Silicon valley used to be the domain of the fringe. Wild ideas of social experiments, merry pranksters, and pioneering technologists building tools for imagined utopias. Somewhere along the line, this maverick spirit gave way to SaaS playbooks, an alphabet soup of soup of venture financings, and regimented productivity routines. 

Today’s guest Danielle Baskin keeps the experimental instinct of Silicon Valley’s past alive. Danielle has been called an artist, provocateur, businesswoman, and satirist - all at the same time. Motivated by the curiosity of how the public will make use of the tools and artworks she builds, Danielle combines art, technology, and business to go viral time after time. With a background in experimental theater and Runescape commerce, Danielle has launched over three dozen standalone companies including Dialup, an audio social network which at one point had 90,000 global concurrent users, and now Moonlight, an interactive tarot reading app and her first business with outside funding. 

Tune in to hear how she gets her best ideas, her bird calls, what she’s learned about managing concurrent projects, and a live tarot reading to help me make a big decision.

Website Show notes:

📸@swhnorton 

🐦@swhnorton

🖥️www.atlargeshow.com

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This podcast is made available solely for entertainment and educational purposes. The information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of any investment advisor. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services.

Where do art and commerce collide if not at auction? 

Episode four of At Large brings us Alexander Gilkes, a serial entrepreneur and former chief auctioneer for Philips. At the world’s third largest auction house and as founder of Paddle 8, he hammered in over $1B of art, and adapted what he learned there to the craft of marketing. We’ll hear how his Etonian upbringing and passion for contemporary art led him to a career selling such rarities as a one of a kind album by Wu Tang Clan, and founding Squared Circles, an incubator hatching businesses at the intersection of science and culture. We speak with Alex in his now home city of Los Angeles, on the heels of a $40M fundraise led by L Catterton, the world’s largest consumer-focused private equity firm. 

Beyond what you’ll learn about the art market, hip hop, algae oil, and English boarding schools, perhaps the most important lesson of this episode is about developing the instinct of generosity.

📸@swhnorton 

🐦@swhnorton

🖥️www.atlargeshow.com

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This podcast is made available solely for entertainment and educational purposes. The information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of any investment advisor. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services. 

She’s been called Martha Stewart meets the Royal Tenenbaums, and the facts of Susan’s life story rival characters from fiction.

After schooling in a Scottish castle and gaining a toe-hold as a journalist, she founded Best PR, representing technology companies through the rise and fall of the first dot-com bubble. That put her at the center of technology, business, and culture, and an offline matchmaker in an increasingly online world.

A natural and generous connector, Susan led a renaissance in the lost art of salons, connecting fascinating people to each other around food, drink, and merriment. As founder and CEO of Posthoc, which has been called “a rave for the intellect,” Susan’s craft comes to life for the diverse and lucky attendees of her events. In this conversation, she shares insights on the art and power of gathering in real life, and stories that impacted the direction of her multi-faceted career.

The world needs more people like Susan, and after listening, you’ll know why.  

📸@swhnorton 

🐦@swhnorton

🖥️www.atlargeshow.com

…….

This podcast is made available solely for entertainment and educational purposes. The information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of any investment advisor. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services. 

For John Fiorentino, finding creative ideas is like hunting big game. It’s unpredictable, requires innate skill, and is an all-consuming quest defined by feast and famine.

John’s hunt for ideas led him to create a product inspired by nights sleeping on the New York City subway which invented a category: the Gravity Blanket. Since launching this product, John has founded a collection of other product-driven businesses which have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue since inception without relying on outside investment.

With an evident contrarian streak, John embraces his “truth-telling phase” in this interview and holds forth on how good ideas are undervalued, how organized religion has become counterculture, whether G-Wagons are tacky, and the hidden trap of fame. 

📸@swhnorton 

🐦@swhnorton

🖥️www.atlargeshow.com

…….

This podcast is made available solely for entertainment and educational purposes. The information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of any investment advisor. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services. 

Today we sit down with Eric Ryan, founder of Method Soap, OLLY Vitamins, and a growing collection of new brands. We discuss Eric’s creative practices when originating companies and the leadership lessons he’s learned over 25 years as a serial entrepreneur and marketing strategist.

📸 @swhnorton

🐦 @swhnorton

🖥️ www.atlargeshow.com

…….

This podcast is made available solely for entertainment and educational purposes. The information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of any investment advisor. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services.

Join Scott Norton for conversations with world-class creatives who have achieved commercial success and lived to tell the tale. At Large explores the many ways the creatives that have shaped our world navigate business and use commerce to scale their craft. 

Whether guests are artists, actors, designers, authors, or inventors of their own genre, this show illustrates that there is no one way for a creative to make a living. A creative entrepreneur behind Sir Kensington’s condiments, Scott evokes candor and intimacy in these luminaries about their unexpected, perhaps chaotic, and sometimes deliberate path integrating their artistic vision into their livelihood.

Scott will also quiz guests to share their hot takes, critique cultural phenomena, explain topics of their expertise in fine detail, comment on the trending memes and describe their favorite recipes. First episode comes out June 26th!

Learn more at atlargeshow.com and @swhnorton

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This podcast is made available solely for entertainment and educational purposes. The information presented here does not constitute investment, legal, or other professional advice, and should not be construed as an offering of advisory services, or as a solicitation to buy, an offer to sell, or a recommendation of any securities or other financial instruments. The thoughts and opinions expressed by or through this podcast are those of the individual guests and speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of any investment advisor. The discussion on this podcast of any entity, product or service does not imply an endorsement thereof, and the guests may have a financial interest, whether through investment or otherwise, in one or more of any such entities, products or services.