Founders In LA

In this episode, host Ethan Cole, PhD sits down with John King, Founder of TAPP, a social platform prioritizing privacy and mental well-being. TAPP allows users to share HD videos and photos exclusively with their closest friends and family while maintaining control over their content. They discuss the toxic nature of traditional social media and TAPP's mission to create a safer, more positive spa...

In this exciting episode of Founders in LA, Natasha McCrea and Sheila Jackson, fresh from TechStars LA Demo Day, share their inspiring journey as founders of Jackson McCrea Whiskey. Breaking stereotypes, they're disrupting the male-dominated whiskey industry with a whiskey made by and for women. They shed light on the historical role of women in whiskey-making and their passion for empowering...

In this episode of the Founders in LA podcast, host Ethan Cole welcomes Lee Robinson, CEO and Co-Founder of Dyrt, a company revolutionizing the management of food waste in commercial businesses. Lee shares how Dyrt processes food waste close to the source, eliminating diesel emissions and reducing the need for large dumpsters and trucks. They discuss the immense amount of food waste generated in r...

In this episode, we’re giving a special update to our beloved Product In LA listeners. We’re transitioning our name to Founders in LA, but don’t worry—the essence of the content you love remains intact. We’re excited to bring you the same focus on LA Tech, and the people dedicating their lives to building it, through a Product lens, with a fresh, new identity.

Part 2 of my conversation with Sumeet Rana, founder and CEO of Prodhub. Sumeet explains that Prodhub.ai is a platform built on the belief that digital applications contain common repeatable patterns. However, Product Managers often spend significant time writing requirements for these patterns, leading to duplication of effort. Sumeet draws a parallel with software engineering and the creation of...

In this episode, our guest Sumeet Rana, founder and CEO of Prodhub.ai, shares his journey and insights into Product Management. Sumeet has held senior Product roles at renowned companies like Expedia, Disney, Mylife.com, Fox, and My Space. He also discusses an interesting patent he worked on, aimed at solving the challenge of managing messages from multiple platforms and identifying important mess...

Part 2 of my conversation with Daniel Shaw. In this episode, we dive into the world of early stage startups and explore the significance of branding in their journey to success. We discuss the debate around branding's importance, especially in the VC startup world focused on traction numbers. Daniel also shares insights into some of the challenges he is facing at Autumn.co, including his learn...

Part 1 of 2 of Daniel Shaw, the co-founder and CEO of Autumn.co, an innovative end-of-life marketplace. Discover how Autumn supports bereaved communities with guides and tools, helping them overcome the complex challenges that arise after the loss of a loved one. Learn about the fragmented state of the end-of-life services industry and the transformative power of bringing it online. Daniel shares...

Aarik Gulaya, Co-Founder and CEO of Safa.ai, shares how his passion for marketing and how a non-traditional path led him to create Safa.ai, a platform automating document review and generation for software engineers. His unique approach, drawing parallels between car engines and software systems, underscores the challenges of growing software complexity and the critical role of documentation. From...

This segment with Andrew Skotzko explores preventing Founder burnout, the importance of focus, and the difference between Mission and Purpose.

In this thought-provoking episode, we sit down with Sarah Grifferty, who, having experienced the loss of both parents at a young age, delves into the unique challenges and opportunities of working in the emerging DeathTech space. Fresh from the stage of LA TechWeek 2023's exclusive DeathTech event, Sarah provides a captivating overview of the industry, its evolution, and offers her insights into t...

Thor Clark, a coding prodigy who wrote his first program at age 12, turned HealthTech leader, shares his experiences transitioning from a successful FinTech career to leading an Engineering Team in the HealthTech startup space during the early days of the COVID pandemic. Gain valuable insights into the unique challenges, exciting opportunities, and his predictions for the industry's future in the...

Maulik Parikh, despite limited computer access in his childhood, earned a CS degree during a recession. In a challenging job market, he secured a B2B sales role at CompUSA before becoming a technology consultant at Accenture. Working with Fortune 500 companies, he learned valuable business lessons: prioritizing efficiency, leveraging technology, avoiding mistakes, planning for change management, a...

Andrew Skotzko reflects on his unexpected journey into Product Management. Initially a Marketer and Growth Hacker, Andrew delved into the realm of quantitative and experimental marketing strategies, which ultimately resulted in a transition into a full-stack Engineer. Discovering Product Management along the way, he joined Chill.com and later contributed to Pebble's e-commerce system. Focusing on...

Adam Judelson describes what it was like winning the grand prize at the Silicon Valley Science and Engineering Fair (and 4th place in the International Competition) in high school, and how it has provided inspiration throughout his career. He also discusses what makes a great marriage between Product and Engineering Teams.

Elizabeth Osder describes her experience working as the tip of the spear in what is now called “digital media” in the earliest days of the Internet. From her work on a private internet for the Associated Press to launching the New York Times’ first website. She drops absolute gems of practical advice on how to address the integration and implementation of new technologies and suggestions for how t...

Reza Rassool, CTO of RealNetworks, shares how he started his career by disrupting Hollywood with a revolutionary digital video editing platform that resulted in a technical Oscar and an Emmy. He later became a CTO-as-a-Service and now he and his team are refreshing a pioneer product of the Internet - from the dominant Internet streaming platform it was- into a world class AI driven facial recognit...

Kaelin Burns shares how an American Literature major translated nicely into Product Management. She reveals why PMs are likely good essayists and intuited a lost chapter from Teresa Torres’ book, “Continuous Discovery Habits.” She also provides tips and tricks from her career working on two-sided marketplace discusses the importance of adverse impact testing; especially when it comes to AI tools t...

This segment didn't make it into the full-length episode with Chris Chenet, Sr. Technical Advisor to the Deputy Chief Information Officer, Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, but it explores the definition of homelessness, and different tiers of homelessness. I found it enlightening, and wanted to share it with you all, in case you learn something too.

Margarita Mangino shares her journey from running a business at age 16 to running one of the few women led software development agencies on the planet. We also discuss how the gender gap in tech worsened during the pandemic and through the layoffs of 2022 and 2023 and her mission to help close it.

Part 2 of my conversation with Travis Corrigan. In this episode we discuss why most A/B tests perform worse than a coin flip, the difference between pragmatic relevance and statistical relevance, why most user persona's don't work, and a systematic process for overcoming blindspots. It was a conversation so nice, we had to publish it twice.

Travis Corrigan who, majored in Entrepreneurship in college to combat the financial climate of the Great Recession, discusses how a car ride in Utah changed his life and led to his love for user research. Highlights include conducting over 1200 customer interviews, how AI is transforming the user research profession by reducing the biases of user research, creating a 400K row excel spreadsheet ana...

Chris Chenet describes how his team approaches LA's homelessness challenges with technology, and how LA Tech4Good helps train folks to use data in more equitable ways. He also walks us through his journey into technology, in which he didn't even have a computer in his home until age 20!

Derek Kwan provides an amazing account of how creating organic relationships led to internal champions who helped catalyze his career. He also blows minds with the concept of Probabilistic thinking that’s not only aided him on the poker table, but also in building successful digital products.

Josh Grayson looks back at how a summer job blossomed into a full-fledged career in Tech. He describes how creating a cross-section of fun, entertainment and learning led him from roles as a counselor and a digital intrapreneur at a kid's coding camp to NBC, Fender, and Amazon, all while remaining close to his passion for education and self-improvement tech.