Alex Blumberg shares his entrepreneurial story and others’ journeys on Gimlet’s ‘StartUp Podcast’
Gimlet’s “StartUp Podcast” is a business series hosted by Alex Blumberg, whose former credits include “This American Life” and “Planet Money.” The series began when Alex left his full-time job with benefits to start his own company, Gimlet Media, in 2014. The first season’s episodes follow Alex’s entrepreneurial journey, learning from investors, pitching ideas, business plans, and more. The storyline was adapted for TV on ABC’s Alex, Inc., starring Zach Braff.
Start the series from episode one each season, and listen all the way through to hear the complete narrative. “StartUp Podcast” released topic-specific seasons with episodes under 45 minutes on average. There are standalone episodes such as Q&A’s with Alex, interviews with folks like cold case investigator Paul Holes, actress Anna Chlumsky, Pose’s co-creator Steven Canals, fashion icon Dapper Dan, and Senator Heidi Heitkamp, among others.
In 2019, Alex spoke with his mentor and former boss, Ira Glass, from “This American Life.” They chatted about how Ira started the podcast, what Alex learned from “This American Life,” and more. Nick Kroll stopped by the podcast to talk about Big Mouth and playing roles like Bobby Bottleservice and Gil Faizon. Alex interviewed rom-com pioneer Aline Brosh McKenna, who talked about writing The Devil Wears Prada, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and navigating Hollywood.
Billion-dollar business CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd founded the largest female-owned workforce management company, ACT-1 Group. On an episode, she shared how she was enabled to pursue her path and realized that being brilliant and taking ownership of your brilliance are separate entities.
Lisa Chow co-hosted 10 episodes of season 2, focusing on Dating Ring, a dating company merging technology and old-fashioned matchmaking. Dating Ring was founded by women in their 20s, and in this season, they explored the obstacles faced in Silicon Valley, sexism, disagreements, fundraising, and more.
Season 3 explored an assortment of brands, introducing listeners to entrepreneurs around the globe. “StartUp Podcast” spoke with smugglers, tech nerds, tailors, prisoners, and more with a common issue: their companies were stuck and did not know how to change their circumstances.
Hear about companies like Twitch, Grooveshark, and more. Season 4 shared Dov Charney’s story, the founder of American Apparel. There are episodes on Friendster, vaccines, and Mokhtar Alkhanshali’s coffee company. Season 6 looked into domains, apps, and driverless cars, just to name a few topics. Season 7 highlighted power broker Arlan Hamilton. There are additional episodes on “Church Planters,” Coss Marte, Arlan Hamilton, and Success Academy.
Later episodes detail ABC’s TV adaptation of Alex’s story on Alex, Inc. which aired in 2018. The final chapter of “StartUp Podcast” was released in 2019, investigating what it was like to sell a business as Gimlet Media was acquired by Spotify, 5 years after its start.
On a recent episode of Podsauce, “The Real Reel” host Natalie Barbu learns from podcasts including “StartUp Podcast,” “The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast,” and “How I Built this with Guy Raz.” She recommends listening to Alex’s journey and his insightful interviews with entrepreneurs for anyone in the business world.
Check out all episodes of “StartUp Podcast,” now streaming on Spotify.
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