The Eric Ries Show

For this episode of The Eric Ries Show, I sat down with Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Zum, which has had incredible success in the field of student transportation.

The company began as a private service to tackle a problem Ritu was facing herself: how to function as a working parent dealing with erratic pickup and drop-off schedules. Before long, it became clear that there was a far larger opportunity to change pretty much everything about how all kids get to and from school.

Pivoting to working with school districts and a fleet of electric buses, the company set out to “modernize student transportation to make it safe, sustainable, and accessible for all.”

To say it’s been a success is an understatement. Zum now serves thousands of schools in multiple states, and in February 2024, it hit unicorn status with a valuation of over a billion dollars. As Ritu says in our conversation, “the service is for everybody.” 

We also talked about everything from carbon-neutral buses to cracking the procurement system of public school districts, the invaluable asset of parental peace of mind, scaling care, and more, including: 

• How Ritu came to entrepreneurship

• Scaling trust

• How coming from the outside allowed the company to transform the industry

• Shifting from a B2C company to a B2B company

• Zum’s values: customer obsession, doing things the right way, thinking big and executing meticulously, and building better communities.

• How a clear mission makes alignment easier

• Zum’s “Five Step People Program” to reinforce culture and behaviors

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Where to find Ritu Narayan:

• X: https://x.com/ritun 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritunarayan/ 

• Zum: https://www.ridezum.com/

Where to find Eric:

• Newsletter: ⁠https://ericries.carrd.co/⁠ 

• Podcast: ⁠https://ericriesshow.com/⁠ 

• X: ⁠https://twitter.com/ericries⁠ 

• LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/⁠ 

• YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow⁠ 

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In This Episode We Cover:

(00:31) Welcome to the Eric Ries Show

(01:09) Meet our guest Ritu Narayan

(04:32) Ritu describes how Zum has reinvented the school transportation field 

(06:50) The Zum origin story

(08:01) Zum’s pivot from private service to school district partner

(11:17) Scrambling to meet the demand and understand the RFP process

(13:17) Zum’s amazing growth from one contract to unicorn

(19:48) How Ritu got started as an entrepreneur

(21:09) Being a woman engineer in her family, college and the workforce.

(22:06) How being a working parent showed her the multi-generational problem she wanted to solve

(27:59) Establishing trust and placing it at the center of the company

(33:28) Being a child-centric company

(35:13) The deep care that transportation directors showed towards their students

(40:00) The Zum pivot

(41:43) Reconciling long-term vision with a flexible strategy

(44:28) Expanding from private to public schools as the result of raising a round

(47:20) Shifting from B2C to B2B

(51:54) How gaining clarity of mission brings the right people into alignment 

(55:01) Zum’s four pillar values and the narrative they uphold

(57:05) The five steps to restructuring the company after the pivot

(58:58) The value of Zum from the parent perspective

(1:02:05) Zum’s climate impact

(1:06:19) Reconciling the vision of sustainable transportation and equality with profit

(1:09:34) The advantages of tackling a huge problem instead of a narrow one

(1:13:08) Working with mission-aligned investors

(1:15:02) Ritu’s advice for founders who want to build purpose-driven companies that are also  for-profit

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Production and marketing by ⁠https://penname.co/⁠. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email ⁠[email protected]⁠ 

Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Welcome to The Eric Ries Show. I sat down with Dustin Moskovitz, founder of not one but two iconic companies: Facebook and the collaborative work platform Asana. Needless to say, he’s engaged in the most intense form of entrepreneurship there is. A huge part of what he’s chosen to do with the hard-earned knowledge it gave him is dedicate himself and Asana to investing in employees’ mental health, communication skills, and more. All of this matters to Dustin on a human level, but he also explains why putting people first is the only way to get the kind of results most founders can only dream of. We talked about how to get into that flow state, why preserving culture is crucial, his leadership style and how he decides when to be hands-on versus when to delegate, and how Asana reflects what he’s learned about supporting people at all levels. 

Dustin sums up the work Asana does this way: “Our individual practices are meant to restore coherence for the individual, our team practices are meant to restore coherence for the team, and Asana, the system, is meant to try and do it for the entire organization.” I’m delighted to share our conversation, which also covers:

• How he uses AI and views its future

• Why he founded a collaboration platform

• How he applied the lessons of Facebook to building Asana

• Why taking care of your mental health as a founder is crucial for the company as a whole

• His thoughts on the evolution of Facebook

• The importance of alignment with investors

• His philanthropic work 

• And so much more

—

Brought to you by:

Mercury – The art of simplified finances. Learn more.

DigitalOcean – The cloud loved by developers and founders alike. Sign up.

Neo4j – The graph database and analytics leader. Learn more.

—

Where to find Dustin Moskovitz:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmoskov/

• Threads: ​​https://www.threads.net/@moskov

• Asana: https://asana.com/leadership#moskovitz

Where to find Eric:

• Newsletter: https://ericries.carrd.co/ 

• Podcast: https://ericriesshow.com/ 

• X: https://twitter.com/ericries 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/ 

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow 

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In This Episode We Cover:

(00:00) Welcome to the Eric Ries Show

(00:31) Meet our guest Dustin Moskovitz

(04:02) How Dustin is using AI for creative projects

(05:31) Dustin talks about the social media and SaaS era and his Facebook days

(06:52) How Facebook has evolved from its original intention

(10:27) The founding of Asana

(14:35) Building entrepreneurial confidence

(19:22) Making – and fixing – design errors at Asana 

(20:32) The importance of committing to “soft” values.

(25:27) Short-term profit over people and terrible advice from VCs

(28:44) Crypto as a caricature of extractive behavior

(30:47) The positive impacts of doing things with purpose

(34:24) How Asana is ensuring its purpose and mission are permanently enshrined in the company

(41:35) Battling entropy and meeting culture

(44:31) Being employee-centric, the flow state, and Asana’s strategy

(47:51) The organizational equivalent of repressing emotions

(52:57) Dustin as a Cassandra

(56:51) Dustin talks about his philanthropic work and philosophy: Open Philanthropy, Good Ventures

(1:02:05) Dustin’s thoughts on AI and its future

(1:07:20) Ethics, calculated risk, and thinking long-term

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Referenced: 

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] 

Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.

In this episode of The Eric Ries Show, I talk with James Reinhart, founder of the second-hand resale platform ThredUp. A history major in college, James started his career as a teacher. That might not seem like it has much to do with fashion, but, as he explains, his early education and experiences actually led him not only to be a dual degree student at Harvard’s Business and Kennedy schools, but to a long-term view of ThredUp’s power to effect real change. 

We get into the reasons why having a harder mission can be counterintuitively easier and why, as he says, “intrinsically good businesses are good for bottom lines and good for the world.” Not only did ThredUp generate 80 million dollars in revenue in the first quarter of 2024, but James has an uncanny track record of being able to accurately predict what’s going to happen ten years ahead. 

Those details alone should be more than enough to pull you in, but they’re just a fraction of what we talked about. I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation with the founder whose mission is to inspire the world to think secondhand first. 

• What it was like to be an entrepreneur at Harvard Business School before the days when everyone was doing it

• How his education background fed into his business acumen

• The value of investors who believe in you

• The advantages of having a mission that all your stakeholders are passionate about

• His experience going public and advice for founders

• Why he built a company culture around humane principles based on employee feedback

• The change he’s working towards and believes is possible

• And so much more

—

Brought to you by:

Mercury – The art of simplified finances. Learn more.

DigitalOcean – The cloud loved by developers and founders alike. Sign up.

Neo4j – The graph database and analytics leader. Learn more.

—

Where to find James Reinhart:

• X: https://x.com/jamesreinhart 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesgreinhart 

• Facebook: ​​https://www.facebook.com/james.reinhart/

• ThredUp: https://ir.thredup.com/corporate-governance/management-team 

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Where to find Eric:

• Newsletter: https://ericries.carrd.co/ 

• Podcast: https://ericriesshow.com/ 

• X: https://twitter.com/ericries 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/ 

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow 

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In This Episode We Cover:

(00:00) Welcome to the Eric Ries Show

(00:27) Meet our guest James Reinhart

(06:04) James talks about being an entrepreneur at Harvard Business School and a dual degrees student at the Kennedy School 

(10:27) How his decision to take a teaching job after college presaged his journey as an entrepreneur

(12:53) The story of ThredUp’s beginnings, including multiple pivots

(20:24) The value of a supportive investor 

(22:00) How failure set the stage for the biggest counterintuitive pivot of all: taking on inventory

(24:42 Identifying the true customer need: convenience + economic value

(27:59) The moment when James realized the company’s power to make change

(31:18) ThredUp’s mission statement

(33:06) Being a for-profit company with social change as its purpose

(35:43) Growing in order to increase positive impact: good businesses are good for the bottom line and for the world 

(39:22) The many advantages of taking the harder path to a solution

(43:34) Protecting ThredUp’s company culture and stakeholder alignment

(45:39) ThredUp’s IPO

(48:17) Advice on going public 

(50:38) The connection between mission and long-termism

(59:35) The value of being a history major in business

(1:00:19) David Graeber’s The Dawn of Everything

(1:05:35) ThredUp’s maker days

(1:09:24) Trusting and believing in your employees

(1:12:17) How ThredUp is a pioneering user of AI

(1:14:05) James’s thoughts on the role of government in business and society

(1:17:23) The power of transcending generations

(1:20:08) Lightning round!

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/.

Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.

In this first episode of The Eric Ries Show, I sit down with serial entrepreneur and intrepid explorer, Sami Inkinen. Sami has co-founded two companies: Trulia and Virta Health. After Trulia was acquired by Zillow for $3.5 billion, he rowed from California to Hawaii with his wife, unassisted. What can’t this guy do? Now, he’s on a mission to reverse type 2 diabetes in 100 million people with his latest venture, Virta Health. In this episode, we discuss:

In the interview, we cover:

• How Sami got started as an entrepreneur coming over to America with no experience

• What it was like to IPO during his time at Trulia 

• What he’s learned raising money after a market crash and a zero-interest environment

• The best way he found to get great talent

• Why Virta is a mission-based company disguised as a for-profit company

• What he learned rowing unassisted to Hawaii from California

• Why he says you should create a mission that is both simple and ambitious  

• And so much more

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Brought to you by:

Mercury – The art of simplified finances https://mercury.com/

DigitalOcean – The cloud loved by developers and founders alike https://try.digitalocean.com/eric/

Neo4j – The graph database and analytics leader https://neo4j.com/eric/

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Where to find Sami Inkinen:

• X: https://twitter.com/samiinkinen 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samiinkinen/ 

• Website: ​​https://www.samiinkinen.com/ 

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Where to find Eric:

• Newsletter: https://ericries.carrd.co/ 

• Podcast: https://ericriesshow.com/ 

• X: https://twitter.com/ericries 

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/ 

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow 

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In This Episode We Cover:

(00:00) Welcome to the first episode of the Eric Ries Show

(00:35) Meet our guest Sami Inkinen

(05:20) Sami reflects on Trulia’s IPO

(08:20) How Sami started in entrepreneurship

(11:10) Sami’s founding story for Trulia (acquired by Zillow for $2.5 billion)

(16:40) Why most people never end up starting a business

(18:57) How to find better talent as a founder

(23:15) Sami shares how much money he raised for Zillow and Virta

(25:20) Sami’s lessons on how to get momentum for your startup

(30:30) What changed when Sami took his company public

(38:00) Why Sami decided to start Virta and take on type 2 diabetes 

(41:55) How type 2 diabetes can affect anyone, even a high-performing endurance athlete

(47:36) Sami shares what he tells each founder when they ask for his investment 

(53:20) The importance of defining your mission that is both simple and ambitious 

(57:30) Trust leads to success 

(1:03:07) A mission-based company disguised as a for-profit company  

(1:08:10) How Sami built an economic model built on helping his customers

(1:14:00) More details on how Sami set up Virta’s company structure 

(1:17:08) What is a GLP-1 drug and how Virta is a GLP-1 off-ramp 

(1:24:32) Sami’s approach to leadership 

(1:26:02) Why Finland maximizes human capital better than most

(1:28:00) What are Sami’s thoughts on AI 

(1:30:15) How to become one with your pain

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Referenced: 

• Virta Health: https://www.virtahealth.com/ 

• Virta Health YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VirtaHealth 

• Trulia Acquired By Zillow: https://zillow.mediaroom.com/2014-07-28-Zillow-Announces-Acquisition-of-Trulia-for-3-5-Billion-in-Stock 

• Type 2 Diabetes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_2_diabetes 

• GLP-1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GLP-1_receptor_agonist 

• Ozempic: https://www.ozempic.com/ 

• Buddhist Parables Of The Arrow: https://grandrapidstherapygroup.com/second-arrow-of-suffering/ 

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected] 

Eric may be an investor in the companies discussed.

For too long, company builders have been told that purpose and profit are at odds -- that trading one for the other is inevitable. A burgeoning group of founders is proving that wrong, creating organizations whose commitment to their mission inspires the trust of customers, employees, investors, and other partners, leading to serious competitive advantage.

Better companies mean a better world for everyone not just now, but far into the future.

Join Eric Ries for conversations with a range of leaders from across industries as well as thinkers who are contributing to this new movement to tackle generational challenges by centering human flourishing.

Where To Find Eric Ries:

Website: https://www.ericriesshow.com/

X: https://twitter.com/ericries

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eries/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theericriesshow

Production and Marketing: https://penname.co/