Failure - the Podcast

Before starring as the criminal mastermind, Wo Fat, in the CBS television series Hawaii Five-O , Mark Dacascos emceed the Food Network hit, Iron Chef America . Though he probably never uttered the words himself, Dacascos will forever be associated with the iconic opening line “if memory serves me correctly …” that launched the Iron Chef brand into camp TV lore. If memory serves us correctly, it wa...

Have you ever looked out over the Midwest farmlands while taking a cross country flight? Just another pretty view, you ask? The guests of today’s podcast think not. Whether the swamp lands in our nation’s capital or a cornfield in the Midwest, a picture can be worth a whole lot. Sure, a satellite photo might give you some insight into the corruption that is Washington DC, but a cornfield from on h...

It takes a lot to rile the team from Failure - the Podcast — especially, when they’re recording an episode. So much so that one wonders whether they spend more time listening to themselves than to their guests. (Yeah, we get it. It’s a process, and at Mark’s age, a slow ship to turn.) But riled they were. In fact, Dave almost had a conniption arguing the benefits of angel investing over, what, equ...

We were curious. Just what is a skeeter? In the midwest it’s slang for mosquito. Perhaps, everywhere. Wikipedia thinks so. It lists “skeeter” as one of the top off-book expressions for the little disease-carrying buggers. Regardless, nobody seems to like them. Nobody, except the birds and the bats. Fish and frogs, too —- though, the latter might not be with us much longer, if the chytrid fungus ha...

Jennie Nigrosh’s epic failure on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in 2013 is the stuff of legends. The rising entrepreneur and founder/CEO of eco-friendly laundry-bag maker The Green Garmento got her legs cut out from under her during taping of the ABC reality show. Though she walked away without a penny from “the sharks,” her business took off. The Green Garmento, a multi-use alternative to plastic dry cleanin...

This episode has nothing to do with Amy Cooper. In fact, it doesn’t mention any Karens or their victims. Amy’s dog was named Henry. He’s not in this podcast. Last we heard, he was back with the cocker spaniel rescue league. They are not mentioned in today’s episode, either. This episode has nothing to do with coronavirus. Nor, vaccines, anti-vaxxers or Betsy DeVos. In fact, although the episode wa...

So, let’s talk Internet. For sure, it had a beginning. Conventional wisdom says Al Gore gets the credit. The facts say otherwise — but who listens to them anymore. Haven’t you ever wondered how the Internet got started? The team from Failure - the Podcast hasn’t either. Given the number of times we repeat that old saw about Veep Gore, we really should, though. Our guest, for today’s travesty...

Abby Hoffman would not be pleased. The Vietnam War-era activist and author of the iconic work, Steal this Book, had values after all. So why might today’s episode of Failure - the Podcast have Hoffman rolling in his grave? Perhaps, it’s because Hoffman was anti-establishment, whereas our guest, Jason Kraus, is an investor and author of Prepare 4 VC. He is a capitalist. Worse yet — we’re channeling...

“Timing. Timing. Timing. …. ?” Yep. You read well. It got the team from Failure - the Podcast thinking about the seafood wholesaler/restaurant supplier who opened his new business three days before the lockdown. By any standard, this was a no-brainer. People like fish, but don’t like to prep, cook and clean. Restaurants are good at that. The product’s known: no need to create a market, like, say,...

It’s tricky how the same word can mean so many different things. Take the word “is,” for example. At a low point in his presidency, Bill Clinton came up against a perjury charge when his own lawyer, Robert Bennett, told a federal judge that “there is absolutely no sex of any kind” between Clinton and then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Confronted with the obvious lie, Clinton argued that the...

Some things just aren’t easy. Try explaining the presidential caucuses, for example. Even the NY Times has trouble with that one. Just because you’re a pro, doesn’t mean the words come easily. Writing an intro to this podcast has proven no exception. Regardless, join us in a discussion with Ron Murphy, CEO of Boston-based medical device company Theromics, and perhaps it will all come together for...

We thought long and hard about publishing this podcast. With no guest in the mix, we were torn between 45 minutes of absolute silence (“dead air,” as they say in the business) and the same of pointless chatter between Mark and Dave. (We tried to drag Mic into the fray, but he said he’d be busy cleaning the rotary dialer on his cell phone). We consulted the oracle to see which would best help our f...

Just like the title says, today’s episode is about corporate boards and … get this … corporate board failure. Fancy that: truth in advertising. Corporate board failure. Is it possible? What do boards do, after all? If their mission is to rubber stamp the CEO, that leaves a big margin for error. You’d practically have to have sat on the board of directors to Theranos to run into trouble. Oh wait, w...

Notwithstanding what you may have thought about college psych, communications and business majors, the instructors who teach those disciplines can be as nerdy as any academician. Take the guest of our latest episode of Failure - the Podcast. Elaine Chen is an instructor on technology innovation, entrepreneurship and strategic management at the Sloan School. That’s MIT’s prestigious B-school. (OK,...

Taking the plunge into entrepreneurship can be a scary thing. Seasonally speaking, you could think of it as the Halloween of job changes: it’s best for young or the steel-nerved. (Yeah, we left out ignorant and desperate, but go with us here ....). For those who have what it takes, the plunge can be well worth it. Not only for the excitement of building a business from scratch but, for the lucky f...

Back in the day, the sale of land was consummated by a ceremonial act: the buyer gave to the seller a fistful of dirt from the property being sold. It was beauty in its simplicity. And, what could possibly go wrong? Either the buyer delivered the dirt or she didn’t. Well … the parties might have different understandings of the tract being sold. The supposed sale of the “back nine” of one man’s yar...

Listeners more erudite than us — yes, grammarians, it could be “we” — are undoubtedly familiar with Carole Cadwalladr. Her work was the subject of the recent Netflix documentary “The Great Hack,” exploring the weaponization of social media. The Cadwalladr and Netflix work adds further fuel to an on-going debate: would society be better off regulating Facebook, Twitter and the like as proposed by c...

Our guest walked in saying he had so many failures, he kept a notepad to remember them. Even showed us the pad. Our mistake was we didn’t look closely. Surely, though, we should have known something was up when he said he had already listened to some of our episodes. In retrospect, we had to wonder whether that was casual listening — or something more akin to Belichick and Brady watching Rams vide...

You’d think the team from Failure - the Podcast would learn. Screen, screen, screen. We have to screen our guests before making the invite. Certainly, we have to have a word or two with them before pressing the record button (assuming we remember to do that, at all). We think Mic’s confusing his cold calls for Failure - the Podcast with those for our favorite angel investment group. Instead of bri...

Join the team from Failure - The Podcast in an irreverent tour of an MIT party, and learn — once again — what startups think about failure.

We first met our guest, Randall Levere, in 2012. He had just launched Erba Cycles and was geared up (get it? geared up) to sell a new breed of bicycle — one that was not only environmentally friendly to ride, but also to produce. And, it was downright fine looking. Randall was a guest on our first podcast, The Tech Entrepreneur, and graced us with a discussion of turning a passion into a business....

Before every good sale, there’s a story. For investors, it’s no different. You might think that all they want from the first meeting is the entrepreneur’s story. But, often, they have to tell stories of their own. After all, in some markets, willing investors are easy to come by. So whom to choose?  The teller’s story may decide. Join the Team from Failure - the Podcast as venture capitalist...

You’d think that after 40+ episodes, the Team from Failure - the Podcast would know a thing or two about failure. We certainly thought we did, until we met today’s guest: futurist, speaker, author and leader Tom Koulopoulos. Turns out that Tom’s all about success through failure. Who knew? Perhaps we should have done some research on him, first. Anyway, we quickly learned that Tom travels the glob...

Join the team from Failure - the Podcast as they explore a writer’s world with Ken Briodagh, a story teller and adventurist in the Connecticotian mold of Mark Twain — but with a tech twist.

Join the team from Failure - the Podcast in a discussion of the custom rug business. If you’re like us, you’ll learn about an online business you might never have imagined. But, on the other hand, who would have thought there was money to be made online in shoes, pre-packaged meds, or you name it …..