Spencer speaks with Calvin Selth, program manager for AnnenbergTech at the Annenberg Foundation on this episode of Office Hours. In his role at the foundation, Calvin leads operations and program management for PledgeLA, a collective of more than 220 tech companies and venture capital firms hosted in partnership with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti. PledgeLA's mission is to connect civic, private sector and nonprofit partners to increase access to jobs and capital for underrepresented communities.  Calvin began his career as a bilingual K-8 educator, and has used his past experience in talent recruitment, nonprofit development and event marketing to gather people from diverse backgrounds around shared goals. He graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University and holds a certificate in leadership and management from the Wharton School. 

Office Hours with Spencer Rascoff

How DEI Initiatives and Access to Capital Benefit L.A.’s Startup Ecosystem, with Calvin Selth of AnnenbergTech

Paul Hanges, CEO of JibJab speaks with Office Hours host Spencer Rascoff about how the L.A.-based digital entertainment studio has attained success beyond its viral videos by moving into the eCards space and using its unique blend of satirical humor to compete with rivals Hallmark and American Greetings. Founded in 1999 by brothers Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, the company first achieved widespread attention during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Their video of candidates George Bush and John Kerry singing “This Land Is Your Land” became a viral hit. JibJab has produced commercials and short videos for clients including Sony, Noggin, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, PBS Kids, Sprout, NBC, Qubo and Disney before focusing on what eventually became their flagship personalized eCard and messaging services. They've seen surprising success with their animated sticker-making program which became a top App Store download. In 2019, JibJab was acquired by the private equity firm Catapult Capital.

JibJab CEO Paul Hanges On How His Entertainment Studio has Attained Longevity on the Internet

Steven Wolfe Pereira, CEO of Encantos talks with Spencer about how the EdTech start-up uses "storyteaching" to help kids learn 21st-century skills. With diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) baked-in to the Public Benefit Corporation's mission, Encantos seeks to unlock talent from creators around the world to help build inclusive Storyworlds around the characters that make up its Intellectual Property. The platform, co-founded with author/illustrator Susie Jaramillo, who serves as President and Chief Creative Officer helped create Canticos, an Emmy-nominated bilingual baby and toddler brand. Headquartered in Culver City, the start-up has raised a total of $8.5M in over three rounds of funding. Steven Wolfe Pereira began his career in finance at The Blackstone Group and has had roles as the CMO of Datalogix, Neustar and Quantcast. He earned a B.A. from Tufts University, was a Fulbright Scholar and earned his MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. A Dominican-American born and raised in New York, Wolfe Pereira now lives in Los Angeles with his family.

This LA-based "Storyteaching" Company Wants to Put Culture at the Heart of Content Creation in the EdTech Space

Russ Glass, CEO of Headspace Health, a digital mental health and wellbeing platform, speaks with Spencer about his involvement overseeing the surge in the Telehealth market after the merger of Headspace and Ginger. Glass, a serial tech entrepreneur—who was also formerly Founder of Bizo, Inc., aqcuired by LinkedIn— speaks candidly about his successes and failures with previous start-ups and why he believes that there is such overwhelming demand for the healthcare services that Headspace offers.

Multiple Start-up Founder Russ Glass the CEO of Headspace Health on the Growth of Telehealth Industry During the Pandemic

Allison Ellsworth and her husband Stephen, formerly employed in the oil and gas industry, quit their jobs to bet on themselves and and started a health-based soda alternative. Their concept, a prebiotic drink called Poppi masks the strong taste of apple cider vinegar using less than 6 grams of sugar to help support gut health. The Texas based start-up was funded by Rohan Oza after the couple went on Shark Tank who helped them work on a rebrand. Allison, who was 9 months pregnant shares how the company has focused on its digital and retail sales strategy, and why they are moving their team from Dallas to Austin.

Allison Ellsworth co-founder of Poppi on Creating a Healthy Soda Alternative While Building a Brand

This conversation explores the L.A. tech scene and venture investing featuring two of the industry's leading voices. Spencer Rascoff and Dana Settle discuss Pacaso and Greycroft while sharing their thoughts on L.A.'s evolving ecosystem. Dana Settle is a founding partner of Greycroft, where she heads the firm’s West Coast office out of Los Angeles. Prior to joining Greycroft, Dana spent several years as a venture capitalist and advisor to startup companies in the Bay Area, including six years at Mayfield, where she focused on early stage companies in the mobile communications and consumer Internet markets. Dana currently manages Greycroft’s investments in Anine Bing, AppAnnie, Avaline, Bird, Bumble, Citizen, Clique, Comparably, Goop, HamsaPay, Happiest Baby, Merit Beauty, Seed, Thrive Market, Versed, and WideOrbit. She also managed the firm’s investments in The RealReal (IPO), Awesomeness TV (acquired by Dreamworks), Maker Studios (acquired by Disney), Pulse (acquired by LinkedIn), Trunk Club (acquired by Nordstrom), Sometrics (acquired by American Express), Viddy (acquired by Fullscreen), and Voicea (acquired by Cisco). Show notes and resources: Dana Settle bio on Greycroft Both sides of the table Diversity Ride for the Term Sheet  

An In-Depth Conversation on Venture Investing & Startup Dynamics with Dana Settle, co-founder Greycroft

In this fireside chat with dot.LA and Pacaso co-founder and chair Spencer Rascoff, Jam City President and co-founder Josh Yguado explores what the acquisition of Ludia means for the future of Jam City and mobile gaming. The discussion covers what it means to sit at the intersection of traditional entertainment and mobile gaming and why L.A. is the perfect place for this work.  Jam City is reimagining the future of mobile gaming. Already an award-winning company behind the world’s most enduring mobile games, the company’s recent acquisition of Ludia bolsters its global portfolio of top studios that develop and publish top-grossing games.

The Future of Mobile Gaming, A Conversation with Josh Yguado, co-founder of Jam City

My friend, serial entrepreneur and legendary real estate coach, Tom Ferry, shares his career trajectory from sales to coaching phenom, the single biggest pitfall for work performance and his take on California’s business climate.

Why Legendary Real Estate Coach Tom Ferry Says A Legacy is Better Built than Inherited

Chris Webb rejected attending college in favor of diving into a finance career at eighteen years old. Now, he’s the CEO and co-founder of ChowNow, an app and online ordering system for restaurants that doesn't charge the onerous fees required of other delivery services. Hear Chris share how his education steeped in Wall Street and his mother’s surprise restaurant investment came together to ultimately inspire ChowNow.

ChowNow’s Software Empowers Restaurants To Digitize Their Businesses

Shoeboxes full of invoices and receipts ignited the idea of Service Titan for Ara Mahdessian, the company’s CEO and cofounder. An Armenian immigrant from Iran, Ara came to the U.S. with his family as a young boy. He watched his parents assimilate to their new country while toiling into late hours of the night in order to give their family a good life. Their hard work paid off. Ara attended Stanford where he studied software engineering. He and his cofounder, Vahe Kuzoyan, also a software engineer, applied their knowledge to create automated software for home and commercial service businesses like plumbing and electrical. This includes scheduling, dispatching, payroll, recording, payments, invoicing, etc. Hear why Ara feels having an engineering background makes him a better leader, what to look for in investment partners and the values he emphasizes at Service Titan to ensure a high-quality, supportive and productive company culture.

Immigrant Grit And Parents’ Experience Inspired Co-founders To Create Service Titan

Before PayPal, there was Bill Point, a company cofounded in the late 90s by Keith Richman, now cofounder of Boosted Commerce, which buys top-rated companies on Amazon and other e-commerce ecosystems and helps take them to their next level. Hear how the arc of his serial entrepreneurship follows the trajectory of the internet, what Boosted looks for in their acquisitions and what Boosted offers their companies to help them grow.

Visionary Keith Richman Of Boosted Commerce On Acquiring Ecommerce Companies

As a self-taught teenage computer programmer in Brazil, Henrique Dubugras launched his first company, Pagar.me at age 16. After he sold it, Henrique was accepted and enrolled at Stanford, but dropped out early to follow his entrepreneurial instincts. This led him to co-found Brex with Pedro Franceschi, a business-to-business fintech unicorn disrupting the century old industry of banking small businesses.

Co-Founder Of Brex, FinTech Unicorn, On Second-Time Founder Status, Hypergrowth And Leaving SF for L.A.

Birds were the first dwellers Austin Allison, CEO and co-founder of Pacaso, served with his boyhood bird-house business. Now, with Pacaso, the serial entrepreneur aims to democratize second home ownership by enabling people to co-own an amazing second home --- for 1/8 the cost. Hear his take on what it meant to have his first company acquired, his number one tip on how to keep his crew focused and how to best navigate what seems like weekly iterations of the start-up environment.

Pacaso Aims To Make Second Home Ownership Possible For Millions

If there’s one thing to be learned from CEO and co-founder of Health-Ade, Daina Trout, it’s to pay attention to the opportunity in front of you and be prepared to pivot. Hear how Health-Ade Kombucha evolved from a hair-loss remedy to a huge brand of healthy drinks, learn about Daina and Spencer’s philosophy around hiring and gain insightful learnings around fundraising.

Health-Ade Kombucha Was Born Of A Surprise Pivot

Hear from GOAT cofounder and CEO Eddy Lu about big, public and most importantly, resolved founder fights, insight on when to know it’s time to pivot or quit, how GOAT differentiates itself from other sneaker e-commerce sites -- and one of GOAT’s early and clever growth hacks to convince consumers the company had more merch than they actually did.

How The E-Commerce Sneaker Company GOAT Achieved GOAT Status

When a couple of CEOs get in a room together, what do they talk about? Listen in as Zillow Group’s Spencer Rascoff has the kinds of conversations that can only happen between peers: tackling tough questions, sharing hard-won insights, and defining what leadership means today.

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Office Hours with Spencer Rascoff

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