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October 18, 2019 • 40m

As acquisition talks with Spotify continue, Alex and Matt face their hopes and fears about what might lie ahead.

Alex Talks to Missouri Star Quilt Company Co-Founder Jenny Doan

August 23, 2019 • 30m

Jenny Doan and her husband, Ron, lost most of their savings in the 2008 financial crisis. Retirement was just around the corner, and they didn’t know how they would make it through. That’s when the family went all-in on an unlikely business—a quilt shop.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Company Has Problems

October 04, 2019 • 33m

It's the spring of 2018, four years after Alex and Matt launched Gimlet, and things are not going well. Audiences are flat, ad sales are flagging, and the company is burning through cash at an alarming rate. And with all of those pressures, Alex and Matt have started to fight.

Thanksgiving in Stockholm

October 11, 2019 • 40m

Just days before Thanksgiving, Alex and Matt board a red-eye to Stockholm for a conversation that could change everything.

Alex Talks to a Cold Case Investigator

March 29, 2019 • 46m

Paul Holes was starting out in the field of criminology when, one day in 1994, he spotted a filing cabinet in the library of the crime lab where he was working. He opened a drawer, pulled out some files, and discovered the cold case that he would spend his entire career trying to solve. He did it through a trial and error process that involved old-fashioned detective work, new technology, and countless wrong turns before he finally found himself at the Golden State Killer’s front door.

StartupBus 1: Monday

December 11, 2017

This summer, 20 strangers got on a bus headed from New York to New Orleans. For five days, they had one goal: to build and launch companies while on the bus. We’ll be telling this story as it unfolded — with one new episode, every day, over the next five days.Today’s episode: Monday. Day One.

Alex Talks to Award-Winning Chef Edouardo Jordan

May 10, 2019 • 46m

When Edouardo Jordan’s Seattle restaurant JuneBaby won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant last year, it was the first time that an African American chef had won that particular honor. Edouardo won for a restaurant that reclaims black southern food and proclaims its history. But he had spent years overlooking his culinary roots as he trained in high-end kitchens. It was a path he started down when, as a lowly cook in Tampa, Florida, he talked himself into a job at the famed restaurant The French Laundry.

Gimlet 22: You Can't Wear a Suit Here

October 14, 2016

Growth. It can be exciting, it can be motivating, and it can be really stressful. In this week’s episode, we take a look at the tensions that Gimlet’s growth spurt is creating.We speak with the team producing one of our upcoming shows to see what it’s really like to build a podcast from the ground up. Each of them is being asked to step up to the plate in a way that they never have before, and some are realizing that the support they expected, it just isn’t there.People are pushed to their limits, emotions run high, and things that have remained hitherto unsaid are finally aired.

Friendster 2: The Fall

April 28, 2017

After a turbulent start and the firing of its founder, Friendster looked like it was back on track. It was still the biggest social network around and its board—which was packed with some of the biggest names in venture capital—quickly assembled a star-studded executive team. So, why couldn’t all that talent deliver on the company’s promise? Why aren’t we all logging onto Friendster today? Ask AlexGot a question for Alex Blumberg? Leave us a message at 812-641-1231, and your question could end up on the show.The FactsMark Phillips wrote and performed our theme song.Build Buildings wrote and performed our special ad music.Additional music by Typhoon, Jupyter, Marley Carrol and the band Hot Moms Dot Gov.David Herman, Ian Scott, and Rick Kwan mixed the episode.

Dating Ring 6: Profiled

June 02, 2015

In online dating, love is not blind

BONUS: Introducing Twice Removed

January 13, 2017

In episode 2 of this season of StartUp, producer Molly Messick followed producers Eric Mennel and Ngofeen Mputubwele, who were working on creating a new Gimlet show called Twice Removed. That show has now launched. In this special bonus episode, Alex Blumberg catches up with Eric and Ngofeen, to see how things have been going since Molly spoke with them this past summer. Enjoy this update from the Twice Removed team and then listen to the first half of a new episode, which features Alex's wife Nazanin Rafsanjani as a special guest.

Domains 1: The .com King

September 01, 2017

StartUp is back for a brand new season, and we're kicking things off with a story about the competitive world of domains.Reporter Amy Standen brings us the story of Rick Schwartz, who earned the title “Domain King” by building a portfolio of dot com web addresses worth millions. But why is a “.com” address worth so much in the first place? And why doesn’t Gimlet own “gimlet.com”?And coming up this season, we'll hear from startups in unexpected places. We'll go to the Mojave Desert for a self-driving car race, we'll take you on a cross-country bus ride for a hackathon on wheels, and we'll head to China to track their growing pop music scene.

Alex Talks to a Turnaround Specialist

March 01, 2019

For many businesses, it’s all about looking forward. New trends, new brands, new verticals. But Sharon Price John sees a different path: one that involves looking to the past. She has made a career of reinvigorating forgotten and failing brands, including Nerf, Stride Rite, and Barbie Fashions. But her career hasn’t been all success all the time. Alex talks to Sharon about a bet she made that went very wrong, and about her biggest turnaround yet, as the CEO and President of Build-a-Bear Workshop.

Dating Ring 3: Another Side Of The Story

May 06, 2015

Welcome to fundraising

Alex Talks to Hollywood Hitmaker Nina Jacobson

November 01, 2019 • 45m

Nina Jacobson is a force in Hollywood. She’s behind some of the biggest movies of the last 20 years: The Sixth Sense, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hunger Games, and most recently Crazy Rich Asians. She’s had a lot of success. But also some pretty big failures: a public firing, some box office flops. Nina walks Alex through her failure resume and talks about what it takes to make a hit.

Success Academy 1: The Problem

November 09, 2018

The Story: Eva Moskowitz wants to fix a really big problem. There are over a million kids in New York City’s public schools. Most can’t read or do math at grade level. Many won’t graduate on time. And it’s largely poor, black and brown kids who are stuck in the lowest performing schools. Eva’s the founder and CEO of Success Academy, the subject of this season of StartUp. And she’s actually making progress. Her school network is growing at lightning speed, and her students get among the highest standardized-test scores in the city, beating out schools in some of the wealthiest districts. And the education world is watching. But not everyone likes what they see. In this season, we ask how exactly Success is doing what it’s doing, and why does it have so many critics?Today, on the first of our six-part series about Success, we meet a mother, Sherisse, who desperately wants her son to get into Success, so that he can have opportunities she never had herself. And we go inside a Success classroom on the first day of school, to see what parents like Sherisse are clamoring for.The Facts:Peter Leonard mixed the episode. Our theme song is by Mark Philips, remixed by Bobby Lord. Build Buildings wrote and performed our special ad music. Additional music by Peter Leonard, Bobby Lord, Hot Moms Dot Gov, Jupyter, Mothica,Golden Gram and BlueDot.For a list of our sponsors and show related offer codes, go to gimlet.media/OurAdvertisers

Domains 2: Sex Dot Con

September 08, 2017

Gary Kremen owned one of the most valuable domain names in the history of the internet. And then one day, he lost it in the most unusual way. For years, Gary fought to win back his domain “sex dot com." The legal battle transformed the way the courts treat virtual property. But in the end, was his lengthy and expensive crusade worth it?

Gimlet 3: How To Divide An Imaginary Pie

September 17, 2014

How much of your company should you give up when you bring on a partner?

Introducing Season 7

April 11, 2018

Season 7 of StartUp is almost here! On April 27th, we’re taking you into the world of venture capital with Silicon Valley’s most unlikely power broker: Arlan Hamilton. Here’s a sneak peek of our story.And are you looking for more Gimlet in your life? Then click here to view our guide to other Gimlet shows coming this spring.

Friendster 1: The Rise

April 21, 2017

In 2003, Jonathan Abrams was sitting atop one of the hottest new companies in Silicon Valley. He and his website were at the forefront of an industry that would eventually be worth more than $400 billion. So, what went wrong?--Ask AlexGot a question for Alex Blumberg? Leave us a message at 812-641-1231, and your question could end up on the show.