Office Hours With Spencer Rascoff

Sunil Gunderia, Chief Strategy Officer of Age of Learning, says two-thirds of America’s fourth graders are not proficient in english language arts or math despite the $700 billion spent on K-12 education. This disparity spurred the creation of Age of Learning, whose flagship product, ABC Mouse, has 30 million young learners on the platform since its launch in 2010. Hear Gunderia describe the Age of Learning business model, how it’s expanding during the time of Covid and what diversity, equity and inclusion measures Age of Learning is taking.

Stripped of their outdoor gear before their move to Los Angeles, Rachelle Snyder and her husband, Ross Richmond, arrived, surrounded by tantalizing outdoor adventure, but unprepared to enjoy it -- and nowhere to turn. That problem led them to cofound Arrive Outdoors, a company that rents camping, hiking and skiing gear and attire. Hear Rachelle dig into the details of partnering with brands, how best to service the consumer -- and why running the business with her husband works.

With so many people out of work, how is it the stock market is soaring? To make sense of it all, listen to Spencer as he speaks with John Scuorzo and Zaheed Kajani, both senior managing directors at Evercore, a global independent investment banking advisory firm. This is an edited version of a webinar that took place on June 23, 2020.

No matter how challenging, if given the choice, Jason Kilar, founder of Hulu and current CEO of WarnerMedia, would willingly disrupt the way television and film was distributed, all over again. Listen to Kilar’s account of contextualizing business during the burgeoning days of the internet, the early, tumultuous times at Hulu, his predictions about where media and entertainment are heading -- and a missed opportunity Jason wishes he had captured.

During the past decade, the Hollywood entertainment industry has worked towards more inclusivity in their ranks and storytelling. Can Los Angeles Tech employ those learnings? Angela Robinson and Alexandra Kondracke are film and television writers, producers and directors, known for their work on Professor Marston and The Wonder Women, True Blood, Hung and The L Word. They’re also founders of Time’s Up, a movement that aims to create a safe and equitable society free of sexual harassment. In this high-energy, frank conversation, hear Spencer, Angela and Alexandra share insight into both the Tech and Entertainment industry, how far the industries have come and how far they have to go. This was recorded well before Covid-19 hit and the protests related to George Floyd’s death.

Led by Tim Ellis, Relativity Space is radically upending the aerospace industry by manufacturing rockets using 3D printers. Hear Spencer and Tim dig into Relativity’s engineering feats, its vision for the future of humans in space, what the cutting-edge company values above all, and how in the not-too-distant future Relativity hopes to send a 3D printer to Mars to print rockets there.

Los Angeles has come a long way in the 20 years that Brian Lee has built up startups. Brian co-founded LegalZoom in 2001, ShoeDazzle with Kim Kardashian in 2008,  and The Honest Company with Jessica Alba in 2012. Now, Brian is co-founder and managing director of BAM Ventures, an early stage fund and startup studio, based in Los Angeles. Hear Spencer and Brian, recorded at the Montgomery Summit earlier this year, discuss Los Angeles’ evolution as a tech hub. They dig into the exciting state of the current Los Angeles start-up scene, what BAM looks for in founders, thoughts on building brands -- and a company Lee regrets he passed on. 

Managing through crisis is difficult, but great leaders and great companies are created during challenging times. Spencer grappled with crises at two companies he cofounded, Hotwire and Zillow.  Hear him and Katie Curnutte, former SVP of Communications at Zillow and now a partner at Kingston Marketing Group, discuss how to manage a company through the strain of calamity while keeping a steady eye on the big picture and the opportunities that can arise.

Earlier this year, Spencer had an opportunity through the Navy’s Distinguished Visitors Program to visit the USS John C. Stennis, an aircraft carrier. During his time aboard the ship, Spencer met Rear Admiral Michael Wettlaufer, who’s spent 32 years serving in the Navy. Throughout his career, Admiral Wettlaufer has received multiple medals for his service, logged 3,500 flying hours, flown 49 different aircraft types and made over 800 arrested landings. To say he’s a brave and accomplished leader is an understatement. In this episode, Spencer returns to the USS Stennis for a conversation with Admiral Wettlaufer about leadership. The two cover a lot of ground, including the admiral’s impressive career in the Navy, the importance of teamwork and how to build a culture that’s committed to excellence.

Nick Huzar is co-founder and CEO of OfferUp, the largest mobile marketplace in the U.S. The company has reinvented the model for local, peer-to-peer commerce, and its engagement metrics are incredible. In 2017, the company reported that it had over 60 million downloads and 43 million users who use the platform as frequently as popular social media apps. Today, OfferUp is one of the highest valued private companies in the Pacific Northwest, officially gaining “unicorn” status. In this episode, Nick offers advice for leaders about scaling a company, the importance of building trust and how his leadership style has evolved with OfferUp’s growth.

In this episode, Russell Wilson joins Spencer at Zillow Group’s Seattle headquarters for a live recording in front of employees. Russell is the starting quarterback for the Seahawks, leading the team to its first Super Bowl win in 2014. He’s also one of the NFL’s most charitable athletes. Russell founded the Why Not You Foundation, which has raised millions to support Strong Against Cancer and other children’s charities. When he’s not on the field or engaged in philanthropy, Russell is also an entrepreneur; he founded TraceMe, a social media platform, and Limitless Minds, a leadership development company. In this episode, Russell and Spencer discuss Russell’s approach to leadership on and off the field, how to overcome adversity, his latest business ventures – and even his proposal to Ciara.

Van Jones hosts his own show on CNN, and he’s the founder of The Dream Corps, an accelerator that supports economic and environmental innovation. Its #YesWeCode initiative aims to help 100,000 young people from underrepresented backgrounds find success in the tech sector. Van is an important voice on social justice and STEM education, and Time Magazine named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in the world. In this episode, Van joins Spencer at Zillow Group’s New York office for a live recording in front of employees. The two discuss Van’s impressive background working in communities and promoting green jobs, how to increase diversity in tech and why young people have the power to change the world.

Stewart Butterfield is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Slack, a collaboration hub beloved by more than eight million daily active users. In this episode, Spencer joins Stewart at Slack’s San Francisco headquarters to discuss their recent partnership with Atlassian, Slack’s unique origin story, managing through growth and adversity, and how Slack is fundamentally changing communication at work.

John MacFarlane served as CEO of Sonos from 2002 to 2017 and was instrumental in building the company’s loyal customer base. Just last week, Sonos filed to go public in a $100 million initial public offering, and the company is on track to do $1 billion in revenue this year alone. In this episode, John discusses Sonos’s decision to partner with competitors like Google and Amazon, why he stepped down as CEO and why it’s important to be relentlessly progressive.

Adena Friedman is president and chief executive officer of Nasdaq, which operates the second-largest stock exchange in the world by market cap. Named one of Forbes’ most powerful women, Adena built her career at Nasdaq, starting as an intern straight out of an MBA program. Outside of a three-year stint as chief financial officer at The Carlyle Group, she’s been with Nasdaq ever since. In this episode, Spencer joins Adena in New York City to discuss the power of mentorship, the future of the U.S. capital markets and why going public can spark innovation.

Emily Chang is a best-selling author and host and executive producer of Bloomberg Technology. Earlier this year, she made waves with her book “Brotopia,” an expose on how sexism became pervasive in Silicon Valley, despite its utopian ideals. Drawing on interviews with some of tech’s biggest names, Emily shines a bright light on a big problem. In this episode, Emily joins Spencer at Zillow Group’s San Francisco office to discuss her inspiration for the book, how the tech community got to this point and what we can do about it.

Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden is in the midst of his "what's next" agenda following the company's successful acquisition of Virgin America. Acquisitions, no matter how well executed, are almost always tough on companies. But the commonalities between Alaska and Virgin - their focus on customers and building alignment among employees - lays the foundation for the former competitors to work together and adopt the best features of both airlines as they move forward under a single brand.

What will the home of the future look like? Imagine built-in Wi-Fi, voice-activated digital assistants and other technological innovations that will render older homes obsolete before long. Earlier this month, the nation’s largest homebuilder, Lennar, took a big swing in this direction, announcing that all of its new homes will include smart locks, Wi-Fi, thermostats and lights — all controlled by Amazon Alexa. In this episode, Lennar’s former CEO Stuart Miller, who now serves as its executive chairman, joins Spencer to discuss how technology will impact homebuilding and design — and how he helped create a culture that embraces innovation at the 60-plus-year-old company.

Comedy writer and producer Robert Carlock's spectacular career includes writing and producing credits on iconic shows such as "Saturday Night Live," "Friends" and "30 Rock." Most recently he co-created the Netflix original series "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,". As a leader in a creative field, Robert doesn't rely on data to make decisions. Instead, he draws largely from his intuition and simply knowing what's going to be funny. And untethering creativity is a lesson all companies and industries can learn from.

Dara Khosrowshahi is CEO of Uber, a company that’s become a household name for transportation. Uber’s dominance hasn’t come without controversy, however. Uber’s reputation as an innovator has often been overshadowed by negative revelations about its culture. In 2017, Dara left his role as CEO of Expedia to take over the reins at Uber from founder Travis Kalanick. His mission: Get the company on the path to cultural reform, profitability and, eventually, IPO. In this episode, Dara and Spencer discuss why he made the move to Uber, what he’s learning – and the role of “flying taxis” in Uber’s future.