SHACK15 Conversations

SHACK15 Conversations welcomed JD Schramm, keynote speaker, communication coach, and SHACK15 member, for an intimate conversation about communicating ideas that matter. We also explore TEDxHayesValley, the event he’s creating to bring AI innovation into conversation with the neighborhood’s arts and community life.Over more than 25 years, JD has taught at Stanford and USC, helping founders and leaders turn complex ideas into clear messages. Alongside coaching others, he has shared deeply personal stories on the TED stage, from his struggles with addiction and depression to his family’s journey to parenthood.In this conversation, JD shares what gets in the way of effective communication, how understanding your audience changes your message, and the AIM framework - Audience, Intent, Message. that guides his work. It’s a conversation about finding your voice, sharing your ideas, and opening yourself to perspectives beyond your own.TEDxHayesValley takes place on February 6, 2027. Speaker applications close October 15, 2026. Learn more at tedxhayesvalley.com.

SHACK15 Conversations welcomes Cory Johnson, an entrepreneur, journalist, investor, and market strategist whose career has consistently sat at the intersection of markets, media, and technology.Today, Cory is Chief Market Strategist at Epistrophy Capital Research and host of The Drill Down, bringing a hedge fund manager’s read on the numbers together with a journalist’s instinct for the story behind them. His expansive career has taken him from helping start SLAM, Vibe, The Industry Standard, and TheStreet.com, to becoming CNBC’s first Silicon Valley correspondent, helping build Bloomberg’s West Coast TV and radio presence, managing money as a portfolio manager, and later serving as a senior executive at Ripple. SLAM was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.In this conversation, Cory shares what a career spent continually stepping into new territory has taught him about asking hard questions, backing yourself when you don’t have all the answers, and recognizing opportunity in the gap between perception and reality. We explore what separates a durable startup from a fleeting one, how writing and investigative journalism sharpened his investment judgment, and why he continues to build at the edges of new industries rather than settling into a single lane.A conversation about curiosity, conviction and reinvention.

SHACK15 Conversations welcomes Agata Mroczkowska, Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Teleport, whose career has spanned some of Europe's fastest-growing technology companies, including Foodpanda and Booksy.Growing up in a small town in Poland, Agata's world expanded through the mentors, teachers, and experiences that encouraged her to think beyond the limits of what she could see. Those experiences eventually led her to help scale two unicorns before co-leading Teleport, a San Francisco–based residency accelerator supporting exceptional international founders as they build and grow in Silicon Valley.In this conversation, Agata reflects on what hypergrowth really looks like from the inside, the fine line between ambition and burnout, and why the greatest opportunities often begin with someone expanding your sense of what's possible. Ultimately, this is a conversation about building more than companies, it's about building the confidence to imagine a bigger future.

SHACK15 Conversations welcomed Celeste Amadon, co-founder and CEO of Known, for a conversation on reimagining human connection in the age of dating apps.After leaving Stanford at 21, Celeste set out to build something fundamentally different from the swipe-based platforms that have come to define modern dating. Alongside her co-founder Asher Allen, she launched Known, a voice-AI matchmaking platform designed to help people form meaningful relationships in the real world rather than spend more time online.In this conversation, Celeste shares the journey of building a company around one of society's most pressing challenges: loneliness and disconnection. We explore the early days of Known, raising a seed round in just four days, the philosophy behind intentional matchmaking, and why she believes technology should bring people closer together, not further apart. A conversation about entrepreneurship, technology, community, and the search for meaningful connection.

SHACK15 Conversations welcomed Nick Martell, co-founder and co-host of The Best One Yet, for an intimate conversation on building a media company from the ground up.Alongside his co-founder and best friend Jack Crivici-Kramer, Nick started MarketSnacks as a side hustle while working in finance, turning a daily market newsletter into a business news podcast that made finance feel fun, accessible, and human. The show was later acquired by Robinhood, relaunched as Robinhood Snacks Daily, and eventually spun back out independently as The Best One Yet.In this conversation, Nick shares the realities behind building something daily for years without missing a beat, the role of discipline, friendship, and trust in entrepreneurship, and what it felt like to scale, sell and ultimately reclaim the business they created. We also explore the evolution of TBOY from a daily podcast into a growing media brand, with live shows, a devoted community of “Yetis” and “Besties,” and a guiding mission to make audiences ‘brighter.’ A conversation about consistency, creativity, community, and following the fun.

SHACK15 hosted one of our monthly Angels meetups in February.  This time, we were joined by the extraordinary Tim Draper, renowned venture capitalist, and Jorn Lyseggen, serial entrepreneur and founder of SHACK15, for a fireside chat.Tim Draper hails from a distinguished lineage of venture capitalists spanning three generations. A true visionary in the venture capital world, Tim has been instrumental in funding and mentoring some of the most transformative companies, including Tesla, Skype, and Baidu, bringing a wealth of knowledge and unique perspectives on innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment trends.In this conversation, Jorn and Tim delved into stories from his incredible career, discuss their thoughts on the rapidly evolving world of AI, and explored the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of technology.

In February, we were joined by the Las Vegas-based performance ensemble Molodi for a captivating evening where rhythm took center stage through the art of body percussion, poetry, and dance. As the beats resonated, the audience was invited to immerse themselves in the storytelling journey, celebrating the profound impact of African-American body percussion and cultural heritage. The group blends collegiate stepping, tap, gumboots, beatbox, poetry, and hip-hop dance with guerilla-style theatre and robust personalities that bring a high-energy, soulful, rhythmic experience to life. We learned about the history of Molodi and their in-school programs highlighting the movement practice, and the significance of their education work, during a panel with Jason Nious, the Co-founder and Director of Molodi, Joy Hermsen, the Chief Executive Officer at the International Museum of Dance, Mauricha Robinson, Program Manager for the African American Parent Advisory Council, and CieraJevae, Spoken Arts Department Head at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts.

On October 9th, SHACK15 hosted a roundtable discussion led by California State Senator Scott Wiener, which focused on artificial intelligence, regulation, and creating local impact within the Bay Area. Senator Wiener, who actively put forth legislation with backing from a few of the Bay Area's largest tech and AI companies, took questions from SHACK15 members working in AI and other fields. The event was hosted by Michael Seiler, whose impact acceleration consulting firm, Collective Impact, leverages growth marketing and new technology for those working on the frontlines of social and environmental challenges, introduced by SHACK15 programming manager Jaron Gandelman. San Francisco has established itself as the global center for AI innovation, with an unparalleled concentration of builders, VCs, and AI-focused funding. As AI continues to shape industries and societal structures, there is an urgent need to consider the regulatory framework that governs its development and use, particularly in ways that create meaningful local impact. Senator Wiener’s forthcoming AI regulation bill aims to address these challenges, and this discussion serves as a platform to gather critical feedback from the builder community. Let's listen.

Join us for an exclusive Author Talk with Guy Kawasaki. Guy needs no introduction but here we go -  the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of the Remarkable People podcast, who recently launched his book Think Remarkable. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. 

In this podcast, SHACK15 member, founder and first CEO of Shazam - Chis Barton - is in conversation with us. Three-time startup founder, pioneer of mobile ecosystems at Google and Dropbox, and inventor of 12 patents including one found within the Google search algorithm, Chris is an incredibly charming personality. Shazam has been downloaded 2 billion times and was acquired by Apple in 2018 for a reported $400 million, making it Apple’s 6th largest acquisition of all-time. Chris is now building his third startup company which will detect drowning in swimming pools using artificial intelligence and computer vision. Tune in, and enjoy!