The Growth Show

Let's face it: Smoking is just f--ing cool. Run go watch any of the biggest films and tv from the past year. What do you notice? They all feature cigarettes and vapes. The dangers of smoking are well documented. But today, many Gen Z who try e-cigarettes remain e-cigarette users (CDC). So we talk with a new company called Blip about how they plan to un-hook an entire generation. The Growth Show is a special series brought to you by The Hustle Daily Show // Hosted and produced by Matthew Brown.

We're back -- now in special series form! That's right, the show you love and let stand in your podcast feeds returns for an all new run of growth stories. So here's how it works: New episodes launch on our cousin podcast The Hustle Daily Show. About a week later, you can catch the second wave over here on our original feed. Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Show to get new episodes when they drop (and your fair shake of business news each morning while you're at it). Our first episode back takes a dive into the mechanical wave pool of the future. Aventuur is planning to develop surf resorts in 11 cities across North America. But for their hefty price tag, success will take more than a perfect wave on demand. Hosted & produced by Matthew Brown // Previously released on The Hustle Daily Show // You're the best.

Kevin Kelly is a futurist and co-founder of Wired Magazine. His latest article looks at augmented reality's role in our future lives, in a world he calls the Mirror World. Kevin talks about how business leaders can be better futurists, and why it's not about being right but being ready.

Following the death of George Floyd, Minnesota Freedom Fund found itself in the international spotlight. Over 900 thousand donations, from around the globe, came pouring in. And celebrity endorsements from folks like Mark Ruffalo guided their followers on how to help support protesters. As Greg Lewin quickly found out, he needed to not only scale operations at Minnesota Freedom Fund fast but maintain the integrity of its important mission to end discriminatory, coercive, and oppressive jailing.

On a global scale, women only hold 29 percent of senior management positions. Not to make any sweeping assumptions, but that’s a far cry from gender equality. But 29 percent is also the highest percentage ever recorded in that category. And it’s thanks to folks like Mia Perdomo and Andrea de la Piedra -- the co-founders and co-CEOs of Aequales. Their consulting firm provides tools for closing gender gaps in the workplace in Latin America.

Marcus Baskerville created Black is Beautiful -- a collaborative beer initiative amongst the brewing community and its customers -- in an attempt to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face daily. And you can now find this open source beer at 1,158 breweries, in 50 states, and 21 countries. And As someone who has personally dealt with the abuse of power by the police, this recent turmoil the country is facing has hit home for Marcus.

If you have a dog, then you know BarkBox. It’s customizable monthly subscription boxes are your dog’s favorite pieces of mail. Co-founder Matt Meeker believes the secret to the company’s success is putting every four-legged (and two-legged) friend first. Matt talks about how a pig, yes a pig, redefined the company’s personalization policies and why BARK has invested so heavily in customer service.

Rodney Williams founded LISTNR with one thing in mind: simplicity. He saw that the way we buy items involves too many steps. And it could all be solved through the use of sound. LISTNR uses ultrasonic sound to transfer data. That means truly contactless transactions -- be it at the coffee shop, the drive through, or your next concert. Remember concerts? Register for INBOUND 2020: Inbound.com/register

Andrew Rea started Binging with Babish almost by accident. And nearly 8M subscribers later, he’s grown it into one of the biggest shows on YouTube. His secret ingredient? His audience. Andrews talks about the show’s steady feed of audience insights and opens up about his own struggles with mental health and recovering from COVID-19.

Kim Crowder is a consultant, whose expertise covers diversity, equity, and inclusion. In particular, she’s a corporate anti-racist trainer. To say the least, Kim has been busy lately. The recent protests in the US that started back on May 26 in Minneapolis in response to the death of George Floyd sparked a movement that also had companies taking a hard look at policy bias and racism in their own workplaces. But to make real, lasting change, it all starts at the top.