6 ms·

My Interviews with Airbnb, Dropbox, Posterous, Reddit, Weebly and Wufoo

252 points by wasd 12y ago

WestCoastJustin 12y ago
> I'd like to find the time to do more (and work on improving my on-camera interview style). For anyone interested. There is a great breakdown of how this works, gear, lighting, interview style, sound, etc @ https://vimeo.com/101128416 https://vimeo.com/101128416 (interview section starts at 2:30). The guys entire channel is packed with useful bits about photography, how to get exactly what you need out of the scenes, sounds quality, etc. Could literally spend hours and hours getting tips and tricks in there. If you are at all interested in this type of stuff, well worth checking out, and the quality of advise pretty much speaks for it self.
austenallred 12y ago
If you haven't read it yet, Founders At Work is, IMO, the most informative book I've ever read as far as what the early days of a startup are like. The most fascinating part to me is realizing that few, if any, of the founders realized they were really on to something. I'm sure they all had plenty of self doubt and wondered if they were crazy at times. They believed in what they were doing, of course, but there's a period of time before a company becomes a breakout success that isn't sexy enough for most people to pay attention to. We tend to skip past the whole "working and building" part to the "look at how successful they are." That, in my opinion, can be dangerous. I'm very grateful that Jessica is going through all of the work documenting these stories for us. Thanks, Jessica.
- mellavora 12y ago
  At least once per week, I have an hour or two where my idea seems hopelessly stupid. You just have to power through it. Like doing heavy squats. You don't have to like doing them, you just have to do them. A fun game is to think of as many excuses as you can to not do the next set. The next set is one rep for each excuse on your list. Unless you don't have any excuses, in which case you do the set (there's no excuse not to, right?) Observe/acknowledge the emotion and get back to work.
  - mlrtime 12y ago
    Good analogy, when I'm walking up to a heavy bar I still get nervous and think "Do I really have to do this?". But when I'm not squatting I miss it. The endorphins probably explain this a bit.
    - mellavora 12y ago
      @mlrtime: That's not nervousness, that is your body preparing to do something difficult, i.e. physiological arousal. Of course it has a cognitive component. let your thoughts do whatever they want. You are not your thoughts. Recognize that this is how you prepare to do the squat. Then do it. You of course know that heavy lifting builds strong bones. Ever realize that building bone strength increases mental strength? Bones are an important part of the endocrine system, they produce lots of interesting chemicals.
erispoe 12y ago
This is great. The Mixergy stuff she's referring to, though, is incredibly badly delivered. No I don't want to subscribe to a newsletter to receive a mp3 file in my inbox and then move that file to my phone so that I can listen to it. Why not a podcast feed?
- jl 12y ago
  Part of what inspired me to dig these up today was the spamwall.
  - startupfounder 12y ago
    Thanks for posting these JL!
- pc86 12y ago
  Mixergy, while very successful and full of great content, is terrible at the whole "don't look like spammy Launch Coach garbage" thing. But it obviously works for them.
  - andyjdavis 12y ago
    I am just surprised that it is apparently still going. I last listened to a Mixergy interview in 2011 I think. A big life change at the end of that years makes me reasonably confident that 2011 was the last time I heard Andrew Warner's name. I can't say that I really thought about him in the intervening years but I am surprised that he is still interviewing away.
randall 12y ago
Anyone who looks at this style show and wants to do it, please let me know. We're looking for beta testers for a new product that makes these style of shows much simpler.
far33d 12y ago
I would LOVE to see a Founders at Work 2.0 - so many incredible companies have been built since that book was published. The iPhone had just been released, for instance.
- charlierguo 12y ago
  It's not exactly Founders at Work 2.0, but I'm working on a book that's been heavily influenced by Founders at Work, as well as pg's "Do Things That Don't Scale" essay. It's called Unscalable: https://www.inkshares.com/projects/unscalable https://www.inkshares.com/projects/unscalable </shamelessplug>
- pariya 12y ago
  Yes!!!
JSno 12y ago
this girl is not pretty.
dimitrideag 12y ago
Awesome! Thank you! No doubts that will help a lot!
sparkzilla 12y ago
Thanks Jessica, I added these to a timeline I created of your interviews and speeches: http://newslines.org/jessica-livingston/ http://newslines.org/jessica-livingston/
bg0 12y ago
These are great. I would of loved to see the end of the Reddit one before it got cut out.
- kn0thing 12y ago
  Wanna AMA about the founding of reddit? Go for it.
brc 12y ago
It would be great to have this in interview transcript form, like the Founders at Work book. I push that onto all sorts of people. Founders at Work 2.0 is definitely a must-do project, even if it's just a blog series and not a dead-tree publication.
eddd 12y ago
In dropbox video, 13:30 Jessica Livingston in on mute.
- jl 12y ago
  Yes, there were so many technical snafus with my set-up that I eventually wound up giving up on these.
mellavora 12y ago
Thanks, Jessica, listening to founder stories is a huge help
yitchelle 12y ago
As a side topic to this, can anyone recommend "interview style" podcast from the startup world other than Mixergy or the TWIT podcasts? I have recently discovered From Scratch [1]. I really like this as it also discuss the person as well as their startup. More human.. [1] - http://www.fromscratchradio.org/show/ http://www.fromscratchradio.org/show/
- samsolomon 12y ago
  It may not be exactly what you're looking for, but I have a show interviewing people in tech and design. The focus is on longform copy, but I produce a podcast and video with each interview. http://signaltower.co/ http://signaltower.co/ It might be worth checking out. I've got interviews with VP of Design, Cap Watkins and Telescope Creator, Sacha Grief in postproduction right now.
  - yitchelle 12y ago
    Thanks for hint. I subscribed.

252 points by wasd 12y ago

> I'd like to find the time to do more (and work on improving my on-camera interview style). For anyone interested. There is a great breakdown of how this works, gear, lighting, interview style, sound, etc @ https://vimeo.com/101128416 https://vimeo.com/101128416 (interview section starts at 2:30). The guys entire channel is packed with useful bits about photography, how to get exactly what you need out of the scenes, sounds quality, etc. Could literally spend hours and hours getting tips and tricks in there. If you are at all interested in this type of stuff, well worth checking out, and the quality of advise pretty much speaks for it self.

austenallred 12y ago

If you haven't read it yet, Founders At Work is, IMO, the most informative book I've ever read as far as what the early days of a startup are like. The most fascinating part to me is realizing that few, if any, of the founders realized they were really on to something. I'm sure they all had plenty of self doubt and wondered if they were crazy at times. They believed in what they were doing, of course, but there's a period of time before a company becomes a breakout success that isn't sexy enough for most people to pay attention to. We tend to skip past the whole "working and building" part to the "look at how successful they are." That, in my opinion, can be dangerous. I'm very grateful that Jessica is going through all of the work documenting these stories for us. Thanks, Jessica.

mellavora 12y ago
At least once per week, I have an hour or two where my idea seems hopelessly stupid. You just have to power through it. Like doing heavy squats. You don't have to like doing them, you just have to do them. A fun game is to think of as many excuses as you can to not do the next set. The next set is one rep for each excuse on your list. Unless you don't have any excuses, in which case you do the set (there's no excuse not to, right?) Observe/acknowledge the emotion and get back to work.
- mlrtime 12y ago
  Good analogy, when I'm walking up to a heavy bar I still get nervous and think "Do I really have to do this?". But when I'm not squatting I miss it. The endorphins probably explain this a bit.
  - mellavora 12y ago
    @mlrtime: That's not nervousness, that is your body preparing to do something difficult, i.e. physiological arousal. Of course it has a cognitive component. let your thoughts do whatever they want. You are not your thoughts. Recognize that this is how you prepare to do the squat. Then do it. You of course know that heavy lifting builds strong bones. Ever realize that building bone strength increases mental strength? Bones are an important part of the endocrine system, they produce lots of interesting chemicals.

erispoe 12y ago

This is great. The Mixergy stuff she's referring to, though, is incredibly badly delivered. No I don't want to subscribe to a newsletter to receive a mp3 file in my inbox and then move that file to my phone so that I can listen to it. Why not a podcast feed?

jl 12y ago
Part of what inspired me to dig these up today was the spamwall.
- startupfounder 12y ago
  Thanks for posting these JL!
pc86 12y ago
Mixergy, while very successful and full of great content, is terrible at the whole "don't look like spammy Launch Coach garbage" thing. But it obviously works for them.
- andyjdavis 12y ago
  I am just surprised that it is apparently still going. I last listened to a Mixergy interview in 2011 I think. A big life change at the end of that years makes me reasonably confident that 2011 was the last time I heard Andrew Warner's name. I can't say that I really thought about him in the intervening years but I am surprised that he is still interviewing away.

randall 12y ago

Anyone who looks at this style show and wants to do it, please let me know. We're looking for beta testers for a new product that makes these style of shows much simpler.

far33d 12y ago

I would LOVE to see a Founders at Work 2.0 - so many incredible companies have been built since that book was published. The iPhone had just been released, for instance.

charlierguo 12y ago
It's not exactly Founders at Work 2.0, but I'm working on a book that's been heavily influenced by Founders at Work, as well as pg's "Do Things That Don't Scale" essay. It's called Unscalable: https://www.inkshares.com/projects/unscalable https://www.inkshares.com/projects/unscalable </shamelessplug>
pariya 12y ago
Yes!!!

JSno 12y ago

this girl is not pretty.

dimitrideag 12y ago

Awesome! Thank you! No doubts that will help a lot!

sparkzilla 12y ago

Thanks Jessica, I added these to a timeline I created of your interviews and speeches: http://newslines.org/jessica-livingston/ http://newslines.org/jessica-livingston/

bg0 12y ago

These are great. I would of loved to see the end of the Reddit one before it got cut out.

kn0thing 12y ago
Wanna AMA about the founding of reddit? Go for it.

brc 12y ago

It would be great to have this in interview transcript form, like the Founders at Work book. I push that onto all sorts of people. Founders at Work 2.0 is definitely a must-do project, even if it's just a blog series and not a dead-tree publication.

eddd 12y ago

In dropbox video, 13:30 Jessica Livingston in on mute.

jl 12y ago
Yes, there were so many technical snafus with my set-up that I eventually wound up giving up on these.

mellavora 12y ago

Thanks, Jessica, listening to founder stories is a huge help

yitchelle 12y ago

As a side topic to this, can anyone recommend "interview style" podcast from the startup world other than Mixergy or the TWIT podcasts? I have recently discovered From Scratch [1]. I really like this as it also discuss the person as well as their startup. More human.. [1] - http://www.fromscratchradio.org/show/ http://www.fromscratchradio.org/show/

samsolomon 12y ago
It may not be exactly what you're looking for, but I have a show interviewing people in tech and design. The focus is on longform copy, but I produce a podcast and video with each interview. http://signaltower.co/ http://signaltower.co/ It might be worth checking out. I've got interviews with VP of Design, Cap Watkins and Telescope Creator, Sacha Grief in postproduction right now.
- yitchelle 12y ago
  Thanks for hint. I subscribed.