Decoder with Nilay Patel

In this live interview from the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Glossier founder and CEO Emily Weiss talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about running a "beauty company that's also a tech company." In this episode: How Glossier got started; the passionate fans of Glossier and Weiss; its Instagram strategy; its plans to make a social "utility" platform; why it's choosing to not grow as fast as possibl...

CNN.com editor in chief Meredith Artley talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about overseeing some of the most popular news sites on the internet and how things may change in 2019. In this episode: Artley's background at the New York Times and International Herald Tribune; the "complete chaos" of working at the Los Angeles Times; what actually works in digital news?; How CNN has changed its approach t...

99designs CEO Patrick Llewellyn talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about leading a design startup based in Australia. In this episode: How 99designs helps designers and their clients work together online; how it makes finding work easier for freelance designers; why design will never be completely done by computers; founding a startup in Australia; why 99designs sees itself as a "platform" and not j...

Tony Xu, the CEO and co-founder of DoorDash, and Christopher Payne, the COO, talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the delivery company's busy 2018 and why it's starting to think about delivering more than food. In this episode: (01:41) Where DoorDash is now and the delivery business; (05:25) Is Amazon a competitor?; (08:07) Xu and Payne's backgrounds; (11:32) Why DoorDash succeeded where Webv...

Molly Barton, the CEO and co-founder of serialized reading app Serial Box, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about trying to make a Netflix-style digital platform for books. In this episode: (01:19) Barton's background and the early days of e-books; (06:45) Looking for digital innovation in publishing; (12:38) Combining e-books with audiobooks; (15:48) Why Barton started Serial Box; (20:13) How it...

Khosla Ventures partner Keith Rabois talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the current startup and venture capital landscape, the Trump administration and more. In this episode: (01:18) Rabois's background; (04:28) Becoming a venture capitalist and how Khosla Ventures invests; (09:37) The startup and venture capital landscape; (15:06) Why startup fundraising was unusually hectic in December; (19:...

WW International CEO Mindy Grossman talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how her company, formerly known as Weight Watchers, has transitioned into modern "wellness" culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Inc. magazine senior writer Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, "We Are the Nerds: The Birth and Tumultuous Life of Reddit, the Internet's Culture Laboratory." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Imgur CEO Alan Schaaf talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about starting the image-sharing site and moderating its content. In this episode: (00:59) Schaaf's background; (03:18) Launching Imgur; (07:56) Imgur's early business plan; (15:34) Where online images are going (and how to pronounce "gif"); (21:37) Famous memes and how entertainment is changing; (30:19) The ugliness of social media; (38:09) W...

Bret Kinsella, the editor of the voice technology blog Voicebot.ai, talks with Recode’s Rani Molla about the future of virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant. In this episode: (01:02) Kinsella’s background; (05:07) The history of voice tech; (11:19) How many people have smart speakers and what do they do with them?; (14:51) Music and podcasts on smart speakers; (16:51) Smart home...

Scott Belsky, a venture partner at Benchmark and the chief product officer at Adobe, talks with Recode's Teddy Schleifer about his book, "The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture." In this episode: (02:32) Why Belsky came to California and started Behance; (07:14) Bootstrapping, taking investment and selling the company; (10:44) Leaving Adobe...

Jonathan Neman, the co-founder of fast food salad chain Sweetgreen, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the company's techie side and the future of restaurants. In this episode: (01:26) How Sweetgreen got started; (04:14) Starting up in Washington, D.C.; (07:28) Why Sweetgreen sees itself as a "food platform"; (10:58) The challenges of food; (18:01) Sweetgreen's competitors and how it sources i...

Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson talks about his new film, a World War I documentary with sound and color called "They Shall Not Grow Old." In this episode: (00:37) Why he made the documentary; (06:21) The technology of WWI filmmaking; (08:33) Jackson's studios in New Zealand; (11:30) Does Jackson consider himself to be a technical person?; (14:39) The colorization of the old footage and addi...

Vox.com founder and editor-at-large Ezra Klein talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about the press, social media and President Trump in this live interview recorded in San Francisco. In this episode: (03:22) Why Ezra moved to DC; (07:22) Klein’s background and the “incestuous” Twitter culture of political journalists; (11:38) Media culture in the Trump era; (13:15) How DC has changed and “docile” jou...

Framebridge CEO Susan Tynan talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about starting and running the online framing startup. In this episode: (00:56) Tynan's background at the White House and LivingSocial; (03:53) What happened to LivingSocial; (06:53) Why Tynan started Framebridge; (10:19) The fundraising process; (15:27) Running Framebridge; (21:49) The challenges of being a leader; (25:58) Being a start...

Sam Altman, the president of YCombinator and co-chairman of OpenAI, joins Recode's Kara Swisher for this live interview at Manny's in San Francisco, moderated by Manny Yekutiel. In this episode: (01:45) What did techies think was going to happen?; (06:35) Would the techlash have been the same if Hillary Clinton had won?; (10:31) Did tech develop too quickly?; (18:06) What would change if tech's le...

In this live interview recorded in Washington, D.C., Recode's Kara Swisher talks with three NBC and MSNBC journalists — Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell and Hallie Jackson — about social media, politics in the Trump era and how the media is changing. In this episode: (04:57) The impact of social media; (09:19) What mistakes did TV media make in 2016?; (15:19) How covering politics has changed in the Tr...

The Atlantic national correspondent Franklin Foer talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his book, "World Without Mind: The Existential Threat of Big Tech," which recently came out in paperback. In this episode: (01:37) Foer's background at Slate and the New Republic; (06:12) Chris Hughes and Guy Vidra; (13:59) Resigning from the New Republic; (19:26) How Foer started thinking about tech monopolie...

Recode's Kara Swisher talks with her older son, Louie Swisher, and the Silicon Valley editor of the Verge, Casey Newton. Thank you to all of our listeners for 300 episodes. Here's to 300 more! In this episode: (01:27) The mess at Facebook and blaming Sheryl Sandberg; (06:01) Why Louie is cutting back on Snapchat and why Instagram is a “museum”; (08:38) The return of the group chat and the future o...

University of Maryland professor and cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, "Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our Minds." In this episode: (01:14) How Gelfand became a cultural psychologist; (03:12) Why some countries have more rules than others; (08:35) Are techies rule breakers?; (13:28) What changes as successful c...

Rappler co-founder Maria Ressa talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about doing investigative journalism in the Philippines, where social media has emboldened an autocratic president. In this episode: (01:20) Ressa's background and the People Power Movement; (05:49) How she became a TV journalist on CNN and ABS-CBN; (10:35) Leaving ABS-CBN for the internet; (15:18) Starting Rappler; (25:54) "The Phili...

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about his book, "Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen," and how the shift the cultural conversation about immigration. In this episode: (01:34) Vargas' background and why he became a journalist; (06:54) How he became an undocumented immigrant; (16:38) Class differences and telling the truth; (22:19) Di...

Six of the organizers of the Nov. 1 Google walkouts — Erica Anderson, Claire Stapleton, Meredith Whittaker, Stephanie Parker, Cecelia O'Neil-Hart and Amr Gaber — talk with Recode's Kara Swisher about how the worldwide protests came together and why Google's response has been inadequate. In this episode: (02:20) How the protests started; (07:13) The divide between tech rhetoric and tech reality; (1...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff talks with Recode's Kara Swisher on the latest episode of her MSNBC TV show, "Revolution." Fan of the show? It helps to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about free speech and censorship on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Fan of the show? It helps to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Notes from our sponsors:LEGO: In today's show, you heard advertising content from The LEGO Store. With LEGO, every gift has...