Behind the Business with Michelle Toh

“An estimated 30-35% of the global economy are black and gray markets.” That’s the world our next guest, Mariana van Zeller, has spent years investigating. From online scam centers to black-market oil, the Peabody Award-winning journalist has built a career going where few reporters can. "Trafficked" — her hit Nat Geo series — regularly breaks records at the Emmys. In this conversation, we dive in...

The US makes up almost 50% of global market cap. Yet over the past three decades, the number of American public companies has declined dramatically. So says this week’s guest, NYSE Chief Development Officer Chris Taylor, who joins us for our new “3 Pressing Questions” segment. After years of a quieter IPO market, there are signs momentum is returning — with a surge in new equity offerings and inve...

We are back! Our first guest of the new season is Airbnb co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer Nathan Blecharczyk. Airbnb now spans almost every country in the world. But there was a point early on where the team agreed: if things didn’t improve in 13 weeks, they’d quit. In our first episode of Season 2, co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk takes us inside the making of Airbnb — from “ramen profitability”...

💭 Loading: Behind the Business Season 2 We sat down with the people building Airbnb, Rivian, NYSE, Canva, Samsung, Poppi, Peloton, Revolve, Lucid Motors, PHLUR, Away — and more. Taking you inside the tradeoffs. The pressure. The parts you don’t hear about. Season 2 drops TOMORROW, June 18. New episodes Thursdays 🚀 👇🏼 SUBSCRIBE + FOLLOW: YouTube: https://bit.ly/YTBTB Apple Podcasts: http://bit....

Danny Yeung's entrepreneurial path has been anything but linear. He's the co-founder and CEO of Prenetics, Hong Kong's first unicorn to list on the Nasdaq, and the leader of IM8, which bills itself as the world's fastest-growing supplements brand. Prenetics, a breakout name in consumer health, is the parent company of IM8, which has already attracted global stars like co-founder David Beckham and...

Joining us this week is Amina Belouizdad Porter, the CEO of PS, the first operator of private airport terminals for commercial flyers in the US. Its mission? To make you feel like you're flying private — even when you're not. This means even if you're flying — let's say, coach with Delta Airlines — you're getting valet service. Massages. Caviar and champagne. A chauffeur waiting to drive you to yo...

Vicky Nguyen was just eight months old when she fled Vietnam as a refugee. Today, she's an Emmy-winning journalist, anchor and Chief Consumer Investigative Correspondent for NBC News, now seen on the TODAY Show. Her experiences inspired her new book, "Boat Baby." She joins us this week to discuss: | 00:00 — Introduction | 02:35 — Vicky's early life, escaping Vietnam | 04:53 — Encountering pirates...

Joining us this week is Adam Park, CEO and managing director of Factor US — one of the fastest-growing names in health and nutrition that bills itself as the No. 1 ready-to-eat meal company in America. You might have seen them around delivering meals to people's doors that emphasize high-protein, veggie-forward, low-calorie or even GLP-1 supportive options, making it easier to eat clean at home. S...

Our latest guest is Justin Wang, who, back in 2017, decided that the way we drink water could use an upgrade. Justin left a successful corporate career to tackle an everyday problem all of us face at some point: icky water bottles. He is the co-founder & CEO of LARQ, the company behind the world's first self-cleaning water bottle that it says can eliminate up to 99.9% of harmful bacteria and is me...

This week, we're joined by Touchland co-founder & CEO Andrea Lisbona, who turned an overlooked essential into a brand with $100 million in annual sales. Now, her company is being acquired for up to a whopping $880 million. From rebuilding after a "rock-bottom moment" to landing in Sephora and Ulta, Lisbona shares how she made people want to use hand sanitizer. With a cult following and expansion i...

Tom O'Leary is on a mission to reshape how we fly. He's the co-founder and CEO of JetZero, an aviation startup building a blended-wing body aircraft that aims to use up to 50% less fuel than today's commercial jets. That means it could, in theory, cut both fuel burn and emissions in half — making it cheaper and greener for airlines to operate. The pitch? Helping carriers dramatically reduce costs...

Arum Kang, co-founder and former longtime CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel, is our guest this week. She's one of three Korean sisters who, back in 2012, were fed up with how online dating often felt dejecting and demoralizing — especially for women. Their solution? To create a serious dating app. From the start, it billed itself as a platform for serious daters, boldly calling the app "the anti-Tinder."...

Vivian Tu is the founder and CEO of Your Rich BFF, a leading financial education brand helping millions learn how to build wealth and make smarter money decisions. She left Wall Street and a lucrative career in media sales to become one of the biggest voices in the creator economy, earning over $7 million by age 31 and gaining about 10 million followers across social media. Known online as "your f...

Dave Gilboa is co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, the eyewear brand that started with a pair of lost glasses while he was studying at Wharton Business School. In 2010, he and three friends pooled their savings and bought the company's URL for $9. Almost everyone they spoke to said the idea would not work. Dave joins us to talk about the brand's early days, being so frugal they practically refu...

Welcome to Behind the Business, a new podcast and video series hosted by CNN and FORTUNE alum Michelle Toh that aims to explore the decisions and philosophies behind some of today's most influential leaders, such as the founders of Warby Parker, Coffee Meets Bagel, "Your Rich BFF" and more. Recorded in studios across the U.S. as a special interview series, the show is grounded in the belief that b...