Masters of Craft

Professional skateboarder, stunt inventor, tv personality, entrepreneur, investor, brand partner, and self described "do or die-er," Rob Dyrdek has built his career through obsessive learning and obsessive progress. His goal now? "I want to build and sell 50-120 companies over the next 20 years." Thanks to our friends at Worldz, Rob stops by to talk about his personal and business philosophies, te...

Roman Tsunder is the co-founder and CEO of PTTOW, the hyper-exclusive networking and collaborative movement that gathers c-level executives from global brands, cultural icons, and celebrities to generate world changing ideas. With guests ranging from AT&T and Coca-Cola execs to David Blaine, Sarah Jessica Parker and the Dalai Lama, it's no surprise that PTTOW stands for "Plan To Take On The World....

As the 17-year-old founder of a Tesla based startup, Tesloop, Haydn Sonnad as his team of "pilots" offer city-to-city shared-car transportation that leverages both the low cost of electricity and the rapid advancements in autonomous driving technology. Considered a new form of mass transit -- but with more convenient locations and no airport hassles -- Tesloop is slated to be the next big thing in...

Craig Thornton is no stranger to the concepts of shock and awe. Growing up in a home filled with both, the chef-slash-artist grew up to draw on all facets of his senses--combining stark, beautiful imagery and experiences with award winning and television-worthy culinary skills. Commonly known as The Wolvesmouth, he and his team have created dining experiences inclusive of taxidermy, sculpture, pai...

Alexis Ohanian is commonly known as the co-founder of the 230-million-user strong media and social platform, Reddit. Almost a year after the company's launch in 2005, Reddit was acquired by Conde Nast, and Ohanian then directed his professional effort to the innovation ecosystem, where he has invested and advised close to 150 companies including Instacart, Double Robotics, Code Academy, and Genera...

Since 2010, Jacques Panis has led the vision behind Shinola's growth from cult collector items to a rocket paced rise a cultural icon. His "one team, one dream" approach to the company's success celebrate's each and every employee's contribution, expertise, passion, and creative vision. With stores and employees all over the world, the Detroit-based brand boasts everything from watches to baseball...

Magician turned composer turned powerhouse tech journalist, and best-selling author, David Pogue has built his career on an i'm-just-like-you-foundation. Admittedly, he is NOT some life-long tech geek who took spent years hacking security systems, taking computers apart, or building robots. Instead, he is simply really good at breaking things down to basic terms. So good in fact, that he as amasse...

At 28 years old, Mike Rothenberg created a venture capital fund to invest in future forward technologies. 3 years and 60 companies later, the former US Math Olympian's portfolio boasts everything from artificial intelligence, to virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics, and even commercial space travel. One of the few venture firms to have built a noticeable brand, Rothenberg Ventures is known...

Hip Hop artist turned gallerist turned marketer, turned television writer, and now author, Jensen Karp embodies free form artistry. After signing a million-dollar record deal at age 12, Jensen (fka Hot Karl) has gone on to work in varied creative capacities with everyone from Kanye West to Star Wars, to the ESPYS, Mattel, and Nicole Richie to name a few. On Innovation Crush, Jensen discusses getti...

"If God was a DJ, he damn sure used Serato! -Fan When it comes to reinventing an industry, AJ Bertenshaw knows his stuff. In 2004, AJ and his partner. Stephen West, launched Serato Scratch Live, a technology that would revolutionize the very industry that provides the brick-and-mortar soundtrack to music enthusiasts and partygoers all over the planet. For DJ'ing this meant, going up against hard c...

Having worked with more than 40 television networks, created over 220 original series, and just north of 1600 episodes of television under their belts, it's no wonder that Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato have created a World of Wonder. World of Wonder was formed in the 1980's to manage the business affairs of the duo's early music career, and over the years became a film making power house, document...

Part two of an amazing conversation with NASA's Deputy Director of Communications. On this first ever "part two" episode of Innovation Crush, we talk bringing science to corporate America, breaking down gender biases, the impact of pornography, and her methods for overcoming stigma. Wooohooo!!! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/priva...

Troy Carter doesn't mind being known as "the VC formerly known as Lady Gaga's manager." The bets he made to move the iconic artist from obscurity to super-stardom are the same bets he's made for organizations like Lyft, Uber, Spotify, Warby Parker, and countless others. His ability to spot winners in both entertainment and business is uncanny, fueled by his one true skill--empathy. It's this empat...

Cenk Uygur has mastered the art of news and storytelling for the digital generation. As co-founder and CEO of The Young Turks, his news platform amasses BILLIONS of impressions each month through content deals with the likes of Hulu, Facebook, and YouTube (TYT has 2 Million subscribers on YouTube alone) and even broadcasts live, daily. Numbers like these - especially for millienial audiences - put...

Astronomer, researcher, science pundit, podcaster, geek, nerd, former bullying victim, TV host, PR maven-- these are just a few of the things to describe the force that is Dr. Michelle Thaller, NASA's Deputy Director of Science Communication. In her day-to-day, Michelle spends most of her time teaching the organization, it's engineers, and the public about how to translate the science of the unive...

In the middle of Panamanian jungle, a small town has been forming. Not just any town, a place that is re-imagining everything from civic infrastructure, to sustainability, education, ethics, creativity and more-- all while celebrating the lives and passions of everyone who encounters it. The place is described as "a new village being built in a Panamanian river valley to bring together entrepreneu...

T.K. Coleman is passionate about others realizing their most passionate pursuits. The classically trained philosopher, 90's movie lover, and business educator champions breaking down personal barriers in order to get to your highest creative self. Among other things, he is the Education Director for Praxis, a 10-month apprenticeship program that combines a traditional liberal arts education with p...

A high school graduate at age 14, and a college graduate at age, 18, Brian Wong is now - at age 24 - one of the most savvy and intuitive entrepreneurs in America. His company, Kiip, is a rewards and loyalty platform geared towards customers on mobile devices, giving out over 11 rewards per second, and close to 500 million monthly "moments" - a term he and his team coined referencing engagement opp...

Marika Anthony Shaw is commonly known as a member of the super music group, Arcade Fire. A classically trained violinist raised by a linguistics pioneer, Marika grew up watching her mom revitalize dying languages in remote areas of the world. Later, while touring the world herself with Arcade Fire, Marika had an epiphany. If bands added $1 to the price of their ticket sales, the lump sum could be...

What happens when you take a Boeing-grade rocket scientist and send him all over the planet with National Geographic? You birth an entirely new industry. Shah Selbe is one of the key pioneers of Conservation Tech, a field that combines social media, technology, science and social psychology to solve the Earth's problem. As a NatGeo Explorer, he is one of few selected to go on MacGyver-like mission...

If this was the Oscars, this would be the Best Film winner. We looked at listens, shares, downloads and likes and hands down, the top episode of 2015 was Chamillionare's "From Rap Ventures to Venture Capital." Early in his Grammy award winning career, rapper, Chamillionaire learned some valuable lessons about business. Whether bootstrapping his own sales of mixtapes, negotiating higher payouts fro...

EDM legend and cultural icon, Steve Aoki currently ranks #5 on Forbes list of the world's highest paid DJ's. The DJ/Producer/Entrepreneur/Endorsee often performs up to 3 gigs a day, has worked with brands like Bud Light and Scion, and takes no pause in the daily social-media documentation of his life. The person helping hold it all these multiple interests and creative endeavors together? Matt Col...

By the time she was 17, Jane Buckingham was already one of Oprah's Favorite Things. The book she authored a year earlier, Teens Speak Out, had served as an in-depth observation of the life and minds of teenage girls and caught the attention of the media mogul. Born the daughter of a psychologist and journalist, Jane continued her development as an observer of culture, and eventually created some o...

Thought leaders from Mattel, Hasbro, Anki and the USC Annenberg Center for Innovation discuss the cognitive, social, and technological future of play. Sandbox Summit has spent the last five years creating a new type of playground for children by redefining traditional play patterns, as the lines between digital and physical play continue to blur. Sandbox Summit’s annual conference has brought indu...

How do you raise 1.2 million dollars in only a couple years? Just ask 9-year-old, social good superhero and entrepreneurial powerhouse, Dylan Siegel. At age 6, the then-to-be author, philanthropist, merchandiser, chocolate connoisseur, and all around BOSS got it in his head that he would raise some money for his best friend's rare disease by writing a book. Per his own creativity, Dylan's effort q...