From Scratch with Jessica Harris

By Jessica HarrisBusiness Entrepreneurship Marketing Careers

From Scratch with Jessica Harris episodes

June 18, 2014 Bertrand & Roy Sosa
Netspend was the first prepaid debit card company focused on the “underbanked” population in the United States. Launched in 1999, Netspend targets people who do not have access to credit cards or hold bank accounts. Bertrand and Roy started the company out of their one bedroom apartment in Austin, Texas with $750. They later raised almost $1.5 Billion in an IPO in 2010 and sold the company in early 2013 to Total System Services for approximately $1.4Bn.
Bertrand and Roy are also the co-founders of Mpower Labs, an investment fund focused on financial services for the underbanked. The brothers emigrated from Mexico with their mother when they were teenagers in 1986.
Bertrand and Roy speak with Jessica Harris about how they have helped to pioneer the international financial services landscape, from scratch.
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19 min
May 22, 2014 Michael Brown
City Year is an organization focused on addressing the national dropout rate; one million American students drop out of high school annually. City Year’s corps members serve as tutors, mentors, and role models in America’s most challenging schools. City Year also played a role in the national service movement, helping to establish youth service programs, such as Americorps. Prior to starting City Year in 1988, Michael clerked for then Judge, later Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
Michael speaks with Jessica Harris about how he launched City Year, from scratch.
Jessica Harris interviews Michael Brown of City Year
19 min
May 15, 2014 Fred Swaniker
African Leadership Academy (ALA) is an institution focused on developing Africa’s next generation of leaders. ALA provides practical leadership education, networking and mentoring opportunities for its students, as well as financial incentives to remain on the African continent. Fred started ALA when he was 27 years old. Fred speaks with Jessica about how he launched […]
19 min
April 26, 2014 Nandan Nilekani
Infosys is a leading global information, technology and consulting company with more than 150,000 employees and $7 Billion in revenue. Nandan started Infosys in 1981 in Bangalore, India with 6 colleagues. Nandan then served as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which through its project Aadhaar is seeking to provide unique identification numbers to close to a billion Indian residents. This biometric ID system aims to revolutionize the distribution of social benefits and financial services. In March, 2014 Nandan resigned from UIDAI to join the Indian National Congress.
Nandan speaks with Jessica Harris about how he helped to transform India’s technological landscape— and India’s social sector— from scratch. This interview was recorded before Nandan joined Congress.
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14 min
January 16, 2014 Naif Al-Mutawa
Naif is the creator of The 99, a comic series that features superheroes based on Islamic archetypes. Coming from a background in clinical psychology, Naif earned his PhD and aided war victims with post traumatic stress disorder. Deciding to take a different path, Naif went to business school and developed an idea that would eventually […]
32 min
December 26, 2013 Jack Dorsey
Jack is a serial entrepreneur who has started two companies — Twitter and Square — that, on the face of it, seem entirely different. Twitter is a social networking service; Square is a mobile payments company. But Jack believes that their shared purpose is to make each of their related tasks — communicating and transacting […]
32 min
December 05, 2013 Leah Busque
TaskRabbit is an online service that allows users to outsource small tasks to individuals known as TaskRabbits. These TaskRabbits are freelance workers who have been background checked, and they perform small jobs ranging from grocery shopping to furniture assembly. Leah started the company in 2008, and the service is available in leading cities including Boston, Seattle, New York and San Francisco. Leah is a software engineer who formerly worked at IBM.
Leah speaks with Jessica Harris about how she launched TaskRabbit, from scratch.
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32 min
November 20, 2013 Craig Weiss
NJOY is an electronic cigarette company that produces the flagship product NJOY King. E-cigarettes are non combustion cigarettes that contain nicotine and strive to have the look and feel and plume of a traditional cigarette. Craig’s brother Mark discovered ecigarettes in China, and the family started the company in 2006. Craig is a patent lawyer and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.
Craig speaks with Jessica Harris about his family’s pioneering role in the e-cigarette industry, from scratch.
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32 min
April 23, 2013 Gerald Chertavian
Year Up provides a one year intensive job training and internship program to young urban adults, 18-24 years old. Year Up enrolls close to 2,000 students per year, and roughly 400 organizations have hired Year Up students as interns or permanent employees. Prior to launching Year Up in 2000, Gerald was an internet entrepreneur.
Gerald speaks with Jessica Harris about how he is helping to narrow the Opportunity Divide in the United States, from scratch.
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32 min
April 18, 2013 Kevin Ryan
Kevin is an internet entrepreneur who has led innovation in the online advertising and e-commerce space since the late 1990s. Kevin was the CEO of DoubleClick, the advertising serving company that was eventually sold to Google for $3.5 Billion. Kevin has since founded a number of internet companies including Gilt Groupe, a luxury e-commerce community, 10Gen, an open source database company, and Business Insider, an online news site for the technology and media industries.
Kevin speaks to Jessica Harris about how he has built a career around internet innovation, from scratch.
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32 min