From Scratch with Jessica Harris

By Jessica HarrisBusiness Entrepreneurship Marketing Careers

From Scratch with Jessica Harris episodes

July 21, 2016 Daphne Koller
Coursera offers online courses to the public through partnerships with leading universities internationally. Coursera was launched in 2012 and reached its first one million users faster than Facebook or Twitter. Coursera is one of a number of companies offering massive open online courses– or MOOCs– to address a growing global population and the rising costs of on-campus higher education.
Daphne speaks with Jessica Harris about Coursera’s role in pioneering the landscape of higher education, from scratch.
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32 min
July 21, 2016 Mario Schlosser
Oscar Health is focused on keeping health insurance simple. The company helps users connect directly to doctors, get prescriptions, and find insurance plans that are easier to navigate. Mario speaks with Jessica about how he is bringing innovation to health insurance, from scratch. Listen to the interview
19 min
July 14, 2016 Arianna Huffington
Arianna launched the Huffington Post, the online media platform, in 2005. The company was acquired by AOL in 2011 and was the first online-only news organization to win the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2012. Arianna has written more than a dozen books on topics including feminism, Maria Callas, Picasso, and Greek mythology. Her most recent book, Thrive, is about well-being.
Arianna speaks with Jessica Harris about how she helped legitimize the blogosphere by building the Huffington Post, from scratch.
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33 min
July 14, 2016 Michael Dubin
Dollar Shave Club is a membership club for men’s grooming products. The company started delivering razors in 2011 for less than $10 per month. DSC now offers a range of bathroom products from hair gel to body cleanser. Michael speaks with Jessica about how he started DSC, from scratch. Listen to the interview
19 min
July 07, 2016 Lyndon Rive
SolarCity is a clean energy company that sells solar energy to consumers. SolarCity has installed solar panels for companies including Walmart, Intel, and eBay, among others.
Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind PayPal, Tesla electric cars and SpaceX, is Lyndon’s cousin and the company’s chairman. Lyndon founded the company with his brother, Pete, in 2006. SolarCty went public in December 2012.
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19 min
July 07, 2016 Charles Best
DonorsChoose is an online philanthropic marketplace that connects citizen philanthropists— members of the public– to public school teachers who request supplies for their classroom projects across the United States. Charles started DonorsChoose in 2000 while he was a public school teacher in the Bronx facing his own shortage of supplies for the projects he wanted […]
32 min
June 30, 2016 Dan Yates
Opower is a software company focused on energy efficiency. Opower works with utilities to monitor how much energy a consumer uses and gives households and businesses incentives to lower their consumption. The idea is that through the use of behavioral science techniques such as peer proof, people will feel compelled to consume energy more responsibly. Dan started Opower in 2007 with his Harvard classmate Alex Laskey. Opower went public in April, 2014. Prior, Dan launched Edusoft, a software company focused on public school assessments, which was sold to Houghton Mifflin in 2004.
Dan speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched Opower, from scratch.
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19 min
June 30, 2016 Scott Harrison
charity: water provides clean water to communities in developing countries. Scott launched charity: water in 2006 after raising $15,000 from his friends at his 31st birthday party. Prior to launching charity: water, Scott was a night club promoter, of course. Scott speaks with Jessica about how he launched charity: water, from scratch. Listen to the […]
32 min
June 23, 2016 Drew Houston
Dropbox is a file sharing and personal data storage company that allows users to access their content (Microsoft Word documents, photos, videos, etc.) from any of their devices. Prior to starting Dropbox, Drew started an online SAT prep company called Accolade (and yes, he scored 1600 on his SAT). Drew speaks with Jessica about how […]
32 min
June 23, 2016 Orion Hindawi
Tanium is a cybersecurity company that focuses on providing internet safety for the US government and Fortune 500 companies. Clients include Amazon, Target, Best Buy and the Department of Defense. Orion started Tanium with his father David. Orion speaks with Jessica about how he launched Tanium, from scratch. Listen to the interview
19 min