, Price, and Execute Your Dream Brand Partnerships . You will learn practical frameworks for securing brand partnerships and sponsorships, including the ROPE method for crafting compelling pitches (Relevant, Organic, Provide Proof, Easy to Execute) and the ARC framework for understanding bran...

Will Mannon and David Nebinski reflect on their whirlwind tour bringing the online community magic to in-person events across 13 events in 13 cities in late 2025 during the Internet Serendipity World Tour powered by Circle.  They share what worked (local co-hosts, creator marketing partnerships, the structure of the facilitated events), what was tough (holiday timing and marketing timing) and how...

Host David Nebinski gathers friends around a table to reflect on recent changes and transformations. What begins as a celebration of David's recent career leap, leaving his job and building confidence through action, the episode evolves into a deeper conversation about navigating life's biggest uncertainties. The group explores accountability partnerships, the power of reframing change as somethin...

Are you looking to know what is like to find work you want to do? Paul Millerd is the author of The Pathless Path and Good Work. In this episode, he talks about the art of staying in the game without chasing metrics, how to think about work without letting it define your identity, and a framework for designing dream projects that actually fit your life. You will also learn about podcasting on your...

Carly Valancy, the Founder of The Reach Out Party, believes that you should take more agency over the people who are in your life. In this episode, she shares practical strategies for reaching out to people you admire and building sustainable connection habits. She thinks that networking doesn't have to feel icky when you do it your way. In this episode, you will also learn about the successful An...

What is your definition of leadership? In this episode, Stephen Shedletzky also known as "Shed" shared his definition of leadership and asked for feedback from other people attending this Podcast Mixer event. You will hear about whether leaders are necessary, challenge conventional definitions of leadership, and discuss the balance between charisma and quiet leadership. If you are interested in le...

Ashwini Anburajan shares her journey from Chief Revenue Officer to CEO at Obi, a rideshare aggregator app. In this live episode recorded in New York City, Ashwini discusses the critical first 90 days of her new role, why the company pivoted before, and the challenges of scaling a startup. She also reveals why she's hiring a Chief of Staff , so that she can focus on revenue growth and product devel...

Rina and David candidly discuss their parallel career transitions and the unexpected ways they've supported each other through the uncertainty. Rina shares her journey from leaving her first 9-to-5 role to launching a daily TikTok practice that unexpectedly built community and income. Together, they explore the difference between chasing opportunities that fall into your lap versus pursuing the dr...

Erica Akitani-Bob is currently the Chief of Staff at All Places. This is not her first Chief of Staff role. In this episode, you will learn about how she got her current role, advice for job seekers, how she adds value in the role, and how she tries to understand the scope of projects. This episode was recorded at an event in NYC. During the episode, you will questions from people attending the ev...

Will Mannon and I have a shared passion for bringing like-minded people together in-person. The conversations can be incredible and wildly generative. Will was the Cofounder of Write of Passage, a popular online writing school. Through the course, he hosted a bunch of in-person meetups. In 2025, he cofounded another company called Act Two. Connected to this company, he hosted a bunch of meetups ar...

Al Simon shares his journey from selling his prior company, Elude, to launching The Lab, a creative agency helping pre-seed and seed-stage founders with pitch decks and fundraising. Al discusses the power of network building, his philosophy on staying in touch with people, and why 90% of his 90+ clients came through word of mouth. The conversation also touches on his passion for travel, focusing o...