The Early Podcast

For this episode, we’re going EARLY EARLY… Uber employee #3! Ryan McKillen helped build Uber from the ground up — literally. He walked in on day one to find a stack of pristine coding books… and one beat-up Spanish dictionary. “Why?” “All the code’s in Spanish. Welcome to Uber.” Ryan went from CPA to self-taught engineer, joined Uber pre-hypergrowth, helped launch Paris in 5 weeks, and was there f...

Uber Eats would NOT be the business it is today without Alyssa Pollack. Diagnosed with stage 4 cancer as a teenager, Alyssa’s mom told her: “Today we cry. Tomorrow, we fight.” That mentality shaped everything — from surviving the unthinkable to scaling Uber's driver operations, helping launch Uber Eats, and now leading her own startup as CEO of Fellow. In this episode, we dive into: • Alyssa’s...

How Rachel Holt Helped Fight for Ridesharing in DC and beyond | Early Podcast Ep. 7 Recorded in person, in New York City! In this episode of Early, Max Crowley sits down with Rachel Holt — one of the earliest and most impactful operators at Uber and one of the company's first General Managers. Rachel shares never-before-heard stories from the company’s early days, including regulatory showdown...

💥 It doesn’t get grittier than Jesse Lucas. From hustling his way into Napster, waiting tables at Olive Garden to stay afloat, and nearly getting fired at Uber before he even had the job... he ultimately helped scale one of the most iconic startups ever. Jesse’s story is one of resilience, persistence, and sheer determination. In this episode of The Early Podcast, Jesse sits down with Max Crowley...

New York City is notoriously challenging for upstarts when battling with incumbents and even City Hall. It wasn't an easy journey, but in part thanks to Josh Mohrer, you can now use Uber throughout New York. As one of Uber's early employees, Josh transformed Uber from just 50 cars into a transportation giant, overcoming regulatory hurdles, intense media scrutiny, and political battles. 🚀...

Missed a Huge Opportunity? Here’s How to Bounce Back. Imagine turning down a role as one of Facebook’s first employees... Sam Gellman did. He knew it was a mistake the moment he made it. But instead of letting that define him, he went on to help launch Uber across the world—building cities from scratch, battling regulators, and even getting arrested for doing his job. 🚀 From Almost Facebook to Ub...

🚀 Inside Uber’s China Expansion & the Wild Early Days of Asia – with Candice Lo 🚀 In this episode of The Early Podcast, I sit down with Candice Lo, one of Uber’s earliest international expansion leaders, who played a key role in scaling Uber across Asia and launching the company in China—one of the most ambitious and chaotic expansions in startup history. Candice started at Uber as a launche...

From Tobacco Farms to Uber China: The Wild Journey of Allen Penn | The EARLY Podcast 🎙 In Episode #2 of The EARLY Podcast, I sit down with Allen Penn, one of Uber’s first employees and the mastermind behind Uber’s expansion into Asia, China, and beyond. From growing up on a tobacco farm in Kentucky to leading billion-dollar markets at Uber, Allen’s journey is packed with startup lessons, leadershi...

Welcome to The Early Podcast | Episode 1 🎙️🔥 I’ve always thrived in front of an audience, so launching a podcast felt like the perfect way to channel that energy. This is the first episode of The Early Podcast, where we shift the focus from founders to the early employees who helped build the world’s most innovative companies. So much of the media spotlight is on founders—but the employees behind...

Welcome to The Early Podcast: Stories from Startup Trailblazers Launching March 4th! Subscribe now. In this trailer, get a glimpse of Early, the podcast that uncovers the untold stories of startup builders. Each episode dives deep into the lives of early employees at the world’s most innovative companies—how they got started, what they learned, and how they helped shape success from the ground up.