This Week in Startups

It's another awesome interview from the Rock Health CEO Summit, with Jason sitting down with Anne Wojcicki, CoFounder of 23andMe. 23andMe helps people access, understand, and benefit from the human genome by giving us our own DNA information, which in turn can be used to help prevent disease. They have been working on this for nearly 10 years by offering saliva-based genetics test kits for $99 directly to consumers. Jason and Anne discuss 23andMe’s business, customer success stories from sequencing DNA, how FDA regulation has impacted the company (and all healthcare startups), what the future of healthcare should look like, how big of an opportunity healthcare is for startups, security of healthcare data, and much more.

The healthcare industry is the largest and most broken part of the American economy with $3 trillion spent annually and $1 trillion of that wasted each year. Today’s guest, the legendary John Doerr Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, discusses why this is the case and the biggest challenges facing the healthcare system today. John also advises how entrepreneurs can think about trying to solve those challenges (hint: start with the data). John Doerr has been a Partner at Kleiner Perkins since 1980, and has directed venture capital funding to some of the most successful technology companies in the world including Compaq, Netscape, Symantec, Sun Microsystems, Twitter, Amazon, Intuit, and Google. In 2009, John was also appointed a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board to provide the President and his administration with advice and counsel in trying to fix America's economic downturn. During this episode, John even shared what President Obama told him were his three primary concerns when they last spoke. Tune in to find out what those were, how entrepreneurs can solve healthcare industry problems, what the most important thing in business is, venture capital investing, and much more!

Jason's guest today is Jaron Gilinsky, Cofounder & CEO of Storyhunter.tv, which matches freelance video journalists/filmmakers with publishers. After many years as a foreign correspondent for the NY Times, Time, Inc. and others, often risking his life in regions of conflict, Jaron built this incredible platform that not only gives freelancers new access to job opportunities but also to personal insurance and essential workflow management. Moreover, oppressed and/or dangerous regions that don't have press on the ground are now finding journalists through Storyhunter, getting coverage they desperately need. Don't miss this amazing, action-packed show, peppered with harrowing footage of Jaron and a blisteringly close rocket attack, riveting conversations about the state of journalism, the dedication and sacrifices of foreign correspondents, how we tell stories, the power of software, and much more -- hosted by a slightly loopy Jason on back pain meds!

Today guest is Cameron Teitelman, Founder & CEO of StartX, a non-profit accelerator affiliated with Stanford University whose mission is to fuel the development of Stanford's top entrepreneurs through experiential education. The StartX accelerator is a 10-week program that has no fees and takes zero equity. To date, 220 companies have gone through the program, which have gone on to raise more than $700 million dollars. Jason and Cameron cover StartX’s innovative accelerator model, who should apply to StartX (and who gets in), how to evaluate founder skills, what makes a good mentor, benefits of the lean startup model, successful StartX companies, diversity ... and Cameron's career as a Broadway star in Les Miserables!

Today's show is one of Jason's favorites. He talks with the brilliant Elizabeth Iorns, part-time Partner at YCombinator and CEO/Cofounder of Science Exchange, an online marketplace matching researchers with labs. We learn exactly how ScienceExchange is revitalizing discovery by providing scientists with new tools for experiments while also bringing new revenue to the labs conducting them. It's a fascinating discussion covering what we know and don't know about cancer, what's surging in science research and what's holding it back (looking at you, paywalls), where in the world are the most exciting experiments, how YCombinator is supporting science initiatives, what the field will look like in 10-20 years, our next great seismic jumps in knowledge -- and much more.

On the show today is Seth Goldstein, angel investor, former Cofounder of turntable.fm, and current CEO & Cofounder of Crossfader.fm, the app that lets you DJ on your iPhone, record new mixes, and share them with the world. Seth and Jason go way back to the web 1.0 state of the 1990s, and they talk about what's been learned, gained, and lost. Seth shares his journey from coding html to being an active investor to his entrepreneurship in music ... forming the wildly popular & influential turntable.fm to his current successful venture. You don't want to miss seeing crossfader in action, plus a great discussion about what it really takes to crush it in tech, the changes & innovations in music, social & sharing, some secrets to raising money (hint: check out Seth's book, "The Secret of Raising Money") ... and watch as a Seth super fan calls him in the middle of the show to say he's quit his job to dedicate himself to Crossfader.fm!

It's a "Young Guns" News Roundtable, with dream team Ryan Hoover, Founder of Product Hunt & Danielle Morrill, CEO & Cofounder of Mattermark. With Jason, the three take on the best stories of late, including the coolest new content platforms (hello, Snapchat Discover), wish lists for Google now that Glass is gone, predictions for Oculus's first KILLER app, trolling on Twitter, the important work at internet.org, the latest in cannabis commerce, and how -- seriously -- both Product Hunt and Mattermark are totally crushing it. In addition we get some gossip from the Crunchies (where Ryan took home best new startup ... congrats!), take little tours of both Danielle and Ryan's smartphones to see exactly what they're into these days, and watch Danielle record her first native Twitter video! And much MUCH (trust me, much) more.

On today's program Jason talks to Esther Dyson: legendary journalist, angel investor, and thought-leader. Esther's deep expertise in the technology field includes 100s of successful investments and mission-based entrepreneurship, all focused on tackling society's greatest problems. It's an amazing conversation in which Esther shares her latest health initiatives promoting community & global wellness, while Jason and Esther dive into science & the wonderment of discovery, whither A.I., opportunities and challenges for human health & mental illness, how we need to change our thinking and how we can use technology to solve the world's most persistent & perplexing puzzles.

It's the six show from our LAUNCH Incubator series! Over 12 weeks, 7 companies are learning how to make game-changing startups under the guidance of the best in the business. On deck today is Josh Williams, former CEO/Cofounder of Gowalla & product guru at Facebook and current CEO/Cofounder of @lastguide. Josh walks the class through the two most important jobs you'll have as a founder: building bridges to create new relationships and influence others, and tearing down the walls that are barriers to communication and progress. It's a riveting, practical how-to for developing your product, including rock solid advice on messaging, feature development, doing one thing really well, staying loyal to your fan base, what's okay to outsource and what you better own yourself, and a lot more. Join us!

Jason's guest today is Stu Wall, CEO & Cofounder of Signpost, a cloud-based marketing software that gives local businesses the power to build and manage customer relationships. Stu walks us through his product's innovative features and shares Signpost's strategies for empowering its clients (and their clients). What follows is a great discussion, including Jason's earliest impressions of Stu as a quality founder, Stu going door to door to find his first customers (hello, Stu's barber!), how he guided the company through a tough pivot to its current tremendous success, how as a founder one stays grounded while scaling up, Stu's ingenious hack in figuring out which cities to expand into (hint: go where the talent is...!), how investors with operating experience are incredibly helpful, the work ethic of millennials -- and much more.