Decoder with Nilay Patel

Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton and Deeds Not Words founder Wendy Davis talk with Recode's Kara Swisher in this live interview from South by Southwest 2019. In this episode: Youthful political energy in the US and Texas; the history of women and people of color not being seen in politics and tech; Hamilton's Twitter tiff with Paul Graham; how Davis' group Deeds Not Words gets women in the...

In this episode, you'll hear two interviews from the latest edition of An Evening With Code Commerce in Las Vegas: First, the dtx company CEO Tim Armstrong talks with Recode's Kara Swisher and Jason Del Rey about his investment company's plans to bring online retailers into the physical world with Coachella-like festival events; then, Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra talks with Del Rey about how the cl...

Historian and urbanist Richard Walker, a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about his latest book, Pictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode: How California has historically been affected by economic growth; the Bay Area’s first tech boom, the 1849 gold rush; why has California had so many booms?; t...

European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager talks with Recode's Kara Swisher in front of a live audience at South by Southwest 2019. In this episode: America's newfound appetite for tech regulation; why Vestager doesn't agree with Elizabeth Warren's "break them up" pitch; how Vestager assesses her tenure; why Big Tech is like pesticides; does GDPR favor larger companies?; the big prob...

Amy Klobuchar, the senior U.S. Senator from Minnesota who is running for the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2020 presidential race, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher in front of a live audience at South by Southwest. In this episode: The infamous comb incident; why Klobuchar thinks she can win; big pharma and big tech; why Klobuchar is aiming for the center while her fellow Democrats are pull...

Comedian Kathy Griffin talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the notorious photo shoot that got her investigated by the Secret Service — and her new self-financed stand-up special, A Hell of a Story. In this episode: The notorious severed-head photo shoot; what happened after the initial wave of backlash; Griffin's run-ins with Donald Trump before he ran for president; why she believes the curren...

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki talks with Recode's Kara Swisher in this live interview recorded at Lesbians Who Tech in San Francisco. In this episode: Why YouTube turned off comments for tens of millions of videos recently; its latest attempts to keep kids safe; the criteria it weighs when making a policy change; toxicity in YouTube's comments; what would it do if it lost section 230 immunity?; "the...

Hudson's Bay Company CEO Helena Foulkes talks with Recode's Kara Swisher in this live interview recorded at An Evening With Code Commerce in Las Vegas. In this episode: Yep, Foulkes was considered for the Uber CEO job; her background at CVS; how she came to Hudson's Bay; why she sold its European department stores, Gilt Groupe, and Home Outfitters; the importance of making retail shopping an exper...

Laurene Powell Jobs, the founder of the Emerson Collective, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about journalism, VR, and activism. In this episode: Why Powell Jobs is investing in media; President Trump's attacks on journalists; are billionaires buying outlets the only way forward?; Alejandro G. Iñárritu's VR border crossing film, Carne Y Arena; art and activism; how to fix the immigration impasse;...

Social Capital CEO Chamath Palihapitiya talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Teddy Schleifer about an “identity crisis” that pitted his wealth and fame against personal happiness and relationships. In this episode: Social Capital’s attempts to disrupt venture capital; Palihapitiya’s “identity crisis” and search for happiness; nonwhite people aren’t allowed to appear crazy; “to all the people that...

David Chavern, the president and CEO of the nonprofit News Media Alliance, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about advocating on behalf of journalists in Washington, D.C. In this episode: How Chavern got to the News Media Alliance; the unique challenges of representing the media business; the ripple effects of the declining print business; the impact of Google and Facebook; revenue sharing, algorit...

Lora DiCarlo CEO Lora Haddock talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the process of designing an innovative new sex toy for women — and the fight to get mainstream acceptance for her invention. In this episode: Why Haddock started Lora DiCarlo; how she designed its first product, Osé; how startups design and create new physical products; with advanced robotics, "what we're trying to elicit is a bl...

Michael Connor, the artistic director of the digital art community Rhizome, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the group's museum exhibit, "The Art Happens Here," and the future of art made on the internet. In this episode: How Rhizome was founded and how the museum exhibit came together; the unique challenges of preserving internet art; the earliest works of art in Rhizome's Internet Art Anth...

Harvard Business School professor emerita Shoshana Zuboff talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. In this episode: Zuboff's background and why she wrote the book; how the economy got digitized; maximizing shareholder value "scraped the life out of so many of our institutions and our business...

Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC and the Expedia Group, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the state of the tech and media industries, problematic people in power and why Diller is building a new public park in New York. In this episode: What does he do as chairman of those companies?; the future of dating apps; how Diller evaluates the travel industry and Airbnb; how did Diller anticipate ho...

Nuala O'Connor, the CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the group she leads is lobbying the government and private companies on issues like consumer privacy and free speech. In this episode: O'Connor's background in big companies and the Department of Homeland Security; what the Center for Democracy and Technology does; the "Summer of Snowden"...

Elevation Partners founding partner Roger McNamee talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about his new book, Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe. In this episode: Transitioning from tech optimist to critic; the 1990 crash and rebound; starting Silver Lake Partners; McNamee’s health crisis and struggles with office politics; “then Bono calls up”; meeting and mentoring the 22-year-old CEO of Fac...

Journalist and Pop-Up Magazine co-founder Evan Ratliff talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his new book, The Mastermind: Drugs, Empire, Murder, Betrayal. In this episode: How Pop-Up got started; what happened when Ratliff tried to become anonymous for a month; starting the digital-first magazine The Atavist; how Paul Calder Le Roux went from programmer to prescription drug kingpin; the intersec...

James Citrin, the head of Spencer Stuart CEO Practice, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about placing top executives at companies like Yahoo, PayPal, eBay, Twitter, Cisco, Pandora and Hulu. In this episode: Citrin's background as an analyst, consultant and CD-ROM true believer; how he was recruited to Spencer Stuart and how he recruits executives for his clients; do tech companies need a technical...

Case Foundation CEO Jean Case, who was an early marketing and communications executive at AOL, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, "Be Fearless: 5 Principles for a Life of Breakthroughs and Purpose." In this episode: Why Case never finished college; working at The Source and GE, and why she left GE for Quantum Computer Services, which became AOL; finding unlikely allies and pivoti...

Boston University professor Ellen Shell talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, The Job: Work and Its Future in a Time of Radical Change. In this episode: Shell's background in science and culture journalism; her earlier books, "The Hungry Gene" and "Cheap"; how writing about 1800s department store sales in "Cheap" led to writing "The Job"; what jobs will be automated and how we shoul...

Divorce attorney Laura Wasser talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about starting It's Over Easy, an online platform to help people who are getting divorced in New York and California. In this episode: Why Wasser launched It's Over Easy; the other services it provides besides legal help; why Wasser isn't afraid of losing her $850/hour clients; how she hopes to expand to more states this year; why some...

Basecamp CEO Jason Fried talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his most recent book, It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work, which he co-wrote with his business partner David Heinemeier Hansson. In this episode: How Basecamp got started; why chat apps like Slack and Basecamp's own Campfire are bad for productivity; the things that make work crazy, including access to coworkers' calendars, ASAP-respo...

Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about running a modern dairy and food company, which is co-owned by thousands of farmers.  In this episode: What Land O’Lakes does other than butter; Ford's thoughts on being an openly gay female leader; the changing role of a modern CEO; why farmers are the “ultimate entrepreneurs”; agriculture technology, aka agritech; automation and bi...

Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Claire Boyle, the managing editor of McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about a special nonfiction issue the two organizations teamed up to produce, "The End of Trust." In this episode: Why the EFF and McSweeney's decided to work together; have consumers given up on having privacy?; why "Faceb...