The Early Podcast

Missed a Huge Opportunity? Here’s How to Bounce Back.

Imagine turning down a role as one of Facebook’s first employees... Sam Gellman did. He knew it was a mistake the moment he made it. But instead of letting that define him, he went on to help launch Uber across the world—building cities from scratch, battling regulators, and even getting arrested for doing his job.

🚀 From Almost Facebook to Uber Expansion

Sam shares:

🔹 The accidental moment that landed him at Goldman Sachs

🔹 Turning down Facebook—and how he recovered

🔹 The real Uber playbook for launching cities with just 10 cars

🔹 What happened when Uber and Didi burned billions in China to win

🔹 How he ended up arrested in Hong Kong over Uber’s expansion

🔹 Travis Kalanick’s leadership—the execution, vision, and relentlessness that built Uber

💡 Key Takeaways:

✅ Bet on yourself, not companies—corporate loyalty won’t pay off

✅ Great startups run on leaderboard culture—data-driven, competitive, relentless

✅ Founders matter—Travis Kalanick’s leadership was Uber’s X-factor

🎧 Listen to the full episode here:

🔹 Spotify: https://shorturl.at/e6FUf

🔹 Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/Crg2V

Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe—new episodes every Tuesday!

⸻

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Let’s build this together!!!!

👉 Like, Subscribe, and Drop a Comment—I want to hear from you!

📩 Email me at [email protected] with your thoughts or guest recommendations.

📱 Follow along for daily updates on social media platforms.

Let’s do this! 🚀

🐦 Follow on X (Twitter): https://x.com/maxjcrowley

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💼 Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxjc/

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#EarlyPodcast #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Uber #Founders #TechStartups #StartupStories #Podcast #EarlyPod

🚀 Inside Uber’s China Expansion & the Wild Early Days of Asia – with Candice Lo 🚀

In this episode of The Early Podcast, I sit down with Candice Lo, one of Uber’s earliest international expansion leaders, who played a key role in scaling Uber across Asia and launching the company in China—one of the most ambitious and chaotic expansions in startup history.

Candice started at Uber as a launcher, traveling to new cities with nothing but a suitcase, a laptop, and a box of iPhones, tasked with building the business from scratch. Eventually, she became a key figure in Uber’s battle for China, where she faced everything from regulatory raids to massive taxi protests—all while trying to outmaneuver local competitors in a hyper-aggressive market.

💡 In this episode, Candice shares:

✅ How she landed a job at Uber after a six-month hiring process

✅ What it was like launching Uber in China—and how it nearly broke her

✅ The wildest moments from Uber’s early expansion, from police raids to billion-dollar battles

✅ Her biggest lessons from working under Travis Kalanick & Uber’s leadership team

✅ How her experience as an operator shaped her current career as an investor

Candice’s story is great—this is a must-listen for anyone interested in startups, scaling businesses, and what it really takes to go from 0 to 1.

🔥 New episodes drop every Tuesday—subscribe and join the journey!

📩 Email me at [email protected] with feedback or guest suggestions.

📱 Follow for daily updates & behind-the-scenes content.

🎧 Listen now and don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe!

Let’s do this! 🚀

🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://shorturl.at/e6FUf

🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/Crg2V

📩 Newsletter & More Content: https://www.earlyemployee.com/subscribe

🐦 Follow on X (Twitter): https://x.com/maxjcrowley

📸 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earlypod

💼 Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxjc/

#EarlyPodcast #Startups #Uber #China #TechStartups #Entrepreneurship #BusinessExpansion #Podcast

From Tobacco Farms to Uber China: The Wild Journey of Allen Penn | The EARLY Podcast 🎙

In Episode #2 of The EARLY Podcast, I sit down with Allen Penn, one of Uber’s first employees and the mastermind behind Uber’s expansion into Asia, China, and beyond. From growing up on a tobacco farm in Kentucky to leading billion-dollar markets at Uber, Allen’s journey is packed with startup lessons, leadership insights, and wild stories from the ride-sharing wars.

🔹 Topics Covered:

✔️ How Allen went from a small-town farm in Kentucky to the global startup scene

✔️ The early days of Uber Chicago and launching driver ops in 2011

✔️ Competing in China vs. Didi – spending $75M per week to win market share

✔️ The regulatory battles and what really happened behind the Uber vs. Lyft war

✔️ Why Allen left Uber and started a sauna & cold plunge business in Nashville

✔️ Biggest career lessons: ownership, execution, and why everything is either hard or about to be hard

🔹 Key Quotes from Allen Penn:

💡 “If you want to work on interesting stuff, you have to make it happen.”

💡 “At Uber, everything is either hard right now, or it’s about to be hard.”

💡 “You need to get lucky, but luck favors the ones who execute consistently.”

Whether you’re a founder, early-stage operator or love startup stories, this episode is a must-listen for insights on competition, scaling, and reinventing your career.

Like, Comment, & Subscribe if you enjoyed this conversation! Drop your questions in the comments.

📍 Check out Allen’s wellness business, Framework Sauna: https://www.joinframework.com/

🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://shorturl.at/e6FUf

🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/Crg2V

📩 Newsletter & More Content: https://www.earlyemployee.com/subscribe

🐦 Follow on X (Twitter): https://x.com/maxjcrowley

📸 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earlypod

💼 Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxjc/

#Uber #Entrepreneurship #Startups #Tech #AllenPenn #MaxCrowley #UberChina #Business #Podcast #FrameworkSauna #EarlyPodcast #newyork #Nashville #Chicago #chinabusiness #chinatech

Welcome to The Early Podcast | Episode 1 🎙️🔥

I’ve always thrived in front of an audience, so launching a podcast felt like the perfect way to channel that energy. This is the first episode of The Early Podcast, where we shift the focus from founders to the early employees who helped build the world’s most innovative companies.

So much of the media spotlight is on founders—but the employees behind the scenes also take massive risks, push the envelope, and drive change. That’s what we’re here to explore.

I was employee #25 at Uber, and that experience shaped my career in ways I never imagined. From cold emails and Twitter DMs to eventually launching Uber in Chicago, I learned firsthand what it takes to build something from the ground up—as an employee.

In this episode, I share my own story:

✅ How I got into Uber despite multiple rejections

✅ What it was like working with Travis Kalanick

✅ The pivotal moments that defined my journey

✅ Why employees play just as big a role as founders

This is just the beginning—I’ll be interviewing early employees from legendary startups who made a lasting impact. You may not know their names now, but after these episodes, you will.

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Let’s build this together!!!!

👉 Like, Subscribe, and Drop a Comment—I want to hear from you!

📩 Email me at [email protected] with your thoughts or guest recommendations.

📱 Follow along for daily updates on social media platforms.

Let’s do this! 🚀

🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://shorturl.at/e6FUf

🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://shorturl.at/Crg2V

📩 Newsletter & More Content: https://www.earlyemployee.com/subscribe

🐦 Follow on X (Twitter): https://x.com/maxjcrowley

📸 Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earlypod

💼 Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxjc/

#EarlyPodcast #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Uber #Founders #TechStartups #StartupStories #Podcast

Welcome to The Early Podcast: Stories from Startup Trailblazers

Launching March 4th! Subscribe now.

In this trailer, get a glimpse of Early, the podcast that uncovers the untold stories of startup builders. Each episode dives deep into the lives of early employees at the world’s most innovative companies—how they got started, what they learned, and how they helped shape success from the ground up.