Cover art for podcast The Disruptors - Innovation, Startups and Growth

The Disruptors - Innovation, Startups and Growth

47 EpisodesProduced by Sean Johnson @ ManifoldWebsite

Ideas, tools, techniques and advice from the people and organizations who are transforming our world.

47 Episodes | 2018 - 2024

Farewell

February 22nd, 2024

0:39

An important message from RadioPublic

#46 - Social Commerce and The Fastest Growing Marketplace Ever, with Grant Lafontaine

January 31st, 2023

46:38

Social commerce is a rapidly emerging industry, reaching over $600B annually in China and rapidly emerging in the US. The leading platform for social commerce in the US is WhatNot. They recently raised a $260M Series D, …

#45 - Building Incumbent-Friendly Marketplaces, with Ben Preston

December 20th, 2022

57:23

The components manufacturing industry is the perfect example of a legacy niche ripe for disruption. But it has some interesting nuances to it, ones that Gearflow has worked hard to understand. 

Initially setting out as a …

#44 - Transforming Couples Counseling, with Adam Putterman

November 8th, 2022

55:53

The stigma around couples therapy is largely gone. People are more willing than ever to talk with someone who can help them process their issues. And yet many couples reserve it for then things get really bad. While …

#43 - Creating Order Out of Chaos, with Chris Ronzio

September 27th, 2022

52:32

Almost every organization would benefit from having better processes. But for most companies getting standard operating procedures, handbooks and …

#42 - Tackling Infertility, with Lauren Berson Sugarman

September 6th, 2022

57:24

Nearly 1 in 6 adults struggle with some form of infertility. And yet while the pregnancy journey is pretty well defined and understood, the process …

#41 - The Foldable House Breaking Crowdfunding Records, with Galiano Tiramani

August 23rd, 2022

45:27

While most industries have already realized the benefits of assembly-line-based, automated manufacturing processes, home building continues to be slow, built one-at-a-time, using largely the same materials we’ve used …

#40 - Unlocking the Power of PTO, with Rob Whalen

August 2nd, 2022

49:48

Only 4 in 10 employees use all of their Paid Time Off each year, leaving over 750 million days unused annually in the US. 

Unused PTO either sits on the balance sheet of companies as a liability, or is forfeited by …

#39 - Disrupting the Beverage Market, with Yanni Hufnagel

July 19th, 2022

50:18

Creating a new company in the food and beverage space is no small feat. While it’s relatively easy to get started, securing shelf space, managing margins, and outmaneuvering extremely large and resourced incumbents …

#38 - The Future of Healthcare is Here, with Forward Health

July 5th, 2022

46:56

Forward Health is a heavily tech-enabled concierge healthcare provider that is reimagining the way healthcare is provided. I’ve been a member for several years, and routinely have used them as an example of creating …

#37 - Democratizing Education, with Ariel Camus

June 14th, 2022

55:19

Companies have rapidly embracing the idea of a truly distributed global workforce, and opportunities to work from anywhere are now common. But access …

#36 - Building a Resilient Company, with Ishan Daya and Nate Rosenstock

May 26th, 2022

50:27

The pandemic impacted many startups over the last few years. And while some failed and others survived, a few actually thrived coming out of it.


One of those companies was crafty, which helps companies manage their food …

#35 - Optimizing Health using Ketones, with Michael Brandt

May 10th, 2022

47:09

In the fitness and life hacking communities, ketones and ketogenesis have become an increasingly hot topic of conversation. The benefits of getting your body into ketosis and using ketones as fuel are many and varied. …

#34 - Eight Sleep: The Future of Rest, with Matteo Franceschetti

April 13th, 2022

45:16

In the last few years, there has been an enormous increase of interest in the science of sleep. Sleep has become recognized as a primary tool for …

#33 - The Transformation of VC, with Paige Finn Doherty

March 15th, 2022

52:55

The advent of syndicates, roll up vehicles, and social networking have torn down many of the gatekeepers and walls in traditional venture. And a new …

#32 - Figment and Proof of Stake, with Andrew Cronk

March 3rd, 2022

53:52

Most of the new tokens being launched in the DeFi ecosystem leverage what is called Proof of Stake as the mechanism to secure the networks. And …

#31 - Levels Health: How to Take Control of Your Metabolic Health, with Maz Brumand

February 1st, 2022

56:15

Metabolic health measures how effectively our body processes energy. Measuring glucose is the primary way we assess one’s metabolic health. And there …

#30 - Amit Gupta: Unleashing Creativity with Artificial Intelligence

January 11th, 2022

40:00

Amit Gupta is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. He was one of the early pioneers of the coworking movement, he created a photography …

#29 - Amanda Goetz: DTC Brands and Building in Public

December 9th, 2021

53:24

There’s an idea in startup land around “building in public”. The idea is that taking people behind the scenes can be a fantastic way to build trust, create authenticity with your brand, and create an enthusiastic base …

#28 - Chrisman Frank and Ana Lorena Fabrega: Synthesis, The SpaceX Lab School, and The Future of Education

November 23rd, 2021

54:16

The future of education is a hotly debated topic, one that was only exacerbated by the COVID pandemic. Parents, educators, and policy makers are all …

#27 - Brian Fioca: From Productivity to Balance

November 9th, 2021

49:54

The trends around quantified self, and productivity optimization have been around for years. But when COVID arrived, many people started to reflect on their lives. One of the themes that seems to have emerged from that …

#26 - Ben Huh: DAOs and the Future of Work

October 26th, 2021

40:17

It’s been said that 2020 was the year of Decentralized Finance, and 2021 the year of NFTs. It’s likely that 2022 will be the year of the DAO. 

DAOs represent a fundamentally different way of organizing human and …

#25 - A New Chapter: Introducing Manifold

January 27th, 2021

48:47

Today is a big day for us, because today we’re unveiling our new company. It’s called Manifold, and it combines our advisory practice, formerly known …

#24 - Ross Gordon: Subscription Box Models and Community-Driven Marketing

July 21st, 2020

1:00:42

Ross Gordon is the founder of Catch Co, creating amazing fishing brands, products, & shopping experiences for the modern angler. It originally started as Mystery Tackle Box, a subscription service sending lures and …

#23 - Steve Sinclair: Why Your Eyes Will Soon Have Superpowers

June 30th, 2020

53:40

Welcome back to season 3 of the disruptors podcast.

Steve Sinclair is the Senior Vice President of Product at Mojo Vision, a company that is …

#22 - Sam Glassenberg :How video games are transforming healthcare

January 21st, 2020

52:14

Video games have obviously taken the world by storm. But when most people think of video games they think of something folks do as purely …

#21 - Fiona Grandi: The Future of Professional Services

December 3rd, 2019

41:14

Professional services firms have undergone dramatic shifts in the last 10 years, and many are predicting complete disruption in the next 20. As automation, broader access to information and other trends converge, smart …

#20 - Jennifer Fitzgerald: Managed marketplaces

October 15th, 2019

31:31

Many of the students in my class at Kellogg come from the world of big consulting, but have been bitten by the startup bug. But how do you …

#19 - Dr. Stephen Klasko: The future of healthcare

September 25th, 2019

47:51

Nearly everyone is in agreement that healthcare is an industry that desperately needs transformative change. But the legacy technologies, …

#18 - Kathy Hannun: How Alphabet's moonshot factory pursues innovations, and the future of energy

September 12th, 2019

47:46

For most organizations working on innovation, their emphasis is on incremental, horizon one types of initiatives. Far less common are truly …

#17 - Richard Stokes: How to hack Kickstarter, build a hardware company, and stop companies from spying on you

August 29th, 2019

43:45

Privacy is a hot topic these days, as people for the first time are starting to realize the extent and magnitude of the data companies are gathering on them. And not everyone is okay with it.

My guest today is Richard …

#16 - Maja Thomas: The future of book publishing

August 1st, 2019

48:40

How do you innovate inside a company with decades of rich history, with business models that are firmly entrenched, delivering on a product people have consumed effectively the same way for centuries?


My guest today is …

#15 - Jillian Chown: Why your organization sucks at change, and what to do about it.

July 18th, 2019

51:53

One of the most consistent issues with organizations looking to innovate is the idea of change management. How do I get an organization that’s used to doing things a certain way to embrace change and bake innovation …

#14: Brian Vellmure: How Salesforce helps clients jumpstart their innovation initiatives

July 1st, 2019

33:54

One of the largest trends in enterprise innovation has been the adoption of large platforms like SAP and Salesforce. But many organizations don’t …

#13 - John Padgett: IoT at Scale: Disney MagicBands and Carnival's Ocean Medallion

June 17th, 2019

42:30

Many organizations talk about improving customer experience as one of their primary innovation initiatives. But what does it look like to create a …

#12 - John Zeratsky: The Creator of the Design Sprint

June 3rd, 2019

1:10:27

The Design Sprint methodology has spread like wildfire, both in the startup community and the world of enterprise innovation. My guest today is John …

#11 - Jessica Messinger: How Uber, Twitch and Cameo grew marketplace businesses

May 20th, 2019

1:02:39

The common wisdom around creating a marketplace business is to start with supply. The logic is that without the supply side you can't capture the demand side, which is typically how a marketplace business monetizes. …

#10 - Tim Courtney: How LEGO built an empire with the help of its fans

May 6th, 2019

1:00:42

The LEGO Ideas initiative is perhaps the most famous example of successful community building and open innovation. In this episode we talk with Tim …

#9 - Chad Curry: Innovation in residential real estate

April 12th, 2019

54:37

Welcome to Season 2 of the Disruptors Podcast.

How is technology going to transform the way we choose where to live? 

Chad Curry is currently the …

#8 - Elan Mosbacher: How to scale 10x, and then scale 10x again

December 13th, 2018

56:21

How do you scale something 10x and then scale it again? The answer is surprisingly simple, and yet very few organizations have the discipline to do it. My guest today is Elan Mosbacher, Senior Vice President of Strategy …

#7 - Mike Rome: How to get 1,617,418 customers and build a growth team

November 19th, 2018

58:14

One thing many startups have in common is the growth team - a multi-disciplinary group tasked with moving bottom line product metrics. Unlike …

#6 - Jason Henrichs: Innovation in Financial Services

October 9th, 2018

54:50

The financial services industry impacts us in broad sweeping ways, perhaps more than any other industry. And technology is forcing legacy …

#5 - Chris Durbin: How Amazon Builds Remarkable Products

September 4th, 2018

35:01

Amazon has developed a unique culture that allows them to execute across a variety of industries. My guest today is Chris Durbin, as a product …

#4 - Jordan Hollander: Technology trends in the hotel industry

August 3rd, 2018

32:44

The hotel industry is full of opportunities to leverage innovative new technologies. My guest today has made it his mission to help hotels navigate …

#3 - Andrew Means: Using data science to transform the social sector

July 10th, 2018

36:18

Data science has infiltrated most enterprise organizations. But it’s also being used to improve the efficacy of organizations in the social sector. My guest today is Andrew Means. Founder of Data Analysts for Social …

#2 - The Politics of Innovation

June 26th, 2018

33:26

In this episode, DI partner Sean Johnson discusses why politics often get a bad wrap inside of organizations, and why they're vital to making your …

#1 - The 11 Laws of Product Development

June 6th, 2018

33:34

Welcome to the Disruptors podcast. In this episode, DI partner Sean Johnson explains why so many digital products fail, and outlines 11 specific, actionable ways you can make smarter product decisions to maximize the …

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