This Week in Startups - Video

How should you interact with journalists in order to get great press for your product? And where do you even find the right journalists, the ones who will really care about what you're doing? On the program today is an entrepreneur with the answer. Greg Galant, CEO & Cofounder of Sawhorse Media, created Muckrack, a site that matches individuals, startups & PR companies with the best of the press. Armed with research from his site and decades in the biz (including creating and exec producing The Shorty Awards), Greg shares all the Dos & Don'ts of researching, cultivating & maintaining relationships with journalists. (Hint: don't be a spammer! and yes there IS a right time of day to email.) Jason and Greg also dive into a fascinating discussion of media trends past present & future, the ever moving target of truth in journalism, press releases are dead (long live press releases), and of course, the riddle of the startup sphinx: to hire or not to hire PR professionals. (No spoilers -- but if you're the CEO? Always be promoting.) It's a riveting, information-packed talk, capped by an excerpt of the incomparable Will Ferrell accepting his Shorty Award. Join us!

It's the fourth show from our LAUNCH Incubator series! Over 12 weeks, 7 companies are learning how to make game-changing startups under the guidance of the best in the business. Today leading the class is Sam Shank, CEO & Cofounder of the wildly successful Hotel Tonight, the world's leading hotel booking app. Sam walks us through all of his steps in creating and growing this phenomenal product, from whiteboards & mockups to pilot launch goals & early results, to figuring out their supernova growth strategies. An extremely valuable, tactical TWIST you don't want to miss.

It's the first News Roundtable of 2015! Joining Jason in the studio are power panelists, Adam Nash, CEO & President of Wealthfront, and David Ulevitch, Founder & CEO of OpenDNS. The three go deep into the timeliest topics of our new year, starting with the SONY hack, its security implications industry-wide, and how they tackle this critical issue as CEOs in sensitive verticals. Jason, Adam, and David also tackle the changing of certain CEO guards and their personal experiences in these transitions, what's working and what's not at Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook & Google, the great unbundling in media, finance and in other sectors, and Jason shares how a lot of people got cable in Brooklyn in the old days (hint: not through proper channels...!) This and much more. Join us!

The third show from our LAUNCH Incubator series! Over 12 weeks, 7 companies are learning how to make game-changing startups under the guidance of the best in the business. Heading the class today are two special guests, each with phenomenal expertise on both sides of the entrepreneur/investor table. First is Gil Penchina who runs the largest AngelList Syndicate & multitude of investments. Gil's brass tacks on financing are as valuable as they are colorful; among many gems, he shares the gory ins and outs of taking angel versus VC money, the (ir)relevance of boards & how best to communicate with them, the importance of showing trend lines & merciless persistence, greatest "wow" pitches & investments, his tendency to overshare, why he would never send a deck as an entrepreneur but requires one as an investor, and why he doesn't pay any bill until he gets the red letter. Second is Steve Huffman, Co-founder of reddit and Hipmunk, and an investor, who reveals how the funding landscape for startups has changed over the years, his top tactical challenges today, what he looks for in funders before investing, and much more.

The second show from our LAUNCH Incubator series! Over 12 weeks, 7 companies are learning how to make game-changing startups under the guidance of the best in the business. Leading the charge today is Josh Elman, current partner at Greylock & former product master at Twitter, Facebook Connect, Zazzle, LinkedIn, and RealPlayer. Josh shares the secrets for a successful growth cycle, including detailed & tactical advice on answering key questions, such as: what's the great problem people are experiencing, how you convey that your product is solving that problem, how you get people to use your product, and how to get users to make your product a habit. Learn the tricks to SEO and going viral, the importance of "learn flow" in teaching new users about your product, best practices in converting customers, and many other amazing tips on how to make it awesome, become iconic, and create FOMO.

The second show from our LAUNCH Incubator series! Over 12 weeks, 7 companies are learning how to make game-changing startups under the guidance of the best in the business. Leading the charge today is Josh Elman, current partner at Greylock & former product master at Twitter, Facebook Connect, Zazzle, LinkedIn, and RealPlayer. Josh shares the secrets for a successful growth cycle, including detailed & tactical advice on answering key questions, such as: what's the great problem people are experiencing, how you convey that your product is solving that problem, how you get people to use your product, and how to get users to make your product a habit. Learn the tricks to SEO and going viral, the importance of "learn flow" in teaching new users about your product, best practices in converting customers, and many other amazing tips on how to make it awesome, become iconic, and create FOMO.

"Kim Kardashian: Hollywood" was one of the biggest tech stories of 2014, topping many "Best of" lists for apps, games & record-breaking revenue. Today Jason talks to the person responsible for making it all happen: Glu Mobile CEO & gaming industry expert, Niccolo de Masi. Niccolo reveals his inspiration for creating the game, his strategy for getting Kim on board, Kim's savvy & creative input, and how she has become the first successful transmedia brand. Beyond that, Jason and Niccolo dive into broader and deeper industry talk, tackling major shifts in mobile and gaming trends since 2001 (when Glu first starting making cell phone games), who is going to win the living rooms of the next billion households, international entrepreneurship and what's crushing in China, Japan, Korea, and Russia, the nuts & bolts of running a private versus public company, the continued relevance of consoles, being bullish on smart watches, the second oldest profession, what's Moore's Law got to do with it? -- and so much more than that.

It can be the most emotional and difficult decision you make as a founder. You've worked so hard to get here -- but things change. Whether it's going gangbusters and purchase offers are piling up or it's spiraling downward and you're facing a shut down, preparation is key. Recognize the signs and exit gracefully. In this Startup Basics, Jason breaks it down: "When should I sell or shut down my company?"

The first show from our LAUNCH Incubator series! Over 12 weeks, 7 companies are learning how to make game-changing startups under the guidance of the best in the business. Today Jared Fliesler, Matrix Partners VC & growth guru (ex- Square, Slide & Google), leads a master class on how to grow your product. Among the many mysteries Jared unpacks: the three essential steps in growing your product, the critical characteristics of growth gurus, buckets of growth and how you measure them (is money more valuable than content? etc.), perfecting your core product loop, organic versus paid marketing, avoiding others' mistakes while stealing their great ideas, the specific brands he's learned the most from -- and much, much more. You do not want to miss this!

In the studio today is Tristan Walker, Founder & CEO of Walker & Company Brands, a startup dynamo creating health & beauty products specifically for people of color. Tristan dazzles Jason with his Bevel razor, as well as with stories from his entrepreneurial journey: from growing up in Queens, to biz dev at Foursquare, to being an E.I.R. at Andreessen Horowitz, to now crushing it as a founder. It's a fascinating discussion on the enormous potential of the health & beauty market, the role of African-American culture in U.S. & global technology, applying New York hustle to Silicon Valley, celebrity investors, gaining perspective on what money represents, Tristan's work at CODE2040 expanding opportunities in tech for Black and Latino/a students, and how converting influential consumers into the influencers themselves is smart business.

It's the Jason "no holds barred" interview, Part 2! Our celebration of Episode #500 continues into Episode #501 as Brian Alvey, Jason's lifelong friend (and very first TWIST guest) commandeers the host's seat and puts Jason in the hot seat. Tune in to hear Jason's unfiltered answers to Brian's and fans' questions about his legacy, regrets, triumphs with LAUNCH, the Uber controversy, race relations, the plummeting trust in journalism, the two essential qualities in a founder, why he's going supernova in 2015 -- and much, much more. Thank you friends for joining us on this incredible journey, and welcome to our new fans. We'll see you all for the next 500!

To celebrate Episode #500 we're turning the tables on Jason. Brian Alvey, Jason's lifelong friend (and very first TWIST guest!) commandeers the host's seat and puts Jason in the hot seat for a riveting "no holds barred" interview. Tune in to hear Jason's unfiltered answers to Brian's and fans' questions about his legacy, triumphs with LAUNCH, troubles with Mahalo, the Uber controversy, the plummeting quality of journalism, his favorite TWIST episodes, essential qualities in a founder, what he's got to prove, why he's going supernova in 2015 -- and much, much more. Thank you to all of our amazing fans for joining us on this incredible journey!

One of the toughest realities you'll face as an entrepreneur is the cost of business. You need to prove you can deploy resources intelligently to gain the trust of valuable investors and employees. It's just like the Zombie Apocalypse ... you can't waste bullets! In this "Startup Basics" Jason spells out the cold hard facts and gives up the red hot tips. So listen and learn: How to save money running your startup.

Christian Rudder, the Founder of dating site OKCupid, is on the show today to share secrets from his master work, "Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)." The book, newly gracing many "Best of 2014" lists (including NPR's and Brain Pickings'), is an absolute revelation, and the first of its kind. Mining data from tens of millions of users & interactions on OKCupid, and on other sites as well, Christian has uncovered a treasure trove of the secret beliefs, sweeping patterns, and surprising preferences around critical topics of our time: race, gender, beauty, sexuality, language, geography, and culture...and more. Jason and Christian dive deep into the data, debate its controversial conclusions and, after a brief "Dungeons & Dragons" detour, unpack the book's most unflattering findings about how we think and behave -- especially when we think no one is looking.

Jason's guest today is Michael Keating, CEO & Founder of ScootNetworks. The shared, electric, and smartphone-activated scooters launched at the 2012 LAUNCH festival -- and have been tearing up the market and down the streets of San Francisco ever since. Jason and Michael cover a lot of ground, including the company's tremendous growth in the last year, the tricky economics of raising money & running a business in the green/clean tech space, whether Americans are taking to scooting like they took to espresso, and ScootNetworks' vision to dominate the electric transportation market, nationwide.