Launch Pad

You’ve got a great new job, and you move to a new city—say, New York or San Francisco. You don’t know anyone. You don’t know the neighborhoods. You don’t have a community. Where do you live? The new …

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With Cotopaxi, founder Davis Smith G'11/WG'11 is "looking to build a world-class example of how to have social impact through a company."

He and Karl Ulrich have a fascinating conversation about vent…

Meat grown directly from animal cells. It sounds like science fiction, but like so much else in this age of marvels, this hopeful fiction is turning into actual science, at Memphis Meats.

A former ca…

What's a guy supposed to do when he sells his first startup to Google for over $80 million, just 2 years after graduation? Found another company, Flatiron Health (which has so far raised $228 million…

Karl is terrifically excited about Blake Scholl's startup, Boom, which is building a new generation of supersonic airplaines that are significantly more efficient and affordable than Concord ever was…

Neel Premkumar built his startups "more like a software company, less like a packaged goods company." And that's the secret to his success--instead of years spent perfecting a product, he got an MVP …

Who shops at Stone and Strand? Founder Nadine McCarthy Kahane, WG’12 describes their customer: “The urban woman who buys jewelry for herself and cares about fashion. So she wants jewelry that fits in…

Back in 2006, Slava Rubin and his Indiegogo cofounders asked a very interesting question: “Why not just maybe use that ultimate democratization tool, which is the internet, to create a marketplace?”

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Your kid draws a picture (or you do). Or you take a picture of, say, a half eaten breakfast sandwich. You send that picture in to Budsies, and in just two weeks you get back a stuffed animal of the p…

What does Curalate do? It makes pictures shop-able.

Why is this awesome? Because unfortunately, as Curalate founder Apu Gupta, WG’05 says, “The pictures are not aware of the products that are inside …

“We hear from parents that their kids are literally putting down their iPads and running to the mailbox to get their package. They are incredibly engaged.” That’s how children respond when their mont…

What CB insights does sounds daunting: a software and data company, they mine immense amounts of unstructured data, like patents, venture capital financing, news media, or government grants, to try t…

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What's the fastest way to get new employees up to speed?

Deb Bardhan got the idea for Xpand through his own work experiences, and seeing how long it took for companies to get employees--including him…

Karl Ulrich interviews Cory Levy about his startup, After School, the largest social network for teens.

After School is a place for teens who want to be themselves, make new connections, and particip…

Karl Ulrich interviews Holly Shelton about her startup, Movewith, which helps fitness instructors build personal brands and thriving careers both in the studio and beyond.

Bonus: As a former Apple em…