Story in a Bottle

When creating a product, often times the best approach is to start small with core group of users and use cases and grow. Michael Pryor successfully bucked that trend when he co-founded Trello, basing his company on the idea of “bringing structure to any process,” regardless of the aim of the project or industry using it.  Since its launch at TechCrunch Disrupt 4 years ago, it has gained 10+ milli...

Kellee Khalil grew up surrounded by entrepreneurs. Her father moved to America with a one-way ticket and an eye on the American dream. His business-minded attitude, paired with the creative influence of her florist mother, set a lifelong example of finding an opportunity and making it work. As a true California girl, she attended USC where her major was entrepreneurial studies. This gave her not o...

Growing up, every kid wants to be an astronaut. For Inder Singh it wasn’t just a dream: he “did everything in [his] power to get there.” He threw himself into the field starting with attending Space Academy as a kid, learning to fly a plane at 16, and finally working at major rocket labs while studying engineering at the University of Michigan (which he was compelled to attend because their symbol...

As a day trader at JP Morgan your life often resembles that of a startup founder: too much to do, constant pressure, and around the clock hours. What you may not see is a key difference in a lack of flexibility. Carolyn Lanzetta entered the finance world after graduating from Dartmouth . She was drawn to the banking field by the clearly defined roles and expectations. After the birth of her first...

Unlike many of our guests, you won’t find Sam Kassoumeh on Twitter. In fact, you won’t find his profile on any social media sites. He removed them all before Snowden’s leaks, based on an inkling. Growing up in ‘Ford Country’ he was surrounded by friends and family working in the automotive industry. It was assumed he would follow in their footsteps. At 14, he was drawn to a different path as he be...

Much like many who found themselves in tech, Christina Lewis Halpern began her career in journalism. Unlike most though, it’s her first foray into tech from that world that is making the biggest splash. From covering crime in Stamford, CT to grabbing quotes from Donald Trump on Wall Street, as well as the boom and bust of the real estate industry, she saw the true spectrum of wealth and humanity p...

What if the games you played as a kid shaped your eventual career? Dennis Crowley grew up in a family that made everything into a game with the simple goal of adding an element of fun to everyday life. After graduating from Syracuse University he moved to New York where he nurtured his passion for creating, with stints at early tech companies ( Jupiter Research , Vindigo ) until the first dot com...

Alexandra Klasinski doesn’t play by anybody’s rules. As a Silicon Valley native, she grew up surrounded by technology and thought processes about innovation, but even immersed in the heart of it all, unsurprisingly veered away from the tech path and towards her passions: art, photography and doing the unexpected.. From managing a fast food restaurant to working with high profile comedy writers and...

Mark Mangan is the cofounder of Flavorpill Media , a company he started 15 years ago as last ditch attempt to save a failing startup. He took one element of the existing business: an added value email newsletter, which, at the time (and even now) seemed like an impractical way to sustain a business. But, from this (at the time) unique offering of a list curated local, cultural events (with a harsh...

As a digital designer,  Timoni West ’s portfolio started much like many others in the late 1990s: on Geocities. During those early days, when formal design education opportunities and mentorship eluded her, she applied self-motivation and a fearless approach to obstacles which ultimately allowed her to succeed beyond her imagination. With a career that boasts the likes of companies like  Flickr  a...

It takes great skill to to be able to write consistently funny jokes on a day-to-day basis. To be able to do that across mediums as audiences adapt and technology evolves is a skill that surpasses the word ‘advanced.’ Over the past 30 years,  Fred Graver  has leant his talents to a staggering list of extremely popular comedic experiences with diverse voices and few commonalities (apart from their...

Stacey Mulcahy is a technologist of the masses who has built her career on “just figuring it out.” As a social worker in Ontario, Canada, her career originated both geographically and professionally far from where she is today. She was drawn to the field, inspired by the teachers in her family who preceded her, and while it was ultimately not for her, she left with the motivation to better the sta...

Buzz Andersen has a resume which reads like the starting lineup of a tech all-star team, boasting the likes of Apple , Tumblr , and Square . More impressively, however, is his learn-on-the-go attitude which got him in the door of each, starting with his dissatisfaction with the basic computer courses offered in his Colorado high school and the curriculum which was written for him because of it. An...

Kelly Goldston is a marketer after our own hearts: data-driven to the core, she’s changing the norms in the “fast fashion” space as VP of Marketing at ELOQUII.COM , her dream job. In her arsenal, the power afforded her as a digital retailer partnered with a fan army who, when faced with the potential of ELOQUII closure, petitioned for and ultimately inspired it’s spin off from the Limited brand. T...

Many of our guests can trace their internet beginnings to one pivotal moment which changed their entire trajectory. For  Decider.com ’s Editor in Chief Mark Graham, it was his first search query on  Netscape Navigator  in 1992: “ Björk .” From those humble beginnings and his unparalleled affinity for brands and advertising, he has enjoyed an interesting and varied career riddled with the adventure...

Ashley Granata has spent her career bringing her passion for fashion to the forefront of the tech world. As an FIT grad, she lept right in as a buyer for Bloomingdale’s (on the seemingly lowest rung of the web store) and has never looked back. However, it’s been her keen sense of the industry and drive to innovate that she is now working on her second startup in the fashion-tech scene.   Over Fern...

Seth Porges is a jack of all trades; a journalist, tech entrepreneur, TV personality, and semi-professional karaoke enthusiast, who is constantly jumping between media in pursuit of his interests. As a young man he became interested in pursuing a career in journalism with the allure of the perks associated (free movie tickets, anyone?). However, it was after his time at Northwestern when he saw ho...

When Alex Tryon finally got her first bonus at  American Express , all she wanted to was buy a piece of art by  Jock Sturges , her favorite artist. But the gallery world road blocked her and painted her into a virtual corner; thus, the idea for her startup,  Artsicle , was born. However, Alex’s love of art didn’t start at Amex, but rather was inspired while traveling in Europe as a kid. A native T...

As Creative Director of one of the world’s most well-known and respected news organizations, BBC News , Ulrik Hogrebe definitely has his tasks set out for him. This is true especially when you consider the ever evolving landscape of how news is created, disseminated, and consumed on a daily basis. It’s a position which he found seemingly naturally, by way of many years of education and experience:...

When Lauren Leto, at age 22, started a blog listing random text messages from her boyfriend and friends, she had no dream or idea that it would immediately turn into the massive success that Texts From Last Night became, and cast a spotlight on her that she never expected or wanted. As a law student at Wayne State with a passion for writing (and actual dreams of becoming the next John Grisham) she...

As the founder and CEO-turned-Chairman of Sailthru , Neil Capel has spent many of his days helping brands personalize every interaction they have with consumers. In fact, thinking about these meaningful interactions is something he and his family have been doing in real life for generations as greengrocers in England. Sailthru, however, was his way of offering them at exponential scale while solvi...

Aubrey Sabala is a leading marketer in tech, with many major brands who credit part of their success to her time there: Facebook , AOL , Digg , and currently, Google , to name a few. In fact, @Aubs , as she's known to her over 28 thousand Twitter followers, has followed a path over the past 15 years that traces the journey of the internet itself.   But in our conversation over Heitz Cellars cabern...

Kevin Kearney is one of the foremost thought leaders of user experience in the industry. He studied literature and philosophy, but transitioned to a career in UX largely before the discipline existed. Websites were haphazardly assembled with few goals and considerations for the end user. Kevin knew there had to be a better way.  It was after many years of working for big agencies (such as razorfis...

In the digital universe, Allison Mooney plays a role which is rare and invaluable in what makes and breaks a product’s success; in identifying trends, she has her finger on the pulse of how people are engaging, which is often an undervalued piece of the industry. But this isn't new territory for her. In fact, it was early in her career at Details magazine where she began to see the writing on the...

Jonathan Basker has spent his career becoming an expert in people. As a self-described “dork” in his early years growing up in sleepy Issaquah, WA (fun fact: where Harry and the Hendersons was filmed) and majoring in poetry in University of Washington , it is certainly an unexpected career trajectory. However, with a life that has been split between traveling the world and helping growing companie...